The Apprentice's House

Located at the foot of the Dark Mountains and within the Infinite Forest (and not too far from Rumple’s castle, although since nothing is far from anything else in the Enchanted Forest we can’t make much of this), the house looks pretty EF-standard from the outside.

The interior is small, combines human and animal spaces in close proximity, and presents an odd mix of excellent stonework and indifferent woodwork. The space reminds me strongly of Thoreau’s little house at Walden, although it’s a bit larger.

Below the house is... this.

The stair suggests that the house was built on top of a pre-existing structure, and makes me wonder how far away we are from the Vault of the Dark One, and just how deep that vault goes. (And also if Adam and Eddy have read the Darwath Trilogy.)

Said structure apparently saw some violence in the distant past. Attacks by previous Dark Ones? Vestiges of Merlin’s struggle with the Darkness? The Apprentice apparently sweeps up down there regularly; why was the place never repaired?

The floor designs bear a slight resemblance to the mouths of the ourobouros-like figure on the vault lid, and to the designs on the Grail, but there is a surprising lack of strong symbolism down here.