Peter Pan (Once Upon a Time) (2024)

Peter Pan, born Malcolm,is a major antagonist in the ABC series Once Upon a Time. Unlike his Disney fairytale counterpart who is slightly pompous but is otherwise heroic, this version of Peter Pan is totally evil and heartless (relating to a role thought by J.M. Barrie in the early drafts of the original book). He is also the arguable archenemy of his son, Rumplestiltskin.

He was portrayed by Robbie Kay as Peter Pan/Pied Piper (who also portrayed Logan/The Horsem*n of Pestilence in Sleepy Hollow),and Stephen Lord as Malcolm.

Family[]

• Unknown Father
• Wife: Fiona theBlack Fairy (deceased)
• Son: Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold/Weaver (deceased)
• Daughters-in-law: Milah (deceased), Belle (deceased)
• Grandsons: Baelfire/Neal Cassidy (deceased),Gideon
• (Unofficial) Granddaughter-in-law: Emma Swan
• Great-Grandson: Henry Mills
• Great-Granddaughter-in-law: Cinderella/Jacinda Vidrio
• Great-Great Granddaughter: Lucy Mills/Vidrio

Personality[]

As Malcolm, Peter Pan was a sneaky and childish slacker, wanting nothing more than to gain freedom and a life of no responsibilities by flying. After being granted youth, hewas sad*stic, self-centered, arrogant and twisted. He had a fearsome reputation;Captain Hook callshim the most treacherous villain he's ever encountered and a demon (disbelieving the stories of him in our land)along withNeal labeling him the nastiest person he ever met, despite their respective experiences with Rumplestiltskin. The Dark One even admits Pan is formidable and a figure to be feared. He is also a very intelligent schemer and manipulator, prying on Henry's desire to follow in his family's footsteps and be a hero.

These traits make Peter Pan one of the most evil villains in Once Upon a Time alongside Cora(before her death),Jafar, Cruella De Vil,Nimue, Hades, the Black Fairy, Isla, Mother Gothel, and Rumplestiltskin from the Wish Realm.Unlike villains like Regina,Rumplestiltskin,Zelena, Greg Mendell, The Snow Queen,Maleficent, Ursula, and Rapunzel Tremaine,he clearly held no lovefor his family, seeing them nothing more than a burden. Hegave up his son Rumplestiltskin for the youth he coveted (cruelly reminding the latter about it at certain points) and showed no remorse for sacrificinghis great-grandson Henryjust to keep it, nearly killing the boy out of desperation. While he seemed to care for Rumplewhen he was Malcolm, he revealed to Felixhe never loved him. In confrontation with Rumple, who gave him a last chance to self-reflect on his vile actions, he fully expressed how he always saw him:

While Pan did offer Rumple a chance to join him in Neverland for a fresh start like the latter wanted when he came to save Henry, this only led to him imprisoning Rumple in Pandora's Box. To spite his son, he tried to kill Belle and Neal.

Like his lack of value in family, he also showed no care for the Lost Boys, whom he forcefully brought to Neverland and punished cruelly if they so much thought of leaving Neverland, and summoned his Shadow to gruesomely murder them by removing their shadows if they tried escaping. While he claimed that he considered them as friends, he had no problem convincing Henry to show no mercy while attacking Devin, and even crushed the heart of his most loyal Lost Boy, Felix, to activate the Dark Curse. After Greg and Tamara had successfully brought him Henry from his false claim of means to eradicating magic from our world, he authorizes his Shadow and the Lost Boys to kill them in gruesome manners, casually passing off their fates.

He put on a charming facade to manipulate Henry and earn his trust. He also seems to enjoy playing mind games with his victims such as offering Hook a way off the island with Emma if he killed Charming before the poison did, causing a brief fight to occur between them until Hook saved Charming's life. He also was shown to be very cruel to Wendy and keeping her in a cage, threatening her life as leverage over her brothers (simultaneously threatening John and Michael's lives to her cooperation), and only letting her out to manipulate Henry.

Powers and Abilities[]

Peter Pan was one of the most powerful villains ever faced, so powerful that even his son, Rumplestiltskin, the dark one was scared of him (although he may have just feared him so much because he was his father). He was even able to freeze several people, including Regina and Emma (the evil queen and the savior) in place, and may have been able to remove Zelena's heart despite the powerful sorceress placing an protection spell on it. In fact, he was so powerful that the only known way of killing him was the Dark One using the Dark One dagger to kill him, at the cost of his own life.

• Nigh-Immortality: Pan never ages and cannot die by any normal means. The only weapon powerful enough to kill him is the Dark One Dagger (which ironically ends up in the hands of his son Rumple). His immortality and youth, however, can only last so long before the magic fueling them runs out. But, this can be made permanent with the heart of the truest believer (that of his great-grandson Henry), which Pan proves he will do anything to get.
• Accelerated Healing Factor: It has been stated that he is virtually indestructible, thereby implying that he always rapidly regenerates from fatal wounds, as after dying & coming back, he shows no scars.
• Omniscience: Pan is acutely aware of everyone and everything in Neverland in precise detail.
• Flight: By using pixie dust combined with the heart of the truest believer, Pan can fly anytime for as long as he desires.
• Magic: Pan is an immensely powerful sorcerer whose power and knowledge of magic is only matched and exceeded by that of his son Rumple, the Dark One, and the Sorcerer Merlin. His power originates from Neverland itself and is rooted in belief and imagination. This affords him a wide range of magical abilities such as:
  • Teleportation
  • Telepathy
  • Pyrokinesis
  • Telekinesis
  • Biokinesis
  • Reality-warping
  • Apportation
  • Psychokinesis
  • Clairvoyance
  • While in Neverland or indeed any area infused with magic, Pan is more powerful than any other being; however he is clearly surpassed in all areas by his wife Fiona the Black Fairy, theirson Rumplestiltskin (once he gains the powers of all the previous Dark Ones after Season 5's first half)and the god Hades.

Trivia[]

• The name "Peter" is of Greek origin rooted in the word "petros", meaning "stone". Since this incarnation of Peter Pan is stony-hearted, it is quite fitting.
• The name "Pan" is of Greek origin derived from the same word meaning "shepherd" and it is the name of the half-goat/half man god Pan in classical Greek mythology.
• In the episode "Lost Girl", Hook remarks, "On this island, I am not the bad guy", and Emma says that "Pan is not supposed to be one either". Peter Pan was in fact the villain in the first draft of J.M. Barrie's play; Captain Hook was only introduced later as a theatrical device to help stagehands change scenery.
• The casting call describes him as "in his teens, and is a mischievous and devious Lost Boy".
• The casting call name for him was "Rufio", a name of a protagonist character in the 1991 fantasy adventure Hook.
• He has often been compared to Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones, except Pan is infinitely more dangerous as a solo threat and has the power to back up his words and threats.
• It has been stated many times in Season 3 that Rumple cannot kill Pan unless he (Rumple) dies as well, elaborating howpowerful Pan is.
• Peter Pan is the greater threat towards Rumplestiltskin, not just because he's his father, but because his abandonment of his son in exchange for eternal youth had led to Rumple becoming the Dark One in the first place.
• He is the unseen overarching antagonist of the second half of Season 2 because he was using Greg and Tamara to lead the heroes to him so that he could enact his sinister plot to turn Storybrooke into the new Never Land.
• Malcolm was the first villain to take the identity and role of another. Next was Ursula, and Hansel in season 7.
• It was believed that Pan was incapable of love until the sixth season when he proclaimed the Black Fairy as the "love of [his] life" and was shown a loving father in her titular episode. Thus, he became who he is from her disappearance. However, he may no longer love her after he became Peter Pan.
  • Given this fact, it is ironic that Fiona's wand played a role in Pan's undoing.

External Link[]

• Peter Pan on the Pure Evil Wiki.
• Peter Pan on the Once Upon a Time Wiki.

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