Mr. Gold

"Magic is coming..."

- - Mr. Gold

Mr. Gold is a major character on Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is played by starring cast member Robert Carlyle, and is the Storybrooke counterpart of Rumplestiltskin. Mr. Gold is a middle-aged man who "owns" Storybrooke.

Season One
Mr. Gold is first seen in Pilot, as Emma Swan is checking into Granny's Bed and Breakfast. He is collecting rent money from Granny and Ruby, and wishes Emma an enjoyable stay. When he leaves, Ruby introduces him to Emma as the man that "owns" Storybrooke.

Mr. Gold is next shown in the mayor's backyard the night after Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke. He congratulates her for being in high spirits for banishing Emma, to which Regina replies that she has triumphed, while Gold tells her not to get ahead of herself because he saw Emma and Henry together. He then says that he would have been able to help her... for a price.

He and Regina quickly get into an argument over Emma Swan, but Mr. Gold asks her to let him go by saying "please"-- this invokes a deal that was made between them in Fairytale Land, which he isn't supposed to remember. Regina lets him go, stunned.

A few nights later, Mr. Gold is locking up his shop. After he's gone, Ashley Boyd breaks in to steal a document. Mr. Gold catches her in the act and confronts her, but she pepper sprays him, knocking him out, and leaves. He then asks Emma Swan to help him find her. She agrees feeling guilty about her role in the incident, having earlier advised Ashley to take her fate into her own hands.

She later finds Ashley's car on the side of the road and sees the girl ready to give birth. She is rushed to the hospital and delivers a healthy baby girl. Mr. Gold comes and asks to see Ashley because he wants Alexandra (the baby) for himself, having earlier made a deal with Ashley for the baby. Emma intervenes and, after a brief discussion, Gold agrees to leave Ashley in peace. In return, Emma would owe him a favor.

Mr. Gold gives David Nolan directions to the Toll Bridge after he gets lost, thanks to Regina's intervention. He smirks when David remembers his previous life pre-coma in the hospital.

Sheriff Graham finds Mr. Gold in the forrest as he is searching for the wolf that haunts his dreams. When asked what he is doing in the forrest, Mr. Gold claims that he is gardening. Mr Gold then asks the same of Graham and is told about the wolf and the sheriff's dreams. Mr. Gold smiles and tells Graham that some believed that dreams were memories of a former life, which does nothing to calm the sheriff's nerves.

After the sheriff's death, he offers Emma some of Graham's old things, which Emma declines. After Mr. Gold learns that the mayor fired her from her position as deputy, he comes into Mary Margaret's apartment and shows Emma the town charter. This helps her realize that she could contest Regina's decision to fire her by running against her nomination for Storybrooke's new Sheriff: Sidney Glass. Mr. Gold offers his assistance to Emma by becoming her benefactor.

Emma confronts Regina the next night about a slanderous article published in the Daily Mirror about her. During this encounter the office mysteriously catches on fire. Emma saves them both with a fire extinguisher, and they both are able to exit the building safely. However, it is revealed that Mr. Gold set up the whole thing. Later at the debate which would determine the winner for the public office, Emma publicly exposes him. Mr. Gold gets up and leaves the town hall. Despite her misgivings, she wins and is elected sheriff.

Mr. Gold visits the station the next day and congratulates her on her victory, telling her that he had to give her a higher form of bravery: the townspeople needed to see her stand up to him, so that they would believe that Emma could stand up to the mayor, too. Emma is shocked to learn that he had somehow managed to plan the whole event.

When Emma is trying to help out two orphans, Ava and Nicholas, from becoming a part of the foster system in Boston, she goes to his pawnshop in hopes that he would know who bought one of the orphans' belongings. Mr. Gold, although able to remember the item, needs to looks up the name of the purchaser - their father - in order to tell Emma. However, the paper he pretends to reads is blank.

Later, Mr. Gold collects the rent of Moe French and, when he fails to pay the money, takes Moe's flower shop truck. He is confronted by Regina, but he dodges her attempts at a conversation with a well-placed "please." Later in the day, he returns home to see that his house has been robbed.

Emma appears at Mr. Gold's house since the robbery had been reported earlier. Mr. Gold tells Emma who he suspects the thief was (Moe French) given the day's earlier events. She attempts to allay him saying that she will find him. Mr. Gold replies begins to say "not if I find him first" but stops himself thinking better of it. She manages to recover nearly everything that was stolen, but Mr. Gold remains agitated insisting that something was missing. Emma reasures him that she will retrieve the item when she finds Moe French. Mr. Gold leaves the station after unreservedly saying "not if I find him first" this time, which worries Emma.

He buys duct tape and rope, has a brief chat with David Nolan, in which he tells him that 'love is like a delicate flame. Once it's gone, it's gone forever', and then leaves the store. He then kidnaps Moe French and takes him to an abandoned wooden cabin, where he proceeds to interogate him about the missing item - a chipped tea cup. He soon becomes emotional, beating Moe French while yelling about Moe being "her" father, having "her" love and how "she's gone forever". Emma intervenes before Mr. Gold 'breaks anything he needs', and promptly arrests him.

While in jail, Regina arrives with Henry as a bribe for Emma leaving her alone with Mr. Gold for thirty minutes. Emma and Henry go off to the ice cream parlor and Regina sits down in front of Mr. Gold at his request. She reveals that she convinced Moe to rob him and that she has the item he had been searching for so desperately. He asks her what she wants in return for his lost item, and she tells him that she wants his name.

At first, he answers that his name is Mr. Gold. He tries to dodge the question by saying that he doesn't know what she's talking about (when she asks him for his real name) and that his name has always been Mr. Gold. After being further pressed he gives in saying "Rumplestiltskin". This is proof that he remembers everything about Fairytale Land, its inhabitants, and the Dark Curse. In return, Regina gives him a chipped teacup and walks away.

A few days later, he manages to get out of jail. Shortly after, Mr. Gold is led out onto the docks by Leroy in an attempt to sell his boat in exchange for $5000 or the waving of one months rent for the nun of Storybrooke. Mr. Gold is first unimpressed by Leroy's insistence of $5000 claiming $3000 is more reasonable. When Leroy requests the waving of rental payment for the nuns, Mr Gold becomes angry. Once he realizes that the money will go to the nuns, he says that he finds them distasteful tennats and that he'd be glad to be rid of them and refuses to make any deal to Leroy's disappointment.

When Mary Margaret is arrested for the suspected murder of Kathryn Nolan, Mr. Gold offers to be her attorney. Emma is skeptical of his motives and advises Mary Margaret not to trust him. Mary Margaret knows that she will need all the help that she can get and accepts his help regardless. When she tells him that she wouldn't be able to pay him, Mr. Gold says that he doesn't want her money and simply claims that he is 'invested in her future'.

Later, Emma goes to Mr. Gold for help, because she believes that Regina is framing Mary Margaret for Kathryn's murder. When Emma claims that she is not only willing to do anything but also go further, Mr. Gold agrees to help her and concedes that fighting Regina and winning will be tough—but he also adds that he believes Emma is more powerful than she realizes.

The morning of Mary Margaret's arraignment, Regina goes to the Sheriff's station and, to her astonishment, finds her still in her jail cell. She pulls aside Mr. Gold and asks him why Mary Margaret still there to which he states it was all thanks to Emma's resourcefulness.

Regina says that the only reason she made a deal with Gold was to "get results" - he assures her that she will, as Mary Margaret is still a murder suspect. It is later revealed that the deal they made consisted of Regina getting the District Attorney to drop all charges against Mr. Gold (for abducting and beating Moe French) in exchange for him organising something horrible happening to Kathryn which could be blamed on Mary Margaret. He make this deal as he didn't "relish the thought of spending anymore time in a cage".

In order to make the deal Mr. Gold convincing Regina that Mary Margaret need never be placed on trial. In such a case there would always be a chance that she was found innocent. Instead they plot to have her to escape her cell using one of Regina's skeleton keys (placed under the bed of her jail cell). Once she fled and tried to leave Storybrooke she would inevitably suffer something terrible (it is a condition of the curse that anyone who attempts to leave Storybrooke suffers something terrible but what exactly has not been revealed).

Later on, after a failed attempt at gaining the District Attorney's sympathy, Mary Margaret is carried away to the trial and Emma blames Gold of not trying harder to defend her, to which he replies to not lose faith as it was time for him to "work a little magic." Immediately afterwards Kathryn is found unconscious behind Granny's Diner by a terrified Ruby. In The Return, August (using Henry as a distraction) tries to infiltrate Gold’s office in the pawn shop looking for something. Once he’s caught he feigns innocence but Gold gets suspicious. Later, a panicked Regina visits him and, seeing that all evidence points to her as the cause of the mess around Kathryn’s disappearance, she blames Gold of not keeping his end of the deal.

He replies that he only broke one single deal in his life and that “it sadly wasn’t this one”. As the terms of their deal only mention that something “tragic” was to happen to her, not necessarily death as Regina meant by such a euphemism, abduction qualified just as well.

During Mary Margaret’s Welcome Home party Emma asks Gold if he had anything to do with Kathryn’s abduction and he asks her if she thinks that he’s working with or against Regina. He then asks about August to which she doesn’t reply satisfactory, other than him being a writer.

After leaving the party RUmpelstilskin proceeds to break into August's room at Granny’s Bed and Breakfast to find an accurate drawing of the magic dagger, which shocks him. Later he finds the Mother Superior talking with August, and once he leaves he threatens her into telling him what they spoke of. She says he sought advice and counsel on how to approach his estranged father, whom he hadn’t seen or spoken to in years.

Afterwards, it is Gold himself who seeks advice with Dr. Hopper and asks how to approach the man he now believes to be his son. The doctor replies that, despite everything that may have happened between them, honesty was his best solution. Gold resignedly agrees.

Later August and Gold meet in the woods; Gold apologizes, August forgives him, and they both embrace each other. August asks about the dagger, the only proof he had that his father hadn’t changed. Gold tells him he buried it in the woods shortly after Emma arrived to avoid Regina finding it, as “things were changing.” That was what the spot of gardening had been.

Once they dig it out, August tries to control him with it but fails. Gold immediately realizes he cannot be Baelfire, as his son would never try to control him and much less with a dagger that he knew to be useless in a world where it could not harness magic. Gold threatens August and finds out he was trying to control him so that Rumplestiltskin's magic could cure him from an unmentioned disease which he is dying from. (The disease is later revealed to be a slow petrification as August, who is the real-world counterpart to Pinnochio, turns back into wood.)

A "little fairy" told him that getting Rumplestiltskin's magic was one of his two hopes for survival – his only other option was to get the savior (Emma) to believe in the fairytales behind Storybrooke but he didn’t think he was going to live long enough to see that happen. Gold lets him go, as he’s going to die either way and as such, if August succeeds in making Emma believe, Gold will “get something out of it."

Later, Regina goes to Mr. Gold for advice on how to get rid of Emma. He doesn't tell her anything, but she decides to use the Sleeping Curse on her to get rid of her permanently without breaking the Dark Curse. Mr. Gold is suprised to hear it and wonders where she got it. Regina smirks and leaves.

However, the plan backfires, and Henry Mills eats the poisoned apple instead. Emma believes in the curse after this and decides to team up with Regina. They go to Mr. Gold for help, and he says that he had a bottle of true love stored in the belly of a beast. Emma eventually winds up fighting Maleficent's dragon form.

When Emma defeats the dragon, Mr. Gold tricks her into giving him the true love potion. He goes back to his shop to hide it, and a customer stumbles inside. He tells her that the shop is closed, but stops when he sees who the customer is. She is Belle, who was long believed to be dead by him. She tells him that Regina locked her up, and Gold promises to protect her.

He takes Belle to Storybrooke's wishing well and pours the true love potion inside it. Suddenly, purple clouds start erupting from the well, and when Belle asks him what he's doing, he replies that he is bringing magic to Earth.

Trivia

 * He brought Henry to Regina Mills when Henry was a baby. It is likely that Mr. Gold knew exactly who Emma Swan was, and deliberately chose her child for Regina.
 * His name, Mr. Gold, is a reference to both the original and Enchanted Forest fairytales, in which he was able to spin gold from straw.
 * He has a few gold teeth.
 * He has a noticeable limp and walks with a cane, much like he did before he was cursed with the Dark One's abilities (being in a world without magic, Mr. Gold is unable to use his powers to placate his disability).
 * Like Rumplestiltskin, Mr. Gold treats names as important. In many cultures and some beliefs about magic, to know someone or something's "true name" gives you power over that person or thing.
 * In Mr. Gold's former life as Rumplestiltskin, his deal with Regina to get the Dark Curse working had two conditions. First, once brought to the new world, he would have wealth and luxury. Second, Regina must do what he asked without question, so long as he said "please."
 * The girl in the original Rumplestiltskin fairytale could not guess his name (until told by a messenger at the end of her deadline). Similarly, both Henry and Emma had trouble figuring out Mr. Gold's "true name."
 * Owns and operates Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer, a pawn shop where Mr. Gold holds a number of objects from their original Fairytale Land.
 * He greatly dislikes nuns. This likely stems from the Blue Fairy's aiding Baelfire with the magic bean.
 * Is a licensed lawyer, a quality which allows him to broker many of his Storybrooke deals, and alludes to having enough legal experience to represent Mary-Margaret in a criminal trial. (Heart of Darkness)
 * When Emma asks how he knew she would be at the mayor's house to save her he replies: "Perhaps Regina is not the only one with eyes and ears on this town or perhaps I'm just intuitive;" this may be a hint to his remaining ability to foretell the future as seen in the pilot. (Desperate Souls)
 * In the episode An Apple Red as Blood, it is revealed that Mr. Gold wants the curse broken so he can find his son. He also claims the curse will break if Emma dies.
 * Mr. Gold has yet to use the favor Emma owes him.
 * His phone number (at least, as dialed by August from Granny's Bed and Breakfast in The Stranger), is made up of three digits on the left side of a rotary dial. The second is one higher than the first, and the third is one lower than the first. The combination appears to be 5-6-4.