Black Knights are characters featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. In the Enchanted Forest, they were Regina Mills' minions and servants, and served as her army.
History[]
The Black Knights are the army and henchmen of The Evil Queen and are sent to hunt down Snow White, arrest her and kill her while the princess was on the run.
As part of a deal, Rumplestiltskin glamours Regina as a peasant. At the market, she stops commoners from hitting a stick effigy of her, but the Queen's knights arrive and mistake her as the creator of the effigy. As they prepare to execute her as punishment, a hooded vagrant saves her. During the battle, Regina's leg is cut with a rusty sword, and as an infection sets in, she passes out after seeing her savior is Snow White.
As Red Riding Hood, and Snow White are running from a group of Black Knights, one of them suddenly appears out of nowhere and attacks Snow White, saying that she cannot run from the Evil Queen, but the two woman manage to knock him out, and hide from the rest of the knights. Three Black Knights track Snow White to the Werewolves' Den. The two of them kill Quinn, one of the Werewolves, by shooting him with an arrow. The knight then states to the remaining werewolves that they will stand down, or be killed, but Anita, the pack leader, kills him by snapping his neck, while the other pack members do the same to the other guards. The Black Knights encounter Snow White in the forest and attempt to kill her for the Evil Queen. However, Prince Charming intervenes killing one of them by throwing a knife into his back and shooting another with a bow & arrow, saving Snow White.
At some point, Claude meets the Queen, who is looking for Belle. By nightfall, he directs the Queen and her henchmen straight to her. After Belle is captured and imprisoned by the Queen, Claude becomes employed as one of her guards. Two Black Knights chase Snow White to the edge of a cliff, but she manages to escape. To show them what "dead looks like", the Evil Queen kills his companion by snapping his neck. The knight then asks if he should send more men after Snow White, but she tells them that they've proven unequal to the task.
Snow White is in the forest when she captures one of the Queen's knights. She threatens to kill him if he does not give her information about the Queen's whereabouts. After complying with her demand, Snow White knocks out the knight out and takes his armor and clothes as a disguise for herself. Later, Prince Charming finds the nude knight who tells him about Snow White's plans to kill the Queen, and how she has gone off to find Rumplestiltskin. Prince Charming questions the knight's version of events, but goes to find her. ("Heart of Darkness") They accompany the Evil Queen when she runs into Hansel and Gretel. The Queen confronts the children on why they are on her road. They explain the disappearance of their father and that they are actively searching for him. The Evil Queen orders her guards to seize the children, but before they can do anything, Gretel throws Hansel's bolas at them.
She and Hansel attempt to run away, but the Evil Queen uses her magic to fling them to the ground. She promises to assist them in their hunt for their father if they agree to help her out. The Huntsman still continues to fight on the side of good despite that his heart is gone. The Huntsman aids Prince Charming in his escape from the castle; killing a guard and giving him provisions for his quest to find Snow White. When offered to join Prince Charming, the Huntsman rejects the idea since he is bound to the Evil Queen ever since sacrificing his heart in place of Snow White's. Once the Evil Queen notes Prince Charming's absence, she threatens to kill the Huntsman for his incompetence. Though he swears to stop at nothing until Prince Charming is hunted down, the Evil Queen turns her attention away from him when she sees the Magic Mirror is able to show her where the prince currently is, and uses her magic to trap the prince in the forest.
After Queen Regina puts Snow White under an eternal sleeping curse, the Magic Mirror witnesses Prince Charming awaken her with true love's kiss. He has a black knight carry his mirror to the Queen in the royal garden and sternly warns against dropping him or he'll be cursed with fourteen years of bad luck. When her minions enter the garden, the Queen expresses annoyance at being disturbed, which quickly turns to outrage when she sees, through the Magic Mirror, Prince Charming proposing to a revived Snow White. On the day of her birthday, the Evil Queen and her Black Knights arrive in a village, with all its residents standing outside holding various gifts. A peasant woman wishes the Queen a happy birthday, proffering her a pie. Regina samples the filling, which is blueberry, calling it "not bad", but declaring that she prefers apple. The woman looks frightened as Regina addresses the crowd, telling them that while they don't have the present she wants, they will get it for her--"Snow White's heart on a plate".
The Evil Queen overlooks a burning village when one of her knights approaches her and tells her that the forces of King George have failed, Snow White and Prince Charming have won the war, and the location of King George is unknown. She asks her knight the location of Snow White, and he informs her that she is on her way to meet with Prince Charming. The Evil Queen commands that she does not care how many lives are lost, Snow White is to be kept away from Prince Charming until she can meet with her. Standing guard out of Belle's cell in the Queen's palace, Claude suspiciously watches as a hooded stranger approaches claiming to deliver a meal for the prisoner. Seeing through the lie, he attacks the assailant but is quickly overpowered and killed.
With Claude dead, the stranger, Hook, breaks into Belle's cell hoping to extract information from her concerning his nemesis, Rumplestiltskin, and a cursed dagger. When she proves to be useless, Hook prepares to kill her until the Queen, Regina, stops him. She offers him the power to kill a magic-less Rumplestiltskin in another world once her curse is cast, but only if he manages to murder her mother, the Queen of Hearts, in Wonderland. Hook agrees, so Regina prepares to take him there by a portal hat. As part of the hat's rules, only the same amount of people who arrive in a world can return. Thus, since the Queen wants Hook to bring back her mother's corpse, she sends him to Wonderland with Claude's dead body. Instead of killing the Queen of Hearts, he joins ranks with her after learning Regina's curse will wipe out his memories. On return to the Enchanted Forest, Claude's body is left behind while Hook and his new accomplice depart.
The Black Knights enter the Royal Castle as the Dark Curse engulfs the Enchanted Forest. They attack Prince Charming as he tries to bring his infant daughter, who is the savior, to the Magic Wardrobe, in order to send her to the Land Without Magic. Prince Charming overpowers them, and sends the baby through the wardrobe. The Black Knights attack him again, and the wounded prince does his best to defend himself, but he is quickly stabbed in the abdomen, and drops to the floor. The knights pry the wardrobe open, but it is empty. The Evil Queen arrives, and asks the knights about the child. The Black Knight replies, "Gone. It was in the wardrobe; and then it was gone. It's nowhere to be found."
Alternate Timeline[]
In the present day, after accidentally being transported through Zelena's Time portal, Emma Swan, accompanied by Hook, watches the Black Knights accompany Regina in arresting Maid Marian for keeping silent on telling Snow's whereabouts and interrogating the villagers. Afterwards, Emma accidentally changed history by interrupting her parents meeting when she was entranced and excited to see them in action and seeing them in their true forms and identities for the first time. While trying to get them together by tricking Snow into robbing Prince Charming's mother's ring from King Midas' castle, the Black Knights accompany the Evil Queen to the royal ball held at King Midas's castle. When Snow White, who has just broken into the castle, escapes on horseback, a Black Knight archer tries to shoot her with an arrow. However, the arrow misses when Emma tackles him. The archer alerts all those around him that Emma helped Snow White escape, and Regina has Emma arrested. This made Emma fully experience the ruthlessness of the Black Knights and their queen. Shortly after, the Queen sends a group of Bridge Trolls to deal with Snow White, but when they fail, she turns them into cockroaches. She threatens to do the same to the archer if he fails her again. To make a point, she lifts her boot and squashes one of the roaches with her foot, before ordering the knight him to find Snow White.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- All the Black Knights appear to be males, but Lily would be the first female in the army, just like how Mulan is the first and only female in the Imperial Army of China.
External Link[]
- Black Knights on the Once Upon a Time Wiki.