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Crystal Balls

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This article focuses on crystal balls.
For similar items, see snow globes.


I've heard rumors of a crystal ball... A magical orb that would allow us to communicate across the realms.

—Roderick to Gideon src


Crystal Balls are magical and non-magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the twenty-first episode of the first season.[1]


History

Before First Curse

Six years after making a deal with Rumplestiltskin which required him to give up one of his sons, James, Robert comes to the Dark One for help finding James, who has been kidnapped. Robert offers him nothing in return and believes he has nothing to lose for a chance to see his son again and apologize to him. Rumplestiltskin eventually agrees and uses his crystal ball to locate James on Pleasure Island, with the revelation that the boy wasn't kidnapped, but ran away on his own accord. ("Murder Most Foul")

At the bequest of Rumplestiltskin, Jefferson travels to Oz to retrieve magical slippers for him, but since the slippers have already been moved to another realm, he procures a crystal ball for him instead. He then travels back to the Enchanted Forest and delivers it to Rumplestiltskin. It then becomes one of many magical objects he keeps in his castle. ("The Doctor," "Heroes and Villains")

Journeying from the nearby kingdom of Arendelle, Anna arrives in the Enchanted Forest seeking Kristoff's old friend, David. He and his mother, Ruth, allow her to take shelter on their farm. During her time there, Anna helps David to overcome his fear of fighting back against the cunning warlord Bo Peep. The next morning, as Anna is leaving, she asks Ruth if there is someone who is an expert on magic-related issues. Ruth, too afraid to speak the man's name out loud, writes down the name for her. While riding off on horseback, Anna later reads the name, Rumplestiltskin, out loud. Unbeknownst to Anna, Rumplestiltskin cackles in delight as he witnesses this within his crystal ball. ("White Out")

To learn why her parents once sought out Rumplestiltskin's help, Anna agrees to assist him by dousing an old man's tea with a substance she believes is poison. Upon meeting the kind-hearted man, she cannot bring herself to do it and dumps the liquid out. She lies to Rumplestiltskin about completing his task, and only then, he reveals the substance was actually an antidote to cure the man. Through a crystal ball, Rumplestiltskin shows the man, who he poisoned days earlier, transforming into a mouse. Horrified, a worried Anna takes off to the old man's house. ("The Apprentice")

In a deal to find a third magical sister to complete her family, Ingrid returns the sorcerer's hat to the Apprentice in exchange for a scroll containing information about the one she so desperately seeks. Arriving in another land, she consults with a psychic named Madame Faustina about the third sister, who won't be born for another twenty-eight years. Ingrid pays for the seer's service by giving up her necklace and then listens with rapt attention as Madame Faustina gazes into her crystal ball and foretells of a girl that is very special. Ingrid requests for more information, to which Madame Faustina concentrates further and reveals the girl's name will be Susan. However, Ingrid learns from the apprentice's scroll that the third sister's name is to be Emma Swan. Angered at the fake seer's trickery, she storms out of the shop. ("Shattered Sight")

Arriving in the past Enchanted Forest from the future, Emma and Hook set out to orchestrate a fated meeting between Snow White and Prince Charming, which they accidentally kept from happening. With a wave at his crystal ball, Rumplestiltskin allows them to see Snow White currently attempting to bargain with the pirate Black Beard for passage onto his ship in order to escape the Evil Queen. However, Black Beard asks for more gold, which Snow cannot afford to pay, so he walks away from their deal. ("Snow Drifts")



During First Curse
When a curse cast by the Evil Queen brings all Enchanted Forest inhabitants to a land without magic, many personal belongings cross worlds as well. Among several items, three crystal balls end up in Mr. Gold's pawnshop. ("Pilot," "A Land Without Magic")

After First Curse
After ending up in the Enchanted Forest, Neal's desperation to find Emma and Henry leads him to his father's abandoned castle. Robin Hood, who has claimed the castle, allows Neal and Mulan to search its grounds for whatever they need. Activating a secret room with Rumplestiltskin's enchanted cane, Neal enters in and picks out a crystal ball. Neal doesn't know how to activate it, but going by Mulan's advice, he concentrates and thinks of Emma while holding the crystal ball, which allows him to see her within it. To his horror, he recognizes that she is no longer in Storybrooke and has crossed worlds to Neverland. ("The Heart of the Truest Believer")

After Third Curse

After betraying Milah in order to buy himself a way out of the Underworld and back to Belle in Storybrooke, Mr. Gold visits Hades to get his due. Hades instead agrees to let him go home someday, but for now, he has other plans for him. With a crystal ball, the Underworld god conjures up an image of a sleeping Belle before revealing he knows the secret that Mr. Gold has been hiding from him: Belle is pregnant. ("Devil's Due")

In the Dark Realm, Gideon helps his old friend Roderick retrieve a crystal ball so they can contact the Savior, who can help them defeat the Black Fairy. Before they can use the ball, the Black Fairy shatters it and punishes Gideon for attempting to go against her by killing Roderick. ("Mother's Little Helper")

After the Black Fairy's plan to release dark magic into Storybrooke is thwarted by Zelena, she observes the heroes through a crystal ball as they successfully revive a comatose Mother Superior. ("Where Bluebirds Fly")

After Fourth Curse
At some point in time, Madame Leota loses her corporeal form, but her soul does not fully surrender to "the other side," allowing her to continue her existence in a crystal ball. When Gothel begins her plans to assemble a coven of witches, she recruits a young aspiring witch by the name of Robin, promising help in developing the young witch's skills in magic. Gothel takes Robin to Memento Mori, planning to use the resurrection amulet to exchange Robin's life for Leota's. Zelena, Robin's mother, with the help of Hook, tracks down the location of Memento Mori and try to convince Robin not to join Gothel. Leota traps Zelena and Hook in Memento Mori, making the door vanish, and electrocutes Hook when he threatens Gothel. Robin tells her mother she does not need saving and tells Hook and Zelena to leave, summoning the door. Zelena and Hook leave, but Hook convinces Zelena to go back for her daughter. Meanwhile, Gothel begins the resurrection ceremony, revealing her true intentions to Robin. As the ceremony commences, Zelena and Hook interrupt, and Zelena tells Gothel to use her life instead of her daughter's. As the second ceremony begins, Robin uses a bow and an arrow she finds in Memento Mori to shoot the Resurrection Amulet out of Gothel's hand, and Hook quickly picks it up. Following their defeat, Gothel and Leota teleport out of Memento Mori. ("Secret Garden")

Trivia

Popular Culture

Appearances

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:121GiveYouAnything.png
  2. ↑ Dove, Steve (October 2012). Storybrooke Secrets: The Doctor. ABC. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. “Jefferson shows up at Rumplestiltskin's workshop with a crystal ball and gives him some information about magic slippers that can transport someone between magical and non-magical worlds. Both of those items can be found in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That's the second Oz reference this season. Think we'll get to visit sometime soon?” (Note that the source erroneously states that the crystal ball is from the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; however, the crystal ball was invented for the 1939 movie.)
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