Maleficent's Castle (aka The Forbidden Fortress)

I am deeply excited by the prospect of learning more about Maleficent in 4b. Season 1 treated us to two visits to her humble abode, book-ending the season-long Dark Curse plot.

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(Note the beach. Every major castle site in the Enchanted Forest except for Rumplestiltkin's is shorefront property. "Water is a very powerful thing. Cultures as old as time have worshiped it. It flows throughout all lands, connecting the entire world." - August
Even within the Enchanted Forest, which is already marked as "unreal" vs the Land Without Magic, the presence of water serves as an additional signifier that whatever is happening has mythic import.)
What do we know about this castle? First off, the place has got a name, the Forbidden Fortress; that's rare. Other than Regina and Rumplestiltskin, Maleficent is the only magic-user whom we see maintaining a castle of her own, which puts her among the elite powers of the region. Even Regina puts on her manners and gets out her coach rather than poofing in for her visit.

We know little about Maleficent herself. She cursed Philip and Aurora, was briefly in possession of the Dark Curse, which she was sensible enough not to use, and is attached to her pet unicorn. Regina refers to her as a "friend" -- not without irony, but they have known one another for some time.

Other than her pet, Maleficent appears to inhabit this enormous castle in solitary splendor. Unlike Regina, she has no guards, servants, or sycophants. Unlike Rumple, she has no vast collection of magic objects. She appears content with this existence.

She's a minimalist decorator, and she likes her rooms large -- convenient for her other form, perhaps.

The dragon's lair as a literal setting has been used sparingly in the series so far. In 1.02. Regina ventures there, defeats Maleficent, and acquires the curse -- disregarding the warning that came with it. In 1.22 Charming emplaces another treasure with her, and Emma retrieves it.
Maleficent's guardianship parallels the Fortress with the caverns beneath the Storybrooke library, where Emma makes her own heroic descent. One must first pass through a forbidding portal -- the library, as I was delighted to find made explicit in 4.08, marking the boundary between the "real" world and the world of story.

The cavern contains Snow's glass coffin, a tangible link to the sleeping curse that originated with Maleficent and to the Enchanted Forest itself.

That coffin later proves to contain the Storybrooke self-destruct gem. And of course the cavern contains Maleficent herself, bound to Regina's service, and from whom Emma must retrieve the vital potion, even if it's not for the reason she thinks -- an action that explicitly parallels Emma and Charming, as both of them emerge from their dragon encounter and go on to break the sleeping curse on their true love.
The symbology of dragons has grown complicated, as everyone has gotten self-conscious and meta with the poor things. The three encounters here are quite different, and probably immune to such interpretation, though I am going to note that all were engineered by Rumplestiltskin, and that True Love was physically present at all times in the form of the potion.

• 1.02 Regina's conflict in this episode is not actually with Maleficent but with herself, her own decision to to cast the curse and damn the cost. Maleficent in this episode acts as Regina's wisdom if not her actual conscience (I think that's Henry), informing her that the price will be even greater than she knows in the end.
• 1.22 For Charming, this is an annoying delay in rescuing his true love, a challenging encounter but one free of psychological weight, another day in the life of a seasoned adventurer -- he has gone through his heroic tests, already faced his own inner dragon. He stands now as a fully integrated character, ready to finish his journey and to undertake partnership with Snow.
• 1.22 Emma is therefore like and unlike her father at this point; this is a critical moment of self-definition. Picking up a sword and fighting a dragon is the first step to accepting her heritage; this is her reality; this is who she is. Maleficent could be read here as her own skepticism, which has kept her from believing the truth all this time.

Difficult to say yet what kind of role Maleficent will have in S4, especially in company with a covey of additional villainous characters, but I love dragons and I love her style, and I'm looking forward to it.