Grumpy

"As wretched as it is, I need my pain. It makes me who I am. It makes me Grumpy."

- Grumpy to Snow White about love

Grumpy, formerly known as Dreamy, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Lee Arenberg, and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Leroy.

Grumpy is based on one of the Seven Dwarves from the fairytale, "Snow White".

Before the Curse
Born from an egg on the same day as seven other dwarf brothers, he is taught the ways of mining for diamonds, and receives a name from his own pickax--Dreamy.

A year later, a clumsy fairy by the name of Nova is collecting the year's supply of fairy dust, which is made from grounding diamonds, but the switch to turn it off gets stuck. Nova calls for help as her bag is getting dangerously close to overflowing, and Dreamy comes to help her turn off the machine. Nova thanks him, but then her bag is accidentally scooped up into the assembly line headed for the furnace.

After a few paralyzing seconds, Dreamy climbs up; managing to grab the bag of fairy dust before it is incinerated. Nova thanks him and talks about her dream to become a fairy godmother, and Dreamy thinks she will make a great fairy godmother. Nova, in turn, casually invites him to Firefly Hill to see the fireflies with her at night, but he fails to get the subtle invitation, and she leaves, disheartened.

That night, he is celebrating at a bar with his brothers, albeit halfheartedly. He tells his boss, Bossy, that he feels strange, but Bossy scoffs and walks away. However, a human woman named Belle can tell he is in love. Dreamy questions her about love and mentions Nova's evening visit to Firefly Hill. Belle laughs at Dreamy's naivety and points out Nova obviously invited him to go there with her. Excitedly, Dreamy hurries off to Firefly Hill.

At the top of Firefly Hill, he finds Nova waiting for him. While there, the two bond over similarities, falling in love, and make plans to travel the world together on a boat.

Soon after, he meets Belle again and informs her of his plans to run off with Nova. In the bar, there is discussion about a quest to slay a yaoguai, and Dreamy encourages Belle to go with them. He also gives her a vial of fairy dust as thanks.

The next night, Dreamy is packing his bag to leave with Nova when Stealthy, one of his brothers, stops him. One by one, all of the other seven dwarves wake up and ask him where he is going. Dreamy explains his love for Nova and the plans they've made together, and all his brothers, except Stealthy, wish him luck.

Halfway to Firefly Hill, Dreamy is stopped by the Blue Fairy and Bossy. They point out dwarves cannot fall in love, and Nova's deepest wish is to become a fairy godmother. The Blue Fairy says the two of them would accomplish great things alone, but they would make a disastrous couple. They give him a choice—ruin both of their lives, or make Nova happy.

Dreamy goes to Firefly Hill, where Nova is waiting. She conjures a spyglass and shows him the ship that she acquired for their travels. He breaks the news that the two of them cannot be together, citing dwarves do not fall in love, and she deserves to be a fairy godmother. Nova quickly catches he must've spoken to the Blue Fairy and demands to know what she said to him. However, Dreamy says he cannot love, and walks away, leaving Nova in tears.

Returning to the mines a changed dwarf, he asks for his ax, which breaks as he is furiously attempts to chip diamonds and rubies out of the rock. Then, Bossy supplies Dreamy with a new ax, which gives him the new name Grumpy.

Some time later, Grumpy is arrested and thrown into King George's dungeon, where he meets Snow White. As he tells her, it is because of love he is stuck in this prison. Grumpy explains how he fell in love with a certain fairy (alluding to Nova) and lost her, but wanted to win her back. So he formulated a plan to work at the diamond mines and trade all his wages to the foreman in exchange for a diamond to propose to her. However, Grumpy was swindled as the diamond was a stolen one, and he took the blame for it landing himself in jail.

He counsels her on her lost love, Prince Charming, and is fully content to stay in the prison. However, Stealthy suddenly arrives to break him out. Snow White convinces Grumpy to let her out, too.

On their way to escape, Stealthy is killed by King George's men. Snow White agrees to give herself up for Grumpy's life, and Grumpy goes free. After Snow White is secretly forced by King George to tell Prince Charming she does not love him, or else he will kill Charming. After she rejects Charming, Snow White meets all seven dwarves in the woods and goes to live with them in their cottage.

Later at the cottage, she is about to drink the magical potion that Rumplestiltskin gave her to forget about her lost love Prince Charming, but Grumpy stops her and convinces her to hold out on the potion for just a little while. Once Prince Charming's wedding to the Princess Abigail is canceled, Grumpy is the one to break the news to Snow White; however, she has already drank the potion, and thus no longer remembers who Prince Charming is.

Because of this potion, Snow White becomes easily irritated, angry, annoyed, and rude. Finally, Grumpy and the other dwarves decide to bring in Jiminy Cricket to help her with her new self. However, the cricket fails to help Snow White, and only gives her the idea to kill the Evil Queen.

Grumpy finds Snow White stealing one of the Evil Queen's guard's armor, and reprimands her, insisting that her plan would not work. He then suggests taking her back to Rumplestiltskin to fix her, to which she agrees, but not for the reasons he suggests. While at Rumplestiltskin's palace, Grumpy is shocked when the imp does not fix his friend, but instead encourages her in the mission to kill the Queen.

Rumplestiltskin gives Snow White a bow and arrow, and tells her where to shoot so that the assassination would be successful. Grumpy is incredulous, and tells Snow White that she will take her mission on alone.

Many days after, Snow White returns to the cottage and gives Happy a replacement of his favorite cup that she broke under the potions spell. She reveals that the curse created by the potion has been broken and she apologizes for her recent behavior. She then reveals that Prince Charming was taken by King George's men, and that she needed to rescue him. The dwarves accept her apology and take up their pickaxes as they proclaim that she cannot do it alone and luckily she will not have to because they will help her.

Grumpy enlists the help of the fairies to attack King George's castle and free Prince Charming. Red helps to detect if the coast is clear for them to penetrate the castle. Their rescue is a failure because the Evil Queen already took Charming off of King George's hands. Instead, the Evil Queen asks Snow White to come to a certain place for a parley so they can talk. Snow White agrees to it, despite that Grumpy, the other dwarves, Granny and Red do not want her going there alone and unarmed. She goes even though they don't trust the Evil Queen's intentions. Eventually, they go to find her. Snow White is found lifeless and still on the floor. After Red tests to see if she is breathing, it is concluded she is dead, although in actuality Snow White is under a sleeping curse.

Grumpy and his six brothers decide to put Snow White in a glass coffin in the forest. As they are mourning her death, Prince Charming, who escaped the Evil Queen's castle, gallops on his horse on the scene. He is too late, but gives Snow White one last kiss as a final goodbye. Unknowingly, he wakes her up from the sleeping curse with true love's kiss, and restores Snow White to life.

Wishing to take back the kingdom, Snow White puts the plan into full-swing by rallying local villagers with a speech exposing the truth about the Queen’s evil ways, including the murder of King Leopold and her own plight under the Sleeping Curse, while Prince Charming, Grumpy and the other dwarves look on. Though the townspeople have echoed in agreement with many of the princess's points, they turn silent when she asks them to stand beside her and fight against the Queen for the right of the kingdom. The Queen makes a surprise appearance, sending the townspeople scattering, but Snow White and her entourage do not budge. Assuming the Queen is looking for a fight, the prince and princess unsheathe their swords. Instead, the Queen ensnares Prince Charming with rope and engages Snow White in the tempting prospect of escaping with her life unscathed, if and when, the princess gives up being a claimant to the throne. Then, she orders Snow White to swear on King Leopold’s grave to revoke her own petition to the throne. Snow White challenges her, so the Queen attacks a peasant girl to prove her point. Attempts at a counter attack fail, though the Queen leaves Snow White with a time limit of until sundown tomorrow to accept the offer, or for every day she refuses, one of her loyal subjects will perish.

Near a riverbed, Snow White, Prince Charming and the dwarves have stationed a temporary camp. Though Prince Charming tries to convince Snow White that the kingdom’s citizens need protection from the Queen, she knows her own limits in the situation. Lamenting about her own inability to come to defense of the peasant girl earlier on, she also fears the Queen will likely begin harming those closest to herself. Grumpy swears fealty to Snow White as Happy remarks it doesn't matter if their lives will end in death for her, though Sleepy adds that will probably happen. Snow White considers that thought while the other dwarves look on in bewilderment at Sneezy. Prince Charming chastises to not let the Queen’s words get to her. However, Snow White’s spirits are already dampened by understanding the Queen was right to say she is no queen or even a leader, and sees herself as just a bandit in the woods. Snow White admits to not knowing who she really is anymore except not wanting to be alone. She considers the possibility if the Queen's offer is taken, they can all be together in peaceful exile, and agrees it is the best possible solution.

As Snow White walks off, Prince Charming attempts to call her back are cut off as Grumpy confronts him about his peculiar attention in wanting to fight for the right of the throne. Aptly confused, Prince Charming listens to Grumpy's argument that by having true love, there’s no real difference in living in a castle or farm. Each of the dwarves, in turn, give Prince Charming knowing expressions. In disbelief, Prince Charming is shocked they are accusing him of wanting to obtain Snow White’s crown, and tries to explain he just wants what’s best for her. Grumpy gives him a reality check by stating even though Snow White loves Prince Charming, his dashing looks aren't a free pass from their watching eyes. Prince Charming questions whether they are on his side or not, which Sneezy answers by saying Grumpy spoke accurately in their group opinion of him. Grumpy advises since Snow White has already made a final decision, he’ll just have to find a way to change her mind without them.

Prince Charming tries to gain the assistance of Rumplestiltskin to help Snow White believe in herself enough to stand up to the Queen, but the wizard heeds true belief must come from within the person. So, he devises to use a identical forgery of the legendary Excalibur sword of Camelot, plant it into a large stone and have Snow White pull it out. As Excalibur's lore goes, only the true ruler of the kingdom can wield the sword. The plan goes well, and the next day, Snow White shows a slightly renewed hope of going against the Queen.

The Queen is expectant in Snow White's answer, but is told she won’t be surrendering the crown. True to her previous threats, the Queen begins suffocating Grumpy to death as payment for Snow White’s defiance, and throws back the other dwarves when they attempt to help him. Panic-stricken, Snow White is unsure of what to do, but on Prince Charming’s urging, begins to believe in herself after being reminded of what Excalibur symbolizes. Snow White makes a charge at the Queen, missing at first, but manages to cut her cheek; releasing Grumpy from the choke hold as Prince Charming and the dwarves scurry to make sure he is all right. At Snow White's bold declaration that the kingdom is hers, the Queen matches evenly with words and retreats. Afterwards, Snow White, Prince Charming and the dwarves congregate in celebration of the victory.

Having earned the dwarves' respect, Prince Charming is accepted by them. Grumpy apologizes for doubting his sincere feelings for Snow White, and pours him a drink. In the middle of making a toast with the dwarves to a new future, Snow White pushes in to confront him; upset at his lies about the deal and sword. Shocked, Grumpy and the dwarves look on as the two talk at the sidelines, but eventually make-up from the misunderstanding.

War rages between Snow White and Prince Charming against the armies of the Evil Queen and King George. Following King George's fall, the Evil Queen is captured as a prisoner. While the war council discuss what her fate should be, Grumpy, one of Grumpy is members seated at the table, is in favor of a quick, violent death for the tyrant. Against Snow White's wishes, the Queen is sentenced to death as punishment for her crimes. At the execution, Grumpy watches the Evil Queen give her last testament to the public. The speech moves a remorseful Snow White, who can't bear to go through with it, and halts the death sentence at the last moment. Believing the Queen is a redeemable person, Snow White tests her. When the Queen proves to still be a vengeful person, she is banished into exile.

With the land at peace, Snow White and Prince Charming decide to marry in the castle with many of their dear friends, including Grumpy, in attendance. Crashing the wedding as an unexpected guest, the Evil Queen incites terror in everyone except Snow White. The Queen outlines her plans to ruin everyone's happiness using a curse, and how the only happiness will be hers. Through Rumplestiltskin, Snow White and Prince Charming learn their unborn child is the savior of the curse the Evil Queen intends to enact over all of the Enchanted Forest.

After Snow White and Prince Charming gain back the kingdom, they are joined in a marriage ceremony. Grumpy and the six dwarves attend, but the wedding is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the Evil Queen. She has a special gift for the happy couple, and this present will take away everything they love.

Many months after Snow White and Prince Charming's marriage, they fear the worst in what the Queen is planning for them. From a visit to the future-seeing Rumplestiltskin, they are told the Queen is going to cast a Dark Curse, which will bring everyone to a new land, and their only hope of reversing the effects is their unborn child, who will free all of them twenty-eight years in the future. On the war council, Grumpy is in favor of war instead of the Blue Fairy's idea of creating a magical wardrobe. He is outvoted when most of the war council would rather the crafting of the wardrobe, which will protect one person from the Dark Curse's effects.

Grumpy is on watch duty with Sleepy on top of the castle tower on the look out for the dark curse. On the day Snow White goes into labor and gives birth to a daughter, he sights the approaching dark curse in the form of black smoke and rings the warning bell that lets the townspeople know that the curse is upon them. After Emma is sent to the other world, Grumpy and the rest of the Enchanted Forest are swallowed up by the curse.

Appearances

 * Grumpy appears in Henry's storybook in "Queen of Hearts".