Isaac Heller

"Return the quill. You are ill-suited for this job. You have abused all the rules. You have lied, you have deceived us, you have forsaken your holy duty. And now you must be punished"

- The Apprentice to Isaac Isaac, also known as The Author is a character of Once Upon a Time. He was the current author of the "Once Upon a Time" book.

He is played by Patrick Fischler.

Before the First Curse
Isaac was chosen as the Author for the storybook by The Sorcerer and his apprentice and given a magical quill.

Posing as a peddler, he runs into Snow White and Prince Charming who he asks for help to move his wagon. When he sees them going west, he warns them that a terrible sorceress has taken residence down that way named Maleficent. He further tells them that she turned herself into a dragon and laid an egg and made a nest in a cave scorching the earth all around it marking her territory. He warns them to go east till they meet an old man (The Apprentice) who can help them get where they need to be.

It was revealed that due to his actions, Snow White and Charming ended up transferring their unborn child's potential for darkness into Maleficent's egg, and the Apprentice had no choice but to banish the unborn child into a Land Without Magic, as its presence in the Enchanted Forest would have been too dangerous to handle. The Apprentice furious at the event Isaac had manipulated, demanded for the quill back telling him he had abused all the rules, having lied and deceived himself and the Sorcerer and forsaken his holy duty. The Apprentice then traps him within a illustrated of a door in a page of the book as punishment for his crime.

After the Second Curse
Henry, having figured out the Author was in the page, sees a light shine through the page which leads him to a key which can unlock the door. Emma later unlocks the door and Mary Margaret and David recognizes him as the Peddler they met on their journey. Before Emma is able to question him, Isaac quickly pulls down the curtain with the pole hitting her. He runs away and Emma cannot find him.

The Author is being chased by Emma and the Charmings, so tries to stay one step ahead of them and snaps a small branch off a tree, then sharpens the end to a fine point. Out of nowhere Gold shows up and says he knows about magic quills and says he knows they have to come from an enchanted tree, since there are none of those in Storybrooke. The Author curses and goes to walk away but Gold says he should come with him, then he shows The Author that he has a magic quill and tells him that he has to write him some happy endings, and when The Author sees Emma and the Charmings coming, he agrees to go along with Gold and disappear in a cloud of dark magic.

After Mr. Gold brings Isaac to his cabin he is told that he'll need the ink for the quill. Isaac is told that he plans to bring Emma to his side. Cruella approaches Isaac where she threatens him to help her out for old time's sake. As Isaac states that Cruella has lied to Mr. Gold about knowing him, she states that there is more than one way to skin an author. Mr. Gold returns where he learns about Isaac's history with Cruella as Isaac begs for forgiveness. Mr. Gold even tells her about Cruella's plans to kill Isaac as Mr. Gold has a plan to keep Isaac alive. Isaac then gives Mr. Gold what he wrote about Cruella. When Mary Margaret and David find Isaac, he wants them that Emma will turn dark and gives them the truth that Cruella can't take the life of another. This causes Mary Margaret and David to go after Emma before she does anything bad.

Isaac tells Mr. Gold that they need Emma in order to produce the Magic Ink for the Author's Quill. Mr. Gold and Isaac look up information on Blood Magic. Regina shows up wanting Isaac's services as she wanted his services first. Mr. Gold proposes to Regina to help her find the Magic Ink for Isaac. Regina states that she'll find the Magic Ink on her own as she teleports Isaac away from her. Regina states that the energies of Emma going dark is what is needed for the Magic Ink. Isaac states that he was working for Mr. Gold because he protected him. As Isaac is shown a picture of Regina being with Robin Hood, Isaac states that he was planning to write about it, but never got the chance. Regina plans to obtain the Magic Ink. Upon obtaining Lily's blood for the Magic Ink, Regina and Isaac visit Zelena's cell at the Storybrooke Hospital and states that she plans to write an ending for Zelena. Regina then plans to have Zelena written out the story as Zelena claims that she has gotten to know about Cora. As the Magic Ink is drying, Regina tells Zelena that Cora wasn't a better mother as Robin Hood comes in. Regina decides to spare Zelena only for Isaac to write his rondesvouz with Mr. Gold. Upon meeting up with Mr. Gold, Isaac is instructed to start writing in the "Heroes and Villains" book.

Trivia

 * It was initially thought that there was only one author, but it was revealed to be a job done by many people including Walt Disney.