Gideon

"I love you. I love you more than anything in the world."

- Belle

Gideon is a minor supporting character on Once Upon a Time. Through sharing a dream world with his mother, Belle, he was able to communicate with her prior to his birth and guide her into rescuing his endangered future by hiding him away from his potentially dangerous father, Rumplestiltskin. However, this made him vulnerable to his even more dangerous grandmother, the Black Fairy, who darkened his heart in a realm where time works differently. When at last he returns to Storybrooke, far from the hero his mother hoped he would be, it appears he is destined to be the one to kill the savior Emma Swan.

Before the Curse
"I signed a paper promising him my second born child."

- Rumplestiltskin

When Rumplestiltskin's first born child Baelfire gets bitten by a snake and his health starts declining, Rumple and his wife Milah go to a healer named Fendrake for a cure. However, he tries to extort money from them, and so Milah orders her husband to return later and kill the healer so that he can steal the antidote for their ailing child. Rumple goes to kill Fendrake, but he can't do it, instead taking the offer of a deal. He ends up signing a contract that entitles Fendrake to Rumple's second born child, which he sees as a steal since he plans on having no more children anyway. Milah is distraught at this because what he's done is decide her future for her, and years later when he's the Dark One Rumple kills Fendrake to ensure any babies he might make with Cora don't get taken away. He doesn't have any babies with Cora though, and Fendrake ends up in the Underworld where he's able to sign over the rights to Rumple's second born... to Hades, its evil ruler.

Season 5
"So, just to be super, extra clear, at any time, I can cash in the debt... and take your baby."

- Hades

Centuries pass, and on the day Rumple reunites with his wife, Belle, they re-consummate their marriage, and unknowingly get pregnant. Unaware of her pregnancy, Belle finds Rumple abruptly leaving for a trip to the Underworld. In the Underworld, Rumple uses a crystal ball to find his deceased child, but it instead guides him to his unborn child. Rumple learns that Belle is pregnant, as does Hades, who obtains the contract Rumple signed centuries prior and uses it as leverage to make the Dark One do his bidding. Rumple is forced by Hades to open a portal to Storybrooke which accidentally brings Belle to the Underworld. Rumple reveals to his true love that she is pregnant, but also that he signed away their child years ago. Belle and Rumple work together to find a way to free themselves of Hades' contract, but this is put on pause when trouble irrupts with Belle's ex-fiancé. Belle realizes that Hades could simply accelerate her pregnancy and take her baby whenever he wanted to, so in order to prevent this, she takes a sleeping curse, putting her pregnancy on pause. As Belle sleeps, Rumple takes matters into his own hands. His plan works, and Hades tears up the contract. From there, Rumple puts Belle in Pandora's Box and carries her home to Storybrooke. After Belle's father refuses to wake her up, Rumple takes remains of the Olympian Crystal to acquire the magic needed to do it himself. His plan fails when Belle is sucked into a portal and winds up in Mr. Hyde's possession, but Hyde provides Rumple with a way of waking Belle in exchange for Storybrooke's ownership.

Season 6
"Our son gave me a warning, and I'm going to listen to it."

- Belle

Rumple is told by Mr. Hyde to seek out the Temple of Morpheus where he will find magical sands that, when sprinkled on Belle, will allow him to enter his true love's dreams and wake her from within her own consciousness. However, when Rumple puts this plan into motion, he sprinkles the sand onto his and Belle's unborn child too, meaning that he enters the dreamworld of both his wife and his son. Said son, a grown man in this world, decides to play the part of Morpheus in order to manipulate his father, wanting to make sure that his mother does right by him by not falling for more of the Dark One's tricks. He leads Rumple to the Dark Castle, where Belle dreams of being Rumple's maid, and the latter decides to make Belle love him again by dancing with her and recreating the scenario under which they fell in love. However, her memories return when they kiss and she cuts it off, refusing to go back to a life of broken promises and believing that their child will be better off waiting with her than being in debt to him. Morpheus is thrilled to hear her say that, proceeding to reveal himself and that he intends to wake Belle up with true love's kiss, now that he's certain she won't fall for her husband's tricks. Upon kissing her on the forehead, she wakes up, and she takes her son's warning to heart and goes back home only to refuse to build a home with Rumple, to his devastation.

Now focusing on what's best for herself and her unborn son, Belle takes shelter aboard the Jolly Roger with Hook. Rumple puts together a tape of reading the poem "Sleep Well" that he has David deliver to Belle. After some initial reluctance, she decides to play it for their son. When Belle becomes in danger, Rumple uses magic to trap her on the Jolly Roger; however, this doesn't turn out in her favor when Dr. Jekyll comes aboard the ship to kill her. After being rescued by Hook, Belle condemns Rumple for his dark ways, but he believes that necessity and the need to protect their child will make Belle love him again. Belle attends her first ultrasound without Rumple where she confides in Snow her fear of not being able to let Rumple be apart of their son's life. However, she later slips a sonogram picture of their son underneath the door of the pawn shop. Zelena reveals to Belle that Rumple plans to use the Shears of Destiny to change their son's fate, and she later confronts him about this as he looks over the sonogram picture she sent him. Belle decides to flee to the Enchanted Forest to get Rumple away from their unborn son, but he stops her before Zelena can open a portal, and slaps a tracking bracelet onto her.

When Rumple plans to use magic to speed up Belle's pregnancy and steal their son away, the beauty begins working with Emma and Hook to find a way to stop her evil husband. She winds up falling asleep in the library when doing research and she re-enters the Dream World. Following a strand, she is led to the grown up version of her son and they embrace in a short reunion. He tells Belle that what it takes to defeat Rumple is right in front of her. Later on, Rumple corners Belle in the library, but winds up backing down last minute. He opts out of speeding the pregnancy, giving Belle her space, but a scorned Evil Queen has other ideas. The heroes are unaware of this though, believing it to be Rumple's doing when Belle's pregnancy is accelerated. While in labor, Belle goes unconscious and re-enters the Dream World a second time. Her son tells her that she knows what she must do, and so, after delivering the baby boy which she names Gideon (after the hero in her favorite book), she calls in the Blue Fairy. She requests that Blue be Gideon's fairy godmother and that she take him far away from all this madness. Blue agrees to do so, also agreeing to read Her Handsome Hero to the boy. Once Blue is gone, Rumple arrives and swears to find their son.

Keeping his word, Rumple begins his quest to find Gideon, using a magic globe to track him down; however, he sees that the boy has fallen completely off the grid. As such, he goes to Belle about this, and the two learn from an injured Mother Superior at the convent that Gideon has been stolen by Rumple's mother, the Black Fairy. Meanwhile, as the Evil Queen roams the streets of Storybrooke, a portal opens up inside of Granny's Diner. Soon enough, a hooded figure exits, and when questioned by the Queen, the figure turns her into a snake. Back at the pawn shop, Belle and Rumple fret over what has become of their son, but eventually put aside their differences to work together when Belle realizes it wasn't Rumple who sped up her pregnancy. Rumple goes on to reveal that his mother would lurk around in the shadow of realms of immense darkness, places where time works differently and nothing makes sense. Belle fears what this means for Gideon, but soon enough she and Rumple both find out. The hooded figure enters the pawn shop and draws back his hood, revealing to be none other than Gideon himself. He greets his shocked parents.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.