Ingrid's Snow Lair is a Storybrooke location on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the fifth episode of the fourth season.
The snow lair is based on the Snow Queen's palace from the fairy tale "The Snow Queen."
History
Yearning for a family with similar powers as herself, the Snow Queen, Ingrid, chooses her niece, Elsa, and another magic-born woman, Emma, as her sisters. In order to unite them with her, she gathers mirror shards and places them into her wall mirror for casting the spell of shattered sight, which will turn Storybrooke's townspeople against each other. To collect the last mirror piece, she promises Sidney reversion to his human form if he misleads Regina into a trap. There, Ingrid steals Regina's compact mirror and retreats from the battle. After returning Sidney to human and dismissing him from her service, he questions what her true aim is. Ingrid admits the compact mirror is for attaining something she hasn't had in a long time. Once alone, she breaks a piece of the mirror and places it into a remaining slot in her own mirror. Joined with the other collected shards, the mirror then smooths over into a clear reflection. ("Breaking Glass," "Smash the Mirror")
Belle, hiding a secret about having once caused Anna's capture by the Snow Queen, decides to set things right. Utilizing the dagger, she commands Mr. Gold to lead her to the Snow Queen's lair. To keep Belle from finding out the dagger is fake, he complies with her. At the lair entrance, she explains her intent to steal a hat and use it to force the Snow Queen into confessing Anna's location. Belle orders him to stand guard outside the cave, and she goes in alone. Inside, she uncovers a mirror reflection with a talking doppelganger of herself. Belle's twin instigates that she is a coward for choosing a stone, capable of restoring her memories about her mother, over Anna's life. The doppelganger unveils all of Belle's inner doubts such as Mr. Gold marrying her for the sake of having someone to control and the dagger being a fake. As Belle continues to gaze into the mirror, she falls into a trance, which is how Mr. Gold finds her. Fueled by the mirror's manipulations, Belle cuts him with the dagger, but she returns to normal after Mr. Gold teleports her to safety. Shortly after reconciling with Belle, Mr. Gold confronts Ingrid about her manipulations while she teases him about toying with his wife. When he swears not to let her hurt his loved ones with the spell of shattered sight, Ingrid refuses to exempt anyone for his sake. He, however, pulls out the hat and threatens to absorb her into it if not. ("Family Business")
Emma, angered by Ingrid's implication that her family will see her as a monster, accidentally injuries David when her powers spin out of control. Seeing fear in the eyes of her parents and friends, a horrified Emma flees while Ingrid watches from nearby. During the night, Ingrid returns to her lair and smiles, in front of her mirror, in satisfaction as the day's events went exactly as she had hoped. ("The Snow Queen")
Once Mr. Gold approaches Ingrid again in the lair, she questions him on what else he could possibly want from her. As they talk, he reveals his plan to use Emma, whose powers are out of control, for his own means. Without her notice, he slowly but surely entraps her in a circle with the urn's powder. Angry that he intends to take Emma away from her, Ingrid moves to blast him, but only then she discovers the urn dust is keeping her from doing so. Though the effect is temporary, it's enough to keep her from interfering with his scheme. Still, Ingrid uses her mirror to find Emma driving on the road, and she then projects herself there. Ingrid warns that Mr. Gold is up to no good, but Emma doesn't trust her judgement. Later, Emma, with Elsa's encouragement, decides not to give up her powers to Mr. Gold. The two women learn to accept themselves and their magic, which triggers the appearance of ribbons on their left wrists. The ribbons begin absorbing their magic and funneling into Ingrid's own ribbon; giving her a massive power boost. To Mr. Gold, Ingrid explains the presence of the ribbons on Elsa and Emma signify they have accepted their magic, and now with their powers in her own ribbon, she may be able to kill even him. Before exiting, he rebuffs Ingrid against thinking too highly of her magical skills, and she counters that he shouldn't underestimate her. Harnessing the ribbon's power, Ingrid uses it to shatter her mirror. ("Smash the Mirror")
When the spell of shattered sight overtakes Storybrooke, Elsa and Emma conspire to kill Ingrid to undo the curse. After destroying their ribbons, which prevented them from hurting Ingrid, they arrive at the lair to take her out. Ingrid shows them two stones, which contain happy moments Elsa and Emma each shared with her. Having taken these memories long ago, she believes by returning them, they will come to love her. Emma states that one cannot use magic to force love, and Ingrid agrees, as she believes their good memories with her will bring out love that was once there. Before Emma attempts magic on Ingrid again, Anna bursts in carrying a scroll written by Gerda before she perished at sea. Out loud, Anna reads the note. They learn Gerda, remorseful for erasing Ingrid and Helga's existences from Arendelle, wants her sisters' names restored to the kingdom's people. Regretful of putting her sister in the urn, Gerda asks Anna and Elsa to free her. Lastly, Gerda's words reveal she has always loved Ingrid. Believing the words are lies, Ingrid flings Elsa and Emma backwards and begins choking Anna, who desperately talks her out of it. Anna insists if Gerda loved her, it means they too are family, and family never turns their backs on each other. After releasing Anna, Ingrid touches a crystal on the scroll; viewing Gerda's happy memories with her and Helga. Realizing she has always had her sisters' love, Ingrid joins them in death by sacrificing herself to stop the curse. Before disappearing completely, she returns Elsa and Emma's missing memories. ("Shattered Sight")
Trivia
Filming Locations
- The scenes in Ingrid's snow lair were filmed on a set built at The Bridge Studios.[1]
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
"A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent |
"Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
References
- ↑ Craig Clarke (@vfxsup) on Instagram: Back in the day there was a character named Ingrid / the snow queen played by Elizabeth Mitchell (Bridge Studios) (March 1, 2018). (backup link) (archive screenshot)