Ill-Boding Patterns

"I was a coward, Father, just like you. But we can show your mother that she was wrong about both of us."

- Gideon to Mr. Gold

"Ill-Boding Patterns" is the thirteenth episode of Season Six of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Andrew Chambliss & Dana Horgan, and directed by Ron Underwood. It is the one hundredth and twenty-fourth episode of the series overall, and premiered on March 19, 2017.

Synopsis
When Gideon resumes his mission to kill Emma and become the Savior, Mr. Gold steps in to ensure that the use of dark magic does not poison his son. Meanwhile, Robin proves willing to ally himself with anyone offering the possibility of escape from Regina and Storybrooke. Hook gathers the courage to come clean to Emma, but not before she discovers he’s been keeping a secret. And in a flashback to Fairy Tale Land, the legendary folk hero Beowulf sets his sights on Rumplestiltskin after the Dark One uses his powers to defeat the ogres and win the war for humanity.

Regina visits Snow
In a deleted scene, Regina visits Snow to talk with her. Snow is surprised to see her, and asks her what is wrong.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin (Credit only)
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills/Evil Queen (Serum)
 * Josh Dallas (Credit only)
 * Emilie de Ravin as Belle French
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Jared S. Gilmore (Credit only)
 * Rebecca Mader as Zelena
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Sean Maguire as Robin of Locksley (Wish Realm)
 * Giles Matthey as Gideon
 * Raphael Sbarge as Archie Hopper
 * Keegan Connor Tracy as Mother Superior
 * Torstein Bjørklund as Beowulf
 * Brandon Spink as Baelfire

Co-Starring

 * Samuel Patrick Chu as Frightened Soldier
 * Chris Loubardeas as Reveling Soldier
 * Angela Moore as Villager

Uncredited

 * Unknown baby as Robin

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features an ogre.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on November 15, 2016.
 * The episode's title appears in a passage between the lines 1455 to 1458 of the poem Beowulf, in which Hrunting - the sword given to Beowulf by Unferth - is described: "The iron blade with its ill-boding patterns had been tempered in blood".
 * When the ogres are fighting the soldiers, sending them flying through the air one by one, a Wilhelm scream is heard. The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect of a man screaming that has been used in hundreds of movies and television episodes.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place after "Desperate Souls" and before "Nasty Habits".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Murder Most Foul" and before "Page 23".

Episode Connections

 * Rumplestiltskin became the Dark One in "Desperate Souls".
 * Emma defeated Gideon in "Tougher Than the Rest". The Hrunting sword was broken in the same episode.
 * Mr. Gold mentions the loss of his first son, an event that took place in "Quiet Minds".
 * Gideon mentions how his mother gave him her copy of Her Handsome Hero, which happened in "Changelings".
 * Hook addresses Archie as "cricket", just like he did in "The Cricket Game".
 * Gideon transformed the Evil Queen into a snake in "Wish You Were Here".
 * Gideon and Mother Superior talk about how Mother Superior became his fairy godmother and was supposed to protect him, referring to events in "Changelings".
 * Regina calls the Evil Queen "queenie", just like she did in "Dark Waters". Emma used the same word to address the Snow Queen in "The Snow Queen". It is also similar to "greenie", Regina's nickname for Zelena in "Mother".
 * Emma notices that Hook has been drinking rum and playfully comments that she "thought they were switching to water", referring to what she said in "Tougher Than the Rest".
 * The chest where Emma says she found Hook's engagement ring is the same chest that Hook brought with him from the Jolly Roger when he moved in with in Emma in "Strange Case".
 * Hook comes clean to Emma about his secret in "Page 23".


 * -|Cultural References=

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of the Beowulf poem with Beowulf, his sword Hrunting and a mention of the Grendel.
 * It also features Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairytale, Robin Hood from the ballad, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, the Evil Queen from the Snow White fairytale, and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story.

Popular Culture

 * When Emma kisses Hook, she finds that he tastes like Captain Morgan, a brand of rum.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * According to the label, the bottle that Hook is drinking from contains Hector's (the name is printed vertically on the back of the bottle) distilled and hand blended River Rum from Oracabessa, Jamaica.
 * The first two pages in Gideon's spell book are adapted from The Book of Ceremonial Magic by the American-born, British poet and scholarly mystic A. E. Waite. The book was first published in 1889, and is an attempt to document many of the famous grimoires (textbooks of magic). The excerpt in Gideon's book is from the section "The Conjuration of the Book" in Chapter VII, which is about The Grimoire of Pope Honorius, an 18th to 19th century grimoire, claiming to be written by Pope Honorius III. Note that in The Book of Ceremonial Magic, the text on page two of Gideon's book actually appears before the information on page one, with the information on page one being a direct continuation of the text on page two.


 * One of the accompanying illustrations shows a symbol similar to the Icelandic magical staves agishjálmur, Þjófastafur, vegvísir and veidistafur. Icelandic magical staves are symbols credited with magical effects, preserved in various grimoires dating from the seventeenth century and later.
 * Another page reads:

An enchanted blade may ebb and wane in time with scores of differing hands on the hilt. Like an oft blood letted vein, energy escapes. To invigorate the instrument in question, the practitioner should find the smith who originally forged the blade. Some blood of that might will needed [sic] to commence the great work. Make a magic circle with rope and estab- lish the four quarters with a dedication to the old ones. Mix the blood of the smith with some wolfsbane and some juniper berries. Pour this concoction into a cauldron and stir it in a deasil motion on a clear evening when the moon is waxing gibbous. When the concoction has cooled, dip the blade into the cauldron while willing the lost magic to return. North Sanguinem et ferrum* South *Latin for "blood and iron"


 * According to magic lore, wolfsbane can be used to prevent shapeshifting, and has traditionally been used to protect homes from werewolves. Bundles of wolfsbane can be placed around barns and pastures to protect livestock from predators (this requires taking care that the livestock have no access to the plant, as wolfsbane is highly poisonous, and ingesting even a small amount can kill you). It can also be used to bring harm to another by creating "elf bolts" of sharpened flint dipped in wolfsbane juice and using it to pierce a poppet for the victim.


 * As Zelena prepares to leave Storybrooke with Robin, her suitcases are green.

Costume Notes

 * Belle is wearing a J.Crew Sailor skirt in Double Serge Wool (no longer available).
 * The skirt was also worn by the character Sabrina Pemberton on The Mick episode "The Country Club".
 * Emma is wearing a Jenni Kayne Striped Cashmere sweater (no longer available). She wears the same sweater in "Page 23".


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * The Evil Queen's appearance has changed since "Wish You Were Here". Her earrings have been changed and a scarf has been added around her neck.


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * Some scenes of the episode were filmed at the Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, British Columbia.
 * Some of the outdoor scenes with Rumplestiltskin and Beowulf were filmed in the forests of Vancouver.