Dark Castle

"A little more imposing than the pawnshop."

- Emma Swan about the Dark Castle

The Dark Castle is an Enchanted Forest location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the fifth episode of the first season.

The Dark Castle is based on the Beast's Castle from the fairytale "Beauty and the Beast", and the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

Visitors

 * Anna
 * Blue Fairy
 * Emma Swan
 * Evil Queen
 * Gaston †
 * Gerda †
 * Grumpy
 * Helga †
 * Hook


 * Ingrid †
 * Jefferson
 * Jiminy Cricket
 * Mulan
 * Neal Cassidy †
 * Prince Charming
 * Robert †
 * Robin Hood †
 * Snow White

Items
Many items are kept in the Dark Castle, including:


 * A candelabra and a clock
 * A scythe, a bow, and a Genie's lamp
 * A trident
 * Donna and Stephen in puppet form
 * Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel
 * A hat resembling the Sorcerer's Hat
 * A severed hand on a pedestal
 * A sword
 * Golden fleece
 * A golden lasso resembling Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth
 * Chipped cup
 * A hammer resembling Thor's Mjölnir


 * An arrow
 * A golden chalice
 * A shelf of various potions
 * Enchanted bow
 * True love potion
 * Fairy Godmother's wand
 * Rumplestiltskin's walking stick
 * A crystal ball
 * Another sword

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The computer-generated imagery model created for the Dark Castle great hall, foyer and vault is recycled and reused for the Netherworld in "Child of the Moon" and "Into the Deep", and the Rear Reading Room in the New York Public Library in "Only You". This can easily be seen from the identical design of the columns and archways.
 * The establishing shot of the Dark Castle in "Changelings" is stock footage from Belle's Dream World in "The Savior.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * In the castle, there is a kind of fur with horns which resembles Disney's Beast.
 * There is a candlestick and clock in Rumplestiltskin's castle resembling Lumiere and Cogsworth from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
 * The hat resembling the Sorcerer's Hat is from Disney's Fantasia.
 * The chipped tea cup is a reference to Chip from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
 * The teapot is a reference to Chip's mother, Mrs. Potts.
 * When Prince Charming confronts Rumplestiltskin, there's an arrangement of roses on the table, which references Rumplestiltskin's role as Beast in the Disney film.

Popular Culture

 * The scythe sitting on a pedestal is based on the Slayer Scythe featured in the 1997 television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which Jane Espenson also was a writer for.
 * Among the old books in Rumplestiltskin's library are:
 * Leatherbound editions of The Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard:
 * Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard: The Elect, Volume V, 1923 (upside-down, on the right hand side on the top shelf).
 * Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard: On My Way, Volume VII (upside-down, on the right hand side on the top shelf).
 * Selected Writings of Elbert Hubbard: Modern Business, Volume VIII, 1928
 * The Savoy Operas, by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan (1926)
 * Heartbroken Melody by Kathleen Norris (1939)


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * The teapot on the tray is a Real Old Willow Teapot. It was made by Royal Doulton, a silverware company dating back to 1815, which first started its business in London. The teapot itself was created sometime around the 1980s or 1990's.
 * The cups are Royal Albert Val D'or teacups, with added blue paint.

Set Dressing

 * The painting on the left side of the door of the drawing room is Moisés Salvado de Las Aguas ("Moses Saved From the Waters") by Italian Renaissance painter Paolo Veronese. It is currently on display at the Museo del Prado, the national Spanish art museum.
 * The painting on the right side is Alexander The Great and Roxane by Italian Baroque painter Pietro Rotari. It is currently on display at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
 * Another copy of this painting is hanging over Rumplestiltskin's fireplace.
 * A severed hand is present on a pedestal. It is most noticeable when Belle walks away from the cupboard after she takes out the vase. It is even mentioned in the script, where a "withered hand" is listed among the many objects in the castle.
 * It can also be spotted in the background when Emma and Hook return to the castle in "There's No Place Like Home", when Ingrid and her sisters pay a visit to Rumplestiltskin in "The Snow Queen" in Belle's dream in "The Savior" and when Rumplestiltskin shows up with Jack and Jill's infant son in "Changelings".
 * When Mr. Gold is on the phone with Belle in "The Outsider", a severed hand is visible on a pawnshop shelf.
 * A severed hand can also be seen lying on a pedestal in the Underbrooke Pawnshop in "Souls of the Departed" and "Firebird".
 * The hand can be seen in close-up on a Flickr set photograph from the pawnshop set from Season Five.
 * Two of the wall tapestries are motifs from an antependium (c. 1410) in the Museum of Applied Art Frankfurt.
 * Another wall tapestry is L'Offrande du Coeur ("The Gift of the Heart", c. 1400-1410), from the Louvre Museum in Paris.
 * A tapestry hanging on the wall shows a captive unicorn inside a fence, which is the seventh and final in the tapestry series The Hunt of the Unicorn created between 1495-1505 and entitled The Unicorn is in Captivity and No Longer Dead.
 * The painting behind the two marionettes is Still Life with Flowers by the Dutch Golden Age painter Balthasar van der Ast. It is currently on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
 * Another copy of this painting is hanging over the fireplace.
 * The painting on the left side of Rumplestiltskin's glass cabinet is one half of the painting Adoration of the Holy Wood and the Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba by Italian Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca.
 * A rose arrangement in a metal vase is sitting on a table in the foyer. An Underworld duplicate of this decoration appears in the backroom of the Underbrooke Pawnshop in "Her Handsome Hero", "Ruby Slippers" and "Firebird".
 * The shelf of potion ingredients later appears in Mr. Gold's basement after the breaking of the Dark Curse.
 * The runic symbols Fehu (ᚠ) and Eihwaz (ᛇ) are engraved on a hammer which resembles Thor's Mjölnir.
 * One of the wands in Rumplestiltskin's cupboard is also seen on display in the pawnshop in Mr. Gold's dream in "Lacey". The same prop is later reused as the Apprentice's Wand.
 * The mirror that Zelena looks into, is the same prop used for Zelena's mirror in Oz in "Our Decay", "Ruby Slippers" and "The Song in Your Heart". The same prop is used for one of the mirrors in the World Behind the Mirror  in "I'll Be Your Mirror". It is best seen in the shot where Regina says, "There is no way out", where the mirror can be seen behind her.
 * In Rumplestiltskin's vault, there is a statue of Pazuzu, the demon from Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, and the antagonist from The Exorcist franchise.


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The interior scenes in Rumplestiltskin's great hall, are filmed against a green-screen in The Bridge Studios, the Canadian film studio where Once Upon a Time films.
 * The flashback scenes outside the castle in "Heroes and Villains" were filmed in Burnaby's Central Park, on the boundary beside Swangard Stadium.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.