Pan's Shadow

The Shadow is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It débuts, with its only appearance, in the twenty-first episode of the second season.

The Shadow is based on the shadow of the titular character from the play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up.

Before the Curse
In London, England, a young girl named Wendy Darling sees the Shadow outside her nursery window and gets up to watch it dance in shadow. Her friend and house guest, Baelfire, notices her out of bed and when prompted, Wendy excitedly tells him about "the Shadow" she sees outside sometimes, and how much it is like a puppet that moves in shadow like magic. Baelfire is wary of this talk about magic and speaks of how magic ruined his whole life, and he won't have it ruining her family, too. He makes her promise if she ever sees the Shadow again that she won't open the window for it.

Despite Wendy's promise to Baelfire, she can't help but be curious, and on the next night, when the Shadow appears within her sight again, she opens the window. Again, Baelfire tries to deter her. Unafraid, she takes the Shadow's hand and it lifts her away into the air while Baelfire can only watch from the open window in horror.

Wendy is taken by the Shadow to another world called Neverland and experiences the joys of seeing magical creatures such as fairies and mermaids and having refreshing freedom with no parents or adults to tell her or any of the children what to do. Though it is great fun, she is disturbed that by nightfall in Neverland, all the children begin to miss their parents and want to go home, but the Shadow won't allow them to ever leave. Because the Shadow wants another boy to bring to Neverland, he brings Wendy home with the intention of coming back the following night to take one of her brothers with him.

In the morning, Wendy returns home with the Shadow's help and reveals to Baelfire what the Shadow plans to do. Baelfire vows to not let her family be torn apart, and they form a plan to prevent the Shadow from succeeding. Wendy, Baelfire, John and Michael arm themselves with kitchen utensils as makeshift weapons in the nursery, and when the Shadow breaks open the window, they all run to hide in the cubby-hole. However, Michael gets distracted by staring curiously at the Shadow and is unaware he is in danger of being snatched away. Baelfire dashes out from the cubby-hole and protects Michael by asking the Shadow to take him instead. Despite Wendy's pleas, Baelfire knows this is the only way to keep the Shadow from making off with one of her brothers. She, John and Michael watch from the window as Baelfire is pulled up and disappears out of sight into the sky with the Shadow.

The Shadow takes Baelfire across the sea towards the island of Neverland. Refusing to accept he will be forced to stay in Neverland by the Shadow, Baelfire lights a match to ward off the Shadow. In fright, the Shadow drops him into the sea, and after searching for a brief moment, it cannot find Baelfire and flies off back to Neverland.