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For the Season Five episode, see "Ruby Slippers". |
The Silver Slippers are magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the sixteenth episode of the third season.
The silver slippers are based on the silver shoes from the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
History
In Oz, a girl named Zelena discovers she was adopted, after arriving to this land through a cyclone as an infant years ago, and thus seeks an audience with the Wizard of Oz to find her birth family. The Wizard reveals answers regarding Zelena's birth mother, Cora, who wished to become royalty and that was something her first-born child could not provide. However, Cora's second daughter, Regina, fulfilled this by marrying a king. After seeing a wizard, Rumplestiltskin, teach Regina magic, Zelena jealously remarks that he should be teaching her instead. Gifted slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Zelena uses them to transport herself to Regina and Rumplestiltskin's homeland, the Enchanted Forest. Once there, she gains Rumplestiltskin's attention and he accepts her as his magic pupil. Though Zelena excels magically, she rages upon discovering he is still teaching Regina. Unwilling to have competition, she attempts to kill her sister, but he puts a stop to it by disqualifying her as the one to cast his curse, which will bring himself to a Land Without Magic. Upset, Zelena tells him about her slippers' powers and that she could have taken him there, causing Rumplestiltskin to backtrack, but she is too angry to accept his change of heart. She says that the only way he will get his hands on the slippers is if he kills her first. When he tries to do just that, she teleports out of reach. Vowing that he will choose her next time, she vanishes after clicking her heels thrice and returns to Oz. Zelena asks the Wizard to change the past so her mother never abandoned her, but he states it's impossible. When pulls down the Wizard's curtain down out of anger, the Wizard is revealed to be just a human man, leaving Zelena to turns him into a flying monkey as punishment. ("It's Not Easy Being Green")
Shortly after, Zelena is approached by one of Oz's protector witches, Glinda, who believes the latter is the Witch of the West that is prophesied to have come to this world by cyclone. Eventually, she convinces Zelena that it is her calling to be a good witch. However, when another girl, Dorothy Gale, arrives to Oz via a cyclone, Zelena questions if this child is meant to take her place. Looking deeper into the prophecy within a book, she learns the Witch of the West will unseat a great evil. Assuming she herself is the foretold evil, Zelena deliberately attacks the girl. Frightened, Dorothy hurls water onto Zelena, who melts into a puddle. While Glinda believes Dorothy's feat proves she is the intended Witch of the West, it is a trick on Zelena's part to drive the girl out of Oz. Masquerading as the revived Wizard, Zelena gives the slippers to Dorothy so she can return to Kansas, before revealing herself to Glinda, who she banishes to the Enchanted Forest. ("Kansas")
Rumplestiltskin, still wishing to acquire the slippers, sends a portal-jumper named Jefferson to fetch them. Yet, Jefferson is unable to locate them, and he reports that the slippers have been moved to another land. Assuming the slippers are now in a Land Without Magic, Rumplestiltskin is frustrated by the news, since he needed them to find his son. ("The Doctor")
Some years after Dorothy has grown up in her own world, she uses the slippers to return to Oz, after hearing from the munchkins that Zelena is still alive. ("Our Decay")
When Zelena is sent back to Oz by Regina, she sets her hopes on returning to Storybrooke and getting back to her daughter, with the silver slippers. She demands them from Dorothy, and when Dorothy refuses, she kidnaps Toto as a bargaining chip. Dorothy attempts to regain Toto by attacking her, but Zelena puts her under a sleeping curse and steals the slippers, before using them to return to Storybrooke. ("Ruby Slippers")
Arriving back to Storybrooke, Zelena accidentally goes in the Underworld, after following her daughter and Belle there. After Zelena relinquishes her child to Robin, she learns from Hades that Ruby has come to find Dorothy. In fear of Regina discovering what she did to Dorothy and keeping her from her daughter, Zelena prepares to leave for Storybrooke with the slippers' help. Before she can click the slippers' heels two more times, Regina, Ruby, Snow and Emma confront her about Dorothy. Zelena admits Dorothy's fate, and after a talk with Regina, she agrees to give the slippers to Ruby. With encouragement from Snow, Ruby decides she will try to give true love's kiss to Dorothy to wake her from the curse. Shortly after Ruby puts the slippers on, Snow prepares to send David off with her, as one of them needs to go back to their son in Storybrooke. Instead, David forfeits his freedom for Snow's, allowing her to go with Ruby. After getting to Oz with Snow, Ruby gives Dorothy true love's kiss, and then Snow uses the slippers to return to Storybrooke. ("Our Decay," "Ruby Slippers")
Trivia
Popular Culture
- When Neal is looking for a way to travel to Neverland, he mentions ruby slippers. In L. Frank Baum's original novel, Dorothy wore silver shoes. They were changed to ruby slippers for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. ("Quite a Common Fairy")
- The eighteenth episode of Season Five is titled "Ruby Slippers."
Costume Notes
- The design of the silver slippers is not the same from Season Three to Season Five:
- The first silver slippers[1] are Peter Fox Georgina Bridal Shoes[2] with added glitter (no longer available). ("It's Not Easy Being Green," "Kansas")
- The second slippers[3] are "Pompadour" French Court Shoes from American Duchess[4] (no longer available) with added glitter and bow. These shoes have been used by production companies all over the world, from South Africa's Film Afrika to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.[5] ("Our Decay," "Ruby Slippers")
- The same shoes were featured in the opening scene of the Outlander episode "Not in Scotland Anymore"[6] (which happens to be named after the phrase "not in Kansas anymore" from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz), and a pink version of the Pompadour shoes were worn by Ivy Lynn on the Smash episode "The Fringe".[5]
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
| "Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
| "The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
| "The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
| "Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Appears | Mentioned | 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 | Absent | 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 | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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References
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