Watch Once Upon a Time Online - Full Episodes

Fairytales do come true in ABC's popular television show Once Upon a Time. This weekly drama brings many of the more famous fairy tale characters to life right on the screen. Instead of just ripping the story of each character from the books, the creators of Once Upon a Time have gone deeper, used massive amounts of imagination, and have provided each character a deeper, more in-depth life than what is written in the books.

Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter and first appears in Storybrooke, Maine, in the very first episode of Once Upon a Time. Her backstory is sad but a very important detail that ties much of the first season together. Emma was raised an orphan and spends much of her life on the run and alone. She came to Storybrooke to find the son that she gave up for adoption years before as a young woman. Little did Miss Emma Swan know that once she found her long lost son, she would encounter so much more. She quickly finds herself protecting her new upside-down hometown from the evils of magic. While in the first season magic was not part of the show, it was always something that the evil queen, Regina, and Rumpelstiltskin, Mr. Gold, kept striving to create.

Regina (Lana Parrilla), the evil queen that spent her fairytale life trying to kill off Snow White, is the mayor of Storybrooke. She is also the adopted mother to Henry, Emma's little boy. Henry is given a book of fairytales from his teacher. He believes in each story and spends much of his time trying to convince others of his ideas. Prince Charming, or David as the residents of Storybrooke know him, first appears as a John Doe in the local hospital. Before David comes out of his coma, Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), also known as Snow White in the fairytale, finds herself drawn to the mysterious patient and stays by his side, reading to him, and falling in love. When he awakens David finds that he has amnesia and cannot remember any of his past, and this includes any memories of his wife. He is drawn to Mary Margaret and they spend a lot of time together. This is the time when Regina's true colors come to life and she makes it impossible, or almost impossible, for the two to remain together.

The evil Rumpelstiltskin, or Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle), is an antique store owner in this altered reality of the fairytale. In his former life, before the curse came and wiped out the memory of most of the fairytale characters, Rumpelstiltskin was also known as the dark one that everyone feared. Rumpelstiltskin was once a timid, scared man. He lost his wife because of weakness, and eventually lost his son because of his new, evil powers. He spent his time trying to find a way to find his son, and those who got in his way found out quickly what he was capable of.

Pinocchio, the seven dwarves, Captain Hook and many other familiar fairy tale characters spend some time appearing in at least two episodes each of Once Upon a Time. The female warrior Mulan makes a small appearance at the end of season one and continues to be a presence in season two. Princess Aurora, or sleeping beauty, is also a new character that appears in most of season two. Little Red Riding Hood, well known to the residents of Storybrooke as Ruby, is a cast member that has been in both season one and two. Ruby's story is a much different picture than what one would have derived from the books, but the familiar Granny character does appear in almost every episode that Ruby does.