Huntsman


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Sheriff Graham.''
 * ''This article focuses on the Huntsman's Enchanted Forest persona. For his Storybrooke counterpart, see
 * }

"I gave up my heart so that the Queen would spare Snow's. Don't let my sacrifice be in vain."

- The Huntsman to Prince Charming

The Huntsman is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the seventh episode of Season One. He is portrayed by starring cast member Jamie Dornan, and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Sheriff Graham.

The Huntsman is based on a character with the same name from the fairytale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"

Before the Curse
The Huntsman lives in the Enchanted Forest hunting deer for himself and his companion wolf. One day, he shoots a deer with an arrow and cries over its death; thanking it for its sacrifice. Just then, a low growl reverberates around the clearing and a giant wolf appears from the underbrush. The Huntsman knows it, and says that the two won't go hungry tonight.

Later, he goes to a bar to relax, and brings his wolf with him. Several patrons approach and insult his passive nature in shedding tears over killing a deer; trying to get a rise out of him. Instead, the Huntsman replies softly and calmly; angering one patron. This patron attempts to attack the Huntsman, but instead is countered and stabbed. Unbeknownst to the Huntsman, the Evil Queen is watching from her magic mirror and decides that he will be the one to perform a special job for her.

The Evil Queen's guards capture the Huntsman and bring him to the Evil Queen, who gives him a proposition. She wants him to kill someone for her, and promises many large rewards in exchange. The Huntsman reveals that he was brought up by wolves, and he wants her to promise him that the wolves would be protected. She agrees, and he asks her who he wants her to kill.

Disguised as one of the Evil Queen's men, he walks through the forest with a young woman, Snow White, whom the Queen wants him to kill, and to bring back her beating heart as proof of death. However, Snow White sees through his disguise, kicks him, and speeds off deeper into the forest. He takes off some of the burdensome armor and chases after her. When the Huntsman finds her, he stops, puzzled, to see her writing a farewell letter to her step-mother, the Evil Queen. She asks him to give the letter to the Queen when she is dead, and he reads the letter.

The letter's contents are so emotional it makes him cry. Snow White prepares herself for the blow from the Huntsman that will kill her, but instead he fashions a whistle out of a twig for her to use whenever she is in trouble. On his command, she is let go, and he takes the heart of a deer for the Queen instead.

He returns to the Dark Palace and gives the letter to the Queen, telling her that it was from Snow White. She wants nothing to do with it, but he reads it to her anyway. Halfway through, she rips it from his hands and throws it into the fireplace. Upon further inquiry, she reveals that Snow White betrayed her trust by revealing a well-kept secret. Then, she demands Snow White's heart.

The Huntsman gives her the heart of the deer and they go to the Queen's chamber of hearts. She holds the heart up, but when none of the containers open, she realizes that she has been tricked and that Snow White is still alive.

Furious, the Queen turns on the Huntsman and takes his heart as a replacement for Snow White's. She claims that he is hers now, and if he ever crossed her again, all she had to do was squeeze. She demonstrates, and the Huntsman collapses on the ground in pain. The guards come into the chamber of hearts and she orders them to take him to her bedroom. The Huntsman is dragged out, helpless and trapped. After that, he becomes one of the Evil Queen's henchman in the castle. But, he stills fights on the side of good despite his heart being in the Evil Queen's hands. He aids Prince Charming in his escape from Regina's castle; killing a guard and giving him provisions for his quest to find Snow White. When Prince Charming asks the Huntsman to join him, he says that he cannot; being bound to Regina by sacrificing his heart in place of Snow White's. After Regina returns to find Prince Charming gone, she threatens to kill the Huntsman for his incompetence. Though he swears to stop at nothing until Prince Charming is hunted down, the Queen turns her attention away from him when she sees the Magic Mirror is able to show her where the prince currently is, and uses her magic to trap the prince in the forest. For events occurring after the casting of the Dark Curse, see Sheriff Graham.

Trivia

 * Although it is never said in the film, the Huntsman's name in the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is "Humbert". Humbert is the last name of the character's Storybrooke counterpart, Sheriff Graham.