King Leopold, formerly known as Prince Leopold, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the eleventh episode of the first season and is portrayed by guest stars Richard Schiff and Eric Lange.
King Leopold is based on the king from the fairytale, "Snow White".
History
Reason: Regina Rising recap
Leopold was engaged from birth to a princess of the northern kingdom, Eva. The day before meeting his fiancée in person, he arrives to help a woman, Cora, after she claims a bandit robbed her. Leopold begins to bond with her, and after some time, he chooses to marry Cora instead of Eva. However, before the wedding, he receives news from Eva of Cora's previous relationship with the gardener Jonathan and the child she gave birth to. Angered at her deception, Leopold breaks off the engagement and casts Cora out. ("Bleeding Through")
Eventually, Leopold marries Eva as planned, and later gifts her a brooch to show his love for her. The couple become king and queen of the land and have a daughter, Snow White. During their daughter's coming-of-age party preparations, King Leopold is away on business. Behind the scenes, Cora, older and even more ambitious, seeks to make the queen's seat vacant so her own daughter, Regina, can take it. She poisons Eva, who then passes away.
At most 2 years later,[1] King Leopold grows lonely without a companion and also wishes to find a woman worthy enough to become a mother to Snow White. With his knights and daughter, he traverses the lands in search of a new wife. One day, he and his men stop in the woods. Again, Cora has the advantage in speeding up her grand plan. She purposely startles Snow White's horse and sends the animal trampling away furiously. Unable to get off the horse, Snow White yells for help. Nearly, Regina is alerted to the girl's cries and jumps on her own horse to pull Snow White to safety. Snow White becomes grateful towards Regina for saving her life. Later, King Leopold gains word of Regina's feat. Impressed, he decides she fits the criteria of the kind of woman he needs for his daughter and formally proposes to Regina. Stunned, Regina is unable to respond until Cora accepts in her stead. ("The Stable Boy," "The Queen Is Dead," "Heartless")
Following this, King Leopold marries Regina, although his heart still belongs to Eva and he remains mostly devoted to raising his daughter Snow. One day, he departs from the kingdom for a diplomatic mission, leaving his new wife and his daughter to rule in his absence. ("We Are Both," "Quite a Common Fairy," "Labor of Love")
At some point in the marriage, Leopold comes to love Regina, and to show his affection for her, he gives her a brooch, the same one he previously gave to his first wife Eva. ("Heartless")
When Snow White turns fifteen, her father gifts her a pony. ("Heartless")
Some years later, while walking along the shoreline of a river, Leopold stumbles across a magical lamp. As he rubs the dirt off of it, to his surprise, a Genie comes out of the lamp to grant him three wishes, but warns that the wishes cannot be undone as all magic comes with a price. Since the Genie longs for freedom, Leopold uses a wish to free him from servitude. Then, he takes the second wish to give the third wish for the Genie to use. King Leopold brings his new friend to the palace to meet his family and also invites the Genie to his birthday celebration. At the party, Leopold dotes on his beloved daughter, who is so much like Eva, and he praises Snow White as the "fairest one of them all". Regina, watching nearby, looks saddened that he's not paying her any attention. Oblivious to his wife's unhappiness, he later finds evidence in her diary of an affair with another man, which, unknown to him, she purposely wrote in order to incite his fury and provoke the Genie into helping her. A furious Leopold shuts Regina into a room and sends the Genie to find the man his wife is consorting with, who gave her a mirror as a gift. That night, the king is asleep in bed when the Genie sets loose an Agrabahn viper to attack him. As the king lays dying, the Genie admits giving Regina the mirror because he is in love with her. With his last breath, Leopold proclaims that he should have never made his first wish to free the Genie because doing so caused his own downfall. ("Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
Family
Notes:
- Solid lines denote blood parent-child relationship
- Dashed lines denote marriage, adoption, and relationships that result in offspring
- † denotes the deceased
- King Leopold was first married to Queen Eva, and then to Queen Regina
- Neal Cassidy and Emma Swan have never married
- Henry Mills is the adopted son of Regina Mills
Trivia
Character Notes
- King Leopold's family is the wealthiest family in the Enchanted Forest.[2] ("Regina Rising")
- This is supported by the fact that after Snow White tries to sell a family heirloom to a nobleman, the man immediately suspects and tells her that he knows only one family with heirloom that is so valuable. ("Heartless")
Production Notes
- The casting call for his younger self describes him as "grounded, humble and not afraid to open his heart, coveting more from marriage than just a political arrangement."[3]
Props Notes
- His chess set[4] can be seen in Mr. Gold's pawnshop during the Dark Curse.[5] It is the item that Mr. Gold hurts his head on when he is attacked by Ashley. ("The Price of Gold," "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree")
Set Dressing
- As a prince, Leopold's coat of arms[6] is a lion rampant (depicted in profile standing erect with forepaws raised) langued (having the tongue visible) with a crown. After he becomes king, Leopold's coat of arms is several overlapping black squares on a white background, with a black torch billowing out reddish-orange flames at the top.[7] ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," "Bleeding Through")
- The rampant lion is a common motif in real-world heraldry, and also in Fairy Tale Land. King George's coat of arms,[8] Robin Hood's tattoo[9] and King Arthur's armour[10] also feature this motif. ("The Shepherd," "Quite a Common Fairy," "The Price")
- When the Evil Queen takes over, she uses a modified version of Leopold's the coat of arms: Overlapping white squares on a black background, with a white torch instead of a black one.[11] The squarish symbol is reminiscent of the grid on the Nine Men's Morris board game, also known as "Mills" or "The Mill Game". Mills is the character's last name in Storybrooke. ("Heart of Darkness," "Witch Hunt")
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
"Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
"Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Mentioned | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Four | ||||||||||
"A Tale of Two Sisters": |
"White Out": |
"Rocky Road": |
"The Apprentice": |
"Breaking Glass": |
"Family Business": | "The Snow Queen": |
"Smash the Mirror": |
"Fall": | "Shattered Sight": |
"Heroes and Villains": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Darkness on the Edge of Town": |
"Unforgiven": | "Enter the Dragon": | "Poor Unfortunate Soul": |
"Best Laid Plans": | "Heart of Gold": | "Sympathy for the De Vil": |
"Lily": | "Mother": | "Operation Mongoose Part 1": |
"Operation Mongoose Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
"The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
"Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
"The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent |
"Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Comics | |||||||||||||||||||
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Once Upon a Time: Novels | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Archive | Absent | Archive | Absent | Archive | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
References
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