Transformation Potions are magic potions featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. They first appear in the fifth episode of the first season.
History
Tired of living as a swindler with his parents Martin and Myrna, Jiminy rebels against them by gaining a transfiguration potion from the wizard Rumplestiltskin, who tells him to use it on his parents. However, Martin and Myrna discover their son's plans and switch out the potion with water. Jiminy's parents later con a young couple, Donna and Stephen, into buying the actual potion to supposedly ward off an illness spreading from another village. After leaving the couple's home, Jiminy attempts to use the potion to do away with his parents, but when the liquid does nothing to them, he realizes what they did. Horrified, Jiminy rushes to Donna and Stephen, who are now puppets because of the potion's effects, just as the couple's young son Geppetto also enters to see his parents' fates. ("That Still Small Voice")
Desiring the Sorcerer's hat, which is guarded by the Apprentice, Rumplestiltskin poisons the man so he will transform into a mouse at a later time. When Anna, a princess of Arendelle, implores him for answers about her parents' past trip to the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin agrees to provide details if she laces a concoction into the Apprentice's tea. Anna believes it's poison, although, in truth, it is actually an antidote to prevent the Apprentice's mouse transformation. Instead of following orders, Anna cannot bring herself to harm the old man, so she returns to Rumplestiltskin, lying about completing the mission. Rumplestiltskin then reveals the potion was innocuous, and that she did more harm than good to the Apprentice by breaking the deal. ("The Apprentice")
As a way to lower Alice's guard and further deter her plans to rescue Cyrus, Jafar impersonates himself as her father Edwin. However, after Alice comes to recognize he is not truly her father, Jafar sheds the disguise. ("Bad Blood")
Wary of Cruella and Ursula's arrival to town, Belle arms herself with a transformation potion as a precaution against them. When the pair come to the pawnshop, she warns them about trying anything or she'll use the potion to turn them into toads. ("Unforgiven")
Known Transformation Potions
Enlarging Potion
- Procured by Will Scarlet
- Used by Hook
- Used on the Jolly Roger ("Poor Unfortunate Soul")
Human to Bear / Spell of Mor'du
- Made by the Witch
- Forced by Emma Swan
- Turned Merida
- Reversed with the Anti-Transformation Powder ("The Bear and the Bow")
Human to Another Human
- Made by Jafar
- Turned Jafar into Edwin
- Known ingredients:
- Blood from the impersonated being ("Bad Blood")
Human to Puppet
- Made by Rumplestiltskin
- Used by Martin and Myrna
- Turned Donna and Stephen
- Known ingredients:
- A gold thread poured with an unknown liquid ("That Still Small Voice")
Human to Rat
- Made by Rumplestiltskin
- Turned the Apprentice ("The Apprentice")
Human to Staff
- Made by Jafar
- Used by Jafar and Jasmine
- Turned Prince Achmed and Jafar ("A Wondrous Place")
Human to Toad
- Made by Belle
- Threatened to use it on Cruella De Vil and Ursula ("Unforgiven")
Reversal Potion
- Made by the Dragon
- Never tested out ("Selfless, Brave and True")
Shrinking Potion
- Used by Cinderella
- Used on Cinderella ("Pretty in Blue")
Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- An antidote can be used to prevent the transformation from happening. ("The Apprentice")
- Rumplestiltskin referred to the potion he gave to the Apprentice as "poison." However, this was to explain the potion to Anna, who herself described the potion as "poison." ("The Apprentice")
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 | Absent | Appears | 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": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
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 | Absent | 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 | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
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 | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | 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 | Appears | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | 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 | Appears | 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 | 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 | 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 | Appears | 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 | Appears | 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 | Absent |
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | ||||||||||
"Down the Rabbit Hole": | "Trust Me": | "Forget Me Not": | "The Serpent": | "Heart of Stone": | "Who's Alice": | "Bad Blood": | ||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | ||||
"Home": | "Nothing to Fear": | "Dirty Little Secrets": | "Heart of the Matter": | "To Catch a Thief": | "And They Lived...": | |||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |