Camelot meets Storybrooke in Season 5a of Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time started out based on the characters in the fairy tale of Snow White, then episode by episode expanded the cast to include other stories, sometimes even letting us visit those other lands. But through the first four seasons to only reference to Camelot was in passing, a land of legend mentioned by an exiled Lancelot when he meets Snow White and Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest. That ends now as a magical twister drops Grannie's dinner and our heroes in the Kingdom of Camelot!

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for season 5a of Once Upon a Time.

The first half of season 5 of OUAT takes place between Camelot and Storybrooke, with the Camelot stories taking place 6 weeks before the "present time" in Storybrooke. I won't go into all the story details of each episode, since the point of this blog isn't OUAT. We'll just look into our favorite Arthurian characters and see what they're like in their fairytale world, and how they adapt to our modern world.

In Camelot

First off, this Camelot is definitely a fairytale-medieval version of Camelot! Gorgeous castle with turrets and pennants etc, you can definitely see the Disney influence. They of course throw a gorgeous ball (to welcome our heroes to their land, and to celebrate Merlin's prophesied imminent release from the tree).

Lancelot returns to Once Upon a Time!

We met Lancelot in the s2 episode "Lady of the Lake". A knight who exiled himself from Camelot for the love of a woman, and who helped out Snow and Charming in the past, and who was apparently killed by Cora (Regina's very evil mother, the Queen of Hearts). Episode 503 "The Siege Perilous" references this when Arthur and Charming talk of the Round Table.

"This is the Siege Perilous, reserved for the knight with the purest heart. The one destined to carry out the most sacred quests. It belonged to a man I trusted more than a brother, but he betrayed me. It's been vacant since."

When Charming tells Arthur that he and Snow met him once, Arthur seems genuinely happy to hear of him and asks how he is. And truly downcast when Charming tells him that he died.

"Lancelot failed to resits temptation but he was a good knight. He tortured himself for his sins more than I would have done and I wished him happy, just not with my wife."

But Snow sees Lancelot at the end of the episode! He warns Snow that the Dark One is not the only villain in Camelot.

"There is a terrible villain in Camelot. (...) Arthur. Trust me, Camelot is not the place it seems."

And with that cryptic beginning, Lancelot is BACK! And definitely not dead. ;o)

Once Upon a Time meets the world of Arthurian Legend in the Season 5 premiere

"Don't. (...) One day you will have the opportunity to remove Excalibur from its stone. And you mustn't. Leave the sword alone."

Says a mysterious cinema usher to a very young Emma Swan. It's Minneapolis 1989. Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" is playing in a theatre. How does this usher know her name? Why does he tell her not to take the sword from the stone? He says if you do something you're not supposed to do, even if you do it for a good reason, bad things will happen. A young terrified Emma watches young Wart pull Excalibur from the stone as our screen fades to black and then to 3 knights galloping across the land: it's King Arthur, Lancelot and another knight! Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone... an incomplete Excalibur which is missing the tip.

Zoom in on the Dark One's dagger with Emma Swan's name on it, and you realize that dagger looks an awful lot like the missing piece of Excalibur...

Maid Marian arrives in Storybrooke

Aside from a brief glimpse of a pregnant and ill Marian when we first met Robin Hood in the season 2 episode "Lacey", the only mentions of her in Once Upon a Time have been Robin Hood reminiscing about her, his regrets that her death was his fault. But no mention of how she died, or when. Until the season 3 double episode finale "Snow Drifts" and "There's No Place Like Home", when a portal set in motion by Zelena sends Emma and Hook to the Enchanted Forest, but back in time. To the moment Snow and Charming first met...

Warning, from here on out spoilers abound for the season 3 finale!

Robin Hood comes to Storybrooke

WARNING! Contains plenty of spoilers for Season 3B of Once Upon a Time which splits the action between Storybrooke (a year after the action in episode 3.11) and the Enchanted Forest (immediately after episode 3.11). In it we get to more of Robin Hood in the Enchanted Forest, and find out how he (and the Merry Men) ends up in Storybrooke and what his life is like there.

Outlaw by Angus Donald

When young Alan Dale barely escapes from the Sheriff of Nottingham's men after being caught stealing (and almost loses his hand as punishment!), his mother takes him to the Lord of the Wood for Sanctuary, to Robin Hood. Robin takes him in and Alan's life is forever changed. Serving a violent man, in a violent period of history, Alan will learn to follow Robin's rules and fight to survive.

The Outlaw Chronicles by Angus Donald

The Outlaw Chronicles is a series of historical fiction novels (and a few e-novellas) in which author Angus Donald shares his version of Robin Hood. They bring to life a Robin somewhat different from the traditional "noble thief" figure. This is a violent and ruthless man (think mafia don), who lived in violent times. Seen through the memory of one of Robin's most trusted lieutenants, Alan Dale (framed as if were writing his memoirs in his old age), we travel through England, the Holy Land (on Crusade), Germany (searching for a captive King Richard), Normandy (fighting the French) and more.

This is the Middle Ages, the Crusades, the battles between English and French kings over Plantagenet lands in France, sibling rivalries which threaten to topple a monarch, baronial rebellions against tyrannical kings. A very violent period of history, and very vividly brought to life in these tales.

Birth of Robin "Hood" on Once Upon A Time

"Heart of Gold", Episode 18 of Once Upon a Time's Season 4 is a Robin-centric episode that delves into his past and presents us with this series' version of how Robin of Locksley came to be known as Robin Hood, as well as the origin of his particular code of thievery, and a little wink at how it is he's such an amazing archer! 

Warning, spoilers aplenty below!

The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper

Ever since I first read these books as a child (or teenager? Don't remember!), these lines have been engrained in my memory:

"When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;

Three from the Circle, three from the track;

Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;

Five shall return, and one go alone. 

Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;

Wood from the burning, stone out of song;

Fire on the candle ring, water from the thaw;

Six Signs the circle and the grail gone before. 

Fire from the mountains shall find the harp of gold

Played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;

Power from the green witch, lost beneath the sea;

All shall find the light at last, silver on the tree."

Robot of Sherwood

I have a confession to make. Before last weekend (when I started watching Capaldi's first season), I had only ever seen one episode of Doctor Who! Shameful I know. It wasn't that I had no idea what Doctor Who was or what it represented, I did. And being the geeky sci-fi fan that I am, I knew an incredible amount about a series I'd never seen! Of course some people understand when I tell them it was the first episode of "modern Who" with Christopher Eccleston, then they tell me to try again with David Tennant or Matt Smith. And I always said "sure, one of these days". How many years has it been?

What finally got me to give it another go (other than the fact that I LOVED Capaldi as Richelieu in the BBC's Musketeers last year), was the title of this episode and the obvious subject matter. "Robot of Sherwood"?! Was the time-travelling Doctor going to visit one of my favourite swashbuckling heroes?! How could I not watch this?! (of course to be rigorous I did start with the previous two "season 8" episodes... and will definitely continue watching from here on out)

Will Scarlet is in Wonderland!

So, after Once Upon a Time introduced Robin Hood into their tale of mythical / legendary / fairy tale characters, its Wonderland spin-off has decided to join in the game and brings us one of Robin Hood's Merry Men!!! In the third episode "Forget Me Not" we finally get a little bit of back story for Alice's #1 ally the Knave of Hearts. Before this all we knew about him was his willingness to help Alice, his first name Will, and the fact that his past holds a tale of heartbreak involving a woman named Anastasia! Three guesses as to what he has to do with Robin Hood?...

Excalibur on OUAT

Once Upon A Time may be centred on Snow White, Prince Charming, their daughter Emma, her son Henry and the Evil Queen (who is Henry's adopted mother), but it's also a mix of characters from other fairy tales and legends. Just in this episode we have Rumplestiltskin (also one of the regulars), Belle (from Beauty and the Beast, the Beast being Rumple), Captain Hook and Peter Pan (Pan's the evil one)! We've already had one foray into Arthurian lore with the season 2 episode "The Lady of the Lake" in which we met Lancelot. Now it's time for another key Arthurian element to come into play: Excalibur! :o)

Note: spoilers abound for this (and previous) episodes of Once Upon a Time.

Robin Hood returns to Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is back from its summer hiatus, and so is our favourite archer! We get a second, brief, introduction to him in the season 3 première "The Heart of the Truest Believer", a chance to let us become familiar with the new face (actor Sean Maguire) as they had to switch actors for the role (Tom Ellis from episode 2.19 not being available for an extended arc in season 3).

Robin Hood joins Once Upon A Time

The action on Once Upon a Time flicks between the present-day "real world" and flash-backs to the characters' lives in the "Enchanted Forest". These flash-backs usually serve to illustrate how two characters know each other, or how their relationship evolved, or to show how much they have changed between "then" and "now". This is sometimes helped by the introduction of a guest character we haven't seen in the "real world", and this time it's Robin Hood!

In episode 2.19 "Lacey", we have Mr Gold trying to help amnesiac Belle remember their past life together (she used to be Belle, but crossed the town line and forgot her "real" self and now has only "curse" memories Regina implanted in her and thus thinks she's Lacey, a bar-fly). He's counting on her because she always brought out the best in him and he needs that support to continue growing as a person, to fight his wicked tendencies (and stop him from maybe killing his own grandson since a prophecy stated "the boy will be your undoing").

The flash-back shows us the beginning of Belle and Rumple's story (well, after she surrenders herself to the "beast" that is) and starts with Belle sobbing in a dungeon. Rumplestiltskin shows up to complain about the noise:

"Rumple: When you so eagerly agreed to come and work for me, I assumed you wouldn't miss your family quite so much.

Belle: I made my sacrifice for them, of course I miss them you beast!

Rumple: Yes, yes, but the crying must stop! Night after night. It's making it very difficult for me to spin! You know I do my best thinking then!"

The sound of broken glass takes us to an elegant room in the castle (possibly a study), where a hooded figure carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows is about to make away with a wand. He shoots at Rumple with "an arrow shot from this bow always finds its target" and hits him. Unfortunately Rumple is "the Dark One" and cannot be killed! He simply pulls the arrow from his chest and we get treated to the #1 rule in Once Upon a Time:

"But don't you know? All magic comes with a price! And in your case, that's me."

Exiled Lancelot in OUAT's "Lady of the Lake"

Aha! A Knight of the Round Table has a guest-starring role on Once Upon A Time!