Recap / Once Upon a Time S5 E7 "Nimue"

Season 5, Episode 7:

Nimue

At the Camelot of six weeks ago, one team tries to recover Excalibur, while another goes on a quest after the spark Merlin can use to reforge it, one which requires Emma to confront the darkness within her. Meanwhile in the distant past, Merlin falls in love with a refugee named Nimue, and the true story of the first Dark One's creation is revealed.

Tropes

• All Myths Are True: Despite the fakeout in "Siege Perilous", it turns out the Holy Grail is Real After All (albeit looking nothing like the cup of a carpenter). Played with in a number of ways however: it is the source of all magic, both light and dark; it is how both Merlin and the Dark One came to be (through being pure of heart on the one hand and through killing out of revenge causing corruption on the other); and it was turned into Excalibur to create the means by which magic (or at least one side of it) could be destroyed entirely (thus explaining why Excalibur has the same Only the Chosen May Wield power, right down to how it rejects the unworthy being something that would fit well into Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). And on the other hand, it was forged (and can be reforged) with a spark from the Fire of Prometheus, suggesting the Greek gods are also real in this setting.
• Bait-and-Switch: The episode is set up to make it seem as if the first Dark One was Vortigan, since he wears the same mask as the one we previously saw seal Merlin in the tree, Merlin had said the Dark One killed the woman he loved (and Vortigan seems to do that), and when Merlin did his divination he saw Vortigan's mask. But of course Nimue took her persecutor's mask after she fell to evil, and it was this which Merlin divined (since right as he performed the spell, Nimue was drinking from the Grail behind his back).
• Cliffhanger: Emma, giving in to the voices of the past Dark Ones and ignoring Merlin's warning from her childhood, reforges Excalibur with the Spark of Prometheus and now has the power to destroy all dark magic...or all light.
• Couch Gag: The title card features the field of middlemist flowers.
• Defector from Decadence: The look on Guinevere's face as she sees the potion Arthur creates and what it can do suggests she is considering this, despite the Sands of Avalon, or at least beginning to doubt him.
• The Dog Bites Back: After being mocked and threatened by Regina all season long, Zelena unsurprisingly throws her lot in with Arthur who takes off the magic restraining bracelet that Regina put on her and gladly takes her revenge on Team Storybrooke.
• Evil Counterpart: The Dark One is this to Merlin. Both received their powers and immortality by drinking from a magical chalice. Both had the potential to be good or evil and while Merlin stayed on a path of goodness, Nimue chose vengeance as her first magical act and the magic she gained became corrupted and evil. And now, Merlin is bound to Excalibur in the same way the Dark One is to the dagger ("in the same way" meaning it's literally using the same spell).
• Evil Is Hammy: Once Nimue becomes the Dark One, Caroline Ford really cranks it up. Apparently becoming the Dark One just naturally makes you hungry for scenery. She's still quite scary, however.
• Faking the Dead: Nimue does this briefly to make a point to Merlin—that after thinking he saw her die, why would he want either of them to give up the immortality and powers the Grail grants them? The fact it also lets her fool Vortigan so she can steal his heart is a nice bonus too, from her point of view.
• From a Certain Point of View: Merlin's words about how the first Dark One took the woman he loved from him. Not only does he lampshade it when Emma confronts him, he explains how it actually is true, since the woman he loved was in a sense destroyed by the creature she became—and Emma agrees and understands.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Zelena seems to be implying this trope when complaining to Snow, that she wants to go good but no one will let her. In truth, it's more a case of Redemption Rejection (albeit one both preceded and followed by a great deal of Heel–Face Revolving Door as she alternately considers going good, turns it down, pretends to be good, etc.).
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Merlin long ago bound the Dark One to the dagger. Now, Zelena and Arthur use the same spell to bind him to Excalibur.
• Hope Spot: Referenced literally when, after explaining to Merlin (obliquely) what she had done to Henry, Emma asks if there is still hope she can be saved and he agrees. Also, her quest succeeds when she overcomes Nimue and retrieves the spark...but at that moment Zelena defeats the others, casts the tethering spell on Excalibur to bind it to Merlin, and he is summoned away from her...forced to do Arthur's bidding.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Although never stated explicitly, it's clear this is what Merlin is hinting at when he warns Nimue not to crush Vortigan's heart. Made symbolically clear when as the first Dark One she ends up donning the very mask worn by the one who had destroyed her home and people.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Merlin pleading with Arthur not to give in to the darkness, to let him reforge Excalibur, destroy the Dark One, and save Emma, Camelot, and himself, is very much this. Unfortunately Arthur is too bitter, resentful, and power-mad to listen. It's also a bit of His Story Repeats Itself since he had previously pled with Nimue in the same fashion...and failed to reach her, too.
• Immune to Fate: For some reason, Nimue is the only person whose future Merlin cannot see when he meets her. About that...
• Irony: The middlemist flowers that Arthur first gave Guinevere to declare their love were brought to that region as seeds by Nimue, she who would engender the very Darkness Arthur wants so badly to destroy. Even better, she brought them as a form of revenge against Vortigan (of the "best revenge is to live life well and happily" sort), only to later fall prey to the usual kind of revenge.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Vortigan, mostly to hide his highly disfigured face.
• Merlin and Nimue: As usual for this show, the trope is played with, and even inverted—far from teaching Nimue magic, Merlin wants to give his up so he can have a normal life with her. In the end her getting magic is her own choice, made behind his back and to obtain vengeance against her persecutor, and while she does eventually become Merlin's nemesis (and the ultimate Big Bad of the setting) and seals him in a tree, at first she only wants to be his immortal lover, breaking Excalibur so neither has to lose their magic and can be together. As Emma reveals after channeling her spirit, she even still loves Merlin, albeit "twisted up inside."
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Zelena claims this is why she imprisons Snow, joins Arthur, and helps him enslave Merlin, because none of them (but especially Regina) will give her a chance, and that if they had she might not have betrayed them. Hook calls her on it, and she agrees she would have anyway "but I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much."
• More than Mind Control: Although both Emma and Merlin can see Nimue when she is summoned, Nimue claims that the one throwing Merlin about is Emma herself—and soon we see that she is, and it is Merlin pleading with her, not Nimue, that is key to Emma's choice.
• My Greatest Failure: Nimue beats out Arthur for the top spot when it's revealed that she was the first Dark One and fell to the darkness despite Merlin's attempt to save her.
• Mythology Gag:
  • As in the original Arthurian canon, it is because of Nimue that Merlin was trapped, although for very different reasons than the usual.
  • Vortigan appears, although in Nimue's time and as a threat to her village rather than as a rival to Uther Pendragon (though it is possible he was an offscreen opponent at this time). Also rather than simply seeking to rule the land, he's after the Holy Grail too.
  • We see the Apprentice when he was young and dressed in red, matching Mickey's iconic outfit in Fantasia.
• Origins Episode: Merlin gained magical power and immortality by drinking water from a magical chalice. He fell in love with Nimue, a mortal woman who wanted revenge for her village being burned. She drank from the chalice and gained powers like his, but used them to kill the one who slaughtered her village and family - this act turned her into the first Dark One. Merlin crafted Excalibur from the chalice, which could destroy his magic or hers, but Nimue broke it in half. Merlin then made the broken tip able to control Nimue to keep her from wreaking havoc.
• Out-Gambitted: The heroes break into Arthur's chamber, Regina freezing Arthur and smiling that Arthur doesn't know how to do magic. Cue a smile from Arthur and Zelena entering with a tied-up Snow and her anti-magic binding gone.
  Zelena: Hi, guys!
  Regina: Oh, hell no.
• Principles Zealot: Arthur proves himself to be one of these, if it wasn't clear before, even as he is only adhering to those principles in letter rather than spirit.
• Retcon: The origin of the Dark One seen here is completely different from the story the Apprentice told about it in the Season 4 finale. Of course, Merlin may well have fudged a few things to cover up what happened to his true love.
• Selfish Evil: Clearly invoked in-story by Nimue, who no matter how Merlin warns her against it, and later begs Emma not to be seduced by the same Darkness, insists that her powers are hers to use as she sees fit to get back at her tormentors and manipulate others for her own ends—and that anyone who tries to take them away from her is not trying to save her or the world, but taking "who she is" and keeping her from using them to protect those she loves.
• Shown Their Work: The writers once again reveal how much they've done their research on Arthurian lore—the Holy Grail, aside from granting immortality, is usually ascribed the ability to heal any injury. Here, it was turned into Excalibur...but in the original Arthurian tales, there was another item which could heal any injury: the scabbard of Excalibur.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: An apparition of Nimue tells Emma that if she lets Merlin take away her dark powers, she will be nothing. Emma shouts that she wasn't nothing before she had magical powers and doesn't need them.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Zelena making it clear the gang's plans to invade the castle are all terrible and won't work.
  Zelena (having just gotten her voice back): I do love hearing a sensible person talk.
• Storming the Castle: Regina, Robin, Charming, and Hook sneak into Camelot in order to steal Excalibur.
• The Bad Guy Wins: By the end of the episode, Emma has reunited the two halves of Excalibur and all the past Dark Ones appear as apparitions to goad her into taking the power for herself and destroying the light.
• Vagueness Is Coming: Referenced by Merlin (in an echo of the Seer whose powers Rumple later absorbs) when Hook asks him if he sees whether and how they can succeed. Unsurprisingly, Hook rather bitterly mocks this response.
• Villain Team-Up: Zelena strikes a deal with Arthur.
• Was It Really Worth It?: After Nimue's fall, as Merlin is creating the Dark One's dagger, the Apprentice suggests that, since he was unable to see her future and thus know what was coming, it might have been better had they never met. Merlin insists in anguish that no, even knowing what was to happen, he would do it all again if he could because life is full of moments and invokedshe had given him his happiest.
• Wham Shot: Several.
  • The reveal of the first Dark One's name on the dagger, followed by her lowering her hood.
  • Arthur holding up Excalibur, with Merlin's name on it exactly as on the dagger.
  • All of the past Dark Ones appearing out of the shadows behind Emma.
  • And the ending shot, Emma holding the reforged Excalibur.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: While immortality in and of itself is not something Merlin hates or condemns, he doesn't want it if it means watching the woman he loves grow old and die, and he has also to some degree come to see the gift he was given as too big a burden. Nimue, by contrast, thinks Living Forever Is Awesome (especially if it gives her the power to gain revenge on those who had wronged her, and enable others to do the same) and thus tries to fake her death to 'prove' to Merlin why she was right to drink from the Grail and he should not use Excalibur to sever either of their powers.