Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-24264679-20161025002736

Eskaver wrote: I won't go in detail as we'll probably never agree. So, where would you place Aladdin? I rewatched the scene and Aladdin actually undoes Jafar's hourglass spell (it actually returns to magic smoke).

Yeah, you've got know how to do a spell to cast a spell efficiently. However, it's not like we have a list on what the characters know. Regina could know all the spells in the world, but I'm sure random person that was Dark One for a week could beat her, rank above her in this tier list.

In any case, knowledge is important, but raw power is too. Otherwise, we wouldnt have a brains vs brawn thing going on. Rumple's knowledge of magic was vast, but he also has the raw power to back it up. However,  even in those cases, Regina and Zelena manage to get the better of him in their battle of intellect/manipulation, on occassion. For brevity, raw power can make up for lack of knowledge, knowledge can make up for lack of raw power.

The only way we'll get to weeding out who's where on the Witches tier of the list is if we have comparable feats. Once the Hour glass was broken the spell was broken. The same way Zeleena fell on the wand and broke and the protal disappeared. Also once he broke the staff the magic was gone.

Go rewatch when Emma was the dark one. It was Rumple who guided and taught Emma how to use her magic. So someone being a dark one for a week wouldn't stop them from recieving all the knowledge of all the dark ones that came before them.

The show also doesn't have a brains vs brawns thing going on. So far it has been a game of knowledge and who can outsmart who or who knows the most. That has pretty much been the whole battle from the beginning of the series. The battle between sorcerers have never been a battle of brwans but a battle of brains.

Rumple manipulated Regina into casting the curse so he could achieve his goal of finding Bae. (brains)

Cora manipulated Rumple into teaching her magic so she could rule th kingdom. (Brains)

Zeleena manipulated Snow, Rumple, etc into getting her ingridents needed to cast the time travel spell.(Brains)

Rumple and the Queens of darkness manipulated thier way back into Storybrooke to achieve thier goals.(Brains)

Rumple made a deal with Hyde to wake Belle.(Brains)

It usually comes down to someone manipulating someone else to get what they want. Rarely if ever has it been a battle of brawns. Even Regina blasted Zeleena back with her light magic they still needed to get her necklace and the dagger away from her.

Like I said Knowledge will always trump Raw power.