Genie of Agrabah

The Genie of Agrabah is a supporting character on Once Upon a Time. A magic genie from the exotic land of Agrabah, in the fairytale world, he was forced by magic to grant three wishes to whoever found and rubbed the magic lamp in which he lived. The Genie is saved from his curse by the kind King Leopold, and they become trusted friends, but the Genie's feelings for the scheming Queen Regina prove to be harmful to him and to the King. The Genie later becomes trapped as the Queen's reflection in mirrors, and after the Dark Curse is set in motion, he becomes trapped in Storybrooke as Sidney Glass, the head of the local newspaper and Mayor Mills' confidant.

Before the Curse
King Leopold, on a morning walk through a local beach, finds a magic lamp washed ashore. He picks it up and rubs it, only to encounter a magic genie, the Genie of Agrabah, who lived in the lamp. The Genie, rather unceremoniously, tells the King that he can ask for three wishes, with some terms and conditions. The King, already satisfied with everything he has, wishes merely for the happiness of everyone who sets foot in his kingdom, and, upon hearing of the Genie's miserable life, requests for him to be set free. The Genie is therefore released from his curse, and the King gives him the final wish in the lamp. At the castle, the Genie meets Snow White, the beautiful young daughter of King Leopold, and the saddened Queen Regina. The Genie grows fond of the Queen, and notices her depression. The Queen tells him that she knows the King will never love her as much as he loved his first wife, so she feels trapped in a rather loveless marriage. The Genie, to lift up her spirits, offers the Queen a small mirror, so she can see herself the way he sees her: as the fairest in all the land. The King, from reading his spouse's diary, learns that she is smitten with another man, and requests that the Genie find the identity of the person who gave her the mirror. The King then locks her up in a tower, and Henry, the Queen's father, brings his daughter a chest with two deadly vipers from the land of Agrabah. Regina tells the Genie that they are her way out, but he stops her from committing suicide, planning to use the snakes to kill the King instead. He does just this, and tells the King, in his death bed, that he is forever grateful to Leopold for having set him free, but now it is his duty to set the Queen free. The King shows repent in helping the Genie, and passes away. Later, however, the Genie learns he was set up to take a fall by the scheming Queen. It was her plan all along that the Genie be blamed for the King's death, seeing as how the guards now know he is behind everything because the snakes were from his land. The Genie claims to be unable to live on without the woman he loves, so, in order to both stay by her side and punish her, he uses up his last wish to never leave her side. However, this backfires to an extent, for he is magically turned into the Queen's reflection, forever trapped in her mirrors.

Season 1
One morning in the lovely town of Storybrooke, Mayor Mills is picking apples from her backyard tree. Behind her appears Sidney Glass, the town's local newspaper's head, holding in his hands the newest edition of the paper. He says "The Mirror strikes again." She turns to him to see what it is, and learns that it is a cover of how Emma Swan wrecked the town's historic entrance sign. She takes the newspaper from his hands and comments that it's not what she asked for. She skims through it and asks what he found out about Emma. He tells her that there wasn't much; he says that she spent a lot of time in foster homes, and she snubs this. She continues searching for the proper apples and he walks around her, saying she got into some problems when she was a teen, but everything is locked up pretty tight, and since then she's clean. She did however bounce around a lot, and it appears as though she doesn't like to sit still. He asks the Mayor if she knew that Emma had Henry while she was in Phoenix, and then he asks her how Henry wound up in Maine. The Mayor scolds him for bringing her nothing of value, and threatens to dispose of him should he fail to be valuable again. Sidney, intimidated, tells her that he'll keep looking, and walks past her. The Mayor takes a further look at the newspaper.

Emma meets with Sidney, and she confronts him about the bug he used to spy on her to aid Regina. Emma accuses him of being in love with Regina, which would explain his loyalty to her. She gives him an ultimatum--he can either free himself from trouble by helping her or go down with Regina. Later, Mr. Gold watches August speed off on his motorcycle and follows him behind in his car. Regina meets Emma at the sheriff's station under the pretense of giving her a confession. Then she calls Sidney in, who goes into detail about everything because he had hoped he would get his job back by kidnapping Kathryn. Emma doesn't buy his confession and asks to speak with Regina privately in the hallway. She is furious Regina is having someone else take the fall for her actions. Emma says that Regina tried to take away a person she loves, so now she will take away someone Regina loves. She vows to get her son, Henry, back.