Darkness

"I'm many things. I'm the voice in your head; the Dark One's powers inside you, inside all the Dark Ones."

- The Darkness, under Rumplestiltskin's appearance, to Emma

The Darkness, and its host the Dark One, is a magical entity featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It débuts in the first episode of the first season.

Description
The Darkness is, as the name implies, a dark magical entity resided in all the Dark Ones. It was first created when Nimue corrupted her Holy Grail magic by using her powers for evil, which is killing someone. The more Dark Ones are klled and other hosts take its place, the more powerful the Darkness becomes.

Powers and Abilities

 * The host uses Witchcraft by the knowledge of the Holy Grail and the Darkness, so they don't need to learn the magical arts as other practitioners of magic do.
 * The Darkness is immortal. This is a result of Nimue drinking the waters of the Holy Grail.
 * Because of that, Dark Ones don't get affected by tempatures, so they don't get cold or hot.
 * They also don't need sleep, as the power of the Darkness keeps them energized. Dark Ones such as Rumplestiltskin and Emma develop hobbies to pass the time instead; Rumplestiltskin spins straw into gold and Emma makes dreamcatchers.
 * Even though they don't need it, they can and do sleep.
 * They can also be put into sleep by using sleeping spells.
 * Dark Ones cannot use Foresight, even though Merlin, who also got his magic from the Holy Grail, can. However, they can acquire it from another source, such as another practitioner of foresight.
 * Dark Ones are immune to the Spell of Shattered Sight or Voodoo Magic; the former is due to Dark Ones already having a full of heart with Darkness, while the later is a relatively weak magic for a Dark One.

The Dark One and the Darkness

 * The Darkness can appear in a Dark One's mind to corrupt the host even more, just like it did with Emma Swan and Hook. It's unknown if this situation also happened with Rumplestiltskin, Zoso or Gorgon the Invincible, since Emma and Hook did not become Dark One in a traditional way, by killing the previous host, therefore, were not corrupted in the beginning, unlike other hosts.
 * When appearing in a Dark One's mind, the Darkness can manifest itself into whichever Dark One it wishes, including the current one, or all of them at once.
 * There can be more than one Dark One at once, as demonstrated by Emma Swan and Killian Jones.
 * Due to being tethered to the Dark One Dagger, the Darkness and the dagger are connected. As a result, the dagger sometimes calls its "other half" by whispering. It can also call the previous host if they are alive at that point. However, the situation is extremely rare, as the only previous hosts that are alve are Emma Swan and Hook.
 * Due to unknown reasons, all Dark Ones seem to find it irresistible to make deals.
 * A Dark One somehow losing his magic and immortality may not mean that the Dark One loses his Dark One-ness, since Wish Henry removed all of Weaver's powers of the Dark One with the Author's pen, but he still remained as the Dark One.

Erasing and Passing of the Darkness

 * The traditional and most-known way to kill the Dark One is to stab them with the Dark One Dagger, and the power of the Darkness passes to the one who killed them.
 * True love's kiss will not break a Dark One's curse if the Dark One likes the power and does not want to give it up. When the afflicted wants it, it is no longer a curse.
 * Nor will true love's kiss work if both people involved are Dark Ones.
 * According to Cora and Mr. Gold, when the Dark One is killed without the dagger, such as by being poisoned with the dreamshade in the Land Without Magic, she/he will expel the power of the darkness, with no new Dark One, and the curse will "pass from this world".
 * It is possible for a Dark One to kill themselves with the dagger. However, the Darkness is automatically send itself to the Vault of the Dark One, ready to spread to the world with its previous host after someone sacrifices themselves.
 * According to Mr. Gold, a person who dies as a Dark One must have an unfinished business, therefore this person is automatically sent to the Underworld. However, this is proven false, as Weaver died as a Dark One and went to Mount Olympus to be with Belle instead of the Underworld. It should be noted, though, that his heart had been purged of the Darkness during his sacrifice.

"Wish" Darkness

 * After the creation of the Wish Realm, a part of the Darkness became the Wish version of the Dark One. The Wish version became linked to its main reality version: if the main reality Dark One loses his position of the Dark One, it will be the same for his Wish Realm version.

Trivia

 * -|On-Screen Notes=

On-Screen Notes

 * Zoso, as a Dark One, appears in the title card for "Desperate Souls"; Rumplestiltskin, as another Dark One, appears in the title card for "In the Name of the Brother". The Darkness itself appears in the title card for "Birth". The hooded figures of all Dark Ones prior to Rumplestiltskin appear in the title card for "Swan Song".
 * The waterfall in the pocket dimension inside the Vault of the Dark One is liquid darkness.
 * There is information about the Dark Ones written in the Dark One Chronicles.
 * The fact that Emma could still hear the whispers from the dagger was due to her being a former Dark One who was still alive while the Darkness still existed.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * When Emma emerges from vault, the Darkness (in the form of Rumplestiltskin) can be heard whistling "Whistle While You Work" from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.