Black Fairy

"Fiona, its you. You are the great evil. You and your son are destined to destroy each other."

- Tiger Lily to the Black Fairy regarding the prophecy

Fiona, also known as the Black Fairy is a character and antagonist who appears in the ABC series Once Upon a Time. She is the mother of Rumplestiltskin and is first referred to in "The Thing You Love Most", but makes her first appearance in "Changelings".

Powers

 * Flight: As a fairy, the Black Fairy has the ability to sprout wings and fly.
 * Size Manipulation: The Black Fairy has the ability to change her form, shrinking her size.
 * Telekinesis: The Black Fairy has the ability to move objects with her mind, as seen when she opened and closed the door to Gideon's dungeon.
 * Immortality: Like all fairies the Black Fairy doesn't age, and can seemingly live forever, if not killed.
 * Limited Portal Creation: While in the Dark Realm, the Black Fairy was able to create portals between worlds, though this was limited to a short moment, as she was always taken back.
 * Heart-Removal: The ability to remove a persons heart, and take control of them.
 * Teleportation: The Black Fairy is able to transform herself and objects. This extends to magical items like the Dark One's Dagger.
 * Sharing Visions: The Black Fairy has the ability to share her past memories in the form of visions with people.

Abilities

 * Knowledge of Fairy Lore: As a mortal woman, Fiona studied Fairy Lore, in order to understand a prophecy. This led to her gaining the knowledge to turn herself into a fairy.
 * Dark Curse Creation: Using her knowledge of magic and fairy status, Fiona was able to create the Dark Curse.

Weaknesses

 * Squid Ink: The Black Fairy can be immobilized by squid ink.
 * Laws of Magic: Like any magic user, the Black Fairy is subject to the laws of magic. As a result, she is unable to raise the dead, create love and time travel.
 * Entering a land without magic: Should the Black Fairy enter a Land Without Magic, she will be unable to practice her powers unless she brings a magical totem with her.

Before the First Curse
Long ago, the Black Fairy met a man named Malcolm and gave birth to a son whom she later abandoned without even naming.

Originally a defender of children, unknown circumstances caused her heart to blacken and made her steal the children she was meant to protect. She was banished to the Dark Realm and her wand was taken by the Blue Fairy. Although entrapped, she was able to rip open portals long enough to kidnap children, before she was sent back to the Dark Realm. She uses the children she steals to mine dark fairy dust for herself.

Having acquired a large enough amount of fairy dust, the Black Fairy was able to create the Dark Curse - a curse powerful enough to move between realms and wipe memories. Through unknown means it ended up in Bald Mountain, where it was guarded by the Chernabog.

Years later, her son Rumplestiltskin has grown to be the Dark One and uses the kidnapped child of Jack and Jill along with an incantation to summon her. She arrives to kidnap the infant, but is immobilized by Rumplestiltskin's squid ink, causing her to freeze. The Black Fairy recognizes Rumplestiltskin through his status as the Dark One and warns that her paralysis won't last long. Angered at his mother, he reveals his identity, much to her shock and dismay, and questions why she ever abandoned him. She taunts him over it, claiming that the two aren't so different, having both chose power over the love of children. When the effects of the squid ink wear of, she laughs as she refuses to answer any more questions, and flies off, leaving her son.

After the Third Curse
Having seen Mother Superior fly off with her grandson Gideon, the Black Fairy rips into Storybrooke and the two fairies fight for control of the infant. Mother Superior is defeated at the hands of the Black Fairy, who takes the baby to her home, the Dark Realm. Upon arriving to her realm, she orders that Gideon be looked after like he was hers and confiscates the book Belle sent sent him off with.

Years later, the Black Fairy catches Gideon reading Her Handsome Hero the book she took from him while still an infant. She asks if Gideon wants to be like the hero character he was named after, and he replies that he does, causing her to laugh. The Black Fairy then takes Roderick, the boy in the cell opposite Gideon, into her tower and whips him while keeping Gideon's cell unlocked so that he can hear the boys suffering, in order to prove his cowardice, knowing he won't do anything.

As the years go by, the Black Fairy trains Gideon in his magic abilities.

In order to test his loyalty, the Black Fairy conducts a test. Pretending to lose the the key to her vault, she orders Gideon to find which one of the miners was responsible for stealing it, and to make them pay, handing him a vile of dark fairy dust. When she realises that Gideon isn't loyal to her as previously though, and was conspiring against her, she makes herself known to him. She is angered by his betrayal and when Gideon begins to stand up for himself and fails at an attempt to throw Dark Fairy Dust on the her, she orders the guards to take ahold of Roderick, and sprinkes the dust on him, transforming him into a bug. So she can hurt Gideon, she crushes Roderick with her foot. Gideon vows to the Black Fairy that he will find the Savior, and she in return tells him of plans she has to deal with her. She then rips Gideon's heart out, and uses it to control him from then on, ordering him to kill the Savior when he finds her, and use Hrunting to free her from the Dark Realm.

Gideon arrives in Storybrooke, while being controlled by the Black Fairy. The Black Fairy uses Gideon as her pawn in order kill Emma Swan, though fails. Using Gideon, she tries forming an alliance, so that he can betray Emma and kill her. She summons a giant spider to kill Emma, and just as her life essence begins to fade, she uses Gideon to create a portal. While the portal only lasts a few short moments, she is able to slip through, much to the dismay of Gideon.

Her arrival in Storybrooke results in the blossoming of pixie flowers, which only grow in the presence of great evil.

Entering Gold's pawnshop with Gideon, she makes herself known to her son and meets her daughter-in-law. When Belle tries to summon Gideon, he is unable to leave the Black Fairy, as she still has control over him. She then summons the Dark One's Dagger to prevent Gold from throwing squid-ink on her, only to return it to him, insisting that Gold will join her, and on his own free will when the darkness arrives, and they will be the family they were always meant to be. Later on in the evening, while in the woods surrounded by pixie flowers, she encounters Emma and Snow White, and introduces herself to the Savior. She tells Emma that the Final Battle is to arrive and orders Gideon to destroy the pixie flowers, ridding Snow's chance to end her sleeping curse. The pair then teleport before one of Snow's arrows hit her. Later outside the Library, she meets with Gold, who tells her that he is aware she possesses Gideon's heart. Gold then vows to return his son's heart, only for the Black Fairy to threaten him in return, though he is unaffected.

The Black Fairy arrives in Zelena's Farmhouse and comforts her crying baby. Furious as to her reason of being there, she takes back Robin. The Black Fairy proposes an alliance with Zelena, though she is rejected. Heading to the mines, the Black Fairy collects Fairy Crystals and finds Regina and Zelena in there too. She orders Gideon to attack Regina, rendering her unconscious, and then barricades the tunnel from Zelena. The Black Fairy leads Zelena into a cave surrounded by Fairy Crystals, and Zelena attacks, though it is ineffective, as the Black Fairy is more powerful. She then uses Zelena's magic to power the Crystals, turning their light power dark, allowing her to weaponize them. She reveals that she needs them to begin the Final Battle, and powers the crystal, while teleporting the sisters away. However, before she can use the crystals to their full effect, Zelena removes her magic, destroying the dark magic within the crystals and delaying the Black Fairy's plans. She and Gideon then head to the well, where they witness through a crystal ball, the heroes attempt to wake Mother Superior so they can use a fragmented piece of a wand to destroy her. Fearful of this, she confesses to Gideon that she isn't scared of the wand, but of her darkest secret, which the Mother Superior knows - the reason she gave up her son.

With the Black Fairy disguised as Snow White and Gideon disguised as David, they enter the pawnshop to witness Mr. Gold attempting to awaken Mother Superior. The nun regains consciousness and reveals to the heroes that the other half of the wand is at the heart of Storybrooke, but before she can say anything else, the Black Fairy begins choking her. When Emma expresses shock at her mother's actions, Fiona reveals she is not Snow, with Gideon also shedding his David disguise. Fiona then teleports herself and Mother Superior away to the mines, while Gideon is captured by his parents. Fiona begins to threaten Mother Superior, asking her where the other half of her wand is, but the latter vows to tell her nothing. Nonetheless, the Black Fairy uses a tool to extract information from the nun's head and learns the missing wand half is hidden in the diner. Arriving to see the heroes have already gotten the wand, Fiona demands it from them, however, Regina refuses to surrender without a fight. Fiona challenges her, which Regina gladly accepts before teleporting both of them outside. As Fiona blasts Regina and prepares an even more powerful surge of magic, Zelena slams her car into the Black Fairy, sending her flying into the air before she falls on her face. Fiona retreats and later confronts Mr. Gold, who now has some knowledge of his mother's past and his destiny to kill her. She insists he doesn't know everything that happened and then uses her magic to show him what led to her banishment. Mr. Gold is surprised to learn she did love him and left him unwillingly, however, he criticizes her for choosing power over love. Fiona defends her choice, stating that she needed her power to protect him, but Mr. Gold calls her out for lying since he once told himself the same thing when he chose power over his own first born son. Standing by her decisions, the Black Fairy proclaims that everything she has done was to keep him safe from the dangers of the world, to which Mr. Gold considers that it's only unsafe because of villains like them. Fiona then apologizes for making the wrong choices with the belief she was doing it out of love for him and expresses regret for hurting him. Mr. Gold points out she also caused pain to Gideon, which Fiona excuses by saying that it made Gideon strong. To this, Mr. Gold reflects on the things he's done with both of his sons that started out with good intentions and ended badly. Fiona, believing this means he can empathize with her actions, asks to start over as a family with him if he can forgive her for the things she's done. Mr. Gold presumably agrees and tricks the heroes into thinking he killed the Black Fairy by showing them a heart that is supposed to be hers. He also regains Gideon's heart from Fiona, which he returns to Gideon. Later on, Fiona meets up with her son again, as they begin to conspire to kill Emma on the day of her wedding.

Episode Appearances
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Season One

 * "The Thing You Love Most" (First Mentioned)

Season Three

 * "Going Home" (Mentioned only)
 * "There's No Place Like Home" (Mentioned only)

Season Five

 * "Souls of the Departed" (Mentioned only)
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Season Six

 * "Changelings" (First appearance)
 * "Wish You Were Here" (Mentioned only)
 * "Tougher Than the Rest"
 * "Ill-Boding Patterns" (Mentioned only)
 * "A Wondrous Place" (Mentioned only)
 * "Mother's Little Helper"
 * "Awake"
 * "Where Bluebirds Fly"
 * "The Black Fairy"
 * "The Song in Your Heart"
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Trivia

 * Her abandonment of her son Rumplestiltskin is the reason for his hatred of fairies.
 * She is shown to be more powerful than the Blue Fairy.
 * The Black Fairy bears a similarity to her ex-husband Peter Pan. Both abandoned their son Rumplestiltskin. Both later ruled over dark mysterious realms in which time works differently than in other realms. During their time ruling over these realms, both made a career of kidnapping children, among them their own grandsons (Gideon and Baelfire, respectively).
 * Ironically, it was the Black Fairy who partly helped defeat Pan, as it was her wand that Rumplestiltskin used to return Pan and Henry to their proper bodies back in Season 3.