Mr. Gold

"Emma! What a lovely name."

- Mr. Gold to Emma Swan

Mr. Gold is a major character in 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 Rumpelstiltskin. Mr. Gold is a middle-aged man who "owns" Storybrooke.

Season One
Mr. Gold is first seen in Pilot, as Emma 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, which Regina in return, replies that she has triumphed, but 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 with a "please" - a deal that had been made between them in Happily Ever After, that he wasn't supposed to know about. 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, a bailbondswoman, to help him find her. She agrees.

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 for himself. 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 him "gardening" as he is searching for the wolf that haunts his 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 he learns that the mayor fired her from her position as deputy, he comes into Mary Margaret's apartment and shows her the town charter, which helps her realize that she could run against the mayor's decision to appoint Sidney Glass as the new Storybrooke Sheriff.

When Emma is confronting Regina the next night, 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. 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 and figures out 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 fostor system in Boston, she goes to his pawnshop in hopes that he would know who bought one of the orphans' belongings. Mr. Gold tells her who their father is without needing his name actually written down.

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 Swan discovers who the thief was - Moe French - and manages to gather everything that he stole back, but Mr. Gold still insists that something was missing. He leaves the station after making several remarks regarding vigilante justice, which worries Emma.

He buys duct tape and rope, has a brief chat with David Nolan, and leaves the store. He kidnaps Moe French and takes him to an abandoned wooden cabin, where he proceeds to beat him over someone he only refers to as "she." Emma intervenes before he can beat the man to death, and promptly arrests him.

While in jail, Regina arrives with Henry as a bribe for keeping Emma away from them for thirty minutes. She 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 tries to put up a fight, and gives in, saying, "Rumpelstiltskin," as proof that he remembers everything about Happily Ever After, 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 and roam free again. The nuns of Storybrooke's rental is coming up, and Mr. Gold is led out onto the docks by Leroy in an attempt to get money. Mr. Gold is unimpressed by Leroy's boat and offers him three thousand for it, when Leroy really needs five thousand to pay the nuns' rent. Once Mr. Gold realizes that the money will go to the nuns, he says that he doesn't like them very much and walks away, 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 and doesn't trust him, but Mary Margaret knows that she will need all the help that she can get. When she tells him that she wouldn't be able to pay him, Mr. Gold 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. 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.

Appearances

 * Pilot
 * The Thing You Love Most
 * The Price of Gold
 * The Shepherd
 * The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
 * Desperate Souls
 * True North
 * Skin Deep
 * Dreamy
 * Heart of Darkness

Trivia

 * He brought Henry to Regina when Henry was a baby. It isn't clear if he chose Henry on purpose but 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 his original fairytale in which he was able to spin gold from straw.
 * He has some 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 (this is likely because magic cannot exist or isn't as powerful within Storybrooke, and thus, Gold is not able to use it to placate his disablity). This may be because he was returned to his human form because of the dark curse, at least partially, as he still seems to be all-knowing and may have access to some of his magic.
 * Like his alter ego, Rumpelstiltskin, 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.
 * The girl in the original Rumpelstiltskin fairytale could not guess his name (until luckily she was told by a messenger at the end of her three day deadline). Similarly, both Henry and Emma have trouble figuring out Mr. Gold's "true name".
 * He goes "gardening" in the woods with a large shovel, dressed in a nice suit and an apron, early in the morning. It is not clear what exactly was going on, though he could have buried someone or something he didn't want found and connected to him. (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter)
 * He owns and operates Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer, a pawn shop that serves as a legitimite business where Mr. Gold holds a number of magical objects from their original Happily Ever After origins. So far the only characters to still have possessions from their true personas are Mary Margaret (Snow White) - her engagement ring from Prince Charming; Regina (the Evil Queen) - her collection of human hearts; and Mr. Gold - his chipped teacup.
 * His character on occassion seems to know more then he lets on in several episodes.
 * He still harbors feelings for Belle, but remains unaware of her existence in Storybrooke.
 * He greatly dislikes nuns. The reasons for this are currently unknown. However since two nuns so far have been confirmed as having been fairies originally (Mother Superior/Blue Fairy and Astrid/Nova) it stands to reason that all of the nuns in Storybrooke were originally fairies. (Dreamy).
 * He claims to be a licensed lawyer, a quality which allows him to broker most of his Storybrooke deals, and alludes to having enough legal experience to represent Mary-Margaret in a criminal trail. (Heart of Darkness).

M. Gold