Memory Crystals

Memory Crystals
General Information
Origin:	Arendelle
Current Location:	Storybrooke
Physical Description
Type:	Magic crystals
Usage Information
Created by:	Rock Trolls Grand Pabbie
Possessed by:	Belle (formerly) Gerda † Grand Pabbie (briefly) Ingrid †
Used by:	Grand Pabbie Ingrid †
Used on:	Elsa Emma Swan The people of Arendelle
Used for:	Removing, storing and returning other people's memories
Show Information
First appearance:	"Family Business"
Latest appearance:	"Shattered Sight"
Relevant Pages

“

In this crystal are the memories of my sisters, which I stole from the people of Arendelle. Please return them. My sisters deserve to be known.

”

—Gerda's letter to Elsa and Anna ^src

Memory Crystals are magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the sixth episode of the fourth season.

History

Before First Curse

In Arendelle, Princess Gerda comes across her sister Ingrid crying over the frozen and crumbled body of their sister Helga. Realizing Ingrid, whether intentionally or not, killed Helga with her ice powers, she deems Ingrid a monster and entraps her in a Magic Urn. Grief-stricken, Gerda seeks out the head Rock Troll Grand Pabbie and asks him for a memory potion strong enough to make all the realm forget that her sisters Ingrid and Helga ever existed. Despite wiping out everyone else's memories of her sisters, Gerda chooses to retain hers. ("The Snow Queen")

Many years later, Gerda and her husband's ship is caught in a terrible storm. Realizing neither of them will make it out alive, Gerda hastily jots down a long note, which explains her past with both of her sisters. Gerda also writes that she regrets trapping Ingrid in the urn and asks her daughters, Anna and Elsa, to free her. At the very bottom of the note, she places a crystal, which contains memories of Ingrid and Helga. She then rolls up the note into a scroll, places it into a bottle and throws it overboard so Elsa and Anna will find it. Soon after, the ship capsizes and sinks. ("A Tale of Two Sisters," "Shattered Sight")

Five years later, a woman named Belle is seeking answers about her mother's death. She travels to Arendelle where she seeks out Grand Pabbie, who turns her lost memories of her mother into a stone, telling her to return to where she lost her memories, brew a tea with the stone in a kettle and drink it to remember everything. Belle leaves with Ingrid's niece Anna, but a storm created by Ingrid traps them. Thrown aside by a wind, Belle drops the stone, which falls out of reach. Anna, clinging to a ledge, implores for help. Belle tries to reach the stone, but it shatters, so she rushes to Anna, who slips and falls unconscious. ("Family Business")

Ingrid casts a spell on Anna to turn her against her sister Elsa. When pushed to attack Anna, Elsa refuses and is subsequently absorbed into the Magic Urn by her sister. Anna, released by the spell, is instigated by an angry Ingrid, who freezes her and all of Arendelle. Having not intended this outcome, Ingrid uses memory crystals to erase Elsa's memories of meeting her and the events that occurred after. ("Smash the Mirror")

During First Curse

One day in Storybrooke, Ingrid's former foster daughter Emma walks into Ingrid's ice cream shop to buy frozen treats for her son, Henry. The two of them did not part on happy terms, and when Emma recognizes her old foster mother, she prepares to call Sheriff Graham. Ingrid interferes and absorbs Emma memories into a crystal. Ingrid then pretends as if Emma, with no recollection of their prior exchange, was on the verge of fainting and helps to steady her. ("Shattered Sight")

After Second Curse

A couple of years later, Ingrid goes into the ice cream shop to pick up to memory crystals, which are hidden in the carrot sherbet ice cream scoop bucket. The crystals contain Elsa and Emma's memories of their happy times with her. Elsa's sister Anna comes across the old letter from Ingrid's sister Gerda, recently recovered from the ocean where it was lost so many years ago. In the letter, Gerda states she truly loved her sister and regretted trapping her away. Anna shows the letter to Ingrid, who touches the scroll crystal and receives Gerda's happy memories with her and Helga. Realizing she always had her sisters' love, Ingrid destroys herself to ensure the curse of Shattered Sight is lifted. As her body dissolves into mirror shards, she uses the memory crystals to return Emma and Elsa's lost memories. ("Shattered Sight")

Trivia

• Production Notes
• Set Notes

Production Notes

• In a deleted scene from "Shattered Sight", Ingrid uses memory crystals on Dopey to make him forget that he's the owner of Any Given Sundae.

Set Dressing

• The rocks Ingrid uses to steal and return people's memories are amethysts, which are believed to help people who suffer from a faulty memory. ("Smash the Mirror," "Shattered Sight")
  • During the first Dark Curse, Henry has an amethyst on his bookshelf. ("The Stable Boy")
  • Another amethyst is sitting on a shelf in Mr. Gold's pawnshop. ("A Land Without Magic", "The Snow Queen", Sympathy for the De Vil")
  • An amethyst is also sitting on a table in one of the Storybrooke Elementary School classrooms. ("Darkness on the Edge of Town")

Appearances

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	Appears	Absent	Appears	Absent	Appears	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