Every fairytale character is connected, and the stories are completely different from the stories we all knew growing up. The series began with Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) giving Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) true love's kiss and waking her up from a sleeping curse. They lived happily ever after, until The Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) crashed their wedding and threatened to cast a curse to take away the happiness of everyone in the kingdom.
The dark curse wasn't the only evil act committed by The Evil Queen (also known as Regina) throughout the duration of the series. She committed serial murder, sexual assault, burned villages, kidnapped children and poisoned countless people. Despite all of this, Regina was still rewarded with her redemption by the end of the series. She gained the forgiveness of all the people she had tortured, and Regina even gained a family with her son, Henry (Jared Gilmore) as well as a whole kingdom, becoming "The Good Queen", all of which was completely undeserved and sent the wrong message to viewers.
Once Upon A Time: 5 Times We Felt Bad For Regina (And 5 Times We Hated Her)
Once Upon A Time's best character was arguably Regina Mills. She was both the Evil Queen and someone we grew to love over the course of the show.
The Evil Queen's Redemption Story In Once Upon A Time Explained
Regina Was The Main Villain In The First Season, But Since Then Has Tried To Redeem Herself
In the first season of the show, Regina was the main villain. She cast the dark curse, made everyone miserable, kept Emma Swan away from her son, killed Sheriff Graham, kidnapped Katherine Nolan, double-crossed Jefferson, and put Henry into therapy for believing in fairytales. Besides one slip-up in the second season where she ed with Cora to try and kill Snow White and her family, and another slip-up in season four, where she teamed up with Sidney Glass to get rid of Marian, Regina has ed the side of the heroes, ultimately leading to her own redemption arc.
Regina has no choice other than team up with the heroes and go to Neverland to save him.
In season 3, Regina's son, Henry is kidnapped and taken to Neverland, so Regina has no choice other than team up with the heroes and go to Neverland to save him. It was from this mission that Regina became friends with the heroes, and she began ing them on adventures regularly across different realms and fighting against villains like Rumpelstiltskin, Maleficent, The Snow Queen, The Wicked Witch of the West and Mother Gothel just to name a few. These acts of heroism created trust between Regina and the heroes, so they no longer saw her as 'The Evil Queen'.
Why The Evil Queen Never Deserved Redemption In Once Upon A Time
The Crimes Committed By The Evil Queen Were Unforgivable
I've already discussed some of the crimes committed by The Evil Queen, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. To create an image of how evil Regina is, in the episode titled 'The Evil Queen', The Queen slaughters an entire village of hundreds of men, women, and children just because none of them would give her the location of Snow White. Even in the season four episode, 'Mother', she ripped out the heart of a groom during his wedding because his wedding on royal grounds on the anniversary of Regina's fiancé's death. That takes petty to new levels.
Arguably worse than any of this, in the episode "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", it's revealed that Regina keeps Sheriff Graham's heart in a box in her vault. As she owns his heart, she's able to control his every action, so when they begin a physical relationship, it is evident that the whole dynamic is against what Graham wants, and he is being forced to be with Regina. All of these actions together would suggest Regina is a psychopath, unable to take care of her own mental health, never mind the needs and safety of a whole kingdom.
How Once Upon A Time Should've Ended The Evil Queen's Story
The Evil Queen Shouldn't Have Been Forgiven As Easily As She Was
Every time she was happy in a romantic relationship, the man she was with always died, from Daniel to Robin Hood and even Dr. Facilier.
When thinking about how Regina's story should have ended, it is difficult, because, although she became 'The Good Queen' and was accepted by all the realms, she still didn't get a full happy ending. Every time she was happy in a romantic relationship, the man she was with always died, from Daniel to Robin Hood and even Dr. Facilier. The fact she was written as sassy, witty and fierce in the first season made her a favorite among audiences, so the creators had no choice other than to redeem the character, so she could keep appearing throughout the series.
This created negative messages, suggesting that viewers can commit the same crimes as Regina and still be forgiven in the end. There are lots of different ways the show could have been changed so she deserved her happy ending. For example, they could have gone back in time and stopped Regina from turning evil after Daniel's death, giving her a second chance similar to the second chance Gideon received at the end of season 6. Although the character eventually gave to the side of good, it wasn't right for Once Upon a Time to have just forgotten about her past.
Once Upon A Time
- Release Date
- 2011 - 2018-00-00
- Network
- ABC
- Showrunner
- Adam Horowitz
Cast
Ginnifer Goodwin
josh dallas
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Christopher Gorham
- Writers
- Adam Horowitz
- Seasons
- 7
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