Just wondering if it’s “get” in the sense of “recognize and understand” rather than “receive”.
Probably the former rather than the latter since we know that they CAN “receive” happy endings. Ingrid got hers via sacrifice but had to realize that she had it all along with her sisters, Ursula got hers recently.
Also, Regina got what she thought was her happy ending (i.e. a cursed kingdom full of amnesiacs in which she ruled supreme while watching Snow White suffer). So, technically Regina as the Evil Queen, a full on villain, already received her happy ending, too. Of course, Regina the woman struggling for redemption, still thinks she’s yet to receive her happiness in full. However, what Regina may fail to realize is that her happiness has been right in front of her eyes the entire time in the form of Henry, if only she’d accept his love as being enough. The unconditional love of a child is the greatest gift Regina could ever hope to receive as a mother, arguably even greater than a romance.
Well…I think Regina does recognize Henry as part of her happy ending, but she knows that it’s more to her happy ending than just Henry. Like Regina said, she was perfectly happy with just Henry, but she was most happy with Henry, AND Robin and Roland. If you know there’s a chance you can have 100% Happily Ever After, why just settle for 50%?
And technically….Snow White’s HEA came at the expense of Regina’s potential HEA with Daniel…and Snow White’s Want for Emma to be completely good came at the expense of Maleficent’s HEA with Lily….so I wonder sometimes if the Villain’s HEA comes at the expense of the Heroes.
"If you go as far as you can see...you will then see enough to go even further." - Finn Balor