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The Underworld and the Dark Curse

Home › Forums › Once Upon a Time › Season Five › 5×12 “Souls of the Departed” › The Underworld and the Dark Curse

  • This topic has 29 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 3 months ago by nevermore.
Viewing 10 posts - 21 through 30 (of 30 total)
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  • March 8, 2016 at 9:16 pm #318504
    MatthewPaul
    Moderator

    Gah! I didn’t even make the connection! Thanks :) Ok, random theory — any reason to think that the forgetfulness curse might be somehow derived from Lethe? And the Dark Curse derived from Acheron?

    Maybe the main recipe of the Dark Curse consists of water from all five rivers of the Underworld? Just, for the love of God, please no usage of the Lethe water as amnesia on anyone this Season!

    [adrotate group="5"]

    March 8, 2016 at 9:30 pm #318506
    RumplesGirl
    Keymaster

    In Dante’s version of Purgatory, sinners who have “done their time” are washed in the River Lethe by someone named Matlida in order to wash away the memories of their sins. They then can enter paradise without the burden’s of their past.

    "He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
    March 8, 2016 at 10:48 pm #318511
    nevermore
    Participant

    Just, for the love of God, please no usage of the Lethe water as amnesia on anyone this Season!

    Hmm. I sympathize with the sentiment, but I suspect they won’t leave that particular low hanging fruit alone. Lethe is probably the most well-known “pop-culture” feature of the Greek Underworld mythology. It’s folkloric enough that I’d be surprised if they didn’t at least reference it.

    In Dante’s version of Purgatory, sinners who have “done their time” are washed in the River Lethe by someone named Matlida in order to wash away the memories of their sins. They then can enter paradise without the burden’s of their past.

    Ah, interesting. By contrast, I had this vague memory of Lethe in Milton’s Paradise Lost, and sure enough: in PL, Lethe is the river of forgetting, but tormented souls, instead of drinking from it, are actually denied access to it at the last moment, so they can’t experience the relief of forgetting their pain.

     

    “The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose

    In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

    All in one moment, and so near the brink;

    But Fate withstands, and, to oppose the attempt,

    Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards

    The ford…”

    March 8, 2016 at 11:58 pm #318513
    TheWatcher
    Participant

    Herc and Meg were “cursed” to forget eachother in the television series when Lethe water fell on them. They wouldn’t see eachother until the events of the movie, if I’m not mistaken. Just throwing it out there.

    "I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
    Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGIC

    March 9, 2016 at 12:08 am #318514
    WickedRegal
    Participant
    nevermore wrote:

    Gah! I didn’t even make the connection! Thanks :) Ok, random theory — any reason to think that the forgetfulness curse might be somehow derived from Lethe? And the Dark Curse derived from Acheron?

    Maybe the main recipe of the Dark Curse consists of water from all five rivers of the Underworld? Just, for the love of God, please no usage of the Lethe water as amnesia on anyone this Season!

    Quote

    Sweet Oz that would be brilliant….

    Herc and Meg were “cursed” to forget eachother in the television series when Lethe water fell on them. They wouldn’t see eachother until the events of the movie, if I’m not mistaken. Just throwing it out there.

    Quote

    It’d be a nice tie in, enough to explain what exactly was tied into the Dark Curse. But like @MP said, just no memory curses this half season.

    MatthewPaul wrote:

    Just, for the love of God, please no usage of the Lethe water as amnesia on anyone this Season!

    Hmm. I sympathize with the sentiment, but I suspect they won’t leave that particular low hanging fruit alone. Lethe is probably the most well-known “pop-culture” feature of the Greek Underworld mythology. It’s folkloric enough that I’d be surprised if they didn’t at least reference it.

    Quote

    I know it’s a low chance, but can Gods be affected by the Rivers of the Underworld? If so, making Hades forget specific parts of his end game could help the heroes actually win. Instead of the villains making our heroes forget, what if the heroes made the villains forget?

    "If you go as far as you can see...you will then see enough to go even further." - Finn Balor

    March 9, 2016 at 4:39 am #318517
    RumplesGirl
    Keymaster

    but can Gods be affected by the Rivers of the Underworld? If so, making Hades forget specific parts of his end game could help the heroes actually win. Instead of the villains making our heroes forget, what if the heroes made the villains forget?

    I think that largely depends on how OUAT views Hades. He’s a god in our mythologies but OUAT hasn’t decided–at least explicitly–if Hades is a god or not.

    "He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
    March 9, 2016 at 10:22 am #318522
    Phee
    Participant

    Maybe the main recipe of the Dark Curse consists of water from all five rivers of the Underworld?

    Not that I imagine this was their plan for the origin of the Dark Curse from the very start of the show…but this could actually work. It had a drop of True Love potion on it so that it could be broken, so what’s to say that there’s not a drop from each of the rivers on there too, and each contributes to the Curse in some way?

    Styx – River of hatred. (Someone choc full of hate and anger was needed to cast the Curse.)

    Acheron – River of pain, which Charon ferries people across to get them into the Underworld. (Giving the Curse the ability to transport between realms.)

    Lethe – River of forgetfulness. (Amnesia is totally a thing the Curse was about.)

    Phlegethon – River of fire, that leads to Tartarus. (The caster of the Curse had to toss the heart into a fire.)

    Cocytus – River of wailing. (The fandom. 😛 OK seriously, I dunno, maybe the emptiness that all the people got caught up in the Curse had to suffer?)

    Bonus drop from Oceanus – River that encircled the world. (AKA the Town Line that kept everyone trapped.)

    Go around to each river with an eye dropper, drip it all on there together and badda bing, badda boom, you’ve got yourself a Dark Curse.

    March 9, 2016 at 10:31 am #318523
    thedarkonedearie
    Participant

    The problem is that they have casted the dark curse three times now, and the previous two looked soooo easy.

    March 9, 2016 at 12:43 pm #318528
    RumplesGirl
    Keymaster

    @Phee I love that idea!!! (doubtful that the writers will go there but I love it anyway. Headcanon: accepted)

    "He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
    March 9, 2016 at 2:22 pm #318573
    nevermore
    Participant
    MatthewPaul wrote:

    Maybe the main recipe of the Dark Curse consists of water from all five rivers of the Underworld?

    Not that I imagine this was their plan for the origin of the Dark Curse from the very start of the show…but this could actually work. It had a drop of True Love potion on it so that it could be broken, so what’s to say that there’s not a drop from each of the rivers on there too, and each contributes to the Curse in some way? Styx – River of hatred. (Someone choc full of hate and anger was needed to cast the Curse.) Acheron – River of pain, which Charon ferries people across to get them into the Underworld. (Giving the Curse the ability to transport between realms.) Lethe – River of forgetfulness. (Amnesia is totally a thing the Curse was about.) Phlegethon – River of fire, that leads to Tartarus. (The caster of the Curse had to toss the heart into a fire.) Cocytus – River of wailing. (The fandom. ? OK seriously, I dunno, maybe the emptiness that all the people got caught up in the Curse had to suffer?) Bonus drop from Oceanus – River that encircled the world. (AKA the Town Line that kept everyone trapped.) Go around to each river with an eye dropper, drip it all on there together and badda bing, badda boom, you’ve got yourself a Dark Curse.

    Quote

    This post is my new favorite thing 🙂 One thought — it needs not be actual water from the rivers, it could be an attempt to replicate the magic of each river through other means. So in this sense, the Dark Curse might actually be the Underworld on a small scale. So perhaps it’s not that anyone has cast the DC in the Underworld, but that the UW is, in its essence, the same thing as the DC

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