Nightmare Fuel / Once Upon a Time

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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General

• Just in general, the concept of having one's heart ripped out as it is presented in the show. It looks painful to undergo, and once a person has your heart you are their complete slave with only enough free will to be aware there is nothing you can do to resist them. It also leaves you cold and emotionless, unable to feel happiness but vaguely remembering what it's like. On top of all that they have the ability to kill you on a whim, and if getting your heart ripped out in the first place doesn't look painful, then having it crushed definitely does. It's like all the worst parts of becoming a Nobody from Kingdom Hearts and being possessed by a Goa'uld from Stargate with a hint of the Death Note thrown in for good measure.
• Just what the heck is the Dark One? Other than the fact that it's a powerful malevolent magical force that turns the meek into monsters, we don't know what it is or why it was created.
  • The end of Season 4 finally answers this — long ago, a powerful darkness threatened to destroy all the magical realms. In order to stop it, the Sorcerer tethered it to a human host, creating the first Dark One, thus binding and weakening the darkness' power. But if its host's heart is ever fully darkened, the human part of them will die, and only the Dark One will be left...
• Many ones involving parents and children, as listed on the main page: losing your child to someone else; by their own will, by amnesia, because you had a moment of weakness, because you need to to save them, or because he is sick and you can hardly find a cure...
• Having a genius trickster manipulating your life on a way you judged beyond human talent before, not knowing why, but being aware that he will do anything to achieve his goals.
• Since Cinderella's still pregnant when Emma arrives when she had first gotten pregnant in the enchanted forest world 28 years ago, that means that the town resets itself and everyone inside it every X amount of time. They reset to how they were when the week/day/etc started. Anything that happens to the citizens is undone when the loop resets. So if for example someone died they'd be alive again next reset with no memory of ever being dead. Regina is an all-powerful witch with unlimited access to her greatest enemies who are powerless to stop her from doing anything she wishes, free from any repercussions, and they wont even remember anything she does to them and can't be permanently killed.

Season 1

• An early one from the first episode: Rumplestiltskin's positively bone-chilling description of the Dark Curse:
  Rumplestiltskin: Your prison... all of our prisons will be time. Time will stop and we will be trapped. Some place horrible where everything we hold dear, everything we love, will be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity while the queen celebrates, victorious at last. *Beat* No more happy endings.
• Regina can be rather unsettling in the pilot at times. In part because before we got to know the Evil Queen better, Lana Parrilla plays her villainy very close to the surface in her sinister intents, especially her parting words. "I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do."
• In "That Still Small Voice", Jiminy's realization that his parents have duped him and given the potion he intended to use on them to the friendly couple they conned. And then finding out what's happened to them...
• Cinderella's punishment in Storybrooke is being pregnant for twenty-eight years, unable to give birth.
• The beginning of "Desperate Souls", when a bunch of soldiers comes to Rumplestiltskin's and Baelfire's village to recruit teenagers for the ogre wars. Baelfire's friend Morraine, a girl that has turned just fourteen, is considered old enough and dragged away from her desperate, pleading parents... and then there's the nauseating grin one of the soldiers has when he eyes Morraine and announces: "She'll ride with me."
• Rumplestiltskin going all crazy murdering after becoming the Dark One. It's little wonder his son became afraid of him soon after.
• The Blind Witch: the cheeriest humanitarian ever. Played by Anya.
  • The witch in "True North" is beyond terrifying. The blind groping she does as she searches for the kids and the creepy mantra: "Gravy or butter?"
• Even though he's a jerk, Gaston's fate is truly horrifying. His grand rescue of Belle from the "beast" lasts all of six seconds before Rumplestiltskin turns him into a rose, then presents to her as a token of his affection. Made even more worse than we don't actually know if this killed him or if he's still self-aware?! If so, he heard Belle basically admit she never felt anything for him, which she does whilst pruning bits off him!
  • Made even worse by Rumplestiltskin's expression during that scene. He's noticed what she's doing and he's trying not to smirk.
• Rumplestiltskin's Freak Out after being kissed by Belle. It's the first time he's really, truly been terrifying. Talk about deconstructing the Love Redeems trope...
  • From the same episode, Mr. Gold's beatdown of Moe French. Gold is screaming at him, blaming him for what happened to Belle, and after a while, it starts to sound like self-blaming. "YOU DROVE HER AWAY! IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!"
• When Regina visits Belle in the insane asylum. Imagine being locked in a room for 28 years without knowing why. You never get any visitors except for one mysterious woman who just shows up randomly and stares at you for a while with an evil smirk on her face.
• From "Red Handed", walking up (completely out of it) and discovering you've in fact eaten your one true love. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
• "Heart of Darkness" is a very unnerving episode. Let's break it down.
  • First, we see that shortly after Snow took the potion, she's become more and more of a revenge-driven jerkass who is more than willing to kill the Queen in order to draw closure.
  • Meanwhile, her real world counterpart gets accused of murdering Kathryn (the evidence? Her jewelery box that has a human heart in it and a hunting knife found in the ventilation shaft) with more and more evidence against her by the day, to the point where Mr. Gold has to be brought in as a lawyer and eventually be asked to help out, which, if you're keeping track, is almost never a good thing.
  • The seal on the deal comes with David's part in the episode, in which he is worried of his black outs and even goes to Dr. Hopper for some help. There he recovers part of his memories... That's a good thing, right? Yeah, problem there: He remembers the part where he's pleading Snow to not kill someone. Once he brings up that in front of Mary, the face she makes while losing all hope in David and by extension Emma is scary.
• In "The Stable Boy", while Mary Margaret is crying and desperately trying to tell Regina that she didn't kill Kathryn and that she's sorry for whatever she did to Regina to make her hate her so much, Regina just stands there with a big smile on her face, because she's truly enjoying watching Mary Margaret, or more so Snow, suffer.
• The entire episode "Hat Trick" is terrifying. First there's the present-day situation of Jefferson drugging Emma and trapping her and Mary Margaret in his house and refusing to let them go until Emma, at gunpoint, gives in to his insane demands. And then there's Wonderland, which is just plain creepy, especially the court of the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Hearts herself, who is shrouded by a red veil and, contrary to how she's normally portrayed in stories, speaks only in whispers. The line "Off with his head" is made genuinely frightening when she says it, and it's just as scary when the deranged Jefferson repeats it as he's preparing to shoot Emma. The shot of him sharpening his shears looks like something out of a horror movie.
  • The innocuous-looking hedge maze walls, which will eat you alive if you touch them.
  • "Get it to work, get it to work, get it to work, get it to work, GET IT TO WORK, GET IT TO WORK, GET IT TO WORK!!!"
  • Hell, his almost constant invasion of Emma's personal space is pretty creepy all on its own. Being Alone with the Psycho would be bad enough without being stalked around a room and manhandled: at one point, Emma looks like she's wondering if he'll break her neck.
  • Even worse if you realize who else Sebastian Stan is famous for playing.
• Snow's friend and mother figure turns against her and she doesn't even understand why at first. She only finds out what Cora did to Daniel years later.
• In Universe example: Regina's fears of the whole town finding out who she is and everyone trying to kill her.

Season 2

• In the Season 2 premiere, the Wraith, a monster that can best be described as a even more demonic version of a Harry Potter Dementor. Its arrival in Storybrooke is announced by an earthquake which causes the town to shake and car alarms to go off. Oh, and it also happens at night. Sure, it was sent by Mr. Gold to kill Regina and failed, but it did suck the soul out of Prince Phillip.
  • Gold's bone chilling conversation with Regina while she's locked up, as he describes what he intends to do to her. His barely controlled anger makes the whole thing creepy as hell.
• Seeing the mother who raised you attempting to murder your grandfather certainly counts.
• Regina's Imagine Spot murdering Snow in 2x02. The worst part is that she hasn't gone off the rails yet.
• Sneezy's lost all his Fairy Tale memories again, which is practically the same as him dying.
• Everything about Cora. Cora can take the form of your loved ones? No thanks.
  • She can make zombies.
  • There is something deeply unsettling about hearing Aurora speak, then realizing that Cora is speaking through her. Then it's shown how many hearts Cora has/had in her vault and trusting anyone becomes just a bit harder...
  • Regina and Rumplestiltskin speculate on whether or not Cora's powers can match that of the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin seems confident but Regina isn't.
  • Whenever Cora is visibly angry. She usually sounds like a psychotic kindergarten teacher (which is bad enough) but when she sounds angry...
    Cora: Give me my daughter and then I’ll rip her heart out.
  • Cora's concept of love with regards to Regina and vice versa. As far as the series has shown to this point, it's been years since Regina pushed Cora into the mirror to Wonderland and she still has power over Regina. Being abused messes you up. And Cora deciding that the kindest thing to do is wait until the Curse is broken and Regina is broken with nothing in the world and then step in. So that Regina will need her.
    • Cora ("Mother of the Year" as Hook so wonderfully put it) making it her goal in life to make sure Regina is evil and miserable for the rest of her life. She goes as far as murder. She thinks this is a good thing.
  • And, of course, her magnum opus of making Regina watch her mother literally rip her boyfriend's heart out and be powerless to stop her naturally did a great deal to shape Regina.
  • Cora was banished to Wonderland. Then she took over Wonderland.
• Ogres. Specifically, imagine being no more than maybe 12 years old and being conscripted to fight something the size of a small giant. Yeah, no wonder Baelfire's friend seemed so wise. If she survived a tour of duty, she'd have to have quite the intestinal fortitude and tactical smarts for a kid.
• Storybrooke!George watching David/Charming play with Henry. From his car.
• Rumplestiltskin ripping out Milah's heart. She's hardly sympathetic but damn Rumple, that was cold.
  • And earlier, Belle's actual nightmare about Gold threatening to kill Grumpy and actually turning back into Rumplestiltskin.
• Rumplestiltskin cutting off Hook's hand. And then taking it with him when he leaves.
• Everything about Moe's idea of 'saving' Belle from Rumplestiltskin, but especially watching the plan's execution.
• Frankenstein!Daniel grabbing Henry and Regina by the throat. While covered in blood. Because he's ripped off Whale's arm.
• Cora's vault of glowing red, still beating hearts. Even Frankenstein is creeped out.
  • Regina telling Charming that she's taken so many hearts that she's lost count. The way she says it, she sounds insane. She mostly sounds regretful and shocked, though.
    • Regina's statement of such with such regret only makes Cora's version Harsher in Hindsight. Regina at least feels something. Cora just sounds proud or indifferent.
• Aurora's dream. It's not shown, but the sheer horror in her voice is enough to convey the feeling. And then the fact that Henry had the same dream makes it extra creepy.
  • The next episode the dream is shown and it's even worse than described! It's basically like a scene out of The Towering Inferno with Henry and Aurora in the middle of it.
  • If you get burned in the dream, you get burned in the real world too.
• Red having to choose between to save Snow White or her mother. A Tearjerker when she ends up killing her mother to save Snow
• The death of Billy/Gus, whose body was found in two pieces. It was bad enough when it seemed he was killed by a werewolf, but finding out he was killed by an ax and split in two...
• Cora showing everyone how to really use the hearts of people. Turns out, Regina was just too nice (such as it may be) to use the hearts to make them puppets or raise the dead.
• Rumplestiltskin writing out Emma's name over and over was incredibly creepy. Until it turns out that he had just saved them all.
• Hook was being a murderous creepy bastard in "Queen of Hearts". The fight with Emma was less Ship Tease than it was predatory. Not to mention almost killing Belle in cold blood.
• Yay, Archie isn't dead! But now he's tied up on Hook's ship with Cora making it clear that they intend to torture him. What makes it worse is that this is happening to the adorkable Archie Hopper.
• What's worse than suddenly waking up handcuffed in a mining cart in a dark tunnel with no memories? Suddenly waking up sprawled on the ground, in the middle of the night, with a gunshot wound in your back and a complete stranger alternately panicking over you and screaming at another gloating stranger, with no memories. Oh, and then the other gloating stranger gets hit by a huge moving thing, and you and the first stranger nearly gets killed. God, Belle cannot catch a break.
  • And then the first stranger tries to kiss you. No wonder Belle freaks out!
• The Yaoguai. On one side, it's a lion-like monster with a mane made of fire. On the other, imagine being cursed to become one, only able to communicate by writing, then sent to a country where no one understands your writing.
• Depends on if this is "nightmare fuel", it's pretty startling. In the title card for "In the Name of Brother", we have the Frankenstein themed background (black-and-white, lightning), the music... then all of a sudden, Rumplestiltskin comes out from behind a tree, IN COLOR!
  • Also in 2.12, "In the Name of the Brother," we find out the fate of Dr. Whale's brother: he is the monster Whale/Frankenstein raised from the dead, who is not in his right mind and brutally kills their father. He has just enough sanity to beg his brother to kill him again—but Victor can't do it and ends up locking him up "for his own good." This reaches Nightmare Fuel proportions when ther realization hits that Whale's homeworld was NOT ever subject to Regina's/Rumplestiltskin's curse, so time continued to move forward there. That means the brother has been locked up, alone and insane, for twenty-eight years.
• Gold being forced to take off Bae's shawl to go through airport security, not knowing whether constant contact is needed to keep the curse broken outside the line. And it's implied that he would have been cursed if he'd gone much longer without touching it.
• Kids, take it from your buddy Anton - don't make new friends or trust strangers because they'll kill your entire family and steal all your valuables.
• Even though you know Anton's a friendly giant, the title card in "Tiny" WAS rather creepy. There's a forest... and then Anton is showed from below the waist as he brutually rips a tree out of the ground.
• The Blind Seer in Manhattan, mostly because her eyes are sewn shut, and they're done so quite... realistically. There's also the fact that the Blind Seer does have eyes, but they appear on her palms, which is extremely disconcerting coupled with the empty, sewn eye sockets.
  • The death of this character counts as well.
• From "Manhattan" The Seer. Christ almighty, THE SEER. A little girl with her eyes sewn shut and an eye on each palm of her hand, that can blink.
  • Also, when Rumplestiltskin discovers that a boy will be his undoing, he simply says he'll kill the boy. That boy turns out to be Henry...
    • Which leads to Gold blaming Henry after Hook's attack in the scariest way possible. You read that right. Henry.
• Mary Margaret manipulating Regina into killing her mother, sounding absolutely sincere the whole time that she just wants them to know love. It's obvious just how scary an Unfettered version of her would be.
  • Forget that, Ginnifer Goodwin's acting in "The Miller's Daughter" was itself creepy. She sounded psychotic or at least mentally disturbed with her whispery tone throughout the episode.
• The preview for the next episode has eerie music and it ends with Regina about to rip Mary Margaret's heart out. At least we had the courtesy to know someone would die in "The Miller's Daughter."
• The look on Regina's face as she realizes what Snow did. If you didn't think it was possible for Regina to hate Snow any more than she already did, then this episode proved you wrong.
• Regina in "Welcome to Storybrooke," both the flash back and the present. The fact that she's sympathetic makes her more terrifying. Trying to steal a new family, mind-controlling Graham, then the scene when she puts back Snow's heart. She's not evil... she's insane.
• A beloved fairytale character that everyone grew up with... renowned for her goodness... is now suicidal because she murdered a bad guy in a particularly cruel way. She was begging Regina to kill her.
  • Plus she now has darkness growing in her heart, which is enough of a sentence of doom that Regina is perfectly content to just sit back and watch it happen.
• Really, Owen and Kurt's experiences throughout Welcome to Storybrooke could just as easily belong in a horror movie. They're out camping in the woods when there's a huge and terrifying storm; the next day they come across a town that appears normal at first glance, but there's something subtly wrong with it. The lady that they befriend seems nice at first, but it gradually emerges that she might be controlling everyone in the town somehow, and she's growing more and more insistent about them staying with her. Permanently. Then, when they refuse, she tries to hold them prisoner; what's more, Kurt sees her talking to a glowing, bloody heart that seems to affect her henchman in some way. Scared yet? When they try to escape she chases after them with the sheriff; Kurt sacrifices himself to buy more time so that Owen can get away - and when he comes back with the authorities, there's no trace of the town, or his father. It's like something out of Supernatural or The Twilight Zone (1959).
  • What's also unnerving is just how quickly Regina becomes fixated on Owen. The thought of a stranger who is clearly mentally unbalanced taking a sudden interest in your child. It's even scarier when you're stuck in a small town where the person is incredibly powerful. When Regina first called Kurt, asking to see his son, he probably wanted to refuse but accepted because he was afraid of angering her.
  • Look at Regina's face during the car chase. She's enjoying this.
• Mary Margaret slapping Gepetto after learning he lied about the number of people the wardrobe could transport. It seems perfectly reasonable, but then she insists she didn't want to do it, and it was actually the darkness in her heart beginning to manifest.
• It turns out that Lacey... rather likes Mr Gold's dark side. And the episode ends with him continuing to beat a man when he's already well down. All while Lacey looks on with absolute giddiness.
• The beginning of "Lacey": It's Henry's birthday and the Charming family (including Rumple and Bae) are celebrating it in Mr. Gold's shop. After the birthday boy blows out the candles, Gold tells him he can choose any one object in the shop as his present. Henry chooses a wand and Gold shows him how to wield it... and immediately turns him to porcelain. Then he tells everyone that he must do this because of the prophecy and then smashes Henry to pieces. AND THEN we find out it was just a nightmare of Gold's. A nightmare... but still really creepy.
  • Rumplestiltskin skins Robin Hood. We knew Rumplestiltskin was evil, but nothing had ever been said before about him doing torture; it seems intended to show us that no matter how funny or woobie-like he was, he was still evil.
  • And judging by the amount of blood on the towels Belle had to clean despite Robin Hood himself being relatively bloodless, he's been doing it repeatedly: using magic to un-do the damage before proceeding to do it again. We knew he was evil but no one had ever said about torture.
• Regina's... little plan to get Henry back in 2x20 and the fact that she honestly doesn't understand that this is a bad thing. And then she wipes Henry's memory.
  • Just the way she justifies her actions, "As long as there are other people in our lives, you can never fully be mine" sounds creepy and possessive, especially since Henry is her son. What was she going to do when he grew up and wanted to leave her?
  • And then when she erased his memory of the entire conversation. Imagine if she'd had magic throughout all Henry's life. What would she have done to the kid once he discovered the curse... shiver
• Maleficent's dragon form in the previous season was scary enough. The demonic beast that she becomes in season 2 that Hook has to face is another thing altogether. A shrieking, snarling, leaping incarnation of Nightmare Fuel.
• The show's version of Peter Pan is perhaps the biggest piece of Darker and Edgier it has ever done or will ever do. He's a magical being so powerful that he can send his disembodied shadow to other worlds to kidnap little boys and bring them to Neverland. During the day they're happy as the Lost Boys, but at night their memories return and they all cry about missing their families, who Peter refuses to let them return to.
  • Everything regarding Pan. As much as younger viewers will appreciate how creepy the Shadow is, it's the adults who'll best acknowledge just how utterly sinister the idea is, the thought of waking one morning to find your child has vanished, never to return. Even worse, the Shadow isn't Pan's sole method of taking children. He's also the show's version of The Pied Piper, and has been seen to draw potential Lost Boys to him with the music from his magic flute.
  • If the general premise isn't bad enough, the actual shadow just plain old looks very creepy.
  • Also, it's not just his own shadow. According to the Lost Boys, the reason he's able to keep people in Neverland is that if anyone dares attempt to leave, he rips their shadows from them. And apparently it's a very painful and fatal process too.
  • Not to mention Neverland itself. As the Shadow brings Bae closer, you can hear all the Lost Boys crying in the distance.
  • He finally appears in person in the third season premiere, and he certainly lives up to the creepiness built around him. "Let's play."
• Greg/Owen's Cold-Blooded Torture of Regina. Particularly when a magic spell causes Snow to start feeling the pain Regina is going through.
  • Crosses (oddly) into other territories since Regina barely screams... while Snow is basically rendered out cold. Whatever one may think about Regina, she's got something.
• The Lost Ones are the definition of Creepy Children. Peter Pan as well, mostly because Hook's crew of hardened pirates talk about him as The Dreaded.
  • In the same episode, Gold goes to watch Henry playing. You think it'll become a heartwarming moment... but then the rope begins to snap...
    • Especially since he doesn't seem all that bothered by it. He mostly just looks like he's thinking "Hm... Could I get away with this?... twist... I mean, he is my downfall... twist... I wonder how much more strain that rope can take... twist..."

Season 3

• An in-universe version for the rescue team, when Tink gets frustrated with their lack of an escape plan and reveals what Pan did to Greg and Tamara. Sure, Tamara was actually killed by Rumplestiltskin, but they don't know that, and there's a definite 'Oh, Crap!' vibe starting up.
  "This is what Pan does to people he employs; what do you think he's going to do to you?"
• Regina going full Knight Templar Parent mode by ripping a Lost Boy's heart out and forcing him to give Peter's location. Granted, given that the Lost Boy's have a cultish mentality towards Peter Pan, he wasn't too sympathetic, but damn, Regina. Her Slasher Smile really sells it.
• Pan attempting to corrupt Henry in a very Rumplestiltskin-Regina-esque way. The sword fight is particularly disturbing because Henry was in the same powerless position Regina was and used magic to fight back...
  • The start of this corruption was a very chilling scene in which Henry, finally hearing Peter Pan's pipe music (that can only be heard by children who feel abandoned), begins dancing around the campfire, mindlessly happy, as Pan watches on in cold satisfaction.
• Ursula. She is no mere witch, but the goddess of the seas. Even after a hundred year absence, people still hold regular balls for her. And if you try to impersonate her? She will know. And she will find you. And unless she's feeling merciful, she will strangle you to death with her tentacles no matter how powerful your magic is.
• Pan has imprisoned Wendy Darling for many years and is using her to make her brothers do his dirty work.
• The Dark Hollow, where everything has a harsh red light and you can be swarmed with shadows at any moment.
• The original Neverland shadow, with the genius casting of Marilyn Manson making it even creepier than the others.
  • Also, the truth comes out that Peter Pan is a Psychopathic Man Child turned back into a real child.
    • The whole scene where young Rumple is snatched by the shadow and rather than save him, his father grabs his hand and tells him that the shadow is "his friend" with whom he made a deal: he'll abandon Rumple in exchange for becoming a boy again, a boy who will never grow up due to being one with Neverland. His father rationalizes this action with "I was never meant to be a father", but also tells Rumple that he doesn't want his child around to remind him of being an adult. The poor child is hearing from his own father that he values his own youth more than being a parent to him. Then his father lets go of his hand and as the shadow takes the crying, screaming Rumple up into the air, it forces him to look down to see his father transform into a boy before his very eyes. And that's the last he sees before getting taken away from Neverland. No wonder Rumple's messed up.
• The Reveal that Pan swapped bodies with Henry just before being sucked into Pandora's Box.
  • Jared Gilmore's bone-chilling portrayal of Pan. Hearing Pan's cold, remorseless words coming out of his mouth is just shudder-inducing.
  • Especially in Going Home, when he casually and emotionlessly rips Felix's heart out to power the Curse. It's just downright disturbing to see Henry doing that.
• In Going Home, the Blue Fairy is revived when the Shadow is destroyed and her own shadow returned. That's great for our heroes, but is there a time limit or did the same happen to everyone who was killed by having their shadows removed? Did Greg just suddenly come back to life in Neverland with no way to escape? And is he alone or are there others?
  • It gets even worse for Greg. Anyone from "the Real World" won't have memories of Storybrooke's existence. Considering how Greg spent most of his adult life obsessing over childhood events in Storybrooke, built his entire life on getting revenge on Storybrooke, and considering how no one's going to give him nice new memories. Greg's now stuck in Neverland, all alone, with no memory of where he is, or why he's there to begin with.
    • Tinker Bell said that Greg's body was rotting away when she stole from him. So if he were revived, he'd be a zombie. Yeah, let's hope he stayed dead for his sake.
    • Maybe your shadow only returns if you're in the same realm as the Shadow when it dies?
• In "New York City Serenade" (and most likely the rest of season 3), the flying monkeys.
  • The reveal that Walsh, Emma's boyfriend, is a flying monkey. Apparently they also have the ability to take human form...
  • As "Witch Hunt" reveals, the opposite may be true. A majority of the flying monkeys, perhaps Walsh himself, used to be ordinary people before begin transformed.
    • Turns out Walsh is actually the Wizard of Oz, who Zelena turned into a "circus animal" so he'd obey unquestioningly.
  • Crosses into Funny in a twisted sense: Regina's crazed look as she tells Robin that she's found something that she hadn't had in a very long time. Someone to destroy.
• As Little John chases a turkey towards the town line, we're led to believe he's about to lose his memories. Turns out this time, the flying monkeys will drag you away before you even reach it, and turn you into one of them.
• "Feed the madness and it feeds on you, feed the madness and it feeds on you, feed the madness and it feeds on you... (giggles)"
• Nightroot supposedly cures you of your worst fear. Turns out instead it makes that fear into a physical being that looks exactly like you, can move inhumanly fast, and will kill you if you can't summon up the courage to deal with it.
• The scene where it's revealed that Zelena has Rumplestiltskin's dagger. She proceeds to emphasize her power over him by shaving him with it. The whole thing is creepy as hell.
  • Many viewers have noted that Zelena in present-day Storybrooke is generally much more frightening than her green-skinned appearances in flashbacks. The Wicked Witch of the West? Been there, seen that. A totally sadistic woman manipulating everyone and who has no qualms about killing to get she wants, all while posing as a kindly midwife? Brrrrrrr...
• The scene where we see Zelena's skin turning green because of the intense envy she feels towards Regina. You can feel it coming off the screen.
• Zelena's motive is known, and it's terrifying. She wants to undo all of reality and turn back the clocks, not only so that she can become the favorite, but because she wants to ERASE Regina from existence. And not only that, but all of that screwing around with time would no doubt result in Henry, Emma, and Snow and Charming's unborn child being eradicated as well. The other villains of this show have never even attempted to do something this terrifying.
• Eva remains a beloved graceful and benevolent figure. We thought that she had always been like that, before a flashback revealed that she had briefly been a mild Royal Brat. Another one proved that she willingly put an obstacle in the marriage of her former fiance, telling everyone that his beloved, who was sincerely in love, had lied to him. Then, while he was on the verge of crying, she dropped this bombshell:

  Eva: You will find a worthy wife who will give you a pure child. One pure as snow.

  • She might have been planning everything at that moment, and could never have changed.
• Zelena's confrontation with Dorothy in "Kansas". As soon as Dorothy picks up that bucket of water, we all know what's going to go down, but the effects of Zelena dissolving into ooze are downright terrifying. It's all faked to traumatize Dorothy, but still.
• Rumplestiltskin has an entire room in his castle filled with magical items that even he considered too dark, dangerous, and unpredictable to use. Think about that: An entire room's worth of items that even The Dark One, master of dark magic, didn't dare unleash.
• The fact that there's a Sealed Evil in a Can named Maleficent beneath the library.

Season 4

• From the fourth season: Marshmallow is back. He's a dozen times more terrifying than in Frozen, and just as readily ticked off.
• Although Regina and Mr. Gold have somewhat reformed themselves a bit, it's scary to think that even with the second curse, there are still unreformed thugs and villains from the Enchanted Forest like Bo Peep and what appears to be the real Snow Queen played by Elizabeth Mitchell in Storybrooke.
  • The Snow Queen in general is a terrifying individual. Take all the darkest interpretations of "Let It Go" you can think of and you have Ingrid: an unfettered, near-goddess of ice and snow, who does and takes whatever she pleases with zero regard to the 'little people' with the misfortune to be in her way.
• Helga's death really showed how disastrous ice/snow magic can be. After freezing Helga, Ingrid's touches cause her body to be shattered to pieces.
• The Snow Queen casting a freezing curse on all of Arendelle. It's even more terrifying than Elsa's eternal winter. Elsa made a lot of snow, the Snow Queen freezes everyone and everything.
  • In the next episode it's revealed that the curse lasted as long as the Dark Curse did - Arendelle and all of its inhabitants were stuck in ice for 30 years.
• The show includes the Eye Scream from the original Snow Queen story. This would be bad enough, but we actually get an extreme close-up shot of the mirror shards flying into Anna's eyes.
  • And then Ingrid casts the same spell on all of Storybrooke!
• Mr. Gold throughout "Smash the Mirror". He has officially cast off all pretense of being reformed and is back to full Dark One malevolence. He casually rips Hook's heart out.
• Hook using the hat to absorb all the fairies. The whole thing was like some supernatural horror flick where the monster attacks and kills the characters one by one.
• Kristoff and Anna, tied up and thrown overboard in a chest to drown by Hans and Blackbeard, allowing the former to head back and take over Arendelle.
• The Spell of Shattered Sight more than lives up to the hype. The shards enter and crack the eyes of Snow and Charming.
• Gold speaking through Hook in "Heroes and Villains." Even knowing that Hook is being controlled, Rumple's impersonation is chillingly convincing.
  • The way Hook grabs at Emma's sleeve before he's forced away. The most understated and terrifying And I Must Scream subtext in the entire show is contained in that one gesture.
• The way the curse reactivates on Marian. She collapses right in front of her young son. Doubly so since they'd thought they were safe now.
• Snow and Charming refusing to trust Ursula and Cruella and suggesting Regina go back on her deal with them is unsettling enough given their usual personas, but then they meet up and Snow tells them if they say a word about whatever happened between the four of them back in the Enchanted Forest, she'll rip out both their hearts herself. No Shattered Sight necessary, she really is willing to get that dark over whatever the hell it was. Maleficent told them that since Emma (who has yet to be born) is the product of True Love, she has either the potential to be a great hero or a great villain. To make sure Emma wouldn't grow up to be a villain Snow and Charming did something that made Maleficent lose her baby to protect their own, but it's not made clear what the hell they did.
• Maleficent is pretty damn scary in "Unforgiven". Several times, instead of just walking up to Snow like a normal person, she teleports right there in front of her. When faced with a problem (some soldiers who don't want to move), she turns into a dragon and roasts them on the spot. After being resurrected, she claims that her goal isn't to destroy Snow's happiness, but to make her pain "as long, as unyielding, and as everlasting" as her own, in a chillingly cold tone that could give Regina a run for her money.
• August's torture in "Poor Unfortunate Soul", with him being held over the fireplace by Gold as his ever-growing nose gets closer and closer to the flames. Gold has a look of absolute sadistic glee on his face through all this.
• Rumple realizes that those who had previously been under a sleeping curse would be immune to the one that's just been cast. He starts talking to Regina about a "resourceful young man" who's quite "protective of the storybook". The next shot of this scene shows Henry holding the book and running to the Sorcerer's house while a Rumple in a voice-over heavily implies what will happen to him if he gets found by the villains.
• We eventually find out that Madeline, AKA Cruella's mother is/was a sadistic dog trainer who uses her dogs to terrify her daughter. That would be bad enough on its own, but these two Dalmatians, especially with their red, slitted eyes look like demonic animals. The first scene with them, when they are literally hunting down an innocent little girl, is even more terrifying. As is the scene where Cruella gets them to turn on her mother and eat her.
• The Author finally arrives; it turns out he grew dissatisfied with simply recording the stories he saw, and started interfering with them through stunts like posing as a peddler with select information that would cause people to take the actions he wanted. He'd even started changing the stories in the book, effectively removing any kind of free will from the world whenever he wanted. And why? Because he thought it would make a better story than how things were supposed to turn out. This guy can turn you into as horrible a monster as he wants despite your own best efforts, if it'll satisfy that childish desire, and there's nothing you can do about it.
• The Reveal of what's happening to Rumplestiltskin's heart: It's turning completely black. If that last little bit of red goes out, he'll lose any ability to love. Remember all those evil deeds, the ones that made his heart dark in the first place? Those were when he could still love. Just imagine what he'd be like when the process is done.
• The confrontation between Cruella and her mother, Madeline. Madeline sets her dalmatians on her, but Cruella uses her new magic to take control of them and command them to attack and kill her own mother. Madeline's screams and Cruella's smile when it happens is chilling. Not to mention the scene where Cruella is seen sewing some fabric and fur together for a new coat...
• Cruella's confrontation with the Author and the revelation that Cruella is every bit as evil as her name implies.
• Lily's life in general. As anyone who had had a bad day when everything they did blew up in their face can attest, it sucked but it also made them treasure their good days more. Lily's life, minus the brief time she spent with Emma, was a string of bad day after bad day with no better tomorrow to look forward to, and she knew it. And it's implied that the only thing kept her going for the last 15 years was her desire for revenge. Now she's about to get to Storybrooke, and if it turned out she also had magic like her mother, but of pure darkness instead of light like Emma, the Charmings may very well meet their most dangerous enemy yet.
• Operation Mongoose gives us Snow White as the Evil Queen. Ginnifer Goodwin portrays her almost identical to how Lana Parrilla normally plays Regina. Special mention to the scene where she kills Doc.
  • The Dark One being freed from its need for a human host, killing the Apprentice and nearly consuming Regina before Emma stops it by forcing it into herself. Yep, the Savior is now the Dark One. Be very afraid.
• This far and no mention of Chernabog who, by the way, is every bit as terrifying and powerful as he seemed in Night On Bald Mountain as both Emma and Regina could only STUN rather then actually hurt him. Then there's the scary thing that he wasn't really killed.... his summoning spell was merely interrupted.... meaning he very well could come back.

Season 5

• The newest poster◊. Tell me that corpse white face, blood red lips does not creep you out a little. Emma is practically a brutal caricature of her mother: White skin, red lips, black hair. But instead of being the embodiment of goodness, she looked disturbing and quite evil.
  • In the comic-con preview for "Dark Swan", she ripped someone's heart out and crushed it.

Episode 1 - Dark Swan

• Emma as the Dark Swan is terrifying. First of all, there's how quickly Emma begins to succumb to Sanity Slippage. She lasts less than a day before she starts telekinetically choking a random Jerkass as soon as he starts to piss her off, and then almost murders Merida in cold blood. Then, after the flash forward we see that she has gone completely off the deep end. She threatens her friends and family with punishment for failing her in Camelot, and turns Sneezy to stone because his sneezes annoyed her. Ladies and gentlemen, the Savior has left the building.
• Zelena's plan is to escape back to Oz and raise her and Robin's baby to love her, and only her. If she'd succeeded, imagine what the kid might have turned out like with such an unhinged, vindictive woman as a mother...

Episode 2 - The Price

• The Fury, a creature that ensures the price of magic is upheld when it's a life.

Episode 3 - Siege Perilous

• The Reveal of this season's possible Big Bad: King Arthur. This great king of legend, this paragon of all that is good and just, is a Villain with Good Publicity in this world. Even Prince Charming is fooled.
• Put yourself in Gold's shoes: You've just woken up from what basically amounts to a traumatic operation to find yourself once again at the mercy of a crazy lady, who ominously states she plans to mold you into a 'hero' - "and then, I have a job for you." No wonder he looks terrified.

Episode 4 - The Broken Kingdom

• What Arthur does with the Sands of Avalon: compelling Guinevere to love him and stay loyal to him, mindlessly obedient, turning on Lancelot and doing whatever he wishes to help him get the dagger. Although also lying to/manipulating the people of Camelot with the illusion is bad too, this essentially amounts to not only Mind Rape, but actual rape since she is not his wife by her own will, something of a theme for villains on this show. On top of that, the Sands also get used on Snow and Charming, which surely will contribute to Emma giving in to the Darkness when they are made to turn on her. And there's no information yet on how or even if the Sands' power can be broken.

Episode 5 - Dreamcatcher

• Emma demonstrates just how easily she is slipping into darkness when she rips Violet's heart out for the purpose of breaking Henry's heart so she can get the last ingredient for a spell to release Merlin.

Episode 6 - The Bear and the Bow

• Considering what almost happened to Elinor, and what it was like facing Mor'du, the fact Merida was so willing to take the potion and become a bear herself shows just how far she'd been pushed, and what awful circumstances she was in.
• The scenes where Merida, compelled by Emma, is pursuing Belle in the pawn shop are horrific from both sides. On Belle's part, she has no idea who Merida is, but here's this implacable foe she can't escape, zeroing in on her with full intent to kill her, with such skill with a bow it seems nearly impossible she can miss—and she's after Gold too. Meanwhile Merida doesn't remember what passed between her and Belle any more than she does, it seems, but she certainly doesn't want to kill an innocent person, and yet she cannot control or stop herself from doing Emma's bidding. The moment where she tearfully apologizes is quite gut-wrenching.
• When Merida is forced to take the potion, the transformation, as short as it is before she disappears into the smoke, looks particularly painful and traumatic. And Mor'du himself is as horrifying as in the film.
• While they were never exactly close or even really friends, it's quite chilling to see Emma so blithely order Merida to kill Belle in order to make Gold be a hero. Just more proof how far into the darkness she's fallen.

Episode 7 - Nimue

• The scene where Nimue becomes the Dark One is rather horrific.
• As is the idea of Merlin, the greatest sorcerer and force for good in the land, being under someone else's control...let alone power-mad, greedy Arthur's.
• The final scene in the episode, where countless ranks of dark-cloaked, hooded Dark Ones with glowing eyes are all gathered, whispering, urging Emma to take Excalibur and use its power to destroy all light magic.

Episode 8 - Birth

• Given that Hook has a dark past as a pirate, Hook as another Dark One is frightening to imagine. It's probably why Emma refused to tell him the truth, as she probably didn't want him to act on the darkness.

Episode 9 - The Bear King

• The scene when the Witch of the Crafty Carver interrupts Merida's coronation ends quite horrifically, with her threatening to curse ALL of the new Queen's subjects into bears or bankrupting her kingdom if she doesn't find her late dad's Enchanted Helm. Brr, and imagine yourself as Dunbroch's new Queen Merida, ruling a bankrupt kingdom of bears if she had failed her quest.

Episode 10 - Broken Heart

• What's worse than one Dark One menacing Storybrooke, or even two? Every Dark One ever menacing Storybrooke.

Episode 11 - Swan Song

• To follow from above, seeing every Dark One coming out of the misty forest in the title card.
• The scenes where the various characters are followed by, stalked, and eventually surrounded by the Dark Ones.
• The thought of Gold with the power of every Dark One.
• Gold's description of The Underworld: a cross between Nothing Is Scarier and Fate Worse than Death, where those who suffer from it will wish for Fire and Brimstone Hell, will wish for death..."only to realize you're already dead, and this torture is all that is left for you."

Episode 12 - Souls of the Departed

• The brief ghostly image of a horrifically scarred Hook. It's so terrible that Regina turns Henry around to avoid seeing it.
• The new Big Bad, Hades. The master of the Underworld, with instant knowledge of everything that happens in it, and holding absolute power over anyone once they enter his turf. Emma and her team have some level of safety from still being alive, but everything else is his to command to stop them.
  • Props need to go the visual effects department: this Hades is obviously based on the Disney version of Hercules, so he's a snarky guy with flaming blue hair. It could have been silly in live action. It isn't.
• When Cora fails him, Hades punishes her with her idea of Hell: Spending all eternity as a rag-covered, poor mill worker. Bad as Cora has been, it's still a terrible fate.

Episode 13 - Labor of Love

• There's something deeply unsettling on how David and Mary Margaret's loft is already in the Underworld, waiting for them when they die.
• Cerberus. Just...Cerberus. Gone is the goofy giant dog from the Disney movie, here is the true Guard Dog of the Underworld. An above-average sized dog with 6 glowing BLOOD RED EYES, fur as black as the night and three snarling dog heads! It is a beast of a creature. And what's worse? It KILLED HERCULES! In this universe, Hades has won! He has defeated Hercules!

Episode 14 - Devil's Due

• The River of Lost Souls, basically the Dead Marshes from The Lord of the Rings which it's impossible to escape from once you so much as touch the water. The countless souls trapped there are constantly moaning in despair, and by episode's end Milah has joined their number.

Episode 16 - Our Decay

• We are treated to a detailed shot of Zelena tearing the Scarecrow's brain from his head, presumably killing him.

Episode 18 - Ruby Slippers

• Remember sweet old Auntie Em? She's not only dead in the Underworld, but a few minutes after she appears, she is reduced into a puddle by Hades for simply being willing to help the heroes. ^note Though the next episode, "Last Rites," implies this isn't permanent.

Episode 21 - Last Rites

• The shots of one of the lost souls coming out of the river to drag Arthur away.
• It was just the Underworld version of it, but the storybook almost fell in the River of Lost Souls. Imagine what would have happened if that had happened to the real one—all the characters, their stories, and the hope they provided would be gone forever. Having it almost happen to the Underworld version is still distressing though, since that would have made it so none of the souls trapped there could ever remember or resolve their Unfinished Business.
• The idea of what the Olympian Crystal does to someone is bad enough, but being blasted or stabbed by it is clearly a horrifically painful and agonizing experience. And of course, having one of those destroyed by it be Robin. ^note Thankfully mitigated by Word of God later changing said result from complete Cessation of Existence to "merely" Killed Off for Real.

Episode 23 - An Untold Story

• The idea of Hyde now being in charge of Storybrooke, and of all the characters from the Land of Untold Stories (including many villains) now being free to come there to either take over or achieve their happy endings.
• The idea of the Evil Queen, now completely free of Regina's goodness and redeeming features, able to wreak havoc and gain revenge. And she now has all the power of the Dragon at her disposal.

Season 6

Episode 1 - The Savior

• Mr. Hyde turns up his nightmare factor in this episode when talking to Emma, mainly thanks to Sam Witwer's deep voice and the fact he's basically taking advantage of her stress in order to keep her talking to him.
• Emma seems to be having PTSD due to visions. What vision is that? One of the future. What does it end with? Her death. Yeah, this season doesn't seem to be pulling punches.
• The figure in Emma's vision bears a disturbing resemblance to a Dark One. As it turns out, it's the Dark One's son.

Episode 2 - A Bitter Draught

• The fear that the Evil Queen inspires is palpable in this episode. When Regina sees her, she panics. Later, when Archie is talking to Emma, he stutters when the Evil Queen is brought up.
  • On a related note, the fact Emma is afraid the figure in her vision might be Regina...and the Evil Queen semi-confirms this by telling Regina that everyone's happy endings are going to be ruined by her.

Episode 3 - The Other Shoe

• The Evil Queen's speech/threat to Emma, given the implications of it:
  Evil Queen: That's the tragic thing about being a savior. You have to keep saving people; but once you're off the chessboard, everything falls apart. All those happy endings turn to dust and your entire life means nothing.

Episode 4 - Strange Case

• Jekyll turning out to be Evil All Along. In fact, the past events shown Jekyll killing the woman who didn't love him before blaming Hyde, who legitimately loved her are so morbidly horrifying that one would not be blamed for feeling terrible for Hyde.
• Jekyll gets impaled from behind by a spike on the Jolly Roger from a blow from Hook, who was fighting to defend Belle. This, in turn, causes Hyde to bleed to death as well. The worst part is, Jekyll deserved what he got but Hyde did not.

Episode 10 - Wish You Were Here

• What Rumple describes of the Black Fairy's realm of chaos is bad enough (and what she does to poor Blue). But having Gideon kidnapped by her, raised there, only to return pure evil and ready to kill Emma is horrifying. Once again, if something scares and disturbs Gold... Not to mention we now know the Black Fairy is out there in the woods, just waiting to strike—and there are at least two babies we care about, plus Aurora's baby, and if it isn't only babies she targets then we can add everyone who goes to school in Storybrooke.
• Seeing Snow and Charming die, even if it's just a fantasy version of them, is rather upsetting. From the look on Regina's face, she was upset too, even if she tried to downplay it. This led to Henry almost killing her, and apparently pursuing her for revenge in the second half of the season.

Episode 11 - Tougher Than The Rest

• Wish!Rumple tells Regina the fate of Belle in this world: She remained locked in the tower and starved to death. He goes so far as to dump her bones out of a bag and now wants some payback.

Episode 15 - A Wondrous Place

• Jafar is absolutely ruthless in the flashback: inflicting a terrible fate upon Prince Achmed for insulting him, screwing with Ariel For the Evulz, and manipulating Jasmine into giving him the means to destroy Agrabah and doing so while she watches helplessly. He also reveals that destroying Agrabah was in fact his motive all along, he never wanted to rule it because he hated it and its people too much.

Episode 16 - Mother's Little Helper

• As if the episode title itself isn't enough to give you the creeps: Giant Spider.
• The glazed cataract look in Henry's eyes as his Author powers take over, and the very strange hieroglyphic/cuneiform writing he produces. And according to Isaac this will keep happening until he never comes out of the trance and has to be put in a padded room. The kicker? This is all because the ending of the book and everyone's stories is coming, and it is something no one wants to experience.
• Everything about the Black Fairy and her realm.

Episode 17 - Awake

• Consider the fact that Pixie flowers grow as a counteracting measure when a great evil is present. When Regina was the Big Bad in charge of Storybrooke (specifically 18 years before the Dark Curse was broken) a single flower grew to counteract her evil (and at the time she had been in charge for 10 years and done many horrible deeds). How bad is the Black Fairy? All she has to do is exist in Storybrooke and the snowy forest grows a giant field of the things.

Episode 18 - Where Bluebirds Fly

• Zelena goes to check on Baby Robin - and finds her missing from her crib and in the arms of Black, who is infamous for stealing children.
• The Black Fairy with a huge grin on her face running through the tunnels as Zelena follows close behind with the intent of killing her. It's very reminiscent of a predator leading a child into a trap.
• Zelena, one of the most powerful sorcerers of all time, having proven herself before to have superior dark magic to her sister, sends Black flying into a wall and then blasts her with green magic, saying that she will finish her once and for all... and then Black starts laughing. She stands up and strides effortlessly towards her attacker with the magic still hitting her the whole time.
• It gets worse. Black boasts, "Wanna see real magic?" and nonchalantly flicks Zelena's beam of energy up into the ceiling, causing her unstable magic to shower all the fairy crystals with darkness, giving Black all the power she needs to begin the Final Battle. She then chokes Zelena, flings Regina away with a casual wave, and breaks a crystal, releasing a wave of darkness through the caves.

Episode 19 - The Black Fairy

• Fiona's Start of Darkness is terrifyingly similar to that of Nimue - she gained immense dark abilities after ripping out the heart of another (For Fiona, it was Tiger Lily). Seems that History Repeats once again.
• At the end of the episode, Fiona proclaims that tomorrow will be a very special day for Emma Swan - the day she dies.

Episode 20 - The Song In Your Heart

• Emma saves her family with the power of the song they placed in her heart, but Black / Fiona swears that, regardless of what Emma does, the Curse is still coming for everyone and the Final Battle will be worse than they can imagine.
• Fiona's Curse explodes out of the Clock Tower while everyone is dancing and singing at Emma and Hook's wedding, their faces turning from joy to absolute horror. Talk about a Hope Spot for the citizens of Storybrooke. Emma swears that, no matter what Fiona throws at them, they're going to win... and then we get a lovely close-up as the Curse devours all of them. Fade to Black.

Episode 21 & 22 - The Final Battle

• For starters, how about the title?
• The trailer itself plays horrifying orchestral music as Fiona's Curse swirls around town and eats everyone, with giant letters proclaiming "A Final Curse", "A Final Quest", and finally "The Final Battle". Cut to Fiona in Gold's shop opening a box containing her wand - her personal weapon.
• Fiona has become the manipulative mayor of the town just as Regina was in the beginning, has Emma locked in an asylum, and seems to be trying to convince her that her adventures were All Just a Dream. Worse, she's sent everyone back to their original worlds and plans to destroy all the realms - forever. She is honestly more terrifying as the mayor than she ever was as the Black Fairy.
• Gideon is fighting Emma again...because the heart given back to him was a fake and Fiona is still controlling him.
• What's Fiona's Evil Plan?
  • By forcing Emma to stop believing, she will cause the destruction of all the realms forever. She even gets Emma to burn the Storybook.
  • Upon regaining her wand, she will create a new universe where she reigns supreme with her family (Gold and Gideon) at her side and she'll have the power to bring back the dead as she pleases.
  • She uses her wand to read the runes and learn that Gideon must be the one to fight Emma, effectively meaning that if one kills the other, it's the end of Light Magic forever. So she uses Gideon's heart, hides it in the Mines and remote-controls him with her magic, telling him to kill Emma at any and all costs - even if she dies before he can complete his mission, he cannot stop.
• To show Emma that Henry is losing his mind trying to convince her by stealing the book, Fiona throws him down the stairs with magic, landing him in the hospital. Would Hurt a Child indeed. Even worse when we realize that this is the first time a villain has ever physically injured Henry. She came very close to averting his Improbable Infant Survival.
  Fiona: Next time, it could be your neck, or worse.
  • Oh, and the camera that Fiona shows Emma doesn't show anything but Henry tripping and falling when trying to steal the book. After all, how could she push him if she never touched him?
• Out of every villain we have ever seen in the franchise, Fiona is by far the one who came closest to eternal victory. An excellent and terrifying display of power and intelligence for the Big Bad and Chessmaster of the entire series.
• There are several shots of the destruction of all worlds. The Evil Queen holds it back for as long as possible but eventually she is consumed by it. The destruction barely stops in time, leaving the remaining Fairy Tale citizens standing on a tiny piece of floor left in the void. That is how close Fiona was to ridding the universe of all of the characters once and for all.
• The look of pure misery on Gideon's face as his mother's final command forces him to stab Emma. As she is stabbed, Light Magic explodes out of her, causing her to drop and Gideon to disappear from existence to be reborn as a baby. Also counts as a major Tear Jerker. Thank goodness for True Love's Kiss.
• Emma actually dies in her fight against Gideon. Once again, thank Zeus for Henry and True Love's Kiss.
• One final piece of Fridge Horror. Fiona's body may have been destroyed using her wand but (as Rumple didn't kill her with the Crystal, which no longer exists in full form) her soul is definitely still intact and is no doubt in the Underworld now... just what kind of horror could she unleash down there with no one barring Zeus himself powerful enough to stop her? Might there one day be a repeat of Nimue's attempt to return to the living, except this time by the Black Fairy herself?
  • Also, "Last Rites" showed that the souls trapped in the River of Lost Souls are now able to come out and eventually regain sentience now that Hades is gone. And that means Fiona may not return alone...she could bring her hubby, Peter Pan, with her.
    • Unlikely as the dead can't escape the Underworld by themselves. They need to use Mark of Charon and someone has to open a portal from the Living Realm (near-impossible to do outside of being a deity or using the blood of a person who died and returned to the Living Realm of which there ain't many according to the Darkness) to allow them to do that. So Fiona and Pan are outta luck. Only thing for them is to stay in the Underworld or pass on to their final resting place which given who they are will be the Worse Place.

Season 7

Episode 1- Hyperion Heights

• Lady Tremaine kidnaps Cinderella's fairy godmother and murders her with her own wand just for helping Cinderella! It's a shocker she turns out to be a Big Bad Wannabe.

Episode 6- Wake Up Call

• The conversation between Drizella and her mother in the Tremaine manor. Drizella, who was constantly abused by her mother, is now subjecting her to a Fate Worse than Death. Also counts as a Moment of Awesome.

  Drizella: Death is too merciful for you, mother.

Episode 7- Eloise Gardener

• This episode reveals that, in the Wish Realm, Regina failed to cast the curse and was banished - this means that Cora did not go to Storybrooke and did not die. She'd be very old, but she probably went into exile with Regina.

Episode 10- The Eighth Witch

• At the start of the season, Lady Tremaine looks to be the season's main villain, then it looks like Drizella is; but the main villain turns out to be Mother Gothel, who out-gambits both of them and leaves them trapped in a well together.

Episode 11- Secret Garden

• Gothel has already turned herself into a walking example of parental worries, between her willingness to kill her own infant daughter and how often she manipulates children to betray their own parents, such as what she did to Drizella. Who else did she target? Robin.
• Gothel comes across as a fairly realistic depiction of a cult leader. She targets vulnerable girls and makes them turn against everyone they love and believe it is her who has their best interests at heart as she indoctrinates them into her cult. All the while she could not care less about these girls, only what they can provide for the cult.

Episode 14- The Girl in the Tower

• Alice and Robin can be no older than 18/19 in this episode. From the mob's perspective, they would just be a pair of posturing teenagers who should be able to be easily dealt with. And despite that, it seemed like they were getting ready to murder both of them just for getting in the way and mouthing off.

Episode 16- Breadcrumbs

• Nick really establishes himself as this when he kidnaps Henry and holds him captive in his apartment. And his next target is Zelena.

Episode 19- Flower Child

• Gothel has some sort of compel ability that gives her control over people. She uses it on Margot. She thankfully only wants a sample of her blood, as the person Tilly is in love with, but the implications of what she could do are horrific.
  • Gothel hates Robin - as a human, as a weak ex-witch, as the girl who ruined her plans to resurrect Leota, as the one Alice decided to be in love with. In all likelihood, if it wouldn't have given Regina and Zelena a lot of motivation to interfere, Gothel would've killed her without her even being awake to know why.
• The flashbacks to Gothel cutting loose after her people are slaughtered. She stabs folks with vines, then summons huge flowers that spit out what appears to be an acidic cloud that melts the guests whose only real crime was being at the same party as a killer.
  • Not only that she had not wiped out not only those who were at the party, but all of humanity of that realm at the time which included those who probably don't even know who Gothel and the tree nymphs were let alone what happened to her thus they were killed just for simply being humans.

Episode 20- Is This Henry Mills?

• Whatever spell Gothel is using locks the witches - including Seraphina and Tilly - in a trance-like state that they can't free themselves from. Once they've given whatever magic they can give, they're turned into trees (and she sees this as a reward for helping her). The sway of the spell is so overpowering that when Margot tries to snap Tilly out of it, Tilly starts to cry while still in the trance, implying that what Margot says worked, but the magic is so strong that she still can't break free.
• Wish!Verse Rumple, the one who was never moved to a Heel–Face Turn by Baelfire and Belle's love (and who was driven insane by decades in his prison cell) is back, and in Hyperion Heights. The Final Boss of the series has arrived...

Episode 22- Leaving Storybrooke

• Wish!Rumple's Fate Worse than Death for the heroes: He plans on separating them all into individual story books, alone, forever. He has thousands of these books, including one for Lucy, who is ten years old.
  • The nightmarish visuals in the books' illustrations does not help, as it shows just how Hellish the worlds within the books would be for the characters.
  • Robin is so close to the portals when they open that Henry needs to grab her and pull her away to keep her from being taken. And then moments later, Alice - who is already traumatized by being alone for most of her childhood - is nearly sucked into her own portal.
• Wish!Rumple's death, turning to dust before his own eyes and whimpering a cowardly "No more Rumple?"
  • Even worse: the dust flies into the fireplace and burns, symbolizing where Wish!Rumple is going.