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For the Magic Mirror's Storybrooke counterpart, see Sidney Glass. |
The Magic Mirror, formerly known as the Genie of Agrabah, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the second episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Giancarlo Esposito, and is the Agrabah counterpart of Sidney Glass.
The Magic Mirror is based on the character of the same name from the fairytale, "Snow White", and the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He is also based on the Genie from One Thousand and One Nights, and the Disney film Aladdin.
History
As the Genie of Agrabah, a powerful magical being who is imprisoned within the confines of a magic lamp, he grants wishes to all who happen to come across it in their travels. One day, while taking a stroll through his kingdom, King Leopold comes across the lamp by the side of a river. After curiously rubbing the lamp, the Genie appears to the King, granting him three wishes; with the warning that once a wish is fulfilled it cannot be undone. King Leopold, wanting for nothing, listens to the Genie's unhappiness over forever granting wishes. Since he longs for freedom, King Leopold happily uses his first wish to free him. Then, King Leopold uses the second wish to let the Genie have the third wish. Invited to the royal palace, the Genie meets King Leopold's daughter, Snow White, and his wife, Regina, whom he falls in love with. During King Leopold's birthday celebration, the Genie notices Regina reacts unhappily when her husband dubs his daughter the "fairest of them all". He follows Regina out to the apple tree garden; gifting her a mirror and dubbing her the fairest in the land. Later, King Leopold, enraged to discover from Regina's diary that she is having an affair, asks the Genie to find the man who gave her the mirror. Regina's father, Henry, arrives to hand over a box to the Genie to take to his daughter. Upon opening it, Regina prepares to let the vipers hiding inside poison her to death. Believing she reciprocates his love, the Genie murders King Leopold with a viper and admits on the man's death bed that he was the one who gifted Regina the mirror. Only after the deed is done, he realizes Regina has only been using him to get rid of her husband. With his heart broken, the genie frantically uses the last wish so to be with her forever and to look upon her face always. Much to his dismay, he becomes trapped in the form of a Magic Mirror in the World Behind the Mirror, and ironically, able to look upon her forever. ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree," "I'll Be Your Mirror")
After King Leopold dies, the Magic Mirror suggests Regina use a Huntsman to kill Snow White; knowing that the princess is too well-liked by everyone to be killed outright by the Queen. In the end, the Huntsman is unable to go through with the Queen's request, and spares Snow White's life in mercy. Discovering his deception, the Queen makes him her slave forever. ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter")
At some point during his time as the Magic Mirror, he begins working on a portal in the World Behind the Mirror, in the hopes of escaping this realm. ("I'll Be Your Mirror")
The Evil Queen, successful in her mission to destroy Snow White, puts the princess under a Sleeping Curse and keeps Prince Charming as her prisoner. However, the Huntsman secretly aids Prince Charming in escaping. To the Queen, he lies and says the man managed to break out on his own. Livid, the Queen is ready to sentence out the Huntsman's punishment for his incompetency, but the Magic Mirror is able to show her Prince Charming's exact location. She buys time by entrapping Prince Charming into the Infinite Forest, but she remains unaware Rumplestiltskin strikes a deal to help him find Snow White. ("An Apple Red as Blood," "A Land Without Magic")
Eventually, Prince Charming leaves the Infinite Forest to awaken Snow White with true love's kiss, which the Magic Mirror sees while spying on them. While being carried to the Queen by a knight, he warns not to be dropped or else a curse of fourteen years will be unleashed. Hastening towards the Queen's apple tree garden, the Magic Mirror shows her a curseless Snow White being proposed to by Prince Charming. Enraged, the Queen immediately makes plans to confront the two. ("Lost Girl")
During the Queen's war against Snow White, Regina's father Henry becomes desperate to stop her quest for vengeance, believing she is going down a path of no return. Hoping Cora can change Regina's mind, he asks the Magic Mirror to summon her. The Magic Mirror immediately refuses, knowing that doing such a thing will incur Regina's wrath, but Henry insists that if he cares for Regina at all, he'll do it. The Mirror relents and then projects Cora's image from Wonderland into the glass reflection so Henry can talk to her. However, Henry fails to realize that by summoning Cora, he's given her the ability to return to the Enchanted Forest. Not wanting to see her mother ever again, Regina casts a non-reversable spell on the looking glass to seal the portal forever and allows the Magic Mirror to pull Cora back to Wonderland. Before Cora disappears into the looking glass, she spitefully steals a box Regina is holding, that contains a shrunken Henry. After Regina loses her father, the Magic Mirror tries to console her, commenting that she still has him. ("Souls of the Departed")
To save her father, the Queen seeks out the help of a former portal jumper, Jefferson, to take her to another land. He refuses, but to sway his decision, the Queen disguises herself as an old hag selling items at a market vendor. Jefferson's daughter, Grace, eyes a stuffed rabbit, but her father does not have enough money to pay for it. The hag does not accept anything less than the asking price, and the two leave the market empty-handed. Once they are gone, the Magic Mirror, hanging on flip side of the vendor, teases the masqueraded Queen for being cruel to the young girl. ("Hat Trick")
When Snow White's wish to give her unborn daughter Emma a happy ending is granted in the form of a singing spell, Regina confronts the Magic Mirror about why she is suddenly talking in a sing-songy tone. The mirror, responding in his own sing-songy way, tells her about the wish that Snow made. He warns that the spell is powerful and may prevent her Dark Curse from prevailing since it's causing people to sing sweet songs. As a nearby mirror begins showing Regina this, the Magic Mirror fades out from his own mirror. ("The Song in Your Heart")
Wishing to learn more about how to enact the Dark Curse, the Queen goes to speak with Rumplestiltskin. Upon returning to the palace, the Magic Mirror tries to engage her in conversation about it, but goes ignored. As it is, the Evil Queen learns from Rumplestiltskin she must sacrifice the heart of the thing most beloved to her, which is her father. Going through with it, the Dark Curse is cast, and later engulfs everyone, including the Magic Mirror, into another land. ("Pilot," "The Thing You Love Most")For events occurring after the casting of the first curse, see Sidney Glass.
Magical Abilities
- Mirror Enchantments - Ability to see through mirrors and travel through them.
Former Magical Abilities
- Genie Magic - Ability to grant three wishes to the owner of the Genie Lamp they are tethered to.
- Teleportation - Ability to magically teleport oneself and/or others from one location to another.
- World-crossing - Ability to travel between worlds at will.
Trivia
On-screen Notes
- The Genie of Agrabah is featured in the title card for "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".[1]
- By using him, the Evil Queen is able to see through uncovered mirrors. ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," "Skin Deep")
- By the time the genie meets King Leopold, he has served as genie of the lamp for longer than Leopold been alive. ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
Popular Culture
- When first meeting King Leopold, the genie states that he has granted "One thousand and one wishes..." This is a reference to the popular Middle Eastern folk-tales One Thousand and One Nights, which itself contains the story "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp". ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
Props Notes
- The mirror that the genie keeps with him inside his lamp,[2] which he later gets trapped inside when he makes his final wish,[3] is the same mirror that the Evil Queen uses to trap Emma and Regina in "I'll Be Your Mirror".[4] ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
- The lamp that he once lived in is currently in the possession of Mr. Gold in his pawnshop.[5] ("Heart of Darkness," "Welcome to Storybrooke," "Lacey")
- Another genie lamp, with a different design, is also in the pawnshop.[6] ("That Still Small Voice" et al.)
- One of Cyrus' brothers' genie lamps[7] is the same prop as the magic mirror's lamp,[8] but with differently colored jewels. ("Dirty Little Secrets" et al.)
- The same prop is re-used for the genie lamp that Aladdin steals from Mr. Gold's pawnshop. This lamp also has differently colored jewels.[9] ("I'll Be Your Mirror" et al.)
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 | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
| "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 | Appears | 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 | Appears | 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 | Absent | 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": |
| Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | 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 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
| "The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
| "Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
| Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
| "The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
| Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
| "Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
| Archive | Absent | Absent | Absent | Archive | ||||||
| "Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |||||||
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
