Funny story, my friend and I went to go see a production of the Lerner & Loewe Camelot musical tonight before watching OUAT. Imagine my shock (and how fast I sat up from my position laying on the couch) when we sit down and the first flashback scene has Belle asking Rumple how his trip to Camelot was.
I’m on board with the Sorcerer being Merlin because I’ve been waiting for a proper dive into Arthurian waters since Lancelot, but this begs a bigger question:
Where the heck is he? Why is the house abandoned for Henry, Rumple, and half the town to go scavenger hunting around the halls? I speculated awhile ago that Merlin was in the hat without connecting him to the sorcerer, did he get tricked into his own hat? Because unless he’s incapacitated somehow, I don’t understand why this all-powerful, benign sorcerer would sit by and let Rumple go off with the hat and do all sorts of shady things in and around his home. I don’t know about any of you, but I wouldn’t just go on holiday, leave a WMD like that hat sitting around on my table and never check up on it again.
Keeper of Zelena's witch hat and the Black Fairy's wand.