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A Guide to the Fairy Tale Characters on ONCE UPON A TIME

ABC’s Once Upon a Time is headed into its fourth season, and there’s a chill in the air. Elsa, Anna, and a few other familiar faces from Disney’s smash hit Frozen are gliding into the story, and while showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have said they aren’t veering too far off the page for this particular fairy tale, that’s not always the case. Several characters from fairy tales and fiction have appeared in the series over the years, and in many cases, their origin stories and motives aren’t what you expect. They’ve been twisted and flipped on their heads from the folklore we know, and it keeps things interesting.

I used my crystal ball (a/k/a my notes) to travel back in time and put together a list of the fairy tale characters we’ve seen so far and whether their backstories have been updated.

Warning: spoilers for seasons 1 – 4 of Once Upon a Time ahead.

The Evil Queen
One of the lead characters in Once Upon a Time, the Evil Queen becomes a villain because of Snow White, but not because Snow White was the fairest of them all. No, in this story Snow White was indirectly responsible for the death of the man the Evil Queen – then known as Regina – loved. Regina then married Snow White’s father and spent her life exacting revenge on Snow White, including casting the spell that took everyone out of the Enchanted Forest and into Storybrooke.

Rumplestiltskin
This Rumplestiltskin is capable of spinning straw into gold, but he’s also known as the Dark One and the Crocodile who is responsible for taking Captain Hook’s left hand. Oh, and he’s the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and the son of Peter Pan. He stays busy. In the Enchanted Realm, he was more powerful than the Evil Queen and even trained her to use magic. Becoming the Dark One twisted him from a good man into a tricksy, manipulative person.

Belle
Poor Belle hasn’t had it easy. When her father Maurice’s realm was threatened, Rumplestiltskin offered to keep it safe if Belle came to his castle and essentially became his housekeeper. She tried to save Rumple from being the Dark One with true love’s kiss, but he kicked her out. This Belle also loves books and used her knowledge to team up with Mulan and hunt a monster. Bad. Ass. When Regina brought everyone to Storybrooke, she locked Belle away for 28 years so Rumple wouldn’t find her.

Snow White
This Snow White is the stepdaughter of the Evil Queen and was pursued by her, but as we’ve discussed, it wasn’t because of the Magic Mirror. Once’s Snow White is pretty awesome because she’s capable of leading the Enchanted Realm and diving into battle without hesitation. She has better shooting form than Hawkeye. Just saying. She is in love with Prince Charming.

 

Prince Charming
Prince David earned the Charming nickname from Snow White. He was once a shepherd with a twin brother who was going to be King George’s heir. However, when his twin brother died, David was forced to step into his place. He almost ended up in an arranged marriage but meets Snow White and later awakens her from a sleeping curse caused by a poisoned apple with true love’s kiss. It’s much less creepy than it was in the animated film.

The Huntsman
In Once Upon a Time, the Huntsman was raised by wolves. Like in the stories, he worked for the Evil Queen and was hired to kill Snow White. He spared her, and when the Evil Queen found out, she ripped out his heart and used it to control him like a puppet.

Bonus: The Storybrooke alias for the Huntsman is Graham Humbert and Humbert was the name of the character in Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Robin Hood
The outlaw who robs from the rich and steals from the poor stays true to his familiar origin story. He has a band of Merry Men and is in love with Maid Marian. He also has connections to the Knave of Hearts/Will Scarlet, Mulan, and Belle.

The Mad Hatter
Before the Mad Hatter went mad, he was a family man with a daughter. Then the Evil Queen came along demanding to be taken to Wonderland to rescue her father (he owns a magical hat that can travel between realms). Unfortunately, he’s beheaded and put back together by the Queen of Hearts and forced to make hats until he creates another magical one. It doesn’t work, and he goes bonkers and becomes the Mad Hatter.

Tinker Bell
Fairies can be rebellious, and when Tinker Bell tries to help the Evil Queen by stealing pixie dust, she gets kicked out of the fairy club by the Blue Fairy. She loses her wings and magic and ends up in Neverland.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
Princess Aurora was stuck in a sleeping curse by the witch Maleficent and was rescued by Prince Phillip and Mulan. She knew Phillip for a while before falling to the curse.

Prince Phillip
Besides cursing Aurora, Maleficent turned Phillip into a monster. He was changed back to a human by Belle and Mulan; he then saves Aurora from her sleeping curse.

 

Mulan
Once’s Mulan is pretty freaking awesome. She served in the Emperor’s army in her native land and while she’s tracking down a beast plaguing the lands, she meets Belle. She ends up traveling with Phillip and Aurora, and it’s strongly suggested that Mulan is in love with Aurora.

Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
In Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel was transformed into a human so she could be with Prince Eric, and Once’s origin story is close. Ariel saves Eric from a shipwreck and falls in love with him. She gets legs for 12 hours a year because Ursula gives the merpeople the ability to do that when high tide rises. Also, she saves Snow White from drowning. When she wants to become a human permanently, she asks for Ursula’s help and the Evil Queen pretends to be Ursula. She tries to trick Ariel into sacrificing Snow White, but Ariel stabs Ursula/the Evil Queen in the neck with a dinglehopper. It doesn’t stop Ursula/the Evil Queen from stealing Ariel’s voice.

Maleficent
Maleficent is among the most popular of Disney villains, and she’s definitely rotten in this series. She’s a witch and can change her shape to become a dragon. She battles Prince Charming in this form. She temporarily possesses the Evil Queen’s Dark Curse because the Evil Queen trades it for a sleeping curse to use on Snow White (Maleficent is apparently the expert when it comes to sleeping curses).

Red Riding Hood
Look out for the big bad wolf because it’s actually Red Riding Hood. She can transform into a wolf and will if she doesn’t wear a magical red cloak obtained by her grandmother. Red eventually learns to control her wolf side and teams up with Snow White for adventures. I’d kill for a Red Riding Hood and Snow White spinoff.

Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother
Speaking of Granny, she’s a protective and kick-butt lady. She knows about the wolf curse that plagues Red’s family, and she acquired the enchanted cloak to keep her granddaughter safe. And yes, she wields a crossbow.

The Blue Fairy
The Blue Fairy seemed like the epitome of kindness in Pinocchio, and she is helpful but also a little mean – at least when it comes to her students. We haven’t seen her origin, but we do see her try to help Rumplestiltskin’s son, turn a man named Jiminy into a cricket by his request, make Pinocchio become a real boy, and save Emma and Pinocchio from the curse by coming up with the idea of making the wardrobe from an enchanted tree.

Pinocchio
Pinocchio is a puppet who became a real boy after he saves Geppetto from drowning. The Blue Fairy tells him the spell will last as long as he is selfless, brave, and truthful. Not crazy different from the animated film.

Geppetto
Geppetto carved Pinocchio just like in the movie, and they went on adventures – including being chased by a whale. One difference: Geppetto was an orphan because Jiminy accidentally turned his parents into puppets. Jiminy became a cricket so he could watch over Geppetto.

Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the son of con artists but when he accepts a potion from Rumplestiltskin to try to change his fate (hey, when will Merida appear in Once Upon a Time?), he accidentally turns Geppetto’s parents into puppets. Oops.

 

Gif via Gif Storybrooke

Captain Hook
This Captain Hook does have a hook instead of a hand (thanks to Rumplestiltskin), but he wasn’t always a pirate and was known as Killian Jones. He used to work for a King, but when he went to Neverland to retrieve a plant, he encountered the villainous and powerful Peter Pan. Events on Neverland led to Killian renaming his ship the Jolly Roger and becoming Captain. Hook encounters Rumplestiltskin’s son Baelfire on Neverland and has a sort of father-son relationship with him.

Peter Pan
You thought Hook’s story was weird? Peter Pan’s is more odd. Peter Pan is actually a guy named Malcolm who is Rumplestiltskin’s father. He wanted to be young forever and so becomes the boy who never grows up. Pan recruits Lost Boys by pretending to be the Pied Piper in the Enchanted Forest. The Shadow that convinced Malcolm to become Peter Pan is also what brought the Darlings to Neverland.

The Darlings
Wendy Darling goes to Neverland in order to save Baelfire – he ended up in London and sacrificed himself to the Shadow in order to protect the Darlings. Wendy unfortunately ends up trapped in Neverland, and her brothers John and Michael Darling spend their lives trying to bring her home.

Wicked Witch of the West
Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, is the Evil Queen Regina’s half sister. She’s sent away to Oz, but she returns to the Enchanted Forest to learn magic from Rumplestiltskin. When Zelena goes back to Oz, she gets jealousy-induced green skin and becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.

Rapunzel
The story of Rapunzel is twisted in a weird way. She gets trapped in a tower while searching for night root, a plant that takes away fear. Because she’s stuck, her hair has grown extremely long. Note: I have no idea how she’s eating or staying alive while stuck in this tower. Because of the night root, Rapunzel thinks she’s trapped by a witch but it’s only a hallucination. The night root reveals your fears so you can face them, and Rapunzel is scared of herself and of being Queen. No, really. Once she realizes this with the help of Prince Charming, she leaves the tower and goes home.

Grumpy
I won’t go into details about all of the Seven Dwarfs, but Grumpy’s story is sweet because he used to be known as Dreamy. Dreamy the Dwarf. He fell in love with a fairy named Nova, but when their plans to run away together were thwarted, he became Grumpy the Dwarf. Awww.

 

The Genie/Magic Mirror

The Genie and the Magic Mirror is the same person. What. The Genie falls in love with the Evil Queen, and when the King finds out, he locks the Queen away. The Genie then kills the King, learns that the Queen didn’t really love him and only used him to get rid of the King, and the Genie uses his last wish to become the Magic Mirror so that he can always remain with the Evil Queen. How screwed up is that?

Queen of Hearts
Wonderland is in a different realm than the Enchanted Forest, and the Evil Queen/Regina traps her mother Cora there. Cora becomes the Queen of Hearts because she’s way too ambitious for her own good. Also, she likes being evil. PS: The Evil Queen sends Captain Hook to kill Cora, but Cora and Hook end up working together.

Cinderella
We met Cinderella back in season one. Her story is similar: she’s a house maid in her stepmother’s home and is mistreated. However, when the Fairy Godmother arrives to get her to the ball, Rumplestiltskin destroys her because he wants the Fairy Godmother’s wand. He then agrees to help Cinderella for an unnamed price which ends being her first child. Note to self: never make deals when you don’t know the price.

Other appearances of note include: Dr. Frankenstein, King Midas, Hansel and Gretel, the Woodcutter, Gaston, the Caterpillar, the Knave of Hearts, Sir Lancelot, the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, the Dragon, Medusa, Lumiere, Blackbeard, Glinda the Good Witch, and Dorothy Gale.

Watch the season four premiere of Once Upon a Time on Sunday, September 28th, at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC.

Don’t forget to head to the comments and let me know which origin story change you liked the most or least. And because it’s inevitable, go ahead and let me know who I missed.

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Comments

  1. Crystal says:

    I really want them to do Jasmine and Aladdin!!!

  2. Rosie says:

    Your descriptions of the characters seemed to stem from early Season 1.  And I found that disappointing, considering that this article was written in 2014.

  3. Andicosten says:

    You forgot Milah – Rumples wife… the one that sealed Bea’s fate, Rumples, and Hooks. Her abandonment of Bea and Rumple helped propel him into becoming The Dark One. And her affair with Hook cause the revenge plot between the two men and explained why Hook acted the Father to Bea in Neverland.

  4. KimD says:

    You forgot Robin Hood, Regina is in love with him.

  5. Lisa says:

    You have the mirror/genie story wrong. The king did not lock the queen up. The queen tricked the genie into killing the king by lying to him about the king. The snakes the genie used would link the death of the king back to the genie which was part of the queens plan to force him on the run but the genie instead used his own power to “always be with the queen and never leave her side” but as the genie said… His wish granting powers always twists people’s wishes or rather always has a nasty consequence. So it twisted his own wish and stuck him in a mirror. Doubt that was what he intended because if I recall correctly… He was shocked and screamed nooooooo. 

  6. roujin says:

    You really botched Pinocchio’s story. It is way more complicated.

  7. Edye Bryant says:

    Let’s just say that season 3 was made with the mixed up WTF! Peter Pan story.

  8. katy says:

    I like dreamy’s story best …but he fell in love with the blue fairy and the blue fairy also banished tink 

    • Ellie says:

      It wasn’t the blue fairy, it was the other fairy who wore pink and was the clutzy nun in Storybrooke

    • Lisa says:

      He did not fall in love with the blue fairy. He fell in love with a fairy named Nova just like the writer says. 

  9. Lisa says:

    I’m with Barbara Walton. Besides, Hook was like a stepfather to Neal. What stepfather pursues a relationship with his stepson’s love interest?

  10. Matt Sugi says:

    Ummm In Once Upon a TIme Sleeping Beauty and Aurora are two sperate people. Sleeping Beauty is Aurora’s mother in this.

    • Chloe's Dad says:

      Then why did they make Aurora sleeping? Aurora was Sleeping Beauty’s name in the original story too.

      • MovieDearest says:

        When Philip wakens Aurora at the beginning of season 2 (after the curse), she says that Maleficent did the same thing to her mother. She was the “sleeping beauty” Regina referred to when she had the meeting with Maleficent in season 1, in a flashback that was before the curse happened.

    • Corey says:

      I don’t remember anyone saying that Sleeping Beauty was Auroras mom…in once, aurora is asleep and Prince Philip wakes her up, just like the original

  11. Jami Kirby says:

    I remember what the creators said about this show and it has stuck with me. Imagine all your fave characters in your backyard and you can do anything your hearts desire. That’s why Red’s best friend is Snow and Charming was given that nickname by snow and Rumple is the Beast and the Crocodile. Stop limiting your imagination with what was and think of what can be. This show is an amazing twist for a new generation.  

  12. rebecca says:

    Any one else think Emma might be the swan princess. ( Emma swan)

    • Samantha says:

      That has been my theory since the pilot episode!!! Glad I’m not the only one with this theory, ’cause my friends all think i’m nuts!

  13. Lore says:

    Regina and Rumple are my favorite Once’s stories

  14. Zakndax says:

    Regina/Evil queen is stepmother to Snow White. Snow White is married to Prince Charming, they have a daughter, Emma. Emma has a son with Baelfire, named Henry. Henry was adopted by Regina and named after her father. Bealfire is a son of Rumpelstiltskin/mr. Gold. Bell has married Gold, so technically she become step-grandmother to Henry, as Rumpel is Henry’s grandfather. Hook is bent on making Emma his, so he could become Henrys step-father. If Robin would end up with Regina he could become Henrys other step-father. Not to mention that Regina, being Snow White step-mother i technicaly speaking, Emmas grandmother, which makes her her stepson’s great grandmother. Ah, yes. And Wicked Witch is Snow White aunt, she was killed by Gold. … hmm i think that is it if you think about Charmings and they big family. It is like a Soapopera… in that complicated family connections.

  15. andy says:

    why do they keep placing sucky snow white and annoying prince charm-less at the front, and rumple and regina at the back when they r all that matters in the show.. i dont get it

  16. Kar says:

    awesome way to catch up! cool! if you did miss anyone, you still did way better than most.

  17. Holly says:

    Ok so I just read through a lot of these comments and first I just want to say…of course this can’t be the whole list of fairy tale characters, storybrooke is made up of all fairy tale characters except for (technically) Emma & Henry. The actual list would go on for miles. Second I just want to state that this was a list for ONCE UPON A TIME not Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. Yes it’s a spin-off of the show, but they are two separate shows!

    • Krys janko says:

      A spin off yes. Separate not completely. thanks to will scarlet (the knave) who him who  and later the red queen they came from the enchanted forest to wonderland.  Will was once even if briefly one of Robin hoods merry me. The mirror came from milificent that brought them to wonderland… so they aren’t least not completely separate.  Separate storyline is about it. We basically got some back story on will after he leaves storybrook 

  18. c3elisah says:

    Whoa whoa, lay off the writer people! This isn’t everything, it’s just a run-down. Sheesh. But a pivotal description is missing from Robin Hood: he’s in love with Regina and Marian WAS dead but no longer is so…Outlaw Queen forever. It’s whatever 🙂

  19. Andrew says:

    actually the timing of The Wicked Witch of the West story on the show was for the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of OZ

  20. Holly says:

    I’m sorry Connie but you have that wrong. Phillip was turned by Maleficent, this was before he ever met Mulan, in fact because Mulan and Belle were working together thats how he met her. Belle asked Phillip to accompany Mulan because her leg was hurt. The Wraith was after he awoke Aurua.

  21. puggles says:

    he states after belle and mulan free him from that curse that it was maleficent, doesn’t he? i haven’t seen that episode in a while, but I’m certain he said that. 

  22. Chloe's Dad says:

    The “wraith” was a Dementor from Harry Potter

  23. Amie says:

    Actually, Philip WAS a monster–Mulan & Belle hunted him together, Belle saved him, and that’s how Philip & Mulan became comrades prior to him waking Aurora from her sleeping curse. The wraith thing came later 

  24. Lisa says:

    Wrong. It was Malificent. The wraith was after the dark curse was cast and almost everybody was sent to Storybrooke. Prince Phillipe was the monster/beast before the dark curse and saved by belle and Mulan. Belle wouldn’t have been able to save him according to you because she was in Storybrooke by then. Locked away by the evil queen for 28 years. Which is the reason why Rumple summoned the wraith in the first place…

  25. puggles52 says:

    he couldn’t get EVERY character, you know. that could spoil it for other people who just started watching or something

  26. Heather says:

    She did have feelings for Phillip in the beginning and then she fell for Aurora after spending a lot of time with her to save Phillip. At least that is what the show eluded to. 

  27. Chloe's Dad says:

    You are in denial.  Why would she tell Aurora she was in love with Philip?  She would tell Philip she was in love with Philip.  

  28. nandaghiggi says:

    Henry and Emma aren’t fairy tale characters.

  29. nandaghiggi says:

    And she’s also the woman Rumple helps spin straw into gold (the original Rumplestiltskin fairy tale) and falls in love with her.

  30. Suzanne says:

    You are correct. I got the impression to that Mulan was in love with aurora

  31. Unknown says:

    She is also returning for season 4b 

  32. Emma says:

    In OUAT Jefferson (the Mad Hatter) goes into wonderland to get the heart of Regina’s father from Cora’s (the Queen of Hearts) for Regina. So yes she obviously in the spin off, but she first appeared in the original.