Ingrid

"''Mirrors reflect our mood, our desire, our essence. They are a temporary receptacle for some tiny fraction of our soul."

Ingrid, also known as the Snow Queen, is a supporting character on Once Upon a Time. Growing up, Ingrid was remarkably close to her sisters, Gerda and Helga, until she and the latter vanished under mysterious circumstances, leading the royal family of Arendelle to opt to let go of their memories of them. Trapped in a magical urn by people who feared and misunderstood her magic, Ingrid was set free by her niece Elsa, with whom she attempted to form a strong bond, in an immense desire to replace the family she'd once lost. Things didn't go as planned, and Ingrid eventually found herself in a land without magic, where she became a foster mother to a young Emma. Many years later, in the town of Storybrooke, Ingrid, under the alias of Sarah Fisher, posed as the innocent local ice cream lady, waiting patiently for her plans to regain a family to unfold and bring forth her happy ending.

Before the Curse
A children, Ingrid and her two younger sisters, Helga and Gerda play in the gardens of their castle in Arendelle. They come across a man who attempts to kidnap the latter two, but Ingrid accidentally kills him with ice magic. She fears she's an uncontrollable monster, but her sisters promise to be there for her and they make ribbon bracelets to symbolise their love. Many years later, a ball is held at their castle to find suitors for the girls. As Helga and Gerda prepare themselves, Ingrid reveals she isn't going because of her unstable magic. However, as the ball takes place, Ingrid pays a quick visit to it, but when she sees her sisters having fun, she becomes sad and decides to leave. As she packs her things she's caught by her sisters who persuade her to stay as Gerda has heard of a powerful sorcerer that can help contain magic; it is none other than Rumplestiltskin. They visit Rumple and he gives them a magical urn, which can trap any magical being, in return for their ribbon bracelets, as they're a symbol for love and this makes them tainted with magic. Once they return home, the Duke of Weselton, Helga's suitor, makes a move on Ingrid, but she defends herself with magic. He attempts to lie to Helga about what happened, but she doesn't believe him. A fight breaks out and the Duke makes threats, so Ingrid attempts to stop him with magic. However, Helga gets in the way and she turns to ice before crumbling into pieces. Gerda discovers Ingrid beside their sisters dead frozen body and she begins to fear her. Despite Ingrid's pleas for help, Gerda uses the magic urn to trap her. Gerda then visits Grand Pabbie and asks him to remove everyone in Arendelle's memories of her two sisters.

When Prince Hans and his twelve brothers declare war on Arendelle, they seek out an ancient urn that can subdue any magical being. However, Kristoff over hears this and reports it to Elsa. The two seek out to find the urn, but once they do they're stopped by Hans and his brothers. Hans threatens to kill Kristoff if Elsa doesn't hand over the urn. Eventually she agrees to and Hans opens the urn. A while liquid pours out and everyone assume it will consume Elsa, however, it ends up taking the form of the Snow Queen. She turns Hans to ice for calling her a monster and the brothers run away in fear. Elsa is grateful for being saved, so the Snow Queen explains nobody should be trapped in that urn...especially someone as special as her. Eventually they head back to Elsa's castle and the Snow Queen shows signs of nostalgia, especially when noticing a painting of the late king and queen. She reveals to Elsa that the queen was her sister, making her Elsa's aunt. Elsa points out that she never knew of a sister, but the Snow Queen supposes it was to spare her of a hurtful past. When she asks where the queen is now, Elsa reveals she died at sea. She then explains that her sister Anna is missing, so the Snow Queen promises to help find her as that's what family does.

Anna finally returns home to Arendelle after finding disappointing information during her expedition. After a joyous reunion with Elsa, she's introduced to Ingrid, who is revealed to be her aunt. A confused Anna points out that her mother never mentioned a sister, but Ingrid explains that memories for her were probably too painful. She then reveals that she was trapped in a magic urn by people who didn't understand her magic; Anna is shocked to discover someone else in the family has ice magic. The young princess later visits her fiancé, Kristoff, and expresses her suspicions over Ingrid, stating that she'll visit Pabbie to get some answers. However, Ingrid overhears this entire conversation. Anna goes on her journey to Pabbie and on the way she meets Belle. Once she reaches her destination, Pabbie reveals that Anna's mother in fact had two sisters and after a tragic incident took Ingrid and Helga, the second sister, away, he was asked to remove all memories of them from everyone in Arendelle. This news startles Anna so she hurries back home, however, on the way a storm approaches. Anna senses that it's the work of her aunt. The storm knocks Anna off a cliff, and after being left to drop by her new companion Belle, she is taken hostage by Ingrid. Ingrid also comes into posession of the magic hat Anna obtained during her adventures in the Enchanted Forest. Ingrid locks Anna up in a cell and explains that she can't be a part of her happy family as she doesn't understand her. Despite Anna's pleas, Ingrid reveals that she will turn Elsa against her and find a replacement.

Early Life
When Emma feels betrayed by her friend Lily, she voluntarily steps into a car that is to take her back into the foster system. She then ends up in a home that she would later forget being in entirely. A young boy, Kevin, steals the video camera she herself stole from a mansion she squatted in and begins filming himself, excited by what the new girl brought with her. Emma begs him to give it back... and then the Snow Queen turns up. She, Emma's foster mother, orders Kevin to give the camera back, assuring the young blonde that they respect property in this house. She goes to retrieve the camera herself, smiling briefly for the recording. ("Breaking Glass"/"Family Business")

Season 4
After the power cut caused by Elsa's ice wall is fixed and Elsa becomes able to control her magic, she tries to unfreeze the wall... however, she can't. She points out that this is odd because she's the only one with ice powers. Grumpy decides to visit the local ice cream parlour. The woman working inside serves the dwarf and gives him his chocolate ice cream with a smile. He thanks her and questions if she lost a lot of merchandise during the power outage. She points out to him that she didn't lose anything, supposing she must be lucky. She gives him a creepy smile, but Grumpy is oblivious to this. He smiles in return and leaves the shop. After the dwarf leaves the shop, she looks down at a bucket of unfrozen ice cream and with the wave of her hand, she freezes it. She dips her finger in and licks the ice cream off of her finger. She menacingly walks to the fridges at the back of her shop and she leans against them. The moment her back touches the wall, it instantly freezes over. The Snow Queen lets out a little smile.

When Robin Hood, Marian and Roland visit the Snow Queen's ice cream shop, she acts welcoming to the new arrival to Storybrooke, treating her with a free ice cream. However, she secretly puts a magical curse on it which slowly begins to freeze her. When a true love's kiss from Robin fails to wake Marian up, members of Storybrooke go into chaos and begin blaming Elsa. The Snow Queen witnesses this, pleasing her. Soon enough, the fully frozen ice cream shop is discovered, but the Snow Queen is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Hook and Elsa manage to track her down in the woods as she plays with her magic. She and Elsa seemingly know each other, but Elsa claims to not remember. The Snow Queen explains that the Rock Trolls pulled her memories because Anna trapped her in the urn. She tells Elsa that she's trying to show her eventually everyone fears people like them, which is why she froze Marian, to teach her a lesson. She then tries to kill Hook with her magic, but Emma and Charming show up in the nick of time. Once the Snow Queen sees Emma, she calls out her name with recognition, but soon brushes this off as her simply being well known. After a minor magic battle, the Snow Queen vanishes without a sight, leaving Emma to wonder who she knows her. Later on, the Snow Queen encounters Rumple, who seems to know a lot about her and her plans. When he asks if she needs his help, she tells him she'll make a deal when she's ready.

Emma is annoyed to discover that a large puddle of water has appeared beneath her car, and she believes the Snow Queen is behind it, barely able to enjoy herself on her date with Hook because she's worried about being attacked. Later, Emma is driving when her car slips and slides on a patch of ice, making her distraught. She exits her vehicle and spots the Snow Queen watching her, proceeding to draw her gun and chase her through the streets. She demands to know why she's playing these games with her, but the Snow Queen remains eerily silent and simply continues to casually walk away. Emma follows her via the trail of ice she's leaving behind, but this trail soon disappears, as does the Snow Queen herself. At the Sheriff's Station, David confirms that the Snow Queen's alias in Storybrooke, Sarah Fisher, isn't on any official records, which means that she made her own way to town as opposed to being a victim of either curse.

In her icy lair, the Snow Queen carves a fake Anna out of ice, using it to lure Elsa out into the woods and into a trap. She uses chains made of ice to bind her supposed niece to the ground, telling her that those shackles will strengthen the more scared she is. Elsa asks what it is the Snow Queen is going to do and she tells her that she's going to build a snowman. Said snowman, an Ice Warrior, then attacks Emma and Regina, who she had similarly lured out into the woods by assigning Sidney - who's revealed to have changed his allegiance to that of the Snow Queen - as their guide. The two women defeat the warrior with ease once they combine their magic, at which the Snow Queen turns up to steal Regina's compact mirror. She attacks Emma and Regina, but Elsa, having briefly mastered her fear, soon shows up to fend her off. Having what she needs, the Snow Queen retires to her lair, where she sets Sidney free. He wonders what it is she wants with Regina's mirror and the Snow Queen explains the importance of mirrors in general, for they contain our essences and act as temporary receptacles for small fractions of our souls, and for what she needs to do, Sidney's former home shall do nicely because the woman who trapped him inside imbued it with much dark magic. She goes on to say that she wants what has been denied to her for too long, and Sidney wonders what that is, but she tells him that that is between her and her reflection. He leaves, and she uses a shard of Regina's compact to complete her own, larger mirror, made up of shards of many other mirrors. When the glass smooths over, she says to herself that she can now have what she wants... a family that loves her.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.