#regina meta

[bluethepineapples1]

Blue🍍 👀

I'm in a OUAT mood and was wondering if you had any Regina HCs or thoughts on her? You mentioned she's one of your favourite characters.

Cat, you sent me back into the rabbithole XD

I think she has the single most moving line I've ever encountered in literature.

I don't know how to love very well. I wasn't capable of it for a very long time. But I know - and remember - that if you hold on to someone too hard, that doesn't make them love you.

i really love the corrosiveness of Regina as a person. She is a terrifying person who understood the world through the lens of power, and it made her a cruel and destructive person as a result. Revenge and anger drove her for a very long time because quite frankly, she had nothing else, and no one can survive that kind of hollowness.

While her life at Storybrooke (and Henry especially) mellowed her out significantly, that darkness still lingered in her and it burst out mightily when she got triggered. Anger is a hard habit to break - especially when it was only through anger that she managed to protect herself. Magic even moreso. These are things that outright protected her.

Henry is quite literally the only good thing in her life for a very long time. He is the person he loves most.

So when she lets him go? When she does so by admitting that she doesn't know how to love him - by saying that she "remembers" being held too close?

It's one of the bravest, most selfless acts of love I've ever seen.

I love the way the story so painstakingly affirms the reality of that love. All too often, writers have a tendency to be so black-and-white with regards to abuse storylines. If they hurt you, they could not have loved you. Not so with Regina.

She did love Henry. She loved him selfishly and in a manner that hurt him maybe - but she loved him nonetheless.

Her story revolves around learning how to express that love. We get entire seasons of her painstakingly stripping herself of all these things that protected her. We watch her let go of anger and revenge. We watch her let go of entire worlds and Henry himself.

Regina goes from someone who always held on to tight to a person whose love is most grandly expressed through letting go.

[jessmalia]

You don’t have a show without Henry Mills. Emma might be the main character, but Henry is the heart of the show (he has the heart of the truest believer!!! it’s right there!!!). Every single character is irrevocably tied to him. He changed everyone’s lives and gave them the opportunity to change each other’s lives. He gave Emma a family. He gave Regina redemption. He delivered Rumple to his son. He gave David and Snow their daughter back. He was the reason behind Emma and Neal’s relationship and the good thing that came out of it. He healed Neal by giving him the opportunity to break the cycle of neglecting father/son relationships. Killian redeemed himself from his mistreatment of Baelfire by Henry allowing him to take a stepfather role in his life. The text says Emma broke the first curse, but Henry is really 99,9% responsible for it, thereby giving every single citizen of Storybrooke their lives back. Regina’s love for him broke the second curse. He was the one who got them out of the Heroes and Villains story. He’s descended from the Enchanted Forest but was born and raised in our world, making him the bridge between them. He did the impossible when, for just one second, he made the people of our world believe in magic and reunited his family again. Once Upon A Time is a show that operates around fate and Henry is the person who ties everyone’s red strings together. He is quite literally the center of their universe. He is The Author. He is the truest believer. It’s been there all along.

[maounteighn]

Overanalising Moral Orel: Clay, Bloberta and the Colour Theory

p.2 Bloberta

p.1

In p.1 we have already established that Bloberta's colour is red and it remained red throughout her whole journey. Her sense of Self was untouched neither by marriage nor by parenthood. When we are taking about relativity of her identity, she doesn't base it around or against anyone in her current family.

Her style barely changes, always containing red and white. However, she gradually loses white in her garments the more she decides to walk on her own. Her younger self up to that wedding in Help wears the most white – visually it softens the boldness of her red skirt. At the reception party she wears mostly red, white is only her belt and headband – red is also more saturated. The same red remains in her post-wedding daily wear. While white is not only in her collar, but also her apron, it is a completely different piece of clothing. Underneath the apron there's still her red dress. White apron dilutes red too, making it look less assertive, but it's only for the time she wears it. It's like a mask of a housewife and a mother, that she willing puts on for a meantime. Underneath it it's still her real, very persistent Self, that she is not particularly trying to hide. She also water down her true Self to appear less threatening to the society – she is a woman who has desires, attitudes and strength she shouldn't demonstrate. So not to apper a deviant, she has to adopt a socially acceptable Persona for herself.

Despite common beliefs that woman's true identity is of a wife and a mother, Bloberta is never changed by acquiring these statuses. Quite opposite, it's Clay who shapes his identity in relation to her (against her). It a simple visual storytelling, he is nothing significant to her, he is an instrument to her goals and desires, a tool. And a useless tool, too.

What has actually influenced Bloberta's sense of Self had done it way before she and Clay met. Take a look at her family.

Her mother Regina wears a mix of brown, red and very dark-green. Everyone else wears a variation of her colours. Modella – red and yellow-green, Lunchbox – green, Raymond – brown. Together they look very homogeneous too. They don't stick out, they don't clash, they don't take attention away from Regina. In comparison, their wardrobes are also similar and very simple, mostly plain l, while hers is quite busy and speckled, ornated. She is the center of attention. Raymond blends with the background, Modella and Lunchbox are like an extension of her perfect aesthetic. And all together they look classy, a very much dark academia family. That to be said, literally no one on the picture is allowed to diverge from the selected route (even their interior is in gren/brown/red) – they HAVE to be inside the borders of The Family Aesthetic or else...

In other words, they are constantly putting up a show, a collective Persona. The are not a perfect family by any standards, but Regina tightly manages their public image. Even at the reception the are like this.

But Who we have across the table? Bloberta. Her bright red skirt and white patterned blouse. She doesn't fit in the family approved hue of red, she wears too much white – she reflects too much light, her red looks even brighter again it. She is just that bright. Her reception dress is also bright red. If she was ever allowed to stand closer to them, they would look dull. So she never is. She is a family outcast. It's also reflective of a talent that she possess so naturally but is never able to utilise bc no one is interested. Despite her constant search of love and acceptance, she adopts this identity of a black – or rather red – sheep of the family that functionally casts her aside. She doesn't change to appeal to her mother's taste, probably bc it's senseless. Regina is not interested in Bloberta or her success, so it wouldn't matter anyways.

See, also, if her father was truly affiliated with her, he would have won a bit of her red maybe. It would've been a nice touch. But we know that he was too reluctant to defend his daughter even if he felt sorry for her. Her siblings are not on her side either. Lunchbox is actually her antipode – completely in green, a contrasting, complementary colour to red from the opposite side of the colour wheel – a son, a youngest child, a talent her mother actually wants. He is everything Bloberta is not. Modella, despite being closer to Bloberta in colour theme, in tone is closer to their mother. She may be not so aggressively opposite, but she is too reluctant to align with her. She has softer colour, she might be on good terms with her personally, but wouldn't risk standing up for her to Regina. Thus, Bloberta is completely alienated from her family.

Also, Bloberta's clashing style can be interpreted as her subconscious attempt to separate herself from her siblings in a desperate attempt to get attention too. Bloberta is a middle child, moreover she is a middle daughter inbetween an older sister and a younger brother. It's socially acceptable to deem her invisible – you already have an excellent daughter and a son™, this one is spare. Red is a very noticeable colour, it attracts attention. In Bloberta's case, it can also be so that she is noticed even if looked at passively. This way, her bright red is imprinted on someone's retina, even if they barely acknowledge her presence. This way, her mother, despite looking past her every day, never forgets that she is there. Thus, red is her only chance to be noticed by somebody, anybody. It's a survival tactics for her. Her depressed, meek attitude at home, and everywhere where she is with her family, doesn't allow her to come to her own character. To avoid being an afterthought, she wears bright red and contrasts it will white.

Now, let's take a look at her friend group. They all seem to have a similar style of colour combination. Pastel tones, dark-light, no more than two colours etc. But you see, no one is so on the nose like Bloberta. Even that one girl, that wears red too – it's not the same. Her red is darker, closer to brown and contrasted with light green, that is also with red plaid. The all are colourful, of course, but tame. It's just Bloberta who is standing out, and not only bc she's the only single friend now.

Also, there's another character, who stands out just like Bloberta, but in an opposite technique. Censodoll and her in this instance actually (and in general) share some similar characters despite such a dramatic difference in colour identity. They are both single, their Self shaped by actions of their mothers, the Self so strong, that they keep it throughout the whole life. However Censodoll approaches her existence with black – colour that absorbs light. She is not susceptible to the influence of her environment, but she is acutely aware of it – subsequently she can exploit it for her own gain. (Censodoll deserves her own separate paragraph).

White is a very reflective colour, it reflects light from its surrounding. Pre-Help Bloberta is very much receptive of what her surrounding thinks and expects of her and she reflects back exactly that. The slow decline of white elements in her clothes can signify gradual maturing, jadedness. Young Bloberta is still sensitive, naïve and youthfully innocent. She's of course already lost most of her expectations, learned to accept that little consideration she's given and not object or ask for more. At the reception she wears mostly red because the earlier encounter with her friend group gave her a motivation – to get engaged asap to be included again. The tone is more saturated, the white belt or headband does very little to counteract it – she drops the act she does without her family around, she is confident in her actions too. Subsequently, this becomes a colour of her victory and her downfall.

I have to say, the only time Bloberta ever abandoned her significant red was during her affair with Stopframe. It's a sportswear, so it's usually white. But on a storytelling side, it tell us about her (and his) motives a lot.

She wears all white with a tiny bit of blue. You see, we already established how white is a reflective colour. Story wise she is trying to be someone different too, just this once. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's unauthentic for her, just that it diverges greatly from her original and by that time setted colour identity. Its probable, that she is also putting a very strong and exaggerated act – she's desperate after all. It's been at least 4 years of her marriage to Clay, that was a horrible mistake from day 1, she knew it instantly, too. So this act here is targeted to secure her a better relationship (or so she thinks). It's actually the same approach she used on Clay in Help + longevity. The one thing she definitely has learnt was that she shouldn't immediately jump to a conclusion. So here, she is expanding her act in time and also putting more effort in her reflection. A tiny bit of blue is her way of associating with Stopframe, blue is one of his signature colours, especially to her. (Notably, he also has a tiny bit of red – he is also putting up an act here, they are quite the same in their tactics. He wears white, just like Bloberta, for the effect of reflection – he is whatever she wants him to be, an affinity to her. But notably, he keep an element of his own colour, while she drops it completely. He is not that dedicated to the initial act, not as much as she is.)

So, Bloberta holds her identity in a death grip and wears red as a trophy. However, she became a product of her own environment first, and locked it on herself second. Red is what she needed to survive among her family and friends, not necessarily what she truly was. Now, of course, it's what she it, the Self she accepted and built up.

Her red is very different from Clay's red too. She has a potential to be whatever she wants actually, she has much more agency than Clay in terms of independent existence. She is versatile and resilient, she is flexible and capable of big achievements if she puts her mind to it. In her case, red = strength, power she actually has, and, in extension, the power of Self that Clay actually desires but lacks.

They are different in their approaches and attitudes, routes the took etc., but in the end they arrived to the same result. They are two parts of the same disaster, one whole broken system.

Orel is next.

[glitter-stained]

I'm always thinking about Jason because fixation so my judgement is biaised because every song I listen to makes me think about at least one of my Jasons, but here are some songs though were definitely written for and about canon Jason Todd, and I will take no criticism (but you are definitely welcome to add your own songs):

-Take me To War, by The Crane Wives

>"But I keep snapping at Goliath hands with all of my tiny might"/ "All of the fire I swallowed, all of the sparks that went down in my guts, I am always burning out"/ "I'll be the sweetest thing to ever scare you"

The Robin -> Red Hood transition is so seamless

-Little Soldiers by the Crane Wives

> "On the broken back of all the words we spared, Like little soldiers in the trenches; It was a march we made towards ruin and despair, But we held hands all the while"

I always rant about how how Jason's character and story is centered around love, this is the song that plays in my head while I'm yapping

-Blue Lips by Regina Spektor

> "He took a step but then felt tired, He said I'll rest a little while; but when he tried to walk again, he wasn't a child"

If you ever wanna be sad about Jason's resurrection, catatonia and stolen childhood, this is the song to listen to

-The Horrors and The Wild by The Amazing Devil

"Think of all the horrors that I promised I'd bring, I promise they'll sing of every Time you passed your fingers through my hair and called me child, Witness me old man I am the Wild"

> If Under The Red Hood has one song it's this one

-The Old Witch Sleep and The Good Man Grace by The Amazing Devil

"There's a fire burning/And I'm learning to be/So much more than my tiredness/ So much more than that old witch sleep wishes/ She kisses my eyelids, and I/Breathe"

> If Red Hood: Lost Days (minus the gross bits) has one song it's this one

-Elsa's song by The Amazing Devil

>"And you'll throw some sage and lillies/ And roses where I'll rot/ Of all the flowers you picked/I knew you would forget/ Forget-me-nots"

idk who Elsa is this is about how Jason was grieved but he wasn't remembered

(Yeah I'm pretty convinced that at least either Madeline Hyland or Joey Batey read Under the Red Hood so many of their songs fit so well I restrained myself to three but there are so many)

-A Burning Hill by Mitski

>"I'm tired of wanting more, I think I'm finally worn/ For you have a way of promising things/ And I've been a forest fire"

Jason admitting loss and giving up on begging Bruce is something that can be so personal actually

-Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless

>"Now you're on your knees with your head hung low/ Big Man tell you where to go/ Tell them it's good, tell them okay/Don't do a goddamn thing they say"

Crime Alley united!!! Also, "tell the big guy I said hello" :))) (the God/Batman amalgam in Death in the Family is such an incredible one-liner and works so well for Jason omg)

-For the Departed by Shayfer James

>"Now I must finished what I started/I'll write a symphony for the departed/And I have no time for second chances/ So I survive on bourbon blood and backward glances"

The amount of angst, dramatics and intense devotion to his cause at the cost of his life, the literature references, everything about this song? Jason at his angstiest for sure

-Goodbye by Bo Burnham

> "If I wake up in a house that's full of smoke I'll panic/So call me up and tell me a joke/ When I'm fully irrelevant and totally broken dammit/ Call me up and tell me a joke /Oh shit/ You're really joking at a time like this"

exploded warehouse parallel aside, this song feels like not being able to heal because you're not capable of asking for what you really need, wanting to come back but feeling like you aren't allowed to because it would ruin you or the you that was shaped by other's perception of you and most importantly, begging to matter and to have mattered. So. Jason.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

The Grumps have now crossed over from “this case is stupid” to legitimate rage when it comes to Turnabout Big Top. You can tell Arin’s rage side is coming out when he shouted, “WHO WROTE THIS?!” when it came to the joke about Max’s bust. And Dan is doing the thing where he’s sounding tired and defeated, which usually means he’s mad.

What’s funny is that they’re angry at the case for a different reason than most of the people who played it already. I noticed that most people hate Big Top for the underaged Regina worship, or the love triangle. But the Grumps hate Big Top because the jokes aren’t funny, the story isn’t good, and they hate all the characters. They didn’t even notice the Regina age issue until a few episodes into the story.

It’s to the point where they’re convinced a different writer was in charge of this episode, when the truth is that it was Takumi who wrote this. It’s just he was drunk as hell and Capcom gave him as much time for one case in the original game to write ALL of Justice for All.

[camelotroses]

I could watch this all day.

Regina had no right. Killian knew that. Killian stopped her cruelty against Emma.

He'd been against using the dagger to control her from the start. He believed in her enough to help her without using force.

"Are you all right?"

I love that Killian puts the dagger down before asking. He's been in a hurry to get rid of the darkness but since they got there he's been all about "Emma's choice". He's livid at Regina & he knows being controlled by the dagger hurts Emma.

That is true love.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Mean Girls 2024 Doesn't Understand Janis

Me watching Janis in Mean Girls 2024:

The original Mean Girls was based on a nonfiction called "Queen Bees and Wannabes". It's a self-help book for parents to help them connect with their daughters. It describes the powers of the cliques and the different roles in them.

It's pretty clear cut that Regina George is based on the "Queen Bee" role. This role is characterized by:

"Her friends do what she wants to do".

"She isn't intiminated by any other girl in her class".

"She can argue anyone down, including friends, peers, teachers and parents".

"She can make another girl feel "anointed" by declaring her a special friend".

"She won't [...] take responsibility when she hurts someone's feelings".

"If she's been wronged, she feels she has the right to seek revenge".

If you look carefully, you'll see that some of these features are noticeable in Janis as well. "Her friends do what she wants to do": She subtley pressures Cady to skip class.

"She won't [...] take responsibility when she hurts someone's feelings": She refused to properly apologize when everyone else did.

"If she's been wronged, she feels she has the right to seek revenge": I don't need to explain that one.

This is because Janis is also a Queen Bee, for a different clique. The movie makes a point to show us that there isn't just one clique, the plastics were just more prominent when Janis explained the seating order in the cafeteria.

Everyone is a part of girl world. Everybody are a part of cliques. Everyone perpetuates the different roles in them. And Janis too, is a Queen Bee. She too, is a mean girl.

Now – remember the scene I put where Janis and Cady skip class? It was cut from the new one. To me, this was a red flag. This scene was crucial in subtley establishing everything I just described. For the entire musical, I thought they were gonna water down Janis, but they couldn't have, there's a scene where she expicitly states that she's a mean girl:

So I remained fairly calm. Until I got to the scene. Instead of Janis calling herself mean, she sang a small musical number about how shitty Cady is.

...

But I still had some hope! There's still the scene where she does the "non apology" to Regina. Right? Right...?

The movie's still in theaters, so I couldn't find the actual clip, but here's what she sang instead:

So. Um. What was I gonna do? Oh yeah!

Mean Girls the Musical tries to pretend Janis is just a pure innocent victim. Not only is that not who she is, but it goes completely against everything the original tried to say. There isn't just one Big Bad in social circles, and there isn't black and white morality in girl world. Janis deserved better.

[theshipdiaries]

I've been rewatching Once Upon a Time season 2 (I skipped some parts) and... I remember Rumple being worse. like- so far? the worst thing he has done in the present is beat up some guys to impress his girlfriend. like- Regina did waaay worse things. In the past AND in the present. Maybe he does worse later? I mean Regina SLAUGHTERED VILLAGES. He only killed once in a while and never for like no reason. Or at least not as often, like- he didn't kill just to kill, or for pettiness all the time. Regina slaughtered villages just because they were protecting Snow.

She killed her own father who loved her so much. All in the name of revenge. The worst thing Rumple did was abandon his son and he did it because he was scared not because he wanted revenge.

I mean all of season 2 Regina kept choosing the path of evil over and over again and all Rumple did was help literally everyone. He did it annoyed but did it anyway. Then he sacrificed himself for everyone. like- for me that's his redemption already. He didn't need to necessarily do it again

And yet rumple is seen as worse? somehow? we'll see later. I honestly have the worst memory so l don't remember too much of the later seasons. I do know he kept choosing the dagger over belle, but that's the only thing that can kill him- I wouldn't trust anyone with it either.

[caliburn-the-sword]

i think one of the biggest let downs for me in ouat was the daily mirror (honestly my own fault for thinking too hard). i'm sure that this has been said a hundred times but i feel so much about it.

not to be captain of the obvious, but within the very first few episodes of season 1 the major power structures in storybrooke are established: mayor's office, sheriff's station, mr gold's shop, and the daily mirror. prior to emma's arrival as the saviour, all of these uphold regina's reign.

then over the course of the first season (with exception), you see the figureheads of these establishments lose their position some way or the other. graham dies early in the series, sidney glass loses his job and then gets arrested, and this all cumulates in the finale of season 1 and the beginning of season 2, where everyone's got their memories back and regina, while not formally losing her position as mayor, but does face the backlash of the entire town. gold is a notable exception to this since the writers always intended for him to be a major player, but it only takes him til season 3 to no longer own his shop cause he died, and then again in season 4 when he's banished.

but beyond this, everyone regina had in her pocket was replaced by someone on emma's side. emma herself takes over the role of sheriff when graham dies and that's where we see the first crack in the foundation of regina's authority. belle becomes the owner of the shop both times gold is indisposed. i'd like to reiterate for regina that while she never formally loses the role, david acts as a stand in during early season 2 to fill in that leadership role over the general town, and then in season 3 we see snow become mayor in title for a time (whatever happened to that plot...?)

circling back to the start, the only one that is never replaced is sidney in the daily mirror, which arguably should be the most important role to fill post breaking the curse since meta wise, the magic mirror is the evil queen's most iconic henchman, more than the huntsman ever was. additionally, i'm a very big fan of free press. it's SO influential and could have played a much bigger role in storybrooke. sidney had clearly been replaced, given we still see newspapers throughout the seasons, but i just wish something more could have been done with it.

my number one nomination AND expectation was that this was gonna be a slowburn of sorts to build up henry as he grew up over the series. not only would it be perfect for the obvious reason of henry's subsequent author storyline, but there would be something delicious about regina's most loyal confidant eventually being replaced by her own son. something it being some kind of foil, where instead of the loyalty being built upon obsession and coercion and control, it's built on mutual respect and love and trust. which would then ALSO tie in very nicely to the ending of season 6 when regina becomes mayor again, and of course her and emma are allies.

i assumed that this was pretty much confirmed during the whole author storyline, and that the second he became working age in the usa (forgive me idk what it is) he would start an internship at the daily mirror and eventually work his way up to becoming the most high profile journalist in storybrooke. season 5 touched on the author plotline nicely tho i wish we could have gotten a little something more. season 6 came and went, and if it touched on anything, it was so minor that i don't remember it.

this is probably what makes it most painful to me that SEASON 7 of all seasons was the closest (and yet simultaneously also the furthest) from achieving this. yes, his journey through the realms is important, but arguably defining his writing ability in season 7 to a novel of what he thought was completely imagined, serves almost the same purpose as the storybook from seasons 1-6, but undermines him and does a disservice to him. the whole podcast subplot was close but because this was seattle and not storybrooke, and so it's not a one for one replacement of sidney with henry.

[ineffable-suffering]

A Small Nugget of Appreciation for the Good Omens Cinematography

i‘m by far not the most qualified person to analyse cinematographic details and the way shows are shot, BUT: upon re-watching S1 for the quazillionth time, i finally figured out what it was that always made me so horrendously uncomfortable about that One Scene in S1E3, when Aziraphale goes to Heaven to tell the archangels what he figured out about the Antichrist (who‘s not actually the Antichrist, whoopsie-doodles).

it just always made me feel so uncomfortable because, well, the way they’re having this conversation is absolutely awkward, as per usual, but it‘s not just that. i took a closer look at how the whole scene is shot and then the metaphorical lightbulb (let there be light!) went up over my head. okay, so, here‘s the deal:

at first, we get this extremely wide-angel shot of Gabriel and the other archangels walking into the room. (sidenote: Azirphale is already there and waiting, so they absolutely made that dramatic, weirdly lined-up enterance on purpose, probably to Assert Angelic Dominance, lol). like, you almost have to squint to see them in the massive, empty hall that is Heaven. it gives you an immense feeling of distance. coldness, even. angels are always described as "beings of love and light" but this shot, among many other things that happen in this show, shows us that that‘s not actually true when it comes to each other (and to humans too, let‘s be real: the archangels don‘t give a goat’s rat's ass about what happens in and to the World).

so anyway, this shot immediately let‘s us know two things:

they rudely let Aziraphale wait for them to do their little runway walk with all the attention being on them

there is no closeness, friendliness or warmth between any of them and least of all towards Aziraphale

you can see this very well in one of the other shots while they‘re all still talking:

you‘d think this was a candid from 2020, mid-pandemic, with how far they‘re all standing apart from each other. and they‘re all facing Aziraphale like a wall. a clear statement: you‘re over there, we‘re over here. you‘re not one of us. (also notice how they‘re not facing him in a centered way but that it‘s actually only really Gabriel who‘s opposite of Aziraphale? despite being the first one to have entered from the right? again: hirarchyyyy)

and now comes the part that stands in such stark contrast to these wide, open, distant shots: the extreme, almost fish-eye-like close ups:

these scenes of then talking are what made me feel so uncomfortable and sort of out of place. i don’t know about you, but they almost make me want to take a physical step back from the screen to get some distance. it‘s like Gabriel and his squad are really distant but in the next second they’re invading ones personal space and– oh, hm. well. that’s exactly it, isn’t it?

it‘s firmly established that they don’t care about Aziraphale, least of all see him as an equal. both by the opening shot and the way they speak to him. but then that feeling is being interrupted with them absolutely crowding Aziraphale up against the figurative wall (aka our tv screen) and interrogating him. they‘re all up in his business as soon as he reveals he has information they might want. they’re nosy, inquisitive and they make both Aziraphale and us feel very uncomfortable and invaded in our space.

in all the ways, this scene conveys on both a dialogue and cinematographic level, that Heaven and the archangels are extremely distant and cold towards each other (and Aziraphale), while at the same time getting way too uncomfortably close and up in Azi‘s business as soon as they suspect he has information they may want.

and one last observation: during this whole conversation, none of the archangels are ever filmed together in one shot (unless it shows all of them vs. Aziraphale):

which is just another way of showing: they’re only "united" when it‘s them against whoever they see as inferior/a threat to them. but when it comes to the archangels as a group just by themselves, they‘re no less distant, weary and unliking of each other than they are with Aziraphale (or Muriel, for example, in S2).

in S1E1 hastur and ligur make a this whole big deal about „demons not trusting each other“ and we‘re made to believe that it‘s probably different with angels. but it‘s not. they‘re nothing short of untrustworthy themselves and proper assholes to everyone within and also outside of their own ranks. same thing as demons, just in neat suits.

except for Aziraphale, of course, God and Satan bless his heart.

alright, that's it. crappy cinematography analysis over. see you again when my hyperfixation catches on another one of the ten million details in this show, xoxo.

[moistvonlipwig]

I'm not a big Star Wars person, but it's implied in Once Upon a Time that Regina Mills is, and I'm pretty confident that her favorite Star Wars character is Anakin Skywalker.

Firstly, the fashion sense. Forget Luke's Chanel boots, Darth Vader had the cuntiest outfits in that whole galaxy, and Regina as a certified fashion icon would appreciate that.

Secondly, the love for his son. I can imagine this hitting different for Regina at different points in time. Before adopting Henry, she'd probably feel a longing for that kind of bond. Maybe she'd even see herself in Luke and she'd wish that her mother had been willing to change for her like Anakin did, or that her father had been strong enough to stand up to her mother like Vader did to Palpatine. After adopting Henry and before the curse broke, I imagine she'd respect Anakin, look up to him even. She'd vow to put her son first like he did, no matter what happened, but she wouldn't yet see herself as needing to change like he did. And finally, years after the curse broke, I think she'd see Anakin as a kindred spirit, and she would feel sad for him that he didn't have more time with Luke. But it would still warm her heart that Luke kept trying to save him.

Thirdly, and perhaps most crucially, the way he had been systematically stripped of his personhood and sought to reaffirm it. I think Regina would regard the prequels as not being very good movies, but she would have a soft spot for them nonetheless. I can imagine the first time she saw The Phantom Menace and baby Anakin, a child slave stripped of freedom and personhood by the society he lived in, telling Padme, "I'm a person, and my name is Anakin." I think that probably made her cry -- to see under the hood of this larger-than-life villain to the trapped child underneath, the child who had never been free, trading one master for another his whole life, who nonetheless asserted his personhood in such a plain, defiant way. I'm sure she'd read and watched all of this Earth's versions of the Snow White fairytale by now, and yet she didn't see herself in any of the various Evil Queens. The fairytale portrayals of her robbed her of her humanity the same way the society she came from did, the same way Cora, Leopold, and Rumple did. But when baby Anakin asserted his own humanity to Padme, she finally saw herself -- not in any fairytale villain but in a child longing to be free, to be acknowledged as human, for that's what she, too, has wanted all along. "I'm a person," baby Anakin would say onscreen, "and my name is Anakin." I'm a person, too, she would think, and my name is Regina.

[swanqueensalad]

i’m not sure if you’ve already done something similar but i was wondering if you had any hc for regina’s relationship with clothes? i just feel like there’s so much to dig into with all her mother’s bullshit and how she was raised to value appearances, how performative a lot of her outfits were as the evil queen, the shift in how she dresses after the curse breaks, her and emma’s opposite approaches to how they dress themselves. idk i just feel like if anybody else would also have thoughts on this, it would be you

anon i am literally in love with you for sending me this ask. honestly why have i never done a post on this before!!! this is SO interesting to me!! clothing is definitely a hugely important part of regina's character and journey over the course of the show.

PSA: this turned into a literal play by play biography of regina's life through clothing. ur welcome. also this is totally unedited, we die like men

I think clothing means a lot of different things to Regina. I think she both revels in and resents the glitz and glamour, uses it as her shield, weaponry and armour but also it can be very vulnerable for her... it's a lot

and I agree that, unfortunately like many things with Regina, we have to start by tracking back to her childhood and how Cora raised her

Regina is a young noblewoman in the enchanted forest, and much of her 'value' to her family would lie in making an advantageous marriage. Layer on top of that Cora's absolute single minded determination for success, social climbing and for Regina to become queen one day and you just KNOW appearances were a huge deal when Regina was growing up (we see this threaded through canon too, in Cora magically changing Regina's clothes/hair/makeup for her)

to Cora, Regina's beauty was always a valuable tool she could use, but her brutal ambition would have led to absolute perfectionism.

After all, sweetheart, queens have to be perfect.

I think even when Regina was a very young child, a huge amount of weight was put onto her clothing and how she was presented.

I can imagine Cora choosing elaborate outfits for her infant daughter, dressing her up like a doll and making sure the ribbons in her hair matched exactly, being absolutely critical of everything to ensure her child was the best dressed, the most perfect

And I think this hugely impacted Regina's childhood. Cora would have allowed Regina very little freedom, partially because she was conditioning her to behave like a queen (or just like an obedient pawn for her to do whatever she wanted with) but also partially because Regina literally could not risk getting messy or dirty.

Image is everything, darling.

As child, Regina couldn't really play because she would ruin her dress, or her hair, or scuff her shoes. She had no choice but to occupy herself with the 'proper' pursuits that her mother approved of, because she physically couldn't do anything else. No running, tree climbing, flower picking etc for tiny Regina. Lots of sitting quietly and looking pretty, even as a child.

I can definitely see Cora showing Regina off from an early age, dressing her up like a doll, inviting other noblewomen for tea and dressing Regina better than any of their children, making her sit nicely and quietly.

If Regina were to be 'bad' and accidently dirty her dresses, mess up her hair etc. I think Cora would definitely punish her quite severely. because from day one, Cora was drilling into Regina that her appearance was one of the most valuable and worthwhile things about her. Queens have to be perfect.

And of course, little Regina doesn't want to be a queen, she just wants to go play in the meadow with the other children, but she wants to be a good girl more than anything, because mother hurts her when she's not.

As Regina grows older, I think Cora becomes far more critical of her appearance. A doll like, cute child is far easier to keep 'perfect' than an adolescent girl, and it's also all a huge control tactic for Cora to keep Regina affection starved and desperate to please her. So there would be backhanded comments, the constant pressure to be more beautiful. The feeling started to grow in Regina that she was pretty, just not pretty enough, never enough.

Ik I've talked about this before here (TW for EDs) but I headcanon Cora as absolutely fucking up a young Regina's body image and relationship with food too, controlling/restricting her diet. So I can imagine that dress fittings became a source of enormous stress and pain for an adolescent and teenage Regina.

In the enchanted forest, as a noble, all of Regina's clothes were likely hand made from expensive fabrics. Cora would spare no expense for making her daughter the most fashionable, beautiful, ideal young lady. So there was enormous pressure on Regina to 'wear the clothes well' and to keep them pristine. But these fittings would have been hell, because Cora definitely was stood in the corner, never ever asking Regina's opinions or how she feels in the clothes, but only ever criticizing the fit, asking if her corset could be laced tighter, and despairing over tiny mistakes.

Despite all this though, I do think a young Regina enjoyed clothing and fashion in a way. As much as her mother made it absolute hell, Regina really did like the few dresses she was allowed to have a say in and I think she always liked pretty things, she just wished she was allowed to like them on her own terms.

I think the white dress we see her wearing in a lot of her early EF flashbacks was one of her favourites because it's pretty but also simple and comfortable, something she would have chosen herself and just luckily happened to be considered suitable by her mother.

I've written about it in this fic but I also think Cora would have been actively sexualising Regina from a young age, trying to make her as appealing to suitors and other noblemen as possible to get more power and advantage. This would make Regina very uncomfortable, and I think at this point she really resented all this elaborate clothing and heavy jewelry.

There's also something really interesting in canon ouat costume design I want to discuss because I've never seen it discussed before: in 2x015 The Queen Is Dead, we get a glimpse of the fashions in Leopold's kingdom around the time Regina and Snow were about to meet for the first time. We see Queen Eva, clearly an empowered adult woman, wearing a tightly fitting deep red dress covered in jewels. Meanwhile the ten (ish?) year old Snow White wears a more appropriately girlish frock with puffy sleeves, a simple bodice and full skirts. Around this time, we mostly see Regina dressed in the latter style, implying she is still being dressed and presented more as a young lady/maiden than an adult. The blue dress Cora puts her in to meet King Leopold is a very similar design to Snow's, with full sleeves and skirt; her riding coats are also loose and puffy sleveed; the dress she wears at dinner when married to Leopold is full sleeved and skirted too; the white dress we see her in several times is the exception, but looser still than Eva's style.

I believe the earliest we see Regina in that adult style dress is in Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, when she's years into her marriage and about to kill her husband and seize power. This is a moment of empowerment for her shown through costume, and a clear shift she's gone from girl to woman, which is actually disgusting considering this is at the end of her marriage to the elderly king.

My point here is that I think throughout her marriage the world still saw Regina as a child to a degree, a poor replacement for Eva, and Regina was still very much a young woman, who did not feel any older or freer. Her marriage kept her trapped and unempowered, just like her mother had.

She always had to be beautiful and perfect, and this pressure was amped up even more as queen. I can see a newly married Regina trying so hard in the first few years to always be perfect, constructing elaborate outfits, hair and makeup just like Cora taught her, to try and be good enough for Leopold, to make him more kind to her, to make anyone at court notice her at all, but it never works. She is still only ever objectified or sidelined or both.

When she begins training with Rumple, we start to see Regina developing a new sense of style: she begins wearing darker colours, to mimic her mentor in a way. I think this is very indicative of her mental state, how easily influenced she was, how much she wanted to latch onto this one source of potential hope and power in her life.

But this was of course a transitional period, and I do think it's interesting that we see her in 1x11, seducing Sidney and killing her husband finally wearing one of the long, tight, elegant 'adult' dresses Eva wore as queen. This is when Regina really steps into her own power.

Once again to refer briefly to the same fic I think in the few years leading up to this (remember, as I love to remind everyone, her entire horrific marriage was probably around 8 years at least), Regina began to learn more of her seduction politics, and started to understand how she could manipulate the way men behaved towards her. She started to fully understand what her mother meant, how to choose a dress for the right situation, how to choose a neckline, a lipstick shade, a way of walking and talking.

I think this took her a while to stop feeling disgusted by. At some point, the rush of even this tiny way of grabbing power was exhilarating, long overdue. At some point, that stopped making her skin crawl.

Starting to wear darker colours was I think a way of rebelling against her past self. I really think throughout her reign as the 'evil queen', Regina had to loathe her younger, innocent self because that was the version of her that got hurt, used, raped, manipulated, brokenhearted. It was easier to hate that version of herself, to blame herself for being weak and stupid (Mother's voice in her head, always) than to fully feel the pain she was still in. So the pastels and whites of her youth were completely gone. She buried them, and the girl who loved them, as far as she could.

It also seems like pastels were commonplace in the Enchanted Forest based on every extra in every ballroom scene ever, and at this point Regina was so reliant on her attractiveness as a form of power that wearing dark colours and deep jewel tones was a way to ensure she always stood out, always caught the eye.

As her reign grew, I think the Evil Queen costumes grew more and more extravagant as a show of wealth and power to dazzle the commoners and intimidate all the nobles. Regina was showing them with her style choices that she was in a league of her own. And the more she leaned into it, the glitz and glamour, all the diamonds and makeup, the things she hated as a young girl, the safer she feels. The more hidden. The more superhuman.

The Evil Queen was a physical symbol as well as an idea of who Regina was. I think of it almost like how celebrities have public persona, sexualised and stylised, instantly recognisable and fastidiously designed. I think this made Regina, a physically small woman, much smaller than all the other older, male leaders and rulers, feel protected, confident and powerful.

(I think it's also a defense against the fact that as a very young girl Regina was sexualised by her own mother for a much older man, for his whole court I suppose. Regina has always been taught, through her mother's words and actions, that her beauty and attractiveness correlate to her worth, power and usefulness. And now she sort of enacts that on herself to keep herself safe. Because they can't sexualise her if she's sexualised herself first, they can't be using her if she's letting them and using their lust for her to her own ends. Her beauty keeps her safe. Queens have to be perfect, Regina.)

When we get to Storybrooke, I think it translates somewhat. In this world, political figures are the power symbols, and unfortunately in this world too, female politicians are more successful if they are polished and beautiful. Or so Regina would see it.

Queens have to be perfect, sweetheart.

She upkeeps the Evil Queen thing where she has a recognisable image, this polished perfect professional thing. Though this world is on a much smaller scale, Regina's mindset is not at all. She would never be seen out of the house without a perfect face of makeup, without perfectly done hair, manicured nails, the right outfit, the right shoes. Because queens have to be perfect. You can't show them a single crack in your armour.

It isn't all a chore though. I think Regina really does enjoy her own style, especially in Storybrooke as it is so different to anything Cora or Leopold would have had her wearing, and because it's part of a world she made for herself, there's more of a sense of independence and ownership of her own style. I think she has a really nice sense of routine in doing her makeup and hair, which is good for her too.

But still in Storybrooke, we see Regina using her attractiveness, using seduction as a often reached for tool in her arsenal.

And on the other hand we have Emma.

Now, this is a Regina post but the ask did specify and I do find it interesting and want to discuss, so I'll give a much briefer overview of my headcanons about Emma and her style.

Off the bat I'll say I consider 'Emma's style' as season 1 and 2 Emma. (I'm not going to analyse the straight-girl-style-ification of Emma Swan in the later seasons bc that's another story and also just Bad storytelling imo)

Skinny jeans, boots, tanks, plaid, leather jackets, beanies, baseball shirts. She's mostly casual, can be a bit edgy, a bit lesbian swagger, a bit teenage boy (at times). Sometimes she does a winged liner, sometimes nothing. And she dresses with nothing else in mind but what makes her feel confident and cool and herself.

Because Emma as a kid never really had the freedom to pick her own clothes. The homes got a lot of donations, and sometimes there were cool things she could grab a hold of if she managed to beat the older kids to it, but a lot of the time she was just in whatever hand me downs she could get. Not ideal for a young queer girl trying to work out her identity.

So when she started to establish a life for herself, the first time she buys her red leather jacket etc, these moments are really meaningful to Emma because it's more about being able to own her sense of self and stand on her own two feet in a stable way rather than just being about the clothes.

Which is so beautiful, because it just goes to show that once again Regina and Emma are complimentary opposites. Clothes were never important in Emma's life, so when she gets the chance, she just likes being able to wear whatever the fuck she wants, to never really worry about it, and to feel good. To Regina, clothes were always enormously important and so a great deal of thought and preparation goes into everything she wears.

I think it is interesting the way they interact in this case, because they are so different, and they both find the other one so hot, and I think they also both admire how different it is for the other.

Regina in denial would definitely consider Emma's casualness to be improper and lazy, but deep down, and eventually openly once they grow closer, she knows she admires her freedom and fearlessness.

Meanwhile Emma thinks Regina is the hottest woman on the planet (she's right) and appreciates how perfectly her gf puts outfits together, how good her makeup and skincare collection is.

But Emma can also see the other side of it for Regina too, is one of the few people (perhaps because of her own history with clothes) who can see the strain there. The control and obsession with her own appearance, the perfectionism.

And I think Emma is really good for her in that sense. Emma's own freedom and confidence is a good influence. Because gradually, as they get together and their relationship develops, Regina is able to let down a little more of that mask, bit by bit.

Letting Emma see her with wet hair, her natural curls straight out of the shower. Or in her robe with no makeup on in the mornings. And as they build their life together, Regina finds this immense relief in having someone who sees all of her in every state.

It's not as scary as it once seemed.

And Emma thinks Regina is just as beautiful in leggings and fresh faced as she is with makeup and an expensive dress. (Once again, she is right). This is groundbreaking to Regina, this idea that she can be loved and valued without upkeeping her definition of 'perfection'. That she could be enough as she is, for Emma.

That she is enough, as she is.

And of course, she doesn't always believe that. How can she, after the life she has lived? But she's working on it, and when these feelings of immense vulnerability and insecurity in herself arise, she is able to voice them to Emma (sometimes with a bit of struggle) and Emma holds space for her, listens without judgement, calls Cora a dumb bitch (sometimes) and assures Regina that she is the most beautiful person Emma's ever seen, but that her beauty is not why she fell in love with her, and it's not what makes her worthy.

And slowly, I think Regina starts to get back to finding more joy in fashion. More appreciation, in the way her younger self always wanted.

[sanguinir]

. . . in game, we see that Cazador has blackmail on people in the city (use speak with the dead on someone in the dining room/party area and he says he’s a high ranking person at the counting house and that Cazador was asking about clients — who owns what, who has debts, etc). Ascended Astarion would conceivably come into possession of the Szarr palace, the palace in the hills, and Cazador’s vaults in the counting house through forged documents (he’s a former magistrate, he knows the damn system).

Ipso facto — Ascended Astarion is a very, very wealthy man and has a minimum of two centuries worth of dirt on the upper crust of society because you know Cazador kept detailed diaries during his time as vampire lord of Baldur’s Gate. Somewhere in those dungeons underneath the Szarr palace, there is just a library’s worth of diaries with the locations of every skeleton and the details of every scandal. Astarion would be … essentially a suped up Enver Gortash, minus the cult of Bane.

Which is a whole nother story, because Ascended Astarion would be Bane’s wet dream, if not for Astarion’s canonical disdain for gods and heroes.

[wicked-storybrooke]

Trying to Solve an Unsolvable Puzzle: The Characters and their Surprising Canonical Ages

I did some math. It hurt very much but Becky have to do it. This timeline has been haunting my nightmares for years and I finally snapped. I decided to look at canon evidence to determine the ages of the characters. It is not possible for all characters and I've attempted this before but last time I took my own theories into account. I've already posted these thoughts on another site and this time it's using canon as a basis, with some, I think, reasonable inferences made where necessary. And all I can say is:

(gif not mine)

TL;DR (ph indicates what their physical age should be and ps indicates their past self. It's a little adjusted for the months of their birth)

Emma: Present day season one - 28 | Henry met Ella - 37 | Lucy's Birth - 50 | Present day Hyperion Heights - 60 | Coronation - 37 (ps) ~

Snow: Present day season one - 55 / 27 (ph) ~ | Henry met Ella - 65 / 37 (ph) ~ | Lucy's birth - 78 / 50 (ph) ~ | Present day Hyperion Heights - 88 / 60 (ph) ~ | Coronation - 65 / 37 (ps) ~

Regina: Present day season one - 63 / 35 (ph) ~ | Henry met Ella - 73 / 45 (ph) ~ | Lucy's birth - 86 / 58 (ph) ~ | Present day Hyperion Heights - 96 / 68 (ph) ~

David: Present day season one - Present day season one - 55 / 27 (ph) ~ | Henry met Ella - 65 / 37 (ph) ~ | Lucy's birth - 78 / 50 (ph) ~ | Present day Hyperion Heights - 88 / 60 (ph) ~ | Coronation - 65 / 37 (ps) ~

Rumple: Present day season one - 200 ~

Original Killian Jones: Present day season one - 180 ~

Henry: Left for adventure - 18 | Met Ella - 19 ~ | Lucy's birth - 32 | Present day Hyperion Heights - 42

Ella: Met Henry - 51 ~ | Lucy's birth - 64 | Present day Hyperion Heights - 74

Zelena: Present day season one - 65 ~ | Henry met Ella - 75 ~ | Lucy's birth - 88 ~ | Present day Hyperion Heights - 98 ~

Alice: When Henry met Ella - 37 | Lucy's Birth - 50 | Present day Hyperion Heights - 60

Robin: Lucy's Birth - 18 | Present day Hyperion Heights - 28

Drizella: Ella met Henry - 49 ~ | Lucy's birth - 62 | The s7 curse is cast - 70 / 62 (ph), Present day Hyperion Heights - 72 / 64 (ph)

So let's start with the thing that has kept me awake for damn near 5 years: Alice Jones' age makes absolutely no sense.

So, Alice was said to have been born just a little after the curse was cast (so a little after Emma). If we're to go by what is stated several times in the show, this is before her father or his realm even existed lol. in s6 we are told that the Wish Realm was created via a wish made by the Serum Evil Queen on Emma's behalf. But in s7 we learn that a younger Wish Hook travelled to the New Enchanted Forest and fathered baby Alice with Gothel years before the Wish Realm was supposedly created. We could write this off as a fake memory, implanted by the wish, if not for the fact that Alice is living proof that the Wish Realm existed long before Serum Queen's wish.

The only way this makes sense is if the Wish Realm was not created by a wish, but was only assumed to have been. But then were Wish Snow and Charming raising a non-existent daughter? Did the original Emma replace Wish Emma when the wish was made? You would think a Wish Emma had to have existed to have given birth to Wish Henry.

I've seen theories that suggest Alice's ageing temporarily ceased in Wonderland or in any/several of the other realms she travelled to in search of a cure. It's also possible that her ageing is much slower than average due to her Nymph blood (just look at 1,000 + year-old Gothel).

But regardless of the rate of her physical ageing, the major problem is, however much you age up Alice, you have to age Ella up by approximately at least another 14-15 years. This is going by how old young Ella appeared to be in 7x09. And I refer to this because Gothel was not imprisoned in the tower until Anastasia fell into the frozen lake. So, if we're being generous, we could say that Wish Hook found the tower and was tricked by Gothel very shortly after that event and then, of course, Gothel gave birth the next day.

If Alice was the same age as Emma, which is what the show wants us to believe, Alice would be at least 37 when Henry was 19. That, in turn, would put Ella at around 51 at the time, if we assume she was about 14 when Anastasia fell through the ice. The reason for this is that Emma gave birth to Henry when she was 18. We know he spent his 19th birthday in the Crimson Crow in the NEF with Jack, which was before he met Ella and 18 + 19 = 37.

We see Henry's 18-year-old cousin Robin arrive at the NEF when Lucy is a newborn. We can infer that Henry was approximately 14 when Robin was born. So when Henry was 19, Robin was 5. I have to add an extra 13 years to each character, to account for the time it took for Robin to turn 18. So Alice was at least 50 when Lucy was born! Henry was 32 and Ella was at least 64! It's possible they were lovers/married for 13 years or fewer before Lucy was born.

It's most likely that Henry was closer to 19 and Ella was closer to 51 when they met because the S7 Hyperion Heights gang went back in time to when Robin was 5. Henry had just graduated and was set to leave before Emma was visibly pregnant. He was 18 when he left for his adventure. At Regina's coronation, Prince Neal looks to be around 6 or 7. He is around a year older than Robin. Emma couldn't have fallen pregnant too long after 18-year-old Henry left, if not pregnant already because Prince Neal hadn't aged much since before Henry left, and Emma and Hook have a presumably newborn Hope at the coronation.

Then 10 years passed until we found ourselves in present-day Hyperion Heights with a 10-year-old Lucy. That would imply that Alice was 60, Henry was 42 and his wife Ella was 74 in Hyperion Heights!

Regina and Zelena were likely over 90 at this point. For this, I had to make an estimation of their ages when the 1st curse was cast. In the companion canon book 'Regina Rising', Regina is 16 when Snow is 8, so Regina is 8 years older than Snow. In 3x01, Emma states that she and Mary Margaret are the same age. Mary Margaret had just had a birthday, so if we take Emma's statement literally, then Snow would have been 27 when the curse was cast. This is because Henry turned 11 in August and Snow was born during the winter. Emma's October birthday has to have passed since she decided to stay in Storybrooke. Both Emma and Snow are presumably 29 physically by 3x01.

Regina would have been 35 when the curse was cast and Zelena 37. The casting call for young Regina said 'to play age 10' and for Zelena was 'to play age 12'. Given their February and April birthdays, Zelena is 1 year, 9 months and 17 days older than her sister.

I had to add 18 years for Emma's age when giving birth. Then I added 19 years for Henry's age at the Crimson Crow, then an additional 13 years to account for the time it took for Robin to turn 18 and finally, I added 10 years for Lucy's age in Hyperion Heights.

35 + 18 + 19 + 13 + 10 = 95

+ 2 = 97

Regina is 95 in present-day Hyperion Heights and Zelena is 97. But physically Regina is around 67 due to the frozen 28 years.

Where are these people getting their skin creams? I guess the sisters are probably using magic and Alice's Nymph heritage could account for her youth, but there is just no explanation for Ella, or even an 80-100 y/o Rapunzel Tremaine who wasn't a magic user. Heck, even Drizella, who was about 12 when Anastasia fell through the ice would have been 62 before she ever learned how to harness her magic properly. She was turned to stone for 8 years after that, which would have stopped her ageing but still! Is there just something about the Tremaines? Is it something to do with the source of Anastasia and Drizella's magic? It would have to be from Rapunzel's side, given her slow ageing. But Ella is related to them via marriage, so perhaps there's just something about their house.

For me, I just have to believe that Alice was simply not born so closely after Emma. Either that or there was some wild time travel that would make my head explode if I tried to figure that out again. Wish Henry's age could be an indicator of how time works in the Wish Realm. He should have aged up into adult Henry by the time we see him in the finale, given that Emma had given birth after telling an adult Henry about her pregnancy.

And I'm not even accounting for the fact that Zelena implies that time moves faster in the New Enchanted Forest and that Robin would have been younger than 25 had she stayed in Storybrooke. I refuse to make them any older because it's already wild!

As for Rumple, Hook and Baelfire, they have all claimed to be 200-300 years old. We are shown Big Ben in the Land Without magic when Baelfire is about 14 (before Neverland froze his ageing). Big Ben was completed in 1859 (around 152 years before season 1 Storybrooke). We don't know how old Rumple was before he was separated from Baelfire, but it's possible he was around 50 years old and therefore over 200 when he made this claim. It's unlikely Hook stopped ageing due to Neverland in his late 40s (unless he made use of enchanted ye old magical monthly juice cleanses!) and Baelfire was definitely not over 200 at the time of his death. The only explanation is that they rounded up or simply lost count.

Thanks for reading! I hope my calculations are correct. Please let me know if I've made a mistake or if I've missed any canon evidence in regard to this. It's pretty fun to try and work out this timeline but woah, does it hurt my head.

[anothershadeofpurple]

If you could ask Adam and eddy anything....I'll make it any two things, knowing the abundance of issues with that show...what would you ask them?

So... funny story, I once found myself waiting to cross the street close to the OUAT set and suddenly they walked up and were standing right behind me for a good minute. Did I turn around and eloquently address them, impressing them with my vast knowledge of storytelling? Or did I stand like a deer in headlights until the traffic light indicated it would only be social and not physical suicide if I ran across?

Yeah...

Needless to say I've wondered many times what question I could have asked to start a genuine conversation... I've landed on:

How did you organize your writers' room to write the different layers of the story? Did you create a big backstory for Emma before the show started and did the room come up with the fairy tale metaphors or did you come up with everything together?

The way I see the show is basically the exploration of one person's life (past and present) through metaphors, fairy tales and pop culture. It really explains all the repetitive themes and stories we used to complain about - looks like they were actually part of the fabric of the show. And in that sense, it's quite a genius show even if it doesn't look like it on the surface.

And of course I want to know whether there was ever an intent to lift Swan Queen out of the subtext, so...

2. The romantic subtext between Emma and Regina was pretty... loud, so were there story reasons to keep it subtext or was that decision made because of other factors?

Honestly, I still hope one day I will get to ask those questions. The older the show, the more anyone cares and the more likely people are to talk, so we' shall see. Maybe one day we'll know.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Hi! For the ask game. For your delightful Shadow Queen fic, Breakfast, how do you think Regina's relationship with Facilier developed over time from the point where your fanfiction diverged from canon to the story itself?

Edit: OH, MY FUCKING GOD! I just noticed this was in the queue. I thought I posted it. So sorry for that! I definitely was not ignoring this ask! I've had it written since August 30th. I don't know what happened.

Hi! Glad you like the fic!

To be fair, I don't really have anything deep about him (obviously) deciding to abandon his quest for power in favor of his relationship with Regina. I was kind of riding on the proof in the show that he would put Regina and her feelings over everything else. His interest in the dagger was completely unmotivated and I think they just had it as a built-in setup for killing him off. I imagine the idea was that he was somehow tempting Regina into her old patterns of wanting everything and reverting to villainy (much the same as Rumple manipulating her for the better part of her life, especially since Facilier was practically Rumple 2.0) except that that went nowhere because he was just So. Good! for her. I'm really not sure what happened in the writers' room but anyway, my idea with the story was just "axe the moment of Facilier's death because it was stupid (and more than questionable) and from there it will all happen naturally since the dagger is also gone once Rumple dies". Those were pretty much the only obstacles between them and with them removed, I really think that the two of them would have been a couple.

I wish I could give a more detailed answer but, truly, Facilier had so little screen time and development that we are completely in the dark on his story or his motives. Instead, I just rolled with him being written as total husband material. You know, I am willing to entertain the idea that there might have been some need to process emotions and heal from Robin's death on Regina's side simply for the realization that the universe sent her Facilier after Daniel's death and then returned him to her after Robin's death. Almost as if they were meant to be together (btw, I have a sort of meta/kinda rewrite about the whole soulmate story with Robin that would bridge canon and this nicely but I'll have to work on it some other time) and help her find herself again when she feels like she's lost in grief.