Darkness Rises

***Darkness Rises*** is the twenty-first episode of the eighth season of *Once Upon a Time*, and the 176th episode overall. It was preceded by *Invitation* and followed by *Find the Light*.

## Plot

### Past

Many years ago, a man and his baby Fiona fall victim to the darkness and he becomes the Dark One. Abandoning Fiona, he becomes known as the Horned King, but soon after - as the Dark One - has another daughter, whom he names Carabosse, but remains unaware of.

Carabosse becomes an orphan after her mother leaves her due to being the spawn of a Dark One. As an adult, Carabosse becomes obsessed with locating and exacting revenge on her parents, and calls upon the Dark One to help find them. However, Carabosse discovers that her father *is* the Dark One, and she has darkness in her despite not being a Dark One. Carabosse, however, is disappointed in her mortality.

In time, Carabosse forges the Fountain of Youth from the tree sap (blood) of Merlin and becomes an immortal fairy. Destroying the Fountain, she becomes so corrupted that evil will not kill her; it will power her. She tries for a baby with unwilling men; she abandons her first child Maleficent due to being human. Shortly after, she is able to give birth to a wicked fairy; her son Caradoc. Carabosse finds out that she is a legendary villain, with thousands of people who want her dead. She decides to try and take over every realm that ever existed.

At some point, Carabosse immunes herself to Light Magic; her weakness is revealed as magic from a hero that once was dark. Carabosse dismisses these ‘heroes’ as nonexistent, and if not, extremely hard to come by.

### Present

Carabosse activates her Black Hole with the help of Wish Regina giving a sacrifice: Wish Zelena. As the Black Hole powers up, a vortex in the sky of the United Realms brings upon an endless thunderstorm of 'evil'. Carabosse learns from Wish Regina and Caradoc that the Dark One no longer exists; this means that darkness has been lurking around town, untethered, and they can use it to speed up the Black Hole.

Meanwhile, Regina and Zelena are up in the early hours of the morning working, when she notices the storm. She goes outside to find it dampens light magic. An emergency meeting is held at the Blanchard Loft that now belongs to Diaval and Lanval; Regina and Zelena explain to Diaval, Lanval, Alice, Robin, Roger and Drizella that the apocalypse is here and they have no clue on how to stop it. Lanval reveals that, whilst he was captured, he found out that Carabosse should be weakened by an ally's betrayal; The United Realms Royal Association must turn Wish Regina against Carabosse.

The group plan on using the Dark One Dagger to summon the darkness before Carabosse finds it. Regina uses some blood she previously stole from Carabosse to form the Royal Hat, a successor to the Sorcerer's Hat. Hopefully, the hat will contain the darkness, and the dagger will control the Royal Hat. Zelena, Alice and Robin go outside with a magical force field to contain the darkness. They face dozens of Black Vampires sent to stop them. While they save many people, they are eventually bitten and become vampires themselves.

Meanwhile, Regina and Diaval concoct an admittedly cruel plan. Regina uses a dreamcatcher to show Diaval one of her memories. Simultaneously, Carabosse, Caradoc and Wish Regina are absording the darkness from the United Realms when someone teleports before them. It's Regina, who has a knife at who appears to be Daniel's throat. It doesn’t take much for Wish Regina to abandon her power for Daniel. She runs to him, and Regina rips her heart out and threatens to kill her. Daniel is revealed as Diaval, who had shapeshifted; Carabosse insists that they let Wish Regina die. However, to Regina and Diaval's horror, the betrayal doesn't weaken the villains at all.

## Characters (in order of appearance)

* Carabosse
* Caradoc
* Evil Queen (Wish Realm)
* Wicked Witch of the West (Wish Realm) (death, latest appearance)
* Evil Queen
* Wicked Witch of the West
* Diaval
* Lanval
* Alice Jones
* Robin Hood, Jr.
* Roger Radcliffe
* Drizella Tremaine
* Anastasia Tremaine
* Maui
* Horned King (only appearance)
* Moana
* Merlin (tree)
* Black Vampires (first appearance)
* Daniel Colter (impersonated)

## Timeline

* The past events where Carabosse and the Black Fairy are born take place after Merlin becomes a tree in *Dreamcatcher* and before Cyrus becomes a genie in *Dirty Little Secrets*.
* The past events where Carabosse becomes immortal take place TBA.
* The past events where Maleficent is born is also shown in *The Mistress of Evil*, and takes place after Jiminy becomes a cricket in *That Still Small Voice* and before Maleficent is a child in *The Mistress of Evil.*