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For the Season Seven episode, see "The Guardian". |
The Guardians are a group of characters featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They début in the third episode of the seventh season.
History
The Guardian is a person who is incorruptible by evil and will sacrifice anything for others. Gothel and Dr. Facilier both seek this person, hoping to harness their power to obtain the Dark One's Dagger. A Guardian is also prophesied to take the Darkness from the Dark One and use it for good. ("Beauty," "One Little Tear," "Sisterhood")
One known Guardian is Anastasia. As a girl, she is able to use magic, such as conjuring lanterns. ("Sisterhood")
In her search for the Guardian, Gothel comes to suspect Anastasia's mother, Rapunzel Tremaine, could be a candidate, due to her willingness to sacrifice anything for her family. In order to test her, she locks Rapunzel in a tower for many years before allowing her to escape back to her family, only for Rapunzel to discover that her husband has married another woman. Once tempted by Gothel, she easily gives into darkness, placing the Curse of the Poisoned Heart on her husband's new wife to separate them, proving she is not the Guardian. However, through this, Gothel becomes aware of Anastasia's potential, proposing that perhaps someone in Rapunzel's bloodline is who she is looking for. When Anastasia falls through a frozen lake and nearly dies, Rapunzel brings her to Gothel for help and Gothel preserves her body with one breath left, keeping her alive. She announces her belief that Anastasia is the Guardian to Rapunzel and attempts to teleport her to the tower, now sealed with blood magic to prevent her from escaping; however, Rapunzel tricks her and teleports the witch into the tower instead. Rapunzel then dedicates herself to finding a way to one day revive Anastasia. ("One Little Tear")
Following the death of his wife, Belle, Mr. Gold, the current Dark One, begins seeking the Guardian to relinquish his power and be reunited with her in the afterlife. He uses a Magic Bean to travel to the realm where he believes the Guardian is located and ends up in the New Enchanted Forest, where Anastasia resides. ("Beauty")
When Drizella, Gothel, Regina, and the rest of the Coven of the Eight cast the Dark Curse, Anastasia is taken with the rest of the inhabitants of the New Enchanted Forest to Seattle in the Land Without Magic. ("The Garden of Forking Paths," "The Eighth Witch")
Under the effects of Drizella's Dark Curse, Rapunzel becomes Victoria Belfrey and believes that she herself cast the curse in order to find a way to revive Anastasia. Anastasia's body ends up buried beneath the Community Gardens, which Victoria attempts to demolish in order to retrieve her. Although the demolition is stopped by Jacinda, she manages to get Anastasia and her coffin and take it to her building. ("The Garden of Forking Paths," "The Eighth Witch")
Once he is awoken from his cursed state by Tilly, Weaver, the cursed counterpart of Mr. Gold, continues his search for the Guardian, at one point testing Sabine by having her hold the Dark One's Dagger and asking if she feels anything from it. When Victoria successfully awakens Anastasia by sacrificing Lucy, who falls into a coma, Weaver convinces her to let him test Anastasia to see if she truly is the Guardian, in exchange for protecting the girl from Gothel, and plans to have Anastasia revive Lucy. Weaver's test has Anastasia examine several knives to determine if one is magical; though Anastasia senses no magic in any of them, she accidentally causes the knives to fly at the cabinet where Weaver is storing the Dark One's Dagger, proving that she is the Guardian. However, when Weaver has her write down runes that will revive Lucy, she begins panicking when she senses Gothel approaching and her magic begins to go haywire, eventually sending Weaver, Victoria, and Gothel flying. Anastasia flees, running into the arms of Ivy, who she recognizes as her sister, Drizella. Ivy promises to take her to safety, but is actually working with Gothel and lures Anastasia to her instead, planning to absorb her magic. However, this turns out to be a trick, as Gothel instead has Anastasia absorb Ivy's magic, then knocks Ivy down into a pit where she is also imprisoning Victoria. ("Beauty", "One Little Tear", "The Eighth Witch")
Gothel continues to keep Anastasia at her side, draining some of her magic with the Resurrection Amulet and using it to revive Lucy at the price of Victoria's life. ("Secret Garden")
Mr. Samdi, aware of his past life as Dr. Facilier for unclear reasons, continues his search for the Guardian while in the Land Without Magic. Knowing Gothel is his competition for the Dark One's Dagger, he wakes up Nick, whose past life as Hansel has left him with a vendetta against witches, hoping he will kill Gothel. ("Chosen")
Anastasia eventually escapes from Gothel and ends up running around Hyperion Heights alone, until she is found by Ivy, who promises she just wants to be a family with her again. However, this turns out to be a lie, as Ivy instead plans to kill her and use her magic to reinvigorate a magic bean so that she may escape alone. She knocks Anastasia unconscious and takes her to Mr. Samdi, but before he can begin his ritual to drain her magic, Anastasia begins to awaken, her magic going haywire once more. Mr. Samdi flees, secretly siphoning some of Anastasia's Guardian magic with him before he departs. Anastasia is encouraged by an arriving Gothel to kill Ivy for her wrongdoings, but Ivy, realizing that Gothel has been manipulating them both the entire time, warns her sister that she will lose her Guardianship if she goes through with the dark act, which is what Gothel wants. Anastasia calms down, sparing Ivy, as Gothel retreats. Using their combined magic, Anastasia and Ivy reinvigorate the bean and use it to leave, bidding farewell to Weaver and Roni. Roni questions Weaver on why he let the Guardian go, to which Weaver explains that every good thing he does brings him closer to Belle. ("Sisterhood")
Later, Mr. Samdi brings the Guardian magic he took from Anastasia to Roni, explaining that he stole it so that she could have magic to cure her son Henry, who was magically poisoned by the Coven of the Eight prior to the Dark Curse and will die if they break the curse. Roni and Kelly use this magic, alongside several ingredients, to brew a potion. ("Sisterhood", "Breadcrumbs", "Chosen")
An attempt on Kelly's life results in Nick being caught and arrested for murdering Doctor Sage and Hilda Braeburn. Disappointed that he failed to eliminate Gothel for him, Mr. Samdi proceeds to kill him. ("Chosen")Known Guardians
Trivia
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Absent | Absent | Appears | Mentioned | Absent | Appears | Absent | Mentioned | Appears | Appears | Appears |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |