Baelfire


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 * This article focuses on the character, Baelfire. For his Land Without Magic alias, see here.
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"The deal is struck."

- Baelfire to Rumplestiltskin

Baelfire is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the eighth episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Dylan Schmid and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Neal Cassidy.

Before the Curse
When Baelfire was young, his mother abandoned him and Rumplestiltskin because of Rumplestlitskin's cowardice on the battlefield during an Ogre War. Milah, Baelfire's mother, is quite disinterested in playing housewife to Rumplestiltskin, and spends her days at the tavern bar. Rumplestiltskin returns home one day to find Baelfire all alone without his mother. He goes to the tavern to look for Milah, and finds her having a drink with Hook and his men. Milah refuses to leave. However, Baelfire calls out, "Mama?" to which Milah gets up to leave for home.

Milah is very unhappy with the life she leads, and wishes to explore and see the world. Rumplestiltskin still hopes she will try to be family for Baelfire, at least. She reluctantly agrees to try. The next day, however, she turns up missing, and is kidnapped by Captain Hook. Rumplestiltskin tries to get her back by pleading with Captain Hook, but nothing comes out of it when Rumplestiltskin refuses to sword fight. Before Rumplestiltskin became the powerful sorcerer he is today, Baelfire was his only family and greatest treasure. Just a few days away from Baelfire's fourteenth birthday, all the children in the land are being forcefully drafted to fight in the Ogre Wars upon turning fourteen.

To prevent his son from being taken, Rumplestiltskin slays Zoso, "The Dark One", taking on his powers in an effort to be able to protect Baelfire. He brutally kills all the soldiers who attempt to recruit Baelfire, an act he relished in, which terrifies his son. Later, his father ends the The Ogre Wars and saves thousands of children's lives, but people are afraid of him and Baelfire wants things to go back to the way they were. Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire make a deal: if Baelfire can find a way for Rumplestiltskin to safely give up his powers, Rumplestiltskin will do it. Baelfire's friend Morraine tells him about the Reul Ghorm she heard of during war from eavesdropping on other soldiers. Baelfire goes and finds the Reul Ghorm, which turns out to be the Blue Fairy. She gives him a magic bean to take him and his father to a "land without magic".

Baelfire takes his father into the woods and uses the magic bean, which creates a green, glowing portal. Rumplestiltskin is afraid of going to a place without magic or his powers, and backs out of the deal at the last moment. He lets go of his Baelfire, who calls him a coward before disappearing into the portal.

Rumplestiltskin then calls for the Blue Fairy to help him get to his son, but it is no use as that was the last magic bean and he chose power over his only son. This has caused Rumplestiltskin to hate fairies, especially the Blue Fairy, because he blames her for taking away Baelfire, while she declares he was the one who drove off his own son. Years later, Rumplestiltskin as the Dark One seeks out Captain Hook again. Hook tells him Milah died, but Rumplestiltskin still wants to humiliate him. They sword fight, and just as he is about to rip out Hook's heart, Milah reappears to intervene. In fact, she did not get kidnapped by Hook that day so many years ago. Instead, she went with him willingly because she fell in love with him. After much words are exchanged, Rumplestiltskin expresses intense anger at her abandoning Baelfire. She is regretful and guilty, but ultimately she did not want a loveless marriage because she did not love Rumplestiltskin. He kills her instead, and chops off Hook's hand that holds the magic bean he was promised. The magic bean was his way to finding Baelfire again. As it turns out, Hook tricked him into cutting off the wrong hand that does not contain the bean. Belle mentions finding children's old clothes in one of the rooms in the castle, which Rumplestiltskin says belongs to his son.

After the Curse
In order to be able to go to the same place Baelfire went, Rumplestiltskin created the Dark Curse. Even though the curse succeeded in transporting him to "a land without magic," he has made no progress, having been trapped in Storybrooke for the last 28 years. Because the inhabitants of Storybrooke cannot leave the town without losing their memories, Mr. Gold has still been unable to mount his expedition to find Bae. Baelfire is still a driving force for Mr. Gold, as he confesses to Belle that he is using magic to try and break the new curse so that he can leave the town to find his son. Using a magical globe Cora brought him, and his blood, Mr. Gold finds out Baelfire's current location: New York City. Shortly thereafter, Gold calls in Emma's favor to him, and she and Henry join him when he leaves for New York.

Trivia

 * The name "Baelfire" (Old English spelling) or "Balefire" (modern spelling) means "great (or "fatal" or "evil") fire" which is ironic considering the name of his only friend contains the word "rain", and means "star of the seas" in Latin.
 * He is the only person who his father has broken a deal with.
 * Finding Baelfire has been Rumplestiltskin's motivation for centuries - the dark curse and all his schemes to enact it have been purely for that purpose.
 * According to the Blue Fairy, he is the light that kept his father human at his core.