Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20151116014923/@comment-27213286-20160216164616

ItachiIshtar wrote: Eskaver wrote: Finally rewatched and I think I figured out what the writers and producers were going for with "How another Dark One was made".

The Dark Swirly stuff is the magic of the Holy grail. The HG magic was not to be accessed by those without pure hearts. So, when the HG magic went into Hook, it immediately turned him into a Dark One simply because he has darkness within his heart, whereas Merlin's was full of light. I know it was colored black, but black doesn't mean Dark Magic as Light and Dark magic aren't distinguishable by colors as the default magic color is purple.

Chances are the HG contained "terrible power" only to be wielded by one with a pure heart. Doesn't explain the vault and how the Jungle Dimension connects to everything, but there's a step!

So, my theory is that the Dark swirly stuff isn't the Darkness of the collective Dark Ones, but the Holy Grail magic. Guess this makes sense. Nimue didn't immediately turn into the Dark One after drinking from the Holy Grail. It was when she crushed Vortigan's heart, therefore darkening her heart. Hook, however, already had darkness in his heart due to his years spent as a ruthless pirate seeking revenge. Also all Dark Ones had killed before becoming the Dark One, Nimue killed Vortigan, Emma killed Cruella, Hook killed at least his dad and probably others I can't think of, and all other Dark Ones killed the previous to take the power. That would leave Merlin as the only person to have the Holy Grail magic and not kill anyone as well as the only on to hae it and not become a Dark One.

My theory for the vault is it is Nimue's grave or where she died and each new Dark One is taken to the plac where the powers transferred for the first time. I think that when Nimue died and the powers transferred for the first time it was an unatural occurrence that caused a linkage between the Underworld, the Dark One, and the place tranference, thus creating the vault. The linkage between the three is why a Dark One that has been killed can be brought from the Underworld through the vault and back to the this place.

Second theory is Nimue created it as a way to either try to untether her from the dagger or after realizing that the dagger could kill her as a way to try to remain immortal even after her death. It was meant to be used to bring her back the way it did Rumple.

Third (and final) theory is Merlin created it imprisoned Nimue in the vault because he couldn't kill her. Nimue was either freed from the vault by someone or the second Dark One placed the dagger in the vault killing the Dark One and taking her power. This also changed the magic on the vault from light magic to dark magic, changing th vault from a prison to a way of ressurection the Dark One as done with Rumple

All three theories of the creation of the vault can use withmy theory of why Emma and Hook came out of the vault but Rumple didn't when he first becam the Dark One. This theory is as follows: After Rumple was "reborn" from the vault it caused a greater connection between the Dark One and the vault resulting in each Dark One after him to be transported to and "reborn" from the vault as well.