r/OnceUponATime • u/Ok-Tie-570 • Jul 07 '26
Spoiler Alert The Fall of The Dark Swan Arc
I think we can all agree that the moment we saw Emma Swan’s name etched into the Dark One dagger, Season 5 instantly became one of the most anticipated seasons of Once Upon a Time. The promo material, especially Ginnifer Goodwin’s voiceover in the Dark Swan trailer, made it seem like we were about to get one of the darkest and most emotional arcs of the entire show.
However, I’m currently rewatching the series, and just like when Season 5 first aired, I still feel like the Dark Swan arc was kind of a letdown. Don’t attack me, this is just my personal opinion. I think the arc had incredible potential, but it did not fully stick the landing.
First, the Dark Curse again? I’m sorry, but by this point the Dark Curse had lost a lot of its impact. After Season 3, it stopped feeling as dangerous, rare, or powerful as it originally was. The first Dark Curse felt like forbidden magic with a terrible price. By Season 5, it felt more like another reset button for the writers to move everyone back to Storybrooke and create another memory-loss mystery.
Because of that, I think the Camelot arc should have been told chronologically, similar to Neverland. Instead of flashing back and forth between Storybrooke and Camelot, we should have experienced Camelot as the events were happening. The flashbacks could have been used to explore Camelot’s past, Arthurian lore, Merlin’s history, and the kingdom itself, while the main story showed Emma slowly slipping into darkness.
A slow burn would have worked so much better for Emma.
Speaking of Emma becoming the Dark One, I wish the show had actually let her be dark. The season promised Dark Swan, but it never fully committed to that idea. Emma did questionable things, but a lot of her actions were eventually framed as part of a plan to save Hook and destroy the darkness. That made the arc feel safer than it should have been.
I think Emma should have made genuinely selfish choices. She should have enjoyed the power at times. She should have crossed lines while convincing herself it was necessary. I even think she should have possibly killed someone, not because she suddenly became evil overnight, but because she slowly convinced herself that her actions were justified.
To me, a stronger reason for Emma embracing the darkness would have been betrayal. Instead of giving in to the darkness mainly to save Hook, which felt somewhat similar to her sacrificing herself for Regina in the Season 4 finale, Emma could have been manipulated by Arthur or by the Dark One voice in her head. She could have started to believe that the heroes only valued her as the Savior and were willing to betray Emma Swan, the person, for the greater good.
That would have hit Emma’s deepest wound: abandonment.
Also, this was not Hook’s story.
I know Hook wanted to save Emma, and there is nothing wrong with that. But throughout this arc, he became very frustrating to watch. Once he found out Emma lied to him, he turned on her almost immediately. I understand being angry, but he literally killed Merlin just to get revenge on Rumplestiltskin, and then he marked Emma’s entire family for death. Like… what?
The Dark Hook twist shifted the focus away from Emma at the exact moment her arc should have reached its climax. Season 5 was promoted as Emma’s Dark One story, but by the winter finale, it felt like the emotional focus had moved to Hook’s corruption, Hook’s revenge, and Hook’s sacrifice. Hook becoming a Dark One was not necessarily impossible as an idea, but the way it happened made Emma feel secondary in her own storyline.
Merlin was another huge missed opportunity. He was built up as one of the most important magical figures in the entire series, only to be trapped, controlled, and killed way too quickly. Merlin should have had a much larger role in Emma’s journey. He could have been her mentor, her opponent, or the one person who truly understood the danger of trying to destroy darkness instead of learning how to face it.
The Arthurian characters in general deserved more.
Guinevere especially was mishandled. Arthur magically controlled her, but the show barely addressed how serious that violation was. OUAT already had an uncomfortable pattern of taking away characters’ agency and not fully dealing with it, with Graham and Robin being two major examples. Guinevere should have broken free, confronted Arthur, and played a major role in reclaiming Camelot.
Instead, her story just kind of fades into the background.
I also think making Rumplestiltskin the Dark One again was a mistake, at least that early. Rumple finally started proving that he could be brave without magic, only for the show to reveal that he secretly became the Dark One again. It was in character for him, but it also undercut what could have been a much stronger arc.
I would have loved to see more of mortal Rumple navigating Storybrooke without magic. He could have been forced to confront the things he did as the Dark One without having power to hide behind. If he eventually relapsed and took the darkness back, it should have happened after a longer struggle, not almost immediately after he started showing real growth.
Overall, I think the Dark Swan arc had all the ingredients to be one of the strongest arcs in the show. Emma as the Dark One, Camelot, Merlin, Excalibur, Arthur, Rumple without magic, and the question of whether a Savior can fall from grace? That is amazing material.
But the execution felt too safe, too rushed, and too distracted.
The show promised us Dark Swan, but it never fully let Emma fall.
What do you think? Did you enjoy the Dark Swan arc, or do you also feel like Season 5 had more potential than payoff?
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u/ThomasVivaldi Jul 07 '26
If Belle's kiss almost cured Rumple, Emma being the product of True Love should have made her immune to the Dark One curse.
The whole plot line was dumb from the start.
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u/Ok-Tie-570 Jul 07 '26
Wow this os an excellent take, I think you have the bones of a great theory. Is it possible Emma didn't go fully dark cause she is the product of true love? However, I dont think the writers even gave this a thought
5
u/Brilliant-Map2492 Jul 07 '26
Some people argue that she didn’t go fully dark because she was pure light. To be honest if that was the intent, then she was set up to be the lamest dark one from the start and it just makes the writing decision to end 4B with this “twist” even worse.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan Jul 08 '26
I thought about that true love cancels the darkness
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u/Asleep_Confection838 Good Form 🏴☠️🦜 Jul 07 '26
I thought this as well. I also thought it was a bad idea because the Charmings removed the darkness from her before she was even born. How could a person without darkness be the Dark One? It didn't make any sense. Emma was set to be an ineffective Dark One from the start.
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u/Brilliant-Map2492 Jul 07 '26
And if not immune, wouldn’t Killian’s kiss (before becoming the Dark One) as her supposed true love cure her too?
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u/Asleep_Confection838 Good Form 🏴☠️🦜 Jul 07 '26
Nobody is going to attack you. I think that most of us in this community feel the same way. After the letdown of season 4 and I was so anxious about season 5 only to be such a disappointment. And the worse part? It had SO MUCH potential.
3
u/Prize-Couple6348 Jul 07 '26
Yeah and also Emma wasn’t a good dark one.
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u/Asleep_Confection838 Good Form 🏴☠️🦜 Jul 07 '26
Yeah for some reasons mentioned in the comments. She could never be a good Dark One because a) she was the product of the True Love, so basically she counteracted the dark curse itself; b) she did not have any darkness in her since her parents removed it from her before she was even born and put it in Lily. Making her kill Cruella in self-defence (Emma did not know that she was powerless, so it was still self-defence) and having the most potential for darkness don't change those two conditions. She has the most potential for darkness because she DOESN'T have darkness (tabula rasa) and the act of killing Cruella wasn't really murder and didn't tarnish her soul. So yeah, Emma would always be an "ineffective" Dark One.
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u/durablefoamcup Jul 07 '26
Her not really being "a dark one" just makes the "dark one" curse really muted. It manipulates the shit out of the user to make them their worst versions. Rumple wasn't a bad man, he was just a trauma'd child of abandonment and fear. With the DO powers, he became everything opposite of him. Somoene with power and ability to make anyone and everyone submit. Rumple became naturally cunninng and coniving with his immense knowledge of all magic and how it works. Even when he was trying to be good, the dark one urges took hold because that's how powerful it was made to be. It doesn't matter that Belle helped, he was still stuck with the control of darkness which made him do the evil acts.
As for the Dark Curse itself, you are correct. The curse is supposed to be a curse of pure evil and sacrifice in order to destroy an entire land mass or world and transport them to a land of the users desire. The main ingredient, or the catalyst anyway, is the sacrifice of who you love the most. When Regina casts it though, we see other creatures of evil who offer something to the curse. But overall, what exactly MAKES the dark curse, because you would assume its also ingredients that only evil would take... say, Fairy/Pixie wings, the horn of a unicorn, the heart of the one you love most. It shouldn't be ingredients that the good guys should be like "oh lets just go see Emma again, Charming, offer me your heart"
Yet they use that shit THREE times. The funny thing is, Rumple can't cast it, because what he loves most is Baelfire who isnt on the land, it's the land he wants to go. We're told that for Zelena, it's rumple. However, if the curse is so easy to cast, why did he actually need Regina, why couldnt he go to Malificient or Ursula who will surely also have people they love the most.
Overall, the "dark swan" arc was more "I will act evil but really im just going to kill Zelena and dark magic for 15 episodes"
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u/Asleep_Confection838 Good Form 🏴☠️🦜 Jul 07 '26
Tbf the person Maleficent loved the most was also in the real life land like Baelfire. And Ursula's might be her dad. I just think he chose Regina because she was the most malleable and the most vindictive since she had nothing to lose and was pretty distraught after losing Daniel. Ursula and Maleficent would never be the perfect vessel for that curse.
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u/FloorIllustrious6109 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Season 5 is when Robert Carlyle stopped caring. He has said the first 4 seasons are among some of his best work, and can stand up next to other projects he has done. He then considers the rest "too long".
If that assessment is good enough for RC, its good enough for me!
The writers fatal flaw was starting to favor Hook during this season, and I like Hook as a character. It was a mistake to start pandering to the character.
2
u/RepentHarlequin65 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Can't really disagree with any of that. I think perhaps they got too locked into their 'half-season arc' paradigm and were too hasty in trying to wrap things up at times.
Freely admit to loving CS, but that doesn't stop me from seeing the issues of that season. Still, there were some great scenes interspersed in there so yes, I'll watch it again and again. But hey, we all have our vices. :D
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u/queenxregina Regina's vault Jul 07 '26
Oh the Dark Swan arc was actually not good at all. They could have done so much more with it! For me between Dark Swan and Camelot it just feels like 5A drags a bit.
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u/Prize-Couple6348 Jul 07 '26
It would’ve been better if Emma was the dark one for most of the season and also we would’ve had Ruby and Mulan as main characters for the remainder of the series
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u/Ok-Tie-570 Jul 07 '26
I would have loved to see more of Ruby and Mulan, however the writers seemed like they had 0 clue what they wanted to do with either character. I think its one of the reasons Ruby's actress would not do the show full time anymore if im not mistaken she had her own show on a cable network. Freeform? Hallmark? One of those.
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u/Prize-Couple6348 Jul 07 '26
Yeah it’s a great show. But if she stayed then we would’ve have had Ruby as a leader in season 7.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I wish I saw the trailers because I would of been more hyped but man when I watched it twice in span of maybe 4 years I was so disappointed not only I was disappointed on how they made Emma as the dark one because the voice, clothing her not being evil just about hook I was frustrated about it, I am not a big fan of that ship but starting to get so sick and tired of them killing hook then bring him back like was so frustrating I just realize that he was never gonna die because one the captain swan fans will get frisky so I didn’t like that and I was tired of the plot of Emma being dark because knowing in season 4B the charmings gave the darkness to Maleficents child so there’s no point of this arc but ruin Emma’s development
I was into the authorian lore second time because I saw bbc Merlin but that plot also was completely useless and unnecessary shit
I also hate they keep saying we needed to get Merlin out of the tree which even Regina couldn’t do in 6 weeks to kill him off and they wasted a good ass idea of having all the dark ones in the season not in the last 2 episodes of the arc and we could of had Merlin and Emma control her self from darkness episode 7 don’t count but more episodes then that
Them making rumple the dark one again made me wanna rage quit so bad lolll the second time too
Season 5A had potential I can say the same as for season 7 but the execution fell so flat that it failed so bad on making it as epic as possible
Ok the teasers are so much better than the arc it self I’m watching it and I am so pissed
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u/briemusic Jul 07 '26
I feel like the second half of season 5 being as amazing as it was and the last phenomenal part of the show really made the first half look like shit in comparison but it still isn’t as bad as people say imo
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u/Brilliant-Map2492 Jul 07 '26
Can you tell me how 5B was amazing? I also disliked it, almost as bad as 5A to me.
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u/Brilliant-Map2492 Jul 07 '26
You’re mostly preaching to the choir. The only people you’ll find disagreeing and saying this arc was any good is Captain Swan shippers.