Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26196542-20150930211355/@comment-1916997-20151013125522

Vertblancrouge wrote: I'm sorry if that was already answered in another thread: Did we established the timing between Arthur pulling Excalibur and the moment the Storybrooke folks arrived in Camelot? I'm also guessing that Merlin went missing prior to Arthur finding the sword which matches Blue's indication of the sorcerer not being seen for a very long time.

I'm also guessing that Merlin could be elsewhere from inside the tree. Arthur knows that and it's the reason why he didn'n want his visitors to try to speak to him (hence stealing that mushroom from Charming). All we know is Arthur pulled Excalibur before he banished Lancelot, and Lancelot is already banished by the time he marries Snow and Charming. So sometime before the first curse.