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 The subject of this article is involved with the Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is an item The subject of this article is involved with Oz The subject of this article is involved with the Enchanted Forest The subject of this article is involved with Kansas The subject of this article is involved with Storybrooke The subject of this article is involved with the Underworld The subject of this article is magical or capable of using magic The subject of this article is featured in Season Three of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Five of Once Upon a Time
This article focuses on the magical items.
For the Season Five episode, see "Ruby Slippers".


Click your heels together three times and think of where you want to be, and the slippers shall take you there.

—The Wizard of Oz to Dorothy Gale src

The Silver Slippers are magical items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They first appear in the sixteenth episode of the third season.

The silver slippers are based on the silver shoes from the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

History

Before First Curse

In Oz, a girl named Zelena discovers she was adopted, after arriving to this land through a cyclone as an infant years ago, and thus seeks an audience with the Wizard of Oz to find her birth family. The Wizard reveals answers regarding Zelena's birth mother, Cora, who wished to become royalty and that was something her first-born child could not provide. However, Cora's second daughter, Regina, fulfilled this by marrying a king. After seeing a wizard, Rumplestiltskin, teach Regina magic, Zelena jealously remarks that he should be teaching her instead. Gifted slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Zelena uses them to transport herself to Regina and Rumplestiltskin's homeland, the Enchanted Forest. Once there, she gains Rumplestiltskin's attention and he accepts her as his magic pupil. Though Zelena excels magically, she rages upon discovering he is still teaching Regina. Unwilling to have competition, she attempts to kill her sister, but he puts a stop to it by disqualifying her as the one to cast his curse, which will bring himself to a Land Without Magic. Upset, Zelena tells him about her slippers' powers and that she could have taken him there, causing Rumplestiltskin to backtrack, but she is too angry to accept his change of heart. She says that the only way he will get his hands on the slippers is if he kills her first. When he tries to do just that, she teleports out of reach. Vowing that he will choose her next time, she vanishes after clicking her heels thrice and returns to Oz. Zelena asks the Wizard to change the past so her mother never abandoned her, but he states it's impossible. When pulls down the Wizard's curtain down out of anger, the Wizard is revealed to be just a human man, leaving Zelena to turns him into a flying monkey as punishment. ("It's Not Easy Being Green")

Shortly after, Zelena is approached by one of Oz's protector witches, Glinda, who believes the latter is the Witch of the West that is prophesied to have come to this world by cyclone. Eventually, she convinces Zelena that it is her calling to be a good witch. However, when another girl, Dorothy Gale, arrives to Oz via a cyclone, Zelena questions if this child is meant to take her place. Looking deeper into the prophecy within a book, she learns the Witch of the West will unseat a great evil. Assuming she herself is the foretold evil, Zelena deliberately attacks the girl. Frightened, Dorothy hurls water onto Zelena, who melts into a puddle. While Glinda believes Dorothy's feat proves she is the intended Witch of the West, it is a trick on Zelena's part to drive the girl out of Oz. Masquerading as the revived Wizard, Zelena gives the slippers to Dorothy so she can return to Kansas, before revealing herself to Glinda, who she banishes to the Enchanted Forest. ("Kansas")

Rumplestiltskin, still wishing to acquire the slippers, sends a portal-jumper named Jefferson to fetch them. Yet, Jefferson is unable to locate them, and he reports that the slippers have been moved to another land. Assuming the slippers are now in a Land Without Magic, Rumplestiltskin is frustrated by the news, since he needed them to find his son. ("The Doctor")

Some years after Dorothy has grown up in her own world, she uses the slippers to return to Oz, after hearing from the munchkins that Zelena is still alive. ("Our Decay")

After Third Curse

When Zelena is sent back to Oz by Regina, she sets her hopes on returning to Storybrooke and getting back to her daughter, with the silver slippers. She demands them from Dorothy, and when Dorothy refuses, she kidnaps Toto as a bargaining chip. Dorothy attempts to regain Toto by attacking her, but Zelena puts her under a sleeping curse and steals the slippers, before using them to return to Storybrooke. ("Ruby Slippers")

Arriving back to Storybrooke, Zelena accidentally goes in the Underworld, after following her daughter and Belle there. After Zelena relinquishes her child to Robin, she learns from Hades that Ruby has come to find Dorothy. In fear of Regina discovering what she did to Dorothy and keeping her from her daughter, Zelena prepares to leave for Storybrooke with the slippers' help. Before she can click the slippers' heels two more times, Regina, Ruby, Snow and Emma confront her about Dorothy. Zelena admits Dorothy's fate, and after a talk with Regina, she agrees to give the slippers to Ruby. With encouragement from Snow, Ruby decides she will try to give true love's kiss to Dorothy to wake her from the curse. Shortly after Ruby puts the slippers on, Snow prepares to send David off with her, as one of them needs to go back to their son in Storybrooke. Instead, David forfeits his freedom for Snow's, allowing her to go with Ruby. After getting to Oz with Snow, Ruby gives Dorothy true love's kiss, and then Snow uses the slippers to return to Storybrooke. ("Our Decay", "Ruby Slippers")

Trivia

Popular Culture

Costume Notes

Appearances

References

  1. File:316TheseSlippers.png
    File:316ChooseMe.png
  2. Georgina Bridal. Peter Fox Shoes. Archived from the original on June 12, 2011.
  3. File:518SimpleTrade.png
  4. FacebookIcon American Duchess (@americanduchess) on Facebook: Glittered "Pompadours" appear on "Once Upon a Time" as Dorothy Gale's silver slippers in Episode 18, Season 5 (April 19, 2016) (backup link) (archive screenshot)
    "Pompadour" French Court Shoes (White) (1680-1760). American Duchess. Archived from the original on January 27, 2019. Retrieved on January 27, 2019.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Stowell, Lauren (September 23, 2013). 8 Reasons to Love the New American Duchess Pompadour 18th Century French Court Shoes. Sci4Me. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. “Pompadours have been sent to production companies all over the world, from Film Afrika in South Africa, to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Our particular favorite was the appearance Pompadours made in NBC's "Smash," on the feet of lead actress Megan Hilty. Smash, Season 2, Episode 6 - a pair of pink painted Pompadours makes a rather bold appearance on actress Megan Hilty
  6. Isberg, Allison (April 19, 2016). OUTLANDER Gets a Dose of Culture Shock. And THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Gets a Dose of Spoilers.. SciFi4Me. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. “Season Two, Episode Two: "Not in Scotland Anymore" (....) And special shout-out goes to Lauren Stowell at American Duchess for her fabulous Pompadour shoe, featured in the opening credits.” (Note that the source erroneously states that the shoes are featured in the opening credits, but they actually appear in the opening scene, immediately after the credits.)
    Screenshot from Outlander: "Not in Scotland Anymore"
  7. File:518RubySlippersPage2.png
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