Red Riding Hood

"When there's something I want, I'm good at tracking it down."

Red Riding Hood, commonly known as Red, is one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time. Red is a young, free-spirited girl who lives in a small village with her grandmother in Fairytale Land. Unbeknownst to her, she is plagued by a curse that turns her into a wolf during a full moon, but her red cloak is enchanted and prevents the transformation. However, when the Queen's evil curse traps her in Storybrooke, she lives as Ruby, a rebellious girl who works for her grandmother.

Before the Curse
After fleeing from the Huntsman, Snow White finds herself taking shelter in Widow Lucas’s chicken shed. Red discovers her there and invites her to come back to Granny’s with her. Snow tells her that she was taking shelter after hearing the howls of a wolf in the night. While stopping at the well, Snow uncovers the site of a massacre. Red reveals that it is wolfstime, a time of the month when the moon is full and the wolf hunts.At a town meeting, Granny shows the villagers the scars of her first encounter with a similar wolf 60 years ago. She warns the crowd that the wolf is truly evil and that the only thing people can do is hide until wolfstime is over. While chatting about Peter, Red’s love, Snow learns that Red feels trapped like a rat in a cage. Granny has always been overprotective and Red feels Granny disapproves of Peter. Seeking to prove herself, Red comes up with a plan to kill the wolf while it slumbers in the daylight. Red and Snow track the beast but are shocked to find that the beast’s prints take a human form and lead back towards Granny’s house to Red’s window.

Red and Snow become convinced that the wolf is Peter and Red tells him what she has found. Peter begs her to tie him up in chains in order to protect everyone from his murderous hunger. Red does as he asks and promises to stay with him through the night until Wolfs Time is over. Back at Granny’s, Snow is pretending to be asleep with Red’s cloak around her in order to fool Granny. Granny discovers the truths and tells Snow that Peter is not the wolf, but Red is. Snow learns that Red’s cloak was designed by a wizard and helps to stop Red from turning into the wolf. Red has no memory of being the wolf and Granny has kept it from her all these years. They race to rescue Peter but are too late to save him.Granny shoots the wolf with a silver tipped arrow and Red transforms back into human form. As the realisation of what she has done sinks in, Red is left devastated. As a hunting party descends on them, Granny orders Red and Snow to leave quickly. ("Red-Handed")

During his quest to find Snow White, Prince Charming finds himself at the home of Red and Widow Lucas just as King George's soldiers arrive. Red and Charming quickly flee the scene. ("What Happened to Frederick") King George's soldiers quickly catch up to them. Red tells Charming to find Snow and carry on, as she uses the power of the full moon to transform herself into the wolf in order to defeat the soldiers and allow time for Charming to escape. ("Heart of Darkness")

After Charming is captured by Regina, Red, Widow Lucas, the fairies, Snow and the seven Dwarfs team together to save him and reunite him with Snow. Red is shown in full control of her wolf form, as they are succesful in taking the castle but unsuccesful in saving Charming as he has been trapped in a mirror. Shortly thereafter, Red discovers Snow White unconscious in a field and believe she is dead. Red, along with the dwarves place Snow in a glass coffin. ("An Apple Red as Blood") Later on, Red is present along with Widow Lucas at a meeting of the war council, who discuss how is best to deal with Regina's curse. ("Pilot")

Season 1
Emma Swan goes to Granny's Bed and Breakfast to look for a place to stay when she encounters Ruby and Granny arguing, Ruby telling her grandmother that she should have moved to Boston. Emma interrupts the fight, and proceeds to book a room. Mr. Gold then enters the establishment and makes small talk with Emma as Granny hands him a roll of bills, presumably the rent for the building. When he leaves, Emma asks Ruby who the man is, and Ruby tells her that his name is Mr. Gold and that he owns Storybrooke. ("Pilot")

Emma is reading a newspaper in Granny's Diner as Ruby serves her some cocoa. Emma tells her that she didn't order anything and Ruby tells her that she has an admirer, looking over to Sheriff Graham. ("The Thing You Love Most") Ruby is working a shift at Granny's Diner at the same time as Mary Margaret and Dr .Whale's date. As she is cleraing tables, Dr. Whale is seen ogling her and Mary Margaret hastily asks Ruby for the cheque. ("Snow Falls")

Emma is at Granny's Diner as Ruby serves her cocoa. After an encounter with Regina, Emma spills cocoa over herself and Ruby helps her clean up, directing her to the laundry room. Later on, Ruby, Henry and Emma discuss the dissapearance of Ashley Boyd, a close friend of Ruby's, as Ruby's car is being dropped off by a tow truck. Ruby's car is dropped abrubtly by the tow truck and her wolf charm almost shatters, angering Ruby as she shouts at Billy, a mechanic. During the conversation, Ruby defends her friend telling Emma that she is trying to turn her life around. Ruby then tells Emma where she can find Ashley's ex-boyfriend, Sean Herman. After Emma discovers that Ashley sold her baby, she returns to Ruby to find out where she is. Emma discovers that Ruby sent them to Sean's to give Ashley a head start. Ruby tells her that she was only trying to help her. Eventually, Ruby tells Emma that Ashley left half an hour ago for Boston. ("The Price of Gold")

When a sinkhole appears on the outskirts of Storybrooke, the whole town is gathered around the hole. Ruby asks if the large hole is a crater, to which Marco tells her that there used to be a series of tunnels undereath the site. Ruby is also present when Archie and Henry are saved from the tunnel collapsing. ("That Still Small Voice") Ruby is working a shift in the diner whilst Sheriff Graham is playing darts. Emma enters the diner and Ruby offers to get her something, but she refuses. Moments later, Sheriff Graham throws a dart in the direction of her, narrowly missing Emma. ("The Heart is a Lonely Hunter") Emma is finishing off a drink at Granny's Diner as Ruby is behind the counter. Ruby asks Emma if she would like another drink and Emma says yes, so she goes to get her another drink as Henry enter's the diner. ("Desperate Souls") Mary Margaret is at the diner, where Ruby serves her coffee at the counter. Mary Margaret thanks Ruby as she contines her shift at the diner. ("7:15 A.M.")

On Valentines Day, as Ashley, Emma and Mary Margaret are talking in the diner Ruby serves Ashley coffee and proposes a girl's night to cheer Ashley up, as Sean is working all day. Ashley and Mary Margaret agree, whilst Emma tells her that she isn't the party type. Later on, at the bar, Mary Margaret, Ashley and Ruby are drinking at a table as Ashley drowns her sorrows in vodka. Ruby points out a group of guys, but Ashley tells her that will stay faithful to Sean. Ruby tells them to have fun moping as she goes over to the table. Later that evening, Ruby is present when Sean enters the bar and proposes to Ashley. ("Skin Deep")

At Granny's Diner, Ruby is flirting with August, who is sitting at one of the tables. Ruby complains to August about how she has never been outisde of Storybrooke, as Granny calls her name persistantly. After constant ignoration by Ruby, Granny shouts at Ruby and tells her to stop flirting in front of August. Finally, Ruby goes to meet Granny at the counter and Granny tells her that she wants her to start working nights. Ruby immediately refuses and a fight escalates between the two, eventually leading to Ruby quitting her job at the diner. As Emma and Mary Margaret walk down the street, they come across Ruby at the bus stop who is being hit on by Dr. Whale. They ask Ruby if she's alright and she tells them that she has quit her job, so Mary Margaret offers her to go home with them, which she accepts. At the station, Henry is searching the internet for a job for Ruby. As Henry searches online, Ruby answers the non-emergency line at the station, which Emma overhears. Impressed, Emma offers Ruby a job at the station, which she accepts. Ruby then leaves to get lunch for Emma. Later, Ruby enters the diner and boasts of her new job to Granny, who is unfazed by the revelation. Ruby returns to the station and accompanies Emma and Mary Margaret to the woods, helping to find David Nolan.

Searching through the woods, Ruby hears David, though Emma does not. Ruby takes off into the woods. Emma finds her standing over a bleeding and unconscious David. They manage to wake him up, however he has a mild case of amnesia. As Emma takes David to the hospital, she asks Ruby to go to the Toll Bridge, to see if there is anything of importance there. In the woods, Ruby finds a board near the water. She flips in over, revealing a patch of sand underneath it. Ruby puts Emma on speaker and places the phone on a nearby rock. She grabs a stick and begins to dig, until she hits something hard. Ruby brushes the sand away with her hand. The object turns out to be a small jewelry box. Ruby opens the box, and is horrified by it's contents; a human heart. Later on, Granny tells Ruby that she was giving her a hard time because she wants Ruby to someday own the diner. Ruby is ecstatic and takes her old job back. ("Red-Handed")

As Emma and August are leaving Grannys diner, Ruby's screams are heard and they run to find her. They find her walking in the opposite direction of the alley, shaking and unstable. Hardly able to talk, Ruby tells them there is somebody in the alley.Emma goes around to the parking lot in the back of the diner. There is a body laying face down on the ground. Emma leans down to turn the body over, revealing a conscious and very alive Kathryn. ("The Stable Boy") Ruby is seen working a shift in Granny's Diner as Emma and Archie talk about the custody of Henry. ("An Apple Red as Blood") After true love's kiss breaks the curse, Ruby is seen walking down the street with her grandmother, now knowing her real identity. ("A Land Without Magic")

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.