Tiana, also known as Sabrine after the Dark Curse, is a main character featured in the seventh season of the ABC fantasy-drama series Once Upon a Time.
History[]
Living in the Magical Forest, Princess Tiana lives in a castle with her mother after her father died. When the King of their land raises taxes, Tiana and her family is forced to auction their items. In order to solve their financial problems, Tiana seeks help from Dr. Facilier, but finds out it was a ruse, but loses her father's war medal to him. Tiana attends a ball at the Prince's castle and witnesses Cinderella and Henry dueling the knights after Cinderella is accused of murdering the Prince. When Cinderella is attacked by a palace guard after fleeing the ball, Tiana knocks him out. She reveals to Cinderella that she knew it was Lady Tremaine who killed the Prince and that she is leading a revolt against Cinderella's stepmother. Cinderella is confused about why Tiana and her followers weren't there for her after her father died. Tiana apologizes and tells her they are doing their best. Tiana also reveals to Cinderella that Lady Tremaine had worked with the Prince when Cinderella's Father was murdered. She then takes Cinderella to a safe haven where they meet up with Henry, Captain Hook, and Regina Mills.
On the day of her coronation, Tiana is nervous as she receives help from Ella and Regina in the dressing room. Dr. Facilier arrives with news of a threat to her kingdom that she must see to, and as proof of his claims, he directs her into going to the Fairy Docks near the southern edge of the bayou. Despite the probability that Facilier is lying, Tiana decides to investigate if there is a chance her people's lives are at stake. She goes with Hook and Ella to the location, where they see teeth markings left behind by a massive beast. A lone hunter approaches them with claims that the beast is an alligator, which Tiana is doubtful of. When the man suggests she can go if she is skeptical, she coldly retorts that he should be the one leaving. The man laughs and remarks that her fiery temper is similar to his, but when criticized by Hook for his uncouth manner in speaking to a future Queen, he formally introduces himself as Prince Naveen. After learning the prince has an enchanted spear which can kill the gator, Tiana remains unimpressed but allows Naveen to come along, so she can show him what a real hero is like. Into the night, she becomes impatient with Naveen's tracking skills, believing he is getting her and her friends lost, however, Naveen spots drag marks on the ground that imply someone was taken by the beast. Soon, the group find a wounded man who tells them the gator is hiding in the bog. Tiana sends Hook and Ella to bring the man to a healer while she and Naveen lure out the gator by waiting for it on a rowboat. During this, Naveen questions why she tried to control the hunt earlier, and she tells him of her responsibility to protect her people as their Queen and not knowing who she can truly trust. Tiana believes he wouldn't understand, however, Naveen explains he is not after the gator for glory but because it killed his older brother, whom he intended to rule with, and now being alone is difficult and lonely with no one he can count on. Seeing as she is in a similar dilemma and not knowing who she can trust, Tiana suggests they start an alliance. Naveen agrees to this by taking a swig of his drink, but Tiana sees something of his that resembles one of Dr. Facilier's possessions, making her suspicious of him. As Naveen denies any involvement with Facilier, the gator rocks the boat and sends him into the water. Tiana uses the spear to kill the gator, though Naveen has already been fatally injured by then. As Naveen is dying, Facilier retrieves a necklace from the gator's corpse, revealing this was why he wanted Tiana to hunt down the beast. Tiana demands he revives Naveen since she helped to get his bauble, which Facilier follows through with, but he takes away Naveen because the prince now owes him a debt for saving him. Afterward, Tiana goes home, unable to help Naveen, but refocuses her attention on what she can do for her kingdom. Before going out to greet her subjects, she asks her mother, Regina, Ella, and Henry join her as she can't protect her people on her own and trusts they will help her. Eight years later, after the Dark Curse is cast, however, Tiana is sent to the Land Without Magic.
In Hyperion Heights, Tiana is known as Sabine, Jacinda's roommate and worker at Mr. Cluck's. In order to get Jacinda closer to Lucy after Victoria takes Lucy away, Sabine convinces Jacinda to both get a job as waitresses at a charity event where Lucy would be performing. After the performance, Sabine witnesses Detective Weaver interrogating Henry Mills of stealing Victoria's bracelet. Sabine later tries to sell her famous beignets, but after Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack burns down, Jacinda buys a food truck for them both to sell them.
After Victoria Belfrey's unexpected death, Sabine finds a newspaper by the fence outside her food truck which features an article about the woman's real estate deals. She is in the midst of listening to the first episode of Henry's podcast H-Town when Jacinda and Lucy come visiting. They offer to help with her truck for the upcoming food fair, but Sabine prefers to do it herself, citing that she is a perfectionist, though Jacinda lovingly describes her as a control freak. Sabine instead suggests the mother-daughter pair spend more time together, and she further encourages Jacinda to say yes when Lucy wants to invite Henry over for game night. While Sabine sets up her beignets and gumbo soup, her old cooking classmate Drew arrives to catch up with her. Drew praises her exceptional skills but tells her she can be a bit controlling when it comes to food, and he demonstrates this by trying to dunk one of her beignets in a soup dish, which freaks Sabine out to the point she stops him from ruining his lunch. When Sabine learns Drew is also partaking in the food fair with his own truck, Flamin' Cajun, she samples his beignets to see what she is up against. She finds that the treat is too sugary and tells herself she will "kill him dead", which a police officer overhears after coming to her truck to look over her licenses and permits. After regaining her composure, Sabine shows him her permits, however, the officer states her food safety permit is missing. She explains she mailed in her paperwork but haven't received it back yet, but that she desperately needs to be at the fair. The officer refuses to turn a blind eye and reveals someone gave him an anonymous tip about her missing permit.
Suspecting Drew tattled on her, Sabine confronts him, to which he admits his associate, Mr. Samdi, is likely the one who did it as he offered him guaranteed success with his food truck. Sabine is furious, berating Drew for having everything while she has had to work for it only to lose it all in one swipe. To make it up to her, Drew gives her his food safety permit so she can continue running her truck. He agrees with her earlier assessment of him getting everything handed to him and reveals he actually flunked out of cooking school instead of dropping out. Drew admits he was not good at cooking, and he would rather help her succeed instead. As customers line up at Rollin' Bayou, Sabine serves the officer, who previously declined her food because he was on a diet, a bag of beignets and a bowl of gumbo soup. Later that night, Drew helps dump the garbage, during which Samdi approaches him to insist he continue deceiving Sabine. When Sabine comes to drop off the last garbage bag, she asks if he was talking to someone, which Drew plays off by saying he was just congratulating himself.
After the Dark Curse is broken, she remembers Drew as Naveen and happily reunites with him after helping him and Jacinda defeat Facilier.