In Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 4, we met the apprentice and learned what the sorcerer’s hat did – but not who it belonged to.

While the the first half of Once Upon a Time season 4 will mainly be used to tell the story of the Frozen characters and the Snow Queen, the premiere episode introduced an item which will be the focal point for the whole season: the sorcerer’s hat.

Related: Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 4 recap: The darkness within

Fans quickly surmised that this must be the hat seen in Fantasia, the Disney classic from 1940 starring Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice.

The original Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Like most Disney films, Fantasia is actually based on a fairytale – or rather a German poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Goethe. In the poem, an old sorcerer leaves his apprentice to do his chores, and the apprentice enchants a broom to do the work for him.

Because the apprentice’s magic is untrained, he quickly loses control of the broom, which splits into several independent, animated brooms. Luckily the sorcerer returns at the last minute, and saves the day. Sound familiar?

In Fantasia, the apprentice is Mickey Mouse, and the sorcerer himself is “Yen Sid” (Disney spelled backwards). In Once Upon a Time, the apprentice is a kindly old man who is briefly turned into a mouse, while the sorcerer… well, we still don’t know.

The power of the sorcerer’s hat

One piece of the puzzle has been solved: Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) explained this week what the hat does, and we even saw it work its, well, magic.

The hat captures individual people’s magic, and gives the owner enough power to break any restriction on their own. We’re not sure why Rumple needs or wants this, but we’re betting he’s got a bigger endgame than freeing himself of the dagger’s control (especially since he currently holds it himself).

Now that he holds the hat, one might say that Rumpelstiltskin is the sorcerer, and he aptly named Henry (Jared Gilmore) his apprentice. Considering that in the same episode we saw Henry begin to learn about potions, it is possible that Henry will begin to dabble with magic himself – but hopefully he won’t accidentally turn himself into a mouse or a toad before the season’s over!

But although Rumple has gained possession of the hat, there was an original sorcerer once who created it – and he might’ve even been in Storybrooke at some point, seeing as Mr. and Mrs. Gold first discovered the hat in a fancy, remote mansion.

‘Once Upon a Time’s’ sorcerer: the author of the fairytale book?

Is it too much of a leap to conclude that the original sorcerer, who left the hat in the care of his apprentice, is also the author of the fairytale book?

If the apprentice in this episode was the Once Upon a Time equivalent of Fantasia‘s Mickey Mouse, the sorcerer would be Yen Sid, or Disney – the person who truly controls everyone’s fates and happy endings.

At this point, someone with that much knowledge and power might be the only one left to challenge Rumpelstiltskin, who seems depressingly all-knowing and invincible.

Of course while a Walt Disney-like character might sound cool on paper, Once Upon a Time might not actually want to go there and re-animate the long-dead creator of their universe.

The original sorcerer might “just” be a powerful character from a well-known fantastical universe. Merlin from the King Arthur legends would be an obvious choice, especially seeing as we’ve already met Sir Lancelot. Or perhaps a brand-new character, serving as an amalgamation of all the original writers of the fairytales (the Grimm Brothers, H.C. Andersen etc.)?

Your theories are as good as ours!

What did you think about last night’s episode of Once Upon a Time?