Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After Emma and Hook’s time-travel trip, an urn brought back from the past releases Elsa in Storybrooke. Emma helps Elsa search for her missing sister Anna while the Snow Queen, Ingrid, works to create a family with Emma, whom she knew when Emma was a foster child. Flashbacks show Ingrid’s bond with her sisters, Helga and Gerda, and Ingrid’s accidental killing of Helga. Gerda traps Ingrid in an urn and has Arendelle forget both sisters. Ingrid’s manipulation of Emma feeds her fear that her parents love her less because of her magic.
Ingrid’s spell of Shattered Sight turns Storybrooke’s residents against one another, but a letter from Gerda helps her understand that her sisters loved her. Ingrid sacrifices herself to stop the spell. In the second half, Regina searches for the Author so he can write her a happy ending, while Gold works with Cruella, Ursula and Maleficent to rewrite the storybook. Zelena is revealed to have survived, killed Marian and taken her identity. Isaac, the Author, rewrites everyone into his Heroes and Villains story.
Henry reaches the Author and works to undo the rewritten story as the deadline of Robin Hood’s wedding to Zelena approaches. Charming kills Hook in the alternate world, while Regina takes a fatal blow meant for Henry. Henry uses Regina’s blood to write Isaac’s changes away, returning everyone to Storybrooke; Hook is alive again. Gold remains close to death as the Dark One’s darkness separates from his body. To keep it from consuming Regina, Emma takes the darkness into herself and disappears, leaving the dagger marked with her name.