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For the creature species, see tree nymphs. |
The Tree Nymphs' Grove is a Land Without Magic location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the nineteenth episode of the seventh season.
The tree nymphs' grove is based on the Whites' house from the horror novel Carrie, and the spring sprite's forest from "The Firebird Suite" segment from the Disney film Fantasia 2000.
History
In the Land Without Magic before it lost its magic, the grove is home to a species called tree nymphs with Flora as their Mother. ("Flower Child")
One day, one of the tree nymphs, Yarrow, returns to the grove alone, and tells Flora that the sister she had gone out with, Gothel, stayed behind to satisfy her curiosity about the human world. Later when Gothel returns to the grove while still glamoured as a human, Flora prompts her to be proud of what she truly is, to which Gothel reverts to her tree nymph form. Flora mentions knowing that Gothel went to see the humans and tries to persuade her that they are not worth her time as they are conflicted and irrational creatures, despite Gothel insisting the ones she met today are different. She reminds Gothel that she can never be human no matter how much she is drawn to them, and her fate is to be eternal nature just like the rest of their kind. Flora explains that she will get the mantle of "Mother" one day and become the Mother of all magic in this realm. Gothel laments about her inheritance feeling like a prison rather than the freedom she longs for, and Flora agrees it is so because she cannot be with her family and with the humans in the same world. As Gothel does have a choice to accept the mantle or not, Flora puts her trust that she will be wise and realize the only option is to follow nature. ("Flower Child")
After Gothel's key is stolen by Isla, she and her friends gain access to the grove, destroying and killing all the tree nymphs, which also wipes out the last magic in the realm. Gothel returns home to the ruins of her home, finding everyone gone except for Flora, who is dying. Gothel, realizing humans are awful creatures as Flora warned, weeps over her belief that she has failed her sisters, but Flora assures her she has not and nature has simply taken its course. Declaring Gothel to be the new Mother, Flora tells her of the strong seed of magic she possesses within herself. Gothel wishes to make all the humans pay for what they've done, however, Flora suggests she can instead find a new place to grow anew because it's her responsibility and destiny to blossom into what she is meant to be. On her last breath, she counsels her to remember that all Mothers know only goodness can bear sweet fruit. However, Gothel goes on to kill the humans responsible for murdering her family, in addition to the entire human population in the realm, before recruiting another magic user, Seraphina. As the two women look at the destruction around the grove, Gothel explains that the extinction of the tree nymphs has wiped out the last magic in this world and of her plans to wait for humanity to bounce back so she can one day eradicate them for good. She plucks a magic bean from a pod before using it to open a portal, which she and Seraphina use to reach the New Enchanted Forest. ("Flower Child")
Years later, Gothel, who is now known as Eloise Gardener, finds and reunites the Coven of the Eight, she drags Rogers and Tilly down to site of the grove, which is now in a cavern beneath The Hyperion with only the petrified remnants of the grove tree still standing nearby. Intending to induct Tilly into the coven and gain her help to cast a spell, Eloise reveals that Tilly's father is Rogers, and though she was born between the two worlds of nature and humanity, she wants to help her choose the right path in life. Eloise promises to be the mother that Tilly has always wanted if she joins her, but Tilly professes that she is no mother to her. Later, Eloise finds the key to the grove hidden in the hollow of the tree. When Eloise takes some of Rogers' blood and implies she will take his life too, Tilly finally consents to her demands. For the ritual, Eloise sacrifices three items; Rogers' blood as Tilly's "old love," Margot's blood as Tilly's "new love," and the key as "love betrayed" as it should have been Tilly's inheritance had things been different. After the coven symbol becomes active from these sacrifices, Eloise chants a spell before all the witches, including Tilly, link hands with each other in a circle and a pillar of fire rises from the center of the symbol. ("Flower Child")
As Gothel's spell brings magic to Hyperion Heights, Eloise leaves the grove while Rogers remains restrained, where he witnesses one of the witches fulfill her task in the spell before morphing into a tree. Fearing Tilly will meet the same fate, he breaks free and tries to pull her away, only for the poison in his heart to become active again. He later brings Weaver and Margot to the grove, where Margot attempts to talk some sense into Tilly. Tilly shoves her away and shrinks all three of them, but once Henry breaks the Dark Curse, she snaps out of it. With Tilly back to normal, the shrinking effect on Weaver, Rogers, and Margot is also undone. ("Is This Henry Mills?")
With the Dark Curse broken and everyone's memories restored, Tilly and Margot reunite with each other in the grove before they leave with Weaver and Rogers to confront Gothel. ("Is This Henry Mills?")
Trivia
Disney
- The tree nymphs, with their unique skin tone and hair color, along with the butterflies in their hair, look similar to the spring sprite from "The Firebird Suite" segment from the Disney film Fantasia 2000. The tree nymphs' gift of phytokinesis is similar to the spring sprite's powers from Fantasia 2000 and in one scene, Gothel makes a yellow flower bloom, just like the spring sprite does in the Disney film. However, Gothel's curiosity indirectly causes the other tree nymphs' deaths, and the destruction of the tree nymphs' grove, by torches and axes. This alludes to the spring sprite's forest burning down in Fantasia 2000, at the hands of a firebird she accidentally awakened. ("Flower Child")
Popular Culture
- Isla and the other girls go to the tree nymphs' home, where they kill all the inhabitants with fire and axes. Afterward, Gothel (the show's version of Carrie White from the horror novel Carrie) finds Flora, her mother figure, in the ruins and Flora dies in her arms. In Carrie, the titular character goes home after the infamous prom and her mother dies at her hands. The Whites' house then catches fire and is later found it in flames. ("Flower Child")
Filming Locations
- The scenes with Gothel and the other tree nymphs in the grove were filmed on a blue-screen set at The Bridge Studios. While the most of the interior was real, the background was added digitally in post-production.[1] The scenes with Eloise, Tilly and the others at the grove millennia later, were also filmed at The Bridge Studios.[2]
Appearances
| 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 | Absent | 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 | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent |
References
- ↑
Craig Clarke (@vfxsup) on Instagram: New band… Emma and the Nymphs (Bridge Studios) (April 28, 2018). (backup link) (archive screenshot) Craig Clarke (@vfxsup) on Instagram: Emma and her fellow nymphs hanging around on set between takes (Bridge Studios) (August 2, 2018). (backup link) (archive screenshot)
- ↑ File:IGmo_co_lee-719.png
