Pinocchio

"I'm changing back because... I haven't exactly been a good boy."

Pinocchio is one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time. He is the son of Geppetto, and started out his life as an enchanted wooden puppet. He was turned into a real human boy by the Blue Fairy, and then helped his father create the magical wardrobe which protected Emma Swan from the Dark Curse and he himself was transported into the real world. 28 years later, he came into Storybrooke, in a rather shady fashion, as August W. Booth, an intriguing author, with the intention of making Emma open her eyes to the truth around her.

Before the Curse
"There will be many temptations in this new world, Pinocchio. But as long as you remain brave, truthful and unselfish, you will not fail."

- Jiminy Cricket

Pinocchio, the wooden puppet that was blessed with life, is seen on a raft with his maker and father, the elderly Geppetto, as they brave through the waves of an enraged sea during a stormy night, trying to escape from Monstro, the enormous whale that is chasing after them. Geppetto tells his son that they must abandon ship, and tries to hand him the one life vest they have. Pinocchio tells him to take it, because he is made of wood and therefore can float. Pinocchio then tells him to save himself and dives in the water, just as the whale approaches them. Some time later, Geppetto is seen stranded ashore, recuperating, and he is left brokenhearted by the sight of the lifeless Pinocchio, back to being a mere wooden puppet, face down on the beach. Geppetto takes his marionette in his arms and sobs over the loss of the only son he ever had, until the powerful and benevolent Blue Fairy appears and turns Pinocchio into a real, living boy.

Geppetto is overwhelmed with joy, and the child is filled with excitement. Geppetto is very thankful towards the Blue Fairy, and the head fairy tells the child to be brave, truthful and unselfish, and as long as he does that he'll always remain a real boy. Pinocchio nods affirmatively, but it is then revealed to us that he didn't exactly live by this ruling, for he goes on to become a very unruly boy, going so far as tying up his voice of reason, Jiminy Cricket, to the bird on a clock. The Blue Fairy then warns Geppetto that the Evil Queen is preparing to enact the Dark Curse, which will transport them all into a different world, rid of happy endings. The fairy tells him to fashion a vessel from an enchanted tree, so that Snow White and Prince Charming can be saved from the curse and lift the spell in the new world with the aid of their unborn daughter, who holds the key to save everyone. Geppetto agrees to build a magical wardrobe, but since it can only hold two people, he demands that his son Pinocchio is one of them. The fairy is then forced to tell the royal couple that only one of them can go through the wardrobe. However, Emma, their child, is born ahead of schedule, and thus only the baby can go inside the vessel. Before she does, however, Pinocchio himself is sent through it, and Geppetto asks of his son to get Emma to believe in the curse so that she can break it. His son promises him this much. ("Pilot"/"The Stranger")

Early Life
"I'm sorry, Emma."

Pinocchio finds baby Emma in the tree that brought him into the real world, and holds her in his arms. Eventually he brings her to the side of a road, where they are found. They are both placed in foster care, and Pinocchio helps to look after the baby, but he is talked down upon and mistreated by Mr. Raskind, who works at the home. Then, Gordie, a fellow orphan, shows young Pinocchio that he stole money from a sock drawer, which is enough to buy everyone bus tickets out of there. Gordie tells him they're leaving now, and asks if he wants to come, but the young man tells him that he promised his father he'd take care of Emma. Pinocchio asks if they can take Emma, but his friend replies that they can't take care of a baby. Gordie then walks away, but Pinocchio begs him to wait. He then gives Emma a kiss goodbye and apologizes for leaving her, feeling genuine sorrow. He then leaves with his fellow orphans. In the 28 years that followed, Pinocchio, as August W. Booth, travelled around the world, getting to know it better, appreciating it for its beauty. His favorite place to be was Nepal.

At age 17, Emma becomes a robber and associates herself with a fellow robber, Neal Cassidy, with whom she plans on settling down. Once August finds out about this somehow, after looking for her for 2 years, he tracks them down and follows after Neal one night. Neal mistakes him for a police officer and tries to make a run for it, but August is able to grab a hold of him and makes it clear to the robber that he knows Emma, and says that if Neal wants to protect her, they need to have a talk. When August claims to be Emma's "guardian angel", her protector, Neal wonders where he's been all her life, and he tells him that he is not perfect: this world is full of temptations, and he is not too good at saying "no" to them. Neal asks him who he is, and August explains to him that he and Emma were in the same home as children, and back then he promised he would take care of her. Neal responds that they promised to take care of each other, he and Emma, and August realizes that he loves her, which is good, because it means he has to do right by her. August goes on to explain that Emma has a destiny to fulfill, and the lifestyle they currently have is deviating her from it. Neal isn't too convinced, until August asks him if he believes in magic. Neal can tell that he does, and August tells him so will he, and then shows him something he brings with him on his motorbike. Whatever it is, it's enough to convince Neal. August explains to him that there's a curse, Emma is the key to breaking it, and he was tasked with making sure that she can do it, and Neal was caught in the crossfire. August then tells him a story, at the end of which Neal is forced to decide what he's going to do about Emma. Eventually, he tips her off to the police and she's arrested. Later, Neal meets with August, feeling remorse over what he did, but the author reassures him that it was the best they could've done, and agrees to make sure Emma gets some money from him when she gets out of jail, as well as the car they shared. He also agrees to send Neal a postcard once the curse is lifted.

Eventually, August loses track of his mission again. At some point during his journey around the world, he is reminded that he was running out of time to break the curse when his leg started reverting back to its wooden state.

Season 1
"If you need evidence for everything, Emma, you're going to find yourself stuck in one place for a long time."

One night, in the town of Storybrooke, Henry Mills, the adopted son of Mayor Regina Mills (the Evil Queen), brings his birth mother, Emma Swan, some pumpkin pie. He tells her that the fact that she saved Ava and Nicholas Zimmer from being sent to foster care is another sign that she is changing things for the better. This said, a stranger arrives in the town, on his motorcycle. The stranger parks his bike across the road from the mother and child, and then comes up to them. He smiles to Emma, as though he recognizes her, and greets her. He then asks if this is Storybrooke, and Emma says that it is. He asks if there is any place around to get a room; Henry asks him if he's staying, and the stranger - Pinocchio, all grown up - says that's the plan, he's just looking for a bed. Emma gives him directions to Granny's Bed and Breakfast, and he thanks her, and then walks back to his bike. The blonde tells him she didn't catch his name, to which the stranger retorts that he didn't give it. He then drives away. Emma reminds Henry that he'd told her that no one new ever comes to town, and Henry says "They don't."

When the stranger has some problems with his motorcycle, next to the house of the Mayor, Henry comes up to him and asks some questions. Regina notices this and, failing to recognize the man and unable to get to him, for he drives away, grows concerned. This prompts her to come to Emma for help, to find out what she can about the man. Emma encounters the man at Granny's Diner, and Emma tells him they need to talk because he is suspicious. The man tells her that his bike broke down by Regina's house and Henry came up to him asking questions. Emma is curious about the box he carries around. The man taunts her by saying that he is going to make her wait a long time to find out what is in the box, and in the meantime she will have to watch him carry it around. Or, he says, she can let him buy her a drink sometime and he'll tell her right then. She agrees, and he opens the box before her, to reveal an old typewriter inside: he's a writer. He's there because that place provides inspiration. She asks if he's been there before, and he neither denies nor confirms this, he just leaves. She asks him about the drink, and he reminds her that he said 'sometime'.

After the big storm that engulfed the town of Storybrooke, Henry's castle, his favorite playground by the beach and the spot where he hangs out with his birth mother regularly, is partially wrecked. He checks to see if his storybook is still buried in the sand under the castle, and learns that it is. Later, Regina orders that the castle be completely torn down, much to Henry and Emma's disappointment, but worse of all, the young child realizes that his book has gone missing. Thinking that Regina took the book, Emma sets out to retrieve it. The stranger then finds Henry at Granny's Diner, trying to write down and draw the stories of the book before he forgets them. When August shows interest in him and the book - Henry says the book is merely about "stuff", Henry asks what he is really doing in Storybrooke, since he can write anywhere, but the stranger merely tells him "stuff". It is later revealed to us that the stranger has the book...

Some time later, Emma arrives at Granny's Diner to find the stranger, who tells her he'd like to take her out for that drink he promised her once. She teases him about not going out with men who refuse to tell her their names, and he reveals himself to be August W. Booth (the 'W' standing for 'Wayne'). We then see that August is apparently adding new pages to the compilation of fairytales... Later, August shows up on his motorcycle, outside the diner, and asks Emma to hop on, because he knows a good 'watering hole' where they can go. She does so, reluctantly, and he takes her to an actual watering hole: a well in the middle of nowhere. He starts telling her that there is a legend around that well, which claims that the water from the well originates from an underground lake that has magical properties. If someone drinks the water from the well, something lost will return to them. Emma comments that he knows a lot about the town for being a stranger, and he fires back that she knows very little for being the sheriff. Emma asks if he's been there before to know all of this, and he replies that he simply read the well's plaque. He tells her that water spreads throughout the entire world, connecting everything, so if something were to have mystical properties, it'd be water. They then drink up. Later, Emma notices a familiar red box next to her parked car, inside a small puddle near the sidewalk, and she opens it to find Henry's book inside. Unbeknownst to her, August is watching from a distance. She then returns it to her son. The kid takes this as a sign that their luck is changing.

Ruby, a sexy waitress working at Granny's Diner, flirts with August one time, expressing interest in his tales about the adventures he's had travelling around the world. August tells her that his favorite place to be was Nepal, and comments that its temples were infested with lemurs. Ruby inquires him further, but Granny - her grandmother, the owner of the diner - scolds her for this, because she is flirting rather than tending to her job. This causes Ruby to have a fight with her grandmother - a discussion August is somewhat amused by - and ultimately Ruby quits her job. August feels awkward over all of this.

Henry feels a little blue after his teacher, Miss Blanchard, is framed for murder, and also because his mother, Emma, is still skeptical about the curse. He goes to Granny's Diner to get a hot chocolate, and August finds him there and starts talking to the kid. August tells him that some people can't see what's right in front of them, and tells him that he should start looking for answers elsewhere... like the book in his bag. August comments that he is a writer so he is partial to finding his answers in the literary form. Henry says that it's just a book, to which the man replies, "Is it?". He then says that he thinks they both know that that's not the case, and Henry is intrigued. The young man asks his companion what he knows about the book, and August says that he knows it's a book about stories that really happened. Henry asks how he knows this, and the writer tells him that he's a believer, and that is why he's there, in Storybrooke. Henry says that he already believes, and August says that he's there for Emma, not him. Henry asks why he doesn't just tell Emma the truth, and he tells the child in response that some people, like the two of them, can go on faith, but others, like Emma, need proof. Henry recounts that the last time he tried to find proof he found himself stuck in a sinkhole, and August says that there are less dangerous ways to find it, hinting at the book.

August encounters a beaten-down Emma reading Henry's book, and advises her to go about her investigation of Kathryn's apparent murder from the beginning, which is a technique he uses when he has writer's block. Emma takes his advice and goes back to the place where Ruby found the box with the heart. There, she notices that August seems to have a limp. Also, she finds a broken piece of a shovel. That night, she enters the garage of the Mayor, and finds a shovel with a piece missing... a perfect match. Emma is confident that she finally caught the Mayor, but the following morning, when she shows up with a warrant, the shovel has apparently been replaced. She blames August for telling the Mayor, and later she confronts Mr. Gold, reminding him that she came to him for help but he wasn't any. Mr. Gold says the case isn't over, and that there's still time for him to work his magic. Then, an angry Emma smashes the vase with the flowers Sidney brought and finds a bug in them. She apologizes to August, who accepts her apology, and shortly afterwards they hear a scream. It's Ruby, who has just stumbled upon none other than an alive and disoriented Kathryn Nolan.

August requires Henry's assistance with a small plan. While the young man distracts Mr. Gold in his pawn shop, 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 by Gold. Gold asks Emma if she trusts August, and she says that she trusts him more than she does Gold. Gold then spots August chatting with the Mother Superior outside the local convent, and once he's gone the elderly man asks the head nun what they talked about. She tells him that August wanted advice and council as he has just come to town after being separated from his father for a long time and he has just now found him. Gold asks if they have reunited yet, but Superior explains they haven't even spoken yet. Gold asks why, so she explains they had a difficult parting. This then all leads Mr. Gold into believing August is actually his son, Baelfire. Later, in the woods, Mr. Gold confronts August who admits to being his son; Gold is overjoyed and apologizes. The two of them go to dig up the Dark One's dagger, which holds Rumple's power. However, soon after they retrieve it, August tries to control Gold with it, proving to Gold that August lied about being his son. Gold pins August up to a tree, holding the knife to his neck. August admits that he's dying and was sent to make the savior believe in the curse but failed. Gold lets him go and tells him to try again.

August comes over to Emma and Mary Margaret's apartment to install a new lock on their door, one that should keep Regina and her skeleton keys out. Emma asks where he learnt to do all this, and August lies and says it was in school. Since Emma threatened to go up against Regina and take Henry from her, August offers his help to get her to see the big picture on how to defeat the Mayor. However, Emma, who has been called to meet Henry because of a new "Operation Cobra" development. At Granny's Diner, Henry tells Emma that someone added a new story to his book, to tell them something they need to know about the curse - the story of Pinocchio. A story that isn't finished. A blue August is then seen in his room, tinkering with the small red hat that he wore as a child. He then gives Mr. Gold a call, saying they need to meet and discuss Emma. It is then revealed that his limp is merely the result of his leg reverting to its original wooden state. At the pawn shop, August runs into his father, whom Gold had asked to fix a wall clock for him. Gold makes a comment about how August can't bring himself to say 'hello' to his father, and they then discuss the situation with Emma. Gold tells him that he'll give Emma a nudge in his direction. When the blonde comes to Gold for help with her possible case against Regina, Gold refuses to help her, which drives her in August's direction, hoping that he does indeed get her to see the big picture like he had promised. August then drives her out of Storybrooke, to the place where he, as young Pinocchio, found her when she came into that world, protected by the magical wardrobe. He tells her the truth, but she doesn't believe a word he says, and refuses to listen to him anymore. He then goes on about the curse and Emma's role in it, and says that it is all true. He says that the both of them came into that world through a tree they're standing by. He is still unable to get through to her, no matter how hard he tries, and when he is unable to chase after her because something is wrong with his leg, he tells her that he failed his mission, getting her to believe. He then shows her his wooden leg, to make her understand that he is Pinocchio... but all Emma sees is a normal human leg, because her denial is even worse than he thought. He tells her that it is her job to save everyone, and she gets emotional and says she doesn't want that burden, and that everyone is therefore screwed. This leads August to realize that his goal to get Emma to believe might never be accomplished, which leads him to try and spend what little time he might have left in the company of his father, Geppetto, who doesn't remember him at all. August therefore offers himself to work on the elderly man's workshop. Geppetto accepts his help.

Young Henry is alarmed when he learns that his birth mother wants to leave Storybrooke, so he comes to August's room for help. Henry tells the author that he has to make Emma believe, and he acknowledges this, but claims to have failed at his mission, and apologizes for it. He explains to the young man that he tried to show Emma what is happening with him. It started with his legs, and now, as he can show Henry, it's spreading to his arms. Henry is surprised to see August's wooden arm. Henry is therefore finally convinced that he was right all along about the curse. August points out that Henry is a smart kid. Henry points out that his friend is Pinocchio. August says, jokingly, "What gave it away?". Henry then asks him why he's turning back to wood, because according to the story he should be real. August explains that he's changing back because he hasn't exactly been a good boy, and if the curse doesn't break, his transformation doesn't stop. Henry tells him to show this to Emma and then she'll have to believe, but August says that he tried that already, and Emma doesn't want to see it, so she doesn't, and there is nothing he can do. August says that he is getting tired, so Henry tries to rush him into doing something fast, but Pinocchio has apparently given up, and he says that he wants to spend the time he has left with his father. Henry knows that his father is Marco, to which August says, again, that he's a smart kid. Henry is a bit frustrated that everyone is giving up, and August tells him he's out of "Operation Cobra", so now it's now up to the kid.

After her son Henry is poisoned by an apple turnover with a bit of the sleeping curse left in it, which had been given to her by Regina, Emma comes to August's room for help. She now believes in the curse, for her son fell victim to magic trying to prove to her that magic is real. She tells him to open the door, and hears him saying that he can't. She kicks the door open and finds August lying on the bed, reverting back to his wooden state, with his limbs having now turned back into those of a puppet. A horrified Emma asks what is happening to him, and August realizes that she can see it now, she believes. She asks how to stop this, and he begs her to break the curse. She promises him that she'll try, but she then goes on to say that she has to save Henry first and she needs his help. August tells her that she doesn't, but she denies that, saying that this is all too much. She tells him that no normal person can do this, and he says that, luckily for them, she's not normal. "You can save Henry.", he says, as his face slowly starts turning into wood. "You... can save... all of..." He is unfortunately unable to end his sentence, for his entire body is now made of wood. Emma breaks down next to the lifeless puppet, but not for long, for she now realizes she can't back down from her mission to save everyone. And thus Pinocchio's work is done, even if later than he expected.

Season 2
"My boy... my poor boy."

- Geppetto

Following the breaking of the Dark Curse, a wooden-state Pinocchio is left lying on his room's bed, motionless, unattended... and then his blue eyes blink, indicating he has life left in him. Meanwhile, Geppetto, his disheveled elderly father, searches for his son, even putting up signs to draw attention to his missing boy. Later, Henry encounters him at Granny's Diner and whispers something to his hear. This leads Geppetto to come to August's motel room, only to find an empty bed. The only familiar thing he comes across is the small red hat Pinocchio wore as a child, an item that reignites his hope.

Origins
The character of Pinocchio/August W. Booth is based on the popular fairytale character of Pinocchio, the titular protagonist of the children's book The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Italian author Carlo Collodi, published in 1883. There are many adaptations of the story, the most popular - and the one followed closely by Once Upon a Time - being the film adaptation by Disney, from 1940, often deemed one of the best animated films of all time. The general story of Pinocchio is that of a lonely woodcarver named Geppetto who creates a puppet, fashioned like a young boy, and wishes that it became a real child. A fairy then gives life to the puppet and tells him to behave and be truthful, and in doing so he can go on to become a real boy someday. However, Pinocchio becomes prone to lying and disobeying his conscience, and gets in a sequence of problems and misadventures. When Geppetto sets out to find his son and Pinocchio rescues him with great sacrifice, the fairy finally transforms him into a real boy.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.