Dark Curse

"Enacting it will take a terrible toll. It will leave an emptiness inside you—a void you will never be able to fill."

- Maleficent to the Evil Queen

The Dark Curse is a curse featured on Once Upon a Time. It is the major focal point of the story.

History
The Dark Curse was created by Rumplestiltskin with the hope he could use it to find his son. Mr. Gold later explains that the curse was meant to take away Prince Charming and Snow White's happiness.

When used, the curse envelopes the world in darkness, and transports those unfortunate enough to be shrouded in it to our real world. Those who are the victims of this curse lose their memories while new ones are created when they appear in the new world. The characters untouched by the Dark Curse were frozen in time in Fairy Tale Land until Emma broke the Curse in Storybrooke. The Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin still retain their memories of Fairytale Land. August Booth, who is actually Pinocchio, also retains his memories, as he was the first to be put in the magic tree that could save two from the Dark Curse.

Rumplestiltskin created the curse to find his son Baelfire and be with him. He traded the curse for something from the Evil Queen, though what he was given is still unknown. He gave her the curse because that was how he was going to find his son. She then traded the curse for the Sleeping Curse from Maleficent. When the Evil Queen needed the Dark Curse back, she stole it from Maleficent, who warned her about the dangers. It was warned that the Dark Curse would leave a void within that could never be filled, and whoever created the curse had no morals. However, this might be a slight exaggeration; Rumplestiltskin cared for his son.

It is later revealed that the curse has a single flaw. Rumplestiltskin placed a single drop of true love on "the parchment". Because of this flaw, the curse was able to be broken by the savior, Emma Swan.

Ingredients

 * A lock of hair from those with the darkest of souls
 * The heart of "the thing you love most"
 * Rumplestiltskin also added a drop of True Love Potion. just in case he wanted to revert the curse.

Synonyms

 * Rumplestiltskin called it "The Curse That Ends All Curses" in "The Thing You Love Most".

Overall Effects

 * Nearly everyone from Fairytale Land is transported to Storybrooke and loses all memories of their former lives and relationships.
 * In the second sneak peek of Season Two's pilot ""Broken"", Regina states that "....there's nothing to go back to. That land is gone", heavily implying that an effect of the curse was completely eating away and devouring all of Fairytale Land. This is later revealed not to be the case, as Mulan informs Princess Aurora that part of the Fairytale Land remained untouched after the Dark Curse and froze for 28 years.
 * No crickets.
 * All magical creatures are turned into humans.
 * All powerful magic has been taken away, and is now limited, with only some exceptional consequences to performing it or trying to get in touch with it again.
 * Time is frozen and no one ages or changes; Henry Mills was the exception to this because he is not from Fairytale Land.
 * Everyone's happiness is gone.
 * Almost no one comes or goes through Storybrooke; the exception is supply deliveries to the town.
 * Bad things happen to anyone who tries to leave Storybrooke; Examples include:
 * When Emma drove out of town after dropping Henry off in the "Pilot", she saw a wolf in her path and crashed the car. However, this might have been from different external forces trying to keep her in town to break the curse.
 * In "The Price of Gold", Ashley attempts to leave town after snatching back the adoption papers of her unborn child, she ends up having contractions in the process, and cannot drive.
 * During "True North", Emma is left with no choice but to take Ava and Nicholas Zimmer to Boston after their father, Michael Tillman, refuses to claim them as his own. The car breaks down, preventing them from leaving. However, it could be that she pretended to broke the car to gave Micheal time to really consider his decision.
 * Kathryn decides to leave town at the end of "What Happened to Frederick" but in the process of passing out of town, she appears to disappear from the driver's seat. She says she was held in a dark basement for some period of time with food and water, but was later drugged and left in a field where she crawled back into town.

Character Effects
In addition to not remembering their fairytale lives:
 * Prince Charming/David Nolan - Fell into a coma (Reversed) ; In an unhappy marriage (Reversed)
 * Mad Hatter/Jefferson - Remembers his true identity and is wealthy with a large estate, but cannot be with his daughter.
 * Princess Abigail/Kathryn Nolan - In an unhappy marriage (Reversed)
 * Cinderella/Ashley Boyd - Pregnant for 28 years and separated from her true love (Reversed)
 * Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper - Always does as Regina tells him out of fear.
 * Belle/Belle's Counterpart - Held captive in a psychiatric ward in Storybrooke Hospital's basement (Reversed)
 * Huntsman/Sheriff Graham - Served as Regina's plaything. (Reversed) Deceased.
 * Red Riding Hood/Ruby - Always fights with her granny and lacks confidence (Reversed)
 * Magic Mirror/Sidney Glass - Is still deeply infatuated with Regina and does her bidding.
 * Pinocchio/August W. Booth - Is slowly turning back into wood due to breaking the rules the Blue Fairy bid him live by in order to stay as a real boy; to always remain "brave, truthful and unselfish."
 * Maleficent/Maleficent's Dragon Form - Is trapped in dragon form. Deceased.

Parts of the Curse broken since Emma arrived

 * Time has resumed.
 * Prince Charming's counterpart, David Nolan, is awakened from his coma.
 * Ashley Boyd gives birth to her baby, Alexandra and is together again with her boyfriend and now fiancé, Sean Herman.
 * Crickets return after Archie Hopper stands up to Regina Mills.
 * Sheriff Graham regains his memories after sharing a kiss with Emma, but is killed by Regina.
 * A sinkhole appeared trying to reveal Snow White's glass coffin, but Regina keeps it hidden and throws the glass shard back underground.
 * David Nolan has been shown to have flashes of memories from his life in Fairytale Land. However, he mistakes them as memories he had prior to being in the coma ("The Shepherd") as well as confusing memories from the other world as ones he was recovering from his blackouts ("Heart of Darkness").
 * Ava Zimmer and Nicholas Zimmer reunite with their father, Michael Tillman.
 * Fireflies appear when Leroy is back together with Astrid.
 * Jefferson realized it was because of Emma's presence that time was able to resume, and recognizes her as having magic while everyone else is powerless.
 * Ruby starts taking responsibility thanks to a push from Emma Swan. She is also starting to fight less with her grandmother.
 * Ruby's Grandmother says she is proud of Ruby and Ruby forgives her, which brings them back together.
 * Mary Margaret Blanchard gets some of Snow White's fighting moves back while protecting Emma from Jefferson.
 * August Booth finally gets the courage to talk to his father Marco and be his assistant, so he could be with his father.
 * Emma kisses Henry Mills on the forehead which is True Love's Kiss. The kiss wakes Henry and breaks the curse, possibly only partially, making everybody in town remember their past lives and who they really are.
 * After the kiss, everyone now can leave town. However, due to the arrival of magic, they must pay a price: the memories of their time in Fairytale Land.

Happy Endings Restored

 * Hansel and Gretel
 * Red Riding Hood and Widow Lucas
 * Cinderella and Prince Thomas
 * Pinocchio and Geppetto (partially)
 * Belle and Rumplestiltskin (partially)

Ways to break the curse

 * Emma's death will break the curse. Mr. Gold, in An Apple Red as Blood, mentioned this when Regina wanted his help in getting rid of Emma.
 * Emma's true love for Henry has at least partially broken the curse.

Characters aware of the curse

 * Regina Mills, Mr. Gold and Jefferson all retain their memories from their lives in Fairytale Land.
 * Sheriff Graham remembered his former life completely prior to dying.
 * August Booth successfully evaded the curse by escaping with baby Emma Swan minutes prior to it being cast.
 * Henry Mills believes in the curse because of the book he was given by Mary Margaret Blanchard.
 * At least Emma Swan, Mary Margaret Blanchard and Archie Hopper are all aware of the concept of the curse via Henry, though they don't believe it actually exists. In "An Apple Red as Blood", Henry eats a poisoned tart intended for Emma and collapses. Following Henry's hospitalization in "A Land Without Magic", Emma realizes the curse is real after touching Henry's fairytale book and recalling Henry's words about her being in the book.
 * Following the events of "A Land Without Magic", the curse is at least partially broken and everyone remembers their fairytale pasts.
 * In Fairytale Land, the characters that were left behind were frozen for 28 years until Emma broke the curse in Storybrooke, also freeing all the characters in Fairytale Land.

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