No-one - other than Adam and Eddy - knows. Which character, specifically, she's supposed to be has not yet been revealed, so, for now, she's credited simply as "Witch" (I added "The" for emphasis and clarification).
I heard a theory, possibly in this thread, that she was Mother Gothel, the villain from Tangled, and it seems pretty likely to me. I was hoping Tiana's story would be closer to the movie, but it was still good so I don't mind. The big reveal at the end that Drizella has been manipulating everyone was a big surprise. I'm wondering if her and maybe Gothel will end up being the big bads rather than Belfrey.
Well, so much for that idea-- unless the "witch" persona is an illusion or something. That does seem likely.
My guess as to why Jacinda is all over the map, or, at least, the excuse of The Powers That Be for this is the curse is making her this way.
You're right. At this point, it would appear that Drizella/Ivy was the one cast the new curse that landed everyone in Seattle. In the flashback, she revealed to Regina that she was born with magic, but it was somehow suppressed by her mother Lady Tremaine. After Regina had trained her, Drizella tried to turn on her mother, much to Regina's dismay. When Roni was awoken by the potion that Ivy concocted, Ivy said she made sure the curse would be unbreakable. I wonder how she accomplished that and what it meant. She made it sound like Regina's loved ones would be harmed if the spell was ever broken. Rapunzel is introduced next week; she's presumably Wish Hook's missing daughter. Can't help thinking the captive witch is Mother Gothel.
I think it's Great! They Got me this Season! I Can't wait for the fireworks! Zelena's gonna show up soon, too. Though, IIRC, she was without magic last we saw her. And Emma might have something to say about all this...being the Savior and all...
That was not exactly where I expected Ivy/Drizella's story to go but I like it. Her actually waking up Regina on purpose was a surprise. I can't image how hard it has to be for Regina to interact with Henry, but have to act like she barely knows him. I think this would be all the people who know, or might know, who they really are: Lucy Tremaine Regina Drizella Rumple (very likely, but not 100% confirmed) Alice (when she's off her meds) I'm wonder if this time we'll just get a few people waking up here and there, instead of all at once like in Storybrooke. I wonder, if everyone was slowly woken up one at a time over months or years by potions or other means would the curse still be considered broken?
Yeah, that got twisty fast. Drisela went from random background character to sympathetic oppressed child to Ultimate Evil in record time. I like how this Curse spun out of the previous Curse, but isn't really a repeat of it-- the show now feels like less of a reboot and more of an evolution. Lucy seems to be taking more of a part in things now-- previously she had seemed almost shoehorned in, unlike Henry, who was at the center of things in the first season. And Regina did indeed get her memory back in an unexpected way. I thought she was on her way to recovering it herself, thanks to her unintentionally successful research-- she was really on the verge of being convinced that there was something to Lucy's story when Ivy slipped her a Mickey. Now she's got to be really clever. If she doesn't keep Henry and Jacinda apart, the Curse will be broken and something really bad will happen to Henry (I wonder what). And if she does sabotage Henry and Jacinda, Henry will lose his true love and Victoria will be, I don't know, tortured or something-- something Good Queen Regina does not want to allow. Speaking of Jacinda, she seems back on track now, after being so wishy-washy last week. I liked the scene where Henry put the moves on her with his 80s mix tape and it worked. I'll have to give that a try. So I'm guessing those ruins where Regina trained Drisela were formerly the tower of Rapunzel, which is where in another flashback we'll see Alternate Hook visiting his daughter Rapunzel to play chess?
There were a couple of interesting revelations tonight. Wish Hook fathered a child with a woman named Rapunzel, who turned out to be the witch Mother Gothel in disguise. Initially, I thought Rapunzel was going to be Hook's daughter trapped in a castle, but when they started kissing, I thought, eww! The one-night union between Hook and Gothel then produced a baby girl, who turned out to be Alice and whom Hook would raise and look after. .
Ha, my first theory about Alice being Hook's daughter was right. The whole Repunzel/Gothel twist was pretty good. Drizella manipulating things to get Gothel free was great. She's quickly becoming a very impressive villain. I was a bit surprised we got the Alice/Hook reunion in a flashback so early in the season. So I guess this would have to mean that she knew he was her father when she was off her meds. I'm wondering why Rumple played dumb when Regina asked for his help. For a minute there I thought maybe he really wasn't awake, but his reaction to her saying Belle's name made it pretty clear he was. I feel bad for poor Regina, it's gotta be hard interacting with Henry when she knows about their relationship and he doesn't. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see more of Hook's Alice's Wonderland. Jack and Henry greeting each other with the first Han/Lando exchange for The Empire Strikes Back was hilarious.
Yeah, this season is turning out to be pretty twisty and fun. And we got to see the divergence point where Alternate Hook's history parted ways with our Hook-- and why he fell to ruin. Making him into a heroic single father who raised his child confined to a tower was a smart move-- he needed more than just a physical makeover to be the equal of the Hook we've come to know. It's sad to see Regina forced to manipulate Henry and Jacinda against her will-- essentially doing what she used to do as the Evil Queen, and never wanted to do again. And Rumpy is clearing trying to do good by Hook, but what his actual agenda is and why he continues the charade with Regina is murky. The mention of Belle almost got him, but not quite. I loved Wonderland and the Infinite Maze. I find Ella much more appealing than the still occasionally wishy-washy Jacinda (although they are both knockouts). And now we have the added complication of her ex showing up to give legal aid and compete with Henry-- and he's a Fairy Tale character, too. Belfrey's arrest was a surprise, and it's clear that this will turn out to be not a good thing. Clearly, anything Drisela wants is going to be bad for everyone else-- but she's run into a little snag with the empty coffin. I wonder if Belfrey will end up being this arc's Regina and eventually switch teams. Is it Zelina that they're going to San Francisco to see? It's somebody who Regina says hates her, but I don't remember those two being on bad terms last season. Maybe it's something that happened in the meantime? And if Zelina is in San Francisco because of the Curse, she would presumably be living with amnesia under a false identity. Good call.
Every episode has offered more and more surprising revelations. As previously implied, the writers would have us believe that the Rapunzel character was going to be Wish Hook's missing daughter. But it turned out to be more complicated than that. Hook fathered Alice with Gothel (posing as Rapunzel), but the real Rapunzel had a different story, as shown in tonight's episode. As we witnessed, Victoria Belfry was Rapunzel before she even became Lady Tremaine. She had made a deal with the witch Gothel so that her family would have a comfortable life. When she escaped from the tower, she was reunited with her two daughters and her husband, who had moved on and married Ella's mother Cecilia. When Rapunzel's daughter Anastasia drowned, she vowed to bring her back someday. Mother Gothel had quite a role to play in all this. Next week features Zelena. I wonder how she has managed to get her magic back.
Last night's episode was very solid. However, with Mother Gothel turning out to be the mother of Alice who is Wish Realm Hook's daughter, Lady Tremaine/Victoria Belfry being Rapunzel wasn't that surprising, especially considering the belfry/tower connection. Lucy seemingly going into a coma was, however, quite surprising. I'm sure Henry is the key to waking her. With all the twists and suspense and great storytelling, I keep loving this season!
This was another good episode, although I'm not sure I'm really keeping track of who's who or who's who's parents. But, whatever, I'm enjoying the intrigue and the character interactions, many of which developed nicely this week. Rumpy admitted to Rapunzel that he is awake, and he also kind of came clean to Hook-- at least as much as he could at the moment. Drizella at first appeared to be one step ahead of her mom when mom's release turned out to be part of her plan, but she fell behind. Anastasia-- who turned out to be comatose in a hospital bed (reminiscent of Prince Charming) is now awake-- but apparently at the expense of Lucy. Rapunzel said that the spell required that an innocent lose hope, but it looks more like they traded comas. And it looks like Henry now has some serious competition from the guy who he doesn't know is his best friend. He sure picked a bad time to leave town.
Lots to digest from tonight's midseason finale. Zelena's daughter Robin's age gives us an indication of how much time has passed since Henry first left Storybrooke, leading up to the present. Zelena tells Regina that young Robin is already 24 years old in the Enchanted Forest. (She was just a baby back in Storybrooke.) Lucy has just turned eight amidst the threat of Drizella and Gothel threatening to cast another Dark Curse, one in which Regina later casts in order to save Henry's life. We can safely assume all these characters haven't been in Hyperion Heights for very long, so maybe a quarter of a century has passed since the end of Season 6. It was interesting to see young Robin and Alice as lovers, much like Dorothy and Ruby fell in love in Oz. I couldn't help thinking that if Victoria hadn't made Lucy feel hopeless, the little girl wouldn't have ended up in a coma. But Victoria did this to reawaken Anastasia (which also worked to Driz and Gothel's advantage). Then later she was working with Rumple to try to break the curse. ... There are just so many twists and turns in this story; the writing looks muddled. Yes, I understand what's going on and what everyone's motives are, but things could've been done differently.
Those witches are pretty spooky. And it looks like Gothal's ultimate plot was to bring them to this world. I wonder why. Or have I just completely lost track of the plot again? And we finally got to see the curse being cast, along with Rumpy giving Alice the teacup and Hook handing off the white elephant to Jacinda. And the catch is as simple as Henry being magically poisoned. All they need to do is figure out a way to keep him in this world when the curse is broken, or return him to it immediately-- maybe with a magic bean. Or find the cure for the poison. And Ivy is now down in a well with Belfry-- a good place for two people with names related to towers. But Anastasia is now the one with all the power. She seems to be a good person, but will she be somehow swayed to join the coven?
I'm wondering if there's any significance to the fact that the Dark Coven teleports with lightning rather than the usual smoke. They are definitely creepy. I lost track of the thread, but I've still been watching. Lots of very interesting developments in the last few episodes. The whole reveal of who Lady Tremaine really is was a big surprise. It was nice to get the whole lead up to the new curse being cast, I wasn't expecting to get that for a while. I wonder what the flashbacks will be for the rest of the season? Will they just be filling in the 8 year jump we got this week? Zelena has grown on me a lot over the last couple seasons so I was happy to get her back. The reveal of Robin (the girl) and Alice being a couple was a surprise. That is quite a couple, the daughter of Gothel and Hook, and the daughter of the Wicked Witch of the West and Robin Hood. Things like that are part of what makes the show so fun. I'm wonder if something actually did happen to Robin after the curse, or if the story about her being in Europe is covering something magic related?