Agrabahn Vipers have two heads (1.11) and deadly venom. The venom has the retroactively bestowed property of making the victim’s body vanish in a cloud of green smoke (5.03). This was later re-retconned to not be the case (6.02).
Atlantean Rat Snake (5.14) venom kills the victim within 24 hours.
Caterpillar (OUaTiW) is a human-sized caterpillar who runs the Wonderland underworld.
Cerberus is the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld (5.13).
Chernabog, The (4.12) To quote Rumplestiltskin: "An ancient demon that feeds on evil. It seeks out the heart with the greatest potential for evil and devours it." It lives on Bald Mountain (of course), where it guards the Dark Curse, or did until Rumple stole it. At some point it became trapped in the Sorcerer's Hat. It can assume the form of a dark mist. Emma and Regina lured it across the Storybrooke town line.
Chimera appears as a less than appetizing meal (2.03).
Dragons (1.06) are of the flying, fire-breathing type and vary in size. Maleficent is said to be half-dragon, which raises a great many questions about their nature.
Dwarves (1.14) hatch fully mature from eggs in families of eight (where do the eggs come from? do dwarves age?). They lead a life of cheerful underground toil, mining diamonds, which are turned into fairy dust. They do not form romantic bonds and do not suffer from illness. They also make good farmers (2.13).
Fairies (1.14) are led by the Blue Fairy. Some of them have names (Nova), some want to have a name (Tinkerbell) but are called Green by Blue anyway. The Blue Fairy tells trainee fairy Nova that it will be a long time before she's ready to be a fairy godmother, that she is at the start of her "journey." Blue refers to herself as Nova's "teacher." They are apparently reliant on their wands to perform magic; fairy wands are directly powered by fairy dust. Mostly.
They can assume human size, although they shed their wings when they do so. If Nova goes with Dreamy, she will lose her wings; if she is allowed to "become the fairy she was meant to be" the two of them will "bring untold joy to this world" (1.14). Are fairies born or made, then? They can certainly be unmade -- being a fairy is subject to rules. "Curfew. Dust discipline. You got 'big' for no reason" (Blue Fairy, 3.03). When Blue says, "I no longer believe in you," Tink's wings vanish and she falls to the ground, apparently human (3.03). The importance of belief to fairy status is reiterated (3.10) when Tinkerbell and Blue are reunited. After her destruction of Pan's Shadow, Tinkerbell is restored to fairyhood by Blue (3.11).
Fairies appear to inhabit a sort of pocket world within the Enchanted Forest (3.03).
See also Magic Wands Theory.
Flying monkeys are a creation of Zelena's. One attacks Snow and Regina in the Enchanted Forest and Emma in NYC (3.12). They retain human or near-human intelligence, and she can understand their speech. If you're bitten by a monkey, you become one yourself (3.13). They return to human form when Zelena's power is taken from her.
Furies (5.02) are “demon[s] sent from the underworld to collect the unpaid price of magic… It comes when the price for magic is a life.” That life can only saved if someone else offers to go in their place.
Genies (1.11) and wishes are subject to magic laws, with one interesting addition: You can't wish for life or for death. Now, you can obviously kill people with magic, but the implication is that you can't just wish them dead. You also can't wish for love or more wishes. "Life as a genie is not as magical as it may appear." Does that mean that genie-hood is a role, rather than an intrinsic identity? It doesn't seem like the genie has magic after being freed from the lamp. The genie while in the mirror does have the ability to see distant places independently (3.02). As with fairy magic, there is an associated karmic cost: "Making a wish comes with a price." The genie's final wish takes hold with a cloud of teal smoke. The genie's lamp (possibly more than one) is now in Gold's shop (1.16).
Per OUaTiW, genies can be created by curse; whether they can come into existence other ways is not know.
Jafar was able to break the curse of being a genie (6.15) by means unknown, but he remained trapped in the lamp until freed by another.
Giants live(d) in a land of their own above the clouds, reached by climbing a unique beanstalk (2.05). Either the only giants we see are male, or their people have no visible differentiating characteristics. They are extremely long-lived.
The story as Hook tells it: "The giants grew the [portal] beans, but rather than use them for good, they used them to conquer all the lands. Jack was a man who fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the evil giants. The beans were destroyed by the giants as they died. If they couldn't have their magic, then nobody could. ... One giant survived, the strongest and most terrible of them all." (2.06)
Anton's version goes, "[Humans] massacred us and stole our beans" (2.06). This is later expanded on/retconned by Arlo: "Have you forgotten what the humans did? Why we no longer trade beans with them? They weren't content merely traveling between the realms, they had to conquer and pillage. ... That is why they must never know that we still exist, or that we still grow the beans."
This suggests that the current story is a conflation of two events, and possibly of two Jacks. Jack I lived in the distant past and led a war against the giants. At that time, even the Blue Fairy believed both the giants and their beans to be gone forever. I'm positing that this war took place during Rumple's lifetime but before he became the Dark One; in his childhood, beans were common enough that random uncanny spinsters could come by them, but by the time of Baelfire's adolescence, there was only one bean known to the fairies (unless they said that to everyone they gave a bean to). Only a handful of giants survived the war. Jack II, aka Jacqueline, was Prince James' confederate; the two of them led a raid aimed at the beans, but settled for treasure when the bean fields were razed (2.13).
Anton, last of giant-kind, is brought to Storybrooke with Cora and Hook, permanently assumes human size, and is adopted by the dwarves with the new name Tiny (2.13).
Gnomes (1.02). There is a gnome present at the casting of the Dark Curse; Regina turns him into a statue and keeps him in her Storybrooke garden (he should have been turned back by the S3 curse reversal).
Jack claims to have killed a Jabberwock (2.13). This claim is rendered dubious by the events of OUaTiW, which show the Jabberwocky as an immortal being that feeds on fear and can only be trapped (not killed) by being pinned down with the Vorpal Sword.
Lumiere appears to be a transformed human, bound to the shape of a candlestick by Zelena (3.15). He appears as a face shaped out of flame. He restrains Zelena, allowing Belle to escape after Zelena takes Rumple's dagger.
Medusa lurks in a cave in the Enchanted Forest, near the Summer Palace. She is immortal. The touch of her skin vaporises metal. The only way to free her victims is to kill her, which cannot be done by cutting off her head. Charming gets turned to stone. Snow destroys Medusa by turning her gaze back on her using a metal shield (3.10).
Mermaids are generally inimical (3.01) and can summon magical storms by blowing a conch shell. The storms draw energy from the negative emotions of people nearby. Ariel is a friendly exception. She changes from tail to legs with a cloud of pale blue smoke. Every year at the highest tide, the sea goddess Ursula gives them the ability to walk on land.
Mome raths are wolfish creatures that dwell in the Wonderland forests (OUaTiW).
Nyx is the guardian of the Well of Wonders in both Agrabah and Wonderland, and presumably can manifest anywhere the well does (OUaTiW). Stealing well water results in being cursed to existence as a genie.
Ogres are mentioned in the context of the Ogre Wars but not seen until 2.03. They are enormous and blind, and hunt by sound. You have to shoot them in the eye. After the Dark Curse removed the human population, ogres moved into the affected areas of the Enchanted Forest.
Anthropomorphic Rabbits live in Wonderland (OUaTiW). Only one of them, the white rabbit, appears to have the ability to tunnel through realms.
Rock Trolls (4.01) bear no resemblance to other trolls, being small, intelligent, and kindly. They have some inherent magic and when resting appear as round boulders.
The Scarecrow is an animate scarecrow resident in Oz. Zelena steals his brain to use as a time travel spell component.
Siren (1.13) The siren guards Lake Nostos. This creature can change shape to take on the form of whoever is most desired, walk on and breathe under water. She is killed by Charming, after which the lake dries up.
Trolls (1.03). Can scale sheer walls, blend into their surroundings, and are capable fighters.
Unicorns. Maleficent has a miniature black unicorn as a pet (1.02). Rumple has a horse-sized one, also black, as part of Regina's lessons (2.05).
Snow and Charming visit a white unicorn (4.16) and receive conflicting visions of their child’s future when they touch the horn.
Ursula is, despite rumors to the contrary for the past thousand years, entirely real (3.06). (This really opens up the local mythology.) She uses Regina's mirror to make physical contact with her.
Werewolves (1.15) undergo full-body transformation. Wearing a magical red cloak can prevent one from changing. They change involuntarily during the full moon. They don't remember what happened while changed. They are incredibly strong and very large. It's an inherited condition and subject to changes in effect over time. In wolf form "a silver-tipped arrow will drop her" (1.15); in human form at least they can be killed like anyone else. They have a heightened sense of smell even in human form (1.15, 2.04, 2.12).
Werewolf nature can be inherited (Ruby and her mother) or acquired (Granny); at least in the latter case, their abilities can fade with age (1.15). They can learn to control the transformation (2.07). Transforming leaves a werewolf's clothes intact, which is handy. Occasionally their eyes glow gold.
Wraiths (2.01) attack anyone who has been marked by contact with a magical medallion. Wraiths remove souls, although to where they go is not stated, damning their victims "for all eternity" (Mulan). They flee from light and are damaged by fire. (minute 27) They can regenerate. You can't kill them, because they're already dead. Cora says (2.08) that there is a way to retrieve the lost souls.
The yaoguai is a large, vaguely leonine creature with a perpetually burning head (2.11). It turns out to be Prince Phillip, under a curse from Maleficent.
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