September 18, 2022

[hughville]

In The Jolly Roger, according to writer David H. Goodman, the item that Emma picks up in Regina's vault is a monkey's paw, a reference to the famous 1902 horror story by W. W. Jacobs. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of a mummified monkey's paw, but the wishes come with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. In the episode script, the item was simply referred to as a "magical totem".