100 Fun Facts About Once Upon a Time

When Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke, what starts moving?

The clock on the town's tower had been stuck at 8:15, and its first tick as Emma takes a room at Granny's is the sign that the curse has begun to weaken.

In which US state is the fictional town of Storybrooke?

Maine. Henry warns Emma that bad things happen to anyone who tries to leave Storybrooke, and when she drives off that night she crashes at the town line.

Which two writers from Lost created Once Upon a Time?

Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, both fans of Big Love, wrote Snow White hoping to land that show's Ginnifer Goodwin, and she said yes as soon as they sent the script.

Who plays Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time?

Jennifer Morrison stepped down as a series regular after six seasons, and the final season moved on to a grown-up Henry, with Emma coming back only as a guest.

What is Emma Swan's job when Once Upon a Time begins?

Bail bond agent: she tracks down people who have skipped bail in Boston, and on her 28th birthday the son she gave up for adoption, now ten, turns up at her door.

What kind of car does Emma Swan drive throughout Once Upon a Time?

A yellow Volkswagen Bug: Emma stole it as a teenager in Oregon, only to find a man hiding in the back seat who had already stolen it himself.

To cast the Dark Curse, whose heart must Regina sacrifice as the thing she loves most?

Her father's: Regina first tried the heart of her prized horse, and only when the curse fizzled did she accept what it really demanded and kill the father who had always stood by her.

What is Regina's job in Storybrooke?

Mayor: Regina runs the town her curse created, but when she tries to hand the vacant sheriff's badge to her own man, the town charter forces an election and Emma wins it.

Which Scottish actor plays Rumplestiltskin, known in Storybrooke as Mr. Gold?

Robert Carlyle was the creators' first choice: they wrote Rumplestiltskin for him, sent him the script and, to their surprise, he said yes.

Which Storybrooke resident is really Snow White?

Mary Margaret Blanchard, a schoolteacher, volunteers at the hospital, where she leaves flowers for a comatose John Doe without knowing he is her own husband.

Under the curse, Prince Charming lives in Storybrooke under what name?

David Nolan wakes from his coma with no memory, and Regina promptly produces Kathryn, a wife he cannot remember, to take him home.

Which two Once Upon a Time co-stars married each other in April 2014?

Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas fell for each other while playing the show's fairy-tale couple, and married a few weeks before their first son was born.

Which actor played the Huntsman, Storybrooke's Sheriff Graham, in Once Upon a Time's first season?

Jamie Dornan's Huntsman dies in the seventh episode, when Regina crushes the heart she had taken from him years before; he went on to star in Fifty Shades of Grey.

Which Irish actor plays Killian Jones, better known as Captain Hook?

Colin O'Donoghue's Hook arrives in season two bent on revenge against Rumplestiltskin, who cut off his hand, and ends up marrying Emma on a Storybrooke rooftop.

Which villain turns out to be Regina's long-lost half-sister?

Zelena, the Wicked Witch, was abandoned as a baby by their mother Cora, who wanted a royal match, and she literally turns green with envy of the sister who was kept.

Who is revealed to be Henry's biological father?

Neal Cassidy, who is really Baelfire, is Rumplestiltskin's long-lost son, which makes the most feared man in Storybrooke Henry's grandfather.

Which villain is revealed to be Rumplestiltskin's father?

Peter Pan was once Malcolm, a card cheat who let the Shadow carry off his own young son so that he could stay in Neverland and be a boy again.

Why does Peter Pan kidnap Henry in season three?

To take the Heart of the Truest Believer: Pan is dying as Neverland's magic runs out, and Henry's heart would make him immortal, though he tells the boy it will save magic.

In the fourth season, Elsa of Frozen reaches Storybrooke after being trapped inside what?

An urn: it sat in Rumplestiltskin's vault until it fell through the time portal behind Emma and Hook, and Elsa burst out of it in a Storybrooke barn.

Which three villains formed the Queens of Darkness in season four?

Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil were brought together by Mr. Gold, who wanted their help to find the Author and make him write happy endings for the villains.

At the end of Once Upon a Time's fourth season, Emma becomes what in order to save Regina?

The Dark One: when the freed darkness closes in on Regina, Emma plunges the dagger into it to take the curse herself, and her own name appears on the blade.

Which sorcerer do the heroes find trapped inside a tree in Once Upon a Time's fifth season?

Merlin: the heroes travel to Camelot for his help and find him turned into a tree, and it takes a tear from Henry's first heartbreak to set him free.

In Once Upon a Time's fifth season, which villain rules the realm where Emma goes to rescue Hook?

Hades rules the Underworld, where Emma takes her family to bring Hook back; he schemes to trap them there, but it is Zelena, the woman he loves, who finally kills him.

Which literary character menaces Storybrooke in season six alongside a newly separated Evil Queen?

Mr. Hyde arrives from the Land of Untold Stories just after Regina uses Dr. Jekyll's serum to split off her evil half, so Lana Parrilla ends up playing two queens at once.

Once Upon a Time's seventh season moves to Hyperion Heights, a fictional neighbourhood of which city?

Seattle: the final season echoes the pilot with the roles reversed, as a girl called Lucy turns up at the grown-up Henry's door and tells him she is his daughter.

Who plays Cinderella, known as Jacinda in Hyperion Heights, in Once Upon a Time's final season?

Dania Ramirez's Cinderella meets the grown-up Henry by knocking him out and riding off on his motorcycle; she ends up as his wife.

Which Canadian village doubles for Storybrooke's exteriors?

Bright objects like flowers were hidden during filming to keep the cursed town looking dull.

Once Upon a Time ends with Regina crowned as what?

Good Queen is the title Snow White gives her: after one last curse brings every realm to Storybrooke, the people vote for the woman they once called the Evil Queen.

Which spin-off of Once Upon a Time aired in 2013-14?

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland sent Alice from a Victorian asylum back down the rabbit hole to find her lost genie; when it was cancelled, its Knave of Hearts joined the parent show.

Which Lost actress plays Belle in Once Upon a Time?

Emilie de Ravin, Claire on Lost, plays Belle, who gives up her freedom to Rumplestiltskin to save her village; in this retelling he takes the place of the Beast.

Which fairy-tale figure is Ruby, the Storybrooke diner waitress?

Red Riding Hood is also the wolf: Granny gave her the red cloak to stop her changing, and she learns the truth only after killing the boy she loves.

Henry's therapist Dr. Archie Hopper is secretly which character?

Raphael Sbarge played him, and his cursed dalmatian is called Pongo.

August Wayne Booth, the mysterious writer who arrives in season one, is really whom?

Pinocchio went through the wardrobe as a boy to watch over baby Emma, but ran off from their foster home and left her; years later he starts turning back into wood.

Which two actresses have played Cora, Regina's mother and the Queen of Hearts?

Barbara Hershey and Rose McGowan: McGowan is the young miller's daughter who learns from Rumplestiltskin how to spin straw into gold, then tears out her own heart on her way to the throne.

Which fairy tale is Emma Swan's character loosely based on?

The Ugly Duckling: a flashback shows Emma as a young runaway choosing the surname Swan for herself after a boy tells her the story of the duckling that grew into one.

Emma and her teen boyfriend planned to start over in which Florida city before he betrayed her?

Tallahassee: Emma picks it by shutting her eyes and pointing at a map, but her boyfriend vanishes and tips off the police, and she is arrested over the watches he stole.

How does Emma finally break the Dark Curse?

With true love's kiss on Henry's forehead, meant only as a goodbye: Mr. Gold had tricked Emma out of the potion she fought a dragon to fetch, so her own kiss was all that was left.

The actor who plays Mr. Gold earlier played Begbie and Gaz in which two films?

Trainspotting and The Full Monty: he was the brawling psychopath Begbie in 1996 and, a year later, an out-of-work steelworker who talks his friends into stripping, which won him a BAFTA.

Before playing the Evil Queen, Lana Parrilla was a regular on which Fox thriller's fourth season?

24: she played Sarah Gavin, a counter-terrorism analyst who is framed as a mole by a colleague and tortured by her own side before being cleared.

Before Once Upon a Time, the actress who plays Emma was best known as Dr. Allison Cameron on which medical drama?

House: she was written out during its sixth season, yet returned for a cameo in the 2012 finale, by which time she was a year into playing Emma.

Which Marvel character had Josh Dallas played, as a last-minute replacement, before Once Upon a Time?

Fandral in Thor: Zachary Levi had to pass on the part because of Chuck, his replacement left days before filming, and Levi got it back for the sequel when Once Upon a Time kept Dallas busy.

Leroy, first seen in the Storybrooke jail cell next to Emma's, is really which of the seven dwarfs?

Grumpy hatched with the name Dreamy; after giving up the fairy he loved he smashed his pickaxe in a rage, and the replacement named him Grumpy.

Which brand name from Lost is on the candy bars eaten in Once Upon a Time?

Apollo bars, a candy brand invented for Lost, keep turning up in the show, and the flashback that opens season five has a young Emma stealing one in a cinema.

According to Rumplestiltskin's favourite warning, all magic comes with what?

A price: his own was his son, who was pulled through a portal to a land without magic when his father, at the last moment, would not give up his power and follow.

What does Hook trade his ship for so that he can reach Emma in New York?

A magic bean: Hook gives up the Jolly Roger for a single bean that can open a portal to Emma's world, and she kisses him when she learns what it cost him.

Once Upon a Time's creators first had the idea just after writing for which WB drama?

Felicity: the idea came as that show ended in 2002, but they put it away for the best part of a decade and only made the pilot once Lost had finished.

Which Lost co-creator was an uncredited consultant on Once Upon a Time, dubbed its 'godfather'?

Damon Lindelof took no credit, but the creators, who said that writing under him on Lost changed how they looked at story, insisted he was in the new show's DNA.

Fans of which comic series accused Once Upon a Time of borrowing its premise?

Fables: ABC had developed a pilot of the comic in 2008 that was never made, yet its creator Bill Willingham publicly gave the show's writers the benefit of the doubt.

Tinker Bell's pixie dust leads Regina to her soulmate, a man with a lion tattoo, who turns out to be whom?

Robin Hood: Regina was too afraid to walk into the tavern and meet him, Tinker Bell lost her wings for stealing the dust, and the pair only met many years later.

Which 2013 comic book follows the Huntsman after Regina takes his heart?

Shadow of the Queen was co-written by Dan Thomsen of the show's own writing staff, and shows the Huntsman forced to serve as the Evil Queen's slave once she holds his heart.

Sent back in time in Once Upon a Time, Emma Swan attends a royal ball under which borrowed name?

Princess Leia is the alias Emma grabs at the palace door, while Captain Hook is announced beside her as Prince Charles.

Dr. Whale of Once Upon a Time, named for a 1930s horror director, is secretly which scientist?

Victor Frankenstein hides behind the surname of James Whale, who directed the 1931 film Frankenstein and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein.

In Once Upon a Time, pixie dust leads Regina to a soulmate with a lion tattoo, later revealed as whom?

Robin Hood wears the lion tattoo on his wrist. Regina first saw it through a tavern door, but she was too afraid to walk in and meet him.

In Once Upon a Time, Snow White first meets Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest while doing what?

Robbing his carriage as a hooded bandit, Snow makes off with a pouch holding his mother's ring, so he hunts her down and catches her in a net.

In the first season of Once Upon a Time, Regina bakes her poisoned apple into which pastry for Emma?

A turnover hides the cursed fruit, but Henry takes a bite himself to prove the curse is real and collapses into a sleeping curse.

In Once Upon a Time, whoever holds which object engraved with Rumplestiltskin's name can command him?

A dagger bearing his name is the one thing that can control the sorcerer, and it is later revealed to be the broken tip of Excalibur.

In Once Upon a Time, the dwarf first named Dreamy takes which new name after giving up his fairy love?

Grumpy is the name he takes after he is warned that his beloved Nova will lose her wings if the two run away together. In Storybrooke he is Leroy, a hospital janitor.

Which actor plays Sidney Glass, the Storybrooke reporter who is really the Magic Mirror, in Once Upon a Time?

Giancarlo Esposito, best known as the drug lord Gus Fring in Breaking Bad, plays the reporter, whose newspaper is fittingly called The Daily Mirror.

Which car does Emma Swan drive in Once Upon a Time, having first stolen it as a teenager in Portland?

A yellow VW Beetle is Emma's car. When she stole it as a teenager, it had already been stolen by a man who was hiding in the back seat.

Dr. Archie Hopper's pet Dalmatian in Once Upon a Time shares its name with which Disney dog?

Pongo is the Dalmatian's name, lifted from Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and the dog who plays him is credited as Cinder.

In the Once Upon a Time pilot, ten-year-old Henry tracks down Emma Swan on her birthday in which city?

Boston is where Henry finds her on her 28th birthday, announces he is the son she gave up, and gets her to drive him home to Storybrooke.

In Once Upon a Time, newborn Emma escapes the Dark Curse by being sent to our world inside which magical object?

A wardrobe carved from an enchanted tree by Geppetto carries her away, echoing the doorway to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Which kind of business does Mr. Gold keep in Storybrooke in Once Upon a Time, its interior built on a studio set?

A pawn shop is Mr. Gold's base in Storybrooke, and it is among the last buildings shown as the camera sweeps over the town to close the series finale.

In Once Upon a Time, which object dropped by Belle becomes Rumplestiltskin's most treasured keepsake of her?

A teacup that Belle chips by dropping it in shock is the one breakable he cannot bring himself to smash. It nods to Chip in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

In Once Upon a Time, Regina's first love Daniel, whose heart Cora rips out, held which job on her family's estate?

A stable boy, Daniel was Regina's secret love until young Snow White, tricked by Cora, gave the romance away.

In Once Upon a Time, which codename does young Henry give his and Emma's plan to break the first curse?

Operation Cobra is the name Henry gives the plan in the second episode, and the fourth-season finale later echoed it with the title Operation Mongoose.

In Once Upon a Time, Captain Hook gives Rumplestiltskin which animal nickname after seeing his scaly skin?

The crocodile is Hook's name for the man who took his left hand, a twist on Peter Pan, where a real crocodile swallows the captain's hand.

Walsh, the boyfriend who proposes to Emma Swan in New York in Once Upon a Time, turns out to be what?

A flying monkey in disguise, Walsh had been spying on Emma and keeping her happy in her new life, and he attacks when she says she can't marry him.

Which actor played Jefferson, the Mad Hatter, in Once Upon a Time before a Marvel film role ended his run?

Sebastian Stan appeared in six episodes, then left for the Broadway play Picnic and his role as Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel films.

Which Lost actor plays Anton, the giant nicknamed Tiny, in the second season of Once Upon a Time?

Jorge Garcia, Hurley in Lost, plays Anton, who is named Tiny twice: first as a taunt from his taller brothers, later by a dwarf's pickaxe.

At the end of the Once Upon a Time pilot, what happens to Storybrooke's town clock when Emma decides to stay?

Its hands start moving after being stuck at 8:15, a sign that the curse is weakening. The time copies the doomed flight's number in Lost, the series the show's creators wrote for.

To complete the Dark Curse in Once Upon a Time, its caster must cut out the heart of what?

The thing they love most is the price. A prized stallion's heart is not enough, so the caster kills a devoted father, whose headstone reads 'Henry, Beloved Father'.

The archer Merida, who joins Once Upon a Time in its fifth season, comes from which animated film?

Brave gave the show its Scottish princess, and her showcase episode, The Bear and the Bow, takes its title from the film's original name.

The sorcerer's hat that Mr. Gold finds in season four of Once Upon a Time copies one worn in which Disney film?

Fantasia is the source: the pointed hat is the one Mickey Mouse wears in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and in the show it can take away any person's magic.

In season four of Once Upon a Time, the Snow Queen hides in plain sight in Storybrooke running which business?

An ice cream shop called Any Given Sundae is her cover, and a cone she serves there puts one unlucky customer under a freezing spell.

In the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, which woman of Arthurian legend is revealed as the original Dark One?

Nimue drank from the Holy Grail, and her fall began the line of Dark Ones that later reached Rumplestiltskin.

Which literary seafarer appears in the sixth season of Once Upon a Time and urges Killian Jones to give up revenge?

Captain Nemo takes Hook aboard the Nautilus and admits that he once wanted vengeance too, only to find it meaningless once he had it.

Which unusual format does Once Upon a Time adopt for the sixth-season episode in which Emma marries Captain Hook?

A musical with eight songs builds to the rooftop wedding, where Emma's dress was modelled on the one Grace Kelly wore in 1956.

Which Disney film, released the year before Once Upon a Time began, was written by the show's two creators?

Tron: Legacy, the sci-fi sequel starring Jeff Bridges, was written by the same pair who went on to dream up Storybrooke.

Which actress plays the warrior Mulan in Once Upon a Time, a recurring role she took up in its second season?

Jamie Chung, announced at the time as 'The Hangover Part II actress', took the part and later voiced Go Go Tomago in Disney's Big Hero 6.

Which AMC drama did Jared Gilmore leave to play young Henry Mills in Once Upon a Time?

Mad Men had him as Bobby Draper from 2009, and he shared in the cast's Screen Actors Guild ensemble award before leaving for Storybrooke.

In the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, Ruby's kiss breaks a sleeping curse on which storybook heroine?

Dorothy Gale wakes at Ruby's kiss in the Land of Oz, where a rival had cursed her in the belief that Dorothy had nobody who loved her.

Which Disney hero is revealed in the sixth season of Once Upon a Time as a Saviour who fled his destiny?

Aladdin cut himself free of a Saviour's fate with golden shears that once belonged to the Fates, a choice that ended up dooming Agrabah.

In the Once Upon a Time series finale, Regina is crowned ruler of the United Realms under which title?

The Good Queen is crowned by Snow White and Prince Charming once every realm has been merged into one, a long way from the villain of the pilot.

In the Once Upon a Time series finale, Emma and Hook attend a coronation with a newborn daughter named what?

Hope is the baby's name, and her arrival makes Henry an older half-brother on top of everything else in his tangled family tree.

The Black Fairy, the sixth-season villain of Once Upon a Time, turns out to be which relative of Rumplestiltskin?

His mother, Fiona, grew obsessed with protecting her newborn son after hearing a prophecy that he would one day die as the Saviour.

In Once Upon a Time, which wife leaves Rumplestiltskin for the pirate Killian Jones, seeing her husband as a coward?

Milah wanted a life of adventure at sea. When Rumplestiltskin caught up with the pair, he ripped out her heart and cut off the pirate's left hand.

Before gaining magic in Once Upon a Time, Rumplestiltskin, an army deserter, earned his living as what?

A wool spinner was his trade until he took on a sorcerer's power to keep his son from being sent to fight in a second ogre war.

In the first season of Once Upon a Time, Cinderella signs a contract with Rumplestiltskin that costs her what?

Her firstborn is what he comes to claim at her wedding ball. He had killed her fairy godmother and stolen the wand, so the wish that freed her from home was his to grant.

After the first curse breaks in Once Upon a Time, what happens to residents who cross Storybrooke's town line?

They lose their memories of their fairy-tale lives and are left with only their cursed identities. One of the seven dwarfs draws the short straw to test it and ends up as plain Tom Clark.

In the second season of Once Upon a Time, Mr. Gold gives Belle the keys to which boarded-up Storybrooke building?

The library was Ruby's idea of a job for Belle, given her love of books, and when Belle unlocks it she finds Gold waiting inside to apologise.

In Once Upon a Time, the Dark Curse turns the Blue Fairy and her fellow fairies into Storybrooke's what?

Nuns led by a Mother Superior are what the fairies become, and in the first season they struggle to pay their rent to Mr. Gold, who fiercely dislikes them.

In Once Upon a Time, how do the dwarfs who mine fairy dust in the Enchanted Forest come into the world?

Hatched from eggs as fully clothed grown men, the dwarfs have no mothers, and there are no dwarf women at all.

In the fourth-season finale of Once Upon a Time, Henry Mills replaces the disgraced Isaac in which role?

The Author's enchanted quill can rewrite anyone's story, and once the damage is undone Henry snaps it in half, saying no one should have that much power.

In the seventh season of Once Upon a Time, a cursed Captain Hook works in Hyperion Heights as what?

A police officer known as Rogers, he soon learns that his new partner is Detective Weaver, who is Rumplestiltskin living under the same curse.

Which deadly Neverland plant poisons both Captain Hook's brother Liam and Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time?

Dreamshade was supposed to be a healing herb, or so a king claimed when he sent the Jones brothers to Neverland to fetch it. He wanted it as a weapon of war.

Which British actor, a cabin boy in a Pirates of the Caribbean film, plays Peter Pan in Once Upon a Time?

Robbie Kay turned the boy who never grew up into the sinister villain of the third season, and he came back to the role in the fifth and seventh seasons.

In the seventh season of Once Upon a Time, Tiana, cursed as Sabine, opens a food truck to sell which treat?

Beignets bring Tiana more than customers: the food truck reunites her with Drew, who is Prince Naveen living under the curse.

In Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming is really a poor farm boy secretly brought in to take whose place?

His twin brother, Prince James, had been handed to a childless king as a baby in one of Rumplestiltskin's deals, then died in a duel before he could slay a dragon.

In Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming slays a dragon to seal a deal between King George and which other king?

Midas answered the delivery of the dragon's head with a surprise offer: the hand of his daughter Abigail in marriage, to unite the two kingdoms.