I have a spin-off theory of that that links her background story to Rumple but not quite the way it happens in the Miller’s Daughter.
My theory is that Regina before she became the Evil Queen, was Rumple’s wife. Now hear me out here. We never met Baelfire’s mother. What we know of her comes from what Rumple said of her and what that big bully of a brute said.
I’m thinking that her and Rumple were married but Regina (or maybe she had a different name), was so unhappy with her life. But despite her unhappiness, she became pregnant with Baelfire but even being a mother to him, doesn’t make her happy and eventually she realizes that she doesn’t love Rumple and wants out of the marriage. But she feels horrible about abandoning Baelfire, so she puts off ending things with Rumps.
Then, the Ogre wars start. Rumps goes to fight in the Ogre wars and whatever happens to help him become known as a coward — happens. Nevertheless, by the time he returns home, Regina has learned of what happened and regardless if it is true or not, she has her out. She leaves Rumple and Bealfire (and by the way, for this to make sense, let’s say Baelfire is a baby at this point, therefore, too young to remember his mother). But Rumple does remember what happened and comes up with this story that Bealfire’s mother died, even though she’s not really dead. Because in reality, she abandoned them.
So, what happens to Regina after she leaves Rumple? Well, she does what can to survive and eventually meets Snow’s dad, who is newly widowed. King Leopold falls hopelessly in love with Regina and they get married. Now, Regina wants another child but King Leopold, for whatever reason, cannot have anymore children or doesn’t want to have another child since he has his wonderful daughter, Snow. Regina is very upset about this because she desperately wants a child, to fill the void of abandoning her son, Baelfire.
Regina meets her would-be lover and they begin to have an affair, and she gets pregnant. But Regina suspects that Leopold is not the father since they don’t have sex that often, so it must be the lover. Regina struggles with that to do and how she can possibly cover this up. (At this point, Regina breaks things off with her lover *before she starts showing).
Then, Rumps shows up as the evil, conniving self that we all know and love. They have a bitter reunion but in the end, Rumps offers her a solution to her problem. Rumps will take the child, thus sparing her husband of the hurt and possible “who’s your daddy?” controversy. Regina, not wanting to part with another child but wanting to save her marriage to King Leopold, agrees to this arrangement. Rumps is happy, promising to return in 9 months time.
But before the child can be born, Snow finds out about Regina’s pregnancy. In her excitement, she tells her father and Regina has to lie, telling her husband that she is pregnant with “their child.” Leopold is skeptical at first but welcomes the pregnancy, despite the fact that he told her he didn’t want or couldn’t have children. However, the deal with Rumple is still on.
Nine months pass, and Regina gives birth to a baby boy and Rumple comes to collect. She begs him to let her out of the deal since her husband knows about the baby and can’t wait to be a father again. Rumps says a deal is a deal and leaves with the child.
Regina, in her grief, blames Snow White for the loss of her child; thus beginning her simmering hatred of her step-daughter. Regina once again lies to her husband, saying that the child was still-born, protecting him from the truth that Rumps has their son.
So, who was the son Regina gave birth to? What happened to him? 😉
Anyway, that is my spin-off theory about Regina & Rumps. Which, by the way, was inspired by Kim’s theory. And I’d been thinking about other ways Regina and Rumps could be connected, besides the traditional miller’s daughter story. 😀