Regina Mills

Evil Queen/Regina Mills
Once Upon a Time character

Promotional photograph of Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina.
First appearance "Pilot"
Created by Adam Horowitz & Eddy Kitsis
Portrayed by Lana Parrilla
Ava Acres (young)
Information
Full name Regina Mills
Nickname(s) The Evil Queen
Gina
Sis
Madame Mayor
Ms. Mills
Aliases Archie Hopper [1]
Species Human
Gender Female
Occupation Queen of the Enchanted Forest (formerly)
Mayor of Storybrooke
Title Queen (formerly)
Madam Mayor
Family

Regina Mills (Latin for "queen"; formerly known as the Evil Queen) is a fictional character in ABC's television series Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by Lana Parrilla, and has been praised by critics for her role as the series's first major antagonist. She has become a fan favorite since her debut.

Character background

Season 1 & 2

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina was born into a family consisting of Cora and her husband Henry, the son of King Xavier. As a young woman, Regina's mother sets up her marrying King Leopold, killing Regina's first love Daniel to prevent her running off with him.[2] Since Snow innocently revealed to Cora Regina's attraction to Daniel, Regina vows to destroy Snow's happiness. She meets Rumplestiltskin who teaches her magic and helps her send Cora through a looking glass to Wonderland. She remains unhappy in her loveless relationship, using a Genie to kill the King, making her ruler of Leopold's realm, and thereafter being known as the Evil Queen. She then banishes Snow White and seeks to have her killed. Due to Cora wanting Regina to conceive an heir, Regina creates a potion to make her infertile, then vanishes her father to a box that Cora takes to Wonderland. An older Snow White and Prince Charming banish Regina to take back the kingdom, though Rumplestiltskin persuades her to cast his curse by killing her father, taking everyone to the real world.[3]

In Storybrooke, she is known as Regina Mills, the Mayor. With Mr. Gold (Rumplestiltskin)'s help, she adopts a baby whom she names Henry, unaware of his relation to the Savior, Emma Swan. Regina originally sends him to therapy sessions to reverse his beliefs in the curse. She has a sexual relationship with Sheriff Graham (the Huntsman), then crushes his heart when he breaks up with her. The power struggle between Regina and Rumplestiltskin continues in Storybrooke where she is often at odds with Mr. Gold.[4][5] Initially unbeknownst to him, Regina kept Gold's true love Belle captive, after telling him she had died.[6] She tries to prevent the relationship between David Nolan (Prince Charming) and Mary Margaret Blanchard (Snow White), by implicating her in David's wife's false murder. When Henry's birth mother Emma arrives in Storybrooke, Regina desperately seeks to remove her from his life, attempting to poison her. However, Henry consumes the curse instead, dying shortly after. Emma finally believes, awakening Henry with true love's kiss and breaking the curse. After her mother arrives in Storybrooke, Cora convinces Regina to obtain the Dark One's dagger to gain power, though Cora later dies during the fight to protect Mr. Gold.

Season 3 & 4

Henry is then kidnapped and taken to Neverland, leading Regina to travel with his friends and family, eventually managing to rescue him from the evil Peter Pan and return to Storybrooke.[7] However, Pan enacts Regina's original curse once more, forcing her to give up Henry and return to the Enchanted Forest with the remaining residents, while Emma and Henry escape to New York City. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Regina struggles to come to terms with the loss of Henry, though Mary Margaret and Robin Hood persuade her to move forward. To save them from the threats of Zelena, her half-sister, Regina helps Snow and David enact a new curse to return to Storybrooke, before Zelena adds a forgetting potion. Regina faces the struggle of Henry's lost memories of her in Storybrooke, until his book restores these and she breaks the curse with true love's kiss. She meanwhile forms a bond with Robin Hood, which turns romantic after she learns he is her soul mate.[8] Regina uses her newly discovered light power to defeat Zelena, though Emma and Hook are dragged into her time portal, inadvertently returning with Maid Marian (actually Zelena in disguise), who was originally sentenced to death by Regina. To the anger of Regina, Marian, Robin and their son Roland are reunited, causing a schism in her relationships with Emma and Robin. Regina eventually forgives Emma, helping to develop her powers. Marian is later cursed by the Snow Queen, leading Regina to try to find a cure to help Robin. After the defeat of the Snow Queen, Regina saves Marian, but as remnants of her curse threaten to kill her, she realizes that Marian, along with Robin and Roland must leave Storybrooke into the real world with no magic. Later travelling outside of the town with Emma, she locates Robin in New York City, only to discover he unwillingly impregnated Zelena who had been posing as Marian since Emma and Hook's journey into the past. Regina returns to Storybrooke, neutralizing Zelena's powers and locking her in the asylum whilst reuniting with Robin and Roland. After Mr. Gold's darkness is removed from him, it attempts to control Regina until Emma sacrifices herself to become the new Dark One, leading Regina to work with Storybrooke's residents to find Merlin and remove the darkness forever.

Seasons 5 and 6

Shortly after Emma vanishes to Camelot, Regina and Zelena use the Apprentice's wand to create a cyclone, one which Zelena originally intended to be used to return to Oz; however, Regina hijacks the portal and uses it to take Granny's Diner to the Enchanted Forest, where they arrive just in time to talk Emma out of killing a princess named Merida. Regina and the others help convince Emma to find another way to locate Merlin without killing an innocent person. Afterward, Emma entrusts the dagger to Regina, believing the Queen to be the only one willing to kill her if things got out of hand. Shortly after, King Arthur and his knights arrive, stating that the newcomers were prophesied to return by Merlin. As such, Arthur leads them to his kingdom in Camelot. During this time, Regina takes Emma's place as the Savior.

During their time in Camelot, Regina and the others realize that they cannot trust Arthur, who has been driven mad by his desire to destroy the Dark One so he may reunite the dagger with Excalibur. In the episode "Dreamcatcher," Regina helps Emma free Merlin from the tree by fending off Arthur and his knights with her dark magic. However, their plan to steal Excalibur from Arthur in order to reunite it with the dagger backfires after Zelena betrays the heroes and helps Arthur tether Merlin to Excalibur. Afterward, Regina is among those held captive by Arthur, who orders Merlin to kill her and the others if Emma doesn't surrender the dagger to him. Though Emma manages to use her dark magic to free her family and escape from Arthur and Zelena, Hook is struck fatally and collapses while Emma reunites Excalibur. To save Hook's life, Emma tethers him to Excalibur and makes him a second Dark One. After Hook becomes consumed by the darkness and casts the Dark Curse, Regina and the others' memories are wiped by Emma, who seeks to take on responsibility for what has transpired and find a way to destroy the darkness within her and Hook on her own.

After Hook's curse is cast, Regina wakes up with the others in Granny's Diner with no memory of what had transpired. Confronted by Emma, Regina threatens to use the dagger on her, only to discover that Emma has reclaimed the dagger. While the heroes try to deal with a Dark One Emma, Storybrooke is plagued by a Fury there to claim Robin's soul. However, Regina, aided by her friends, sends the Fury back to the Underworld. In the episode "Birth," Regina tries to protect her niece from Emma, only to learn that the Dark One was after Zelena, not her child. Confronting Emma at her mansion, Regina learns that Emma had planned on placing her darkness in Zelena and using Excalibur to kill her and destroy the darkness once and for all, a plan Regina and the others cannot support. Ultimately, however, the plan backfires when Zelena and Hook recover their stolen memories, and the latter resumes his original dark plan to return the souls of the Dark Ones to life in exchange for help in killing Rumplestiltskin. Regina is among those whose souls are claimed; as such, in desperation, the Queen banishes Zelena to Oz in order to protect Robin's child. In the final confrontation with Hook in "Swan Song," Regina and Emma speak to Hook and remind him who he is, forcing him to reconsider his actions and sacrifice his life to destroy the darkness. However, upon learning that the darkness merely transferred back into Gold, Regina supports Emma's plan to venture into the Underworld to save Hook from Hades.

Upon her arrival in the Underworld, Regina is confronted by her mother Cora, who threatens her father Henry if Regina does not leave the Underworld. However, when speaking with her father, Regina is advised not to abandon her friends. Instead, Regina confronts her mother. Though Cora attacks him, Henry's soul is allowed to pass on to Olympus, since his unfinished business has been completed. However, this fact leads Hades into claiming Regina's soul, as well as Snow's and Emma's.

Zelena's arrival in the Underworld with her baby added to more tensions for Regina. She soon discovers that Hades and her sister had met back in Oz and Zelena is being enticed by Hades to become a couple. This results in Regina breaking Cora free from Hades' manual labor camp in order to stop Zelena. The reunion doesn't go as well as planned until Cora restores a memory spell (when Cora brought Zelena to the Enchanted Forest to help save Regina after she tampered with a wand that left her unconscious, but when Regina discovered that they're sisters, Cora erased their memories of having met each other). Regina and Zelena finally made up and with that allowed Cora to move on to Mount Olympus as part of her unfinished business.

Hades attempts to trap the heroes in the Underworld by getting the Blind Witch to cast a spell. Regina and Emma break the spell and a portal is opened taking all the heroes back to Storybrooke. Hades also comes to Storybrooke and attempts to use the Olympian Crystal to kill Regina, but Robin sacrifices himself to save Regina and gets killed instead. Zelena arrives and Hades tries to convinve her to kill Regina using the Crystal but she uses it to kill Hades instead. A funeral is held for Robin. At Granny's after the funeral, the heroes realise that Gold is tethering all of Storybrooke's magic to the Olympian Crystal. Everyone searches for the Crystal but Emma tells Regina to sit it out to which Regina decides to fix it on her own. Henry gets the Crystal and attempts to destroy magic in New York. Regina and Emma follow him to New York where he succeeds in destroying magic. Henry gets all of the New York Citizens to throw coins in a fountain and make a wish, leading to magic being restored. Regina confides in Snow and Emma that she will never be able to get rid of the Evil Queen. Snow comes up with an idea and injects Regina with a serum which separates Regina from the Evil Queen. Regina rips out the Evil Queen's heart and crushes it destroying her darkness for good. The heroes then return to Storybrooke. However, they are unaware that the Evil Queen is still alive and in New York. She rips out The Dragon's heart and declares that the Queen is back and the war begins.

The Evil Queen has recently begun a relationship with Mr. Gold and has formed a sisterly bond with Zelena. The latter has been a great obstacle for Regina and her allies. Of her multiple crimes since arriving in Storybrooke, the Queen has manipulated Regina into killing Edmond Dantès in order to show her that the darkness is still alive in her, kidnapped Archie Hopper and impersonated him in order to exploit Emma's secret, tried to drive a wedge between Hook and Henry, and most recently has sought Gold's help in order to exact her vengeance against Snow White.

Aspects and forms

As a character with different incarnations, Regina gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.

As Regina Mills

While in Storybrooke, Regina has no aliases. However, she briefly assumed the identity of the Savior in Camelot to protect Emma from being corrupted by the darkness's influence.

As Evil Queen

Wilma was an alias she assumed while glamoured by Rumplestiltskin, to learn more about her subjects and get close to Snow White to crush her heart. She briefly considered reforming after hearing Snow White's guilt about her part in Daniel's disappearance, but soon reverts to being the Evil Queen.

Character development and Reception

Lana Parrilla

Parrilla's performance also received positive reviews from critics, and in 2012 and 2013 was regarded as a promising contender for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category,[9][10][11][12][13][14] though she did not receive a nomination. She won the TV Guide Award for Favorite Villain and the ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2012.[15][16] Parrilla also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress on Television from the 38th Saturn Awards and a nomination for Best Television Actress at the 28th Imagen Awards.[17][18]

Parrilla has cited her performance as Regina as one of her best roles ever:

“ There's always two stories being told when playing Regina. There's the threat of her knowing she's an evil queen and then there's just the pure simple fact that the biological mother has stepped into her world and the threat of losing her son is just enormous. That's a fear that I think any adopted mother would have. I think that's going to really help the audience relate to Regina in some level. ”

References

  1. ↑ The Evil Queen impersonated Archie Hopper in the episode "Street Rats" in order to exploit Emma Swan's secret.
  2. ↑ "'Once Upon a Time' recap: Snow White meets 'Black Swan'" by Hilary Busis, from Entertainment Weekly (April 2, 2012)
  3. ↑ Shaunna, Murphy (October 31, 2011). "'Once Upon a Time' recap: This Town Ain't Big Enough". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ Busis, Hillary (January 9, 2012). "'Once Upon a Time' recap: The Dark One Rises". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ Murphy, Shaunna (November 13, 2011). "'Once Upon a Time' recap: Read Before You Sign". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  6. ↑ Busis, Hillary (February 13, 2012). "'Once Upon a Time' recap: Tale as Old as Time". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ "'Once Upon a Time' recap: Freaky Sunday". Entertainment Weekly. December 1, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "'Once Upon a Time' recap: The Green Zone" from Entertainment Weekly (April 7, 2014)
  9. ↑ Paula Hendrickson (2012-06-21). "Lana Parrilla in 'Once Upon a Time': Road to the Emmys 2012: The Supporting Actor & Actress - Chicago Tribune". Variety. Articles.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  10. ↑ 07/19/2013 2:48 pm EDT (2013-07-19). "Emmy Latino Snubs For Lana Parrilla, Jimmy Smits, and More". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  11. ↑ Marc Cuenco (2013-12-01). "14 Emmy-Worthy GIFs of 'Once Upon a Time' Star Lana Parilla". Tv.aol.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  12. ↑ Team TVLine / June 6, 2012, 6:25 AM PDT (2012-06-06). "PHOTOS: Emmy Nominations 2012 — Awards Show's Supporting Actress In Drama Contenders". TVLine. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  13. ↑ Snetiker, Marc (2012-07-18). "2012 Emmy Awards Nominees: Our Predictions! | TV News". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  14. ↑ "Lana Parrilla, Once Upon a Time from Emmy Contenders: Supporting Actress, Drama | E! Online UK". Uk.eonline.com. 2012-07-02. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  15. ↑ "TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites Awards Winners Revealed! - Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com. 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  16. ↑ 09/21/2012 10:18 pm (2012-09-21). "ALMA Awards 2012: Winners And Show Highlights (VIDEO, PHOTOS)". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  17. ↑ Goldberg, Matt. "Saturn Award Nominations 2012 | Collider | Page 148931". Collider. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  18. ↑ Nominees for the 28th Annual Imagen Awards Announced Imagen, Retrieved November 17, 2015

External links

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