Magic Beans

"A magic bean. The very last one that is known to our kind. The others got away from us. You just use it wisely, and follow wherever it leads you. It will save you both."

- Reul Ghorm to Baelfire Magic Beans are magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the nineteenth episode of the first season.

Before the Curse
Baelfire is becoming increasingly worried about Rumplestiltskin, his father, because of how his Dark One powers are making him more and more evil. He strikes a deal with his father; if he can find a way for him to safely give up his powers, Rumplestiltskin has to keep the end of his bargain.

He speaks to his friend, Morraine about his dilemma, and she suggests he call upon the Reul Ghorm, who has the most powerful magic there is in the Enchanted Forest. From there, Baelfire meets the Blue Fairy and asks for her help. While there was no way to turn his father back into the man he used to be, she can bring both Baelfire and Rumplestiltskin into another world that exists without magic. The Blue Fairy gives him the last magic bean known to exist and tells him to follow wherever it will lead him.

Later, Baelfire greets Rumplestiltskin with the news of having found a way for him to be rid of his powers. He leads his father outside and throws the bean onto the ground. It begins to glow blue and transforms into a large green suction portal. Baelfire urges his father to go with him, but Rumplestiltskin backs out of the deal and watches his son disappear into the portal without him.

After Baelfire is gone, Rumplestiltskin realizes his mistake and calls for the Blue Fairy. She explains that there was no way to get to "a land without magic" anymore. But, after much probing, Rumplestiltskin finds out the only other way is to use a curse by sacrificing his homeland; a feat the Blue Fairy believes he can never accomplish. He vows to do whatever it takes as long as he can get to his son. Many years later, while sitting at the table, Rumplestiltskin is approached by a man who introduces himself as William Smee. He, after hearing of Rumplestiltskin's power, backstory and reputation, offers him a magic bean that has the ability to travel between worlds. When Rumplestiltskin has the impression there was no more of its kind, Smee said that this bean was from a different land, and he immediately asks what Smee wants in return. He desires eternal life, and Rumplestiltskin states he can only make Smee's "clock" go in reverse. However, Rumplestiltskin threatens him that if Smee tricks him, he will make the "clock" go forward, turning him to dust.

Rumplestiltskin faces his nemesis, Hook, and challenges him to a duel. Years ago, before Rumplestiltskin was the Dark One, he had a wife, Milah, who Hook supposedly kidnapped. When he begged for Milah to be returned, Hook asked to fight him, to which Rumplestiltskin could not muster. Now, Rumplestiltskin has come for payback. He is even more enraged at hearing from Hook that Milah is dead. Rumplestiltskin is close to ripping out Hook's heart, but is stopped by the appearance of Milah. She explains she and Hook have Smee captive, and hold the magic bean he so desires. Milah is willing to exchange the bean for their lives. The next day, Rumplestiltskin meets them on Hook's ship. He has a heated confrontation with Milah. While he can understand why she left him, he doesn't know why she ever left their son. Milah is regretful that her own misery clouded her judgment, but Rumplestiltskin asked why she was so miserable. Finally, she admits that she never loved him. Angered by this, Rumplestiltskin rips out her heart, and crushes it to dust. Hook attempts to kill Rumplestiltskin by stabbing him with his hook, but he does not die. Instead, Rumplestiltskin takes off his hand that clenches the magic bean. Rumplestiltskin states he will not kill him but he will let him live and suffer.

Later, Rumplestiltskin examines the cut off hand, but there is nothing clenched in the fist. Hook successfully tricked Rumplestiltskin, and instead uses the magic bean to open a portal in the ocean to take himself and his crew to a land where "no one ever ages"--Neverland. According to Hook, the giants created the beans as a means to attack other worlds and steal their treasures. For a long time, the giants pretend to be extinct to avoid another massacre of their people. However, one of the giants in the family, Anton, is very curious about humans. He climbs down the beanstalk to explore the human world, and becomes friends with two humans, Prince James and Jack. They tell him about how very much in need of gold and treasures to keep the kingdom afloat, and Anton feels sorry for them enough to want to give them some of the giants' hidden treasures. He returns back up the beanstalk to fetch some for them, but in doing so, he reveals the location of the giants' lair. Prince James and Jack reveal their true intentions in attacking the giants and slaughtering all of them for their treasures. In the midst of the battle, Jack is killed by the poison of her own blade while Prince James selfishly grabs all the treasure he can carry, and leaves down the beanstalk. Only Anton manages to survive and destroy all of their growing beans so humans cannot have them. Before Anton's brother, Arlo, dies, he gives him a preserved budding from a stalk that will grow new beans.

After the Curse
Many years after the destruction and death that killed all giants and the famed giantslayer, Jack, Hook brings Emma, Mary Margaret, Mulan and Aurora to the beanstalk to hunt for an enchanted compass the last remaining giant, Anton, is in possession of. With the compass, Emma and Mary Margaret can open a portal to get back to Storybrooke. Emma and Hook climb the beanstalk to retrieve the item, and force the giant out of his lair. Anton makes no secret of his extreme hatred for humans, and as has a reminder of the danger of them he wears as a necklace the bean his brother once gave him. Emma, Mary Margaret, Mulan and Aurora learn they can stop Hook's partner in crime, Cora, by finding a bottle of squid ink in Rumplestiltskin's old cell. They become trapped in the cell after Aurora, controlled by Cora due to her being in possession of Aurora's heart, locks them in. From outside the cell, Hook shows Emma the dried up bean from the beanstalk. He says he kept it as a souvenir. After Emma and Mary Margaret successfully escape into the portal to Storybrooke, Hook and Cora are left behind to lament their failure. Hook still has the bean, but it is withered and shriveled up. Cora uses her magic to conjure water in Lake Nostos and restore the bean so that it may be used. They open a portal, and sail to Storybrooke on Hook's ship. Anton is shrunken by Cora and brought into Storybrooke via Hook's ship. He hates humans, but eventually learns to trust the townspeople of Storybrooke and shows them the last withered magic bean he has left. Leroy and his friends decide to help him plant it in fertile soil so it may have the chance to grow. Mother Superior creates a barrier around the area surrounding the growing beans so it is invisible and hidden from outside view. After much time has passed for the beans to grow into whole bean fields, Mary Margaret and David take Emma to see them. She is shocked that they have been growing magic beans with the intent to go back to the Enchanted Forest. After viewing the bean fields, Emma does a lot of thinking about whether or not she and Henry should go to the Enchanted Forest, too. She draws Regina's suspicion something is going on without her knowing. Using magic to track David's car to where it has been recently, Regina discovers the bean fields. She takes a bean to plant her own beanstalk while destroying the rest of the bean fields.

Trivia

 * The waters of Lake Nostos can restore withered magic beans to their former ripe state.
 * Magic Beans can be used as a transport to any place desired.

Appearances
Fagioli magici Zauberbohne