Magic in Once Upon a Time
In the American fantasy-drama television series Once Upon a Time and its spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, magic is depicted as a metaphysical and supernatural force that can be used to override the usual laws of nature. Many fictional magical creatures and magical plant species exist in the series. Magical objects, too, can be enhanced or imbued with magical property. The small percentage of humans who are able to perform magic are referred to as witches and sorcerer.
Using magic[edit]
Witches and wizards need training to learn how to control their magic. With young and untrained children, magic will manifest itself subconsciously in moments of strong apprehension, fear, anger and sadness. Magic can be used to override the usual laws of nature, physics, and reality but it is inherently neutral and cannot itself be split into Good or Evil but can be used for either purpose. Since magic use is powered by emotion, the strength of the spell depends on the feelings of the caster focused into the output of magic. Negative emotions are generally used to power spells while positive emotions are used to maintain control of spells. Witchcraft is a form of magic that mostly humans can use, but unlike Fairy Magic or Divine Magic, witchcraft is strongly tied to emotions and learning. All practitioners are born with this power and some may even use magic right after their birth, like Zelena, while others need a proper teacher to push them to use it like Cora, Regina, the Red Queen and Drizella. But even people like Zelena and Anastasia need to be taught in order to control it fully. Depends on the practitioner, learning magic can sometimes last for years, as the Evil Queen's study approximately lasted for twenty years but some people like Dark Ones or Merlin did not to need to learn it or any teacher as it was the Holy Grail what granted them to use magic. Sometimes, the person can have a trouble with using magic because they are in a different land for the first time. This is what happened to Regina Mills after Mr. Gold brought magic to Storybrooke after 28 years because according to him, magic is unpredictable in the Land Without Magic but Regina later used her mother's spell book by smelling of the written words to get the magic flowing again. Underworld is also another place where magic is said to be unpredictable, but this time, Regina's inability to use magic was because she was blocking herself emotionally.
Some people like the Dragon or Anastasia can use magic even in the Land Without Magic. However, the reasons for it have yet to be explored. It is not known why practitioners sometimes use incantations to use Witchcraft but most of the time, they just simply use it without words. The use of witchcraft is not an intellectual endeavor but is tied to strong emotions like love and anger. One way to channel these emotions into magic is to think about and relive a moment that made you angry in the past. Another way is to think about your loved ones and how you want to protect them, and feel it. Just like Ice Magic, people can also lose control of their powers by having emotions like fear or extreme anger, which include but are not limited to thermokinetically hot a bottle of milk, push people off, light the lights on and off and shatter a mirror but they can overcome this by controlling it with the help of someone they trust.
It is not known if there is a "magic gene", nor is it known that that can pass down. Cora, who could use magic, has two daughters who also can use magic. The same thing also goes to Mr. Gold and his son, Gideon. However, Emma, Jafar, Drizella and Anastasia have no known family member who can use magic, yet they use it.
Spellcasting[edit]
Spells are the every-purpose tools of a wizard or witch; short bursts of magic used to accomplish single specialised tasks such as opening locks or creating fire. The use of incantation was only seen in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, when Jafar's summons a dragon, light up the Jabberwocky's prison, uses Lizard's eyes to view the last person her eyes saw after death and casts the Spell of the Three Genies, he used incantations in Latin words. Cyrus also uses Latin words to activate a locator spell, but most of the time, a magician just simply use witchcraft without words.
Physical description[edit]
Magic itself often manifests as a puff of smoke or sparkling dust, which can vary in colors, depending on the practitioner. Purple seems to be the most common color for the smoke manifestation of magic in general. The color varies according to the wielder and/or the form of magic: for instance, most of the time a person sticks to one color no matter their location (although there are certain instances where, due to unknown reason, their magic color is different). Each person's magic is said to be unique, like snowflakes, so magic can change forms but never be destroyed. The color of someone's magic can change, for example; if the practitioner made the use of Light magic the person's magic will turn into light white, like Regina when she used Light Magic for an instant to defeat Zelena. Another example is when a person, who alright have magic, becomes the Dark One, the pserson's magic will become darker, like Emma's magic changed to light white to grey when she turns in to the Dark One. When Fione tried to crush the heart of Tiger Lily she becomes the Black Fairy and her Fairy Magic changed from yellow to black.
The limits of magic[edit]
The Laws of Magic define the limits of magical abilities. There are three restrictions even the most powerful magic is said to be unable to break: bring back the dead, force someone to fall in love and change the past. However, these laws can and have been broken and changed by powerful spells. One of them is the combined power of three genies who have themselves overridden fate. This spell even makes the caster immune to the price of magic. Another case of law-breaking magic is the Time Travel Spell that was, in one case, enacted by gathering symbols of wisdom, courage, love and innocence. There some limitations that only the most powerful of the practitioners of magic can perform, like travel between realm without the use of one world-crossing; Zelena can ban people to other realms, the Apprentice can open magical doors to others realms and the Black Fairy could only travel from the Dark Realm to another for a brief time until she is dragged in to that world again due to her banishment.
Death[edit]
Dr. Frankenstein attempted to use science to override the laws of magic and bring back his brother with a heart that had been strengthened against lightning surges by magic. Unfortunately, the end result was a violent, amnesiac shell of the former person Gerhardt had been. In one instance of a proper resurrection, Maleficent is revived after combining the blood of those who greatly wronged her with her ashes. In this case however, Maleficent was undead, allowing for a restoration to human form that did not break the laws. However, Maleficent later explains that she would turn back to ashes if she left Storybrooke, since there was no magic beyond the town border. It is possible she was reduced to ashes again when Henry temporarily destroyed Storybrooke's magic. Another exception to the laws is that the Dark One is able to be resurrected from the vault if they kill themselves with the dagger. However, the price of this magic is another's life. Snow White had Regina rip her heart in half and give one half to Charming, whose own heart was used as the price of the second Dark Curse. Emma failed doing this with Hook, as his body had decayed too much because of the time he spent stuck in the Underworld. Maleficent was brought back to life after having the blood of those who wronged her most placed in her ashes. Unfortunately, she is confined to Storybrooke in the Land Without Magic (if she left, she would crumble back into dust). The only instance of a true resurrection in the series is when the god Zeus sent Killian Jones back to the realm of the living after he had passed on to Mount Olympus. The amulet of the resurrection can brinf someone who's between life and death to life again.
Emotion[edit]
A fake form of true love is impossible to create magically but a love potion can only create a powerful sense of infatuation and obsession.
Change the past[edit]
When the Evil Queen wished that Emma's wish, to have never been the Savior, be granted, due to the laws of magic preventing someone from changing the past, an alternate reality was created from the wish and Emma was sent there with false memories. In this alternate reality, the Evil Queen was defeated and banished by King David and Queen Snow before she could cast the Dark Curse, and Emma grew up as a defenseless princess.
Price of magic[edit]
The price of magic is the inevitable expense for using or casting magic. Often stated as a warning that "magic always comes with a price", but sometimes, the price is not foreseeable. Rumplestiltskin's curse has the heaviest penalty for gaining his Dark One powers. While the magic allows him to accumulate masses of power, it not only binds his loyalty to a dagger, but also corrupts and injures him both physically and emotionally.
Other prices include the Evil Queen's sacrifice of her father's life to unleash the Dark Curse upon the Enchanted Forest. In doing so, she creates a void in her soul that can never be filled; however, this is later shown to be partially incorrect, as Regina is now content with her step-family. At another time, Regina's attempt to outsmart and get rid of Emma by putting her under a Sleeping Curse backfires, as Mr. Gold predicted, when Henry is afflicted with the curse instead. Even Mr. Gold himself, who knows all too well there's always a price to pay, brought magic to Storybrooke, which returned his powers, but the cost forces a barrier around town to form, preventing him from leaving to find his son with his Enchanted Forest memories intact. (This is a running gag in the series, that changes each season; something bad happens if somebody leaves Storybrooke, or no body can actually leave.)
Normally, healing someone with an almost fatal wound doesn't require any price. However, if a Dark One is asked to do so, the person they saved is marked for a Fury to take to the Underworld; this was annoyance for Emma, who was forced to make Regina face the Fury to offer her own life to pay the price for saving Robin Hood. However, a compromise is possible, as Snow White, David, Leory and King Arthur linked hands with Regina when her life was being extracted; as there were five people offering their lives in exchange, it is likely 1/5 of their lives were taken to pay off the price.
Saviors appear to suffer a great price, as they suffer hand tremors and visions of someone killing them; their deaths appear immutable. However, the Shears of Fate can remove this destiny at the cost of removing the Savior's magic.
References[edit]
| Episodes | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Related | |
This article "Magic in Once Upon a Time" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Magic in Once Upon a Time. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
