First off, as Adam has confirmed on multiple occasions, the start of the show has always been “Emma coming to town and meeting Mayor Regina.” Henry introduced them, and they went from hating each other to acknowledging each other as family and co-parents.
They sacrifice themselves for each other. Regina was willing to die for everyone and later on when the whole town was going back to the EF she made a point of giving Emma and Henry only good memories. She loves them, she cares about them, and for their wellbeing she was willing to give them a life without her in it (and she didn’t have to give Emma one even if it was just for Henry’s sake).
Their magic together is always the most powerful. They can defeat whatever comes to town, they can save the day, and they can do that because of each other and each other’s magic. They made an eclipse to save their son for crying out loud, and that was when they didn’t get on nearly as well.
The tattoo thing. Emma has that tattoo on her wrist of what many believe is the same flower as on Charming’s crest. It’s also commonly thought to be a dandelion or a Lyon flower. Now Regina’s soulmate was meant to have a lion flower tattoo? She later met Robin and yeah, she loved him, but he later went back to his wife, then cheated on his wife to be with her, then left town and when Regina went to save him after learning he was in danger, he didn’t believe her. None of that indicates he was who the dust referred to, and I believe that, whether the dust had been tampered with or not, that the dust was never meant to point at him at all. And regardless, soul mate does not necessarily mean true love.
They have the strongest connection. Regina and Emma understand each other more than anyone else does. And in finally comparing them to CS, SQ does everything significant before CS. That time Regina talked Emma down from murdering Lily was powerful. In a later episode they had Hook talk Emma down from murdering Merida, but with far less emotion, far less struggle, and it was a blatant “oh shit, we need Hook to have that connection with her too!”
And let’s not forget one of the most heartbreaking moments of all, by the well in Camelot. When Emma had given the dagger to Regina and Regina finally decided that she needed to get Emma to open up because she knew that something else was going on with Emma. She used the dagger to try get Emma to open up and was stopped by everyone who decided what she was doing was bad (she was crying, she didn’t want to force her but she was desperate to do what she promised Emma she would do). But that moment was crucial and yet incredibly unsatisfying, because there’s no way in hell that the big secret she couldn’t tell Regina was that she was scared to move in with Hook. That makes zero sense.
Also with that scene, was Regina talking about how Emma needed to be brave enough to tear down her own walls. That compares directly to that time Hook bragged about how he enjoying breaking down Emma’s walls himself. And in that same scene Dark Emma was wearing that dress she’d worn on the date with Hook. Emma trying to appease him. But the Emma we know was clearly not happy with that and was incredibly uncomfortable, but as with many times with Hook, she changes who she is to be was he wants her to be. She shuts down, she listens to him and not her own instincts, and that’s so unbelievably sad.
And then with Camelot there was that amazing time when Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur paralleled Regina/Emma/Hook. Not only in saving their love from the darkness (Emma and Guinevere) but also when those pink flowers referred to some kind of appearance of love on the surface but actual deception and control beneath it. That was a clear parallel and we know they don’t do them by accident.
On the themes thing too, ever noticed how often Emma and Regina will parallel Snow and Charming? With clothing choices in particular, and many times Adam has confirmed that clothing choices are very particular and the show runners get the final say for a reason, noting too that the costume designer is ranked very highly on the OUAT crew list.
And then we get back to CS, something Emma has been obligated to make work from the beginning at her parents’ enthusiasm about love. From uncomfortable dates to moving in with him, Emma sacrifices who she is and what she wants for what she thinks she wants, and you can physically see her lessen herself for that. From the time Hook’s lips were cursed and took away her magic, to the time they tried plenty of kisses for a TLK and none of them worked, they’re basically selling them as the anti-TL at this point. Every sacrifice he’s apparently made for her was either not actually a sacrifice (Dark Hook wanting to kill everyone then back tracking isn’t a selfless gesture) or was downright abusive and disgusting (suicide attempts to make someone pay attention to you is real emotional abuse and manipulation, and it traps real people in horrible situations).
And on the sacrifice thing. When Hook backtracked on mass murder and said “let me die a hero” vs Regina wanting to die for the town and saying “let me die as Regina.” She’s just trying to be better for her family, on a constant redemption arc she knows she’ll never fully reach (when Regina jokes about the heroes it truly is just her sarcastic nature), he wants his past wiped clean and tells everyone he’s good now without actually living up to it, because he’s never done anything truly selfless.
Emma and Regina’s journey is the show and the fact they’ve both been shown to have true love with Henry is not unintentional. They’re the family, the overarching fairytale that ties this entire show together and started it all, and are what I believe will be the eventual ending. To not have their own fairytale to do that to tie up all the other fairytales makes no sense and there are so many poetic moments that truly seem to slide everything into place, almost! They are truly the story that makes the most sense.
Plus let’s be real, the entire audience would ship them if one of them was a man. Henry introducing his parents alone would have been an amazing modern fairytale, making it gay would even more so, but the enemies turned lovers theme is so prevalent, and the people watching this show would have jumped on it if it was a man and woman, and certainly have for other ships on this show. But this connection is there, this story is there, and unintentionally or not, that’s the relationship development they’re selling.
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