Sea Bracelets

**Sea Bracelets** are magical items featured on ABC's *Once Upon a Time*. They first appear in the sixth episode of the third season.

## History

### Before First Curse

After deciding to leave her father, Poseidon, because he forces her to use her singing voice to kill pirates, a young Ursula steals a bracelet from his vault. With it, her mermaid tail turns into human legs, and she begins singing at a bar to earn enough gold for passage to Glowerhaven. There, she meets Hook, who agrees to take her to Glowerhaven with his *ship* as thanks for not killing him and his crew. Scheming to keep his daughter from leaving, Poseidon offers Hook squid ink if he captures her singing voice within an enchanted shell. Instead, Hook tells Ursula about the deal and she helps steal the squid ink for him. Poseidon stops their plans by taking away the ink, which angers Hook, who needs it to get revenge on Rumplestiltskin. To get even with him, Hook traps Ursula's singing voice in the shell. Distraught at losing her gift, Ursula throws the bracelet away before leaping into the sea to swim away. *("Poor Unfortunate Soul")*

Falling in love with Prince Eric, whom she saved from a shipwreck, Ariel temporarily gains human legs in order to attend the Under the Sea celebration, where she intends to meet him. As luck would have it, Eric becomes besotted with Ariel and invites her to join him on his ship travels around the realm. Unable to decide if she should reveal her true nature to him, Ariel consults the sea goddess, Ursula, who gifts her a magic bracelet to remain human permanently. The catch is someone else has to take her place as mermaid, and to do that, the person must wear the bracelet. Believing Snow White will benefit from life as a mermaid, Ariel clasps it on her. When the transformation takes place, the Queen reveals she tricked her into using the bracelet as a means to capture Snow White. Coerced into leaving, Ariel departs, but she returns to stab a fork in the the Queen's neck. As the Queen struggles to free the fork, Ariel rips the bracelet from Snow White's wrist, which reverts both of them to their original forms. The women then swim to safety as the Queen, unable to stop them, retrieves the bracelet. Later, the Queen steals Ariel's voice just as she is calling out to Eric, who doesn't hear her and is led to believe the redhead has rejected him. *("Ariel")*

### After First Curse

Joining forces with Mr. Gold in Neverland, Regina learns there is a relic in the pawnshop in Storybrooke that can defeat Peter Pan. They have no way to cross realms, however, Regina decides to summon Ariel for help. When the mermaid arrives, Regina restores Ariel's voice and offers her the chance to reunite with Eric if she assists them. Ariel agrees, receiving the bracelet again to become human for twenty-four hours, and sets out for Storybrooke with an enchanted sand dollar for Belle. Arriving to the town's coast, she transforms into human and gains Leroy's help to find Belle. With the sand dollar, Belle activates a hint from Mr. Gold about the relic's location, and after triggering its hiding spot, she discovers Pandora's Box. Ambushed by John and Michael Darling, they are tied up as the men steal the box and leave to destroy it. Belle, managing to pull off Ariel's bracelet, helps her revert to mermaid form and wriggle out of the binds. After they are freed, the women retrieve the box and learn John and Michael are only helping Pan because he has their sister, but Belle promises that Mr. Gold will rescue her. Ariel then returns to Neverland and delivers the box. As a reward, Regina enchants the bracelet to give the mermaid control over her human form. *"Ariel", "Dark Hollow")*

Heading to Storybrooke, Ariel once again gains human legs from the bracelet's magic. With Belle's assistance, she happily reunites with Eric. *("The New Neverland")*

### Before Second Curse

With the undoing of the first curse, Ariel and other former Storybrooke inhabitants are sent back to the Enchanted Forest. Unable to find Eric, she later discovers he has been kidnapped aboard the *Jolly Roger*. Not knowing the ship's captain is no longer Hook, Ariel angrily confronts the pirate about Eric, only to learn from him that the vessel is now under Black Beard's control. Maintaining her human form with the bracelet, she travels with Hook and Smee to the ship. While Hook distracts Black Beard with a duel, Ariel searches for Eric, but she doesn't find him. Black Beard, believing Hook has gone soft from his pirating ways, asks him to give up on re-obtaining the ship in exchange for Eric's whereabouts. Unwilling to let his reputation be tarnished, Hook prepares to execute Black Beard. Ariel protests since Black Beard is her only hope of finding Eric, but Hook believes he is doing her a favor because love, in his experience, is just a lost cause. After Black Beard is thrown to the sharks, she angrily berates Hook before jumping into the sea, reverting to a mermaid, in her continued search for Eric. Unbeknownst to Hook, she rescues Black Beard, who reveals Eric is on Hangman's Island. *("The Jolly Roger", "Fall")*

### After Second Curse

In her quest to render Emma powerless, Zelena dons Ariel's appearance and feigns washing up by the shoreline in mermaid form, where she tells David and Mary Margaret about her extensive but futile search for Eric since the curse brought them back to Storybrooke. With the bracelet, Ariel becomes human and goes with them to question Hook, who is the only one to have memories from the year in the Enchanted Forest before the curse. When presented with Ariel's dilemma, Hook is immediately perturbed since he recalls his run-in with the mermaid and his refusal to help her find Eric. After a locator spell seemingly proves Eric is dead, he confesses the truth to Ariel, who asks him to swear, on the name of the woman he loves, as proof of his belief in love. After doing so, she magically curses his lips and reveals herself to be Zelena. Given the ultimatum to kiss Emma and take away her powers, Hook returns to the loft, where he states Ariel and Eric are already together on Hangman's Island. As part of her magic training, Emma channels a mirror, on Regina's request, to show the lovers on the island's beach side. There, Eric twirls Ariel in the air as the bracelet adorns her wrist. *("The Jolly Roger")*

## Trivia

* On-screen Notes
* Production Notes

### On-screen Notes

* When Zelena took on the appearance of Ariel, she wore a replica of the mermaid's Sea Bracelet. *("The Jolly Roger")*

### Production Notes

* Ariel's sea bracelet was made by Vancouver-based accessories designer Medicina Designs.

## References

1. ↑ File:317Zelariel.png
2. ↑ http://medicinadesigns.com/once-upon-a-time-season-premieres-mermaid-crowns/