The true story behind the original Dark One and the history of Excalibur is revealed.
The moral of tonightsOnce Upon A Timemight be, Dont play with fire.
Or perhaps its, Dont trust the man behind the curtain.
Credit: Jack Rowand/ABC
In any case, Excalibur lives!
And unfortunately, so does Dark One Emma now even more powerful and ruthless than before.
With two halves of the sword now in her possession, Emma can only see power.
But Dark One Rumple claims it represents more than that like any fairytale, it represents history.
And its time for Excaliburs promise, given years ago, to be fulfilled.
Because, see, like any good story, we have to start at the beginning.
Not so much with those gods, then.
In fact, he realizes hes acquired magic, as the desert changes to lush greens.
Nimue had come to Merlin on behalf of her village, which then-Dark One, Vortigan, destroyed.
Merlin falls for Nimue because, well, why wouldnt you?
(No, seriously.
Maybe its the freckles and dark hair.)
(Did you catch Merlin watching from a distance?
Is he spying on them for good or evil?)
Because this is war, now!
Merlin, to his credit, thinks there is some hope, and I appreciate Merlin for being optimistic.
Meanwhile, back to years and years ago, Merlin and Nimue find her village and home in ruins.
You never really come back if you do something so terrible as taking another life.
They do manage to get the goblet to the fire, and Merlin does his Merlin magic, a.k.a.
cool Scarlet Witch hand movements but without those red sparks.
Nimue sneaks up from behind and snatches his heart out of his chest.
Talk about a relationship setback.
To make matters worse, Nimue picks up the sword and breaks it in half.
Merlin still loves her, but Nimue has long moved past that.
Shes not all dark, yet.
She pushes Nimue away when Nimue dares to tell her shes nothing, claiming she doesnt need her power.
Hey, Emma did a good thing!
Too bad it wont last.
They need to find the other half of Excalibur…which is with Arthur, of course.
But, as Zelena says, theres no rest for the wicked.
After knocking Snow out and getting back into the castle, Zelena shows up in Arthurs quarters.
Its like the final chapter in a really long history lesson.
Yep, Emmas got herself a Dark One fanclub.
We know how this ends: Emma takes Excalibur.
Uh, anyone need a new and improved Dark One?
Stray Odds & Ends:
