Will Scarlet

The Knave of Hearts, also known as Will Scarlet, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the spin-off series. He is portrayed by starring cast member Michael Socha.

The Knave of Hearts is based on the character with the same name from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". He also takes the place of Will Scarlet from the ballad "Robin Hood".

History
In the Enchanted Forest, Will Scarlet and his love, Anastasia, want to find a way to another world. After helping Robin Hood's band of Merry Men steal riches from a wealthy man on the road, he is accepted into the group as a new recruit. He suggests the next looting location in Maleficent's castle, which has enough gold to feed the entire kingdom. Robin Hood refuses, but is tempted into accepting due to the gold they will receive to help the poor as well as Maleficent's current absence from the castle. With the plan is set into motion, Will rushes back home to Anastasia to inform her everything went smoothly and they will be getting what they need from the castle. Once inside the castle, Robin Hood warns the Merry Men to only take what is necessary. Will wanders to a different section and steals a looking glass. The Merry Men procure the gold and they return to their base to celebrate, however, Maleficent's displeased voice booms at them, demanding they return a certain stolen item. Robin Hood angrily calls the thief in the group to step forward, but no one does. During the night, Will secretly slips away, but Robin Hood confronts him about his theft. Robin Hood allows him to go as he believes the worst punishment for Will's actions will come in the near future. Will makes it back to Anastasia and they hurry back into the house. He opens a portal with the looking glass. Anastasia picks their destination to Wonderland and they prepare to jump in.
 * -|Before the Curse=

Seconds later, their leave is delayed by Anastasia's mother, who is strongly against her daughter throwing away a life of privilege for Will, a noted thief, and choosing him as her partner. Knave interjects to say he's not a thief anymore. To her mother, Anastasia is a failure and states if she were to come home, it'd be by taking on cleaning of the chamber pots. Will comforts a hurt Anastasia and affirms he will build a life for the both of them because of his love for her, and not because he wishes her to be different. Anastasia promptly leaves with him into the portal to Wonderland, but they end up poor and scourging for berries. A wagon passes on the road with an abundance of fresh baked goods for the royal ball, to which they both attend by stealing clothes and forging invitations into the castle. Will steals food, hiding it in his clothes, when he is thrown out by the guards for a forged invitation, as Anastasia is hauled out as well for wearing a stolen gown. Some time passes, and they are at another pitfall. Will is uneasy at Anastasia's suggestion that they steal the castle's crown jewels, but she insists they are poor and need the money. Anastasia intends to grab the jewels and drop them down to him, and then they will return home via the looking glass to sell the goods. Later, while Will is waiting for her to finish nabbing the jewels, he sees the Red King announce his new Queen. Stunned, he watches as Anastasia herself, garbed in fine clothes and a red crown, walks onto the balcony to greet the public. Will briefly catches her eye, but then she pretends not to see him.

The night prior to royal wedding ceremony, he hops into the castle from the balcony to get answers from Anastasia for her previous actions. Though he has hopes it's a con to gain the throne and riches before she leaves for home with him, Anastasia claims to be doing what is best for him as well as herself. While reminding her of all the good times they had together, the guards burst in to apprehend him. Before escaping down the balcony, Will requests Anastasia to come to their old wagon and run away with him. The next morning, instead of Anastasia, the Queen of Hearts shows up at the wagon to inform him that his former flame will not be arriving. Crushed, Will asks her to take out his heart, desperate to alleviate the heartache, even though he won't ever be able to love again. After the request is fulfilled, he is sent on his way, leaving the wagon with his belongings, as she pockets his heart.

Soon after, Will begins working in service to the Queen of Hearts as the Knave of Hearts. He has little choice in disobeying her since she possesses his heart and thus has full command over him. Out on patrol in the woods, he and the other soldiers are hunting down the "most dangerous criminal in Wonderland". As Knave is chasing the suspect, he is caught at sword-point. The criminal turns out to be a young girl, Alice, though she claims the wanted charges against her are false. He lets her walk away, but promises they will meet again. Knave tracks her down, but lands into Alice's net trap. Alice insists that her only offense is attempted thievery of a weeping willow flower from the Queen of Hearts' garden, which he believes. However, due to the Queen's control on his heart, he still wants to kill her. When he admits his lack of free-will, Alice goes to steal his heart from the Queen's vault and later uses it to command him to stop trying to harm her. As a favor, Knave agrees to help her find proof of Wonderland and they have a drinking contest at a tavern. Their friendship deepens when he tells her about his sister, Penelope, who died young. Alice returns his heart, deciding to find proof alone, but Knave decides to help anyway and procures the White Rabbit for her. In the Queen's maze, he stays behind to distract incoming guards while Alice flees, home-bound, with the White Rabbit in a bag. Following the breaking of the Dark Curse in Storybrooke, the Knave of Hearts lives a peaceful life free of his past in Wonderland. During a storm, he shows up at Granny's Diner just as Ashley and Leroy are leaving. Secretly, he swipes the diner key from Ashley and breaks in to have a cup of coffee. A portal explodes open from the floor as the White Rabbit pops out and informs him that Alice's love, Cyrus, is alive in Wonderland. Knave breaks into an asylum to haul Alice back to Wonderland in order to rescue Cyrus. After meeting up with the White Rabbit, a portal to Wonderland is opened in an alley, but Knave refuses to go since he left that world on bad terms, but Alice emphasizes she once helped get his heart back, so he should do the same. They land in the Mallow Marsh. The White Rabbit admits he hasn't actually seen Cyrus and the Dormouse actually said the genie is alive and at the Mad Hatter's abandoned house. As Knave and Alice begin sinking into the marsh, the White Rabbit runs off to get help. Alice gets both of them out by using a dragonfly to toast the sticky marsh into a solid form. Knave wishes to leave Wonderland as soon as possible so his past doesn't come back to haunt him, but he is convinced to stay when Alice offers him one of the three wishes Cyrus gave her. They go to Tulgey Woods where Alice takes off her shoes and climbs into a tree to get a better view of the Mad Hatter's house. Tempted, he snatches the shoes containing the wishes and runs away, but returns to rescue Alice from a hungry Cheshire Cat by throwing a piece of shrinking mushroom in the feline's mouth. Alice is upset at his betrayal, but Knave finds it redeemable that he came back to save her. Continuing on, Knave and Alice eventually meet up again with the White Rabbit and head to the Mad Hatter's house, but Cyrus is not inside. Upon exiting the house, Alice finds Cyrus' glowing necklace; indicating he is alive. Knave has doubts, but Alice professes that when you truly love someone, proof is not necessary. The three begin traveling together.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

The next morning, Alice proposes they find the genie bottle and use up the three wishes. Then, Knave will rub the bottle to draw Cyrus back into it. After that, she'll devise a method to free Cyrus permanently. She decides to trust Knave when he becomes Cyrus' new master. They head to the bottle's burial site in Mimsy Meadows under the Tum Tum Tree. As they go, they leave a slumbering White Rabbit behind. On the journey there, Knave scrutinizes Alice over the possibilities that Cyrus either knows where she is and isn't coming or has moved on from her. She shuts down the conversation by snipping that Knave would never understand their love. A riverbed blocks their path, but since Knave can't swim, Alice suggests calling the fairy to take them across. The fairy, Silvermist, gets into a dispute with Knave over their past romantic relationship. Silvermist agrees to help them over the river, but drops Knave after he makes an indecent comment towards her. He is saved and pulled onto a floating island by Alice, who then berates him for breaking Silvermist's heart and messing up their journey. She perceives something in the past caused him to be so cold about love, but he changes the subject to warn her that Cyrus may not the same as in the past. After discovering the floating island is actually a Mock Turtle shell, Alice forces the creature to take them to the other side of the river. At shore, Silvermist threatens to turn Knave into the Caterpillar. Knave tries to patch up things with Silvermist, but she takes a jab at him about Anastasia. Finally, Knave offers a sincere apology and asks her not to hinder Alice's quest due to his terrible deeds, to which Silvermist allows them to go. He avoids giving an answer when Alice asks him about Anastasia. They arrive at the Tum Tum Tree to see Jafar trying to unearth the bottle. Alice reveals the location is fake and takes Knave to the real burial site at a pasture near a dandy-lion shaped tree, however, the bottle has already been removed by someone else. That night, Knave consoles her about Cyrus since someone who truly loves another can never move on. She is saddened until a flying paper crane carrying a message from Cyrus lands in her palm. Though Cyrus wants her to leave for safety reasons, Alice writes back to affirm she'll be rescuing him.

Seeking knowledge about who dug up Cyrus' bottle, Knave suggests fetching a special item the Caterpillar called the forget me knot, which allows the user to see a past event when placed in a specific spot. The Caterpillar states that Grendel of the Whispering Woods now possesses the item. Additionally, he promises to forgive all of Knave's debts if they get the knot for him. The two fall into a pit hole outside Grendel's house and awaken bound up in a kitchen. Grendel, a hideously disfigured man, begins to prepare his dinner, which will include Knave and Alice. Knave sees the knot hanging over the kitchen table as an image of a happily married man and woman interact. From this, Knave gathers that was Grendel's old life and attempts to convince him the only way to move on from the past is to let go of it, but he is not interested. While he is away, they escape from their constraints and open the front door just as Grendel comes back, but an angry Bandersnatch awaits them outside. Alice closes the door, but the beast tears right into the house. After the Bandersnatch is tricked into charging into the forget me knot's loop, Alice pulls the rope to secure the creature as Knave kills the Bandersnatch with a knife. In sheer gratitude for saving his life, Grendel gives them the knot. The two go back to the pasture near the dandy-lion tree and use the forget me knot to see their culprit is the White Rabbit, who in turn, handed the bottle over to the Red Queen. Knave changes his mind about giving the knot back to the Caterpillar, as it is a stolen object, and returning it will make himself a thief. On the other hand, letting Alice keep the knot will be helpful, but he chooses to burn it out of existence.

When Alice suspects the Red Queen has the bottle and perhaps Cyrus as well, she intends to face off with her, but Knave thinks it'd be a better idea to force answers out of the White Rabbit. They are alerted to nearby shouts of the Caterpillar's henchmen, the Collectors, looking for Knave. Though they run, Knave splits up from Alice with the promise to meet her at Tugley Woods. He witnesses the Collectors being taken out by someone, who he thinks is Alice until the Red Queen kidnaps him to her castle. She belittles Knave for coming back to Wonderland and thinks whatever Alice, dubbing her his "girlfriend", offered him must have been worth the risk. The two proceed to throw personal insults at each other. He is satisfied to know that despite her exterior as queen, he knows the real person hiding underneath. A short while later, the Red Queen returns with an escape plan for Knave to leave Wonderland with the White Rabbit. Knave suspects she is faking it and only wants to catch him while he's leaving as a reason for capital punishment. She, however, wants an excuse not to kill him as it is also a way of making up her betrayal to him. He refuses to comply and blames her for making him a fool because she has committed inexcusable, terrible deeds. The one thing he thinks she can't do is kill him, and dares her to try. She assumes the challenge and goes ahead to order his public execution. Knave is put on the chopping block, but Alice disguises herself as the executioner to save him. They escape by launching themselves into the catapult and land in a maze. Lizard, Knave's longtime friend, regroups with them and leads the way to the exit. They are swiftly cut off by the appearance of Jafar and the Red Queen. With Lizard knocked out, Knave is strangled by Jafar and only let go when Alice makes a wish; asking for her own death if he were to die as well. Next, Jafar exerts physical pain on Alice to force her to make another wish, but she refuses. After she is dropped, Jafar turns Knave into a stone statue as punishment for Alice's stubbornness.

By some magical force, Knave is freed from stone and collapses on the ground in pain. He manages to get a bottle of water from a passing peddler to alleviate the side effects and then meets two camp-goers who direct him to Alice in the Black Forest. Assuming it was Alice who saved his life, he chases her down to repay the debt. Knave makes it through the Black Forest into the Boro Grove to discover Alice has completely forgotten anything of importance to her. He is disturbed by the sight of the only other person there, a Carpenter, and believes the man harmed her. After some interrogating, Knave realizes the man is turning into a tree, which is the same fate Alice will have if she doesn't leave. She even starts to forget her own name, which is all the more reason he presses her to depart with him. Annoyed, she swings the sword at him as Cyrus' necklace drops to the floor, and refuses to go anywhere as vines and branches flourish to trap her in place. Knave almost confesses something relating to when Alice helped him get his heart back, which she ignores. At one point, he shows her the necklace, but loses his grip as vines trap him in place, to which it lands in Alice's hands. The necklace helps her to remember and she cuts both herself and Knave free. They make it outside as Knave mentions owing her since she unfroze him from stone, though Alice attests that she did no such thing and guesses it must have been Anastasia. This leads her to recall what he said earlier about a confession, and Knave's full disclosure that he never put his heart back in to avoid feeling heartbreak over Anastasia.

He and Alice approach Jafar's floating lair and begin making a basket out of bird bark branches to carry themselves up to the island. While doing so, Alice's father, Edwin, stumbles out of the forest. Despite that Edwin went to great lengths to find Wonderland and now believes everything Alice once spoke of, she can't forgive him for having treated her like an obligation, and not a daughter, for years. Edwin consults Knave for advice on how to gain Alice's forgiveness. Knave thinks Alice needs a good father, so Edwin can start by helping her find the man she loves, Cyrus. Though Alice herself is unsure whether or not to forgive her father, Knave believes she eventually will because it's the right thing to do. In an surprise attack, a dragon spits out fire as Knave and Alice use the branch slants to shield themselves. All three attempt to flee, though Edwin is nearly swiped away by the dragon until Alice kills the beast. Following a father and daughter reconciliation, the trio share a meal out of the slain dragon's meat. After supper, Knave goes with Alice to fetch wood, but once they are alone, she relates her suspicions that the man claiming to be her father is not him. The pair leave camp to walk up a mountain cliff when Jafar flies by on a magic carpet and dangles Edwin as a threat. Alice sees right through Jafar's plan of using an impostor of her father. However, this person proves to be the real Edwin, and he makes amends with Alice as well as revealing Cyrus escaped the prison before being dropped into the sea. Alice saves Edwin by wishing him home. Afterwards, Knave comforts her over being forced to use another wish. Instead, she is grateful since it gave her knowledge her father understands her, and that Cyrus is free.

As they make their way to a place Alice is certain Cyrus would go, a stop is made at the White Rabbit's house. They learn that the White Rabbit has only been obeying the Red Queen's orders because she kidnapped his family. Knave and Alice both sympathize with his plight and decide to rescue them. Knave has an idea of where the Red Queen might have taken them, and they arrive at an abandoned wagon, which he and Anastasia once lived in. Inside, he finds an empty box that once contained Cyrus' genie bottle and comes out with the White Rabbit's wife and two children. While the White Rabbit's family venture to a secure place to stay, Knave follows Alice to the Outlands and enters into an invisible hideout. Before joining her, he warns the White Rabbit against trying anything sneaky. Inside, Alice is disappointed again to see Cyrus is not there. Knave reluctantly suggests they should leave Wonderland, but Alice refuse to accept a life without Cyrus. A moment later, she runs out to reunite with Cyrus. Knave is dismayed to see the Red Queen tagged along as well. The Red Queen proceeds to urge everyone to leave Wonderland before a dangerous storm cloud Jafar summoned reaches them all. Alice refuses to go without an explanation for the Red Queen's actions thus far, including her reasons for taking away Cyrus and desiring the bottle. In an emotional outburst, the Red Queen admits to Knave that she wants him back. He stoically recalls a time when she did have his whole heart, but threw it away. She pleads that by breaking the laws of magic, they can go back to the past and resume their relationship, but he wants nothing more to do with her. Even to this, Alice doesn't believe the Red Queen, but Cyrus does, so she asks the White Rabbit to dig a hole to someplace safe for them. As the storm cloud closes in, the Red Queen uses the bottle as a shield against a lightning bolt, which then bounces off and fatally wounds Knave. As he is near death, Alice, too, begins to die as her first wish comes into full effect. Knave is given the third remaining wish by Cyrus and uses it to "end Alice's suffering". Cyrus is freed of servitude as Alice is revived, but Knave pays the price by becoming trapped in the bottle as a genie.

While in the bottle, Knave is found and brought out by Lizard. He attempts to leave, but is forced to stay on Lizard's command since she has become his master and must be granted three wishes. In town, Lizard asks for one wish only before allowing him to go. Before she voices the wish, he tells her one of the laws of magic, which prohibit using a wish to make someone fall in love. Lizard changes her mind and instead offers to let him have the first wish, which he then uses to give beer to everyone in the town. Later, after having a drinking contest, Knave finds Lizard sitting alone in an inn room. From the starry-eyed look on her eyes, he easily guesses that she is in love with someone. She refuses to state the man's name and instead asks him what kind of qualities he finds desirable in a woman. After he lists them, Lizard eagerly demands to be granted the same traits, and the second wish is used to transform her into a feminine and lavishly dressed young lady. Knave pushes her to strike up conversation with her dream guy, but she balks until admitting the man she loves is him. Knave apologizes, stating he is very fond of her, but love is no longer possible for him. She insists that what he feels for her doesn't have to be love, but wishes for it to be at least something; anything. Having used the word "wish", Lizard inevitably uses her last and third wish, which causes her untimely death as a helpless Knave is forced back into the bottle. Afterwards, the Red Queen picks up the bottle and summons him out; making her his next master. Cyrus discovers that the two other bottles in Jafar's possession contain his brothers and wants to save them. Since Knave is bound to the Red Queen, he believes that this is where they part from Alice and Cyrus since she is only invested in her own desires. Instead, the Red Queen opts to stay and help rescue Cyrus' brothers.

Knave remains skeptical of the Red Queen's motives, though she fully admits her desire to take back Wonderland from Jafar for the people's sake and not her own. The two head to the White Rabbit's house where she tries to convince him to help her gain the citizens' trust, but then they learn Jafar has released the Jabberwocky. While on the move in the woods, Knave is ordered into the bottle by the Red Queen. Both are captured by the Jabberwocky and later strapped down to chairs in the castle jail cell. On Jafar's command, the Jabberwocky mentally breaks down the Red Queen by taunting her about having lost her mother's love as well as Knave's. The Red Queen is coerced into making two wishes for frivolous reasons, though Knave tries to intervene, and the third is used to make the Jabberwocky stop torturing her. Directly after, Knave is forced into the bottle, which Jafar now possesses.

While attempting to get some shut-eye in the bottle, Knave is brought out by Jafar after the sorcerer failed to break the laws of magic and believes he is somehow resisting the spell. The Jabberwocky tries reading Knave's fears, but strangely, is unable to. After Jafar interrogates the Red Queen, the Jabberwocky inadvertently discovers, from reading Alice's fears, that Knave is without a heart. Then, Knave himself is locked in a cell while being questioned about the location of his heart, but he refuses to say until Jafar threatens to slit the Red Queen's throat. Despite the Red Queen's pleas for him not to reveal anything, Knave complies since his heart has caused him enough suffering and no one needs to die because of it. He asks about her intent to change the past had she broken the laws of magic, which she admits was to keep herself and Will from crossing realms to Wonderland. She apologizes for resorting to magic to win him back, as the laws weren't meant to be broken, and asks for his forgiveness, which he accepts. Jafar reenters the dungeon, shoving the heart into Knave, who collapses in shock. While overwhelmed by the return of his own heart, the Red Queen tells him to look at her. In the instant their eyes meet, they share a kiss until Jafar separates them. Knave is locked up, while he fearfully watches Jafar force the Red Queen out, and witnesses him kill his beloved Anastasia.

Desperate to revive Anastasia from death, Knave agrees to fetch Jafar's stolen serpent staff from Alice and Cyrus so the laws of magic can be broken. He pleads to them that even Anastasia deserves a second chance, but they refuse his request. Alice shakes sense into him, insisting that Jafar could resurrect Anastasia, but if the laws of magic are broken, he can also kill people without question. Seemingly, Knave reluctantly accepts that there is no saving his lover. The three begin journeying to the Well of Wonders hoping to return Nyx's water, which Cyrus and his brothers stole years ago to save their ailing mother, Amara, who was later turned into Jafar's serpent staff. During a camping night, Knave knocks out Cyrus and steals the staff. While fleeing, he gets lost as Alice and Cyrus chase after him. Knave corners Alice at a cliff edge, insisting that his endeavor to reunite with Anastasia is just as worthy as her rescuing Cyrus. As he turns to walk away, she slips into the river below the cliff. Overcoming his fear of water, Knave jumps in to save her. Though Alice is sympathetic to his dilemma about Anastasia, she convinces him that it's wrong to help Jafar. After regrouping with Cyrus, they are ambushed by the Jabberwocky, whose desire to gain freedom from Jafar prompts her to strike a deal with them. While the Jabberwocky brings Cyrus into the castle as a "prisoner" and distracts Jafar, Alice and Knave sneak in through the underground tunnel. In the dungeon, Knave runs away from guards and is later summoned by Jafar for an interrogation about the staff's location. Amara, now human, arrives to magically spar with her former apprentice. Knave is thrown into his bottle, which tips over during the magic battle, allowing him a view of the room. He sees Jafar stab Cyrus and then force Amara, out of concern for her son, to help him break the laws of magic.

Trivia

 * The casting call describes him as, "a sardonic adventurer, a man of action, loner and heartbreaker -- the proverbial rolling stone. His swagger isn't quite enough to disguise the fact that he is unswervingly loyal and possessed of a strong moral code."
 * The name "Will" is of Germanic origin, and the diminutive form of the name "Willahelm" derived from the words "wil" and "helm" that respectively mean "will, desire" and "helmet, protection".
 * The surname "Scarlet" is of medieval Scottish origin derived from an occupational name for a person who dyed bright fabrics.