The Crimson Heart - Once Upon a Time Season Six (2016)

A mystical artefact crafted from red glass, the Crimson Heart had the power to drain the magic from a persons body upon contact, removing any ties they had to the practices of the mystic arts. The Heart could also be transplanted into a living host and cure them of any curse inflicted upon them.

To ensure that it did not absorb the magic of a person by accident, it was kept sealed in a wooden box.

Located in the heart of the woods of Oz, the Crimson Heart was guarded by a ferocious lion who attacked all who entered.


"Where Bluebirds Fly"

Having learned of the Heart and its potential to cure him of the Wicked Witch of the North's curse, Stanum persuaded his old friend Zelena to help him claim the heart and break the enchantment placed on him. Managing to fight their way past the lion, Zelena prepared to place the object within his chest, however began to realise that her power was being snatched away with prolonged exposure.

Placing it back into the wooden box, Zelena declared that the item was useless and needed magical energy in order for the Heart to work properly, calling it a "worthless piece of glass". In her anger and desperation to continue her work and complete her Time Travel Spell, the Wicked Witch of the West took the Crimson Heart for herself and left Stanum to transform into a tin statue of a woodsman.

Keeping the Crimson Heart locked away in the Emerald City, the object remained undetected for the time in which the three curses were enacted.

Years later, after the Black Fairy manipulated events and used Zelena's magic transform the Fairy Crystals beneath the mines of Storybrooke into dark magic weapons, Regina ordered her sister to return to Oz and live out her life away from the town. However Zelena defied these orders and returned to the realm she ruled for the sole purpose of retrieving the Crimson Heart, realising that the only way to prevent the Black Fairy from starting the Final Battle with the crystals was to remove all of her magic, reverting them back to sources of Light Magic.


Travelling to Regina's vault, Zelena willingly allowed the Crimson Heart to absorb all of her power, taking the object in her hands as it drained her of every last bit of magic. After the Heart had finished the process of subsuming her magical abilities, the item exploded in a burst of green energy, which cascaded throughout the town and rendered the weaponised crystals inert.


Appearances:

1. "Where Bluebirds Fly" - First and Only Appearance