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Of all the characters on Once, Regina is perhaps one of the most richly symbolic. The following is a list of just some of the observations I’ve made over the last couple of seasons.
Over the course of seasons 1&2 I observed that Regina was often close to images of unicorns. The first instance occurs in 1×02 “The Thing You Love Most” where the opening title card reveals a black unicorn running across the screen and later we see a black unicorn pony kept by Maleficent as a pet. Additionally throughout Season 1 when Regina visits Gold’s shop Emma’s unicorn mobile is invariably in the camera shot. In 2×05 “The Doctor” Regina is to immobilize a black unicorn and take its heart. (which incidentally bookends nicely with her willingness by 1×02 to kill Maleficent’s pet unicorn)
In 1×12 “Skin Deep” after Belle’s kiss enrages Rumple he pulls the cloth away from the mirror to address Regina revealing a unicorn tapestry (which incidentally can be seen at the Cloisters in NYC). That tapestry is clearly out of camera range and would not be reflected in the mirror. Later when Regina arrives and informs Rumple of Belle’s “death” Regina passes in front of the same tapestry. Hardly a coincidence.
We also have recently seen the Lion tattoo on Regina’s soul mate Robin Hood which is virtually identical to the one on the Coat-of-Arms of King George’s Kingdom. Coincidentally the Lion and the Unicorn besides being a clever little poem in Lewis Carroll’s works is the symbol of the English and Scottish monarchies as well. Could Robin perhaps be an Arthur like figure born royal but deprived of his birthright as we can assume Regina was if her grandfather was sincere about having Cora and Henry succeed him.
We also see Regina wear dream catcher jewelry: 1st in her guise as the peddler in 1×17 “Hat Trick” she wears an oversized dream catcher earing. 2nd in 1×19 “The Return” she wears a necklace reminiscent of a dream catcher as well.
Another interesting symbol among Gold’s magic potions in the back room is one of Regina’s teardrops. In 2×21 “Second Star to the Right” MM questions why that would be among his potions. Rumple as ever is evasive, but it does raise questions of just how magical is Regina and do her tears do more than just act as a tracking spell? Rumple’s evasion would seem to indicate so.
Regina’s home environment is also richly symbolic when in Storybrooke her house, office and the secret chamber in her mausoleum are also black and white no doubt symbolizing the conflict within (that everyone save Henry and Emma on her good days seems not to understand).
This rich symbolism from my point of view indicates that Regina is far more important to the restoration of the happy endings than I think any of her companions are aware. The unicorn symbolism alone speaks to her true character which we’ve seen glimpses of in episodes such as “Stable Boy’ and “We Are Both”. Recall that Rumple remarked that Regina was “so kind, so gentle, so powerful.” Seems to me that true powers are ones that Rumple wanted to keep in remission so he could feed her a steady diet of anger and rage to fuel her addiction to Dark Magic.
[adrotate group="5"]Custodian of Graham's darts, Rumple's spindle and Robin's quiver
WOW! This was wonderful! I really like your analysis and I think some of our EvilRegals are going to gush at you. (be prepared)
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Commence EvilRegal gushing:
This is a really good post and I commend your attention to detail. I didn’t even see the dream catcher motif. I would like to add by bringing up the dream catcher scene in “The Cricket Game.” Emma uses the dream catcher to catch Pongo’s memories. She proceeds to watch the events up until she sees “Regina” choking the life out of Archie. If she had watched longer a little longer she might have seen that it was actually Cora behind it.
This could be microchasm of the entire Regina story line.
Keeper of Regina's Gardening Tools and Blue Blazer, keeper of Robin Hood's Lion Tattoo and Facial Hair
Here’s an observation that I’ll bet no one’s made so far. Re-watch the beginning of “Quite a Common Fairy” after the title card has passed and the scene shifts to Rumple’s castle in the EF watch carefully a blue-winged butterfly will pass in front of the screen travelling left to right. This same butterfly can be seen in promos for the series see following YT clips: http://youtu.be/Rga4rp4j5TY and http://youtu.be/lVs3z2lGxwY
Enjoy dearies!
Custodian of Graham's darts, Rumple's spindle and Robin's quiver
Great observations! I hadn’t noticed these but I did note in the pilot that we saw Regina’s living room contains a reproduction of the famous Antonio Canova sculpture of Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. In Roman literature, Psyche was “the fairest of them all” and when Cupid fell in love with her, Venus tried repeatedly to keep them apart. Eventually, Venus caused Psyche to fall into a deep sleep until Cupid awakened her with a kiss, as depicted in the sculpture. A pretty good fit to the Snow White story!
While typing the above paragraph, I just had a funny thought. The story of Cupid and Psyche would be a perfect fit to the Snow White story if it weren’t for the fact that Cupid is the son of Venus. Does this mean history will repeat itself in a few years if Henry grows up to fall in love with a woman who does not meet Regina’s approval? Imagine having the Evil Queen for a mother-in-law!
Interesting observations! I looked at Regina’s jewelry . It is vaguely reminiscent of a dream catcher, which is supposed to be a (according to wikipedia) : a handmade object based on a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads. So I guess it is a circular spiral with another spiral with some beads done in metal, but I cannot tell if those are coins to match the headband but the big center is a pattern looped around. They were making her look Gypsyish
I don’t know what the ones looked like in the other scene.
Here are dreamcatcher earrings which you can buy easily:
It’s more of a web then a spiral, but I guess it sort of does have the circle then another circle but not the dangling feather so much.
It is hard to see and does look more like a weaving spread but I thought it was a tree. With a thick stem at the bottom underneath the branches? There’s no dangling bits or feathers again, just a circle with some tendrils shooting around inside that could or might not be a weave.“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Not sure why the commercial dreamcatcher earrings didn’t post.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Now that I have all the visuals there, I love the observations about Unicorns, and it is interesting because they also used Unicorns for Emma’s nursery. Maleficient had a pet PonyCorn too. (Funniest looking thing ever).
Then of course there was Regina’s line “Rainbow kisses and Unicorn Stickers.”
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
What about her apples?
Well, being lazy, I’ll paste here some thoughts I had written about that back in the first season:
In the season finale, “A Land Without Magic”, Regina asks Snow “Did you know that apples stand for health and wisdom?” which is quite true. European art traditionally depicts an apple as the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge described in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve were happy in the Garden of Eden before eating the apple but after they gained knowledge from eating it they were banished from paradise. The apple plays a similar role in other cultures. In Greek mythology, Hera, the queen of the gods, grew apples. Eris, the goddess of discord, threw one of these apples onto a table occupied by Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. The apple was said to be intended “for the fairest of all” and all three goddesses immediately disrupted the peaceful feast by fighting for the apple. When Prince Paris of Troy awarded the apple to Aphrodite, Hera and Athena sought revenge by supporting the Greeks against the Trojans in the Trojan War as described in Homer’s Iliad.
So the apple reminds us that knowledge leads to a loss of innocence and to conflict. This theme is reminiscent of Henry’s loss of innocence when he discovers that Regina has another life as a vicious killer and she is not just the loving mother who cared for him when he was little. His newly acquired knowledge, symbolized by the apple, must lead him into conflict with her that will eventually culminate in him choosing to eat the poison apple turnover in order to protect Emma in episode 21, “An Apple Red As Blood”. If Henry winds up living with Emma he will have earned his escape from Regina through courage and half a lifetime of tears.
(The original, more long-winded post is at http://www.onceuponatimespace.com/q3HenryLvRegina.html )
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