During its seven-season run,Once Upon a Timefeatured approximately six different curses. Each curse required special ingredients and a sacrifice of the enactor. That said, each curse begins the same: someone wanted their happy ending the easy way. One thing many of the curses have in common is that each person who enacted a curse either interacted with or was an apprentice of Rumpelstiltskin. In an attempt to reunite with his son Baelfire, Rumpelstiltskin searched for a way to find his son. When he found the curse, he discovered he would not be the one to cast the curse, sending him off to find an apprentice. Regina, the Evil Queen, cast the Dark Curse first.
While the Dark Curse isn’t the only spell inOnce Upon a Time, many of the curses have similarities. First, memory loss is essential to the curse. Most people remain connected while some people are misplaced, missing, or hidden. The caveat of the mass amnesia, however, is that at least one person remembers a time before the curse but no one believes them. Finally, a means to break the curse is naturally present. Since curses are dark magic, the sacrifice required allows for some light to be let in for it to be broken. With the Dark Curse being cast the most, many elements, like the devastation it causes, differ between the casters. Here’s how every curse in thegreat fantasy tv showranks in terms of its devastation.
8Golden Touch
The myth of King Midas explains that he turned his daughter to solid gold.Once Upon a Timechanged the myth from his daughter to one of his knights, Frederick, turning solid gold. His daughter Abigail was set to marry Frederick, but, to save her kingdom, agrees to marry Prince James, or David. Abigail asks for David’s help on a quest to Lake Nostos, rumored to restore lost things, like a life. The Golden Touch Curse only affects Frederick and Abigail, so its devastation is rather weak and singular.
Related:Once Upon a Time: How the TV Storylines Compare to Their Source Material
7Sleeping Curse
TV Tropesdescribes the true love’s kiss as the solution to 99. 9% of all problems.Once Upon A Timeredefined what true love’s kiss was when Henry became cursed. Of course, Henry was the exception as others who were under the sleeping curse received a kiss from their true love. The sleeping curse causes the most pain after the accursed wakes up. As Henry found out after he was cursed, he would go into a room of fire with no windows or doors when he fell asleep.
6Dark Curse, Cast by Snow White and Prince Charming
Even though Snow White and Prince Charming are the main heroes ofOnce Upon a Time, they enacted the dark curse to return to Storybrooke. However, Zelena erased everyone’s memories for a whole year; everyone remembered who they were, but couldn’t remember who cast the curse or why. Additionally, Zelena rescued Rumpelstiltskin from death and hid him in her basement. The sacrifice for this curse to work was Snow White crushing Charming’s heart.
5Dark Curse, Cast by Captain Hook
After six weeks in Camelot, where Emma was the Dark One, she made Hook into the Dark One to save him from dying. Despite this skewed act of love, Hook uses the dream catchers Emma made to take away her memories. He cast the Dark Curse to exact his revenge on Rumpelstiltskin. Of the half dozen times the Dark Curse was cast, this one left everyone’s memories captured in dream catchers for their time in Camelot. The curse is intended to bring misery, but when Hook casts it, he simply returns everyone to Storybrooke.
4Spell of Shattered Sight
According toFairy-Talez, a hobgoblin creates a curse using a looking glass to amplify the darkness in others when shattered. After being released from her urn-prison, Ingrid, the Snow Queen, uses a compact from Regina to create the curse. Her end goal was to have everyone kill each other, so she could have Elsa and Emma as her sisters. The Spell of Shattered Sight is one of the few curses that gives more background to the hitanimated Disney princess filmFrozen.
Related:Disney: The Evolution of Princesses in Movies
3Black Curse
The Black Curse was created by Fiona, the Black Fairy. She was banished by the Blue Fairy for using dark magic and in her banishment used abducted children to mine dark fairy dust. Compared to the Dark Curse, the Black Curse is ten times as powerful because it’s fueled by dark fairy dust and requires no sacrifice. Like the Dark Curse Regina cast, Henry is the only one who remembers. His mother, Emma, is locked up in a mental hospital, and Henry tries to convince her that she is the savior.
2Dark One’s Curse
Created 500 years prior to Emma becoming the Dark One, it is one of the oldest curses featured. The main reason it’s so devastating is due to how quickly someone can be turned dark and their use of every despicable act to get what they want. Rumpelstiltskin was the Dark One for the longest amount of time, though the exact number is unknown. The curse of the Dark One makes the person immortal yet all the magic they do darkens their heart. Despite Rumpelstiltskin and Emma using magic to protect their families, they end up pushing everyone away.
1Dark Curse, Cast by Regina
While it lacks the power of the Black Curse and the longevity of the Dark One’s Curse, the Dark Curse is the most devastating when Regina casts it. After Snow White marries Prince Charming, Regina promises to destroy their happiness. However, to cast the curse, Regina must kill the thing she loves most: her father. The savior is the only one who can break the curse. Not only does Emma, the savior, break Regina’s curse, she also breaks the sleeping curse Henry was under by kissing his forehead. Compared to other casters, Regina’s casting is the most devastating because it created an entire town and froze time for 28 years!
