Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-13019683-20140901180344/@comment-91424-20141011225851

William warlow wrote: Here's my not-so-impossible theory about the return of Zoso. After returning home, Hans is exiled to the dishonor that has resulted, during the exile continues to believe Elsa responsible for his downfall and so he decides to take revenge but he realizes that the only way to defeat it is to use magic. Wanting to be like Elsa, Hans becomes the apprentice to a powerful wizard/witch (perhaps Mitchell's character or the Evil Troll of the original tale), but his magic is too little to be like Elsa so he and his teacher use the future Vault of the Dark One (which I think is the Cauldron Black) for donor Hans greater power. However, all magic comes at a price and Hans' life is linked to the dagger (like Jafar with the lamp in Aladdin).

If he is Zoso: After turning into the first Dark One, Hans rename himself Zoso and this name appears on the dagger as part of the necessary elements to control it. Since Mitchell is most likely the antagonist of 4A, you may find that you need to Elsa for some reason and it is revealed that prevented Zoso to kill her and her locked up in the urn while the dagger is given to someone (perhaps the aforementioned Duke of Frontierland or an ancestor) explaining why Zoso/Hans, who wanted to rule Arendelle, is so eager to die.

Hans can't be Zozo. That is impossible, and can be proven. We meet Zozo in "Desperate Souls", where Rumple kills him and becomes the new Dark One. "Desperate Souls" takes place sometime during the 1800s, as seen in "Second Star to the Right", where Baelfire travels to the Land Without Magic, after his father became the Dark One. In "Manhattan", Gold says that he's had the Dagger for "hundreds of years, and in "Going Home", Pan says that Gold is "a couple hundred" years old. (Yes, I know that Robert Carlyle claims that Rumple is three hundred years old, but that is directly contradicted by the show itself.)

Elsa's story takes place during the years leading up to the Dark Curse. This is proven when Anna meets Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest. The Dark Curse was cast in 1983, as seen in "Welcome to Storybrooke". Therefore, Hans cannot possibly be the Dark One.