Cyrus

Cyrus is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. He débuts in the first episode. He is portrayed by starring cast member Peter Gadiot.

History
In Agrabah, Cyrus plays a card game while his two brothers, Taj and Rafi, watch on. He puts down a golden compass, a gift from his mother, which has the ability to find whatever the user is searching for. With the compass' power, he wins the game and prepares to collect the game's winnings when the other disgruntled players accuse him of cheating. As a fight nearly breaks out, the owner of the tavern barks at the instigators to leave, though the men threaten that Cyrus will pay for what he did. Afterwards, the brothers celebrate the victorious game with the remaining patrons. At night, the trio walk home to discover their house has been set aflame by the thugs from the tavern. Their mother, Amara, is grievously burned in the fire and may not survive. Cyrus convinces his brothers to travel with him to the Well of Wonders and procure magical water to heal her. They arrive at a pavilion with a lakebed of water and meet the guardian of the well, Nyx, who states that the water can only heal those who are not yet destined to pass on, but knows Amara's fate is to die. Nyx warns them to return the water or pay the price. Cyrus chooses not to listen, deciding that he must set right the mistake he made in riling up the tavern men, and doesn't want their mother to pay the consequence for his own action, so his brothers follow suit. Amara is healed with the water, but Rafi accidentally admits how they revived her. In a panic, she urges them to leave Agrabah before Nyx comes for them, but her warning comes too late. Nyx curses the three brothers, entrapping them in different bottles as genies, to serve the desires of other people.
 * -|Before the Curse=

For one hundred years, Cyrus lives in the bottle as a genie granting the wishes of countless people. His bottle falls into the hands of a scarf selling vendor man. Cyrus warns the man of a sorcerer carrying a serpent staff who is looking to attain his bottle. From two wishes, the man gains much, but attracts the suspicious eye of Jafar. Through heavy questioning, Jafar believes, without a doubt, that the man acquired his wealth by magical means. The sudden boiling of a tea kettle sends the man scurrying into the back room to shut off the stove, but he instead uses the bottle to bring Cyrus out. The man is horrified who Cyrus once told him about has finally come and begins to panic. Cyrus insists he can help, but the man uses his last and final wish to send him to a far off land. Cyrus disappears back into his bottle and is transported into Wonderland. In a maze, his bottle lays untouched and hidden.

After some time, Cyrus receives quite the shock when a young girl, Alice, uncaps the top of his bottle and enters in. He inquires why she is in his bottle, to which Alice threatens if he reveals her location, she will become big and shatter his bottle. Cyrus smiles and says she should not do that as good bottles are hard to come by. As the two talk, Cyrus asks her why she is here, to which Alice states she needs proof Wonderland is real, and pulls the White Rabbit out of her bag. As she stuffs the rabbit back in, Cyrus asks who the proof is for, which Alice says it's for her father. He thinks it's sad she is risking her life for someone who doesn't believe in her and offers words of wisdom. Cyrus believes when you really love someone, proof isn't necessary and it's all about trusting in one's own belief. Sadly, Alice knows that's not how love works in her world, but Cyrus cheers her up by pointing out that since she opened his bottle, anything is possible. Thus, he offers to grant her three wishes.

Cyrus and Alice leave his bottle for the outside where he gives her three glittering red jewels, which are the wishes. After she frees the White Rabbit, Cyrus gives her some wish restrictions, which include the inability to wish for someone's death, bringing a person back from the dead, changing the past or making an individual fall in love. In asking what happens after the third wish, Alice learns he will return to his bottle until someone else finds it and repeat the whole process again with a new master. She ponders using a wish to free him, but he explains that has never ended well for either side because the bigger the wish, the larger the consequence. Still unsure what to wish for, they take a walk through the maze so he can give her some suggestions. At nightfall, they end up chatting at a tavern. He briefly tells her about Jafar. Despite that she is a human and he a genie, they find common ground by both having been in prisons. For him, the outside world is a fresh stroke of freedom from the bottle while Alice's old home felt like a prison. Alice shows an interest in swordplay, though she doesn't know how. Cyrus doesn't see how one can survive without wielding a sword, so Alice illustrates that in place like Wonderland, there are other ways to fight by being creative. For her, he conjures an origami flower scented like a real rose bud. The conversation carries onto a sad note as Cyrus' previous masters all eventually make their wishes and move on. Glumly, Alice knows what it is like to be moved on from, too, but Cyrus lightens the mood by turning the bud into a blossom. Per Alice's request, he teaches her swordplay.

In the forest, they spar as Alice quickly becoming adept at the sword. She talks about learning how to play songs in under a week in the hopes of making her father happy, but he was too saddened over her mother's death. With her guard left down, he steals away her sword in the match. Cyrus prompts her to be creative, though she ends up backed up against a tree as he blocks her escape at every turn. Cyrus instructs her to have advantages by knowing who she is up against, and to his surprise, she kisses him, which he happily returns. At dawn, Cyrus watches Alice still sound asleep after spending a night under the Tum Tum Tree. To his dismay, he's quickly falling in love with her, which will make their parting all the more painful for him. When she awakens, Alice gushes about going to the Boiling Sea next, but he interrupts to suggest it's time for her to make the wishes. She is saddened by his response until he confesses his true feelings for her and what he fears at their eventual separation. Alice reciprocates her feelings back and promises to never move on from him if he does the same. Choosing love over the wishes, the two bury the bottle in a pasture near a dandy-lion sculpted tree.

While camping out one night, Cyrus tells Alice about a compass once gifted to him by his mother, which, up until recent years, always pointed him to her direction. Abruptly, he is threatened at sword point by three bandits, who greedily desire three wishes from him. Alice jumps in to fight them and soon they have no choice but to retreat. However, she passes out from an abdomen wound sustained earlier in the battle. He carries her all the way to the White Rabbit's house as Mrs. Rabbit makes an elixir to heal Alice. While she is resting up, the White Rabbit expresses concerns about Alice, who will always be in danger despite having chosen to be with Cyrus. The White Rabbit persuades Cyrus to think about Alice's safety, even if it means he must part from her to ensure it. Cyrus goes to the Caterpillar to settle a deal for making people disappear. As payment, he gives him the compass, which has power in always pointing in the direction of the thing or person the user desires to find. In return, the Caterpillar makes an invisible hideout for Cyrus in the Outlands. Later, Cyrus takes Alice there, but talks to her first about his fears that she will always be in danger because of him. Alice convinces him that she can handle herself no whatever what life throws at them. The only thing she doesn't wish is to be apart from him. Since she is willing to stay, he leads her into the hideout, which can serve as a home for them. When she learns he gave up something for the hideout, Cyrus assures her that it was well worth the sacrifice.

Later, Cyrus and Alice arrive at the cliff of the Boiling Sea after many adventures together. In her distraction, Alice nearly slips, but he catches her in time. Both express happiness at having met the other, to which Cyrus uses the moment to talk about the thousands of years spent granting the wishes of humans, and his only wish was for freedom, but now he has another. Even before Cyrus has the chance to begin his proposal speech, Alice, in delight, accepts and the two share a romantic kiss. Then, Cyrus shows Alice the necklace he wears, and tells her it will always shine when their hearts are near. Interrupted by the Red Queen and her guards, the two fight against them until only a few guards remain. However, Alice is held down while Cyrus is dragged away by them, so he breaks free to rescue her. However, before they can reunite and escape together, the Red Queen uses magic to push Cyrus off the cliff. To Alice, he appears to fall to his own death after disappearing past the sea's smoke, but in actuality, is saved by a flying magic carpet and taken prisoner in Jafar's lair.

Trapped in a silver cage in Jafar's lair, Cyrus wakes up sensing his love, Alice, nearby after she finds his necklace. Later, he reaches consciousness with the same sensation. At another hanging cage, a prisoner asks if he's alright. The man notices Cyrus' recent arm burns from attempting to reach outside the enclosure, which is impossible since the silver in the cage only causes bodily harm. Though the man tries to distract him with a makeshift chess game, Cyrus is disinterested; drawing a laugh from the latter who wonders if he has something better to do. An idea suddenly comes to mind as Cyrus takes out a piece of magical paper, scrawls a message to Alice and folds it into an origami crane. Then, he works up the nerve to push his own arm outside of the cage, though it is very painful, to release the crane into the air. It flies off as he tears his arm back into the confines of the cage. Cyrus watches it disappear out of the lair until he collapses in exhaustion, but suddenly Jafar storms in. Lowering the cage to ground level, Jafar magically grabs hold of Cyrus' neck while interrogating him about the bottle's location. To compel the truth out, Jafar tightens his grip on Cyrus, who challenges the sorcerer to kill him. Instead, Jafar poses a fate far worse, if not told where the bottle is, by allowing Cyrus to watch as he murders Alice in front of him. Stoically, Cyrus remains silent in defiance until the Red Queen appears from behind to state that she possesses the bottle. At this, Jafar releases Cyrus and turns around to confront her. Cyrus catches his breath as the two have an exchange; with Jafar being outsmarted and having no choice but to do as the Red Queen wants since she now holds the bottle.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

Cyrus is awoken as Jafar and the Red Queen dine at a nearby table. Jafar confronts him about a certain paper crane he found flitting about earlier on, and walks over to Cyrus' lowered cage to read him what it says. On the paper, Alice wrote back she is coming to rescue Cyrus. In the next step of their plan, the Red Queen begins flipping through a book to decide which terrifying creature to send after Alice so she will be forced to make her first wish. At the mention of the Bandersnatch, Cyrus fools Jafar, who is gauging his facial reactions to each beast the Red Queen names out loud, into thinking Alice's fate at the hands of the creature will not end well. In actuality, Cyrus once taught Alice how to overpower a Bandersnatch by using its weak eyesight to her own advantage. After the Bandersnatch is slayed, Jafar recognizes Alice did not actually make her first wish, and the beast was killed through other means. To himself, Cyrus happily praises Alice's cleverness.

As a guard lazily stands on watch duty in Jafar's lair, he snacks on meat. Cyrus notices and pleads that he hasn't eaten in days and would be grateful for even a morsel left on the bone. The guard relents and throws the remnant bone to Cyrus, who catches it. The other prisoner feels pity for Cyrus' hunger getting the best of him to the point of groveling. Yet, Cyrus turns around to show that it wasn't the food he wanted, but the wishbone. Cyrus splits the bone in half and begins sharping both so each has a pointy end. To test it, he pokes his finger with one, drawing blood, to make sure the bone is getting ground down enough. The guard catches sight that Cyrus is hiding something and orders him to show his hands. Cyrus does as he is told and the guard lets the subject drop after not seeing anything suspicious. However, the guard abruptly turns the switch to push down Cyrus' cage, forcing one of the bones to bounce out, to which he picks it up and lets it drop down to seemingly bottomless pit of the lair. All of a sudden, Cyrus feels Alice making her first wish. Jafar pays him a visit to gloat about it and how very soon he'll be back in his bottle. Though Cyrus' hard work in escaping and his spirits are dampened by Jafar, he still has another trick up his sleeve with the other half of the wishbone. He describes the origin of the wishbone as a myth genies made up to trick people into thinking they can grant their own wishes without a bottle. By breaking a wishbone, whoever possesses the larger half can make a wish, or so people believe. In actuality, a wishbone wants the same thing as what others desire; to be joined with their other half. Cyrus demonstrates by putting the halved wishbone through one of the gaps on the bottom of the cage as the other lost half rises from below to rejoin with its match in the same position on the outside side of the enclosure. As they stick together, Cyrus drags the wishbone in his hand to carve a way out of the cage.

Cyrus notices the old prisoner, who was previously forced out of his cage, is pushed back in. The man explains of the hard labor he was made to do and admits to possessing something Jafar wants, but doesn't say what it is. As he continues to use the wishbone to cut out the bottom of his cage, the old prisoner explains to him that the hallway leads to a staircase that only lead downwards. He says there are few guards inside, but this can mean Jafar has more of them set up outside of the lair. Cyrus thinks they can use the darkness at nightfall to their advantage for escaping. The prisoner is more worried about having witnessed others before him try to leave, but none have ever made it out. However, he believes Cyrus has enough determination to free himself from the circumstances. At Cyrus' mention of a loved one or family, the prisoner briefly reminisces about having a life once, but it's lost now. This is all the more reason that Cyrus wants to free him, too, so he can begin a new life. Cyrus kicks out the cut out bottom of his cage and swings the enclosure until he is at a near enough distance to make a jump for the platform. He barely makes it and almost loses his grip as a guard approaches to check up on them. Cyrus sneaks up on the guard from behind and pushes him down to the bottomless pit. Then, he throws the prisoner a set of keys to use one of them to free himself. Though the man catches the keys, he purposely drops it. The prisoner urges Cyrus to go on without him as he will only slow things down. Cyrus worries what will happen if he leaves him behind. The prisoner reassures that Jafar won't kill him, so Cyrus bids him a last farewell. In the hallway, Cyrus bumps into the White Rabbit and pleads for him not to tell Jafar. The White Rabbit allows him to leave, to which Cyrus finds his way outside of the lair.

After scaling down a wall, he escapes through the woods. To send his pursuers on the wrong path, he makes footprints leading to the river, but backtracks and hides in the bush as Jafar's guards pass by. His road to freedom ends at a cliff where the Red Queen corners him. She applauds him for the heroic endeavor to reach Alice, but the harsh reality is sometimes love is not enough. In the distance, Cyrus sees the glow of his necklace in Alice's possession. With his faith in Alice reinforced, he jumps into the sea. He lands at the shoreline unconscious, but groggily awakens.

Cyrus finds himself caught in a trap in the forest. The Red Queen picks him up in a carriage and then enters into an abandoned wagon to retrieve the genie bottle. She directs Cyrus to take her to Alice, and questions if he would rather Jafar find his beloved instead. Cyrus can tell just by looking that the Red Queen strongly desires a wish, but she won't speak on the matter. They arrive at the Outlands where Cyrus is set free and allowed to go to Alice. He approaches the invisible hideout just as Alice runs out to reunite with him. However, her mood sours upon seeing the Red Queen. Though Cyrus states that the Red Queen helped him, Alice still doesn't trust her. The Red Queen proceeds to urge that they must leave Wonderland before a dangerous storm cloud Jafar summoned reaches them all. Alice refuses to go without an explanation for the Red Queen's actions thus far, including her reasons for taking away Cyrus and desiring the bottle. In an emotional outburst, the Red Queen admits to Knave that she wants him back, and by breaking the laws of magic, they can go back to the past and resume their relationship, but he wants nothing more to do with her. Alice is still not convinced, but Cyrus recognizes the Red Queen is indeed telling the truth, as he wasn't wrong about her desire for a wish. Reluctantly, Alice chooses to believe in her, too, since Cyrus does, and asks the White Rabbit to dig a hole to take them someplace safe. As the storm cloud closes in, the Red Queen uses the bottle as a shield against a lightning bolt, which then bounces off and fatally wounds Knave. He nears death, Alice, too, begins to die as her first wish comes into full effect. Cyrus cradles Alice in his arms while urging her to use the last wish to save herself, but she refuses since he will be forced to return to the bottle. In the end, Cyrus gives Knave the third wish, which he uses to "end Alice's suffering". Alice is revived as Cyrus' servitude as a genie ends, however, Knave takes his place as a price of the wish.

The morning after, Cyrus, Alice and the Red Queen follow a stream in the hopes of finding the bottle. While they walk, the Red Queen mysteriously disappears. Cyrus finds a torn off piece of the Red Queen's dress and broken branches that indicate a struggle occurred. Using moss from the north side of a tree, a stone as white as moon and a feather, he casts a locator spell on the dress piece to take them directly to the Red Queen, who has been tied to a post by a crowd of angry peasants. He and Alice want to pay for her freedom, but since they have nothing to give, the peasants bind them up as well. At nightfall, the torches surrounding the trio attract large beasts, the Mome Raths, and though they put out the flames, the creatures draw near due to the glow of Alice's necklace. They escape after she gives up the pendant to the Mome Raths; allowing the three of them to flee. In the forest, they spot fireworks emitting from a town, though the Red Queen says the place is too poor to afford such luxuries, let alone food, causing the group to recognize that Knave must have used his genie powers. Before they reach town, Cyrus formally proposes to Alice with a ring, which she wholeheartedly accepts. After much searching around, the Red Queen finds the bottle, though she purposely rubs it; causing Knave to pop out and recognize her as his next master. To Cyrus' distress, he discovers the two other bottles in Jafar's possession contain his brothers. He and Alice plan to rescue them while the Red Queen, recognizing the error of her ways, chips in to help.

Cyrus plans to undo the curse that made his brothers into genies by tracking down Nyx. When Alice curiously asks him about the nature of how he became a genie, Cyrus avoids the topic; secretly too ashamed to speak of it. They reach the location of Wonderland's Well of Wonders, but can only enter by solving a guard's riddle and choosing the correct door. Alice cleverly picks the left door after realizing the guard is lying when he answers affirmatively or negatively. Cyrus approaches the Well of Wonders alone and begs Nyx to be merciful towards his brothers, who are innocent and only stole the water because he told them to, and asks for the curse to be removed. Nyx states that it can only happen if the water is returned. Cyrus believes this to be impossible since the water was given to his mother and she is long dead, though Nyx can sense otherwise. When he questions her about where his mother is, she disappears under the well's surface without answering. Afterwards, he discovers Alice overheard on his conversation with the well guardian. Cyrus explains his reason for not telling her sooner, as he believes everything from his brothers' entrapment to her suffering, is punishment for his mistakes. Alice comforts him with knowledge that all people have regrets and constantly looking to the past is no way to make a future.

To find his mother, Cyrus tries to barter for magic compass, which he had traded to the Caterpillar in the past, but the dealer won't agree unless Alice and Knave are turned over to him. While he is buying time, Alice, in shrunken form, finds the compass for him. Cyrus causes a full-on brawl to break out between the Caterpillar's patrons and secretly swipes the compass. Back at the Outlands, Cyrus and Alice are surprised by Tweedledee, who orders them to leave Wonderland as per the Red Queen's request since Jafar is now the owner of Knave's bottle. Rather than do that, they have Tweedledee show them the castle's underground passageways to gain access inside. The two arrive in the dungeon seeking the three bottles and ask the Red Queen to stall Jafar from using them to break the laws of magic, but she can't. Cyrus has a brief reunion with the Old Prisoner before they are forced to hide as Jafar and the Jabberwocky enter. From the shadows, they watch the sorcerer interrogate the Red Queen, whom he believes is using magic on Knave to render his spell to break the laws of magic useless. The Jabberwocky, after probing for an answer, states that Knave is without a heart, but inadvertently reveals Cyrus and Alice to Jafar when admitting the information came from someone else present in the dungeon. After making a hasty escape, Cyrus recognizes that the Jabberwocky must have read Alice's mind. They decide to beat Jafar to the punch by finding Knave's heart first. Luckily, Alice already knows where it is since Knave confided in her, so they have the White Rabbit take them to the exact location. Arriving on the streets of Storybrooke, the twosome are led by the White Rabbit into Knave's home where Alice figures out the heart is in a wall behind a poster of the Red Queen. Upon returning to Wonderland with plans of hiding the heart, the compass begins reacting just as Jafar corners them; blasting the twosome away and snatching Knave's heart. However, when using the staff to kill Cyrus, the weapon deflects its own power onto Jafar. Cyrus gains the staff, to which Jafar tries to repossess it, but the gadget once again thwarts his attempt; forcing the villain to flee. After a quick test with the compass, Cyrus discovers the device continually points at the staff, who is actually his mother in disguise.

As Alice and Cyrus set out to return the water inside Amara to Nyx, Knave arrives requesting the staff so Jafar can break the laws of magic and ultimately revive the now deceased Anastasia. They both refuse, with Alice insisting that that even if Jafar keeps his end of the bargain, giving him that kind of power will result in many more deaths. Accepting the inevitable, Knave decides to go with them to the Well of Wonders. During a camping night, Cyrus catches Knave stealing the staff and is promptly knocked out by him. When he awakens, Knave is gone. Using the compass, Cyrus and Alice split up to corner him. Alice returns with Knave and the three continue on until ambushed by the Jabberwocky, whose desire to gain freedom from Jafar prompts her to strike a deal with them. Cyrus is brought into the castle as a "prisoner" by the Jabberwocky while Alice and Knave will sneak in through the underground tunnel. To Jafar, he lies, stating the serpent staff, along with Alice and Knave, are long gone, to which the Jabberwocky backs up his claim. With his wrists bound, Cyrus witnesses Jafar summon Knave and demand the staff's location. Amara, now human, arrives to magically spar with her former apprentice. During the distraction, Cyrus works to undo his binds, but is suddenly stabbed by Jafar and quickly perishes. Confronted with the loss of her son, Amara willingly assists Jafar in breaking the laws of magic so Cyrus can be revived.

Trivia

 * The casting call describes him as, "Middle Eastern, attractive and soulful. Though he's optimistic, which gives him a Zen dreaminess, he has an inner fire." He is also described as "Alice's love interest with a background shrouded in mystery."
 * The casting call name for him was "Amahl".
 * The name "Cyrus" is of Ancient Greek origin derived from the Greek form of the Persian name "Kūrush" with theorized meanings such as "far-sighted" and "young".
 * According to Peter Gadiot, Cyrus is two-hundred years old.