"Were you born with magic or cursed?” - Elsa
Magic in the Enchanted Forest was initially presented as strongly linked to female bloodlines. In S5and 6, we’ve met more male magic-users, but the pattern still seems to hold.
Saviors
Like Emma, Aladdin shows magical ability late in life when he saves Jasmine (6.05). Unlike her, he apparently mastered its use quickly. Aladdin lost his power when he used the Shears of Destiny on himself to avoid the terrible fate of Saviors (per Jafar).
Gods
At least, they can do magic-like things, although presumably with fewer limitations. So far we have personally met:
- Ursula the sea goddess, a half-octopus being who appears removed from worldly affairs these days, but who once each year gives merfolk the ability to walk on land
- Poseidon the sea god; he rules the mermaids (his daughter Ursula is named after the goddess)
- Hades (deceased), the ruler of the Underworld
- Zeus, the king of the gods
Those Who Drink from the Holy Grail
"The Sorcerer" as we first encounter him, is identified as Merlin in 4.22. Merlin acquired magic and immortality in the distant past upon drinking from the Holy Grail, which he found in the desert. Merlin is the creator of the Author, the Hat, the Dark Curse, and Excalibur. He can see the future, at least “bits and pieces.” He is widely assumed to be the most powerful magic-user ever to exist. Merlin was turned into a tree by Nimue, though he remained able to communicate with others through dreams (Arthur, 5.04) and projections (the Apprentice (S4) and possibly Emma (5.01).
Most Enchanted Forest dwellers are unaware of the existence of either Sorcerer or Apprentice, or that the former is actually Merlin. In S4, the Sorcerer made a deal with Ingrid to bring her to Earth and find her new sisters in exchange for the return of the Hat, in the process issuing her with both a guiding prophecy scroll (which has turned out to be a "Get Into Storybrooke Free Card") and a portal to and from Arendelle.
Like Merlin, Nimue acquired power and immortality by drinking from the Grail, although she subsequently became the first Dark One.
The Apprentice was with Merlin as a child when the latter met Nimue. He later appeared elderly, so it seems possible that he was given extended life, not immortality. It is not known how he had magic. The Apprentice died after giving over the wand that Merlin gave him so the others could reach Camelot and find Emma (5.01). He later appeared in the Underworld, where his unfinished business lay with helping Henry make the choice not to abuse the pen and bring Cruella back to life (5.15).
Bearers of the Dark One's Curse
Rumplestiltskin has no native magical ability, but acquired it as part of becoming the Dark One. His predecessor Zoso did the same. Rumplestiltskin is generally considered the most powerful magic-user in the Enchanted Forest. His powers are wide-ranging in nature.
Emma has strong native magical ability, and even more as the Dark One (4.22). Merlin said that if she chose to be so, she would be the most powerful Dark One ever to exist (5.07). Once she is no longer under the curse (5.11), she retains her original magic ability.
Hook’s overall strength as a Dark One was not well measured, but he did pick magic up fast (5.10) as soon as he knew it was there. As of 5.11 he is no longer a Dark One and presumably magicless again.
The Mills Family
Magical power appears to have been latent in Cora Mills, who passed it on to both of her daughters. She demonstrated no power until her first encounter with Rumplestiltskin, who taught her. If not an actual match for him in ability, she was close enough for him to be wary of directly confronting her.
Regina similarly demonstrated no power until she met Rumplestiltskin, who taught her as he did her mother. Her power appears to be weaker than his.
Zelena demonstrated immense power as a newborn and instinctive manifestations later in life. Her power was increased by becoming the Witch of the West in Oz; Rumple considered her more powerful than her sister Regina. Although he did teach her, she also seemed to have a good native grasp on magic. Zelena is on her second body at this point - her “essence” traveled back in time through her portal and she took over Maid Marian’s identity there.
Cora also taught magic to Anastasia in Wonderland (OUaTiW). Whether this is due to some quality of Wonderland (”anything is possible in Wonderland”), of Anastasia herself, or whether this means that literally anyone can learn magic, is not clear.
The Swan Family
Emma's power manifested even in the LWM as unpredictable electrical effects beginning in her mid-teens, and also as a lie detection ability (which she mentioned to Ingrid during their time together). Her full strength began to manifest when facing Cora in the Enchanted Forest, and was confirmed when Regina tested her on the bridge (3.17). When she lost control (4.07, 4.08) the power manifested as electrical devices running by themselves, random power blasts, and her touch burning things.
Henry may possess native ability; Regina once offered to teach him magic (2.02). He has shown no overt signs, but was identified by Peter Pan as special, the "truest believer" whose heart he must take to make himself immortal and all-powerful. "You're descended from the greatest of light, and of dark" (Pan, 3.03). I suspect that he has an instinctive power to act as a psychic booster, encouraging people to behave heroically in moments of crisis. Convincing a crowd of New Yorkers to believe in magic (5.23) may be another instance of this ability.
Henry is now the Author (4.22), which comes with its own kind of power and restrictions. See entry below.
The Arendelle Royal Family
Ingrid and her niece Elsa possess magic based on ice creation and manipulation. Both developed their powers in childhood and struggled to control them. Previous to the events of 4.01, Elsa had never heard of anyone besides herself with such powers. As well as the standard psionic magic (exhibited by Ingrid, though not Elsa), their abilities included the following:
- Snowflakes around Elsa when she is nervous
- Creating enormous quantities of ice to ring Storybrooke, apparently from nothing, and dissipating same. This ice can take very elaborate forms, as the staircase Elsa builds in 4.05
- Freezing existing objects
- Leaving a freezing trail wherever she goes
- Creating quasi-autonomous ice monsters
- Cursing someone to slowly freeze; once the spell reaches the heart, death follows
- Turning someone into solid ice
- Illusion projection, as she did with Anna's and then her own (4.08) image
Maleficent appears to have standard range of psionic abilities, some of which are enhanced by the use of her staff (1.02). Her apparently unique ability is putting people to sleep on a large scale (she is the presumed inventor of the original sleeping curse). She can also turn into a dragon. She lost her powers for a while (4.14), having given in to despair after sleeping curse on Briar Rose was broken by Stefan, but Regina convinced her to regain her fire (literally).
Having been revived from dust by Rumplestiltskin, Maleficent is now unable to live in a world without magic.
Her daughter, Lily, although raised in the LWM, can also assume dragon form (4.20). It is not yet known whether she has other magic as well.
Agrabahns (OUaTiW)
While magic in the parent series appears to run in families, the implication in OUaTiW is that it’s generally available as a learned skill -- whether this is true only in Wonderland or only of those born in Agrabah makes interesting food for thought. Amara and Jafar learn magic without (as far as we know) having any sort of inborn ability or curse. At one point Cyrus does a bit of minor magic and says that anyone could learn how to do it.
The Author
The Author is responsible for the existence of Henry’s Storybook and presumably for other, similar books. The Blue Fairy claims (4.12) that the Author has been missing for some time, but is rumored to have left clues to their whereabouts in their work. August reveals (4.15) that the Author was trapped in the book by the Sorcerer. He later explains (4.16) that Author is a job not a person, that there have been many, and this particular Author went rogue and started trying to change the story rather than record it; the Apprentice (maybe same as Sorcerer, then?) took away their magic pen and trapped them in the book as a lesson; they are freed by Emma after Henry finds the key (4.16) and promptly picked up by Rumplestiltskin, who wants to use their power to rewrite “the rules”.
The current Author’s name is given as Isaac (4.18). Rumple tells us that Authorship is a serial position, and that if Isaac dies, someone else will become the Author -- it appears that the position once given cannot be taken away, but it also depends on the magic pen and ink to do anything with it.
The ink is activated by adding some of Lily’s blood (4.20), which works because Lily contains Emma’s darkness, allowing them to finesse the need for Emma to turn to darkness herself. Rumple sets him to writing a new book titled Heroes and Villains.
Isaac is responsible for the existence of Page 23, describing it as part of an experiment, a book he never got to write, but he claims not to have been the one who put it into Robin’s pack. His power appears virtually limitless, as he assures Zelena that he can indeed write her out of existence.
Isaac forfeited his position when he meddled with free will, and his power when he wrote his own happy ending. Henry (4.22) is now the Author, but has broken the pen and has not been seen doing any writing through S5a.
The Dragon
A dweller in the Land Without Magic when we meet him, he has significant magical power there, but it is not known if he can assume dragon form outside of a magical world.
The Dragon was believed dead in S2, when it seemed that Tamara had killed him with a weapon given to her by Peter Pan. He reappeared in S5 without explanation and proved powerful enough to attempt opening a portal. He knows a great deal about EF people generally and may have some kind of second sight. He is heavily hinted at being Lily's father (6.08); that would place his origin in the Enchanted Forest. Evil Regina trapped him in the mirror world after taking his heart. Current whereabouts unknown.
Fairies
Fairies (see also Creatures) are a bit of a puzzler. They don’t appear able to do magic innately, but only through the use of a wand, which is in turn powered by fairy dust, which is made from diamonds (or by pixie dust, which comes from Neverland). A fairy in possession of a wand can do a variety of magics with it; in addition, at least some wands appear to be specialized for certain uses, and to have variable power of their own.
The utility of fairy magic is plot-dependent. The Blue Fairy is described as “stronger than anyone” by Morraine, that appears to have been a matter of rumor exceeding reality. On the other hand, the Black Fairy
It's not known as of 6.11 whether her grandson Gideon has magic because is her descendant (which would have interesting implications), or because she taught it to him. Regardless of the source, he too appears to be quite powerful.
Others
- The Enchanted Forest appears to throw up minor witches on a regular basis, including the blind witch (who was killed by Hansel and Gretel in "True North"), and the witch of DunBroch.
- Belle doesn’t have any native ability, but by 5.06 appears to be becoming adept at potion mixing.
- Rumple's father Malcolm had no native magical ability, but acquired it in Neverland when he became Peter Pan after merging with the Shadow.
- Cruella can control animals verbally after she exhales a green mist over them; this power was given to her by the Author.
- Ursula the mermaid's magical singing voice is used at the order of her father Poseidon to lure ships onto the rocks in revenge for mother’s death at human hands. It can bring peace to a damaged soul. She used her father’s trident to become the octopoid creature she is now; given her statement that she would be more powerful than her father, with the “entire sea at the mercy of my every whim” one wonders if she absorbed a big chunk of the trident’s magic? Being a (former) mermaid, she can create portals in the sea. In Neverland, another mermaid showed the ability to summon magical storms. They'are also physically powerful, enough to batter a ship.
- Genies (OUaTiW) may have multiple potential origins, but at least some of them receive their power by being cursed by the guardian of the Well of Wonders. One can also become a genie by putting on the bracelets of a genie who has been freed (6.09). The power of a genie to grant wishes is restrained by traditional rules (you can't wish for more wishes, one wish cannot undo another wish, you can't bring back the dead -- and there is always a price).
- Jefferson/The Mad Hatter is a big question mark.
- Fendrake the Healer (5.14) is another question mark; he had an unusually long lifespan, so I assume that he had magic.
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