Will Scarlet

"Bloody hell!"

Will Scarlet, also known as the Knave of Hearts, is one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Formerly a thief, Will made his way to Wonderland to provide a better, dreamy life for his lover, but things didn't go entirely as planned and eventually she left him to pursue her personal aspirations. Will then lost his heart - quite literally - and became the Knave of Hearts. He met Alice and became her friend, and was transported to Storybrooke, Maine when the Dark Curse hit. However, the White Rabbit summoned him to rescue Alice from an asylum and sent them on a chase to find Cyrus, Alice's one true love, in Wonderland. Will reluctantly agreed, out of loyalty to his friend... and the offer of one of her wishes.

Before the Curse
"I love you, Anastasia."

After Will helps the Merry Men pull off a heist, he is accepted amongst their ranks by their leader, Robin Hood. Here, he is taught by Robin that the Merry Men are not thieves as they do not steal for themselves, they steal for others. Will suggests that they break into Maleficent's castle and steal her gold, as rumor has it it's enough to end poverty in the entire kingdom. Knowing how dangerous Maleficent is, Robin is reluctant, but he eventually agrees to do so. Will then returns home and tells his true love, Anastasia, that he's managed to fool the Merry Men into believing that he agrees with their cause, and that they'll finally get what they're looking for after the heist of Maleficent's castle. The Merry Men manage to break in and steal the gold, however, when inside, Will steals something else also. He is seen celebrating with the rest of the group when the heist is successful, however, Maleficent uses her magic to project her voice and tell them to keep the gold if they must, but to return the other item they stole, or there shall be consequences. An incredibly angered Robin Hood asks who stole something else, and a guilty Will doesn't own up. When Will tries to leave, he is approached by Robin who realizes he stole for himself in Maleficent's castle, and he is bitterly disappointed in him, telling him that he is going to do to him the worst thing of all: nothing. Will then rides his horse back to Anastasia, who is later to become the Red Queen, and reveals that the thing he stole was a Looking Glass. The two of them then use the Looking Glass to open a portal that leads to Wonderland.

Before Will and Anastasia can jump through the Looking Glass portal, the latter's mother enters the small home in order to talk them out of it, but they jump anyway. They spend a few weeks in Wonderland and become very hungry, being too poor to pay for food and not being able to find good sustenance in nature. When looking for berries to eat, they see a carriage full of bread drive past and learn that it's for the upcoming royal ball, and so they decide to rob noble attire and attend. Whilst there, Will is caught stealing food and gets him and Anastasia thrown out, much to Ana's dismay as she was having a nice time, chatting to the king. Now hating her life as a pauper, Ana suggests that the two of them steal the crown jewels and return home to the Enchanted Forest, where they will have escaped their crime and be rich. Will agrees to engage in this one final heist, and waits at the bottom of the tower for Anastasia, who's inside, to steal the jewels from their case and drop them down to him. Whilst inside, however, Ana is approached by the king, who has taken a shine to her and offers to make her his wife and Queen. Will is then shocked when the king turns up on the balcony with his new fiancée on his arm - Anastasia.

Season 1
"You know as well as I do, Alice. Nothing's impossible in Wonderland."

In the town of Storybrooke, Maine, Will Scarlet is seen walking into Granny's Diner during a storm and making himself a cup of tea. When he is doing so, however, there is an earth-tremor and the White Rabbit appears via portal, telling Will that Alice needs his help. Will travels to another land with the White Rabbit in order to break into the asylum Alice is currently confined to. He knocks out some guards and makes it to her cell, telling her that Cyrus, her true love, is still alive and she needs to come with him to Wonderland. With each other's help, Alice and Will escape the asylum and go down a portal created by the White Rabbit. Upon returning to Wonderland, the two of them become stuck in the mallowmarsh and have to use fire-breathing dragonflies in order to toast the surface and use this segment as a platform to escape. They soon realize that the Rabbit is gone, after being disappointed to learn that he didn't actually see Cyrus in the Mad Hatter's house, but in fact heard it from the untrustworthy Dormouse. The Knave does not wish to go any further, but Alice offers to pay him with the three wishes she received from Cyrus should he help her find him. Alice removes her shoes in order to climb a tree, thus gaining a view of the Hatter's house, but Will decides to steal her shoes and run away, as the wishes are hidden in the heel. When Alice is attacked by the Cheshire Cat however, Will steps on his tail and throws some mushroom into his mouth, which shrinks him. Alice tells him that it was silly to steal the wishes as they have to be granted by a genie in order to come true, and Will proceeds to accompany Alice to the Hatter's house. When they arrive, they find no sign of Cyrus, but Alice discovers his magical necklace and takes this to mean that he's still alive somewhere. When the White Rabbit shows up again, he, Alice and a reluctant Will continue to journey through Wonderland in order to rescue Cyrus.

Will wakes up to Alice practicing with her sword, telling the Knave that she has a plan to rescue Cyrus: first, find his bottle (which she says is buried in Mimsy Meadows), and then wish for something minor, and he shall appear to grant said wish. They go to carry this plan out, leaving the White Rabbit behind them, but Will is horrified to discover that the way to Mimsy Meadows is across a large lake as he is afraid of water and unable to swim. Alice suggests that they call upon the lake's fairy, something which Will is also hesitant about, but eventually, after the two of them clap a summons, the fairy Silvermist arrives. Upon seeing the Knave, she slaps him multiple times, the two of them clearly having a bad history. She agrees to fly the two of them across the lake using her magic, but as she's doing so, she lets Will drop into the water. Alice then jumps in to save him and the two of them find themselves on a small island in the middle of the lake. When the island bucks them off, Alice realizes that it's not an island at all, but a large turtle. By threatening it with her sword, Alice convinces it to sail them to Mimsy Meadows, and Will sits effortlessly on the turtle's back as it swims across the lake. After another run in with Silvermist where Will ends up apologizing for whatever he did to her, they arrive where the bottle is supposed to be buried, they see that the evil wizard Jafar is already digging. At this point, Alice reveals that the bottle was never buried there and that she merely wanted to know who she's up against by letting word spread of the bottle's supposed whereabouts. However, when she leads Will to where the bottle is really buried, she discovers that it has already been dug up, which leads her and Will to think Cyrus has moved on. But later, an enchanted paper swan with a message from Cyrus arrives for Alice, and now filled with hope, she sends a message back, telling her true love that she's coming for him.

When Alice is speculating as to who stole Cyrus' bottle, Will suggests that the two of them use the Forget-Me-Knot, a magical rope that, when tied in a loop, makes one able to see the last thing that happened in the location it's pointed at, to find out. He says that retrieving it will be the difficult part as it's currently in possession of the Caterpillar, and so the two of them visit him in the Underland of Wonderland. Will tells the humongous insect that, if he gives him the Forget-Me-Knot, then he'll be able to pay back double what he owes, but Alice soon deciphers that the Caterpillar doesn't have it. He tells the Knave that the Knot is with the Grendel, and gives him its location; he then says that if Will tries to cheat him out of a deal, then he'll become one of the screaming heads on his desk. On their way to the Grendel's house, the two of them fall into one of his traps, knocking them unconscious. They awaken a while later, tied up in the Grendel's kitchen, where the ugly beast is waiting to eat them. Whilst held prisoner, they locate the Forget-Me-Knot, but notice that the Grendel is using to look into his past; watching a beautiful woman and his former handsome self. Will realizes it's the Grendel's lost love, so tries to relate to him and persuade him to move on, however, this only aggravates the beast more. Alice soon manages to cut herself loose using her wishes' sharp edges, and then she and Will make their exit, however, they soon find themselves trapped between a Bandersnatch outside and the Grendel inside. The Bandersnatch breaks in and rampages through the house, but Alice manages to get it trapped in the Forget-Me-Knot and Will stabs it, killing it. Now that Grendel can no longer use the Knot to look at his wife, as all he sees is the Bandersnatch's attack; he therefore gives it to a grateful Alice and Will. They then make their way to Greener Pastures, where the bottle was buried, and use the Forget-Me-Knot to see that the White Rabbit is the one who stole it and gave it to the Red Queen. Will later decides to burn the Forget-Me-Knot as oppose to using it to clear his name, as that way he didn't steal it for him, he stole it for Alice.

Will and Alice are walking through the woods and wondering what to do now that they know the White Rabbit betrayed them to the Red Queen; Will believes that they should play the fact that they know to their advantage, but before the conversation can end, the two of them are chased through the woods by the Caterpillar's "collectors". Alice and Will soon split up and the latter is almost ambushed by collectors, however, the group of thugs are soon knocked out by the Red Queen, who takes the Knave of Hearts as her prisoner. Jafar insists that Will be executed, but the Red Queen is hesitant about having her former love killed, and so she offers him passage out of Wonderland via the White Rabbit. But Will taunts Anastasia, telling her she can't kill him, which pushes her into going ahead with the public beheading. Will is soon escorted outside where his head is placed on the chopping block and Wonderland's villagers are all excited to see some decapitating, however, when the executioner swings the axe, what they actually do is cut the rope that binds the Knave's hands, freeing him. The executioner is then revealed to have been Alice in disguise, and she and Will escape by using the catapult meant for the latter's head to be sent over the palace walls. They attempt to escape alongside Lizard, Will's former comrade in crime, but are soon faced with Jafar and the Red Queen. Jafar attempts to choke Will to death, forcing Alice to make one of her wishes; she wishes for her own death, should Will die, which makes Jafar stop. Now not being able to kill either of them, the dark magician informs Alice that there are much worse fates than death, and proceeds to magically turn Will to stone (still keeping him alive). Jafar assures Alice that he will keep coming after the people she loves until all her wishes are used up, and the girl is forced to abandon Will in the maze, where he continues to stand as a statue.

Alice returns to Will, who is still living as a stone statue in the Red Queen's palace maze, and drapes a blanket over his head in order to protect him from rain, snow or anything else that might fall from the sky in Wonderland. She is soon approached by the Queen, who offers Alice an exchange: if she helps her get magic dust that will defend her against Jafar's magic, then she will tell her where Cyrus is being kept. Alice takes this deal and retrieves the magic dust for the Queen, but Anastasia does not fulfill her end of the bargain, and returns to Will alone, not having told Alice a thing. Instead of using the dust to protect herself however, the Red Queen pours it over the statue that once was Will, and leaves. The dust's magic then returns Will to his regular human form, and he leaves the maze, very confused as to what happened.

After having been returned to his human form from stone, Will wonders away from the Red Queen's palace and makes his way through the woods of Wonderland. Here, he comes across two thieves who he previously made the acquaintance of in his stealing days, and they tell him that the girl he's traveling with, Alice, has wondered into the dark forest. Will makes his way through the same dark area and eventually comes out in a beautiful wooded area, filled with trees and flowers that emit magic dust, where he finds Alice, who's become intoxicated on the aforementioned dust. He tries to snap her out of it, but she seems to have completely forgotten her troubles, including Cyrus, and has already surrendered her sword and necklace. When Will sees that the people who come across the area and don't want to leave become trees, he tries very hard to warn Alice, but she seems to have forgotten herself as well. Her legs soon begin turning to wood, her whole body becoming plant, and Will is unable to help her due to her tendril-like vines that keep him at bay. However, he is able to throw her the necklace and remind her of what she's looking for, and when Cyrus returns to Alice's head, she becomes aware of what is truly happening to her, and uses her sword to cut herself out of her current predicament. Her and Will then leave the area, and the Knave thanks Alice for turning him back from stone, but the girl soon reveals that she had nothing to do with it, and that Anastasia had some magic dust, meaning she must have freed him. This maddens Will, who doesn't want to be in the Red Queen's debt, and he goes on to tell Alice that, despite all the trouble she went to to get back his heart, he never put it back inside his body, as if he did, all the pain he felt when Anastasia left him would come rushing back, and the fact that he has no heart in his chest is the reason that the magical wooded area that Alice became trapped in had no effect on him.

Alice and Will continue trekking through the woods of Wonderland to Jafar's tower, but are horrified to discover that it's not atop a mountain, but in fact a floating island in the sky. Alice is soon gladdened to find a magic tree with the ability to fly, and believes that if she and the Knave were able to fashion a basket, they could attach it to the branch and use it to fly up to Jafar's tower like a hot air balloon. As the basket's construction is underway, Alice's father Edwin emerges from the woods, having been in Wonderland a while and looking for his daughter. Alice is shocked, and her father attempts to make amends with her, starting by helping Will construct a basket; as they do this, Edwin asks Alice's friend if he thinks she'll forgive him, and Will tells him that she will, because she always does the right thing. It's not long before a dragon swoops down from Jafar's tower and attacks them, and Alice is forced to rescue her father from its clutches by killing it, which gives her a new perspective on her love for him; she decides to forgive him for all he's done. As the three of them eat the slain dragon, Alice realizes that the man with her and Will is an impostor and not her father as her father always says grace before eating even a morsel of food. Knowing he's been dumbfounded, Edwin turns back into Jafar, who was disguised and in fact summoned the dragon, and the dark magician collects the real Edwin from his dungeon. He threatens his life in front of Alice and Will, wanting the former to make a wish, and she does so when her father is dropped from a cliff, wishing for him to return home after the two of them made amends. However, before this happened, Edwin revealed that Cyrus is alive and looking for her on the ground, which makes Alice very happy as the holes left by her genie and her father are now filled. But Will reminds his friend that wishes always have consequences, and asks what the price shall be for wishing her father's return to England.

Will and Alice see that the Red Queen's soldiers are still searching for Cyrus in the woods of Wonderland, meaning they haven't found him yet, and Alice knows the one place her genie would meet her - but first, they must stop at the White Rabbit's house for help. When they get there, the Rabbit apologizes for betraying Alice, explaining that he only did the Queen's bidding because his wife and children were being threatened, and Will believes he knows where she may have hidden them. He, Alice and the Rabbit head to his old wagon, which he used to share with Anastasia, and sees that the Queen has already collected Cyrus' bottle from here. He then discovers Mrs. Rabbit and her children locked in a cage, and reunites the family with their husband and father. Alice and Will then go to the invisible home the former shared with her true love, which Cyrus soon approaches... with the Red Queen in tow. She reveals that the magical storm on the horizon was cast by Jafar, who betrayed her, and is on its way to kill her. She tells the Rabbit to dig, but Alice and Will refuse to trust the Queen; re-adopting her native accent, she assures the two of them that she's telling the truth, and tells Will that the only reason she was in league with Jafar was because she wanted to change the past and go back to a time when she and him were happy together. Cyrus decides to trust the Queen, being able to read people, and Alice orders the Rabbit to dig, however, Will is struck down by the storm, which causes Alice to collapse also due to the first wish she made that tied her fate to the Knave's. As Will and Alice die in their respective true love's arms, the Knave uses Alice's last wish, which was given to him upon her reunion with Cyrus, to end Alice's suffering. This saves her from the brink of death and frees Cyrus from his duties as a genie - but this comes at a cost. Will, now a genie in Cyrus' old binds, becomes trapped in the bottle, which heads down a waterfall.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.