Hook

"A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets."

- Hook to Rumplestiltskin

Killian Jones, better known as Captain Hook, formerly known as the Dark One, and briefly known as Prince Charles, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the fourth episode of the second season and is portrayed by starring cast member Colin O'Donoghue and guest star Oliver Bell. He is the main reality version of Hook.

Hook is based on the character of the same name from the play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, and the Disney film Peter Pan.

Trivia

 * -|Character Notes=

Etymology

 * Hook is one of very few Enchanted Forest characters to have a known surname.
 * In the original story, the character is known as James Hook.
 * The Hook family coat of arms contains three fleurs-de-lis. Three fleurs-de-lis are also on Hook's pirate necklace.

Character Notes

 * Hook is featured in the title card for "Devil's Due".
 * Has a tattoo with Milah's name on his right wrist. It shows the Dark One Dagger going through a heart.
 * Hook is the character who has been to the most different worlds throughout the series: nine (Fairy Tale Land, Neverland, Wonderland, Land Without Magic, Underworld, Mount Olympus, Land of Untold Stories, Netherworld and New Fairy Tale Land).
 * According to Hook, he is quite adept at finding buried treasures and reading pirate maps, which he did for the Dark One Dagger.
 * Hook claims to be two hundred years old by the time the second curse is broken.
 * According to Adam Horowitz, they never gave the exact age for Hook, and referred to it only in hyperbole, but he is very old.
 * Hook understands Greek, which he learned in the Royal Navy. When he and Emma find the true love scale, he translates the Greek inscription with ease.
 * Hook is the only character to have avoided being cursed despite the fact that he has been in every location that the Dark Curse was cast.
 * He avoided the first curse due to Cora’s protection spell and was frozen in time for twenty-eight years.
 * When the second curse was cast, he immediately drove his ship out of the curse’s reach.
 * He himself cast the third curse. But due to his intentions, the curse did not give anyone new memories, hairstyle or wardrobe changes based on our world.
 * Due to the Black Fairy’s intentions, Hook, along with the heroes except Emma Swan, did not get cursed but was only transported back to the Enchanted Forest.
 * Many years before the fifth curse, Hook decided to get back to Storybrooke with Emma. Wish Hook got cursed instead.


 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * Before Colin O'Donoghue was cast, Hook appeared in a special, non-canon promo for Season Two. In the promo, Henry warns the viewer that bad things are still happening, despite the curse being broken. The promo then cuts to a mysterious man breaking into Mr. Gold's pawnshop. He spins a globe and is perturbed by the noisy ticking clock on the counter. Using the clock to break the glass, the man retrieves a hook and placing it on the end of his arm.
 * The casting call describes him as, "A handsome, fearsome and confident pirate ship captain, Hook relishes every challenge and never backs down from a fight, whether the reward is power, riches or women. He possesses the meticulous style and old-school manners of a proper gentleman, but beneath that veneer lies a vindictive enemy who will not rest until all his enemies have been defeated… and humiliated."
 * The show creators originally wanted Hook to be part of the first season, but weren't able to because of a copyright issue. In the second season, they finally got to venture into Peter Pan mythology.
 * Colin O'Donoghue originally signed on for a five-episode guest role, although there was a clause in his contract saying that he could be upped to series regular, but it wasn't guaranteed. However, the people behind the show liked his performance so much that they made him a regular even before his first episode aired.
 * Actor Gil McKinney, who portrays Prince Eric, once auditioned for the role of Hook.
 * At one point there were talks about Hook having long hair and Colin O'Donoghue wearing a wig for the role, because pirates often have long hair in movies. Eventually, they gave up on that idea.
 * At first Hook was going to sport a curved mustache, but Colin O'Donoghue immediately said no.
 * Colin O'Donoghue spoke to Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis about giving Hook an Irish accent, but the show creators wanted his accent to be British, since the character is traditionally English. Colin then suggested not to tie down his accent and spent some time working on it.
 * Hook is inspired by Sawyer from Lost, another TV show that show creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis worked on. The show creators have also stated that they look at Hook as their version of Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise.
 * Fittingly enough, Emma's alias in the Enchanted Forest is Princess Leia, Han Solo's love interest.
 * Colin O'Donoghue's portrayal is inspired by Wesley the Dread Pirate Roberts from the movie The Princess Bride.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * When Hook first arrives in Storybrooke, Hook is shown from behind, standing on a yard while holding on to it with his left appendage, and looking at the town while the camera zooms in on him. The camera then zooms in on his face as his hair is blowing in the wind. Hook then grabs a rope that was next to the mast, hangs on to it and jumps to the deck below. This is exactly the same as Captain Jack Sparrow's introduction in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
 * While trapped in Isaac's book, Emma calls Hook a "regular Jack Sparrow".
 * In Neverland, Hook says to Baelfire, "It's a pirate's life for you", which references the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
 * Hook tells Robert, "Dead men tell no tales", a phrase famously quoted in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (more specifically, in The Curse of the Black Pearl and At World's End), and the title of the fifth installment of the series.
 * While in Neverland, Emma notes Captain Hook's appearance in the animated film Peter Pan as sporting a "waxed mustache and a perm".
 * In "The Apprentice", Emma says to Hook, "You look...", and Hook answers, "I know". This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where Princess Leia tells Han Solo that she loves him, and he answers, "I know". In "The Price", the lines are reversed, with Hook saying, "Swan, you look...", and she answers, "I know", mirroring the scene in Return of the Jedi, where Han Solo tells Leia that he loves her, and Leia answers, "I know".
 * When Henry and Hook rescue Emma from prison, Henry refers to this as the "Wookiee prisoner transfer" ploy. This is a reference to the scene from A New Hope, where Han Solo and Luke Skywalker enter the Death Star's detention area to rescue Princess Leia. Hook tells the guard his prisoner is "from the kingdom of Kashyyyk", referencing the Wookiee home planet from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
 * In addition, Hook makes a reference to Henry's "Wookiee prisoner gag" in "The Dark Swan" and "Dark Waters".
 * As a Dark One, Hook's magic smoke color is dark red, which is a reference to Disney's Captain Hook and the color of his clothes.

Lost

 * There are close-ups of Hook's eyes as he studies a potion bottle in Regina's vault. This is a common theme on Lost.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * Hook says that Peter Pan is the villain in Neverland, not he. J.M. Barrie's original draft of the play actually depicts Pan as the villain, kidnapping children from their beds. Captain Hook was only introduced later as a theatrical device to help stagehands change scenery.
 * In the Peter Pan novel, Captain Hook is described as a "boatswain to Blackbeard". This connection is alluded to in Isaac's storybook, where Hook works as a deckhand for Black Beard.

Popular Culture

 * Hook's line to Emma, "As you wish", is a direct reference to the movie The Princess Bride, in which Westley the Dread Pirate Roberts says to Princess Buttercup, "As you wish", which actually means "I love you".
 * After going back in time, Hook's alias in the Enchanted Forest is Prince Charles; a reference to the current Prince of Wales, who is currently first in line for the British throne.
 * When Emma kisses Hook before he proposes to her, she finds him tasting like Captain Morgan, a type of rum.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * After Rumplestiltskin takes Hook's sword in "The Crocodile", Hook begins using Milah's sword. This can be seen in episodes like "Queen of Hearts", "Lost Girl" and "The Jolly Roger".
 * However, this contradicts with the events of "Siege Perilous" in which Emma needs an object that touched Mr. Gold before he became the Dark One and sets up a plan to get Hook's sword from him. Interestingly, the spell still works even it is not Hook's sword but Milah's, which never touched Rumplestiltskin at all.
 * There are three versions of Killian's hook. One is solid metal, and is sharp and heavy. One is aluminium and is a bit lighter. The third one is made of rubber, and is used for stunts or when there's any danger of cutting someone.
 * Among the sailing gear pictured on the cover on the nautical guide book which Belle consults, two are iron hooks.

Set Dressing

 * There is a navy officer doll and a knight doll near the baby crib in Emma's nursery room, foreshadowing events in "Good Form" and "The Jolly Roger".
 * There is a heart-shaped pirate keychain next to the swan keychain that Neal steals for Emma.
 * One of the carousels in the amusement park, which young Emma visits with her foster mother, has pirate flags.
 * A framed illustration of a hook is hanging on the wall inside the captains quarters aboard Captain Silver's ship.

Costume Notes

 * Hook's wardrobe is inspired by the electronic band Depeche Mode.
 * His pirate coat weighs a staggering fifty pounds (23 kg).
 * Hook's pirate necklace was designed by the Vancouver-based jewelry designer Bloodline Design and can be ordered via their Facebook page.
 * During the filming of Season Two, Hook's earring had to be changed from a clear stone to a black stone because the other one broke. The new one first appears in "Manhattan".
 * In the close-up of Hook's hand as he clutches the magic bean aboard the Jolly Roger, the ring on his index finger has a heart design on the side with an engraving of a silhouette of a swan's head. This is a reference to Emma Swan, and a subtle foreshadowing of the events in "There's No Place Like Home".
 * Hook's leather jacket from Season Four to Season Six is custom made by the Vancouver-based company Oceandrive Leather, which also designed several of Emma's leather jackets.
 * When Hook changes into his new Dark One outfit in the Enchanted Forest, the clasps on his vest are dragon-shaped, with their tails forming a trinity knot.
 * Young Killian's nightshirt is the same one worn by young John Darling in "Second Star to the Right".
 * The shirt Hook is wearing while assisting David with the murder of his father is the same shirt worn by the Seattle persona of his Wish Realm counterpart while he was investigating Henry's disappearance in "Chosen" and while investigating Nick Branson's death in "The Guardian".


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * In "The Evil Queen", when Hook is speaking to Regina in her office, the back of his ear is clearly visible several times, revealing that the earring is a clip-on.
 * In "Snow Drifts", when Emma is keeping past Hook occupied, while future Hook is skulking around the room, there is a wide shot where future Hook can be seen in the background, sneaking past a corner, and you can see the face of Colin O'Donoghue's body double.
 * In "Operation Mongoose Part 2", after Hook dies in the alternate reality, as he lays motionless on the ground, actor Colin O'Donoghue takes an obvious breath.
 * In "Broken Heart", when Hook and the others are transported to Storybrooke via the curse, his costume is different from the one he wears when everyone wakes up in Storybrooke in "The Dark Swan".


 * -|Other Notes=

Other Notes

 * In the Peter Pan novel, Captain Hook is described as "the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid". Barbecue is the nickname of Long John Silver in the novel Treasure Island.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.