Wish Rumplestiltskin's Once Upon a Time Books are magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They appear in the twenty-second episode of the seventh season.
History
Wish Rumplestiltskin makes a new spell, one which allows him to create storybooks for "every hero in every realm" to entrap each of them in alternate realms where they live out unhappy endings. Since potent darkness within the Author is needed to open the portals to the realms, the Dark One has the Wish Blue Fairy brought in as a test subject for the spell. Rumplestiltskin carefully guides Sir Henry into reliving how satisfying it was for him when he cut Roni earlier with his knife, to which a vortex opens and pulls the Blue Fairy into it. He explains to Henry how the books will condemn the others to the same fate and says that once Henry kills Roni, their faiths will be sealed.
When David and Mary Margaret rescue Roni from Sir Henry's dungeon, they find the storybooks and bring them to the castle. Regrouping with the other heroes in the castle's war council room, Mary Margaret and David explain that the storybooks will condemn each person to alternate realms where they will live out their unhappy endings. As everyone has a chance to look through their own storybooks, David explains that although the stories are complete, they can still work to prevent Rumplestiltskin from making the realms real. While everyone else works on preventing the realms from becoming real, Roni attempts to steer Sir Henry away from the path of vengeance by telling him about the family he still has in her realm who can help him heal from his pain. Henry refuses as he believes only her death can satisfy him. As Roni reluctantly duels with him, the darkness in Henry's blood reaches a boiling point, enabling Wish Rumplestiltskin to open Weaver, Tilly, Margot, Rogers, and Henry's prison portals. The storybook pages turn in the wind as everyone hangs onto a table to prevent themselves from being sucked into the portals. When Alice loses her grip, Rogers grabs onto his daughter's hand to prevent her from being sucked in, although this gives him excruciating pain. The portals close without absorbing any of them after Roni persuades Sir Henry to turn away from his darkness. ("Leaving Storybrooke")
Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- The illustrations were created from frames and promotional images from the show: ("Leaving Storybrooke")
- The illustration in Roni's book[1] is based on a frame of Regina in "A Tale of Two Sisters".[2]
- The illustration in Mary Margaret's book[3] is based on a frame of Snow White from "Red-Handed".[4]
- The illustration in Kelly's book[5] is based on a promotional image for Season Three.[6]
- An excerpt from the Grimm fairy tale "The Pink" can be seen in Mary Margaret's book.[7] ("Leaving Storybrooke")
- The page next to the illustration in Mary Margaret's book reads:[8]
[image begins] Cave of Wonders?
[image begins] with a deep, rumbling,
[image begins]bs my slumber?" the
[image begins]ow faced him uncertain-
[image begins] is not treasure that I
[image begins]" The Tiger con-
[image begins] allow you to pass.
[image begins] [two illegible words] never see the open
[image begins]ought. It seemed
[image begins] [two illegible words] jaws of this
[image begins] [illegible word]? Perhaps if she
[image begins] should be clear again
[image begins] her way out of
[image begins] thanked the
[image begins] she walked into
[obscured]
- Fittingly enough, the illustration shows Snow White in the middle of a desert, presumably Agrabah as the Cave of Wonders is located there. The caption beneath the illustration reads, "The shifting sands had Snow disorientated and heartsick with yearning."[8]
- The story is based on Disney's Aladdin, where the Cave of Wonders is guarded by a spirit with the shape of a tiger's head. The cave can only be entered by a chosen individual and anyone else who makes attempts to enter are given a warning by the tiger. If they try to enter the cave anyway, they are killed by the spirit.
- When the portals to the storybook realms are open and everyone hangs on to prevent themselves from being sucked in, pages from the storybooks are turning in the wind: ("Leaving Storybrooke")
- One page contains a blurred illustration of Sleeping Beauty lying on a bed.[11] It is called "The Sleeping Princess" and is from the 1916 fairy tale collection The Allies' Fairy Book, illustrated by the famous book English book illustrator Arthur Rackham.
- One book contains an excerpt from the Grimm fairy tale "Little Sister and Little Brother".[12]
- Another page contains a blurred excerpt from the "Cinderella" fairytale.[14]
- The opposite page contains another excerpt from "Little Brother and Little Sister".[14]
- A third excerpt from "The Pink" can be glimpsed on another page.[15]
- Yet another excerpt from "The Pink" is printed in the storybook next to Rogers.[16]
Props Notes
- For David, Rogers and Lucy's prison books, green fields were used so that the illustrations could be digitally added in post-production. According to a prop photograph from an online auction, the captions read:[17]
- "Charming knew exactly where he was, and yet had never felt so lost."
- "Captain Hook climbed atop a large mushroom and surveyed the land around him."
- "“My hair will never grow long enough. Not in a thousand years,” thought Lucy."
- Another prop photograph from the online auction offers a glimpse of Lucy's story:[18]
time. That makes about a thousand
[obscured] despon-
[obscured]
[…]
pacing the room and exploring every inch of it for a way
out. She wondered if she'd cry herself to sleep tonight
and wowed that she would not. She wouldn't give
[obscured]
- It also contains an excerpt from Rogers' story:[18]
of skirmishes. He was quite experienced in the common
tavern brawl. And the Jolly Roger had been boarded by
enemy pirates more times than he liked [obscured]
[obscured]
[…]
Bread-and-Butterflies large enough to swallow a grown
man whole. But with his cutlass by his side, this seemed
like a fight that he [obscured]
[obscured]
- The Bread-and-Butterfly is a creature from Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass.
- A behind the scenes photograph posted by Keegan Connor Tracy on Twitter reveals that the Wish Blue Fairy's prison book from "Leaving Storybrooke" shows Blue crying in a forest. The caption reads "The Blue Fairy soon realized she wasn't in her home anymore".[19]
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 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
References
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