Henry Mills

"You may not believe in the curse, or in me, but I believe in you."

Henry Daniel Mills is one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time. Henry is the biological son of protagonist Emma Swan, and the adopted son of antagonist Regina Mills. A lonely boy, Henry came to believe that the people living in his small town were under the effect of a powerful curse that robbed them of their memories of their past identities as fairytale characters. This led him to look up his birth mother, whom he knew to be the key to everyone's salvation.

Early Life
"Miss Swan, you made a decision ten years ago. And in the last decade, while you've been... well, who knows what you've been doing?... I've changed every diaper, soothed every fever, endured every tantrum. You may have given birth to him, but he is my son."

- Regina Mills

Emma Swan, the orphaned daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, was sent to our world to eventually save her peers from the effects of the Dark Curse, cast by the Evil Queen. During her troubled life, Emma was put in foster care and with many foster families, always wondering why she had been abandoned as a baby, never knowing all the while that her parents, famed fairytale characters, wanted to give her her best chance.

Henry's mother, Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, met the kid's father, Neal Cassidy, the son of Rumplestiltskin, when the two of them ironically stole the same car. With time, they formed a romance during their lives together as thieves. At a point of their relationship, Emma fell pregnant with their child but didn't know it immediately. While they had planned to withdraw in Tallahassee, a town in Florida, after having stolen watches (previously stolen by Neal), Neal was approached by August W. Booth, who introduced himself as Emma's guardian angel. August taught to Neal Emma's identity and future destiny, to break the Dark Curse. To convince Neal, August told him that he knows that he's Baelfire. With discussion, Neal accepted to leave Emma to help her. And so he called cops to arrest Emma who was sent in jail. When in jail, Emma took a pregnancy test which turned out to be positive on the same day that she received the keys to her and Neal's old car.

Months after, in Phoenix, Arizona, Emma gave birth to her baby, Henry, in prison, at 8:15. Due to her prison sentence not yet being complete, her foot is shackled to the bed as this takes place. As she finished the birthing process, the lights started flickering and burst. The doctor informed her that she gave birth to a boy, but Emma had no interest in holding or even looking at the child. The doctor was soon informed that Emma intended to give the baby up for adoption, and he assured her that it wasn't too late to change her mind. But Emma refused, tearfully stating that she can't be a mother. ("The Heart of the Truest Believer"/"Going Home") She gave him up for adoption because she wanted give him his best chance. She asked for a closed adoption, meaning she was to have no connection with the child and therefore no legal rights to them.

When Regina, former Evil Queen and current Mayor of Storybrooke, Maine, realized that she had a hole in her heart that couldn't be filled by revenge, she asked Mr. Gold, the local pawnbroker, to procure her a child. He did so, telling her of a baby boy who was recently given up by a foster family, and Regina met with an adoption agency where she named the child Henry, after her late father. She took him back to Storybrooke where she struggled to care for him, and took him to the local hospital when he wouldn't stop crying, worried there might be something wrong with him. Dr. Whale assured her that Henry is medically fine, but that the problem could be genetic. Wanting the problem to be sourced, Regina begged her confidant Sidney Glass to find the birth mother's medical details, not having access to them herself due to it being a closed adoption. As she made the call, Regina handed Henry to Mary Margaret Blanchard - formerly Snow White, Henry's maternal grandmother - and he immediately stopped crying in her arms, much to the Mayor's dissatisfaction. When Sidney came through and gave Regina everything he could find on the mother, she was furious to discover that he is the child of Emma Swan, the supposed savior of Storybrooke and breaker of the curse. Not wanting this to happen, she took Henry back to Boston where another family took interest in him, but when she realized how much to loves him, she took him back home with her. Lucky for Henry, because the other family consisted of John and Michael Darling, who would have taken him to the malicious villain that is Peter Pan. When back in Storybrooke, Regina took Henry down to her secret vault where she concocted a potion to make her forget all her troubles, meaning that, for all she knows, she and Henry would live happily ever after.

Years later, in the October of 2011, a lonesome Henry is spotted on the school yard by Mary Margaret, his teacher, who wonders what's wrong. He expresses his woes in that his birth mother gave him up and his adoptive mother merely pretends to love him, but Mary Margaret tries to convince him otherwise. Realizing that what he needs is hope, she takes a book of fairytales out from her bag and hands it to him, informing him that it appeared in her closet that morning when she was cleaning it out, and strangely enough, she had never ever come across it before. Henry wonders if he can borrow it, and Mary Margaret tells him that he can keep it, much to the boy's delight. He soon sees an image of Snow White on her wedding day and realizes how much it looks like his teacher, calling out for Miss Blanchard. When she turns around, he sees her as the character in the book, and makes the connection that it's all real and that the residents of Storybrooke, Maine are in fact victims of a Dark Curse, cast by Regina. Instead of telling her this, he simply thanks her, and sees another picture of Snow White and Prince Charming with their baby, Emma - his birth mother. He sets out to find her. He goes on to use the internet to track down his mother, Emma Swan, and he steals Miss Blanchard's credit card in order to travel to Boston to find her.

Season 1
"They're not fairytales. They're true. Every story in this book actually happened."

Henry's quest to find his birth mother, Emma Swan, brings him to the city of Boston. He comes to her apartment and Emma is surprised to meet him, and he begs her to bring him back to his home, in Storybrooke, Maine. On the drive over, Henry fills Emma in on the story of the Dark Curse, cast by the Evil Queen, and how it imprisoned all the fairytale characters in his town, in a daze, frozen in time, with their happy endings ripped from them. Emma is led to believe that her son is troubled, which is further evidenced by her meeting of his strict, stern mother, Mayor Regina Mills. When Henry goes missing again, Emma offers to aid Regina and Sheriff Graham in tracking him down. It is Miss Blanchard, Henry's teacher, who eventually tells her where she might be able to find him. Emma then finds Henry in his playground castle and returns to him the story book that he'd left in her car. They have the necessary talk about Henry being given away, which he knows was because she wanted the best for him, and he insists on convincing her to stay and open her eyes to the truth of the curse. When Regina tries to bully Emma out of Henry's life, the blonde decides to stay to make sure her child is alright, and when she rents a room at Granny's Bed & Breakfast, Henry is delighted to see, from his bedroom window, that the pointers in the tower's clock start moving again, a sign that things are about to change.

Delighted to have his birth mother staying in town, Henry fills Emma in on the effects of the Dark Curse, gives her the pages detailing her story in the book, saying that the Queen must never read them, and shows happiness in the fact that she decided to stay and in the thought that she's starting to believe him. His teacher, Mary Margaret, is relieved to see him smiling again, and Emma soon learns that Henry thinks Miss Blanchard is really Snow White... something that stays with Emma, for Henry has now told her she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Emma then decides to have a chat with Dr. Archie Hopper, Henry's therapist, who advises her against destroying Henry's belief system, and willingly gives her his files on the young man... which, as it turns out, is a scheme set up by Regina - who's none too happy about Emma being in Henry's life - for Emma to be arrested for stealing. Henry gets Miss Blanchard to bail her out, and Regina's next move is to get Emma to admit that she thinks Henry is crazy for believing in the curse... before the child's eyes. Henry's devastated, until Emma comes to him, having decided to stay for longer, and tells him that what she said was only to throw the Evil Queen off, so that she doesn't catch on to their mission to dethrone her: "Operation Cobra". Henry is overjoyed, and Emma burns the pages that he'd given her.

During a class visit to the local hospital, Henry notices an unclaimed comatose patient who resembles Prince Charming from his book. He then tells his birth mother about this, and Emma plots with Mary Margaret to shatter Henry's belief in the curse by getting the teacher - who's allegedly Snow White - to read a story to Charming. When he fails to react, Henry can finally see that there is no such thing as true love and the rest of it. However, when Mary Margaret humors them, she does get a response: John Doe grabs her hand. Dr. Whale shoots down the teacher's claims, saying that there's been no change in the cerebral activity, but it is soon revealed to us that he's lying in accordance with Regina's plans for the comatose patient. Contrary to Emma's expectations, Mary Margaret tells Henry of the patient's reaction, and they plan to get her to read for him again, hoping he might wake up. Therefore, Henry is still convinced that they're fairytale characters, even though both his birth mother and teacher don't think the same way. However, once they get to the hospital, they learn that John Doe is missing. An angry Regina, the patient's finder and emergency contact, takes Henry away, but he soon sneaks out and heads for the woods, to help Emma, Mary Margaret and Sheriff Graham track him down. They are able to find him unconscious on the water, and the teacher performs CPR on him and brings him back to life. Henry is further convinced that what happened was a reunion between soulmates, but a new twist comes in the form of Kathryn Nolan, the comatose patient's wife. Turns out his name is David Nolan and he's married...

Mayor Mills prepares to go out and allegedly attend a Saturday city council meeting. She specifically mandates that Henry doesn't leave the house until she returns at 5 p.m. sharp, and he is to do his homework in the meantime. He understands that she doesn't want him seeing his mother, Emma, and she tells him Emma's not his mother, just a woman passing through. Once she leaves, Henry immediately joins Emma, who is looking for Ashley Boyd - the real world counterpart of Cinderella - having been hired by Mr. Gold to track her down. Henry and Emma are able to find the pregnant Ashley on the outskirts of town, about to give birth, and they rush her to the local hospital to deliver her. Emma learns from Henry that people can't leave the town or else bad things happen to them, but Emma is an exception, because she's the savior, so she can do anything. Emma tells Mr. Gold, who agreed to adopt Ashley's baby for a large sum of money, that he can't have the child, because Ashley changed her mind. Henry overhears their conversation, and is particularly worried when Gold agrees to let Ashley keep her baby, if Emma agrees to do a favor for Gold in the future. After Emma and Henry meet Ashley's baby, they are forced to rush back to the young man's home, before Regina arrives and finds that he's left. Emma suggests that Henry call her "Pumpkin" as her codename for "Operation Cobra", but he has a better idea in store, one he's not sharing yet. Emma then makes it clear to Henry that she is not going anywhere anytime soon, and afterwards she calls Sheriff Graham and accepts the position of deputy that he'd previously offered her.

Dr. Archie Hopper continues to try and get through to Henry and his belief that everyone in town is really a fairytale character. Archie wonders if he thinks that all the crickets in town were once people, just as Jiminy Cricket used to be a person, and the young man tells him that there are no crickets in Storybrooke, there never were. During their session, a local mine collapses, and when Mayor Mills plans to tear it down and pave over it, Henry becomes suspicious that there might something inside that could prove his theory. Regina is irritated over the fact that her son thinks she's hiding something, and intimidates Archie into ripping Henry's beliefs from him and crushing them. During their next session, Dr. Hopper is hard on Henry, telling him that his beliefs are bordering psychosis, and the frustrated child runs off, and then has the idea to go into the mine and look for evidence. Archie follows him inside during yet another earthquake, and the mine is sealed shut with the two of them in it. They try to get out of it via an old elevator, but the townspeople resort to the use of explosives to try and break the exit, and wind up jamming the elevator. The two are then stuck inside it for a while, waiting to be rescued, and Henry winds up being the one to give his therapist a pep talk, when Archie feels as though he wasn't being a good person when he told Henry what he did. Henry convinces him that he can be the man he wants to be, because of his good conscience. Henry also tells him that he wants to find evidence to back up his theory because he refuses to believe that this is all there is to life. Emma ultimately rescues them both, and Archie tells Regina that he's going to continue treating Henry his way, and she will back off and let him do his job because she might one day find herself in a custody battle and she wouldn't want Archie on her bad side then. Later that night, Henry points out to yet another sign that things are changing: the crickets are heard singing.

Henry attends the welcoming party thrown for recent comatose patient David Nolan, when he is brought back to his household by his wife, Kathryn. At the party, Henry takes his birth mother, Emma, for a sidebar, and he explains to her that David's memory loss is an effect of the curse, which is preventing him from remembering his past as Prince Charming. Emma explains to him that it's a result of his previous state, but Henry isn't convinced. Eventually, David joins them and interrupts their conversation, for they are the only people at the party he actually knows: the ones who saved him. Henry notices how well David handles a sausage on a toothpick, and asks him if he's ever managed a sword, which David interprets as a random juvenile question. David then asks if Mary Margaret is coming to the party, and Emma denies this, making up some excuse for her friend. Some other night, Emma notices someone coming out of Regina's mansion, and realizes it's her partner, Sheriff Graham, who has been sleeping with her. Emma is disgusted for him whe she learns that he was having sex with Henry's mother while the young man was in the house, and that the reason why he was coming out through the window was because Regina didn't want her son to know. Emma tells him that she wishes she was Henry right now, and unbeknownst to their liaison.

When Sheriff Graham - who was once the Huntsman - starts having flashes of his previous life, and of when he was about to kill Snow White, he comes to Mary Margaret to ask her if she believes in past lives, and she tells him about Henry's belief that the residents of Storybrooke are all fairytale characters featured in his book. This leads Graham to come to Henry, claiming to want to talk about the child's book. Later, while they talk in Henry's room and go over the story of Snow White, Henry asks the sheriff when his flashes began, and Graham said they did after he kissed Emma. Henry is somewhat irked that Graham kissed his mother. Graham remembers seeing the wolf, having a knife in his hand, and that he was about to hurt Mary Margaret. This leads Henry to conclude that Graham was the Huntsman. The Huntsman was raised by wolves, which is why Graham sees one - the wolf is his friend, his guide, and is trying to help him. Graham asks how it's possible that he's remembering all of this after kissing Emma, and Henry explains that Emma owes Graham her life, because he spared that of her mother, Snow. Graham then asks how the Huntsman's story ends, and Henry recounts that the Queen takes his heart, because she doesn't want him to ever feel anything again. This alarms Graham, who hasn't been able to have feelings. He then notices a drawing of the Queen's vault in the book, and recognizes it as what the wolf wants to find. Henry tells him it's the vault where she keeps her collection of hearts.

After the untimely death of Sheriff Graham, Mr. Gold gives Emma, the deputy sheriff, a pair of walkie-talkies, that she brings to her son Henry, so that they can communicate with each other regarding "Operation Cobra". However, Henry is blue over Graham's death, believing it to be Regina's fault, and tells his birth mother that they should stop their operation for now because Regina is evil and evil always win because it doesn't have to fight fair. Emma then runs for sheriff against the Mayor-appointed Sidney Glass, and the latter posts a front page article in the local newspaper about the fact that Emma gave birth to Henry behind bars. Henry doesn't have much of a problem learning this, but it only provides him with further belief that his mother's fighting a war she can't win. This leads Emma to accept Mr. Gold as her benefactor, and he sets up a fire in the Mayor's office so that Emma can rescue her and come across as a hero. When Emma discovers this, she feels conflicted over whether or not she should come clean about it, for the revelation might cost her the election. However, during the debate, she decides to stand up for honesty and righteousness, and tells the audience of Mr. Gold's involvement in the fire. Henry is proud of her for standing up to the town's most feared resident, and ultimately Emma learns that her courage led her to be elected sheriff of Storybrooke.

Henry is in the Storybrooke pharmacy when a schoolmate of his, Ava Zimmer, begins to converse to him. As they talk, Ava introduces Henry to her brother, Nicholas, who walks past the kid. On his way out of the store, Henry is stopped by Mr. Clark, the owner, and stolen candy bars are found in his backpack, clearly planted there by Nicholas whilst Ava distracted him. Emma, the new sheriff, arrives on the scene followed by Regina, who takes Henry home. Henry later figures out that Ava and Nicholas are Hansel and Gretel from his book, alerting Emma over in the sheriff's station. He soon asks about his father, saying that he deserves to know about him after supposedly reuniting Emma with her mother, and so the blonde feeds him a story about how his father was a fireman that met her in a diner where she was a waitress but that he died a few years ago saving someone's life. Emma later reveals to Mary Margaret that this tale was concocted to spare him the truth, but this matter is pushed aside when Emma must take Ava and Nicholas to separate homes outside of Storybrooke. Henry warns Emma not to leave as he is sure something bad will happen, however, she points out that something bad has already happened, before driving off. Emma breaks down on her way out of down and calls mechanic Michael Tilman, the pair's father, to the scene, and Ava and Nicholas end up going home with their dad.

The stranger that recently arrived in Storybrooke is tending to his motorcycle, which has a large contained chest on the back of it, when Henry approaches him, asking what he's doing her. The man explains that he's fixing his bike, so Henry asks what he's doing in Storybrooke. The man tells the kid that he's just visiting. He asks what the chest is, so the stranger mysteriously tells him it's a box containing something he needs to do what he came to Storybrooke for. After finally fixing the bike, he puts on his helmet and gets on the bike. Meanwhile, Regina exits her house and sees that Henry is talking to the stranger. Henry tells the man he thought he was just visiting. The man tells him that doesn't mean he doesn't have something to do and then he starts the engine of his bike. Regina calls out to her son, so the man tells Henry to go to school as it looks like a storm is coming. Regina walks towards the two, but the man drives away before Regina can reach him. Regina wraps her arm around Henry, watching the man drive away, and she asks who it was. Henry simply shrugs his shoulders.

Henry runs to his "castle", which has been damaged by the storm of the previous night, and is met there by Emma. He quickly begins digging under the castle and takes out his formerly buried story book, making sure it's okay. It is, and so he re-buries it, revealing to Emma that Regina does not know of his castle as its their special place. Ironically, Regina arrives on the scene to collect Henry for his session with Archie, she looks at the castle and comments on it being a deathtrap. Henry is later forced to stand witness as bulldozers knock the castle down thanks to Regina's handy work. Afraid he's lost his book, Henry heads to Granny's Diner and quickly tries to write down everything he can remember from it, as he is doing so, he is met by newcomer August W. Booth, who seems interested in what Henry is doing. Henry is suspicious as to why this is and August defends himself by saying that he's just being neighborly and is a writer himself. After Emma works hard to expose Regina for who she really is by showing the town money Regina has taken from the budget to build herself a second home in the woods, Regina tells the blonde that she is to stay away from Henry, since it is revealed that the "house" was merely a new play park for Henry and the other children of Storybrooke to have a "special place". Henry is later seen at the new play park as Emma watches from a distance, the two are saddened that they cannot be together.

At the sheriff's station in Storybrooke, Emma is sitting at her desk eating a sandwich, and asks Mr. Gold, who is standing in a cell on the other side of the office area, if he'd like some. She points out that she still owes him a favor and some pastrami could be a delicious way to honor it. "Oh, I don't need a reminder that you owe me a favor. And when the day comes that I make my request... it'll be for more than half a sandwich." Gold tells her. Emma smiles, but soon hears footsteps coming from the corridor. Regina and Henry walk into the office. The Mayor tells the sheriff that she can have Henry for thirty minutes, so that she can have some alone time with Mr. Gold. Emma is confused, but the want to be with her biological son is bigger than her hesitation, so she agrees, and leaves with her child. During their absence, Regina asks Mr. Gold what she's been meaning to ask for a long, long time... what his real name is. After some hesitation, Gold replies that it's 'Rumplestiltskin'...

Regina attempts to apologize to Henry by giving him the gift of a handheld video game, saying that he doesn't need his book as in this, he can be the hero himself. However, Henry explains that he isn't just upset over his missing book as he misses Emma, too. Later, Emma is inspecting a puddle by a car and discovers a metal box within it, she takes out the box and opens it, revealing that Henry's book is inside. The blonde soon visits Henry at school as he's playing on his new video game, she comments that she had the same one when she was a kid and loves it. Scared that they'll be caught, Henry tells Emma that his mother will be picking him up and five minutes and so Emma says that she'll make it quick, handing the kid his story book. Henry is overjoyed and asks her where she found it, she explains that she found it in the gutter, confusing them both. He happily tells her that "Operation Cobra" is back on as this is a sign of their luck changing. Emma soon tells Henry that she has to go, leaving him happy with his newly returned book.

Over at the sheriff's station, Henry is on the computer looking up employment opportunities for Ruby, who has recently quit her job. He asks her if she wants to be a bike messenger, delivering things to people in a little basket, Ruby tells him that she's not very good at bike riding and so he suggests that she deliver things on foot, but she says that she doesn't think that's a real job. The phone of the sheriff's office rings and Ruby answers it, handling the people on the other line perfectly, Emma sees this and offers her a job answering phones for her. Later, Henry is seen placing his book into a drawer of the office, Emma tells him that she has to kick him out in order to go and see if David's okay, Henry is alright with this as he's meant to be meeting with Regina as it is. He locks the drawer and hands Emma back her keys, as he leaves, he tells the blonde that Ruby can do more than answer phones, explaining that she's Little Red Riding Hood. Emma sarcastically remarks that she seems like a bad ass and Henry agrees, saying that she just doesn't remember how cool she is, before leaving.

Henry comes to help his birth mother when she searches around her apartment for clues of a break-in/robbery, because her friend Mary Margaret is apparently being framed for Kathryn's disappearance and likely murder. Emma is able to find something: a hunter knife that could had been used to cut out the heart found in a box. The evidence therefore keeps piling up against Mary Margaret, but Henry thinks of something. At Granny's Diner, August runs into Henry, and tells him that he also believes what the young man believes, and tells him that some people, like his birth mother, don't rely on solely faith, they need to be shown evidence. Henry has an idea. He then waits for Emma on the stairs outside the apartment one day, and brings with him Regina's set of skeleton keys. He tries two of them in the keyhole, but they don't fit, so he begs Emma to do it herself, and try one more. She humors him... and learns that the third time really is the charm, because the key fits and actually opens the door.

Henry is sitting on the hall of the station one night when Emma comes in with Mr. Gold. He seems thrilled that Emma has apparently taken some action and moved "Operation Cobra" along. What he is talking about is that Mary Margaret has escaped from jail, but Emma had no prior knowledge of that. She is horrified that her friend is gone and sets out to find her. After she does, Emma, having been taken hostage by a man claiming to be the Mad Hatter, visits Henry at school, to tell him that she found their friend, and recognizes a young classmate of Henry's: Paige... whom Jefferson claimed to be his daughter, Grace. Emma asks to take a look at Henry's fairytale book and she notices that the Mad Hatter and his daughter, in the pictures, do look a lot like the man who captured her and the girl he said belongs to him. She then asks to keep the book for a while, and Henry is excited to realize that she is catching on to what's happening, and allows her to keep it.

When Emma decides to get more proactive when it comes to going up against Regina and exonerating Mary Margaret, she turns to August and her son Henry for help. One night, the Mayor peers into Henry's room and sees him asleep in his bed. She then walks away to take a shower. Once she's gone, Henry suddenly "awakens" and grabs a walkie-talkie from underneath his pillow. After checking Regina is in the shower, he tells the walkie-talkie "the eagle is in the nest and the package is secure". Emma and August are waiting outside the house and the former, holding another walkie-talkie, tells Henry she left the codebook at home. The young boy explains that Regina is in the shower and the keys are under the mat. Once Emma and August make it to the garage, they find that Regina's shovel is missing a piece, and the piece Emma found in the place of the burial of the chest containing the heart fits.

Henry's assistance is then requested by August. While the young man distracts Mr. Gold under the pretense of getting a gift for his teacher, Miss Blanchard, August roams around the office of the owner of the town, looking for something. However, August is found. Later, Henry attends the welcoming party thrown for Miss Blanchard and gives her a bell he bought at the pawn shop. David shows up as well, hoping to see Mary Margaret, but she isn't interested, and thus Emma sends Henry home with him. Later, after Sidney Glass takes the fall for the Mayor and confesses to the kidnapping of Kathryn Nolan, Emma tells Regina that she doesn't want Henry anyway near her conniving lifestyle, so she is taking him from Regina.

Henry alerts Emma to an "Operation Cobra" emergency via walkie-talkie and the blonde meets her son at Granny's Diner where he shows her that someone has added a story to his book, the story of Pinocchio, however, he finds it odd that whoever has done this did not add the end of the story. Later, Henry is met by Regina at school who is there to give him his lunch, which he left at home. She tells him that she wants him to move out of Miss Blanchard's class, and Henry asks her if it's because she framed her. Regina is offended but Henry stands up and assures the Evil Queen that Snow White will have her happy ending with Prince Charming, the curse will end and good will win, before walking away and telling her that he's not moving class. That night, Emma calls Henry via walkie-talkie and tells him that she's waiting outside in her car, he meets her and she asks him if he would like to get from Regina and come and live with her. Henry tells her that he would like that more than anything, and so Emma begins to drive away with him. Henry asks her where they're going, and she tells him that they're leaving Storybrooke...

Emma and Henry are on their way out of Storybrooke when the latter realizes that she's leaving before she can break the curse, Emma assures him that this isn't the time for that, however, Henry takes the wheel and swerves the car out of control before they can leave town, demanding that they go back home. Henry rushes to August to warn him of Emma's desire to leave, at this, August reveals his wooden arm and Henry realizes that he is Pinocchio, however, Emma is unable to see this due to the fact that she doesn't want to believe. August tells Henry that he has tried to do this and failed and so tells the kid to continue with "Operation Cobra". Henry later visits Emma who tells him that she is leaving town, he is devastated and tells her that she must break the curse, but a saddened Emma refuses to believe this. Henry sees an apple turnover on a plate on the side and asks Emma where she got it, she explains that Regina gave it to her and so Henry tells her not to eat it as it's poison. Emma wonders why Regina would poison her if she's leaving town and Henry informs her that as long as she's alive, she's still a threat to the curse, despite Emma's protests that there is no curse. Henry takes the turnover and says that he didn't want it to come to this but that she's given him no choice, before taking a bite. He soon collapses on the floor due to the sleeping curse within the turnover and Emma is left calling out for her unresponsive son.

Henry is rushed into hospital and Emma insists that he was poisoned by the apple turnover Regina gave her, but due to there being no definable medical reason for his state, Dr. Whale refuses to believe this. Emma takes a look at Henry's book among his possessions and thinks of the current situation, deciding for herself that the curse is real and that Henry was right. After beating up Regina in a supply cupboard for causing this, the two mothers go to see Mr. Gold who tells them that he will help Henry if Emma gets him the potion of true love located under the Storybrooke library. Emma slays the dragon form of Maleficent in order to retrieve the potion, but on her way back up to the library, the elevator stops working. She throws the potion to Gold and scales up the wall, however, he has fled, having tricked Emma. Mary Margaret is reading to Henry in the hospital when he flat lines, the doctors crowd around him and Emma and Regina receive a call. They rush to the hospital only to discover that Henry did not make it, the two of them are devastated. Emma goes to his bedside and tells him he loves him before kissing him on the forehead, at this, a burst of true love is sent across Storybrooke, breaking both the Dark Curse and Henry's, meaning that the kid wakes up. He realizes that she broke the curse but they wonder why they're not back in the Enchanted Forest. Before Regina flees, she assures Henry that she loves him and seen out the window is a sheet of purple mist falling over the town. Emma asks Henry what it is, and the kid tells his mother that it's something bad...

Season 2
"So I'm a prisoner because you love me? That's not fair."

After the Dark Curse is lifted from Storybrooke and its residents, Emma and a recovered Henry are reunited with Snow White and Prince Charming, their parents and grandparents, respectively. Emma asks Ruby to look after Henry for a while so that she and her newfound parents can confront Mr. Gold. Later, Ruby brings Henry to the Town Hall just in time to prevent Regina, whose powers are back, from murdering David. Henry wonders where his birth mother and grandmother are, and Regina explains that they were sucked into a magic portal to elsewhere. Regina tells her son that she is sorry, and he tells her that she's not. He tells her he doesn't want to see her again, and Regina begs him not to say that, looking hurt. She says that she loves him, and he asks her to prove it, by getting Emma and Mary Margaret back. David then takes Henry with him, and, in Emma and Mary Margaret's apartment, reassures his young grandson that they are alive and well and that he is gonna get them back.

David shows up at Regina's house to get information on the top hat that sent Emma and Mary Margaret through a portal. Regina claims to have forgotten where she got it, and then makes it clear that she is getting her son back as soon as she controls her magic. Charming tells her if she needs magic to get him back, she doesn't really have him. Henry notices the top hat and tells David that it belonged to the Mad Hatter. Later, when Regina's powers are restored, she shows up at a town meeting to take Henry with her, and the young man goes with her willingly, so as to get her to spare everyone else. At their house, he tries to make a run for it, but Regina stops him, in a manner very similar to her own mother's devious methods. Regina tries to convince her son that life in a house with magic can be wonderful, but the child isn't persuaded. Henry claims to not want to be like his mother, to not want to have access to magic. Regina is hurt and realizes that she is trying to do to her son what her mother used to do to her. When David comes back to retrieve Henry, Regina lets her son go with him, in peace, and tells Henry that she wants to do right by him, to redeem herself.

David walks Henry to the school bus, urging the young man to remain in school while he figures out how to get Emma and Mary Margaret back. However, the determined Henry isn't willing to, and tries to come up with a way to get them back himself. He reaches out to Jefferson, the "Mad Hatter", and learns that he still hasn't gotten in touch with his daughter, out of fear that she will hate him for having left her before. Henry explains to him that if he doesn't come into contact with her, she'll spend the rest of her life not knowing where he is and whether he cares, which is worse. Henry then contacts his own mother, Regina, to meet with her for lunch, but it's only a ploy to get her out of the house so that he can steal her skeleton keys and break into her vault. He does just this, hoping to find anything inside of it that can lead to a breakthrough, but instead finds the box containing the vipers that killed King Leopold. Charming arrives just in time to save Henry. Henry is frustrated because he never thought things would be like this once the curse was lifted, but David tells him they're gonna do this together from now on. Later, Henry watches as Jefferson finally connects with his daughter, and David buys him some wooden toy swords so that he can practice to become a dueling prince. Unbeknownst to the playful grandfather and grandson, Albert Spencer - the vile King George - watches from a distance as they sword fight.

The dwarves have all gathered at the old mines where they once worked, trying to find if there is any fairy dust left. Leroy, working as a foreman, tells them to keep swinging their axes. David Nolan is also seen at the mine, performing the same chore, until he stops and looks at his grandson, Henry, who's watching them work. Henry smiles, and David winks at him. He keeps swinging his axe and then Ruby comes in, bringing with her the typical basket of baked goods, and hands Henry a muffin, asking him if they've found any fairy dust yet. Henry says they haven't yet, but adds that they will, and when they do they'll be able to bring back Emma and Mary Margaret. He bites away at the muffin, and Ruby tells him she'll be back later at lunch. David then stops what he's doing, and as he goes to retrieve his shirt from the hanger, he notices mine dust on his hands and wrists and shakes it off, claiming to hate mine dust. He then calls for Leroy, as he puts on his shirt, and tells him that if they find anything, he'll be at the station. The foreman asks if he's taking over as sheriff, and David confirms that he's stepping in, until Emma gets back. They shake hands and David leaves with his grandson.

Henry hasn't been getting much sleep lately, frustrated over the fact that Emma and Mary Margaret are still not home yet, and David tries to get his mind out of it by taking him to the local stables, so that he can learn how to take care of his own steed. Charming first tells him that, before being able to ride it, he needs to establish a bond with the horse by looking out for it for some time, and the steed will "tell" him when it is ready to be mounted. Some time later, Dr. Frankenstein is able to bring Daniel - Regina's lost love - back to life, and the confused stable boy goes back to the stables, for they are his last memory of life. There, he scares the horses, and Henry. The young man tries to reach out to the living dead, but Daniel, who is plagued by the memories of Cora ripping his heart out, attacks Henry, out of blind fury. Regina and Charming get to them in time and save Henry, prompting him to run off. Regina then reaches out to her old fiancé, but he begs her to let him die and be at peace. Regina therefore uses her magic to rid herself of him, to great pain.

In the town of Storybrooke, Maine, Henry is asleep in his bed, he seems peaceful enough until he suddenly awakens with a scream, alerting his grandfather, Prince Charming, who comes running to his grandson's aid. Henry says that he just had the worse nightmare but Charming assures him that it's over now. The prince takes a box of matches from Henry's bedside table and lights the candle that sits upon it, telling Henry that it'll keep the nightmares away. Charming then asks his grandson what was so bad, Henry begins to explain his nightmare, "I was in this room, and... and it was red. And there were no doors, no windows, and these curtains... they were on fire. And... I was in this corner, and-and-and, I was looking out, and there was someone else there. She was staring at me through the flames and then I woke up and...", Henry says, in a panick, Charming tells him not to worry - "It was just a bad dream."

David, Henry and Mother Superior are thrilled to learn that the dwarfs have finally found diamonds in the local mines, and that they can start making fairy dust, and move one step closer to bringing back Emma and Mary Margaret. Meanwhile, Henry is still plagued by his horrible nightmares, in which he finds himself in a room that's on fire, next to a presence he cannot identify. When Regina wakes him up from his torment and notices that his hand was burnt during the dream. She calls Mr. Gold over for help, and Gold tells them that the dream is actually a netherworld to which Henry's soul travels as a result of him having been awakened from a sleeping curse. Gold gives Henry a pendant that is supposed to help him control his dreams, and tells him that when someone can control something, they no longer fear it. Henry uses the pendant with him when he goes to sleep, and with it he is able to put out the flames in the burning room and reach out to the other person in it: Princess Aurora. The sleeping beauty wakes up from her dream and tells Emma and Snow about the young boy she saw in it, a young boy by the name of Henry. The two women are surprised and confused.

Aurora confirms that the young boy he saw in her dream is Emma's son, when the latter shows her a picture of Henry. Snow White explains that she thinks the dream is real, because she herself would go there often after being awakened from the sleeping curse. They then realize this is their way home: they can communicate with the people in Storybrooke, and get advice from Rumplestiltskin on how to defeat Cora. Aurora goes back to sleep and tells Henry that his mother and grandmother are okay and they want to go back home. Henry tells Charming and Regina of this, and the latter is surprised to find out that her mother is also alive and posing as a threat to them. Regina gets Mr. Gold to help them out, and he puts Henry back to sleep whilst telling him how the ladies can defeat Cora: by using the squid ink that was once used to entrap him, when Cinderella 'tricked' him. Henry tries to get the message across to Aurora, but she is violently ripped from the room when she is woken up by Mulan, after the ladies fall under attack by an army of the undead, risen by Cora. The zombies take Aurora with them, and Henry wakes up to find himself severely burnt. Gold heals his scars and Charming and Regina agree that they can't endanger him any further. David then volunteers himself to be put under a sleeping curse, so that he can speak with Snow. Henry watches as his mother cooks up another sleeping curse, and they talk about how she's been trying to lay off magic and redeem herself. Regina promises him that after this is over and done with, she will be done with magic. David goes under the sleeping curse, but isn't awakened as soon as Henry thought he would, so the young boy starts to lose his hope...

Henry reads to his sleeping grandfather, from his storybook, and Regina comforts him, by saying that this time around Snow White will wake up Prince Charming with a kiss. She then tells her son that she and Mr. Gold have to take care of some things to prepare for the arrival of Emma and Mary Margaret, but in reality she and Gold plan to make it so that anyone who comes through the portal is killed. When Leroy realizes that the Queen and Rumplestiltskin stole the diamonds from the mines, Henry becomes the wiser, and he and Ruby make it to the well where the portal is supposed to come through. Regina explains to Henry that Cora will be coming through, and that she will destroy everything her daughter loves, and that includes Henry himself. Henry tells her to have faith in him that his mother and grandmother will come through, and begs her to do the right thing. Regina, out of guilt and commiseration, lifts the spell from the well, which takes its toll on her. Emma and Mary Margaret come through, much to Mr. Gold's surprise, and the family is happily reunited. Henry is then grateful towards his foster mother, seeing now that she really has changed. However, when the 'good guys' all head out for Granny's to have lunch, after Snow wakes Charming up, Henry leaves Regina, much to her dismay. In the horizon, Cora and Captain Hook make their way to Storybrooke as well...

Henry and Emma accidentally catch Mary Margaret and David in bed together. Later that day, they all attend a homecoming party at Granny's, one that Regina shows up to, having been invited by Emma, much to everyone else's displeasure. Henry, however, is glad that his foster mother came. As the night goes on, Regina leaves, and Emma follows her. A tense conversation ensues, for Regina asks to see more of her son, and Emma doesn't think that's a good idea. Regina lashes out at her but instantly apologizes, and Emma reveals that she knows she's trying to change, thanks to Archie. The former Mayor isn't happy to know that her shrink has been telling about their sessions. The following morning, Emma and Henry have breakfast together at Granny's, before school starts, and Emma tells her son about her stay in the fairytale land. She then decides to walk him to the school bus, but Pongo shows up, in an alarmed state, and Ruby can see that something is wrong. Emma tells Henry to go by himself, which he does, and the blonde and the waitress then follow Pongo to his owner's office and find his lifeless body. All the evidence seems to point to Regina - even though her mother, Cora, is the actual culprit - and Mr. Gold helps Emma use a dreamcatcher and magic to witness the attack... by the hands of Regina, apparently. Emma confronts her rival, who attacks her. Emma then tells her that Henry will never believe her lies again, and that they now know she is incapable of change. Regina disappears, and Emma is left with the task of telling her son that someone he loves was killed by someone else he cares about, her first real "parenting" job. Her parents comfort her, and Emma does what she must, and breaks Henry's heart... and Regina's, who is watching them from a distance.

Emma and her son Henry attend the funeral of his therapist, Dr. Archibald "Archie" Hopper, who has allegedly been murdered by Regina. The residents of Storybrooke who knew and loved him as either Archie or Jiminy gather together to pay him their final respects, whilst Mary Margaret delivers a lovely eulogy dedicated to the deceased. During the wake, which is hosted at the Charmings' apartment, Emma tries to cheer up the blue Henry, but it's to no avail. Some time later, after David and Mary Margaret catch Henry lowly calling the office of his shrink, to hear the sound of his voice, Emma surprises her family by bringing home Pongo, Archie's beloved pet dalmatian, for Henry to take care of. She is apologetic for springing the dog on her parents unannounced, but the Charmings think that giving it to Henry is a wonderful idea. However, Mary Margaret then suggests that she and David move out. Later, while Henry is drawing up blueprints of an armory, Archie shows up at the apartment and reveals that he'd been kidnapped by Cora. Henry is delighted to have his friend back, as well as relieved that his foster mother didn't kill him. He says they should let Regina know, something which Emma agrees with, fearing that they're gonna have to pay some ugly price anyway...

We see Henry walking through the Storybrooke cemetery and go down into Regina's vault via her father's tomb in the mausoleum. Whilst down there, he finds Regina in a secret room, however, it is soon revealed that he was merely Cora in disguise. Regina makes amends with her mother and tries to make her tell the town that she is the one who kidnapped Archie, but Cora tells Regina that she doesn't want the town's love and the latter admits that she wants her son back. Cora tells her daughter that she has a few ideas as to how she can achieve this. Later, Henry wakes up to see that Emma, David and Mary Margaret have returned home after an eventful night at the hospital. When Henry learns that Dr. Whale is the Storybrooke counterpart of Dr. Frankenstein, he realizes that his story is not in the book and begins to question what other characters could be in town that they do not know of. His thought is interrupted by someone at the door, it's Mr. Gold, and he's there to talk to Emma. He reminds her of the favor she owes him and tells her that she needs to come with him to find his son, Baelfire. Emma is forced to oblige and Gold promises that if any harm is to bestow upon Belle, who's currently hospitalized, whilst he's gone, he'll kill all four of them.

Mr. Gold arrives at Mary Margaret's apartment in order to collect Emma to take her to New York where she is to help him find his son. Henry soon emerges from another room, packed and ready to tag along with Gold and his mother, and the former is confused as to why. Emma states that she will not leave Henry behind with Cora lurking about town somewhere, and the three of them leave. In the car, Henry wonders where they're going, and Gold replies that they're going to the airport, Emma says that she believes Henry meant after that, but Gold merely wants to take it one step at a time. They soon arrive at the airport, Gold having retained his memory whilst crossing the town line thanks to his enchanted shawl still working, where they are checked through security. As Mr. Gold frets over having to be parted with his shoes, cane and shawl, Henry finds a Cinnebunz, and runs towards it. Later, after Gold retreats to the bathroom to beat up a paper-towel dispenser out of nervousness, Henry walks in to tell the pawn broker that they're about to board their flight. On the plane, Emma asks Henry if he's okay and he points out that he's having his first flight as well as going on a real-life adventure, saying that the only thing that could make the moment better is more frosting, gesturing the cinnamon bun in his lap.

Henry arrives in New York alongside Emma and Mr. Gold in order to aid his mother in finding the latter's son. They enter Baelfire's apartment building and Henry checks the buzzers for his name, not being able to find it. Emma says that the unlabeled apartment must be Bae and presses the buzzer, however, upon doing so, footsteps are heard running across the fire escape above. The three of them run out into the street where they see Baelfire running away, Gold tells Emma to get him to talk to him as he can't run, and the blonde chases after him. As they wait for her to return, Henry assures the pawnbroker that Emma is an expert in finding people and telling him not to worry. Gold states that his son is equally adept at running and Henry goes on to say that he forgave Emma for giving him up and that he's sure Baelfire will forgive Rumple. Emma soon returns, telling them that she was not able to catch up to Bae. At this, Gold breaks into his son's apartment in hopes that he will find out something about him, and noticing Emma's strange behavior, he realizes that she lied about losing Bae. As he begins to yell at her, Neal Cassidy, otherwise known as Baelfire, rushes into the apartment, telling Gold to leave Emma alone. Rumple deciphers that Neal and Emma know each other, and when he sees Emma has a son, Neal asks Henry how old he is. The kid replies that he's 11, wondering why it's so important, and it is revealed that Neal is in fact Henry's father, having been in a relationship with Emma 11-12 years previously. Emma comforts Henry, apologizing for lying to him and telling him that his father died, and the kid requests to talk to Neal. Rumple watches as the two bond, and it is revealed that he vowed long ago to kill the young boy who would stand in the way of his reunion with Bae, meaning Henry.

Henry continues to bond with his new-found father, Neal, as he is taken out for pizza. Meanwhile, Emma and Gold commiserate over the trouble that they are having in their relationships with their respective sons. As Henry emerges from the pizza place, Emma asks him how the pizza is and he characterizes it as "delicious, cheesy and doesn't lie", clearly referencing her lie to him when she told him his father was dead. This begins to make Emma more worried about salvaging her relationship with Henry and Gold tries to convince her to get Neal to come back to Storybrooke with them, stating that if she does not, Henry will most likely go to find him, as he once did with her. Before Emma can ask this question, she, Neal and Henry witness Hook ambush Gold at the apartment building, stabbing him in the chest with his iconic hook. Gold is taken upstairs to Neal's apartment where it is deciphered that the hook used to stab him was laced with poison which is slowly killing him. With a flight taking too long, Neal offers to sail them back to Storybrooke on Hook's pirate ship which he used to get to New York so that they may use the town's magic to cure Rumple.

Henry helps his father, Neal, sail back to Storybrooke in order to find a magical cure for Mr. Gold, who's still dying after being stabbed by the poison hook of Killian Jones. Soon enough, Henry, Neal, Gold and Emma all arrive at the Storybrooke docks and are met by Mary Margaret and David, who are accompanied by Ruby. Mary Margaret has plans on killing Cora and the adults escort Gold back to his pawn shop to save him and protect him from Regina and Cora, who have the Dark One's dagger and are on their way to kill Rumple. Due the the large amount of battling that's likely to take place, Ruby offers to keep Henry out of the crossfire until the scenario ends. Emma thanks the waitress and Henry is taken by Ruby and kept safe as the fighting ensues. The actions of the day eventually lead to Mr. Gold being saved and Cora dying, with Regina knowing that Mary Margaret is to blame.

Henry begins to wonder why Mary Margaret's been spending most of her time moping in bed and Emma tells him that she's sick, however, Henry sees through this lie immediately and the blonde admits that Mary Margaret is partially responsible for Cora's death, something which displeases Henry. The Charmings are soon visited by Mr. Gold who tells them that Regina is planning to strike back and kill Mary Margaret to avenge Cora, and after investigating further, they discover that she also plans on using a curse on Henry that makes him think he loves her so that she can have him back as well as claim her vengeance. Finding Regina unstoppable, Emma and David contemplate executing her, but Henry is strongly against it. He next meets his father, Neal, at Granny's Diner who attempts to bribe him with ice cream, before revealing his agenda of wanting to bring Henry back to New York with him to keep him safe. Henry initially appears happy at this thought before excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Once Emma and Neal notice he left with his backpack, they deduce that he's running and get Ruby to sniff him out. She leads them to the old mines where they discover a box of dynamite with sticks missing, we next see Henry running through the woods, dynamite in his pack, before he runs into Greg Mendell, who tells Regina of the kid's whereabouts. Henry arrives at the town well with hopes of blowing it up and getting rid of magic, that being the place it originated from, but Regina quickly turns up and disappears the dynamite. Emma, Neal and David show up as well and the latter almost kills Regina, until Henry stops him, telling his family how magic has corrupted them and makes good people to terrible things. At this, Regina burns the curse she planned on using and Henry returns home with Emma.

Henry arrives at Granny's Bed & Breakfast alongside Emma with his book of fairytales in tow. He shows it to Neal, asking him to tell him of his life as Baelfire in the Enchanted Forest, and the kid's father obliges, before going on to tell Emma that his fiancee, Tamara, is on her way into town. Emma wonders if Tamara knows who Neal really is and where he's really from, and Neal reveals that she does not. When Tamara does arrive, she joins Emma, Neal and Henry for bagels and the latter asks how her and Neal met. She tells him that they bumped into each other and her coffee spilled down her, but he offered her his scarf to cover the stain. It is not long before Henry has to go to school and is escorted by Emma, but Henry leaves his book behind, telling Neal he can look at it. Neal then uses the book to tell Tamara that magic is real. Later, when a completely wooden August is seen stumbling out of the sheriff's station and with his dying breath, he tries to warn Emma of something, however, he dies before he can do so. Henry points out that August's final act was honest, brave and unselfish, meaning that there's a chance he can be saved but that they need the Blue Fairy. Mother Superior quickly arrives and tells Henry that he's right, suing her magic to turn August into little boy Pinocchio once more, however, Pinocchio does not remember the warning he tried to give. When Henry and Emma arrive home, Henry tells Emma that he forgives her for lying about his father and promises not to shut her out again.

Henry is seen in Mr. Gold's pawn shop blowing out the candles on his birthday cake as his family claps for him. As a present, Gold tells the boy that he can take any item from the shop that he wants. Henry sets his sights on a magic wand and asks Mr. Gold how it works, Gold begins to demonstrate but soon uses the wand to turn Henry into porcelain and smash him, killing him, stating that the boy will be his undoing. This is revealed to be a dream of Rumple's who goes to the park the next day where he sees Henry and Neal bonding over a wooden sword fight. Regina sees this also, and is surprised to learn from Gold that his son is Henry's father. Later, Neal is seen returning Henry home to Emma and the boy is completely asleep. Emma asks if Neal tranquilized him but Neal jokes and says that he just gave the kid a couple burbans and calls him a real lightweight, before admitting that he's just tuckered out and commending him on how good he's gotten with wooden swords. They proceed to put Henry to sleep on the couch where he remains.

Henry is approached by Regina who tells him she plans to use the curse's fail-safe to kill everyone in town and destroy Storybrooke, Henry is appalled, and so Regina wipes his mind of the conversation, before going on her mission to kill everyone. When Emma begins to suspect that Tamara's the "she" that August warned them about, she voices her concerns to Mary Margaret, who has her doubts about the theory, telling Emma not to tell Henry as if there's something up with Tamara, he may think his parents are getting back together. Emma promises not to, however, Henry has heard the old thing and tells his mother that they should investigate Tamara. They begin to stake her out in a parked car outside Granny's. having fun as they do so, until Emma decides to search Tamara's room at the B&B. She tells Henry to keep lookout as she breaks in and discovers a loose floorboard, however, Neal returns to the room before she can look underneath it, and catches her. He is appalled by Emma's behavior but she promises she'll back off if there's nothing under the floorboard, explaining her theory to Neal that his fiancee is the "she" that August warned them about. He helps her lift the floorboard, but there is nothing under it, and Emma leaves with Henry, professing not to be a crazy jealous ex. She and her son then eat ice cream together at the Charmings' apartment and discuss the matter of returning to the Enchanted Forest, should the magic beans serve their purpose.

After David and Mary Margaret discover that their entire bean crop has been burned, the former and Emma burst into Regina's office with handguns, suspecting the mayor of being the culprit. When they walk in, they see that no one is in there, and Emma declares the place safe before Mary Margaret walks in with Henry in tow. He wonders if they're going to hurt Regina when they find her, and Emma assures him that they won't as they merely want the beans that she stole from them. They see a large incubator with a bean plant inside, but with all the beans harvested from it, and Mary Margaret wonders why Regina would leave such evidence in her office. David suggests that perhaps she took a portal out of town, but Emma points out that she would have taken Henry with her. The blonde proceeds to use the security alarm system to configure that someone was in the office that morning and entered using an overwrite code, meaning it wasn't Regina. Henry takes this to believe that something bad has happened to his adoptive mother, and begins to worry. Emma promises to find her and Regina is later discovered being tortured by Greg and Tamara. She is freed and taken back home before Emma returns with news that Neal fell down a portal after being shot and is most likely dead, not knowing how to break the news to Henry. Then, an even more pressing matter arises - Greg and Tamara are currently in control of a device capable of wiping Storybrooke off the map and killing all of its inhabitants.

Henry is taken to see his recovering foster mother, Regina, and is relieved to see that she's alive and well. However, soon after they reunite, the earth starts shaking, as a sign that the device has been triggered. Henry is reassured that he is free from harm, for he was born in this world and therefore will not be killed, but his entire family will. Regina plans to hold off the diamond's effects as much as she can, even though she knows she can't stop its powers. She bids farewell to Henry, letting him know one more time that she loves him, and she and Emma get down to the mines while the Charmings reunite their loved ones in order to escape through a magic portal back to the Enchanted Forest. Emma soon realizes that Regina is on a suicide mission, as well as one of redemption. When she informs her family of this, Henry is desperate, and Mary Margaret isn't willing to leave Regina behind. Everyone agrees with a plan of sending the diamond through a portal instead. Emma, however, has the idea to help Regina stop the diamond with her newfound magic powers. The two of them zap the trigger and are able to deactivate it. However, their victory isn't celebrated for long, for they soon learn that their shared son has been taken. Henry is escorted by Greg and Tamara, who inform him that their plans to rid the world of magic were put on hold once they discovered Henry, who is far more important now - for he is the boy Peter Pan is seeking. They open a magic portal using a bean and leap through it, much to the chagrin of the now desperate Charmings and Regina. Mr. Gold and Belle show up, and so does Hook, who has changed his mind about going solo and plans on helping them rescue Henry. Regina, Emma, her parents and Rumple all board the Jolly Roger, intent on getting the boy back... and discover that he's been taken to Neverland. Hook opens a magic portal using the last bean, and they all set sail, ready for adventure.

Season 3
"My mom's coming to get me. Both of them."

Henry arrives in Neverland, his hands tied with a cable tie, accompanied by his captors, Greg and Tamara, who inform him of where they are. They try to contact the Home Office, but find that the communicator given to them was false. They then set up a fireplace in the woods, and are found by the Lost Boys, who reveal to be the Home Office. Realizing they have been duped, Greg and Tamara refuse to hand Henry over to them, but a shadow descends from the sky and rips Greg's own shadow away from his body, and Tamara is shot with an arrow by a Lost Boy. Henry, however, manages to get away, and is intercepted by a young man, who claims to be an escapee, and that he is being sought after because he stole pixie dust that doesn't even work. The two try to make it to the Echo Caves, per the boy's suggestion, where they can allegedly escape their chasers. However, they reach a dead end: a gorge. The young man looks hopeless, but Henry takes his pixie dust from him and says that magic needs to be believed in in order to work. He grabs the boy, and together they jump over the gorge. The pixie dust then kicks him and they immediately start flying over Neverland, and away from the Lost Boys. They reach their destination, but Henry is confused when the boy addresses him by his name, which he had never revealed before. The young man who "rescued" him reveals himself to be none other than Peter Pan, the villain who arranged for Henry to be brought to him, by lying to Greg and Tamara. He wants to play a game, a puzzle to solve... Pan explains that for a very long time he has sought after something very important and elusive: the heart of the truest believer. And he now knows that Henry possesses that heart, and now he and his heart are Pan's. He calls the Lost Boys, who circle Henry, and tells them, "Let's play!"

The Jolly Roger crew continues their search for Pan's camp in the woods of Neverland, but realize that Pan is moving it. Meanwhile, Henry lies sleeping under a large tree but is awoken by the villain, who throws an apple at him. Henry claims not to like apples - a family thing. Pan points out that it's not for eating, but rather for a game, a game he calls "target practice" - something he says as he points a crossbow at Henry's face. As they prepare for the game, Henry witnesses Pan soaking an arrow in Dreamshade poison, and the villain recounts that there's a lot of story there of a man who once shot an apple over his son's head. Henry asks what the poison is for, if they're shooting at the apple, and Pan replies that it's for motivation. Pan calls out for Felix then, and Henry worries about the latter's aim, but the Lost Boys' leader explains Henry will be the one shooting the arrow, and that it's exhilarating. Felix plants the apple over his head and everyone chants for Henry to shoot. He does, but aims at Pan instead. The latter grabs the arrow mid-air, and is amused by Henry's attempt to harm him. Later, Pan and Henry have a talk, where the former tells the latter that the thing about Neverland is there is nobody to tell them "no". Henry points out that he doesn't belong there, and Pan explains that they've been waiting for him for a very long time, since before he was born. He goes on to say that Neverland runs on belief, but every other world has stopped believing in magic, and Henry's destiny is to return the magic, and be the savior. Henry recounts that his mother is the savior, but Pan counter-argues that maybe what makes her the savior is having given birth to him. He is the descend of both light (the Charming lineage) and darkness (the Dark One's bloodline). He says Henry was created for a reason, and he can help him find it. Pan then gives him a scroll that proves his belief on why Henry's the hero magic has been waiting for. Henry takes it but says he doesn't believe him, to which Pan replies that Henry reminds him of his father. Later, Henry looks at the parchment and sees an old drawing of himself... the one Pan and his Lost Boys used as reference when they were searching for him.

When the Lost Boys are vigorously celebrating around a campfire in Pan's compound, it upsets Pan to see that Henry isn't joining in with the festivities, especially considering the fact that the party is being held in his honor. Henry points out that there's nothing to celebrate, and Pan again tells the boy that he is the savior who will save magic. Pan then decides to play Henry a tune from his pipe (the music from which can only be heard by those who feel abandoned or unloved), but Henry is unable to hear anything, much to Pan's dismay. Pan is then aggravated to learn that Baelfire, who's in fact alive and returned to the island to save Henry, has escaped Felix's custody and is on the loose. A sleeping spell is soon cast over the camp, knocking out Henry and the Lost Boys but not Pan, and Rumple, who cast the spell, walks in with Neal. Neal uses magical squid ink to immobilize Pan and take Henry, however, when Neal learns of the prophecy stating that Henry will be Rumple's undoing, he uses the squid ink to immobilize his father also in fear that he'll kill Henry to protect himself. Neal then sets off alone with his son over his shoulder, but he is soon ambushed by Lost Boys, who take Henry back. Pan tells Baelfire that the game has changed, and back at the camp, Henry wakes up, being told by his captor that he merely dropped off for a catnap. The Mills boy says that he dreamt of his father, who he believes to be dead, whilst he was asleep, and Pan offers his condolences, commenting that it makes sense to dream of the people he's lost, and what he hopes for, such as his father being alive or his mother coming to find him, when neither are going to come true. Pan tells his captive that Neverland is a place where new dreams were born and that he and the Lost Boys can be his new family. The demon child proceeds to play his magical pipes and, this time, Henry is able to hear the music the produce. The young boy then merrily dances around the campfire with the rest of the Lost Boys, and Peter Pan is thrilled.

At Pan's compound, Henry is again seen sitting by himself, distancing himself from the activities of the other Lost Boys, until one of them, Devin, comes in and starts poking him with his weapon and asking if he's the boy Peter has been looking for all this time. Henry defends himself from Devin's provocation by grabbing a stick and engaging in a feigned sword-fight with him. Pan shows up and gets Henry to believe he's holding a real sword... which he does, and it works. Henry then sword-fights the other kid using an actual sword, and winds up cutting him on the cheek, leading the other Lost Boys to cheer him on, and Henry himself to join them in the cheers. Later, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina join forces to catch a random Lost Boy - Devin - and persuade him to help them bring down Peter Pan, because they can not only save Henry, but all of them. Devin isn't interested: the Lost Boys don't want to leave, and Henry is slowly becoming one of the most vicious of them. Regina has the idea to remove the kid's heart and use it to control him and send a message to Henry, something Snow is obviously opposed to. However, the desperate Emma allows her fellow mother to do so, against her own mother's wishes. The plot works, for the three of them are able to use the heart and a compact mirror to talk to Henry and let him know they're coming for him. Henry is moved.

Now reassured that his family is coming for him, Henry starts to question Pan, who assures him that he's not been lying to him. Henry then theorizes that Pan has his family prisoner, and so decides to sneak out of the camp to investigate. He follows Felix, who's carrying a bag of apples, to a tree house, and inside, where he's expecting to find his family, he finds a girl named Wendy. She is lying in a bed and tells Henry that she's dying because Neverland's magic is deteriorating, and she needs him to save it so that she may live. Henry feels sympathy for the girl, especially after learning that she was friends with his father Baelfire, and his faith in Pan is reaffirmed. However, the entire thing was a rouse set up by Pan, and Wendy is in fact his prisoner who's not sick at all, but being blackmailed to do his will. Pan takes Henry to a part of the island where Skull Rock is visible; he tells the kid that that's where he'll save magic, and Wendy's life, but warns him that it may require some sacrifice. Henry assures his captor that he's up to the task.

Pan tends to Wendy, reminding Henry that only magic can save her, which only Henry can save if he truly believes. After Henry assures Pan that he does, Pan announces to the camp of Lost Boys that Henry is ready to fulfil his destiny. Pan and Henry then row out to Skull Rock, where Pan casts a protection spell behind them, before entering the cave with Henry. Once inside the cave, Pan shows Henry a giant hourglass, telling him that it shows how much magic is left in Neverland, and it is almost empty. Pan then briefly leaves Henry alone, saying he has something to take care of. Once Pan returns, with Pandora's Box, he tells Henry that it is time to save magic and that he must literally give him the heart of the truest believer. Henry, knowing that all magic comes at a price, demands the true cost of giving away his heart, as Pan informs him it would mean Henry must stay in Neverland. Henry accepts this, knowing that heroes must make sacrifices and content with knowing his family would be proud of him, so Pan enchants his hand to allow him to remove his heart. But just as he is about to give his heart to Pan, Emma, Regina and Neal run up, warning Henry that Pan is lying. The three parents combined attempt to persuade the boy not to, but wanting to be a hero, Henry tells his parents that he loves them before putting his heart in Pan, sending a shock of magic through the land. As Pan grows more powerful, Henry collapses to the floor and his parents rush to his side in horror.

Henry remains unconscious as his parents worry over him, and Regina is able to cast a preservation spell over the boy to keep him alive until such time that they can retrieve his heart from Pan, who's flown away. Henry is taken to the Lost Boy camp where his two mothers, along with Mary Margaret, decide to go looking for Pan; when he underestimates Regina, the Queen is able to rip her son's heart from his body and return to to Henry aboard the Jolly Roger, which soon begins to fly back home thanks to the shadow being fused to the main sail. When all seems well, however, Pan appears in the hold of the ship where Henry is being kept and attempts to rip the boy's heart out, but he's unable to due to another spell cast by Regina. Angered, Pan then attempts to tear Henry's shadow from his body, but is caught in the act by Rumplestiltskin, who traps the demon child in Pandora's Box. As this occurs, however, Pan uses his magic to transfer his consciousness into Henry, meaning the toy boys switch minds. Pan, who's now in Henry's body, is then free to walk the ship, whereas Henry, who's in Pan's, remains trapped in the box to no one's knowledge.

Henry, now in Pan's body, stays trapped in Pandora's Box whilst everyone returns to Storybrooke, with his family and friends thinking that Pan is him. Pandora's Box is then magically sealed beneath the floorboards of Mr. Gold's shop so that Pan may never escape again, but when the shadow roams free and murders Mother Superior, Emma and the others believe that Pan is still controlling it from within his prison. To stop him, finally and forever, they drive over to the town line and release Pan over it so that he'll be powerless. Emma prepares to shoot him in the head, but Henry, confused, addresses her as "mom". The blonde wonders what he means, and despite Rumple telling her that it's a trick, she allows the boy a chance to explain himself; he tells her that Pan used his magic to switch their bodies right as he was being trapped in the box. Still not being able to believe him, she requests that he tell her something only Henry would know. He begins listing off facts about himself, but it is pointed out that he could have told Pan all of it in Neverland. However, Emma says that life is made up of moments and that Pan can't know all of them - she requests that he recount the moment they first connected. Henry says that they were in his "castle" and he told her he knew why she gave him up: because she wanted to give him his best chance. Now believing that it's Henry, she puts away her gun and crosses back over the town line with him, now intent on finding the real Pan, who's with Regina in her vault. Once they make it inside, they find that the Queen is unconscious and that the Dark Curse is missing - Pan, still in Henry's body, plans to cast it again and send the residents of Storybrooke into a world of his own dark design. And without Emma's parents' true love woven into the scroll, even she will be powerless to stop it.

As Pan, still in the body of Henry, enacts his curse, everyone gathers outside the Mills family mausoleum where Mr. Gold explains that the curse can be stopped if Regina - the original caster - were to tear the scroll and undo what she created. To get it back, they must first get Henry and Pan back into their own bodies, but to perform a spell so powerful, they're going to need the wand of the Black Fairy. Once this is retrieved by Hook, Neal, David and Tinker Bell, during which time the latter regains her wings, the spell is performed by Gold and everyone but the Dark One heads out to find the real Henry, who will now be in possession of the scroll. It's not long before they reunite and he hands it over, but as soon as Regina touches it, she passes out and is shown a vision of what she must give up in order to prevent the pending curse. Before long, however, all of them are frozen by Pan, who has apprehended Rumple, stolen the curse scroll with his magic, and plans on killing Belle and Baelfire, the two people his son loves most. Gold soon comes out to stop his father, much to Pan's amusement, but Rumple gains the last laugh when he summons his shadow and uses the dagger he previously gave it to stab his father in the back, killing them both. Once this happens, Regina retrieves the scroll again and explains the price that must be paid in order to tear it: she has to give up the thing she loves most - Henry. He is capable of escaping the curse because he wasn't born in the Enchanted Forest, but Emma is also able to escape it because she's the savior. Regina tells the two of them that they have to leave town and never come back, and when everyone congregates at the town line to say their goodbyes, the Queen reveals even more bad news: when the curse washes over them, Storybrooke will cease to have ever existed, meaning it'll vanish from Emma and Henry's memories. However, Regina offers to do for them what she did for everyone else in town and give them new ones; Emma will never have given Henry up and the two of them will always have been together. Grateful, Emma and Henry hop into the former's yellow bug car and prepare to leave, first watching as Regina tears the scroll and uses its magic to make the curse safe and send everyone back to their old home. The mother and son then drive away from town as the Queen's memory spell takes effect.

Season 3
"I love you, Henry..."

- Regina Mills

One year has now past since Emma and Henry left Storybrooke forever and the two of them are enjoying a normal breakfast together in their New York apartment; Emma makes omelets for her and her son and serves them with hot cocoa, almost forgetting the cinnamon on top. This everyday undertaking is soon interrupted by an odd and frantic knock at the door, and Emma is surprised to be met by Captain Hook, not being able to recognize him due to the new memories given to her by Regina. He warns her that her family is in grave danger, but she has no idea what he's talking about, having been abandoned by her parents when she was a baby, not remembering Mary Margaret and David. He tries to restore her memory with a kiss of true love, but this only makes Emma scared, leading her to throw him out of the apartment with force and slam the door in his face, despite his desperate pleas that she needs to save the people she loves. When Henry wonders who was at the door, the blonde figures it was just some crazy guy who someone mistakenly let into the building and goes about her day, trying to shake this unusual and frightening encounter from her mind.

Henry is playing his video game in the apartment when Emma returns home from her date with Walsh, her boyfriend of eight months, and her son soon realizes that she didn't accept his marriage proposal, which he knew about. She begins playing with him, but he soon pauses, telling her not to be afraid to move forward with this relationship for not every guy will leave her like his father did. The next day, as Henry's getting ready for school, Emma tells him that she's going to talk to Walsh, but in truth she goes to an address given to her earlier by Captain Hook, who continues to try and convince her that her life is false. She soon has him arrested for harassment, denying the proof that's right in front of her eyes, and Henry becomes suspicious when she buys him candy at the drug store on the way home, thinking she's simply anxious about what she's going to say to Walsh and so hasn't spoken with him yet. Having suspected this might happen, Henry has already arranged a sleepover and his friend Avery's so his mother and her boyfriend will have the apartment alone all night, but Emma instead bails Hook out of jail and drinks the potion he offers her, regaining her true memories of Storybrooke, magic and the like. That night, Walsh reveals himself to have been a flying monkey in disguise, and so Emma forces him from the roof and to his death, deciding that she and Henry must return to the newly-cursed Storybrooke in the morning. As she's making breakfast, she asks her son if he believes in magic, but he reveals that he does not, much to her dismay. Hook soon arrives and Emma tells Henry that he's a client who the two of them will be accompanying to Maine, and the three of them arrive in Storybrooke come nightfall, with Henry asleep in the car.

Back in Storybrooke, Maine, Henry has breakfast with Emma at Granny's Diner where she introduces his grandparents, Mary Margaret and David, as her old friends. She and David soon leave to deal with shenanigans at the town line, and Henry sits there quietly with his handheld games console whilst Mary Margaret reads her pregnancy book, becoming worried when she reads about a skin rash known as cradle cap. When Henry looks like he couldn't be less interested, Mary Margaret suggests that he goes down to the library as she knows he loves reading. He wonders how she knows that, and she quickly responds that his mother told her. That night, Henry returns to the Charmings' apartment with Emma, having enjoyed his "first" day in town, and she introduces him to Regina Mills, the Mayor. She becomes very sad about the fact that he can't remember her, but he assures his adoptive mother that it was nice to meet her.

As Emma, Regina and the rest of the heroes discuss how to find the Wicked Witch, Regina shows concern over keeping Henry protected from all of this, especially seeing as how he has no idea of anything that's going on in that town. She volunteers to look after him, and Emma requests that she be careful with what she says, for as far as Henry knows, she's just "Madam Mayor". Regina takes Henry out for a walk around the town and treats him to some ice cream, and he tells her stories about his life in New York. He confides in her that the big city's great but there's so many people it can make one feel alone. She tells him the great thing about a small town is everyone knows each other and they all become a big family of sorts. Henry tells her he thinks his mother didn't bring her to Maine for a case, but because she probably said "no" to her boyfriend's proposal. Regina asks him how he felt about Walsh, and Henry answers that he liked how happy he made his mom feel, and he liked the idea of having more than two place settings at the holidays. Regina smiles and tells him she believes one day he'll have more family than he'll know what to do with.

Henry is sitting in Granny's Bed & Breakfast when Emma comes in and gives him a bagel from the diner. He is surprised by its small size, but she points out that they're not in New York anymore, before asking him if he'd like to go fishing with Leroy and a few of his friends the next day. Henry agrees, but only because he loves fishing, not because he believes his mother. She wonders what he means, and he explains that he's onto her, picking up on something odd in this town, as well as his mother's strange behavior. Later, Henry is sitting on a bench by a lake as Emma approaches, asking him how fishing was. He says he enjoyed it, but she soon sits next to him and appears saddened. She tells him that the reason she came to Storybrooke is because his father needed help, but the people who were chasing him caught up and now he's dead. Henry is unhappy to hear this, and Emma assures her son that his father was a good man and a hero, leading Henry to say he wishes he could have known him; Emma tells him that he did, but he comments that she's making no sense. She simply cries as the two of them comfort each other over this unfortunate demise.

Henry attends his father's funeral where he is one of the many townspeople to shovel dirt onto the coffin, before heading to the wake at Granny's Diner, where Hook offers to take him out and tell him what his father was like as a boy. Emma is touched that the pirate would do this for her son, and that night, he and Henry are seen at the docks together, where Hook tries to teach the young man to navigate using the stars. However, Henry has no interest in this and soon starts to notice holes in what people are telling him about his father, such as Hook being an adult when Neal was a boy when they appear to be about the same age in the present day. He asks to be told something real about his father; something that doesn't sound made up so he'll like the guy, and Hook considers this to be a fair request, revealing to the young man that the reason he taught Neal to sail is because he had just lost his own father. This allows Henry to finally relate to his dad, and Hook says, where Henry may not have known is father, he has more in common with him than he realizes. Later, Hook returns Henry to Emma at the B&B and she thanks him for what he did, however, he tells her that Henry needs to know the whole truth about his father and she can't just return to New York when all this is over and pretend that it never happened. She doesn't like hearing this and simply thanks him again, coldly, before slamming the door in his face.

When Emma decides to learn magic from Regina, David and Mary Margaret offer to watch Henry for her, however, she is forced to reveal that he finds them boring, and would much prefer to spend the day hanging out with Hook. She then takes her son to the docks where she leaves him with Killian, who then takes him to Granny's Diner where they play a game of dice. When Killian wins, he reveals that he cheated, but says that it's not cheating if no one finds out. Henry argues that it's cheating either way, but Killian says that the point is: you win. David and Mary Margaret then stop by with Ariel in tow and Hook goes off to help the little mermaid find her prince whilst Henry is babysat by his grandparents. They try to prove how fun they are by teaching him how to drive David's truck, but Henry is a reckless driver and ends up almost crashing and knocking over a mailbox. When he returns to the apartment, Emma and Regina are shocked to find out what the Charmings let him do (although Regina is forced to hide her motherly concern) before deciding to eat that night at Granny's Diner. Henry asks if he can drive them, but they all respond negatively, and he proceeds to dine happily with his family.

Henry accidentally walks in on Regina making out with Robin Hood in the back of Granny's Diner and the Mayor is mortified to have been spotted by her son, despite the fact that he doesn't remember her. After it's decided that the only way to break the curse is to restore Henry's memories, and that the only way to do this is to locate his missing book of fairytales, Henry witnesses Emma leave in a hurry and demands to know where she's going. However, she responds with anger, yelling at her son in a rage. He asks for her keys, saying that he at least wants his Game Boy if he's going to be a prisoner, and she hands them over, however, the young man attempts using them to break into his mother's car so that he can drive back to New York, but is caught by Hook, who says he has a better way of doing so. He then escorts the lad down to the docks so that they can steal a boat and escape town, but they're soon attacked by a swarm of flying monkeys. Hook manages to fend a few off, but Emma, Snow, Charming and Regina arrive just in time to slay the rest. Henry is highly confused, but the book is soon placed in his hands and his true memories return. Just as Emma is about to kiss his forehead, however, Zelena snatches him away and threatens his life. Emma manages to save him with her light magic, and once he revives Regina - who was knocked out by the Wicked Witch - she vows her love for her son and kisses him on the forehead, thus breaking the curse and restoring the entire town's memories. He asks about the guy he saw her kissing earlier, and she reveals that she's begun dating Robin Hood, much to Henry's approval. He then goes with the Charmings to visit Neal's grave and mourn his father properly, but while there, Mary Margaret goes into labor...

With Mary Margaret in labor, multiple townspeople gather at the hospital in order to secure the premises against the Wicked Witch, who wants to kidnap the baby. When Emma decides to bring the fight to Zelena, she tells Henry not to worry for she will be back soon, but he assures his mother that he's not scared because defeating bad guys in her thing. Regina watches over Henry whilst Emma leaves with Hook, and the young man is later seen looking through available apartments in the newspaper. Archie, who's nearby, asks Henry if Emma is okay with moving back to Storybrooke, but Henry doesn't see why not, viewing the town as his home. Later, when Zelena ambushes the hospital, Henry is told to hide with Dr. Hopper whilst the witch ultimately steals Snow's newborn son. When Emma returns, it's revealed that her magic has been drained, and Regina takes this to mean that her half-sister cannot be defeated. However, Henry assures his adoptive mother that she too can produce light magic, such as when she performed true love kiss in order to break the curse. Regina ultimately defeats Zelena and locks her up, and Mary Margaret is reunited with her son. Henry is overjoyed to meet his uncle, unaware that Emma still plans on moving back to New York. Meanwhile, Zelena is murdered in her prison cell by the now free Mr. Gold, and the magic from her pendant leaks across town and activates her previously failed time travel spell, opening a portal to the past.

Emma is surprised to learn that Henry is looking up apartment listings in Storybrooke, not having yet told her family that she plans on moving back to New York, and she dodges the subject by telling her son that his grandparents haven't yet thought of a name for their newborn baby and so are using the fairytale tradition of a coronation - a formal gathering where a royal baby's name is announced, which, in this case, is to take place at Granny's Diner - as an excuse to buy themselves more time. At Granny's, Mary Margaret and David are reading the story of how they first met to the baby from Henry's book of fairytales, but the happy atmosphere is destroyed when Hook makes a comment that reveals Emma's intentions of moving back to the big city. Henry isn't happy to hear this, nor is Regina or the rest of Emma's family, but she storms out, not wanting to be subject to all this pressure. Hook decides to go after her, and Henry tells the pirate to take the book, for it might remind Emma of where she truly belongs. The moment is interrupted once more when Henry notices a beam of light emanating into the sky: Zelena's time travel portal is open, having been activated when she died. Inadvertently, Emma and Hook are sucked down it, becoming trapped in the Enchanted Forest of the past.

After accidentally altering time and managing to get it back on track, Emma and Hook return to town through another portal provided by the former's magic, which has now returned. She reunites with her family at Granny's Diner, finally able to call her parents "mom" and "dad", and Henry is ecstatic to hear that his mother plans on staying in Storybrooke, which she has come to realize is her true home. She reveals her time travel escapades to the family, even the alias she chose of "Princess Leia", and Snow points out that her daughter, now being a character in the book, is a proper fairytale princess now. For her first request as a princess, Emma asks to know what her baby brother's name is, and the Charmings reveal their son to be named after a recently deceased hero: Prince Neal. Emma and Henry are touched by this, for it nicely honors the latter's late father. Later, it becomes clear that Emma and Hook brought something with them when they returned home - the Ice Queen, who walks free amongst the town.

Season 4
"Perfect. Operation Mongoose it is."

Following Robin Hood and Marian's reunion, Regina storms out of Granny's Diner, heartbroken. Emma goes after her, soon followed by Robin, who brings Marian, trying to prove that Regina is no longer evil. Henry, Mary Margaret, David, and Hook hurry outside where they witness a confrontation between the formerly Evil Queen and Marian. Not knowing Regina as anyone except the Evil Queen, Marian condemns her as a monster. Regina walks away, ignoring her true love's wife. Henry anxiously wonders if Regina will revert to being evil again. He hopes not; she has come to far to go back to her old ways. The following morning, Henry accompanies Emma, Mary Margaret, and David as they take Neal out in his stroller. Emma and Henry discuss Regina, the former having no luck getting in touch with her. Henry decides it'd be best he call Regina as she probably does not wish to speak to Emma. Henry stays behind with David to dial his adoptive mother's number. Meanwhile, Emma continues walking with Mary Margaret and Neal.

As Henry is preparing a care package of sorts to help his adoptive mother deal with her break-up from Robin Hood, he receives a message sent via crow from Regina, telling him that he's done nothing wrong but she wants to be left alone for a while whilst she comes to terms with things. This deeply upsets him, and he begins moping at the diner as Emma tries and fails to comfort him. After a brief crisis involving Elsa the Ice Queen is solved, Henry goes to his mother's house and knocks on her door, yelling through it that she can give up on herself but he will never give up on her, and he's not going to go away just because she told him too.. He vows to return every day until she lets him in because he belongs there and it is his house too and he misses his room. Feeling bad about what she's putting her son through, Regina decides to open the door and let him in. The adoptive mother and son then share a joyous hug, much to one another's comfort.

Regina approaches Henry at Granny's Diner and tries to goad him into telling her who the author of his book is, but he quickly figures out that she's up to something and forces her to admit that she wants to find said author and have them rewrite her story so that she's no longer viewed as a villain. To her surprise, Henry thinks that this is a wonderful idea and the two of them dub this mission "Operation Mongoose". Regina is then approached by Robin Hood, who explains that Marian has collapsed due to an icy curse and he needs her help breaking it. She arrives at what is now Mary Margaret's mayoral office and watches as Robin attempts to give his wife true love's kiss, which ultimately fails. Knowing that Marian will die once the ice touches her heart, Regina reveals that there are drastic measures she could take in order to stall the affliction. Robin agrees to whatever it is she has in mind and she sends Henry to her vault in order to retrieve one of her chests. As they wait, Robin admits that the reason his kiss didn't work on Marian is because he's still in love with Regina, but Henry arrives before the conversation can sprout much further. The former Queen then plunges her hand into Marian's chest and pulls her heart out, preserving it in the chest Henry brought so that the ice has no chance of touching it, and the maid will remain alive but frozen.

Henry gives his permission for Emma to ask out Hook; although he may not like the idea all that much, he wants his mother to be happy. Later, down in Regina's vault, she and Henry are working on a way to magically revive Marian from the frozen curse she's under, but nothing appears to be working. Henry soon questions if the reason Robin Hood's kiss didn't work is because he's still in love with Regina, and Regina wonders who told him such a thing. He tells her that no one did, but he figured it out for himself, and he knows that true love's kiss should have been able to break that curse but didn't because Robin is in love with someone else; Regina. After an absence, Henry later returns to the vault and tells his adoptive mother that, although he doesn't particularly understand spells and magic, there is one thing he understands, and that's Operation Mongoose. Regina takes this to mean he has a lead on who wrote the book, and Henry theorizes that his grandfather - Mr. Gold - might just be able to help them. Regina is skeptical but Henry points out that everybody knows Rumplestiltskin doesn't get a happy ending, and yet he's currently married to Belle, so he must have found a way to change his story. Henry decides to get the inside scoop by going undercover as Gold's shop boy apprentice.

Henry, along with everyone else, is summoned to the sheriff's station in order to view an old recording Emma found that shows the Snow Queen used to be her foster mother. Mary Margaret is shocked, never having witnessed her daughter's childhood, but Regina asks her old nemesis if she's missing the part where Emma is with the Snow Queen, which the blonde claims to remember none of, having had her memory of the foster home and all her time there erased. Belle chimes in, saying that she doesn't understand how the Snow Queen even ended up in their world, and Emma hopes that maybe Gold can tell them, pointing out that he spent more time trying to get there than anyone and asking how she did it. Gold, having labored over said task, would like to know himself, and David wonders if she should be a little more concerned about why she came there, as opposed to how. He goes on to sum up that they know she's hiding in the north woods, they searched every inch of her shop, tore apart her house, but she'd cleared everything out days before. Hook points out that that must mean she's hiding something, and Henry suggests that they check her ice cream truck, having noticed she owns such an item because he's a kid. Once there, they find that the Snow Queen has been stalking Emma for quite some time and, thanks to Belle, they later discover that she hopes to cast a shattered sight spell to make everyone in Storybrooke turn on each other so all that will be left is she, Elsa and Emma (who resembles her sister, Helga), who will act as her idealized family.

Henry prepares for his first day as Mr. Gold's apprentice by dressing in a suit, explaining to Regina, after briefly pranking her into thinking he's getting married, that his grandfather told him that he has to represent the family business if he is to be a part of it. He has trouble tying his tie, and she helps him out, during which time he asks her what's wrong, having seen her rifling through the storybook with her "scary face" on. She admits to still being depressed over the situation with Robin Hood but promises her son that, from now on, all of her attention shall be turned to Operation Mongoose, much to his delight. Later, he arrives at Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer and is told to sweep the floor… twice. Once he's done so, he asks his grandfather if he could be doing something a little more magic, and so Gold offers him a potion capable of turning something old into something new. Henry is initially excited, until he finds out that it's actually furniture polish, and he's told to go clean things in the back room, to his disappointment.

Henry finally locates his mother in the woods, having isolated herself due to her now out of control powers, and tries approaching her. However, because she's trying so hard not to hurt him, she accidentally lets forth a large burst of magic which causes him to sustain a deep cut, and she orders him to run away. He obliges, arriving back home at the apartment where Mary Margaret cleans his wound, and Elsa gives him an ice pack to keep the swelling down. When Regina comes to visit him, she heals him with her magic, and he comments that it must be nice to have magic and be useful. She wonders what that means, and he explains how ineffectual he feels because he's just ordinary. Regina tells him never to think like that, reminding him that he has the heart of the truest believer and that he brought his entire family together, so he should never label himself as ordinary because he's not. This comes as a comfort to him, and when it's found out that Emma plans to rid herself of her powers forever, he, David, Mary Margaret and Regina go out searching for her. They eventually find her and, when they do, she has embraced her magic thanks to Elsa, and it's back under her control. She puts on a firework show for those in attendance, which is cut short when ribbons appear on her and Elsa's wrist, harnessing their magic to the Snow Queen as she casts her spell of Shattered Sight over Storybrooke.

Henry and the others head up to the clock tower to gain a better view of the spell of Shattered Sight, which Regina correctly estimates will be complete by sundown and cause everyone in town to start tearing each other apart. Emma says that the answer is simple: they just have to leave town, but the ice wall doesn't take kindly to brute force and grows aggressive when they try to climb it, rendering the savior's plan moot. Regina decides to take Henry under her protection for as long as it's safe for him and so he escorts her to the Merry Men's camp, where she warns Robin Hood and the others of the impending curse. She apologizes for letting matters of the heart get in the way of Operation Mongoose, but Henry doesn't mind, and later he is taken to his adoptive mother's office so that she can seal him in. They share a tearful goodbye, but he remains faithful that Emma and Elsa - who are immune to the spell - will find a way to save them. Regina commends his bravery before putting up a protection spell around the office. She proceeds to seal herself inside her vault, fearing that the persona of the Evil Queen will resurface and wreak havoc, and the Snow Queen's spell soon successfully descends upon the town.

With everyone in Storybrooke now under the effects of Ingrid's spell of Shattered Sight, the entire town begins to tear each other apart. Henry remains sealed in Regina's office by the containment charm she secured around it, and he becomes aggravated when Hook knocks on the door, having been sent there by Mr. Gold to collect him. Henry refuses to have anything to do with the dirty pirate, who insists that he bathes quite frequently, and the young man proceeds to exclaim that he hated Hook before and he hates him even more now that he and Emma are together. Hook is simply happy to here that Emma used the word "together" in reference to their relationship, and goes on to break the containment charm with a potion Gold gave him. He enters the office but immediately trips on some marbles Henry has placed down, and Henry then escapes. When the spell is broken by Ingrid sacrificing herself, he quickly reunites with both Emma and Regina, who are happy to see that he's safe, as well as the entire town.

Following the Snow Queen's death, Elsa is finally able to remove the ice wall surrounding Storybrooke with her powers; however, some of Ingrid's magic remains, making it so that anyone who leaves town can never return. This hits hard when Robin Hood must leave along with Marian, who's only cure rests in entering a world without magic. With them gone, Regina is back to being entirely unhappy, while Henry, after having helped Belle and Gold's shop and failing in an attempt to call her "grandma", accompanies Emma, Mary Margaret and David to the lakeside mansion where the former almost lost her powers. Here, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff all leave through a portal door back to Arendelle, but Henry decides to stick around and do some snooping. It isn't long before he discovers a secret room filled with potential storybooks, meaning this is probably the author's house, and he reports this information to Emma and a depressed Regina (following a series of events which have made it so Rumplestiltskin is now trapped in the outside world, for his evil ways surfaced). It is now that Emma is clued in on Operation Mongoose and, believing that everyone deserves their happy ending, she decides to join in on it.

Six weeks have passed since Belle banished Rumplestiltskin from Storybrooke, and things in town appear to have finally gotten back to normal, with Henry attending school and being taught by his grandmother, Mary Margaret, whose resumed her teaching career. Regina and Emma, meanwhile, continue to search for the Author, while Hook and Belle conduct their own search as to how to free the fairies who are currently entrapped in the Sorcerer's hat. A ritual is soon found as to how to do just that, and the fairies are soon freed. At the celebratory party which follows, Mother Superior reveals that she knows little about the potential storybooks found by Henry, only that the Author and the Sorcerer are two very different people. However, she is aware that the Author may have left clues about himself in the existing book, and so - after a creature known as the Chernabog is defeated and Ursula and Cruella De Vil are allowed into town - Henry runs over his book with a magnifying glass, hoping to find the secret to his adoptive mother's happy ending hidden somewhere inside.

Regina scolds Ursula and Cruella when they try to bring up her past misdeeds around Henry before heading to her office with a box of chocolate-frosted donuts for her son, who is searching for clues within the book. They realize that Pinocchio, having added his own story, might be able to remember something, but when the child can't seem to recall anything from his life as an adult, Regina is thrown into a rage and begins yelling at him, berating him for not trying hard enough. This sends Marco into his own rage and he questions what makes Regina think she deserves a happy ending when she's destroyed so many of other people's. Feeling bad, she later goes to Marco to apologize, knowing that if she truly wants to achieve happiness then she can't revert to her old ways. Marco senses genuine repentance within her and decides to aid her in the quest for the Author by giving her the satchel August had on his motorcycle when he first came to town, thinking it might contain something helpful. She is grateful, and Henry is later seen searching through it. He comes across a page with a drawing of a door and stuck to it as a post-it note which reads, "Author?" The kid smiles.

While his adoptive mother goes undercover with the Queens of Darkness - Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil - in order to find out what it is they're planning to do in Storybrooke, Henry is at Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer with a magnifying glass, using it to look over the page he found in August's satchel. Belle brings him a snack and wonders if he's making progress; he is not, but he vows to find out whatever it is that August is trying to tell him. Meanwhile, it is learned that what the Queens of Darkness want to find is the Author, just like Regina, so that they can shift the entire balance and make it so that villains win and heroes lose. To find out more about him they decide to kidnap young Pinocchio, and Rumplestiltskin - who is discovered by Regina to back in town and reunited with his dagger - uses his magic to turn the former puppet back into the man he used to be.

August is rescued by Emma and the others and brought back to the apartment, where he recuperates. When being tortured by the villains he revealed to them that the Author was trapped behind a door by the Sorcerer: the same door depicted in the page that was found by Henry in his satchel. Henry is looking over this page while August rests on the couch, and, when he comes to, he quickly calls his mothers over. Regina tells the former puppet that they need to talk about how she can maintain her cover with Gold, who didn't find the door in the Sorcerer's mansion, and August reveals that the reason he didn't find it is because it isn't there. He goes on to explain that the door and the page it's drawn on are one in the same... the Author is trapped inside the book.

August takes a turn for the worse and so Henry, Emma and Regina rush him to the nunnery for looking after, where Regina receives a summons from Rumple and the Queens of Darkness, who are expecting the page. Emma creates a magic forgery for her to use, but Regina knows that it won't fool Gold, opting to take a photo instead since all the villains care about is what the door looks like, not knowing its true function. However, Gold can immediately tell upon looking at the photograph that magic surrounds the page, and he deduces rather quickly that the Author is trapped inside the book. Maleficent uses her staff to put the whole town to sleep and they go searching for the page, but Henry, who's still awake because he's been under a sleeping curse before and is therefore immune, has already taken it and run off to the Sorcerer's mansion. Regina is sent there to retrieve it from him and, when egged on by Maleficent and Cruella, she gives her son a look and he hands over the forged copy that Emma made. Meanwhile, after having been called, David and Mary Margaret make their way there and find their grandson waiting for them. He explains what happened and he gives them the real page, wanting to unlock with the key he found in a drawer. They are hesitant, wanting to destroy the page to protect their secret, and David ends up yelling at Henry, ordering him to hand everything over and let adults handle things. Mary Margaret feels awful and cannot go through with it, eventually deciding to tell Emma the truth about her and David's involvement in Maleficent losing her child. August wakes up and Emma brings him the page and key, setting the Author free and having a lot of questions for him. However, he causes a distraction and runs for it.

Following the Author's escape, Emma, David and Mary Margaret chase him through the woods, with the latter using her skills as a tracker to help find him. The Charmings admit to having known him back in the Enchanted Forest, for he put them on the path they took to stealing Maleficent's child, but Emma cares not how her parents were manipulated, briefly berating them over what they did before continuing in the search. Henry and Hook are called in the help, and the group of five is seen scouring the forest while Gold finds the Author first, teleporting away after convincing him to join in on his plans. Henry, Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Hook walk past right after Gold and the Author have fled the scene, their search now futile.

Henry steps off the school bus to find Pongo waiting for him, and it turns out that the beloved dalmatian is under the control of Cruella De Vil, who uses the young man's canine friend in order to kidnap him, then forcing him to record a video message to his mothers telling them that he's been captured and if they ever want to see him again then they must do as Cruella says and kill the Author. They are highly reluctant to do this, opting instead to simply track Henry down in the woods, and while his captor is distracted by her phone, Henry is able to craftily break free of the ropes binding his wrists, making it so that he's chased by Pongo through the woods. His family try to find him, but Cruella gets to him first, followed by Emma. The fur-coated villain threatens to shoot Henry, but Emma uses her magic to push her off of a cliff, to her death. She and Henry embrace, but Gold's plan to turn the savior dark is now in motion, with her having just killed.

Cruella is buried and, after witnessing the event, Emma heads to the diner where Henry is sitting with David, Regina, Mary Margaret and Hook. The state of the savior's soul is worried about after what happened, but she assures them all that what she's feeling right now doesn't acquaint to darkness; it's regret. Maleficent then approaches the group and reveals that she's done with Gold, for he's proven how little he cares for anyone other than himself, and so now she wants to hinder his plans by having Emma travel out into the land without magic and finding her daughter - Lily. Emma is shocked because she knows this girl, because they're tied together by fate, and she and Regina decide to venture out together so that the latter can save Robin Hood from Zelena in the process. Before they leave, Emma makes sure that her parents look after Henry, not bothering to bid them goodbye due to the currently disrupted nature of her relationship with them. ("Lily")

In New York, it is discovered that Zelena is pregnant with Robin Hood's baby, and everyone ends up heading back to Storybrooke where Maleficent is reunited with her daughter Lily. Before this happens, however, Emma embraces her son, before moving on to Hook, and refusing a hug from Mary Margaret - much to her dismay. Lily's blood is soon used to charge the ink of the Author, but this causes her to turn into a dragon and hurt Snow. Following Hook's intervention, Emma arrives on the scene and heals her mother, proceeding to forgive she and David for keeping their secret from her because ultimately all that shutting them out has accomplished is that it's made them all miserable. Besides, no matter what they've done it doesn't change the fact that they're her parents. Meanwhile, the Author begins to rewrite everyone's story under Gold's directive.

With the Author now in possession of the ink he needs to rewrite everyone's story, Henry and the others head to the Sorcerer's mansion to see if any of the blank storybooks are being filled out. August shows up and tells them of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, who the Blue Fairy proceeds to free from the hat with her magic. He tells everybody to trap Isaac inside the page he was once imprisoned in, but it's too late - as Henry arrives home to retrieve it, the Author's magic is worked and the kid becomes all alone in Storybrooke. He drives out into the real world with the key in tow and discovers that Isaac has become a famous writer due to the book he wrote about everybody, wherein they're all miserable. Henry shows up at one of his book singing and threatens him with the page, then using the key to transport them both into the new story. Isaac leaves Henry to be killed by an ogre, but Rumplestiltskin the knight arrives to save him. Henry then finds the den of the bandit Regina and tries to convince her to prevent the book's ending by finding her happiness with Robin Hood, but she refuses to help. Henry shows up in Sherwood Forest after Regina has met Robin, and she is deeply upset because it turns out he's engaged to be married to Zelena. Henry knows that their wedding bells signify the solidification of these fake events and tries to convince her to crash it. She responds by telling him to go find the other mother he mentioned, Emma, but he recalls Isaac saying she's not in the book. He calls her the savior and Regina recalls someone of this title being locked away by the Evil Queen Snow White in an impenetrable tower in the middle of the ocean.

Henry approaches Hook aboard the Jolly Roger, only to learn that he isn't some brave captain but a cowardly pirate who's subservient to Black Beard. The young man knocks the latter out and implores his one-handed comrade to help him make it to the tower in which Emma is locked away. They make it and, to Henry's joy, Emma has retained her memory in this world as part of Gold's punishment, and he's able to free her from her restraints. At the docks, Henry is off getting food when Snow and Charming show up. The latter murders Hook after a brief sword fight, and Henry and a devastated Emma head to Regina's underground hideout to convince her to crash the wedding. She agrees after hearing Emma's heartfelt speech about never being able to tell Killian she loved him, but Rumple shows up to stop them from achieving their goal because Isaac has talked him into it. Emma does battle with him but is knocked out, and so Henry picks up her sword. Rumple goes to behead the child, but Regina stands in the way and sustains a sword wound to the torso, thus becoming a savior. The wedding bells sound but it's not too late - Henry becomes the new Author and he's able to use Regina's blood to set everything right again. Back in Storybrooke, he thinks about using his powers to bring Neal back to life, but the Apprentice assures him that such a feat cannot be accomplished. Believing that no one should be able to change fate, Henry snaps the quill and joins in on the celebrations had at Granny's Diner. Soon, however, events transpire and Emma is forced to become the new Dark One after the power escapes Rumple.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.