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Elsa: What do we even know about this Misthaven? How have I never heard of it?
Kristoff: You might know it better by what the inhabitants call it.
Elsa: What's that?
Kristoff: The Enchanted Forest.

Elsa and Kristoff src

The Enchanted Forest, also known as Misthaven, is a Fairy Tale Land realm featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It first appears in the first episode of the first season of Once Upon a Time.

History

This history section is only about the Enchanted Forest and the kingdoms in it. If you wish to know more information, see Timeline/Enchanted Forest.


Before First Curse

Hundreds of years after gaining magic and immortality from the Holy Grail, the sorcerer Merlin decides to remove these powers from himself by using the Flame of Prometheus to mold the Grail into the sword Excalibur. Instead, this unintentionally creates the very first Dark One, Nimue, after she drinks from the Grail to gain immortality and darkens her own heart by Vortigan. Merlin then creates a dagger from the swordtip of Excalibur as a way to control her and protect the realm from her. With his Apprentice, the sorcerer also goes on to choose an Author, whose sole responsibility is to witness and record real-life stories in a magical storybook. ("Nimue," "Best Laid Plans")

The Dark One's powers passes down to various other people throughout the years, with the transfer of power occurring when a person kills the Dark One with the dagger and becomes the new Dark One. ("Desperate Souls", "Nimue")

An Ogre War lasting fourteen years plagues the realm, with at least one unnamed kingdom resorting to recruitment of children over the age of thirteen to become soldiers in the war. It is during this that a wool spinner, Rumplestiltskin, kills the current Dark One, Zoso, and becomes the next Dark One. Rumplestiltskin later uses his newly gained power to stop the Ogre War. A second Ogre War occurs as well, but not much is known about this, except that Widow Lucas' six brothers were veterans of this war. ("Desperate Souls", "The Return", "Red-Handed")

In King Xavier's kingdom, his son Prince Henry marries a miller's daughter, Cora, once she proves her worth by spinning straw into gold, which helps replenish their kingdom's coffers. Cora has a daughter, Regina, with her husband, whom she vows will be queen one day. She enacts this plans years later, when Regina is of marriageable age, by poisoning Queen Eva, King Leopold's wife, leaving him a widow. Cora then instigates a situation to have Regina impress Leopold and win his favor with a marriage proposal. Regina unhappily marries Leopold and becomes stepmother to his daughter Snow White. Years later, after Snow has blossomed into a young woman, Regina manipulates the Genie of Agrabah into killing Leopold. Regina attempts to have her stepdaughter killed as well, but she escapes unharmed. Snow becomes a wanted fugitive throughout the kingdom when Regina claims she is responsible for Leopold's death. Regina offers up rewards to villagers if they forfeit Snow's location, but they refuse, with many of them being executed for their defiance. ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree", "The Stable Boy", "The Queen Is Dead", "The Miller's Daughter", "The Evil Queen", "Lost Girl")

On Sir Maurice's lands, he gain soldiers from Lord LeGume for combating the ogre skirmishes, by having his daughter Belle accept a marriage proposal from LeGume's son Gaston. However, even this is alliance is not enough to stop the ogres from breaching Maurice's castle, resulting in the death of his wife Colette. Maurice's desperation to protect his people from the ogres leads him to call upon Rumplestiltskin for help. In exchange for keeping the ogres away, Belle agrees to become Rumplestiltskin's eternal servant. ("Skin Deep," "Family Business," "Her Handsome Hero")

A shepherd, David, unexpectedly becomes a prince when he masquerades as his deceased twin brother James, the adoptive son of King George. He is later made to continue playing this role by becoming betrothed to King Midas' daughter Abigail. ("The Shepherd")

In another kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, Cinderella makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to go to a ball, where she wins the heart of Prince Thomas and ends up marrying him. ("The Price of Gold")

After being uncursed, Snow attempts to rally people to fight alongside with her to take back the kingdom from the Queen. Regina wants Snow to give up her claim to the throne, however, the princess instead declares war against her stepmother. Regina joins forces with King George's army, but when his soldiers are defeated, Snow receives aid from the Blue Fairy to capture Regina. The war council votes to have Regina publicly executed for her crimes, but Snow calls it off at the last moment and decides to give another chance to the former Queen. When Regina still proves herself to be vengeful, Snow banishes her from the kingdom, vowing to kill her if she ever harms another person again. ("Lost Girl", "The Cricket Game")

On the day of Snow and Prince Charming's wedding, the Queen announces her intentions of getting revenge by taking away everyone's happiness. The couple receive information from Rumplestiltskin about the Queen's curse, and that the only person who can stop her is their unborn child, who will break the curse in twenty-eight years. The day the curse is cast, Snow goes into labor early and gives birth to a baby girl, Emma, whom Charming sends into the magic wardrobe to ensure she will find them again in twenty-eight years. The curse then engulfs the Enchanted Forest, except for a portion of land that Cora protected with her magic, which whisks the inhabitants to another realm. ("Pilot")

During First Curse
The inhabitants unaffected by the Evil Queen's Dark Curse due to Cora's protection are frozen, unable to age, and build a Safe Haven to protect themselves from the ogres dominating the land. ("Broken," "Lady of the Lake")

After First Curse
Twenty-eight years later, time moves forward once more in all the lands with magic, including the Enchanted Forest when the savior decides to stay in Storybrooke. ("Broken")

Before Second Curse
Sometime before Snow White and her allies return to the Enchanted Forest, Aurora and Prince Phillip repair their kingdom and defeat the roaming ogres. They face a new threat, the Wicked Witch, and in time, Snow and Charming learn from Glinda that only Emma is strong enough to defeat her. Snow decides to recast the Dark Curse by sacrificing Charming's heart, but before the curse spreads, the Wicked Witch adds a potion to make everyone forget about their time in the Enchanted Forest. In fear that Charming's death was all for nothing, Snow allows Regina to split her heart so she and her husband can share halves of the same heart. This works, with Charming being revived, just before the curse engulfs them as well as the other Enchanted Forest inhabitants, sending them back to Storybrooke. ("New York City Serenade," "Witch Hunt," "A Curious Thing")

Before Third Curse

After taking the Darkness into herself, Emma becomes the new Dark One and emerges from the vault. As the dark side beckons, she tries to find her way to Camelot, and meets a young woman named Merida. Emma's friends and loved ones travel to the Enchanted Forest by cyclone, where they are reunited with Emma. King Arthur and his knights find them. He takes them to his kingdom, Camelot, to help find the sorcerer, Merlin, who went missing. ("The Dark Swan")

Arthur takes Emma's family captive and threatens to kill them unless she hands over the Dark One's Dagger. Emma is able to free them, but Hook receives a deadly wound. In a desperate bid to save the man she loves from dying, Emma fully embraces the role as the Dark One. She uses dark magic to tether Hook to Excalibur, and Hook emerges from the Vault as the second dark one. ("Birth," "Broken Heart")

As Hook emerges from the Vault, he is greeted by a manifestation of the Darkness, which offers him help to seek revenge on Rumplestiltskin. Emma tries to convince him that together, they can keep the Darkness at bay, but when Hook asks where Excalibur is, she lies to him and says that she no longer has it. When Hook finds out about the deception, he no longer trusts her, and fully embraces the Darkness. Because Merlin is the person that Nimue loved the most, and Nimue still lives inside all Dark Ones, Hook enacts the Dark Curse by ripping out Merlin's heart and crushing it. Heartbroken and desperate to fix her mistakes, Emma uses a dreamcatcher to remove everyone's memories about what happened, including Hook's. The curse sends everyone back to the Land Without Magic. Merida and many of the Camelot residents are swept up in the curse as well. ("Broken Heart")

Locations

For detailed location information, please see the Enchanted Forest Locations category or the list of minor Enchanted Forest locations.

Kingdoms

The Enchanted Forest is divided into kingdoms, much as the Land Without Magic is currently divided into countries. Known kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest are:

Additionally, there are some other locations:

Notes:

  • Bolded Names are canon location names. Such names have been given in-show by characters themselves.
  • The name that appears first within a couple denotes who inherited the kingdom
  • "Formerly ruled by" denotes that the previous ruler was either overthrown or removed from power by force. "Previously ruled by" denotes that the current ruler inherited the kingdom.

Inhabitants

Notes:
^: Current inhabitants
*: This inhabitant's status and/or current whereabouts is unknown
†: Deceased inhabitants
No mark: Taken to Storybrooke via either the first or second Dark Curse
º: In Storybrooke via other means
F:Former inhabitants

Trivia

On-Screen Notes

GEOGRAPHY

Production Notes

Appearances

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

References

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