Changelings

"Changelings"
Season Six
Season 06, Episode 09
Episode Information
Character backstory	Belle Rumplestiltskin
Premiere date	November 27, 2016
Viewers	3.27 million
Written by	David H. Goodman & Brian Ridings
Directed by	Mairzee Almas
Episode Chronology
Previous Episode	"I'll Be Your Mirror"
Next Episode	"Wish You Were Here"
Related Pages

“

You steal babies. Steal them from their mothers' arms. So, why, of all the babies, in all of the realms, why did you abandon the one child who was actually yours?

”

—Rumplestiltskin to the Black Fairy

"Changelings" is the ninth episode of Season Six of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by David H. Goodman & Brian Ridings, and directed by Mairzee Almas. It is the one hundred and twentieth episode of the series overall, and premiered on November 27, 2016.

Synopsis

In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Rumple collects Jack and Jill's son as bait to lure a powerful being to him. Back in Storybrooke, Gold tells the Evil Queen that she must kill Zelena, and the EQ makes a decision that will change her relationship with her sister forever. When Belle discovers Gold’s plans for their son, she convinces Hook and Emma to help her steal squid ink that can immobilize him, and, as a result, Belle is left to make a sacrifice that will affect the lives of everyone in Storybrooke. Meanwhile, Jasmine finds a genie-less lamp that she hopes to use to save Agrabah, and Aladdin finds a way to be her hero.

Deleted Scenes

"Collecting On A Deal" (Scene 2-3-4)

This scene is included on Once Upon a Time: The Complete Sixth Season.

Rumplestiltskin stalks Jack as he enters his cottage and appears right before Jack and Jill. He tells the couple that he's here because he wants the collect what he desires according to a deal they made. Rumplestiltskin refreshes their memory by saying that some time ago, Jill rushed to see Rumplestiltskin to make a deal after Jack fell down a hill and broke his skull. Jill says that she remembers what happened, and attempts to give him her ring which she considers her most valuable item. However, Rumplestiltskin says that it was valuable then, but now they have something more valuable: their son. After he steals their baby and walks out of the cottage, he stumbles upon the Blue Fairy who reveals herself to be the baby's fairy godmother. But the fairy's magic is no use for the Dark One as there is a deal for him to collect his payment. After he moves the fairy away, the couple begs Rumplestiltskin, who shoots back and says that they shouldn't have trusted a fairy to protect their child.

Zelena Vs. Serum Queen: Extended

An extended version of the fight scene between Zelena and the serum queen that includes horses, huge riders, Black Knights and the serum queen knocking Zelena off. During this, there are flying monkeys circling around them, and the serum queen jumps at Zelena and hurts her.

Cast

Starring Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills/Evil Queen (serum) Josh Dallas (Credit only) Emilie de Ravin as Belle Colin O'Donoghue as Hook Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills Rebecca Mader as Zelena Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring Deniz Akdeniz as Aladdin Karen David as Jasmine Beverley Elliott as Granny Giles Matthey as Son Jaime Murray as Black Fairy Keegan Connor Tracy as Blue Fairy/Mother Superior

Co-Starring Tammy Gillis as Jill/Peasant Wife Nick Hunnings as Jack/Peasant Jacky Lai as Novice Fairy/Young Nun Edwina Shuster as Aged Nun Uncredited Unknown as Floyd Unknown baby as Robin Hood Unknown baby as Jack and Jill's Son Unknown baby as Gideon

Trivia

• Production Notes
• Episode Connections
• Cultural References
• Set Notes
• Other Notes

Title

• The title card features the Dream World's swingset.
• The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 28, 2016.
• The episode's name "Changelings" is a reference to the myth of fairies abducting children and replacing them with "changelings" or "faerie-babies". The Blue Fairy also mentions that the Black Fairy steals children.

Production Notes

• Jaime Murray is misspelled as "Jamie", instead of "Jaime" in the press release.
• The press release credits Jacky Lai's character as Novice Fairy/Young Nun. However, her Enchanted Forest counterpart does not make an appearance.
• The establishing shot of the Dark castle is stock footage from the background plate of a view of the castle in Belle's Dream World in "The Savior.
• In Belle's dream, she mentions Hildrew as the author of the book Manual on Defeating the Dark One. This is a reference to Geofrey Hildrew, one of the editors on the show, who also directed the episode "The Bear King".
  • Belle also mentions a book called Treatise on the Metaphysics of Magic by "Goldman", a reference to Mark Goldman, also an editor on the show, and the one who provided the voice of Sven.
  • Another book mentioned in the dream is The White Sorcerer's Way by "Talbot", a reference to Joe Talbot Hall, another editor on the show.
• The episode script contains a segment where Emma asks, "You sure about that?", and Belle answers, "He still loves me." This segment is not in the final episode.
• In the episode script, Belle describes Fairy language as ancient, and says that almost no one knows it. She also says that her mother taught her some when she was young.
• Granny serves Belle a cup of chamomile tea that "soothes the soul", and Hook comments on how it helps calm the nerves. Unbeknownst to Granny, however, the tea has been dosed with aging powder that accelerates Belle's pregnancy and causes her to go into labor. Chamomile, an old medical herb, can actually be used to reduce stress, and has been stated to have a soothing and calming effect. However, the consumption of too much chamomile can lead to a miscarriage, or a premature birth.
• Nick Hunnings, who portrays Jack, also portrays the Prison Guard in the Season Two episode "The Cricket Game".

Event Chronology

• The Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place some time after "Lacey" and "Heroes and Villains" (in the latter, the curtains in Rumplestiltskin's castle are still nailed to the wall, and they are open in "Changelings"), after the scene where Belle opens the curtains in "Skin Deep", and before Belle is banished from Rumplestiltskin's castle in the same episode. (For more details, see the Enchanted Forest timeline)
• The Storybrooke events take place after "I'll Be Your Mirror" and before "Wish You Were Here". (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
• The Dream World events take place after "The Savior" and before "The Black Fairy".

Episode Connections

• The power station where Mr. Gold takes the nun prisoner, is the same location where Mary Margaret struggles to turn the power back on during the town-wide black-out in "White Out".
• Rumplestiltskin's other dealings with babies were explored in "The Price of Gold", "The Shepherd", "The Miller's Daughter" and "Devil's Due".
• When Belle asks for the name of Jack and Jill's baby, Rumplestiltskin says that names are a special thing. In present day Storybrooke, Belle refuses to reveal the name of their own baby to Mr. Gold, because he might use it to find him. Rumplestiltskin's habit of treating names as important was previously referred to in "Pilot", "That Still Small Voice", "Queen of Hearts", "Manhattan" and "The Apprentice".
• Belle first encountered her son in the Dream World in "The Savior".
• Emma talks about how she used magic to speed up Zelena's pregnancy, which occurred in "Birth". The same thing ultimately happens to Belle, after drinking some tea tainted by the serum queen.
• Regina says that the Evil Queen has a hole in her heart that she is desperate to fill. In "Save Henry", Rumplestiltskin stated that Regina's real counterpart had a hole in her heart as a result of casting the Dark Curse, a hole that she would one day need to fill. Maleficent made a similar comment to Regina's real counterpart in "The Thing You Love Most", where she said that enacting the curse would leave an emptiness inside her; a void she would never be able to fill.
• Mary Margaret talks about how her father found a Genie Lamp once, an event that took place in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".
• Belle talks about how her mother read Her Handsome Hero for her, something that was previously mentioned in "Family Business" and "Her Handsome Hero".
• Belle tries to escape from Mr. Gold by hiding inside the library elevator, the same trick that she used to escape from Hook in "The Outsider". Unfortunately, it doesn't work this time.
• Mr. Gold says to Belle that he's a difficult man to love. He said the same thing to Emma in "Skin Deep".
• Mr. Gold also says to Belle that he's a man no one can ever love, something that he also told her in "Skin Deep", where he stated that "no one could ever love him".
• Mr. Gold snidely refers to Hook as "the Savior's lap dog", echoing a similar comment he made in "The Apprentice", where he referred to Hook as a "puppy dog chasing after the object of his affection".
• The sword that Emma finds, was first seen in her vision in "The Savior". Its origin story is revealed in "Ill-Boding Patterns".
• The Black Fairy was first referenced in "Going Home".
• How the Black fairy ceased to be good is revealed in "The Black Fairy".
• Rumplestiltskin threatens to use the Dark One Dagger on the Black Fairy unless she co-operates. He threatened to do the same to August in "The Return".
• Hook says to Belle that chamomile helps calm the nerves. Zelena said the same thing to David and Mary Margaret in "The Tower".
• The Evil Queen doses a cup of chamomile tea with a magical substance, just like Zelena did when she fed David Night Root in "The Tower".
• Rumplestiltskin asks his mother why she abandoned him. She gives him the answer in "The Black Fairy".
• Mr. Gold expresses his dislike of fairies, something that was first alluded to in "Dreamy", and further elaborated on in "Fall".
• Regina blames Zelena for Robin Hood's death, an event that took place in "Last Rites".
• The serum queen talks about how Zelena killed Mr. Gold's first son, an event that took place in "Quiet Minds".
• When Mr. Gold finds out what the Evil Queen did to Belle, he uses his walking stick to smash items in his shop in a fit of rage, just like he did in "We Are Both" when he discovered that the town line would stop him from leaving Storybrooke.
• Aladdin is freed from the lamp in "A Wondrous Place".

Biblical

• A headstone shaped like a Celtic cross can be seen in Belle's Dream World. Another headstone is shaped like a regular cross.

Disney

• Granny brings Belle some chamomile tea, a reference to the scene where the living teaset bring Belle some tea in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Fairytales and Folklore

• This episode features the ugly duckling from the titular fairytale, Rumplestiltskin from the "Rumpelstiltskin" fairytale, Beauty and the Beast (who is actually Rumplestiltskin) from the "Beauty and the Beast" fairytale, the fairy with the turquoise hair from The Adventures of Pinocchio, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, the evil queen from the "Snow White" fairytale, Aladdin and the princess from the One Thousand and One Nights story, and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story.
• Jack and Jill from the nursery rhyme of the same name also appear.
• When Belle demands to know the name of Jack and Jill's infant son, Rumplestiltskin says to that names are a special thing. Later, in the present day, Mr. Gold asks Belle for their son's name but Belle refuses because Gold can use it to find him. This is a reference to the "Rumplestiltskin" fairytale, where the titular character consents to give up his claim on the miller's daughter's unborn child if she can guess his name within three days.

Popular Culture

• On the library shelf where Belle finds the Manual on Defeating the Dark One in her dream, there is a bound volume of Scots Law Times from 1927. Scots Law Times is a Scottish law report service containing coverage from every Scottish court, a service which dates back as far as 1893.
  • Also sitting on the shelf is an old volume of The New Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopaedia.
• Mars and Venus, a famous painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, can be glimpsed behind Mr. Gold as he is talking to Belle inside the convent. It can be seen more clearly in the Season Five episode "Our Decay".

Props Notes

• The essay written by one of Mary Margaret's students, Victoria N., is about "the best invention of all time". It reads:

For me, the best invention in the world that
was ever invented is swimming polls [sic]! Swimming
pools are the best inventions cuz you can dive
from high places, and there is a lifeguard [obscured]
dangerous as if you did it [obscured]

• Belle's library book says:

Spelle for the Removal of Errant Hairs
on Any Parte of the body.

Stand ye in front of a large looking glass.

Looke fulle at the part of your body whereabouts
the folicles [sic] are to be diminished. Thereafter fashion
a concoction of clove spice, macerated rose-hips
and milk whey.

Mix the ingredients together full well and apply
to the glass that reflects the portion of the body to
be acted on.

Say the incantation follicles be damned, get thee
gone by wave of my hand.

[faded word] wave your right hand in a deosil motion in
a front of thine likeness and
paste into a pannie[obscured]

This mixtur[obscured]
when the moon[obscured]

• The spell book that Mr. Gold is reading when Hook walks into his shop contains an illustration of a magic circle from Key of Solomon, an old grimoire incorrectly attributed to King Solomon. This particular illustration is from one of the earliest manuscript of the grimoire, entitled The Clavicle of Solomon, revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian, written in English and Latin and dated 1572. Note that the illustration has been touched up, colorized and modified by the prop makers: For example, the sensors in the north, east, south and west have been replaced with new symbols (a star and circle inside a circle), the Stars of David (✡) have been replaced with three five-pointed stars (☆), the text in the inner circle (which has no actual meaning) has been slightly modified and the two lowermost text passages have switched sides, while the word "Plemoma" (Esperanto for "people") has been added to the center.
  • The caption reads (some of it is obscured but can be seen in a book prop which was auctioned off online; this text is set in fuchsia):

In this magical spell the magus is shown
He who follows the other side the forme of
the circle shall be as sure as in a very
strong castle within he need not feel the
illfect of any magic. He is impervious
to all enmity and mentacity.

• The text is adapted from the caption which accompanies the original illustration in the book. The original caption reads thus: "Heare Followeth one the other side the forme of the circle whosoever be in such a circle shall be as sure as in a very stronge castle wherin he needeth to feare nothinge."

• The illustration on the other side of the page (seen through the paper) contains symbols from the outer circle of the Pentacle of Solomon, an illustration found in the Lesser Key of Solomon, an anonymous grimoire on demonology compiled in the mid-17th century. (Note that since the page is seen from behind, all the symbols are mirror-inverted.)

• Around the illustration, the names Jaldabaoth, Samael, Nebro and Saklas (the latter is partially obscured but can be seen in the concept art) are printed. These are all alternate names for the Gnostic demiurge Yaldabaoth.
• The caption beneath the illustration is difficult to read since it is only seen though the paper and is therefore mirror-inverted; in addition, the first caption, which is printed on the opposite side, obscures most of the text. However, if you flip the screenshot, you can read parts of it, while some of it can be seen on a piece of concept art by graphic designer Neil Westlake. The text is taken from The Book of Abraham the Jew (1774) by Abraham Eleazar, who was supposedly a Jewish alchemist. Nothing is known about him; his name was most likely fictional and the real author seems to have been a person called Julius Gervasius of Schwarzburg. The full excerpt (the parts which can be read on-screen are set in bold, while the parts that can only be seen on the concept art are set in fuchsia) reads:

This is the Spirit; thus out of the Dew is
drawn out and with which our salt
is prepared. The undermost culebra* serpent
however denotes our Materiam,
everywhere to be found; it is earthly and also
heavenly, then it the right Earth, Virginea et
Adamica. That one however may know what
it is, so is such to be found under the
vegetable roots.

*The word "culebra", Spanish for "snake", was added for the show

• The spell book is the same book that Mr. Gold was reading when the serum queen dropped by the pawnshop in "Dark Waters". He later uses it to look up information for his son Gideon, on how to repair the Hrunting, in "Ill-Boding Patterns".

• According to Giles Matthey, he and Emilie de Ravin both played on the swingset between set ups.

Set Dressing

• When Mr. Gold enters the convent, there is a glass-stained window in the hallway behind him. It is the same window that was added to the landing outside the entrance to the Blanchard loft in the Season Two premiere "Broken".

Costume Notes

• The dress worn by the serum queen at the power station is the same dress that Regina conjured up when under the influence of the Spell of Shattered Sight in the Season Four episode "Shattered Sight", and when selecting a dress for the ball in Camelot in the Season Five episode "The Price". Regina's real counterpart wore the same dress when giving the Count of Monte Cristo the Agrabahn Viper venom in the Season Six episode "A Bitter Draught" and in Regina's dream in the Season Four episode "Poor Unfortunate Soul".
• When the Evil Queen attacks Zelena, she is wearing the same outfit that Regina's real counterpart wore during battle in the Season Two episode "The Cricket Game".
• During her confrontation with the Evil Queen, Zelena is wearing a Michael Kors Faux Fur Peacoat and a Michael Kors Tweed-Print Chiffon Tie-Neck Blouse (both are no longer available).
• Emma is wearing a Plumetis Tunic Blouse from Zara. She wears the same blouse in "Wish You Were Here", "Tougher Than the Rest" and "Murder Most Foul".
• Mary Margaret is wearing a Joie Sonomaombre Paisley Printed Sandwashed Savory Silk.
• Belle is wearing a Anthropologie Morning Glory Swing Dress (no longer available).
• Regina is wearing a Zara Doubled Breasted Coat. (no longer available). Note that the costume department added the red roping around the wrists. She wears the same coat in "Wish You Were Here", "Tougher Than the Rest", and "Murder Most Foul"..

Filming Locations

• The scene with the serum queen and Mr. Gold at the power station was filmed on a television set at The Bridge Studios.
• A forest in Vancouver doubles as the Enchanted Forest for the deleted scene where Rumplestiltskin kidnaps Jack and Jill's baby, and the brief scene where Belle returns the child to his parents at the end of the episode.

International Titles

International Titles
Language	Title	Translation
French	"La Fée Noire"	"The Black Fairy"
German	"Aus Liebe geboren und doch verloren"	"Born of Love and Yet Lost"
Italian	"La fata nera"	"The Black Fairy"
Portuguese	"Bebês Trocados"	"Switched Babies"

Videos

6x09 - Changelings - Promo

6x09 - Changelings - Sneak Peek 1

6x09 - Changelings - Sneak Peek 2

Regina Saves Zelena From The Evil Queen - Once Upon A Time

The Evil Queen Threatens Rumple - Once Upon A Time

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