| “ | I can grant your wish. | „ |
| ~ Sidney Glass |
Sidney Glass is a supporting antagonist in the series Once Upon a Time.
He is the alter ego of the Genie from Aladdin and the Magic Mirror from Snow White.
He was portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito, who also portrayed Hypnos in Monkeybone, Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad, Frank Dawson in Okja, Lex Luthor in Harley Quinn, Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian, and Stan Edgar in The Boys.
Personality[]
Sidney Glass was depressed and lonely, living his miserable life for centuries as the Genie of Agrabah, granting various people a thousand and one wishes for their own selfish ends while he desired freedom. He was constantly tired of repeating his genie phrase of how many wishes a person has and would explain rather unceremoniously the terms and conditions of his power. After gaining his freedom, Sidney was joyful but was cautious when the last wish was given to him.
Upon meeting Queen Regina, Sidney grew fond of her, which led to him loving her entirely. He fell so desperately in love with Regina that he was easily manipulated and killed for her. When he was spurred by her, he frantically used his last wish to always be with her, which caused him to be trapped behind the mirror forever.
However, in Season 4, Sidney finally realizes that Regina will never love him, only seeing him as a pawn. He betrays her to the Snow Queen in exchange for his freedom.
Powers and Abilities[]
Sidney Glass is a powerful magical being, as he is a genie and a magic mirror with incredible power.
- Wish Granting: As the Genie of Agrabah, Sidney had the ability to grant any three wishes that were asked of him after his lamp was rubbed. However, his genie powers were limited, and due to the Laws of Magic, some were restricted. He could not grant life, death, love, or change the past, and once the wish was fulfilled, it could not be undone.
- Mirror Magic: After becoming trapped in the mirror, the Magic Mirror could move between and see through all other mirrors in the realm. Regina uses the mirror to spy and locate others.
- Hindsight: Sidney could show glimpses and events of the past in his mirror, such as when Regina asked him to show her the exact moment she met Maid Marian.
- Summoning: The mirror can summon people from other lands and realms when asked of him.
- Portal Transportation: The Magic Mirror can become a looking-glass portal to Wonderland. He summoned Cora, and with her appearing in the larger mirror, she was able to cross into the Enchanted Forest. He then forced Cora back to Wonderland by extending two arms, pulling her into the portal, and sealing it.
- Arcane Knowledge: Sidney has a vast amount of knowledge of arcane magic. He knows his genie powers were not absolute due to the Laws of Magic and knows past and future events.
- Soul Magic: For many years, Sidney was a mirror, which caused him to leave a part of his soul inside the mirror, fused with dark magic, which was used to cast a powerful curse.
- Technology: As Sidney, he had access to various electronic wiretapping and surveillance equipment that he used to spy on people for Regina.
History[]
Before First Curse[]
The Genie of Agrabah appears before the King.
As the Genie of Agrabah, a powerful magical being who is imprisoned in a magic lamp, he grants wishes to all who come across him. King Leopold comes across the lamp and curiously rubs it causing the Genie to come forth and grant his three wishes. The King happily wishes for the Genie to be free and brings him back to his palace to meet his daughter, Snow White and his wife, the Queen Regina. He had fallen in love with Regina at first sight. During a birthday celebration for the King, the Genie notices Regina's unhappiness and gives her mirror to show her that she is the fairest in the land.
The Genie tells the Queen she is the fairest.
Later Regina writes her in diary that she has fallen in the love with the man who gave her the mirror causing the King to become enraged. When he heard the King had locked her in her room, he went to Regina and told her he will do anything for her so they can be together. The Queen's father, the Valet, brought a basket containing two Agrabahan Vipers to her and she was ready to kill herself until the Genie said he would use them to kill the King instead of her and they will be together. Truly believing the Queen loves him, the Genie murders the King and tells him that he was the man who gave Regina the mirror. Returning to the Queen to tell her they can finally be together, he realizes Regina only used him to get rid of her husband when she informs him the guards found the snakes and, knowing they're from his land, know he was behind the murder. Upon his realization, Regina coldly reveals her true colors and orders him to flee the kingdom Naive and blinded by his infatuation, the Genie uses the last wish, that was given to him by the King when he used his second wish that the third wish would belong to the Genie, and wishes to be with her forever and to look upon her face always.
The Genie turns into the Magic Mirror.
Much to his horror, he becomes trapped as the Spirit of the Magic Mirror. Regina, holding the mirror the Genie gave her, tells the Magic Mirror he finally got his wish and he will be with her forever.
In his imprisonment in the mirror, the Magic Mirror is used by Regina to spy on her enemies such as Snow White and Rumplestiltskin.
The Mirror gives the Queen an idea.
After the King has died, the Magic Mirror suggests to the Queen to use a Huntsman to kill Snow White which she agrees to. In one of her schemes, the Queen acquires help from a portal jumper named Jefferson who refuses to lend his assistance to her. Not to be undermined, she disguises herself as an old hag at the market Jefferson is shopping at and refuses to sell a toy that his daughter wants for not having enough money for it.
The Mirror calls her cruel.
When the two leave, the Queen goes to the back of her cart where a large mirror hangs as the Magic Mirror tells the disguised Queen that she was awfully cruel for not letting the girl have her toy. Later Prince Charming escapes the Evil Queen's castle to rescue Snow White, but the Magic Mirror shows the Queen his location and banishes him to the Infinite Forest. But the Prince manages to escape the Infinite Forest and awakens Snow White with True Love's Kiss which is all seen by the Magic Mirror as he was spying on them.
The Mirror has bad news for his Queen.
The Magic Mirror has a guard carry him to the Queen but warns him that if he's dropped the guard will have fourteen years bad luck. Hurrying towards the Queen's garden, the Magic Mirror shows her an awakened Snow White proposed by Prince Charming and promising to take back the kingdom which enrages the Queen.
The Queen consoles her Mirror on what to do next.
Defeated and not able to do harm to Snow White in the Enchanted Forest, the Queen vows to unleash the Dark Curse upon everyone in the land and is successful when she sacrifices the heart of the thing she loves most, her father. The Curse is cast as it engulfs everyone, including the Magic Mirror and is taken into another land.
During First Curse[]
Sidney Glass reporter.
In Storybrooke, Sidney Glass works as a journalist and reporter for the Daily Mirror and becomes an associate for the Mayor, Regina Mills who is the Evil Queen. But he does not have his memories of the Enchanted Forest, so he just acts like a normal journalist who does everything Regina tells him to do like spy on Emma Swan and Mary Margaret Blanchard and has more fake news. He did all this by love for the Mayor and made sure to do everything right for her. So after all failure she finally fired him. But she secretly used him to get close to Emma and find information for her. Sidney wanted to find a good story so he can land his job back at the Daily Mirror and took the story of who kidnapped Kathryn Nolan who is David's cursed wife. When Emma realizes his deception and that he was doing it out of infatuation for the mayor, she warns him to either cut ties with Regina or go down with her. Later Regina has him confess to Emma in the Sherriff's office, admitting his desire to earn his job back and possibly even get a novel of himself by kidnapping Kathryn and tampering with evidence about her death before finding her and becoming a hero. Despite knowing Regina's obviously making him take the fall for her crimes and feeling pity for him, Emma knew she had no choice but to incarcerate him for his confession, though not before vowing to take custody of Henry from her. Later Sidney is imprisoned in the basement of the hospital in one of the cell rooms with the words S. Glass on his door.
After Second Curse[]
Sidney is freed.
After spending several years locked away in the psychiatric ward, Sidney receives an unexpected visit from Regina who states someone is in the way of her happiness, and she need his help to be rid of this person. Regrouping at the Heart Vault, Regina explains her situation with Robin Hood, and how she thinks the storybook influenced the recent events that took place. She believes that it is keeping her, a villain, from getting a happy ending, but also believes to be more powerful than the book. Sidney is interested in her plans, and comments how he always thought there was a reason why the formerly Evil Queen kept him imprisoned in the ward and hadn't forgotten about him. Awkwardly, Regina agrees to this,although it is far from the truth. So when Sidney told her if she needed him to kill her, he was ready to do it. However, Regina doesn't want Sidney to kill Marian, but instead she would rewrite history by traveling to the past to kill Marian before Emma has a chance to save her. However, she does not remember capturing Marian, as she has captured and killed many in the past, so she needs her Mirror to show her the exact moment this occurred.
Sidney is trapped in the Mirror once again.
Sidney is confused about how he can help accomplish this, but soon realizes it once Regina transforms him back into the Magic Mirror. Horrified, he begins shouting and hitting the inside of the mirror until she assures him that this form will be temporary. Sidney then manifests, in his mirror, the past event when Regina took Marian as prisoner after she refused to tell her where Snow White was. After seeing the past, the formerly Evil Queen has a change of heart and does not go through with the plan to kill Marian. When Regina returned to her house, she looked into her mirror and called mirror twice but no response until she calls Sidney and he manifests himself in the mirror. Regina tells her Mirror that she has a different idea - she believes the book, and not Marian, is the source of her suffering. She then told her Mirror that she never got her happy ending because she is a villain, and only heroes have gotten their happy endings. Regina then told him she was going to change the pages of the book and make villains finally get their happy endings. By doing this, she suggests that they find the book's author and only then she can force the writer to give her a happy ending she is entitled to.
After Marian is cursed with a freezing spell from the Snow Queen's magic, Regina vows to find a cure. Having no luck with the search, she summons Sidney into manifesting in his mirror.
Regina asks if he found the Snow Queen yet, and Sidney attests he hasn't yet, so she pushes him to do so. Sometime before or after this, he betrays Regina to the Snow Queen. When Sidney "discovers" the Snow Queen's lair, he reports this to Regina. Before revealing the location, he asks to be made human again. She informs him that will be decided on whether his information is worth it. Sidney tries to force Regina's hand by withholding knowledge, but she threatens to lock him up at the psychiatric ward after he is changed back.
The Mirror betrays his Queen.
Abandoning his tactics, he appears in Regina's compact mirror and leads her to the Snow Queen's lair. On her way there, she is joined by Emma who is searching for Elsa. The two reach an ice bridge built with Elsa's magic, and as they go across it, the structure shakes due to the Snow Queen's influence. Realizing Sidney's trickery, Regina opens her mirror and curses at him for being a traitor (though in fairness, she has done so to him in the past). He establishes that she should look at her own reflection and contemplate her actions. Sidney also reveals the Snow Queen has a "present" for her, which he believes is well deserved before vanishing from the mirror compact. Moments later, the women discover the present is an armored snow monster, which they defeat. The Snow Queen appears and steals the mirror compact before choking the livid Regina and an intervening Emma before her niece Elsa arrives to drives her off.
Sidney is free again
For his assistance, the Snow Queen restores Sidney to human. He prepares to serve her as a loyal subject, but she allows him to go freely. The Snow Queen admits she was actually after the compact mirror, which contains an essence of Sidney's soul and is infused with Regina's dark magic. When he questions what it's for, she remains tight-lipped. After the Snow Queen opens the lair exit, before he leaves she cautions him to get a winter coat since Storybrooke will become chillier soon.
Sidney's current fate is unknown, though it can be assumed he remains free given the heroes either don't know his whereabouts or have simply left him be.
