Re: MAJOR SPOILERS: Regina’s Mother and Rumpelstiltskin

[Slurpeez]

I think it’s interesting that in episode 2, Regina says to her father, Henry Sr:

Regina: But I can’t keep living like this. What Snow did to me, what she took from me. It’s eating me alive, Daddy. Her very existence mocks me. She must be punished.
Henry Sr: But, if the price is a hole that will never be filled, why do it? Stop worrying about Snow White, and start over. We can have a new life.
Regina: What kind of life? All I’ve worked for, all I’ve built will be gone. My power will disappear. They already think I’m nothing.

How is it that not enacting the curse would cause Regina’s power to disappear? Her power must be something that she gained, and not something she was born with. It’s still not at all clear what her back story is, except to say that her mother, Cora, may have taught her magic.

Also, I think perhaps Cora could be the miller’s daughter who married the king who desired straw be turned to gold. That means Regina, the baby Rumple was supposed to take, would be royal, as indicated by the quote: “…the series will flash back to show Snow White as a little girl and the Evil Queen as a young princess living with her fairy-tale family before her heart turned bitter cold.” That means Regina was a young princess even before she married Snow White’s father, King Leopold.