Dark Curse

"Enacting it will take a terrible toll. It will leave an emptiness inside you—a void you will never be able to fill."

- Maleficent to the Evil Queen

The Dark Curse is a curse featured on Once Upon a Time. It is a major focal point of the story.

History
After Baelfire goes to a Land without Magic with a magic bean from the Blue Fairy, Rumplestiltskin learns from the fairy that there is a curse that could take him to the same land, but it is beyond his capabilities. He vows to create the curse. ("The Return ")

Sometime later the Dark Curse was created by Rumplestiltskin with the hope he could use it to find his son. But he also put a dop of true love on the potion so it could later be broken by a savior.

He traded the curse for something from the Evil Queen, though what he was given is still unknown. He gave her the curse because the main ingredient of the curse, the heart of the thing one loves most, was inaccessible to him. Sometime later, she then traded the curse for the Sleeping Curse from Maleficent. At Snow and Charming's wedding Regina announces to all present that their happy endings were soon to be over. She needed the Dark Curse back, so the Evil Queen traveled to the Forbidden Fortress where she stole it from Maleficent, who warned her about the dangers. It was warned that the Dark Curse would leave a void within that could never be filled, and whoever created the curse had no morals. ("The Thing You Love Most")

To protect their unborn daughter from the curse, the Blue Fairy offers Charming and Snow an enchanted tree which could be turned into a Magic Wardrobe. She tells them that it can only transport one when it can actually take two, because an agreement was in place with Gepetto that his son Pinocchio would be protected if he were to construct the Wardrobe. ("Pilot")("The Stranger")

After a failed attempt using a horse's heart, Regina learns from Rumplestiltskin that she must sacrifice something far more precious. She then returns home and kills her father. When Regina finally does enact the curse, it envelopes Fairytale Land in darkness, and transports those unfortunate enough to be shrouded in it to world with no magic. Those who are the victims of this curse lose their memories while new ones are created when they appear in the new world. ("The Thing You Love Most")

Grumpy is the first at Snow and Charming's castle to see the impending curse. Originally a pregnant Snow would be the one to go through the Wardrobe, but as the Curse is arriving Emma is born. Only Emma can be sent through as the Wardrobe as its magic is half spent. Regina arrives right after Emma escapes, and she is engulfed by the curse. After the curse was cast, Cora protected herself and Captain a Hook in a small corner of the land from the Curse, and those untouched by the Dark Curse were frozen in time. This included not only Cora and Hook, but Mulan, Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip as well. ("Broken")("Queen of Hearts")

Ingredients

 * A lock of hair from those with the darkest of souls.
 * The heart of "the thing you love most".
 * Rumplestiltskin also added a drop of True Love Potion, just as a little safety valve (The reason why Emma was able to break the curse).

Synonyms

 * Rumplestiltskin called it "The Curse That Ends All Curses" in "The Thing You Love Most".

Overall Effects

 * Nearly everyone from Fairytale Land (and some other realms) is transported to Storybrooke and loses all memories of their former lives and relationships. Regina later said she chose who would be taken by the Curse, thus explaining why the Mad Hatter and Dr. Frankenstein were taken along with everyone in the Enchanted Forest and Cora and some others were left behind. However, Aurora, Mulan and Philip were all left behind because of Cora's protective shield, and NOT because of Regina's choice. Cora's protective shield prevented Cora and Hook from being taken too.
 * A part of Fairytale Land remained untouched after the Dark Curse and froze for 28 years; this was caused by Cora's protective shielding.
 * No crickets.
 * All magical creatures are turned into humans.
 * All powerful magic has been taken away, and is now limited, with only some exceptional consequences to performing it or trying to get in touch with it again.
 * Time is frozen and no one ages or changes; Henry Mills was the exception to this because he is not born in Fairytale Land.
 * Everyone's happiness is gone.
 * Almost no one comes or goes through Storybrooke; the exception is supply deliveries to the town.
 * Terrible consequences will happen to anyone who tries to leave Storybrooke; Examples include:


 * When Emma drove out of town after dropping Henry off in the "Pilot", she saw a wolf in her path and crashed the car. However, this might have been from different external forces trying to keep her in town to break the curse.
 * In "The Price of Gold", Ashley attempts to leave town after snatching back the adoption papers of her unborn child, she ends up having contractions in the process, and cannot drive.
 * During "True North", Emma is left with no choice but to take Ava and Nicholas Zimmer to Boston after their father, Michael Tillman, refuses to claim them as his own. (Emma says)The car breaks down, preventing them from leaving.
 * Kathryn decides to leave town at the end of "What Happened to Frederick" but in the process of passing out of town, she appears to disappear from the driver's seat. She says she was held in a dark basement for some period of time with food and water, but was later drugged and left in a field where she crawled back into town.

Character Effects
In addition to not remembering their Fairytale lives:
 * Prince Charming/David Nolan - Fell into a coma due to a near-fatal sword wound in Fairytale Land (Reversed) ; In an unhappy marriage (Reversed)
 * Mad Hatter/Jefferson - Remembers his true identity and is wealthy with a large estate (didn't have much money in fairytale land), but cannot be with his daughter. (Reversed)
 * Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale - Trapped in Storybrooke without any memories of his past life. (Reversed) Unable to return home to his world to assist his ressurected brother.
 * Princess Abigail/Kathryn Nolan - In an unhappy marriage (Reversed)
 * Cinderella/Ashley Boyd - Pregnant for 28 years and separated from her true love (Reversed)
 * Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper - Always does as Regina tells him out of fear, because his conscience is confused (Reversed)
 * Belle/Belle (Storybrooke) - Held captive in a psychiatric ward in Storybrooke Hospital's basement (Reversed)
 * The Huntsman/Sheriff Graham - Served as Regina's plaything. (Reversed) Deceased.
 * Red Riding Hood/Ruby - Always fights with her granny and lacks confidence (Reversed)
 * Magic Mirror/Sidney Glass - Is still deeply infatuated with Regina and does her bidding.
 * Pinocchio/August W. Booth - Is slowly turning back into wood due to breaking the rules the Blue Fairy bid him live by in order to stay as a real boy; to always remain "brave, truthful and unselfish".
 * Maleficent/Maleficent's Dragon Form - Is trapped in dragon form. (Deceased; possibly)
 * Hansel/Nicholas Zimmer and Gretel/Ava Zimmer - Lived as orphans and survived by stealing. (Reversed)

Parts of the Curse broken since Emma arrived

 * Time has resumed.
 * In Fairytale Land, the inhabitants that were left behind were frozen in time for 28 years until Emma weakened the curse in Storybrooke, also freeing all the characters in Fairytale Land.
 * Prince Charming's counterpart, David Nolan, is awakened from his coma.
 * Ashley Boyd gives birth to her baby, Alexandra and is together again with her boyfriend and now fiancé, Sean Herman.
 * Crickets return after Archie Hopper stands up to Regina Mills.
 * Sheriff Graham regains his memories after sharing a kiss with Emma, but is killed by Regina.
 * A sinkhole appeared trying to reveal Snow White's glass coffin, but Regina keeps it hidden and throws the glass shard back underground.
 * David Nolan has been shown to have flashes of memories from his life in Fairytale Land. However, he mistakes them as memories he had prior to being in the coma ("The Shepherd") as well as confusing memories from the other world as ones he was recovering from his blackouts ("Heart of Darkness").
 * Ava Zimmer and Nicholas Zimmer reunite with their father, Michael Tillman.
 * Fireflies appear when Leroy is back together with Astrid.
 * Jefferson realized it was because of Emma's presence that time was able to resume, and recognizes her as having magic while everyone else is powerless.
 * Ruby starts taking responsibility thanks to a push from Emma Swan. She is also starting to fight less with her grandmother.
 * Ruby's Grandmother says she is proud of Ruby and Ruby forgives her, which brings them back together.
 * Mary Margaret Blanchard gets some of Snow White's fighting moves back while protecting Emma from Jefferson.
 * August Booth finally gets the courage to talk to his father Marco and be his assistant, so he could be with his father.
 * Emma kisses Henry Mills on the forehead which is True Love's Kiss. The kiss wakes Henry and breaks the curse, making everybody in town remember their past lives and who they really are.
 * After the kiss, everyone now can leave town. However, due to the arrival of magic, they must pay a price: the memories of their time in Fairytale Land.

Happy Endings Restored

 * Hansel and Gretel
 * Red Riding Hood and Widow Lucas
 * Cinderella and Prince Thomas
 * Prince Charming and Snow White.
 * Pinocchio and Geppetto (partially)
 * Belle and Rumplestiltskin (partially)
 * The Mad Hatter and Grace

Ways to break the curse

 * Emma's death will break the curse. Mr. Gold, in An Apple Red as Blood, mentioned this when Regina wanted his help in getting rid of Emma.
 * Emma's true love for Henry has at least partially broken the curse.

Characters aware of the curse

 * Regina Mills, Mr. Gold and Jefferson all retain their memories from their lives in Fairytale Land.
 * Sheriff Graham remembered his former life completely prior to dying.
 * August Booth successfully evaded the curse by escaping before baby Emma Swan minutes prior to being consumed.
 * Henry Mills believes in the curse because of the book he was given by Mary Margaret Blanchard.
 * Jefferson 's curse was to live with both worlds in his head.
 * At least Emma Swan, Mary Margaret Blanchard and Archie Hopper are all aware of the concept of the curse via Henry, though they don't believe it actually exists. In "An Apple Red as Blood", Henry eats a poisoned tart intended for Emma and collapses. Following Henry's hospitalization in "A Land Without Magic", Emma realizes the curse is real after touching Henry's fairytale book and recalling Henry's words about her being in the book.
 * Following the events of "A Land Without Magic", the curse is at least partially broken and everyone remembers their fairytale pasts.
 * In Fairytale Land, the characters that were left behind were frozen for 28 years until Emma weakened the curse in Storybrooke, also freeing all the characters in Fairytale Land.
 * Cora and Captain Hook were aware of the Dark Curse before it was cast. Cora cast a protection spell to keep part of the land protected from the curse.

Appearances
Dunkler Fluch