Something I've been thinking about since I've been rewatching OUAT, is that Henry is never afraid of Regina... even in season 1, when he fully believes that she is the Evil Queen, and he's read all about what she did in the Enchanted Forest, he's not afraid of her, to the point where he talks back to her and actively defies her on a regular basis
I would credit the showrunners with creating a show-not-tell narrative here, where you can assume from Henry's behaviour that Regina is a good mom, but that would be giving them WAY too much credit (especially because that wasn't the original direction they planned to take the show in)... i think they wrote Henry that way to show that he's a hero, going up against the Evil Queen, and he's not afraid because Emma is the savior and he knows she will break the curse and he'll be safe
But in reality, the story that I believe they told, unintentionally, is that Regina was always a good and loving mother to Henry, and he grew up feeling safe and knowing that she loved him and would never hurt him. The fact that he is willing to openly defy her and doesn't fear any repercussions is very telling
(putting the rest under a break, because this ended up being much longer than I originally had planned lol)
In season 2, Henry full on witnesses her trying to kill David, and threatening everyone at the town hall meeting when she gets her magic back, and he's not only still not afraid of her, he already knows that he's the only thing she actually wants, and that she won't hurt anyone if she has him. She never had to explicitly say what she wanted, or agree that she wouldn't hurt anyone else if he went with her, he just KNEW because he knows her
But I think the really, really telling thing is Henry's face when Regina uses magic to restrain him, versus Regina's face when Cora does it to her:
Henry doesn't look afraid... the wheels in his head are already turning, planning his next move. Rightfully, he should be terrified, because magic has only been in Storybrooke for like a day, and he's already witnesses Regina try to kill David with it (with tree branches, even!), and also use it against several people at town hall, but he's not afraid, because that's his mom and she won't hurt him and he knows it
Regina has grown up around magic her whole life, and the second her mother uses it on her, she gets scared, and when she tries to argue, Cora doubles down on the magic restraints and Regina immediately capitulates. She is terrified of her mother, and she has no reason to believe her mother won't actually hurt her.
Also, not only is Henry not afraid of Regina, she also can't manipulate him the way that Cora manipulated her, because he already knows he's the most important thing in her life and the only person that she loves or even remotely cares about. He's all she has and he knows it, and he doesn't have to do anything to appease her to try to earn her love, because he already has it, and he knows there's really nothing he can do to make her stop loving him.
Regina grew up with a mother who didn't love her, and it made her desperate for Cora's approval, which made it so easy for Cora to lie to Regina and manipulate her. She had to act a certain way and hide her true self from her mother, because she was trying to earn her mother's love, which was an impossible task (but she didn't know that at the time, obviously).
Like, imagine a teenage Henry in Regina's position, in love with someone his mother didn't approve of, engaged to be married into royalty and power, and Regina had caught him about to run away and adamantly opposed it, but then suddenly appeared to have a change of heart... Henry would have seen through that act in a second, but Regina couldn't see through her mother's lies because she didn't want to... it's like how Henry says "she wants to believe it, so she does", when explaining why Regina believes him when he lies to her... she wants to believe that her mother was capable of loving her, so she did, and having that faith in Cora always ended up costing her in the end
(And, I mean, obviously Henry would never be in the same situation as Regina because even if she didn't approve of who he wanted to be with, she would accept it because she loves Henry and truly does want him to be happy, which is something Cora never wanted for Regina)
(also, for the record, this is why Henry is good at manipulating Regina as well, because she will believe anything he tells her when it's what she wants to hear)
It's actually amazing that Regina did become a good mother, since she had no examples of good parenting herself... yes, her father loved her, but he never protected her. He couldn't have stopped Cora, but he never even tried... he let his daughter suffer while he stood by and watched.
David couldn't have stopped Regina if she'd used magic on him when he went to get Henry, but that didn't stop him from kicking her door open and running in there with his sword... she could have roasted him on the spot and he knew it, but he risked it anyway to protect Henry.
... anyway, just another example of how A&E accidentally wrote a better story than they'd originally planned, because they accidentally set believable ground work for Regal Believer and Regina's path to redemption, which I don't believe was their original plan. I know Lana asked for a better relationship between Regina and Henry in season 2, because she was worried it would come across as anti-adoption to have the adoptive mother be evil, and the birthmother to be the hero that rescues the child, but I'm not sure they ever intended to redeem Regina at all, tbh.
Either way, the one thing that doesn't fit is when Emma asks "do you love him?" and Regina says "of course I love him" with no emotion on her face, and slams the door, and then you see this look of realization on Emma's face, and she decides to stay in Storybrooke... they can try to say that Regina always loved Henry, but that scene clearly was meant to be interpreted as Regina lied, and Emma knew it and that's why she stayed. There is no other plausible explanation for why she decided to stay after that.
And that's why I say they accidentally laid the ground work, because the story they were trying to write, clearly, was that Regina was just evil and didn't actually love Henry, but they accidentally wrote Henry in a way that he could have only been, if he had grown up with a mother that loved him.
Does anybody have any recommendations for swanqueen/swan-mills family fics set in season 3 when Emma and Henry first come back to Storybrook after the missing year and Henry doesn't remember Regina
My second piece for @fanartfrenzy's fantastic month of art! This is for a longterm favourite of mine - the fic that made me want to write about Swan Queen after a long hiatus from both writing and ouat - warm blood by MoonlightViolet - it's got fluff, smut and yearning in spades, go have a read if you haven't before!
(I also really wanted to draw an octopus, so sue me)
Updated bingo card under the cut - please do send me recs if there's an under-appreciated fic you know of!
