Walter

"With magic back, it could be even worse now."

- Walter to Leroy Sleepy, also known as Walter, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the third episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Faustino Di Bauda, and is the Storybrooke counterpart of Sleepy.

History
When the coma patient John Doe disappears from the hospital, the security guard Walter aids Sheriff Graham and Emma in determining where he went by replaying the recorded security camera tape. Sheriff Graham requests both Walter and the janitor Leroy to be present as they were the only two people in the hospital from last night. When asked if they saw anything happen, Leroy and Walter both claim to have not seen anyone leave. The camera tape is played and shows John Doe walking from his bed unit room and out of a hospital door, which causes an argument to erupt between Walter and Leroy over whose fault it was for not noticing. Leroy blames him for always sleeping on the job, while Walter takes jabs at the latter for constantly drinking at work.
 * -|During the Curse=

One morning, Walter and Mr. Clark enter Granny's to grab some breakfast. Mr. Clark asks Leroy to move over a seat so the two of them can sit together. Grudgingly, Leroy refuses to move and remarks they should have gotten up earlier in order to snag the counter seats they wanted. However, Leroy's appetite goes down after Mr. Clark accidentally sneezes on his breakfast. He gets up to leave, but is delayed when Mary Margaret walks in and grabs everyone's attention with her speech in asking for volunteers to sign up in selling candles for the annual Miner's Day festival. Unfortunately, the townspeople are still reeling from the public exposure of Mary Margaret's affair with married town resident David, and she is ignored. After Leroy resumes his walk away from the counter, Walter and Mr. Clark finally sit down.

Leroy's lovesickness for the nun Sister Astrid prompts him to sign up as a volunteer in helping to sell candles, especially since she is in need of rent money for her landlord, Mr. Gold. However, he and Mary Margaret's combined bad reputations make business hard to come by. He disappoints Astrid by lying about selling out the candles, and in desperation to make a difference, Leroy forcibly causes a power outage by short circulating the electricity system. With candles as the only usable light source, Walter and the other townspeople hurry to grab some at Leroy and Mary Margaret's candle selling booth.

As the Dark Curse continues to weaken, Regina has a nightmare in which several of the townspeople, including Walter, rally together at her doorstep with their Enchanted Forest memories fully regained. In a quest to extract revenge, they forcibly tie her to an apple tree. Walter watches on as Emma unsheathes a sword and proceeds to behead Regina as punishment.

After Emma breaks the Dark Curse, Walter joins in the reunion of his fellow dwarves and friends. They walk down the street with Emma, Mary Margaret and David as they figure out what to do next. In a panic, Archie tells the group Dr. Whale is leading the townsfolk in a mob to Regina's house. Although Leroy believes Regina deserves it, the others object as it is not right to kill. They are further obligated to help when Henry pleads for his mother's safety.
 * -|After the Curse=

The dwarves gather at the edge of town as Leroy marks the Storybrooke border with a chalk line. He states it is their mission to find out what happens if someone steps outside of town, and they take turns picking straws to decide who will be the test subject. To chip in with Happy, who is are apprehensive about going over the line, Walter voices the opinion leaving town might be bad now that magic is back as Doc and Bashful expresses similar sentiments, but Leroy forces them to think about the fact they have a duty to uphold in protecting Mary Margaret and proving themselves to David. Mr. Clark draws the shortest straw, though he doesn't want to be the one to cross, so Leroy pushes him over the border. Immediately, magic begins to course over Mr. Clark. Walter and the others become concerned, but are forced to stay behind the line or risk the same happening to themselves. They discover Mr. Clark's Enchanted Forest memories disappear completely because he passed out of town. Led by Leroy, they rush back into the town square and notify temporary sheriff David of what conspired. The news causes a huge stir, but David sets up a town meeting in two hours' time and promises to come up with a plan.

At the town hall, residents pack the whole building and anxiously await David's arrival. Instead, they deal with the unexpected presence of Regina, who has just regained her magic and uses it to terrorize them. To put a stop to it, Henry agrees to go home with her. With no sign of David, the townspeople decide they will take the risks involved in losing their memories by leaving town if it means getting away from Regina. Walter is one of the many who pack up and attempt to drive out of town, but David's car blocks them from progressing any further out of town. He makes a heartfelt speech to convince everyone there isn't any use in running away as both their Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke lives are themselves, and from their weaknesses they will draw strengths together. Moved, they all return home. Later, Walter and his brothers get pickaxes in preparation to go into the mines and dig for the diamonds. As they walk down the street, they pass Mr. Clark, who Leroy reassures they will get his memories back by finding diamonds to make fairy dust. Walter gives Mr. Clark a reassuring pat on the back as he leaves with his brothers.

Walter and his fellow dwarves continue to mine for diamonds with David in the hopes it can be made into fairy dust to use with Jefferson's hat to rescue Emma and Mary Margaret from the Enchanted Forest.

During one day in the mines, Happy calls for his brothers to put down their axes as he is buying them lunch at Granny's. The announcement excites Walter and the other dwarves, though Leroy is unmoved and continues to work. Doc notices and urges him to stop so they can have a break, though Leroy sticks to his digging regiment. Happy believes they must rest because the mining job is quite tiring. Leroy doesn't listen and roughly hits the surface of a wall several times, which causes it to collapses entirely and sends him falling down into a cave. Along with the other dwarves, Walter peers in uncertainly and see diamonds glittering from the ceiling. While Happy runs to tell David and Mother Superior the news, each of them climbs in to look at the diamonds. David, Henry and Mother Superior arrive to examine the cave themselves. In a celebration of their success, they all head over to the diner to drink and party.

While Emma and Mary Margaret are in a race to return to Storybrooke, Mr. Gold and Regina are unwilling to chance the possibility that their shared nemesis, Cora, could be the one coming back instead. With a wand, they steal all the diamonds from the mines and use the power within them to create a portal over the wishing well to kill anyone who tries to enter into Storybrooke.

After discovering the diamonds are missing, Walter and the five dwarves enter the pawnshop to warn Henry of Mr. Gold and Regina's suspected thievery. With Ruby, Henry rushes over to the wishing well to convince Regina to get rid of the portal in the hopes if Emma and Mary Margaret pass through, they won't be killed by it. Regina relents and absorbs away the portal in time just as Emma and Mary Margaret return. In a rush to save David, who is still under the Sleeping Curse, Mary Margaret hurries back to the pawnshop where she finds the six dwarves watching over him. With true love's kiss, she awakens David. To catch up on lost time, Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Henry and the six dwarves head over to Granny's to hang out.

To commemorate Mary Margaret and Emma's victorious return home, the town residents come together at a party celebration held at Granny's. Walter is conversing with Granny just as Mary Margaret and Emma arrive, and he raises his glass at them. While Ruby goes over to give the two a warm welcome, Walter looks on happily. A hush falls over the diner when David calls everyone's attention and begins making a speech expressing happiness at reuniting with his wife and daughter. Afterwards, all the party guests raise their glasses in cheer, and all except Emma are shocked when Regina walks in apologizing for her lateness. On the defense, Leroy grabs a knife and asks what she is doing here, which Emma quells by saying Regina was invited by her. With that, everyone dispenses to mingle and have fun at the party. Walter goes to the counter to grab some food from the set up trays. Towards the end of the night, he groups together with Bashful, Dopey and Happy in conversation.

The death of Archie is announced to the rest of the townspeople after Emma seemingly finds incriminating evidence via the dream catcher of Regina as the murder. Walter attends the funeral to listen to Mary Margaret give a eulogy dedicated to Archie. After she is finished, Marco gives his own personal farewell. Following this, Walter, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Happy, Leroy, Marco, Mother Superior, Ruby and Granny spend some time in Mary Margaret's apartment for a luncheon. Leroy approaches Emma and Mary Margaret to ask on behalf of himself and other dwarves when they will be returning to the Enchanted Forest, which perks everyone else's attention to the conversation. Emma insists she and Mary Margaret worked hard to return home to Storybrooke, but he is concerned the town is no longer safe with Regina on the loose. The mother and daughter pair promise to search and find her, though Leroy warns that with the curse broken people outside the town line have no idea of what they are and the possibility of a complete stranger discovering them. Ruby chimes in agreement and presents the scenario of what if someone not from their world sees magic, or sees herself transform into a wolf. Emma tries to defuse the situation by noting no one is coming into town while Leroy believes only time will tell, and aside from that, everyone is homesick.

Storybrooke becomes terrorized by a giant, Anton, after he is freed from Hook's ship by Mary Margaret, David and Leroy, and then eats a magical mushroom Regina gives him in order to return to his normal giant size. He takes his hatred of humans out on the residents, but the effects of the mushroom wear off during a stomping rampage. Anton falls into the hole and holds on to an underground pipe to keep from falling through to the bottom.

The townspeople work together quickly to save his life. While Granny ties a rope to the back of David's car, Ruby and the dwarves stabilize the rope as David scales down the concrete edges of the hole. Anton is reluctant to accept a human's help, but with words of encouragement from David of choosing life over death, he grabs his hand and both are pulled to safety. Afterward, Granny leads the rescuers and Anton back to her diner to serve them food in celebration.

Everyone regroups at the diner where Anton is introduced to the town in an effort to make him feel at home. Worried about not fitting in, Anton mentions he will probably live in the woods, but Leroy assures him that Storybrooke is home to all kinds of creatures and he will live comfortably here. As they talk, Ruby serves them beer at the counter. Mary Margaret says they have made this land their home since there is no way to get back to their old land. At this, Anton shows them a stem of a beanstalk that could likely grow magic beans.

David and Mary Margaret take Anton to a place where he can inspect the soil content of the town. Anton thinks the soil might be viable for growing magic beans, but is hesitant because Cora brought him to Storybrooke for this purpose. Mary Margaret reassures him they will not let her get to them. The seven dwarves arrive to accept Anton as a friend, and he receives his own named pickax "Tiny". Anton, Walter and the six other miners commence in digging into the soil to plant the beanstalk stem.

To protect the bean fields from being seen by outsiders, Mother Superior enacts a barrier to make the area appear as an empty field unless someone stepped inside the barrier. Along with the other dwarves and Anton, Walter assists in tending to the growing beans. For lunch, David and Leroy stop at the diner to pick up ten orders of chili soup without beans.

Later that night, David carpools Walter, Anton and the six miners to the diner. Leroy invites David and Mary Margaret to grab some dinner with them, and says Anton is buying. Having heard this for the first time, Anton is surprised, to which he is told the new guy always pays. David reassures them he and Mary Margaret will be heading home. The group bids them goodbye. As the car pulls away, they begin walking towards the diner. On the way there, Anton insists he has no money to pay for food. From across the street, Regina waits for them to clear the area and uses a tracking spell on David's previous car route, which leads her straight to the hidden bean fields.

As the impending doom of the trigger threatens everyone's safety, Leroy receives from Mother Superior a special potion to use in restoring a person's lost memories. With his six brethren and Mr. Clark in tow, they enter Mr. Gold's shop to search for a specific item of importance. As they are looking around, Mr. Gold comes out from the back room and thinks they are looting the shop because the end of the world is near. Instead, Leroy retorts it isn't stealing if the item retrieved is something that was theirs in the first place. He elaborates by pointing out they need a drinking stein that used to belong to Mr. Clark when he was Sneezy as it is necessary to give back his Enchanted Forest memories. Mr. Gold doubts there is a way to restore memory, but Leroy shows him the potion Mother Superior brewed that works by the person drinking the substance out of an object of his or her own importance. He also mentions the liquid was made after Mother Superior transformed August back into a child, and finally found the missing ingredient--a strand of Pinocchio's hair.

During all this, Mr. Clark hears at least two mentions of dying since the trigger can't be stopped, and insists he doesn't want his memory back if it means inevitable death. However, since finding the drinking stein, Leroy commands they go back to the diner where the potion will be used. Despite Mr. Clark's protests, the dwarves lead him out of the shop.

Later on, after David teams up with a realigned Hook, to steal back the remaining magic beans from Greg and Tamara, Mary Margaret and Henry gather up some of the townspeople, including Walter, to wait at the diner in preparation to leave Storybrooke for the Enchanted Forest. On David and Hook's return, only one bean was procured, which is enough to open a portal. Henry questions where his adoptive mother is, and Emma tells him that she is in the mines slowing down the trigger, but will not be able to make it out. This angers Henry; comparing this event to the Wraith attack and asks how are things different this time around. This gives Mary Margaret an idea--they can send the trigger through a portal just like they did with the Wraith. Emma doesn't believe anyone is willing to go through with such a risky plan, but Archie persuades her it's the right thing to do. He talks about in the past when Mary Margaret was Snow White and David was Prince Charming, who led all of them without fail, and asks who is inclined to allow them to do it again, to which everyone follows suit in agreement. Mary Margaret knows she and David haven't had a lot of time to be parents, but asks for chance to be trusted, though Emma is concerned Henry will be alone and grow up just like herself. Another rumble tremors through town, which pushes Emma to think they'd all be better off making it out now by using the bean, but Mary Margaret's lingering guilt about Cora forces a moral obligation to do otherwise. She pleads to Emma that Cora's death was the easy way out as well as a mistake, and this time around they must take the hard path to building a future not at the cost of Regina's blood. Emma finally agrees, but as David tosses her the bean container, Hook snatches it in mid-air. She makes him give it back, which he pretends to do by handing back the box and makes off with the actual bean. The rest of the townspeople stick together as it is left up to David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Henry to stop the catalyst. Storybrooke is saved when Emma and Regina combine their powers to deactivate the trigger.

Trivia

 * The name "Walter" is of Germanic origin derived from the words "wald" and "hari" that mean "rule" and "army" and with the full meaning "ruler of the army".
 * As a nod to his Enchanted Forest counterpart, Sleepy, Walter constantly dozes off on the job.