Gideon (Once Upon a Time)

Gideon, once known as Morpheus, is the main antagonist in the second half of season 6 of the ABC series Once Upon a Time. He is the son of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle, the grandson of the Black Fairy and Peter Pan, half brother of Neal Cassidy, and the uncle of Henry Mills.

He is portrayed by Gile Matthey.

Biography
Before being born, Gideon is glimpsed by Emma in her visions of the future, where he wears a cloak and kills her in a sword duel. According to the Oracle and Mr. Hyde, this is an event that is meant to happen and cannot be stopped.

After Mr. Gold uses sand from the Temple of Morpheus in the hopes of waking up Belle from the sleeping curse, he remains unaware that the sand also affected the unborn child within her, resulting in the Dream World being shared by both Belle and her son, with the latter taking the form of a fully grown man and assuming the identity of the Morpheus, the god of dreams, to fool Mr. Gold. Within Belle's dream world, he guides Mr. Gold into his former castle, where Belle is inside, stuck as the former meek servant she once was while unable to see Mr. Gold as anything but the beastly Rumplestiltskin. Gideon shows him an hourglass, cautioning that if Belle does not wake up by the time the sand runs out, she will return to the Netherworld's red room for good. Mr. Gold eventually helps Belle regain her memories with true love's kiss, but Belle refuses to be with him, believing their union has already caused too much heartbreak for both of them. Upon hearing this, Gideon returns with the timer, and as Mr. Gold pleads that there's still sand remaining, Gideon congratulates Belle for not falling for Mr. Gold's lies again, explaining that this was a test and that now that she's passed, he will wake her up with true love's kiss. Though Belle insists that she does not know "Morpheus", much less love him, Gideon admits the truth—that he is their unborn child. Although his father is doubtful, Gideon warns Belle to beware of Mr. Gold and to not let him ruin their family like he did with his first one. With this warning, he kisses her forehead, and the trio is snapped back to the present reality, where Gideon remains unborn.

After mostly giving up on Belle ever loving him again, Mr. Gold formulates a way to force his future son to love him, deciding on using the Shears of Destiny to cut him away from the fate of hating his father like in the Dream World. Still able to visit Belle in her dreams, "Morpheus" tricks her into believing that she is still awake and lures her with a fake manual on how to defeat the Dark One and a ribbon, which leads her to the shears on display in a cave. When they vanish before she can take them, she realizes that it is a dream, and "Morpheus" makes his presence known. He begs her to stop Mr. Gold from changing his fate, and to wake Belle from the dream, he cuts the ribbon with the fake shears. After Belle awakens, she finds the answer to her son's message in a book, which is written in squid ink, a substance that can paralyze Mr. Gold.

Angry with Mr. Gold for deceiving her, the Evil Queen decides to poison Belle's tea to speed up her pregnancy, knowing that she will blame her husband and take their son away from him. As she goes through a painful labor, Gideon visits her again in a dream, where they meet nearby a swing set. He tells her that they are out of time and that she knows what she must do. Belle, realizing she must send her son away after his birth to keep him from Mr. Gold, begins to cry and vows that she will always love him. Before she returns to the real world, he tells her not to forget the book, which momentarily confuses her. Soon after, he is born, and Belle names him Gideon after the main character in Her Handsome Hero, the first book her mother ever read to her. After holding Gideon for a short time, she begs Mother Superior to be his fairy godmother and take him far away to where Mr. Gold will never find him. Mother Superior is reluctant, but Belle believes it is her son's best chance. She also gives the Her Handsome Hero book to Mother Superior, telling her to read it to Gideon so he'll always know his mother is close to him. Shortly after Mother Superior flies off with Gideon, Mr. Gold arrives just in time to see the fairy is already gone and demands to know his son's name, but Belle, believing he will use it to track Gideon, refuses to tell him no matter what. Mr. Gold insists he would never harm her, but promises to find their son.

As Mother Superior flies through the forest with Gideon, she is attacked by the Black Fairy and nearly killed. The Black Fairy then takes Gideon and retreats to her domain, a realm of darkness where time runs differently and anything is possible.

The Black Fairy makes several attempts to turn Gideon dark, including physically abusing him, but through it all, Gideon remembers his mother's words and strives to do what she wants him to do: be a hero.

After he has lived twenty-eight years in the Dark Realm, Gideon returns to Storybrooke only a short amount of time after his initial kidnapping through a portal, arriving at the diner wearing the cloak he is destined to kill Emma in. The Evil Queen is surprised to see him and questions his identity. In response, Gideon flings her away with magic and transforms her into a caged snake before leaving. He arrives at the pawnshop and lowers his hood, revealing his identity to his parents.

As Mr. Gold and Belle question how he could possibly be in Storybrooke, Gideon explains that he lived for twenty-eight years with the Black Fairy but always held on to his mother's words and her desire for him to be a hero. Mr. Gold expresses hope that he may not wish to kill Emma after all, but Gideon corrects him, stating his plans to kill her so that he can become a Savior and defeat the Black Fairy himself, and then teleports away. Mr. Gold finds him on a cliff and advises him to plan ahead if he hopes to kill the Savior, however, Gideon takes this to mean his father doesn't believe he is strong enough to do it. Gideon continues to be defiant even after his father states he has hundreds of years of more experience than him, to which Mr. Gold encourages his son to hit him, as he knows Gideon must hate him for not being there for him. Mr. Gold goes as far as slapping Gideon and insisting that he slap back. When Gideon fails to do so, his father calls him weak and implies if he can't do this, he can't kill the Savior. Angry and indignant, Gideon teleports away. Later, as Emma walks through Storybrooke, Gideon appears behind her wielding a sword. Recognizing him from her vision, she questions his identity and is surprised to learn that he has the same name as Belle's child. They briefly fight before Gideon knocks Emma's sword, the sword he is fated to kill her with, out of her hands and takes it before teleporting his sword away as David, Hook, Henry, Regina, Robin of Locksley, Mr. Gold, and Belle gather to watch. As he freezes the crowd in place and prepares to land the final blow, Emma's hands begin shaking, but she tells him that though she will someday die, it will not be this day, and uses her magic to knock him away, shattering the sword. Though she prepares to use a shard of the sword to slit his neck, Mr. Gold begs her to stop. Gideon insists once again that he does not need his father's help and teleports away, leaving his family to explain to Emma what happened. After the crowd has cleared, Gideon takes a walk through town and eventually makes it to the clock tower, where he, in a fit of rage, shatters its face.