Memory Potions, also known as Forgetting Potions in some cases, are magic potions featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the tenth episode of the first season.
History
Horrified over his son Baelfire succumbing to darkness as he did, Rumplestiltskin douses a cup of tea with a memory potion and gives it to his son. Moments after drinking it, Baelfire loses his memories and forgets that he had commanded Rumplestiltskin with the Dark One's dagger to kill Beowulf. ("Ill-Boding Patterns")
In the kingdom of Arendelle, Gerda entraps Ingrid in an urn after discovering she accidentally killed their sister Helga with her ice magic. Grief-stricken over losing both of her sisters, she asks the rock troll Grand Pabbie to use a memory potion and erase everyone's memories of Ingrid and Helga. ("The Snow Queen")
In the Enchanted Forest, a young Regina learns Zelena is her half-sister, and she begs her mother Cora to let them to be a family. Cora refuses as she believes everything she's worked towards for Regina's sake will be undone if people find out about Zelena. After ordering guards to take Zelena away, Cora takes out a memory potion, which she made by taking water from a nearby stream that is linked to Lethe. She later uses it on both Regina and Zelena to make them forget each other. ("Sisters")
Travelling to the past, Emma accidentally stops her parents, Prince Charming and Snow White, from meeting. Desperate to fix the mistake, she and Hook ask for Rumplestiltskin's help. When Emma claims to be the savior who will break his curse, the Dark One seems doubtful, but begins to believe her when she attests his reunion with Baelfire will happen, though his son will die. As Emma and Hook are sucked into the portal to the present, Rumplestiltskin drinks a forgetting potion to forget everything Emma told him. ("Snow Drifts," "There's No Place Like Home")
With the curse broken by Emma, Mr. Gold uses a true love potion on the wishing well to bring magic to the town. As a price, anyone who leaves Storybrooke will lose memories of their Enchanted Forest selves. Mr. Clark, chosen out of all his dwarf brothers as a test subject, crosses the town line only to lose his memories. ("Broken", "We Are Both")
Mr. Gold plans to leave town in order to search for his son, but is afraid of losing his memories while doing so. After some work, he manages to create a potion to keep his Enchanted Forest identity. The potion must be poured on one's cherished possession. Mr. Gold uses Smee as a test subject. The test is successful and Mr. Gold goes to his shop to share the news with Belle. She asks to join him in his trip, but he states there's only enough potion for one. Back at the town border, Mr. Gold pours the potion over Baelfire's shawl and Belle places it over his shoulders. He then crosses the town line with his memories intact. The couple bend towards each other in a kiss over the town line when Hook shoots Belle in the back. She falls over the border, thus losing her memories. In retaliation towards Hook, Mr. Gold prepares to hurl a fireball at him when a car crashes into town and runs over the pirate. Later on, Mr. Gold uses the shawl and leaves Storybrooke with Emma and Henry. ("The Outsider", "Tiny")
As a dangerous trigger activated by the outsider, Greg, and his ally Tamara, threatens to destroy Storybrooke and all its inhabitants, Mother Superior finishes making a memory potion, with one of the ingredients being a strand of Pinocchio's hair, and gives two bottles to Leroy. Since the dwarves wish to restore Mr. Clark's memories, she instructs them to find an item that once belonged to him. Then, Mr. Clark should drink the potion from the item. After finding Mr. Clark's beer stein in the pawnshop, Leroy gives Mr. Gold a second dose of the potion for Belle. As the dwarves leave, Belle's cursed self, Lacey, comes out from the back of the shop. Mr. Gold does nothing with the potion until Lacey accidentally uses his son's shawl as a wiping rag, which upsets him greatly. Still not over Neal's death, he realizes Belle, not Lacey, would understand his pain. Taking out the the remains of the teacup from the cupboard, Mr. Gold magically repairs it with the flick of his wrist. After pouring the potion into the cup, he offers it to Lacey. With one sip, Lacey remembers her past as Belle. The two kiss, and Mr. Gold apologizes for letting her remember right before the trigger is set to destroy them all. ("And Straight On 'Til Morning")Hook shows up at Emma's New York apartment to tell her that her family in trouble, though she does not recognize him. He attempts to give her true love's kiss, but it has no effect and she eventually shuts the door on him. On another attempt to shake some sense into her, he gives Emma a written address of an apartment that she must see in order to know the whole truth. Later, she confronts him about the camera strap she found at the written address—Neal's apartment—which has Henry's name on it. He tries once more to talk about her parents and the curse, but she brushes it off as nonsense. Hook exemplifies the camera strap as proof Emma was once at Neal's apartment a year ago except she doesn't remember it. She demands answers, so he offers a potion to restore her lost memories. Instead, she cuffs Hook and has him arrested for assault and criminal harassment. While jailed, he is later bailed out by Emma, who presents him with copy of the photo from the camera, which shows herself with Henry in a town called Storybrooke. He pushes Emma into taking the potion, despite that she will have to give up her life in New York, because knowing the truth is important. She ingests it and regains her memories. That night, Hook explains that her family has been re-cursed and the couple, as well as Henry, lead to Storybrooke. ("Going Home," "New York City Serenade")
Returning home to Storybrooke, Emma quickly teams up with Regina to find the caster of the second curse. While swaying the townspeople into believing Regina is responsible, the two women work in secret, using the last bit of potion that Emma was given by Hook, to create a substance capable of reviving memories from the missing year in the Enchanted Forest. It fails, so in an alternative plan, they publicly spread a rumor that Regina is nearly finished making a memory potion, and whoever drinks it can recall who cast the second curse. In fear people will learn her true identity, Zelena breaks into Regina's mayoral office in the middle of the night to steal the potion. When they realize the culprit has taken the bait, Emma and Regina charge into the office to capture the villain, but she disappears in green smoke without being fully seen. ("Witch Hunt")Believing Hades is not good for Zelena, Regina and Cora formulate a plan to make her forget about him with a memory potion containing water from Lethe. While Cora distracts Zelena by reconciling with her, Regina sneaks in with the potion. Cora later gets a glass of water for Zelena, which has the potion mixed in. Zelena discovers the truth and picks a fight with Regina over it. To settle the bad blood between her daughters, Cora restores their lost memories of each other, to prove Regina and Zelena have always had a strong sisterly bond. ("Sisters")
Growing up under the Black Fairy's harsh teachings in the Dark Realm, Gideon learns to become immune to the effects of a memory potion. ("Ill-Boding Patterns")
In Storybrooke, after telling his father Mr. Gold about the psychological torture he endured from the Black Fairy, Gideon requests his help to prove to the Black Fairy that neither he or Mr. Gold are cowards. Mr. Gold agrees to assist him and then passes him a cup of tea, which he secretly spiked with a memory potion, in the hopes of erasing Gideon's pain for good. Gideon drinks it and notices something is off about the tea. When Mr. Gold admits what he did, Gideon hugs his father in feigned gratitude before snatching the Dark One's dagger and revealing the potion had no effect on him. ("Ill-Boding Patterns")Ingredients
- Zelena used wolf’s blood and a dragon scale for her Memory Potion. ("A Curious Thing")
- Cora used water from the Lethe for her potion. ("Sisters")
List of Creators
List of Owners
List of Users
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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 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | 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 | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
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 | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | 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": |
Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears |
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 | Mentioned | 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 | Mentioned | 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": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | 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 | Absent | 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 | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Novels | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Archive | Archive | Mentioned | Absent | Archive | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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"Archive" denotes archive footage.