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Once Upon a Time: The Reboot - TV Tropes

️Thu Sep 19 2024

Once Upon A Time: The Reboot is a script Fanfiction by users droo216 and menelaos and published on Tumblr starting in October, 2016, and ending in 2017. The story is a reimagining of the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011), which was being broadcast at the time.

Emma Swan lives a lonely life as bailbondsperson, until she makes a wish on her 30th birthday. Suddenly, a boy knocks on her door, claiming to be her biological son and asking her to accompany him back to his hometown of Storybrooke. Strangely enough, the boy, Henry Mills, believes his mother, the local mayor, is the Evil Queen from the Snow White fairy tale, and everybody in the town is actually a storybook character. The problem is... Henry is right!

The authors reimagine the series's premise as a ten-episode, seven-season series, in order to develop a shorter, more cohesive storyline. Each episode is presented as a two-part moodboard (one for the past sequences, another for the present sequences), with images selected to convey the idea across. It also makes use of a fictional cast that the authors chose to interpret the characters' roles in their work.

The work can be checked here.

Once Upon A Time: The Reboot provides examples of:

Adaptation Amalgamation:
- In season 1, Robin Hood becomes part of Snow White's time as a forest bandit. In the original series, Snow appears to learn it on the fly, while Robin Hood only comes to the forefront as a secondary character in season 3B.
- Still in the flashbacks in season 1, Regina captures Maid Marian and threatens to kill her, for hiding information about Snow White. This event appears as a plot point during the season 3 finale and Season 4, episode 1, of the show.
- In the flashbacks in season 2, Regina's use of an infertility potion is merged with her period of magic tutelage under Rumplestiltskin, who is aiming to use Regina's possible heir as the Saviour that can break the Dark Curse. In the original series, Regina does this in season 4, as part of a flashback, to spite her mother, Cora.
- In their season 5, Emma and Snow's falling into the portal from season 2 is merged with Emma's time travel adventure from Season 3, episodes 21 and 22 of the original show.
- The authors merge Jaffar's storyline from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland with the main plot for season 6.
- In the flashback portion of Season 6, episode 2, King Triton is the one to give Jaffar and Scheherazade one of the genies' lamps during one of Sindbad's journeys, since both are part of the sailor's crew.
- Regina and Gold's quest for the author of the "Once Upon a Time" book is used in season 6, with the plot about breaking the last remnants of the Dark Curse and unmaking Storybrooke.
- For the seventh and final season, Chernabog, who is but a bit part antagonist in S4, Ep. 12 of the original series, is merged with the plot point of the gathering of the previous Dark Ones (called "Servants" here) from the Camelot Arc of season 5A.
Adaptation Distillation: Among other changes in comparison to the original, the authors decided to focus on a limited cast of main characters (Emma, Snow White, David/Charming, Regina, Rumplestiltskin, Henry, and Ruby/Red Riding Hood) and trimmed the use of the Dark Curse to a single one, which is the main premise of the series.
Adaptation Expansion:
- In season 2, the story of the Mad Hatter (Tarrant Hightopp) and his involvement with Rumplestiltskin, implied in some episodes of the original series, is shown here as a misadventure in the Land of Wonder.
- The fic's season 5 expands on the role of prince Phillip, princess Aurora and Mulan, since they were recurring guest characters for some periods of the original series. The former two especially, since, in this story, they are Snow White's parents.
Adaptation Name Change:
- The realms of story are renamed here: Enchanted Forest to Land of Ever, Wonderland to Land of Wonder, Neverland to Land of Never, and Oz as Land of Oz.
- Rumplestilskin's moniker of "Dark One" from the original series is changed to "the Servant" here.
- The Mad Hatter is called Tarrant Hightopp here, instead of Jefferson.
Adaptation Origin Connection:
- In season 1, as part of the storyline about Snow White's exile, she is taught how to survive in the forest as a bandit by a female Robin Hood.
- In season 6, Scheherazade and Jaffar are brother and sister, were raised by the Forty Thieves in the Cave of Wonders and joined Sindbad's crew in search of the three lamps of the genies.
- In the flashbacks in season 6, the Cave of Wonders from the Aladdin film (based on the generic cave from the original fairy tale) is the same hideout used by the thieves from the tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
- In the flashbacks in season 6, the Enchantress who cursed Prince Adam into his Beast form is named Agatha, who is also one of the Servants.
- The origin of the Servant's powers lies in Chernabog, not Nimue, like the original series.
- Also, it's revealed that the Servant's powers and chain of possession are linked to the Blue Fairy/Celestina.
Adaptational Badass:
- Tinkerbell is not a simple fairy here, she is another in a long line of realm jumpers, that is, people who can cross from one realm of story to another.
Adaptational Diversity: Invoked by the authors. The idea was to dare even more than the original series did in delving in the fairy tale pool of characters.
Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Unlike the original series, Robin Hood and the Merry Men (who are all women here) appear in season 1 of the fic and become part of Snow White's story during her exile.
- By virtue of being the genie of the lamp, Jaffar already appears in season 1, when he only appeared in the original series in season 6 (after a Transplant from the spin-off show).
Adaptational Heroism:
- Peter Pan in season 3 is restored to the somewhat heroic role he had in the Disney movie, unlike the Arc Villain he was in the original series for season 3A.
Adaptational Mundanity:
- Lily Castillo, not being Maleficent's daughter in this story, is simply a normal teenager from the Land Without Magic that Emma Swan befriended.
- In season 7, after Storybooke is restored into the Land of Ever, Regina finds a new love with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Gerard. This storyline lacks the magical element of Regina's "quest for her true love" from the original series (a.k.a., the pixie dust).
Adaptational Protagonist:
- In season six, the fanfic adapts the Aladdin film, but focuses on Jaffar's backstory. Aladdin and Jasmine only appear in one flashback episode, as they finish Jaffar's storyline in Agrabah and set him up to be found by Queen Regina in the Land of Ever.
Adaptational Sexuality:
- Many characters are reinterpreted to be queer in this version of events, some by virtue of a Gender Flip, such as Midas's daughter and her female true love, knight Goldilocks, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and Beau, Gaston and Prince Adam.
- During their sojourn in the Land of Never, Baelfire enters a relationship with another teen named Killian.
- Scheherazade, the heroine of the One Thousand and One Nights, becomes involved with a female djinn named Marjanah.
Adaptational Villainy:
- In season 6 flashbacks, the fairy Agatha, who was unnamed in the Beauty and the Beast film, is one of the villainous Servants (like Rumplestiltskin in modern times), kills Prince Adam's parents and curses him and his castle servants.
Adapted Out:
- The Black Fairy, Jekyll and Hyde, the Frozen storyline, the Queens of Darkness, Nimue and Hades are all absent here.
- Since the fic was finished in mid-2017, characters and plots from season 7 of the original show do not appear here.
- Emma's role as the Saviour is exclusive to her, not a Legacy of the Chosen like in the original. She's also the Saviour by virtue of being born of royal blood, instead of being the "product of True Love", as it was described in the original series.
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice, who guarded the Sorcerer's Hat in the original series, is absent here, and so is the Author.
Age Lift:
- Emma Swan is thirty years old, not twenty-eight as in the original series.
- Rumplestiltskin is not so old as in the original series, wherein he has lived at least some 300 years before the few years leading to the cast of the (first) Dark Curse.
- By virtue of keeping The Beast/Prince Adam as a separate character from Rumplestiltskin and changing the reason for his transformation, the Beast becomes centuries old in the story.
All for Nothing: Rumplestiltskin creates the Dark Curse to be reunited with his son, Baelfire. They find each other in season 4 to season 5, but events with Morgan lead to Baelfire's death, then in season 6 Rumple/Mr. Gold tries to get his happy ending and is stabbed with his own dagger. In season 7, he allies with Chernabog and the other Servants, being promised to have his son back. Chernabog revives Baelfire as a mere ghostly thrall under his power. When Chernabog is defeated, Baelfire's spirit passes on, leaving Rumplestiltskin alone once again.
Ancestral Name: Emma's and Regina's son, Henry, was named thus for Regina's dead father, Prince Henry. In the fic, Henry's named after his father, Ryan Henry Booth.
Ascended Extra:
- The Blue Fairy becomes a more active force of good in Storybrooke, and even acts as the town's de facto leader and elected mayor in seasons 4 and 5.
- Archie/Jiminy Cricket gains an arc, a flashback during Pinocchio's arc in season 3, and a happy ending with Matthew Llewelyn/Peter Pan.
- Cinderella gets a larger role in season 3, during flashbacks (as her storyline crosses over with the Regina vs. Snow White war) and in modern Storybrooke.
- From season 4 onwards, Dorothy Gale becomes a main character and her relationship with Ruby is developed across many episodes.
- In season 4, Blackbeard features in the "Land of Never" flashbacks in the backstories of Peter Pan and Baelfire.
- Mulan, a recurring guest character in the original series, gains A Day in the Limelight "episode" in season 5 and some personal development.
- In season 7, the Sheriff of Nottingham gains a more dignified treatment, instead of being a Butt-Monkey like he was in the original series.
- In season 7, Chernabog becomes the final boss, instead of being a bit part like he was in the original series.
Awesome Moment of Crowning: In the final episode, Snow White crowns her daughter Emma and her son-in-law Ryan Booth as the High Queen and High King of the Land of Ever.
Big Bad: Rumplestiltskin is the only one to create the Dark Curse.
Big Bad Ensemble: The main conflict is between Regina/The Evil Queen and Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin, but each "season" adds another fairy tale/fantasy villain to the mix, like Almira, the Wicked Witch of the West in season 4, Morgan in season 5 and Jaffar in season 6, and Chernabog as the Final Boss in season 7.
Big Good: The Blue Fairy is one of the characters the fairy tale heroes seek counsel with and from whom they ask for help.
The Bus Came Back:
- Henry's father, Ryan Booth returns in the final season.
- Jaffar/Sydney Glass returns to the forefront in season 6.
Composite Character:
- Regina is also the Miller's Daughter, not Cora, but Cora appears as a minor character here and the victim Regina sacrifices to cast the Dark Curse.
- In a season 3 flashback, Robin Hood and her band of Merry Men are versions of the bandits from the film Ever After, in a sequence that pays homage to a scene in that movie.
- In a Season 5 flashback, Prince Phillip takes on the role of Mulan's army superior, instead of Shang.
- Jaffar is Sydney Glass here, both a genie and the magic mirror, while they were separate characters in the original series.
- In a season 6 flashback, the giants from Jack and the Beanstalk are the ogres from the ogre war, instead of different creatures like in the original series.
- In the penultimate episode, Maleficent's backstory is revealed: she was Morraine, a half-fairy girl that could shapeshift into a dragon. Both characters were unrelated and unconnected in the original series.
Compressed Adaptation:
- Overall, the story keeps the Dark Curse for the first six seasons, breaking element by element until season 7, and has Henry Mills still as a young boy for all seven seasons, which means the story happens in weeks or months at the most, instead of years like in the original series.
- Similarly, instead of the repeated uses of the "townline plot point" causing some random effect according to the season, it is used only once in season 4.
Crossover Couple:
- In season 1 flashbacks, Regina marries King Phillip, who is Snow White's father and princess Aurora's husband.
- Dr. Matthew Llewelyn (adult Peter Pan's cursed self) is in a ruining marriage with Sylvia Wren/Tinkerbell while under the Dark Curse.
- At the end of the Camelot arc in season 5, Mulan finds her happy ending with a female Percival, King Arthur's knight.
- Starting with season 4, Red Riding Hood/Ruby starts dating Cynthia Fogg/Dorothy Gale.
- Archie/Jiminy Cricket gains a happy ending with Dr. Matthew Llewelyn/Peter Pan.
- In season 7, Regina, the Evil Queen, begins a romance with the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Crossover Relatives:
- Emma Swan is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming/Jack.
- Snow White is the daughter of Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora.
- As revealed in a season 6 flashback, Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, has a twin brother called James.
- A young Rumplestiltskin is the son of the deceiving tailor couple from The Emperor's New Clothes.
- Cinderella's prince and future husband, William, is cousin to Snow White, thus making the princesses related through marriage.
- The Blue Fairy (or rather, Celestina) is Chernabog's sister, and both are children of fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania.
Death by Adaptation: Some characters who are alive or were revived in the original series bite the bullet here:
- At the end of the season 1 flashbacks, King Midas and King George die, in order to give their storylines a resolution.
- In a season 4 flashback during the Land of Never arc, mermaid Ariel jumps in the water and cannot turn back to mermaid form, drowning instead.
- At the end of season 4, the Wicked Witch of the West is defeated.
- In season 6, instead of dying and reviving, Prince Charming/David/Jack dies by the hand of Mr. Gold.
- In the finale, Maleficent is killed by Emma Swan during the final battle.
Decomposite Character:
- Cora, Regina's mother, is not the Queen of Hearts, who is a separate character in the Land of Wonder.
- Baelfire, Henry's father, and Pinocchio are reinterpreted here: Pinocchio, being a puppet boy given life by magical means, turns into a wooden puppet in the Land Without Magic; Baelfire is still Rumplestiltskin's son, but he is not Henry's father; another character named Ryan is introduced as a "real world" citizen and Henry's father.
- Rumplestilskin is not the Beast here; instead, the Beast/Prince Adam is a his own character.
- In season 7, Regina's "second chance at love" is not Robin Hood (who is female in this version), but the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Demoted to Extra:
- Regina's mother, Cora, is not the Miller's daughter, nor the Queen of Hearts here, so she does not become an Arc Villain.
- Ariel appears in a single episode as part of the flashbacks about the Land of Never, but dies in the same episode.
Dies Differently in the Adaptation:
- Prince Charming/David is killed by Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold in season 6. In the original, Snow White sacrifices her husband's heart, whom she loves most, to cast a second Dark Curse in season 3 of the original show, but Regina manages to revive David by using Snow's own heart.
- Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold jumps from the highest tower of Castle Misthaven to his death. In the original show, Rumple sacrifices himself to defeat an alternate counterpart, but this only happens in season 7, which did not air at the time of the fic's publication.
Disney Villain Death: In season 7, Rumplestiltskin jumps from the highest tower of Snow White's castle.
Driven to Suicide: In season 7, as a resolution to his storyline, Rumplestiltskin loses his son yet again and, defeated, decides to jump from the highest tower of the castle to his death.
Doing In the Wizard: In Milah's flashback episode, she works as a shoemaker's assistant, fixing his work during the night and telling her employer "elves" did it during the night. Doubles as a Shout-Out.
Dramatic Irony: As flashbacks in season 7 reveal, Regina cast the Dark Curse to wreck Snow White and the other heroes' happy endings, and she becomes trapped by her own curse while in Storybrooke, since daily events keep repeating and she cannot leave town.
Evil Is Petty: In season 7 flashbacks, Regina, as the mayor of the newly created town of Storybrooke, exherts her political power by screwing the citizens as a way to "pass the time" while under the curse: cuts funding to Archie's clinic, sleeps with Dr. Matthew Llewelyn, and closes down Storybrooke Library.
Evil Mentor: Regina is tutored in magic by Rumplestiltskin and Maleficent, although the former only does for his own purposes.
Face–Heel Turn: Just like the original series, Regina goes from trying to kill Snow White and making Storybrooke the fairy tale characters' personal hell, to an ally in breaking the Dark Curse and helping the heroes to restore the realms.
Fairy Tale Free-for-All: True to the original series it is based on, several fairy tales are woven together in a single, continuous storyline where they influence each other.
Fantasy Contraception: In the flashbacks in season 2, episode 10, Maleficent helps Regina "attain infertility". In the flashback portion of season 7, episode 3, it's said that she drank a potion in the Land of Ever, and subjects herself to a pregnancy test by Dr. Matthew Llewellyn after Storybrooke is created in the Land Without Magic.
Fish out of Temporal Water: In flashbacks in season 4, a young Alice and Baelfire make their way to the Land Without Magic... in the 1980s, when Alice comes from late Victorian age and Baelfire from the Land of Never. They take time to adjust to modern life.
Gender Flip:
- Robin Hood is made female in the story, along with the "Merry Men".
- Midas's daughter's lover is the female knight Goldilocks.
- For season 5, Percival, who is a male knight in the Arthurian mythos, is female here.
- Belle and Maurice become Beau and Maura in this version of events.
Greater-Scope Villain: Chernabog: he's the one behind the Servant's dark powers, and the secret power behind the Dark Curse.
I Have Your Wife:
- In the flashbacks in season 1, Regina captures Maid Marian, female Robin Hood's lover, and threatens to kill her, for hiding information about Snow White.
- In another sequence, the villains have captured a husband. In the present sequence of season 6, Jaffar and Mr. Gold kidnap Robbie and force his husband Gabriel Barbot-Beaumont to search for the author of the "Once Upon a Time" book and report to them.
Interspecies Romance: In season 6, Scheherazade becomes involved with a female djinn named Marjanah.
Kid Hero: A season 6 flashback shows that David/Charming, or rather, Jack, was but a thirteen-year-old kid when they were drafted to fight in the ogre wars.
Kill It with Water: True to the original work, Almira/The Wicked Witch of the West is defeated by being dunked in water.
Life/Death Juxtaposition: The final episode is all about this: Chernabog summons an army of the dead to defeat the fairy tale heroes and rule the Land of Ever, as Snow White/Mary Margaret is in labour and ready to give birth to her second child; Rumplestiltskin jumps from a high tower to join his son in the afterlife.
Legion of Doom: In season 7, Chernabog rallies the former Servants (his hosts), Rumplestiltskin, and Maleficent against Castle Misthaven, the Blue Fairy and the Land of Ever.
Little Red Howling Wolf: In season 1, episode 4, "Red Handed", a string of wolf killings happens in the nearby village just as exiled princess Snow White takes shelter with Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. Soon, with Snow's erroneous intervention, who wears Red's red cloak to trick the old woman, Red turns into a werewolf and kills her boyfriend Ezekiel.
Magic Mirror:
- In season 1, Jaffar acts as Regina's magic mirror, revealing whatever she asks of him. He also tells Regina her stepdaughter Snow will become more beautiful and surpass her.
- In a season 6 flashback, djinn Marjanah gives Scheherazade a mirror that can see the whole world. Scheherazade uses the mirror to record other characters' stories in the "Once Upon a Time" book.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: In a flashback to the past in season 2, Maleficent mentors Regina in dark magic, and the monarch turns the tables on the fairy by placing her under the Sleeping Curse.
Named In The Adaptation: In the original series, the setting of the fairytale world was collectively known as "Enchanted Forest", comprised of unnamed kingdoms. The fic gives names to the many kingdoms of the Land of Ever:
- Snow White's kingdom is called Misthaven, a name given in the original series to the Enchanted Forest as a whole.
- King George and Prince James live in the kingdom of Thornhold.
- Midas's kingdom is called Goldpoint.
- Prince William and Cinderella's kingdom is called Dewbury, where Prince Phillip also lived.
- Prince Adam/The Beast's kingdom is called Farrador.
- Regina does her trick of turning straw into gold and marries the king of Edgeshore.
Our Mermaids Are Different: In a past flashback in season 4, Ariel meets Baelfire in the Land of Never, and can assume a feral shape.
Plot Parallel: For the past flashbacks, season 7 balances Regina's time in Storybrooke before she adopted Henry up until the start of the series, and Emma's childhood and womanhood, until she decides to be a bailbondsperson.
Portal Book: In season 7, the Blue Fairy enchants the "Once Upon a Time" book to help Henry in his quest for a happy ending for Regina. This allows Henry to travel to the other kingdoms of the Land of Ever in moments.
The Prophecy:
- In a flashback in season 2, episode 3, Rumplestilskin gives water to a seer and is given a prophecy about leaving his son fatherless.
- In a season 2 flashback, after creating the Dark Curse himself, Rumplestiltskin predicts that it will only be broken by a child born of royal blood, and sets his sights on a young woman named Regina to provide him with such a child.
- In season 5, a time-travelling Emma and Snow see a young Regina consult with a seer who prophecizes she will become queen, but another monarch, younger and more beautiful, will overthrow her.
Put on a Bus:
- At the end of season 3, Regina locks Jaffar/Sydney Glass in Storybrooke Hospital's psychic ward.
- Also at the end of season 3, due to Regina and Gold's spell circling the town of Storybrooke, Ryan Booth has to leave town.
Race Lift:
- Midas and his daughter are "played" by Black actors.
- The seer, interpreted by a white actor in the original, is "played" by Liya Kebede.
- The Mad Hatter is "played" by Anthony Mackie.
- Cinderella is reinterpreted here as "played" by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
- Santiago Cabrera "plays" Killian Jones here.
- Dorothy Gale is a Black girl/woman here.
- Unlike Zelena from the original, who was played by Rebecca Mader, The Wicked Witch of the West is played here by Angela Basset.
- Glinda is played here by Gong Li.
- Lancelot du Lac is a Black knight.
- Merlin is "played" by Morgan Freeman.
- Prince Adam/the Beast is "played" by Oscar Isaac.
- The Sheriff of Nottingham is "played" by Idris Elba.
Really 700 Years Old: Some of the magic users of the fanfic, if not immortal, are at least very long-lived:
- The Blue Fairy is Celestina, born some 2,000 years ago to fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania.
- Rumplestilskin is at least one hundred years old before the time of the casting of the Dark Curse.
- Season 5, episode 10, shows that Merlin was the first realm-jumper, and that he is still alive in Storybrooke as park ranger Ambrose Geoffrey.
- Maleficent is also long-lived, per her backstory in season 7, episode 9.
Related in the Adaptation: Many examples:
- Emma Swan is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, just like the original series.
- Snow White is the daughter of Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora.
- Prince Charming's name under the Dark Curse is David, but his real name is Jack, as in Jack and the Beanstalk.
- A young Rumplestiltskin is the son of the deceiving tailor couple from The Emperor's New Clothes.
- Cinderella's prince and future husband is cousin to Snow White.
- Lancelot du Lac is prince Phillip's childhood friend.
- Jaffar and Scheherazade are brother and sister, and they were raised inside the den of the Forty Thieves.
- Scheherazade is convinced by her brother Jaffar to marry the Sultan of Agrabah, thus becoming princess Jasmine's stepmother.
- Milah, Rumplestiltskin's wife, is still related to Henry and Snow's family, by virtue of being an ancestor of Ryan, thus Henry's greatgrandparent.
- The Blue Fairy (or rather, Celestina) is Chernabog's sister, and both are children of fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania.
- In a season 2 flashback, Rumplestiltskin's son, Baelfire is forcibly drafted to the Ogre Wars along with his friend Morraine. In a season 7 flashback, it's revealed that Morraine is a young Maleficent.
The Reveal:
- There are always three realm jumpers, one from the Land of Never, one from the Land of Wonder and one from the Land of Oz.
- In season 6, Scheherazade is alive and wrote the "Once Upon a Time" book. Also, Chernabog is the true essence behind the Servant's powers.
- In season 7, it's revealed that Henry's father, Ryan Henry Booth, is a direct descendant of Milah, Rumplestilskin's former wife in the Land of Ever.
Rule of Three:
- In season one, Regina finds Jaffar's lamp and is given three wishes. She wishes to be married to King Phillip, High King of the Land of Ever; then for Snow's caretaker Johanna to become mad, and finally, to trap Jaffar in the mirror to act as her minion.
- There are always three realm jumpers, one from the Land of Never, one from the Land of Wonder and one from the Land of Oz.
- Jaffar and Scheherazade are searching for the three lamps of the genies. There are only two genies, Zayn Al-Asnam and Marjanah. As an ironic twist, Jaffar wishes for genie powers, and becomes the third genie.
- In Jack's flashback, Regina, as the High Queen of the Land of Ever, King Midas and King George join forces and reinstate the draft to allow for lower-aged soldiers to fight in a new wave of the ogre wars.
Sequel Hook: In season 7, while he is searching for a happy ending for Regina, Henry learns of a second book written by Scheherazade, "Happily Ever After", chronicling other fairy tales not present in the series.
Shout-Out:
- In season 1, knight Goldilocks, Abigail's true love, hails from Dun Broch.
- In season 3, the first meeting between Cinderella and her future husband, prince William, is a homage to the film Ever After.
- In season 5, Snow and Emma are trapped in the past and pretend to be other royals to ward off suspicions: Emma says she is "Princess Leia", while Snow says she is "Queen Merida of Dunbroch".
- Beau and Prince Adam's cursed selves are Gabriel and Robbie Barbot-Beaumont, after the two female writers of the first versions of Beauty and the Beast in the 18th century.
- Dr. Matthew Llewelyn/(adult) Peter Pan goes on dates with Cynthia Fogg/Dorothy Gale's three friends, as in "Friends of Dorothy".
- Knight Percival (who is female here)'s cursed self's name is Mallory Thomas, after Thomas Mallory, the author of Le Mort d'Arthur.
- In Milah's flashback, she says "elves" helped her employer, the shoemaker, during the night. It is a nod to The Elves And The Shoemaker.
Small Role, Big Impact: Dominic/Gaston, the bartender, is introduced earlier in the fic as another part of the cast of cursed characters. In a season 6 flashback, it is revealed he was the one to seek Regina and remind her of a way to destroy Beau and the Beast's happy ending, which gives Regina the idea to use Rumplestiltskin's Dark Curse on the Land of Ever.
Someone to Remember Him By: After David/Charming dies, in season 7 Snow/Mary Margaret discovers she is pregnant with a second child, a son. The baby is born in the last episode and given the name David II.
Spared by the Adaptation: Milah, Rumplestiltskin's wife, fares a bit better here: instead of dying in the Enchanted Forest and later in the Underworld arc, this version of Milah flees with a pair of silver slippers, becomes a "realm jumper" and travels to mid-1860s America.
Story Arc: Due to a shorter "season" format, the plot is much more focused and divided into two clear directions every "season". To wit:
- Season 1: Snow White's exile and fugitive status and her war against Regina, leading to the famous true love's kiss.
- Season 2: the rise of Rumpelstiltskin, an encounter with Bluebeard, his adventures in the Land of Wonder, and his choosing Regina as his apprentice
- Season 3: Cinderella, Pinocchio and Regina's defeat in the fairytale world
- Season 4: The Wizard of Oz and the Land of Never
- Season 5: Camelot and Sleeping Beauty
- Season 6: Arabian Nights (mainly Aladdin, The Three Apples, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Sindbad, as well as its Framing Device) and Beauty and the Beast
- Season 7: the return to the Land of Ever in the present sequences and the years after the creation of Storybrooke in the past sequences.
Take Over the World: In season 7, Chernabog wants to rule over the Land of Ever as its High King.
Theme Twin Naming: Instead of Emma Swan's father and uncle (who are twins) being called, respectively, David and James (David also being Charming's cursed self's name), her father is called Jack and her uncle James.
Time-Shifted Actor: Since the authors used a fictional cast to interpret the characters, some real life actors were chosen to play both young and adult versions of the same character:
- Being part of the main cast, Regina is played by Salma Hayek. In season 2, in flashbacks, a young Regina is played by Selena Gomez.
- Being part of the main cast, Rumplestiltskin is played by Robert Carlyle. In season 2, in flashbacks to his childhood, he is played by Wyatt Olef.
- In season 6, Jaffar is played by Suraj Sharma (young) and Naveen Andrews (adult).
- In the season 7 flashbacks to Emma's teenage years, a young Lily Castillo is played by Nicole Muñoz, while her present self is played by Michelle Rodriguez.
- A young Morraine is played by Conner Dwelly. An adult Morraine/Maleficent is played by Angelina Jolie.
Time Travel: Season 5's past flashbacks deal with Snow White/Mary Margaret and Emma Swan's visit to the past of the Land of Ever, when they meet Mulan, Phillip and Aurora, and visit Camelot.
Trapped in TV Land: In the present sections of season 7, after the Dark Curse is broken and Storybrooke is restored into the Land of Ever, Emma Swan, who has lived all her life in the Land Without Magic, has to adjust herself to live in a realm of magic. Her son, Henry, on the other hand, is ecstatic with the idea of living in the enchanted realm.
Villain Episode:
- In Rumplestiltskin's case, a whole Villain Season: flashbacks in Season 2 focus on how Rumple lost Baelfire, his origins, and how he even met Regina.
- Season 7, episode 2 reveals the backstory of Chernabog, Celestina/The Blue Fairy's twin brother, son of fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania, and the first Servant.
- Season 7, episode 9 reveals Maleficent's backstory as Morraine, from her origins as half-fairy girl up until the point where she decides to curse King Stefan's infant girl.
Warrior Prince:
- In a season 5 flashback, Prince Phillip is Mulan's army commander, and leads the army against Dewbury's enemies.
What Happened to the Mouse?:
- In the flashbacks in season 2 (in Rumplestiltskin's past) and season 5 (in the Camelot arc), the Seer appears to foretell, respectively, Rumple's and Regina's fates, then vanishes from the story.
- In the flashbacks to the Beast's past, Agatha is one of the Servants, curses the prince and, as the fic states, is never seen again. Considering that Rumplestiltskin is the most recent Servant, after Zoso, it's likely that the fairy died.
- In the flashbacks to Celestina and Chernabog's pasts, a fairy named Mab kills Chernabog and becomes the first Servant. Considering that, down the line, Agatha and, much later, Zoso and Rumplestiltskin become Servants, and that the powers pass along to the previous one's killer, it's likely that the fairy died.
Your Mind Makes It Real: In season 5, in the past of the Land of Ever, princess Aurora suffers the consequences of falling under Maleficent's Sleeping Curse, and shows some burns on her arms after she wakes up. Phillip goes to Maleficent, imprisoned in the castle's cells, for an answer on how to cure them.
Your Universe or Mine?:
- In the Land of Ever's past, Milah, Rumplestiltskin's former wife, abandons his husband and son and goes to work as a shoemaker's assistant, steals a pair of silver slippers imbued with magic and goes to the Land Without Magic, somewhen in the 1860s. She meets a human surnamed Booth, and decides to live with him on the Land Without Magic.
- In season 7, Henry's father, Ryan Henry Booth, who has spent his whole life in the Land Without Magic, decides to join Emma Swan and they both realm-jump to the restored Land of Ever.