Aurora

"''I know love when I see it."

Princess Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty, is a princess who was put in a state of near-permanent sleep by a powerful curse. Aurora slept all the way through the enactment of the Dark Curse, and its effects that lasted for 28 years. She was then finally woken up by a true love's kiss from her beloved Prince Phillip, only to find herself in a devastated, deserted land and up against many dangers.

Before the Curse
"First she goes after my mother, then me. Forgive me if I'm still a bit wary."

At some point, Aurora was affected by a sleeping curse enacted by Maleficent. The palace where she slumbered was untouched by the curse. While she slumbered, Phillip and Mulan travelled to find her. They were frozen for 28 years while the Dark Curse was in effect, but they could resume their search after Emma weakened the curse in Storybrooke.

Season 2
"Don't move! Phillip's gone because of you."

Prince Phillip and Mulan are able to find the former's beloved princess, Aurora, sleeping inside a gazebo on her palace, under the effects of the sleeping curse Maleficent cast upon her. Phillip awakens her with the kiss of true love, and they are overjoyed to find themselves back in each other's company. However, their happiness is short-lived, for they are soon attacked by a Wraith, a soul-sucking creature, that somehow makes it to their land and marks Phillip. The latter keeps this a secret from his travelling companions, so as to not worry them, but the two women are able to track him down just in time to witness his soul being taken by the dark creature. They mourn his loss and Mulan tells Aurora the truth that Phillip wanted to withhold from her: their land was ravaged by the Dark Curse, enacted by Queen Regina, and most of its inhabitants disappeared into another realm, but for some reason that part of the land was spared and they were frozen in time for 28 years until something broke the curse and they were able to continue their quest to find Aurora. They then notice something, coming from the rumble from which the Wraith had previously emerged. Mulan removes the wreckage and they find Emma Swan and Mary Margaret Blanchard, who came from Storybrooke via a magic portal, and are now unconscious. The knight and the princess are therefore led to believe that these two women are responsible for the death of their beloved prince...

Mulan and Aurora are riding their horses along a coastline with Snow and Emma tied up, following behind them on foot. They soon stop as they arrive somewhere, so Snow asks what the place is. Mulan tells them it is their home. A while later, when they arrive at the safe haven, the four girls walk through the camp, and there is many more people there, shocked to see Snow and Emma, mainly because of what they are wearing. Emma states it's like the people are refugees, so Mulan snaps that they are survivors. With that, Snow kicks the princess in the stomach and calls out for Emma to escape. They both run away, but Snow is knocked unconscious when Mulan throws a sling at her. Emma goes back to help her mother and then the warrior orders for them to be thrown into a pit.

Aurora is rather irritated when she finds that Lancelot, the leader of the survivors, is being chummy with the two women they captured, whom she blames for the death of Phillip. Mulan advises her against seeking vengeance, but Aurora has her mind set. She follows Mulan, Emma and Snow on their quest to the latter's castle, and sneaks up behind the pale beauty and threatens to harm her with a knife to avenge Phillip's death. However, Snow White quickly overpowers her, telling her to channel her anger to something else, and Mulan is forced to step in and keep her from hurting Aurora. However, Emma, believing her mother to be in danger, fires her gun into the sky and attracts the attention of the ogres in the area, forcing the four of them to run for their lives. Later, they finally make it to the castle, where Aurora and Mulan keep guard outside while the two Storybrooke women look for the wardrobe that could help them get back to their other land. However, Lancelot appears and reveals himself to the powerful and wicked with Cora. Emma burns the wardrobe to keep the witch from making it to Storybrooke, and once she's gone Mulan offers to help them find a new portal. Aurora offers to help as well, telling them it might be a good way to channel her anger.

Emma, Mary Margaret, Mulan and Aurora return to the safe haven to find that Cora has murdered all of its inhabitants, by ripping their hearts out. However, they find a man - Killian Jones - alive, hiding beneath the corpses, who claims to have survived the attack. Emma is suspicious of the man and uses her perceptive gift to try and see if he is lying to them, and is able to tell that he is. Therefore, the women tie him to a tree and demand that he tell them his true intentions, under the threat of leaving him to be eaten by the ogres, an idea Aurora isn't too content with, for she worries that the man might be telling the truth. However, Killian comes clean: he reveals himself to be the famed Captain Hook, and tells them that Cora requested his help, by having him earn the ladies' trust and find out everything he could about Storybrooke, so that she didn't have any surprises when she finally got there. He then reveals that the magic of the burnt wardrobe remains, and with the use of a magical compass that Cora seeks, they might just be able to make it to Emma's land. Hook then offers his assistance, the same way he did to Cora: he'll help them get the compass. They untie him, and let him tag along. Emma and Mary Margaret acknowledge that he is probably setting them up to take a fall, but this way they can stay one step ahead at all times. Killian brings them to a gigantic beanstalk that leads all the way to the clouds, and reveals that the compass is up there.

The four ladies are stunned at the sight of the giant beanstalk leading all the way to the clouds. Killian explains to them that once they have the compass, they can steal the ashes from Cora and make their way to Storybrooke. He then tells them that the beanstalk is enchanted to repel intruders, and he has two bracelets that counter the spell. The women are therefore forced to decide which one of them goes up with Killian, and Emma is ultimately chosen. She tells Mulan before she goes, however, that if she isn't back in ten hours, she can cut down the beanstalk. Mulan creates a sun clock, and she and the two remaining ladies take turns sleeping while Emma goes to the giant's castle. Aurora tells Snow that she doesn't sleep anymore since she woke up from her curse, and recounts that the last time she did, she had horrible nightmares. Snow realizes what this is like, for she herself went through the sleeping curse, and tells Aurora that eventually the nightmares go away. Snow convinces the princess to sleep, telling her she'll keep guard of her. Aurora agrees, but eventually she has to be woken up midway through an anguishing nightmare. Aurora gives them the details, saying she was trapped in a red room that was on fire in the dream, and someone else was there too, looking at her from a different corner. Snow seems to relate to this, and comforts Aurora, convincing her to go to sleep with her head rested on her lap. Eventually, ten hours pass, and Mulan starts to cut down the beanstalk, and a horrified Snow lunges herself at the warrior and they fight, which worries Aurora, but Emma gets down safe and sound. Later, it is revealed that Henry himself is having the same nightmares as Aurora...

Henry has a horrible nightmare in which he's trapped in a room that is on fire, and he can see another presence in the room: Aurora. However, he does not recognize her, or even get a good look at her. When Regina wakes her son up and notices that his hand is burnt as a result of the nightmare, they see Mr. Gold about it, and the Dark One gives Henry an enchanted necklace which can help him control his dreams, and once he can control them he no longer needs to fear them. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Storybrooke, Albert Spencer makes it impossible for Jefferson's top hat to allow Charming to bring Emma and Mary Margaret home, so the prince loses some of his hope, all the while unbeknownst to the connection between Henry's and Aurora's dreams. Back in fairytale land, Aurora sleeps at night, and in her dream she finds herself back in the red room. However, she notices Henry, wearing the necklace, and he is able to put out the fire, and reach out to her, telling her not to be scared. Aurora then wakes up from her dream and calls out for Snow, and then tells them that she had the same dream, but this time it was different, there was a little boy in the room and he put out the fire and talked to her... saying his name was Henry. Emma and Mary Margaret are surprised.

Trivia

 * During this character's casting, she was codenamed "Anastasia", leading many to believe that this character would be Anastasia.

Origins
The character of Aurora is based on the homonymous titular character of the 1959 film adaptation by Walt Disney of the popular fairytale, "Sleeping Beauty", by French author Charles Perrault, also known for its version by the Brothers Grimm ("Little Briar Rose"). The general story of Sleeping Beauty, the version everyone knows, tells of a beautiful princess cursed by an evil fairy as a baby - when she reaches a certain age, the princess will prick herself on a spindle and fall into a deep state of sleep (thought the wicked fairy's intent is for her to die, another fairy partially reverses this), from which she then awakens by a kiss of true love. This is the story presented in the Disney movie, and the one Once Upon a Time bases the story of Aurora on. However, in some original versions of the story, several elements varied. The Perrault tale was divided into two parts. In the film, Aurora is put to sleep by a curse enacted by the character of Maleficent, who is also responsible for her state of sleep in this series. Several other adaptations of "Sleeping Beauty" have been made over the years.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.