King Leopold

[naomi]

So. Ahem. Where the heck was he?!

I wonder if it’s simply that they couldn’t schedule the actor for the episode, or if something else is afoot…it’s strange that he would be out of town during his daughter’s birthday and his wife’s death.

[hcadia]

I think that maybe Cora has something to do with this… I mean, King Leopold kept saying that he loved his wife and no one could replace her… in season 1, when Regina became his queen and the Genie was in love with her…. Snow’s father loved her too much to let her down on her birthday too… something isn’t right!!

[amyfii]

Hello,
I tweeted Richard Schiff, who plays King Leopold, last week to ask if we would see him on Once anytime soon since I figured he would be in this episode. He responded and said that he is too busy with theater work and was not available to Once but that they are all great people.
I’m not sure if they will write an explanation into the show but based on last night it looks like they aren’t! If I’m not mistaken they seemed to do a far away shot of him but just replaced the actor with someone similar?

[Keb]

I think they just worked around him–it was suggested that he was in the castle, but working on something. The important things were happening between Snow, Johanna, and Eva anyway; Leopold just wasn’t a relevant factor. Fair enough to assume that he (the character) was indeed present based on the fact that he was at least mentioned, just not on screen.

Keeper of Belle's Gold magic, sand dollar, cloaks, purple FTL outfit, spell scroll, library key, copy of Romeo and Juliet, and cry-muffling pillow, Rumple's doll, overcoat, and strength, and The Timeline. My spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9R0RUNm4xR3RhMEU/view?usp=sharing

[Phee]

@hcadia wrote:

I think that maybe Cora has something to do with this…

Even if it was just scheduling issues that meant the actor couldn’t be there, I’d love it if they used this to create another thread of the story in the future, showing that Cora had him distracted by business in another realm to ensure that Eva’s death had maximum emo impact. Poor Snow shouldn’t have been there all alone to grieve for her mother. There’s gotta be some reason why her father was absent for that. Something that wasn’t in his control.

[hcadia]

@Phee wrote:

@hcadia wrote:

I think that maybe Cora has something to do with this…

Even if it was just scheduling issues that meant the actor couldn’t be there, I’d love it if they used this to create another thread of the story in the future, showing that Cora had him distracted by business in another realm to ensure that Eva’s death had maximum emo impact. Poor Snow shouldn’t have been there all alone to grieve for her mother. There’s gotta be some reason why her father was absent for that. Something that wasn’t in his control.

I agree!
Even if the actor is a very busy man, “this” can’t be the excuse for why King Leopold couldn’t be there for his wife funeral and his daughters birthday where she was going to get the crown that has been passing through the generation…. it’s a big thing in FTL! Cora has planed out to kill Queen Eva, to make Regina rescue young Snow and so on.. so she must have kept King Leopold away that day.

[Gaultheria]

Leopold’s behaviour, as far as we’ve seen, has always been a little odd. Maybe it’s a natural condition, maybe a spell. Could be that Leopold really wasn’t an attentive husband and father, and that all we’ve seen is him overcompensating due to feelings of guilt.

Gaultheria's fanvids: http://youtube.com/sagethrasher

[tombo671]

I just wanna get this out. But what the hell were Disney thinking giving Leopold the same name as a mass murderer? Anyone that does History would know who I’m referring to.

[Myril]

@tombo671 wrote:

I just wanna get this out. But what *(please avoid obscenities)* were Disney thinking giving Leopold the same name as a mass murderer? Anyone that does History would know who I’m referring to.

You are referring to Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909), whose brutal rule and exploitation of what was called Congo Free State back then lead to the death of millions. Just clearing this up, because I am sure that many never heard of it – despite passable history lessons in school. Frankly, I only know because I always have been interested in history and politics and through contacts with people from Congo in the 90’s, who were fighting the brutal regime of Mobutu. The book by Adam Hochschild from 1998, King Leopold’s Ghost, might have spread the knowledge. But would bet that many still aren’t aware, that Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness describes that time in the the Congo (based on his own experience and observations as a captain of a steamer on the Congo River), even if they might have heard of the novella.

Considering that the writers very sure at least heard of Conrad’s novella, it can surprise they chose this name and of all things for Snow’s father. On the other hand Leopold was the name of other rulers as well, particular in Austria, and there in Austria a quite common name, best known maybe Leopold Mozart, the father of the wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But they maybe should do some better research about names, it is an insensitive choice.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[tombo671]

@myril wrote:

@tombo671 wrote:

I just wanna get this out. But what *(please avoid obscenities)* were Disney thinking giving Leopold the same name as a mass murderer? Anyone that does History would know who I’m referring to.

You are referring to Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909), whose brutal rule and exploitation of what was called Congo Free State back then lead to the death of millions. Just clearing this up, because I am sure that many never heard of it – despite passable history lessons in school. Frankly, I only know because I always have been interested in history and politics and through contacts with people from Congo in the 90’s, who were fighting the brutal regime of Mobutu. The book by Adam Hochschild from 1998, King Leopold’s Ghost, might have spread the knowledge. But would bet that many still aren’t aware, that Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness describes that time in the the Congo (based on his own experience and observations as a captain of a steamer on the Congo River), even if they might have heard of the novella.

Considering that the writers very sure at least heard of Conrad’s novella, it can surprise they chose this name and of all things for Snow’s father. On the other hand Leopold was the name of other rulers as well, particular in Austria, and there in Austria a quite common name, best known maybe Leopold Mozart, the father of the wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But they maybe should do some better research about names, it is an insensitive choice.

I have always wondered what the writers were thinking with it, but I hadn’t voiced my opinion on it till now. Next thing you know will probably get a “King Mao” or “King Stalin”.

[Author]

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