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This article focuses on the first iteration of the mushrooms.
For the second iteration, see New Wonderland toadstools.

Evil Queen: A little snack.
Jefferson: Are you mad? Do you know what the food here does?

—The Evil Queen and Jefferson src

Magic Mushrooms are magical fungi featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. They first appear in the seventeenth episode of the first season of Once Upon a Time.

Magic mushrooms are based on the large mushroom from the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the mushroom from the animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland.

History

Before First Curse

During a journey in Wonderland, the female warrior Jack saves villagers from a beastly Jabberwock. In gratitude, a "wise woman" gifts her a magic mushroom, an item that can shrink or increase a person's physical stature.[1] ("Tiny")

Upset at his son Prince James' wasteful spending that is draining the kingdom's resources, King George sends him to look into the recent appearance of a giant. Along with James, Jack joins him to investigate, and she smoothly befriends the giant, Anton, by giving him a mushroom to become human sized. The pair later bring Anton to a tavern and deceive him into believing they need his help to restore the kingdom's funds, to which he naively agrees to assist his new friends. When he reverts to his giant size, he climbs up a beanstalk to procure treasures for them; not knowing Jack and James are leading an army to invade the giants' territory and steal their magic beans. ("Tiny")

A couple, Anastasia and Will, arrive to Wonderland to start a new life together. However, they end leading a frugal existence, and food is hard to come by. While searching for berries, Will plucks a magic mushroom, not knowing it can enlarge a person's size, until Anastasia tells him. ("Heart of Stone")

Kidnapping the White Rabbit as a means to prove to her father that Wonderland is real, Alice attempts to leave for home while a friend distracts the incoming Queen of Hearts' guards. However, when her pursuers near, Alice hides under the Caterpillar's mushroom, and as she prepares to run, grabs a piece of the fungus. The Caterpillar, noticing the thievery too late, can only call after her to give it back, though Alice has already fled. Running into the Queen's maze, she takes a bite of the mushroom and shrinks herself while the soldiers pass by without noticing her. She then seeks shelter inside a fallen bottle and climbs inside. Alice meets the bottle's inhabitant, Cyrus, and at first, she believes he is one of the Queen's men and threatens to destroy his home by using the mushroom to grow big again. Cyrus quickly proves himself to be an ally, and after promising to grant her wishes, he and she both exit the bottle. Once the mushroom's effects wear off, Alice returns to normal size. ("Down the Rabbit Hole," "To Catch a Thief")

At some point, the Queen of Hearts kidnaps her husband, Henry, and magically shrinks him. He is imprisoned in a vault slot, and is later freed by his daughter, Regina. She and her accomplice, Jefferson, escape the Queen's soldiers and return to the portal entrance. As Jefferson attempts to hurry her along into the portal, Regina sets the slot on the ground and grabs a mushroom piece. After she places the mushroom in the slot, Henry ingests it and regains normal height. ("Hat Trick")

After First Curse

Discovering her true love, Cyrus, is alive Alice resolves to save him. Knave, out of obligation to Alice, accompanies her to Wonderland, but he wants nothing to do with the mission. Since she still has the three wishes Cyrus once gave her, Alice promises Knave can have one if he helps, to which he agrees to the arrangement. Reaching Tulgey Woods, Alice takes off her shoes in order to climb into a tree and look for the Mad Hatter's house; where Cyrus is rumored to be. While she is busy, Knave greedily eyes the shoes' heels that contain the three wishes, and he runs off with them. However, after she is attacked by the Cheshire Cat, Knave returns to defend her. When the Cheshire Cat lunges at him, he throws a piece of magic mushroom into the feline's mouth. Accidentally swallowing the food, the fearsome beast shrinks into the size of a house cat. Giving a startled meow, the Cheshire Cat then flees into the woods. ("Down the Rabbit Hole")

In a search to find his presumably deceased mother, Amara, Cyrus bargains with the Caterpillar to retrieve the compass he once traded to him. Alice assists by shrinking herself with a mushroom, and while Cyrus battles the Caterpillar's henchmen, she steals the compass. ("Heart of the Matter")

Before sailing to Storybrooke, Cora shrinks Anton and imprisons him in a cage aboard Hook's ship. Upon arrival in town, Cora parts ways from Hook to reconcile with her daughter, Regina, while he finds himself hospital bound after an attempt to destroy his nemesis. Once he is discharged from the hospital, David, Leroy and Mary Margaret demand Cora's location. Not knowing where she is, Hook instead shows them the entrapped giant. Anton, seeing David, mistakes him for Prince James. Later, Regina learns from Hook about the giant, and she instigates mayhem by giving Anton a mushroom so he can get his revenge on "James." Anton, regaining his colossal size, disturbs town until subdued at the mention of the only human he trusts, Emma. However, he resumes his reign of terror upon learning Emma is not in town. Although David tries to clear up the James misunderstanding, he forfeits his life to Anton to stop his rampage. Just as the giant stamps a fissure in the ground, the mushroom's effects wear off and he himself falls into the hole. David and the townspeople later save Anton, who regain his trust in humans. ("Tiny")

Trivia

On-Screen Notes

Props Notes

Set Dressing

Appearances

References

  1. TwitterLogo Kalinda Vazquez (@KalindaVazquez) on X, formerly Twitter: @applegirlie21 Not at all! When Jack says she slew a Jabberwocky, it meant she's been to wonderland, which is where she got the mushroom. (April 17, 2013). (backup link) (archive screenshot)<
  2. File:117Title.png
  3. File:213Eats.png
  4. TwitterLogo emily (@ImEmmyGoldstein) on X, formerly Twitter: @jorgegarcia What did you actually eat to get bigger? (February 11, 2013). (backup link; original post, and the user's other posts, have been protected, so that only approved followers can see them) (archive screenshot)
    TwitterLogo Jorge Garcia (@jorgegarcia) on X, formerly Twitter: @ImEmmyGoldstein It was "magical mushroon" piece made of marzipan. (February 11, 2013). (backup link) (archive screenshot)
  5. File:102Devastating.png
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