Once Upon a Time's 5 Biggest Fairy-Tale Twists

Updated on 3/24/2015 at 10:00 AM

On this week's episode of Once Upon a Time, we find out what exactly Hook did to Ursula to make her hate him so much — but what's more interesting than his offense is her backstory. Surprisingly, the sea witch's story takes from another fairy tale she's closely associated with, but this isn't the first time Once has completely flipped a fairy tale. Sure, the entire series is predicated on giving new angles to beloved characters, but there are a few times where the writers completely deviated from the fairy tales we know and love.

Ursula Is the Little Mermaid

This week, we find out why Ursula (Merrin Dungey) hates Hook so much — he had taken her voice years earlier. But that's not the crazy revelation; we find out that young Ursula's teenage life mirrors the classic Little Mermaid tale — or Disney's animated version at least. She feuds with her father and sings to the sailors, and she even sings a song from the 1989 film (it's "Fathoms Below," which the sailors sing on the ship). And naturally, she's a mermaid before she transforms into the Sea Witch out of anger. One of the most interesting things about the story is that Once already has an Ariel (Jo Anna Garcia Swisher), who makes an appearance this week too.

Rumplestiltskin Is Also the Beast

In season one, we find out that Gold (Robert Carlyle) has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. In fairy-tale land, he's Rumplestiltskin, aka the Dark One, but he also has a sweet backstory. He's also the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast tale when he meets and falls for Belle (Emilie de Ravin).

Peter Pan Is Evil

The character of Peter Pan (Robbie Kay) is manipulated into a lot of different forms on the series — first of all, he's Gold's real father, but the biggest deviation from the traditional story of the character is that he's evil. Just straight-up evil. And in this case, Captain Hook is the good one (for now, anyway).

Red Riding Hood Is Also the Wolf

Ruby (Meghan Ory) is the show's Little Red Riding Hood, and when we see her origin story in season one, it's got its own special twist. She's the Wolf! Surprise.

Mulan Is a Lesbian

In Disney films, princesses have their princes, and never do we see a deviation on that. But on Once Upon a Time, the show creators added a layer to Mulan (Jamie Chung) not previously seen in her tale when she falls for Princess Aurora — not the sleeping beauty's hunky beau. It's a love triangle we weren't expecting but a refreshingly modern one nonetheless.