Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-26116863-20151117024202/@comment-26715865-20151201092038

Actually I think Merlin has been the dark one from the start, but just a dark one who hadn't given in to the darkness, like Emma briefly. I think that the Holy Grail/Excalibur's magic is darkness, but to become the kind of dark one we know (Nimue, Rumple, Emma etc.) you have to give in to the darkness. At least that's the way I think of it.