- “David, Storybrooke David was... is ... weak... confused... and he hurt the woman I love. I wouldn't give up being Charming just to be him. But you know what? I wouldn't make the other trade either, because that David reminds me not only of whom I lost... But of who I want to be my weaknesses and my strengths. David and The Prince. I am both...”
- ―David Nolan[src]
Prince Charming (currently known as David Nolan) is a character who appears in ABC's fantasy series Once Upon a Time. He is one of the main characters in the series and is the son to Ruth and Robert, who grew up on a farm while his twin brother James, was seperated from the family when he and David were babies. This Prince Charming lives in a medieval realm called the Enchanted Forest.
Prince Charming appears as a main character in ABC's Once Upon a Time. In the series, his real name is David and he is played by Josh Dallas.
Background[]
David was born as a twin, whose name was James, to Ruth and Robert. As newborns, James and David were seperated as Robert and Ruth were poor and Rumplestiltskin worked with King George to offer the new parents money if they gave one their babies to the king. James was given to George and his wife, while Ruth and Robert raised David as an only child, which he was unaware about for years.
When David was growing up, his father was a drunk who cared very little about Ruth and their son. When David was seven years old, he was told by Robert that he would go on a two week journey to try and conqure his addiction, but did not return. David was later informed that his father had died from alcholisum on the fourteenth night, when in reality, he was killed by Captain Hook.
Role in the series[]
Before the First Curse[]
David as a Shepard.
Years after James was given to King George, David was shown under the strict rule of his landlord, Little Bo Peep. Though too intimidated by the witch to escape his slavery, David is taught the skills of bravery and battle by the traveling Princess Anna, who he provided shelter for, as she was the fiancée of his good friend, Kristoff. Through Anna's wisdom, David is able to fend off Bo Peep, and he uses such lessons for the rest of his days, as seen in the current timeline. , Some time after this, James is killed in battle, so David takes his brother's name in exchange for his mother Ruth's farm. King Midas declares David fit to marry his daughter Abigail and unite the kingdoms. However, David wants to marry for love, but George vows to kill his mother Ruth if he declines. Before his marriage, he falls in love with Snow White, who nicknames him Charming, after he captures her in a net for stealing from him and Abigail. "Charming" offers to not turn her to the queen after learning she is trying to escape after being informed that the queen wants her dead for blaming Snow for ruining her life. David, going by the name James, is rescued by Snow from trolls, and after she tries on his mother's engagement ring, the two fall in love, and he invites her to run away.
David in the Enchanted Forest.
Charming is determined to find Snow and be with her even if it means his death and Abigail offers to help him escape, revealing she doesn't want to marry him either, because she has her own love, named Fredrick, who was turned to gold by her father, King Midas. James offers to retrieve magical water from Lake Nostos that is said to hold magic that will break any curse. Abigail tells him that everyone else has tried but failed, but he does it anyway, believing she deserves her happy ending even if he can't have his. When James is in the water, a siren disguises herself as Snow White, but he is able to deduce that she is not really her and kills the syren, before successfully returning to Abigail with the water that revives Fredrick. Abigail thanks James and he tries all he can to find Snow White.
Prince Charming awakens Snow White with a true loves kiss.
After continuous interceptions by George, the Evil Queen Regina captures James to convince Snow to willingly eat an apple containing a sleeping curse. He later awakens her, thanks to Rumplestiltskin enchanting Ruth's ring. Charming awakens Snow with true loves kiss and proposes. Following their engagement, King George sends his guards after Charming and Snow, who are being helped by Red and some other people, and are setting up camp. During the fight with the guards, Charming asks Snow to meet him at a cabin in two days, where his mother is staying, so Snow can meet her future mother-in-law. However, during these two days, Snow is captured by King George's ally, Lancelot. King George tricks Snow White into drinking a potion that will prevent her from becoming pregnant, after telling her that David posed as his twin brother, Prince James.
David returns to his mother, Ruth at the cabin, but they are interrupted by some of George's guards. David fights them off, but Ruth reveals she has been struck with an arrow in the chest, just as Snow and Lancelot arrive. David learns the arrow was filled with poison, and the wound needs more than a standard antidote. David tells Lancelot about Lake Nostos, telling him and Snow that the water at that lake has magical abilities that will heal his mother, since it's water reverted a man from gold back to flesh. The trio make their way to Lake Nostos and Snow informs Ruth that King George cursed her, therefore unable to bear a child, but keeps it from David. However, when they arrive they learn the lake has dried up, to which David blames himself for this because he once killed the siren who lived in the lake. Lancelot manages to find a drop of the water and seemingly gives it to Ruth to drink, but it doesn't work so her dying wish is to see her son marry. Snow and Charming have an unofficial ceremony by Lancelot officiating, and Ruth dies just as it finishes. David buries his mother shortly afterwards and Snow feels very sorry for David, as his mother was the only family he had left. However, David tells Snow that they can make a new family, which leads to her almost revealing she can't have a child like they wished, only for the magical tallisman to reveal they will some day have a child, to which David believes will be a boy, only for Snow to later reveal to Lancelot that her and David's baby will be a girl. Charming and Snow marry some time after this.
Once Snow and Charming return from their honeymoon, they are met by the Queens of Darkness, Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella De Vil. They learn of Regina's plan to cast the Dark Curse and the Queens inform them that there is a tree known as the Tree of Wisdom that can tell them how to escape Regina's Dark Curse, but it can only be accessed by two of the most valiant heroes. The five travel, but when Snow and Charming try to access the tree, it doesn't work, and the reason why is because Snow is pregnant, with a child with the potential for great darkness. During this time, they find a man named Edmund who is injured, so they get Charlotte, Snow's handmaiden, to heal him. David offers Edmund a job as their wine stewert, unaware he has been hired by Queen Regina to kill the prince and princess.
Rumplestiltskin informs them that their expected child will break the curse in 28 years.
Snow and David sacrifice Maleficent's child.
Snow and Charming then go to a unicorn, which can give visions of a person's unborn child. Charming sees and innocent baby, but Snow sees an evil teenage version of her daughter who rips her heart out. They then meet the Apprentice who tells that there is a way of ridding their child's darkness. They have to transfer it to another child. Snow and Charming realize that they can't do this to another child, but a peddler they meet, informs them that the sorceress Maleficent has turned into a dragon and laid an egg. They confront Maleficent and steal her egg, even though she begs them not to. Snow states that they'll give her the egg back after they're done with it. They give the egg to The Apprentice who then manages to transfer Emma's darkness into the egg, however, being the child of Maleficent, along with Emma's darkness it too much of a great risk, and he decides to banish it to A Land Without Magic. The pair is even further horrified when they discover that Maleficent's egg contained a human baby and not a dragon and now they cannot return her back to Maleficent.
At some point during the pregnancy, David and Snow meet with Killian Jones for safe passage on his boat. He agrees and sings about wanting to kill Rumplestiltskin as revenge and David reveals he is in their dungeon. When Snow offers Killian a deal, he agrees to give them safe passage, but neither of them would remember meeting each other because the blue fairy would erase their memories.
Emma is born shortly before the curse takes hold, and Charming places her in a magical wardrobe to protect her from the curse, before being fatally wounded by the Queen's knights. The curse takes effect, just as Charming lies seemingly lifeless, and he is transported to Storybrooke, located in the Land Without Magic.
During the First Curse[]
David and Snow are briefly reunited during the curse.
Ten years after the curse is cast, David awakens due to a little magic in a flower Mary Margret brings him while volentering. David remembers his life as Charming and asks where the Evil Queen is, which greatly confuses her as she believes he is talking noncense because he has been in a coma. David tries to get Mary Margret to believe him but she doesn't until he grabs her hand, awakening her from the curse. The two happily reunite, but sneak around since they are the only ones awake while the rest of the town are sleep, believing their cursed selves are who they really are. Charming and Snow find Grumpy, who in his world is named Leroy, and ask him for help. David refers to him as Grumpy, but Snow apologises to Leroy, since he doesn't know who he really is, and they hide as Regina informed that "John Doe" has disappeared. David visits Mr. Gold who has no idea what David is talking about until he hears the name "Emma". This awakens Rumplestitskin, who informs David that the flower that awakened David and Snow has the ability to reunite anyone who shares true love, including their daughter, Emma.
While David is speaking to Rumple, Snow White tries to distract Regina, who suspects that Snow and Charming are awake. Charming and Snow are about to find Emma, but Rumple finds them and tells them they can't find Emma yet because the town has only been under the curse for 10 years and if they reunited with Emma now, she would never be able to break the curse and the whole town would be stuck like this forever.
In the woods, Snow and Charming use the magical flower to activate a door, which allows them to see a ten year old Emma in a foster home. Charming comments on his daughter's beauty and doesn't want to waste another second without Emma, but Snow stops him because she doesn't think it is fair for everyone in Storybrooke to suffer forever just because they don't want to wait longer. Realising Snow is right, Charming closes the door to Emma and they share an emotional goodbye before drinking the potion that will put them back to sleep. Charming drinks the potion and is immedately put back into the comatose state, just as Snow White also drinks the potion, regaining her Mary Margret Blanchard identity and false memories. Charming is then taken back to the hospital where he spends the next 18 years, as no one knows who he really is.
David Nolan, Charming's Storybrooke counterpart.
Eighteen years later in 2011, David awakens after Mary Margaret reads him their story. He reunites with his wife Kathryn and is identified as David Nolan. David suffers from amnesia and cannot remember his fake life with Kathryn. He falls in love with Mary Margaret and begins an affair with her, ending his marriage to Kathryn, who is soon reported as being murdered - a plan arranged between Regina Mills and Mr. Gold. David becomes a suspect in her disappearance until the evidence against Mary Margaret is found. Kathryn is found alive, though David's relationship with Mary Margaret becomes strained, as he did not believe her innocence. He decides to move to Boston and asks Mary Margret if she will join him. Later that same day, David is about to cross the town line just as the curse is broken by Emma, allowing David and the Storybrooke residents to regain their memories. Charming runs back into town to find Snow and they reunite just as Mr. Gold/Rumplestitlskin is able to bring magic to this land.
After the First Curse[]
David gives a speech to the citizens of Storbrooke.
Immediately after the curse is broken, David and Snow learn that Emma is their grown up daughter as well as learning that her son Henry, is their grandchild, despite all three adults being the same age.
David agrees to send a wraith, released into Storybrooke through a portal, though his wife and daughter are dragged with it. David looks after his grandson while Emma and Mary Margaret are absent. After failing attempts of transportation, David falls under a sleeping curse to communicate with Mary Margaret. He is awoken by true love's kiss when the two return. David is then hunted by a giant named Anton, who mistakes him for James. David tries to reason with Anton, learning that James acted poorly to the giant back in the Enchanted Forest. After being forgiven by Anton, David and the dwarfs decide to plant magical beans so they can return to the Enchanted Forest.
Before the Second Curse[]
David aboard the Jolly Roger
When Henry is kidnapped to Neverland, David travels with Mary Margaret, Emma, Regina, Mr. Gold, and Captain Hook in order to rescue him from Peter Pan. In Neverland, David is poisoned by Dreamshade, though Hook partially cures him, but it comes with the price that he can't ever leave Neverland, as it will kill him. During their attempts to rescue Neal Cassidy, David learns that Snow wants another baby, but he reveals his secret that he is unable to leave because of the magical waters. This makes David's relationship with Mary Margret become strained because he kept a big secret from her. David tries to get Mary Margret to speak to him, but she refuses until she finally gets angry with him. She angrilly tells him that she would happily stay on the land with him, to which David tells Mary Margret, that is what he was afraid of. That she would abandon their Storybrooke life for him, and he doesn't want that for her.
David and the group then work with Tinker Bell, who they offer to take with them, along with the Lost Boys, after seeing what Peter Pan really is like and that he cares for no one, other than himself. The group are able to rescue Henry and Mr. Gold gives David a temporary cure so he can travel beyond the Neverland waters without dying, before he is able to make up the rest of the elixer. The cure works as Hook tells David that his brother, Liam, died from Dreamshade the second the ship went over Neverland waters. David is then completely cured as Gold gives David the complete cure.
However, Pan, in Henry's body, finds Regina's original dark curse and starts to enact it, before Henry and Pan are restored to their own bodies. Gold sacrifices his life to destroy Pan, since he is his son, and it is the only way Pan can die. Pan and Gold die, but the curse is still coming. Regina is able to hold it off and destroy it, but has to send Emma and Henry across the town line with new memories, while the curse takes all the fairytale characters back to the Enchanted Forest.
Back in the Enchanted Forest, one year later, David learns that Snow is pregnant, but is scared about fatherhood since they had to give Emma up. After speaking to Robin Hood, David is on his way back to Snow when he hears a girl screaming from a tower. Fearing the woman is in danger, David climbs a tower and finds a princess in it, who reveals her name is Rapunzel. David helps Rapunzel escape after learning she is too afraid to leave, but he reunites her with her parents. David reveals his fears of fatherhood to Snow, after losing Emma twice, but she assures him that he will make a wonderful father.
Shortly afterwards, the group learns that Zelena, the wicked witch, is Regina's half-sister and is after Snow and Charming's unborn baby. Unsure what to do, they decide to enact another curse that will take everyone back to Storybrooke, and should reunite them with Emma. Charming decides to sacrifice himself by allowing Snow to crush his heart in order to enact the curse, although she refuses because their child needs their father, although she eventually gives in and crushes her husband's heart, enacting the curse and resulting in Charming's death. A distraught Snow asks Regina to split her heart so she and Charming can both live, and while Regina recongises that Snow and Charming's love is true, she might die too, but Snow doesn't care. Regina successfully removes the princess' heart and splits it, before giving a half each to Snow and Charming, reviving him. Just as the curse starts to take effect, Zelena adds a memory erasing spell to the curse, which means everyone in town will not remember the past year. The curse then takes everyone, except Hook (who is able to find Emma) to Sorybrooke.
During the Second Curse[]
David reunites with Emma.
A year later, Emma returns to Storybrooke, where she is reunited with David and Mary Margret, who reveal they are having a baby. However, David informs Emma and Hook that they have no recolection of what has happened within the last year as the last thing they remember is watching Emma and Henry cross the town line and being transported back to the Enchanted Forest. Hook informs them of everything that happened as he was not effected by the curse, and tells them that he receieved a note to retrieve Emma from New York, and bring her back home, assuming either David or Snow were the ones who sent him the message.
David and Mary Margret decide to get a midwife for the pregnancy, who ends up being Zelena, who is the only one who remembers what happened the year before. Unknown to David and Mary Margret, Zelena is trying to get their baby for her spell. While in the woods, David finds a hooded figure and fights it, which looks just like him. The fear figment taunts David and threatens him into admitting he is afraid about being a father, before he is able to stab it and destroy it, which causes his sword to disappear. With this information, Regina realises it is part of David's courage, that the Wicked Witch is using as part of a spell.
Later on, Neal dies as he is seperated by Emma, from his father, as a way to warn everyone that Zelena is the wicked witch. David and Mary Margret console their daughter on the loss of her ex, while Henry still has no idea that Neal was his father and what he did. David, Mary Margret, Emma, Hook and Regina later do a seance' to communicate with Regina's dead mother, Cora Mills, in hopes to learn why Cora abandoned Zelena. However, while the portal does open, Cora refuses to talk to her daughter and wants to keep her secrets to herself. However, Cora's ghost escapes the portal and ends up possessing Mary Margret who feels tired form the experience, but learns as to why Cora abandoned Zelena: she was forced to Queen Eva, Snow's mother, as Zelena was the result of a one night stand, and Cora was to marry another man. David then realises that their baby is the key to Zelena's plan to travel back in time to kill Eva, so that Snow White was never born., which would nean neither Emma or Henry would not be born. When Hook takes Henry to the docs for protection, David, Regina, Emma and Mary Margret follow them there, to save him from a flying monkey. With the help of the storybook, Henry's memories are restored and Regina is able to break the curse by kissing her son on the head, with true love.
After the Second Curse[]
Snow and Charming with their newborn son.
Immediately after the curse is broken, David and Mary Margret regain their memories of the past year and inform Hook that neither of them sent him the message but he got one anyway (later revealed to be from Neal). With Henry's memories restored, he is informed of his father's sacrifice and Mary Margret suddenly goes into labor and gives birth to her and David's son, but he is immidately taken by Zelena as David tries to fight Zelena, who teleports to the docs. Zelena is almost killed by Mr. Gold, until Regina stops him, and David returns the baby to his mother. Mary Margret and David take their newborn home some days later.
David and Mary Margret reveal their son's name to be, Neal.
One day in Granny's, David and Mary Margret are reading to their son the story of how they fell in love and reveal they plan to announce the baby's name in a special way. However, the family leans that Emma plans to take Henry back to New York, believing Storybrooke is not their home, but she and Hook end up being sucked into Zelena's time portal, which takes them back to the time when Snow and David first met, while David tries and fails to reach Emma via a phone call, unaware of what happened. While in the Enchanted Forest past, Emma and Hook accidentally mess up how her parents met and must restore the timeline, which they are able to do, while saving Maid Marian, Robin Hood's late wife, and bringing her to the present time, despite Robin's new relationship with Regina. When Hook and Emma return to the present, she finally acknowledges that Storybrooke is her home and how much she loves her parents, deciding to stay as this is where her family is. Shortly after this, David and Mary Margret announce their new baby's name to be Neal, named after Neal Cassidy, Henry's father, and Rumple's son, as a way to honour someone who gave his life to save everyone.
David and Hook rescue Emma and Elsa.
When Elsa from Arendelle arrives into Storybrooke looking for her sister Anna. The power in the town goes and David and Emma go to the town line, only to find an ice wall surrounding the town, where they find Hook, Emma's new boyfriend, also investigating the wall. When Emma attempts to reason with Elsa David gives Hook his overprotective dad talk, knowing what he was like with women back in the Enchanted Forest. Emma is trapped within an ice cave by Elsa's fear of David hurting her. David realises he can visit Little Bo Peep, who he met many years ago, and use her crook that is able to locate someone or hear their heartbeat. David is able to convince Elsa to use her powers to save Emma, commenting that Anna wouldn't want her to spend eternity in an ice cave. Once Emma is freed, David promises Elsa he will help her find Anna. Back at the Blanchard Loft, David introduces Elsa to Mary Margret, who agrees to help him find Elsa's sister Anna.
Once Ingrid casts the spell of Shattered Sight all over Storybrooke, everyone turns into their worst selves including Snow, David, and Kristoff - an old friend of David's - who are all locked up within the sheriff station. David and Mary Margaret are locked inside prisons are limited to verbally abusing each other, but Ingrid sacrifices herself and the spell of shattered sight is finally broken. The shards turn into snow and Storybrooke returns to normal, including David. Mary Margaret and David run-up to Emma to hug her. As Neal begins to wake up, David tells Mary Margaret to forget what happened under the curse, then the couple kiss.
Emma, Mary Margaret, and David then arrive at a mansion in which Hook found a portal. They go to make sure Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff make it back to Arendelle through the portal door. As they go through the portal, they thank the three, and Anna tells them that she wanted to thank Hook and Gold, only to have David mentioned that Gold was once Rumplestiltskin, and Anna tells them that she knows of him from their past encounter.
Upon entering the town, Cruella and Ursula meet with David and Mary Margaret, who swear the twosome into never revealing their pasts with each other in the Enchanted Forest. Ominously, Mary Margaret promises to tear out their hearts herself if they don't comply. When they discover Cruella and Ursula's plan to resurrect Maleficent, Snow and David travel underground to get rid of her ashes to prevent the plan, but it is there, they are ambushed and knocked unconscious by Ursula. To fully resurrect Maleficent, Cruella then obtains the blood "of those who wronged her most" which is Snow and Charming's and spills it on Maleficent's ashes who is then resurrected. Maleficent informs them she will cause them suffering and pain like they caused her. Snow and Charming decide not to tell Emma their secret.
David and Mary Margaret are then informed that Gold plans to use The Author to turn Emma dark. When Maleficent casts a sleeping curse upon the whole town, they discover they are immune as they have been previously under the curse. They realize that Maleficent, Cruella, and Gold are trying to obtain the page in which The Author is trapped in. The pair meet with Henry and take the page from him, but Mary Margaret convinces David that they should stop lying and tell the truth to Emma. After they tell them, Emma refuses to talk to them, distraught over their evil actions and their lies. They decide to free The Author and discover that he is the peddler they met, on the day they banished Maleficent's child.
David and his family soon learn from Maleficent that her daughter alive. While Emma tries to locate her and bring her back to Storybrooke to redeem her parents, David and Mary Margaret beg for Maleficent's forgiveness, which she refuses to do so. Eventually, Emma finds Lily and is able to talk her into coming to Storybrooke to meet her mother. When Lily arrives, Maleficent has trouble connecting with her and comes to David and Mary Margaret for support and help as they dealt with a similar situation when Emma arrived in Storybrooke. The trio go out to find Lily, but find that she has turned into a dragon and is unable to control herself. After Mary Margaret is almost killed by Lily, Emma reunites with her parents, although this is short-lived when Emma sacrifices herself to become the new Dark One.
Before the Third Curse[]
David as Knight of the Round Table.
With the other residents, David and Mary Margaret transport to the Enchanted Forest, taking Emma to Camelot in order to find Merlin and remove her darkness. However, weeks later, they return to Storybrooke with missing memories as to how they failed. In "Siege Perilous", David is knighted by King Arthur, (Liam Garrigan) and bestowed the Siege Perilous seat at the Round Table, but later gives this up when he learned of Arthur's deception.
Emma turns her boyfriend, Hook into a Dark One when he is stabbed by Arthur's sword. Now also a dark one, Hook plans to take this as a chance to kill Rumplestiltskin once and for all, while Emma is able to kind of reunite with her family as she is trying to get rid of the darkness forever. David and his family try to help Emma get rid of the darkness, but Hook enacts the third curse which removes everyone's memories.
During the Third Curse[]
David regains his memories.
David becomes very concerned for what Emma has become and vents to Mary Margret that he should have prevented his daughter from absorbing the darkness. Mary Margret assures her husband that no matter what, he is her hero in every realm. David is then approached by King Arthur, who has arrived in Storybrooke, to help him find his relic that is very precious to the king. David promises to help Arthur find his holy grail. David, Regina and the rest of the family, including Hook, discuss what to do about Excalibur and how to rescue Emma from the darkness. When Robin Hood's soul is almost destroyed and he is nearly taken to the Underworld by a fury, Regina is about to sacrifice herself for her boyfriend, by telling the fury to take her soul instead. David and the rest of the family see what Regina is doing and join her, allowing their souls to be destroyed along with her, but their joined sacrifice becomes too much for the fury and it leaves, saving everyone, including Robin.
Emma later proves to everyone that she is trying to save them when she learns Hook's plans and she is able to get them to side with her. The family learns that the deceased Dark Oness have been summoned to Storybrooke by Killian and he plans to send everyone to the underworld in exchange for the dark ones to be resurrected. However, Hook has a change of heart and allows himself to die so the darkness to be taken to the underworld with him, breaking the curse as well as Emma's heart. David and Mary Margret comfort Emma as she is heartbroken over losing the man she loves.
After the Third Curse[]
David is attacked by his twin brother James.
When Emma reveals she is going to the Underworld to rescue Killian, David and the rest of the family decide to go with her. When they arrive, David learns that his late twin brother James is the Sheriff in this realm and discovered from Cruella de Vil that James has resentment against David over being raised by their mother and having a family that James envies. When the two finally meet for the first time, David attempted to explain to James (who still believed he was "Prince") over what happened back in the Enchanted Forest, but James cut to the chase and used a stun gun on David. He played "Shepherd", taking his brother's place in a scheme for him and Cruella to leave the Underworld with Hades' help by tricking Emma into finding the location of where Robin Hood was keeping his and Zelena's baby. When James attempted to send his niece and Robin to the River of Lost Souls at the harbor, David stopped James and tried to convince him that he can be at peace and move on, but James continued to believe that killing David was his unfinished business. James attempted to pull a knife to kill David, but he missed and is sent into the water, where he was consumed by the lost souls. As David watched this unfold, Emma told her father that despite his effort to save him, it was already too late for James anyway.
David and his family eventually make their way back to Storybrooke but without Hook and David tries his best to help Emma grieve her true love, but she is so desperate to save the man she loves by defeating Hades. Once Hades is destroyed, Hook is brought back to life and David welcomes him home with a hug.
Before the Fourth Curse[]
David under the sleeping curse.
In the first couple of episodes of the sixth season, Regina welcomes residents of the Land of Untold Stories to Storyrbooke, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who is seperated by a potion. When Regina uses this potion to seperate herself and the Evil Queen. The queen uses the heart that David and Snow share to curse their heart so they are both placed under a sleeping curse, where one will be asleep while the other is awake. The couple spend several weeks like this but communicate via notes to each other.
While under the curse, David is haunted by the ghost of his father so he is determined to find the man who killed his father, believing it to be King George. Killian helps David, but eventually learns he is the one who killed his dad, which Killian keeps a secret as he wants to propose to Emma. Down by the docks, David watches the sea as he has made peace with his father's death and gives his blessing to Killian, who asks his permission to marry Emma.
However, Emma eventually finds out that Killian killed her grandfather and tells David, who comforts his daughter as she is sad her boyfriend left Storybrooke and that her relationship with Killian is now strained. However, Emma learns that even though Hook left, he is trying to get home to her and the family. Once Emma locates Hook in Neverland, she saves him and the family are reunited with Hook, who proposes to Emma properly, who accepts. Regina manages to find a way to break David and Mary Margret's sleeping curse by getting the residents of Storybrooke to drink part of their curse, which breaks it and wakes them both up. Killian then apologises to David for not telling him the truth about his father. David instantly forgives Killian, saying it happened a long time ago and he has become a better man since his pirate days. David and Mary Margret then walk Emma down the aisle on her wedding day, just as the Black Fairy's curse arrives.
During the Fourth Curse[]
Charming and Snow back in the Enchanted Forest.
With the Black Fairy's curse enacted, the residents of Storybrooke, minus Emma and Henry, are sent to the Enchanted Forest again, where they realise that Fiona is making Emma not believe in fairytales. This makes every realm in the faitytale land start to disappear, including Agrabah and Arendelle. David and Hook climb the magic beanstalk that Killian climbed with Emma years ago, and David comments that he is going to put all his trust into his new son-in-law. Emma is later able to regain her memories and battles Gideon, Gold and Belle's son, who kills Emma, until she is revived by Henry's kiss of true love. The final battle is won and everyone lives at peace for years.
After the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Curses[]
David and Mary Margret eventually move out of the Blanchard loft as Emma and Hook go on their honeymoon and along with the rest of the town, the Charming's are able to live their lives at peace for years. Years later, David and Snow return to The Royal Castle when another curse is enacted, but they are able to break it. David and Snow's other grandchild, Hope is born to Emma and Killian during this time, just in time for Charming and Snow to crown Regina the Good Queen and the ruler of the United Realms, which includes every town within the Enchanted Forest and beyond, so that all fairytale characters can be together.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- David is one of the few characters from the first curse who is confirmed to have the same real name in Storybrooke as his Enchanted Forest counterpart; the others being Regina, Jefferson and Mother Superior.
- Despite being the live action version of Snow White's prince, David is known as Charming and not The Prince. The name The Prince is the name to Snow White's love interest in the 1939 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, while Charming is the name of Cinderella's prince from the film of the same name.
- However, David does call himself "The Prince" in "We Are Both" during his speech. That is the only time he is referred to with this title.
- Snow White was the one who gave David the nickname Charming, when they first met in "Snow Falls".
- The name "David" is of Hebrew origin derived from the word "dwd" that means "beloved."
- David is one of two characters Josh Dallas portrays in the series, the other is Prince James, who is David's identical, late brother. Dallas also played a figment of David's fear, in the episode "The Tower".
- David and James never met as James died in battle after he and David were separated at birth, until they finally meet in the Underworld, in the episode "Sisters".
- With their names put together, David and James make the name "David James", who is a famous musician.
- David and Snow's portrayers, Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin, are married in real life. They got together and married during the series' production.
- During the first curse, David is referred to as John Doe while in a coma. That name is often used in mystery cases, mostly murder cases, when a body is found but nobody knows the real name of that person, until proof is found. The female placeholder's name is Jane Doe.
- Prince Charming is at least four years younger than his wife Snow White. This is proven in "Murder Most Foul," where David is six years old and Rumplestiltskin uses a crystal ball to locate his twin brother James. This is the exact same crystal ball that Jefferson acquired for Rumplestiltskin in "The Doctor," an episode which takes place after the events of "The Stable Boy," where Snow was ten years old, according to "Shattered Sight" and "Sympathy for the De Vil".
- According to the Storybrooke Daily Mirror, Charming is in his early 30s when he wakes up from his coma.[1]
- Prince Charming is the first character shown in the series. He is seen riding the horse to locate Snow White, which ties in with the flashbacks featured in "A Land Without Magic", where it is revealed how he got the cloak and how he could find her.
