Old Prisoner

The Old Prisoner, formerly known as the Sultan, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. He débuts in the second episode of the first season and is portrayed by guest stars Brian George and Amir Arison.

History

 * -|Before the Curse=

As ruler of Agrabah, the Sultan happens to meet a young boy who dared to steal from one of his guards. Though prepared to sentence a punishment for the boy's hand to be cut off as penance, he is stunned to see a ring on the child that was once his. He learns the boy, Jafar, is the son of a woman he once had relations with. The Sultan pieces together that Jafar purposely stole in the hopes he might be recognized by him as his son. He rejects the notion immediately and instead sets Jafar up as a mere serving boy in the palace. One day, the Sultan is in a meeting with some officials who are complaining about a supply blockade with their northern neighbors which needs to be sorted out. The Sultan refuses to assist them, and turns to ask his son and heir, Mirza, to explain why it is so. Mirza states that it is against policy, though he doesn't know which one when questioned by an official. Jafar demonstrates superior knowledge of it being the farm policy, though the Sultan quickly covers for his son's humiliation by saying that in Agrabah even servants are educated. Later, he walks in on Mirza slapping Jafar for his earlier arrogance, and encourages his son to do it again, stating that if he is to one day be Sultan, people must fear him. In the washing room, the Sultan apologizes to Jafar as there are things that must be done to make sure children are raised properly. As Jafar goes to dry his face, the Sultan suffocates him to death in the water basin. Afterwards, he has the guards dispose of Jafar's body. Many years later, the Sultan is accosted by a grown up Jafar who storms into the palace throne room. Jafar threatens to kill him, and challenges Mirza to a duel. The Sultan watches in horror as his son attempts to run away and is murdered by Jafar's sorcery. Though Jafar wishes to be acknowledged as his son, the Sultan swears to never give him what he wants. The ex-Sultan becomes Jafar's prisoner in a lair for many years, and lives in solitary confinement until a much younger man, Cyrus, is captured and thrown into another hanging cage beside his own. One day, as Cyrus wakes with a start, he expresses concern for his well-being. He notices Cyrus' recent arm burns from attempting to reach outside the enclosure, which is an impossible feat since the silver in the cage only causes bodily harm. Though the man tries to distract him with a makeshift chess game, Cyrus is disinterested; drawing a laugh from the latter who wonders if he has something better to do. He watches Cyrus write something on magic paper, fold it into a crane and set it free outside the cage to fly away as a message delivery to his beloved Alice. To the man's dismay, Jafar storms in and yanks Cyrus' cage down enough to begin using physical harm to interrogate him about a bottle. Cyrus is released only when the Red Queen herself strolls in to have an exchange with Jafar.
 * -|After the Curse=

He watches Cyrus beg a guard for the remnants of a bone in the hopes of getting even a morsel of meat off of it. After the guard throws him the bone, the old prisoner expresses pity at Cyrus' hunger getting to the point of groveling. Yet, Cyrus turns around to show it wasn't the food he wanted, but the bone, which turns out to be a wishbone. Cyrus breaks the two ends apart and begins sharping both bones. However, he is discovered by a guard, and the older man warily looks on as one half of the bone is picked up by the henchman and dropped down into the bottomless pit of the lair. Shortly after, Jafar comes to visit Cyrus and gloat about Alice using her first wish and eventually the other two will come to pass as well. The old prisoner meets Jafar's glance, who in turn gives him an expectant nod. Luckily, Cyrus still has the other bone and begins telling the old prisoner about the myth of wishbones. He explains that genies created the lore so people would be misled into thinking they didn't need bottles to be granted wishes. By breaking a wishbone, whoever possesses the larger half can make a wish, or so people believe. In actuality, a wishbone wants the same thing as what others desire; to be joined with their other half. Cyrus demonstrates by placing the bone through a gap at the bottom of his cage, and to the old prisoner's amazement, the other lost half rises from below to reconnect with it. As they stick together, Cyrus uses the whole wishbone to cut a way out of the cage.

The old prisoner is subjected to heavy labor of carrying large boulders from the bottom of a staircase to the very top. After he is finished, the guards throw him back into his cage. As he catches his breath, the prisoner tells Cyrus what he was made to do, though the act of moving the boulders has no real purpose. Like Cyrus, he has something Jafar desires, but refuses to say what it is. Cyrus continues to carve out of his cage as the old prisoner explains to him that the hallway leads to some stairs that only go downwards. He says there are few guards inside, but this can mean Jafar has more of them set up outside of the lair. Cyrus thinks they can use the darkness at nightfall to their advantage for escaping. The prisoner is more worried about having witnessed others before him try to leave, but none have ever made it out. However, he believes Cyrus has enough determination to free himself from the circumstances. At Cyrus' mention of a loved one or family, the prisoner briefly reminisces about having a life once, but it's lost now. This is all the more reason that Cyrus wants to free him, too, so he can begin a new life. Cyrus kicks out the cut out bottom of his cage and swings the enclosure until he is at a near enough distance to make a jump for the platform. He barely makes it just as a guard is approaching to check up on them. The prisoner tries to distract the guard, but the man notices right away that Cyrus is gone from the cage. From behind, Cyrus catches the guard by surprise and pushes him into the bottomless pit. Then, he is thrown a set of keys from Cyrus to open his own cage door. After catching it, the prisoner drops the keys and urges Cyrus to go on without him as he will only slow things down. Cyrus worries what will happen if he leaves him behind. The prisoner reassures Cyrus that Jafar won't kill him and bids his friend farewell.

Left behind, he sees the Red Queen come into the lair looking for Jafar. Upon noticing Cyrus is gone, she causes him bodily harm to force out an answer. He refuses to betray Cyrus and only says the genie is guided by true love, which is the most powerful weapon.

Jafar hauls in another captive, Edwin, who the prisoner learns is actually Alice's father. Edwin's stay is extremely short as Jafar comes to take him away to use as leverage against Alice. Much later, the prisoner refuses to talk unless Jafar lets him out of the cage, which the sorcerer allows. Face-to-face, the ex-Sultan once again refuses to ever give what Jafar desires. Jafar smugly asserts that when he finally breaks the laws of magic, the prisoner's cooperation will no longer be necessary. Scathingly, the prisoner expresses regrets in not previously suffocating Jafar for a longer period of time so he'd be dead. However, he takes away the one thing that matters to Jafar--himself--and purposely tries to commit suicide by dropping down into the lair's bottomless pit. His attempt fails as Jafar's carpet catches and brings him back up into his cage.

Trivia

 * The casting call describes him as, "a 60-year-old Middle Eastern man who was imprisoned by Jafar 10 years ago."