Tragic Merlin on Once Upon a Time

Every version of the Arthurian Legend has its own version of each of the legendary figures, and Once Upon a Time is no different. After several episodes in which we've gotten to know these versions of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, in episodes 505 & 507 we finally learn Merlin's story.

Warning: Spoilers for Season 5 of Once Upon a Time from here on out!

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).

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...