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It wasn't the quill itself, but the ink, what captured the Dark One... Harvested from the rarest species of squid, from the bottom of the bottomless ocean. Impossible to find, unless you're a mermaid, or me.

Mr. Gold to Henry src

Squid Ink is a magical substance featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the fourth episode of the first season.


History

Before First Curse

Squid ink is known to be found in a bottomless sea and taken from the rarest squid, but can also be obtained from a mermaid. ("Into the Deep")

Learning of Ursula's simple wish to sing at Glowerhaven, Hook, moved by her desire to bring others happiness with her voice, agrees to take her there. Not willing to let his daughter leave, Poseidon offers Hook squid ink for immobilizing his hated nemesis, Rumplestiltskin, if he absorbs Ursula's singing voice into an enchanted shell. Instead, Hook reveals the deal to Ursula, and she helps to steal the squid ink from her father's vault for him. As a last ditch attempt to prove to Ursula that Hook only cares about having vengeance, Poseidon takes away the squid ink. Overcome with anger at losing his chance at revenge, Hook removes Ursula's singing voice so Poseidon can never use her gift to lure sailors to their doom ever again. ("Poor Unfortunate Soul")

Desperate to change her life, Cinderella makes a deal promising Rumplestiltskin an unknown price. After she attends a ball and wins the heart of a prince, Rumplestiltskin reveals he desires her first-born child. With the Blue Fairy's help, Cinderella tricks the Dark One into signing a new deal with a magic red quill coated with squid ink, which freezes him in place. Now paralyzed, he is transported to his jail cell to keep him from taking Cinderella's child. ("The Price of Gold")

Secretly, Rumplestiltskin takes a jar of squid ink with him to his prison. In exchange for information about the Dark Curse, Snow White tells him her unborn child's name, Emma. Aware that the child, born of true love, has immense power, Rumplestiltskin writes down Emma's name repeatedly on parchment using squid ink as an attempt to remember her even if the curse takes away his memories. Rolling up the parchment, he hides it as a scroll in the cell and leaves it behind once the curse takes him to another land. ("Pilot", "Queen of Hearts")

After First Curse

In StorybrookeHenry is having dreams of being in the Netherworld due to recently waking up from the sleeping curse. In this world, he meets another trapped person, Aurora. They are able to exchange information so Henry knows Emma and Mary Margaret are now stuck in the Enchanted Forest with a nemesis, Cora, preventing them from finding a solution to return home. Mr. Gold tells Henry to inform Aurora while in the Netherworld that the best way to stop Cora is the same way he was stopped—with the squid ink. By means of communication with Aurora, Henry tries to tell her about the ink in Rumplestiltskin's old cell, but she is forced out of the Netherworld and doesn't hear him. ("Into the Deep")

Mary Margaret and Emma find out about the squid ink after both David and Mary Margaret undergo the sleeping curse to breach another line of communication in the netherworld. They arrive at Rumplestiltskin's cell and find the jar to be empty, but discover a piece of parchment with Emma's name repeatedly written on it. Cora and her accomplice, Hook, trap them in the cell. Growing desperate for a way out, Mary Margaret suddenly remembers Cora practicing magic from her spell book and a certain way she used to make the magical substance appear. Demonstrating, Mary Margaret blows the ink off of the parchment, which forms a cloud, and the enchanted metal bars disintegrate; allowing for their escape. ("Queen of Hearts")

After Peter Pan abducts Henry to Neverland, this prompts the boy's family to launch a rescue mission. Neal arrives and reunites with his father, Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold intends on giving up his life to save Henry, but Neal has a better idea. Neal kills a colossal squid by the lake so Mr. Gold can extract squid ink from it. They storm into Pan's camp after Mr. Gold puts all the Lost Boys as well as Henry to sleep. Neal shoots an arrow at Pan, which is coated at the shaft with squid ink. Pan catches it in his fist; paralyzing him. As they make off with a slumbering Henry, Pan tells Neal of a prophecy that Mr. Gold wants to keep from happening by murdering Henry. Neal later demands an explanation from his father, who reluctantly acknowledges that the prophecy spoke of a boy, presumably Henry, who will help him find his son, but ultimately is his own undoing. Despite his father's insistence this was before he discovered Henry is his grandson, Neal begins to lose trust in him. Too afraid his father will go back to his old ways, Neal purposely presses a leaf coated in squid ink into Mr. Gold's palm; paralyzing him. ("Nasty Habits")

After Third Curse

During one day, Emma steals a vial of squid ink from Mr. Gold's pawnshop and then hides it behind a wall painting in her home. After Hook and Zelena free themselves from Emma's captivity, Zelena departs from the house, while Hook decides to stay and confront Emma. He quickly finds the ink behind the painting, just as Emma walks in, giving him the chance to throw it on her, rendering her paralyzed. Hook questions her on what she is hiding about what happened in Camelot, but, to his surprise, Zelena returns to offer up answers by stabbing him in the chest. The injury has no effect on him, to which Zelena slowly unveils the reason for his immortality by letting him see his forgotten memories within the dreamcatcher. ("Birth")

Since learning from the dreamcatcher that Emma prevented his impending death by turning him into a Dark One, Hook turns on her, as his interests deviate towards getting revenge on Mr. Gold, who he challenges to a duel to the death. Before the fight occurs, Emma returns the remaining squid ink to Mr. Gold. She asks him to use it on Hook to buy her time so she can retrieve the dreamcatchers Hook stole from her. Mr. Gold, however, refuses, citing that he wants to win the battle with honor instead of relying on magic. ("Broken Heart")

Trivia

On-Screen Notes

Appearances

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