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For the second iteration, see Prince (Hyperion Heights). |
Prince Thomas, currently known as Sean Herman, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the fourth episode of the first season and is portrayed by guest star Tim Phillipps.
Prince Thomas is based on the prince from the fairytale "Cinderella," and Prince Charming from the Disney film Cinderella.
History
At a royal ball held at his father's castle, Prince Thomas' interest is piqued by a girl dressed in a blue gown and wearing glass slippers. He and the girl dance, in which she declines to give her name, so he dubs her the "girl with the glass slippers." After the dance ends, Thomas leaves to take care of something, but not before telling her not to go anywhere. He goes to meet with Clorinda, and passes her a rose that his footman Jacob, whom she is in love with, wanted her to have. Ella sees the exchange and begins to have doubts about Thomas' affections, especially when her stepmother Lady Tremaine suggests that the prince was just toying with her. An upset Ella departs from the ball, and as she flees, one of her glass slippers is left behind. Thomas, enraptured by the mystery girl, decides to look for her. With the help of Princess Snow's tracking skills, he ends up at the girl's home, but no one answers the door. Ella, unknown to him, is stuck in another room after being locked in by Tremaine. Just when Thomas is ready to leave and search elsewhere for her, Gus leads him and Snow to her. Ella apologizes for deceiving him and believes he won't want her now, but Thomas proves his feelings for her are genuine and proposes to her. She accepts, but then excuses herself to stop Tremaine from hurting Clorinda and Jacob. ("The Other Shoe")
On Thomas' wedding day to Cinderella, the couple host the celebration with many honored guests, such as Snow White and Prince Charming. Several months later, Thomas returns home one day from a canceled hunting trip to find Cinderella packing up her things. He fears his wife is unhappy, but rejoices at the news she is pregnant. However, Cinderella is miserable and finally comes clean about deal she previously made with a powerful magic user, Rumplestiltskin, to allow her to attend the ball and win Thomas' heart. As a price, she has to give up her first-born child to Rumplestiltskin, however, Thomas vows to find some way to fix the situation. With Prince Charming's help, the seven dwarves fashion an inescapable prison for Rumplestiltskin in the mines. The Blue Fairy offers up a magical red quill dipped in squid ink, and all Cinderella must do is get Rumplestiltskin to sign a fake contract with it to paralyze him. Thomas encourages Cinderella to go through with the plan. When she succeeds, Rumplestiltskin is locked up in preparation for the journey to the prison. At the sidelines, Thomas comforts his wife while suggesting they name their child Alexandra. Suddenly, Cinderella feels a contraction; prompting Thomas to sprint to the well to get some water for her. Once there, Thomas mysteriously disappears into thin air as a result of Cinderella's unfulfilled original deal with Rumplestiltskin. ("The Price of Gold")
After the casting of the curse, Sean becomes separated from his girlfriend, Ashley, after she becomes pregnant. His father Mitchell sternly orders him to stop having contact with her as he doesn't want Sean to bear the responsibility of parenthood so young. When Ashley disappears, Emma, on Mr. Gold's request, goes to ask Sean for information about where she could have gone. Sean knows nothing, and is further dismissed from Emma's line of questioning when Mitchell returns home to handle the situation. In an act of disobedience, he visits Ashley at the hospital after she has given birth to their daughter Alexandra. He presents a pair of shoes to Alexandra, and makes up with Ashley by apologizing for abandoning her when she needed him most. ("The Price of Gold")
After Sean reconciles with Ashley, Mitchell cuts off ties with his son and disinherits him. Because of this, Sean works to make ends meet for both himself, Ashley and their child by taking a job at the cannery. As Valentine's Day rolls around, he is unable to spend the day with Ashley because of work obligations. However, he makes a surprise appearance at the bar while she is hanging out with Mary Margaret and Ruby. In front of an awed audience, Sean hands Ashley a bouquet of flowers and proposes to her with a ring. She is visibly stunned into silence for several seconds until he awkwardly mentions that he needs her answer soon since there isn't much time left on his work break. In tears of happiness, she accepts and the couple head out to take a spin in Sean's truck. ("Skin Deep")
Family
| Unknown | The KingMitchell Herman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prince ThomasSean Herman | CinderellaAshley Boyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alexandra | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
- Solid lines denote blood parent-child relationship
- Dashed lines denote marriage relationships
- Alexandra was conceived in the Enchanted Forest, but born in Storybrooke
Trivia
Character Notes
- Prince Thomas/Sean Herman has the second longest gap between his first and second appearances with one hundred and one episodes episodes between "Skin Deep" and "The Other Shoe."
- The others are Lady Tremaine, Clorinda and Tisbe being first, and Stealthy being third.
- Thomas picked out the name of his daughter, Alexandra. ("The Price of Gold")
- Sean lives at number 431.[2] ("The Price of Gold")
- Sean owns a truck. ("Skin Deep")
Production Notes
- An official piece of concept art refers to the second iteration of the character as "Prince Thomas."[3] However, it could simply be a fill-in name rather than the character's real name.
Set Dressing
- Among the numerous fairytale illustrations pinned to the wall in young Henry's room is an engraving[4] by the nineteenth century French artist Gustave Doré. It is from Les Contes de Perrault, an 1862 edition of the seventeenth century French author Charles Perrault's fairytales (link to page). It depicts a scene from "Cinderella," where the prince lets the titular character try on the glass slipper. ("The Stable Boy," "A Land Without Magic," "Is This Henry Mills?")
- Prince Thomas' castle's coat of arms[5] is three bends sinister (bands running from the bearer's upper left corner of the shield to the lower right side). There are two different color schemes.[6] ("The Other Shoe")
Costume Notes
- Prince Thomas's leather gauntlets were made by Vancouver's Oceandrive Leather,[7] the same company that designed several of Emma's leather jackets.[8] ("The Price of Gold")
Other Notes
- In Disney's Cinderella, the prince is credited as "Prince Charming," while the prince in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is credited as "The Prince." On Once Upon a Time, the prince in Snow White's story is nicknamed Prince Charming. ("Snow Falls" et al.)
- This is alluded to when Cinderella asks if Prince Thomas is charming, which causes Snow White to mention that the name "Charming" is already taken by somebody else. ("The Other Shoe")
Reawakened: A Once Upon a Time Tale
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
| "Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
| Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
| "The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
| Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| 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 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "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 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive |
| Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
| "Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
| Archive | Absent | Archive | Archive | Absent | ||||||
| "Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
| Archive | Absent | Absent | Absent | |||||||
| Other Appearances | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
