King Midas' Castle is an Enchanted Forest location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the twenty-first episode of the third season.
King Midas' castle is based on the location of the same name from Greek mythology.
History
Taking the place of his deceased twin brother, David impresses King Midas after slaying an invading dragon. As a reward, King Midas gives his daughter, Princess Abigail, to him in marriage. Coerced by King George into agreeing to the arrangement, David then sets off with Abigail in a carriage towards King Midas' castle. ("The Shepherd")
Landing in the past Enchanted Forest, Emma and Hook find themselves witnessing the bandit Snow White waiting to ambush the carriage Prince Charming and Abigail are riding in. This encounter, as Emma knows, is the first meeting her parents, Prince Charming and Snow White, will have before they fall in love with each other. Instead, she accidentally alters history by causing them to not meet. To put things back on track, Hook tempts Snow White into sneaking into King Midas' castle and stealing Prince Charming's ring in exchange for enough money to escape from the Evil Queen. Under the aliases Princess Leia and Prince Charles, Emma and Hook enter the castle, while Prince Charming and Abigail's engagement party is underway, to ensure Snow White succeeds. Nearby, Prince Charming asks Abigail to dance with him, but she refuses due to not wearing comfortable shoes. He offers to fetch them, to which she sarcastically calls him her hero before walking away. Displeased, he retreats and disappears from the party. Suddenly, the Evil Queen arrives looking for Snow White, who has just scaled the castle walls and found the ring in Prince Charming's belongings. Unluckily, Prince Charming walks in and attempts to stop her from escaping, but she hits him with a box. Abigail, in search of her future husband, sees the commotion and alerts the guards. Having dropped the ring, Snow White then flees on horseback as Emma prevents a guard from shooting an arrow at the bandit. Vowing revenge, Prince Charming shouts at Snow White that he will find her again. While rushing out of the castle with the ring, Emma is taken into the Evil Queen's custody for helping Snow White escape. ("Snow Drifts")
After Weaver sacrifices himself to destroy his dark alter ego from the Wish Realm, as well as the Darkness, Regina and her two sons, namely Henry and Sir Henry discuss what should be done next. At Regina's suggestion, they learn that she found the scroll of the Dark Curse, and instead of casting it by crushing the heart of the thing she loved most, she decided to alter the ingredient and instead have everyone give a share of their hearts to enact the curse, enabling all the realms of story to be united as one, in Storybrooke, hidden from the eyes of the world, where every fairy-tale character can be together and live in peace and prosperity. ("Leaving Storybrooke")
After the curse was enacted, all the realms were united in Storybrooke. And since the castle was in the Enchanted Forest, it was also taken by the curse to the United Realms. ("Leaving Storybrooke")Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- When Princess Abigail and Prince Charming arrive at King Midas' castle, there is a swan swimming in the lake.[2] This is a direct reference to Emma's last name. ("Snow Drifts")
Fairytales and Folklore
- The trophies in King Midas' castle include the dragon Prince Charming slayed, a chimera and a mapinguari. The latter is a legendary cryptid said to resemble an ape–like creature with red fur, living in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia. ("The Shepherd")
Costume Notes
- The purple coats worn by two of King Midas' servants[3] are worn by a bunch of other servants throughout the series: ("Snow Drifts")
- The King's servants in "The Price of Gold"[4]
- King Xavier's servants in "The Miller's Daughter"[5]
- The Red Queen's servants in the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episode "Trust Me"[6]
- The Red King's servants in the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episode "Heart of Stone"[7]
- Prince Thomas' servants in "The Other Shoe"[8]
- King David and Queen Snow's servants in "Wish You Were Here"[9]
- The King's servants in "Hyperion Heights"[10]
- Tiana's servants in "The Eighth Witch"[11]
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
"Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
"A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
"Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Archive | Archive | Archive | Archive |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
|
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.