the below information is entirely of my own creation and what i consider to be canon in regards to o.nce upon a time. if you wish to incorporate the below meta in to your own portrayal of o.nce upon a time characters, i ask that you message me first and ask permission. this information is not available for anyone who writes regina mills as i have put a lot of thought in to this and developed the story over several years. if you have any questions or would like to know more about my lore and history, don’t hesitate to ask.
a ravaged land. death and destruction. before the dark one, before the land we know now, a pact was made. eight families, eight rulers, eight kings and queens of olde. bound by magick, the pact ensured protection for all it’s borders, equal share and equal power. the new regime brought a peace to the land. the land they called, mist haven.
the royal families are far more complicated than most are lead to believe. land granted to the common born have the potential to be declared a duchy, and over time, the title of it’s owner could be exchanged for king or, in some cases, queen. these royal families are known to the high court as lesser houses. royalty but without influence outside of their own kingdom. the high court consists of eight royal bloodlines, direct descendants of the first governing body. each family represents a region of mist haven, their borders marked by the directions of a compass.
north
north east
east
south east
south
south west
west
north west
amongst the original eight, a pact was formed to ensure protection for their bloodlines and the future of their people. each family specialise in a form of magick, this knowledge is kept within the family. seats amongst the eight can not be transferred from one family to another, they must be kept within the line of succession. once a line falls to a single heir, that line is cast under the eight’s full protection. regardless of personal issues related to that heir, they must keep the family blood and magic alive. once that family has died out, their magic dies with them, and all access to it is sealed. see the current heirs below.
regina - north west region - elven
maleficent - south region - dragon
george - south east region - battle
midas - west region - alchemy
simba - south west region - spirit
rapunzel - east region - healing
there are still two other heirs but as yet, i have not figured out who they are. the eight families share equal reign over mist haven. any discord within the family or their own respective land is their own business and the other heirs can not interfere without just cause. this explains why neither george nor midas stood against regina during her reign as the evil queen. primarily because she was never a threat to anyone but snow white and those who stood with her. but also because of the pact.
a stipulation of the original pact includes an inability to directly harm another family. this comes in to play when regina traps maleficent under the library in storybrooke. it may have been regina to lead emma to the cave underground, but she didn’t instruct her to kill the beast within. emma slayed maleficent of her own volition, regina was indirectly responsible but she didn’t raise the sword herself. again, the same thing happened with hook while looking for the failsafe. hook was the one to kill maleficent the second time, not regina.
in the character’s above, only four are considered true heirs. regina, maleficent, rapunzel and simba. midas and george are heir proxy, as they are directly descended from the first eight kings but they are incapable of performing their family magic.
in maleficent’s case, she may be the true heir but she relinquished her claim to the throne of the southern region after an incident in house that caused her to be exiled from the family. she’s still descended from the bloodline so she can not be harmed by any of the eight, but she is not recognised as a member of the court. this is in part because of briar rose, who is descended from a sibling of maleficent’s. briar rose is an example of heir proxy. she does not have magic but she has the knowledge. the rest of the eight did not contest maleficent’s sibling taking over the seat as in house discord is none of their business. unless they are given a reason to contest, it’s up to the family to decide proxy.
for regina, she is the last living heir of king xavier’s line, making her the last living heir of the north western region. regina was the first born in to the family with magic, making her the first true heir in several hundred years. her family seat has been occupied by heir proxies up until her birth. the reason why king xavier was so interested in cora, was because of the magic she claimed to have. he believed that introducing a witch in to the family line would encourage magick to grant them a true heir. they were right. when regina was born, she displayed minimal examples of magic that were enough to declare her a true heir. when king xavier was threatened, he sent his granddaughter and his son ( regina and henry snr ) to the edge of their region, bordering their own and midas’. this was to protect the bloodline. unfortunately, by the time word reached midas for assistance, it was too late. king xavier died, and it’s believed his four oldest sons and their families also died as well, leaving regina well and truly the last living heir.
in regards to snow white. while she is a royal, she isn’t as influential as regina who is a queen of the high court. leopold is actually a new king, his father’s father having secured a duchy in the northern region and his father having earned the title king. and despite marrying regina, magick did not deem either him or snow white worthy of the north western bloodline, so snow white is not regina’s heir. leopold, while many considered him a good man and, in their eyes, a good king, was actually a terrible leader and did not teach snow how the hierarchy of mist haven worked. this is evident when snow white sentences regina to execution. sentencing a monarch to execution needs to be brought before the governing body, or the high court, before it can be put in to action. if it had, they would have denied the order and simply removed regina’s flag from leopold’s land and returned it to the northern region. snow white was not properly educated, and as david is only a prince by marriage and not george’s actual heir, he was also unaware of the lore.
henry daniel mills
here’s where things get complicated. magick plays a big role in mist haven. it’s semi-sentient and olde and has an entire meta post of it’s own. but in regards to henry, when regina adopted him he officially became her heir and as such, inherited regina’s bloodline. but, when he publicly denounced her as his mother, magick broke the bond and he was no longer heir to the north western region. once their relationship mends and magick declares him worthy, he’ll be her heir again.
it’s important to note that, although henry is not regina’s biological son and therefore has no blood claim to her throne, she did use blood magic to adopt him therefore granting him heir privileges. george did the same thing with james, however as he never did it with david, david is not his heir and can not claim his throne. george’s line will most likely be the first to die out, meaning his family knowledge of battle magic and their secrets, will be lost.
the hierarchy
for your convenience, see the below examples of how the hierarchy of mist haven currently stands. keep in mind that the lesser houses / the royal families, although they have their own kingdom and rule, they will still fall under an heir’s region. the heirs have their own kingdoms but they speak for their region under pressing circumstances. the royal families only have influence over their own kingdom.
the high court / the eight heirs
regina ( true heir )
briar rose ( heir proxy ) / maleficent ( true heir )
george ( heir proxy )
midas ( heir proxy )
simba ( true heir )
rapunzel ( true heir )
lesser houses / royal families
snow white ( located in the northern region )
belle ( located in the western region )
merida ( located in south west region )
it’s entirely possible i’ve forgotten characters, but these are examples of how mist haven is divided and where they stand in the hierarchy.
please note. the information developed for maleficent was developed with @battleincarnate to coincide with her portrayal of maleficent and her backstory. if you write maleficent and you wish to incorporate this history in to your own characterisation, you will need to also speak with maddie as well as myself.
