Black Fairy

"Sometimes you have to choose power over love."

- The Black Fairy to her son Rumplestiltskin "Well, that's just the thing, Miss Swan... The curse, that Dark Curse. It and all of the darkness you've ever faced, was born out of one twisted soul: the Black Fairy."

- Mr. Gold to Emma Swan "Emma. I've been waiting a very long time to meet you (...) I created the Dark Curse, you were born to break it. We've been destined to clash since the beginning of time. I never should have sent an emissary to do what only I can."

- The Black Fairy and Emma Swan meet for the first time.

Fiona, also known as the Black Fairy, is the true main antagonist of the ABC fantasy TV series Once Upon a Time, serving as the Bigger Bad up to Season 5 and the main antagonist of Season 6. She is the mother of Rumplestiltskin, the former wife of Malcolm/Peter Pan, and the grandmother of Gideon.

She is the creator of the Dark Curse as well as the dark fairy dust used by Snow White, the mastermind behind the kidnapping and corruption of her grandson: Rumple and Belle's son Gideon, as well as being responsible for Rumplestiltskin's fate as the Dark One. Due to those aforementioned actions, she is the primary antagonist of the entire OUAT franchise.

Rumplestiltskin has stated that all the darkness faced by the heroes was born out of the Black Fairy's soul, meaning that she is indirectly responsible for most (or all) evil-doings in the series. She is alluded to several times throughout the series, in Seasons 1 (referring to the creator of the Curse and Snow's dark fairy dust) 3 (being described by Tinker Bell and her wand being utilized) and 5 (again referring to the creator of the Dark Curse). She can be seen as the Bigger Bad of the entire series until she becomes the Big Bad for Season 6.

She is portrayed by Jaime Murray.

Before First Curse
The Black Fairy was once a human named Fiona living in the Enchanted Forest with her husband Malcolm. After giving birth to the child that would eventually become Rumplestiltskin, she met the Blue Fairy and her partner Tiger Lily, who was to be the child's fairy godmother and informed Fiona that he would grow up to be a Savior. Fiona asked Tiger Lily for information on the prophecy and delved so deep into researching it that she discovered that a great evil would be born in winter around the same time of her own child's birth, identifiable by a crescent-shaped scar on their wrist, destined to kill her own child in the Final Battle. Fiona refused to accept her child's fate and tricked Tiger Lily into giving Fiona her wand, after which she conducted a spell to become a fairy herself, something which should have been impossible. She traveled with Tiger Lily to identify the dark child, but not one born in winter bore the crescent scar. Fiona returned to the realm of fairies and began more research, using darker spells and ingredients, her obsession with the dark fairy dust leading her to create a powerful Dark Curse, a form of dark magic that was capable of permanently damaging all the worlds of magic. Originally, she planned to rip every child from the Earth save her own in order to save him, but Tiger Lily desperately warned her of what it would do and would not let her go through with it, and as a result Fiona tore out Tiger Lily's heart, stating that she would kill her own child's fairy godmother if she had to. Thus, her soul turned darker than night and in a shadowy explosion, the darkest and most powerful evil of all time was born - Fiona herself, now bearing the crescent mark on her right arm.

The Blue Fairy tried to stop her from sealing the destiny between Fiona and her son, restoring Tiger Lily's heart, and Tiger Lily told Fiona to use the Shears of Destiny to cut off her magic and deprive her of the chance to kill her own son, which Fiona once again refused, stating that she would not give up her power and that she needed it to keep her child safe, instead warning them not to tell her what to do and cutting off his destiny as the Savior once and for all to prevent him from dying at her own hands. To stop Fiona from causing further harm, the Blue Fairy banished her from the world of fairies and into a place called the Dark Realm, but not before depriving her of her wand. Before she disappeared, Fiona swore that she would one day return to her son. The fairies informed Malcolm that she would not be coming back and that she'd been in an accident trying to save her son, causing Malcolm to believe that she'd died and despising his son as a result, naming him Rumplestiltskin.

However, Fiona's magic grew more and more powerful even without her wand, and she became the ruler of the Dark Realm beyond the reach of anyone but herself in which she would set up base. For the rest of her life, she truly embraced her status as the greatest evil and kidnapped child after child and raised them to be her evil disciples, torturing and forcing them to work in the mines in her realm to collect more dark fairy dust for her to use; given that she was banished here, she could only stay in another realm long enough to steal a child for her services.

Through unknown circumstances, the Dark Curse ended up under the protection of a Chernabog, a magic creature that feeds on evil and darkness.

Snow White eventually obtained some of the Black Fairy's dark fairy dust and used it to turn a bloodthirsty troll into a mere bug (in an altered timeline, the troll lived and the fairy dust missed its mark).

Over a century later, Rumplestiltskin, who has now become the Dark One, realizes just who his mother is and summons the Black Fairy with an incantation he'd tricked Belle into deciphering for him, and lures the evil woman in with a newborn child. Predictably, she arrives immediately, asking who summoned her, and the Dark One immediately throws Squid Ink at her, temporarily immobilizing her, as he demands answers from her. He asks that, of all the children she kidnapped, she gave up the one that mattered most - himself. She comes to realize who he is, and explains that sometimes one must choose power over love and that he, too, must know that - having given up his son Baelfire to keep his magic as the Dark One. She laughs before gaining an advantage over him and lifting him by the neck, telling him no more questions for today, and that he'd have to seek the answers by himself. With a last scathing remark of "Son", she laughs again before throwing him away and flying off into the night.

After a while, Regina Mills, seeking revenge on her nemesis Snow White, found out how to cast the Dark Curse, and used it to create the town of Storybrooke in the Land Without Magic. The Savior Emma Swan, however, broke the Curse, setting the stage for the prophesied "Final Battle" between good and evil.

Eventually, the Black Fairy's wand is used in an attempt to combat another Curse cast by Peter Pan.

Season 6
The Black Fairy (off-screen) intercepts the Blue Fairy as she is flying away with the child Gideon to raise him away from his father, the Dark One Rumple, and effortlessly defeats her before stealing Gideon. Rumple realizes that he cannot find his son Gideon's location after Belle gave him to the Blue Fairy. He attempts using the Crystal Ball, but finds only Darkness. Attempting to warn Belle what has happened, they find out that Blue has been hospitalized after her encounter with the Black Fairy and Gideon is missing. Rumple explains that Black has power over a realm unknown even to the Dark Ones, a realm where time works far differently.

Upon bringing Gideon to her realm, the Black Fairy gives him to a nursemaid in her mines, telling her to raise him like he's hers. She finds a book called Her Handsome Hero in the basket with the baby inside and opens it up, learning that his name was Gideon; she says that he won't be needing this book anymore and takes it, hiding it from him. As Gideon was growing up and sleeping in a cell within the mines, the Black Fairy found that he was thinking himself a hero, wanting to defeat her; to break his spirits, she finds the book Her Handsome Hero (where his name comes from) hidden with him, since he'd stolen it from her. Gideon tries to stand up to her, but she instead takes a boy named Roderick, in a neighboring cell, and takes him away, leaving the cell door for Gideon purposely-unlocked; however, the Black Fairy, knowing that Gideon wouldn't be brave enough to do something about it, takes Roderick away and has him tortured. Gideon assumes him to be dead after this.

On Gideon's 28th birthday, the Black Fairy invites him up to her chambers to tell him. Gideon was surprised to learn this, as he had no idea when it really was, with the Black Fairy teasing him about everyone having one. She learns that the key into her secret vault, which contains various magic objects, has been stolen by Roderick, who has been put to work in the mines away from Gideon; in order to test his loyalty to her, she gives him a vial full of dark fairy dust and tells him to use it on the culprit. Gideon goes into the mines and finds out that Roderick is both alive and the culprit; he convinces him to help him get into the Black Fairy's vault so they can find her crystal ball and contact the Savior Emma Swan, hoping that she will be able to come and save them from their horrible treatment under the Black Fairy. In the vault, however, the Black Fairy confronts them and destroys the crystal ball, expressing her disappointment in Gideon's decision. Gideon tries using the dark fairy dust on her, but she simply throws it away with her magic. She uses some dust on Roderick and turns him into a beetle, then steps on him, killing him and horrifying Gideon, who is told that this was his own fault. She rips his heart out and commands him to go to the town of Storybrooke in the Land Without Magic, confront the Savior and kill her using the sword Hrunting, which is already in Storybrooke, and channel her light magic into the sword to create a portal to allow the Black Fairy to escape her realm and initiate the Final Battle between light and dark.

Due to the altered flow of time in the Dark Realm, Gideon's arrival in Storybrooke would happen shortly after his infant self is taken away by the Blue Fairy and stolen by the Black Fairy; upon arrival, Gideon, dressed in a black cloak, defeats the Evil Queen in seconds, turning her into small cobra in a cage and enters Mr. Gold's Pawnshop (Mr. Gold being Rumple), taking his hood off and revealing himself to them as an adult Gideon, saying "Hello, Mother. Hello, Father." Under the Black Fairy's instruction, Gideon lies about his plan to kill the Savior and gain her powers in order to overthrow the Black Fairy; since she had his heart, she was able to force him to make attempts on the Savior's life.

In the middle of a street right after Emma's return from the Wish World, Gideon confronts Emma with the sword Hrunting and tries to kill her, but is forced to escape. Later, Gideon places a curse on Emma's true love Captain Hook and banishes him to the Enchanted Forest so that he could not return to the Land Without Magic; using him as leverage, Gideon gets Emma to come to the Sorcerer's Mansion with him, summoning a large spider to eat her. He leaves her for dead in the mansion and goes to the town's clock tower, using Hrunting to form a magic portal, channeling the power of Emma as she almost dies. However, Rumple comes to her rescue; even still, the Black Fairy was able to enter Storybrooke through the portal made by Gideon, free at last from her banishment. Gideon tries telling the Black Fairy that Emma's survival spells danger for her and that she will be defeated, but the Black Fairy says that there's more to do.

When the Black Fairy goes to her son's pawnshop to reveal her presence in Storybrooke to him, Mr. Gold questions how she managed to get to Storybrooke, to which she has Gideon enter, as proof of his supposed betrayal of Mr. Gold and Belle. Though Mr. Gold tries to attack her, the Black Fairy seizes the Dagger and orders him to stop, though she promises not to command him to do anything else and then returns it, remarking that she expects him to join her side willingly when he sees the darkness she brings. She later encounters Emma and Snow White in the woods, where they have found several pixie dust flowers that bloomed due to the Black Fairy's evil presence. Disappointed that the flowers killed her dramatic entrance, the Black Fairy reveals herself and Gideon. She taunts Emma, announcing her plan to kill the Savior in the final battle, and has Gideon destroy all the flowers, stopping Emma and Snow's only chance at awakening Snow and David from their joint curse. However, she does not realize that Gideon's love for his mother gave him the power to resist her orders and leave one flower alive, a fact that is later revealed to her by Mr. Gold, who has realized that the Black Fairy possesses Gideon's heart and states that he will not stop until he gets it back from her, though the Black Fairy notes that if the two of them were to go head-to-head, the entire town would be a destroyed; a risk Mr. Gold is willing to take.

The Black Fairy then sets her sights on Zelena, hoping to manipulate her in aiding her plans. She appears in the Wicked Witches farmhouse, cradling a sleeping Robin, Zelena's daughter, in her arms. Zelena discovers her and angrily takes Robin from the Black Fairy, whom offers Zelena a partnership before passively threatening her and her baby. She tells Zelena she will be in the Dwarf Mines if she decides to take her offer. Filled with rage, Zelena decides to kill the Black Fairy herself, and confronts her, along with a worried Regina, in the mines. The Black Fairy, aided by Gideon, scoffs at Regina, calling her casting of the Dark Curse a "failure". Regina attempts to attack with a fireball but the Black Fairy orders Gideon to stop Regina and he flings her back into a rock. Zelena then states she is "stronger" than her sister and threatens to kill the Black Fairy, who merely laughs and runs deeper into the minds, causing Zelena to pursue her. After a brief chase, Zelena finds the Fairy in a large cave, surrounded by hundreds of magic crystals. The Black Fairy tells Zelena she should have taken her offer to which Zelena zaps her across the room, flinging her into the cave wall. Zelena, believing she has the upper hand, continues to zap the Black Fairy with a beam of green energy in an attempt to destroy her, but the fairy merely laughs and lifts herself up before walking towards Zelena and reflecting her magic back into the cave, contaminating all of the crystals and turning them dark. Regina enters and is shocked to see the now dark crystals. Zelena tries to throw a fireball at the Black Fairy, but is stunned as the Fairy begins to choke her. Regina tries to intervene but the Black Fairy throws her back whilst Gideon holds a sword to Regina's neck. The Black Fairy explains she needed to channel Zelena's magic to power the crystals because it was so "unstable", revealing this had all been part of her plan from the beginning. When Zelena asks what she plans to do with all the dark magic, the Black Fairy responds "what I came here to do: start the Final Battle" before ominously stating they, along with everyone else, won't be around much longer. She then poofs them away back outside the mines. However, the Black Fairy's victory is short-lived, as later Zelena uses a magic heart-shaped stone from Oz called the "crimson heart" to drain all her magic, causing her dark magic in the crystals to be drained, turning them all light again. Later, the Black Fairy is seen at the towns wishing well in the middle of a forrest, watching the heroe's attempting to wake the Blue Fairy from her coma through her crystal ball. Gideon remarks that the Blue Fairy has the other piece of the wand that can banish her, but the Black Fairy says it wasn't the wand that worried her, but that Blue knows her darkest secret: the real reason why she gave up Rumplestiltskin.

She disguises herself as Snow, while Gideon disguises himself as Charming, and she kidnaps Blue before she can recover and tell the heroes where the core of Storybrooke, the location of the other wand half, is supposed to be, stating that she doesn't need to be spilling secrets to anyone. She brings Blue to the mines, where she uses a set of magic tools to gain information out of Blue's head as to where the core of Storybrooke is. Learning that the location is Granny's Diner, she appears to take the wand from Regina, Snow, Charming, and Hook, as to which Regina decides to take her on, Black stating that she'd hoped so, and that she has never killed a queen before, to which Regina replies that she's never killed a fairy. Regina and the Black Fairy face off on the street where Regina is thrown back and is being worn down by Fiona's magic, until Zelena comes flying down the street in her new green car and careens into the Black Fairy, sending her tumbling across the street. Annoyed, the fairy decides to call it off and leave. Gold eventually confronts Fiona about the past between the two of them, clutching the completed wand, and is rightfully angry about her abandoning him for more power. She states that he of all people should know that there is always more to it, and uses her magic to show him the complete story, after which he realizes how similar the two of them are, having lost their children in exchange for more dark magic. She states that they will most certainly be a family again if he is able to forgive her.

Gold returns to the Diner carrying a false heart, stating that his mother has been banished for good, but later returns to her. She compliments the fact that, although he was born to be the Savior, he must adore being the Dark One, and he admits that he has an affinity for the darker things in life, seeing it as a family trait. Fiona states that while he may no longer be the Savior, one still remains, and that tomorrow is a very special day for Emma Swan - the day she dies.

She later reveals herself to still be alive to Emma (when Emma is picking out Wedding Dresses) and reveals that a new Curse is coming her way. Emma and company check the clock tower and realize that Fiona is collecting all the Dark Fairy Dust to start the new Curse at 6 pm - right at the time of Emma and Hook's wedding. Hook enters Gold's shop and darts him using Dreamshade from Neverland, saying that he needs Gold out of the way until Emma defeats his mother, after which Hook can finally skin a crocodile. However, Fiona appears behind Hook and tells him that she's doing exactly what her son is doing - looking out for her family.

Regina and Zelena conduct research together on how to stop Fiona's Curse and decide to freeze it in time completely until Gold, on his mother's instructions, steals the ingredients and uses the spell to immobilize them. Emma decides to save her loved ones and give Fiona her heart to destroy. She leaves Henry behind when he tries to convince her not to and encounters Fiona sitting at the mayor's desk with her parents, the Mills sisters, and Hook all standing in place unable to move. She offers Fiona her heart, and as Fiona tears it out and tries to crush it, she finds that she cannot, and the Light Magic in Emma's heart scalds her hand, forcing her to drop it. Henry runs in with the book and delivers Emma the old tape recording of the song she used to hum to herself, telling her that her family's love has been inside her heart all along in song form, and Emma adds lyrics to the old song. Fiona attacks but her magic is reflected once again and Emma states that her family and Blue placed the power of the Song in her heart and sent her away to on day return to stop the Black Fairy's wicked deeds, and that the power in her heart is stronger than Fiona. She combines her song with her Light Magic and frees everyone from immobilization. Fiona, visibly losing patience, states that her Curse is still coming and the Final Battle will be worse then they can imagine, but upon seeing Emma's confident smile, she angrily departs.

As Emma, Hook, and the entire town dance at their Wedding, the clock strikes 6 and Fiona's Curse explodes out of the clock tower, consuming the entire town. Emma faces it down and swears to Hook that it doesn't matter where they end up, they're going to win. The Curse swallows everyone in darkness, reshaping Storybrooke and its inhabitants to her dark and twisted will as she sends Emma's loved ones back to their respective realms, removes the remaining inhabitants' memories, including Emma herself (only Henry remembers anything), making Emma believe that Henry was driving her insane with these stories and needed rehabilitation, and Fiona rises to power as the new mayor of Storybrooke and Henry's adoptive mother as well as a substitute mother for Gideon (whose mother Belle she claims left him and Gold), intending to use her dark magic and Emma's dying belief of magic to bring all realms to an end forever - this being the true Final Battle instead of a physical fight between her and Emma.

As Henry desperately tries to tell Emma about this false world, Fiona redoubles her efforts into dissuading her and encourages her to destroy the book, which will discourage Henry and allow Emma to go free. Her "son" refuses to give up and knows that Mayor Fiona will never let Emma free before attempting to steal the book from her office. Fiona catches him and tells him to stop with the ruse, knowing exactly what he's up to. She then uses her magic to make him fall down the stairs, landing him in the hospital, and she blames him for tripping and shows the video to Emma (where she cannot see Fiona using magic to make him fall).

This convinces Emma that she needs to get rid of that book, and as a result, all realms begin to disappear from existence forever. Fiona convinces her to burn it and she does, the Mayor showing Henry the ashes in victory and revealing that Emma is leaving to return to Boston. Fiona also shows Gold photos of Belle traveling the world (which are false) and reminds him that he needs to be the man his son wants him to be. When she realizes that Emma is beginning to believe again and that Henry is trying to stop her, she enters Gold's shop and uses her heart-control of Gideon (which she never gave up in the first place) and makes him find her wand in the shop for her. She uses the wand to translate the runes and realizes that Gideon and Emma must destroy each other rather than herself and sends him away to kill Emma for good on her orders, and to stop at nothing - not even her own destruction.

Gold reveals to her that he knows everything and she proclaims that she will use the wand to create a new universe where she reigns supreme over everything and can bring back the dead at her will - even Baelfire. Gold realizes that she, like his father Pan, does not love him int he way that she should and she retorts that they can now truly be a family, embracing him. Gold takes the opportunity to force her slowly to the ground with her own wand (mirroring what she did to Tiger Lily to become a fairy herself) and she states that he cannot stop her power over Gideon, claiming that he will have to kill Emma no matter what - even if she dies. She then states that her death will only further enforce Emma's own. Gold decides that it is time to test that theory and uses the full power of the wand on his mother, completely obliterating her and turning her to dust, sending her wicked soul to the Underworld once and for all and ridding the realms of the ultimate evil for good.

In the end, Gideon stabs Emma and the resulting blast of Light Magic causes him to revert to an infant and Emma to be revived by Henry with True Love's Kiss, also bringing back the Storybook and ending the story, destroying Fiona's plans along with her.

Family

 * Malcolm/Peter Pan (ex-husband) †
 * Rumplestiltskin (son)
 * Milah (daughter-in-law) †
 * Belle French (daughter-in-law)
 * Baelfire/Neal Cassidy (grandson) †
 * Gideon (grandson)
 * Henry Mills (great-grandson)

Trivia

 * Although the Evil Queen was the main antagonist for the first half of the season and Gideon appeared as the main antagonist for the latter half, the Black Fairy is the true villain of the entire season since she raised Gideon to become the monster who would presumably kill Emma.
 * The Black Fairy is a Bigger Bad for the entire series as she abandoned Rumplestiltskin to be raised by Peter Pan when he was a baby, which indirectly led to Rumplestiltskin being abandoned by Peter Pan and becoming the Dark One. She also created the Dark Curse, which was obtained by Rumplestiltskin and cast by Regina, causing the entire events of the series to unfold.
 * According to a casting call for the character, intended to hide her true identity, the Black Fairy's name was "Evanna";This is later proven false as it is revealed that her real name is Fiona.
 * Fiona claims she "practically invented dark magic", as well as other characters (and even actors and writers) in the series calling her the most powerful enemy ever faced as well as the source of all the darkness they had ever faced. While it is true that darkness does predate Fiona as Nimue was the original embodiment of The Darkness and existed many years before Fiona, Fiona herself crafted and practiced the most powerful form of dark magic known on the show, being feared by all, even fairies. Due to her creating the Dark Curse, she can be seen as the true instigator for all of the battles and dark events that the heroes, and even villains, have faced, as she kickstarted the events of the series which ultimately brought everyone to Storybrooke to begin with.
 * It is debatable whether she is the most powerful enemy on the show, as Hades (who has existed long before The Darkness) is himself an immortal god, yet Fiona being herself a fairy does give her deity like properties that are inhuman, and so their powers may be matched.
 * The Black Fairy shares similarities with her ex-husband, Peter Pan.
 * Both are the parents of Rumplestiltskin, of whom they abandoned.
 * Both ruled over dark mysterious realms in which time moves differently (Neverland, the Dark Realm).
 * Both made a career of kidnapping children, including their own grandson (Baelfire for Pan, Gideon for the Black Fairy).
 * The roles of the first servants of theirs we see (Greg Mendell and Tamara, Gideon) are similar. Each appear to be the main antagonist of the season, only to be revealed to be a red herring for the true main antagonist.
 * Each have no reservations about harming a member of their family; Pan manipulated their great-grandson Henry into willingly giving him his heart so that Pan may obtain eternal life, and the Black Fairy took the heart of their grandson Gideon in order to force him to serve her unwillingly.
 * The sole difference is that while the Black Fairy loved Rumplestiltskin in her own twisted way, Pan bore an undisguised hatred for their son, of whom he blamed for Fiona's disappearance. In spite of this difference, both once offered their son a chance to start over as a family with them.
 * Also as Peter Pan and a fairy, Malcolm and Fiona are each characters who are not typically portrayed as villains.
 * In their final move, both Pan and the Black Fairy tried to recast the curse initially cast by Regina Mills in the first season. However, unlike in the case of Pan, Fiona's attempts to cast the curse were a success.
 * Both of them were ultimately finished off by their own son.