Spell of Shattered Sight

> [The Nordic King] was so devastated he decided his kingdom should share his pain. So he spent years harnessing dark magic, used it on the mirror and cast a spell over his entire kingdom. It made his subjects see only the worst in the ones they loved. And they turned on each other, destroying themselves.
>       —Ingrid to Anna

The **Spell of Shattered Sight** is a spell featured on ABC's *Once Upon a Time*. It first appears in the eighth episode of the fourth season.

## History

### Before First Curse

In the Arendelle castle library, the royal princess Ingrid loves to read books. Of all of them, her favorite is the Norse mythical tale of *The Trolden Glass*, in which a king crafted a mirror for his daughter's upcoming birthday so she could see her own beautiful reflection. Tragically, the girl dies before receiving the gift and thus the mirror begins reflecting the king's sadness and pain. Deciding that the kingdom should suffer as he is, the king masters dark magic and casts the spell of shattered sight on his kingdom. Influenced by the spell, people begin to see the worst in their loved ones and turn on each other, destroying themselves. In the epilogue, the spell concludes only when the king himself is killed. *("Smash the Mirror", "Shattered Sight")*

Later, Ingrid is entrapped in an urn by her sister, Gerda, after accidentally killing her other sister, Helga, with ice magic. Once freed, Ingrid seeks out Gerda's daughters, Elsa and Anna, as her new family. However, while Elsa has inherited ice powers like her, Anna is completely ordinary. Thus, Ingrid deems her the "odd woman out" and vows to find someone else to take her place. When her first attempt to drive the two sisters apart fails, Ingrid shackles Anna before she can reseal her in the urn. Under duress, Anna is forced to relate the myth of *The Trolden Glass*, but she forgets what happens in the tale after the king grieves for his daughter's death. Ingrid continues telling the story up to the end, and she admits her desire to cast the same spell on an entire kingdom as the king did. Using a mirror piece, she shatters it, and the shards are absorbed into Anna's eyes. Under the spell's effects, she grows hateful and angry towards Elsa. Anna openly accuses Elsa, who hid her powers in the past, into believing she was to blame for her unhappiness. While Ingrid pushes Elsa into accepting herself by hurting Anna with magic, but she won't do it. Unexpectedly, Anna seals Elsa into the urn. Only after this, she is released from the spell and reacts with confusion at what Ingrid made her do. *("Smash the Mirror")*

### After Second Curse

To complete the last piece of her mirror shard collection for casting the spell of shattered sight, Ingrid agrees to revert Sidney to human from his mirror form if he helps her corner Regina. After he follows her instructions, Ingrid steals Regina's compact mirror where Sidney is trapped inside and later restores him to human. In her plan to wipe out the town's residents and keep Elsa and Emma so they can become her new family, she breaks a piece of the compact mirror and inserts it into her own mirror. With all the shards assembled, they smooth over and form a clear reflection. *("Breaking Glass", "Family Business")*
Shortly after Belle falls into a trance due to Ingrid's mirror, she is rescued by Mr. Gold. He then confronts Ingrid, who teases him about how easy it was to manipulate Belle. Mr. Gold, knowing of Ingrid's plans to cast the spell of shattered sight, doesn't wish for his loved ones to be hurt. She refuses to exempt anyone, but he threatens to absorb her into the sorcerer's hat if not. At the sheriff station, Elsa and Emma discover Ingrid wants them to replace the sisters she lost. Rushing in, Belle informs them of Ingrid's desire to cast the spell of shattered sight so everyone in town will turn on one another. With trepidation, Elsa and Emma realize Ingrid wants to get rid of everyone with the spell, but she will spare them so they'll be the "perfect family" with her. *("Family Business")*
In a deal with Mr. Gold, Ingrid tells him the last thing needed to be free of the dagger's will and he returns the three ribbons. As Emma's powers spiral out beyond her control, she asks Mr. Gold for a solution to be of her powers. Needing more magic in the sorcerer's hat, which is key for retaining his powers after being free of the dagger, he tricks her into meeting at a manor where her magic will be stripped. Interfering with Ingrid's ploy to put one of the ribbons on Emma, Mr. Gold temporarily traps her with the urn's ashes. Emma, with Elsa's encouragement, keeps her magic, and both learn to fully accept their powers. Unknown to them, this triggers the ribbons into appearing on their wrists. Their powers are then harnessed and absorbed into Ingrid's ribbon. As she gleefully tells Mr. Gold, there is now enough magic to defeat even him. Following a spiteful exchange of words, Ingrid shatters her mirror with the ribbon's power, unleashing the spell on Storybrooke. *("The Snow Queen", "Smash the Mirror")*
Before the curse touches Storybrooke's residents, Belle reveals a counter spell can made with the hair of someone who has already been under Ingrid's spell. Since Anna fits the criteria, Emma and Elsa use a locator spell on a necklace to track her down. They reach a mine-cave in, and with the revelation that a counter spell can be created with the necklace, which is embedded with mirror dust. Instead of sacrificing the necklace, Elsa turns over a pouch full of rocks and uses the pendant to continue locating Anna. Using the power of the wishing star, she finds Anna. However, the nuns, who were creating the counter spell, disappear after being absorbed into a hat by Hook on Mr. Gold's orders. With no counter spell, the curse infiltrates the town. As mirror shards rain down from the sky, pieces of them invade everyone's eyes. Anna, due to already being under Ingrid's curse once before, remains unaffected. Elsa and Emma, protected by the ribbons, are also immune. *("Fall")*
Anna recalls the ending of *The Trolden Glass*, in which the spell ended when the king was killed. While she is left in charge of watching over baby Neal as well as the cursed David, Kristoff and Mary Margaret, Elsa and Emma try to take out Ingrid. Alas, their powers do not work since Ingrid's love for them flows through their ribbons and prevents them from harming her. The pair find the exact opposite of love by provoking Regina into feeling hatred for them. Their ribbons are then burned away by Regina's fire magic. In another confrontation, Ingrid reveals knowledge that Elsa and Emma intend to kill her to stop the curse, but she assumes they don't have the guts to do it. She believes, by returning lose memories of happy times each shared with her, they will come to love her. Instead, Anna discovers a scroll from her mother, Gerda, that was written before her death. In the note, Gerda expresses deep regrets about choosing to put Ingrid in the urn, wishes for Anna and Elsa to free her and proclaims genuine love for her sister. After viewing Gerda's memories in the scroll crystal, Ingrid realizes she has always had her sister's love. Joining Gerda and Helga in death, she destroys herself to undo the curse. *("Shattered Sight")*

## Ways to Break the Spell

* A counter-spell can be created. One of its ingredients is a lock of hair of someone that has been under the spell. *("Fall")*
	+ This ingredient, however, can be replaced by mirror dust used to cast the spell. *("Fall")*
* The caster of the spell can choose to spare someone from suffering its effects. *("Smash the Mirror")*
* The caster of the spell must be killed. *("Shattered Sight")*
	+ In the tale of *The Trolden Glass*, the Nordic King was killed by his people. *("Shattered Sight")*
	+ Realizing she always had been loved by sisters Helga and Gerda, Ingrid sacrifices herself in order to end the spell. *("Shattered Sight")*

## Trivia

* In the original fairytale, the troll mirror is shattered accidentally. The mirror shards fall from the skies with its smaller pieces entering people's eyes and hearts and making them see the worst in everything.
* The Spell works on people's hearts, which mean heartless people are immune to it. *[citation needed]*

* + The Dark One is also immune to this Spell, because of their heart being full of darkness. *[citation needed]*