[justonce]

Some thoughts regarding the relationship among Regina, Rumple, and Cora:
Based on the commentary in the official podcast, it seems certain that Cora is the miller’s daughter. In the traditional Rumplestiltskin story, the miller’s daughter promises her child to Rumple for the final task that results in her becoming queen. Once the child is born, she has regret and is given one last chance to win back her daughter if she can guess his name. He is furious when she is able to guess it, and he loses the child he thought was his. In the story, the miller’s daughter has a few days in which to guess and doesn’t do so until the end. During this time, it’s entirely possible that Rumple actually took physical possession of baby Regina, only to be forced to return her. This is, I think, why Rumple says that they are back where they belong – together (and why he says he held her). He had probably always felt cheated in the deal and that the child was rightfully his. We have seen, with Cinderella, how incensed Rumple gets when a child he is promised does not come into his custody. Of course, this raises two issues. The first is that I think it makes it a near certainty that Henry Sr is not Regina’s true father. But the second thing I think is that it means Cora was once a queen herself (the miller’s daughter marries a king, after all). This is getting long-winded but stay with me. I think that as a result of what he sees as her deception, Rumple may have caused Cora to lose her newly acquired royalty in some way. When she tells Regina how to hold on to power after the death of the king, she may be speaking from her own experience (did she make the people hate her? did she count on the king’s guard instead of hiring her own? who knows). After helping cause the loss of her royal status, Rumple could be sure that Cora would do everything in her power to secure a better future for her daughter. This would include controlling her daughter with magic, against her wishes. This would fill Regina with the rage and hatred Rumple needed for the person who would implement the curse. All he would have to do is show up at the right moment with a solution to Regina’s problem with her mother.
So in a way, Rumple may have been pulling the strings with many of the situations that family found itself in – all the way back to Regina’s birth. Rumple did say that their history goes way back in the past, and into the future.
As for why he wanted Regina? I think he wanted an apprentice. Someone powerful who he could instruct in magic and who would take a liking to it. He already knew that to be involved in his kind of magic was a curse, so he wouldn’t wish it on his own flesh and blood (the theory that he is Regina’s father is way, way farfetched in my opinion).

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