Why I can’t accept the show’s “redemption” of Regina Mills.
The last couple of days I have been repeating my reasons for hating Regina. And so here you have it. All in one easy to access and linkable post.
Short summary: Regina did not have a single defining moment that you can look at and say “OK that really shows that she made restitution for abusing and murdering children and the other thousands of innocent people she slaughtered.” We see her doing little things for her own happiness, for Henry’s sake or cleaning up her own mess. But we never see a significant sacrifice for the greater good which is essential for a true villain to hero story. Also, her crimes that effected present day relationships were ignored; Rape and murder of Graham, Henry’s abuse and Marian’s murder. She can’t get a redemption if her most heinous crimes that effected the people she claims to care about are ignored.
But here is a full list of reasons why I don’t and never will accept Regina as a good character or having a great villain to hero story arc.
1. Regina’s Treatment of Emma & Killian.
Regina treated Killian as if he was a lesser being. She often mocked his handicap. A baby killing mass murderer really has no right to look down on anyone. Except maybe Rumple. But her crimes nearly rivaled Rumple’s anyway (Hades & her black heart proves this).
Regina also treated Emma pretty poorly for 6 seasons. This blog explains how Regina wins the BFF award for everything she’s done to Emma. But to summarize:
You can believe Regina changed if you want but there are things this woman never made up for that makes her UNFIT to be called a friend.
She never comes clean about Graham - a man Emma cared for that Regina murdered to protect her curse.
Regina never apologized to Emma for ruining her life then guilts & berates Emma over saving a mother’s life. Selfishness - Never once thinking of Emma or anyone else’s pain above her own (especially when it comes to saving Hook vs saving Robin & their deaths) Regina stealing Emma’s agency & use of the dagger against Emma.
Not believing in her but especially Dark Swan. Never following Emma’s lead & dismissing her ideas
Torturing Emma in S6 & making Emma’s visions about her death about herself.
I think my biggest pet peeve with her treatment of Emma is the Marian fiasco and the dagger because at that time she was suppose to be redeemed.
Also the way she treats everyone is just utterly garbage and not reflective of someone whose had a change of heart which is essential for a redemption. For instances of this, check out this list of Regina being a self-righteous, self-centered, bully.
2. Regina did not make a sacrifice for the greater good
As mentioned above, Regina was a child abusing mass murdering rapist that never faced any of her victims, never stood trial or had to answer for a single crime. This is a huge deal. I am surprised more people do not recognize this as problematic. In the real world, we would not expect a serial killer to skip their prison sentence because they simply say “oh I’ll join the police force & everything will be good” and then reward them by giving their life back to them… which is basically what happens with Regina.
A true villain to hero story, especially with a villain as heinous as Regina, needs a sacrifice for the greater good. However, Regina’s story is seriously lacking in sacrifices and paying for her crimes. Also, this needed to be a sacrifice for everyone & not just herself or Henry. S2 finale does not count as she would have let everyone die if her plans hadn’t been thwarted. She did what she did then because she and Henry were going to die too. S3 at the town line hardly counts either because she had no other choice. She couldn’t keep Henry. And if she didn’t do what she did, he’d be alone anyway. So again, her sacrificing for Henry & cleaning up her own mess doesn’t count (especially when she never acknowledges what this did to the Charmings). She needed to die & again this could have happened in S6 with her second half.
I’m sorry but you don’t get to come back from the evils Regina committed and NOT SO MUCH AS APOLOGIZE! She never faced her evil past. And that’s unacceptable when you look at all she did.
Rape: Canon Sexual Predators of OUAT
Child Abuse: Mother of the Year Award
“But Regina suffered the most consequences therefore she had to work harder for her redemption!”
The idea that Regina suffers the most consequences is also ludicrous. She was tortured at the hands of her victim & it was the only punishment she received but that hardly counts since OUAT made her into the victim & she never acknowledges her role in it & blames Killian, the man she’d tried to kill prior, later on in s3. Her losing Robin wasn’t punishment as his death happened to him not her. Robin dying was made about her & never about him or his children. She never acknowledges that she deserves anything other than an HEA which is disgusting considering her crimes & lack of remorse.
3. Hearing a mass murderer constantly whine about their happy ending
Regina whined way too much about HER happy ending. She tried to get the author to re-write her story as if it was the book’s fault she was an unhappy murderer. She removed her responsibility for her actions and that’s just unacceptable. Heroes own their mistakes. She did not. So basically Regina acted like she DESERVED happiness without working for it and wanted it given to her. A child murderer doesn’t deserve anything and they definitely do not deserve something to be just handed to them.
Also no one ever talks about how she was going to rewrite this story? What was she going to do with everyone else? Rumple ended up screwing them all over… and really no matter what Regina changed it would have some kind of effect on the others. So once again the happiness of a child abusing mass murdering rapist is being put first.
First off, she doesn’t even know what it feels like to live under one of her curses. Her curses left families separated & people raped. Her curse left Emma wondering for 28 yrs why her parents didn’t want her. The child she abused not remembering her is PEANUTS compared to what she put other people through but once again it is all about REGINA’S pain. She can’t take a second to show any kind of remorse or self awareness. This would be a perfect time to feel remorse about the pain she caused but, oh no, what SHE is feeling is much WORSE. Not sure how anyone loves this self-absorbed mass murdering rapist.
When Robin died she whined about losing her happiness again. She never once mentioned Robin’s life or his kids. Only her unhappiness and her murderous impulses to take Emma’s happiness out of jealousy. Also when Marian returned in S4 the emphasis was on Regina’s broken heart without a second thought being given to Roland… Emma was being vilified for saving one of Regina’s victims and Regina’s pain was being made out to be more important than a child’s mother. A villain’s future was more important than her victim’s & hero Emma was made the villain in all this! That’s disgusting.
In 4x14: Regina tells the Charmings not to worry about the QoD, and that she has bigger things to worry about. Which is her own happy ending. Hell, she sends her son to spy on the Dark One in order to get this happy ending!
This whining leads Regina to split herself in two so that she could “like doing good” and hopefully get rid of the Evil Queen so she could get her real happy ending which brings me to point #4
4. Regina blamed everyone else for her choices
She blamed everyone else for her choices instead of owning up to what she’d done. Again, real heroes own their mistakes. She blamed Rumple, Snow and even the Evil Queen.
What is even more frustrating is that Regina and the other characters acted as if the EQ was some separate force inside of her…which is honestly a disgusting disturbing way of trying to excuse a child abusing mass murdering rapist of all her crimes. They never let Regina own it. Ever. And why not?
Why did they just brush what she did under the rug? Regina needed to come forward and fully own her crimes without sugar coating it, whining about her own happiness or blaming some other force. This does not happen! That is unacceptable for a so called hero character.
But sadly, this is one of the lessons OUAT taught us. That evil isn’t a choice. It is made. Newsflash. That isn’t a good message. You and you alone are responsible for your actions.
5. Regina never regretted what she did
In S3 Regina admits she would ruin the Charmings and Emma’s lives again in a heartbeat. She would murder and abuse countless people again without caring. Because it will get her what she wants. This is not a person who has had a change of heart.
Besides, this sentiment carries into S4:
Which is such a load of sugar coated bull hockey. Regina will not even fully admit her horrific abuse of Henry. Mother of the Year award right there! And what she did to Henry WAS abuse.
Regina does not regret killing people because people have lost their lives. If she regrets anything it’s because she’s lost her happy ending because of it. It’s always about her and never about her victims. Yeah, sure, she whines a few times about what she’s done but it is always in connection to her losing something.
Regina: Now is not the time to give up. Need I remind you I dedicated years to knocking you down? But nothing could stop you. Mary Margaret: You took my kingdom. Cast your curse. I lost my daughter for 28 years. Regina: And then you found her. You defeated me in a way no one thought was possible. You made me your friend by never giving up on me. So what’s the difference this time?
Regina never once realizes or acknowledges the immense damage she did to the Charming family nor does she show any kind of remorse for it. Instead it sounds like she expects praise. And Snow does in fact thank Regina for her abuse in Season 6! “You taught me how to have faith. You were the one who taught me that hope is a choice.” But this conversation is so infuriating because Snow should not be friends with the woman who destroyed her life and does not regret causing Snow to make the unbearable choice of giving up her daughter.
“To be fair, I was threatening you. Everyone else was just collateral damage”
Regina literally does not care about the lives she took. She just simply cares about how her life turns out.
We also know Regina did not regret what she did because she kept her vault of hearts. But more on that below.
6. Regina Never Apologized
But plenty of people apologized to Regina! That just grates on my nerves.
Regina can’t even apologize to Emma for controlling her with the dagger even after learning that it upsets Emma.
You would think a mass murderer who destroyed the lives of so many people, and who supposedly had a change of heart, would be groveling for forgiveness at the feet of her victims. She showed no remorse for what she’d done to Snow, Charming or Emma. Instead, she acted like a victim.
SHE WAS NOT A VICTIM. She was a heinous tyrant ruler that perpetuated so many atrocities against the Charmings, Emma and the people of the Enchanted Forest. She cast a curse that made people sleep with people they wouldn’t have slept with otherwise and never apologized for it! I think I’d demand an apology for that! But she gets away with it, of course.
Regina not apologizing in S3-4 is maddening but her not apologizing before the end of S5 is unacceptable. I don’t care what she did after she split herself in two because….
7. Splitting herself in two was a cop out
Too easy. She deserved to work to change her heart (which she admits isn’t changed when saying she “hates to do good”). And anything “good” she might have done or said after that becomes irrelevant because she took the easy route. She didn’t change her heart. Magic changed her heart or at least removed some of the darkness. That isn’t progress. It’s just a retcon.
Besides, after splitting herself she murdered Wish Snowing & tortured Emma. Which by the way, if the Wish People didn’t matter so much she sure wouldn’t hurt a Fake Henry and went to lengths to bring back a Fake Robin so no, I’m sorry. Not buying it.
8. She had a chance to be a real hero & didn’t take it
Firstly, I already hated Regina for her reaction to Marian and acting as if Emma was some super villain because of it… but this right here was the final straw.
I’m sorry but letting the Charmings face the Evil Queen, a product of a decision she made and part of herself, is without a doubt proof that she is not a real hero. That she has always been about her own happiness.
If Regina was a true hero then she would have done everything in her power to destroy the Evil Queen even if it meant destroying herself. Remember, they had no idea what the EQ was plotting. She could have killed the Charmings on the spot. The fact that Regina even let them face her, knowing that she might murder them, is honestly revolting. Especially for someone who calls herself a hero.
9. Regina’s vault of hearts
A true hero would right their wrongs. A hero that regrets something they’ve done would seek a way to fix things. A true hero would face their victims and ask for forgiveness.
A hero would not, however, continue to keep a vault full of the hearts they stole.
But Regina doesn’t even give those poor people a single thought. Not a single “hmmm maybe I should see if I can return some of these hearts”. I guess that would be too much work and wouldn’t be directly connected to her happiness.
That’s not a hero.
But Regina isn’t a hero. Or at least not my hero. To me she will always be a villain who split herself in two so that not killing anymore wouldn’t bother her so much.
10. Characters propping up Regina & erasing her crimes
Henry’s abuse was retconned/forgotten
One of the most sickening lines in the entire show is when Henry tells her “If I had never gone to get Emma, if I just lived under the curse with you, none of this would have ever happened. I thought I was alone. I-I thought you didn’t love me. But I was wrong.” So a child abusing mass murdering rapist deserves a happy ending at the expense of everyone else’s happy ending? Where is the Henry from S1-2? The one who couldn’t wait to get away from her BECAUSE OF THE ABUSE? Now Regina does acknowledge that she is a villain here but to re-write Henry in this instance is to gloss over the abuse. in S1-2 Henry would not have uttered that line and he was therefore retconned to lift Regina up.
We see it again in S4 over Regina’s “biggest regret” is a bullshit line about “not believing in him”.
Also there is a moment where Snow tells Regina about Maleficent and how they didn’t want Emma to know for the same reasons Regina didn’t want Henry to know about her past so he wouldn’t lose faith in who he always believed she could be. But that is a lie because in S1 and the beginning of 2 he did believe there was no hope. He wanted Emma to stop trying because he feared Regina would win and in season 2 he wanted to build an armory to protect them from Regina.
The show became pro-child abuser by not addressing the abuse.
Regina’s crimes swept away & her victims forced to accept her so she can join Team Hero
I hear this fandom often say Hook got it easier b/c the Charmings trusted him too quickly. Which is absolutely a lie. He wasn’t trusted completely until S6. However, Regina absolutely should get the most hate from the Charmings because she was the one that destroyed their lives. They have more reasons to distrust her than Killian or Neal (canon wise they don’t know the full story). And they all distrusted Rumple. Yet they welcomed Regina into their circle in s3 after she admitted she didn’t regret destroying their lives because it got HER what SHE wanted. Their trust in her NEVER MADE SENSE. Because despite y’all insisting Regina sacrificed for them, she never did.
Snow becomes Regina’s cheerleader
The fact that Snow spends way too much of the later seasons championing Regina and not her daughter is disgusting. Snow is one of the first to agree with Regina about Emma’s plans as the Dark One. Snow goes and comforts Regina in S6 instead of Emma whose having visions of her death. It’s honestly absurd.
Regina’s crimes against Emma sugar coated
In this same scene Regina tells Emma “I’ve known you for some time and all I wanted was for you to get the hell out of my life so I can be with my son.” That is one hell of a way to sugar coat “I WANTED YOU DEAD” because “out of her life” wasn’t good enough. Emma was leaving and Regina still tried to murder her.
Regina is made into the victim & her victims become the villain
What she did to Owen/Greg never saw the light of day because he became the villain. She never bothered to tell anyone why he was there. That she was the reason Henry was in danger. That she had murdered Greg’s father and left him an orphan all because his father refused to give his son to her. They turned Regina into the victim without acknowledging her role in Greg’s life.
And later? In 3x11 she throws Hook’s not helping her back in his face while no one takes note that she was actively plotting to murder them all AND had just left him for dead! Why does Hook get the blame for that when she fails to own up to her role in it? Why does she even get to complain after the thousands of people she murdered that she didn’t have to pay the price for? That is unacceptable.
Percival died trying to defend everyone against evil queen Regina and no one cared. They had to save Robin so Regina wouldn’t lose love again.
Robin says in Season 3 that “the rumors didn’t say anything about the Evil Queen being “bold and audacious”. Really? So what were these rumors? I guess her hot looks trump her murderous impulses? Also with Robin he mentions that he doesn’t want to leave her alone in the Underworld because people may still want revenge on her and she needs protection. She needs protection from her victims? SHE SHOULD BE FACING THEM! Her victims aren’t the problem. Regina is.
Graham’s rape and murder forgotten
What she did to Graham was never mentioned again. That is unacceptable to me. She assaulted him for 28 years then murdered him in a jealous rage and also to protect her curse. This is a man Emma and Henry cared for. Yet she remains silent.
Regina’s affair was applauded
Remember back in S1 when Mary Marguerite had an affair with David and she was labeled a home wrecking whore? Yet when Regina is having an affair with Robin it’s applauded. They believed his wife had returned and she was effectively in a coma while they were going at it in her vault. But Snow applauds her. The show sympathizes with her. Why? Oh because its Regina.
They erase what Regina did to Marian
Emma mentions once in S3 finale that Marian was Regina’s victim but that is forgotten by S4. And I have already mentioned this but I am going to mention it again. Why? Because Regina blames her current state of affairs on Emma instead of acknowledging that her murderous tyranny led to Marian being taken from her family. In fact, this little bit of information is never told to Robin. I think he should know that Regina is responsible for his son losing his mother.
And in the end Zelena gets the ultimate blame because she murdered Marian. But again. Marian wouldn’t have been in that situation if Regina hadn’t been plotting to unjustly execute her.
Regina’s treatment of Zelena tried to whitewash Regina’s evilness
The way she speaks to Zelena is disgusting. Now I am no fan of Zelena. I think she is amusing but I dislike that she gets to raise the baby she raped Robin for. However, the show doesn’t pretend she is a hero or parade her around as this pillar of virtue like “I hate doing good” bully Regina. So that being said…
Regina has no moral high ground over Zelena either. Regina’s crimes far outweigh Zelena’s but the show acts like it doesn’t because Zelena hurted poor whittle Regina. Regina claims in S5 that Zelena already had enough chances when Regina herself has been given 999 (EF dungeon, by Tink, after dark curse was broken & lastly when she stopped her kill switch).
Regina then blames Zelena for Robin’s death when everyone was trying to caution Regina about trusting Hades! She takes ZERO responsibility for herself NEVER listening to anyone! Then she saves Zelena from her more evil half and claims, paraphrasing here, “I nearly killed myself for you because that is what heroes do not that you’d know that”. REALLY? Why didn’t you do that for the Charmings then? Oh because you couldn’t virtue signal to them to feel better about yourself? THE WRITING FOR THIS SHOW SUCKS.
Furthermore, we see in s7 that it is Zelena that has changed and grown because she doesn’t want her daughter anywhere near their mother’s dark magic but Regina is all “it’s fiiiiiiiine why should I listen to you about your kid? I think its good so its good”.
Wish Henry suddenly becomes her son
With just a few tears from Regina and her claiming that MURDERING his WishGrandparents was a mistake… WishHenry forgives her and all of the sudden she has a second son. It was absurd, unbelievable and just gross.
Season 7 changed the rules of the Wish Realm. So it was yet another murder that Regina got to get out of and absolve herself of the blame AND get rewarded for it!
11. Once again - Regina never faced a victim
I’m just gong to repeat this one more time. She never paid for any of her crimes. She never faced a victim and sought forgiveness (her becoming a hero was about her HEA) but instead continued to be a self-righteous bully (her so called sassy sarcasm wasn’t funny & wasn’t right for a villain who supposedly had a change of heart).
And no, she did not face the Charmings. Her saving her own hide and them included is not “facing the Charmings”. Facing them would be seeking forgiveness. Facing them would be showing remorse. She only helped them so that she could still be in Henry’s life and earn her own happy ending. She never even discussed what she did to them until a bench scene in S6 and that was glossed over as her “not being a very good step-mother” and Snow ends up thanking Regina for her abuse! It’s disgusting really.
She went to the Underworld where Hades says that her body count nearly rivals Rumple’s but instead we see her have a family reunion and heal a dead horse instead of facing one of her countless victims. How disgusting is that? And you want me to believe her redemption was complete? No. Sorry.
Fandom Note: I don’t care if you love Regina. But at some point Evil Regal’s need to accept that not everyone does. And that there are legit reasons for hating this character on the basis of very poor writing.
Furthermore, your head canons about her childhood & marriage aren’t shared across the fandom & doesn’t excuse her choices anyway. Regina CHOSE to commit the most vile acts which were 100% never addressed.
Agree 💯 no more need to be said