Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-7014539-20140412191511/@comment-226477-20150825193142

My Top 10:

10. Jafar: very formidable, but most of his power comes from the staff. Even with the staff I think he isn't more powerful than anyone in my list. 9. Maleficent: surely very adept and a great rival. I agree with those who say that she was quickly defeated in the fight against Regina because she was protecting her pet. Let's not forget that Rumple wasn't able to penetrate her protection spell in the Mayor's office, and that's why he had Will steal Belle's heart. 8. Cora: I put Cora here because I think that she may not be incredibly powerful, but she's very manipulative and can outwit more powerful characters. I think that Cora might be able to even defeat Pan and Zelena with her intelligence. But we are talking about power and not personality, aren't we? 7. Zelena: indeed very powerful, even able to outwit Rumple, but if she faces a very strong light magic user, she can be defeated easily (as shown with Regina). I think that Emma at the end of season four would be able to defeat her. Even Rumple using dark magic, without the control of the dagger, would have been able to defeat her too. 6. Peter Pan: Pan was almost almighty in Neverland, he was able to control the shadow, and certainly very manipulative. Still, he wasn't able to defeat characters like Rumple or Regina, but it took great sacrifice to defeat him. 5. Regina: the fact that she was not a dark one nor heartless, but still be able to create such chaos in the Fairy Tale Realm, makes her very formidable. She is an expert dark magic user, and surely is able to perform strong light magic. 4. Emma (before becoming the Dark One): she was born with great magic, being the product of true love, yet with potential for great darkness too. She is (was?) also the savior, and that comes with an unknown extent of magic. 3. The Apprentice: extremely powerful. He has a vast control of magic after ages of being apprentice to Merlin. 2. Rumplestiltskin: the dagger was a handicap, but his control of dark magic is immense. I dare to say he is the most powerful Dark One to have existed (since he was the only one to defeat the Apprentice, to retrieve the Hat, etc.) Extremely manipulative and cunning as well.

1. Merlin: most powerful of them all

I think that there are other very powerful characters like Nyx or the author, but I don't see them performing various manifestations of magic, but very powerful on certain laws of magic.