'OUAT' Season 5 Gives Emma A Dark Mentor

The new season of Once Upon a Time is looking pretty heavy right about now. While the show's season four finale left us hanging as Emma Swan became the new Dark One, ABC's most recent promo sheds a little bit of light to the woman who might be Storybrooke's biggest and baddest villain yet. As if Dark Swan was not enough to pique fans' curiosity, now it looks like Rumple may be Emma's new Season 5 mentor. Talk about double trouble.

Now if you were paying any attention last season, then this new promo may seem a bit confusing. In the finale, Mr. Gold was put into a coma after the Darkness left his body, so how could he possibly be helping Swan? Well, according to Robert Carlyle, the actor behind the Dark One, Rumple isn't the one in the coma, Gold is. Leave it to Once to throw a curveball like that at us.

While we know that nothing is for certain when it comes to the show's writers, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, Rumple as Swan's mentor opens wide range of possibilities for the show's plot and its characters. So how exactly will the dastardly character rub off the woman who was once the heroine of this fairy tale? Will Emma go to the dark side or will she be able to find the light?

The new promo photo from EW should get our brains working a bit:

1. Power And Greed Will Become Her New Love

Rumple put his greed before his relationship with Belle every single time. No matter how much he cared for her, love was never enough to complete him. With Emma as the new Dark One, I have a the feeling that Captain Swan is a sinking ship next season.

2. Possessiveness Will Become Second Nature

When Rumple was the Dark One he hardly let Baelfire out of the house, for fear that he would eventually leave him. Even if Swan does have a hint of humanity left as the Dark One, she will most likely smother the ones she loves.

3. Her Parental Duties Will Take A Back Seat

We all know Rumple wasn’t the best at being a dad. I mean, he sent his son to England alone because he didn't want to live in a world without magic. Will Swan’s new found powers make Henry another lost boy?

4. There Will Be Prices To Pay For Her Promises

All magic comes at a price, deary. The Charmings had better be careful what they ask of her, because Swan is no longer little miss nice girl.

5. Revenge Will Taste Sweeter

We all know how good Rumple was at holding a grudge. After his wife left him, he crushed her heart to dust without even blinking an eye. If Dark Swan is supposed to be darker than that, her enemies had better watch out. I’m looking at you, Lily.

6. Darkness Will Consume Her From The Inside Out

Even when Rumple tried to do good his powers as the Dark One clouded his judgment. To say it led him to insanity would be an understatement. How much conflict between good and evil take before Swan finally collapses under the pressure?

7. Emma Swan Is History

This is perhaps the scariest news of all: With the new epiphany that Rumple and Gold are not necessarily the same, that means Emma will be starting a new identity from scratch. The Charmings may have sent away her potential for darkness when she was a baby, but it's a whole new ball game now that she is the Dark One.

Images: Tyler Shields/ABC; Giphy (7)