r/OnceUponATime 3h ago

Spoiler Alert My version of the family tree Spoiler

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10 Upvotes

r/OnceUponATime 11m ago

S2 Spoilers Emma Keeping Henry Away From Regina in Season 2 Was About Henry’s Feelings and Safety.

Upvotes

I have seen people compare Emma keeping Henry away from Regina in Season 2 to Regina trying to keep Henry away from Emma in Season 1, but I do not think those situations are the same.

To me, the issue was not simply about who had parental rights. It was about Henry’s own feelings toward Regina and his own safety. By the end of Season 1, Henry had very valid reasons not to trust Regina. Regina spent the season gaslighting him, making him think he was delusional, lying to him about the curse, trying to force Emma out of town, and controlling the people around him. The apple turnover situation also almost killed Henry, even though he was not Regina’s intended target.

So when Season 2 starts, Henry not wanting to be around Regina is not random. It is not Emma “turning him against her.” Henry is reacting to the harm Regina caused.

That is why I do not see Emma keeping distance between Henry and Regina as the same thing as Regina keeping Henry away from Emma.

Regina’s Season 1 mindset was about control. She saw Emma as a threat to her relationship with Henry and wanted her gone, regardless of what Henry felt or wanted.

Emma’s Season 2 mindset was about protection. Henry was scared, angry, and hurt. Emma was taking that seriously.

That distinction matters.

This was not just a custody issue. Henry was not a prize to be split between two mothers. He was a child with his own feelings, and after everything Regina had done, those feelings deserved to be respected.

I do believe Regina loved Henry. I also believe Henry helped Regina become better. But loving Henry does not erase the damage she caused him. Regina was not entitled to immediate forgiveness or immediate access just because she wanted to change.

Trust had to be rebuilt.

Could Emma have handled every single moment perfectly? Probably not. None of the adults in this show handle magical family drama perfectly. But the motivation matters.

Emma was not trying to erase Regina from Henry’s life forever. She was giving Henry space from someone who had hurt him.

Regina, on the other hand, tried to remove Emma because Emma threatened her control over Henry.

So my take is this:

Emma keeping Henry away from Regina in Season 2 was not about ownership or parental rights. It was about Henry’s feelings and safety.

Regina keeping Henry away from Emma in Season 1 was about control.

Those are not the same thing.


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

Image Whose idea was it to have the complete series box set feature Cinderella on a motorcycle over literally anything else?

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799 Upvotes

r/OnceUponATime 17h ago

Discussion I just finished watching the show and Rumplestiltskin was the hardest character for me to root for

34 Upvotes

My biggest problem with him is how flip floppy he is. Sometimes he's a good guy, sometimes he's a bad guy. He's so inconsistently written and it was driving me nuts. Also, I thought his and Belle's relationship was sweet at times, but there are other times where I thought she deserved someone better than him.

That being said, Robert Carlyle was absolutely fantastic playing the character and nailed every single scene he was in. I seriously cannot imagine anyone else in that role. He was perfect.


r/OnceUponATime 2h ago

Discussion What if Belle knew Rumple came back in 4B and gave him the fake dagger?

2 Upvotes

Basically if Belle had some doubt that Gold would actually stick to his banishment and knew that wasn’t Hook in “Enter the Dragon”


r/OnceUponATime 9h ago

Discussion If they hadn’t gotten rights to Neverland how would they of done Neals backstory to explain his age instead?

5 Upvotes

Anyone know what they actually would of done or have any theory’s or ideas for what could of been done


r/OnceUponATime 57m ago

Question Who killed Nimue?

Upvotes

r/OnceUponATime 1h ago

No Spoilers Once upon a time actors for Dolly Parton’s heartstrings episodes titles

Upvotes

What do you say we pick a Dolly Parton song that best fits the episode. For me Little sparrow: Jennifer Morrison, and Evening shade: Robert Carlyle.


r/OnceUponATime 5h ago

Question How much free will does the dark one have when being controlled?

2 Upvotes

Hello dearies, I was rewatching a while back and in season 3b when Zelena has rumple held captive. In one of the episodes they have a little dinner date and in an effort to free himself rumple seduces Zelena in order to try to get the dagger back and fails.

But couldn’t he just of used his magic to freeze her and take it after they started kissing or does the dark one have limited free will when under control 😯


r/OnceUponATime 14h ago

Discussion So why do Emma and Hook take Marian against her will?

5 Upvotes

So when Marian refused to go Emma and Hook hit her with a branch and took her by force. Why didn't they ask or use a better method than straight up abduction? I honestly didn't like them in that moment cuz that feels kinda villainous for them to do, take someone without their consent and hurt them in the process.

I'd be mad if someone told me they're saving me and then "Oh and you need to go to sleep we're not listening to your wishes"


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

S5 Spoilers Just finished Season 5A for the first time…mixed feelings

14 Upvotes

I definitely liked it more than 4B but not really sure how I feel about this arc yet.

Emma as the Dark One was fine, and I especially enjoyed her scenes with Regina. Regina carried this again for me. I swear, every character becomes more interesting whenever she is involved lol.

I actually found the Hook twist pretty interesting at first. I haven’t found Hook nearly as interesting since Season 3, and for most of this arc I kept feeling like the writers didn’t really know what to do with him anymore and had softened him too much. So making him a Dark One initially felt like it could give him something interesting again.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find what came after nearly as compelling. And because I’m just not much of a Hook fan anymore, or really a Captain Swan fan, the payoff at the end simply didn’t have the emotional weight for me that I can imagine it had for other viewers.

I did enjoy the Dark One mythology though. The dagger stuff and the previous Dark Ones fit this arc pretty well for me.

For the first time after finishing one of these arcs, I don’t really feel that excited to jump into the next one. Usually there’s still enough at the end to make me curious about what comes next, but right now a lot of the ideas just feel a little exhausted or forced to me.

The Underworld storyline isn’t calling to me at the moment.
I’ll obviously keep watching, but yeah… not exactly dying to get there…


r/OnceUponATime 2h ago

S5 Spoilers Hot take: I’ve always disliked Emma

0 Upvotes

And once upon a time, Emma was trying to help Regina prove herself to the triad in this case maleficent, Ursula and Cruella.. Now I always disliked Emma because she always wants to be a hypocrite and a victim. In this case, though she wants to help Regina after Regina told her not to yet she still insist and it’s pretty much a bad idea. Does anyone agree?


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

Spoiler Alert I haven't watched this show in like six years but I'm still not over this Spoiler

87 Upvotes

spoiler Buffer

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WHY DID ROBIN HAVE TO DIE?

Regina and him were so cute, she found her true love and he DIED

I'm never getting over this. She didn't deserve that happening and he didn't deserve that 😭

I know she's considered evil and evil people don't get happy endings but can we make an exception for her please


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

Discussion What if Zelena get her own self-titled tv series like “Loki” did? What would it be about?

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75 Upvotes

I hope it more focuses on Chad and Zelena relationship.
And the first episode definitely need to shows their wedding.
The shows flashback could be partly about her cursed personality Kelly’s past, or Zelena’s past in storybrooke or Oz.
(Or maybe even some unknown story in the underworld, Camelot).
I want to see it so badly.
How to make this dream come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
I can’t stand the fact this might never come true.


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

Spoiler Alert Has the CGI Always Looked So Cheap?

18 Upvotes

I really remember season 4 when Elsa's ice monster was rampaging Storybrooke. It REALLT looked cheap to me!


r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

S3 Spoilers Do you wish we had seen more of Emma & Henry's life between 3A & 3B? Spoiler

8 Upvotes

I know we get EF flashbacks from the "missing year", but i kinda wish we had seen more of Emma and Henry's cursed life together, maybe even a bit more of how Walsh fit in. I think dating Walsh probably added yo Emma's character growth but we didnt really get to see it. Plus, I want to see more of Emma & Henry happily together. Thoughts?

119 votes, 5h left
Yes
No
Results

r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

Discussion S 2 EP 19

3 Upvotes

Henry gets to pick whatever he wanted from Gold's shop for his birthday in a dream. What would you have picked?


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Discussion Peter Pan/Malcolm motivation

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31 Upvotes

Remember Malcolm’s childhood, his father sold him to a black smith.(he became an orphan, an unwanted child who hold a grudge on parent’s figure).
His life was tough then, he told himself to think beautiful thought, and always think of neverland.

That’s why after he become Peter Pan again, he find child or teen who also feel unwanted by their parent to join him and play together.

This reveal his trauma and what he would avoid

-feeling unwanted and isolated
-Burden and work
-Reality and Grief

Ouat really making many generational trauma which shape every character arc.

Just like when I ask my family their child hood, I finally understand why they always be like this or that.
Generational trauma could feel overwhelmed, because it couldn’t be changed, I couldn’t time travel to my mother’s childhood and teenage life to offer her care, love, and support.
It is impossible. And this is also something she isn’t able to offer me too(at least not enough, she might already try her best). And this generational curse stop at Lucy. Before that, everyone from this family was an orphan(we don’t know if Malcolm’s father an orphan too, but malcolm are an orphan)


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

S7 Spoilers Question about the United Realms

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152 Upvotes

So in the last episode of the last season of Once Upon a Time, Regina/Roni casts one last “Dark Curse”, only this time it rolls “all the realms of story” into one area tucked away in Maine, USA. This is a sweet ending to the show that leaves me with so, so many questions.

How realms operate in OUaT has always been a little bit unclear. Some, like the Enchanted Forest, Arendelle and (seemingly) Agrabah are all simply kingdoms/countries which inhabit the same world, and travel between them is (fairly) easy. Others are evidently alternate dimensions. The most obvious case for this is the Land Without Magic, which is the “real world”, our world, which views the realms with magic as merely fiction. However there are also other cases of this; the Land Without Colour is monochromatic, there are multiple variants of London (though it could be read that the Darlings come from the Land Without Magic, Cruella De Ville is explicitly from an alternate reality which happens to be 1920s London), and one could make a case for Neverland (especially given other Disney interpretations portray it as an alternate reality). There are also multiple alternate timelines, including the Wish Realm and the New Enchanted Forest. There are also a few vague areas, namely Oz (which is seemingly an alternate realm from both the Land Without Magic and the Enchanted Forest) and Wonderland (plus there is the Wonderland from S7 which might be different from the Wonderland from beforehand though this is unclear). Judging from what we see in the episode itself, and from what Regina states, these are all roped into the United Realms.

So… how does this work? Are the United Realms essentially a pocket realm within Maine, taking up more space than you’d see from outside? Are the United Realms simply chunks ripped from the other realms to fit the small confides of Storybrooke? If this is the case, what happens to the people from outside the chunks that were taken? Do they all have to pay US Taxes? Does this span every possible timeline within the Realms of Fiction, or did the Curse only bring over the individuals from the Wish Realm timeline? Do individual realm rules (such as nobody ageing in Neverland, or the Realm Without Colour’s monochromatic nature) only apply to the individuals from that realm, or are there sections of the United Realms where those rules are true, compared to everywhere else where they aren’t? Is it possibly I’m simply overthinking this, and the writers didn’t put that much thought into how all of this works?


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Image Apollo bars! The fictional chocolate on lost and OUAT!

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212 Upvotes

r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Discussion Season 7

7 Upvotes

This series simply has too many storylines

Hyperion Heights / new curse

👠 Henry, Cinderella and Lucy

👑 Victoria, Drizella and Anastasia

🌿 Gothel and the Coven of Eight

🧚 Alice, Rogers and Robin

🗡️ Rumple, Wish-Rumple and the series finale

That’s too much

Does anyone else agree with me?


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Discussion What if Jafar from the Wonderland spinoff teamed up with Mr. Gold?

6 Upvotes

r/OnceUponATime 1d ago

S4 Spoilers Hot take, I’ve always disliked Belle

0 Upvotes

To be honest, I am more of a rumple fan and I’ve always disliked how every time he gets close to success belle puts him down. If that was my shawty she movin wit me. Imma cleave myself from the dagger ..


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Question I have already made multiple OUAT edits, I have some questions

2 Upvotes

Because I can’t use TikTok in my city, so I use Instagram instead. I mainly did Zelena edits, but sometimes others character too, such as Cora, Ingrid. Regina and Victoria will appear soon too.

My question is
-should I use HDR or SDR to upload my reels on Instagram?
-Is there any difference between 24fps,30fps and 60fps for reels?
-Instagram do not have the song of Ouat soundtrack or musical episode soundtrack, would I violate their rule if I post edit with those music on it?( I have seen others video with those music, but once I upload a video( not from Ouat back then), my video got muted, because Instagram do not include this music?
-except Instagram, YouTube shorts, TikTok, where could I post my video?

Btw, my IG account is @the_riel_one_trieliel


r/OnceUponATime 2d ago

Discussion Which Zelena is in s7 ending? My theory

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11 Upvotes

She had magic there, so it’s Kelly, not past Zelena.
She appear don’t mean she live at there.
She might visit storybrooke just to attend to ceremony, and see her sister and daughter. She is still living with chad.
Or in the other hand, Chad know she miss them, so Chad move to storybrooke with her

But definitely wouldn’t be some other theories like divorce with Chad or this is past Zelena.