Emma Swan Character Analysis

[Midnight Dreary]

For general discussion on the Once Upon a Time character Emma Swan.

Here's a few study questions to get the conversation started:

1. Why is Emma Swan the "key" to breaking the curse?
2. Will Emma Swan need to be sacrificed in order to break the curse?
3. How does Emma Swan's presence effect the lives of those in Storybrook?
4. How will Emma Swan's "key status" effect the destiny of her son Henry?
5. What is Emma Swan's relation to August W. Booth?
6. Will Emma Swan ever develop an alliance with Mr. Gold?
7. Will Emma Swan ever guess Mr. Gold's true name?
8. If so, will she have supreme power over Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin?
9. Will Emma Swan ever have a Fairytale counterpart?
10. Is Emma Swan's ability to tell when people are lying a mystical power?
11. Will Emma Swan ever develop mystical powers?

Be sure to keep the conversation open, friendly and honest.

Let the debate begin!

[NONNIE]

9. Will Emma Swan ever have a Fairytale counterpart?

She was the infant daughter of Snow and PC James... so yes she did have a FAIRYTALE counterpart.

Nonnie

.

[obisgirl]

1. Why is Emma Swan the "key" to breaking the curse?

The only thing I can think of is, is that the curse needs someone 'uncursed' to bring back the happy endings. A facilitator. Emma is that person and if you think about her history in the real world, getting thrown into the foster care system so early and getting into trouble later in her teen years, she is the perfect person to relate to show people of Storybrooke, life doesn't always work out but you have the power to change it if you really want to. (i.e. Emma's speech to Ashley in the laundry room in The Price of Gold).

2. Will Emma Swan need to be sacrificed in order to break the curse?

This was talked about on the OUAT fan podcast in one of their feedback episodes. The theory is, if Emma does sacrifice, maybe she will literally, be re-born as baby Emma. Also, look at where she had Henry? Pheonix, Arizona. The 'pheonix' according to legend, is a bird that continually rises from the dead.

10. Is Emma Swan's ability to tell when people are lying a mystical power?
Let the debate begin!

I think it is, but it doesn't always work and the reason why is because she is blinded by her anger towards Regina. Anger always clouds one's judgement.

[slurpeez108]

Here is an article with some information regarding Emma Swan and what's to come for her character this season. It seem like ep. 17 Hat Trick will be a turning point for Emma to possibly start believing in fairy tales. From an interview with Jennifer Morrison (Emma), we learn:

Believing that the curse is real, and that the Storybrooke residents are actually fairy tale characters, means that Emma will have to accept that her new best friend, Mary Margaret, is actually her mother, whose actual identity is also Snow White - both of which the roommates often joke about in passing. "Ultimately, there's going to be a point where that has to happen," Morrison says. "I think we're headed toward those worlds having to be exposed in some way. Emma can't be skeptical for six years."

http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/tv/tvguide/ ... z1ojGaH7bi


Read more here about how Emma feels about Mr. Gold, the shifting power struggle with Regina, her interaction with the Mad Hatter, her developing relationship with August, and the strain that arresting Mary Margaret will have on Emma. Spoilers: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/1 ... 38893.html

[Soulslider]

Emma Swan = Alice in Wonderland

[hjbau]

Maybe. If wonderland is the real world.

[Midnight Dreary]

Maybe. If wonderland is the real world.

I really love this theory. I've always had a thing for mulitple alternative universes.

I wonder if Oz will become one of them as well?

[hjbau]

I really like Emma as a character. There is just so much going on there. Her trying to be Sheriff and be there for the town. Her desire to be a mother to Henry. Her abandonment issues. Her trying to figure out how to fight against Regina. Her opening up to Mary and to Henry and wanting to protect them. Such a great character.

[slurpeez108]

Emma Swan = Alice in Wonderland

Perhaps Emma is a metaphoric Alice in the sense that she is a character from another realm stuck in this unfamiliar world. There is a decal of a white rabbit on the rear window of Emma's yellow bug. Perhaps that is meant to symbolize her going "down the rabbit hole" as she arrives in SB. Emma's car decal is a white rabbit.

As Emma is about to leave Storybrooke, she crashes her car and we see the book flip to a page with a catterpillar and Alice.

There is a white rabbit logo in the bar scene of Cinders, Ruby, & MM

The same white rabbit logo appears on the outside of the bar.

[snowfan]

There has been discussion over Emma's wardrobe on some podcasts and forums in the past. The longer she stays in Storybrooke, the more she is open to relationships and possibly the book being real, the sifter he wardrobe has become.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and without watching every episode over again, I think this is the first time we have seen Emma put her hair up. She very pointedly is putting her hair in a pony tail in her opening scene. It stuck out to me because we are watching her do it, it wasn't just already done.

I am wondering if this is symbolizing more of her openness or something else?

She also wore her hood in what looked like a very 'fairytale' style hood to me, but others said it looked like a 'Jedi' hood.

Thoughts?