Once Upon a Time Wiki
Register
Advertisement
This page is move protected The subject of this article is from the real world The subject of this article is a fairytale, legend, fable, or story This article uses material from Wikipedia The subject of this article is featured in Season One of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Two of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Three of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Four of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Five of Once Upon a Time
This article focuses on the fairytale, "Snow White".
For the film, see "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
For the Enchanted Forest character, see Snow White.

"Snow White", also known as "Schneewittchen", is a fairytale featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by the German authors Jacob and Wilhelm of the Brothers Grimm and incorporated into the book Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1812.

Traditional Plot

A Queen sits by her window and, as she sews, admires the falling snow. As she does so, she pricks her finger, causing three drops of blood fall onto the snow covering the ebony windowsill. The Queen then wishes for a daughter with lips red as blood, hair black as ebony and skin white as snow.

Sometime later, the Queen gives birth to a daughter with all the qualities she wished for and names her Snow White only to pass away shortly afterward. The following year, the King remarries, taking a woman of great beauty as his new wife. But unbeknownst to him, the new Queen's great beauty is surpassed by her vanity. Each day, she approaches a Magic Mirror and asks the same question: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" And each day, the Magic Mirror responds in her favor, telling her she is the fairest in the land.

Time passes and Snow White reaches the age of seven, becoming more beautiful than she was as a child. One day, the Queen asks her Magic Mirror if she is the fairest one of all and the Mirror replies, "Queen, you are very fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you."

The jealous Queen hires a Huntsman to take Snow White into the woods, kill her and bring back her lungs and liver as proof that the deed has been successfully carried out. He obeys but is unable to kill the young princess and allows her to flee. The Huntsman then proceeds to kill a wild boar and carves out its lungs and liver before bringing them back to the Palace, where the Queen has the chef prepare them for dinner.

Meanwhile, Snow White comes across a small cottage and, immediately after entering, falls asleep. That night, she wakes up to find seven dwarfs, who own the cottage and have returned from working all day in the mines. After Snow White explains her situation, the dwarfs agree to let her live with them as long as she acts as their housekeeper and does not answer the door while they're away.

Several days later, the Queen asks the Magic Mirror if she is still the fairest only to learn Snow White is alive and still more beautiful than her. Disguising herself as a peddler woman, she travels to the cottage with several stay-laces and gives one of them to Snow White before offering to lace them for her. The Queen laces them so tightly that her stepdaughter faints and, believing her to be dead, leaves triumphantly only to later learn that the dwarfs returned to the cottage and cut Snow White free of the laces.

Determined to make her second attempt a success, the Queen disguises herself as an elderly woman and travels back to the cottage with a comb coated in poison. A naive Snow White opens the door and allows the disguised Queen to brush her hair, and faints as the Queen returns to the Royal Palace. That night, the dwarves return from the mines and come upon Snow White's unconscious state. She awakens; explaining what happened before, and promising to heed their warning to not open the door to strangers.

Once more, the Queen finds out her plan failed. Filled with rage, she creates a poisoned apple and travels back to the dwarves' cottage disguised as a farmer's wife. Recalling the advice of her seven benefactors, Snow White is hesitant to open the door. To gain her trust, the Queen cuts the apple in two and eats the white half.

Convinced the woman means her no harm, Snow White accepts the poisoned red half and eagerly takes a bite; falling into a state of suspended animation. Victorious at last, the Queen departs confident she is now the fairest of them all. Night falls, and the dwarves return home but are unable to revive the princess. Believing she is dead, the seven men cannot bring themselves to bury her and build a coffin of glass; keeping eternal vigil at her side.

Years later, a Prince from a neighboring kingdom is traveling with a hunting party when he comes across Snow White. Enchanted by her beauty, the Prince asks the dwarves for permission in taking the coffin back to his castle. The dwarves agree and the Prince orders his men to lift up the coffin. Suddenly, the servants stumble on a tree stump, which causes poisoned red half of the apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat; bringing her back to life. The Prince declares his love for her, and together they return to the Palace where Snow White is to be married to him.

Reassured by the poisoned apple's effects on her stepdaughter, the Queen asks the Magic Mirror if she is the fairest of them all. The Mirror replies, "You, my Queen, are fair; it is true. But the young Queen is a thousand times fairer than you."

Invited to the Prince's wedding, the Queen arrives at the Palace, and to her dread, realizes Snow White is the bride. As punishment, she is forced to wear heated iron shoes and dance until she drops dead.

Show Adaptation

  • The Queen's hatred of Snow White originated when the young princess was unable to keep a secret from the Queen's mother Cora - an act of betrayal that resulted in the death of Regina's lover Daniel.
  • Snow White's mother is poisoned by Cora so that Regina can become queen instead, and also as revenge for Eva's role in ruining Cora's engagement to Snow White's father Leopold, and Cora giving up her first-born daughter
  • The diamonds mined by the seven dwarves are used to make fairy dust.
  • The seven dwarves have the names Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Bashful, Happy, Sneezy and Doc, as in the Disney film
  • The prince is nicknamed "Charming" by Snow White. He is a shepherd in the guise of his twin brother who meets Snow White when she robs him.
  • The Huntsman presents the Queen with a stag's heart instead of a boar's lungs and liver.
  • The Poisoned Apple does not really contain poison, but a Sleeping Curse. The Queen obtained the curse from Maleficent rather than brewing it herself.
  • Snow White eats the poisoned apple to save Prince Charming's life after being presented it by the Queen.
  • Originally, the Magic Mirror was once a Genie, and becomes trapped as the Queen's slave after making a wish to forever stay by her side.
  • The Evil Queen arranged the murder of Snow White's father with the Magic Mirror's help.
  • The Evil Queen learned magic from Rumplestiltskin.
  • There were eight dwarves, but Stealthy was killed, leaving the remaining seven.
  • Grumpy's name was originally Dreamy.
  • The Evil Queen disguises herself as a miller's daughter and names herself "Wilma" with the help of Rumplestiltskin.

Characters Featured

Episodes Featured

Locations Featured

Items Featured

References

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
Advertisement