Bashful

Bashful is a supporting character on Once Upon a Time, and a member of the brotherhood of dwarfs that accompanied Snow White in several adventures. As his name indicates, he is bashful, which his evidenced by his usual shyness. Nevertheless, he is a valued member of the group, who loves working at the mines and who can develop a sense of adventure when it is needed. After the Dark Curse was set in motion, Bashful became trapped in Storybrooke, Maine, unable to remember his past identity.

Before the Curse
Bashful hatches from an egg, as all dwarves do, and is put to work in the diamond mines after being given his name which appeared magically on a pick-axe. Bashful is put in a group with Doc, Dopey, Dreamy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy and Stealthy. Bashful and the rest of the dwarves love to do what they do, mine and work all day, the rest of them that is, besides Dreamy. The dwarves are completely sceptical when Dreamy tells them he’s fallen in love with a fairy by the name of Nova, telling him that dwarves are incapable of love, only work. Dreamy isn’t convinced and decides to sneak off one night with Nova, however, all the dwarves are awakened by his abandonment. Bashful and the others all say goodbye. However, Dreamy comes back, without his love, and takes a new name; Grumpy.

Snow White becomes imprisoned by King George. Along with Grumpy and Stealthy, the three of them escape the castle together, however, in battle, Stealthy is killed as he tries to flee. Snow uses her identity to save Grumpy and set him free. After breaking Prince Charming’s heart, Snow leaves the castle and is approached by Bashful and the other dwarves, who are saddened over Stealthy’s death. With Snow in need of a place to live, the dwarves offer for her to come live with them in their cottage in the Enchanted Forest, she agrees. A while later, when Grumpy hears of Prince Charming leaving his fiancée, Abigail, he comes looking for Snow to tell her the news. Bashful is present when he looks for her. When he finds Snow, he’s too late and discovers she drunk a potion wiping her memory of Charming. (“True North”/”7:15 A.M.”)

Whilst living with the dwarves and having lost her memory of Prince Charming, Snow White is angry all of the time. The seven of them, including Bashful, diagnose that this is because of the potion she took. However, she believes that it is because of the Evil Queen, and decides that she wants to kill her. The dwarves along with Jiminy Cricket try to ward her away from it, and manage to, convincing her to go to Rumplestiltskin to get him to reverse the potion's effects. However, when Snow visits Rumple, she discovers there is no cure. She instead gets help from him to kill the queen. Charming hears of this and stops Snow, helping her regain her memory with true love's kiss. Soon after this, Charming is kidnapped and taken away by King George's men. Snow returns to the dwarves and they decide that it's time to show Regina what Snow White and seven dwarves can really do.

Bashful, the other six of his peers, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Granny, Blue Fairy and others stage an attack on King George's castle, all in an attempt to rescue Prince Charming. However, the attack is unsuccessful as Charming has been trapped in a prison cell by Regina, to whom he is in the custody of, and Snow ends up taking a bite out of her poisoned apple, to save her love's life.

While searching for Snow White, Prince Charming enters the woods and approaches the seven dwarves, who are located in a clearing, around the glass casket they built for Snow, who is comatose after ingesting a poisoned apple, and presumably believed to be deceased. Doc tells the Prince that he's too late, and when he sees his beloved princess confined in the coffin, he is horrified. He looks at her, with a melancholic gaze, and orders the dwarfs to open the casket. Grumpy tells him "I'm sorry, she's gone", but a teary-eyed Prince begs him to at least allow him to say goodbye. The depressed dwarfs remove the glass top of the coffin, and the prince leans down for a kiss. When he kisses her, waves of magic are spread through the air, and the area, that was dark and slowly being covered with snow, is filled with light and life. A while later, Bashful attends Snow and Charming's wedding along with his fellow dwarfs and he witnesses Queen Regina threaten everyone with her curse. When the curse is finally enacted, Bashful is sent to a town named Storybrooke where he lives, unable to remember his former life. ("Pilot"/"The Thing You Love Most"/" A Land Without Magic")

Season 2
After the curse is broken and everyone is reuniting with one another, Snow is addressed as “Your highness”, and she is excited to see before her very eyes the seven dwarves, reunited, and taking a bow. They all exchange in a group hug. When they break it off, Grumpy asks if the curse has been broken, and Charming replies that it appears so. Charming and Grumpy then shake hands while Red asks what they do now. Grumpy asks why they’re still in Storybrooke, Charming tells him that that’s an excellent question. All the dwarves, including Bashful, begin to ask questions about the curse and purple smoke until they’re interrupted by one short answer: “Magic”. The line comes from the Blue Fairy, who joins them, and says that magic is there as she can feel it. The group go to find Rumplestiltskin, the man responsible for the return of magic, but on their way, Jiminy approaches them and asks them to stop an angry mom from killing Regina.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.