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This article focuses on the second iteration of character.
For the first iteration, see Alice (Down the Rabbit Hole).

But I'm not like you. I'm not an outcast. I'm not an orphan or a street rat or some crazy girl who's lost her way. You chose hate. But I choose love.

—Tilly to Eloise Gardener src

Alice, also known as Starfish[1] and Tower Girl,[2] formerly known as the Guardian, and currently known as Tilly, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the seventh season and is portrayed by guest star Rose Reynolds and co-star Elle McKinnon.

Alice is based on the titular character from Lewis Carroll's novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Alice from the animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland, and Alice Kingsleigh from the live-action Disney film of the same name. She also takes the place of the titular character from the "Rapunzel" fairytale and Rapunzel from the Disney film Tangled, and is an allusion to Sophie from the novel The BFG, Sophie from the Disney film of the same name and Russell from the Disney/Pixar film Up.

History

After Third Curse

Alice is born in a tower after Gothel disguises herself as Rapunzel and spends an amorous night with Hook, who is unaware of her true identity at the time, resulting in Gothel becoming pregnant from this union. With a flower that Hook retrieved from a garden, Gothel uses its magic to speed up the growth of the conceived child into a newborn infant. The next morning, Gothel comes clean to him about who she is and admits she used him to gain a child of her bloodline, whom she needs to take her place in the tower so she herself can escape. Gothel leaves on her own, seemingly having no love for the baby, but Hook decides to stay and care for the child. Hook sings a lullaby to her, causing her to smile, before naming her Alice after his deceased mother. ("Eloise Gardener")

Some years later, Alice continues to be trapped in the tower, becoming a talented painter and often playing chess with her father Hook. In one of her dreams, she becomes frustrated over not being able to leave and see the oceanside, but Hook cheers her up by giving her a vial of real sand. Alice tries to thank him with a hug, however, Gothel appears and flings him out of the tower. She wakes up from the nightmare insisting to her father that what she saw will eventually come true. Hook then decides to do whatever it takes to help his daughter escape the tower for good and tells her he'll be back as soon as he has completed his mission. Before leaving, he hands her a white knight chess piece and she, in turn, gives him a black rook. In her father's absence, Alice paints until he returns late, much to her relief. Hook shows her a fish hook that can free her, but when Alice moves to embrace him, her father is thrown into the wall as a strange marking appears on her arm as a result of her attempt to get close to him. Only then, Gothel reveals to Alice that her father broke his promise to her by not returning right away, and instead took a little detour for a duel to defend his own honor, during which the bullet that grazed him was coated with the poison currently affecting his heart. Alice watches, horrified, as Gothel teleports her father out of the tower, leaving her all alone. She calls out for him from within her prison, but Hook is left stranded outside, unable to get near her without the poison in his heart getting worse, in addition to having the fish hook stolen by Gothel. ("Pretty in Blue," "Knightfall")

On her seventeenth birthday,[3] Alice uses a spyglass to look at the stars. She talks to a hat, whom she calls Mr. Hatter, about the second star to the right that is blinking to the north which means it is her birthday. After placing the hat on a toy rabbit and sitting down for a tea party, Alice lights a candle on a cupcake and blows it out after making a wish. When nothing happens, she muses to herself that perhaps she'll have better luck next year. Suddenly, the roof starts shaking before it is ripped away by a giant troll, who, unknown to Alice, was conjured by her own magic. The troll then holds out his palm for her to hop on and escape the tower, much to Alice's excitement. ("The Girl in the Tower")

At some point after leaving the tower, Alice visits a place called Wonderland. In the Infinite Maze, she ends up at a tea party where she meets a woman named Cecelia who had to leave her true love and her daughter, Ella, because she has the curse of the poisoned heart, the very same curse Hook has. A Jabberwock attacks them and the other party guests, during which Cecelia fights back but is killed in the battle, leaving Alice as the sole survivor to slay the beast. ("Hyperion Heights," "Pretty in Blue")

After Fourth Curse

In the New Enchanted Forest, Alice is chasing after a white rabbit when she runs into Mr. Gold, who has just arrived in this realm through a portal in search of the Guardian. She yells at him for making her lose sight of the rabbit and laments about having to chase him down again. Alice questions who he is, but Mr. Gold brushes this off, stating it doesn't matter. Both of them suddenly hear the sound of a roaring vehicle as a man, Mr. Gold's grandson Henry, speeds past them on the road. Alice looks bemused by the strangeness of it, remarking that the person must be attending the upcoming ball. She informs Mr. Gold that the prince is looking for a bride and asks if he too is looking for a prince. Mr. Gold clarifies he's looking for someone else, which intrigues Alice enough that she expresses interest in a "good puzzle" and introduces herself to him. ("Beauty")

Deployed by Mr. Gold to convince Henry to return home, Alice dons the uniform of a server at a royal ball. Henry samples a drink from her platter, which, unknown to him, is laced with a hallucinogen. As Henry attempts to stop Cinderella from killing the prince, he collapses from the drug's effects and sees Alice standing over him before his vision goes blurry. Henry regains consciousness and finds himself in a nightmarish cavern, where he is trapped against a wall, while a cloaked Alice reappears in front of him. Henry struggles to free himself and asks her to stop it, but Alice seems to have no idea what he means, to which Henry realizes he was hallucinating the restraints. Upon Henry calling her Alice from Wonderland, she expresses irritation over being referred as such since she only went there once before. Alice reveals she knows he is Henry Mills and implies she drugged him on Rumplestiltskin's orders because his grandfather is looking out for him. She warns him to stay out of stories that don't concern him, especially Cinderella's, because bad things will happen if he doesn't, but Henry refuses, out of obligation to help Cinderella. ("Hyperion Heights," "Beauty")

Later on, Alice meets Drizella, a sorceress who pretends to give her a magic remedy for the curse of the poisoned heart, which will allow Alice to be in close proximity with her father Hook without him getting hurt. ("Pretty in Blue")

Upon meeting Henry again, Alice gains his help with being led to Hook. She is surprised to see how young he looks, and he explains was courtesy of some magic. Hook asks about how she managed to escape the tower, which she states is a long story. Alice moves to hug him, but Hook warily cautions that his heart is still poisoned. She happily explains that she found a magical shield so they no longer have to be apart, however, when the two hug, Hook is thrown backward and the poison in his heart increases. Directly after, a strange mark appears on Alice's arm as a side effect of touching someone who has the curse of the poisoned heart. She attempts to go to her father but cannot because the closer she is to him, the worse his pain grows. Distraught over why the cure didn't work, Alice runs off and jumps into a portal to New Wonderland, where she hides at the tea party table in the Infinite Maze. When Cinderella finds her there, Alice asks about her father, with the latter reassuring her that he is in good hands, although Alice remains uncertain and considers staying in Wonderland to keep away from him. Cinderella sees her mother Cecelia's locket on a teapot, which Alice protests against her taking until realizing she is Cecelia's daughter Ella. Alice tells her of how Cecelia died and reveals her mother abandoned Ella because she had the curse of the poisoned heart. She shows her the mark on her arm, which Ella remembers this as something her own father used to have and realizes Cecelia left to protect her family. Afterward, Alice explains how she met Drizella and was tricked by her. Ella then goes to save Henry from her, and while Drizella is distracted, Alice drops a looking glass on her to send her away. Before Henry and Ella return to Hook in the New Enchanted Forest, Alice gives them her knight chess piece to return to her father and to tell him that they'll be together again someday after he is cured. ("Pretty in Blue")

A period after the birth of Henry and Cinderella's daughter Lucy, Alice leaves New Wonderland when she is unable to find a cure for her father's curse. She returns to the New Enchanted Forest, where she uses the spyglass to observe her father Hook and his friends at a nearby camp. She is startled by a woman who prepares to hit her with an arrow and accuses her of being a spy. Alice flees from her attacker until she trips on a wire and triggers a trap into dropping a cage on herself. When questioned by the woman about why she was lurking, Alice explains she just wanted to see her father but couldn't get close to him or risk causing his death because of his poisoned heart. The woman then recognizes Alice as Nook's kid, much to Alice's confusion until the latter clarifies that it's a nickname for Hook. Upon learning the woman's name is Robin, Alice dubs her "Nobin" and annoys her with the nickname to the point Robin agrees to let her out from the cage. They both hear the troll's cry in the distance, but when Robin states she intends to kill the creature for terrorizing villagers, Alice chases after her, not wanting her troll friend to be murdered. Alice follows Robin to a tavern and attracts unwanted attention by declaring the troll wouldn't hurt anyone, causing the hunting party to lock her and Robin up in a dungeon. Robin criticizes her for getting them into trouble but also feels bad that she is locked up again like in the tower. Alice tells her she was happy after leaving the tower as she thought she found a cure for her father so they could be together, but now she's still alone, making her freedom pointless if she has no one to share it with. Robin shares the exact opposite experience, recalling how suffocating Storybrooke was as she was never alone and finally had enough to the point of stealing the sheriff's bug and nearly drove to New York if the sheriff hadn't caught her. Seeing as Alice doesn't know what a "bug" is, Robin shows her a photo of the car on her smartphone. Alice is amazed that a whole life can be stored in a little box like that, which makes Robin laugh at the funny way she sees the world. As Robin expresses envy over Alice knowing her father since she never got to meet her father Robin, whose legacy she hopes to honor, she breaks out of the shackles to go hunt the troll, though she leaves Alice behind, not wanting the girl to try and stop her. ("The Girl in the Tower")

With an extra hairpin, Alice frees herself from her chains and tracks down Robin, tackling her to the ground so she misses her shot at the troll. The leader of the hunting party, Clayton, prepares to reprimand Alice for her interference, but Robin won't tolerate bullying and stands up to him. As the mob turn on both women, Alice unintentionally summons a car resembling the bug, which she and Robin jump into before it drives them away. Later, after getting to safety, she asks Robin why she helped her. Robin admits she had a mean girl streak in Storybrooke who cared too much about the approval of others, which she fell into again by trying to live up to her father's legacy for the same stupid reasons, however, by saving Alice, she now knows being Robin Hood means helping those who truly need it. Alice is touched by her sentiments and thanks her for being by her side. Hearing the roar of the troll, they reach the tower, where Alice painfully admits that despite not being imprisoned anymore, she still feels trapped and hopeless. Robin suspects the troll is a manifestation of Alice's magic, just like the bug, and only she can help the troll be free. Realizing the troll stayed with her because she didn't want to be alone on her birthday, Alice thanks her old friend and reassures him she will be okay on her own now. After the troll turns into a statue, Robin helps Alice celebrate her birthday with a lit cupcake before they both leave together. ("The Girl in the Tower")

Sometime later, Alice begins living in a cottage, where Robin visits her. She and her father also start corresponding with each other through letters, which Robin helps to deliver back and forth. During the day, Robin gives her a letter from Hook as well as a present she made for her: a bracelet. Alice, in return, gifts her a pocket watch she got during one of her adventures in New Wonderland. After Robin leaves, Mr. Gold begins approaching the cottage, only to be stopped by Hook, who learns the crocodile believes Alice is the Guardian he has been searching for. Hook forces him to leave and later warns his daughter in a letter to not talk to the man if he comes looking for her. On one evening, Alice studies herself in her mirror cottage as she has the bracelet on, commenting to a stuffed doll named Mr. Rabbit that she won't ever take it off. When Mr. Gold arrives, she becomes uneasy and remarks that although they were friends, she can't be around him anymore. She notices the skin on his hands look scaly, but Mr. Gold brushes off her concern and instead mentions he may be able to cure her father. Alice becomes interested in his plan, which involves having to steal magic from a witch doctor, Dr. Facilier. After going to Facilier's tent home, she goes in and pretends to be seeking a way to communicate with the dead, though Facilier can hear the dead, who are telling him that's not what she came for. As Facilier is distracted by Mr. Gold's appearance, Alice rips out the witch doctor's heart and commands him to stay still. Mr. Gold then instructs her to crush the heart as a sacrifice is needed to restore her father's heart, to which Facilier lets it slip that Alice is being tested. Confused, Alice makes Facilier shut up while she expresses hesitation over what she must do. Mr. Gold suggests she start with one little squeeze, but Alice cannot bring herself to do it and shoves the heart into Facilier's chest before running outside. Only then, Mr. Gold admits he was testing to see if she is the Guardian, and the fact she didn't crush the heart proves that she is. ("The Guardian")

Brought to a cave where Mr. Gold previously spoke to his dead wife Belle, whom he wishes to reunite with as soon as he gives his powers to the Guardian, Alice bonds with him over their shared experiences in watching the world go by without them, and how their significant others were the first people to truly see them. Alice, though unsure at first how to accept the Dark One powers, feels the dagger's call and takes the weapon into her hand. Ribbons of the darkness rush out of Mr. Gold and into the dagger, with his name being erased from it, prompting his scaly skin to dissipate. Suddenly, Mr. Gold hears Belle's voice and is reminded of her last words to him, in which she praised him for being a good man and that he would one day find a way to free himself from the dagger to reunite with her. As Alice turns the dagger into a ball of magic, Mr. Gold hits it to make it revert to the dagger again, stopping her from fully accepting her role as the Guardian. Mr. Gold explains that he made a promise not to pass on his powers if it would be a burden because becoming the Guardian will make her immortal and as trapped as she once was in her tower. Instead, he wishes for her to live out her days happily and grow old with the one she loves even if it means he will succumb to the darkness again. Alice, touched by his selflessness, swears to not let that happen by vowing to be there to remind him of the person he truly is on the inside. Later, a scaly-skinned Mr. Gold watches from nearby as Alice and Robin hug outside the cottage before going in together. ("The Guardian")

Eight years later while the threat of the Dark Curse is looming, Mr. Gold gives Hook a white elephant figurine that will keep him and Alice together even after Drizella's curse is cast. Alice, who continues to keep her distance from Hook because of his poisoned heart, hides behind a tree as she talks to him. She mentions staying by Mr. Gold's side because of the sacrifice he made for her and then gives him a letter which she wants him to deliver to Robin. Later on, Mr. Gold instructs Alice to keep his chipped cup safe, and in the new land they will go to after the curse is cast, he wants her to show him the cup to trigger his memories of his real self. He also tells her that if it doesn't work, she should know what to do; alluding to the fact he wishes for her to physically harm him as a more extreme method of making him remember. Robin shows up to see Alice one last time, and the two share a passionate kiss before the curse rolls in and brings them to Hyperion Heights. ("Hyperion Heights", "Beauty", "The Eighth Witch", "The Guardian")

During Fifth Curse

After Regina casts Drizella's curse to save Henry's life, Alice becomes Tilly, a street informant in Hyperion Heights for the corrupt detective Weaver, who comes to think highly of her due to the information she can get him. However, she is supplied with pills by her doctor to keep her from becoming "confused" and dangerous. In reality, these pills mask Tilly's memories of her old life as Alice in the New Enchanted Forest, and one of her cursed memories is of a bad experience with the Coven of the Eight, who took her father from her. Tilly also lives by herself in a boxcar. ("Beauty," "The Eighth Witch," "Knightfall")

After Henry arrives into the town, Tilly peeks at him behind a building wall before jumping down onto a dumpster and onto ground level. She studies him as a smile crosses her face, to which Henry regards her with an uneasy "hello", but she simply saunters past him wordlessly while looking back at him. Tilly goes to a building entrance and tells the guard she wishes to speak to Weaver. She is then led to a room by the man to where Weaver is currently in the midst of drowning someone, but he stops what he is doing upon hearing the guard announce Tilly's presence to him. Tilly then informs Weaver that there is someone new in town he should know about. Later in the day, when Henry recovers his missing car and is talking to Jacinda, Tilly is nearby, hidden behind an ajar door as she eavesdrops on their conversation. ("Hyperion Heights")

Around Halloween, Tilly stops taking her pills. As she is sitting on a bench fiddling with a Rubix Cube that has most of its colors missing and wearing a white rabbit mask, she is approached by Weaver, who notes that the deli gave him the wrong sandwich, orange marmalade, and offers it to her, reminding her that it's her favorite. Tilly muses that she doesn't know if it's her favorite but Weaver pushes her to try it, then they can talk business. Tilly correctly guesses that this business is Victoria Belfrey and notes that she is a wicked woman, explaining that she has an ex-girlfriend who used to work with her and said she would rather scoop her own eyeballs out than help someone else. When Tilly asks why Weaver works for her, he becomes irritated and tells her he doesn't before taking the sandwich back and asks her to take off the mask. Tilly insists it's her Halloween costume and that everyone's wearing a mask, even him, although she is no longer speaking literally. She wonders what's behind Weaver's mask before he leaves. Later, she sneaks into Victoria's car and frightens her, musing that she's always wondered if it's better to be feared or loved and determining that feared is better as she had fun scaring the woman. Victoria demands to know how she got in her car, but Tilly insists that she'd rather know how she got to Hyperion Heights. She then notes that Victoria is wearing a metaphorical mask and reaches for her face to take it off, but Victoria pepper sprays her and she flees, leaving behind her bag. Victoria determines her identity and finds out about her medicine, giving it to Weaver and blackmailing him into getting her to take it and locking her up, stating she's a public menace, though, in actuality, Victoria is afraid Tilly is waking up from the curse. Weaver finds Tilly sitting on the troll statue under the bridge, still playing with the Rubix Cube. Tilly believes she has solved it and shows Weaver but he tells her she seems confused. She insists she is not confused and can actually see everything clearly now. When Weaver asks why she hasn't taken her pills, she explains Victoria only wants her to take the pills so she is blind, and then declares with a stubborn fervor that she refuses to be blind when she's so close to remembering. Weaver asks her what she is remembering, to which she tells him she's supposed to make him remember and, in order to do that, she must show him something. They get into Weaver's car and drive to the railroad tracks, where Tilly believes the object is. On the way there, Weaver notes that she must be hungry and points out the orange marmalade sandwich from earlier, which Tilly eagerly takes. She bites into it, pleased to learn that she really does like orange marmalade, but quickly identifies a strange taste and realizes that Weaver crushed her pills into the sandwich. As the pills start to take effect again, Tilly becomes frantic and jumps out of the car, hoping to remind Weaver before she forgets again. Weaver follows her into a building and calls after her, but she has now forgotten that she is Tilly. She finds the chipped cup from Weaver's past and shows it to him, but he still doesn't remember. As he reaches for his gun, she tries to remember his name and snatches the weapon, pointing it at him. When he asks why she's doing this, she tells him that he told her to and finally speaks his true name, Rumplestiltskin, before shooting him. As he falls to the ground, bleeding, she is shocked and drops the cup, shattering it. After Weaver is rushed to the hospital, her pills finally start working and she returns to her cursed self. She waits forlornly in the waiting room to hear how Weaver is as she plays chess alone. Eventually, Rogers, Weaver's partner, emerges and tells her that Weaver is fine and that as long as she doesn't tell anyone she shot him, she will be, too. Tilly apologizes and promises to keep taking her pills. Rogers notices the chessboard she is sitting by and Tilly asks if he knows how to play. When he says he does, they start playing together, and Rogers makes the first move with his black rook. ("Beauty")

At the hospital, Tilly is loitering in Weaver's room as he is preparing to leave and go back to work. After Weaver's departure, Rogers requests her help with finding a missing girl, Eloise, and he asks what she and Weaver usually do for a case. Tilly, after taking a seat in the wheelchair that Weaver declined to use, tells him that he usually buys her lunch. Rogers agrees to do that, and as Tilly smiles excitedly while still seated in the wheelchair, he pushes it out of the room with him. Tilly brings him to her home by the railroad tracks, where she suggests they have another chess match while they discuss Eloise's case. Rogers asks if they should reset the board, but Tilly insists against it as it's more fun if the game begins in the middle. Prompted by Tilly, Rogers tells her all about Eloise, who, until she disappeared ten years ago, was a normal girl who loved art and hated school. He goes on to say she was also an amateur poet and was fearless, and his belief that something must have spooked her. Rogers shows her the protection rune that Eloise drew in her journal but he remains confused about what he is missing. Tilly turns around the chessboard, telling him to look at the pieces he already has on his side, and that he has to pay attention to them as they may help him get onto the path to finding Eloise. ("Wake Up Call")

Under the bridge at the troll statue, Tilly is haggling with a customer as she attempts to sell him a stolen watch, but upon seeing Rogers and Henry approach, she closes up shop for the day. Rogers mentions that the advice she gave him yesterday helped, and now, he needs her opinion on Eloise's journal. Tilly briefly takes a look at the journal before deducting she can tell Eloise had a bad home life with unloving parents and that she probably wasn't taken against her will. Rogers states he has already gone down that road before by talking to the street kids, but Tilly points out they wouldn't want to talk to a cop. He then prompts her for assistance with this, which she doesn't agree to until Henry points out it's better for her to help Rogers than be written up for the stolen watches she has. However, Weaver is given orders by Victoria to stop Rogers before he breaks open the case, to which he employs Tilly to give the detective a false story about Eloise. Tilly shows up late to her meeting with Rogers and Henry, only to have second thoughts as she begins walking away, but relents when she is prompted by them for whatever she knows. She lies about speaking to some of the runaways at the old group home and getting information about a guy who used to date a girl named Rain, who wrote poetry, loved Salinger, and drew often in her notebook. Continuing with Weaver's plan, Tilly states she received one of Eloise's drawings from him. She turns it over to Rogers, who finds it is one of the ripped out journal pages. Tilly then reveals Eloise died in a car accident, but her body was never identified since Rain was not her real name. Later, Rogers discovers the drawing is a forgery and Tilly was lying on Weaver's orders before rescuing whom he presumes to be Eloise from Victoria. Tilly later apologizes to him for her lies as Weaver told her it was for the best, even though she couldn't tell wrong from right. Rogers begrudges her for this, admitting he is disappointed in her, as she is not the person he thought she was. As a tearful Tilly watches, Rogers joins Eloise in the ambulance before it drives away, to which she turns to walk off just as Victoria is being arrested by police. ("Eloise Gardener")

While Tilly is sitting on the troll statue, Rogers comes to find her, having softened his opinion of her as he understands Weaver was a father figure to her. Tilly reflects on her perception of Weaver, whom she thought was a good person and had cared about her, but without him, she doesn't know where she belongs in the world. Rogers gives her the chessboard and invites her to play a weekly game with him, as he too is feeling lost since solving Eloise's case and doesn't know what to do next. ("Pretty in Blue")

As Rogers is on the streets trying to gather information about what happened to Lucy before she fell into a coma, Tilly piques his attention by mentioning the symbol in Eloise's journal. She drags Rogers a short distance to under the bridge and points out the same painted symbol is on the wall, where it is in the midst of being scrubbed away by a worker. The pair later arrive into the police evidence room, finding everything in a mess, including a disheveled Weaver, before Rogers tells him about the appearance of the symbol in Hyperion Heights. Weaver recognizes which symbol he means and shows him a coin bearing the same marking. As Tilly looks on with concern, Rogers asks what it means, and Weaver ominously states that "they" - the Coven of the Eight - are here. ("The Eighth Witch")

One morning, Tilly comes to Rogers' desk at the police station, trying to interest him in a chess game even though he is working a case. She believes a game could help him on a bad day and that she has a feeling something terrible will happen soon. Rogers is too busy for games and he tells her people are in danger. Tilly is hurt she is not important to him, to which Rogers denies that she isn't and simply asks her to go home for now. She returns to the police station while Eloise is in the interrogation room, which she sees on the security camera monitor. The sight of the woman sends Tilly into a panic, causing her to pace back and forth as she murmurs to herself that something is going to go wrong with the situation. When Weaver comes in to chide her for being a room she is not supposed to be in, Tilly grows increasingly frightened over Eloise, whom she deems a monster. Weaver agrees with her assessment but sends her out when she protests against Rogers' showing one of his paintings to Eloise. As Tilly reels from having her warning go unheeded, she sees Eloise mockingly wave to her through the security monitor, however, by the time Weaver notices Tilly trying to get his attention, Eloise has resumed a normal stance. ("Knightfall")

During the afternoon, Tilly stops by Sabine's food truck to buy beignets before going to the grocery store to get an apple from Mrs. Lewis and a marmalade sandwich from Mr. Charles. She heads into an alleyway afterward and leaves her backpack in the dumpster. Sometime later, she walks past the troll statue at 3:20 PM and is recorded on the security camera inside the troll's eye. ("The Girl in the Tower")

Later, for unexplained reasons, Tilly has a scalpel in her hand near the body of Hilda Braeburn after she has been killed. After Rogers and Weavers enter the hospital room to find Tilly there, she rambles about being there although she didn't want to be and yells at them for not taking her seriously when she said something bad would happen. They try to get her to calm down and explain what transpired, but Tilly drops the scalpel and jumps out the window, landing on a nearby roof before rolling herself onto the pavement and running across the street. Rogers and Weaver investigate Tilly's shed, where they find a board with the coven symbol, which, unknown to them, was placed there by the actual killer as evidence of Tilly's guilt, but neither of them believes she is responsible for Hilda or Doctor Sage's deaths. To help Rogers understand, Weaver tells him about a bad experience Tilly had with the coven many years ago, during which her father was taken from her. While Weaver heads back to the station to buy themselves some time, Rogers agrees to track down Tilly and prove her innocent. ("Knightfall")

After disappearing from the hospital, Tilly ends up hiding under the bridge, telling the troll statue about the trouble she is in although she did not kill Hilda. Rogers pulls up in a car to help her evade the cops, and although Tilly is distrustful of him for not believing her earlier, she hops in eventually and is taken by him to recuperate at Henry's apartment. He suggests to Henry that she needs an alibi, perhaps from a friend, but Tilly admits she doesn't really have friends. Rogers then asks if she can remember where she was around 3 and 4 PM, as Hilda's time of death was 3:20 PM, and whoever saw her in public can vouch for her. Tilly can't recall yesterday's events after getting upset from seeing Eloise, but Rogers spots sugar on her jacket, helping her to remember she got beignets from Sabine's food truck. While Rogers and Henry are away investigating, Tilly tries to entertain herself with a book on Robin Hood, during which she notices a sticker on one of her shoes that came from an apple she got from the grocery store yesterday. Tilly talks to Mrs. Lewis, whom she bought the apple from, but the woman doesn't remember her, and neither does Mr. Charles, who she usually buys a marmalade sandwich from. While she walks down the street later, Henry ushers her into an alleyway, where Rogers chides her for being out in the open and risk being seen. Tilly denies that anyone would see her since although she knows everyone in town, no one actually remembers her, but Rogers persuades her to have faith in herself by retracing her steps. Tilly recalls she came into the alley after having the marmalade sandwich, and in the dumpster, she retrieves the backpack she left there at the time. After returning to the apartment, Tilly finds two hair clippings in her bag, which were tokens that the killer took from the murdered women. This frightens her into assuming she really did it even though she can't remember, and she departs in a hurry, desperate to leave Hyperion Heights before she hurts anyone else. Tilly visits the troll statue before turning to go, nearly getting hit by a car until a woman, Margot, pulls her to safety. Margot overheard her talking to the statue but surprisingly thinks she is mad in a good way since, in her experience, all the best people are. Tilly shares that she was saying goodbye to the statue and Margot sympathizes with her desire to run away but advises her to face her problems head-on. As Margot walks off, Tilly asks what book she's carrying and the latter informs her that it is Alice in Wonderland, her favorite book. Tilly then looks up at the statue, noticing one of the troll's eyes has a security camera, just as Rogers finds her, to which she tells him she has an alibi after all. Rogers later reviews the footage to prove Tilly was there at 3:20 PM during Hilda's death. On her way out of the station, Tilly turns back as if to say something to Rogers but instead just thanks him before going home. Rogers comes by to give Tilly her backpack which she had left at the station and suggests she stay with him at his place, as it'll be safer with the killer still on the loose, which she happily accepts. ("The Girl in the Tower")

After moving in with Rogers, Tilly frequently eats marmalade jam, which Rogers runs out of and later goes to the market to buy some more for her. ("Sisterhood")

With Rogers' help, Tilly gets a job at Rollin' Bayou, and on her first day, she walks with him there to meet Sabine. Sabine tells her she can work odd days, and Tilly responds by saying she likes odd things. Sabine then hands Rogers' favorite order to him, and Rogers replies he'll have to drop Tilly off more often. During the course of the workday under Sabine's directive, Tilly bakes beignets and tells Sabine that she thinks her beignets are getting better, pointing to a heart-shaped beignet. Sabine suggests they should be a little more "beignet-shaped" and then decides to let Tilly try working out front instead to see if she has a flair for selling the truck's products. Tilly agrees, and with a tray of samples, she runs outside to begin approaching passerbys. Later, Tilly has one sample left and offers it to a girl on a bench. The girl turns around and Tilly realizes she is the same girl who saved her life. They chat and Tilly asks her for her name, to which the girl states her name is Margot with a "t". Tilly mistakenly pronounces the name as "Targo", and Margot corrects her. Tilly thanks her again for saving her life and begins to leave, when Margot stops her, telling her that she's glad she stayed in town. Tilly cheerfully agrees and explains she has pulled things together since they last met. As Margot reveals she is now the one in a bad place in her life, Tilly hands her the heart-shaped beignet to cheer her up and tells her to talk about her problems if she wants to. Margot explains her issues with her mom keeping secrets from her and Tilly advises that it's possible her mom does want to tell her the truth but whatever it is, it must be painful for her to withhold it from her own daughter. From this, Margot receives a different perspective on the situation, and as she eats the beignet, she comments on the great taste and the unique heart shape. Tilly continues to hand out more samples towards the end of her shift when Rogers stops by to pick her up from work. She excitedly tells Rogers and Sabine that people now know her name unlike in the past when she often made herself unseen while swiping food. As Tilly walks off with Rogers, she tells him about meeting Margot and how special it was because Margot truly saw her for her. ("Breadcrumbs")

One day, Tilly wakes up with a buzzing in her head, which, unknown to her, is the Dark One Dagger calling to her because of her link to it through her Guardian powers. She busies herself with sketching a drawing of the troll statue but remains distracted by the noise, so Margot suggests she go out on a date with her to get her mind off of it. Margot treats her to a candied apple as her way of sharing a part of Hyperion Heights she finds special, and in return, she wants to see a place in town that Tilly likes. Tilly brings her to the travel section of a bookstore called Dodgson's Books, one of her favorite places to be as it allows her to go anywhere in the world without leaving Hyperion Heights. Despite having been to many faraway places, Margot appreciates the simplicity of Tilly's world and recalls sometimes becoming stranded in a town after her bus broke down, which happened so often she started collecting handwoven bracelets from the various towns. Tilly wonders if she too could have adventures like that, and Margot assures her she will someday. After Margot grabs hot chocolate for both of them, she gives Tilly a colorful bracelet she found and tells her that although they aren't exactly in Thailand, their date felt like an adventure. Suddenly, the buzzing in Tilly's head intensifies, causing her to panic and shout at herself in an attempt to get it to stop. Embarrassed by her outburst in front of Margot, she leaves the bookstore in a hurry and drops the bracelet on her way out. Tilly later runs into Weaver at the troll statue as she figures out that the buzzing is actually a voice who is trying to tell her something. Weaver, who had been tracking the missing dagger, realizes she may have it. The detective's suspicions are proven correct when he finds the dagger in her bag, which the girl swears she did not steal and has no idea how it got there. As Tilly notices the voice has now stopped, Weaver remarks she was guarding the dagger for him. Bringing a tray of candied fruit to Margot as an apology, Tilly explains that she would rather if Margot didn't see her on her "bad days" as it can be a bit much for some people. Margot insists it won't be for her no matter what kind of day it is and then helps clasp the bracelet onto Tilly's wrist before offering her a drink from the bar. ("The Guardian")

Later, Tilly leaves the bar, with Margot bidding her farewell outside. Eloise follows Tilly down the street and gets her attention, but Tilly is put off by the latter's reputation as a cult leader and wants nothing to do with her. However, Eloise claims she is her mother, which Tilly doesn't believe as she remembers her mother left her. Eloise agrees she abandoned her but that she wants to change if only Tilly will forgive her, but Tilly refuses because she already has people who care for her. Unsure what to make of the situation, Tilly goes to Rogers, who agrees to help her look into it because of his own suspicions about Eloise, and together, they head to Henry's apartment. Henry lets them in, revealing he too is conducting his own investigation into the impossible; that everything in his book actually happened. The three discuss the probability that, if Eloise really is in a coven of witches, the reason she isn't using magic is that the bigger the spell, the more magic users are needed for it. After getting a call from Samuel about the coven members being spotted going into a theater, Rogers leaves with Tilly to go there. As the pair is in Rogers' car looking to see if Eloise will show up to the theater, Tilly plays with a paper rabbit origami. Rogers worries she is bored, but she is happy to do something with another person for a change. Tilly admits she is hungry, which Rogers helps with by giving her a sandwich. She thanks him for it, in addition to everything else he has given her, and she wonders how she got so lucky to meet someone like him. When Eloise goes into the theater, both of them follow her in, only for the coven members to take them hostage before bringing them to the theater's lower level. There, Rogers is restrained while Eloise tries to persuade Tilly into joining their coven family and helping them to cast a spell. Tilly wants no part in it and resents the coven for killing her father, but to her shock, Eloise reveals Rogers is actually her father. Explaining that Tilly was a child born into the two worlds of nature and humanity, Eloise suggests she let go of her humanity and embrace her true self, even promising to be the mother Tilly desires. Tilly rejects her but is forced to agree after Eloise takes some of Rogers' blood and threatens to take his life too. For the ritual to power up the coven symbol, Eloise sacrifices three items; Rogers' blood as Tilly's "old love", Margot's blood as Tilly's "new love", and the key to the grove as "love betrayed" as it should have been Tilly's inheritance had things been different. Rogers attempts to talk Tilly out of aiding the coven any further, insisting that if he truly is her father, he doesn't want her to go through with it. Tilly realizes he's right, declaring he really is her father and professes that is why she can't let him die. After Eloise completes a spell incantation, all the witches, including Tilly, link hands with each other in a circle and a pillar of fire rises from the center of the coven symbol. ("Flower Child")

As the spell brings magic to Hyperion Heights, with Gothel's ultimate goal to wipe out humanity permanently after it is complete, Tilly falls into a trance-like state as she participates in the continued ritual. Upon learning that the coven members will all turn into trees after they've done their part in the spell, Rogers frees himself to try and save Tilly from the same fate. However, Tilly insists she wants to be with her mother. When he touches her arm, the poison in his heart becomes active again, making it impossible for him to get close to her. Later, he and Weaver bring Margot to help talk some sense into her. Tilly once again declines to leave before shoving Margot away and shrinking all three of them. Soon, all the nearby coven members morph into trees, with only Tilly left, but she snaps out of her stupor once Henry breaks the curse as Margot, Weaver, and Rogers return to normal size. ("Is This Henry Mills?")

After Fifth Curse

Directly after the Dark Curse is broken, Tilly runs into Margot's arms and happily exclaims that, as she said prior to the curse, they would still know each other in any life. The couple share a romantic kiss before they and Weaver head to the Community Gardens to confront Gothel. Weaver believes Tilly's magic can defeat Gothel's, but Tilly has doubts as she is afraid of facing a monster like Gothel. Despite being in immense pain because of the poison in his heart, Rogers approaches Tilly and offers his support to her by clasping her hand as Margot does the same with Tilly's other hand. Gothel chides her to not be a fool and to stand beside her mother to defend their home, but Tilly declares Gothel is not her mother and that she chooses love and hope instead of going down the same path as her. As Gothel attacks her with a stream of magic, Tilly pushes back with her own magic, which breaks through to hit Gothel and turns her into a blackened tree. Tilly approaches the tree and expresses pity for how Gothel's life twisted into something she never meant for it to become, but that she herself will be different from her. She then conjures up hyacinth flowers to bloom at the foot of Gothel's tree roots. Later, Tilly sadly watches her father resting on an ambulance stretcher as Margot comforts her. ("Is This Henry Mills?")

In celebration of the broken curse, Tilly and Margot bring a pan of Sabine's beignets to Roni's to share them with everyone. After Rogers recovers at the hospital and is allowed to go home, Tilly calls him and sees him in-person, though she keeps her distance by being across the street. She tells him about having just gotten back from a party at Roni's where she and Margot celebrated everyone being reunited after the curse. However, Tilly is still sad that they can't be together, though Rogers promises he will find a way to fix it. The pair exchange I love yous before Tilly hangs up and walks away. Later, her father borrows Tilly's looking glass to help Henry, Roni, and Weaver travel to the Wish Realm to rescue Jacinda and Lucy. Tilly senses something bad has happened with her father and the others when she gets a sudden pain in her chest, which, unknown to her, is the removal of her Guardian powers after Sir Henry wrote them out of existence. She and Margot persuade Sabine to rally the townspeople into helping them find a portal. After Remy offers them a spare magic bean he kept, Tilly and Margot say their goodbyes to Sabine and Drew before going into the Rollin' Bayou, which they'll be using to get around. Instead of directly going to the Wish Realm, the pair open a portal to the outskirts of Storybrooke to get assistance from some friends first. ("Homecoming")

Upon entering Storybrooke, Margot nearly crashes the Rollin' Bayou into Leroy before she and Tilly get out to apologize for making him drop his lunch. Tilly tries to tell Leroy and his companions that they need to help rescue Henry, who is from a future timeline like she and Margot are because they were cursed to be sent back in time. When Margot begs them to notify Snow White and David, Leroy seems to be receptive to the idea but then coldly regards both women as intruders of Storybrooke. As Leroy and his allies wield their weapons against them, Tilly and Margot run off and eventually find an alley across the street to hide in. Upon seeing Zelena pull up in Regina's car, they approach her and Margot persuades her into helping them. ("Leaving Storybrooke")

With a magic bean that Zelena has, the girls go with her to the Wish Realm and free Weaver, Rogers, Henry, Jacinda, and Lucy from the snowglobe world by giving them Maui's hook. Tilly, relieved to see her father is safe, momentarily forgets about his cursed heart and tries to go to him, but steps back when he winces in pain. To rescue Roni, who Sir Henry plans to execute, Rogers and Margot create a diversion outside the castle. Tilly joins Henry in the woods, but she stays there while he goes in to get Roni. After Snow and Charming unexpectedly help with the mission, the group gathers at the war council room to discuss the storybooks Wish Rumplestiltskin has made to entrap each of them in unhappy lives in alternate realms. Tilly goes with Rogers, Margot, and Henry to track down Weaver, who has found magic to rip out Rumplestiltskin's heart. However, Sir Henry's blood, which becomes darkened from his hatred for Roni, helps to open the portals to the storybook realms. Rogers grabs Tilly's hand to keep her from being pulled in, though this increases the poison in his heart at a rapid rate. When the portals close after Roni convinces Sir Henry to turn away from darkness, Tilly realizes her father is dying, however, Weaver rips out his own heart to save Rogers at the cost of killing himself and Rumplestiltskin. ("Leaving Storybrooke")

After Sixth Curse
After Regina unites all the realms, the citizens of the United Realms elect her as their new Queen. By this time, Alice and Robin are engaged to be married.[4] They both attend the surprise coronation, where they and the other people present applaud Regina as she walks in. The ceremony is briefly halted when Emma, Hook, and baby Hope arrive late before Snow White crowns Regina with the title "The Good Queen". Afterward, Alice and the crowd of people listen to Regina give a resounding speech about the wonders and losses that are a part of life and make people who they are. ("Leaving Storybrooke")

Magical Abilities

Former Magical Abilities

  • Conjuration - Ability to conjure objects out of the blue.
  • Energy Blasts - Ability to create magical blasts to harm the enemies and the objects in the most effective way.
  • Heart-ripping - Ability to rip someone's heart out in order to control/kill them, among other purposes.
  • Shapeshifting - Ability to alter the appearance of oneself or others.
  • Telekinesis - Ability to control the movement of the environment.

Family

Alice
 
 
 
Grandfather
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
UncleHook
Rogers
 
 
 
Gothel
Eloise Gardener
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Hood
Margot
 
Alice
Tilly
 

Notes:

  • Solid lines denote parent-child blood relationships
  • Dashed lines denote marriages and relationships that result in offspring
  • † denotes the deceased
  • Hook/Rogers and Gothel/Eloise have never been married
  • Alice/Tilly and Robin/Margot are engaged[4]


Trivia

Etymology

Character Notes

  • Tilly loves orange marmelade sandwiches. ("Beauty" et al.)

Production Notes

Fairytales and Folklore

Props Notes

Set Dressing

Costume Notes

Appearances

See also

References

  1. "Knightfall", Once Upon a Time, ABC.
  2. "The Girl in the Tower", Once Upon a Time, ABC.
  3. Alice tells Robin that she lived in the tower for 6,205 days, which is approximately 17 years. ("The Girl in the Tower")
  4. 4.0 4.1 Abrams, Natalie (May 19, 2018). Once Upon a Time stars on that unfinished love story. Entertainment Weekly. “During the series finale, Robin took a brief moment to ask Wish Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) for his blessing so she could marry his daughter Alice. Although the couple is only briefly spotted during the series-ending coronation scene, it’s safe to say Alice did say yes to Robin’s proposal — particularly because of this little detail that Reynolds revealed to EW while on set of the series finale. "It's really funny, because I got to choose my ring the other day and of course I picked the biggest, most shiniest one,” Reynolds says with a laugh. "Tiera looks at me and she goes, ‘What are you doing?’ We came up with this idea that the dwarfs mined for it; they mined for a massive stone."”
  5. CHAPTER VII A Mad Tea-Party. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved on February 22, 2019. “`Once upon a time there were three little sisters,' the Dormouse began in a great hurry; `and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well--' (...) The Dormouse again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said, `It was a treacle-well.'”
  6. Lansley, Oliver (April 17, 2014). 10 things you didn't know about Alice in Wonderland. The Guardian. “The names of the three little sisters in the Dormouse's story (Elsie, Lacie and Tillie) also refer to the names of the three Liddell sisters. Elsie originated from the initials of Lorina Charlotte, Lacie is a transformation of Alice, and Tillie was short for Matilda, a name given to Edith by her sisters.”
  7. till. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Retrieved on January 21, 2024. “till something to prepare and use land for growing crops”
  8. Abrams, Natalie (September 14, 2017). Spoiler Room: Scoop on Grey's Anatomy, Punisher, Supergirl, and more. Entertainment Weekly. “Anything about Alice on Once Upon a Time please? We've got nothing on her for now. — Justine You should pick up this week's issue of EW because I dish all about Alice and the other new faces joining the show this season. Here’s a tease: "Alice is a character in the vein of Rumplestiltskin in that you don’t really quite know what she's up to, where she’s going or where she’s been," EP Edward Kitsis says. And that’s a fact that Rumple, in particular, will find curious.”
  9. Abrams, Natalie (October 5, 2017). Once Upon a Time's Rose Reynolds introduces streetwise, enigmatic Alice. Entertainment Weekly. “Yeah, I'm a fan of the show. I've watched the show. My best friend in the whole world is a massive fan of the show. She told me not to touch Colin within three feet, so I'm not allowed to go near him, according to my best friend, [laughs] but I purposely didn't watch the spin-off. This Alice is, I gather, very different to the original Alice, and so she should be, so I purposely didn't watch Wonderland just for that, really, because it would be very different.”
  10. InstagramIcon Once Upon a Time (@onceabcofficial) on Instagram: Morning, everybody! Rose, here. (November 17, 2017). "Kicking off with a TRIVIA QUESTION: For my Once audition I was asked to prepare this already established scene. Can you tell me which character's lines I'm parroting?" (backup link)
  11. Abrams, Natalie (October 27, 2017). Once Upon a Time bosses tease what's next after Belle reveal. Entertainment Weekly. “What's next for the relationship between Tilly and Rogers? KITSIS: What you’re going to see is that Rogers is going to be continually searching for this missing girl case that is haunting him, which we know is his daughter. Tilly is going to be a great informant for him going forward, but definitely there will be some surprises along the way.”
  12. Once Upon A Time Season 7 Episode 22 Review w/ Rose Reynolds | AfterBuzz TV (YouTube). AfterBuzz TV (May 21, 2018).
  13. Down the Rabbit-Hole. Literature Project. Retrieved on February 19, 2020. “She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.”
  14. 14.0 14.1 File:101Caterpillar.png
  15. File:404AliceAndTheWhiteRabbit.png
  16. File:704ChessMove.png
  17. File:714AliceWatching.png
  18. File:204CoraArrives.png
    File:220TwoPeople.png
    File:317WatchingEmma.png
    File:409HowThisWorks.png
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 File:310BedTime.png ("At this the whole pack..." is right above the bed post, on top of another illustration, with the cover of Boys and Girls of Bookland immediately to the right of it; "A Mad Tea Party" is in the upper left hand corner)
  20. 20.0 20.1 File:714AliceInWonderland.png
  21. File:122SomethingsComing.png (right over the bed, between two black and white illustrations)
  22. File:311CloudEntersHouse.png (on the right hand side of Henry's clock)
  23. File:117SneakingDownTheHallway.png
  24. File:117Doorway.png
  25. File:117Why2.png
  26. File:117ClosesDoor.png
  27. File:312JoinsYou.png
  28. File:704AuroraBridge.png
  29. File:704WatchingHenry.png
  30. File:417Huh.png
  31. File:708LookSoYoung.png
  32. File:710GiveItToMe.png
  33. File:714ThatsHim.png
  34. File:722Storybooks.png
  35. File:404AliceAndTheWhiteRabbit.png
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