Psyching out Regina

[the wiz]

The success of Operation Cobra hinges on out-smarting Regina and her many allies and captives. Accurate theories about what she’s thinking, expecting and reacting to make it possible for other characters to foil her plots of vengeance. Here’s a dozen psychological patterns of evil characters we can use as we formulate our theories about how Operation Cobra will succeed in OUAT.

Evil characters are known for:
1. Aching with envy of others’ happiness, abilities, successes and reciprocated love.
2. Feeling cursed by their own bad luck and fated misfortune.
3. Acting with no conscience and no inclination to stop being reckless or wicked.
4. Feeding their inflated self worth with flattery and others’ submissiveness which compensates for their feeling tragically worthless.
5. Playing the polar opposite of perfect characters who appear to have no dark side of their own.
6. Treating others as dehumanized toys to torment and objects of contempt without feelings to hurt
7. Stalemating others’ moves toward reconciliation by escalating their suspicions, fueling chronic fears and engendering deeper mistrust.
8. Idealizing their dark overlord while demonizing those who are living happily ever after.
9. Identifying with their childhood abuser and replicating the misdirected anger and bullying they painfully endured.
10. Deceiving others with lies, pretentiousness, and clever subterfuge which get those others to “go for the bait” and fall into traps that have been set.
11. Displaying their very low tolerance for ambiguity by controlling others’ conduct, forbidding displays of emotion and silencing any back talk.
12. Feeding their insatiable appetite for power, domination and the subjugation of others by dismissing true love as foolish infatuation and mere fleeting romance.

Happy theorizing 😀

[dorothy]

I think first and foremost, Operation Cobra needs to figure out who their allies are. Then they can start figuring out who would be on Regina’s side.

@the wiz wrote:

9. Identifying with their childhood abuser and replicating the misdirected anger and bullying they painfully endured.

I think this describes Regina perfectly.

[Slurpeez]

9. Identifying with their childhood abuser and replicating the misdirected anger and bullying they painfully endured.

Yep, I’m thinking that pretty much sums up Regina’s suffering abuse from her mother, Cora, and taking out her misplaced anger on Snow White.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[the wiz]

I got inspired to write this by re-watching the scenes with the Evil Queen Regina and those with Cora. Between the two of them in FTL, they’ve displayed almost every one of these dozen patterns. Regina in SB seems pretty tame compared to her back story counterparts.

[mia]

@the wiz wrote:

Regina in SB seems pretty tame compared to her back story counterparts.

Except the MM/Regina scene in Stable Boy and Regina crushing Graham’s heart in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

I had to read twice until I noticed you made that list in general and not concerning Regina … It does fit her quite well.

side note: You added Merlin to your avatar! Is that series good?

@the wiz wrote:

5. Playing the polar opposite of perfect characters who appear to have no dark side of their own.

Hm, I guess this one is arguable. I don’t think Regina sees Snow as having no dark side.

[the wiz]

mia wrote:
side note: You added Merlin to your avatar! Is that series good?

I love the BBC Merlin Series. It’s exploring the good and bad uses of magic, keeping magic hidden from its opponents and, like OUAT, regarding mythical stories as having really happened.

mia wrote:
Hm, I guess this one is arguable. I don’t think Regina sees Snow as having no dark side.

Jungian psychologists turn a wonderful phrase: constellating the shadow. It refers to situations that are extremely one-sided evoking the dark intruder. Snow’s & Charming’s picture perfect wedding in the Pilot episode is a perfect example of “constellating the shadow”. MM’s & David’s kissing on the street seems like another.

[Author]

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