Regina Mills

"I'm so tired of standing in the way of my own happiness and I'm not going to do it anymore."

- Regina Mills to Zelena

Regina Mills, better known as the Evil Queen and briefly known as Wilma and Ursula, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Lana Parrilla and Ava Acres.

The Evil Queen is based on the character of the same name from the fairytale, "Snow White", and the child of the miller's daughter from the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin". She also briefly takes the place of the Sea Witch from the fairytale, "The Little Mermaid".

Before First Curse
Regina is born to Prince Henry, the son of a wealthy king named Xavier, and Cora, the daughter of a poor miller. Cora comes into power by learning to spin straw into gold under Rumplestiltskin's instruction, which makes the kingdom rich and garners a marriage proposal from Prince Henry. When her daughter is born, Cora names her Regina, who she proclaims will become queen one day.

Some years after this, Regina is now a young child. In her mother's study, she is playing with her doll Isabella, when Cora walks in. Regina invites her to play, but Cora declines, saying she is too busy. When the girl points out that her mother never has time to play, Cora reminds Regina of the story she once told her about her own childhood, in which she worked in the mill all day and learned to depend on only herself. After locking a box away in a drawer, Cora leaves the room, promising to see her daughter at dinner later. Regina notices her mother forgot to remove the key from the drawer, and she curiously opens it to see an intricate box. Not knowing the box is sealed with blood magic, she unlocks it just by touching it and finds Cora's wand inside. Regina uses the wand on her doll, but the magic backfires onto her, knocking her unconscious. Upon finding her daughter in this state, Cora realizes the only magic that can heal Regina now is from someone who is close to her and who hasn't harmed her. From Oz, Cora returns home with Regina's older half-sister, Zelena. Without receiving any instruction on how to cure Regina, Zelena effortlessly channels her magic into the unconscious girl, because of her deep desire to use her powers for good. Shortly after waking up, Regina meets Zelena for the first time. The two become fast friends, and one morning, Regina sneaks out of bed to play dress-up with Zelena. When Regina pulls out a necklace from the drawer, Zelena sees the box and unlocks it, causing Regina to suspect they are related. They ask Cora, who admits the girls are siblings, with Regina hopeful about being a family with Zelena. Cora chides Regina for this, as she believes her daughter should depend on herself only, and if people find out about Zelena, everything she's worked towards for Regina's sake will be undone. On Cora's orders, guards take Zelena away as she and Regina hold onto each other, until the two are pried apart. Regina vows to Zelena that they will always be sisters no matter what and that she will find her again, but Cora ensures this never happens, by having both girls take a potion to forget each other.

After several more years, Regina gains a fondness for horseback riding and owns a beloved horse she names Rocinante. She and the stable boy, Daniel, fall in love, but their relationship remains secret since Cora has high expectations for her. At some point, Daniel tells her about his brother, William, who left a long time ago for a faraway realm. On her home estate, Regina gives a riding demonstration to her father. When he expresses pride at her riding skills, Cora openly criticizes her for not using a saddle. Furthermore, she nitpicks on the fact Regina is still unmarried. Daniel approaches to offer a saddle, but an upset Regina snaps at him in refusal and begins walking off when Cora magically levitates her into the air. Terrified at her mother's magic, Regina promises to be good, to which Cora finally lets her go. Meeting Daniel in the stables, she apologizes for treating him badly earlier. The couple then make up with a kiss.

Cora, setting her sights on installing Regina as King Leopold's queen, purposefully sets up a riding session with Rocinante for her and then tells her. Busy reading a book, Regina distractedly thanks Cora and later heads out to the stables, where she and Daniel have a rendezvous. He suggests they have a romantic outing at Firefly Hill, but she can't since Cora is expecting her for afternoon tea later. They talk about their love, which continues to be a secret since her mother wants her to marry well. Regina alludes to Cora's magic being very strong, though Daniel believes their true love for each other is the most powerful magic of all. As they lean in to kiss, both hear a scream from a young girl on a runaway horse. Unknown to them, this girl is Snow White, King Leopold's daughter, whose horse Cora had intentionally startled in order for Regina to rescue her. Acting quickly, Regina catches up to the girl's horse with Rocinante and pulls her to safety. King Leopold, as Cora wished for, is so impressed by Regina's feat that he proposes to her. Speechless, she looks to her father for help, but he says nothing as Cora accepts on her behalf. Running to Daniel, Regina begs him to take her away. He agrees by giving her a ring, and as they kiss, Snow White witnesses them and runs away. Regina catches up to the princess, explaining she cannot marry her father, because the love she and Daniel have is true love. She then swears Snow White into secrecy about the relationship. The girl, however, later confesses everything to Cora in a misguided attempt to keep Regina from losing her mother as she did with hers.

On the night she and Daniel prepare to leave, Cora blocks them from going. While Cora is furious her daughter is giving up everything for a mere stable-boy, Regina attests he makes her truly happy. Cora finally relents, seemingly coming to an understanding, and she reconciles with Regina. Daniel, sympathetic to Cora's parental role, expresses gratitude for allowing her daughter's happiness. Cora, taking it upon herself to do what she believes is best for Regina, rips out Daniel's heart and crushes it. In horror, Regina cradles Daniel's body and weeps in despair as her mother insists true happiness comes from the power she will have as the future queen. Sometime after this, a stoic Regina has a wedding dress fitting when Snow White mentions Cora is a good mother for understanding her and Daniel's love for each other. When questioned, Snow White hesitantly admits telling Cora about Daniel due to her fear that Regina would lose her mother as she herself had. Turning away from the girl, Regina reacts in shock, but she regains calm to spare Snow White's feelings. Regina lies, saying Daniel ran away, but that she is happy to marry King Leopold and become her stepmother. Once Snow White exits, Cora praises Regina credit for living up to her expectations. Suspiciously, Regina questions her mother about purposely causing the princess' horse to run wild so she would save her and gain King Leopold's attention, but Cora claims she had nothing to do with it. Walking off, Regina's expression contorts into anger as she expresses regrets over not letting Snow White die on her horse.

As the wedding day approaches, Regina desperately tries to flee on horseback, only to be stopped ruthlessly by Cora. Following a suggestion from her father, Regina steals her mother's spell book, which she unknowingly uses to summon its creator, Rumplestiltskin. He offers to help her get rid of Cora, though Regina is against physically harming anyone, so she is given a magic mirror. Rumplestiltskin instructs her to give Cora a little push into the mirror, which will then send her to another world. She questions what he wants in return. Mysteriously, he confirms that someday she will do him favor. On the day of the wedding, Cora steps into Regina's room and notices the mirror. As Regina looks into both of their reflections, Cora schools her on being the heart of the commoners once she becomes queen, and since the king is weak, they can kill him to own the throne entirely. This is not something Regina is looking forward to, and as she moves to give her mother a shove into the mirror, Cora freezes her in place. Cora chastises Regina for the attempt to get rid of her as Rumplestiltskin materializes in the mirror to give encouragement. Fueled by anger, Regina breaks free of the restraints and knocks Cora into the mirror, which then shatters into pieces. Free at last, Regina leaves down a road and returns Rumplestiltskin's book to him. She claims magic isn't for her, but Rumplestiltskin is more interested to know how it felt using magic. Grudgingly, Regina acknowledges that she loved it, which is all the more reason to stay away from it. She also fears turning out like her mother, but Rumplestiltskin promises that is entirely up to her.

After marrying King Leopold, Regina is allowed by her new husband to grow a single apple tree in the castle garden. The marriage is not one of love, as the king has more affection for his daughter and Regina still cares for her old love, Daniel. Unable to let Daniel go, despite that he is dead, she magically enchants his body to remain in perfect condition.

During another magic lesson, Regina is instructed by Rumplestiltskin to freeze a black unicorn, which she easily accomplishes. However, when he orders for the animal's heart to be torn out, she balks, since doing so only reminds her of what Cora did to Daniel. Disappointed, Rumplestiltskin demands that she come to terms with whatever is holding her back from learning this kind of magic. That night, she gazes longingly at Daniel's preserved body. On another day, Regina preps for a magic lesson in the Dark One's castle, but Rumplestiltskin asks what is it that she truly wants. She wants to know if magic can resurrect the dead, though he says it is impossible, but a portal-jumper, Jefferson, claims he knows someone from another world that can perform such a feat. She agrees to give him a royal pass to travel freely in her kingdom in exchange for transporting the person to the Enchanted Forest. After meeting the "wizard", or doctor, Victor, Regina allows him to inspect the quality of Daniel's body, which he finds is in good condition for the operation. Since he needs a strong heart for surgery, she presents Victor with the vault containing her mother's collection of hearts where he picks one. One stormy night, Regina and Jefferson wait outside as Victor attempts the procedure on Daniel inside a tent. Regretfully, he informs her that the resurrection was a failure. The news devastates Regina, but by the next day, she makes drastic changes after letting go of her true love. She witnesses Rumplestiltskin teaching magic to a new apprentice, Trish, and proves herself more worthy by ripping out and crushing the girl's heart to ash.

In one of her few magic lessons, Regina learns how to conjure a rock, which is hidden under a cover, into her hand. She struggles to do it, but finally masters the technique after a time. During another lesson, Regina watches Rumplestiltskin demonstrate how to ignite a flame in his palm, and when she tries to mimic him, the fire in her hand goes out almost immediately.

Despite Regina's new mindset, her life as Queen causes much unhappiness since King Leopold is only focused on his dead wife and insufferable young daughter. She skips out on a scheduled magic lesson, to which Rumplestiltskin shows up at her castle. He chides that Regina cannot leave this life, even though she thinks there are choices in having love or darkness. Rumplestiltskin states that what she doesn't know is that darkness is what will consume her. Upset at his words, Regina orders him to leave. Instead, Rumplestiltskin explains further that once the darkness has started to eat away at her, it will progress until she is swallowed whole, and there's no way to fly away from fate. Before leaving, he sets up lessons for tomorrow and stresses she must bring the only thing inside herself, which is simmering rage. After he is gone, Regina retreats to the balcony and lashes out by hitting the railing repeatedly. The foundation gives way, and she begins falling to her death, but is rescued by a fairy's magic and lifted to safety. She and the fairy, Tinker Bell, become friends and spend time at a small inn. Regina confides in Tinker Bell about her miserable non-existent marriage and having a stepdaughter who destroyed her true love. Hoping to help Regina find a new love, Tinker Bell steals and uses pixie dust, which leads them straight to a man with a lion tattoo. Regina is encouraged by Tinker Bell to go talk to the man. Only after her fairy friend leaves, Regina is too frightened to go through with it and flees home. Late in the hours of the same night, Tinker Bell returns to see how the meeting went, and is discouraged to see Regina is not "glowing" as she should be after finding her true love. Grumpily, Regina makes up lies about the man, but Tinker Bell realizes she was too scared to meet the man. Even so, Regina refuses to own up to her own emotions and calls Tinker Bell a horrible fairy. Tinker Bell pleads that she will get in trouble for stealing pixie dust, but Regina coldly sends her away.

While her husband is away on a diplomatic mission, Regina and and her stepdaughter are left to take care of the kingdom's affairs. The peasants plead for help against the bandit Dead Eye, who Regina has secretly employed to stir up trouble in the villages. Snow White agrees to send word to her father, but Regina gently prods her stepdaughter to handle the situation instead. Unsure of how to be a leader, a panicked Snow White flees the throne room, as a satisfied Regina watches. Continuing to antagonize villagers, Dead Eye eventually has a run-in with Snow White, before reporting back to the Queen. After Regina gives him payment for his services, the bandit presses her on whether she'd rather he kill the princess. Regina declines, not wanting Snow White to become a martyr in the kingdom, as her ultimate plan is for the commoners to realize she, not the princess, is their rightful Queen. In the end, Regina's plan falls through after Snow White successfully scares off Dead Eye, with her archery skills and help from the peasants.

Regina, impatiently waiting for more magic lessons, watches Snow White become an excellent horse rider and earn many medals, as her desire for revenge against the girl grows. In her mother's things, she finds a spell book belonging to Maleficent, a witch who can turn into a dragon, and comes to idolize her after reading about her accomplishments in the tome. When Regina relates frustration to Rumplestiltskin about his lack of magic lessons, he uses Maleficent, who spent years honing her powers, as an example that she needs patience. Annoyed, she wonders if he's not skilled enough to teach her, which causes Rumplestiltskin to teleport her to Maleficent for assistance. Before journeying to Maleficent's castle, Regina sees a tree that still burns decades after the dragoness scorched it. Inside the castle, she earns an audience with Maleficent, who has since lost herself after her revenge against Briar Rose was thwarted by King Stefan. Eventually, Maleficent refuses to help her learn magic On her way home, Regina hears from a Duke that King Stefan's daughter, Aurora, will soon be wed, which she reports to Maleficent. Upon Maleficent's admission that she can no longer morph into a dragon, Regina brings her to the burning tree as motivation. After Maleficent absorbs the flames' vapors, King Stefan and his men arrive to arrest her and Regina. As they are tied and forced to walk, Regina burns her binds and hurls a fireball at their captors before her magic dries out, to which Maleficent transforms into a dragon and scares the men away. That night, Maleficent approaches Aurora, and with Regina watching, she curses her into an eternal sleep. As thanks for Regina's help, she gifts her a small dose of the sleeping curse, which the latter uses on Snow White's horse. Realizing Rumplestiltskin was right, Regina decides his way of teaching is best.

Years later, Regina is introduced to her husband's new friend, a recently freed Genie, who she plans to manipulate into helping her. During King Leopold's birthday celebration, her husband showers Snow White with the proclamation that she is the fairest in the land. Regina looks on miserably and draws the sympathetic attention of the Genie. She leaves for the garden where the Genie gifts her a hand mirror. He states that it will allow Regina to see herself as the fairest in the land through his eyes. During the next few nights, Regina writes in her diary that she had found love again outside of her loveless marriage, which is nothing more than a ploy to anger King Leopold and force the Genie into rescuing her. Her plan works and she ends up locked up while King Leopold is immensely upset she has a lover. Finding that she cannot divorce her husband, she asks her father to bring a box with her freedom in it. However, her father gives the box to the Genie and in turn, he hands it to Regina. She opens it to reveal a two-headed poisonous viper, intending to commit suicide, but the Genie kills her husband with the creature instead so they can be together. Instead, Regina changes her tune, seeing as she has no more use for the Genie, and informs him that a palace guard found the viper. Since the animal originates from Agrabah, the Genie's homeland, the crime will be traced back to him, so Regina feigns sadness with the promise of a ship ready to take him away to avoid persecution. Only then, the Genie realizes what Regina's real intention is, but truly loves her. He uses the last and third wish on the lamp to be with her forever. As his wish comes true, Regina fears being forced into love against her will until hearing a voice come from inside the hand mirror. To her satisfactions, the wish turned the Genie into a Magic Mirror.

Many days after King Leopold's funeral, Regina comforts Snow White as they both are in mourning, but in private, she uses the Magic Mirror to find a suitable person to kill her stepdaughter. When the Magic Mirror's suggests a Huntsman would be perfect for the job, she sends her guards to bring one to the palace. She barters with the Huntsman, promising to outlaw the slaughtering of wolves in his kingdom, since he cares a great deal about their safety. In return, she asks not only for Snow White's death, but for the princess' heart to be delivered to her. While he is away on this mission, Regina changes the palace to suit how she feels. The Huntsman returns with a heart, but he hands her a farewell letter from Snow White. Regina refuses to take it, so he attempts to read the letter until she throws the parchment into the fire. After taking the heart, she tries to magically insert it into one of the collection boxes in the vault. Nothing happens and Regina quickly catches on that the heart is not Snow White's. Scorned by the betrayal, she tears out the Huntsman's heart as a replacement. While squeezing the heart, Regina commands that he is now hers forever and will share her bed whenever she chooses. She also warns to never cross her again, and if he does, death will be the punishment.

The Queen recently learns where Snow White is hiding, but discovers her gone once she herself arrives there. She offers a reward to whoever forfeits Snow White's location, but when no villagers speaks up, she has her knights kill them all. Regina, upset that the citizens are loyal towards Snow White, devises a plan to get close to her and kill her. As it would take too long for her to learn a disguising spell, she asks Rumplestiltskin to change her into someone else instead. As her part of the deal, Regina agrees, on his bequest, to break off ties with King George's kingdom. Once the spell is cast, Regina becomes a peasant to the outside world, but to herself, she looks the same. At the market, she stops commoners from hitting a stick effigy of her, but the Queen's knights arrive and mistake her as the creator of the effigy. As they prepare to execute her as punishment, a hooded vagrant saves her. During the battle, Regina's leg is cut with a rusty sword, and as an infection sets in, she passes out after seeing her savior is Snow White. She wakes up in a hut, where Snow White is caring for her. Regina introduces herself as Wilma, and she expresses surprise that Snow White is helping a stranger. While Snow White treats and bandages Regina's wound, she recalls a time when a woman saved her life, which helped her understand a connection can develop between strangers. Realizing Snow White is talking about her, Regina is moved to tears. After she is well enough to walk, Regina travels with Snow White, who must always be on the move to hide from the Queen. Snow White offers her insight on the Queen, who is someone in constant pain, but who she believes was once good. A hopeful Regina asks if she would consider being a family with the Queen again, to which Snow White affirms she would if the Queen was sincere about changing. However, upon seeing the slaughtered villagers, Snow White takes back what she said, believing the Queen is evil. Regina accidentally mentions it was the Queen who saved Snow White from the horse, which helps the princess realize who "Wilma" really is. After her cover is blown, Regina flees after Snow White hesitates in shooting her. Storming into Rumplestiltskin's castle, she realizes the commoners will never love her and vows to punish them all. Rumplestiltskin reverses the disguise, to which Regina gazes at her reflection and states, "Long live the Evil Queen".

Traveling in her carriage, Regina stops to interrupt a wedding ceremony taking place on the grounds near her castle. Since they did not ask her permission to have the ceremony, she rips out the groom's heart. As she considers her next move, her father Henry asks her not to overreact, especially since he knows today is Daniel's anniversary. Regina snaps at him not to remind her what day it is, before becoming angry at his insinuation of her weakness, leading her to crush the groom's heart. She then trots back into her carriage and coldly tells her father to find his own way home. At Daniel's grave, Regina finds a yellow rose left by none other than Cora. Her mother regrets killing Regina's lover and desires to help her find love again since hearing about a fairy who located her soul mate who bears a lion tattoo. Regina doesn't believe her until Cora sets her up with the man with the lion tattoo. After casual conversation with the man, however, Regina uses magic to take off the fake tattoo and coerces him into confessing that Cora set her up so she could bear a child. Suspecting her mother wants to seize her power through an heir, Regina concocts a potion that will make herself barren. When confronted with her daughter's plans, Cora insists nothing good will come out of hurting herself, but Regina drinks the potion, believing hurting her mother is good enough. As Regina feels pain from the potion's effects, Cora admits she wanted Regina to have a child for her own sake, and that the only thing standing in the way of her own happiness is herself. As Cora walks out, an angry Regina tells her to go back to Wonderland.

Lounging in her castle, Regina receives news from her guards that they have not found Snow White, despite searching everywhere in the south and north. Even so, she presses for the search to continue. At night, she travels by carriage through the Forest of the Dead, where her horses are startled by a mysterious hooded figure in the road. With the carriage overturned and her guards incapacitated, she crawls out of the wreckage with a dislocated shoulder. As Regina contemplates using magic to heal it, she sees the cloaked figure. Mistaking him for Daniel, she follows him into the deep woods and falls into a pit trap. Only then, the figure reveals himself as William, Daniel's elusive brother. William blames her for his death, although she continues to insist Snow White instigated her lover's demise. He believes if her love for Daniel was real, she should have stayed away from him since a romance between a peasant and noble never ends happily. To get revenge for his brother's death, William begins sprinkling magic sand on Regina to render her powerless, but she counters with a burst of magic that fatally wounds him. Not meaning to have harmed him, Regina asks him to hold on as she heals him, but he states she won't be able to save him, just as she couldn't save Daniel. On return to her castle, Regina takes out her old engagement ring, swearing that she'll avenge Daniel's death. She then calls for another carriage to be prepared as the search for Snow White continues.

The Queen captures a woman, Maid Marian, who knows where Snow White is hiding. When she questions her, Marian refuses to divulge anything. As punishment for noncompliance, the Queen orders the woman to be captured and executed tomorrow. As she walks away, Marian expresses pity towards her; believing the Queen is cruel due to being without a family and having no life in her life. The Queen snaps that she knows nothing about her wants or desires, and instead takes satisfaction in Marian's upcoming death. At a village where Snow White was previously staying, the Queen inflict pain on the residents if they do not disclose Snow White's location. Geppetto pleads with the Queen, stating he and everyone else are peaceful villagers, but she simply asks for justice. To further instill fear in anyone who has dared to help Snow White, she hauls out Marian as an example. Later, the Queen crashes an engagement party at King Midas' castle in order to search for Snow White. Though the bandit is spotted, she escapes due to help from Princess Leia, who is imprisoned by the Queen. She sentences both the princess and the previous woman to execution the next day, but unknown to her, they later manage to break free. That night, the Queen sits in front of a dresser admiring the poisoned apple when she coolly notices Snow White attempting to sneak up on her. Snow White hurls fairy dust, intending to turn her into a harmless bug, but the Queen easily neutralizes it. As she calls for the guards to take her away, Snow White insists what she did long ago—telling Cora about Daniel—was just an honest mistake. In turn, the Queen snaps that she never learned the most basic lesson—all actions have consequences. Soon, Snow White is tied to a post in the courtyard as the Queen conjures a fireball to incinerate her. Before the flame hits its target, Snow White uses the remaining dust to transform herself into a bug, which is unseen to the Queen's eyes. Later on, she discovers Snow White is still alive and attempting to cross a bridge, so she has the trolls attack her. Snow White escapes again, to which the furious Queen turns the trolls into bugs and stomps on one of them. She threatens to do the same to a guard if he doesn't bring her Snow White. In a matter of interest, the Queen learns Rumplestiltskin has acquired a girl, Belle, to tend to his castle. She purposefully meets Belle on the road and manipulates her into thinking that kissing Rumplestiltskin will break his curse of being the Dark One. Belle believes her and rushes back to turn him back into a normal man. It doesn't end well, however, as Rumplestiltskin inevitably believes she must be working for the Evil Queen in a ploy to get rid of his powers and he kicks her out of the castle for good.
 * -|Alternate Timeline=

A few days later, Regina is led to a far away kingdom by Belle's former travel mates, who disclose her current location. When Belle reaches the top of a hill, Regina ambushes the girl and entraps her in a jail cell. Despite Belle's desperate wish to go to Rumplestiltskin, Regina does not listen; saying that by keeping her away from the Dark One will be a lifetime without heartache and misery. Stubbornly, Belle retorts she cannot keep her and Rumplestiltskin apart forever.

The Queen's knights continue to chase after Snow White, but she eludes capture once more and is rescued by a mermaid, Ariel. Regina spies on Snow White and her new companion at the Under the Sea Celebration honoring the sea goddess Ursula.

As a follow-up, she goes to Rumplestiltskin's home and asks him about making a deal concerning a certain mermaid. Grumpily, he expresses disinterest in making deals at the moment, so she tells him about Belle's supposed death. Upset at the news, he angrily orders her to leave. On her way out, she mocks him, stating that he should get a new girl to clean his dusty castle.

To kill two birds with one stone, she disguises herself as Ursula in order to tempt Ariel with a magic bracelet that can help her remain human, so she can be with her prince, Eric, but only if someone takes her place as a mermaid. As Regina had hoped, Ariel clasps the bracelet on Snow White, making the princess helpless with a new-found tail appendage. The Queen chooses this moment to reveal herself as Ariel discovers the trickery too late. Though Ariel balks at the idea of leaving a friend behind, the Queen proposes that Snow White will be harmed either way and gives her the opportunity to leave since there will be no second chances. Once the advice is heeded, the Queen begins using magic to choke Snow White before Ariel rushes back to stab her in the neck with a fork. While Regina works to dislodge the utensil, Ariel rips the bracelet from Snow White's wrist, reverting them to their original forms, and the two escape by swimming away. Even so, the Queen gets the last laugh once she deliberately takes away Ariel's voice while the mermaid is trying to call out to her prince near his castle balcony. Regina relishes in the fact that Eric will never know Ariel's feelings for him as this outcome is far worse than being outright rejected.

At some point, the Queen acquires a poisoned apple, which the Blind Witch later steals from her.

Sometime before or after, the Queen exchanges the Dark Curse for the Sleeping Curse from the witch Maleficent. One day, while traveling in the woods, she captures a Woodcutter and later chances upon his two children, Gretel and Hansel. They are searching the forest for their father, but the Queen feigns ignorance. At first, she orders them to be seized, but they fight back and run away. The Queen corners them, however, and decides to use them to sneak into a Blind Witch's home to steal something she lost. If they find the item, she promises to find their father for them, so the children agree. After a death-defying experience, they successfully give her the bagged item. The Queen withdraws a poisoned apple and admires their work in retrieving it. She then offers the children the opportunity to live with her, but they refuse and continue to ask for their father. She grows angry at their noncompliance and curses them to the forest to search for their father. Once they are gone, the Queen has her guards bring out the children's father and interrogates him on why the children do not want to live with her. When he proudly retorts that family never abandons one another, she banishes him to the forest as well where the three will wander in search of each other forever. As for the apple, she infuses it with the Sleeping Curse.

During one harsh winter, the Queen orders the Huntsman to procure a tribute from the villagers of the silver mines. He eventually brokers a deal with the minister for the villagers to hand over all their silver-made items. Shortly after this, the Queen goes into the woods with the Huntsman to seek out a wolf pack, whose help she desires for hunting down Snow White. When the wolves approach to viciously attack the Huntsman, she transforms them into their human forms and then threatens to pierce them with silver arrows unless they assist her. At the wolf den, the Queen demands to see the leader, Anita, but a member named Adair notes she is already dead since being killed by her daughter, Red Riding Hood, and the pack is now led by him. Adair agrees to help the Queen on two conditions; the wolves gain freedom from human violence and they assume control of the silver mines. While traveling with the wolves to seize the mines, the Queen carries a box containing the Huntsman's heart. Suddenly, she notices a wolf standing alone. Mistaking the wolf as one in the pack, she tells the beast to get back in line, but her command goes ignored. Instead, the wolf knocks the box out of her hands. Enraged, the Queen magically levitates the wolf into the air, but she distractedly lets go of the creature when the Huntsman fires an arrow at an approaching Adair. She is even more vexed when the Huntsman runs off with the box, and the pack refuse to give chase. However, she agrees with Adair's suggestion to solely focus on their mutual interests and not get side-tracked. That night, they overtake the mines while terrorizing villagers. In King Midas' realm, the Queen discovers Snow White has agreed to meet in the woods. She and the pack find her at Lake Onondaga in the company of the Huntsman and Red Riding Hood. During the fight, the Huntsman grabs a totem to turn the shape-shifters into normal wolves, but this plan is halted once Snow White and Red Riding Hood fall into the ice-cracked lake. He jumps in after them, and despite that it appears all three have perished, the Queen senses they are still alive. Later, the Queen kills Adair after the Huntsman threatens to kill him and spoil her alliance with the wolves. Her action irrefutably angers the entire pack, who attack her. As she counters them with magic, Snow White escapes with Red Riding Hood. To ensure the wolves' safety, the Huntsman hands his heart back to the Queen, which she accepts.

Learning that King George has captured Snow White's true love, Prince Charming, and intends to execute him, She intervenes in time and asks that the prisoner be turned over to her custody instead. To King George, she promises to make the prince suffer more if he uses his "son" to hurt Snow White. Keen on the idea, King George releases the prince to her. Later on, the Queen pays Prince Charming a visit in his cell to inform him she has no plans to kill Snow White and has another form of punishment that is far worse. She walks out smiling triumphantly; holding up the poisoned apple. Prince Charming tries to run after her, but the doors of his cell close via magic. After Snow White attacks King George's castle to free Prince Charming, she discovers he is not there and communicates with him through a mirror. The Queen interrupts their chat and sets up a parley with Snow White at the place "where it all began"—the horse stables of Regina's old home. The place is important, as it is the place where Snow White found about the love affair between Regina and Daniel, and was also where the young princess was sworn to secrecy about the matter, which she did not keep. While waiting for the other party to show up, the Queen sadly glances, near tears, at the place where Daniel died. Once Snow White arrives, the Queen leads her to a grave, revealing Daniel did not run away, but that Cora killed him because she couldn't keep a secret. Snow White hopes for a truce since since Daniel is dead, but so is King Leopold, who Regina killed, and thus both of them have suffered enough. The Queen disagrees and instead offers Snow White a poisoned apple, stating she should comply in order to ensure Prince Charming's safety, to which the princess willingly takes a bite of the forbidden fruit. As her nemesis collapses to the ground under the influence of the Sleeping Curse, the Queen smiles smugly.

After the Evil Queen learns that the Huntsman allowed Prince Charming to escape her castle, she uses magic to force him up against the wall in preparation for punishment. She decides against it once the Magic Mirror shows her Prince Charming currently busy escaping through the woods. The Queen hinders Prince Charming's efforts by entrapping him in the Infinite Forest.

Remaining unaware Prince Charming received help from Rumplestiltskin to save Snow White, Regina is quietly tending to her apple tree, when the Magic Mirror alerts her to Snow White has awoken from the Sleeping Curse. Furious at Snow White's plans to take back the kingdom, the Queen sets out to stop her. While Snow White is trying to rally villagers into fighting alongside her to regain the throne, Regina makes a surprise appearance, sending all the peasants fleeing. Snow White and Prince Charming go for their swords, but Regina insists she isn't looking for a fight. Immobilizing Prince Charming, Regina then offers her stepdaughter mercy if she gives up her claim on the throne. Having spent years trying to kill or curse her, the Queen considers that having true power means sparing Snow White's life and gaining everything that was supposed to be hers. Regina orders her to swear on King Leopold’s grave that she'll revoke her claim to the throne, and when Snow White questions what will happen if she doesn't, Regina begins choking a peasant girl. After easily avoiding Snow White's blade, the Queen gives her until sundown tomorrow to revoke the throne, and for everyday she refuses, one of her loyal subjects will perish. Before taking her leave, Regina belittles Snow White for denying who she really is, a princess, but never a queen. The next day, Regina shows up, fully expecting her stepdaughter will submit to her, but Snow White stands her ground, refusing to give up the throne. True to her prior threats, the Queen begins suffocating Grumpy as retribution for Snow White's defiance, and she throws back the other dwarves when they attempt to help him. With encouragement from Prince Charming, Snow White charges at the Queen, who magically dissipates and reappears from behind, just in time for Snow White's blade to cut into her cheek. Shocked at being injured, Queen’s drops her hold on Grumpy. No longer afraid to stand up to the Queen, Snow White boldly declares that she has stopped denying who she is, and then professes the kingdom is hers. The Queen hisses that they will meet again on the battlefield, and after Snow White responds with just as much confidence, Regina teleports away.

During the war with Snow White, the Queen pays a visit to a village, where her terrified subjects await her with birthday gifts. A girl presents her with a blueberry pie, which Regina deems subpar since it's not apple pie. However, the Queen only cares about a present no one in the village wants to give her, Snow White. No one speaks up, except for a man named Blacktooth, who wants compensation for his help. Declaring that his reward will be a quicker death after he gives her what she wants, Regina magically chokes him, angrily beseeching him for an answer. When Snow White ambushes her, Regina drops her hold on the man, who dies instantly. Rather than fight her stepdaughter, the Queen decides to retreat, as she is feeling generous on her birthday. In the Queen's castle, Henry notices Regina's growing fury over Snow White and asks her to give up on her revenge. Her father blames Cora for killing Daniel, and he insists Cora wants to control her by forcing her to become dark. Disturbed at his insinuation, Regina boasts that she already banished Cora, but Henry argues that as long as she wants vengeance, Cora will always have a hold on her. During Regina's birthday party, she blows out her cake candles with venom, having no desire to celebrate. Before Regina calls it a night, Cora shows up, gifting Snow White's heart to her. Through her mirror, Regina sees Snow White toasting her friends, stating that she hopes her stepmother spends every birthday not finding her. Angered at the remark, Regina squeezes the heart and continually increases her grip on it, watching with delight as Snow White grows increasingly frantic. Regina only discovers, after crushing the heart to ash, that her father switched Snow White's heart with a decoy. Henry admits he did it to keep Regina from becoming like Cora, and by letting Snow White go, she has a chance at redemption. Tired of his meddling, Regina shrinks him and traps him in a box. Realizing her father was right about Cora, she casts a non-reversable spell to seal the looking glass portal and has the Magic Mirror take her mother away. Before Cora is pulled back into Wonderland, she steals the box, severing Regina from Henry forever.

Having no other way to reach her father, Regina commissions the former portal-jumper Jefferson to take her to Wonderland, only telling him that she wants something the Queen of Hearts stole from her. Knowing that he has fallen on hard times, she promises to reward him handsomely, especially since he is barely making enough to provide a fulfilling childhood for his daughter Grace. He rejects her offer, not wanting to go back to world travelling, as this line of work is what caused him to lose his wife. Regina accepts his refusal, but while Jefferson and Grace are at the market, she disguises herself as an old woman selling toys. Grace spots a doll she likes, and because Jefferson doesn't have enough money, he tries to haggle with the old woman by giving her the few coins he has. Still under the guise of the old woman, Regina expresses admiration at his willingness to give up the last of his money for his little girl's happiness, however, she refuses his money, wanting nothing less than the actual price. From this experience, Jefferson decidedly changes his mind and accepts the Queen's deal. After getting to Wonderland through Jefferson's hat, the pair reach the center of the Queen of Hearts' hedge maze, where Regina picks out a box from the vault that contains Henry. On the way out of Wonderland, she gives Henry a piece of the Caterpillar's growth mushroom to restore him to normal size. Only then, Jefferson realizes why Regina was purposefully vague about the "item" she wanted, because it is a person, not a thing. This, in turn, conflicts with the rules of the hat, which only allow the same amount of people who enter a world to leave. Regina then traps Jefferson in place, while she and her father journey home.

At one unnamed village, the Queen massacres everyone in it, and while everything is ablaze in flames, she walks by and notices a lone survivor, a young boy. Instead of killing him, as the boy fears, she smiles at him, causing the boy to have this memory ingrained in him for years to come.

As the war continues, the Queen's allies, King George's army, is defeated. Regina meets Snow White in the woods, not realizing it is a trap, until the Blue Fairy freezes and binds her with fairy dust. Snow White and Prince Charming lock her up in a cell in their castle while deciding her fate with their council. There, Regina is visited by her father, who says that it is his fault that he did not take care of her properly. She affirms her love for him before being brought to the scaffold for her execution. To the public, she gives her last testament by voicing her she regrets in not causing more pain and misery. She is blindfolded and the Blue Fairy readies the arrows that will fire and kill Regina, but the execution is halted by a remorseful Snow White. While Regina is in her cell, Snow White visits to give her a chance to redeem herself; surrendering her evil ways and turning back to the person "who saved her life". Once allowed out of the cell, Regina steals Snow White's dagger and attempts to stab her with it, but it has no effect. Suddenly, Prince Charming arrives to inform Regina that the dagger has a protection spell from Rumplestiltskin and it was a test to see if she is still evil and unwilling to change. Seeing as Regina still has harmful intentions, Snow White banishes her out of the kingdom and promises death if she ever harms anyone within the land again. Shortly after, Rumplestiltskin visits Regina in her palace to remind her of Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding ceremony, and that the protection spell only works in the Enchanted Forest. From this, she recalls the power of the Dark Curse and what it can do. With another scheme in mind, she calls for her carriage to the wedding.

The Evil Queen crashes Snow White's wedding and announces her plans to enact the Dark Curse and make everyone miserable. She travels to the Forbidden Fortress, demanding the aforementioned curse from Maleficent, who she exchanged it with for the Sleeping Curse used on Snow White. Maleficent and the Queen eventually have a magical duel. Maleficent loses the ensuing battle, being apprehended by a magically altered chandelier and watches as the Evil Queen steals the curse.

Sometime after this, a pirate, Hook, breaks into the castle intending to take Belle hostage from the cell. Upon discovering she does not know how to kill Rumplestiltskin, he tries to take Belle's life, but Regina enters the room to stop him by taking away his hook hand, claiming to know the crocodile he wants to skin and why he came from Neverland. Regina offers him a deal to kill her mother, Cora, in exchange for help with getting revenge on Rumplestiltskin. She explains her intent to cast a curse to bring everyone to another realm that has no magic, and there, Hook can kill the crocodile. To ensure Hook is ready for the job and has no weaknesses, Regina tracks down his father Brennan, who abandoned Hook when he was a boy. She brings Hook to the tavern where his father works, only telling him that he has to face a certain man to prove his worth to her, but Hook fails to spot his father and instead mistakenly thinks she wants him to fight a colossal tavern patron. Growing impatient, she magically snaps the patron's neck and turns Hook around to look at the counter, where his father is. After confronting Brennan and seeing he's changed, Hook decides to fake his father's death and sneak him out of the land so the Queen will believe he finished the job. However, Hook's unresolved anger about his father's abandonment later leads him into killing him.

Following Hook's success, Regina enchants the pirate's hook hand, giving him the power to rip out a person's heart. Since Hook will be getting to Cora in another world, Wonderland, Regina sends him there through a portal hat. As the hat's rules go, the same amount of people who go in must come out, so she has him travel with the corpse of a guard. She specifics Cora's heart must be ripped out, and then her mother's body must be brought back, while the guard's corpse is left behind. Lastly, Regina promises Hook that in the new world, he can get revenge on Rumplestiltskin, though she neglects to tell him that everyone's memory, including his own, will be wiped out due to the curse's effects. After he returns with her mother's body, she asks for a moment alone to say goodbye. Remorsefully, Regina is apologetic, stating that Cora taught her that love is weakness, and that she could not have her mother in the new world after the curse is cast because she loves her. She then lays the rose upon Cora's chest and leaves the room to go enact the curse.

The Queen's first attempt in trying to cast the spell by sacrificing the heart of her most prized horse results in failure. Her father suggests she go back to the person who gave her the curse and find out the reason it didn't work. The Queen disguises herself as a mouse to sneak into Rumplestiltskin's cell. When they are alone, she shows herself and wants immediate answers about the essential thing she needs for the curse to work. Rumplestiltskin fills her in about the previous visit Snow White and Prince Charming paid him and his prophecy of their unborn child as the savior who will break the curse. He briefs that she must use the heart of the thing she loves most, which angers the Queen as the person she loves most is long dead due to Snow White's slip up. Rumplestiltskin heeds there must be someone else; causing Regina to realize she must kill her own father. She returns to the castle in a confused mood and reluctantly tells her father about what must be done. The Queen vents frustration about how Snow White's existence is a constant plague to her. Her father consoles her with the possibility that she can leave revenge and hatred behind and the two of them can start over as a family. The Queen wholeheartedly agrees, but in the next instant, tears out her father's heart, as she knows happiness in this world is not possible for her. Using the heart, she successfully casts the curse. Before leaving, she places a single rose on her father's grave.

As the curse threatens to take over the entire Enchanted Forest, she rides in her carriage to Snow White's castle. On the way, she teleports to Rumplestiltskin's cell to have one last chat. The Queen proves to be satisfied by the results of the curse, though Rumplestiltskin warns her that from casting it, she has created a hole in her heart and someday will feel the need to fill it. She doesn't take his prophecy seriously and promptly leaves.

Upon entering the royal castle, she walks in on Snow White hugging Prince Charming's unconscious body. The Queen is angered that their child, the prophesied savior, has already escaped through the wardrobe, but takes great pleasure in knowing the curse will separate Snow White from her prince for good. Shortly after, the curse engulfs all of them in a dark haze.

During First Curse
After the curse is cast, Regina wakes up in Storybrooke, where she is the town mayor and now has everything she has ever wanted. Spending the first days adapting to her new life, she takes the woman formerly known as Snow White, Mary Margaret, to see a male coma patient, who used to be her true love. Regina watches, with relish, as Mary Margaret does not remember him. At the diner, she enjoys pancakes when Sheriff Graham stops by to set up a nighttime rendezvous with her. However, her good mood comes undone when she realizes there are strangers, Kurt and Owen, who will be staying in Storybrooke util their car is fixed. Hoping to force them out, Regina asks the car mechanic Billy to speed up the repairs. Regina then goes to the diner to tell Kurt the news, where Owen sitting in her usual seat, but she eventually takes another seat when he refuses to move. As Owen exits the diner with his father, he gives Regina a keychain to thank her for letting him sit in her seat. After days of repeating incidents in town, Regina complains to Mr. Gold that the curse is not what she wanted since everyone obeys her because they have no choice, so none of it counts as "real". He, however, doesn't recall their previous deal. Craving company, Regina invites Owen and Kurt for dinner. After sending Owen to get apples so they can make dessert, she learns from Kurt that he is hoping for a fresh start with his son, who recently lost his mother. While Owen helps Regina make apple pie, she bonds with him over his mother's passing, and later suggests to Kurt that they can stay in town permanently. Although Owen is eager, his father declines, leading Regina to delay them from leaving by having Billy stall the car repairs. Finding that Kurt already picked up the car, she commands Graham, with his heart, to arrest him for driving under the influence. Kurt, overhearing her, attempts to leave, before Graham wrestles him to desk, which knocks the box with the heart to the ground. Graham then gasps in pain and loosens his grip while Kurt escapes. With Graham, Regina stops Kurt from exiting the town border and has him arrested. Upon seeing how scared Owen is, she allows him to leave, knowing that if he stayed against his will that it wouldn't be "real". Later, she sees Owen bring police officers to find his father, though the town is not visible to him anymore. Sometime after this, she kills Kurt and buries him at his old campsite in a shallow grave.

Despite having everything she could ever want in a life, Regina perceives there is something missing. During a chat with Dr. Hopper, she admits to feeling devoid of emotion. She is startled by his assessment that there is an empty hole in her heart, reminding Regina of what Rumplestiltskin said in their previous lives. He suggests perhaps she wants something more to life than just work, and even having everything is not enough when there's no one to share it with. Regina recalls the one time she didn't feel so desolate, which was when Owen came to town. When he states a child can bring so much meaning to one's life, Regina begins looking into adoption agencies, but comes to Mr. Gold for quicker help. He questions if she is ready to be a mother, though Regina attests it's something she needs. He agrees to procure an infant, but advises once she becomes a mother, it means putting the child's interests before her own. In a short time, Mr. Gold informs her of a baby from Phoenix who was previously placed with a family in Boston, but the adoption did not go through. She heads to the Boston adoption agency and passes the parental background check with flying colors. Regina names the child Henry as her father's namesake and brings him home, though she can't stop his insistent crying in the diner. Granny advises that soothing a child with a bedtime story works, which Regina attempts, but Henry ends up vomiting on her clothes. At the hospital, Dr. Whale checks out Henry and can find nothing medically wrong with his health. He counsels that it would help to know Henry's birth parents' medical history. Since it was a closed adoption, Regina phones Sidney to sleuth for information. She temporarily hands over Henry to Mary Margaret, and is shocked when her baby stops crying while the schoolteacher is holding him. However, once Henry ends up in Regina's hands, he begins wailing again. Returning home, Regina is quickly getting stressed out by his fussy temperament and attempts to nestle Henry in her arms, which finally quiets him down. She gets faxed documents from Sidney about Henry's birth mother and discovers the woman was found as a baby in the woods eighteen years ago. Regina confronts Mr. Gold over this, but he denies knowing anything, and believes the pressures of motherhood have gotten to her head. Fed up, she returns the child back to Boston, but ends up changing her mind and returning home with him. Prompted by a talk with Archie, she finds a solution to her problems by creating a potion to help herself forget ever knowing who Henry's birth mother is.

Ten years later, Henry runs away from Storybrooke to Boston and seeks out his birth mother, Emma. Not knowing where her son could be, a panicked Regina calls Sheriff Graham to her house. When Henry comes home with a blonde woman, she rushes out to hug her son, though he spitefully states he went to find his real mother. Though shocked by his claims, Regina quickly regains her composure and invites Emma in for apple cider, which is spiked with alcohol. In conversation, Emma mentions Henry's obsession with a story book and his belief that everyone in town is a fairytale character. Troubled, Regina has no inkling what she means and then escorts her out. On her way out of town, Emma crashes her car, spending the night in a holding cell, where Regina sees her while looking for a missing Henry. Once again, Emma brings Henry home. When Emma tries to talk about the coincidental way she and Henry met in Boston, Regina warns her to stay away from him since it was a closed adoption. Emma then questions if she loves Henry, and Regina attests she does. After slamming the house door shut, Regina takes away Henry's book and holds it in front of a mirror as she stares uneasily at it.

In the morning, Regina flips through Henry's book, seeing a photo of the Evil Queen, before finding the last few pages are ripped out. She demands an explanation from Henry, but he avoids the subject. Displeased with his attitude, Regina asserts herself as his mother, though he coldly states that she is not. Suddenly, she is startled by chiming of the clock tower, which signals time is moving forward, leading her to discover Emma did not leave town last night. Hoping to nudge Emma out of Storybrooke, Regina visits her at the bed and breakfast, offering a basket of apples as a parting gift. Instead, Emma takes her pushy behavior as all the more reason to stay and ensure Henry is alright. Regina clarifies things are under control, with Henry in therapy, and she warns Emma not to underestimate her power. Taking things even further, Regina forces Henry's therapist, Archie, to trick Emma into taking a confidential file, so she will get arrested for stealing. While working in her mayoral office, Regina sees Emma chainsawing her apple tree and goes to stop her. Fired up from Regina's attempt at setting her up, Emma tells the mayor to watch out. Regina fires back by having Emma's car booted and getting her thrown out of the inn. As the final nail in the coffin, Regina phones Emma, pretending to reform her ways, and sets up a meeting with her where they discuss Henry's well-being. At one point, she lures Emma into saying that Henry is "crazy" right when the boy overhears her. With this, Regina is reassured Emma will have no reason to stay in town. During the evening, she begins cleaning up the mess at her apple tree when Mr. Gold stops by to inform her that Emma and Henry have since reconciled. When Mr. Gold hints at her son's namesake, she suspects he regained his memories from his previous life, though he denies it. Regina presses him on the issue, causing him to end his sentence with "please", which not only forces her to obey him, but also confirms her suspicions about his memories.

Regina receives a call from Dr. Whale concerning a brief fluctuation in John Doe's vital signs because of Mary Margaret's presence. John Doe disappears from his hospital bed during the night, to which she comes to the hospital to have a look. Regina deflects Emma's wariness over the mayor getting involved in a missing person's case by stating she found John Doe on the side of the road years ago and became his emergency contact, though this is a complete lie. She ushers Henry home while cautioning Emma to mind her own business while Graham looks for John Doe. After he is found and brought back to the hospital for recovery, Regina brings along John Doe's wife, Kathryn, to be happily reunited with her husband, whose real name is David Nolan, to sidetrack the growing connection Mary Margaret has towards him. Using the opportunity to advantage, Regina tells Emma she is willing to look past all previous encounters and forgive everything.

Abruptly, a large earthquake causes a sinkhole to cave in. Regina hurries down to the site of the destruction. She manages to hide a glass piece of Snow White's coffin and then proceeds to calm down the alarmed townspeople. To her disdain, She finds out Graham gave Emma the position of deputy sheriff, but then assigns her to push back the townspeople from danger of the sinkhole. Regina notices Henry draw both Archie and Emma to the sidelines for a discussion, to which she intervenes to chide the new deputy back to the task at hand. Secondly, she demands Archie erase the notion of the curse from her son's mind, and if he doesn't, she'll put him out of a job. Too terrified to stand up to her, he does as she asks. This unexpectedly has fatal consequences as this only makes Henry more stubborn to prove the sinkhole has something to do with the curse. When her son does not show up at home, Regina angrily presses Emma for answers over the phone, only to discover Henry has entered the sinkhole to find proof of the curse. Archie follows him in right before the sinkhole entrance completely collapses, leaving both Regina and Emma fearing for Henry's safety. When efforts of using dynamite to clear an opening in the sinkhole fail, Emma uses Archie's dog Pongo to track his owner and Henry's scents to a grate with an elevator shaft below. Emma is slowly lowered down to pull both Henry and Archie up. Safe and sound above ground, Regina reunites with Henry, though when Emma tries to check up on him, she pushes her away. Archie pulls Regina aside to renounce what she asked him to do earlier, and threatens that even if he is fired, she will be facing Emma in a losing custody battle. At nightfall, Regina pulls out the glass shard and drops it down a mine shaft vent down to the many pieces and remains of Snow White's coffin.

At the party celebrating David's return home, Regina finds an upset Kathryn hiding out in the kitchen. After some prodding, Kathryn admits to being afraid that despite her best efforts, David is drifting farther away from her instead of growing closer. Regina encourages Kathryn to be with David, drawing from experience of her own previous love and how she lost him because of an unwillingness to fight for love. From this, Kathryn begins to consider Regina a friend. On another day, Regina discovers David has left his wife and bluntly tells Mary Margaret at the diner to stay out of the marriage as she will only destroy many lives. To draw David back to Kathryn, she purposely gives him the wrong directions on his way to the Toll Bridge to meet Mary Margaret. As a result, he goes into Mr. Gold's shop and remembers memories from his life with Kathryn before the coma. That evening, Regina secretly has Graham over as they have a physically driven affair. Unknown to her, Emma catches Graham jumping out of the house window and realizes what is going on.

During one night, Graham shows up on Regina's doorstep in a distraught state and engages her in a frenzied kiss that later culminates with an encounter in the bedroom. He awakens from a nightmare and tells her about his recurring dreams featuring a wolf, Mary Margaret and a forest. Realizing he is recalling his Enchanted Forest memories, she tries to convince him that it's only a dream, but Graham can't shake the feeling it is a memory. Suspecting Emma has something to do with it, Regina goes to the sheriff's office. Emma flippantly remarks that Graham is out today and it must be because he spent the night with Regina. In turn, Regina accuses her of having a more than professional relationship with Graham, but Emma affirms anything that did happen meant nothing. As a final warning, Regina dissuades her from interfering in Graham's life and sending him down the wrong path. Later, she catches Emma and Graham snooping around in her father's tomb. Regina offers to take Graham home, but he breaks off the affair with her for good. She proceeds to blame Emma and goes as far as hitting her. The two get into a scuffle, which ends with Emma and Graham leaving together. Though Graham has not remembered all his memories yet, Regina can't take the risk and takes out the thing he was looking for in the tomb, his heart, and crushes it to ash, effectively ending his life.

Two weeks after Graham's death, Regina fires Emma from her deputy position and discloses her intention to appoint Sidney as the new sheriff. While she is making a town hall announcement electing Sidney, Emma intervenes to bring up the town charter rules, which state a mayor can support a candidate, but cannot instate one. Forced to play by the rules, Regina then declares she is backing Sidney for the sheriff election. To give Sidney the upper hand, she doesn't tell Emma until the day before that the electoral candidate speeches are tomorrow. As they argue, a fire breaks out inside the mayoral building. Emma rescues Regina by carrying her out. This greatly influences the townspeople's opinion of Emma for the election; annoying Regina. The day of the candidate speeches, Emma surprises everyone by indicting Mr. Gold as the fire-starter culprit to the townspeople and stepping out of the election running. The townspeople elect Emma as the new sheriff, much to Regina's dismay, though she grudgingly accepts it. Because of this failure, she lets go of Sidney from his editing job at the Daily Mirror.

After hearing word of Henry's alleged shoplifting in Mr. Clark's store, she arrives with the suspicion her son did not steal anything, and pins the blame on two orphans, Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. She instructs Emma to take them home, which she does. Regina is one step of Emma, who doesn't discover they are orphans until later, and takes the children's records files. Since their only parent is deceased, she wants to send them to a foster care system in Boston while Emma races to find the orphans' biological father. Though Emma is successful, the father, Michael, wants nothing to do with the children. Left little choice, Emma drives Ava and Nicholas out of town, but on the way, her car breaks down. Following a call to Michael, he is persuaded into taking the children in.

The next morning, Regina sees a stranger outside her house speaking to Henry. As she moves closer to investigate, he drives off on a motorcycle. Concerned about the man's presence in town, she sends Emma to find out information about him. In preparation for the upcoming storm in town, Regina accompanies Kathryn at the drugstore as she shops for items. Mary Margaret bumps into Kathryn, spilling all her things on the ground, and happens to see one of the items is a pregnancy test. When left alone with Mary Margaret, Regina pushes her to stay out of David and Kathryn's personal lives. Per chance, she witnesses David and Mary Margaret's passionate kiss in the street.

In a ploy to make Emma look bad, Regina has Sidney gain her trust. She annoys Emma by tearing down Henry's playground, to which they get into an argument about. Emma and Sidney join forces to expose Regina's greed to the townspeople by digging up evidence of the mayor's theft of fifty-thousand dollars from Storybrooke's treasury and bug her desk to unveil plans for a new house to be built in the woods. All this is actually a misunderstanding, which Regina clears up at a town hall meeting when Emma and Sidney publicly confront her with her corrupt ways, by stating the house is in fact a modern playground for the children of Storybrooke. As Emma leaves in a dejected state, Regina cuts off Emma's right to see Henry without her leave, and if she does, a restraining order will be filed. A few hours later, Sidney reports back to Regina to replay a conversation he and Emma had vowing to become allies to expose the mayor.

With Emma out of the picture, Regina focuses on a more important enemy--Mr. Gold. She witnesses Mr. Gold take away Moe French's flower delivery service truck because of late rent payments. After cornering him in the hopes of asking some questions, Mr. Gold repeatedly dodges Regina with a well-placed "please", an enchantment that forces her to obey him. Regina has her suspicions about who Mr. Gold really is, and comes up with a plan to get the truth out of him. She goads Moe into stealing some of Mr. Gold's things as payback. In the process, she steals one of his most beloved items, a chipped cup, and lets Mr. Gold believe Moe is guilty of it, even after Emma fetches all of the stolen items except for the one Regina took. Eventually, Mr. Gold is arrested and placed in a jail cell by Emma. Regina visits to allow Emma some free time with Henry so she can speak to Mr. Gold. When they are alone, she explains her theft of his cup and wishes to know the name he had in another place. He declares his name to be Rumplestiltskin, satisfying Regina's terms, and she hands him back the cup. Mr. Gold attests that nothing has changed from the previous world, and he still has more power than her. Ironically, Regina does have one upper hand he does not know about. After leaving, she goes to the psychiatric ward of the hospital, where she checks up on a mental patient, whom Mr. Gold keeps the cup in memento of as he believes her to be dead.

A few days later, Regina gifts Henry a video game as an apology for tearing down his playground, which she did out of safety reasons. Henry is unenthusiastic, but accepts her apology and leaves the room after Kathryn bursts in. Regina listens to Kathryn's grief over David's decision to leave her. With perfect timing, she indirectly references another woman in David's life, to which Kathryn asks to see the evidence. Regina brings out photos taken by Sidney as proof of David and Mary Margaret's affair. Kathryn becomes furious that a "friend" like Regina has been lying to her this whole time and storms out to confront Mary Margaret. When news of the affair spreads throughout town, Regina adds to the scandal by secretly spray painting the word "tramp" on Mary Margaret's car. Kathryn returns later in a more subdued state to apologize to Regina for her behavior. Having been accepted into a law school in Boston, Kathryn is leaving town very soon, and casually drops hints about the Dark Curse--that she had always been afraid to leave Storybrooke as well as her marriage with David never feeling right. She also mentions leaving behind a note for David to encourage him to continue a relationship with Mary Margaret. Regina becomes alarmed and secretly enters the house to grab the letter. As it burns to ash, Kathryn mysteriously disappears at the town border.

During the Miner's Day Festival, Mary Margaret is publicly shunned by the residents for having an affair with David while Emma is dealing with an ongoing investigation into Kathryn's disappearance. Regina gives Sidney fake phone records for Emma as substantial confirmation of an eight-minute conversation between David and Kathryn. Even after receiving this information, Emma doesn't go after David as a suspect until Regina makes threats to replace her if she is covering for him.

When David is found by Emma and her new-found assistant, Ruby, in the forest delirious and injured, he is taken to the hospital where Regina stalks in demanding his arrest as a suspect in Kathryn's disappearance and possible murder. Since Emma defies her, Regina plants Mary Margaret's jewelry box, containing a heart with Kathryn's DNA on it, near the Toll Bridge. Ruby discovers the box, and after Emma runs some tests, she has no choice but to arrest Mary Margaret for murder charges.

Emma must do her job as sheriff and interrogate Mary Margaret as a suspect while Regina sits by as a third-party to ensure the questioning is unbiased. Mary Margaret recognizes the box Kathryn's heart was found in as her own personal belonging, to which Regina begins to speak sympathetically towards her about knowing what it's like to lose someone and to be placed in a "dark place". Outside, Emma tells Regina to refrain from speaking in the interrogation room, though the mayor confirms the schoolteacher, like any other woman who has had her heart broken, can do unspeakable things. While at her mayoral office, David speaks to Regina in Mary Margaret's defense. Regina believes evil is not born, but made, but David doesn't think Mary Margaret is capable of that. Instead, he is suspicious Kathryn's murder is his fault, even explaining his blackout episodes, but she ignores his theories. Shortly after this, she makes a deal with Mr. Gold to drop the assault charges pending against him if he will get Mary Margaret out of Storybrooke. They plant a key in Mary Margaret's cell; knowing she will likely use it to escape. However, Emma finds and convinces Mary Margaret to return to the cell before eight o'clock the next morning. Regina walks in expecting to see the cell empty, but to her dismay, Mary Margaret is there.

Based on Mr. Gold's assessment as Mary Margaret's lawyer, her personality can help get the charges dropped, so an interview with District Attorney Albert Spencer is scheduled. From outside the room, both Regina and Emma watch as Mary Margaret has an agitated outburst over her innocence being called into question, and admits in the heat of the moment that she "wanted Kathryn gone", which serves as a murder confession. Later, she pays Mary Margaret a visit in her cell. Mary Margaret is despondent that no one will believe in her innocence. Regina lists the evidence against her and to take easy way out by confessing and avoiding a trial. She doesn't answer when Mary Margaret asks why Regina hates her so much. To hide evidence of her own involvement, Regina quickly gets rid of a chipped shovel that she previously used to bury the box containing Kathryn's heart just in time since Emma shows up the next day with a search warrant. She states that an anonymous caller saw Regina digging at the Toll Bridge and shows her the broken off shovel piece. Emma checks through the garage, but instead finds a brand new shovel and guesses Regina was warned. The mayor furiously proclaims Mary Margaret is a liar as well as murder and will pay for what she's done. During the night, Regina comes to a sobbing Mary Margaret, who apologizes for anything she's ever done to cause hate. She does not accept the apology and admits to knowing Mary Margaret didn't kill Kathryn, but deserves to suffer. On the day of the trial, Regina holds a ring close to her while whispering, "We got her, Daniel. We finally got her." Unexpectedly, the trial is halted by the reemergence of an alive Kathryn.

With her latest scheme to destroy Mary Margaret ruined, a livid Regina confronts Mr. Gold. She claims that he broke their deal since they both agreed that something tragic would happen to Kathryn. While she believed this meant death, Mr. Gold simply kidnapped Kathryn and kept her alive for some time. In stun, she realizes all the falsified evidence will trace back to herself. Regina demands to know why Mr. Gold turned on her, though he retorts that she should be smart enough to figure it out. With Emma onto her, Regina sets up Sidney to give confession of how exactly he kidnapped Kathryn and why he did it. She waits at the sheriff's office until Emma shows up and then has Sidney give the confession. Emma leads her outside for a private chat in which she strongly suspects Regina is behind everything, but the mayor denies having any involvement. Emma vows to make her pay, especially since Regina once took away someone she loved, and now she will do the same by fighting to gain custody of Henry.

Some days later, Mary Margaret sees Regina at school for the first time since her release. Regina sticks to the story of Sidney being the one who framed Mary Margaret for murder. Mary Margaret does not buy it, and forgives Regina for all she has done to her. She even pities the mayor for being lonely if her only joy comes from destroying other people's happiness. A stunned Regina finds Henry and attempts to force him to switch classes so that Mary Margaret will not be his teacher, but he flatly refuses and tells her that in the end, she will lose and the curse will be broken. Hoping to get back at Mary Margaret, Regina lures David to her house in hopes of seducing him. While he does stay for dinner and then helps her do the dishes, she attempts to kiss him, though David rebuffs the advance and would rather just stay friends. She calmly sends him off from her house, but once the door shuts, she furiously smashes her wine glass into the mirror.

That night, Regina has a horrible nightmare of her worst fears coming true. In the dream, a vengeful Emma and several of the other town's residents drag her out of the house and tie her to a withering apple tree to get justice for what she did to them as the Evil Queen. Regina begs Henry to help her, but he merely says she has brought this on herself. Emma proceeds to behead her when Regina awakens in terror. Upon noticing her apple tree is starting to die, she demands an answer from Mr. Gold. He jokes she should change her fertilizer. She, however, believes it's a sign the curse is weakening as a result of Emma's presence in town. Though Emma does want custody of Henry, Regina doesn't want to give him up, despite Mr. Gold's suggestion. Despite her wish to get rid of Emma, they both know killing the savior will end the curse itself. Mr. Gold refuses to elaborate when she asks why he designed the curse in this manner, and no longer wants any future assistance from her as she has nothing he desires. He also thinks it'd be a good idea for her to leave town if the townspeople start to remember everything as they will want her dead. As an alternative, she draws out Jefferson and offers him a deal to use his hat and her last ounce of magic to retrieve something from the Enchanted Forest. In return, she will reunite him with his daughter. Regina parts with her precious ring in order to obtain a poisonous apple from the past in the Enchanted Forest. She bakes it into an apple turnover intended for Emma to eat it and fall under the Sleeping Curse. As luck would have it, Emma pays Regina a visit announcing her departure from Storybrooke and agrees to give up the custody battle over Henry if she gets visitation rights. Regina, of course, accepts the offer and later smugly tells Mr. Gold that she is victorious at last and that he will not be going anywhere. Regina pays no mind to his words about there being a price to what she's done.

Alas for Regina, the price of magic is one of tragedy as it is not Emma who bites into the apple turnover, but Henry. After hearing the terrible news, she rushes to the hospital to her son only to be assaulted by a livid Emma who finally knows the truth. Regina admits that she, in fact, is the Evil Queen and everything Henry has been saying is true. Both women decide to ask Mr. Gold for help. He tells them a true love potion can save Henry from death with its magical properties, which exist even in this world. He smuggled a bottle of the substance made from the entwined hairs of Snow White and Prince Charming into this world inside a dragon. Though Regina is adamant she should be the one procuring the potion, Mr. Gold stresses that Emma must do it, and gives her a sword. Since the elevator to the dragon can only be operated manually, Regina has to stay and move the switch so Emma can go down to the lower level. Mr. Gold, with his own plan for the potion, sneaks up to Regina and ties her up after Emma has gone down. He tricks Emma into throwing up the potion. Only when she climbs up does she see a bound Regina. Suddenly, they are called back to the hospital by their pagers. Upon arrival, Dr. Whale announces that Henry has passed. Regina can only watch from outside the room in a numb state as a grief-stricken Emma goes in to give Henry a goodbye kiss on his brow. Miraculously, Emma uses true love's kiss to bring Henry back to life, though this means trouble for Regina since the magic also broke the curse. Regina rushes in to tearfully tell Henry she does truly love him before she flees back home. Demoralized, she sits alone in Henry's room crying until noticing a storm of purple smoke quickly spreading to engulf the whole town. With a tear-streaked face, she looks out the window with a triumphant smile.

After First Curse
Shortly after the Dark Curse has been broken, Regina opens her door to Dr. Whale and a large crowd of embittered townspeople. She attempts to scare them with magic, but is not able to channel her powers. Emma, David, Henry and Mary Margaret intervene on her behalf, locking Regina in a cell in the sheriff station as a safety precaution. She is happy to know it was Henry's concern for her that prompted Emma and her parents to help. After they depart, Mr. Gold, in an act of revenge over Belle, marks Regina with a medallion and sends a Wraith to suck out her soul. Again, she is rescued in time by Emma and her parents. Since the Wraith cannot be killed, Regina produces Jefferson's magical hat to send it through a portal. She is not able to get the hat it work, though it activates by Emma's touch. They draw the Wraith into the portal, but Emma falls in as Mary Margaret hastily follows after her daughter. The portal closes before David can follow too, to which he furiously confronts Regina about where they went. She herself doesn't know, but fends off David by pinning him to the wall with magic. As she is suffocating him, Henry and Ruby arrive. When she tells Henry what happened to Emma and Mary Margaret, he blames her for the loss and leaves with David and Ruby.

David drops by her house to get information about the hat so he can reunite with his family. She is surprised he came alone, though David suggests Regina's earlier burst of magic is an anomaly or else Storybrooke would not be safe with her around. She feigns ignorance about the hat and tells him to go back to Henry's side. While he gloats about her powerless state, she promises to find a way for her magic to be restored and take Henry back. Before leaving, he sneers that if Regina has to use magic to get her son, then she never had him to begin with. Quietly, she leaves the house, but is halted by Archie's offer to be a listening ear to her issues. She rejects Archie's assistance and scoffs that his PhD was given to him by the curse. Regina goes into Mr. Gold's shop to look for her mother's old spell book to jump start her powers. When he catches her, she asks him to hand over the book. He refuses as it wouldn't be good for himself if Regina became powerful again, and asks her to "please" leave. Smugly, Regina notices the "please" enchantment forcing her to obey him does not work anymore, which is the one good thing that came out of the curse breaking. Only when she threatens to expose to everyone else that their land still exists does he forfeit the book. She disregards his same old warning that all magic comes with a price, though momentarily pauses when he notes that Regina, who did not resemble her mother in the past, is now becoming just as power hungry as her. In the courtyard of town hall, Regina opens the book to receive a magical rejuvenation and storms the inside of the building. She ignores Archie's attempt to calm her down and frightens everyone with her newly gained powers until Henry agrees to accompany her home. Once there, he locks himself in his old room and undertakes an elaborate escape plan, but it fails since Regina cast an anti-escape spell. He is quite displeased to be her prisoner, but Regina is so desperate for his love that she is willing to keep him against his will. She reasons that his every desire can be obtained with her magic, and even offers to teach him everything. Henry firmly says that he doesn't want to become like her, which genuinely hurts Regina as she remembers once saying the same words to her own mother. While leafing through her spell book, Regina is accosted at sword point by David. She decides not to put up a fight and allows Henry to go, but apologizes to her son for making him stay by force. She also confirms to David that the Enchanted Forest still exists.

Regina has been asked to step down as mayor of Storybrooke. While packing up her things, she received a phone call from Henry. Regina is ecstatic Henry wants to meet her for lunch and runs out of her office. But, she is stood up by Henry, and goes to check the office to find her keys missing. She guesses correctly that Henry planned to sneak into her vault looking for something to bring Emma and Mary Margaret back. Regina sends David to fetch Henry back as she knows he would never go with her.

In an effort to better herself for Henry, Regina begins seeing Archie for therapy. Though she has only refrained from magic for two days, she is struggling to not use it. As they begin their session, Dr. Whale breaks into the office and demands that Regina send him home. Regina states she cannot, and then Archie sternly orders Dr. Whale to leave. Continuing with the therapy session, he asks Regina if there is anything holding her back from moving forward. Regina brings up how she once preserved the body of her true love, Daniel, hoping he can be resurrected. Gently, Archie suggests that moving on is not possible until the past is let go. Unable to accept it, Regina leaves to go home. While in her car as it begins to rain heavily, she sees Daniel on the street, but in the next instant, he is gone. Going on a hunch, Regina goes to her vault to check on Daniel's body, which is no longer there. She pegs Dr. Whale as the culprit and discovers him in the hospital mental ward with one of his arms torn off. He relates that bringing Daniel back was a success, but the man is now a monster. While Dr. Whale is admitted as a patient in the hospital, she is accused by David of harming the doctor. Regina fills in him on Daniel and the possibility he may have gone to the last place of familiarity, which is the stables. The two rush there to stop Daniel from choking Henry to find Daniel choking Henry. Despite David's reservations, he allows Regina alone time to speak with Daniel. Once alone, she is attacked by Daniel, who releases her when she says "I love you", and the old lovers have a brief, happy reunion. However, Daniel is in constant pain and has the urge to harm those around him, so he pleads for Regina to let go and learn to love again. As he moves to attack again, she freezes Daniel with magic and dissolves him into dust while collapsing in a heap of tears. Regina returns to Archie's office to acknowledge she just used magic. With compassion, Archie welcomes her back in for another session.

While David is busy mining for fairy dust as a means of bringing Emma and Mary Margaret back, Regina watches over a sleeping Henry until he wakes up from a nightmare. Alarmed by the burn on his arm, she hauls Mr. Gold over to take a look. He informs Regina that Henry's burn is caused by his spirit travelling to the fiery Netherworld while unconscious as a result of being woken up from the Sleeping Curse. To give Henry control over the dangers in the Netherworld, Mr. Gold gives him an amulet to extinguish them out the fire in his dreams. She questions what he wants in return, but Mr. Gold simply says it's for Henry.

Both Regina and David awaken to Henry's screams. He informs them of the other person he met in the Netherworld, Aurora, who is from the Enchanted Forest and is currently together with Emma and Mary Margaret. Regina is filled with apprehension at the news her mother is alive and plotting a way to Storybrooke. Hastily, she goes to notify Mr. Gold of Cora's soon to be arrival. With his help, Mr. Gold instructs Henry to go back to the Netherworld and inform Aurora about a special kind of ink that can be used to stop Cora. After Henry awakens from the trip, they learn communication with Aurora was cut short with the message undelivered. Regina is shocked by more burns on his arm. Though Mr. Gold remedies the wound, both Regina and David refuse to allow Henry to go back to the Netherworld and sustain more burns. David volunteers himself for a Sleeping Curse to get in contact with Mary Margaret, so Regina gets to work assembling the ingredients together. Henry comes over to converse with her, and is pleased to know she stopped using magic and is helping others. After the curse is completed, Mr. Gold combines it with a needle for David to prick his finger on.

As David is still under the Sleeping Curse, Regina admits that his condition will only improve with true love's kiss. She is persuaded by Mr. Gold that it's more than likely Cora will be the one coming through and they decide to put a stop to whoever will be using the portal to enter into Storybrooke, regardless if it's Emma and Mary Margaret, so Regina can be the only mother in Henry's life. Before they execute the plan, she lies to Henry about making preparations for Emma and Mary Margaret's arrival and will do anything in her power to keep them safe. She and Mr. Gold go to the mines to collect all the diamonds needed to power fairy dust into a wand. Then, Mr. Gold uses the wand at the wishing well to create a trap to kill anyone coming through the portal. Henry and Ruby arrive to put a halt to their scheme. Regina justifies her actions to Henry because she wants to protect him from Cora. Desperately, he implores Regina to have faith that Emma and Mary Margaret are the ones coming through the portal instead, to which she lifts the trap. She collapses near a tree as Emma and Mary Margaret emerge from the well and reunite with Henry. She receives thanks from Emma for helping them. Regina returns to the pawnshop as David is awoken with true love's kiss by Mary Margaret. Henry hugs Regina while praising her for changing into a better person. Regina has a tender moment with her son until Emma, her parents, Ruby and the dwarves pull him away to have dinner at Granny's. Mr. Gold observes that despite the good Regina did, she is still excluded.

In honor of Emma and Mary Margaret's return, a celebration is thrown at Granny's. Emma invites Regina to the party as well, though this displeases some of the guests. She comes bearing a full plate of homemade lasagna and spends some time with Henry. Her lasagna is a hit with the party goers, but other than that, Regina is ignored. Disheartened, she leaves the diner early, though Emma follows Regina out and attempts to convince her otherwise. Regina asks to be allowed to spend more time with Henry, but Emma does not think it is a good idea. Emma's response causes a frustrated outburst from Regina, though she quickly apologizes. From this, Emma explains how she came to the decision of inviting her to the party because Archie said Regina is doing well in therapy and improving for Henry's sake. Though it is positive criticism, Regina can't believe Archie disclosed confidential information, and confronts him at the dock the next morning. Ruby witnesses the confrontation, but Regina dismisses her. Before walking off, Regina warns him that it's good she has changed and won't be using magic to get even. The following morning, Regina is surprised to learn Archie is dead. She is brought in for interrogation, but Emma doesn't see anything suspicious and believes Regina is changing for the better. Later that same day, Regina is affronted by Emma, whose opinion has changed and now believes the mayor is absolutely guilty of killing Archie. Regina denies having harmed anyone, and pleads for Henry to hear her side of the story. Emma refuses to listen and queues Mother Superior to attack Regina with fairy dust. She easily catches and tosses the dust aside, and in a bout of anger, uses magic to physically shove Emma away. Angrily, Emma confirms Henry will never forgive Regina after this and that she is a person not capable of changing. A broken Regina retreats in a cloud of smoke and later tearfully watches from a distance as Emma breaks the news to Henry.

Since facing the false murder charge, Regina has been hiding in a secret room in her father's tomb, but allows Henry in when he shows up. She insists to him that Archie's death was not her doing, and surprisingly, Henry believes her. However, it is too good to be true, as the facade of Henry melts away to reveal her mother. Cora admits to framing her for Archie's death, and expresses remorse for all the things she forced Regina to do in the past. Though her mother wants to start afresh with her, Regina rejects the notion and instead wants her name to cleared of murder. Regina is distressed at the fact she was trying so hard not to use magic for Henry's sake and now Cora has ruined everything. Her mother agrees to do anything to make it up to Regina, so they drive into town. On the way there, Cora notes that though Regina may be doing the right thing by giving up the true culprit who harmed Archie, Henry will never truly be hers with Emma and her parents around. After pulling the car over, Regina acknowledges she doesn't care about the townspeople liking her, and just wants Henry back. Cora, too, wants her daughter back and offers to repair their broken relationship by reuniting Regina with Henry. Regina accepts her help.

From her mother, Regina learns Archie is actually not dead, but pretends otherwise and shows up at David and Mary Margaret's loft to insist she has nothing to do with the murder. They apologize for doubting her, and when Cora's presence in town is brought up, Regina feigns surprise. Upon learning Emma brought Henry out of town, she is upset no one asked for her permission. On the streets, Regina approaches Hook after he attempts to contact her mother with a card. She informs him that Cora is hiding from the public to avoid repercussions, and accosts over his past failure in not killing her mother. From gaining knowledge of an on the loose giant who has a deep hatred for David, she sees it as a perfect distraction for the townspeople. She offers up a growth mushroom for the giant to regain his former size and cause chaos in the streets of Storybrooke.

In a discussion with Cora, Regina fears Henry, even after he returns to town with Emma and Mr. Gold, still won't be hers. Hook barges in to confirm Mr. Gold is outside of Storybrooke as it will be the perfect opportunity to kill him. His vengeance is put to the side for the time being while the three team up to find a particular dagger so they can control Mr. Gold. Suspecting Belle was trusted with the dagger's location, Regina goes to question her at the hospital, though the girl proves to be completely amnesiac. Regina knocks her out, levitating various items out of Belle's purse, and picks out a card with a library book call number. The trio search for the book on the shelves, but it is missing and in the empty slot is a map leading to the dagger. Hook deciphers it, but afterwards Cora puts him out cold so she and Regina can have the dagger for themselves. She proposes once the dagger is theirs, Mr. Gold can kill everyone while Regina will be blameless in Henry's eyes. Regina listens with a wicked gleam in her eye.

They find the dagger's burial site from the map and begin digging for it. Cora fears that Hook may have mislead them, but is certain she can translate the map, though it will take longer. Out of the blue, Regina is called to the diner by Mary Margaret for a discussion about Henry. In actuality, Mary Margaret wants to talk about Regina's alliance with Cora, and gives her a last chance to do the right thing by choosing good over evil. Regina rejects the offer by stating she always has been good, but Mary Margaret suggests that all her actions thus far have been evil. Regina wants Mary Margaret to stay out of her business. As she gets up to leave, Mary Margaret pleas that Cora does not care about her or Henry. Regina sneers at her opinion, wondering out loud what Mary Margaret knows of mothers, considering hers died a long time ago. After David and Mary Margaret find the dagger in the clock tower, Regina and Cora obstruct their way out. When Mary Margaret refuses to surrender the dagger, Regina summons a captive Johanna and rips out her heart. During a confrontation, Cora admits that she killed Mary Margaret's mother to put Regina on the throne. Mary Margaret does not bend to their wishes, so Regina, on Cora's command, begins to squeeze Johanna's heart until the dagger is relinquished. Regina stuffs the heart back in, but Johanna is killed by Cora to show Mary Margaret where being good gets her. Regina and Cora teleport away in a haze of smoke back to the mayoral office. Once inside, Regina reacts to what her mother said earlier about getting rid of Mary Margaret's mother. She realizes Cora orchestrated Snow White's runaway horse to bring about the marriage proposal from King Leopold. Cora brushes off the past since it's not relevant to the present, which Regina agrees with as her only priority is Henry.

Regina sets up a phone tap so she and Cora can listen in on a conversation between David and Mary Margaret. They learn that Mr. Gold, while in New York, has been injured by Hook. Noticing the name "Rumplestiltskin" is fading from the dagger, Cora realizes Mr. Gold is actually dying and she decides to kill him and steal his powers in order to become the next Dark One. Alarmed, Regina begins doubting her mother's intentions for wanting power, but Cora insists she is doing it to protect their family. After Mr. Gold is brought to the pawnshop under David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Neal Cassidy's protection, Regina and Cora shatter the building's barrier spell and prepare for battle. In the midst of the fight, no one notices Mary Margaret slip away to the vault. Regina tosses David out the door and then begins strangling Emma. When distracted by Cora accidentally dropping the dagger, Emma gains the upper hand and threatens to stab Regina. She forces Cora to choose between the dagger or her daughter. After Cora takes the dagger, Emma shoves Regina into her; sending both careening into a glass display. This gives Emma time to enact a barrier in the back room; temporarily shielding Mr. Gold from Cora's grasp. Reassembling herself, Cora senses someone has taken her heart, which is hidden in the vault. Urged by her mother, Regina rushes to stop the assailant and finds Mary Margaret, who offers her Cora's heart. Not knowing of Mary Margaret's ulterior motives, Regina is convinced by the latter that Cora cannot truly love her without her heart. Regina takes the heart and hurries back to the pawnshop where she places it into Cora's chest. For a moment, Cora feels genuine love for her daughter, but suddenly, she dies of a mysterious chest wound. Horror-stricken, Regina initially blames Mr. Gold, now fully recovered, of killing her mother. Instead, she angrily recognizes the true culprit is Mary Margaret, who rushes in too late to stop her from returning Cora's heart.

While mourning her mother's death, Regina is irked when Mr. Gold shows up to pay his respects as well. He warns her that the cycle of revenge must stop, but she stubbornly believes in getting even with Mary Margaret. Rifling through Cora's old belongings, Regina finds her mother's spell; the "curse of the empty-hearted", which can give her exactly what she desires; love as well as vengeance. The effects of the spell will force Henry to love her, but for it to work, she must take the heart of her most hated enemy—Mary Margaret. She breaks into the apartment, approaching a depressed Mary Margaret to rip out her heart, though Mr. Gold blocks her from getting any closer. Though forced to leave, Regina bitterly remarks to Mary Margaret that she cannot be protected forever. Seemingly as a concerned citizen, Greg phones Regina to tell her about an upset Henry running off alone into the woods. She finds her son at the wishing well as he tries to get rid of magic by blowing it up with dynamite. As he moves to light the explosive, Regina magically makes it disappear. Knowing of her intentions to cast the "curse of the empty-hearted", Henry begs Regina not to force him to love her. Suddenly, David, Emma and Neal arrive for a showdown with Regina, though Henry ceases their fighting as he believes magic is the main cause of their disputes. He argues that magic makes good people like his mother, Regina, do bad things. Regina does not agree to give up magic, per Henry's request, but she burns the curse parchment to placate him, which he thanks her for. Later, at her house doorstep, she comes face-to-face with a desperate Mary Margaret, who desires to be killed for murdering Cora. Instead, Regina pulls out Mary Margaret's heart to show her a darkness growing it in, which will only worsen with time so that the perfect family she worked so hard to save will fall apart. Satisfied that her nemesis will suffer a fate worse than death, she shoves the heart back into its rightful owner. After coldly commanding Mary Margaret to leave, Regina enters her home and slams the door closed. Unbeknownst to either, Greg has recorded the entire scenario on camera.

At the diner, Regina acquaints herself with Greg by thanking him for previously calling her when he found Henry in the woods. Greg accepts her gratitude; stating that he empathizes with kids in trouble. Strangely, Regina finds Greg to be very familiar looking and she asks if they have met before, but he affirms they have not. As a gesture of goodwill, she offers him to contact her should he ever need anything. On her way out of the diner, she bumps into Mary Margaret and smugly advises her to try the fish special—a "blackened sole"; referring to Mary Margaret's blackened heart. Later, she goes to speak with Greg in his bed and breakfast guest room after realizing who he is; Owen Flynn all grown up. She is happy to see him, but Greg avoids getting close to her. He demands to know where his father is, but Regina asserts that she let him go the day after he himself left Storybrooke. Greg does not buy it as people can't just disappear into thin air, but she firmly states they can.

From a distance, Regina sees Henry and Mr. Gold's son, Neal, playing together in the park. She questions Mr. Gold about it and receives quite the shock about Neal being Henry's biological father. Belligerently, Regina accuses him of orchestrating this, but he denies having pulled any strings, though she is not convinced. However, she is satisfied knowing that Mr. Gold won't ever be fully accepted by the townspeople or his son because he always chooses darkness over light. Upon seeing Emma sitting by the docks, Regina confronts her about Henry's parental lineage. Emma insists she was going to tell her soon, but changes the subject and remarks that Regina has to be a proper mother to Henry before it's too late. Regina suspiciously regards Emma's choice of words, even though the blonde swears she as no ulterior motives. Nonetheless, she promises to find out what Emma is hiding. Later, Regina pays a visit to a happier and healthier Belle, who will discharged from the hospital with Mr. Gold's help. To prevent this, she enchants a matchstick card of the town bar, The Rabbit Hole, and urges Belle to intently study it. While concentrating on the card, the enchantment brings out Belle's cursed false memories as a barfly named Lacey. As expected, once Mr. Gold finds out, he bursts into Regina's office and demands that Belle be returned to normal. Coyly, she states only true love's kiss can help, but only if Lacey herself loves him, too. By nightfall, Regina assumes a lookout in a store across the street and waits for David's pick up truck to drop off Anton, Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Leroy, Happy and Walter at the diner. After David drives off, she uses a tracking spell to see where the car has been in the last hour. In her own car, Regina follows the trail to an empty field and lifts a veil to reveal rows of growing magic beans. She destroys all of them, and takes only one of the plants to grow in her office.

At the docks, Regina, disguised as a fisherman, eavesdrops on a conversation between David and Mary Margaret. While Mary Margaret is conflicted over leaving Regina behind once they return to the Enchanted Forest, David thinks they have given her enough chances. He proposes that Regina can either stay in Storybrooke alone or live out her days in Rumplestiltskin's old cell. Angry at their plans to take away her son, Regina approaches Henry the next morning and shows him the beans, which she wishes to use to bring him and herself to the Enchanted Forest. She fills him in about a "fail-safe" that can erase Storybrooke from existence, but will wipe out the residents too. Seeing his shocked reaction, she implores that this is the only way they can be a family without everyone's meddling. Henry threatens to expose her plan to annihilate Storybrooke, however, she erases his memory. Later in the day, while she checks on the growing beans, Hook walks into her office to admit Greg and Tamara wanted him to gain a false alliance with her. He decides to team up with her and Cora instead, though Regina tells him that her mother is dead. Comfortingly, Hook states Cora wanted to see her daughter win. Aligning as allies, she and Hook take the library elevator down to the tunnels so they can retrieve the trigger. As they talk about life after revenge, she notices he has her mother's armband and takes it back to clasp on her own wrist. Eventually, they reach a cave where she enlightens him about her "friend" who is guarding the fail-safe, and the magic within the walls prevent her from being truly defeated by intruders. After forcing Hook to be creature bait, she fetches the fail-safe hidden in Snow White's coffin. Assuming Hook is as good as dead, Regina returns to the library only to be greeted by his unscathed form. He reveals that his loyalties have always been to Greg and Tamara, to which the infamous duo step out. Regina tries to overpower them with magic, though the bracelet, altered to absorb her powers, prevents this. She questions Greg on what his true intentions are, but he refuses to answer. Then, Tamara, on Greg's orders, places a bag over Regina's head.

Kidnapped to the cannery, Regina is strapped to a table and hooked up to an electrocution machine for interrogation. The trigger is taken by Tamara, who also breaks into Regina's office to steal the remaining magic beans. Hook, uninterested in torture, leaves Greg and Tamara to their devices. Greg attempts to force Regina to confess his father's whereabouts with several rounds of electrocution, but she does not yield answers. During one session, she scoffs at him for trying to steal magic. In turn, Greg informs her that he and Tamara are doing the exact opposite; destroying magic. Once David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Neal close in on the cannery, Tamara flees while Greg threatens to turn the electric voltage to full power if Regina doesn't give him the truth. At her limit, Regina admits killing his father, after Greg left town, because she had no further use for him. As payback, Greg prepares to pull the voltage level to the maximum level, but he makes his getaway when David shoots the machine. Now unconscious, Regina is moved by David and Mary Margaret to their apartment where Mother Superior magically heals her. Upon waking up, Regina tells them about the danger of the trigger if it is activated.

Having made a full recovery, Regina waits in the apartment as David, Emma and Mary Margaret go to pick up Henry from Granny. Once they arrive home, she and Henry have a tender reunion when the whole town begins to tremor from the activated trigger. Henry fears they will all die, though Regina reminds him that he'll evade the danger because he was born in this world. Amidst everyone's panic, Hook rejoins their side. Regina agrees to magically slow down the trigger as David and Hook plan to steal the beans from Greg and Tamara and rescue the townspeople by opening a portal to the Enchanted Forest. Before they get to work, Regina apologizes to Henry for not being a better person and mother. She reaffirms her love for him, and he reciprocates back. With Emma, Regina goes into the mines to begin the trigger slowdown. Knowing it will cause her own demise, she asks Emma to tell Henry of her heroic deed. While Regina continues to work on stalling the town's destruction, David, Emma, Henry and Mary Margaret rush in with a change of plans to throw the trigger into a portal. Emma removes the bean from a pouch, but only to realize too late that Hook previously switched it with a decoy. With no solution left, Regina remarks that her magic alone is not enough. To this, Emma recognizes that their combined powers might stop the trigger. Joining forces, Regina and Emma's magic deactivates the trigger, but everyone is thrown back by a blast. Afterwards, they notice Henry is missing and hurry to stop the suspected kidnappers, Greg and Tamara, only to see them open a portal and take the boy to another world. Surprisingly, the "Jolly Roger" is still at dock, and a remorseful Hook agrees to use the stolen bean to help them chase after Greg and Tamara. Aboard the ship, Mr. Gold summons the magic globe to show him Henry's location. When he pricks his finger to allow a drop of blood to spill, it reveals Henry's current location is in Neverland. After Hook casts the magic bean into the water to open a portal, he, Regina, David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Mr. Gold set sail for the land.

As they sail towards the island of Neverland, Hook talks to Regina about how embittered he feels having his sworn enemy, Mr. Gold, on his ship, especially after spending a lifetime trying to leave Neverland and seek revenge on him. From this, Regina is reminded of something Greg said, which is that villains like her don't get happy endings. She asks for Hook's opinion on it, though he hopes Greg isn't right or they've wasted their lives. Later, Mr. Gold announces his intent of getting him back on his own and proceeds to list off reasons why Emma will fail in this mission; not believing in her parents, in magic, or even herself. After he disappears, the ship falls under attack by a horde of mermaids. Seeing as David's efforts to hit the creatures with ammunition isn't working fast enough, Regina scares off the vast majority by conjuring and throwing fireballs. She also teleports a fishing net, which Emma and Mary Margaret used to catch a mermaid, onto the deck. As they discuss what to do with the sea creature, the mermaid sounds a conch shell and threatens them all with death if they don't free her. Thunder begins brewing in the sky; giving the impression that the mermaid called the storms to arms. At one point, Regina eggs David on to cut the mermaid's neck as he interrogates her, but he quickly backs out. She makes the decision to freeze the mermaid to stop the storm, but instead it speeds into a downpour. Regina and Mary Margaret's trade of insults turns into a full on brawl while nearby David and Hook are at it as well. She is so preoccupied in fighting Mary Margaret until Emma purposely jumps overboard as a rigging rope pulley snaps and hits her on the head. As David ties a rope around his waist and dives in to save Emma, Regina, Hook and Mary Margaret team up to pull the both of them up, causing the storm to halt. When they reach the shoreline of Neverland, Emma gives everyone a pep talk by admitting the best thing is to not believe in magic, but in each other. She doesn't expect friendship, but cooperation is necessary to save Henry as well as the handiness of each person's skill. Hesitantly, Regina trails after her party members as they follow Emma into the wilderness.

While the group treads through the jungle upwards to a cliff ridge, they narrowly avoid walking straight into a patch of Dreamshade. Up ahead, the ridge allows them to get a view of the island, but too much has changed since Hook was last in Neverland and he can't tell the difference between anything. They can't comb the jungle, either, because it's not safe to travel through. Though Regina argues against resting up for the evening, she relents since everyone is literally running on empty fuel. During the night, everyone is awakened after Emma receives a map from Pan leading to Henry. The catch is the map won't work until Emma stops "denying who she really is". Regina dislikes playing by Pan's rules and makes a move to enchant the map with magic, but Emma refuses. When Emma's attempts fail to yield anything, Regina snatches the map and places a locator spell on it, which leads them straight to Pan, who then sends the Lost Boys to engage them in a quick paced combat that ends fairly quickly. Afterwards, Regina receives word that Emma finally cracked open the map. They form a strategy to travel towards Pan's camp, though Regina is still unsure about their methods of doing things. Emma reasons they are stronger together in a group than separate. Regina decides to be a team player as they assemble for leaving.

The plan to reach Pan is a failure once when they notice his camp location keeps changing; making their journey fruitless. Hook considers a fairy named Tinker Bell who Pan trusts and can likely get them into the camp with pixie dust. Having a prior ill experience with Tinker Bell, though she doesn't disclose it, Regina tries to talk everyone out of finding the fairy. As an alternative, she wants to combine powers with Emma to take on Pan. Emma refuses since there's always going to be a price of magic. Out of frustration, Regina accuses Emma of listening to Hook because he's her "boyfriend", but retracts the inflammatory statement, blaming the outburst on stress. When Regina, out of fatigue, stops to take a rest, Emma asks about her relationship to Tinker Bell. She only says it's a "complicated history" and all the better if they don't meet again. The two have a shared moment about Henry when Regina brings up her naming of the rescue mission as "Operation Henry". After urging Emma on, Regina is left alone until Tinker Bell steps out to face her. Out of annoyance, she challenges Tinker Bell, who then knocks her out with poppy dust. Regina awakens, wrists bound, in a cave as Tinker Bell blames her as the reason she lost everything. In defense, Regina claims Tinker Bell was the one who wrongly interfered in her life. Realizing Tinker Bell has no magic, Regina breaks out of the binds only to have a Dreamshade coated knife pressed into her neck. As an even better deal, she gives Tinker Bell her heart. Though Regina pushes her to crush it, Tinker Bell furiously asks why she, all those years ago, didn't meet her true love. Tearfully, Regina bitterly admits to being afraid of what she might have become without all the anger inside herself, and exemplifies her blackened heart as the product of choosing hatred over hope and love. She pleads for the ex-fairy not to make the same mistake and promises it's not too late to backtrack. When asked, Regina confirms her love for Henry is genuine, which placates Tinker Bell, who returns the heart. Outside the cavern, Regina exits to see her group members apprehending Tinker Bell, so she quickly approaches to clear up the misunderstanding. Though Tinker Bell no longer has her fairy powers or pixie dust, Emma and Mary Margaret promise her a place in Storybrooke if she helps them infiltrate Pan's base. She agrees and goes back to camp with them. Once there, Regina admits to Tinker Bell that she never went back to find her fated partner. Uneasily, she learns this caused her life to be ruined as well as her true love's.

At the camp base, Regina listens as Emma elaborates on their strategy for entering Pan's headquarters from the back after Tinker Bell talks her way in through the front. Before they put the plan into action, Tinker Bell wants to know their escape route off the island, which no one has a clear answer. She stresses that no one ever leaves the island without Pan's permission. To prove a point about how dangerous Pan can be, Tinker Bell shows them a watch that came from the people who brought Henry to Neverland, proving Greg and Tamara were killed by him. Tinker Bell weighs the risk as not worthy unless they have a way to leave Neverland and she makes off for her tree house. Emma pegs their chances of escaping aren't very good if they don't even know the way out. They talk about how Hook left Neverland, which was through a special one time deal with Pan, though he notes Neal managed to escape on his own. They set off for a cave Neal once inhabited as a boy, where they find two coconut halves that when combined in the dark, illuminate a star constellation map with an escape route. Despite that Hook taught Neal how to navigate using the stars, he also coached him that all map makers never reveal their secrets. Therefore, the map can only be read by Neal himself.

With no way of using the map, everyone gives a more thorough search in the cave for something else that might be useful. In the hopes of letting Henry know they are coming for him, Mary Margaret suggests they make a large net to catch a Lost Boy. During this period, David and Hook return from gathering vine to notify everyone about their plans to reach the top of Dead Man's Peak to find a sextant to read Neal's map. After finishing the net, Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret lure a Lost Boy, Devin, into falling into the trap. While Regina entices him with a bar of chocolate, Emma asks for a message to be delivered to Henry, reminding Devin that he once had a home and family but stopped believing return was possible. Though he is promised safe passage off the island, Devin takes the chocolate and hurls it into the jungle; stating he doesn't want to go home. To Regina's shock, he also reveals the cut on his cheek was not Pan's work, but Henry's. Since Devin is unwilling to help, Emma ties him to a tree as he boasting Henry is one of their most vicious new recruits in ages. This angers Regina enough that she moves to rip out Devin's heart, but is blocked by Mary Margaret. To fuel the fire, she asks Emma to allow her to do it. Emma agrees, much to Mary Margaret's displeasure, though the heart allows Regina to send Devin back to Pan's camp to deliver one half of a mirror to Henry. From the other half of the mirror, they use it to communicate with Henry, who is convinced they are real after Emma names their mission to save him as "Operation Cobra Rescue". They head back to their own camp as Regina is reassured by Emma of her worries over Henry since he is their son, and has knowledge his family hasn't given up on him. Mary Margaret is sorry for doubting Emma's decision to allow Devin's heart to be ripped out as she knows how easy it is to give into darkness. Regina arbitrates that she, not Emma, gave into the darkness. David and Hook arrive back, but without the sextant as Pan got to it first. Nonetheless, David announces that Hook saved his life by protecting him from a Dreamshade arrow after they were ambushed on the way to the peak. Regina is handed Hook's rum bottle after both David and Mary Margaret take sips in honor of the pirate, but she rejects the drink and retreats away.

Instructing Emma on magic, Regina instructs her to channel anger into power. Emma doesn't want to if it means going dark, which leads insults between them. Unintentionally, Emma taps into her own rage and lights a fire on the wood, much to Regina's satisfaction. Unexpectedly, Mary Margaret blurts out, after much questioning from Emma, that Neal is alive. While Emma is slowly being convinced of the possibility, Regina thinks it's one of Pan's false leads. Not willing to stand for something that likely isn't even true, Regina leaves the group. She wanders the jungle until stumbling on Mr. Gold as he is falling under the spell of the Shadow who has taken on the appearance of Belle. She begins using magic to choke "Belle" until the facade melts off to reveal the Shadow just before it flees. Regina berates Mr. Gold over his foolishness and expresses frustration over her previous ventures with David, Emma and Mary Margaret and getting nowhere in the plan of reaching Henry. Though she wants to team up with him, Mr. Gold states that the only way to stop Pan is if he dies as well in the process. She is certain there must be another way, but he reaffirms that death is the only path. As much as she would not mind destroying Pan, Regina suggests they can find a way to contain him. Mr. Gold has just the item for the job, except it's sitting in his pawnshop. She reprehends him for not bringing it along, though Mr. Gold's whole plan all along was to sacrifice his own life to kill Pan. Regina mocks him for such an idiotic plan as his will for self-preservation is too strong anyway. To procure the item, Regina summons a mermaid, Ariel, from the ocean. Since Ariel has a grudge against Regina for stealing her voice, she returns it. Additionally, she gives her a bracelet, in which the wearer can have control over having human legs. More importantly, the place she will go is also where her past love, Eric, resides in. At this, Ariel complies with their terms and is told to go to Storybrooke.

To help Ariel find the way there, Mr. Gold draws a route to Storybrooke on the ground and then gives her an enchanted sand dollar to take to Belle. Regina decides to hold off on telling Ariel the whereabouts of Eric until after she accomplishes the mission, and stresses the bracelet will only give her legs for twenty-four hours. Passing the time until Ariel's return, Regina asks Mr. Gold if he really believes Belle can succeed. He is certain she can, but Regina wants to be sure his feelings aren't blinding him. Mr. Gold attests that his feelings for Belle are enough to believe in her. She realizes he must really love her. He jokes she is jealous, but Regina denies being envious of Belle. However, Regina is taken aback when Mr. Gold determines she actually covets not having someone. A splash interrupts the exchange as Ariel peers out from the water to deliver the box to Mr. Gold. Regina praises her for success in the mission and uses magic on the bracelet to allow Ariel control over being human. Mr. Gold counsels her to go back to Storybrooke and seek out Eric. Before she goes, Ariel notifies them about Pan's prisoner, Wendy, and the girl's brothers are in Storybrooke anxiously awaiting their sister. Regina has no concern for anyone except Henry, though Ariel calls attention to the fact they have a way to get to him through herself and Belle. She proposes one way to repay the debt is to save Wendy. Though Mr. Gold is willing to try, Regina stays firm to her previous stance.

Regina brings up the ludicrous search that Emma and the others went on looking for Neal, who is presumed dead, when Mr. Gold admits that he is actually alive. She is surprised over his choice in letting Neal go as he might have a way off the island. Regina also senses he is hiding something, but Mr. Gold smoothly talks his way through the subject. Then, they come across David, Emma, Hook, Mary Margaret, Neal and Tinker Bell in the jungle. Regina presents them with the useful of Pandora's Box, but Neal is displeased to see Mr. Gold. He blurts out his father's objective to kill Henry and prevent a seer's prophecy from coming true. Shocked, Regina backs away as everyone subsequently draws their weapons at Mr. Gold. Things cool down only when Neal makes him hand over the box. After Tinker Bell gains access into the perimeter of the encampment and the Lost Boys are put to sleep by Regina, neither Henry or Pan are found there. Instead, Neal frees a young prisoner, Wendy, and brings her back to camp to inquire about Henry. Forced to act on Pan's wishes, Wendy lies to them, but with some encouragement, she yields and tells the truth. Emma gains insight on Pan's real reason for needing Henry's heart, which is to save himself from dying and then become immortal. As a trade, Pan lives, but Henry will die. By rowboat, Regina, Emma, Mr. Gold and Neal ascend onto Skull Rock to stop Pan. Instead, they are stopped by a barrier, enacted to keep out anyone with a shadow, blocking their path up the stairs. As Mr. Gold is the only one without a shadow, he is able to enter through and goes up to confront Pan with the box. While he is gone, Emma and Regina use magic to block out the moon as well as their shadows. The trio rush up to the upper level to witness Henry pulling out his own heart. All three attempt to dissuade him from the sacrifice, but through Pan's manipulations, Henry chooses to give up his heart. They cry out in horror as he plunges the heart into Pan's chest, causing all of them to be thrown back from the impact, and Henry collapses. As they rush over to check up on his unmoving body, Pan rises into the air.

Regina refuses to leave her son's side while Pan gloats over how he got Henry to give up his heart. He also reveals Mr. Gold is now trapped inside the box before Emma nicks him. Shortly after, Pan takes off. In desperation, Regina lashes out at Neal's ridiculous suggestion that they should check the Lost Boy camp for Pan when she knows their nemesis wouldn't risk going back there. Though Emma claims to know how she feels, Regina begs to differ. Regina emphasizes all the family and loved ones Emma has, while she herself has only ever had Henry. Neither are able to think of what else they can do, but Regina notices the blood on Emma's sword when she cut Pan, meaning he can be killed. Back at the Lost Boy camp, Regina casts a preservation spell on Henry's body to last one hour until they track down Pan. Regina interrogates Felix, who won't talk, so she goes for his heart, though Emma gets her to back down. Instead, Emma sways the other Lost Boys with the promise she will get them off the island, to which they disclose Pan is at his "thinking tree" in Pixie Woods. Once Regina, Emma and Mary Margaret get there, they are ensnared by tree vines. Pan mentions the tree is special to him because it's the same place that he abandoned his son, Mr. Gold. As such, the tree will kill those who feel regret, so he brings up guilt-worthy moments from each person's past. Regina attests to doing cruel and horrible things, but regrets nothing since each one of those deeds led her to Henry. She breaks herself and her allies free, tears out Henry's heart from Pan and steals back the box as well. They hurry onto the Jolly Roger in time to place the heart back in Henry as he gasps to life. Happy beyond words, Regina tucks Henry into bed and casts a protection spell on his heart so it can never be ripped out again. A short time later, she rushes back in to check up on Henry after Mr. Gold absorbs Pan into the box. Regina helps to project the Shadow into a sail after it is released and fired into the air, which then powers the ship for the flight home. Lastly, Tinker Bell congratulates Regina for getting Henry back as the two clear up their past differences.

Following a safe journey out of Neverland to Storybrooke, Regina descends onto the docks as David, Emma, Henry and Mary Margaret are greeted by the townspeople with much acclaim. Once again the oddball out, she says nothing during the entire spectacle until Mary Margaret brings to everyone's attention that it was because of Regina's helpful efforts which allowed them to return home. Regina looks on; surprised at the praise. On Henry's word, Regina and the others agree Felix is dangerous and decide to lock him up. Then, Mr. Gold secures the box in his pawnshop so Pan can never be freed. During an evening festivity at the diner, Henry prepares to say goodnight to Regina, except he asks to spend the night at her house in his old room. Happily, Regina accepts as Emma allows it, and the two go home together. That night, Henry relates his fears that Pan will somehow break out of the box and harm him again. He pleads for the necessity of the magic in her vault as a defense, but she is has no concerns about Pan ever getting out of the box. She also stresses that magic is not the answer to everything, and tucks him into bed. The next day, Mother Superior is killed by the Shadow. Suspecting Pan is controlling the creature from inside the box, Regina takes Henry to her vault for protection. While inside, she and Henry share a tender moment, but in the next instant, Regina is knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, she learns from David, Emma, Mary Margaret and Mr. Gold that Pan has been in Henry's body this entire time. Regina is profoundly upset to have fallen for Pan's trickery, especially since she had hoped her son still needed her. Henry, in Pan's body, admits that he still does need her, and warmly embraces a tearful Regina. However, more trouble brews, as they discover Pan took the scroll for the Dark Curse.

Mr. Gold shares with everyone of the only viable way to stop Pan's curse is for Regina, as the original caster of the Dark Curse, to undo it by destroying the scroll, though there will be a steep price for this. They plan to switch Henry back to his own body so he will be in possession of the scroll and bring it to Regina. Mr. Gold can perform the spell, but needs a strong outlet in order for it to work. Tinker Bell has knowledge of a powerful Black Fairy wand that Mother Superior kept, so she, David, Hook and Neal go to retrieve it from the convent nuns. David, Hook and Neal arrive back with the wand. After Henry's spirit is transferred into his old body, everyone heads out to look for him. They find him near the clock tower with Granny's tracking skills. Regina passes out after taking the scroll and awakens with knowledge of the price for stopping the curse. They are accosted by Pan as he steals back the scroll and freezes them in place. The showdown ends when Mr. Gold summons the dagger and stabs Pan as well as himself with it; killing both of them. Regina reveals the price for stopping the curse is all former Enchanted Forest inhabitants will be sent back to their old world while Storybrooke will disappear out of existence. She urges Emma to stay with Henry. At the town border, Regina says goodbye to her son. Henry blames himself, as everything would have never occurred had he not sought out Emma, and is sorry for believing that Regina did not love him. She has her share of regrets for casting the curse out of vengeance. Regina calls herself a villain who can't have a happy ending, he corrects her; saying she is simply his mother. As Emma drives out of Storybrooke with Henry, their memories are altered by Regina, while everyone inside town is taken back to the Enchanted Forest.

Before Second Curse
After taking magical preventive measures to undo Pan's casting of the Dark Curse, all the inhabitants of Storybrooke pay the price by returning to the Enchanted Forest and reverting to their prior personas. For Regina, the burden of the price is the heaviest as she will be forever separated from her beloved son Henry. In a group, they manifest in the land of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip where Regina mentions in passing that her old palace is still standing due to a preservation spell. She scoffs at Snow White's suggestion that they go there together until the latter insists their united forces will ease the other inhabitants' minds. During the trek, Regina disappears into the woods alone to take out her own heart since the pain of losing Henry is becoming too much to bear. As she is burying it, Snow White finds her. The princess sympathizes with Regina's plight, as she knows what it's like to say goodbye to her own child, but promises the pain will lessen over time. Snow White convinces her that she must find happiness for Henry's sake, so Regina reluctantly reinserts the heart. Soon after, they are attacked by a flying monkey. The creature grabs Regina and scratches her, but is chased off by one of the Merry Men's arrows. Regina exchanges tense words with both Little John and Robin Hood since her less than pleasant reputation as Queen still remains. The Merry Men accompany the whole group to the palace, but once there, Regina discovers a protection spell keeping them out, meaning someone is already inside. For the time being, Robin Hood suggests everyone can take shelter in Sherwood Forest.

As the group departs for Sherwood Forest, Regina proposes to Prince Charming and Snow White that she break into the palace by using the underground tunnels, which are not protected by the spell, and afterwards, lower the shield so everyone can lead an army in. The flying monkey attacks again, with Robin Hood's son, Roland, nearly swooped by the creature, but Regina protects him by turning the creature into a stuffed animal, which she gifts to the boy. In a group discussion, Belle shares knowledge about the flying monkey's origins in the land of Oz, so Regina determines the person in the palace is the Wicked Witch. Robin Hood joins her as payment for rescuing his son earlier. They reach the crypt, bound by blood magic, is open. At the bedchamber, Regina begins mixing ingredients for a Sleeping Curse and admits her desire to use the curse on herself. When Robin Hood tries to stop her, she freezes him. Regina wishes for the curse to be broken by the only true love in her life—Henry—since she wants to live for him. After taking down the shield, Regina apologizes to Henry before preparing to prick herself with the curse. The Wicked Witch takes it away, and introduces herself as Zelena. Regina asks how she got past the crypt's seal, but Zelena insists it wasn't broken open. The woman claims they are half-sisters, with Cora as their shared parent, though Regina is in disbelief. Zelena is embittered by the abandonment, yet her sister had everything, though Regina considers her lucky to have escaped Cora's grip. Nonetheless, Zelena announces that her true intent is to get what she desires; describing it as "her dreams being realized" while Regina will suffer a "fate worse than death". Motivated by an enemy, Regina decides she'll live to destroy Zelena's life.

Following her encounter with Zelena, Regina gives Robin Hood a set of gold arrows as a reward for helping to enter the castle. While gathered inside the palace with Belle, Robin Hood, Snow White and many other residents, Regina witnesses a reunion between a long-lost Princess Rapunzel, who Prince Charming helped rescue, and her parents.

Learning of Snow White's pregnancy, Regina dissuades the princess about announcing it to the kingdom's citizens, especially with Zelena still at large. The conversation is interrupted by Belle's return, to which she explains how Neal sacrificed his own life to resurrect Rumplestiltskin, who is now controlled by Zelena. While everyone ponders what the witch wants from them, Aurora and Prince Phillip admit Zelena desires Snow White's unborn child and that they were forced to keep quiet or their own child would be harmed. After this revelation, Zelena arrives to turn the two into flying monkeys and immobilizes Snow White. Regina steps forward to defend her, but she, too, is frozen in place. Zelena approaches to touch Snow White's belly; claiming the baby will be hers, and she departs soon after. Later, Regina, Belle, Grumpy, Prince Charming, Snow White, and Robin Hood discuss counterattacking Zelena. Despite that Regina highly disapproves of Robin Hood's presence on the war council, he curtly remarks that his help is necessary. Deciding Rumplestiltskin would know best, they break into the Dark One's castle; with Robin Hood stopping Regina from using magic on the sealed door and instead firing an arrow to trigger a trap explosion. Though he saved her, Regina chastises that he nearly killed her. Inside, they gain information from Rumplestiltskin about Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who can help them. Regina, with Prince Charming and Snow White, find a door leading to Glinda, but it can only be accessed by the pure of heart. When the couple disappear into the entrance, she tries entering only to be denied. After returning, the pair talk about Zelena's weakness—light magic—a criteria Emma fits. Regina refuses to cast another Dark Curse as it would mean giving up Henry's heart. Urged by Prince Charming, Snow White sacrifices his heart to cast the curse. Suddenly, Zelena swoops down to add a potion into the curse mixture, which will erase everyone's memories of their year in the Enchanted Forest. Before the curse spreads, Regina, on her stepdaughter's wishes, tears out Snow White's heart and divides it equally. With one half returned to Snow White, the other is used to revive Prince Charming just as the curse closes in.

During Second Curse
A new curse is cast by someone powerful; returning Regina and the rest of the Enchanted Forest inhabitants to the town of Storybrooke. However, as a result of the curse, everyone's last recollection is the final day in Storybrooke when Pan's curse was stopped, but no one can recall anything further than that. Regina resumes work as the mayor and receives a shock when she sees Henry at the diner. She drops a cup, startling him, but quickly recovers to apologize. Regina is pulled aside by Emma, who regained her memories from a potion. She denies responsibility for the new curse as being without her son is torture. Emma believes her, but the culprit must be found, so they lure everyone into believing Regina is to blame. At a town hall meeting, Leroy, who is also in on the ploy, accuses Regina and the whole town turns against her. To up the show, Regina causes a tremor and teleports away. Regrouping at the mayoral office with Emma, Regina makes a potion to recall the year prior to the new curse, but it fails. In another plan, they have Leroy spread the false word that Regina is making a potion, so whoever drinks it can recall who cursed them, in order to smoke out the crook. She and Emma have a stake-out in a car, and upon seeing a shadow in the mayoral office, they burst in, but the person disappears in green smoke. Afterward, Regina meets Henry; inviting him on a town tour and ice cream, to which he accepts. Later, David and Hook report witnessing a resident transform into a flying monkey, as it is concluded that the Wicked Witch of the West cast the new curse.

While David, Emma and Hook search the mayoral office for any evidence the Wicked Witch left behind, Regina treats Henry to ice cream and they walk through the Storybrooke Heritage Park. She is pleased to hear that he likes Storybrooke, which unlike New York, is not as large and makes him feel less lonely. Henry relates his concerns about Emma' suspecting his mother dragged him to Storybrooke for more than work-related business, and believes she is struggling since turning down her boyfriend Walsh's proposal. When he expresses a fondness for Walsh since the three of them spent holidays together, Regina implies that he may have many relatives to spend festivities with someday; referencing herself and the rest of his family that he doesn't remember. After receiving a call from Emma, Regina drops Henry off at Granny's and rejoins her allies, before heading to find David. He tells them about the Wicked Witch using magic to make a doppelganger of him, which he then defeated by facing his fears and stabbing his attacker with his sword. At the mention of the hilt disappearing with the attacker, Regina proposes the Wicked Witch has the sword since David used it to vanquish his fears, and that it is now a powerful totem with his courage imbued into it. Altogether, they go to a farmhouse and investigate a cellar, which was locked, but is now mysteriously open. Inside, the cell's occupant is gone, but a spinning wheel with strands of spun gold litter the floor, proving Mr. Gold is alive.

In a morning meeting at the closed diner, Regina and her allies discuss what to do now that Mr. Gold is apparently alive. Hook recalls Neal, in the Enchanted Forest, expressing an interest in finding a way to bring his father back; hoping that could be a link to returning to Emma and Henry. While the others are more concerned about tracking down Mr. Gold so they can learn the Wicked Witch's identity, Regina settles for returning to the farmhouse alone and searching for evidence. Nearing the farmhouse, Regina catches an arrow shot by Robin Hood as he mistook her for the Wicked Witch. Since they both believe the Wicked Witch left behind a trail, he decides to accompany her. She warns him not to get in her way, which he responds by saying, "I wouldn't dream of it." Struck by deja vu, she wonders if they met before, but Robin Hood is certain that's not the case since he wouldn't forget someone like her. Inside the house, Regina is not able to find anything of magical properties. During the search, Robin Hood remarks she really doesn't seem as bad as her former title of "Evil Queen", to which she wryly states that fear can be a powerful influence of how people see her. They lock eyes, with him closing the distance between them, as Regina perceives he is trying to kiss her. Instead, he grabs a bottle on the shelf behind her and asks if it's magical. Humorously, she determines it's whiskey, and he proceeds to pour some for both of them. As he hands her a cup, Regina sees a lion tattoo on his arm; the same one from when she and Tinker Bell went to find her true love. Shaken, she departs; leaving behind a confused Robin Hood. Later, she watches him from a distance as he plays with his son, Roland.

Regina attends Neal's funeral to pay her respects. Afterwards, at the diner, she is approached by Tinker Bell, who notices the lion tattoo on Robin Hood's arm. Despite that Regina is ignoring the situation, Robin Hood comes over to offer her a drink, which she declines. Out of his hearing range, Tinker Bell insists she must learn from her past mistake of not being open to love, which is the reason her life turned out the way it did. Regina snaps at her; causing the latter to drop the subject. In a surprise public appearance, Zelena claims they are half-siblings, courtesy of Cora, and tells Regina to find proof if necessary. Zelena sets a deadline for her to be on Main Street after sundown. Regina searches the vault for a letter Rumplestiltskin wrote to Cora speaking highly of her first-born child's magical skills. Having read it many times in the past, she always assumed the letter was about herself, though it actually concerns Zelena. In the forest, Regina mulls over the letter, worried that because her former magic instructor considers Zelena so powerful, then she herself isn't strong enough to defeat her. Robin Hood stops to converse with her and steals the note, which he reads with her permission. Regina shares her sentiments with him, but later recognizes she has something Zelena doesn't. Recalling her mother's fondness for ripping out hearts, Regina takes out her heart and buries it in the woods. In a showdown with Zelena, the two trade magical blows until Regina is thrown into the clock tower. Zelena fails to steal her heart, but furiously promises to take everything of hers. In the aftermath, Regina entrusts Robin Hood with guarding her heart.

Regina casts a protection spell on the apartment to keep Mary Margaret and her unborn child safe. When Emma expresses an interest in upping her magical skills to compete with Zelena, she sets up a meeting in the vault to begin the lesson. Regina wants to start the magic session with a spell book, but Emma suggests she try teaching methods Rumplestiltskin used. Regina can only recall her former instructor being pushy and even cruel, but this inspires her to place Emma on a bridge and cut the rope; forcing the latter to use magic by instinct to save herself. Though Regina has hopes Emma can magically retie the severed rope, she exceeds expectations by building a makeshift landing out of the bridge planks. They return to the apartment when Hook returns without Henry since he allowed Emma's parents to take him. He fills them in on his day's adventure of helping Ariel find a missing Eric. Emma's parents arrive home with Henry after allowing him to have a test drive using David's truck, which causes Regina to be outraged and worried about Henry's safety. Seeing the boy's confused reaction, Regina masks her outburst by stating it's her job as mayor not to allow underage driving. Hook details the outcome of Ariel's quest; mentioning she and Eric reunited on Hangman's Island in the Enchanted Forest. With Regina's instruction, Emma is assigned the task of projecting an image in the mirror of Ariel and Eric on Hangman's Island, which she does with success. That night, Regina joins David, Emma, Henry and Mary Margaret at the diner for a meal.

Regina, after Mr. Gold steals her heart from Robin Hood on Zelena's orders, takes the now defunct candle in the hopes of talking to her mother about Zelena's origins. As part of a rule for contacting a deceased person, both the murder weapon—the candle—and murder—Mary Margaret—must be present. In a seance, she, David, Emma, Hook and Mary Margaret link hands to open the land of the dead, but Cora doesn't come out. When Hook's knee bumps the table, a startled Mary Margaret withdraws her hands, which closes the gateway. Because of this failure, Regina accepts that Cora wants her secrets to stay buried forever. Emma, David and Hook leave Regina's house, but Mary Margaret stays behind to help clean up. Guiltily, Mary Margaret owns up to her regret over killing Cora. Regina takes this in stride; considering Cora murdered Mary Margaret's mother, Queen Eva. Investigating a strange noise, the two discover Cora's angry spirit has crossed over to get even with Mary Margaret. Regina protects the expecting mother and demands answers from Cora, who responds by possessing Mary Margaret's body and allowing her a glimpse of the past. Cora is then forced back into the land of the dead by Regina's magic just as Belle, David, Emma and Hook arrive. Mary Margaret reveals Cora, already pregnant with another man's child, was once engaged to Leopold, but Eva deliberately wrecked it. In turn, this caused Cora to unwillingly abandon Zelena after birth. As for the ingredients of Zelena's spell, as Belle explains, they are for a time spell to alter the past; namely to kill Eva and keep Cora from abandoning her first-born child. In a talk, Mary Margaret convinces Regina that she deserves happiness and shouldn't let anything hold her back. This prompts Regina find Robin Hood and give him a long-awaited kiss.

The next morning, Regina and Robin Hood meet at the inn for a quick kiss session before she goes to meet David, Emma and Mary Margaret to strategize on how to break the new curse. With the last curse, Emma recalls believing in magic after touching the fairytale storybook, which triggered her memories of the Enchanted Forest. From this, Regina suggests the key to breaking the curse is for Henry to believe in magic as Emma did. They head to the apartment where the storybook appeared to Mary Margaret during the first curse, and the former schoolteacher "magically" finds the book in a chest box. Henry is discovered missing from the inn; sending everyone on a wild goose chase to the docks, in which Emma shoots a flying monkey to protect him as Regina and David also step in to take out incoming monsters. Emma hands the storybook to him; asking Henry to believe in magic. Upon touching the book, the boy receives his lost memories back and hugs Regina, but is swiftly pulled away by Zelena, who proceeds to choke him. Regina's attempt to fight the witch causes her to be knocked unconscious for the remainder of the battle; ending when Emma magically scalds Zelena and forces her to retreat. Roused awake by Henry, Regina promises to never leave him again and gives her son true love's kiss; breaking the new curse. She and Henry catch up on lost time, and he is formally introduced to Robin Hood.

After Second Curse
With Mary Margaret going into labor, she is taken into a hospital delivery room while Regina and Emma enact a protective spell. Emma and Hook go to deal with Zelena at the farmhouse, but the savior is forced to give up her magic to save the pirate's life. Thus, the barrier around the delivery room fades. Regina, as the last line of defense, stands in Zelena's way, but is quickly overpowered by her sister, who proceeds to steal the newborn infant for a time spell. Persuaded by both Henry Mills and Robin Hood that she is capable of light magic, Regina uses it to defeat Zelena once and for all. She rips off Zelena's pendant; stripping her of magic. Rather than allow a freed Mr. Gold to kill Zelena, Regina seizes the dagger to compel him to stop while she spares her life. After imprisoning her sister in a cell, Regina reasons that they've both suffered as Cora's daughters and by having lives they didn't want. She also knows what it's like to be fueled by vengeance and gives Zelena a second chance to reshape a better future for herself. Later, Regina delivers the dagger into Belle's hands for safekeeping. Unknown to Regina, Mr. Gold later kills Zelena; accidentally triggering magic in her pendant, which activates the time spell.

After regaining her heart, Regina and Robin Hood spend some time at her house. She shares how her past love, Daniel, died at the hands of her mother, and he sympathetically talks about having lost his wife, Maid Marian. Regina opens up about seeing him in the tavern years ago in the Enchanted Forest after Tinker Bell used pixie dust to give her another chance at love, but admits she was too scared to approach him. Robin Hood regards their romance in the present as something that was destined to happen. In a diner celebration welcoming David and Mary Margaret's newborn son, Regina overhears Hook imply that Emma intends to leave town. When questioned by Regina, Emma refuses to talk and leaves. While Hook follows to talk some sense into her, Regina and the others notice a stream of light radiating to the sky—Zelena's time spell. In an investigation, Zelena is discovered missing from the jail cell. Once David turns on the security tape, Regina watches with disbelief as the footage shows Zelena used magic, despite that she didn't have her pendant, to turn herself into a statue, which breaks and dissipates into powder. For the time being, they decide to leave the time portal untouched, but Emma and Hook accidentally travel through it to the past to recreate a meeting between Prince Charming and Snow White and then return to the present. During the evening, Regina and Robin Hood take Roland to the diner. Emma explains to Regina that she brought someone back from the past, and hopes a reintroduction will help the person see that she isn't the Evil Queen anymore. As Regina meets the stranger, she is stunned that Robin Hood recognizes her as his deceased wife, and Roland calls this woman his mother. With her happiness shattered by the family reunion, Regina angrily berates Emma for being just like her mother by not thinking about the consequences of her actions.

Overwhelmed, Regina walks out of the diner, though Emma follows her out. Despite not meaning to cause her pain, Emma is not sorry for saving an innocent woman, especially since Regina, in the past Enchanted Forest, sentenced Marian to death. To this, Regina declares she has worked hard to change her old ways and build a future, which is now gone because of Emma's meddling. Suddenly, Robin Hood approaches to introduce Marian to Regina so the three of them can talk. However, a furious Marian only remembers Regina as the Evil Queen. At the height of the commotion, Marian calls her a "monster"; prompting Regina to depart. The next day, Robin Hood tells Regina that his love for her is real, but he must keep his marriage vows to Marian. Left alone, an angered Regina shatters a mirror. Picking up a shard, she is reminded of Sidney, and frees him from the psychiatric ward so he can help her. In her vault, she explains the circumstances to Sidney by showing him the storybook, which has an illustrated "happy ending" image of Robin Hood and Marian. She believes herself to be stronger than the book's magic and wants to change history by going back in time to kill Marian. Reverting Sidney into the Magic Mirror, Regina commands him to show her the past event when she captured Marian. In the flashback, Marian refuses to divulge Snow White's location, and then expresses pity for Regina, who she believes is cruel because of not having love in her life. Later, Regina intercepts a battle with a rampaging snow monster in which everyone but Marian is knocked out. She saves Marian's life by obliterating the beast, and then teleports to her office. From the other side of the door, Emma comforts Regina; promising that she will help her find a happy ending. At this, Regina realizes that the storybook, not Marian, is the reason for her suffering. Believing the book's Author is key, she vows to force the person to give her a deserving happy ending.

Retreating into further isolation, Regina sends a raven, attached with a note, asking Henry him not to visit her. Initially, Henry is hurt that she is pushing him away, but after hearing David refer to their family as one that never likes to give up, he decides to disregard his mother's decision. From inside the house, Regina listens as Henry announces his intentions of coming back everyday until she opens the door. As Henry continues on, stating the house is his too and that he misses his room, she finally pulls the door open and embraces him in a hug.

Arriving at the diner, Regina brings comic books for Henry and prods him about the storybook's writer. When he realizes there is more to her questions, she admits plans of asking the Author for her own happy ending. Henry, pleased with the idea, agrees they must change her story in the book since she is not that person anymore. He suggests they work on it as a secret mission, which leads to Regina naming the assignment "Operation Mongoose". In a panic, Robin Hood requests her help. Led to the mayoral office, where Mary Margaret has moved in as the new mayor, Regina disdainfully comments on the latter's wall decoration before checking on an unconscious Marian. Though it is strong magic, Regina can slow down the spell that is freezing his wife. Upon seeing Elsa, who can use ice magic, she suspects the woman, but Emma vouches for her. Elsa explains that only true love can break the spell, so Robin Hood attempts and fails to awaken Marian with true love's kiss. Before Emma goes to find the culprit, Regina implies that, judging from the snow monster and the ice wall cave-in, she is not capable as savior. Emma shrugs it off, believing Regina is taking out anger on her, and tasks Hook with hiding Elsa from the townspeople at the sheriff's office. Once everyone is gone, Regina devises a plan to save Marian, with Robin Hood's consent, and she sends Henry to fetch a box from her vault. While waiting, Robin Hood confesses that true love's kiss didn't work since he loves her, not Marian. Nonetheless, they know being together is impossible because of his marriage vows. At Henry's return, Regina takes out Marian's heart, which will keep her alive, while the heart is stored in the box until they find a cure.

Still looking for a way to heal Marian, Regina and Henry research in the vault. While she is unsure if there is anything more powerful to counteract the Snow Queen's magic, Henry talks about Robin Hood's persisting love for her. Surprised, Regina asks where he learned this. In fact, Henry realized it himself, and he knows true love's kiss didn't work on Marian because Robin Hood still loves Regina. He wonders why she doesn't seem happy about it. Considering the complicated situation, she reasons, that in this case, this might be something he is too young to understand. Regina continues to sift through spell books when Henry approaches with an idea to find more information on "Operation Mongoose", in which he will go undercover at the pawnshop in the hopes Mr. Gold holds the answers to the book's Author.

Having looked at every possible spell, Regina is at her wits end and orders Sidney to track the Snow Queen's lair so she can make the villain undo the curse on Marian. Emma visits, asking about a photo Sidney took of herself and the Snow Queen, though she has no memory of the encounter. Regina knows nothing about the photo, but she lies about not knowing Sidney's whereabouts. When she mentions spending her spare time working on undoing the Snow Queen's spell, Emma offers to lend her magic in the task. She affirms allegiance to Regina, but the latter clarifies Emma has never had her back. Awaiting news from Sidney, Regina sadly looks at a photo of herself and Robin Hood. Sidney reports back, but before revealing the Snow Queen's hideout, he wants to be human, but Regina threatens him into submission. In the woods, she carries Sidney in a pocket mirror as he directs her to the Snow Queen. Emma, searching for a missing Elsa, joins her. As they travel, the blonde expresses admiration for what Regina is doing for Marian. To this, she accuses Emma of assuaging guilt over bringing back Marian. Regina explains that Emma, intentionally or not, ruined her life, and that's something she should live with. They reach an bridge, evidently made from Elsa's magic, and as they cross, the Snow Queen's wind gust stops them. Regina realizes Sidney betrayed her, and as the bridge collapses, the pair reach safety and defeat an orc by combining powers. The Snow Queen steals Regina's mirror and chokes them, but Elsa arrives to blast her away. Before the trio finish her off, the Snow Queen retreats. An argument breaks out between Regina and Emma as Elsa pleads for them to mend fences. Regina claims she doesn't want to, and then teleports to the vault. Persist as ever, Emma admits what occurred earlier wasn't to assuage guilt, but because she wants to be her friend. She vows to keep trying even if Regina wants to kill her. Regina, animosity somewhat lessened, admits that's not her intention.

Regina gathers with Belle, David, Elsa, Henry, Hook, Mary Margaret and Mr. Gold where they watch a camera recording of a young Emma and her prior foster mother, who is none other than the Snow Queen herself. With only one lead, the Snow Queen's ice cream truck, left to find, a search is organized. Robin Hood, discovering the truck near his campsite, informs Emma, to which Regina and Hook also join in the investigation. As they approach the vehicle, Regina shrugs off Robin Hood's attempt at talking to her. Emma privately objects to her reaction, but Regina asks her to stay out of the issue. Inside, they break open a freezer and uncover a newspaper clipping of when Pinocchio found Emma, as a baby, on the side of the road; proving the Snow Queen has been watching the savior from the start. After Regina exits the ice cream truck, Robin Hood catches up and confronts her about why she's avoiding him. While he believes Regina is upset at his prior love declaration, she admits what's bothering her; that there is no known spell to cure Marian. She explains, if Marian returns to normal, it'll only happen if he forgets about her, learns to fall in love with his wife again and uses true love's kiss. As Robin Hood looks at her with a torn expression, Regina stoically walks away.

In her vault, Regina flips through the storybook pages showing various happy endings when Robin Hood rushes in. Even knowing what must be done to heal Marian, he is unable to erase Regina from his heart. At this, she reacts with discomfort, but makes it clear they absolutely cannot be in each other's lives. Regina then leaves him to his indecisiveness. Later, at home, she continues looking at storybook pictures until Henry, dressed in a suit for work, asks her how things are with Robin Hood. Regina confirms their relationship is done, though she'll be ready when her happy ending does happen. On return to the vault, she stares at an illustration of herself facing execution after Snow White and Prince Charming took back the kingdom. Her gaze does not waver from the page once Robin Hood walks in, but she meets his eyes as he speaks of having lived his life honorably. However, Robin Hood proclaims he won't today, and then sweeps Regina into a passionate kiss, which she gladly reciprocates.

Since spending the night together, Regina has regrets over it since he is married, and even if things were different, she believes they wouldn't last. She explains the storybook's workings to Robin Hood and shows him an image of herself walking away from the tavern he was in. Regina insists they can't be intimate again, but Robin Hood humorously remarks that if they stay in the vault, it'll still count as the first time. After another tryst, Regina heads to the apartment in a rush since learning via phone that Henry was injured by Emma's magic. Additionally, she brings a potion for tracking Emma. While Henry refuses to talk, Regina heals her son's wound. Disappointed about not having magic, Henry believes he couldn't help Emma because of this, but she stresses his gift is being the heart of the truest believer who brought everyone together. Regina assures, as Henry chimes in, that Emma is a hero and heroes always win. After leaving Henry to his comic books, she admits to Mary Margaret that she and Robin Hood were intimate. Aghast at Emma's parents are letting their daughter choose to remove her magic, Regina relates her own mistake of not accepting Henry in the past out of fear of losing him, which changes their opinions. Realizing Elsa disappeared with the potion, Regina, David, Henry and Mary Margaret find Emma's car trail. As they search on foot, Regina explains to Mary Margaret that the storybook, despite the good or bad each person has done, still defines people as heroes or villains. Mary Margaret insists Regina's story can change since she is making good decisions over her prior bad ones. Called to the library by Robin Hood, he shows Regina a storybook page depicting them together in the tavern, which suddenly appeared in his bag. He uses it as proof her fate could've gone a different path, and that she isn't doomed to be unhappy.

In the clock tower, Regina and her allies witness the cloud formation of Ingrid's spell, which will take effect by sundown. At first, they try scaling the ice wall to escape town before the spell hits, but the barricade is too powerful. A fissure in the ice reveals Anna's lost necklace, which Elsa retrieves and she believes is a sign they will defeat Ingrid. Regina takes Henry and goes to warn Robin Hood about the imminent threat. Basking in their last moments together, she looks longingly at her lover; explaining her desire to remember him while he still has love for her, but he reasons they should think about the present for now. Comfortingly, they share a kiss and hug each other. After Elsa and Emma discover a counter spell, using a hair strand from someone who has already been under Ingrid's spell—namely Anna—can be made to combat the curse, they track her to a mine cave-in. Regrouping at the library, Regina suggests blasting through the mine, however, David receives word from Belle that a counter spell is possible with only the necklace. With the town in danger, Regina chides everyone about the lives at stake, and they must give up on Anna. Emma persuades Elsa into handing over the pendant in a pouch, but only after delivering it to the nuns for the counter spell, the group realize the bag contains pebbles. Emma, refusing to lose hope, pursues Elsa. Meanwhile, Regina brings Henry to the mayoral office; apologizing about her feelings for Robin Hood distracting her from Operation Mongoose. He is sure they'll find the Author, though Regina declares they must survive first, so she seals him in the office before the curse hits. Outside the room, she refuses to allow Robin Hood to go with her to the vault. Regina reasons that she must seal herself in there to keep from hurting people under the spell's influence, but Robin Hood swears he's not afraid of her. She contends he should be, and then flees to the vault; magically barricading herself in.

Under the curse, Regina does not recall locking herself in the vault. When her attempts to exit fail, she assumes the barrier keeping her in must be Emma's doing. Going down the staircase, Regina sees her own reflection. Not liking her current clothes, she poofs into more Queenly attire. While looking up spells to cast on Emma, she senses the savior herself is nearby. Accompanied by Elsa, Emma enters and reveals she brought Marian from the past on purpose to prove Regina could never have a happy ending. In truth, they deliberately provoke Regina to incite her hatred, which they need to counter Ingrid's love so the ribbons on their wrists can be destroyed. In a rage, Regina hurls fire magic at them, but it burns up the ribbons instead. Having gotten what they came for, Emma throws Regina backwards into the wall, and then she and Elsa take off. Regina later stalks into the sheriff station looking for them, but finds an imprisoned Mary Margaret. Regina's grudge against Mary Margaret for causing Daniel's death is revived, and she threatens to kill baby Neal as payback. After returning Anna and Kristoff to "where they came from", Regina magically unlocks Mary Margaret's cell and challenges her to a sword-fight. Both sustain blows, but neither give up. As morning approaches, they continue to have it out until the curse, prompted by Ingrid's sacrifice of her own life, is broken. Reverting to their former selves, Regina, Mary Margaret and David, who is still locked in his cell, burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of their prior disputes. Following a change of clothes, Regina goes with them to find Emma. As David and Mary Margaret reunite with their daughter, Henry rejoins Regina.

Though Ingrid's curse is gone, some of her magic remains at the town line, which prevents those who leave Storybrooke from re-entering. With Marian unfrozen, Regina restores her heart. Marian later thanks Regina for saving her life twice, and she admits knowing Regina and Robin Hood have feelings for each other. Marian agrees, if Robin Hood wants Regina, she won't interfere. At the park, Regina sits with Robin Hood as Marian plays with Roland by the lake. When Robin Hood asserts he is choosing her over Marian, Regina questions how his choice reflects in Roland's eyes. By following his heart, he believes living truthfully sets a good example to his son. Regina smiles hopefully when he shows her the storybook image of themselves, but suddenly, Roland calls to them after Marian fainted. Regina, recognizing Marian is freezing because of remnants of Ingrid's magic, suggests leaving town will save her life. Sacrificing her chance at happiness, she pushes Robin Hood into going with Marian. Before leaving town with Belle, Mr. Gold asks Regina to pass on his goodbyes to Henry, and he implies his grandson was snooping the pawnshop for something. She admits Henry suspected Mr. Gold knew the storybook Author, who can change her ending. Regina asks how he gained a happy ending, to which Mr. Gold states he forcibly took it and suggests she can too by letting Marian die. Having changed from her old ways, she refuses. Giving Regina a final kiss, Robin Hood crosses the town line to join Marian and Roland. With him gone, Regina rips the storybook page to shreds before tossing them onto the ground. While alone at the diner, she is joined by Emma as they share drinks. Rushing in, Henry leads them to a secret room within a mansion, which he believes belongs to the Author, containing blank storybooks. Learning of Operation Mongoose, Emma joins them in search of Regina's happy ending.

Six weeks later, Regina regains her place as mayor and Mary Margaret returns to teaching. While moving her things back into the office, she gleefully burns Mary Margaret's bird painting with a fireball. Having a change of heart, Regina retrieves the torn storybook pages, tapes them back together and stores it in her office drawer. One afternoon, she scours the storybook for the Author's identity when Emma offers her a root beer. As Emma searches for a bottle opener, she accidentally sees the storybook image of Regina and Robin Hood. When asked if she has heard from him, a tearful Regina confirms she hasn't. Gaining a translation to free the nuns, Regina casts it on the hat, freeing Mother Superior and her fellow sisters, but also unknowingly unleashing the Chernabog as well. At the diner, as the nuns are welcomed back, Regina shows Mother Superior one of the blank books from the Sorcerer's mansion and explains her desire for the Author to rewrite her a happy ending. The head nun clarifies the Sorcerer and Author are two different people, and although the Author could help, he hasn't been sighted for a long time. When the Chernabog attacks, Regina and Emma temporarily stun it with magic. Receiving a call from Cruella De Vil and Ursula, the two claim to have stolen Mr. Gold's phone and express hopes of entering Storybrooke after leaving their villainous pasts behind. Since the women give information about the Chernabog, she agrees to consider it. Learning the Chernabog devours the heart of the person with the greatest potential for evil, Regina assumes it is after her. She and Emma work together, forcing the Chernabog across the town line by luring it there with the two of them in Emma's car. The beast eventually caught up to the vehicle, compelling Regina to teleport away while Emma continued to drive; Regina then appears just in front of the town line, waving her hands trying to distract the Chernabog. This works long enough for Emma to hit the brakes, launching the beast across the line where it ceases to exist. David and Mary Margaret object to letting villains into Storybrooke, but Regina advocates that since she got a second chance, Cruella and Ursula deserve one too. She then tosses a scroll across the town line, which allows the newcomers to enter the town.

With Henry, Regina walks into the diner, to which Cruella De Vil and Ursula tease her about a time when she ripped out the hearts of people from an entire region. Before responding to them, Regina asks Henry to wait at the mayoral office, and after he leaves, she warns the women from speaking about her past in front of her son. Once the villains depart, David and Mary Margaret ask Regina to investigate the women, but she doesn't see them as threatening and has her own matters to attend to. Arriving at the mayoral office, Regina brings a box of frosted chocolate donuts as Henry is studying the book. Upset about what Cruella and Ursula said, she wonders if a happy ending is possible after her past actions. Henry comforts her, and as he bites into a donut, crumbs spill onto the open book. While Regina cleans it, she notices the pages for the Pinocchio fairytale are different, to which Henry recalls that August put the story in the book. Although August is now Pinocchio, Regina believes he may have answers about the Author. However, the boy recalls nothing, even when Emma tries to trigger his memories by reminding him of all the things he did as August. Frustrated, Regina insults Pinocchio for not trying harder to remember. When things get heated, Emma and Henry take Pinocchio out of the room. Angrily, Marco insinuates she doesn't deserve a happy ending after ruining everyone else's happiness while she snaps that neither does he after lying about the wardrobe to save his own son. Regretting her actions, she later makes a genuine apology to Marco, and for her sincerity, he gives her August's old bag, which might contain something useful. She then gives the bag's contents for Henry to research. That night, Regina learns from Mary Margaret that Maleficent has been revived by Cruella and Ursula, and she caused the witch to lose her child, which is a secret Emma must never know. To find out Maleficent's plans, Mary Margaret asks Regina to go undercover as a villain.

At the diner, Regina approaches Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula asking to join their inner circle. They are skeptical and decide to test her, so Cruella drives the car, while everyone is seated inside, onto railroad tracks as a train nears. Regina must prove herself to not be a hero by not saving them, but before the train hits the car, she teleports the vehicle out of the way. The women think Regina's gone soft until she suggests they stir up trouble elsewhere, and the foursome spend the night drinking and trashing public property. Regina was supposed to check in with David and Mary Margaret after infiltrating the villains' group, but she doesn't, so they search for her and find a sheriff car that Maleficent burned. Regina, clearly hungover, tells them what happened last night, and although the couple are anxious to know Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula's motives, she asks for more time. Later, Maleficent meets Regina in the latter's mausoleum, where she admits to Regina that she, Cruella and Ursula want to find the Author and rewrite their stories so the villains win and the heroes lose. As part of the plan, Maleficent wants her to steal something for them. Before the mission is carried out, Regina meets with David, Emma, Hook and Mary Margaret. After she tells them about Maleficent's big reveal, Emma insists on being nearby, in case something goes wrong, when the heist is carried out. That evening, Regina rides with Maleficent in Cruella's car, which takes them to Marco's shop, where she must kidnap Pinocchio, as the boy is the so-called lead that the women are planning to acquire. Once Regina puts Marco and Pinocchio to sleep, Emma tries to convince her not to take the boy, but the latter promises to watch out for the boy. Taking Pinocchio, she then purposely leaves her phone behind so Emma can't track her. Arriving at a cabin with Maleficent, Regina discovers their secret weapon is Mr. Gold, who reverts Pinocchio to August in order to obtain information about the Author.

Under interrogation, August claims he knows nothing, but in fear of being burned by Regina's fire magic, he admits obtaining research about the Author from the Dragon, which is currently in his old trailer. While Mr. Gold goes to check, Regina sends herself in the form of black smoke to Emma and her parents, where she briefly possesses Mary Margaret in order to tell them about Mr. Gold's return and August's current state. Later, Regina dozes off and dreams about returning with Robin Hood, except her doppelganger, the Evil Queen, attacks them with fire. Mr. Gold returns, having stolen a potion from the nuns, forces August to ingest it so for every time lies, his nose grows. Finally, August reveals there is a storybook page illustrating a door that the Author is trapped in. When he states Regina has knowledge of it, she realizes the image was in his old bag, which Henry now has. Suspecting the door might be in the Sorcerer's mansion, Regina and Maleficent go with Mr. Gold to search. They find nothing there, and on their walk back to the cabin, Cruella drives up in her car and announces Ursula has betrayed them to the heroes. After August is taken by Emma and her parents to the apartment, Regina heads there under the pretense of stealing the door image for the villains. Briefly, she talks to Emma about sensing the Evil Queen in her dream was protecting Robin Hood from something. She then asks Emma to find Robin Hood's contact details for her. From August, they learn the actual door to the Author in the door illustration itself.

At the apartment, while Regina and Emma are debating how they should proceed since finding out about the door illustration, Henry alerts them to August's depleting condition. They take him to the nunnery, where Mother Superior oversees his well-being. Afterwards, Henry and his two mothers discuss deceiving the villains. Emma conjures a forgery of the door page, but Regina settles for taking a photo of the real one. Once the villains see the snapshot, Mr. Gold realizes there is magic in the illustration and the Author must be trapped in it. With plans of stealing the page, Maleficent puts the town to sleep as Regina misleads them to look for the illustration at the apartment. With their search yielding nothing, Mr. Gold implies Henry, who is immune to Maleficent's spell, may have taken it to the mansion. With the task left to the women, Regina makes Henry forfeit the illustration, but as she wanted, he gives her the fake instead of the real one. Regrouping outside the pawnshop, Mr. Gold quickly deducts, after a spare glance, that the page is a forgery. Believing Regina to be culpable, he orders Maleficent to put her to sleep, which she does. They then take Regina to the vault, where Mr. Gold will force her to do his bidding.

Regina later awakens, finding Mr. Gold standing over her as she is already magically shackled, preventing her from using magic. When he allows her to phone Robin Hood in New York, she fears the worst, and only after calling him, she discovers Zelena has been impersonating Marian this whole time. To Regina's disbelief, Mr. Gold sides with Zelena, threatening to make her sister harm Robin Hood, if she doesn't help him turn Emma's heart towards darkness. Regina blatantly refuses, recalling how he turned her into a monster, and she does not wish the same thing to happen to Emma. Mr. Gold questions if that is her final answer as a distraught Regina looks at him silently.

Breaking the news about Zelena to Emma, her parents and Hook, Regina also tells them her plans to go to New York and rescue Robin Hood. Before going, she drops by the pawnshop, informing Belle about how much trouble Mr. Gold has been giving her. When Belle offers to help, Regina takes out her heart, before sending her to summon Mr. Gold at the well. Learning only the Author can reverse the effects of his darkened heart, Belle reconciles with him. When the pair break apart from a kiss, Regina controls Belle into saying hurtful things towards him, such as Will being a better kisser and that his groveling to get back with her is disgusting. As he is puzzled by Belle's words, Regina then walks out, commanding Belle to forget everything and leave. Regina vows to squeeze the heart if he tries stopping her trip to New York, and only after she begins making good on her promise, Mr. Gold relents. Later on, as she heads for her car, Emma gives her a gun for protection. Regina questions if Emma is angry at her for keeping her parents' secret, though the blonde believes she was only trying to help. Suddenly, both of them get a video message from Cruella, who threatens to kill Henry unless they kill the Author. With her New York rescue mission put on halt, Regina joins Emma and Hook to scour the forest near the Toll Bridge, where Cruella has Henry. She and Hook try to persuade her to forgive her parents, but Emma simply isn't having it. Hearing Henry's cry for help from different directions, the three split up, but the paths taken by Regina and Hook take end up being decoys set up by Mr. Gold, while Emma's path lures her to Cruella, who she kills to protect Henry.

In the aftermath of Cruella's death by Emma, Maleficent desires an alliance with the heroes if the savior can locate her daughter, Lilith. Regina later finds Emma looking at a newspaper adoption registry, having found out Lilith is her old friend Lily. Since they both have business outside of town, she convinces Emma to go with her. Prior to leaving, Regina turns over Belle's heart to Maleficent in the mayoral office and enacts a spell to keep Mr. Gold out. Arriving to Massachusetts, the two learn from Lily's landlord that she supposedly died in a car crash years ago. When the landlord insults Lily, Emma assaults him, but Regina stops her before she goes too far. On the road, Emma swerves the car after seeing a wolf. Recalling the same thing happened the first time she tried leaving Storybrooke, Emma considers fate is trying to tell her something. In the meantime, Regina goes to fix the car's flat tire at a gas station while Emma finds Lily at a diner. Although Lily insists she has moved on in life, Emma doesn't believe her and breaks into her house with Regina, where they discover she already knows the truth. Lily drives off in Emma's car, though the two women manage to stop her. After getting into a fight with Lily, Emma aims her gun at her, but Regina persuades her out of it. Learning by phone that Mr. Gold has regained Belle's heart, the trio head to New York and Regina breaks the news about Zelena to Robin Hood. Zelena feigns ignorance as Marian, but eventually reverts to her true self. Regina urges Robin Hood to leave with her, but he cannot, admitting Zelena is pregnant with his child.

Having some alone time at a bar, Regina talks to Robin Hood about their complicated situation. They agree that once Zelena's Marian disguise comes off, it will confuse Roland, so she suggests using a forgetting potion. Robin believes being with Regina is still possible, but she is doubtful since he is now connected with Zelena because of a child, which is something he'll never have with her. Deciding to put Zelena under house arrest, Regina brings her to Storybrooke, removing her sister's magic with a cuff, before escorting her into a cell in the psychiatric ward. When questioned about her chances of staying alive once the baby is born, Zelena considers that if Regina kills her, she'll make the child motherless. With plans for her happy ending, Regina then kidnaps Isaac and takes the quill from Mr. Gold. In her vault, the Author tells her the quill's ink must be infused with Emma's darkness. She shows him the image of herself and Robin, which Isaac recognizes as experimental writing he did for another book. Concluding the darkness meant for Emma is already in Lily, Regina purposely riles up the girl before stealing her blood to use as ink. Confronting Zelena, she then reveals her intentions of having Isaac write her out of existence. However, when Zelena likens her sister to the same cruelty Cora once showed her, Regina realizes the mistake she is making. Recognizing that she is standing in the way of her own happiness, Regina accepts the situation, opting to stop being self-destructive and move forward in life.

In a race to stop Isaac from changing their stories, Regina and the rest of the gang search the Sorcerer's library for clues, but all the storybooks are blank. With help from August and Hook, they discover the Apprentice is in the hat. After he is released by Mother Superior, the Apprentice rallies them to look for the door illustration needed for trapping Isaac. While Henry and the others search for the photo, Regina, Emma and the Apprentice try to confront Isaac at the pawnshop. Before they reach him, Isaac rewrites new lives for everyone in his book, Heroes and Villains.

During Alternate Reality
After Isaac rewrites everyone's stories in the Heroes and Villains book, Regina becomes a thief on the run from her stepmother, Queen Snow White, who hates her for telling a secret and causing her true love James' death. Living in the woods, she tries to rob from the Queen's carriages and gain enough to leave the kingdom, but another thief named Robin Hood often steals her prizes first. One day, she corners a boy, Henry, after catching him snooping around her makeshift home. He claims to be her son, insisting the life she is living now is not real, and tries to prove it with a book called Heroes and Villains. Regina reads a line in book stating she will rob from a carriage later, which is exactly what she had intended to do. Instead, she is freaked out by the book seeing her future, while Henry suggests Robin Hood is her true love and she has to kiss him to revert everything to normal. While ambushing a royal carriage, Regina unexpectedly faces Snow White, who demands the boy's location. Regina hesitates, causing the Queen to conjure a fireball, but before she can throw it, someone distracts her with a loosed arrow. Seeing a man on horseback, Regina hitches a getaway ride. Only after they stop at a tavern, she discovers he is Robin Hood. In admiration of her, he offers Regina leadership over the Merry Men, but she declines. Upon learning he is leaving his old life behind to get married, Regina is disheartened by the news, considering what Henry told her earlier. Once again, Henry tries to convince her otherwise, but she is angry he gave her hope of finding true love. By chance, he mentions "the savior", who Regina admits is a woman the Queen locked away.

Later, Henry returns after rescuing the savior, Emma, who convinces Regina to take a chance with Robin Hood. The trio head to stop Robin Hood's wedding, but when Rumplestiltskin blocks them, Emma duels with him while Regina rushes ahead. Peeking into the church, Regina finds herself unable to go in, though she and Robin Hood lock eyes at one point. Eventually, she abandons her plan to take a fatal blow that Rumplestiltskin meant for Henry. As Regina lays dying, the church bells chime, signaling Isaac's stories are now becoming permanent forever. Soon, Robin Hood reaches Regina's side, staying with her in her last moments. In a stroke of luck, Henry harnesses the quill, becoming the new Author, and uses Regina's blood as ink to reverse Isaac's stories and return everyone to Storybrooke.

Before Third Curse
Once Henry becomes the next Author and reverses Isaac's stories, Regina finds herself on the streets of Storybrooke, where she reunites with Robin. Later that night, they attend a diner party, where he asks about Zelena's condition, to which she confirms her sister is still pregnant. While taking an evening stroll together, Regina is attacked by a fury of escaped darkness from Mr. Gold's heart. As it takes hold of her, Robin is unable to intervene, causing Emma to absorb the darkness instead, making her the new Dark One, while Regina is saved.

After Emma disappears and leaves the dagger behind, Regina and her allies learn from the Apprentice that she is in the Enchanted Forest now. To reach her, the Apprentice asks them to use his wand, and they can only cross realms if it is wielded by someone with both light and dark essence. Regina fails to tap into the wand's power, as Hook ironically points out, because she's done too much good. When Hook suggests Zelena can make the wand work, Regina allows her sister to examine the wand. Zelena deciphers that they have to use an important belonging of Emma's in order for the wand's portal to find her. Regina then takes the wand back, and though she knows her power is not enough for the wand, she refuses to let Zelena try either. Later in the day, Hook frees Zelena so she can use the wand, but when she escapes, he is forced to tell Regina the truth. They are too late to stop Zelena from kidnapping Robin, who she holds hostage, until Regina forfeits the wand to her to secure her loved one's safety. Zelena creates a cyclone, intending to go back to Oz, but when she suffers a magic drain, Regina quickly renders her powerless again with an enchanted cuff. At some point, she casts a spell on Zelena's hand to prevent her from cutting it off and therefore getting rid of the cuff. In the diner, Regina uses Emma's baby blanket to redirect the cyclone into taking them to the Enchanted Forest.

After arriving to the Enchanted Forest, Regina and her allies stop Emma from crushing Merida's heart, persuading her that they can find another way to find Merlin without killing an innocent person. Mary Margaret gives Emma the dagger, but Emma hands it to Regina, asking the brunette to stop her if she ever goes too far. Shortly after, King Arthur and his knights approach, stating the newcomers have been prophesied to reunite them with Merlin. The Storybrooke natives are then led to King Arthur's castle in Camelot.

At the castle, King Arthur introduces the group to his Queen, Guinevere, and he announces there will be a ball held in their honor. Zelena pressures Regina to remove the bracelet or she'll tell Arthur about Emma being the Dark One, but Regina magically shuts her sister up. Arthur later shows them a tree in the courtyard which the sorcerer is trapped in and asks which of them is the prophesied savior. Emma moves to speak up, but Regina claims the title in her place, not wanting Emma's cover to be blown. While browsing Merlin's tower, Regina promises Emma that she will free her of darkness, to which Emma thanks her. Later, Regina is looking at the Merlin tree with Robin Hood when Percival gifts her a purple necklace, stating it's from Arthur and he wants her to wear it at the ball. That night, Regina refuses to attend the ball, offering to babysit baby Neal, because she doesn't know how to dance and worries people will doubt she is not the savior. David insists on teaching her how to waltz, and after magically changing herself into a white gown, she practices with him while still wearing the purple necklace, not knowing Percival is spying on her through it. Before the ball begins, Regina walks out to an awaiting crowd as she is formally introduced as the savior. She and Robin have a good time together, but Percival cuts in, asking for his turn to dance with the savior. Once Robin is gone, Percival tells Regina an eerie story of a boy who returned to his massacred village, where he met an angel of death who smiled at him. By the story's end, Regina realizes he is talking about her, and it was his village she ruined so many years ago. Percival prepares to murder her, but Robin intervenes, getting injured. After David kills Percival, Regina is unable to heal Robin, so she begs Emma to try. Emma heals Robin, but as the cost of magic, she must extract a price from Regina, though it appears Emma never did. Regina outs herself as the former Evil Queen to Arthur, who forgives her past and credits her as the savior since he believes she healed Robin.

While searching for a magical remedy to free Merlin, Regina is inspired by Mary Margaret's suggestion that they find a way to talk to Merlin, leading her to discover a toadstool called the crimson crown which can do just that. After David and Arthur go off to retrieve it, Regina reaches a dead end in her research, and to calm her nerves, Robin offers to get tea for her. Before leaving the room, he kisses Regina, as a mute Zelena watches with disdain from the sidelines. Once Robin is gone, Regina restores Zelena's voice and confronts her about her prior escape attempt to Oz. Unapologetic, Zelena reasons that Regina means to take away her baby, who could be her only chance at happiness. Zelena asks why she can't have a second chance since Regina got one, to which the latter angrily recalls that she already used up two second chances, and then tell her to stop painting herself as the victim. An incited Zelena argues that while Regina may see life as fair, she herself still sees only one sister getting all the toys in the box. Regina abruptly mutes her again, cautioning Zelena to remember that she is still the Evil Queen, and that she can be far worse towards her if she wishes. Instead of that, though, Regina promises she'll ensure the baby is loved and safe, while also making sure the same won't happen for Zelena. That night, after the toadstool quest is a failure, Arthur knights David and bestows him the Siege Perilous seat at the Round Table, as Regina and the others are present for the ceremony.

As Emma enters a catatonic state from the strain of being the Dark One, Regina, Hook and Emma's immediate family are left unsure how to help her. When Mary Margaret and David openly discuss Lancelot's return, though he was previously believed to be dead, Regina chides them for talking about a sensitive topic in front of Emma, as anything could set her off at this point. On Regina's suggestion that Emma needs privacy to recuperate, Henry leads Emma and Hook to Violet's family stables. Afterwards, Regina relates her suspicions to David and Mary Margaret that Emma was likely after the dagger and prepares to hide it elsewhere, but David objects, stating that Arthur can help Emma if they give him the dagger. Mary Margaret argues against this, standing by Lancelot's warning to her, however, David questions where the former knight has been all these years. The couple go back and forth with their disagreement, with Regina as a silent witness, until Mary Margaret asks her to give them some privacy. Wordlessly, she turns and teleports away in purple smoke. Eventually, Mary Margaret and David come up with a plan to trick Arthur into stealing a fake dagger, as a test to see if he is truly good or bad. Meanwhile, Regina puts the real dagger in a leather pouch, hiding it in a tree trunk. The next morning, she paces the room, which Robin mistakes as her worrying about Mary Margaret and David. Instead, Regina affirms her confidence that the two survived, but she is curious about whether their test on Arthur worked. When Mary Margaret and David finally return, they explain that Arthur can be trusted after all, and Lancelot is their actual enemy, much to Regina's skepticism. They insist that their best bet now for helping Emma is to give the dagger to Arthur.

As Regina leads David and Mary Margaret to the dagger, she questions Arthur's trustworthiness, while the pair attest they are acting in Emma's best interests. When she pulls the dagger from the tree trunk, Regina expresses doubts about giving Arthur the one thing that can control Emma. An impatient Mary Margaret demands the dagger, but suddenly, she and David are magically frozen by Emma. The blonde briefs Regina on the enchantment Arthur has her parents under, because he wants the dagger to unite it with Excalibur, in order to kill Merlin. Emma believes freeing Merlin is possible with her own dark magic, but Regina warns her against it, knowing all to well from her own experiences in dabbing in dark magic that it never ends well. The blonde, however, politely considers that she isn't Regina. Under pressure by Regina, Emma reveals she learned the truth about her parents from a dreamcatcher. It also showed her how, as Merlin wept over losing his love, the Dark One took one of his tears and used it to turn him into a tree. Going by this, Regina recognizes that a tear of a broken heart is needed to free Merlin. After the women encounter Henry, who is attempting to learn swordfighting to impress Violet's father, they convince him not to change, with both Regina and Emma exemplifying how each of their first loves didn't try to be anything but themselves. Realizing she can provide the needed tear, Regina uses the dreamcatcher to relive the memory of Cora killing Daniel. Emma combines Regina's tear with the other ingredients, but the potion doesn't work because, while Regina's heartbreak is real, she has healed from the past and moved on with Robin. Henry stops by, in tears over Violet rejecting him, which is just the tear they need. When Arthur and his men try to stop them, Regina distracts them with fireballs as Emma completes the potion and reverts Merlin to human form. Later, in the diner, Regina is present while the sorcerer confirms he can remove Emma's darkness, but she must be open and willing for it to work.

Merlin tells the heroes about the plan to rid Emma's darkness by uniting Excalibur with the dagger. To accomplish this, he and Emma have to go on a quest to obtain a magical item, the flame of Prometheus, needed for combining the two weapons. As for the heroes, Merlin requests that they work to get Excalibur from Arthur. During discussion about infiltrating the castle, David suggests going in from the front and ambushing the soldiers. Hook going on to say they'll diverge at the bridge and then climb up the castle walls, while Regina offers to simply teleport into Arthur's bedroom to find the sword. Exasperated at their lofty ideas, Zelena motions for Regina to restore her voice, and after she can speak again, she convinces them that the best way to get in is without attracting attention. Zelena shows them an abandoned tunnel leading to the courtyard that is protected by magic, and as her reward, she wants the cuff removed. Regina, still suspicious of her, decides to save that for after they get the sword, and she leaves Mary Margaret to stay behind and keep watch on Zelena. Though they corner Arthur in the Round Table room, the group are blindsided by Zelena, who holds Mary Margaret as her hostage to get them to back down. Seeing as Arthur helped remove Zelena's cuff, Regina prepares for battle by conjuring a flaming fireball to throw at her sister, but she promptly dissolves it, after Robin protests that the baby might be hurt by magic. After Zelena helps Arthur tether Merlin to Excalibur, he summons the sorcerer, ordering him to send the heroes away.

Regina and her allies are held hostage as Arthur forces Merlin to deliver an ultimatum to Emma; hand over the flame ember or her family and friends die. Emma agrees to comply if her loved ones are released first, but when Zelena threatens to start killing them one by one, she forfeits the box containing the ember. After opening the box, Zelena finds herself ensnared by Emma's dark magic, to which Arthur forces Merlin to engage Emma in a magical duel and then orders him to kill Mary Margaret. In the end, Hook disarms Arthur, freeing Merlin from his grasp, which forces Arthur and Zelena to retreat. Afterwards, Regina goes with David and Robin to comb the woods to ensure the villains are gone, before returning to the diner. Because Emma has trouble lighting the ember, Regina tries to force her, with the dagger's will, to admit why she is afraid of letting go of the darkness. Emma states she fears not being able to protect her family, but Regina recognizes this is not the root of the issue. Regina probes her further for the real reason as Emma resists answering, but she stops and puts down the dagger after Emma's parents and Hook see what she is doing. Mary Margaret is horrified at Regina's forceful tactics, but the latter asserts that it was necessary to get the truth. With Hook's help, Emma faces her underlying fears and ignites the ember. In the presence of everyone else, Emma begins using the ember to reforge the sword and dagger into one weapon, but then, Hook collapses from a cut he previously sustained from Excalibur, which no magic can heal. Emma, desperate to save him, even if it means making Hook a Dark One like herself and causing her own descent into full darkness, ignores the pleas of her friends and family and teleports away with Hook. As she tethers Hook's life to Excalibur, Regina and the others remain in the diner, looking on in alarm as black tendrils of darkness evaporate from Merlin's body.

Regina joins her party to search the Vault of the Dark One for a revived Hook, but he has already left the area. Because this is the worst future Merlin foresaw in his visions, Lancelot is sent to get help from his mother, the Lady of the Lake, while everyone else will return to the diner so Merlin can create a spell to counter the darkness. After Hook returns with Emma, the pirate goes into the diner to fetch Merlin, supposedly so he and Emma can be rid of their darkness. Unknown to the rest of the group, Hook crushes Merlin's heart in Nimue's place, enacting another curse to return everyone to Storybrooke. In the hopes of finding a way to return him to the man he used to be, Emma absorbs Hook's memories from the last six weeks into a dreamcatcher, and she does the same with Regina and everyone else, to ensure no one remembers Hook becoming a Dark One, before adding the dreamcatcher to the curse brew, creating a full memory wipe. Soon, the curse spreads and sends them all back to Storybrooke.

After Third Curse
Upon arrival to Storybrooke, Regina and the others realize they can only remember entering King Arthur's castle in Camelot, and nothing else beyond that. Giving off the facade of having embraced her darkness, Emma enters, intimidating her family and friends with just her presence alone. Regina threatens to fulfill what Emma once told her to do if she went too far, but when she reaches for the dagger, it is not there. Instead, Emma reveals she has it now, and she then proclaims she will punish them for what they did to her.

The next day, Regina, Mary Margaret and David try to stop the dwarves from testing the town line, but Leroy insists they have to know whether it's possible to leave town now that Emma is a danger to them all. Dopey crosses the line and nothing happens, but then, the earth beneath him cracks open and releases greenery, turning him into a tree. Regina confronts Emma when she sees her talking to Henry, and then asks about the memory wipe. Emma admits casting the curse, which is unbreakable since there's no savior, but Regina attests she will find a way. Before Regina departs with Henry, Emma cautions that there's a problem in town that only a savior can fix. Regina learns some of Camelot's residents have been brought to Storybrooke by Emma's curse, and she briefs Arthur about it. As some of the townspeople are distributing supplies to the Camelot visitors, Regina relates her fears to Robin Hood about taking on the savior role and whether people are ready to trust her. Later, Robin is kidnapped by a fury, which is the "problem" Emma spoke of. Regina tries to save him, but she gets injured by the fury, who escapes. She attempts to follow, but Mary Margaret convinces her to stay behind and let them handle it. Upset at this setback, Regina vents her frustration onto a comatose Mr. Gold, blaming him for making her the person she is. Belle provides intel about the fury, stating it's a demon from the underworld sent to extract an unpaid price of magic, and that they have until the full moon reaches its zenith before Robin is taken. Believing Emma summoned the fury, Regina demands that she send it away, but Emma reveals Regina is the one who didn't pay the price from six weeks ago. Regina then forces the fury to take her life instead, but Mary Margaret refuses to abandon her, linking hands with her. Soon, David, Leroy and Arthur do the same, causing the fury's power to explode on itself, therefore paying off the price of magic. That night, Regina joins Robin at the diner. Satisfied with having proven she can protect the town, she solves another problem by magically reverting Mr. Clark to normal from his statue form.

At the sheriff station, Regina shows David and Mary Margaret a photo of a toadstool from a Camelot book she had marked six weeks prior, though she doesn't remember what it was for. When the dwarves storm in, demanding David do something about Emma, who stole Happy's pick ax, Regina grabs the book and takes her leave from the room. David eventually finds the toadstool, which crossed over from Camelot during the curse, and presents it to Regina and Mary Margaret in the vault, where they realize they were using the toadstool to breach communication with Merlin.

Gathered with her allies at the sheriff's station, Regina is present as Grif's strange disappearance is noted, with Arthur suggesting Grif escaped back to Camelot with a magic bean. Upset about how this news will affect her people, as the bean was their only hope of going home, Guinevere believes they must do something to raise everyone's spirits. Henry suggests a dance, to which David jokes about that being an excuse for him to ask his girlfriend out. Regina is alarmed by the mention of a girlfriend, though he later insists he and Violet are just friends. After Mr. Gold is reported missing, Regina goes with Belle, Hook and Robin to break into Emma's house, suspecting she has something to do with his disappearance. To get past the door's protection spell, Regina conjures Henry's scarf, using it to bypass the barrier. In the basement, they find Excalibur in a stone, noting that the sword's markings are the same as the Dark One's dagger. Hook moves to pull it out, but Regina stops him, warning that doing so might kill him. Before they can search the rest of the house, Henry texts Regina about Emma returning home. As they scramble to leave, Hook finds a dreamcatcher, causing Regina to realize Emma used it to take their memories. Regina and Robin later view the dreamcatcher's memories, in which Emma took Violet's heart and told her to reject Henry, in order to obtain a tear of a broken heart to free Merlin. When Emma turns up asking to see Henry, Regina confronts her about what she did to Violet. Emma defends her decision, arguing that she did it with good reason, to which Regina compares her to Cora, who said the same thing to her long ago. Emma insists she didn't have a choice, though Regina recalls Emma has said many times there is always a choice. Pushed to her limit, Emma reveals it was the only way to free Merlin. Regina then questions why she is still the Dark One if they freed the sorcerer, but Emma refuses to say and instead asks again to see Henry. Regina denies her request, stating that Henry doesn't want to see her, before closing the door.

After informing David, Mary Margaret, Hook and Belle about Emma's slip up about Merlin, Regina explains her plans to use the crimson crown to talk to the sorcerer, though they need Arthur's help enacting the spell, as only someone chosen by Merlin can use the toadstool. Belle prompts the group to consider getting direct help from Mr. Gold instead, but all three oppose her views for different reasons. Regina believes if Mr. Gold gets hurt while in Emma's grasp, that's a risk that has to be taken in order to focus on Merlin. After Belle goes to save Mr. Gold on her own, the heroes gather in the vault, with the prepared spell brew. Upon Arthur's arrival, he asks for privacy to use the crimson crown, explaining that Merlin only ever spoke to him when no other people were around. Regina and everyone else leave to wait outside the vault, and after a time, Arthur exits to inform them the spell failed. As proof of Arthur's sabotage, David later finds the charred, but still magically intact crimson crown in the burnt out cauldron fire. With Henry being the only other person who was chosen by Merlin, he is called in to enact the spell. Regina has concerns that he isn't up for the task, but Henry attests the person who ripped out Violet's heart isn't his mom and he'll do whatever it takes to get back the old Emma. Once the spell is cast, the group view a prerecorded hologram message from Merlin, who tells them to look for Nimue, the person they need for defeating the Dark One.

Although Arthur is apprehended and imprisoned for his sabotage, he holds no answers about Emma's current actions. From Hook's previous run-in with Emma, in which she told him that he is the reason for her plans, he comes to believe Emma has something bigger at stake rather than her desire to snuff out the light. Regina scoffs at his naiveness, insisting Emma is toying with his emotions, but Hook refuses to let the issue go and decides to get answers from Emma herself. When Zelena's pregnancy accelerates because of Emma's magical influence, Regina and Robin are called in by Nurse Ratched, and all three accompany Zelena as she is brought to the hospital wing to prepare for labor. As Zelena is giving birth, Regina waits in the hallway, expressing doubts about helping her sister after everything she's done, but Mary Margaret persuades her that it's the right thing to do. After a daughter is born, Regina puts on a brave face, entering the room to congratulate Robin and meet the baby, while Zelena cannot help but comment on her sister's underlying jealousy over her having Robin's child. Before Regina can respond, Emma arrives to kidnap Zelena instead of the baby, proving Emma has something bigger planned. With David and Mary Margaret, Regina goes to confront Emma, who promises that they'll be thanking her after she is done with Zelena, and then stabs Excalibur into the ground, triggering a magical barrier that touches everyone who is present.

Shortly after, Regina, David and Mary Margaret enter the house in search of Emma, who finally admits she had turned Hook into a Dark One and planned on putting both her and Hook's darkness into Zelena before killing her. With a dark Hook now on the loose, their best bet of finding out his goals is getting their memories from the dreamcatchers, however, Hook has already stolen them. In a meeting at Regina's house, Mr. Gold reveals Hook intends to get revenge on him with a duel to the death. To learn more about Nimue, who can defeat the Dark One, Mr. Gold advises the group to research The Dark One Chronicles. Emma believes she can help them quicker with magic if they remove her cuff, but her family or friends refuse, not trusting that the darkness won't influence her to do bad things. As assurance Emma won't try anything, Regina has Merida guard her while everyone is away. Before she can join the group at the library, Regina heads to the hospital, where Zelena finds her baby daughter missing. Zelena is livid, accusing Regina of being jealous of her having Robin's baby, to which Regina fires back, confronting her sister over the outrageous things she did just to have the child. Believing this insanity between them has to end, Regina takes her to the loft, where Robin is taking care of the baby. Regina, having had the experience of changing into a better person because of maternal love, has hopes Zelena's love for her own child can do the same. Robin then gives his permission for Zelena to be part of his daughter's life and to visit as long as either he or Regina are present. After Emma retrieves the dreamcatchers, Regina's lost memories are restored. From regaining her memories that Hook stole from her, Emma realizes Hook wants to open a portal to the underworld and bring all the previous Dark Ones to Storybrooke.

Learning Hook has unleashed the previous Dark Ones from the Underworld, Regina goes with Robin to search for and take down Hook, while everyone else splits up from them to cover more ground. The pair stop in their tracks when Zelena poofs in front of them, casually stating she's since made a change in her and Robin's custody agreement, in which she grants herself sole custody. Zelena claims there is no point in fighting since both Regina and Robin will be dead soon. The couple quickly learn what she means when two Dark Ones corner them and brand their wrists with the mark of Charon. After regrouping with the others, they determine the Dark Ones cannot exist without living souls taking their places in the Underworld, as everyone with the mark will die when Charon comes for them. Regina finds Hook and tries to talk him out of damning Emma's loved ones to the Underworld. He ignores her plea, believing Regina, of all people, should know how far someone will go for revenge. However, she considers that he wasn't the man he was then when she asked him to kill Cora, and how she tested him to ensure he had no weaknesses. Before she can bring up the weakness in question, he magically constricts her throat, warning her to never speak of it again as she has no idea of his current capabilities. Regina arrives to the vault, where Emma tells her to fulfill the promise she once asked of her if she ever went too far. They procure Excalibur from Mr. Gold, with Emma intending to absorb all the darkness, and have Regina kill her to destroy it. Afterwards, Regina heads to the mayor's office with Robin to confront Zelena. Using the Apprentice's wand, she teleports herself and Zelena to the clock tower, before harnessing the wand to banish Zelena to Oz. As Charon's arrival draws near, everyone who was branded is brought to the lake, where the portal to the Underworld is. Regina reminds Hook once more of the choice he made with his father, and that he has to decide what kind of man he wants to be now. Prompted by this, Hook takes in the darkness and has Emma kill him. However, when Emma discovers Mr. Gold used Hook's sacrifice to regain his Dark One powers, she forces him to reopen the portal to the Underworld so she can save Hook. With the others, Regina joins them on this expedition.

Upon coming to the Underworld, Regina splits from her group, with Robin accompanying her to search for Hook. She sees a familiar face on the street, a man named Blacktooth, whom she killed long ago in the Enchanted Forest. Robin notices the town looks the same as Storybrooke, except the top of the clock tower is in ruins on the street. Regina recalls Storybrooke came along with the Dark Curse after she cast it, though she theorizes that whoever made the curse created Storybrooke as a replica to the Underworld's town. Suddenly, she realizes Blacktooth has been trailing them, but he reveals Cora wants to see her. At the mayor's office, Regina reunites with her mother, who is worried for her safety in the Underworld and has prepared a boat to take her home. Cora insists Regina should do what's best for herself instead of helping her friends, which will be her downfall. To give Regina a reason to leave, she shows her what will happen if she stays. Cora pulls Blacktooth into a fiery abyss, damning him to a worse fate, and she warns Regina to take the boat, or her father will suffer the same end. After a failed attempt at talking to Hook, Emma urges Regina to leave the Underworld before Cora's threat becomes real. Instead, Regina uses the ale to summon her father, whom she tearfully apologizes to. He forgives her for killing him, and she promises to follow Cora's orders to keep him from any more suffering, but he encourages her to stay and help her friends. With Henry, Regina returns to the cave to confront Cora, but she is unable to stop Cora from pulling her father into the fire. After Cora teleports away, however, her father is released from the flames, with a bridge forming behind him leading to Mount Olympus. Realizing his unfinished business, which was to ensure Regina is free of Cora's control, has come to an end, he bids both her and Henry a farewell, before ascending to a better place. While Regina and her party consider helping other souls move on from the Underworld, Mr. Gold leaves the group, wanting no part in it.

Continuing to look for Hook in the north woods, Regina decides to speed things along by sending Robin to the mayor's office, where there might be maps of Underbrooke. She allows him to take Henry along, and she assures them that the office is safe now that Cora is gone. Emma picks up on a blood trail, which she and Regina follow, believing it leads to Hook, but instead, they find Hades' escaped prisoner Megara. The girl just barely mentions Hook when a hellhound, Cerberus, approaches them, prompting Emma to teleport all three of them to the Underworld version of her parents' apartment. Unsure of who or what is living here, Regina fears the tenant might come home, however, Emma finds proof that the apartment is waiting for her parents to die and move in. Megara tells them about Hook helping her escape Cerberus, whom she describes with terrifying detail. Believing Hercules can defeat the beast, Mary Margaret joins Regina and Emma at the diner, where Regina grills the Blind Witch about the deceased demigod. The Blind Witch still resents Regina for killing her, while the former Evil Queen reminds the witch that there were bound to be consequences for stealing her apple. After the witch gives them the information, Mary Margaret persuades Hercules to take on the mission. The trio of women enter the mines with him, and they stay behind as he ventures deeper on his own. When Hercules returns to them after fleeing from Cerberus, the group brace for a fight, only for Hades to call off his pet and confront them himself. Regina wants to know why the Underworld looks like Storybrooke, but Hades refuses to say. Hades leaves them with Killian's hook, warning that he'll do much worse to the pirate. When Mary Margaret loses hope over her inability to help Hercules or herself, Regina reminds her that Snow White never lost faith in her, the Evil Queen, and won her over by becoming her friend. Furthermore, she pushes Mary Margaret to give up her Storybrooke persona, because they need Snow White now. Inspired by Regina's advice, Mary Margaret channels her old personality and teams up with Megara and Hercules to kill Cerberus. In the aftermath, Mary Margaret vows to be Snow White again, much to Regina's approval.

To find Hook underground, Regina and her party plan to enter the cave that Megara previously escaped from. The plan falls through after Mr. Gold convinces Emma to join him for a better idea, in which he'll use the aura of a deceased person to get both of them into Hades' lair, where Hook is. While Mr. Gold and Emma are away on the mission, Regina tries to track down the Blind Witch at the diner, but she finds Cruella instead. Unable to use her magic in the Underworld, Regina relies on Cruella for information about Underbrooke's headstones and how to tell by looking at them if someone has moved on. With her first love Daniel in mind, she recruits Snow to accompany her into the cemetery to look for his grave. Upon finding it, Regina is relieved to see the headstone is tipped over, meaning Daniel moved on from the Underworld. She speaks to his grave, relating how pleased she is that he's in a happier place, and at the same time, she is sad over not being able to see him again. Later, in town, she spots a wounded horse lying on its side and manages to channel her magic to heal the animal. At the apartment, Regina and the others enter to find Hook and Emma, who report that Hades destroyed their boat, so now everyone has no way of going home. Since her magic is working again, Regina attempts to take out Emma's heart, in order to split each half between Emma and Hook, but a magic barrier blocks her. Afterwards, Hook shows everyone the three headstones that Hades engraved with Regina, Snow and Emma's names, to make them stay in the Underworld forever, in place of the three people who already moved on.

Seeking knowledge about Hades' weakness in order to defeat him, Regina helps search for the storybook. After Henry reveals the book is in the Sorcerer's mansion, Emma's parents head to the sheriff's office to get the key. While waiting for their return, Emma confides in Regina about Hook's brother Liam pressuring her to let Killian go after they take down Hades. Though Emma confirms Killian wants to move on, Regina advises her to help Hook to forgive himself for his dark deeds, as that's something she struggled with in the past too. At the mansion, Emma makes Henry stand on guard duty as everyone else looks for the book. Henry begins to protest, but Regina cuts him off, telling him not to argue with either of his mothers. Liam finds the book, with the pages from Hades' story torn out, and he suggests sweeping the mansion until the fallen pages are found. Regina, having been told earlier by Emma that Liam is self-righteous, quietly agrees with her sentiments, before going to look for the pages. Later, Hook discovers Liam took the pages while under duress from Hades. Henry reveals to his family that he found the Author's quill in the mansion, and he initially wanted it for the wrong reasons, but now, he'll use it to re-record Hades' story.

After Henry writes about Snow and David's plan to contact their son Neal in Storybrooke, Regina and the others have little enthusiasm about it, as they were hoping to read Hades' story. Having no control over how and when his writing happens, Henry becomes upset at their reactions and storms upstairs. Zelena, after being pulled into the Underworld, seeks out the heroes' help to track down her baby, whom Belle ran off with. While combing the woods with Regina and Robin, she asks Robin what he named their daughter, expressing disdain at certain names, especially Marian. When Robin retorts he hasn't had enough time with their child since he's been protecting her from Zelena, she berates him for being in the Underworld instead of with their daughter. Robin insists helping a friend and settling an example of heroism is important, much to Zelena's disdain. To end the dispute, Regina recalls how she used to be like Zelena, only caring about herself, and that made her alone and miserable, but this changed when her enemies became her family, which is why they are in the Underworld to save Hook. After finding the baby, Zelena offers to feed her with a formula bottle. Robin relents, only because Zelena's magic isn't working, but when Zelena's magic returns, she douses him, Regina and Belle with a blast before escaping with her child. However, after realizing her own magic injured her daughter, Zelena forfeits her to Robin, knowing she can't protect their child from Hades, whom she suspects wants the child for a time spell. Back at the apartment, Regina plays with the baby, fondly noting that her eyes resembles Robin's.

In the library, Regina works on creating a spell to unlock Hades' seal on the elevator entrance. After finishing, she and Emma magick the door open, but instead of access to Hades' lair, it reveals a brick wall. Relating a dream she had, Emma thinks she may be able to magically burn her, Regina and Snow's names from the headstones. Snow and Hook go with her, but before Regina joins them, she goes to talk to Zelena about her past with Hades. Regina learns Hades is in love with Zelena, and while she cares about her sister, she presses her on the matter of Hades' weakness. Zelena is upset Regina has come to her for more than just sisterly concern, while Regina insists both are very important to her. However, Zelena has nothing else to offer, except that she is Hades' only known weakness. Regina finds her group in the vault, where they are hiding from a beast that killed Snow in Emma's dream. She theorizes Emma's dream relates to her fears, and after some prodding from Hook, Emma admits she regrets bringing everyone to the Underworld and is afraid she'll inevitably cause someone's death. After helping Emma let go of her guilt, Snow leads her allies into the forest to track the beast. Regina and Emma stun the monster with their combined powers, but upon closer look, Snow recognizes it's wolf Ruby and reverts her to human form with the cloak.

Once Ruby wakes up, she tells her friends about her search for Dorothy, who went missing in Oz after Zelena took her silver slippers. Regina talks Zelena into redeeming herself by helping them, to which Zelena unveils in a mirror that Dorothy is currently under the sleeping curse in Oz. Only true love's kiss can break the curse, and Zelena believes it impossible, since Dorothy may have the love of the Ozians, but not true love. In a private chat with Regina, Zelena continues to be smug about what she did to Dorothy, until her sister tells her to drop the act. Regina persuades her to break away from the path she is on now, starting by doing one good thing; giving up the slippers. Zelena forfeits the slippers, despite that she sees no value in Regina's pep talks, as she believes nothing will ever change for either of them. Regina offers the slippers to Ruby, who sees no point in returning to Dorothy if there's no one to give her true love's kiss. After some thought, Ruby recalls Dorothy loved her deceased Auntie Em. They find Auntie Em's headstone is neither tipped or cracked, and to get true love's kiss, Snow suggests bottling a kiss from Auntie Em and delivering it to Dorothy in Oz. Auntie Em jumps at the chance to help Dorothy, but before she can, her body melts into a puddle, because of interference from Hades. Eventually, Snow convinces Ruby to attempt true love's kiss on Dorothy, knowing she has feelings for the girl. Instead of David going with Ruby to Oz, where he'll make the journey home to Storybrooke, he forfeits his freedom so Snow can go instead. Before Snow leaves, Regina requests that, after she gets back to Storybrooke, to check up on Roland, as she knows Robin would want to know if his son is all right.

Through an enchanted hand mirror, Regina spies on Zelena and Hades' growing romance. She learns Hades has created tombstones for her and her friends, and that he wants to leave for Storybrooke with Zelena. After Zelena returns home, Regina forbids her from seeing Hades again, but Zelena believes she can change him into a better person, like Regina did with Robin. Regina questions what will happen if she fails, to which Zelena rebuffs her concern, accusing her of never wanting a sister anyway. To stop Hades' influence on Zelena, she enlists Hook to help her rescue Cora. While her mother distracts Zelena by pretending to reconcile with her, Regina sneaks in with a memory potion. Cora tries to slip the potion to Zelena in a drink, but the latter figures out what is going on. When both sisters prepare to have it out in a magic battle, Cora restores their lost childhood memories of each other. Remorseful about having believed any love was weakness, Cora praises Regina for being stronger than she ever was, and that she earned that strength from her loved ones. After imparting similar wisdom to Zelena, Cora prepares to move on from the Underworld, and she asks her daughters to always hold on to each other. Once their mother is gone, Regina finally gives her blessing to Zelena about Hades.

Shortly after letting Zelena go, Regina explains her decision to her allies, who are skeptical about whether her sister can change Hades or not. She steps up to help when Hades reveals Zelena is being ransomed by Mr. Gold and Peter Pan, but rather than let her, Hades agrees to remove everyone's names from the tombstones if Emma assists him. Once Emma saves Zelena, a kiss of true love between Hades and Zelena triggers a portal to Storybrooke that is set to open in a few hours. Following the removal of the tombstone names, Regina pulls out Emma's heart to begin the heart split, but it fails to work. When Hades mentions ambrosia might allow Killian to escape the Underworld, Emma and Hook head underground to look for it. In their absence, Henry frets over not completing Operation Firebird, and although people can move on once Hades has left, he wants to help those who don't know their unfinished business. Upon rejoining his party, Robin is alarmed to see them with Zelena and Hades, even with Regina's assurance the pair can be trusted. Knowing the portal to Storybrooke is opening soon, Regina asks Robin to take the baby and go through it first, as she wants to stay a little longer to help Henry with Operation Firebird. He refuses to leave her behind, and fears for her safety in the Underworld since many still hold a grudge against her. Regina then suggests giving the baby to Zelena instead, and he eventually relents, after she persuades him that she is doing this in his daughter's best interests. After Zelena, the baby and Hades leave to wait by the portal, Robin rebuffs Regina when she tries to comfort him over having to give up his child. While Henry commences Operation Firebird, Regina, David, and Robin keep him company. The Blind Witch, as Cruella's accomplice, traps the foursome in the library, with Regina later realizing Hades' magic is keeping them from escaping. These suspicions about Hades are cemented further when Emma returns without Hook or the ambrosia. With Emma and Regina's combined powers, the heroes break out and make it through the portal before it closes.

After returning to Storybrooke, Regina and Robin encounter Zelena and tell her about Hades' scheming. Zelena doesn't believe their claims and continues to defend Hades, who Regina threatens to kill. They attempt to reclaim Robin's daughter from Zelena and Hades from town hall, but they find the building protected with Zelena's magic. Regina proposes she and Robin get into the building through an underground tunnel, but she refuses to let Emma come along, citing that she is too emotional over Hook to face Hades. During the tunnel trek, Regina talks to him about why she gave Zelena a chance to find love with Hades. Robin, however, is still too upset over his daughter being in Hades' hands, and doesn't want to hear Regina defending her sister. When she apologizes for getting him in this mess and vows to rectify things, Robin goes back on his previous words, agreeing that Zelena does deserve another chance. He realizes, from having been with Regina, that people can change and don't always have to live in the shadows of their pasts. The couple arrive to the office, overhearing Hades trying to convince Zelena into letting him use the Olympian Crystal against the heroes so they can take over Storybrooke. Zelena teleports outside to deal with Emma, and while Hades is away, Regina and Robin enter to get the baby. Hades reappears to finish Regina off with the Olympian Crystal, but Robin takes the blow for her. After being hit, he shares one last look with Regina before collapsing and dying. His spirit separates from his body to reach out longingly at her, and then fades out of existence. As Regina cries over Robin's body, Zelena returns, with Hades lying about defending himself against Robin after he wanted to kill Zelena. Hades encourages Zelena to kill her sister, but Zelena ultimately kills Hades, after Regina uses Robin's sacrifice as an example of true love; something that Hades has with Zelena and yet it's not enough to change him. At Robin's funeral, after Emma and her family have laid rose entwined arrows onto the casket, Regina walks up to have her turn. As Regina turns back to look at the crowd of mourners, Zelena arrives with her daughter. She notes to Zelena that Robin never got to name his child, to which the latter decides the most fitting name for her is Robin. Regina agrees with the name choice, before welling up in tears over the sentiment behind it, as Zelena offers a comforting hand on her shoulder.

At Robin's wake, Regina is still in a daze over her lover's demise. Snow and David come by to offer support, but Zelena assures them that she can look after her sister, as they both lost the men they loved. With Regina in the dark about Hook's recent return, Emma makes Killian wait outside while she goes in to break the news. Before she can, a tremor shakes the town, prompting a concerned Hook to rush in to Emma. Regina, despite being angered that Hook is alive as Robin remains dead, sets aside her emotions in favor of finding out the cause of the tremor. At the clock tower, the heroes discover Mr. Gold has tethered Storybrooke's magic into a piece of the Olympian Crystal, in an effort to wake a cursed Belle. When Emma suggests to Regina that she should take a break from the mission, Regina realizes Emma assumes she will revert to being the Evil Queen. Henry tries to stop the argument, which ends with Regina teleporting out to find Mr. Gold herself since Emma doesn't want her help. The next day, Regina arrives to the loft looking for Henry, who has stolen the crystal and left town to destroy it. When Mr. Gold suggests that destroying the crystal's magic will erase Storybrooke, Regina reluctantly allows Emma to join her after the latter provides a lead on Henry. Using GPS, they track Henry to Boston, only to find he left his phone on the bus to throw them off. An upset Regina chucks the phone and accidentally sets it on fire, which causes her and Emma to fear Mr. Gold will harm Henry since magic outside of Storybrooke is now possible. In another plan, Regina convinces Emma to provide blood in a locator spell. Tracking Henry to Neal's apartment in New York, Emma runs a laptop scan to find out where he and Violet went. Regina reads an unsent letter that Robin wrote to her, which makes her come clean about her struggle to curb her darker instincts. She tells Emma about how being good has made her suffer losses and that she has to live with the evils of her past, or risk giving into darkness again and losing her loved ones. Emma believes Regina will prevail, but the latter thinks being miserable either way is her fate. When the scan reveals Henry is at the Midtown Library, the women arrive to find him and Violet passed out, after Mr. Gold has taken the crystal. Henry convinces Emma that she was wrong for not believing in Regina, and he defends his decision to destroy magic because he doesn't want to lose either of his moms to magic. Regina uses Henry's blood to locate Mr. Gold, which fails because Mr. Gold has disabled magic.

Leaving Henry and Violet to wait in the library, Regina and Emma pinpoint Mr. Gold after seeing a magic storm cloud above the Hotel D'or building. In a text from Granny, they learn their family have been pulled into a portal. Since magic is needed to rescue their loved ones, Regina distracts Mr. Gold with a fake alliance as Emma sneaks in to steal the crystal. Mr. Gold busts the women's plan and reveals he only needed Regina's hair as a link to Zelena in the other realm, where Belle is also trapped. With no more use for either woman, Mr. Gold prepares to hurl a fireball at them, but Henry arrives to absorb the crystal's magic into a replica of the Holy Grail. Only after this, Henry learns from his moms about why they needed the crystal. While Emma finds him, Regina and Mr. Gold approach the Dragon for help to locate their family. The Dragon agrees to help for Regina's sake, as he sees her struggle with darkness, and he encourages her to win. After the Dragon fails to open a portal to the other realm, he advises that they seek magic with the power of belief. Back at the fountain, Henry persuades his family to make wishes on pennies, which creates magic in the crystal. To get enough magic for a portal, he rallies a crowd of New Yorkers to make wishes, allowing his family to return. The night before going home, Snow suggests Regina can make a clean break from her darkness by facing the Evil Queen. By injecting herself with a serum, the Evil Queen separates from Regina, who rips out and crushes her darker half's heart. On return to Storybrooke, Regina releases the crystal's magic back into the town. When Hyde shows up, claiming the town is now his, Regina vows to be victorious against him. However, he causes her to have doubts, by telling her that the darkness within her is not so easily removed. In New York, the Evil Queen remanifests, with plans of waging war against Regina.

Powers
Regina is a very powerful sorceress and is very adept in the field of magic, with her ability to cast spells without much difficulty. Frustrated and desperate after losing the love of her life at the hands of her mother, Regina becomes the apprentice of Rumplestiltskin, after he helps her get rid of her mother, and begins to cultivate her magical gift. Though she has some difficulty learning her abilities at first, Regina slowly begins to master the powers of dark magic when she dons the title of the Evil Queen. She then used her dark magic to manipulate, punish, control and terrorize her citizens in her attempts to find and kill Snow White. After a long drawn out feud between Snow White and herself, Regina loses her ability to hurt Snow White losing the ability to hurt Snow White and Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest, Regina casts one of the most powerful curses of all time, the Dark Curse. Once the curse is broken, and magic comes to Storybrooke, Regina regains her magic. During the battle with Zelena, she and the other heroes realize she has the ability to use light magic, which she used to break the second curse. Shortly after, she used light magic again to defeat Zelena and remove her magical pendant where her magic resided, which was stated by Glinda that only a person of the strongest light magic would be capable of accomplishing such a feat. Overall, Regina has grown over the series in both magic and knowledge, and has become one of the most powerful magic users. Her magical abilities are, but are not limited to:


 * Blood Magic - Ability to use her blood to lock or conceal an object, door or room from being opened by anyone other than herself and her family.
 * Potioncraft - Ability to make potions that have various effects. She once made a potion to make herself infertile and incapable of becoming pregnant, and
 * Shapeshifting Regina has the ability to transform herself and others into anything and anyone she chooses.
 * Witchcraft - She has demonstrated the ability to create fireballs in her hand and throw them at her targets. Some other examples of her witchcraft abilities; teleportation, casting curses and spells of various strengths, shapeshifting, telekinesis, and heart-ripping. Furthermore, she can immobilize people in place, apportate objects to herself and send them wherever she desire, emit powerful blasts of magic that can knock down her targets and can shoot powerful streams of magic that can hold back, or kill her victims depending on the level of strength she decides to use it at, make multiple people fall to sleep and can create magical constructs and beings to do her bidding.
 * Enhanced Agility - Ability to react or move at a more rapid pace due to a learned magic capability. Regina has caught multiple arrows shot from a cross-bow directly at her with her bare hands.
 * Teleportation - Ability to teleport from one place to another in the blink of an eye. One limit to this power, that Regina herself has stated, is that she cannot bounce between worlds with her own power.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

Etymology

 * The name "Regina" is of Latin origin that means "Queen".
 * Cora alludes to this meaning when she names her newborn daughter Regina and states, "For one day, she will be queen".
 * Regina is one of the few characters from the first curse who is confirmed to have the same real name in Storybrooke as her Enchanted Forest counterpart; the others being David Nolan, Jefferson and Mother Superior.
 * The surname "Mills" is of English origin that was an occupational word used for someone living near or working on a mill. It also alludes to the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale as her mother Cora was the miller's daughter who could spin straw into gold.

Character Notes

 * Has a black feather tattoo on her right wrist.
 * After her husband's death, she re-decorated the palace into something befitting an evil monarch and adopted a much darker wardrobe.
 * Her house in Storybrooke is white; complementary to her palace, which was black.
 * Initially, Regina retained a small amount of magic via items she carried over from the Enchanted Forest, including her apple tree. After the curse is lifted, all of her powers are restored, and by the third season, she is as powerful as before the curse.
 * The door to her secret collection of human hearts is hidden in her family crypt inside a false tomb dedicated to her father.
 * Regina named Henry, her adoptive son, Henry Daniel Mills after her deceased father and deceased true love, Daniel.
 * Regina's birthday is February 1st.
 * According to Isaac, Regina has "very clear goals, damaged personality and a self-destructive streak"; she is also the villain who gets "screwed over" the most.

Production Notes

 * The casting call for her younger self describes her as, "Latina. 9-11 years old to PLAY 10. Neglected and lonely, longs for companionship. Still many years away from becoming the Evil Queen, she has no interest in the royal duties her mother's so engaged in. Determined to fill the hole in her heart somehow, Regina puts it all on the line for a chance at family..."
 * According to Lana Parrilla, Regina's birthday is February 1.
 * During Season One, crows can often be heard when Regina is around; a conscious decision by the sound designers. For example, when Regina tells Emma to leave town in "Pilot", and when Regina is talking to Sidney in "The Thing You Love Most", crow sounds are heard.

Props Notes

 * Regina's Evil Queen ring is made from a gemstone called a black star diopside by Canadian-based jewelry designer Leanne Guthrie Johnston. The ring itself is part of a jewelry brand, LeaFloria, and is sold through Esty, Steveston Village's Juvelisto jewelry shop as well as Cavalier.
 * King Leopold's coat of arms is several overlapping black squares on a white background, with a black torch billowing out reddish-orange flames at the top. When the Evil Queen takes over, she uses a modified version of his crest: Overlapping white squares on a black background, with a white torch instead of a black one. The squarish symbol is reminiscent of the grid on the Nine Men's Morris board game, also known as "Mills" or "The Mill Game". Mills is the Evil Queen's last name in Storybrooke.
 * The Evil Queen has a circular necklace with an apple tree in the center.
 * Nearly every room in her house has a mirror, in reference to the Evil Queen's Magic Mirror, who was able to look through other mirrors to spy on people.
 * As the Evil Queen, she possessed a silver chest, which she has retained in her office in Storybrooke.

Costume Notes

 * The ring Regina wears is a prop specifically hand-picked by Lana Parrilla to help her understand the character she is playing.
 * Regina has a secret room in her mausoleum displaying dresses, mirrors, and jewelry from her time as the Evil Queen.
 * The red dress Regina wears in Camelot for several episodes resembles Mother Gothel from the Disney movie Tangled.

Other Notes

 * In Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is credited as "Queen Grimhilde", though this name has rarely been used in the decades since.