Will Excalibur & The Dark One's Dagger Be Whole?

Despite only being almost three episodes into the new season, things are already pretty crazy on Once Upon A Time Season 5. It was to be expected after Emma sacrificed herself to the darkness to save Regina's happy ending and became the Dark One at the end of last season. The battle to save Emma from that darkness and restore her to her former self is a big focus of the new batch of episodes, but it's safe to say it'll be a long while before she casts off the dark magic and resumes her role as Storybrooke's Savior — a post Regina is doing her best to hold down in the interim. Right now, there's a major problem in the form of Excalibur, the legendary Arthurian sword currently stuck in a stone in Emma's basement. If she can successfully remove it, she can reunite the severed blade with her dagger, and that would be catastrophic. So what if she manages to do it?

It's unclear why the dagger was forged from Excalibur in the first place — that's a question for Merlin, the wizard who, when we last heard from (about?) him, was stuck inside a giant tree in Camelot. What we do know is that if the two are made one again, something very, very bad will happen. Rumpelstiltskin, currently acting as the voice in Emma's head — a Dark One conscience, if you will — has been urging her on, claiming that no other Dark One has been able to complete this task, but that if she does, she will be more powerful and more free than any that came before her. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, and frankly, I'm a bit scared.

Presumably, this is something we're going to be discovering more about as the season goes on, but one thing's for sure: getting Excalibur out of the stone won't be easy, and it'll require a hefty price, as all magic does. What that price is, is anyone's guess — though if you read spoilers, you'll know that someone is likely going to have to die. Those who have seen filming know that Hook will end up jumping from the roof of Storybrooke's library at some point, though it's unclear why and whether or not he'll survive the fall (my guess is yes). We also know that Emma seems to be in a rather sour mood with Regina and won't tell her why. She seems rather unconcerned with the former Evil Queen's safety at the moment, but would she go as far as to kill her? Doubtful — and not just because Lana Parrilla is the biggest star on the show aside from Jennifer Morrison.

Part of me is incredibly curious to know what would happen if Excalibur was made whole again, despite how disastrous the consequences would be. However, because Once has the habit of tricking us and presenting things not quite as they are, there's a chance that perhaps the darkest deed possible could actually lead to the destruction of the Dark One altogether. Of course it will take sacrifice and there will be a hefty price to be paid, but since we know Emma's fate is not to be the Dark One forever, something tells me someone is going to pay up, even if it ends up being with his or her life.

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