Hades and Zelena’s love story is filled with twists on 'Once Upon a Time'
True Love comes in many forms on Once Upon a Time -- and let’s just say that Hades and Zelena are the opposite of Prince Charming and Snow White.
In a series of flashbacks and an awkward reunion, “Our Decay” revealed the wicked duo’s complicated history, ending in a Notebook-like gesture that could be another huge twist or something truly romantic.
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But what kind of romance involves an “accidental” baby kidnapping? Well, Hades doesn’t play by anyone’s rules. Let’s start from where these crazy kids first met.
Wizards and gods of Oz
In flashbacks, Zelena is having a quasi-birthday party — remembering the day that Cora abandoned her as a baby. She's about to kill the Scarecrow when Dorothy storms in to save the day.
Even though the Scarecrow gets away, his rescue leads to an interesting introduction. Hades appears to offer an alliance with Zelena, so they can take down Dorothy and make a time travel potion that will swap her life with Regina’s -- and potentially his with his successful brother Zeus's.
Hades and Zelena get their flirt on while giggling and riding an enchanted bike together through the woods — or, as Zel says, a “broom with wheels. It leads them right to Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Zelena rips out the Scarecrow’s brain, but opts not to kill Dorothy so the people will know she failed. Then she turns around to find Hades gone.
But he isn’t ghosting her: Hades just made the two of them a romantic dinner, because only True Love’s kiss can start his heart again. Unfortunately, Zelena refuses to play along; she thinks he’s just using her.
His famous last words? “You will regret this, Zelena.” You’d think hell hath no fury like Hades scorned, but that’s not exactly how things work out...
Fell down the portal hole
Hades forces Rumple to build a portal to steal Zelena’s baby. But it ends up accidentally bringing in the baby, Zelena, and Belle. Belle runs off with the baby, so Zel runs to Regina & Co. to reveal how the little girl is in danger.
Meanwhile, Belle finds Rumple and learns 1) she’s pregnant, 2) he made a deal to sell his second child, and 3) he’s the Dark One again. Suffice it to say, things don't end well.
“I’m a man and a beast,” Rumple tries to reason, but she refuses to accept it. But because she doesn’t make a definitive choice about leaving him, there could still be hope for Rumbelle.
Zelena manages to gain Regina and Robin Hood’s trust again and runs away with her child. But once she realizes her magic is hurting the baby, she gives her up again, in a heartbreaking moment. Since the baby is an ultimate sign of innocence, Hades wants to use her as an ingredient in the time-travel spell. But Zelena won’t let that happen.
Her skin’s green tint is gone as she cries, “Take her. You can protect her and I can’t. I don’t care if I never see her again. You have to save her, Regina.”
But that doesn’t mean Zelena won’t go up against the person trying to hurt her baby.
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It’s Hades and Zelena’s love story, baby just say yes
Zelena plans to rage against Hades in the middle of Underbrooke. But instead, he reveals he did everything for love.
Hades claims he was trying to rescue Zelena's baby from the “miserable heroes” in Storybrooke, and that he would never hurt his True Love. In fact, he made the Underworld look like Storybrooke precisely so that Zelena could finally have everything that Regina had. (It’s basically like Noah building Allie her dream house in The Notebook.)
As romantic as this moment is, Z and Hades don’t kiss -- and she still can’t trust him. This time, his parting words are a date: April 15. It's Zelena's real birthday, information which he tortured out of someone before murdering them.
Ah, true love! And, as in most Nicholas Sparks movies, he’ll be waiting for her if she changes her mind.
Hillary Busis was Mashable's Deputy Entertainment Editor. Her coverage focused on the film and television industry. A graduate of Columbia, Hillary previously worked as a digital news editor at Entertainment Weekly, where she also cohosted a weekly show on EW's Sirius XM Radio channel. Her work has been featured in Vulture, Slate and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications, and she's also appeared as a guest on the 'Today' show and HuffPost Live.
