Top 10 Once Upon a Time Villains
The TV series Once Upon a Time has featured a myriad of villains, most of them skilled in magic. Ultimately, they are defeated, but they just keep coming back. Some eventually turn to good, while others remain stuck in their wicked ways.Here are the worst of the worst from fairy tales, myths, and legends.
A master manipulator and reportedly even more powerful than Rumpelstiltskin himself, Pan turned out to be Rumpelstiltskin's father. He used Emma and the other good guys as pawns in his nefarious game to gain the heart of the truest believer to extend his never-ending youth.
Pan is ruthless and ripped out his best friend's heart to cast the Dark Curse. He even switched bodies with Henry so that Henry got trapped in Pandora's box. Pan proved to be one of the most cunning villains that the good guys ever faced. To defeat him, they had to win his mind games.
Pan was reportedly killed after Rumpelstiltskin sacrificed himself, but the catchphrase "Peter Pan never fails" is too deadly to ignore.
Easily the baddest of the bunch, the Dark One has remained a step ahead of most villains and has the luxury of foresight. He is described as the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms (though a lot of people come close to him).
He has swayed between good and evil so many times, it's hard to tell which side he'll pick in the end. While he is incredibly powerful, he has been defeated and is currently working with the Queens of Darkness in Season 4 to regain his power, which seems to be his true love. His power is quite good though. He has defeated Pan, Cora, and Zelena, survived the Snow Queen's curse, and even overpowered the Queens of Darkness (Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella de Vil).
While she is not a villain anymore, she definitely was one. She is a perfect example that evil is made, not born.
She used to be the most wonderful and kind woman in all the lands, but because of her abusive mother, she lost her soulmate and happy ending, thus beginning her path of darkness. I hated her and loved her. Her sassiness and desire for power make her a beautiful nightmare. While I loved it when she was good, I also liked it when she was evil because Snow White did technically ruin her happy ending by not keeping a secret. Seeing her get her vengeful moments with Snow were almost justified.
She also has no problem protecting the ones she loves, no matter the cost, whether by using dark magic or good. Even as Regina during the first curse, she made Snow White's counterpart's life a living hell, even framing her and laughing in her face about it when she was in tears. Yeesh, that's evil!
However, she was almost brought to the light when she was with Snow White in disguise before the first curse until Snow saw what she did to the villagers protecting her, and Snow ended up bringing her back to the dark side. Let's not forget about her sassy voice. Seriously, I just loved to hate her!
Turns out wicked doesn't always win. Zelena may not have been the worst villain the good guys ever fought, but she seemed too much of a green copycat of Regina.
The Wicked Witch wins points for enslaving Rumpelstiltskin himself, something Cora couldn't even do. Zelena was reported to be even more powerful than Regina and one of the most skilled witches Rumpelstiltskin had ever seen. She even managed to break the laws of magic and turn numerous people into flying monkeys.
Zelena is by far the best character on the show. She is clearly one of the most powerful sorceresses that have ever lived, surpassed only by Rumpelstiltskin and maybe Cora and Pan. She has cheated death twice and has ruled an entire realm, something Regina can't say. And she is so deliciously wicked! Who else has her own army of winged monsters?
When it comes down to ruthlessness, no one seems to match Cora, the Queen of Hearts and mother of Regina and Zelena. Her title literally came from her penchant for ripping out other people's hearts and controlling them, then disposing of them when they ceased to be of use to her.
Regina and Rumpelstiltskin both feared her as Cora seemed to be one of Rumpelstiltskin's most skilled students in magic. Cora manipulated everyone around her to feed her ambition for power and came incredibly close to becoming the Dark One herself. She didn't even truly love her own daughter until she died, a result of Snow manipulating Regina.
The Snow Queen was certainly a deadly opponent, but she failed in her charisma by casting another curse on Storybrooke, something Regina, Pan, and Zelena had already done. The whole cursing-the-town thing is getting a little bit boring. But the Snow Queen's backstory was quite interesting, especially her relationship with her sisters. The Snow Queen wins points for taking away the memories of practically everyone in town and also wins brownie points as she sacrificed herself to save Storybrooke.
While from our perspective watching her past made it seem that she was a victim, she was actually being protected from her mother after she murdered her mother's three husbands, and then placed the blame on her mother. She then manipulates the Author into giving her powers so she can kill her mother too. After that, she skins her dogs and makes the infamous fur coat. She is without a doubt evil.
Out of the three Disney female villains, she has to be the best. Whether it be visually, physically, or emotionally, Victoria Smurfit nailed the original, iconic Disney villain. I simply love how they kept the character so close to the original cartoon character. They even nailed her car!
I only wish they gave her the iconic long cigar, like she had in the cartoon, to give her power a better connection to her. Nevertheless, she has to be my favorite villain in the series.
Maleficent is the main antagonist of Disney's 1959 animated feature film Sleeping Beauty. An evil fairy, Maleficent is an incarnation of pure evil, and is responsible for all misfortune in King Stefan's kingdom. The dark fairy sparred with Regina early on, and it is reported that out of all the Queens of Darkness, she is the one the Evil Queen fears the most. She is capable of shapeshifting into a fearsome dragon or an undead zombie.
However, her defeats are quite numerous, having been defeated by Aurora, Emma, and Regina. She ranks highest out of the Queens of Darkness for her skill in magic and the fact that she went up against Rumpelstiltskin first.
She taught Regina how to actually use fire and sleeping curses.
I want to see the real Ursula. Apparently, even the Little Mermaid version of "Ursula" believed she was named after the original Sea Witch, so she became the next Ursula. I want to see the Ursula that frightened Regina!
She's got so much potential, but nope, we had to throw in clichés. I really hope in Season 7 she will pose a major threat to Henry and whatever other characters will be on his side. She could still be hunting for Poseidon's Trident, and when she does, she becomes the ultimate boss battle.
Hades is a powerful, devious, and manipulative villain. He is good at finding someone's weaknesses and using them for his own benefit. He could even threaten Rumple, regardless of both of them being masterminds. Plus, the way he talks to his enemies brings such a chilling nuance.
Torturous, devious, manipulative, and maniacal, almost like he and Rumple are related.
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I would easily place her above Rumple and Peter Pan. Rumple had to use squid ink after he summoned her just to talk to her. He would not have used this if he did not think it was absolutely necessary to subdue her dark powers that surpass his own.
Since darkness and light balance each other, she is probably the "Original Dark Power," much like the Blue Fairy is the Original Light Power. They have to balance each other out. Also, even Rumple stated there were dark realms even he could not reach, and that this is where his mother lurked. He described this place as having immense dark power, where time runs differently, and anything is possible. Sounds immensely powerful to me.
The manipulating king of one of the realms in the Enchanted Forest, he proved a cunning adversary for Charming and Snow White. He cursed Snow so that she could never have children. He even destroyed the Mad Hatter's hat so Charming would be without family forever. But it turns out his actions were meaningless, as Snow and Emma returned to Storybrooke.
He may not be entirely a villain on this show, as he is now either an antihero or a hero, but he definitely was a villain for some time. He stole a poor man's wife, tried to steal his son but then sold him to the evil Lost Boys, and he backstabbed anyone to get what he wanted. He is just such a total douchebag. He doesn't deserve Emma Swan. Regina deserves Emma Swan. Swan Queen for life!
He can be an ultimate villain. It was he who took away Milah from Rumple but later blamed Rumple for everything. He should have been humble and not arrogant to Rumple in the first place. What more can we expect from this pirate now? It's wonderful that he is dead!
He was the true antagonist of the fourth season, and he was a villain more dangerous and powerful than Rumple and the Queens of Darkness. Isaac is arguably the true main antagonist of the entire series, as he is responsible for most, if not all, of the events that happen in the story. He is also responsible for creating all of the evil villains our heroes have faced.
All hail the new Dark One. While it's true she isn't evil YET, looking at the promo, she ripped out and crushed the heart of an innocent who offered her food and asked for her name!
All hail Emma, not the Dark One, not the Light/Savior one, but the Grey one!
Gothel is a powerful being older than most of the fairy tale characters, with the power of nature and the title of "Mother Nature." She killed an entire civilization and vowed to destroy every human on the planet. She also abandoned her child Alice in her tower and poisoned Alice and her father so they would never be together.
Jafar, born as the bastard of the Sultan of Agrabah, wanted revenge as a young boy. He is a cruel and manipulative villain who was brave enough to storm the palace, kill the Sultan's heir, and imprison the Sultan. He even betrayed his sorcerer partner Amara by poisoning her into a serpent staff which he carries around. He is willing to betray and kill anyone who gets in his way.
He was powerful enough to temporarily break the laws of magic and forced his father to love him, only to kill him shortly after.
Ah, the sidekick of Pan. Not evil, just devoted to Pan.
He was brainwashed by Pan so he could never leave his side. Even when he was promised a happy ending, he refused in order to help Pan.
Just a good friend, but brainwashed into being that.