Once Upon a Time began as an incredible new show depicting twists on our favorite fairy tales, first in a way that only adults could truly appreciate. While occasionally the show dipped into saccharine territory, borrowing from Disney and sagging beneath the weight of trite tone, it mostly gave us inventive and even ground-breaking stories with characters we loved immediately or grew to love later.
That's why it's such a bummer that the show is over with so many loose ends left hanging. We're glad that it was put to rest before it got too stale, but we'd love to have witnessed some closure regarding a few key storylines that were left unresolved.
How Did Rumpelstiltskin Get Mjolnir?
A few episodes prior to the season 2 finale of Once Upon a Time, we saw Thor's famous hammer, Mjolnir, in Rumpelstiltskin's castle. How is this just left unaddressed every season since?
Perhaps while including the Disney princesses, the Once Upon a Time team thought it might be fun to later include some Marvel stories. Then again, we've had mythology featured on the show a few times, including a season featuring Hades as a villain, so maybe it was just a plot bunny that was never followed. Either way, we demand a Thor episode the way the God of Thunder demands coffee, and we don't care that the show's over. Another!
What Happened To Several Characters
Once Upon a Time had a lengthy cast of characters that was nearly impossible to keep up with, so it's no wonder that we ended up with several characters with loose ends, unresolved romances or even simply dropped storylines. There are plenty of characters whom we met for a brief moment only to forget about them later as well.
Whatever happened to Glinda the Good Witch and Oz, Ruby or Kathyrn, for example? Grumpy and Nova, also known as Leroy and Astrid, also never really resolved their story. Perhaps they're simply not meant to be, but if so many other characters were deserving of their happy endings, why not them? While there is a DVD extra that wraps them up called "Good Morning Storybrooke," it was never addressed on an aired episode.
Donna And Stephen Remain Puppets
Among the many residents of Storybrooke who miss out on the whole Happily Ever After thing are the parents of Geppetto, Donna and Stephen. The two are puppets in Rumpelstiltskin's shop for years, appearing in multiple seasons. This seems like a clue alluding to a possible eventual rescue or transformation, but neither Geppetto nor Jiminy/Archie ever even notice that they exist in the shop.
Later Donna even turns up as a piece of evidence in the Hyperion Heights 42nd Precinct Police Station, yet again through unclear means that keep the fate of her and her poor husband a mystery. If anyone deserves a happy ending, it's these two.
Zelena's First Time Spell
A lot of emphasis was placed on Zelena's first time traveling spell, and it seemed as if we might learn not only about what happened but maybe even witness it as another storyline in the show. Even the Scarecrow alluded to it significantly enough to make it become a major plot point. Whether that was intentional or meant to be just another rabbit trail that would eventually lead nowhere, we will never know, since it was never fully addressed on the show.
Watching Zelena hunt for the means of the spell we witnessed, we realized that it took some dark deeds to fully bring the spell to fruition. So just what did she do before she did all of the terrible things we witnessed over the years?
What Does Regina Do With Everyone's Hearts?
As the Evil Queen, Regina holds a lot of people's hearts hostage. She even crushes a great many of them, prompting many fans to question whether or not she (or any of the other baddies on the show, really) truly deserves a happy ending. She's robbed so many people not only of their happy endings but of their very lives, both before creating Storybrooke as well as afterward, so why on earth should she escape a lifetime of imprisonment?
Once she does join Team Good, what does Regina even do with all of those hearts that she keeps in her vault? Do their owners get them back?
Mulan's Happy Ending
Why on Earth did poor Mulan not get a happy ending? Not only did her love for Aurora go unrequited, but when it seemed as if she and Ruby might be falling for one another (a pairing that fans even gave a name, dubbing it Mulan Rouge), bam, Ruby fell for Dorothy instead. And we haven't really heard from Mulan ever since.
Some actors didn't want to return for a final episode to resolve their stories and receive happily ever afters, but even if Jamie Chung was one of them, she certainly deserved a larger arc than a quick wrap-up at the end anyway. Some fans have even theorized that she would make a cute couple with Marion.
What Happened To Emma's Lie Detector Skills?
In the first season of Once Upon a Time, Emma's insistence that her secret power is the ability to detect lies is a huge deal. She says this several times and even proves it over and over again... until she doesn't anymore. Somewhere on the show, Emma either loses this ability or it's just discarded as one of her characteristics, but it's never explained why.
We also never learn whether or not this was truly some sort of supernatural power that Emma had based on her fairy tale heritage or if it's just a helpful skill she was able to hone over the years of her troubled youth.
What Happened To Snow's Darkened Heart?
In season two of the show, we witness Snow White's heart darken after she helps ensure that Cora is taken out. It's such a surprising moment that it should have been addressed later, especially when Snow and Charming do other acts in the name of their own selfishness, like condemn Maleficent's daughter, Lily, in order to save Emma.
But the issue is never even spoken of again. The True Love between Snow and Charming remains a central focus of the show and their own dark deeds go not only unpunished, as many of the characters' terrible acts are, but completely ignored.
What Happened Between Will And Anastasia?
While Once Upon a Time in Wonderland had too many flaws to make it as addictive as a show as the original, it definitely still had some interesting plots and characters--namely Will Scarlet and his love, Anastasia, better known as both the Red Queen and the White Queen.
While these two technically get some resolution, becoming the White King and Queen and benevolently ruling over Wonderland together, there are too many holes regarding not only what happened between the end of the spin-off to the original series finale but Will's time in Storybrooke. There are huge plot gaps between Alice's wedding, season four of Once Upon a Time and the end of the series itself that were never explained.
What Happened To Lily?
While we can assume Lily and her mother, Maleficent, enjoyed their complicated reunion, doesn't Lily deserve much more than the tiny arc she received? Showrunners also promised a big reveal regarding Lily's mysterious father over the years but in the end, they tossed it in at the end as a casual line where it was mentioned that Zorro, of all people, was Lily's dad. No.
Not only is this a stupid haphazard way to wrap these characters up, but it's also a waste of excellent material. Lily should've not only had a more important father but her own arcs--the show has a terrible history of under-using its dragons--and happy ending as well. Instead, the last time we see her she's morose and wondering who her dad is.