Merida & Emma's First Meeting Is Intense On 'OUAT'

I feel like I've talked about the upcoming premiere of Once Upon A Time Season 5 so much that it's in everyone's best interest for the episode to just air already so that I can shut up and move on with my life (and by that, I mean move on with obsessing over the next episode). "The Dark Swan" will answer a lot of questions we were all left with at the end of Season 4, but it'll likely raise about 500 more as we come face to face with our former Savior in her new Dark One form and head to Camelot and meet our whole new cast of characters. Among those characters — and without a doubt the most highly anticipated — is Brave heroine Merida, who we know will be part of the effort to save Emma. However, as a new clip published by Entertainment Weekly shows, they'll have to settle their differences the old fashioned way before they strike up any kind of friendship.

In the scene, Emma is chasing a magical glowing ball — something called a whisp? — through the forest, but Merida gets to it first. Emma, believing that the enchanted item now in Merida's rucksack can aid her in her quest to cast off the darkness, asks for it back, and inadvertently uses magic to knock Merida back while she makes her request. Merida doesn't take to it too kindly and spins on her, training her bow and arrow right on Emma and warning the new Dark one that her "aim is true". When Emma explains that she actually wants to get rid of the darkness, Merida offers to fist fight her fair and square.

We do know that eventually Emma and Merida make nice, and she's a part of the quest to find Merlin along with King Arthur, his knights, and the soon to be arriving Storybrooke crew, so it seems they manage to work out their differences (though it's doubtful the whisp will be much help to either). Frankly, it'll be good to see Emma make another friend, and she'll need all the friends she can get as she navigates through life as the Dark One and tries to cling to the light. Hopefully Merida can help with that, because it's going to take a village (or in this case, a kingdom) for sure.

We only have Merida on loan from Pixar for a short time, so it's tough to get too attached to her knowing that she'll be leaving, but I'm looking forward to seeing another new face on Once, and seeing how she can help spur on the storylines of our main characters. Something tells me it's going to be brilliant, and once again, the women are going to kick some serious ass.

Watch the clip of Merida and Emma's first meeting from the Season 5 premiere below:

Images: Jack Rowand/ABC