When we talk about the sprawling, often confusing timeline of Storybrooke, one name usually gets lost in the shuffle of savior arcs and curse-breaking. Mr Hyde Once Upon a Time appeared at a point where the show was arguably at its most chaotic. It was the end of season five. Most fans were still reeling from the Underworld arc. Suddenly, this hulking figure with a Victorian swagger and a terrifyingly calm demeanor stepped out of the shadows.
He wasn't just another monster of the week. Honestly, he was the literal manifestation of the show's biggest internal conflict.
The Land of Untold Stories and the Arrival of Mr Hyde
Sam Witwer was cast as Hyde, and let’s be real, he nailed the role. He brought this predatory stillness to the character that felt different from the campy villains we’d seen before. While Regina was battling her inner darkness, Hyde arrived as the physical proof that you can’t just "cut out" the parts of yourself you don't like.
Basically, Hyde was the Warden of the Land of Untold Stories. This was a place for people who wanted to hit the pause button on their own narratives. They didn't want their stories to finish, so they fled to a realm where time didn't matter. It’s a relatable vibe. Who hasn't wanted to run away from their own problems? But Hyde didn't just stay there. He made a deal with Mr. Gold—because everyone makes a deal with Gold eventually—and traded information about Belle's pregnancy for the ownership of Storybrooke.
The introduction of Mr Hyde Once Upon a Time changed the stakes. It shifted the focus from "defeating the bad guy" to "dealing with the consequences of your own identity." When Dr. Jekyll used the serum to separate himself from Hyde, he thought he was becoming a better man. He was wrong. He was just becoming a weaker one.
Why the Jekyll and Hyde Dynamic Flipped the Script
Usually, in the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale, Jekyll is the "good" one and Hyde is the "evil" one. Simple. Easy. Once Upon a Time loves to mess with those tropes, though. In this version, we find out that Dr. Jekyll was actually a pretty obsessive, jealous guy. He wasn't some pure-hearted scientist. He wanted to be "good" so he could win the heart of Mary, a woman who didn't love him back.
Hyde, surprisingly, was the one who actually seemed to have a handle on his emotions. He was the passion. The drive. The raw honesty.
Think about it. Jekyll created the serum not to help humanity, but to purge the things he hated about himself. By doing that, he accidentally created a version of himself that was actually more capable than he was. Hyde didn't just want to cause chaos; he wanted to be recognized as a person. He wanted to exist.
This hit home for Regina. She had just used the same serum to separate herself from the Evil Queen. She thought she’d solved her problem. Then Hyde shows up and basically says, "Hey, I've tried this. It doesn't work the way you think it does." It was a massive wake-up call for the characters and the audience. You can't just delete your trauma or your mistakes. They are literally a part of you.
The Tragic End of the Duo in Storybrooke
The way Mr Hyde Once Upon a Time actually died was a bit of a shocker. It wasn't some grand magical battle. There wasn't a "light magic" explosion. It was much darker and more grounded.
We learned the "Original Sin" of their relationship: Jekyll, in a fit of rage after Mary rejected him and preferred Hyde (ironic, right?), ended up killing her. He then tried to frame Hyde for it. It was a classic case of the "civilized" man being the real monster.
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In the episode "Strange Case," things finally come to a head in Storybrooke. Jekyll tries to kill Belle, and Hook has to intervene. The big twist? To kill Hyde, you have to kill Jekyll. They are linked. If the "original" dies, the "copy" dies too.
Hook kills Jekyll, and Hyde—who was currently taunting Regina—just falls over. Dead. It was a bleak ending for a character that had so much potential, but it served a massive narrative purpose. It proved to Regina that her Evil Queen wasn't gone. As long as Regina lived, the Queen lived. They were two sides of the same coin.
What Most Fans Miss About Hyde’s Legacy
People often complain that the Land of Untold Stories plotline was dropped too quickly. I get that. There were all these cool characters introduced—Cinderella’s stepsisters, Captain Nemo—and then they kind of just faded into the background while the show focused back on the Black Fairy.
But Hyde’s impact wasn't about the side characters. It was about the philosophy.
Hyde represented the idea that our "darkness" isn't something to be feared or excised. It’s something to be integrated. Jungian psychology 101, right? The "Shadow" self. By trying to kill Hyde, Jekyll killed himself. By trying to cast out the Evil Queen, Regina just made her a separate, more dangerous enemy who had nothing to lose.
Sam Witwer’s performance made this work. He had this way of leaning into a scene that made everyone else look terrified. He wasn't screaming. He wasn't throwing fireballs. He was just... there. Knowing everything. Knowing that everyone in Storybrooke was just as fractured as he was.
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How to Re-evaluate Season 6 Through the Hyde Lens
If you're going back for a rewatch, pay attention to the way Hyde talks to Rumplestiltskin. They have a fascinating chemistry. Rumple is the master of "embracing the beast," but he does it through deals and power. Hyde does it through sheer existence.
There's a specific scene where Hyde is in the Storybrooke jail. He’s just sitting there, eating a steak, looking like he owns the place. He tells Regina that she and the Queen are more alike than she wants to admit. He’s the only one who tells her the truth. Everyone else—Emma, Snow, David—they all want to believe Regina is "cured." Hyde knows better.
The show's move to bring in literary characters outside of the standard Disney vault was a gamble. Some worked (like Frankenstein), others felt forced. But Hyde felt like he belonged. He was the bridge between the fairytale world and the psychological horror of being a human being with regrets.
Taking Action: Applying the Hyde Lesson
We don't have magic serums (probably for the best), but the Mr Hyde Once Upon a Time arc actually offers some surprisingly solid life advice if you look past the leather vests and the gravelly voice.
- Stop trying to "delete" your past. Whether it's a bad breakup or a period of your life you're ashamed of, trying to pretend it didn't happen just makes it a separate, lurking "Hyde" in your mind.
- Integration over separation. Instead of saying "I'm not that person anymore," try saying "I'm the person who learned from being that person." It sounds cheesy, but it’s the only way to avoid the Jekyll trap.
- Watch Sam Witwer’s other work. Seriously. If you liked him as Hyde, go watch Being Human (the US version) or his voice work in Star Wars. The man knows how to play a nuanced monster better than almost anyone in the business.
- Revisit Season 6, Episode 4. "Strange Case" is arguably one of the tightest, most tragic episodes of the later seasons. It’s worth a standalone watch even if you aren't doing a full series binge.
The story of Hyde in Storybrooke reminds us that the "untold stories" are often the ones we are most afraid to tell ourselves. We try to hide them in other realms or bottle them up in serums, but eventually, they always find a way to the surface. The goal isn't to be "pure." The goal is to be whole. Hyde knew that from the start. It just took everyone else a while to catch up.