Henry Mills

"I'm done reading about heroes. I want to be one."

- Henry Mills to David Nolan

Henry Daniel Mills, also known as Young Man, the Truest Believer and the Author, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Jared S. Gilmore and starring cast member Andrew J. West. He is the main reality version of Sir Henry.

Trivia

 * -|Character Notes=

Etymology

 * Henry was named after Regina's father, and her former lover.
 * The surname "Mills" is of English origin that was an occupational word used for someone living near or working on a mill. It alludes to the "Rumpelstiltskin" fairytale as Henry's adoptive grandmother Cora was the miller's daughter who could spin straw into gold.

Character Notes

 * Henry is featured in the title card along with Pan for "The Heart of the Truest Believer".
 * Besides August and both of his mothers, Emma and Regina, Henry is the only person capable of leaving Storybrooke without repercussions, during the curse, due to being born in the Land Without Magic.
 * Enjoys hot chocolate with cinnamon like his birth mother and maternal grandmother.
 * Just like his father, maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather, Henry has a large collection of clocks. A close look at his bedroom reveals he has at least eighteen different clocks.
 * According to his mother, Henry doesn't eat candies.
 * In "The Dark Swan", Henry mentions that Regina uses his birthday for all of her passwords, including the one for the entrance to the psychiatric ward. In "A Tale of Two Sisters", Regina types 815 as password for the psychiatric ward, meaning that Henry's birthday is August 15.
 * This makes Henry one of five characters to have known birthdays; the others being Regina, Emma, Zelena and Peter.
 * According to "The Heart of the Truest Believer", Henry was born at 8:15 am. Both the date and time of his birth are a reference to the numbers in the TV show Lost. In addition, adult Henry's apartment number in Seattle in "The Final Battle Part 2" is 815.
 * Henry is ten years old in "Pilot", eleven in "The Cricket Game", and twelve years old in "The Jolly Roger". In "Dreamcatcher", he says to Sir Morgan that he is thirteen years old. However, the show's timeline would place the episode in early 2014, and Henry was born in August 2001, meaning that Henry was not yet thirteen at that point.
 * In "Our Decay", Emma implies that Henry is "officially" a teenager, but this episode also seems to take place before he turns thirteen.
 * In "The Final Battle Part 1", the Black Fairy calls Henry "a 14-year-old who still believes in fairy tales". This, however, seems to be a mistake on the Black Fairy's part, since Henry's young uncle Prince Neal was born in "Kansas", which takes place in 2013, when Henry was twelve. Neal, however, is still just a baby in "The Final Battle Part 1" (if Henry were fourteen, Neal would be a two-year old toddler).


 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The casting call for his adult self describes him as "a 'strong yet vulnerable' leading man in his late 20s to mid-30s, a gent who was once optimistic and hopeful but now is a friendless, cynical recluse. That said, he still possesses a dormant, deep-seated spark of hope that waits for the right person to reignite it".
 * Henry's first kiss with Violet was also Jared S. Gilmore's first kiss.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Henry's game Space Paranoids references the Disney film Tron. In Tron, the game was invented by the protagonist Kevin Flynn.
 * When Henry is playing the game, he exclaims the phrase, "Derezzed", which is a term in the Tron franchise that describes the death of a game character.
 * Henry has a Tron: Legacy lunchbox.
 * Throughout his life, Henry has watched Peter Pan several times.
 * 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 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, where Han Solo and Luke Skywalker pretend the Wookiee Chewbacca is their prisoner in order to enter the Death Star's detention area and 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. Henry says to Emma, "My name is Henry, I'm here to rescue you". This is similar to Luke Skywalker saying his name to Princess Leia in A New Hope.
 * In "The Dark Swan" and "Dark Waters", Hook makes a reference to Henry's "Wookiee prisoner gag". In the latter, Hook asks Henry what a Wookiee is, and Henry replies, "It's from-", but doesn't finish the sentence.
 * When the Evil Queen tries to persuade Henry to give into darkness, Henry tells the her that she "can't Darth Vader him" and adds, "I'll never join you". This is a reference to the famous scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where Darth Vader asks his son Luke Skywalker to join him, and Luke answers, "I'll never join you!"

Lost

 * Henry's inbox contains e-mails from Mark, Daniel, Scott and Damon. The first three are all characters from Lost. "Damon" is a reference to Damon Lindelof, one of Lost's creators.
 * On two occasions, Henry has Apollo candy bars in his backpack.
 * In New York, Emma buys Henry an Apollo candy bar at the drug store.
 * Henry has a Geronimo Jackson audio cassette, which can be seen when Emma dumps out Henry's backpack. Geronimo Jackson is a fictional band on Lost.
 * Henry's horse is in stall 8, which is the second Lost number.
 * When traveling to New York City, Henry, Emma and Mr. Gold take an Ajira Airlines flight, an airline that appears on Lost. The total time of their flight is 42 minutes; a recurring number on the show.
 * In "The Dark Swan", Henry mentions that Regina uses his birthday for all of her passwords, including the one for the entrance to the psychiatric ward. In "A Tale of Two Sisters", Regina types 815 as password for the psychiatric ward, meaning that Henry's birthday is August 15. In addition, according to "The Heart of the Truest Believer", Henry was born at 8:15 am. Both the date and time of his birth are a reference to the numbers on Lost.
 * Henry's off-screen babysitter in "New York City Serenade" is called Mrs. Cuse. Carlton Cuse was one of the show runners/executive producers of Lost.
 * Henry reaches level 23 while playing a video game. He also mentions reaching level 16. 16 and 23 are the fourth and fifth of the Lost numbers.
 * Level twenty-three is also a nod to the official Disney fan club D23.)
 * Henry informs Emma that Walsh will come over for a visit at 8 o'clock. 8 is the second Lost number.
 * Henry's apartment door number is "815", a reference to Oceanic Airlines 815.

Popular Culture

 * The subject of one of the e-mails in Henry's inbox is "Zod", a reference to General Zod from the Superman comics.
 * In order to meet up with Emma at the diner, Henry's cover excuse to his adoptive mother is that he's playing Whac-A-Mole at the arcade.
 * When Regina is getting ready for the "Saturday city council meeting", Henry is reading the Marvel comic Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #1.
 * When Emma calls Henry on the walkie-talkie, issue 1 of the Marvel comic Avengers vs. X-Men is lying on his bed. The same magazine falls out of his backpack when Emma empties it.
 * In "Tiny", Henry gets excited to see a Cinnabon stand at the Logan International Airport.
 * Henry has two Pee-Chee All Season Portfolios in his backpack. This was a common American stationery item in the second half of the 20th century, commonly used by students for storing school papers.
 * The video game Henry is playing in New York City is Diablo III.
 * Henry tells his adoptive mother that he's become "pretty good" at math. He adds, "Not Stephen Hawking good, but pretty good"; a reference to the famous physicist and mathematician.
 * The song that Henry plays for Violet is "Only You" by Yazoo.
 * During his stay in Camelot, Henry has the movies Commando and Harold and Maude on his phone.
 * Henry's favorite movie sequels are The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
 * According to Henry, Violet "stood him up for John Hughes movie night twice". He then says that they watched The Breakfast Club together, and they were going to watch Sixteen Candles next (to show Violet his "fun side"). The Breakfast Club (1985) is a classic coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by John Hughes, while Sixteen Candles (1984) is a famous coming-of-age comedy by the same director.
 * The song Henry and Violet are dancing to at the diner is "In My Dreams" by Ruth B.
 * Henry names the operation to free Emma from the Storybrooke Sanitarium "Operation Cuckoo's Nest", a reference to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the 1975 movie of the same name.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * Henry's keychain in Seattle has the same design as his mother Emma's swan keychain. However, it is not the same item, since the circular edge on the pendant that Emma wore as a necklace is much thinner than the edge around the pendant on Emma's and Henry's keychains (indicating that Emma removed the outer layer of the pendant when she fashioned it as a necklace).

Set Dressing

 * One of the name keychains in the Portland convenience store, which his parents rob, has the name "Henry" on it.

Costume Notes

 * Henry has been wearing the same jacket and scarf for every season on Once Upon a Time. According to Edward Kitsis, there have been attempts by costumes and other people to give him a different costume, but the show creators have decided to keep the original costume, because they like it.
 * Henry's necklace has the same symbol as Anita's gravestone; a moon with a dot in the middle.
 * When Henry becomes Mr. Gold's assistant, his tie is the same one that Mr. Gold was wearing in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", at the sheriff's station in "Desperate Souls", in "Heart of Darkness", and when he is reunited with his "son" in "The Return".

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.