Killian Jones

"A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets."

- Hook to Rumplestiltskin

Killian Jones, better known as Captain Hook, formerly known as the Dark One, and briefly known as Prince Charles, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the fourth episode of the second season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Colin O'Donoghue and guest star Oliver Bell, and does not have a Storybrooke counterpart.

Hook is based on a character of the same name from the play, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up.

Before First Curse
When he is still a child, Killian boards a ship with his older brother Liam and his father Brennan to explore other worlds. That night, he becomes afraid to sleep during a storm that causes the ship to tilt and sway. Brennan comforts him, telling him that there is nothing to be scared of, as long as he looks into himself and can decide the kind of man he wants to be someday. Killian decides he wants to be just like his father, and he is lulled to sleep after Brennan promises to stay to ensure the room lantern remains lit. Sometime after this, he wakes up to find his father gone, and in his panic, he attempts to shake Liam awake. Only when the captain enters, Killian learns Brennan sold him and Liam into servitude on the ship, in order to elude capture because he is a criminal.

Many years later, while Killian and Liam are still stuck in servitude as lowly deckhands, his brother suggests they use their wages to enlist in the king's navy, where they can become respectable men. Killian is not confident that he is navy material, but he jokes about Liam perhaps becoming a captain one day. Overhearing the conversation, Captain Silver mocks him and kicks over the brothers' water bucket. Killian moves to retaliate against him, but he is held back by Liam, despite Captain Silver egging on Killian. When the captain allows the older Jones brother to go collect his wages, at the cost of making Killian stay behind, Liam promises Killian that he will be back for him by morning. That night, Killian is offered a drink by Captain Silver, and he eventually drinks more on his own whim and becomes drunk. While stoned, he also gambles away his money to the captain. When Liam returns, with navy documents to enlist himself and his brother, he finds an incapacitated Killian. Since the captain will only allow Liam to leave alone, he chooses to stay with Killian, after tearing up the documents. During a storm at sea, Captain Silver orders the ship to be sailed into the hurricane, because he wants the eye of the storm, a jewel the king will pay handsomely for. Knowing this will doom everyone, the Jones brothers threaten him with a bloody siege if he doesn't surrender. After the captain relents and is taken hostage, Liam begins plotting a course to get the ship to safety. Offered a deal by Hades that'll secure his future as captain, Liam purposely misleads Killian into thinking their only option is to dive into the eye of the storm and ride things out. He gives Killian his ring, which always helped to lead him home, to symbolize his confidence in the decision. Putting his faith in Liam, Killian then rallies the crew into having hope they will survive. After steering the ship into the storm, the entire crew die, just as Hades wanted, while the Jones brothers survive, having gained temporary immunity from death because of Hades. Arriving at shore, Liam presents the eye of the storm to a navy officer, fabricating a story about finding it in the wreckage. Since Liam insists desires a navy commission rather than a money reward from the king, the officer stations both brothers on the Jewel of the Realm, with Liam becoming its captain and Killian as a lieutenant.

Sometime after earning his place as lieutenant, Killian joins his brother for an expedition to Neverland. On orders of the king, they must obtain a plant, Dreamshade, from the island, which is rumored to heal any affliction. On the way there, they are attacked from behind by two other ships firing cannons. To escape them, Liam has the sail released down, which is made of Pegasus feathers, and glides the ship to safety in the clouds. Once in Neverland's waters, they row to shore with a boat. They are surprised by a young boy, Peter Pan, who claims that Dreamshade is dangerous. The boy presses that the plant only leads to doom and exemplifies how easy it is to kill an entire army with poison instead of a messy onslaught. Killian begins having doubts, but Liam ignores his brother's fears and they go on to find the Dreamshade on Dead Man's Peak. In a misguided attempt to prove the plant is harmless, Liam cuts himself with Dreamshade and passes out from the spreading poison. Panic-stricken, Killian pleads for Pan's help until he allows passage to the island's remedial spring, though the boy warns they should not leave Neverland unless willing to pay the price of magic. Killian promises to give him whatever he wants and hurries to deliver the water to Liam, who is completely healed by it. He turns to repay Pan for his services, but the boy is gone. Journeying home, Liam proposes exposing their king's true nature to everyone, however, he collapses and dies after the Jewel of the Realm leaves Neverland's seas. Liam's death has a profound effect on Killian, who takes his place as captain of the ship and renames it the Jolly Roger. After revealing to the crew what type of man their king is, Kilian rallies them into deferring from the king's service and embracing the life of pirates "with honor" instead.

On a journey to the Southern Isles, Killian and his crew are caught in a vicious storm. While the captain ensures everyone is safe below deck, the helmsman, Lewis, steadies the Jolly Roger. As the ship begins to flood, both of them spot calmer waters in the distance surrounded in green mist. Killian directs Lewis to sail there, despite the helmsman's warning that the mist causes hallucinations and can drive people mad. Reaching safety, the crew begin repairing the damaged vessel when another ship, carrying an alive Liam, arrives. Killian, overjoyed to have his brother back, learns Liam mysteriously woke up on a desolate island and hitched a ride on another ship before the Leviathan killed everyone on board except him. In private, Lewis insists Liam is an enchantment conjured by the mist, but the captain refuses to believe it. To escape the shoals, the Jolly Roger is baited to distract the Leviathan as Liam, from his own ship, defeats the creature with dynamite blasts. This causes Liam's ship to catch fire, so Killian suggests he can jump into the water and be pulled onto their ship. Liam, afraid there are more monsters at sea, declines and asks Killian to put off sailing away in order to rescue him. Lewis snaps reason into his captain, reminiscing about the real Liam's courage to brave any unknown waters, as proof this apparition is not his brother. Leaving the illusion to perish, Killian and his crew leave the Leviathan Shoals for good. Harboring doubts about whether he left the real Liam behind, Killian says a prayer to guide his brother's spirit home.

During one of many adventures, Killian stops by a tavern after his ship is in port. He saves a woman, Milah, from a drunk's unwanted attention by punching the man. Charming Milah with a gentlemanly kiss to her hand, Killian appeals to her sense of adventure, talking about the faraway lands he's visited. He invites her to join him, but Milah declines, out of obligation to her son and husband. Killian accepts her answer and leaves the invite open for the future, stating that he's in port often, though Milah insists her plans won't change. After her relationship with her husband continues to deteriorate, Milah disappears to the tavern, possibly to find Killian.

In time, Milah begins spending most of her time at the tavern, gambling and drinking with Killian and his crew. He entertains her stories of his exploits, and at some point, Milah tells him about her husband, Rumplestiltskin, whose cowardice she hates. One day, Rumplestiltskin arrives to bring his wife home, and she initially refuses, until seeing her son Baelfirewander in and call for her. That night, Milah runs away to join Killian's crew, and by morning, rumors spread that she was kidnapped by the pirate. When Rumplestiltskin attempts to rescue her, Killian agrees to relent only if he wins a duel against him. Too fearful of fighting, Rumplestiltskin refuses the sword that Killian throws at him and backs out of the deal.

As lovers, Killian and Milah travel the seas together on the Jolly Roger alongside their crew. Even so, Milah thinks of her son, Baelfire, and talks about going back to get him so the three of them can be a family. Several years later, Killian bumps into a beggar, whom he ridicules as a crocodile. The beggar reveals he is the man formerly known as Rumplestiltskin, except he has since acquired vast power as the notorious Dark One. At first, Rumplestiltskin asks for Milah, but Killian fibs that she died many years ago. Still believing Killian forcibly took her from him, Rumplestiltskin takes his answer for truth and challenges the captain to a duel. More powerful than he once was, the Dark One bests Killian and begins ripping out his heart, only for Milah to stop him. Having previously caught the Dark One's associate, William Smee, trying to steal a magic bean from the Jolly Roger, she promises to hand it over if Rumplestiltskin will spare Killian's life as well as her own. For the trade, they meet on the ship, where Rumplestiltskin confronts his former wife for abandoning Baelfire. In spite of her regrets, Milah claims she never loved him, to which the Dark One tries grabbing the bean, but she tosses it to Killian. Furious, Rumplestiltskin tears out Milah's heart, and as Killian cradles her in his arms, she murmurs her last vows of love to him. In the next instant, Rumplestiltskin crushes the heart, killing Milah, before requesting the bean. Due to Killian's refusal, the Dark One cuts off his clenched left hand, which holds the bean, although the pirate previously switched it to his right hand. Reeling from the physical and emotional toll, a fuming Killian grabs a hook and stabs Rumplestiltskin. Unaffected, the Dark One takes Killian's severed hand and teleports away. In a rage, Killian takes the hook and replaces his severed left hand with it. After burying Milah at sea, he allows Smee to join his crew before using the bean to open a portal to Neverland.

During the journey towards the island of Neverland, Killian and his crew members haul a boy out of the water aboard the Jolly Roger. At some point after this, Killian becomes known by the nickname Hook.

Hook learns the boy's name is Baelfire, and thus, this makes him Rumplestiltskin's son. When the Lost Ones of Neverland climb aboard searching for a certain boy Peter Pan wants, he hides Baelfire below deck in a vent. After the Lost Ones leave empty-handed, Smee chastises Hook for not handing over the boy them. However, Hook has a plan of his own to get close to Baelfire as a way of learning more about Rumplestiltskin and getting revenge. Despite this scheme, he develops a true friendship with Baelfire by teaching him how to steer the ship, and they bond over being abandoned by their fathers. Baelfire discloses how his father feared his magic powers would all be gone if someone stabbed him with a special dagger. This tidbit gives Hook knowledge of a way to kill Rumplestiltskin, which conflicts with his growing kinship with Baelfire. All this comes to an end when the boy finds a drawing of his mother Milah and demands answers from Hook. He tells Baelfire the true fate of his mother, who ran away to be with him because they were in love, but she died when Rumplestiltskin tore out her heart and crushed it. Hook tries to alleviate the betrayal of lying to Baelfire by bring up Milah's past desire to go back for her son so the three of them could be together. Since she is gone, he believes they can live out her dream and become a family. Baelfire rejects the notion and opts to go to Neverland. The renunciation crushes Hook, who strays back into darkened emotions as revenge becomes his main and only focus.

At some point, Hook begins working for Peter Pan and travels on the Jolly Roger to procure items for him. On a journey back to Neverland to deliver the goods, he scolds Smee fot eating some of the food supplies that Pan is expecting. The crew soon fall under the spell of a mermaid's singing voice as the ship drifts towards some sharp rocks. Before they meet their doom, the singing stops, which gives Hook time to call for the ship to be redirected away from danger. Later, at a pub, a young girl, Ursula, entertains patrons with her singing. Even Hook, who has been obsessed with killing Rumplestiltskin, is enchanted by her voice and briefly forgets his troubles. Recognizing her voice as the mermaid from earlier, he thanks her for not killing him and his crew. In conversation, she tells him about her father, Poseidon, forcing her to use her vocal gift to lure sailors to their death due his hatred for humans since her mother was killed by a pirate. Hearing of her desire to go to Glowerhaven, Hook agrees to take her there for free. On his way out of the pub, Poseidon's guards kidnap him for a rendezvous with the sea king himself. Poseidon, wishing to keep his daughter from leaving, wants him to absorb her singing voice into an enchanted shell. In return, he can have squid ink, a powerful liquid to paralyze Rumplestiltskin. Instead, Hook tells Ursula about her father's intentions, and she steals the ink for him so they can both get what the want. Poseidon shows up, and when he is unable to convince Ursula to come home, he takes away the squid ink to prove Hook only cares about his vengeance. Angered that his only hope of revenge is gone, Hook spitefully captures Ursula's singing voice in the shell so Poseidon can never sink another ship again.

After finally arriving to the island's jungle, Hook is adamant that they find a way out of Neverland and back to the Enchanted Forest so he can put his plan of killing Rumplestiltskin with the dagger into action. Smee struggles to keep up with the walk until he is knocked out by an unknown assailant. As Hook goes to check up on him, a woman named Tinker Bell threatens him at knife point. He explains his reason for being in Neverland to find magic and return to the Enchanted Forest. Upon guessing Tinker Bell is fairy, he wonders why she won't help him find his "happy ending". She briefs him on having lost her wings and states that he'll have to figure out his "happy ending" himself. As Hook grabs his rum bottle, Tinker Bell mistakenly believes he is taking out a weapon and hastily pulls out another blade at him. They share the drink while Hook tells her about his quest for vengeance against the Dark One for killing the woman he loved. She is surprised he'd go that far for something that might get him killed. Hook claims he would only risk his life for two things; love and revenge. While he lost his love, he insists dying for revenge is well worth the sacrifice.

Sometime later, Hook returns to the Enchanted Forest. One evening, while gambling at a tavern, a blonde woman, Emma, seductively approaches Hook, in order to distract him, while his future self boards the Jolly Roger to make a deal with Snow White. They spend one-on-one time drinking, though she refuses to tell him her name. By the end of the evening, he is completely drunk. Carrying her onto his ship, one of the crew members, Smee, is apparently shocked to see his captain and claims he just saw him come aboard moments earlier. Despite that Smee believes something is amiss, Hook commands him to leave so he and the lady can have privacy. Noticing the blonde has already gone below deck, Hook follows. As they kiss, he prepares to lay her down on the table, but then someone, his future self, knocks him out from behind. Emma chides him for this, fearing his past self might remember this incident, but future Hook insists his past self is so drunk that he won't recall anything. Breaking into the Evil Queen's palace, Hook frees one of the Queen's prisoners, Belle, informing her that Rumplestiltskin is endangering her father and that she needs to tell him where the Dark One's dagger is. When she admits to not knowing where the dagger is, he knocks her out and prepares to kill her, as the Queen, Regina, intervenes. Regina promises to help him get his revenge on Rumplestiltskin once she casts a curse, which will bring everyone to another world, where the Dark One won't have his magic and Hook can kill him. In exchange, she wants him to kill her mother Cora, but first, she tests Hook by tasking him with facing his father Brennan, who abandoned him when he was a child. At first, Hook is angry and vengeful towards Brennan, but his demeanor softens after his father expresses genuine remorse for his actions and has seemingly become into a better man. Hook decides to trick the Queen into believing he killed Brennan by sneaking his father out of the land with a boat ticket. Brennan asks for a second one for his younger son, which Hook agrees to procure. The night he delivers the tickets, however, Hook overhears his father telling his son the same thing he once told him when he was a child. With his resentment towards Brennan for abandoning him once again festering, Hook becomes even more upset upon learning the younger son's name is Liam. Brennan insists he did this to honor the memory of both Killian and Liam, but Hook assumes this is a lie, and that Brennan never cared for him at all. Tossing the tickets into a fire, Hook bitterly considers that if he lets his father go, he won't get what the Queen has promised him. He then kills Brennan, who, before dying of his wound, tells him it's never too late to change into a better man.
 * -|Alternate Timeline=

Before he goes, the Evil Queen enchants his hook with the ability to remove a heart. She also requires that her mother's corpse be returned to the Enchanted Forest, so she sends a dead soldier with him. From a magic hat, he ends up in Wonderland, where guards bring him before the Queen of Hearts. After Hook reveals he knows the Queen's real name, Cora, she unmasks herself and sends her courtiers away, leaving her alone with the pirate. He attempts to take out Cora's heart, but she laughs at him, admitting she already took it out and placed it elsewhere. She begins tearing out his heart, demanding to know who sent him, until Hook admits Regina did. Learning Regina promised him revenge on Rumplestiltskin after the curse is cast, Cora reveals this is impossible, because the curse will erase Hook's memories. Hook then agrees to help Cora get close enough to kill Regina, in exchange for immunity against the curse. Returning to the Enchanted Forest with Cora, who feigns being dead, Hook presents the body to Regina, before leaving her alone with her mother. Once Regina leaves to cast the curse, he comes back to find Cora has changed her mind about killing her daughter. As the curse spreads through the land, Cora takes him with her to an island, where she casts a protection spell, keeping herself, Hook and nearby inhabitants from the curse's effects for twenty-eight years until the savior breaks the curse.

After First Curse
Twenty-eight years later, Hook meets up with Cora near a small island hamlet, where the survivors of the curse live. She shows him the ashes of the wardrobe, which can be used to get to the other world, a place where Hook hopes to find Rumplestiltskin.

Some time after this, Cora enchants two of her bracelets for herself and Hook to use for climbing up a beanstalk. There, they intend to retrieve a compass for reaching Storybrooke. Rather than wait for Cora, Hook decides to align himself with Emma's group. Pretending to be a survivor of Cora's attack on the Safe Haven, Hook quickly gains Aurora's sympathy. He introduces himself as a blacksmith who lost his hand in an ogre attack, but Emma doesn't believe him. He refuses to tell the truth, so Emma ties him to a tree as bait for ogres. When she whistles to draw the ogres near and leaves him there, Hook finally admits his actual identity as a shocked Mary Margaret pulls his hook out of his satchel. Hook admits working with Cora, but offers to join forces with Emma and her team as he knows a way to get to Storybrooke. Most of all, he wants to go to Storybrooke to get revenge on Rumplestiltskin for taking away his hand. Emma decides to cut him free. Then, he leads them to a giant beanstalk stretching up into the sky, and explains there is an enchanted compass at the top, but first they must deal with the giant guarding it.

Since Hook possesses a counter spell to allow himself and only one other person to journey up the beanstalk, Emma joins him. During the climb, Hook prods Emma about her past, but she is reluctant to talk about it. He turns the conversation to her son. Hook can tell she is an orphan, just like the Lost Boys of Neverland, since he spent time in their company. He also guesses Emma doesn't want her son to grow up like she did. When he asks if she has ever been in love, Emma denies it. At the top of the beanstalk, Emma and Hook arrive in the realm of the giants. She suggests they use the poppy dust to put the giant to sleep. As Hook passes the powder, she notices the tattoo with Milah's name on it and assumes he must have really loved her. Hook lures the giant out towards Emma, who manages to knock him out by throwing the dust. They wander through the giant's lair, with Emma looking for the magical compass, while Hook seems to have more of an eye on the treasure. Emma notices a tripwire and stops him in his tracks by grabbing his arm. He jests that she likes him, which she strongly refutes. They spot the compass on a top of a golden bird cage, but before retrieving it, the giant storms in. Large stones bury Hook underneath, though Emma later comes to show him the compass. As Hook reaches for it, she tucks it away and entraps him; claiming he can't be trusted.

Escaping from the giant, Hook makes his descent from the beanstalk. At the bottom, Cora confronts him about taking her bracelets and climbing up the beanstalk without her. The pirate claims he intended to take the compass for the both of them. Noting his failure, she asks who had beaten him to it, to which he admits Emma did. Deciding Hook is no longer trustworthy, since he used the bracelets without her consultation, Cora severs ties with him. Ultimately, she decides to leave him in the Enchanted Forest with his vengeance unfulfilled. In anger, he tries to stab her with his hook, but she teleports away; leaving him face-down in the dirt. Realizing he will not get to Storybrooke alone, Hook returns to the ruins of the Safe Haven, where Cora is keeping Aurora captive, and rips out the girl's heart while she is unconscious. He then puts the heart in a pouch and shakes Aurora awake. Pretending to be on her side, Hook explains he is freeing her as a means to ensure Cora's plans fail. Before the girl runs off, he asks her to deliver the message that his deal with Emma, to help her return home, still stands. Later, in the cell, Cora accosts him for helping her prisoner escape. However, all is forgiven when he gifts her Aurora's heart. Using it, he and Cora listen to Aurora and her three companions speak. They learn about the foursome's next journey to Rumplestiltskin's old cell to find squid ink, which will entrap and render Cora powerless. Cora congratulates him on taking out a heart, to which Hook proposes they leave for Storybrooke together.

With Aurora's heart in hand, Cora manipulates the girl into triggering a switch to lock all four of them in Rumplestiltskin's old cell. Out of the darkness, Hook and Cora make themselves known. When the three women attempt to confront Aurora over her "betrayal", Cora unveils Aurora's heart from beneath her cloak and squeezes it as a test. Hook confronts Emma about leaving him atop the beanstalk. She tries to make him reconsider helping her, but Hook is not interested and shows Emma a "souvenir", a magic bean, which was procured from the giant's neck. Tauntingly, he affirms she is very much like the bean as it was once magical and full of hope, but is now "dried up, dead, and useless." Hook makes it clear he's done with her, and leaves with Cora for Lake Nostos. Once there, Cora has Hook dump the wardrobe ashes into the lake, and create a portal. They are stopped at the last minute when Mulan fires an arrow to knock the compass out of Cora's hand. While he and Emma fight for the compass, Cora nearly drops Aurora's heart into the portal. Hook catches and returns it to Mulan, who then hurries back to Aurora. He and Emma continue their sword duel until she is pinned down by him. While throwing her an innuendo, Emma reveals the compass in her hand and promptly knocks him out cold. He wakes up only after Emma and Mary Margaret have left in the portal. Though Cora is disappointed, Hook suggests they restore the withered magic bean with the lake's waters. This idea works, and they sail into Storybrooke's waters on the Jolly Roger.

At the Storybrooke harbor, they discuss Hook's desire for vengeance against Rumplestiltskin, which is now more difficult to execute with the presence of magic in Storybrooke. When a local resident sees the ship, Cora hides the vehicle with magic and then turns him into a fish, to which Hook kicks into the water. Sometime later, he and Cora observe Regina leaving the diner alone after her talk with Emma. Cora sets Regina up for the murder of Archie and kidnaps the man aboard the ship for Hook to use for interrogation.

Below the deck of the Jolly Roger, Hook demands Archie for knowledge on the dagger. Archie pleads ignorance on the topic, and Hook sees he is telling the truth. However, Hook knows Rumplestiltskin must have a weakness, and threatens to "dissect a cricket" if Archie does not talk, which he agrees to do. He learns Rumplestiltskin, who goes by Mr. Gold in this land, has a beloved named Belle. He goes to the library and corners Belle inside the building. When he threatens to kill her, she hastily seeks shelter inside an elevator. In truth, this is just a ploy to force her to call Mr. Gold for help, therefore drawing him out of the pawnshop so Hook's associate Smee can steal Baelfire's shawl. Hook disappears back onto his ship with the shawl. He catches Belle rifling through the lower deck for the shawl after freeing Archie and grabs her gun. He reveals the truth to her about Milah and how she died, though Belle believes Mr. Gold has changed. After Hook is knocked in the head, she runs away to the deck, though he arrives there first. Suddenly, Mr. Gold approaches and begins beating Hook, who openly taunts his cowardice. Belle convinces him to stop as Hook is left in a battered bloody mess when the two leave the ship. At nightfall, Hook shoots Belle as she is bidding Mr. Gold farewell while both are standing on opposite sides of the town border. This causes Belle to fall across the town line and lose her Enchanted Forest memories. While Hook is reveling in causing Mr. Gold pain, a car speeds into town and hits Hook.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Gold is so enraged at what has unfolded and hurts Hook further by crushing his already broken ribs, though David and Emma stop him. Hook is taken into the hospital as a patient. Emma interrogates him about the location of Cora, but he deflects her questions with flirtatious remarks. In frustration, she pokes him in the ribs until Hook admits he has no idea where Cora is. Even in his wrecked physical state, he is pleased to have damaged Mr. Gold by harming Belle and finds it well worth it since his nemesis started everything by killing Milah.

Having recovered from his injuries, Hook is taken out of the hospital by David, Leroy and Mary Margaret for questioning about Cora's plans. He takes them aboard his ship to show them a giant, Anton, who Cora shrunk and kidnapped from the Enchanted Forest. He denies knowing anything about Cora's intentions and suggests they ask the giant. Mary Margaret lets Anton out, but the giant is worked up into a rage when he sees David. During the commotion, Hook escapes into town to attempt contact with Cora by using a Queen of Hearts card. Instead, Regina appears to tell him Cora is laying low from the public to avoid repercussions. She still blames him for failing to kill Cora, even though the two have now made amends. When she asks about Cora's things on his ship, he specifies that the giant has escaped. From this, Regina devises a plan to use the giant to her advantage to cause trouble in town.

Hook discovers Mr. Gold is no longer in town, which could make it easier to kill him as there is no magic outside of Storybrooke. Cora promises him that much, but first, he teams up with them to find the one thing capable of controlling Mr. Gold--the dagger. They scour the library after Regina retrieves a call number for a book from Belle's purse. In place of the missing book, there is a treasure map. Previously, Hook placed it there himself to fool Cora and Regina. After he outlines the area on the map where the dagger is located, he passes out when Cora flings him into a book shelf.

Awakening, Hook takes matters into his own hands by going to the Storybrooke jail, where he attacks David, steals keys and uses them to open a drawer where his hook is kept. Reattaching it as his missing hand, he leaves and sails the Jolly Roger to New York. Tracking Mr. Gold to an apartment complex, he knocks Emma out of the way to stab Mr. Gold with his hook, which is coated in Dreamshade, stating he took Milah and his happiness from him, and now Rumplestiltskin's life is his. Emma manages to knock Hook out before he can hurt Mr. Gold any further. Neal runs down the stairs and sees the scene, recognizing Hook. To keep Hook from harming anyone else, Emma locks him in the Neal's storage closet while they make plans to sail back to Storybrooke on the Jolly Roger.

Later, Neal notifies Emma that when his fiancée, Tamara, went to get her bags from the storage closet, Hook was not there. In truth, though Neal and Emma are under the impression Hook somehow escaped, he is actually taken hostage by Tamara and Greg. They sneak him into Storybrooke via hiding him in the back of a truck, and want to use him for their own means.

On the top level of the clock tower, Tamara and Greg tie Hook to a chair. He guesses they are going to interrogate and torture information out of him, and laughs at the situation. Hook doesn't care about following their rules as he believes he has already accomplished his life's goal of killing the Dark One. Tamara and Greg show him the truth by easing his chair close to the clock tower's face and handing him a telescope. Hook uses it to peer down onto the ground level of the town, and becomes enraged seeing Mr. Gold alive and well walking beside Belle. Greg makes him see he cannot win against the Dark One unless he has help, and if they help him, he must also do as they want. Greg wants Hook to get close to Regina under the pretense of becoming her ally, which he agrees to do.

Hook comes to Regina in her office and pretends to spill Tamara and Greg's secret plan of wanting him to become aligned with and betray her later on. He gives his condolences upon hearing of Cora's death, and pulls at Regina's heart by talking about the one thing Cora wanted for her daughter was to see her win. Regina lets Hook in on her escape plan from Storybrooke by using magic beans to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Before she leaves with Henry, Regina wants to activate a "fail-safe" that will eradicate the whole town and its inhabitants. Hook asks if the "crocodile" will also perish, which Regina confirms.

Hook and Regina travel down to the basement level of the clock tower where inside a cave hides the "fail-safe". Hook grimly talks about how revenge is all he is living for, and once his vengeance is fulfilled, he'll have nothing to live for. But, Regina believes otherwise; that after vengeance is a fresh start. She notices Hook is wearing her mother's armband, and demands it back. Inside the cave, Regina explains the "fail-safe" is guarded by Maleficent, and the magic in the cave prevents her from dying so she can continue to keep the "fail-safe" from intruders. Hook becomes Maleficent's bait and distraction after Regina pushes him into her pit. Despite stabbing Maleficent, she regenerates and reforms into a bigger version of her current self. Using unknown means, Tamara and Greg save Hook from her.

Hook is waiting in the library by the time Regina makes her way back up from the cave to the ground floor of the clock tower. She is astounded he survived, but he states that's the thing he's best at. Hook reveals he felt a genuine connection when she spoke of starting over with a new life after vengeance, and it almost made him put a stop to his "plan". Upon further inquiry, he unveils it as Tamara and Greg's plan, and they walk into the room to face off with Regina. Despite Regina's attempts in using magic against them, it does not work as the armband is designated by science to cancel out magic. Hook lets Greg take the lead in speaking to Regina, and watches as Tamara, on Greg's orders, puts a bag over Regina's head and take her to an unknown location.

Greg has Regina tied up with the intentions of torturing her until she admits where his father is. He asks Hook to give him a hand, "preferably his good one". Hook refuses, telling Greg that he will only help them when they're interested in killing Rumplestiltskin, before walking off.

Hook is incredulous Greg and Tamara plan to use the trigger to bring about the destruction in town and murder everyone just to get rid of magic. With his own safety at risk, too, he aligns himself with David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina. The trigger can't be stopped, but Regina can slow it down. David suggests the delay will give them more time to steal back the remaining beans from Greg and Tamara, use them to open portals, and traveling to the Enchanted Forest. Emma points out no one knows their current whereabouts, though Hook chimes in he knows. To keep the pirate from betraying them, David goes along with him.

Outside the cannery, they witness Greg burning documents. Inside the building, David threatens to pull the trigger unless the beans are handed over. As Greg pulls out a small clear bottle containing them, Tamara ambushes from behind and shoots, though David manages to dodge while getting grazed by the bullet. Hook tackles Greg to the ground; causing the bottle to break on the floor. While David chases after Tamara, Hook wrestles for the beans and eventually grabs one while Greg makes off with the other.

Hook catches up to David, who was just bested by Greg. David is upset at their failure, but Hook shows him the bean he was able to get and puts it into his belt container. This does little to cool David's anger at letting Greg and Tamara escape, but the latter attempts to calm him down. Rejecting Hook's words, he grabs the box containing the bean and stalks off.

Returning to the diner, where some of the townspeople are grouped, David gives Emma the news about the procured bean. Henry questions where his adoptive mother is, and Emma tells him that she is in the mines slowing down the trigger, but will not be able to make it out. This cause anger on Henry's part since Regina will basically be left behind as everyone else escapes to the Enchanted Forest. He points out this situation isn't any different from the Wraith attack, which gives Mary Margaret the idea they can use the bean to send the trigger to another dimension. After much debate, Mary Margaret sways Emma into getting Regina out safely. As David tosses the boxed bean to Emma, Hook snatches it in mid-air. Not settling for wasting time and energy on saving someone who clearly wants to die so others can leave the trigger's catalyst, Hook declares he is leaving alone. Emma reasons that he's only ever known to rely on himself as she has, but they are going through with the plan whether he is a part of the group or not. Impressed by her speech, Hook forks over the bean, or so he makes it appear. In actuality, he gives back the box, but hid the actual item for himself. Then, he asks the real reason she's going out on a limb for Regina. Emma tells him Henry's father is now dead and vows to not let her son lose his mother. To Hook's surprise, he is finding out for the first time that Neal, who was known to him as Baelfire, is Henry's father.

After this conversation, Hook gets back on his ship and plans to use it to save himself from the trigger that is destroying town. On deck, he notices the wood indentation on deck where he carved "S" for starboard and "P" for port when he taught Baelfire how to steer the ship. He is reminded of the genuine affection he had for the boy and how he once cared for someone, and decides not to use the bean to make his getaway. Confronted at the docks by Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Regina, he forfeits the bean. Emma still has the impression he has only ever cared for himself, but Hook says he needed some reminding of his own capability to care for others. He allows them to board to start a journey in traveling to another world to find Henry, who has been kidnapped by Greg and Tamara and taken to another land.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, Mr. Gold directly asks Hook if he's done trying to kill him. Grudgingly, Hook responds affirmatively, and the two trade glares. Then, Mr. Gold uses the magic globe to track the realm Henry is currently in—Neverland. Only Gold and Hook were able to recognize the realm and Hook could only glance anxiously at Gold, who was also sporting a jaded expression, over this revelation knowing full well who may be the one pulling the strings behind Henry's abduction. After Hook casts the magic bean into the water to open a portal, he, David, Emma, Mary Margaret, Mr. Gold and Regina set sail for the land.

As they sail towards the island of Neverland, Hook talks to Regina about how embittered he feels having his sworn enemy, Mr. Gold, on his ship, especially after spending a lifetime trying to leave Neverland and seek revenge on him. From this, Regina is reminded of something Greg said, which is that villains like her don't get happy endings. She asks for Hook's opinion on it, though he hopes Greg isn't right or they've wasted their lives. Later, Mr. Gold announces his intent of getting him back on his own and proceeds to list off reasons why Emma will fail in this mission; not believing in her parents, in magic, or even herself. Below deck, Hook gives Emma a weapon that used to belong to Neal. Then, they have a toast in Neal's honor. Suddenly, mermaids begin slamming against the ship. Hook attempts to maneuver the ship into outrunning them to no avail. Emma and Mary Margaret catch one on the fishing line while Regina scares off the rest with flame. She then teleports the caught mermaid on board. Hook is disgusted and warns mermaids absolutely cannot be trusted. As they discuss what to do with the sea creature, the mermaid sounds a conch shell and threatens them all with death if they don't free her. Thunder begins brewing in the sky; giving the impression that the mermaid called the storms to arms. Regina decides to freeze the mermaid, which only speeds up the storm. Hook and David begin a fistfight as Mary Margaret and Regina trade physical blows. He is so caught up in his animosity towards David until seeing Emma deliberately jump into the sea and get knocked out by a fallen rigging rope pulley. As David ties a rope around his waist and dives in to save Emma, Hook, Regina and Mary Margaret team up to pull the both of them up, causing the storm to halt. When they reach the shoreline of Neverland, Emma gives everyone a pep talk by admitting the best thing is to not believe in magic, but in each other. She doesn't expect friendship, but cooperation is necessary to save Henry as well as the handiness of each person's skill. Hook follows as David and Mary Margaret trail after Emma into the jungle.

While treading through the jungle upwards to a cliff ridge, Hook stops David from using his sword to cut through a bush of thick thorns, and schools them on the black substance coming out of it, Dreamshade, which is very deadly, even mentioning it's the same thing he used on Mr. Gold. Though Hook advises they go left, David ignores him and goes right. Up ahead, the ridge allows them to get a view of the island, but too much has changed since Hook was last in Neverland and he can't tell the difference between anything. They can't comb the jungle, either, because Hook advises it's not safe to travel through. They take a rest for the night, though everyone is awakened with news of Emma's encounter with Pan in the jungle and the map he gave her to find Henry. The catch is Emma must "stop denying who she really is" and only then will the map unlock for her. Regina would rather try using magic on the map, a move Hook highly disagrees with, as does everyone else. Emma makes the effort to unveil the map by stating facts about herself, with encouragement from her parents, but nothing works. Tired of playing games, Regina snatches the map and casts a locator spell on it, which leads them straight to Pan, who then sends the Lost Boys to engage them in combat. During the battle, Hook duels with Felix, which quickly ends when Pan assembles his Lost Boys and leaves. Shortly after, Emma manages to unveil the map. With a strategy planned to travel towards Pan's camp, the group breaks apart to assemble for departure. Hook offers Emma some rum and asks how she got the map to work. Emma briefs that she just followed Pan's instructions. He's curious about who she really is, but Emma isn't interested in sharing that information. Hook presses further, though she simply walks away.

Heading north by following the map, the plan is a failure once when they notice Pan's camp location keeps changing, making their journey fruitless. Hook considers a fairy named Tinker Bell who Pan trusts and can likely get them into the camp with pixie dust. Despite that David is trying to keep up, Hook sees he is clearly beginning to feel the effects of the poison. He gauges, from accessing the wound, that David has days or weeks at most, and pushes him to tell Mary Margaret the truth. David decides not to; hoping the problem can be easily fixed by Tinker Bell's pixie dust. Regina stays behind to rest while everyone else goes to Tinker Bell's empty tree house, which strangely has a ladder, even though fairies have wings for flying. David finds a white cloth, which is Regina's and they rush off to rescue her. They corner Tinker Bell outside a cavern, but an unharmed Regina attests to the fairy's innocence. Regina tells them that Tinker Bell lost all her fairy powers a long time ago and can't help them infiltrate Pan's camp. Though Tinker Bell has the capabilities to get into Pan's camp, she wants to know what's in it for herself. Emma and Mary Margaret offer her safe passage to Storybrooke as a new home, to which Tinker Bell agrees and goes back to camp with them.

At the camp base, Hook listens to Emma go over the strategy for entering Pan's headquarters from the back after Tinker Bell talks her way in through the front. Briefly, Tinker Bell warns them about Dreamshade, which they already know about, but the topic makes David uncomfortable as he catches Hook's knowing look. Before they put the plan into action, Tinker Bell wants to know their escape route off the island, but no one has a clear answer. She stresses that no one ever leaves the island without Pan's permission. To show them just how dangerous Pan is, she proves to them that Greg and Tamara were murdered by him. Tinker Bell weighs the risk as not worthy unless they have a way to leave Neverland and she makes off for her tree house. Emma sees reason in Tinker Bell's words, and recalls what Neal once taught her that it is "unwise to break into a place without knowing the way out." The group talk about how Hook left Neverland, which was through a special one time deal with Pan. The only person Hook can think of who managed to escape on his own is Neal. They set off for a cave Neal once inhabited as a boy, where David pulls up a vine with Hook to gain access to the entrance, even though he is getting weaker. Hook prompts him on when exactly is he going to tell his family about the wound. David sees the situation as hopeless, to which Hook remarks that the one thing he’s learned from “hero” types is hope never dies and there is indeed a cure, but it's too far away to reach. He orders Hook not divulge their conversation; lest it sidetracks the mission to get Henry back. From searching the confines of the cave, a coconut half with holes is discovered to be a perfect match for Emma's candle holder. After the light is snuffed out, the two halves combine to make a star constellation map with an escape route. However, despite that Hook taught Neal how to navigate using the stars, he also coached him that all map makers never reveal their secrets. This renders the map useless since only Neal can read it.

Returning to the cave, everyone searches for something that might be useful. From Emma's observation of Neal's tally marks on the wall, she recognizes that he stopped counting the days due to losing hope of leaving, which is the same thing Pan wants for Henry. In the hopes of sending Henry a message, Mary Margaret comes up with an idea and files out to show them. Before Emma exits, Hook expresses sympathy towards her about losing hope since he has experienced it as well, though Emma rejects his attempt at bonding with her and walks out. Disheartened, Hook moves to leave, but David reenters to confront him about his growing interest in Emma. At camp, the group make a vine net to capture a Lost Boy. David, returning from gathering vines, insists Hook come with him to get more. Only when Emma chimes in, the pirate finally agrees to go. Privately, Hook suggests they find a cure for Dreamshade, and after David passes out, he puts his own brother's military insignia in the dirt. When David finds the badge, Hook lies about his brother's satchel on a peak that contains a sextant for decoding the star map, which is just a ploy to get him to the cure. After notifying the others about this, the pair head there. Hook learns David had a brother as well and the two reminisce over how their siblings remind them of each other. As Hook climbs up first, Pan offers him his old job back and asks as proof of acceptance, he must kill David at the top of the peak. At the peak cliff, Hook is accosted by David, who overheard Pan's deal. Hook owns up to his lie about the sextant, but David still attacks him. After knocking him out, the pirate procures water from the peak and offers it to David. He warns that the cure's price means being bound to the island forever, though David drinks it and is healed. Returning to camp, the two lie about Pan getting the sextant first. Grateful for Hook's help, David publicly thanks him by making up a story in which the pirate protected him from a Dreamshade arrow when they were ambushed earlier. This is a stretch from the truth, but Hook plays along. They each take a sip of Hook's rum, except Regina, until it passes into Emma's hands. When she and Hook are alone, Emma gives him a sincere thanks for saving her father's life. As he flirtatiously asks for a different kind of thanks, she pulls him into a kiss. Pulling away, Emma states it's a one time thing, and she requests him to fetch firewood, which he does. Later, Hook is sitting while drinking his rum and boasts to Pan that Emma is finally coming around to him, however, the devious Pan proclaims Neal is alive and in Neverland. Conflicted, Hook must decide whether to tell Emma or not.

Deciding against hiding the truth, Hook informs David and Mary Margaret how Pan kidnapped Neal from their campsite to be put in a cave. David is curious why Pan chose to let them know about this, but Hook has no answers. Mary Margaret catches sight of a snapped branch near the brush as well as footprints resembling a struggle. She plans to tell Emma, but both Hook and David convince her not to. They agree to prep a cover story in order to search for Neal themselves, which falls apart when Hook and David give different excuses after Emma asks them where they are going. Neither are able to come up with a response to her suspicions, so Mary Margaret blurts out to Emma that Neal is alive. While Emma is on the fence on about the possibility, Regina cannot stand that everyone is falling for Pan's trickery and leaves the group. They follow the footprints to a cavern known as the Echo Cave, where Hook states the only way to rescue someone from within is for them to reveal one of their deepest secrets. Once inside, they are at a dead end while a caged Neal lies on a separate strip of land in the distance. With much reluctance, Hook confirms he and Emma shared a kiss. He goes on to explain his inability to forget his first love, Milah, or believe his future could be with someone else until meeting Emma. Mary Margaret tells David about her longing for another child while he finally tells her about the price of the Dreamshade cure. A bridge forms for Emma to cross over to Neal and after disclosing her own secret to him, he is freed. When they reach the outside, they decide to regroup with Tinker Bell first and then continue the mission. Hook heads back with the rest of the gang, but purposefully lingers behind to eavesdrop on Emma and Neal's conversation. He hears Emma express guilt about what she told Neal earlier and is sorry her feelings can't be changed. Neal disagrees and doesn't think she has anything to apologize for after everything he put her through. Then, Neal tells Emma his own secret; he won't ever stop fighting for her, which causes worry on Hook's part.

Neal familiarizes the group on a tactic for flying off the island using Pan's shadow. Since the Shadow is mostly solitary, they can capture it without going near Pan. Emma steps up on "shadow duty" with Neal as Hook enlists himself as well. They all agree to meet back at Tinker Bell's tree house once the Shadow is nabbed. Hook, Emma and Neal They all agree to meet back at Tinker Bell's tree house once the Shadow is nabbed. Hook, Emma and Neal revisit the Lost Boy cavern. While Emma goes off to fetch the star map, Hook accidentally discloses the kiss he shared with her, which Neal was unaware of until now. After obtaining the star map, they go in search of Dark Hollow, a place home to all captured shadows. Emma lends Neal her sword to cut through the tall grass. He recognizes it as his old cutlass, so Hook admits giving it to Emma as a memento of Neal. To this, Neal angrily snips at him and stomps away. Left little choice, Hook admits to Emma what he said to Neal, and had hopes the kiss meant something to her as it does to himself. Instead, she is grateful that he did not keep quiet about Neal's alive status. Hook explains the reason Pan tested him, which was to see if he'd pick his friend or the woman of his dreams. Though Emma isn't taking it seriously, he is invested in winning her heart fair and square and points out she'll have to choose him or Neal somewhere down the line. All she cares about is Henry's safety, but Hook warns after she's accomplished that, he won't be holding back. Eventually, they head into Dark Hollow. Neal briefs on drawing the Shadow in by lighting the candle and trapping it by putting the lid on. He and Neal end up fighting over the lighter when three shadows show up to attack just as Emma grabs the coconut halves. Both men are thrown against trees and begin having their shadows ripped out. Emma saves the day by using magic to light a flame on the candle and entrap the Shadow inside. On the journey back to Tinker Bell's tree house, Emma settles the competition between Hook and Neal by stating the only person she is choosing is Henry. After showing Tinker bell proof of the Shadow as their ticket off the island, she agrees to do her part in taking down Pan.

While moving ahead to Pan's camp, a rustle from the jungle causes the entire group to assemble for battle, but it turns out to be only Regina and Mr. Gold. Regina tells them about the power of Pandora's Box while Neal's distrust in his father causes him to blurt out Mr. Gold's objective to kill Henry and prevent a seer's prophecy from coming true. Subsequently, Hook and everyone begin regarding Mr. Gold as an enemy by drawing their weapons. Things cool down only when Neal forces him to hand over the box Some time later, Hook is approached by Emma about an alternative to removing David's ties to the island because of the Dreamshade cure. He concludes that nothing can be done, but then Mr. Gold steps in to offer his potion-making skills to concoct an elixir cure for David. Emma agrees to his bargain, though in return, Mr. Gold wants a favor of equal value. Neal puts a full stop to his asking price by demanding that he help for the right reasons rather than personal gain. After Tinker Bell gains access into the perimeter of the encampment and the Lost Boys are put to sleep by Regina, neither Henry or Pan are found there. Instead, Neal frees a young prisoner, Wendy, and brings her back to camp to inquire about Henry. Forced to act on Pan's wishes, Wendy lies to them, but with some encouragement, she yields and tells the truth. Emma gains insight on Pan's real reason for needing Henry's heart, which is to save himself from dying and then become immortal. As a trade, Pan lives, but Henry will die. Hook stays behind at camp while Emma, Mr. Gold, Neal and Regina set out for Skull Rock to stop Pan. After Henry sacrifices his heart to Pan, Hook feels a powerful wave of magic gust through Neverland.

Hook returns to the Lost Boy camp and learn from Emma that Henry gave up his heart to Pan and Mr. Gold is trapped inside Pandora's Box. Regina casts a preservation spell on Henry to last one hour until they can track down Pan. Emma manages to get some of the Lost Boys to open up about Pan's current location at his "thinking tree" in Pixie Woods after promising to bring them off the island. While Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina go to find Pan, Hook and the rest of their party plan to regroup aboard the Jolly Roger. The three women come back in time to place the heart back in Henry as he gasps to life. With Regina's power, the Shadow becomes the ship sail and flies them homeward.

Following a safe journey out of Neverland to Storybrooke, Mr. Gold seals the box in his pawnshop to keep Pan at bay. Hook informs Neal that he will back off from chasing after Emma so Henry's parents have a fair chance of getting back together. Even so, Hook craves a distraction from Emma and unsuccessfully tries to offer Tinker Bell a drink, though she knows he obviously wants more from her than just that. A scream from outside interrupts the chat, so they rush out to investigate and are joined by David and Emma. When Emma has the suspicion the two of them are now involved, Tinker Bell immediately denies it, though Hook begs to differ. The foursome catch up in time to witness the Shadow ripping away Mother Superior's shadow. After regrouping with the others, it's suspected Pan is behind the attack. Hook, Neal and Tinker Bell go to fetch the lighter and coconut halves from the ship in case they need to catch the Shadow again. They attempt to enter the vault where Regina took Henry to keep him safe, but the door is locked. Belle, Emma, David, Mary Margaret and Mr. Gold bring back a released Pan, who is actually Henry, since the two switched bodies. When Mr. Gold breaks open the vault, it is discovered Pan took the scroll for the Dark Curse.

Mr. Gold shares with everyone of the only viable way to stop Pan's curse is for Regina, as the original caster of the Dark Curse, to undo it by destroying the scroll, though there will be a steep price for this. They plan to switch Henry back to his own body so he will be in possession of the scroll and bring it to Regina. Mr. Gold can perform the spell, but needs a strong outlet in order for it to work. Tinker Bell has knowledge of a powerful Black Fairy wand that Mother Superior kept, so she, David, Hook and Neal ask the convent nuns for the item. The Shadow bursts in as the group take cover behind the church pews. Hook volunteers to distract the Shadow, citing his own life is at stake, but fails when the creature knocks him away. He takes a hard hit while David pulls him to safety. Tinker Bell uses pixie dust to light a flame on the coconut half and flies into the air to trap the Shadow; disposing the being for good by burning it in a fire. Afterwards, Tinker Bell recognizes Hook's reason for risking himself earlier was for Emma. With the Shadow gone, Mother Superior returns alive and hands the Black Fairy's wand to them. The three men arrive at the pawnshop with the wand. Once Henry's spirit returns to his own body, everyone except Mr. Gold runs off to find the boy. With Granny's tracking skills, they reunite with him. Regina passes out after taking the scroll and awakens with knowledge of the price for stopping the curse. They are accosted by Pan as he steals back the scroll and freezes them in place. The showdown ends when Mr. Gold summons the dagger and stabs Pan as well as himself with it; killing both of them. After this, Regina admits the price is all former Enchanted Forest inhabitants will be sent back to their old world while Storybrooke will disappear out of existence. To keep Henry from being alone, Emma will leave town with him and Regina rewrites new memories for both of them so they forget everything. Before this, Hook offers Emma parting words; saying that he will think of her often. As the two cross out of Storybrooke, Regina stops the curse from taking over as everyone inside the town is sent back to the Enchanted Forest.

Before Second Curse
While the others lead to the Queen's palace, Hook decides to go back to his life as a pirate. He and Prince Charming talk about his plans and Hook leaves in search for his ship. Snow White balks at the idea of him returning to living a pirate's life now that Emma is gone, but Hook remarks that he has never actually changed from his old ways.

His search for the Jolly Roger leads nowhere, though Hook, with his old crew mates such as William Smee, successfully pilfer treasure from a travelling man. That night, they celebrate at the tavern. Hook is gifted a prostitute, but he only pretends to accept; leading the wench out the back door and paying her off with money. After she is gone, he is blindsided when attacked by Ariel, who accuses him of kidnapping Prince Eric onto the Jolly Roger. However, Hook is equally stunned since thus far he hasn't reclaimed the missing ship. Upon seeing the letters "BB" engraved on the weapon she has, he realizes both the ship and Eric must've been taken by the pirate Black Beard. While traveling on foot, Hook rejects Ariel's assumption that he's changed into a hero since rescuing Emma and her family from Neverland. Once the ship is found, he distracts Black Beard with a duel while Ariel and Smee sneak aboard. The fight is cut short once Ariel interrupts to announce her beloved is not on the Jolly Roger. Amused, Black Beard agrees to hand over Eric only if Hook gives up on reclaiming the ship. Though Ariel pleas, he believes getting rid of Black Beard is best to keep her from searching endlessly for a lost love. Hook throws Black Beard to the sharks; causing Ariel to berate him as someone who will never find love or be happy.

After taking back the Jolly Roger, Hook resumes traveling at sea. He receives a messenger bird, attached with a vial of memory potion, as well as a note, not knowing it's from Neal, asking him to seek out Emma.

While the new curse approaches, he abandons his crew and sails the ship as far as he can outside the curse's purview. Now that the curse has been cast, transportation between worlds is possible again, so Hook trades the Jolly Roger for a magic bean and opens a portal to the Land Without Magic.

During Second Curse
Hook shows up at Emma's New York apartment to tell her that her family in trouble, though she does not recognize him or understand anything he is saying. He attempts to give her true love's kiss, but it has no effect and she kicks him away. Though he tries to explain, she slams the door closed.

On another attempt to shake some sense into her, he ambushes Emma while she is out on a date and her boyfriend is away from the table. He gives Emma a written address of a New York apartment that she must see in order to know the whole truth about her family, who desperately need her help. Before leaving, Hook asks her to find him in Central Park when she is ready to talk. Later, Emma shows up to confront him about the camera strap she found at the written address—Neal's apartment—which has Henry's name on it. He tries once more to talk about her parents and the curse, but she brushes it off as nonsense. Hook exemplifies the camera strap as proof Emma was once at Neal's apartment a year ago except she doesn't remember it. She demands answers, so he offers a potion to restore her lost memories. Instead, she cuffs Hook and has him arrested for assault and criminal harassment. While jailed, he is bailed out by Emma, who presents him with copy of the photo from the camera, which shows herself with Henry in a town called Storybrooke. He pushes Emma into taking the potion, despite that she will have to give up her life in New York, because knowing the truth is important. She ingests it and regains her memories. That night, Hook explains that her family has been re-cursed by someone powerful. When Emma's boyfriend, Walsh, shows up, she goes onto the rooftop with him. Hook hears a scuffle, rushing up to help, but finds Emma alone and Walsh gone. The next morning, Emma introduces Hook to Henry as a client from work, rather than admit the truth, since things are complicated as it is. The three arrive in Storybrooke via Emma's car.

As Emma is brought up to speed on the effects of the new curse, which have wiped out everyone's memories of the last year, Hook confirms to David and Mary Margaret that the undoing of Pan's curse did indeed bring them back to the Enchanted Forest, and that the last he saw of them prior his split from their group, they were all headed for the Queen's old palace. Once Happy and Leroy report two more dwarves missing, Emma decides to conduct an investigation. When another resident goes missing, Hook goes along with David and Emma to the town line where Robin Hood and the Merry Men describe how Little John was kidnapped by a winged beast. He, David and the Merry Men search for Little John; eventually finding finding the unconscious man with a sustained bite wound. After whisking him to the hospital, Little John rapidly transforms into flying monkey and takes off. Reporting back to the apartment, Hook, David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina conclude that the Wicked Witch of the West cast the new curse.

While Regina keeps Henry company, Hook, David, and Emma search the mayoral office for any evidence the Wicked Witch left behind. David discovers a holly berry in the room and pinpoints the plant's location in the northwestern region past the Toll Bridge. He is called away due to a phone call from Mary Margaret requesting him to come to the apartment and meet their new midwife, Zelena, and promptly leaves. As the remaining pair comb the woods near the holly berry bushes, Emma, believing Hook is hiding something, pries him about what happened in the Enchanted Forest, but he refuses to say. The pirate asks if she was seriously considering marrying Walsh. Emma confirms she was, due to being in love, but disappointingly, as usual, the guy of her dreams had secrets and broke her heart. Hook is pleased, remarking that if her heart is broken, it means she is still capable of love, to which Emma throws him an unsure look. They reach a farmhouse and deduct that someone is living in it. Hook advises her against breaking open a locked storm cellar and believes they'd be safer with Regina's magic as back-up. As Emma prepares to phone the mayor, she plays a voice message from David, who believes he has cornered the Wicked Witch. After picking up Regina, they meet up with David in the woods. He recounts fighting a version of himself created by the Wicked Witch's magic and killing it with his sword hilt, but both disappeared afterwards. Altogether, they investigate the farmhouse cellar, which is now mysteriously open. Inside, the cell's occupant is gone, but a spinning wheel with strands of spun gold litter the floor; proof that Mr. Gold is alive.

In a morning meeting at the closed diner, Hook and his allies discuss searching for Mr. Gold while Regina opts to search the farmhouse alone for evidence. Hook mentions that Neal, while in the Enchanted Forest, wanted to bring back Mr. Gold; hoping he could have been a link to reaching Emma and Henry. At the pawnshop, David and Emma inform Belle about Mr. Gold's alive status and ask her to research how he could've been revived. Hook stays behind with Belle, which she balks at, but he intends to make amends after previously trying to kill her twice. As he is helping her take books off the shelf when a noise erupts from pawnshop's front door. Hook follows Belle to the door, where the door is being rammed open from the outside, but instead of Mr. Gold, Neal bursts in and collapses. They take him to the hospital to recuperate and call David and Emma. After a strange marking is found on Neal's palm, Belle begins looking in it. Hook keeps Neal company and expresses disapproval that he tried to bring back the Dark One. Refusing to be cooped up, Neal attempts to leave, but is blocked by Hook. Unexpectedly, the pirate gives him an affectionate hug; recalling the brotherhood they had when Neal was still just a boy. He apologizes for being at odds with him due to their shared feelings for Emma, and then allows Neal to depart from the hospital. Soon after, Belle discovers Neal's palm marking is a symbol from a key to the vault of the Dark One and realizes he must have used it to revive Mr. Gold. Consequentially, she also learns reviving the Dark One will cause the demise of whoever uses the key. Though Neal should be dead, he is still alive due to inhabiting the same body as Mr. Gold up until Emma magically separates them. Inevitably, Neal passes away. At the pawnshop, Hook and Belle receive the bad news from David and Mary Margaret.

Hook attends Neal's funeral to pay his respects. Afterwards, at the diner, he receives Emma's permission to take her son to the docks and help the boy know more about Neal. They go on a boat and later make a campfire by the beach where he gives Henry a pamphlet to learn how to make ship knots. Once nightfall hits, Hook shows him the sextant he once used to teach Neal to navigate the seas by looking at the stars. He has hopes of instructing Henry how to use it too, but the youngster asks for real, solid information about Neal in order to come to terms with his death. Henry learns Hook taught his father how to sail when Neal, as a boy, had just lost his own father. Hook comforts him with the knowledge that Henry and his father aren't so different. After dropping off Henry, he tells Emma that her son deserves the truth about Neal, but she brushes off his advice.

Hook is approached by Smee, who wishes to know why they aren't crew mates anymore and what he is hiding from the missing year in the Enchanted Forest. On Emma's request, Hook spends the day with Henry when David and Mary Margaret show up with an old acquaintance, Ariel, who he guiltily remembers from the missing year. Hook pretends not to know anything when Ariel asks if he knows Eric's whereabouts, but is urged by David and Mary Margaret to help. He and Ariel go to the pawnshop looking for an old belonging of Eric's. Hook finds the prince's cloak, but lies about how he recognizes it. Belle uses a locator potion on the item, which leads Hook and Ariel to its owner. Sadly, the cloak lands in the dock and sinks underwater; leaving Ariel to believe her lover is dead. Overridden with regret, Hook admits what transpired between himself and Ariel a year ago; hoping that reclaiming his ship could fill a void left in his heart from having to leave the woman he loved. As proof that his belief in love remains, Hook swears it on Emma's name, but only then "Ariel"'s true colors is revealed when she places a curse on his lips. Exposing herself as Zelena, she fills him in on the real Ariel's happily ever after with Eric and explains her intent in cursing him so he can kiss Emma and destroy her magic. She warns, should he fail, Emma's loved ones will die. Regrouping with the others, Hook tells them about Ariel's reunion with Eric on Hangman's Island, which everyone gets a glimpse of when Emma projects an image of the lovers in the same location. Before leaving, Emma informs him that she no longer cares about what he is hiding from the missing year.

After Zelena successfully steals Regina's heart, Hook reports for a group seance to open a portal to the land of the dead by using the now defunct candle to talk to Cora about her first-born child's origins. Hook, Emma, David, Mary Margaret and Regina link hands as the portal opens, but Cora refuses to appear. Hook accidentally bumps the table, as a startled Mary Margaret to withdraw her hands, causing the gateway to close. Shortly after the failed experiment, all leave except Mary Margaret, who stays to help Regina clean up. Distractedly, Hook pays little attention when Emma is showing off her increasingly powerful magic to him. However, when she teleports away his hook, he reacts grumpily without disclosing the real reason for his bad mood. Once Belle figures out what spell Zelena is intending to cast, everyone returns to Regina's house just after Mary Margaret was briefly possessed by Cora's spirit. Mary Margaret reveals Cora, already pregnant with another man's child, was once engaged to Leopold, but Queen Eva deliberately wrecked it. In turn, this caused Cora to unwillingly abandon Zelena after birth. As for the ingredients of Zelena's spell, as Belle explains, they are for a time spell to alter the past; namely to kill Eva and keep Cora from abandoning her first-born child.

Though Hook planned to show up for a group meeting with David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina, he is kidnapped by Mr. Gold, thrown into a car truck and taken to Zelena, who pushes him remove Emma's powers or Henry will die. Determined to protect the boy, Hook stops Henry leaving town alone in Emma's car all the while claiming he has a better way. On a trip to the docks, he introduces Henry to Smee and states his friend will bring him out of Storybrooke on a boat. Before the plan is set into motion, several flying monkeys attack. While Henry and Smee flee, Hook kills many of the beasts with bullets until running out of ammunition. Fortunately, Emma arrives to take out the last one. Henry regains his lost memories after touching the fairytale storybook, but Zelena interferes by proceeding to choke him and blames Hook for not doing what she asked. Emma magically scalds the witch; forcing her to flee. In the aftermath, Regina bestows Henry with true love's kiss and breaks the new curse. Hook confesses Zelena cursed his lips and ordered him to remove Emma's magic by kissing her. He admits trying to take Henry out of town since Zelena threatened to harm him. Annoyed at his secrets, she tells him off; believing it should be her responsibility alone to protect Henry. David and Mary Margaret also accuse him of lying about the supposed note he received from them that led him to find Emma. Hook insists someone sent it, but he doesn't know who.

After Second Curse
Hook follows Emma and her parents, David and Mary Margaret to the hospital in preparation for the delivery. After Emma enacts a protection spell to protect them, she rebuffs Hook's desire to help and is still distrustful of him since learning of his lie. She wishes to face Zelena alone, but surprisingly, David convinces his daughter that Hook must go with her. During the face-off, Hook is nearly drowned by Mr. Gold on Zelena's order; forcing Emma to choose—save him and lose her magic or let him die. She gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation—a "kiss"—and has her magic drained away. With Emma's magic gone, the barrier around the hospital room disappears; allowing Zelena to steal the newborn baby for a time spell. Due to Henry's belief that Regina possesses light magic, she uses it to defeat Zelena once and for all. Rather than condemn the witch to death, Regina spares her sister's life and imprisons her in a jail cell. Following a speedy family reunion at the hospital, Hook thanks Emma for saving his life at the cost of her own magic, though he is disappointed that she still wishes to return to New York. Unseen to them, Mr. Gold kills Zelena; accidentally triggering magic in her pendant, which activates the time spell.

At a diner celebration welcoming David and Mary Margaret's newborn son, Hook and Emma overhear Henry reading the fairytale of how Prince Charming and Snow White met. When Hook openly hints that Emma desires to leave town, Regina questions her further. Emma hastily exits while Hook, armed with the storybook, insists to her that book is proof she has family. However, Emma believes she will only stop running when a true home is found. Noticing the time spell is activated, they investigate the portal and are sucked into the past Enchanted Forest. They are forced to hide when the Queen arrives to a nearby village where a prisoner, Maid Marian, is hauled out. After finding new clothes for Emma, they cause the first meeting between Prince Charming and Snow White to not happen. Reaching the Dark One's castle, Rumplestiltskin chokes Hook, but stops when Emma reveals future circumstances that will lead him to Baelfire. They gain his help in finding Prince Charming and Snow White's locations. In order to keep the past unchanged and ensure the future, Emma distracts past Hook while future Hook boards the Jolly Roger to secure a deal with Snow White. He convinces her to steal Prince Charming's ring from King Midas' castle. When his past self tries to have a rendezvous with Emma, Hook knocks him out. Borrowing magical disguises from Rumplestiltskin, Emma and Hook present themselves as Prince Charles and Princess Leia to blend in the castle. They help Snow White flee from the Queen's knights, but the ring is left behind, which Emma takes and she is imprisoned by the Queen for assisting the bandit. Hook explains the circumstances to Prince Charming, and Snow White agrees to help infiltrate the Queen's palace. While she sneaks in alone, the two princes are aided by Red Riding Hood into the castle jail. Emma, since freeing herself and Marian, regroups with them only to witness Snow White's execution at the Queen's hands.

They later discover Snow White turned herself into a bug to elude death, and she reverts to human with the Blue Fairy's help. Fearful that Marian, who was sentenced to death, will alter the future by existing, Hook and Emma decide to take her to the future with them. Prince Charming notices Snow White stole his ring and takes off after her. Soon, the past is set back on track as the ring is returned and the prince and bandit part on better terms. Returning to Rumplestiltskin, Hook and Emma learn a special wand can replicate magic, but the portal has to be made by someone who traveled through it. Since Emma cannot, the Dark One intends to "protect the future" by entrapping them in his vault. While there, Hook attempts to find anything of use and pulls out a vessel. Emma, having an epiphany from watching her mother die, realizes Henry brought her to Storybrooke to find her family. With that, her magic is restored and a portal is opened. Arriving in the present, Hook later reveals to Emma that he traded his ship for a magic bean to find her in New York. Finally, she reciprocates his feelings and they kiss.

Since returning to present time, Hook witnesses a heated confrontation ensue as Marian, having been introduced to Regina by Robin Hood, can only recall the woman as the Evil Queen. To complicate things further, Marian is also Robin Hood's wife. After being called a "monster" by Marian, Regina retreats and Emma attempts to follow, but Hook advises to give her space. The next morning, Emma sends Hook to scour the vault in search of Regina. He returns to report that she is not there. Noticing Emma is distant, Hook questions if she is avoiding him. In private, she reasons that her hands are full at the moment with the Regina crisis. However, Hook believes it's best to live in the moment or she'll miss out. Just then, Leroy and Walter inform them that something magically froze their car last night. Noticing ice tracks on the ground, he and Emma follow the trail to a warehouse. Inside, a snow monster forms and chases them out, so they regroup in the forest with David, Little John, Marian and Robin Hood. Emma's attempt to counter with magic only angers the monster, who knocks her away and blows everyone off their feet. Unexpectedly, Regina intercepts the battle, saving Marian's life, by obliterating the being. Afterwards, Hook shares a moment with Emma. Following a tender kiss, Emma asks him to be patient while she sorts things out with Regina.

After a mysterious ice wall blocks the town exit and the power goes out, Hook goes to investigate. Armed with a lantern, he approaches David and Emma when they arrive as well. Hook explains that the barrier surrounds Storybrooke and the wall itself brought down several power lines, which caused the blackout. While David checks on a radio call in the sheriff car, Hook jokes to Emma about forgetting to bring champagne to their "second date". Noticing a wall opening, Emma goes in alone. David, wary of the pirate's intentions with his daughter, questions him. Hook confirms his feelings are real, and that whatever their relationship evolves into is his and Emma's choice. Venturing into the cave, the men find Emma with a woman dressed in blue. Though Emma insists against it, Hook and David advance as the intruder counters with icicles. The woman, frightened by David's gun, causes an avalanche that traps herself and Emma on the other side. In desperation to save Emma, Hook feebly claws at the caved-in den. Via walkie-talkie, Emma tells David about the woman, Elsa, who believes her sister, Anna, is in town after finding her pendant in the pawnshop. Not willing to compromise, Elsa threatens to freeze the townspeople if they do not find Anna. At the pawnshop, Hook and David confront Mr. Gold. However, David discovers he once met Anna, who went by the name Joan. Recalling that Anna was once branded with a shepherd's crook by Bo Peep, they track down the villainess, steal the item and return to the cave after Hook hears Elsa radio that Emma is freezing to death. There, David persuades Elsa, with past advice Anna gave him, to melt the ice. Retreating to the apartment, everyone, including Elsa, helps to warm up Emma. Elsa uses the shepherd’s crook to find Anna, whose heartbeat they hear. Tired from the ordeal, Emma rests as Hook cradles her in his arms.

With Elsa, Hook and Emma confront Mr. Gold about the urn. As Emma recalls, he had it in his vault, but Mr. Gold has Belle command him, with the dagger's will, to tell the truth. Mr. Gold then professes to no knowledge about Elsa, Anna or that someone was in the urn, though Hook secretly believes the dagger is a fake. Arriving at the mayoral office, they discover Marian has been afflicted with a freezing spell, but it's not Elsa's magic. Before Emma leaves to find the culprit, Hook tries to accompany her, but she tasks him with hiding Elsa at the sheriff's office. He argues against it until Emma pushes him into listening to her for once. Rather than follow Emma's instructions, he takes Elsa to the pawnshop. As part of a deal, Hook promises to keep silent about Mr. Gold's lies if he assists Elsa with tracking down the spell caster who hurt Marian. Elsa shows Mr. Gold a strand of white hair from Marian, which he reverts to a magical form. When released, the snowflake patterned magic flies off to its owner. While following it, Elsa advises Hook on Emma's nature; as she and the blonde both know what it's like to have the weight of the world upon them and be distrustful even when other people mean well. When they spot the magic wielder, Hook leaves Emma a voice message, but she doesn't show up. As they search for her, the Snow Queen freezes his feet in place and chats with Elsa about their forgotten past. Believing all people eventually fear magic users like them, the Snow Queen prepares icicles above Hook, intending to kill him, so everyone will blame Elsa. At Emma's arrival, the Snow Queen lowers the icicles, but the savior magically shoves David and Hook to safety, to which their opponent disappears. That night, Hook talks about Emma's distrust of him. Instead, Emma reveals that, out of fear of losing him like with everyone else, she has kept her distance. Hook assures her of his survival skills, and the two kiss.

While scoring darts at the diner, Hook becomes concerned that something happened with the Snow Queen when Emma approaches him. Instead, she asks him out on a date, which he happily agrees to. Before nightfall, Hook asks Mr. Gold to reattach his lost hand so he can embrace Emma with both hands instead of one. Again, he threatens to tell Belle about the dagger. Mr. Gold warns him that the hand, once reattached, will reignite his old personality, but Hook believes he is bluffing. Regaining the hand, Hook begins his date with Emma at a restaurant. Just then, a man bumps into a waiter carrying wine, which spills onto Emma's dress. Hook menaces the man for an apology, but Emma brushes off the accident. Shocked at his own behavior, Hook pulls back just as Emma recognizes the man as a thief named Will and almost pursues him before deciding against it. Hook silently mulls over his own previous actions until Emma pulls him out of his stupor. After the date, Hook apologizes for his overreaction at the restaurant and then asks her out on second date, which she seals with a kiss. On the street, he sees a drunken Will breaking into the library. Hook tries to make him go home, but Will pushes his hand away twice. An irritated Hook then punches Will repeatedly until realizing what he's done. After threatening Will to keeping quiet about the incident, Hook agrees to make another deal with Mr. Gold so he can be rid of the hand. The following day, he helps subdue a old man, who Mr. Gold absorbs into a hat. Only then, his hooked hand is restored. However, Mr. Gold blackmails him, with a security tape from the old man's house, which implicates Hook. Even more so, Mr. Gold erases himself from the tape, and he reveals the hand was never cursed, so Hook's fits of anger is his darkness coming to light. Later, at the sheriff's station, Hook sees Emma questioning Will about who bruised his face, but the latter reveals nothing. After some research, David announces the Snow Queen's residential name, Sarah Fisher, is not in the town censuses, so she did not come to Storybrooke due to a curse.

On Emma's request, Hook takes files from the mayor's office and brings them to the sheriff station where she and Elsa are continuing to look through records. Before leaving for sailing run with Henry, he asks Emma if there's anything else she needs him to do. Still locked up, Will watches a warm exchange between the couple and loudly comments that Hook is trying to be on good terms with the son, Henry, so he can do the same with Emma. Annoyed at the outburst, Hook warns Will to keep his opinion to himself. After giving Emma a kiss on her cheek, he then leaves for his playdate with Henry. After the day is over, Hook returns to the sheriff station where Emma opens up about a part of her past she has kept hidden until now. Turning on the television, she plays a camera recording of her younger self goofing off with another girl. The tape then cuts to other footage, which Emma doesn't recall, of herself in a new foster home as a boy toys with the camera. Suddenly, the foster mother, revealed to be the Snow Queen, approaches to turn the device off, as Hook and Emma look at the screen in shock.

As Belle, David, Henry, Mary Margaret, Mr. Gold and Regina gather at the sheriff station, Hook is present as the assembled group watch the footage Emma previously showed him. With only the Snow Queen's ice truck left to search, he searches the west of town along with Emma and Regina. After Robin Hood discovers the truck near his campsite, the trio enter and find a freezer, which Hook breaks open with his hook. Within it, Emma uncovers a newspaper clipping detailing how she was found by Pinocchio as an infant; proving the Snow Queen has been watching her from the start. When Emma looks through the whole file and discovers her old paintings and essays that the Snow Queen apparently kept, he speculates perhaps the two of them were once close. Of the most alarming item, there is a scroll written in ancient text. Arriving back at the sheriff station, Elsa shows Hook and Emma a pictorial family tree of the royals of Arendelle. In it, the Snow Queen is named as Ingrid and is Elsa's maternal aunt. Equally as surprising, Elsa's mother and Ingrid had another sister, Helga, who resembles Emma. Noticing the scroll, Elsa deciphers the message on it, which is that the savior, Emma, will become Ingrid's sister. Judging from the family tree, they realize Ingrid means to make Elsa and Emma her sisters. Belle reveals a past meeting with Anna, who was then captured by the Snow Queen. She also relates knowledge about Ingrid's mirror, which is key for casting a spell of shattered sight that will make everyone turn on each other.

From a spell Belle deciphered, Emma successfully binds Ingrid's magic after catching her put a mirror in the clock tower. While Ingrid is taken in by Emma for questioning at the station, Hook, David and Elsa examine the mirror. Belle warns against looking into the reflection since it will brainwash them, but she suddenly notices it's not the same one in the Snow Queen's lair. Realizing they have been duped, the group rush to Emma, but the station door has already been frozen shut by Ingrid. Storming into the pawnshop, the group once again request Mr. Gold's assistance, and he only agrees after much imploring from Belle. As they exits, Hook purposely stays and suspiciously regards Mr. Gold's calm demeanor about the Snow Queen's presence. He suspects wonders if they have history together, but Mr. Gold states that's solely his own business. Joined by Henry and Mary Margaret, everyone arrives to the station as an explosion tears open a hole in the building. A shaken Emma explains the Snow Queen got away, but she herself caused the combustion. Fearing her powers are out of control, she refuses to allow anyone near. However, when Hook and David attempt to help her, she accidentally collapses a streetlight. It almost falls on Hook, though David pushes him out of the way and takes the hit. In the heat of the moment, Mary Margaret reprimands Emma, who is visibly hurt by her mother's response. Upon seeing her daughter's expression, Mary Margaret retracts her anger, but a frightened Emma flees and drives off in her car. That night, Hook, David and Elsa search for Emma to no avail.

Despite an all-night hunt, Hook, David, Elsa and Mary Margaret return home without finding Emma. Henry, having sneaked out to look for his mother, returns with an injury Emma caused. He explains finding her in the woods with her powers are still out of control. Mary Margaret receives a call from Emma, who insists on getting rid of her powers. Hook, lying about leaving his phone in David's truck, goes to fetch it, though he actually goes to chase down Emma. Believing she is going to Mr. Gold for help, Hook arrives at the empty pawnshop. Via phone, he warns Emma about Mr. Gold's motive to absorb her into a hat and take all her magic. Hook also outs the secret he's been keeping from her due to wanting to be a good enough man for her. Seeing Emma's hand print and a map circled with a location, he promptly rushes to the destination; a remote manor. Before Hook can burst in, Mr. Gold antagonizes him about his voice mail message, which he has already erased from Emma's phone. Mr. Gold then shackles Hook against a fence, but surprisingly, Emma doesn't go through with stripping her magic. While Hook relishes at the Dark One's failure, Mr. Gold reveals what he actually requires to be free of the dagger's will, which is the heart of a person who knew him before he acquired his powers. Thus, Mr. Gold rips out Hook's heart with intentions of using him as a puppet. For the time, Hook is allowed to leave, to which he reunites with Emma and her family. Trouble brews again, however, when Elsa and Emma notice ribbons on their left wrists, which begin absorbing their magic into Ingrid's ribbon; allowing the Snow Queen to cast the spell of shattered sight.

In the clock tower, Hook and his allies witness the cloud formation of Ingrid's spell, which will take effect by sundown. At first, they try to flee town by scaling the ice wall, but the barricade is too powerful. A fissure in the ice reveals Anna's lost necklace, which Elsa retrieves and she believes is a sign they will defeat Ingrid. Emma sends Hook to the docks for a possible escape plan by boat. As he looks at the sea with a scope, the ice wall rises from beneath the waves to block off any exit routes. Mr. Gold tasks Hook with using the hat on the nuns, who are currently working on a counter spell to ward off Ingrid's curse. Hook criticizes him for killing the cure that could save everyone while Mr. Gold only cares about Belle and Henry; both of whom he intends to leave town with once the curse arrives. Belle, assisting the nuns, insists on staying to help them, despite that Mr. Gold needs her at the pawnshop, which is a lie to get her out of the way before Hook uses the hat. Emma, her parents and Regina arrive to turn in the necklace to make the counter spell, but they realize too late that Elsa duped them and kept the real pendant to continue locating Anna. After Anna has been found by Elsa and Emma, Belle departs with Mr. Gold, and Hook absorbs the nuns, including Mother Superior, into the hat. He later confronts Mr. Gold about choosing Belle's love over power. Mr. Gold claims he can have both, and takes back the hat. When Hook asks if they are done, Mr. Gold ominously promises his life will be over once morning comes. Knowing his end is near, Hook meets with Emma, though she assumes he is saying farewell due to the curse. They share a goodbye kiss, and he goes to chain himself down at the docks.

When the curse infiltrates town, Hook finds himself surprisingly unaffected by it since he is without his heart. Mr. Gold, making preparations to take Belle to the town line, asks Hook to do the same with Henry. To free the boy from wherever Emma or Regina have hidden him, Mr. Gold gives him a potion. Hook investigates the mayor's office where Henry, from inside, hurls insults at him. Using the potion, Hook brings down a barrier around the office so he can go in. However, he falls into Henry's rigged trap, to which the boy seizes the chance to escape. As he attempts to follow, Will blocks the door and tries to give the pirate comeuppance for previously beating him up. After knocking Will out, Hook pursues Henry without finding him anywhere. He reports this to Mr. Gold, who still believes his intent to leave town will happen as planned. Desperate to keep Emma and the townspeople safe, Hook asks him not to hurt them. Mr. Gold professes that the residents have nothing to fear from him once he crosses the town line if they do not get in his way. However, he makes no such promises for the people outside of Storybrooke.

At the town line, Hook witnesses Elsa tear down the ice wall. Even so, some of Ingrid's magic remains and this prevents those who leave Storybrooke from re-entering. To return home, the Arendelle natives rely on Emma to find a portal. As his heart is squeezed by Mr. Gold, Hook tells him about the current situation. Knowing Belle's past affinity with Anna, Mr. Gold wishes for his wife to remain ignorant of her presence. Catching on, Hook recalls Anna is also familiar with the Sorcerer's hat. Mr. Gold orders him to keep Anna away from the pawnshop. The two men are later led by the Apprentice's broom to an abandoned mansion. On the way there, Hook vows, in his next life, he'll make Mr. Gold pay for enslaving him. Inside the mansion, he learns a powerful Sorcerer once brought Ingrid to this land by portal, and now, the Apprentice's broom is leading them to it. Once the portal door is unveiled, Mr. Gold assumes controls Hook via his heart and has the pirate inform Emma about the new development. She senses something amiss, but he, unable to disobey Mr. Gold's commands, reassured her nothing is wrong. Upon departure, Hook rebels by briefly grabbing Emma's wrist. At night, he is taken to the clock tower where the stars in the sky sync with the stars in the hat. Emma and Mary Margaret attempt to intervene just as Mr. Gold begins crushing Hook's heart. Armed with the real dagger, Belle forces Mr. Gold to drop the heart before commanding him to bring himself as well as her to the town line. In the aftermath, Emma restores Hook's heart and the two embrace each other with a kiss.

During the six weeks after Mr. Gold's departure, Hook and Belle research a spell for freeing the nuns from the hat. One morning, he meets Emma outside the pawnshop, giving her a cup of coffee, before they walk to the library. As she parts from him, he stops to greet Belle, who is opening the library door. Once inside, Hook studies a board complied with information about the missing nuns, and in anger over the lack of progress, he knocks if off the wall. Belle assures him that they have a spell to release the nuns as well as the Apprentice, but it'll take time since she is consulting outside sources to translate it. When Hook expresses guilt for imprisoning the Apprentice and anger about Mr. Gold's trickery, she recognizes her own weakness in not seeing her husband for what he was due to being blinded by love. She believes Hook dealt with the same, except his love for Emma was used against him by Mr. Gold. Hook talks about something Mr. Gold was right about; love is a weapon and is as dangerous as magic, Despite the bad things her husband did, Hook asserts Mr. Gold did truly love her, a claim that makes Belle cry. Later in the day, she receives an email from an Oxford professor, not knowing it is Mr. Gold, who gives her the translation, to which Regina uses the dagger to perform a ceremony on the hat. The nuns return safely, and while everyone basks in the reunion, none of them see a Chernabog being released from the hat and flying off. At the diner, while the nuns are welcomed back, Emma finds Hook brooding in the hall, feeling ashamed about trapping the nuns in the hat, but she considers that to be Mr. Gold's fault, not his. When the Chernabog makes itself known to the townspeople, Hook ducks behind a building as he, Belle, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina brainstorm a solution. After Emma and Regina temporarily stun the beast with their combined magic, they force the creature across the town line, where it ceases to exist. During the evening, Hook spends time with Emma at the diner as they watch Henry scour the storybook with a magnifying glass for clues on the Author.

Walking with Emma to the diner, Hook passes by Ursula, who knowingly enunciates his name. In a rush, David whisks Emma to sheriff duty, although she and Hook had plans, in order to investigate Cruella and Ursula's movements. Grabbing a grilled cheese sandwich from the diner, Hook later delivers it to Emma at the sheriff's office. She inquiries about his past with Ursula, but he won't admit to anything except that he knew her. Sometime after this, Emma calls him to the sheriff's office, where she reassures him that it's okay to have secrets, but he should not lie to her about it. She asks Hook to tell her the truth in his own time, and whatever it is, it won't change her opinion of him. Taking a page from her parents, Emma decides to believe the best in him. As they lean in to kiss, David and Mary Margaret, who were listening in and didn't want to interrupt, make themselves known. To Emma, they inform her that Cruella and Ursula have revived Maleficent.

As Regina succeeds in infiltrating Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula's inner circle, she fails to report back to David and Mary Margaret, which worries them. Checking in with Granny, Hook learns Regina and the trio spent the night drinking and trashing the diner. Later, he, Emma, David and Mary Margaret in the library to meet up with Regina, who tells them that the villains want the Author to rewrite stories so they win and the heroes lose, and to do that, they want her to steal something for the mission. Emma wishes to be nearby if something goes wrong, which Regina reluctantly agrees to, after much insistence from the blonde. Meanwhile, Mr. Gold dons Hook's appearance to mislead Belle into believing the villains want the dagger to control the Dark One and find the Author. After she forfeits the blade to him so he can hide it, Mr. Gold regains the weapon for himself. Later in the night, Maleficent tasks Regina with kidnapping Pinocchio and bringing him to a cabin, where Mr. Gold reverts the boy into August.

Hook joins Emma and her parents as they attempt to find where the villains took Pinocchio. Regina, channeling her essence, temporarily possesses Mary Margaret, telling them of Mr. Gold's return and that August is being interrogated about the Author. They ask Belle to turn over the dagger in order to stop Mr. Gold, but she recalls giving the weapon to Hook. He denies having it, which reveals Mr. Gold pretended to be him to get the dagger. Upset at the crocodile's trickery, Hook darkly suggests he should have stabbed him with the cursed blade when given the chance, even if it meant making himself the new Dark One. While the others go rescue August, Hook bargains with Ursula, promising to restore her singing voice, in exchange for details on Mr. Gold's plans. Since the shell containing her voice is on the Jolly Roger, which is still in the Enchanted Forest, he provides her with a rigging piece from the ship so she can haul the vessel to Storybrooke via a portal. She retrieves the ship, now shrunken and encased in a bottle, and with help from a magic concoction, it is restored to normal size. Below deck, Hook returns the shell to Ursula, but she cannot reabsorb her singing voice. She then nulls their deal, believing only the Author can give her what she desires, as Hook angrily pulls a gun on her. Knocked out by her, he is then thrown into the sea, where Ariel rescues him. With her help, he brings Ursula's father, Poseidon, to his daughter so he can restore her voice. Recalling his past as a villain, Hook tells Emma about his fears of losing her since the storybook supposedly never gives happy endings to villains. Later, Ursula informs him that Mr. Gold wants to make Emma evil so she is no longer a savior, and only then, the Author can change the villains' fates.

Regrouping at the apartment, Hook relays the information Ursula told him to David and Mary Margaret. Besides the fact the villains want Emma to become evil, they are going to use the Author to turn her. When Emma comes home after dropping off an ill August at the nunnery, he reiterates the same news to her. Hook sees the Author as a true threat, but Emma is certain only she can decide her own fate. As an upset Mary Margaret storms out, David goes to console her. Noticing Emma is still thinking about August, Hook jealously points out that she cares for him. Emma clears up the misunderstanding, relating how she has had trouble making friends, and August is her first true friend in a long time. Outside the window, they catch a glimpse of a wave of purple magic, courtesy of Maleficent, which puts the whole town to sleep. Henry, immune to the spell, flees to the mansion to keep the illustration hidden. While Hook and Emma are out cold, Regina misleads the villains to the apartment in search of the door illustration, but they do not find it there. Later, after the spell is lifted, David and Mary Margaret finally confess to Emma about the past deal they went through to ensure she would not become evil at the cost of Maleficent's child. Shocked by the truth, a shaken Emma disappears to the docks, where Hook finds her after David and Mary Margaret ask him to talk to her, but she is still feeling conflicted about the issue. Once he informs her about August's improved condition, Emma goes to visit him with intentions of freeing the Author from the illustration.

When the Author ends up loose in town, Hook joins Emma, her parents and Henry as they search the woods, but they do not find him.

Hook learns from Regina that Mr. Gold is in league with Zelena, who has been pretending to be Marian this whole time. While she decides to rescue Robin Hood in New York, the plan is halted once Cruella threatens her and Emma by kidnapping Henry, asking them to kill the Author or she'll kill the boy. Hook joins Regina to scour the forest near the Toll Bridge for Cruella as both of them attempt to persuade Emma into forgiving her parents. He recalls how Emma was able to see past the bad in himself and Regina, but she considers how her parents have pretended to be nothing but virtuous when they actually aren't. Hearing Henry's cry for help in different directions, the three split up, but the paths Hook and Regina take end up being decoys set by Mr. Gold to lead Emma into killing Cruella.

In the aftermath of Cruella's death by Emma, she finds out Mr. Gold set her up and wants him to answer for it, but Hook advises her against it. Eventually, Maleficent agrees to an alliance with the savior if she finds her daughter Lilith, a person Emma discovers is actually her childhood friend Lily. Since they both have missions outside of town, Emma and Regina prepare to leave together. Hook bids Emma farewell, cautioning her from his own experience that vengeance is tempting, and she must resist the darkness by remembering the people she is living for.

Hearing that Emma is returning to town without having gone dark, Hook triumphantly announces this to Mr. Gold, whose plans for an evil savior have been halted. After having a warm reunion with Hook and Henry, Emma avoids her parents, before introducing Lily to Maleficent. Hook then takes Emma to the dock, where they view the horizon and he persuades her into forgiving her parents. He agrees that they messed up by lying to her, but they did it with good intentions of protecting her. The couple later find David nursing a wounded Mary Margaret after Lily, in dragon form, attacked her. Going by Hook's advice, Emma reconciles with Mary Margaret, realizing her mother made a human mistake out of a desire to protect her.

After August presents a drawing of the Apprentice, who they need to stop Isaac from changing everyone's stories, Hook recognizes him as the man Mr. Gold trapped in the hat. With Mother Superior's magic, the Apprentice is freed and ushers everyone to find the door illustration for imprisoning Isaac. While Hook searches the loft for it, Isaac manages to rewrite new lives for everyone in the Heroes and Villains book.

During Alternate Reality
In this alternate world, Hook becomes the cowardly deckhand of Blackbeard, captain of the Jolly Roger. One day, Henry seeks Hook to take him to the Bottomless Sea to rescue Emma from a tower, but he soon finds out Blackbeard is the actual captain in this timeline. Blackbeard agrees to let them go if Hook defeats him in a duel, but the latter meekly shirks away to resume scrubbing the deck. Henry then knocks out Blackbeard and seizes control of the ship. When they arrive at their destination, Hook plays along with Henry's plan to infiltrate the tower by bringing him in as a fake prisoner. After taking out a black knight, Henry frees Emma and the pair sail away with Hook on the ship. The black knight, actually a dragon, chases after them until Hook and Emma work together to defeat it. Reaching land, Emma attempts to teach Hook how to fight, but they are found by Snow White. Her henchman, Prince Charming, kills Hook, while Emma and Henry have no choice but to flee.

Before Third Curse
Once Henry restores the original timeline, Emma reunites with Hook, nearly declaring her love for him after having lost him in the alternate reality, but she backs out at the last moment. With Mr. Gold's demise nearing, the Apprentice traps the darkness in his heart into the hat, but it escapes into town. Unwilling to let Regina be taken by the darkness, Emma tells Hook that she loves him, before allowing herself to be turned into the new Dark One.

After Emma has disappeared, Hook picks up the fallen dagger, attempting to summon her, only for it to fail, proving she has fled to another realm. He and the others learn from the Apprentice that Emma has gone to the Enchanted Forest, and to get there, someone with both light and dark essence must use his wand to cross realms. Regina fails to activate the wand, which, as Hook ironically points out, is because she has done too much good. Hook suggests Zelena wield the wand, and while Zelena provides them with information about using something important of Emma's with the wand, Regina refuses to let her sister use magic. Hook asks Henry to use the quill to remove Emma's darkness, but the boy admits he broke it, believing it had too much power. With no other options, Hook sneaks into Zelena's cell so she can use the wand, and he attempts to rip out her heart as leverage, but she already has a protection spell on her heart. When Zelena grabs Hook's knife and swings it, the pirate recoils, thinking she means to kill him, but instead, she cuts off her left hand, to get rid of the magic absorbing bracelet, before reattaching her hand and teleporting out. They are too late to stop Zelena from taking Robin hostage, and Regina gives her the wand to secure his safety. Zelena creates a cyclone, but it drains her magic, to which Regina reclasps the bracelet on her. Hook and the others seek shelter in the diner, where Regina redirects the cyclone, and the diner is taken to the Enchanted Forest.

After their arrival to the Enchanted Forest, Hook and his allies stop Emma from crushing Merida's heart, before they are approached by King Arthur and his knights, who believe they are prophesied to reunite them with Merlin. The whole group is then led to King Arthur's castle in Camelot.

At the castle, King Arthur introduces the group to his Queen, Guinevere, and he announces there will be a ball held in their honor. To help them understand where Merlin is, Arthur shows them a tree in the courtyard which the sorcerer is trapped in, and when he asks which of them is the prophesied savior, Regina claims the title, in order to keep Arthur from finding out Emma is the Dark One. At the ball, Hook and Emma dance together, and all is well, until Percival tries to attack Regina, and Robin Hood steps in to protect her, getting injured in the process. Emma prepares to stop Percival with her dark powers, but Hook stops her from intervening. Eventually, David kills Percival. Regina, unable to heal Robin, begs Emma to try. Emma revives Robin, but when she realizes using magic is making her skin turn scaly, she suddenly kisses Hook, hoping it will help. Hook senses something is wrong, but she feigns fatigue and excuses herself downstairs to rest.

The night David is knighted by Arthur and bestowed the Siege Perilous seat, Hook and the others are present for the ceremony.

As Hook is walking through a hallway in the castle, he unexpectedly dodges a magical blast from Emma, who he finds in a frantic state in Regina's room. He hugs her in comfort, while Emma can only muster to tell him that there is someone inside her head and she can't get him out. A short time later, Emma lies down, stuck in a catatonic state, leaving Hook and Emma's family unsure how to help her. Going by Regina's suggestion that Emma needs privacy to recuperate, Henry knows of such a place, and he eventually leads Emma and Hook to stables owned by Violet, a girl he has become friends with. Once he and Emma are alone, Hook learns from her about the apparition of Rumplestiltskin that she's been seeing, as a result of becoming the Dark One. To take her mind off of this, Hook takes her riding. He instructs her into introducing herself to the horse, but the steed becomes frightened of her, sensing her darkness. Undeterred, Hook tells her to get on the horse with him, convincing her that they still have a future together in Storybrooke once her darkness is removed. After a brisk ride, they stop in a empty meadow, where Hook gives her a middlemist flower, as she looks around in amazement, seeing the meadow is now populated with blooming middlemists. With her mind completely at ease and the apparition of Rumplestiltskin gone, Emma shares a kiss with Hook.

Once Emma reverts Merlin to human form, she and some of her allies regroup in the diner. As Hook and the others watch, the great sorcerer helps to undo the enchanted sand's effects on David and Mary Margaret. Merlin confirms he can remove Emma's darkness, but the darkness may have taken root inside of her where no one can see it, and for him to remove it, her heart must be ready to be free.

With Merlin's magical help to distract the dungeon soldiers, Hook and David storm in to take out the guards by surprise. After evading more soldiers, they reach Lancelot's prison cell and unexpectedly find an imprisoned Merida as well. Merlin frees both of them before everyone escapes the dungeon to return to the diner.

While Merlin tells the heroes the plan to rid Emma's darkness by reforging Excalibur with the dagger, Hook peers out the window, seeing an insomniac Emma making dreamcatchers. The sorcerer and Emma will retrieve the flame of Prometheus needed for uniting the two weapons, and as for everyone else, they'll get the sword from Arthur. Hook asks what method Merlin foresees in how they obtain Excalibur, but the latter admits there are many possible paths to be taken. This angers Hook, who dislikes Merlin's unspecific answers about whether things will work out or not, especially considering Emma's current state. Merlin sympathizes with Hook, knowing what it's like to lose a loved one to the darkness, but he assures him that once both quests are complete, Emma will get better. As Emma prepares to leave with Merlin, Hook gifts her a ring necklace, which she mistakes as an impromptu marriage proposal. He explains that the ring symbolizes his survival nature, and now, he wants her to have it as a reminder that he loves her and is waiting for her return. In turn, Emma declares her love for him, and she parts from him after a kiss. During discussion about breaking into Arthur's castle, Zelena convinces them that the best way to get in is without attracting attention, and she shows them an abandoned tunnel leading to the castle courtyard. Though the heroes corner Arthur, they are blindsided by Zelena, who holds Mary Margaret as her hostage to get them to back down. Zelena, freed of her cuff with Arthur's help, tethers Merlin to Excalibur, allowing Arthur to summon the sorcerer, ordering him disarm the group and then send them away.

Hook and his allies are held hostage as Arthur forces Merlin to deliver an ultimatum to Emma; hand over the flame ember or her family and friends die. Emma agrees to comply if her loved ones are released first, but when Zelena threatens to start killing either Hook or David, she forfeits the box containing the ember. Zelena opens the box, only for coils of Emma's dark magic to wrap her to a tree, to which Arthur orders Merlin to fight Emma, whom he bests in a magical duel, before commanding him to kill Mary Margaret. Merlin is briefly able to stop himself from choking Mary Margaret, while Hook pulls off a chain around his hook hand and then rushes at Arthur, who nicks him on the neck with Excalibur. Hook punches Arthur, making him drop the sword, before forcing the king to retreat with Zelena. Sometime after Emma heals Hook's cut, she admits to not being ready to let go of her darkness because she loves Hook and wants a future with him, but her fears about facing this change is holding her back. With his reassurance that things will be fine, Emma ignites the ember. Back at the diner, she begins combining the sword and dagger with the flame, but suddenly, Hook's neck wound re-manifests and he collapses in pain. Since his injury came from Excalibur, as the weapon is meant to sever ties to immortality, he cannot be healed. Hook tries to persuade Emma that their future is now and all that matters is she unites two weapons. She, refusing to accept this, teleports with him to the middlemist field, hoping to tether him to Excalibur and save his life, even if it means making him a Dark One like her. Hook insists she has to let him go because he won't be strong enough to fight the darkness, and that he'll die with relief knowing she still has a future without him. After Hook passes out, Emma sobs that being without him is not good enough for her. Using the sword, she bonds Hook's life to it, causing him to disappear from the field.

Hook's body reappears inside the vault, where he awakens and finds himself being surrounded by a mass of darkness, as he painfully relives his past sorrows of losing both Milah and Emma because of the crocodile's actions. After the dark goo completely covers him, he is pulled up out of the vault, with the darkness receding away to reveal he is now garbed in a long sleeved cloak. The apparition of Rumplestiltskin tempts him with accepting the darkness, which will help with getting his revenge on his nemesis. While Hook continues to try and ignore the darkness, Rumplestiltskin suggests he can enact another curse to reach Mr. Gold in Storybrooke, particularly when there is a loophole around whose heart he sacrifices to the curse. Just then, Emma catches up with Hook, who is furious at her for forcing him back into darkness. When he asks where Excalibur is, since he's now tethered to it, Emma lies about it being missing. To get rid of Rumplestiltskin, Emma reminds him of their future in the house he picked out. On the journey back to their allies, Hook goes to collect more water, when he begins hearing the dagger calling for Excalibur. After Rumplestiltskin reveals Emma has it, Hook confronts her, forcing her to come clean. He questions if she used the sword to control him, and though Emma attests she did not, he is upset that she lied and apparently doesn't trust him enough to make his own choices anymore. Hook teleports away, but he is forced to appear before Emma after she summons him with Excalibur. She apologizes him for lying, and as proof of her trust and belief in him, she returns the sword to him. Seemingly placated, Hook returns to the diner with her, where he goes into the building to get Merlin so their darkness can be removed. Instead, Hook rips out Merlin's heart and crushes it for the curse, since Nimue lives in Hook and Merlin is the thing she loves most. Hoping to find a way to restore him to his old self, Emma absorbs Hook's memories of the last six weeks into a dreamcatcher, and she does the same with everyone else, before the curse is enacted.

After Third Curse
Upon arrival to Storybrooke, Hook and the others crash to the floor from the impact of the diner dropping onto the ground, and as they get up, the group realize they are still in Camelot attire, and the last thing anyone recalls is entering King Arthur's castle. Emma, in order to keep Hook's secret under wraps, enters and professes that she will punish them for what they did to her.

Entering the pawnshop, Hook asks Belle about true love's kiss and why it didn't work for her and Mr. Gold. She explains that it did the first time, but because Mr. Gold was scared of a life without magic, he pulled away, causing the darkness to regain its grip on him. As soon as she tells him this, Hook begins leaving, desperate to try true love's kiss on Emma, but Belle cautions him to be careful since it is easier to hate a Dark One than it is to love one. Standing over the yellow bug, Hook mumbles about not wanting to summon Emma, who promptly hears him and magically appears behind him. She teleports him to the front of her new house, and invites him in, playfully reasoning that they can still be together. Hook spots a locked door to the basement and starts walking towards it, but Emma stops him, giving him a glass of alcohol. With other plans in mind, Hook kisses her, but after a moment, he despairs over true love's kiss having no effect on her. Emma insists it failed because she doesn't need fixing, while Hook asks about what happened in Camelot, though she doesn't provide a straight answer. She tries to charm him into staying, but Hook leaves. That night, he spends time at the diner drinking when Belle drops by. Hook tells her the kiss didn't work, but he won't stop fighting to bring Emma back. Later, they share a drink together.

Hook walks into the diner, where he sees Robin looking at a phone, so he offers to help him learn how to use it. Robin explains he's looking at the inside of Zelena, causing much disgust from the pirate, until the latter states it's an image of the baby. Though the situation is messed up, Robin is happy about the child, despite not wanting Regina to know about it, fearing she will mistake his happiness for something else. Regarding his own complex love life, Hook mentions a locked door in Emma's house, and as he begins explaining his plan to get in there, Granny drops a takeout bag on the counter with a note from Emma asking him to meet her on his ship. Below deck, Hook sets the takeout bag on a table, and when he turns around, Emma magically appears. She apologizes for her behavior last time and asks him to have lunch with her like they used to. In an instant, Emma sets up their meal and changes into the same dress and hairstyle she had on their first date. As the ship sails, Hook gets straight to the point, asking what is behind the door in her house. When she doesn't answer, Hook notes she is not the old Emma, as the person he knew didn't play games. Emma affirms she is better as the Dark One, free of her past closed-minded and judgmental personality, and suggests they can be together if he is willing. Hook is appalled at this, to which she exemplifies Mr. Gold, who used to be a coward and didn't find true love until becoming the Dark One. Recalling that Hook told her about how Mr. Gold had groveled at him, Emma believes that Mr. Gold became better after the change. Hook owns up to being the villain then, and he explains how he had pointed a sword at Mr. Gold, who was a good man trying to keep his family together, but becoming the Dark One made him evil and manipulative, while Hook himself became better. Emma changes the subject, taking the sword, and tries to remind him of how she taught him to swordfight in the alternate reality. Tired of her games, Hook calls her out for wanting something from him. She asks if he loves her, promising to leave if he doesn't, but he states he loved her, causing her to depart shortly after. Returning to the diner, Hook asks Robin to help him break into Emma's house.

In the sheriff's station, Hook is present as Grif's disappearance is noted, with Arthur suggesting Grif escaped back to Camelot with a magic bean. Upset about how this news will affect her people, as the bean was their only hope of returning home, Guinevere believes they must do something to raise everyone's spirits, leading Henry to suggesting a town dance as a much needed distraction. As they all leave the sheriff's station together, Belle runs up, reporting that Mr. Gold is missing. While Henry preoccupies Emma with another Operation Cobra mission, Hook goes with Belle, Regina and Robin to break into Emma's house. After bypassing the door's protection spell with Henry's scarf, they wander into the basement, finding Excalibur in a stone and noting that the sword's markings are the same as the Dark One's dagger. Before they can search the rest of the house, Regina receives a text from Henry, warning that Emma is on her way back. As they scramble to leave before she returns, a box catches Hook's eye, and he opens it to reveal a dreamcatcher inside. Regina, having knowledge about magical purposes of dreamcatchers, realizes Emma must have used them to take her and everyone else's memories. That night, during a town carnival, Hook tells Arthur, Guinevere, David and Mary Margaret about the basement find. Suspecting Arthur may be hiding key information, he probes him about the sword and dagger's connection. Finally, Arthur admits knowing the dagger is Excalibur's missing blade, and when combined together, it can extinguish the darkness, but in Emma's hands, she may use it to snuff out the light.

Hook learns from Regina that Emma revealed they were indeed successful with freeing Merlin six weeks earlier. To find out why Emma's darkness wasn't removed then, Regina plans to use a crimson crown to talk to the sorcerer, though they need Arthur's help enacting the spell, as only someone chosen by Merlin can use the crimson crown. Belle prompts the group to consider getting direct help from Mr. Gold instead, but Hook disagrees, believing the crocodile has already used up too many chances to be good. David and Regina suggest Merlin is their best bet to help Emma, and that they will have to take the risk of leaving Mr. Gold at Emma's mercy for now. After Belle goes to save Mr. Gold on her own, the heroes gather in the vault, with the prepared spell brew. Upon Arthur's arrival, he asks for privacy to use the crimson crown, explaining that Merlin only ever spoke to him when no other people were around. Hook and everyone else leave to wait outside the vault, and after a time, Arthur exits to inform them the spell failed. As proof of Arthur's sabotage, David later finds the charred, but still magically intact crimson crown in the burnt out cauldron fire. With Henry being the only other person who was chosen by Merlin, he is called in to enact the spell. Rather than direct communication with the sorcerer, the group view a prerecorded hologram message from Merlin, who tells them to look for Nimue, the person they need for defeating the Dark One.

After David confronts Arthur about ruining the plan, Arthur flees into the woods as Hook pursues him. Arthur disarms Hook and prepares to stab him, but Emma protects him by knocking Arthur unconscious. Hook tries to get the truth from Emma about what happened in Camelot, to which she states that everything is for his sake. With Arthur imprisoned, Hook demands answers from him, thinking he knows what Emma means, but David stops the interrogation after it's clear that Arthur has nothing to offer. Mr. Gold, recognizing that Emma is regretful about something she did, advises him to seek answers from her. When she doesn't show up after Hook calls for her, he jumps from a roof, forcing Emma to save him. Hook apologizes for what he said last time, and after reaffirming that he still loves her no matter what she's done, he persuades her into being honest with him by telling her some of the awful things he's done during his pirating days. Emma reveals the house she currently has was actually his idea for their future together, and that everything she's doing is to keep that future intact. Hook wants to hear the rest of her story, but then she draws him into a kiss and admits she can't tell him the truth now because he'll try to stop her from accomplishing her mission. Dizzy from the kiss, he passes out and wakes up in the basement with Zelena, where Emma declares her plan to put the darkness in Zelena and kill her to ensure the Dark One line is extinguished. Using his enchanted hook, he rips off Zelena's bracelet, restoring her magic so she can free him. Hook finds hidden squid ink and paralyzes Emma with it as he once again demands the truth from her. With unexpected "help" from Zelena, he sees his lost memories in a dreamcatcher, which reveal Emma made him a Dark One after he was fatally injured by Excalibur. Hook is in disbelief until Zelena gives him Excalibur, unmasking his name from the sword, which Emma had hid with a cloaking spell. Only then, he realizes Emma saved him from Arthur in the woods, and then again when he jumped from the roof because she didn't want him finding out about his immortality.

In the aftermath, Hook steals parts of Emma's memories so she will forget what his ultimate goal is, before allowing Zelena to put the cuff on Emma. At some point after leaving, he takes all the dreamcatchers from Emma's house shed, hiding them in the clock tower and putting a protection spell on them. Believing he finally has the means to kill his nemesis, Hook challenges Mr. Gold to a duel to the death on the Jolly Roger. While Excalibur, in its complete form, can no longer control him, he dares the crocodile to steal the sword from him during the fight, as Excalibur is capable of killing a Dark One. Going back to Regina's house, Hook knocks out Merida, who is guarding Emma, before confronting his former love. He cruelly thanks Emma for helping to open his eyes, naming her a pretty blonde distraction, as now he has nothing holding him back from his revenge. Emma insists that the darkness is helping him get his revenge only because it'll help the darkness get what it wants, though Hook doesn't care what the darkness does as long as he gets his due. He reasons that Emma should understand him since she was just as selfish, but she justifies her actions were for his sake. To this, Hook alleges that she is a self-sabotager, with her fears of losing her loved ones leading her to push them away, which in turn, will make her the orphan she always has been. Emma, on the brink of tears because of his callous words, asks why he is behaving like this, to which he declares he wants to hurt her like she hurt him. Before the duel begins, Hook fixes Mr. Gold's limp, so there will be a fair fight. At one point, Mr. Gold stabs Hook cleanly through his chest, but it has no effect since he didn't use Excalibur. Hook then slashes him with his hooked hand, but then, Mr. Gold drops a pulley weight on him, making Hook drop Excalibur. Instead of killing him with the sword, Mr. Gold spares him, wanting him to taste defeat at the hands of his worst enemy. That night, Hook fulfills the darkness' plan to open a portal to the underworld. With the blood of Mr. Gold, who has been to the underworld and back, he opens the gateway, allowing Nimue and the previous Dark Ones to arrive into town.

Finding Mr. Gold after Belle has dumped him, Hook gloats about Mr. Gold loving power more than anything, and the fact he took that power away from him. When Mr. Gold bitingly remarks that Hook hasn't even fully utilized power, the latter cautions that what he has planned will prove otherwise. Later, after the Dark Ones have branded some of the townspeople with the mark of Charon, Regina attempts to talk Hook out of getting back at Emma by damning her loved ones to the Underworld, but he ignores her plea, believing she knows by experience how far someone will go for revenge. Regina considers that he wasn't the man he was then when she recruited him to kill her mother, and how she tested him to ensure he had no weaknesses. Before she can bring up the weakness in question, Hook magically constricts her throat, warning her to never speak of it again because she doesn't know what he's capable of now. Knowing Emma wants to sacrifice herself to remove all the darkness, Hook tries to convince her to give Excalibur to him. He justifies that if she can't die since he owes her for helping him becoming the man he is. When Emma asserts that the Killian she knew didn't care about revenge, Hook quips that he did, except Emma briefly distracted him. He blames her for saving him without thinking of how it would change him, and now, her family will die. She tries to kill him, but Hook tricks her into giving him the sword by reappearing as Henry in disguise. As Charon's arrival draws near, Regina presses Hook to remember the choice he made with his father, and to ask himself what kind of man he wants to be now. While Nimue is choking Emma, Hook does nothing, until deciding to absorb all the darkness into himself. He asks Emma to kill him, which she tearfully does. Both of them revert to their old selves after losing their powers, and Hook dies from his neck wound shortly thereafter. However, once Emma discovers Mr. Gold used Hook's sacrifice to regain his Dark One powers, she forces him to reopen the Underworld portal, so she can rescue Hook.

After arriving to the Underworld, Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret, David, Mr. Gold, and Robin split up to look for Hook. Mary Margaret enters the diner to ask around and offers details of what Hook looks like to the Blind Witch. The witch, although she hasn't seen Hook, correctly guesses that's who she is looking for. The group find no sign of Hook, until Mr. Gold procures magic ale from an old adversity, which Emma pours over Hook's tombstone to make contact with him. For a few seconds, Hook's spirit materializes into view, with his face bloody and broken. Emma attempts to attract his attention, but Hook is unresponsive, and his spirit eventually fades away, giving Emma the impression that he doesn't know she's come for him.

In an underground prison, Hook awakes after his encounter with Emma, intent on escaping and finding her. Another captive, Megara, warns him it's not possible because Cerberus won't let either of them leave, but Hook persuades her into coming with him. As Cerberus closes in on them, Hook sends Megara to find the exit on her own, asking her to tell Emma where he is. Left to feud for himself, he ends up severely wounded by Cerberus, until Hades has been brought to his lair. Hook threatens to kill the Underworld lord, but Hades laughs at his, stating that he is far from lenient. In an attempt to shake things up, Hades delivers the pirate's bloody hook to Emma, telling her that he will do much worse to Killian. With two more souls out of Hades' grasp, after Hercules and Megara leave for Mount Olympus, Hades gives Hook an ultimatum, in which he will decide which of his three friends stay in the Underworld, because of the three souls they've helped move on.

Refusing to follow Hades' orders, Hook finds himself in an even more dire situation, when Hades straps him to a chain hanging over the river of lost souls, leaving him to be lowered down over time. With Milah's help, Mr. Gold and Emma venture underground to reach Hades' lair. Emma enters the lair alone, crossing a thin ledge, in order to grab Hook before the chain drops him further down into the river. Still weak from his injuries, Hook manages to choke out that she should have let him go after he died. Emma, stubborn as ever, admits she didn't listen, yet she knows that's a part of her he loves. Leaving the lair together, the pair reunite with Mr. Gold, who states Hades burned their boat and tossed Milah into the river. Hook is saddened over Milah's fate and vows that Hades will pay for this. Mr. Gold echoes in agreement, because unknown to Emma and Hook, he destroyed the boat and harmed Milah at Hades' behest, to secure his own trip home. After escaping the lair, Hook recuperates at the apartment, where Emma's family, Regina and Robin find the trio. Hook confronts Mr. Gold for using his sacrifice to regain his Dark One powers, but since Mr. Gold helped rescue him, he decides to call things even for now. Regina attempts a heart split between Emma and Hook, but a barrier prevents her from taking out Emma's heart. Afterwards, Hook shows everyone three headstones that Hades engraved with Regina, Snow and Emma's names, to make them stay in the Underworld, as a penalty for helping three people move on.

Relocating to her house, Emma fixes Hook's wounds with magic, but when she tries to kiss him, he turns away from her. Recalling his time as a Dark One, Hook expresses disgust at himself for being so weak, because he gave into darkness so quickly. Emma reasons that he wasn't in the end, but Hook thinks he simply doesn't measure up. She points out that she wouldn't have come to find him if he hadn't become good, though he is doubtful about whether he deserves saving. When his brother Liam seeks him out, Hook develops a theory that Hades has rigged everything so people can't move on, after Liam admits he doesn't know what his own unfinished business is. Going by Killian's idea about taking down Hades, Liam mentions those who tried to had spoken of a book. Suspecting the storybook can reveal Hades' weakness, they search the apartment for it. During this, Liam privately confronts Emma for being selfish about Killian's future and warns her to let him move on once they defeat Hades. They find the book in the Sorcerer's mansion, however, the pages for Hades' story are gone. Emma admits to Hook that she thinks Liam is hiding something, but he doesn't take her seriously. When she tries to confirm Liam took the pages, Hook accuses her of vilifying his brother to make him feel less guilty about going dark, and that they still have a future together in Storybrooke. He maintains there is no going back for him, and after Hades is overthrown, he won't be returning with her. Since her forgiveness of him is not enough, Emma stresses that Hook needs to forgive himself. After seeing ink from the pages on Liam's hand, Hook realizes his brother lied, just as Captain Silver and his crew reveal Liam killed them. The captain prepares to damn Liam and Killian into the fiery abyss, but Hades pushes the captain in instead, having his own plans for the Jones brothers. Hades wants to punish Hook in the same manner, but because of Liam's meddling, he sends Liam into the fire. Killian manages to grab onto his brother, who insists he has to pay for letting those sailors die. Because of this sacrifice, instead of Liam going to a worse place, the abyss opens a pathway to Mount Olympus. Before moving on, Liam encourages Killian to not push Emma away, since she wants the best for him. Reconciling with Emma, Hook thanks her for coming to save him, as he might be worth it after all.

Etymology

 * Hook is one of very few Enchanted Forest characters to have a known surname.
 * The Hook family coat of arms contains three fleurs-de-lis. Three fleurs-de-lis are also on Hook's pirate necklace.
 * In the original story, the character is known as James Hook.

Character Notes

 * Has a tattoo with Milah's name on his right wrist. It shows the Dark One's Dagger going through a heart.
 * Hook says that Peter Pan is the villain in Neverland, not he. J.M. Barrie's original draft of the play actually depicts Pan as the villain, kidnapping children from their beds. Captain Hook was only introduced later as a theatrical device to help stagehands change scenery.
 * When Killian is rallying his crew to take over the Jewel of the Realm and become pirates, he renames the ship Jolly Roger and says, "We'll sail under the crimson flag and give our enemies no quarter." During the Golden Age of Piracy, fighting under Jolly Roger, a black flag, meant that mercy would be given to all as long as they cooperated. Hoisting a red flag, on the other hand, signaled that "no quarter" would be given to any aboard if the ship's crew did not surrender without a fight; in other words, everyone aboard would be killed.
 * Hook is around two hundred years old by the time the second curse is broken.
 * In the Peter Pan novel, Captain Hook is described as a "boatswain to Blackbeard". This connection is alluded to in Isaac's storybook, where Hook works as a deckhand for Black Beard.
 * Hook is featured in the title card for "Devil's Due".

Production Notes

 * The casting call describes him as, "A handsome, fearsome and confident pirate ship captain, Hook relishes every challenge and never backs down from a fight, whether the reward is power, riches or women. He possesses the meticulous style and old-school manners of a proper gentleman, but beneath that veneer lies a vindictive enemy who will not rest until all his enemies have been defeated… and humiliated."
 * The show creators originally wanted Hook to be part of the first season, but weren't able to because of a copyright issue. In the second season, they finally got to venture into Peter Pan mythology.
 * Actor Gil McKinney, who portrays Prince Eric, once auditioned for the role of Hook.
 * Colin O'Donoghue's portrayal is inspired by Westley the Dread Pirate Roberts from the movie The Princess Bride.
 * His line to Emma, "As you wish", is a direct reference to the movie in which Westley says to Princess Buttercup, "As you wish", which actually means "I love you".
 * The show creators have stated that they look at Hook as their version of Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise.
 * Fittingly enough, Emma's alias in the Enchanted Forest is Princess Leia, Han Solo's love interest.
 * In "The Apprentice", Emma says to Hook, "You look...", and Hook answers, "I know". This is a reference to the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Princess Leia tells Han Solo that she loves him, and he answers, "I know". In "The Price", the lines are reversed, with Hook saying, "Swan, you look...", and she answers, "I know", mirroring the scene in Return of the Jedi, where Han Solo tells Leia that he loves her, and Leia answers, "I know".
 * The Star Wars connection is further alluded to in "Operation Mongoose Part 2", where Henry and Hook rescue Emma from prison, and Henry refers to this as the "Wookiee prisoner transfer" ploy. This is a reference to the scene from A New Hope, where Han Solo and Luke Skywalker enter the Death Star's detention area to rescue Princess Leia.
 * As the Dark One, Hook's magic smoke color is dark red, which is a reference to Disney's Captain Hook and the color of his clothes.

Props Notes

 * There is a navy officer doll and a knight doll near the baby crib in Emma's nursery room, foreshadowing events in "Good Form" and "The Jolly Roger".
 * After Rumplestiltskin takes Hook's sword in "The Crocodile", Hook begins using Milah's sword. This can be seen in episodes like "Queen of Hearts", "Lost Girl" and "The Jolly Roger".
 * There is a heart-shaped pirate keychain next to the swan keychain that Neal steals for Emma.
 * Among the sailing gear pictured on the cover on the nautical guide book which Belle consults, two are iron hooks.
 * One of the carousels in the amusement park, which young Emma visits with her foster mother, has pirate flags.

Costume Notes

 * Hook's wardrobe is inspired by the electronic band Depeche Mode.
 * His pirate coat weighs a staggering fifty pounds.
 * Hook's pirate necklace was designed by the Vancouver-based jewelry designer Bloodline Design.
 * During the filming of Season Two, Hook's earring had to be changed from a clear stone to a black stone because the other one broke. The new one first appears in "Manhattan".
 * In the close-up of Hook's hand as he clutches the magic bean aboard the Jolly Roger, the ring on his index finger has a heart design on the side with an engraving of a silhouette of a swan's head. This is a reference to Emma Swan, and a subtle foreshadowing of the events in "There's No Place Like Home".
 * Hook's new leather jacket for Season Four and Season Five is custom made by Vancouver's Ocean Drive Leather, which also designed several of Emma's leather jackets.
 * When Hook changes into his new Dark One outfit in the Enchanted Forest, the clasps on his vest are dragon-shaped, with their tails forming a trinity knot.
 * Young Killian's nightshirt is the same one worn by young John Darling in "Second Star to the Right".

Other Notes

 * In the Peter Pan novel, Captain Hook is described as "the only man of whom Barbecue was afraid". Barbecue is the nickname of Long John Silver in the novel Treasure Island.