Queen Regina

"I shall destroy your happiness... if it is the last thing I do."

Queen Regina, more commonly known as the Evil Queen, is one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time, as well as the main fairytale antagonist. Filled with a deep hatred for Snow White ever since a tragic incident years ago, Regina makes it her life's mission to destroy the happy endings of the former and everyone else in the fairytale world. Her hatred for people led her to create the dark curse which sent all fairytale characters to a small town named Storybrooke. There she lives as Mayor Regina Mills, the stern adoptive mother of Henry Mills who sets out to stop his birth mother and Snow White's daughter, Emma Swan, from breaking her curse. Once the curse is broken, Regina finds herself in a vulnerable state and goes on a path of redemption to win back Henry's love. With this, she is eventually able to make the full transition from villain to hero.

Before the Curse
"The Queen is dead. Long live... the Evil Queen."

As a young woman, Regina's mother, Cora, hates her life as a peasant and being humiliated, so she gatecrashes a ball in a stolen dress to feel royal. However, she's caught by King Xavier and locked in his castle after she claims to be able to spin straw into gold. She is told that she will be killed if she fails to do so over night. When all hope seems lost, she's approached by Rumplestiltskin, who offers to show her how to spin straw into gold in exchange for her first born child. However, this deal is changed by Rumplestiltskin, who suggests having his own child with her after they begin having an affair so they can run away together. Cora accepts this new deal, but deceives Rumplestiltskin by deciding not to run away with him. She stays with the king's son, Prince Henry, to whom she is now betrothed, and has her child with him. When Cora's daughter is born, she holds her up in front of her people and states that her name is Regina, for one day, she will be queen. Growing up, Cora is a strict mother to Regina, wanting the best for her daughter. Whenever Regina acts unbecoming of her mother's wishes, Cora uses magic as punishment, something Regina grows to despise. Henry is a far more lenient parent who Regina relies on for support, but he too is afraid of Cora and unable to help out in most situations. Despite this, Regina ends up a kind young woman who adores riding horses. Daniel, the family's stable boy, is the one who teaches her how to ride. Regina and Daniel end up falling in love, knowing full well that their relationship would be deemed unacceptable by certain others.

One day, Regina is riding Rocinante, around the large field outside her family's mansion. Her father congratulates her on a great ride, but Cora is far more critical, insisting that her daughter rides like a man. She tells Regina that ladies should be graceful, suggesting a saddle, but Regina argues that she was merely having some fun. Cora argues in turn that she's getting a little too old for "fun" and wonders who will want to marry her if she keeps this up. Henry requests that Cora stop being so mean, so she orders him to stop coddling their child, going on to say that she's becoming an old maid while all other girls her age are getting married. The high hopes she had for her daughter are let down, and the conversation is interrupted by Daniel, who Regina snaps at. Cora smiles at this, but when Regina tries to storm away, Cora uses magic to stop her, promising not to use it any more once Regina starts acting like an obedient daughter. Regina eventually promises to be good, but still sneaks off to the stable after for a romantic rendezvous with her lover Daniel.

Regina is sitting in her mansion reading a book on horsemanship when her mother approaches her, telling her that it's time for her riding lesson. Regina reminds Cora that she has no lesson today but Cora says that she thought she'd be happy as she arranged for her to have more time with Rocinante. At this, Regina discards her book and appears thrilled, thanking her mother before telling her that she'll send the stable boy for her saddle right away and standing up, vacating the house with a large grin. However, this is a ploy by Cora. Regina meets up with Daniel, who begins to complain about the fact that they have to sneak around because he just wants to be able to be with her, but they're interrupted suddenly by a little girl on a wild horse. The horse was sent wild by Cora, who plans for her daughter to rescue the little girl just in the nick of time. Regina does exactly this, and tells the little girl afterwards that the only way to face her new fear of horses is to get back on one and ride. The little girl thanks her, going on to introduce herself as Snow White. ("The Queen Is Dead"/"The Stable Boy")

As it turns out, Snow White is the daughter of King Leopold, who hears of Regina's good deed and is thrilled with her (as is Cora, who cites this as being the first thing Regina has done right in years). The King shows up at the mansion and proposes to Regina, who is reluctant to reply. However, she doesn't have to, because Cora accepts on her behalf. When Daniel hears of this, he is furious, and Regina assures him that he's the one she wants to be with. As such, the two of them decide to run away together, but as they kiss, Snow White suddenly enters the stable, having decided to take Regina's advice and get back on a horse to overcome her fears. She is horrified to discover her future stepmother kissing another man and runs away; Regina is able to chase her down and force her to keep it a secret, explaining that what Daniel and she have is true love, and true love is magic - not just any magic, but the most powerful magic of all. Snow White promises not to say anything, but when Cora subtly coerces her, she ends up telling her everything. Just as Regina and Daniel are about to run away together, Cora arrives to stop them. She pretends to go along with it for a while, saying that she wants her daughter to be happy, but this is just a ploy to get Daniel alone so that she can rip out his heart and crush it to dust, killing him. Regina is absolutely devastated, and her mother proceeds to teach her a lesson she will never forget: love is weakness. Days later, Snow approaches Regina, who learns that she told her secret and develops a strong hatred for her. She protects her innocent mind by telling her that Daniel ran away, but secretly she wishes that she'd left the little girl to die on that horse.

During the build up to her wedding to King Leopold, Regina tries to leave on her horse, but a barrier spell conjured by her mother stops her. Cora tells Regina that she cannot leave unless she is accompanied by Leopold. Later, while brushing Snow White's hair, she finds a necklace given to her by Daniel. When she asks where it came from, Regina imagines revealing her hatred to Snow and strangles her, however, in reality she says she doesn't know. Regina later reveals her growing hatred to her father and she asks how her mother became the way she is. He tells her of a man who gave her the book of spells and taught her the dark arts. Regina steals the spell book off her mother and summons the owner, Rumplestiltskin. He reveals that they have met before when she was younger. Regina seeks help from Rumple, so he gives her a portal to an "annoying world", to which she can banish her mother. During a fitting for her wedding dress, Regina uses magic against her mother to push her through the portal. Regina seeks Rumple to return the spell book, but he lets her keep it and convinces her to let him teach her the dark arts, as she loves using magic.

When a magical woman named Zelena from a land named Oz discovers that she is adopted, she decides to seek help from the Wizard of Oz to find out the truth about her parents. The wizard reveals to Zelena that she is the daughter of Cora, but she was given up as a baby because she couldn't give her what she wanted...royalty. The wizard then reveals that Cora has another daughter, Regina, who became queen and began taking magic lessons from Rumplestiltskin. Using magic slippers, Zelena teleports herself to Regina's castle and she meets Rumple. After confirming she is the daughter of Cora, Rumple begins teaching her as he thinks she may be the one to cast the Dark Curse. However, Rumple continues to train Regina, making Zelena jealous and her skin starts to turn green. Zelena finds Regina in her bedroom and stabs her, but it turns out to be Rumple in disguise. He refuses to continue training Zelena after realizing he is the thing she loves most...and that is something she'd have to give up to enact the curse. After revealing he'll continue to train Regina, Zelena takes herself back to Oz and asks the wizard to change the past. The wizard turns out to be a fraud, so Zelena turns him into a flying monkey. As her skin fully becomes green, she angrily states that she'll make it so Regina was never born.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina is meeting with her tutor, Rumplestiltskin, for one of their magic lessons. He makes a fireball in his hand, trying to teach her how to do the same, however, although Regina manages to create one, it does not stay alight for very long, extinguishing almost immediately. It is then revealed that Zelena, completely green with envy, is spying on the two of them using the magic she has access to in Oz. She states to herself that it's not that difficult, making a fireball in her own hand with ease, angry that Regina is still being trained when she is clearly better. She is then visited by Glinda, who works to stop Zelena from feeling envious, but she ultimately returns to her wicked ways and continues her plot of going back in time to claim what she believes is rightfully hers.

Soon after, Rumplestiltskin begins to teach Regina the ways of the dark arts. She seems to be learning the arts well, but when she's asked to kill an innocent unicorn, she refuses, disappointing her master. When asked what's holding her back, she later visits the preserved corpse of Daniel, unwilling to let go of him. When she's later asked why she wants to learn the dark arts, she tells Rumple, after much hesitation, that she wants to bring Daniel back from the dead. Rumple tells her that is isn't possible, as dead is dead. He then refuses to teach her anymore so long as she lives in the past. After Regina witnesses a conversation between Rumple and a man named Jefferson, Jefferson offers to help her bring back her beloved with help from Viktor Frankenstein, a man from another realm. They later visit the man whom examines Daniel's condition, stating it's ideal for his experimental procedure. He tells Regina he hasn't yet been successful as none of the hearts he uses are strong enough. The three visit Cora's vault and take one of the many magical hearts she has stored. Later on, as Dr. Frankenstein performs the procedure on Daniel, Regina and Jefferson watch from outside. However, the procedure fails and Frankenstein claims the heart wasn't strong enough. Regina is devastated and finally says goodbye to Daniel, realizing he can't be brought back. Regina finds Rumpelstiltskin teaching a new apprentice, so to prove she's now ready to learn, she rips out the apprentice's heart and crushes it, killing her. It is later revealed the failed procedure was faked to make Regina finally able to move on.

As Regina dines quietly to herself, she is approached by Rumplestiltskin, who points out that she didn't come for her magic lesson. Regina begins to reconsider the lessons, stating she doesn't want a dark future. She adds that she needs freedom as she’s trapped in a loveless marriage and living with a stepdaughter she despises. However, Rumple tells her that her fate is sealed to be dark. Later, an upset Regina goes to her bedroom balcony and bangs on the railing, but she ends up falling to the ground, however, she’s saved by a fairy named Tinker Bell. The next day, Regina tells Tinker Bell of her lost love and loveless marriage, so the fairy vows to help her new friend find love. Regina isn't so sure about this, so Tinker Bell asks her to believe in her. Tinker Bell steals pixie dust and visits Regina, asking if she wants to fly with her. The reluctant queen finally accepts, and the two fly across Neverland, following a trail of pixie dust to Regina’s apparent true love. The trail takes them both to a tavern, where Tink points out that the man with a lion tattoo is her true love. She then leaves the queen to it; however, Regina becomes afraid and decides to not talk to the man. Tinker Bell later visits Regina to find out how her meeting with her love went, but Regina lies and said it went horribly, calling her a bad fairy. Tink notices Regina was afraid, but the queen insists she wasn't before telling Tink to leave.

Regina is angry to see what a fantastic rider Snow White has become and grows frustrated with Rumplestiltskin's magic lessons because they appear to be getting her nowhere in terms of revenge. He finds her reading Maleficent's spell book and teleports her to a flaming tree which Maleficent once burned while in dragon form; her breath burned so hot that the tree is still ablaze. Regina, seeking a new teacher, finds Maleficent in her Forbidden Fortress, but she's surprised to see that she's become a washed-up has-been villain who's grown disenchanted with the idea of revenge, which she now sees as a pointless pursuit since Briar Rose, a woman she put under a sleeping curse, was woken up by King Stefan and his true love's kiss so immediately. Regina leaves, greatly disappointed, but soon returns when she learns that Briar Rose's daughter Aurora is getting married. She tells the dark sorceress that this is a reason to get up and fight back against the heroes' happy ending; however, Maleficent reveals that she's lost the ability to turn into a dragon. Regina decides to help her get her fire back and takes her to the flaming tree. Maleficent inhales the fire and King Stefan soon attacks. It is quickly learned that inhaling the fire was a success, for Maleficent transforms into a mighty dragon and quashes his men, before heading to Aurora's palace and putting the princess under a sleeping curse right before her wedding. Regina is inspired by the dragon witch, but returns to Rumplestiltskin nonetheless, happy with his teaching methods after all. She has now decided that she doesn't want to kill Snow White, but rather make her suffering eternal. Rumple is more than happy to teach her the new methods of revenge.

When King Leopold leaves his palace to go on a diplomatic mission, he leaves Regina and Snow White behind to rule in his absence. Regina hires a one-eyed bandit to terrorise the local villages, and this brings the scared peasants to Snow White for help. Regina urges Snow to handle the situation herself as she'll need to learn how to rule, but the young princess panics and runs away, eventually running into and befriending Hercules. After an encounter with Snow, in which she embarrasses herself, Dead Eye visits Regina to collect his payment. He asks the queen if she doesn't want him to just kill the princess, but she states she won't turn Snow into a martyr for her people to worship, but instead she'll turn them all against her, making them finally realise Regina is meant to be their queen. Dead Eye returns to the villages to terrorise them again, but this time Snow is able to defeat him after being taught her to defend herself by Hercules. Regina's plan is thus foiled.

One day, King Leopold returns to his palace accompanied by the Genie, someone Regina finds to be a way out of her loveless marriage. During the King's birthday speech, Regina is upset when he comments on his love for Snow and his late wife. The Genie attempts to cheer her up by giving her a mirror so she can see herself as the fairest in the land. During the next few nights, Regina writes in her diary how she had found love again, but this is unfortunately found by the king and she's locked up in her room. She requests aid from her father, who gives the Genie a box of Agrabahn vipers to take to Regina. As she prepares to kill herself using the snakes to escape her pain, he offers to kill the king instead. He does just this and uses the snakes to kill King Leopold. When the Genie comes to give Regina the news, she explains how the vipers were found and the Genie is being accused of the murder. He realizes he was set up, so Regina drops her act and explains she never loved him, she just used him. To punish Regina, the Genie uses his wish given to him by Leopold to be forever by Regina's side. He thus becomes trapped in any mirror near Regina for all eternity.

Regina uses the Magic Mirror to find someone suitable to kill Snow White and he suggests she recruit the Huntsman. Regina has her guards bring the Huntsman to her and she makes a deal with him; if the Huntsman kills Snow White, the killing of wolves in the kingdom will be outlawed. He agrees. Whilst the Huntsman goes into the forest to kill Snow, Regina changes her palace to look dark. When the Huntsman is finally given the chance to kill Snow, he cannot bring himself to kill her. He instead kills a deer and then brings this heart to Regina as proof. As Regina is about to place Snow's heart in her heart vault, she realizes it isn't a human heart and discovers she had been deceived. Angered by this betrayal, Regina drives her hand into the Huntsman's chest, taking out his heart so that he will never feel again. As Regina squeezes the Huntsman's heart, she tells him that he is now forever her pet and that he will share her bed with her whenever she chooses. Regina warns him that he will never cross her again, and if he does, she would kill him.

Whilst traveling in her carriage, Regina stops and interrupts a wedding that is taking place on the grounds near her castle, as they hadn't been granted permission to perform the ceremony. She rips out the groom's heart, and because of her father telling her not to overreact because it's the anniversary of Daniel's death, she crushes the heart. She then heads back to the carriage, leaving her father to make his own way back. At Daniel's grave, Cora appears, having returned from Wonderland with the help of the White Rabbit. She expresses regret over killing Daniel and tells Regina she wants to help her find love after discovering that Tinker Bell located her soul mate. Regina doesn't believe her until Cora sets her up with the man with the lion tattoo, however, unbeknownst to her, it's the Sheriff of Nottingham in disguise. Regina uses magic to remove the fake tattoo and tortures him into confessing that Cora set her up so she'd become pregnant. She suspects that her mother wants to seize her power through an heir, so Regina creates a potion that will make herself barren. Cora insists that nothing good will come from this, but she drinks the potion anyway, believing that hurting her mother is good enough. As Regina is in pain from the potion's effects, Cora reveals that she wanted Regina to have a child for her own sake and the only person standing in the way of her happiness is herself.

After Snow White's escape, Regina begins to search the villages in her kingdom so she can find her step daughter. When there is no sign of her, she gathers the villagers and asks for information while also claiming Snow is evil. When nobody tells the queen her whereabouts, she has the entire village murdered by her guards. After returning to her palace, Regina wonders why the villagers are loyal to Snow and not her. She calls forth Rumple and asks him, but he points out that they’ll always be afraid of her. Regina then asks to be transformed into another form so she can find Snow White in secret. Rumple does this, but states she will have no magic while in the other form. While in her other form, Regina enters a village to begin her search. When she sees villagers express their hatred for the queen, she tries to stop them, but ends up getting caught by her own guards. Snow saves Regina from them and then takes her to the woods to assist her wounds. Whilst under Snow's care, Snow tells Regina, whom she believes to be a simple peasant, about Regina saving her life as a child, but doesn't state who saved her. Later on, Regina, seeing the kindness in Snow, contemplates forgiving her, so she asks Snow if she'd forgive Regina if given the chance. Snow says she would, but changes her mind when she discovers the deceased villagers. Snow finally realizes that the peasant is Regina and threatens to kill her, but doesn't and the queen escapes. Regina later visits Rumple to be changed back. She understands now she won't ever be loved, so decides to punish her kingdom and become "the evil queen".

When riding through the Forest of the Dead while searching for Snow White, Regina's carriage goes off the road and into a ditch. She is soon met by the culprit of her carriage crash, who she originally thought to be Daniel, only for him to be revealed as his brother, William. William blames Regina for the death of his brother and tries to use a type of magic sand that could neutralize the Queen's powers. However, as Regina uses her magic to fight back, she accidentally kills him, and thus renews her promise to Daniel to avenge his death and make sure Snow pays. When the Evil Queen captures Marian and orders to give away the whereabouts of the bandit Snow White, the maid refuses to talk because, despite knowing what the Queen wants to know, she believes Snow to be innocent. Regina scoffs at the fact that this woman thinks silence is bravery, as opposed to stupidity, and orders that she be executed the very next day. She walks away, unable to bear the stench of peasant for much longer, when Marian yells that she feels sorry the Queen because if she had a family of her own then she'd know she shouldn't be doing what it is she's doing. The Queen, feeling patronized, tells Marian not to tell her what she does and doesn't understand; she knows what she wants and, right now, it's Marian's head on a spike. Marian then berates her for being a monster. The Queen tries using werewolves to track Snow White, but the Huntsman thwarts her plans when she temporarily loses possession of his heart.

Whilst serving Rumplestiltskin, Belle begins to bond with him and he eventually gives her permission to go into the town for some items. Whilst walking down the road, she runs into Queen Regina who is riding in her carriage. She asks to walk with Belle for a while. While walking, the Queen asks Belle who she is fleeing: master or lover. By Belle's silence the Queen learns that Belle is fleeing her master-lover. Belle states that she could love him but for the darkness that has taken root in him. The Queen informs Belle, to her delight, that true love's kiss can break any curse. Belle returns and tries to break his curse with true loves kiss, but he stops her when he learns of her encounter with Regina. He assumes Regina set Belle up to make him lose his powers and then locks her away.

After Belle defeats the Yaoguai, a deadly monster who tormented a village, she leaves her companion to begin her search to find Rumplestiltskin. As she looks down on the village she saved, she states that she's coming back for him. Regina, who is riding by with her guards, overhears this and sarcastically states it's sweet that she's still fighting for true love, even to the bitter end. After being asked how she was found, Regina explains her former companions, including a man named Claude, gave away her position. She then orders her guards to arrest Belle. As she's being locked up, Belle insists that she can break Rumple's curse and save him, but Regina states she already tried and failed. She adds that Rumple is beyond saving and then says she's saving Belle a lifetime of pain and misery. As they head back to the palace with Belle captive, the prisoner states she'll never stop fighting for Rumple.

Snow White is running through the Enchanted Forest away from Regina's guards, and they corner her onto a cliff. Just as they think they have her captured, she jumps from the cliff and is rescued by a passing mermaid named Ariel, although the guards believe her to have drowned and so report this back to the Evil Queen. Ariel is granted legs by the sea goddess Ursula and Snow offers to accompany her to a ball featuring Prince Eric of the Maritime Kingdom as a thank you for saving her life. Ariel is in love with the prince, and wants this chance to get to know him, but Regina sees the two princesses through her mirror and is infuriated. She demands to know why Snow isn't dead, and her guards assure her that she "looked dead", prompting the Queen to tell them that death looks "more like this", quickly snapping one of their necks with her magic. The search for Snow White is back on, and Regina is inspired by the Ursula-themed ball as to how to go about it. ("Ariel")

The Evil Queen walks into Rumplestiltskin's Dark Castle where the Dark One is sullenly spinning at the wheel, magically transforming straw into gold. She says that she needs help with a certain mermaid, but Rumple is in no mood to do any deals with her today, and she figures that it's because of "the maid" that she manipulated. She goes on to guess her name, wanting to torment Rumple as much as she can, and Rumple eventually tells her that it's Belle. As she makes herself some tea, Regina spins a tall tale of how Belle returned to her father, who tried to absolve her of her association with the Dark One through means of scourges and flames. However, this proved too much for the poor maid, who eventually threw herself from the tower she was locked up in. Rumple is devastated to hear this false news, and Regina revels in his grief, soon leaving.

Regina disguises herself as the goddess Ursula in order to fool Ariel, and she gives the mermaid a way to allow her to keep her legs as long as she wants them, so as to stay permanently with her true love Prince Eric. Ariel gives Snow a bracelet that she was given by Regina, and it causes her to gain a mermaid's tail in penance for Ariel's legs, for Ariel figured she'd want to be able to swim away from all her troubles with the Queen. Regina then shows up, revealing her true identity, and she forces Ariel to leave with her love, for if she doesn't, both she and Snow will suffer. Ariel however stabs Regina in the neck with a fork she stole and then escapes with Snow. When they reach safety, Snow tells Ariel to find her prince, which she does. However, when she attempts to call out for him, she discovers that Regina has taken her voice. She then swims away, heartbroken, for she shall never know true love. Regina goes back to her palace, happy, but she gets threatened by Ursula, who is mad that the queen posed as her. ("Ariel")

Whilst riding through the Enchanted Forest one day, Regina kidnaps a Woodcutter and when his children, Hansel and Gretel, come looking for him, she makes a deal with them. She offers to help find their father if they will retrieve something for her. She takes them to the house of the Blind Witch, a house made of sweets, and explains to them that they need to retrieve something that will help her defeat a powerful enemy. She tells them that no matter how tempted they are, they cannot eat anything in the house. After a death defying experience, the children manage to escape with the item, a poisoned red apple. Impressed, Regina offers for the children to come and live with her, but they refuse, calling her a horrible person. She then banishes Hansel and Gretel to the middle of the forest and she tells their father, whom she had imprisoned in her castle, that they can be together when they find each other.

After taking a potion to make herself fall out of love with Prince Charming, Snow White becomes angry and full of blood lust. She thus decides to kill Regina. After getting a special bow from Rumplestiltskin, Snow White heads off to kill the evil queen. On her first attempt Prince Charming gets in the way and tries to stop her, because if she kills Regina, she will become evil too. He tries to break the spell that Snow is under by kissing her, but it doesn't work and she just pushes him away. As Regina rides through the forest in her carriage, Snow almost kills Regina but Charming gets in the way, hurting himself. He explains that Snow will turn evil if she kills Regina. Snow and Charming kiss again and this time the spell is broken. However, shortly after the kiss, King George's men arrest Prince Charming. Snow White tells him she will find him.

King George decides that Prince Charming is to be beheaded. Seconds before he is due to be executed, Regina shows up at the King's castle. Regina offers the king a trade and he accepts, trading Prince Charming for all the riches that King Midas would have given King George. Regina then locks Prince Charming up into a cell and as she leaves, hints that she is going to poison Snow White with an apple. Snow comes to rescue Charming from King George's dungeon... only to find out via one of Regina's mirrors that he's in hers. She then arranges to meet with Snow "where it all began", meaning the stables where they first met, and the two of them take a walk to Daniel's grave. Snow is shocked to learn that he died because of her, and Regina shows her a poisoned apple that will entomb her in her own body with dreams forged from her own regrets. Regina explains that if she eats it, Prince Charming will live. Snow sacrifices herself and eats the apple, much to the pleasure of Regina. The poisoned apple rolls down a hill and into a portal made by Jefferson and Regina in Storybrooke of the future, which she uses in hopes of poisoning Snow's daughter Emma Swan.

The Huntsman manages to slip away from the Evil Queen's private chambers and disguise himself as a guard, freeing Prince Charming from the dungeons so that he may go and save Snow White, thus making it so that the heart he sacrificed for the princess was not in vain. Regina is drastically unhappy to find out that the prince escaped and is on his way to wake Snow from the sleeping curse he's under with true love's kiss, and it doesn't take her long to realize that the Huntsman is behind it all. She exclaims that he failed her, asking if he knows what she does to people that fail her, but he doesn't care. In order to rectify the Charming situation, Regina uses her magic to transport him to the Infinite Forest. However, he's freed by Rumplestiltskin, after doing him a favor involving Maleficent, and he makes headway towards his sleeping love.

As Regina tends to her apple tree in the garden of the Dark Palace, she is approached by Claude, who is carrying the Magic Mirror. She is infuriated to have been disturbed, but the Mirror explains that she hasn't been yet, and then shows her images of Charming and Snow together, the latter having woken up. When Snow tells her prince to take back the kingdom, Regina evilly says that they’ll see about that. Regina visits a small village where Snow is rallying an army against the queen, but mocks it when they all run away in fear of her. Regina proposes a deal to Snow, she asks her to give up her claim to the throne and she’ll allow her, the prince and the dwarfs to live in exile for the rest of their lives. She states that is Snow refuses; she’ll kill a peasant every day until she accepts. As she begins choking a girl, Snow charges at the queen with a sword, causing her to disappear into smoke. Regina returns the next day to see if Snow has complied with her offer, and is angered to discover she refuses to leave. The queen begins the choke Grumpy, and knocks the other dwarfs to the floor. Snow charges at Regina, swinging her sword, but the queen disappears, releasing the dwarf. The princess then turns around and swings her sword again, but the queen appears in its way and gets cut on her cheek. Snow states that the kingdom is hers and she will fight for it, causing Regina to say she’ll see her on the battlefield. She then teleports back to her castle, causing everyone to cheer and celebrate.

On the day of her birthday, Regina visits a small village to find Snow White's location from the peasants. One man offers to tell her if he can have something in return, but she instead decides to choke him for his disrespect. Snow, Charming and the dwarfs arrive to stop her, so she teleports home. Her father urges her to let go of her anger and blame Cora for Daniel's death, if anyone. He adds that Cora will always have control over Regina if she doesn't let go. Later on, after seeing his daughter still in anger, he commands the Magic Mirror to summon Cora in a looking glass. He asks for help getting Regina to let go, but Cora insists the only way to help is killing Snow. Refusing this advice, Henry seeks out Snow to talk to her and Cora travels through the looking glass, thanks to Henry allowing her. She finds Snow and steals her heart, giving it to Regina as a birthday present. However, when Regina crushes it, she discovers that Henry swapped it with someone else's. He justifies himself, claiming that she'd be dark forever if she killed Snow, and now she has a chance of redemption. Regina ignores this and shrinks her father to lock him away in a box so that he can't stop her in the future. Later on, Regina tells her mother that Henry was right about her being destructive, adding that that when she gets her revenge, it'll be her own victory. Regina then uses the Magic Mirror to drag Cora back to Wonderland, but just before she is taken, she steals the box containing Henry so that Regina will truly be alone.

Following her father's kidnapping by Cora, combined with the fact that the looking glass is now permanently sealed from both sides, Regina decides to get help from a now retired Jefferson, wanting him to use his magical hat to open a portal to Wonderland. He intially refuses, having a daughter to think about, but then she disguises herself as an old hag at a marketplace in order to make him realize how pour he is, and then he agrees to help her on the condition that his daughter will want for nothing. When they enter Wonderland, Jefferson warns her that if two enter using the hat, then only two can exit. Regina and Jefferson find a maze leading the the entrance of the Queen of Hearts' castle. They manage to fight their way through the dangerous maze and to a small building filled with boxes. Regina retrieves one and her and Jefferson run back to the looking glass. However, Regina uses a magic mushroom to grow her father, who is in the box, and get him back. Since the hat can only take two, she has to abandon Jefferson, and he begs her not to do so on the grounds that his daughter will be left fatherless. Although she seems guilty, she decides to berate him for making promises he can't keep, commenting that one should never abandon family before heading home with her father and keeping a hold of Jefferson's hat.

As Regina watches a village burn in the distance, she is approached by her guards, who announce that Snow and Charming have taken over King George's Kingdom. Regina demands for her guards to keep the couple apart long enough for her to get revenge on Snow. She later finds Snow in the forest and is offered parley or her surrender. Regina refuses both and attempts to kill Snow, but she's stopped by the Blue Fairy and she's taken prisoner, to be executed. Before her execution, she's visited by her father, who begs his daughter to prove she can change. Later, as she's about to be executed, she's offered last words to die with a clean conscience, but she uses these words to claim she regrets not causing more pain and the death of Snow. Snow calls off the execution, realizing Regina was once good and she hopes to rehabilitate her. She is then tested by Snow, who lets Regina free. However, she uses this chance to attempt to kill Snow, but she's caught and as a result she is banished to forever live alone, unable to hurt Charming or Snow. Later, on the day of the royal wedding, she's visited by Rumplestiltskin, who suggests a way that she can hurt the royal couple, by taking them to another land. Knowing he means the Dark Curse, Regina readies her carriage to crash the wedding and give out a threatening message.

Just as Prince Charming and Snow White say "I do" and kiss at their wedding, everyone in the church is startled by the sound of doors opening Regina enters, sarcastically saying "Sorry I'm late". She walks towards the married couple and two guards try to stop her, but she uses her magic to push them aside. Charming tells her she has lost and she won't ruin their wedding day. Regina states she doesn't want to ruin their wedding and states she has brought them a gift. She tells them that everyone will soon lose everything they love because it will be taken away from them. She says she'll destroy everyone's happiness if it is the last thing she does. As she leaves the church, Charming calls out to her and then throws a sword in her direction. However, she simply dissipates in smoke just as it's about to hit her, leaving everyone at the church to fear her vague warning.

Frustrated, Queen Regina goes to Maleficent to get the Dark Curse back. Maleficent says they made a deal and the curse belongs to her now. She keeps the curse held in the orb of her staff, and when she refuses to willingly hand it over, Regina challenges her. They have a magic spar, and just as the Queen readies many enchanted weapons to throw at her pet unicorn, Maleficent jumps in front to intervene and is tied up with the metal of the chandelier, and is thrown against the wall. She believes she will be killed, but the Evil Queen states she would never do that since Maleficent is her only friend. Free to get the curse from the orb of Maleficent's staff, the Evil Queen is warned of the curse's dangers, and how it would leave a void in her, but she takes this all in stride and leaves.

Following the threat by Regina at the royal wedding, Snow begins to worry about her future. With their honeymoon coming up soon, Charming tries to persuade Snow that Regina's threats are nothing but words at this moment in time. Snow reluctantly agrees to go on her honeymoon, but deceives Charming into going to her parents old summer house...where a legendary beast is said to live in the caves nearby - and it could possibly help defeat Regina. The beast is Medusa, and Snow plans on chopping its head off so she can make Regina look into its eyes. As she secretly plans to set off, Charming finds her, but instead of stopping her, joins her, as he knows this is the only way his wife will be happy. As they attempt to defeat the beast, Charming unfortunately is turned to stone when he looks into Medusa's eyes. Regina uses the reflection of a mirror in a shield to gloat to Snow, stating that she's ruining her own happy ending so she needs to do nothing. However, now noticing the mirror, Snow gets an idea. She points the mirror at Medusa, forcing her to look at herself and turn to stone. This releases Charming from his stone form and he returns to normal.

Regina attempts to enact the Dark Curse. However, she finds out that it didn't work the way it was supposed to because she had to sacrifice the heart from the thing she loved most. As Regina fumes around her castle, her father suggests asking Rumplestiltskin for help. She does so, and visits Rumple in his prison cell. He tells her to sacrifice the thing she loves most, but Regina explains she killed her best steed. Rumple angrily tells her that isn't good enough and tells her to sacrifice the thing she loves most. She is counseled by her father, and she tells him about her meeting with Rumplestiltskin. He realizes that he is the thing she loves most and tries to persuade her out of killing him, but she thrusts her hand into his chest and she removes his heart as she whispers an apology. He drops the floor, dead.

Now knowing that she can enact the Dark Curse, Regina seeks out to kill her mother, Cora, before she enacts it. When Captain Hook breaks into Regina's palace, he finds Belle's cell and attempts to kill her when deciding she's useless. However, Regina stops him, claiming Belle is a valuable chess piece. She reveals that she knows who he is and why he's come from Neverland. She then claims to be able to help kill Rumplestiltskin if he does something for her. A short while later, Regina reveals her plans to enact the Dark Curse and says it'll take everyone to a land without magic, so Hook will be able to kill Rumple. Regina tells Hook that he'll have to kill someone she doesn't want following her to the new land, her mother Cora.

Wishing to make sure Hook is ready for the job he has been presented with, and that he has no weaknesses that may hold him back, Regina meets with the pirates a ways away from her palace, arriving in a carriage and inviting him to join her for a ride. The two make their way to a tavern where Hook learns he must face a certain man to prove his worth to her. Failing to spot the man Hook is actually there to go against, he at first believes it to be a drunk with a vendetta against pirates. The Evil Queen simply snaps the mans neck though, and instead directs Hook's attention to the barkeep... who is none other than Hook's father, Brennan Jones. Regina wishes for the Pirate to confront the man who wronged him centuries before, and kill him. She leaves Hook alone for him to do just that, and though after reuniting with him he believes his dad to be a changed man, Hook later comes to the realization that he's not, and so he kills him, not wanting to risk being caught by the Queen, for his revenge against the Dark One is far too more important.

With Hook having proved himself fit to take care of her mother, Regina enchants his hook to be able to rip out a heart, and then reveals Jefferson's hat as the Pirate's way of transportation. He questions what land it'll be that Regina sends him to, which the Evil Queen reveals to be Wonderland. Hook sets off, but he is unable to rip out Cora's heart, for she does not keep hers where everyone else does. Cora overpowers him and demands to be told the truth, and once she is told that he was sent there by Regina, she offers him her assistance as well, for Regina tricked him: those who are caught by her curse are destined to lose their memories, so he wouldn't be able to get revenge. Hook brings Cora to Regina, so that she can kill her daughter, but when Regina mourns her mother's death, Cora has a change of heart, for Regina simply believed that love was weakness, something that she didn't want in the new world she was going to... something else her mother taught her. Cora later casts a spell on a portion of the fairytale land that protects it from the curse, and so she and Hook remain frozen in that area as the Dark Curse goes on to be cast. The next time she tries to enact the Dark Curse, she succeeds.

After Regina enables the Dark Curse, she rides to Snow White's castle in her carriage with the curse not far behind her. ("Pilot"/"The Stranger"/"Save Henry") As the Dark Curse is taking effect on the Enchanted Forest, Queen Regina magically teleports herself into Rumplestiltskin's prison in order to gloat. However, he points out that her victory is flawed as she'll have no one to hold it over, and she'll eventually be left with a hole in her heart that revenge just cannot fill. Not liking what he's saying, Regina accuses the malevolent imp of trying to strike a new deal with her, but doesn't bite, but the Dark One refuses, assuring that Queen that when the time comes that she realizes he's right, she will come to him for a solution. Regina continues to refute this, continuing to theorize that Rumple wants to get out of their previous deal and escape the curse, but the Dark One asks her why he'd do that, given that, not only has he been promised a cushy new life in the world he's entering with obliviousness, but he's exactly where he wants to be. This confuses the Evil Queen, who leaves Rumple locked up in his cell so that she may go taunt her sworn enemy before she forgets who Regina is.

Regina finally arrives at the castle with the curse and her guard, whom kill several of the Prince's guards. They soon spot Charming and attack him, wounding him. He manages to send his newborn daughter to the land without magic, and then he collapses. Snow White finds her husband on the floor, injured, and Regina enters. Regina asks where the child is, and Snow explains she got away, stating Regina will lose. However, as the curse finally arrives at the castle, Regina doesn't seem to care at all. As the curse prepares to send everyone to a land without magic, Regina tells Snow White she will finally get her own happy ending. When Snow asks where they are going, Regina replies "somewhere horrible". Regina is then transported to the small town of Storybrooke in Maine, USA, where she lives under the name of Regina Mills.

Early Life
"I did it... I won."

After the curse arrives in the modern day world, creating the town Storybrooke and bringing the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest with it, Regina awakens on the morning of October 23, 1983 in her bed. She looks out her bedroom window and is pleased to see the curse worked, bringing her happy ending. She soon leaves for Granny's Diner, and on the way she runs into several familiar faces. Once at the diner, Regina is shocked to see two people who aren't from her world, Kurt and Owen. Threatened, she asks Graham, the sheriff and her love toy, to keep his eye on them. From then on, Regina relives the same day over and over again, but was the only one aware of this repetition, as everyone else was cursed. Eventually, she becomes tired of the same day and tries to seek help from Mr. Gold, but he appears to be cursed too. Feeling lonely, Regina decides to invite Kurt and Owen around for dinner. During dinner, Regina and Owen bond and she seems to develop maternal feelings for him. She then tries to persuade them to move to Storybrooke, but Kurt refuses. Later, Billy tells Regina that Kurt took his car, so she controls Graham into arresting Kurt so she can keep Owen for herself. However, Kurt overhears this and a chase ensues. Owen's father is soon arrested by Graham and Owen attempts to escape. Regina stops him, but after realizing she can't force him to love her, she lets him go. He then runs away from Storybrooke, searching for help. When he returns with the police, the town is missing, as it is cloaked by a magical barrier. However, Regina can see from the inside, and she seems heartbroken over Owen's tragedy.

Eighteen years later, Regina expresses the emptiness she feels in her heart to Archie Hopper and he suggests getting a child to her, explaining that it'll help her love someone. She visits Mr. Gold for helping adopting a child quickly and a while later, she receives news that a child has become available in Boston. Regina visits the adoption agency and after a successful interview, finds herself the new mother of a baby boy whom she names Henry, after her father. The infant doesn't stop crying when in the care of Regina, so she takes him to be checked up by Dr. Whale, who assures her he's fine. However, Regina demands more but Whale explains that they'd have to contact the birth parents, and since it was a closed adoption, is impossible. She gets help from Sidney to illegally obtain information of the birth parents. After finally learning how to calm Henry down, she is given the information on the infant's birth mother and is shocked to discover she's Snow White's child. She confronts Gold about this, accusing it of being his plan, and then states she's taking the baby back. When she does this, she has a change of heart and takes Henry home with her. The people that would have adopted Henry after Regina are revealed to be John and Michael Darling. Regina has another meeting with Archie and expresses her fear of Henry's birth mother returning, so he urges her to let go of her fears. She does just this and creates a potion that helps her forget her worries. She then continues to raise Henry as a happy mother.

Season 1
"You have no idea what I'm capable of."

After Henry Mills, a young boy who believes Regina to be an evil witch that cursed everyone in his town, ran away from home to find his biological mother, Emma Swan, he soon found her in Boston, but she decided to return him home. After obtaining his address from Archie Hopper, Henry begs her not to take him home because Regina is evil and doesn't love him. However, as Regina sees Henry stood outside, safe, she runs to him and embraces him. Henry explains that he found his real mother and then runs inside. Shocked, Regina invites Emma inside for some a drink where she explains she had no idea who his real parents where. When Emma mentions the Fairytales Henry told her, Regina seems to have no idea what she's talking about and then soon invites Emma to leave her house. When Henry runs away again, Regina arrives at the police station to inform Sheriff Graham; there she's shocked to find Emma in a jail cell. The three then work together to find Henry and they discover that Henry used his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard's credit card to track down Emma. When she confronts Mary, she insists that Henry stole her card. Regina soon realizes that Mary Margaret gave Henry his Fairytale book and leaves angrily. When Emma finally returns Henry to Regina, she tells Emma not to be a part of Henry's life or else she'll "destroy her".

As the clock in Storybrooke begins to work again, Regina confronts Henry about some missing pages in his story book, but he says they've always been missing. When the town clock chimes, Regina heads outside to investigate. She soon discovers Emma stayed in Storybrooke so approaches her with apples from her childhood tree, reminding her to leave. However, this just encourages Emma to stay even more. Later, whilst admiring the apples on her tree, Regina is approached by Sidney Glass, the local newspaper editor, and he tells her that he found little about Emma's past. Frustrated, Regina tells him to find something or she'll "dispose of him". Later, Regina comes to see Henry at school. She takes him aside and tells him that Emma has been arrested and that she's a con woman trying to take advantage of them. Henry doesn't believe it but Regina insists that she's just trying to protect them. After being bailed by Mary Margaret, Emma chops down Regina's cherished tree, horrifying her. Emma and Regina meet up to call a truce and Regina states Emma wants to take Henry, but Emma insists she just wants to make sure he is okay. When Emma says she thinks Henry is crazy, he overhears her and she realizes Regina had set her up to upset Henry. Whilst tending to her tree, Regina is approached by Mr. Gold and he torments her psychologically.

When comatose patient David Nolan begins to show signs of movement, Dr. Whale calls Regina to tell her of the situation, stating Mary Margaret was involved. When David goes missing, Regina is called as she is his emergency contact. She is shocked when Emma arrives with Henry, as she realizes he lied to be with her. When Emma offers to help find David, Regina tells her to "stay out of it" and she takes Henry back. When David is returned safely to the hospital, Regina brings his wife, Kathryn Nolan, to prevent him and Mary Margaret getting together. When Kathryn explains how she and her husband lost contact with each other, Emma approaches Regina and says the story sounds fake. Regina mentions that she checked over some tapes and they showed David mentioning Kathryn's name on several occasions. She tells Emma the couple can be happily reunited now and after saying not being with your love is the worst curse imaginable, she leaves.

When Regina and Emma discuss Henry in the local diner, the former states that she is no longer worried about the latter, as she lives a transient lifestyle, so will soon be out of their lives. Later on, at home, Regina leaves for a council meeting. Before heading out, she tells Henry to stay home; but of course he disobeys and leaves anyway. After another adventure with Emma, Henry quickly returns him in just in time, as Regina also returns from her meeting. Regina enters Henry's room to tell him not to leave his shoes lying around as someone could get hurt; meaning Henry got away with sneaking out. Later, after being offered a Deputy Sheriff job by Graham, Emma calls him and asks if the job is still available. She asks if Regina is going to be happy, to which Graham shrugs off. Meanwhile, Regina dresses and leaves someone's house, which is alluded to be Graham's house. She speaks to him as he is in the shower, and we learn Regina is having an affair with Graham.

When an earthquake shakes the peaceful town of Storybrooke, an old abandoned mine collapses. Regina is one of the first on the scene and when she arrives she notices Emma is there to investigate. She tells her to leave as it's the town's business, but Emma reveals she is now deputy sheriff, displeasing Regina. When Henry arrives she notices a piece of decorative glass on the floor. When Henry asks what it is, she pockets it and tells him it's nothing. She tells Henry to wait safely in the car and orders Emma to do her job. She then threatens Archie, Henry's therapist, to do his job better as it isn't working. When Archie asks what he should do, he tells her to crush his delusions of the Fairytales. When Henry goes missing, it becomes apparent that he went inside the mine. Archie goes in to find him, but when another earthquake blocks off the entrance, Regina begs Emma to help her. When all hope seems lost, Regina begins to freak out and snaps at the rescue team. Emma calms her down and then finds a way inside to help Archie and Henry. When Henry is only just saved, Regina embraces her son. She is then approached by Archie, who tells her that he will treat Henry his own way or else he'll testify against her in a custody battle for Henry. Later on, Regina drops the piece of glass down the shaft...revealing it to be part of Snow White's glass coffin.

Regina attends a surprise "Welcome Home Party" that is held for David Nolan, the comatose patient that was recently released from hospital. During the party, his wife, Kathryn, becomes upset and confides in her friend, Regina, that she feels like she hasn't got her husband back, as he doesn't remember anything. Regina empathizes with Kathryn and states that she lost a lover. She tells Kathryn she's lucky David is alive and she should embrace it. Regina later approaches Mary Margaret and warns her to stay away from David as he left his wife and is in a fragile place and she risks ruining many lives. Ignoring her warning, Mary Margaret and David arrange to meet at Toll Bridge. Whilst on his way, David asks Regina for directions. She does, but gives him the wrong ones as she realizes who he is visiting and sees it as an opportunity to stop them being together.

After being turned away by Emma when he makes a move on her, Sheriff Graham turns up at Regina's house late at night as he needs to "feel something". After making sure that Henry is asleep, he grabs Regina and kisses her. When asleep in bed, Graham has images in his head about hunting. Concerned that he's remembering his past, Regina tells him it's just a dream and he should ignore them. When Emma and Graham are led to a cemetery, they enter a crypt which supposedly belongs to Regina's deceased father. Regina turns up, demanding to know what the two are doing. Neither of them tell her and it soon becomes apparent to Regina that Graham likes Emma more than her. As she tries to go to him, he tells her their relationship is over, as he feels nothing with her. Regina blames Emma, but Emma blames Regina as both Henry and Graham are unhappy. The two then fight, but it is broken up by Graham. After they both return to the Sheriff's office, Regina goes inside the crypt and takes a box, which contains the Huntsman's heart. She takes the heart into her hand and then crushes it until it turns to dust; ultimately killing Graham who had just fully remembered his past in the Fairytale World.

With Graham now deceased, the town of Storybrooke is in need of a new Sheriff. Emma, the deputy sheriff, is in the Sheriff's office looking at the badge, intending to get the job. Regina arrives and tells Emma she intends to give the position to Sidney Glass as Emma doesn't deserve it. She then fires Emma, making it seem impossible for her to become sheriff. Mr. Gold offers to help Emma become the sheriff of Storybrooke, as they both share Regina as an enemy. Whilst announcing Sidney as the new sheriff, Emma interrupts her and states she hasn't got the power to appoint a sheriff, just a candidate. Emma announces that she will run for sheriff as well. Regina later visits Mr. Gold as she knows he helped Emma run for sheriff; she tells him he's backing a losing horse. In attempt to make Emma lose the race, Regina publicizes Emma's juvenile records. When Emma finds out, she visits Regina in her office, but they're stopped when there's a massive explosion and the building sets on fire. Regina hurts her ankle and begs Emma to help her. Emma saves her and takes her outside where she looked after by medical staff; however, the whole town see Emma as a hero now. When the voting day comes, Emma wins and Regina reluctantly appoints Emma as the new sheriff.

After Henry is tricked into stealing some candy from a shop by Ava and Nicholas Zimmer, Regina is contacted. Regina arrives and expresses her disappointment in Henry. However, she soon realizes that Ava and Nicholas were the ones responsible for the theft. Emma soon turns up to investigate the minor crime. Regina tells her to mind her own business, but Emma reminds her she's the sheriff. After it becomes apparent that Ava and Nicholas are orphans, Emma makes it her job to track down their father. She asks Regina, the person who reported them to Social Services, for any information, but she says there's no record of their father. She then announces the children will be put in separate foster homes and orders Emma to take them to their destinations. Emma is not happy with this arrangement and continues to track down the children's father, but Regina reminds Emma they need to be at their new homes by the night. Regina later watches with Henry as Emma takes Ava and Nicholas out of Storybrooke to Boston.

When a new neighbor arrives to Storybrooke, Henry approaches the mysterious man and asks him some questions. Regina sees Henry talking to the strange man so runs up to them, as she is worried. However, as she arrives the man drives away on his motorcycle, leading Regina to ask who he was. Later on, at a shop, when Mary Margaret bumps into Kathryn Nolan, revealing she's buying a pregnancy test, Regina tells her to stay out of her and David's personal business and tells her to keep it quiet. Curious about who the mysterious newcomer is, Regina asks Emma to find out his identity, as she had never seen him before, worrying her. Later on, when David and Mary Margaret run into each other at Granny's Diner, they both tell each other that they have been trying to avoid each other. David soon announces that Kathryn isn't pregnant and then the two kiss. However, unknown to them, Regina is watching the two people from a car across the street.

Regina comes looking for Henry when he has a therapy session with Archie. She finds him with Emma at their secret meeting place, "The Castle". When she notices the poor shape of "The Castle", she tells Emma that she needs to be more responsible now that she's sheriff, as people could get hurt. Regina soon orders the demolition of "The Castle", much to the displeasure of Henry and Emma. When Emma argues against Regina, Regina tells her to learn her place in the town or she won't be in it. After being supposedly fired by Regina, Sidney teams up with Emma to dig up dirt on her. They visit her office and plant a bug under her desk. When they discover she and Mr. Gold had been meeting in the woods secretly, they break into Regina's office again, but Regina arrives and sends the two away. It is then revealed that Regina had in fact been meeting with Mr. Gold so she could create a new playing area for Henry and the other children of Storybrooke. It's then revealed that Sidney is actually working with Regina and he "teamed up" with Emma to make her seem like a bad guy accusing an innocent woman. Regina tells Sidney she doesn't know what she'd do without him.

After watching Mr. Gold repossess a truck belonging to Moe French, Regina approaches Gold and tells him they need to talk about something. When he says it'll have to wait, she tries to intimidate him into talking. However, Gold repeats it'll have to wait and then asks her if he could "please" leave. When Mr. Gold is arrested for assaulting Moe for taking something from his house, Regina shows up and gives Emma permission to go away with Henry so she can be alone with Gold. He asks if Regina has what she wants and she says she does. He then realizes that Regina put Moe up to the burglary. She tells Gold she just wants him to tell her his name. He replies "Mr. Gold", but then she asks what his name is elsewhere. He then replies "Rumplestilskin" and then addresses Regina as "Your Majesty", confirming they're both aware of their past identities. Regina returns the thing she took off Gold, a chipped cup. Gold then tells Regina that nothing between them will change. Later, Regina visits the psychiatric ward in the basement of the hospital. She looks through one of the doors, watching Belle's counterpart locked in a cell.

While Regina is remembering Daniel via the ring he gave her, Mr. Gold enters her office and makes a comment about remembrance of things past. She wonders what he's doing there and he reveals that he needs a favor, to her annoyance. He goes on to explain that he still has some battery charges pegged against him and he knows that someone with the Mayor's influence could easily get rid of them - and, in exchange, he can help with her Mary Margaret problem, pointing out that no matter what Regina does it appears as though she and her charming friend always find a way to be together. He proceeds to suggest something tragic happening to David's wife so that they can pin the blame on Mary Margaret. Regina says that a trial could get messy, but Gold has no intention of a trial happening; instead, he plans to plant a skeleton key in her cell and allow her to escape. Then, when she tries to leave town, something "bad" will happen, as it always does when people attempt to leave Storybrooke. Regina wonders why she should trust him, and he reminds her that he always honors his agreements. She is tempted.

To apologize for destroying Henry's book by ordering the demolition of his jungle gym, Regina gives Henry a present in hopes that it will cheer him up. When he doesn't seem to be much happier, he explains that he misses Emma. Kathryn suddenly shows up, crying, and tells Regina that David has decided to leave her. Annoyed, Regina calls Mary Margaret a home wrecker, confusing Kathryn. Regina reveals that David and Mary Margaret have been having an affair, angering Kathryn as she thought Regina was her friend. Later, Kathryn goes to see Regina to apologize for what he said. Kathryn admits she and David were never in love and that she has never been in love. Kathryn says she is moving to Boston alone and tells Regina that she wrote a letter telling David and Mary Margaret to be together, which upsets Regina. Regina then sneaks into David's house to take the letter that Kathryn had left for him so that she can burn it once she gets home.

After Kathryn Nolan went missing from her car whilst trying to leave Storybrooke, Sidney began investigating her disappearance and asked Regina to find Kathryn's call history for her phone. When she gets the information, she calls Sidney up telling them it could be very useful. The phone records show that Kathryn had called David a short while before she went missing, contradicting what David had told Emma earlier, making him seem guilty. Emma refuses to believe the evidence at first as she knows when people are lying. However, Sidney tells her that evidence doesn't lie, but people do. Regina later visits Emma in her office and tells her it has been twenty-four hours since her friend went missing and asks if she has found any information. Emma says she found something, but isn't sure of it. Regina asks what she found, but Emma refuses to tell her. Regina angrily tells Emma that if she is covering for someone and not doing her job, then she will replace her.

When Emma Swan and Ruby find David Nolan unconscious in the middle of the woods in Storybrooke, he is brought to the Hospital where Dr. Whale tends to him. Because she is still listed as his emergency patient, Regina is called into the hospital. When she arrives, she is angry to see Emma there with David. She angrily asks if David has a lawyer present or if Emma even read him his rights. Emma explains that David isn't under arrest, but they are just talking instead. Emma then asks what Regina is doing at the Hospital, so Dr. Whale explains that she's still his emergency contact, angering Emma. David states he thought that Kathryn was his emergency contact, but Regina reminds him that she is currently unavailable because she is still missing. When she says that she hasn't been found yet, she says it with a tone that blames Emma. Regina tells Emma to stop tying to place blame and find Kathryn instead. Emma explains that there is a lot of Maine to search, but Regina angrily tells her to branch out her search.

When Mary Margaret is arrested under the suspicion of the murder of Kathryn Nolan, Emma takes her into questioning and Regina is present to ensure that Emma does not show any favoritism to her friend. Mary Margaret admits to owning the box that the heart of Kathryn was found in, but insists it was stolen off of her. Regina tells Mary Margaret that she knows what it feels like to be in her situation as she has lost someone very deer to her and it took her into a very dark place. She says it changed her as a person. Emma takes Regina out of the questioning room to stop her. Regina asks how she knows she didn't kill Kathryn. She explains there would be signs of a theft if the box was stolen and reminds her Mary Margaret is a woman who had her heart broken, which can make a person do "unspeakable things". Later, David visits Regina in her office, insisting Mary Margaret couldn't have killed Kathryn as he knows her. Regina supposes he doesn't and says evil is made, not born. David says she doesn't know anything about evil, but Regina explains that she knows that evil doesn't always look evil and it can be standing right in front of you, implying herself.

One morning, Regina shows up at the Sheriff's office and seems slightly surprised to see Mary Margaret in her cell, reading a newspaper. They both coldly greet each other. Mr. Gold, who is also at the office, tells Regina that his "client" isn't seeing any visits, to which Regina replies "of course not". He then takes her out into the corridor, where Regina angrily asks what Mary Margaret is doing in the cell. Mr. Gold explains that she came back. Regina reminds Mr. Gold that he said their plan was going to work, that she would take the key they left for her and she would go. Mr. Gold explains that Mary Margaret did leave, but states Emma Swan is more resourceful than they thought. Gold tells Regina to fear not as Mary Margaret is still guilty of murder, meaning she might get what she wants. Regina states she better get what she wants. She tells Gold that she only made a deal with him because she wanted results. Gold tells her she will get results, and then she angrily walks out of the Sheriff's station.

Regina visits Mary Margaret in her jail cell offering her a chance to confess to her crimes and thus save the town from the "messiness of a trial". Mary Margaret insists she didn't kill Kathryn and then asks why nobody believes her. Regina lists the reasons and then tells her to confess again, as either way, she's leaving. Mary Margaret notices Regina's pleasure, and then asks what she ever did to make Regina hate her so much. When Mary Margaret agrees to speak with the D.A. about Kathryn, Regina watches and smiles when she yells that she wanted Kathryn "gone". When Emma and August find a shard from a shovel at the scene of Kathryn's murder, they sneak into Regina's garage and they find a broken shovel which the shard fits onto. When Emma returns the next morning with a search warrant, she enters the garage, but the shovel is now fixed. Emma insists Mary Margaret is a good person, but Regina explains she's a liar and a murderer, and she shall pay for the crimes she has committed. Regina visits Mary Margaret in her cell again, and says she is going to enjoy her being sent away forever. Crying, Mary Margaret says she didn't kill Kathryn and she doesn't deserve her punishment. Regina states she knows Mary didn't kill Kathryn, but insists she does deserve it.

When Kathryn is found alive and well, Regina is upset about Mr. Gold breaking their deal. He claims he never broke it as "something tragic" did happen to Kathryn. Mr. Gold reveals that he has broken only one deal in his life, and it wasn't this one. Regina realizes that Mr. Gold set her up and that all the evidence such as the forged DNA test will trace back to her. Regina questions why he made the curse in the first place, and he tells her to figure it out. Emma confronts Sidney about a bug she found, planted by him and accuses him of being in love with Regina. Later, Mr. Gold watches August speed off on his motorcycle and follows him behind in his car. Regina meets Emma at the sheriff's station under the pretense of giving her a confession. Then she calls Sidney in, who goes into detail about everything because he had hoped he would get his job back by kidnapping Kathryn. Emma doesn't buy his confession and asks to speak with Regina privately in the hallway. She is furious Regina is having someone else take the fall for her actions. Emma says that Regina tried to take away a person she loves, so now she will take away someone Regina loves. She vows to get her son, Henry, back.

August Booth installs a lock on Mary Margaret's door to keep Regina out. Emma Swan tells them that she is going to hire Mr. Gold to build a case against Regina. Later, Mary Margaret confronts Regina about framing her for the murder of Kathryn, but says that she forgives her. Regina tells Mary Margaret that if she does that it will leave a giant hole in her heart. When Emma asks Gold to help build a case against Regina he declines. Regina convinces David Nolan to come around her house for supper. Regina and David finish eating and he cleans up the dishes. David asks how she found him and she tells him she was working late, forgot her phone and headed back to the office and found him on the side of the road almost frozen to death. She goes in for a kiss but David backs away. David leaves and an upset Regina smashes her mirror. When Henry is lying in bed, Emma calls him and asks if he wants to get away from Regina. He accepts and they both get in her car to leave Storybrooke.

Whilst sleeping at night, Regina has a nightmare about all the residents of Storybrooke remembering their former selves and teaming up together to attack her. When she wakes up, she checks on Henry, who has covered his bed to make it look like he is there. Regina notices the curse is weakening so confronts Mr. Gold, who doesn't seem to bothered about this fact. Regina realizes Gold wants the curse to be broken, and then he suggests she leave town, as when it is broke, the residents will be looking for blood. Regina seeks Jefferson for help. She asks him to use his hat, stating she has a bit of magic left, so they can deal with Emma. She takes Jefferson to her father's crypt. After using magic to get the hat working, they retrieve a poisoned apple that Regina used on Snow White. Regina then bakes a turnover with the apple in hopes of getting Emma to eat it. However, this plan goes horribly wrong when Henry sacrifices himself in an attempt to stop Emma.

After being poisoned by Regina's turnover, Henry is taken to the Hospital in Storybrooke. Emma goes with him and she soon realizes that Henry was telling the truth about the fairytale characters. When Regina arrives to see Henry, Emma attacks her. Emma accuses Regina of poisoning Henry and Regina sadly confesses. She explains that magic is unpredictable, so Emma asks what to do. Regina says they should seek help from Mr. Gold, who also knows about magic. When they confront Mr. Gold, he admits to having a bottle of true love that he smuggled from the Fairytale Land. He tells Emma that she must retrieve it from his and Regina's friend, using her father's sword. Regina takes Emma to a secret elevator in the Clock Tower, and Emma goes down to kill Maleficent for the potion. As Emma heads back up the elevator, Regina is tied to a chair and gagged by Mr. Gold. Gold takes the potion off Emma, to use it for himself. Regina then gets a call from the hospital claiming Henry has died. Regina is distraught and breaks down into tears. Emma's kiss wakes Henry up and the Dark Curse is broken. Regina retreats to her house and before leaving, tells Henry that she truly loved him. Whilst at home, Regina notices that Mr. Gold has successfully brought magic into the real world, and she smiles.

Season 2
"I want to redeem myself."

Now remembering their pasts, Dr. Whale and an angry mob arrive outside Regina’s house to kill her. Regina comes outside with a smirk, asking if she can help them. Whale tells Regina her smirk won’t last as she’ll soon be dead. Regina steps outside and threatens the crowd with her magic, but when she tries to use it, she is powerless. Whale tries to strangle her but is stopped by Emma, Snow and Charming. They decide to lock her up in the sheriff’s station where she tells her saviors their former land is gone. She is soon visited by Rumplestiltskin, who uses a marker on her to be devoured by a Wraith, a soul sucking creature. Regina becomes worried when her mark begins to strengthen, hinting the arrival of the Wraith into Storybrooke. When the Wraith finally arrives at the sheriff’s station, it rips into Regina’s cell with ease and then it begins to suck her soul. Charming arrives just in time and stops it momentarily by hitting it with a chair. Snow then scares the monster off with a flamethrower. After being promised to be kept alive, Regina suggests sending the creature somewhere else, so they use Jefferson’s hat to send it to an unknown place. The hat doesn’t work at first, but with a touch from Emma, Regina regains her powers and the hat takes the Wraith away, but Emma and Snow are taken too by accident. Regina tries to kill Charming but it stopped by Henry, who tells her to leave him alone until Snow and Emma are saved.

Charming visits Regina to ask her about Jefferson’s hat. Realizing the magic that she used on him was an anomaly, he uses this to blackmail her into telling him about the hat. She then tells him when she gets her magic back, she will get Henry back. Whilst on her way to meet Rumple, Jiminy tries to talk to Regina so she can understand herself, but she states she knows who she is. When she finds Rumple, she blackmails him into giving him her old spell book by revealing she knows that he is “up to something”. While watching her hold the book, Rumple tells Regina she does look like her mother. When she arrives home, Regina uses the spell book on an apple tree to give life to the rotting fruit. The use of the spell book gives Regina her magic back. With her new power, she arrives at the town hall and attacks people until she takes Henry home with her. When Henry tries to escape their house, she uses a barrier spell on him, making him a prisoner. She tells him that she does it because she loves him. Realizing she is becoming like her mother, when Charming arrives to take Henry, she gives him up without a fight, insisting she wants to redeem Henry’s love and not force it out of him. Charming says she can redeem herself by telling him if the Enchanted Forest still exists; she admits it does. Later, Regina contemplates burning the spell book, but decides to keep it.

When Henry approaches Jefferson, he is told that if he wants help to bring back Snow and Emma then he should ask his mother if she has anything in her vault. Henry is surprised to hear that the vault is in Storybrooke. Later on, after being asked to leave the mayors office, Regina is packing up her things when she gets a call from Henry. She tells him about being asked to leave the office and then he asks to meet up with her. Overjoyed, she tells him the packing up can wait and then she agrees to meet him at Granny's Diner in ten minutes. With a genuine smile on her face, she leaves to go meet her son. However, as she leaves the office, Henry shows up as he was hiding in a back room. He heads straight to a filing cabinet and pulls out a ring with many keys attached to it. When she is stood up at the Diner by Henry, Regina heads back to her office to discover that her keys have gone missing. She realizes what Henry has done, so she calls Prince Charming to bring him back to safety, as he is most likely to listen to him. Charming finds Henry inside the vault and saves him just in time as he is about to be killed by poisonous vipers.

Regina reluctantly visits Dr. Hopper for therapy sessions to help her cope with not using magic, as it's been a difficult two days. However, the session is cut short when Dr. Whale enters, demanding to be sent back to his land, despite Regina explaining she can't. Archie asks Regina if there's anything holding her back from moving forward, so she tells him about her lover, Daniel, and that she preserved his body in her family mausoleum. Slightly distressed, Regina leaves, but one her way home, she sees Daniel stood on the sidewalk, but when he disappears, she thinks she's being haunted. The next day she visits the mausoleum, but is horrified to find his body and one of her hearts missing. Knowing exactly what's happening, she visits Dr. Whale, but finds him with his arm torn from his body. She asks if he brought Daniel from the grave, so he admits that he did, but he's a monster. Regina later takes Whale to the doctors where she is approached by Charming. She reluctantly tells him Daniel has returned, but then they fear Henry may be in danger at the stables, as that was Daniel's last memory. Once they arrive at the stables, they narrowly save Henry's life. Charming tries to kill Daniel, but Regina begs him to let her talk. She does so, but is attacked. Daniel snaps out of his rage when Regina confesses her love to him. However, he is in pain, so begs she let him go. When Daniel becomes a monster again, Regina uses her magic on him, ridding him forever. She tearfully says goodbye to him. Later on, Regina visits Archie and confesses to have used magic.

When Prince Charming get an emergency call, he calls Regina and asks her to look over Henry, who has been having nightmares. Henry has another nightmare about being in a room with fire, so Regina wakes him up and comforts him. Confused and scared, Henry asks why she’s there, so she explains about the emergency call. When Regina reveals she knows about the nightmares, she tells Henry everything is okay and grabs his hand comfortingly. However, he pulls it away in pain. They both look at his hand to reveal a burn. Concerned, Regina calls Mr. Gold for assistance. He tells them that it’s not a dream, but a side effect of the sleeping curse. Gold mocks Regina for knowing so little about the curses she enacts. But she explains her victims were not supposed to wake, so she did not care about what happened to them. Gold tells them that when put under the sleeping curse, the souls is taken to a netherworld until the curse is broken. But in sleep, victims find their way back to that world. Regina says the other world is tormenting Henry in his sleep, so asks for something to stop that. Gold cannot do that; however, he gives Henry something that will allow him to control his actions in that world. Suspicious, Regina asks what Gold’s price is, but he tells her there isn’t one as it is for Henry.

Regina and Charming are both sat watching over Henry as he sleeps. When he wakes up after another encounter with Aurora, he reveals that Snow and Emma are still alive, but they need help defeating an opponent, Cora. Regina visits Mr. Gold at the diner and tells him of this news. He doesn’t seem interested in helping, but Regina points out that he has a weakness now, Belle, and she is in danger of Cora. The two then team up with Charming and prepare to send Henry back to the netherworld to give Aurora information on how to stop Cora. When Henry wakes up, he is badly burned as Aurora was awakened before her soul was ready. However, Gold heals Henry with magic. When he points out Henry will soon be ready to return, Regina refuses to let him go back, and Charming agrees. Charming offers to go instead. But this means he has to be put under a sleeping curse. Regina prepares one with the ingredients in Gold’s shop and Henry approaches her. She reveals that she hasn’t been using magic, as she promised, just on a few occasions. Henry points out she’s using it to help people. She then comforts a worried Henry that Snow and Charming will find each other. Regina then poisons a spinning wheel needle with the potion and Charming pricks his finger on it, becoming cursed. When he doesn't wake up, Regina assures Henry that everything is all right, but she and Gold know their plan has failed.

Rumplestiltskin points out to Regina that they should prepare themselves at the Well, as that is where the portal leads to, and stop Cora from entering Storybrooke, because they don't know who will show up. Regina is reluctant, because it is endangering Emma and Snow, as they may arrive through the portal and she doesn't want to betray Henry. However, Gold points out that it would all seem like a terrible accident. Regina finally agrees, but only because she wants to protect Henry. They head down to the mines and there, Gold collects the magic from the diamonds to power the Fairy Godmother's wand. At the Well, the two of them concoct a spell, making it so that if anyone were to pass through it, they would be killed. After the dwarves find the diamonds gone, they tell Ruby and Henry, and they all assume Regina has betrayed them. Ruby and Henry head to the well to stop them. Henry begs his mother to believe that Snow and Emma will pass through the portal, but Regina says she cannot take that risk as Cora would destroy everything she loves, including Henry. Henry tells his mother that if she wants to change then she should prove it by having faith in him. Regina agrees and then breaks the spell by absorbing the magic. A few minutes later, Emma and Snow exit the portal and after being told how they were saved, they thank Regina. Later, everyone heads back to Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer so Snow can awaken Charming. Regina watches, rolling her eyes. They all then leave for Granny's Diner, but Henry doesn't invite Regina, saddening her. Gold points out that one day she may be accepted fully by them and be invited to meals.

Emma invites Regina to her and Mary Margaret's welcome back party, but when she arrives, her reception is very cold. After spending most of the party alone, she leaves, but it stopped by Emma, who explains why she invited her. When Emma reveals that Archie told her about Regina's therapy sessions, Regina is angered. The next day she confronts him about this, but there argument is observed by Ruby. Later on, Cora, in the guise of her daughter, "kills" Archie in front of his dog, Pongo. When his body is found by Emma and Ruby, Regina is taken into questioning. She claims she didn't kill him and states to have been home all evening, Emma believes this. They use magic to extract Pongo's memories and discover that Regina truly strangled Archie, although it was Cora in disguise. They then confront Regina and reveal their knowledge of the murder. Regina is horrified when she learns Henry will be taken away from her completely. Emma angrily states that Henry is her son and Regina will never see him again. Blue suddenly appears and attempts to trap Regina with magic, but she defends herself. She then tells Emma she won't keep Henry from her and she pushes her away using magic. After Emma states Regina will never change, she uses her magic to teleport away. Later on, she watches from her car, crying, as Emma tells Henry about Archie's death and how Regina was responsible.

Cora is seen in Regina's house and is going through her daughter's things. She steals a clay tile from Henry that was given to Regina. Later, Henry is seen walking into Regina's vault and finding his mother, saying that he knows she was framed for Archie's death. Regina wonders how he knew and it turns out Henry is Cora in disguise, she reveals herself as says she knows because she did it. Regina is shocked to see her mother again and Cora explains that she knows why she tried to have her killed, and it's alright. Regina tells her that she thinks it's not alright as her mother wanted her broken, Cora states that she merely wanted her daughter to be receptive but Regina refuses to argue. She wants to take her mother among the townspeople to prove her innocence and Cora obliges to go with her. In the car, the evil witch reveals that something is irritating her before pulling out Regina's clay tile, given to her by Henry and containing his hand print. Regina is angry with her mother for going into her house and taking one of her most treasured possessions. Cora points out that as long as Emma and her parents are in town, Henry will never truly be Regina's. Cora asks what Regina really wants and her daughter says that she wants her son back. When Cora apologizes some more, Regina forgives her, asking her how she plans to return Henry to her. Cora says that she has a few thoughts.

Regina arrives at Mary Margaret and David's apartment, much to their surprise, to tell them that she had nothing to do with poor Dr. Hopper's death. They say that they know as Archie is alive and was kidnapped by Cora. Regina, pretending to be hearing of this for the first time, demands to see her son as she can protect him, but Mary Margaret explains that he's gone out of town with Emma and Gold. Regina is furious that no one ran this by her. She is next seen near the docks approaching Hook who explains that he lost the shrunken giant from his ship. He goes on to mention that upon seeing David, the giant became quite murderous. Regina states that a murderous giant with a vendetta against the prince is just the distraction they need. Regina soon discovers Anton, the giant, in the town's woods. He warns her to stay away, not liking humans and threatening to kill her. Regina merely laughs this away, saying that she hears he's in town to kill someone and she can help, not being such a fan of the prince herself. Anton is intrigued and Regina hands him a bar of magic mushroom, one that will make him grow larger and return to his former glory. Anton takes the mushroom and eats it, he grows to his former size and Regina tells him to go find the prince and kill him as the effects of the mushroom shan't last forever. However, this plan is an apparent failure when David ends up saving Anton's life and the giant shows them a new way to grow magic beans so that they may return home.

Regina sadly tells her mother that Emma left town with Gold and took Henry with her, but Cora assures her daughter that her son will be safe. Hook overhears this and is happy to hear the Dark One has left town as this means he's powerless and can be killed, but Regina explains to him that if any one of them leave town, they'll lose their magic. Cora then states that with Gold gone, they can search for the one thing that can actually kill him within Storybrooke - his dagger. Regina goes to see Belle in the hospital and asks her if she can help her find something that belongs to Mr. Gold, but after Belle says she doesn't know him, Regina uses a spell to make Belle fall asleep, then uses magic to take a paper out of Belle's bag that has a note containing the numbers to a book in the library. She then begins to search in the library alongside Cora and Hook, however, they do not find the dagger where Belle's paper indicated. Instead, they find a map, one that Hook is able to translate in order to discover the location of the dagger. Once he does this, Cora reveals her plan to betray the pirate and knocks him out with magic. Regina is confused as to what her mother is doing and Cora explains that with the dagger, they shall control the Dark One meaning that they will be able to order him to slaughter Emma, David and Mary Margaret, making Regina blameless and Henry hers. Regina finds this plan a little extreme, but, wanting Henry back, she follows along with her mother nonetheless and the two of them begin to follow the map to the dagger.

Regina and Cora are seen in the woods by Mary Margaret as they are digging up some earth in search of the Dark One's dagger. Not being able to find it, Cora tells Regina that Hook must have lied to them about the dagger's location but that she shall be able to reconstruct the map herself, and once she does, she can make Rumplestiltskin kill anyone Regina wants. Shocked at this, Mary Margaret meets Regina at Granny's Diner, telling the queen that she has one last chance to be good. However, Regina refuses to accept this and tells Mary Margaret that she has one last chance to not get in their way before leaving. Mary Margaret and David are soon told the dagger's location by Gold, who's in New York with Emma, and find it within one of the hands of the Storybrooke clock. Once they retrieve the dagger, they are met by Regina and Cora who have Johanna, Snow's beloved maid, hostage. Regina rips out Johanna's heart, telling Mary Margaret that her maid shall die if she does not hand over the dagger. After hesitation, Mary Margaret gives Cora the dagger and Regina returns Johanna's heart to her body, however, before leaving with her daughter, Cora waves her hand and causes Johanna to smash through the clock face and fall down to the pavement, killing her. When they return to Regina's house, dagger in tow, the mayor asks her mother why she never told her about her history with Snow's mother, which was revealed during their confrontation with Mary Margaret and David, and Cora tells her daughter that it wouldn't have changed a thing, before it also unravels that Cora orchestrated everything to ensure that Regina would become the queen.

Regina and Cora listen into Mary Margaret and David's phone conversation, however, after being called "wicked" by them, Cora knocks the phone tap off the table, breaking it. Noticing that Rumple's name is disappearing from the dagger, Cora realizes that he's dying, explaining that if he dies without being stabbed with the dagger, all of his power will just boil off into the air. She then decides that she must find Rumple and stab him with the dagger, becoming the Dark One herself. Regina and Cora make their way over to Gold's shop where Emma has cast a protection spell, however, the two witches cast a fireball together and the spell is broken with ease. They are met inside by Charming, Bae and Emma, all of which are armed with swords, with Rumple hiding in the back room. Cora knocks Charming out but Emma and Neal make their way into the back room with Gold, sealing it off with invisible chalk and thus casting a protection spell. Cora tells Regina that someone is after her heart, which is in the family mausoleum, and requests that Regina go stop them. Her daughter obliges and leaves, and Cora attempts the break the protection spell surrounding the door leading to the room containing Gold. After a long while, she finally succeeds in doing so. At the mausoleum, Regina runs into Mary Margaret, who is holding the heart. The latter convinces Regina that her mother will never love her unless she has her heart. A reluctant Regina takes the heart, unaware that it's cursed, and puts it back into her mother as she's about to stab Rumple. Cora begins to laugh and smile, her emotions and love for her daughter returning, however, she soon collapses. As she dies, Cora tells her daughter that she doesn't need power as she would have been enough, which breaks Regina's heart. Just after, Mary Margaret comes running in, telling Regina to stop, but it is too late, Cora is dead and Regina knows that Snow is to blame.

As Regina mourns over her mother’s death in her family mausoleum, she is approached by Mr. Gold, and is insulted by his presence. He professes that he merely came to pay his respects to Cora before placing a rose on her coffin. Regina begins to talk about how she plans on killing Snow for killing her mother, but Gold tries to tell her vengeance will get her nothing, especially not Henry. However, Regina assures him that she will have everything. Regina later takes a curse from her vault, a curse that makes a person think they love another, when this is discovered, they deduce that she plans on using it on Henry. After being told by Neal and Emma that they're going to take him to New York to be safe and away from Regina, Henry runs away in an attempt to destroy magic. Meanwhile, Regina breaks into Emma’s apartment to kill Snow, but she’s stopped by Mr. Gold, who is acting as her guard dog. Greg finds Henry in the woods and calls Regina to tell her of her son’s whereabouts. She finds him at the well and manages to stop him. After a deadly confrontation involving her, Emma, Neal and Charming, Henry begs everyone to stop fighting. Regina then promises not to use the curse on Henry and burns it with magic. Later on, Snow White visits Regina’s house and begs for her to end their feud, for her to kill her. Regina rips out Snow’s heart, but after noticing she’s turning it dark herself, she puts it back in, stating Snow will destroy herself and the family she loves.

Regina is seen in Granny's Diner going to sit opposite Greg Mendell, who's enjoying an apple pie. Regina reveals that she is the one who bought it for him as a thank you for saving Henry the other day, but he tells her that it was no trouble at all as he's a sucker for a kid in trouble. The mayor states that Greg seems familiar, but he assures her that this is the first time they have met. She proceeds to leave the diner, and on her way out, she bumps into Mary Margaret, to whom she recommends a dish called "darkened sole" as a reference to the princess' currently blackened heart. Later, Greg walks into his bedroom at Granny's Bed & Breakfast to find that Regina is there waiting for him carrying the braided key chain that he gave to her as a child, having realized that he is in fact Owen Flynn. Regina wonders why he's in town and Greg reveals that he plans on finding his father. Regina assures him that his father left shortly after he did, but Greg refuses to believe this, saying that people don't just disappear. She tells Greg that he'll be checking out soon, and he asks her what will happen if he doesn't, to which Regina replies that he will learn that people actually can just disappear.

Regina approaches Gold in the park as he watches Neal and Henry bond over a sword fight and she wonders what's going on. Gold reveals to her that his son is Henry's father, something which deeply upsets Regina. The mayor then goes to the hospital where she formally introduces herself to amnesiac Belle before handing her a charmed matchbook to a club in town, causing the girl to "remember who she is". Gold finds Belle, who is now known as Lacey, a party girl with loose morals, and confronts Regina over the matter, who tells Gold that the only way to get Belle back is through true loves kiss, but that Lacey apparently doesn't feel the same way about him as he does about her. Gold is livid and leaves and Regina later sees Emma sitting down on a bench and asks her why Neal's in town. Emma assures Regina that he's merely getting to know his son, before accidentally saying something which leads Regina to believe that she's hiding something. Later, Regina watches as Mary Margaret and David drive home from somewhere mysterious and uses magic to trace the tire tracks to where they've been. She discovers an invisible barrier where lies rows of crops where the dwarfs have been growing magic beans.

Regina disguises herself as a fisherman at the docks and overhears that Mary Margaret and David plan to use the beans to return home and leave her behind, something which she is not happy with. The next morning, she approaches Henry and tells him that she plans to enact a trigger within the curse, a "fail-safe", that will destroy the town and kill everyone. Henry is strongly apposed to the idea and so she wipes the conversation from his mind before being approached in her office by Captain Hook, who straightaway admits that he's been sent there by Greg and Tamara to trick her. She tells him about her fail-safe and that it will end up killing Rumplestiltskin, and so he agrees to help her retrieve it. The two of them go down the library elevator using magic and into the caves beneath the building. Hook wonders why it's a two-man job and Regina explains that she needed him as a distraction before pushing him down some cliffs to Maleficent, who, due to a spell, is able to reform as a screeching zombie-type thing. As this is going on, Regina retrieves a pouch from Snow White's coffin which contains a large black diamond - the fail-safe. She returns to the surface where Hook is waiting for her, having been saved by Greg and Tamara, who are waiting also. She tries to use magic to defend herself, however, she soon discovers that the cuff she took from Hook in the caves is rigged with machinery that is blocking her magic, making her powerless, thanks to Greg. He explains that he's a man on a mission, and Regina presumes that it's to find his father, however, he reveals his true aim to be something secret, before ordering Tamara to "bag" Regina. Tamara then places a bag over Regina's head and kidnaps her.

Regina is strapped down at the town cannery by Greg and Tamara, still unable to use magic. Greg interrupts Hook's taunting of Regina when he strolls in with a machine and attaches electrodes to her head and arms. He asks her where his father is, but she refuses to tell her. He then hits a button on his machine which painfully electrocutes her. Meanwhile, the Charmings search for Regina, and Mary Margaret receives a potion from Gold that enables her to experience everything that Regina is experiencing, unfortunately for Snow, that includes the torture. During one of these electric sessions, Regina asks if they have any idea who they're dealing with, but she is met by the same question from them as they explain that they work for an organization that hopes to cleanse the world entirely of unholy magic. She is tortured some as Mary Margaret's potion wears off and she reveals Regina's state and that the place she's in smells of sardines. Emma, Neal, David and Mary Margaret then investigate the town cannery as Greg gives Regina one last chance to reveal his father's whereabouts as he amps his machine up to dangerous amounts. Regina tells him that Kurt died soon after he was captured, and an angered Greg tortures her. As Regina comes closer to death, the machine is shot by David as he and Mary Margaret walk in. Greg runs away and the Charmings untie an unconscious Regina before taking her back home with them and having Mother Superior nurse her back to health. After Regina wakes up, she tells the Charmings that Greg and Tamara still have the black diamond which acts as a trigger able to wipe Storybrooke off the map and kill all of its inhabitants, and they plan to use it.

After recovering from being tortured, an aching Regina gets out from the bed in Mary Margaret's apartment just as the Charming family enters. Regina and Henry embrace, glad each other are safe. Suddenly, they feel the trigger has been activated, but Regina cannot think of a way to stop it, despite Emma's demands. Regina then suggests slowing down the trigger with her magic and before she goes, she says goodbye to Henry, apologizing for everything. When Emma and Regina find the trigger, the former realizes that the mayor is going to sacrifice her in order to save everyone else. After the others hear about Regina's bravery, they all decide to risk themselves to save Regina by throwing the trigger through a bean portal. Snow, Charming, Henry and Emma find Regina and plan to through the bean, that they managed to get from Greg and Tamara, down a portal. However, they soon discover that Hook stole the bean off of them. When all hope is lost, the five embrace and hug each other. However, Emma comes up with an idea and decides to strengthen Regina's magic by adding hers, and together they both disable the trigger, saving Storybrooke. The joyous occasion is soon interrupted when they discover that Henry has been taken by Greg and Tamara. The two villains take him through a bean portal just before Regina and the gang can save him. When all hope seems lost, Hook turns up with his ship and the stolen bean and along with Emma, Snow, Charming, Hook and Rumple, Regina travels to Neverland in order to save her son.

Season 3
"You're not a villain... you're my mom."

- Henry Mills

Regina arrives in Neverland with everyone else via the portal and as they sail towards the island, she talks to Hook, about their plans to save Henry. They then wonder if villains get happy endings, to which Hook says he hopes so. A short while later, when Rumplestiltskin announces that he's going to find Henry alone, Regina tells him they agreed to find him together. Shortly after Rumple vanishes, a swarm of mermaids attack the ship. Everyone tries to fight them off, but when it becomes clear that there's too many, Regina uses fireballs to scare them away. One mermaid however is taken captive and Regina attempts to question it to learn about Peter Pan. When the mermaid refuses to talk and uses a horn to signal for help, Regina threatens to torture it for information, but she's stopped by everyone else. After failing to persuade Charming to kill the mermaid, she takes matters into her own hands and turns it to wood. After the mermaid's death, a large storm summoned by it approaches. During it, Regina and Snow have a cat fight, which causes the storm to only worsen. Emma gets their attention by jumping into the water. Regina tries to rescue her, but is unable to see her so states it's too risky to use magic. Charming jumps into the water instead and rescues Emma, with help from everyone else. The storm calms and then the group make their way to the mainland. Once there, they decide to work together with their skills to save Henry.

As the group walk through the jungle to a ridge, Regina complains that she could've teleported them, but Hook explains there are dangers everywhere, so he should lead the way. When they make it to the top of the ridge, Regina points out that they can’t see anything as the jungle is overgrown. Hook tells the group to gather their strength so they can move around the jungle, something Regina dislikes. After Emma is given a map to find Henry by Pan, Regina suggests using magic to unlock it, but Hook insists they follow Pan’s rules or it could end badly. As Emma tries to discover who she really is, Regina points out that she needs to realize she’s the savior, but it doesn't work. Growing impatient, she casts a spell on the map and it begins to lead them towards Henry; the group begin to follow it. As they make their way through the jungle, they come across one of the Lost Boys' camps, but it’s empty. However, this is because it’s an ambush set up by Pan, who is unhappy that they cheated. Regina and the group fight the Lost Boys until Pan calls it off, giving them a warning. When Emma finally gets the map working, she shows Hook, and he works out the best route for them to travel to Henry, but says it won't be easy. Regina asks what will happen if she disagrees, but Emma points out that their best chance of finding Henry is working together. Regina tells the savior that she better be right.

Regina and the gang trek through Neverland, following the map to Peter Pan’s camp. However, they notice they’re going the wrong way, so Regina accuses Emma of getting them lost, but Hook explains he moved the camp. A frustrated Regina tells them they should just use magic, but Hook tells her there will be defenses against it. Hook then tells the group they can use the help of Tinker Bell, who Pan trusts, however, upon hearing this name, Regina looks distressed. As she makes her way to Tink’s house, Regina drops her handkerchief, which is picked up by the fairy herself. She then tries to convince Emma to find Henry another way, suggesting both their magic, which is strong, however, she declines. As the group get closer to Tink's house, Emma realizes Regina has a past with Tink. Regina refuses to talk about it and tells her to go on without her, claiming the fairy would refuse to help them if she knew she was here. However, Tink finds Regina alone and puts her to sleep, taking her prisoner. She wakes up in a cave, bound. Tink reveals that she knows why she’s in Neverland and refuses to help after what she did to her. Regina asks if the fairy wants to kill her, stating it won’t be easy as she knows she doesn't have magic anymore. Regina reveals she has magic, but Tink threatens to use Dreamshade on her. Regina rips out her dark heart and gives it to Tink, giving her the option to kill her by hand instead of poison. Regina later confesses to being afraid of being happy, as being angry is all she felt she was. She then points out that Tink is making the same mistake she did, choosing revenge over hope. After contemplating this, Tink gives Regina her heart back, but refuses to help. Regina and Tink later meet up with the rest of the gang and she explains that the fairy doesn't have magic. However, Tink decides that she will help them, just the once. They all then head back to camp to figure out their plan. Tink later tells Regina that her previous choice was selfish, as she ruined the life of her true love.

As the group go over Tinker Bell's plan on how they'll break into Pan's camp, Regina assures them they'll be able to take out the Lost Boys. However, Tink warns them of the poison on their arrows. When Tink asks for the escape plan, nobody has one, so Regina says they'll figure it out, however, Tink states nobody leaves Neverland unless Pan allows it. A frustrated Tinker Bell leaves the group and heads home. Hook reveals that only one man has left Neverland without Pan's permission; Neal. He then leads the group to a hidden cave that Bae used to live in. When they enter, they discover old drawings on the wall that Bae made, hoping they can find a clue as to how he left. As they search the cave for the clues, they come across a home-made map that Bae created using a coconut. Hook points out that he's certain it's a map as when he and Bae spent time together on his ship, he taught the boy how to navigate using the stars, stating they're looking at the product of this. Regina asks if Hook can read it, but he explains that he cannot as he taught Bae to conceal his maps using a code. A saddened Emma points out that the only person who can read the map is dead.

The group begins to worry that Henry may be losing hope in being saved, so they decide to capture a Lost Boy to send him a message. As they make their ropes from vines, Charming and Hook go for a little talk and then return with news that they're leaving to find a sextant that could help them leave the island. When the trap is set up, the three girls are left on their own when a lone Lost Boy wanders through the jungle, hunting a pig. Snow triggers the trap and then the three women approach the boy. Regina decides to rip out the young boys heart so they can control the message, but Snow tries to protest. However, Emma agrees with Regina and has to hold her mother back while Regina does the dirty work. As Regina prepares to send the Lost Boy to Henry, she gives him half of a pocket mirror, telling Emma and Snow that they'll also see their son. When the Lost Boy finally gives the mirror to Henry after revealing his family is here, Regina, Emma and Snow speak to Henry via the mirror. They assure the boy that they're coming to get him, and Regina adds that they love him. However, when Pan returns to camp, Henry is forced to stop talking. Later on, Regina explains that she's here to give into the darkness and take the necessary steps. They're then met by Charming and Hook, who reveal the sextant wasn't there, disappointing Regina. She then walks away as the happy family reunites.

Regina attempts to teach Emma how to harness the magic within her, claiming it won't be easy to concentrate so she needs to use the anger inside of her. Emma says she wants to learn without going dark and then an argument follows. During the fight Emma's anger causes a small fire to light. However, this is soon interrupted when the group learns that Neal is alive and in Neverland. Emma, Hook, Snow and Charming decide to rescue him, but this angers Regina, who doesn't want to be distracted in her quest for Henry. She then leaves the group to do it herself. The evil queen eventually comes across Rumplestiltskin, who is talking to the vision of Belle. Just as Rumple nearly falls for the trick and is taken away, Regina chokes Belle in an attempt to show him what they're really up against. Belle's vision suddenly disappears and the shadow takes its place, shocking them both. The two then decide that they need to work together to save Henry and take down Pan, as they're the two most powerful practitioners of magic. Rumple claims that he may have something back in Storybrooke that could help them stop Pan, but it'd require them traveling between realms. Regina gets an idea and summons Ariel, offering her a deal; if she goes to Storybrooke (as mermaids can travel between realms) and gets what they need, then she can have legs. ("Ariel")

Rumplestiltskin instructs Ariel on what to do once she arrives in Storybrooke, giving her an enchanted sand dollar to give to Belle once she arrives. After agreeing to do this, Ariel asks Regina where she'll find Eric, however, Regina states that'll come afterwards as incentives are important. She explains that the bracelet will give her legs for 24 hours so a cautious Ariel asks how she knows she's telling the truth. Regina tells the mermaid she'll just have to trust her. Ariel then travels to Storybrooke and with the help of Belle, manages to find Pandora's Box. After a slight inconvenience caused by John and Michael Darling, Ariel returns to Neverland with the item. Before Ariel arrives on the shore, Regina and Gold wait for her. Gold mentions his love for Belle and asks Regina if she's jealous of him having someone; she doesn't answer. Ariel soon arrives and hands over the box, so Regina grants the mermaid the ability to have legs whenever she wants, fulfilling her end of the bargain. Before Ariel leaves, she asks if they can save Wendy Darling, who Pan has prisoner. Gold promises to do what he can, something Regina doesn't entirely agree with.

Regina is walking through the jungle with Rumplestiltskin as she compliments him for being able to get things done, unlike the Charming family, who wasted their time saving Neal. Rumple reveals Neal is alive, so Regina suspects something happened between them as they just parted ways. They soon run into the others and Neal reveals that Rumple wanted to kill Henry. The whole group turn on Rumple with their weapons, so to earn their trust, he promises not to use magic near Henry and he gives up Pandora's Box. The group make their way to Pan's camp and once they arrive, Regina knocks out the Lost Boys with her magic, as Rumple is forbidden from doing it. They search the camp but there's no sign of Pan or Henry, however, they do find Wendy Darling, who announces that Pan has taken Henry to Skull Rock. Regina, Emma, Bae and Rumple go to Skull Rock in order to save the young boy, but they discover a barrier blocking their entrance. However, Rumple is able to pass through as he has no shadow. As Rumple confronts Pan and gets trapped in Pandora's Box, Regina and Emma cause a lunar eclipse with their magic that will allow them to pass through. They hurry to find Henry about to give his heart to Pan. The three parents combined attempt to persuade the boy not to, but wanting to be a hero, Henry puts his heart in Pan, sending a shock of magic through the land. As Pan grows more powerful, Henry collapses to the floor and his parents rush to his side in horror.

Regina casts a preservation spell on Henry to keep him in his lingering state between life and death, giving them some time to stop Pan and retrieve the heart. The Mayor is frustrated beyond belief, and Emma claims to know what she's going through, but is told by her that she can't, because she has other people in her life who matter, but Henry is all Regina has. After the witch notices that Emma cut Pan with her blade and made him bleed, she realizes that Pan can be hurt, and killed. Later, at his compound, Regina almost tortures Felix into telling her where Pan is, but Emma stops her just in time to try a different approach, by giving the Lost Boys something every kid wants: a mother. Emma persuades the boys to tell them of Pan's location and they set off. However, they are soon trapped by the villain, who causes them to be tied by vines to his "thinking tree" - the tree where Pan abandoned his son; Rumple. The women are surprised to learn this, and Pan explains to them that the tree holds people prisoner because of their regrets, and they are all allegedly full of those. He confronts the three women about their issues and regrets, however, Regina breaks out of the vines by claiming she has none, despite all the horrible things she's done... because they got her Henry. She rips her son's heart out of Pan, leaving him for dead, and then places it back into Henry's chest, aboard the Jolly Roger, where everyone is set to leave. Henry hugs both of his mothers, and all's well that ends well... apparently. Regina has a short talk with Tinker Bell and it becomes apparent the fairy may have some magic left. After an attack from Pan, he's apparently trapped in Pandora's Box, however, before he's sucked in he switches bodies with Henry, and still has plans to succeed.

Regina and the others return to Storybrooke aboard the Jolly Roger and are met with a warm welcome. That night, celebrations take place at Granny's Diner, during which time Regina tries and fails to persuade the Blue Fairy to give Tink her wings back, and the Queen is thrilled to hear that Henry would like to go home with her, much to Emma's dismay. When she's tucking him in, he asks if she brought her vault with all her magic in to town with her, as he might need the things inside to protect himself against Pan, but his adoptive mother, whilst answering positively, assures him that he's safe with her, and bids him goodnight. The next morning, she receives a call telling her that Mother Superior has been murdered by the shadow and arrives on the scene with Henry, being told by Emma to an eye on their son as she thinks he isn't quite acting himself. Regina takes issue with this, calling Emma out on being jealous that she's the one Henry comes to when he's frightened, but before an argument can ensue, she leaves, taking Henry to her vault where he'll be safe. Once inside, he uses a magical substance to knock her out and steals the Dark Curse, abandoning Regina who is later found and revived by Mr. Gold and the Charmings, among others. It is revealed to her that Henry and Pan switched bodies, and she is happy to be reunited with her real son, despite the fact that he bears Pan's face. Rumple soon realizes that the curse is missing and deciphers that Pan plans to cast it on Storybrooke, sending its residents to a world of his own dark design.

As everyone gathers outside the Mills family mausoleum, Mr. Gold explains that Pan's new curse can be stopped should Regina - the original caster - tear the scroll and undo what she started altogether. To gain the scroll, they need to put Henry and Pan back into their own bodies, and to do this, they kill the shadow to revive the Blue Fairy, who hands over the Black Fairy's wand - an incredibly powerful wand capable of performing the spell needed. Rumple casts the spell and Henry and Pan's bodies switch back, meaning Regina and the others set out to find the former's son. Once they do so, he hands over the curse scroll, but as soon as Regina touches it, she passes out, being shown a vision of the price she must pay in order to tear it. After an incident in which Rumple murders Pan and, in the process, dies himself, Regina explains to Emma that for the scroll to be torn, she must first give up the thing she loves most: Henry. He is able to escape the curse because he wasn't born in the Enchanted Forest, but Emma too can escape it because she's the savior; the two of them must leave town together. Everyone congregates at the town line to say their goodbyes, and Regina is glad to hear that Henry doesn't think of her as a villain, but as his mother. However, she has more bad news to break to Emma: when the curse washes over them, Storybrooke will cease to have ever existed, meaning she and Henry won't remember it or its people. To combat this, the Queen offers to do for them what she did for everyone else in town and give them new memories, so that Emma will never have given Henry up and the two of them will always have been together. Grateful, Emma and Henry leave town together as the curse fast approaches. Regina, having paid the price, is then able to tear the curse scroll and use its magic to make the curse safe, undoing the original one and sending everyone back to their home in the Enchanted Forest.

Before the Second Curse
"I can't keep walking around knowing that I'll never see Henry. That he doesn't even remember who I am."

Regina and the others arrive back in the Enchanted Forest where they're met by a frightened Aurora and Phillip. After a brief catch-up with the recently pregnant couple, they decide to head to Regina's palace, which the Queen reveals was protected from the original curse. On their trek, Charming notices that Regina has gone missing, and Snow finds her attempting to bury her heart in the woods so that she doesn't have to deal with the loss of Henry. Snow convinces her former stepmother to embrace her emotions for, when the grieving period ends, she will be able to feel happiness, which is what Henry would have wanted for her; Regina places her heart back into her body. As the two of them go to regroup with the others, Snow hears a rustle in the bush and it's soon revealed to be a flying monkey, which attacks the princess and the Queen. Regina tries fending it off with her magic but is ultimately unable to, and so the gallant Robin Hood steps in and slays the creature with his bow and arrow. Snow is grateful but Regina is highly disgusted by the thief, and his Merry Men, who join the others on their trek to the palace. On the way, Snow points out that Robin is kind of cute, but Regina retorts that he "smells like forest", clearly uninterested. When they finally arrive at the palace, they are surprised to learn that it's surrounded by a protection spell - one that wasn't cast by Regina - meaning someone else is currently inside.

Regina is depressed thinking about Henry and Snow attempts to comfort her, to little result. Regina soon tells her and Charming about a series of tunnels that run beneath the palace through which she may be able to get in. After a flying monkey attacks again, leading everyone to realize they're up against the Wicked Witch of the West, and Regina rescues Robin Hood's son, Roland, from the beast, the Queen sets off and accesses the secret entrance to the tunnels. However, she is ignored to find out that she's been followed by Robin, who figures he owes her a debt. The two of them navigate through the booby trapped tunnels together, during which time Regina learns that Robin is a widower, and the Queen is shocked to see that her blood-locked crypt has been opened, which is absolutely impossible. She and Robin soon make it upstairs where Regina begins concocting something with magical ingredients. Worried, Robin threatens her until she tells her what she's making, and she admits to be forming a sleeping curse to use on herself so that Henry will be the one to wake her up, for he is the only reason she'd want to wake up anyway, thinking she can avoid the pain of losing him by sleeping. Robin tries to talk her out of it, but she freezes him to the spot and heads to the courtyard where the protection spell is being cast. She disarms it, letting the Charmings and their crew can make it inside, and is about to curse herself when she's approached by the Wicked Witch, known as Zelena. Regina is shocked to learn that Zelena is Cora's other daughter, meaning the two of them are half-sisters, which explains how she broke the blood-lock. The Wicked Witch flies away on her broomstick after a hostile confrontation. Regina then returns to Robin Hood and unfreezes him, saying that she decided not to curse herself because she found something to live for; something that she hasn't had for a very long time: someone to destroy.

Snow and Charming gather with Regina, Aurora and Phillip, discussing with them whether or not it's a good idea to announce their pregnancy to the kingdom. The two of them think it's a good idea because, with the Wicked Witch of the West on the loose, a royal baby will provide the people with the kind of stability they need, but it is pointed out to them that the Wicked Witch is exactly why they should caution themselves. They are interrupted by the return of Belle, who reveals that Neal sacrificed his life to resurrect Rumple and now Zelena has the dagger, leading Aurora to assure that this is definitely a bad time for the pregnancy to be announced. In doing so, she lets slip that she and her husband told Zelena of everyone's return to this land because her own unborn child was under threat, and she knows for a fact that the Wicked Witch needs Snow's baby for whatever her plan is. Zelena herself then arrives via broomstick and punishes Aurora and Phillip by turning them into flying monkeys. She then paralyzes everybody in the room with a spell and inspects the pregnant princess, assuring her that, when the baby arrives, it'll belong to her.

After learning that Snow is pregnant, Charming is deeply fearful that he will fail his unborn child just like he failed Emma. Regina, meanwhile, pays Robin Hood with golden arrows in order to thank him for initially breaking into the Dark Palace, and he talks to the prince and tells him that he could always ingest Night Root in order to vanquish these fears he's having. Charming heads into the Sherwood Forest in search of Night Root, but instead finds a princess named Rapunzel locked in a tower. He rescues her from the evil witch - actually a manifestation produced via the consumption of Night Root - and brings her back to the palace, where she's finally reunited with her parents following a tragic incident involving her brother's death, after which she locked herself away in the first place. Regina, who's standing beside Belle, witnesses this event along with everyone else in the hall at the time, and appears gladdened when Rapunzel hugs the King and Queen.

Eight months after Zelena's threat, Regina and the others decide to break into Rumple's castle, having learned of his resurrection, but the Queen is disappointed when Robin Hood tags along. He saves her life from one of the castle's booby traps, but this only furthers her anger. When they find Rumple, who's under Zelena's control, they realize that he's insane. However, Belle is able to get through to him and get him to tell them that the secret to defeating Zelena lies with Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Regina and the Charmings soon locate this witch in the dark forest and learn that Emma Swan's light magic is the only thing that can defeat the Wicked Witch, and so they need to re-enact the Dark Curse to get back to her. To do this, Snow crushes Charming's heart, killing him, but Zelena then flies in and drops a forgetting potion into the mixture, making it so no one will remember their year spent back in the Enchanted Forest. Not wanting her prince's sacrifice to be in vain, Snow begs Regina to rip her heart out and split it in two, so that she and her prince can share it. Regina does as she asks, and to her surprise, it works. Charming is revived just as the curse begins to wash over the land.

Season 3
"I love you, Henry..."

After the new curse is cast, Regina returns to Storybrooke and is shocked to see Henry and Emma. Only the latter remembers who she is, and the two of them work together in order to find out who cursed the town. With everyone thinking Regina is the culprit, Emma pretends to be out looking for her so that the real perpetrator won't know they're onto them. The Mayor attempts to replicate the memory potion Hook gave to Emma, but it doesn't work, and so the two of them tell Leroy that the potion is almost ready so that he tells everyone else in town; this will mean that the real curse caster will break into the office to try and stop them, and Emma and Regina can catch them red-handed. That night, the two mothers have a stakeout during which time they discuss Henry; Regina asks if he was happy in New York, and Emma confirms that he was, adding that she almost didn't return because of that but that she did because the old Henry would have said that a hero would come back. They soon see someone in Regina's office, which has been sealed with blood magic so that it's impossible for anyone to escape, but the real culprit still manages to teleport away in a cloud of green smoke. Disappointed by this day of failure, Emma decides to cheer Regina up by introducing her to Henry, but this only makes the Mayor more sad about the fact that he can't remember her. When David returns, he tells everyone, sans Henry, that the people who have been disappearing from town are being turned into flying monkeys, which leads them to realize that they're up against the Wicked Witch of the West.

Whilst Emma, David and Hook go in search of the Wicked Witch, Regina takes it upon herself to look after Henry. Before she leaves, Emma reminds her not to slip up, as for all Henry knows, she's the Mayor of Storybrooke and that's it; Regina assures the blonde that she's perfectly aware of how Henry sees her, before leaving. She and her former adoptive son are later seen strolling along a lakeside together, the latter now having an ice cream cone. When he mentions New York City, Regina realizes that Storybrooke must seem quaint in comparison. However, he assures her that he likes it because, as great as the big city is, the mass of people makes him feel lonely. He adds that it would have been nice for Walsh to marry Emma, but it appears she denied his proposal, because he wouldn't be in Storybrooke if she'd accepted. This leads Regina to assure him that, one day, he'll have more family than he'll know what to do with. She is later called by Emma and Hook, who have located the Wicked Witch's house and are reluctant to go down her mysterious storm cellar, but first, she goes with them to rescue David in the woods. He explains that a cloaked version of himself attacked him, knowing all his fears, and Regina recognizes the symptoms of night-root, explaining to David that the sword he used to vanquish the manifestation is now a symbol of his courage, which was stolen by the Witch. The four of them then head down the storm cellar, the lock of which has now been busted open, and find an empty cage with a spinning wheel inside, as well as straw that has been spun into gold. They deduce that Rumplestiltskin has returned.

Wanting to know why the Wicked Witch kept Gold locked away in a storm cellar, Regina heads back to the farmhouse in order to search the place. As she approaches the area, Robin Hood fires an arrow at her from his crossbow, thinking she herself to be the witch. She catches the arrow in her hand, remaining unharmed, and he apologizes after realizing his mistake, suggesting that the two of them work together in order to track this witch down. Before they go, Regina asks Robin if she knows him, for he seems familiar, but he points out that he'd remember meeting the famous Evil Queen, unless perhaps it was in that pesky year no one can remember. Inside the house, Regina is searching for anything of magical origin whilst Robin begins to have doubts about the name she was assigned, not believing her to be evil at all. She assures him that the name served her well, for fear is an effective tool, and Robin grabs a bottle of something from the shelf, wondering if it's magical. Regina sees that it's whiskey and tells her new comrade that it has the ability to provide the drinker with courage, strength, as well as act as a love potion of sorts, but that it's not magical. Realizing it's alcohol, Robin pours the two of them a drink, thinking they deserve it after the rough deal they've been dealt. He goes to hand her a glass, but when he does, she sees the lion tattoo on his arm, signifying that he's the man Tinker Bell tried to introduce her to many years ago: her true love. She leaves abruptly, and later, when Robin is spending time with his son, Roland, in the woods, she watches with sadness.

After Neal's sudden death, Regina attends his funeral and heads to Granny's Diner with everyone else afterwards, where Zelena bursts in, having been outed as the Wicked Witch of the West. She quickly reveals herself as Regina's half-sister and challenges the Evil Queen to a fight on Main Street that night, before leaving, and the others try to figure out what Regina did to upset her. She insists she did nothing and heads to her vault to find proof of her and Zelena's familial connection among Cora's possessions. She soon finds a letter that confirms the matter and runs off, distraught, only to be found by Robin Hood in the woods. He asks about the letter she's reading and it's revealed to be from Rumplestiltskin, telling Cora that he found her first born and she is more powerful than her mother ever was. Regina explains that she's seen this letter a hundred times and always drew strength from it because she thought it was about her, but she realizes now that it's about Zelena, meaning she stands no chance in this fight. That night, she turns up nonetheless and begins to do battle with the Wicked Witch, asking her what the hell she ever did to her. Zelena wonders if it isn't obvious, and reveals her beef with the Queen to be the mere fact that she was born. The battle goes on and Regina ends up being thrown through the face of the clock tower, where Zelena tries to take her heart. However, it's unveiled that Regina took it out and hid it beforehand, leading the witch to fly away on her broom, angrily. The others rush to Regina's aid and she explains what happened, remembering that Zelena already has David's courage and now wants her heart; these are ingredients. Regina then returns to the woods where Robin Hood is guarding her heart. He gives it back, but she asks him to keep it until Storybrooke is safe from the Wicked Witch, knowing it will be safe with her true love.

Having successfully cast a protection spell to keep Zelena out of the Charmings' loft, Regina stops by to tell them the good news when Emma requests that the Queen give her lessons in magic so that the two of them will be able to team up against the Wicked Witch and finally defeat her. Regina agrees, and Emma meets her at her vault an hour later, not happy to find out that she will be learning incantations from spell books written in languages she doesn't recognize. She asks how Rumple taught Regina, but the Queen explains that he was a bully; if he tried to teach you how to swim and you couldn't learn, you drowned. But this then gives her an idea, and Regina teleports her and her student to a rope bridge on the outskirts of town. Emma stands in the center, whereas her teacher stands safely at the end. The savior is shocked when Regina begins to destroy the bridge with magic, but the Queen tells her that she should be able to save herself with her own magic once her survival instinct kicks in. Soon enough, the bridge collapses entirely and Emma begins falling into the gorge below, however, she is able to piece together bits of wreckage and use it to levitate herself back up to Regina, who points out how much potential she's been wasting. The two of them then return to the apartment when Hook stops by, having spent the day reuniting Ariel with her true love. Thinking it will be good practice for Emma, Regina instructs her to use mirror magic to spy on the mermaid, and she's able to. Once Henry returns with the Charmings, having recklessly driven David's truck earlier that day, everyone except Hook heads to to Granny's Diner, where they happily dine together.

Zelena pays Regina a visit in order to taunt her and reveals that Rumplestiltskin is currently stealing her heart. Regina rushes to the woods, but learns from Robin Hood that she's too late for he handed over the heart to save his son's life. Regina realizes that she needs to know more about Zelena's past in order to defeat her, and so she decides to call everyone over and hold a seance to talk to her dead mother. The spell she casts works and a portal to the afterlife opens, but nothing comes through and so those involved deduce that Cora has no interest in discussing her past with them. Everyone besides Mary Margaret leaves, giving her a chance to apologize for killing Cora in the first place, but Regina concedes that it was a complicated situation. Their discussion is then halted by a noise upstairs and they are shocked to discover Cora's ghost, which then tries to attack Mary Margaret. More than once, Regina steps in to defend her stepdaughter, demanding to know what her mother did to Zelena, but instead of answering, Cora simply possesses Snow. Regina is able to use her magic to extract the ghost and send her mother back through the portal to the afterlife, at which point Emma and the others return and Belle explains that Zelena plans on going back in time. Still having some of Cora's memories from when she was possessed, Mary Margaret reveals that Cora didn't want to give Zelena up, but had to because Princess Eva spilled her secret, which means that the Wicked Witch plans on killing Snow's mother to stop this from happening, thus erasing all her descendants as well. After a further discussion about their past, Snow White and the Evil Queen finally make amends, and the former convinces Regina to be more impulsive; Regina follows this advice by finding Robin Hood and kissing him passionately.

Regina and Robin Hood are making out in the back of Granny's Diner when Henry walks in on them, much to the Mayor's dismay. She goes on to meet with Snow, Charming and Emma in the lounge area where it's decided that the only way to break the curse is to restore Henry's memories, but his missing book of fairytales will be needed in order to achieve this. His book is soon found in Mary Margaret's closet and the four of them rush down to the docks, where they save Henry, Hook and Smee from a swarm of flying monkeys. Henry is given the book and his memories return, allowing him to remember Regina as his adoptive mother, however, just as Emma is about to kiss his forehead and break the curse, Zelena snatches the boy away. Regina attempts rescuing him, but Zelena knocks her out with magic, meaning Emma has to use her own light magic to burn the Wicked Witch and make her teleport away in a strop. Henry tries desperately to revive Regina, and when the Mayor awakes, she vows her love for her son and kisses his forehead. The resultant burst of true love spreads across the town and breaks the curse, thus returning everyone's memories from the missing year. As it's realized that only Emma is capable of defeating the witch, which is why Snow, Charming and Regina were the ones to actually cast the curse and get back to her, Regina reconnects with her son, who asks about the guy he saw her kissing earlier that day. She explains that she's begun dating Robin Hood, who then walks in and greets the lad. The three of them then leave together, happy.

With Mary Margaret now in labor, Regina and Emma set up some protection spells in the hospital to keep Zelena out. Emma decides to bring the fight to the Wicked Witch and takes Hook with her to end this now, whilst Regina watches over Henry, however, Zelena soon strikes, walking past every defense set in place, and steals Snow White's son once he's born. When Emma returns, it's revealed that her magic has been removed because she gave Hook, who has cursed lips, mouth-to-mouth. Regina takes this to mean her half-sister cannot be defeated, but Henry convinces his adoptive mother that she can defeat her because she too has light magic, such as when she gave him true love's kiss in order to break the curse. Regina, Emma, Hook, David and Robin Hood head to Zelena's barn where she's already begun to cast the spell. Robin manages to retrieve the Queen's heart, whilst the Queen herself is ultimately able to use light magic to heavily weaken Zelena, causing the Dark One's dagger to come flying from her hand, before snatching the pendant that houses all her magic, rendering her powerless. When Gold tries to kill her, Regina orders him not to using his dagger, having decided to be a hero and that heroes don't kill; instead, Zelena is locked up, and Regina tells her that she's going to give her a second chance, before locking the pendant up safely in her vault. Meanwhile, Mary Margaret is reunited with her son, and Rumple is reunited with his dagger, which he soon uses to murder Zelena and avenge Neal's death. After this, the magic from her pendant leaks across town, activating her time travel spell and opening a portal to the past.

Regina and Robin share a romantic indoor picnic with one another where they toast to the return of the former's heart, going on to bond over the loves they've lost in the past. They then head to the coronation at Granny's Diner together, to hear the name of Snow and Charming's son be announced, but Emma is soon provoked into leaving and falls through Zelena's time portal, which everyone discovers opened when she died. In the past, Emma witnesses Regina, as the Evil Queen, threaten an entire village of people should they aid the bandit, Snow White. She then makes an example of Marian, her prisoner, to show her subjects what helping Snow looks like. She rides away, and that night, she attends King Midas' ball with a plethora of knights. When she hears that Snow White has been spotted upstairs, she sends her knights after her, but Emma, whose attending the ball under the alias of Princess Leia, steps in and stops them from killing her mother, allowing the bandit to escape. Having already made it so her parents never met, Emma rushes downstairs and try and make things right, but she's caught by Regina who demands she be taken away. The Queen comments that, where Snow White may have gotten away, it appears Princess Leia's night has just begun.

"Princess Leia" is thrown into a cell beside Marian whilst Regina remains in her throne room. Emma manages to escape, letting Marian free also, as Snow sneaks upstairs in an attempt to assassinate the Queen. Regina is surprised that Snow is so dumb as to sneak back into her own castle, but supposes she was dumb enough to lose it in the first place. Snow threatens the Queen with dark fairy dust, but Regina quickly nullifies the threat, before ordering that Snow be tied to a stake and burned. Emma and the others witness Snow's death, but it's soon revealed that she managed to escape using the dust on herself, having transformed into a ladybug and flown away. The Queen is furious when she finds out, going on to use the sample of dust that Snow earlier tried to use on her on a group of trolls who failed to kill the bandit. She steps on them, and tells one of her guards that that's what happens to people who fail her; she then vows to destroy Snow's happiness, if it is the last thing she does. Meanwhile, Emma and Hook, having got time back on track, return to Storybrooke with Marian, who was meant to die in the original timeline. Regina returns to Granny's Diner with Robin and Roland, but Emma approaches her and requests that she talk to Marian, who still views her as the Evil Queen. However, it is quickly revealed that Marian is Robin Hood's wife, thought to be deceased, and the two of them share a joyous reunion. Regina is furious with Emma for having wrecked her relationship, and tells the blonde that she better hope she brought nothing else back with her. It's then seen that the Snow Queen walks free, having been a stow away on Hook and Emma's return trip.

Season 4
"It's time to change the book. It's time for villains to get their happy endings."

With Marian having returned from the past, Regina finds herself storming out of Granny's Diner, unable to take the fact that her true love's formerly deceased wife is now alive and well. Emma and the others attempt to comfort her, but when Marian simply accuses her of being a monster, she completely vacates the area. When she's moping at home, Robin Hood pays her a visit, but to her disappointment, it's to tell her that he has to stick by his wedding vows and remain with Marian, meaning their relationship is terminated. Not liking this one bit, Regina decides to free Sidney Glass from his jail cell and turn him back into a mirror so that she can see the moment Marian was captured by her, go back in time and kill her on sight to prevent Emma from being able to save her. Sidney shows her what she's looking for, but what Marian says makes her feel too guilty to go through with it. Meanwhile, a giant snow monster is attacking the town and Regina arrives on the scene just as it's about to kill Marian. She melts it just in time, much to Marian's shock, and the maid is forced to admit that maybe the Evil Queen isn't so evil after all. Regina then leaves before anyone can talk to her, and Emma comes to see her in order to promise her that she'll find a way to give her a happy ending, because that's her duty as the savior. The Mayor then employs Sidney to find the author of Henry's book and have them rewrite it so that villains have happy endings.

As Henry is preparing a care package of sorts to help his adoptive mother deal with her break-up from Robin Hood, he receives a message sent via crow from Regina, telling him that he's done nothing wrong but she wants to be left alone for a while whilst she comes to terms with things. This deeply upsets him, and he begins moping at the diner as Emma tries and fails to comfort him. After a brief crisis involving Elsa the Ice Queen is solved, Henry goes to his mother's house and knocks on her door, yelling through it that she can give up on herself but he will never give up on her, and he's not going to go away just because she told him to. He vows to return every day until she lets him in because he belongs there and it is his house too and he misses his room. Feeling bad about what she's putting her son through, Regina decides to open the door and let him in. The adoptive mother and son then share a joyous hug, much to one another's comfort.

Regina approaches Henry at Granny's Diner and tries to goad him into telling her who the author of his book is, but he quickly figures out that she's up to something and forces her to admit that she wants to find said author and have them rewrite her story so that she's no longer viewed as a villain. To her surprise, Henry thinks that this is a wonderful idea and the two of them dub this mission "Operation Mongoose". Regina is then approached by Robin Hood, who explains that Marian has collapsed due to an icy curse and he needs her help breaking it. She arrives at what is now Mary Margaret's mayoral office and watches as Robin attempts to give his wife true love's kiss, which ultimately fails. Knowing that Marian will die once the ice touches her heart, Regina reveals that there are drastic measures she could take in order to stall the affliction. Robin agrees to whatever it is she has in mind and she sends Henry to her vault in order to retrieve one of her chests. As they wait, Robin admits that the reason his kiss didn't work on Marian is because he's still in love with Regina, but Henry arrives before the conversation can sprout much further. The former Queen then plunges her hand into Marian's chest and pulls her heart out, preserving it in the chest Henry brought so that the ice has no chance of touching it, and the maid will remain alive but frozen.

Down in Regina's vault, she and Henry are working on a way to magically revive Marian from the frozen curse she's under, but nothing appears to be working. Henry soon questions if the reason Robin Hood's kiss didn't work is because he's still in love with Regina, and Regina wonders who told him such a thing. He tells her that no one did, but he figured it out for himself, and he knows that true love's kiss should have been able to break that curse but didn't because Robin is in love with someone else; Regina. After an absence, Henry later returns to the vault and tells his adoptive mother that, although he doesn't particularly understand spells and magic, there is one thing he understands, and that's Operation Mongoose. Regina takes this to mean he has a lead on who wrote the book, and Henry theorizes that his grandfather - Mr. Gold - might just be able to help them. Regina is skeptical but Henry points out that everybody knows Rumplestiltskin doesn't get a happy ending, and yet he's currently married to Belle, so he must have found a way to change his story. Henry decides to get the inside scoop by going undercover as Gold's shop boy apprentice.

Regina orders Sidney, who remains mirror-bound, to locate the Snow Queen's lair. She's then visited by Emma, who asks the former Mayor about a picture she had taken wherein she, Emma, and the Snow Queen are arguing. Like Emma, Regina remembers nothing, and goes back to working on finding a cure for Marian. Sidney later pops up and says he's found where the Snow Queen is hiding, and so he leads Regina through the woods via compact mirror. As she searches, she comes across Emma, who's looking for Elsa, and the two women end up teaming up, much to Regina's annoyance. During the trek, she berates Emma for wanting her to assuage her guilt for bringing Marian back, assuring the blonde that she'll never forgive her. They later come across an ice staircase, but as they climb it, the Snow Queen's magic attacks. Regina realizes that Sidney had been leading her into a trap, and the two ladies only just manage to escape as the staircase smashes, only to be faced by a giant Ice Warrior. When they combine their magic, they defeat it with ease, but the Snow Queen then turns up and steals Regina's compact. Elsa shows up fends her off, telling Emma and Regina that they have to bury the hatchet, but Regina refuses, retiring to her vault. Emma visits her again and assures her that she wasn't looking for her to assuage her guilt, she was looking for her to be her friend. Regina is surprised to learn that Emma thought the two of them were friends, and tells the blonde that she doesn't want to kill her, which Emma says is a start.

Emma shows everyone, including Regina, a tape she found which proves that the Snow Queen used to be her foster mother and, per Henry's directive, she and the others decide to storm the ice witch's ice cream truck for clues, which the Merry Men locate out in the woods. Inside the locked freezer, they discover a number of items which prove that the Snow Queen has been stalking Emma her entire life, and as the blonde comes to terms with this, Regina is approached by Robin Hood, who's very much still in love with her. She tells him that she has had absolutely no luck in thawing Marian, for she has read every spell book she owns, experimented with every potion in her vault and even tried defeating the Snow Queen so that she could get her to reverse the spell, but nothing works. Robin assures her that he has faith in her and believes that she will find away, but Regina tells him that he has to lose that faith and keep his distance from her so that he's able to fall back in love with his wife and revive her with a real true love's kiss, which Robin is saddened to hear. It is later revealed that the Snow Queen's name is Ingrid and that she's Elsa's aunt, and that she owns a prophecy which says that Emma will replace her other sister, Helga. Belle, having seen Ingrid's dark mirror, knows that she's planning to cast a spell of shattered sight that will turn all of Storybrooke against each other and make it so she, Emma and Elsa are all that's left; her perfect family.

Regina is down in her vault going through some spell books when Robin Hood enters. She reminds him that she told him to stay away from her and focus on his wife, but he proclaims that he finds it impossible to fall back in love with Marian when she's around. Regina points out that that's exactly why he shouldn't be seeing her, and Robin becomes incredibly confused as to what to do. Later, Regina is moping over at Granny's Bed & Breakfast with the storybook in tow when Henry approaches in a suit, this being his first day as Mr. Gold's apprentice. She helps him tie his tie as she assures him that, from now on, she shall no longer be lamenting Robin Hood and all of her focus shall be directed at Operation Mongoose, much to her young son's delight. However, when Regina retires to her vault yet again, Robin Hood pays her another visit, and explains to her how he lives by a very strict moral code that her tries hard to abide by every day of his life. She wonders why he's telling her this, and he adds that today isn't one of those days, proceeding to kiss her passionately. She shows no sign of protest and allows the kiss to go on.

After having had sex with Robin Hood the night before, Regina shows him Henry's storybook and explains how it prevents her from having a happy ending. She then heads to the Charmings' apartment with a locator spell in tow so that Emma, whose powers are out of control, can be found. However, she's misbuttoned her shirt, and Mary Margaret points this out to her before she goes upstairs to check on Henry, who's been injured by his birth mother. Regina heals his wounds with magic and he reveals how useless he feels being ordinary, but she assures him that this isn't the case and later uses the fact that she tricked him into thinking he was crazy as an example of something she regrets when berating Emma's parents for allowing her to go through with a spell that will get rid of her magic. The three of them and Henry thus begin tracking the savior and, on the way, Regina and Mary Margaret discuss the former's affair with a married man, which was found out due to the wardrobe malfunction. Snow believes that her stepmother has the capacity to change and doesn't accept that her fate is set in stone, encouraging her to have hope, and Robin goes on to phone the former Queen and Mayor with the news that he's found something incredible. Snow, Charming and Henry proceed to find Emma whilst Regina meets Robin at the library, and he reveals that he found another page of the book which coincides with another and depicts the two of them meeting on the night she walked away from him in the pub. He tells her that this means her fate isn't set in stone, and her personal choices factor into her future, thus proving that she indeed has hope.

The Snow Queen succeeds in casting the spell of Shattered Sight, which Regina correctly estimates will be complete by sundown and cause everyone in Storybrooke to start tearing each other apart. Emma suggests that they all simply leave town, but the ice wall prevents this. It isn't an entirely useless endeavor, however, for Elsa recovers Anna's necklace and begins using a locator spell to track her sister, while Regina takes Henry under her protection and heads to the Merry Men's camp in order to warn Robin Hood and the others of the impending spell. She memorizes his face while he still has love in his eyes before regrouping with the Charmings at the library after the search for Anna in the mines reaches a dead end, and a full search of the tunnels could take days. It soon becomes clear that the necklace can either be used to find Anna or provide vaccine for the Snow Queen's spell, but Elsa's blind faith causes her to betray the others and head back down into the mines where she busts through the dead end with her ice magic and uses the necklace - which turns out to be the wishing star - to wish for Anna to be with her, and Anna and her fiance Kristoff wash ashore. It's too late for a vaccine to be made though because the fairies have all mysteriously disappeared, and Regina seals Henry in her office so that he will be safe from the soon to be crazed townspeople. After a brief run-in with Robin, she seals herself inside her vault for the protection of everyone else. It isn't long before the spell becomes complete.

Under the effects of the Snow Queen's curse, Regina grows deeply aggravated as she remains sealed in her own vault, and it isn't long before she's sporting one of her Evil Queen ensembles. Emma and Elsa soon break the containment spell and enter, angering Regina enough to launch a fireball at them and destroy the ribbons around their wrists as a result, meaning that they are now able to harm Ingrid and have a chance at breaking the spell. Emma then fends the Queen off with her magic before escaping, and Regina quickly gives chase, ending up in the sheriff's station where Snow White and Prince Charming are locked up. She is overjoyed and plans to kill Snow's baby in revenge for Daniel, and when Anna attempts a protest, Regina uses her magic to transport she and her fiancé Kristoff back to the beach on which they washed up. The Queen then frees Snow from her cell, wanting to fight her first, and the princess goads her old stepmother into getting her hands dirty and battling her without the aid of magic. Regina thus produces two swords for them to exchange blows with, and a fight of epic proportions proceeds to break out. The two of them brawl long and violently, yelling at one another all the while, but this comes to an end when Ingrid ends up sacrificing herself in order to break the spell, and Regina and the Charmings simply burst out laughing at their current situation. Regina changes back into her regular clothes before reuniting with Henry outside in the falling snow, happy to see that everyone's safe.

With the Snow Queen dead, the curse on Marian finally wears off and Regina is able to restore the maid's heart, thus reviving her. She is later seen moping over at Granny's Diner where Marian approaches her, explaining that she's willing to step aside and allow Regina and Robin to be together, for she'd rather be chosen by her husband than stuck with out of obligation. Robin tells Regina that he chooses her, but her happiness doesn't last long because some remnant of the Snow Queen's curse remains, meaning Marian collapses, frozen. It's already too late to remove her heart again, so the only way to cure her is to send her out of town and into a world without magic, except there's now a curse over the town line which makes it so that anyone who leaves can never return, and Marian can't enter a new world by herself: Robin and Roland will have to go with her. As farewells are said, Gold comes to talk to Regina and tries convincing her to take a happy ending for herself, instead of searching for this author; however, she refuses to be an advocate of her old ways. Marian soon leaves town with her son, and Regina and Robin share a tearful kiss goodbye before he does the same. She goes to mope at Granny's once more where she is met by Emma following a series of events which have made it so that Rumplestiltskin has been forced out of Storybrooke. The two women decide to do shots together, but Henry soon rushes in, needing to show them something over at the lakeside mansion where Elsa, Anna and Kristoff left for Arendelle - a room filled with blank storybooks, meaning this is probably the author's house. It is now that they clue Emma in on Operation Mongoose, and the savior decides to join in.

It's been six weeks since Rumple's memorable banishment from Storybrooke, and the townspeople appear to have moved on, with Regina having retaken the Mayoral position. Her search for the Author isn't going well, nor is her dealing with Robin Hood's departure. Soon enough, a way is found to free the fairies from the Sorcerer's hat, and all goes well; Regina questions the Blue Fairy about the Author, but she has little to say besides the fact that he and the Sorcerer are two separate people, and that the Author may have left clues about himself in the existing storybook. However, the fairies aren't the only thing to have been released from the hat - the Chernabog, an ancient winged demon, is attacking the town, and Regina and Emma pool their magic in order to stun it. Regina receives a phone call from Ursula and Cruella De Vil, who offer up information on how to defeat the creature in exchange for safe passage into town. Regina agrees to the terms of the deal, and the Chernabog - as they learn from the two villainesses, he targets those whose hearts have the most potential for darkness - follows her to the town line, which it's soon flung over. This causes it to dissipate into nothingness, unable to exist in a world without magic, and Cruella and Ursula are finally let in after much debate through the use of Ingrid's scroll. They promise Regina that she shan't regret what she's done, but they soon break that promise when they use the scroll to sneak Rumplestiltskin back into town.

Regina scolds Ursula and Cruella when they try to bring up her past misdeeds around Henry before heading to her office with a box of chocolate-frosted donuts for her son, who is searching for clues within the book. They realize that Pinocchio, having added his own story, might be able to remember something, but when the child can't seem to recall anything from his life as an adult, Regina is thrown into a rage and begins yelling at him, berating him for not trying hard enough. This sends Marco into his own rage and he questions what makes Regina think she deserves a happy ending when she's destroyed so many of other people's. Feeling bad, she later goes to Marco to apologize, knowing that if she truly wants to achieve happiness then she can't revert to her old ways. Marco senses genuine repentance within her and decides to aid her in the quest for the Author by giving her the satchel August had on his motorcycle when he first came to town, thinking it might contain something helpful. She is grateful, and as Henry searches through it she is summoned to meet Mary Margaret in a remote Storybrooke location. Mary Margaret reveals that Maleficent is back and is targeting them, so they need for Regina to go undercover and find out the plans of the Queens of Darkness. Regina wonders why they're being targeted, and Mary Margaret says that it's because of something she and David did a long time ago: because of them, Maleficent lost her child.

As per the Charmings' instruction, Regina approaches the Queens of Darkness late at night and says that she wishes to join them in whatever it is they're doing in Storybrooke. Maleficent is happy to be reunited with her old friend, but she and her associates decide to test just how soft Regina's gotten over recent years with a game of "Don't Be A Hero", which involves Cruella parking her car on an active train track. Regina poofs them out of there, making her the loser, but Maleficent insists to the others that she's just a little rusty, and the former Evil Queen suggests that they go out and find some real trouble. The next day, she meets with Snow and Charming to tell them that the Queens are hiding something powerful... but she doesn't know what it is yet. She goes on to learn that Maleficent is searching for the Author, like her, and reports back to the Charmings, along with Emma and Hook, that they're planning to shift the entire balance so that villains get happy endings and heroes don't. Emma insists on helping Regina on her undercover operation and follows her on her next night out, protesting when she is made to kidnap Pinocchio. However, Regina soon ditches Emma and makes sure she can't be tracked, being taken to a cabin in the woods where Rumplestiltskin - now reunited with his dagger - is being stashed away. She is shocked, and, in order to learn more about the Author, the Dark One proceeds to turn young Pinocchio back into the man he once was: August W. Booth.

Regina and the group of villains begin torturing August for information about the Author, but they remain distrustful of him due to his habit of lying. Regina approaches him more intimately and shows him the page depicting her and Robin's happy ending; she explains how the event shown never happened, and she thinks he knows more than he's telling. However, he has nothing to say, and Regina proceeds to doze off and dream about reuniting with her true love... however, the Evil Queen then shows up with a fireball in her hand, launching it at Regina as she orders her to get away from Robin. She later reveals to Emma that she didn't feel as though the Evil Queen wanted to hurt Robin, but protect him. Regina wakes up just as Gold returns with a potion that will temporarily reverse the effects the fairies' magic. He force-feeds it to August and it activates his "built-in lie detector", meaning his nose will grow if he doesn't tell the truth. He is thus forced to reveal that the Author was trapped behind a door by the Sorcerer, and this door is depicted in the illustration found by Henry in August's possessions. Regina is made to search the Sorcerer's mansion with Gold and Maleficent while the heroes rescue August and Ursula betrays her fellow villains for a chance at her own happy ending, leaving town with her father. Regina is sent to collect the page depicting the door, and August reveals to her at the apartment that the page and the door are one in the same: the Author is trapped inside the book.

August takes a turn for the worse and so Regina, Emma and Henry rush him to the nunnery for looking after, where Regina receives a summons from Rumple and the Queens of Darkness, who are expecting the page. Emma creates a magic forgery for her to use, but Regina knows that it won't fool Gold, opting to take a photo instead since all the villains care about is what the door looks like, not knowing its true function. However, Gold can immediately tell upon looking at the photograph that magic surrounds the page, and he deduces rather quickly that the Author is trapped inside the book. Maleficent uses her staff to put the whole town to sleep and they go searching for the page, but Henry, who's still awake because he's been under a sleeping curse before and is therefore immune, has already taken it and run off to the Sorcerer's mansion. Regina is sent there to retrieve it from him and, when egged on by Maleficent and Cruella, she gives her son a look and he hands over the forged copy that Emma made. This is presented to Gold but he can tell that it's rubbish, thinking that Regina should have been able to tell after all the time she's spent with the book. He finally decides that she can't be trusted and has Maleficent knock her out. She's taken to her vault where Rumple announces that he has something that will make Regina do his bidding forever the moment she sees it.

Regina wakes up in her own vault with shackles around her wrists that block her magic, now a prisoner of Mr. Gold. He removes said shackles so that she can make a phone call to Robin Hood, whose number he was able to find in her pocket. She does this, confused as to why, and grows further confused when Marian answers. However, it's not Marian - it's Zelena in disguise, with her having followed Emma and Hook through the time portal, killed Robin's wife before the return trip and taken her form using a powerful glamor spell from Oz, all to destroy her half-sister's happiness. Regina is shocked, barely understanding what's occurred, and it is made clear to the former Evil Queen that if she doesn't help the Dark One in his plan to turn the savior's heart dark, then her true love Robin Hood will be murdered by the Wicked Witch. She refuses to let Rumple turn Emma into a monster like he did her, and he asks if that's her final choice, making it clear that she has to decide between Emma and Robin. Regina is at a loss.

The Mayor vacates her vault and heads to Mary Margaret's apartment in order to warn she, David, Hook and Emma that Zelena is back, having been posing as Marian, and so now she needs to go to New York in order to rescue Robin Hood. She takes Belle's heart first and uses it to blackmail Mr. Gold, threatening to kill his true love if he so much as breathes one word of warning to the Wicked Witch. He agrees, begrudgingly so, and Regina prepares to leave, being approached by Emma as she's packing up her car and given a gun so that she may protect herself while separated from her magic. The two mothers then get a video message from Cruella telling them that Henry has been kidnapped, and if they ever want to see him again then they must kill the Author. Regina wants to kill Cruella instead, and so Henry is tracked through the woods by she, Hook and Emma, with the latter's parents having been forbidden from tagging along due to the secret they kept. Regina and Hook try in vain to talk the savior into forgiving them, and the trio is soon split up by Mr. Gold's behind-the-scenes trickery. The gambit ends with Emma throwing Cruella off of a cliff and to her death, just as Rumple wanted. The savior's heart is now in severe danger of turning dark.

Emma learns that she has a past with Maleficent's daughter, Lily, and leaves Storybrooke along with Regina to find her, the latter of which wants to save Robin Hood from Zelena in the process. The savior expresses some violent tendencies upon learning of her friend's demise, but it's soon discovered that Lily faked her own death and assumed an alias, now working in a diner near a gas station where Emma and Regina go to replace a tire. Lily leaves, and so her home is broken into by the sheriff and Mayor, who find out via copious amounts of this woman's research that she knows entirely of her fairytale heritage, and wants to kill Snow and Charming for what they did. She steals Emma's car and Emma steals one for herself in order to chase her down, ending in a physical confrontation where Emma points a gun at her old friend to stop her from getting to Storybrooke. Regina convinces her not to commit murder, worried for the sake of her heart, and Emma listens to the Queen, lowering the gun. The three ladies then make their way to New York where Regina reveals to Robin Hood that his wife is not who she says she is - she's Zelena. Zelena is quick to reveal herself, as well as the fact that she's pregnant with Robin's child. ("Lily")

In a bar below Neal's apartment, Robin and Regina hash out some important issues regarding their new situation before the latter decides that it's time for all of them to return to Storybrooke, where Lily is reunited with Maleficent and Zelena is stripped of her magic with Greg and Tamara's cuff before being thrown into a cell beneath the hospital; all the while she gloats about the fact that she's pregnant with the child of her sister's true love. Regina decides to seek out the Author in Gold's shop, with it having been her idea in the first place to have him rewrite her story, and discovers the Dark One practically on his death bed, due to the poor condition of his dark heart. She leaves him to his pain, taking the Author with her, and manages to re-enchant his magical ink using Lily's blood, for the darkness of the savior is what's needed for things to be able to change in this realm. The two of them head to Zelena's cell and Regina threatens to edit her out of history entirely, but ultimately she decides against it, explaining that she doesn't need anything changed because the life she has right now is enough for her. Robin arrives to witness Zelena accuse her sister of defining her happiness relative to the love of a man, but Regina assures her that Robin isn't her happy ending... her happy ending is finally feeling at home in the world - a world that Robin is merely a part of and that Zelena will be forced to watch from a distance. The Author is annoyed that he won't get to write anything and teleports away, ready to write a whole new story under the directive of Rumplestiltskin.

With the Author in possession of the ink he needs to rewrite everyone's story, Regina and the others head to the Sorcerer's mansion to see if any of the blank books are being filled out. August shows up to tell them of the Apprentice, who Hook recognizes, and the group then implores the Blue Fairy to set him free from the hat. He tells them that they need to return Isaac to the page he was previously trapped in, but they're too late. Isaac's magic is worked, and everyone becomes trapped inside his new book. In this new version of events, Regina is a bandit on the run from the Evil Queen Snow White. She is approached by Henry, who's found his way inside, and he tries convincing her of the truth, and that the only way to stop this story from becoming solidified is by her finding her happy ending with Robin Hood. Regina refuses to listen, proceeding to rob a royal tax carriage as planned, but she is caught in a surprise ambush by Snow, who tries questioning her about the boy she knows has come to this realm. However, Robin Hood saves Regina from the Queen and the two go on to bond before the bandit finds out that he's engaged to Zelena, her unbeknownst sister. Henry realizes that the book ends with their wedding and tries convincing Regina to stop it, but she tells him to go and annoy the other mother he mentioned, Emma. He calls her the savior, which leads Regina to remember someone of that name being locked away in an impenetrable tower by the Queen.

Henry, with Hook's help, is able to break Emma out of the tower she's trapped in. Unfortunately, Hook gives his life to protect them from the Queen, and so Emma and Henry head alone to Regina's den in order to stop her from leaving the kingdom. Emma convinces her to stop Robin and Zelena's wedding by admitting how she felt when she watched the man she loved die without ever having told him her true feelings. She begs Regina not to make the same mistake, and the two of them - along with Henry - are next seen outside the church. Rumple arrives to stop them, and he and Emma engage in battle while Regina considers crashing the ceremony. Ultimately, however, she cannot because Henry is in danger. She steps in to stop him being killed by Rumple, meaning that she sustains the sword injury meant for him. Rumple vacates the scene and Regina's sacrifice makes it so that she is the savior in this world. Thus, when Henry becomes the new Author, he is able to use her blood to put everything back the way it was. Regina reunites with Robin properly, and the two of them later engage in a moonlit stroll. However, they happen upon Emma and the others as they're tracking the Dark One, which has escaped from Rumple. It attacks Regina and attempts to snuff the light out of her, but Emma steps in to save her and uses the dagger to make herself the new Dark One.

Season 5
"''I saved you, now save me, and if you can't save me, do what no one else will willingly do. You're the only one who will get past their feelings and do what is necessary: destroy me."

- Emma Swan

After Emma vanishes, leaving the dagger behind, Regina and her allies learn from the Apprentice that she's in the Enchanted Forest after a failed attempt to summon her. He gives his wand which can only cross realms by someone both light and dark. Regina fails to power the wand, so they allow Zelena to examine the wand. She explains that an important item belonging to Emma must be used for the wand's portal to find her and then Regina takes the wand back, refusing to let her sister use it. Hook and Henry free Zelena so she can use the wand, but when she escapes they're forced to tell Regina. Zelena holds Robin hostage and Regina forfeits the wand to her. After a cyclone is created to head to Oz, Regina takes advantage of her sister's weakened state and puts an enchanted bracelet on her to drain her magic. In the diner, she uses Emma's baby blanket to direct the cyclone's destination. After arriving in the Enchanted Forest and stopping Emma from crushing Merida's heart, Snow gives her daughter the dagger, only for it to be passed to Regina, asking her to stop her if she ever goes too far. Shortly after, King Arthur and his knights approach the group and escort them to Camelot.

Before the Third Curse
"I... am the Savior. I'm the one who's going to free Merlin from that tree and then we can take care of the Dark One."

After arriving at the castle, Arthur introduces the group to Guinevere and reveals a ball will be held in their honor. Zelena threatens to tell Arthur the truth about Emma being the Dark One if she doesn't remove her cuff, but Regina manages to shut her up. Arthur then takes them to a tree which Merlin is trapped in, and when he asks whom the savior is, Regina uses the dagger to stop Emma stepping forward, and she claims it to be her instead. Regina later promises to Emma that she'll free her of darkness, to which the blonde thanks her. Later, Regina is approached by Percival who gifts her a purple necklace, claiming it to be from the king to wear at the ball. That night, Regina refuses to attend the ball because she doesn't know how to dance and worries how she'll convince people she's the savior. David insists on teaching her and when Regina magically changes herself into a white gown, she begins practicing. However, she is unaware that Percival is spying on her via the necklace. Before the ball begins, Regina is formally introduced as the savior before joining the awaiting crowd. She and Robin dance together, but Percival cuts in, asking for a turn. Once alone, Percival tells her a nightmarish story of a boy who found his family dead and village destroyed, and the culprit smiled at him during the horror. Regina realizes he's talking about her and then he attempts to murder her, but Robin intervenes, getting himself injured. After Percival is killed, Regina is unable to to heal him so begs Emma to try. She heals him, but at a cost of magic. The Darkness tells Emma she must extract a price from Regina, but she never did so. Later on, Regina confesses to being the Evil Queen to Arthur, but he forgives her past and credits her as the savior since he believes she saved Robin.

While searching for a way to free Merlin, Regina discovers a toadstool called the Crimson Crown (thanks to a suggestion from Snow) which will allow them to communicate with him. After David and Arthur set off to find the toadstool, Regina reaches dead ends in her research so Robin offers her some tea to calm her nerves. Once alone with a mute Zelena, she restores her sisters voice and confronts her about her attempt to escape to Oz. Zelena reasons that she wants to take her baby away, which could be her only chance at happiness. She asks why she can't have a second chance since Regina got one, but a furious Regina points out that she's already had two second chances and she should stop painting herself as a villain because it's absurd. Zelena argues that while Regina may see life as fair, she herself sees only one sister "getting all the toys". Regina mutes her sister again, reminding her that she's still the Evil Queen and she can be far worse towards her if she wishes. However, instead of that, Regina promises she'll ensure the baby is loved and safe, while also promising the same won't happen for Zelena. That night, after David and Arthur return empty handed, the king knights the prince and bestows him the Siege Perilous seat at the Round Table. Regina and the others are present at the ceremony.

After Emma enters a catatonic state due to the strains of being the Dark One, Regina, Hook and Emma's family are left unsure on how to help. When Snow and David discuss Lancelot's return, Regina tells them not to discuss such a sensitive topic in front of Emma, as anything could set her off. Regina suggests that Emma needs privacy, so Henry and Hook take her away. One alone, Regina tells Emma's parents that she suspects Emma was after the dagger, so claims she'll hide it elsewhere. David objects, believing that Arthur can help Emma if they give him the dagger. Snow argues against this, not trusting Arthur, thanks to Lancelot. The couple go back and forth in their disagreement and Regina silently witnesses it all until Snow asks for some privacy. Regina teleports away in purple smoke. Later, Snow and David trick Arthur into revealing his true colors while Regina hides the dagger. The next day, Regina paces the room and Robin mistakes her as worrying about Snow and David. She states that she's confident the two survived, but is curious about whether their test on Arthur worked. When the couple finally return, they explain that Arthur can be trusted after all and Lancelot is their real enemy. They insist that their best bet now for helping Emma is to give the real dagger to Arthur. However, Regina is unaware that the couple are under the effects of the Sands of Avalon, which force them to be Arthur's allies.

As Regina takes Snow and David to the dagger, she has doubts over Arthur's trustworthiness, but the couple are insistent that he can be trusted. When they become forceful, Emma freezes them with magic and reveals Arthur has them under a spell. She then reveals to Regina that the king wants the dagger so he can kill Merlin. Emma believes she can free the sorcerer with her dark magic, but Regina warns her against it due to her own experiences. Emma later reveals that she learned the information she knew from a dreamcatcher, which also showed her Merlin weeping over a lost love, which the Dark One at the time used to turn him into a tree. Regina realizes a tear of lost love could return him. After the two women run into Henry, who is practicing swordfighting to impress Violet's father, they convince him not to change, exemplifying how each of their first loves acted as themselves. Regina comes up with the idea that they can get a tear from her watching her memory of Daniel being killed by Cora, however, her tear isn't strong enough for the potion as she's moved on with Robin. Henry soon stops by, in tears, after Violet rejected him on their date. Regina collects his tear, but Arthur and his men arrive to stop them. Regina distracts them with fireballs as Emma enacts the spell, freeing Merlin from his tree prison. 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.

When pressed, Merlin says that he will be able to remove the darkness from Emma using a reformed Excalibur. He will need a certain magical flame in order to repair it, but even that would be useless unless he gets the sword itself, and so he tasks Regina and the others with stealing it from Arthur while he and Emma quest for the aforementioned flame. It is discussed how to best go about breaking into Arthur's castle, and Zelena makes her feelings known, pointing out that any of their suggestions would either end in their death, imprisonment or just general failure. She reveals that while she was skulking around the castle, pretending to be Regina's mute handmaiden, she was actually plotting an escape; she offers to show them a secret way into the castle that she discovered in exchange for her anti-magic cuff being removed, and Regina and the others allow her to lead them there. They refuse to remove the cuff until they return victorious, and Regina asks Mary Margaret to keep watch on the Wicked Witch. However, Snow falls victim to Zelena's scheme and is knocked out and tied up by the witch, who walks her into Arthur's throne room after the others have successfully intruded it. She reveals that she's allied herself with Arthur, who's removed her cuff, and uses her magic to make the broken Excalibur able to control Merlin. The Sorcerer is summoned and Arthur uses his new power over him to force him to get rid of Regina and the others with his magic. ("Nimue")

Regina and the others find themselves all bound to trees, waiting for Emma to pay the ransom for their release which consists of the Dark One's dagger and the Promethean spark so that it can be reunited with Excalibur. However, she decides to trick their captors by handing Zelena a fake spark which causes her to be tied to a tree as well, at which Arthur orders Merlin to kill Mary Margaret in penance for Emma's betrayal. The Sorcerer uses his magic to summon a branch which wraps itself around Mary Margaret's neck, getting tighter and tighter and strangling the life out of her. Emma begs Merlin to fight Arthur's control, for if he can't fight the darkness... then no one can. Merlin resists as much as he's able and finally the branch relinquishes Mary Margaret's throat, allowing Hook enough time to wriggle free of his binds and hit Arthur across the face, receiving a cut from Excalibur in the process but managing to retrieve it too. Later, Regina questions why Emma doesn't want to let go of the darkness but she refuses to divulge, and so the former Queen grabs the dagger and forces her to admit it. Emma's walls don't falter and eventually the dagger is snatched away, with Hook and the Charmings scolding Regina for what she was doing. Soon enough, thanks to Hook, Emma's able to light the Promethean flame and begins to reunite Excalibur; however, the pirate's neck wound from the sword, which Emma initially healed, suddenly reopens, because a cut from Excalibur is never truly gone. He is dying, and so Emma halts the sword's reparation and uses it to transfer Merlin's powers into Hook, saving him but turning her fully dark in the process. Hook also becomes a Dark One.

Hook rises from the Vault of the Dark One, having now gone through the full transformation from the man he once was into the darkened magician. Regina and the others go looking for him at the vault, where Merlin confirms that it indeed has forged him as the new Dark One, and so they head back to Granny's Diner to make further preparations. With the voice of Rumplestiltskin now in Hook's head, guiding him to the darkness, he soon reunites with Emma who tries her best to keep him near the light long enough for Merlin to cure them both. However, Hook loses all trust for her when she withholds Excalibur from him, thus driving him to full-on embracing his dark side, leading him to plot recasting the Dark Curse so he can get back to Gold in Storybrooke and finally have his revenge. He has Excalibur implanted back into stone, and with Nimue living on inside of him, he is able to crush Merlin's heart to enact the curse. However, Emma is able to wipe his memory of all that has happened, and before the curse is fully cast she is able to make everyone else who journeyed to Camelot appear unconscious in the diner, Regina included, and uses dreamcatchers to wipe all of their memories too. From there, they are all sent back to Storybrooke, unable to remember the last six weeks.

Season 5
"You want everyone to believe you're the Savior? Then step up and do what needs to be done!"

- Dark Swan

After spending a total of six weeks away in Camelot, Regina and the others sent to said realm in Granny's Diner are abruptly returned to Storybrooke. The dwarf, Sneezy, who has been working as town sheriff (even wearing Emma's signature red leather jacket), and Sleepy overhear the diner's crash, and go to check out what has happened. They're shocked to discover everyone has returned, but Regina and the others have zero memory of anything that has happened since entering into Camelot. The two dwarfs reveal they've all been gone a total of six weeks, and Emma soon makes herself known, appearing to be responsible for their return, as well as everyone's loss of memories. She is now dressed in the attire of which a Dark One would. Regina finds the dagger missing from her possession, to which Emma reveals she has it now. Emma reveals to Regina and the others that they've failed to remove the darkness from her, and now they must all pay. When questioned why, Emma simply states that it's because she is the Dark One.

The next morning, Regina, Snow and Charming try to stop the dwarfs testing the town line, but Grumpy insists they're no longer safe now that Emma is dark. Dopey crosses the town line and turns into a tree, shocking everyone. Later, Regina confronts Emma when she sees him talking to Henry and asks about the memory loss. Emma admits to casting the curse, which is unbreakable since there's no savior. Regina claims they'll find a way and before leaving, Emma reveals a problem is headed to town that only a savior can fix. After learning some of Camelot's residents have been brought to town by the curse, she briefs King Arthur about it. As supplies are distributed, Regina expresses her fear over taking on the savior role to Robin, worrying nobody will trust her. Later Robin is kidnapped by a Fury and Regina is injured while trying to rescue him. Snow convinces her to stay behind while the rest handle it, so a frustrated Regina vents to a comatose Rumple, blaming him for making her into the person she is. Belle provides information on the Fury, explaining its a demon from the Underworld sent to retrieve an unpaid price of magic and they have until the full moon reaches its zenith until Robin is gone forever. Believing Emma summoned the creature, Regina demands she call it off, but she ends up learning it is her price that must be paid. After the Fury summons a ferryman to the Underworld and begins draining Robin's life, Regina offers hers instead. However, Snow, Charming, Grumpy and Arthur join in too, causing the Fury's power to explode on itself, sending it away for good. Later that night, Regina joins Robin at the diner and also returns Sneezy to his normal self.

At the sheriff's station Regina shows David and Snow a picture of a toadstool, the Crimson Crown, from a Camelot book that seemed to be of some importance, since a note with a question mark written in her handwriting was left next to it. However, she claims she cannot remember what it was for. The dwarfs then storm into the station, claiming to have been violated by Emma Swan. They demand that David do something about Emma because she stole Happy's pick axe. Regina grabs the book and proceeds to leave the room, stating that dwarfs are the couple's department. David eventually finds the toadstool at the refugee camp next to a tent and takes it to Regina and Snow who are in the vault. They then realize that they were using the toadstool to breach communication with Merlin.

After Grif's disappearance is discovered by the group, Guinevere worries about how the news will affect her people, so Henry suggests throwing a dance. David jokes about it being an excuse to ask his "girlfriend" on a date. Regina becomes alarmed at the mention of a girlfriend, but Henry later insists they're just friends. After Rumple is reported missing, Regina goes with Belle, Hook and Robin to Emma's house, where they find Excalibur and its stone in the basement. Hook moves to pull it out, but Regina stops him, warning that it could kill him. When they get a message from Henry saying Emma is returning, they prepare to leave the house, but discover a dreamcatcher on the way out. Regina realizes that Emma used them to take their memories. Regina later watches the dreamcatcher's memory and they witness Emma taking Violet's heart and telling her to break Henry's heart so she can obtain a tear of a lost love; Henry ends up witnessing this too. Emma later turns up to see Henry, but Regina confronts her about what she did to Violet. Emma defends that she did it with good reason and didn't have a choice, but Regina recalls that Emma has said many times before that there is always a choice. Emma reveals that it was the only way to free Merlin, shocking Regina, who questions why she's still the Dark One if Merlin was freed. 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.

Regina reveals that Emma was successful in freeing Merlin in Camelot, to the surprise of the others. The question is raised of why he didn't remove the darkness from her, and Regina proposes that they find out by communicating with him, having figured out a spell that will allow them to do so using the Crimson Crown. A cauldron is prepared down in Regina's vault, and all that's needed to reach the Sorcerer is for one of his "chosen" to drop the Crimson Crown into it; they summon Arthur, who suggests that he do it alone since no one else has ever been around when he received Merlin's prophecies in the past. Not wanting to take any risks, Regina and the others give him his privacy... only for him to throw the magical toadstool onto the fire beneath the cauldron, clearly not wanting the heroes to contact Merlin. This is deduced when the Crimson Crown is found merely charred - for magical toadstools don't burn - and Regina realizes that there's one other person in town who was chosen by Merlin: the Author. As such, they have Henry drop the toadstool into the cauldron and a message from Merlin appears, suggesting that Emma did something awful to him during the missing six weeks; they are told that their best hope lies with Nimue.

David, backed by Hook and Robin, approaches Arthur about his betrayal which leads to a chase through the woods where Hook's life is saved by Emma, who wields the completed Excalibur. She tells Hook that her plan and what happened in Camelot is all to do with him, which he reports back to the others; they, meanwhile, are merely wondering why Emma has yet to snuff out all light magic, and Regina figures that it's because she's missing some sort of crucial ingredient that they need to stop her from getting. Across town, Zelena's pregnancy is suddenly sped up by dark magic and she goes into labor, which worries Mary Margaret and Belle when they learn through research that Emma's missing ingredient is the cry of a newborn baby. The heroes rally to protect the Regina's sister but, unfortunately, after the baby is born, Emma teleports her out of the hospital; the baby, however, is left where she is. Regina and the Charmings head to Emma's house to get to the bottom of things, unaware of the fact that she plans on filling Zelena with the darkness and killing her to get rid of it forever, for she actually wants to snuff out all dark magic and not the other way around. Mary Margaret and David forbid Regina from hurting their daughter, but she points out that the reason Emma gave her the dagger back in Camelot is because she knew she would do what needed to be done and destroy her if she got out of control. Emma confronts them though and freezes them all while a captive Hook escapes with Zelena, learning via his dreamcatcher full of memories that he too is a Dark One.

Regina and the Charmings search for Emma in her house, and Mary Margaret is the one to find her moping on the couch with Zelena's cuff on her wrist, with Hook having wiped her memory of what he's planning to do. Her mother tries convincing her to give them all their memories back, but her dreamcatchers are missing, and so back at Regina's house the heroes discuss what to do, with Henry refusing to let anyone remove his mother's cuff because he doesn't trust her. With everyone else leaving to do research, Regina has Merida guard Emma while she heads to the hospital to stop Zelena from assaulting people. The Wicked Witch wants her baby, but Regina's already had it moved to a safe place. She takes her sister to Mary Margaret's apartment where Robin is cradling the child, and she explains to her that she was able to redeem because of Henry, hoping that having that kind of unconditional love in her life will change Zelena for the better as well. Robin says that Zelena can see her child only when either he or Regina are present, and the moment she takes the baby into her arms she falls completely in love with her. With Emma and Henry having patched things up and located the dreamcatchers, everyone goes to Regina's office where the magical memory containers are accessed and they all remember the missing six weeks spent in Camelot, with Emma remembering Hook's plan: right now, he is opening a portal to the Underworld and allowing every past Dark One to reenter the land of the living.

With all of the previous Dark Ones now released in Storybrooke, Regina and Robin split up from the others to put a stop to Hook, but while doing so, they run into Zelena, who reveals her intentions of claiming full custody of her and Robin's child. The Wicked Witch finds this to be easy, for the couple against her will soon be dead, due to being branded by Dark Ones, thus meaning they will be dragged to the Underworld. Regina later finds Hook and tries talking him out of letting Emma's loved ones be taken away, but he ignores her pleas, and when returning to her vault, she learns that Emma wants to obtain all the darkness and have Regina kill her. Regina agrees, and after obtaining Excalibur from Rumple, the former Evil Queen and Robin make their way to the mayoral office where they find Zelena plotting to take over as mayor. With the Apprentice's wand, Regina transports herself and her wicked sister to the clock tower where she opens a portal and sends Zelena through, back to Oz, in order to make sure no harm can come from her. The Witch swears revenge, but Regina simply resumes tending to the more pressing matters at hand. She is soon brought to the lake where Charon's arrival draws near, but she is able to get through to Hook, and so he sacrifices himself to put an end to the Dark Ones once and for all... or so everyone thought. Though he is now dead, Emma comes to learn that Rumple fooled them all once again, having used Hook's sacrifice to regain his powers. Emma uses this to her advantage, however, and threatens to go to Belle if he doesn't open a portal to the Underworld so she can rescue her beloved. Regina, the Charmings, Henry and Robin join them on this quest.

Upon arriving in the Underworld, which looks like Storybrooke, Regina notices a man watching her. Later, as she discusses the Underworld's appearance with Robin, she notices the same man watching her so she confronts him. He takes her to Cora and the mother and daughter embrace in a hug. Cora tells her daughter that she is her unfinished business, so Regina asks for help rescuing Hook. Cora refuses, insisting Regina leave with her son and boyfriend because that is what's best for her. Regina refuses to leave, so Cora takes her and Blacktooth to a fire pit. She throws the peasant in, sending him to "some place worse" and threatens the same will happen to her father if she doesn't go. Later, Regina tells the group and she considers leaving, fearing for her father. Rumple arrives with magic ale and they use it on Hook's grave to contact him, but all they see is his bloody figure which cannot respond. After Emma urges Regina to leave, she uses the ale on he father's grave to talk to him. Crying, she apologizes for killing him, and he forgives her. He tells his daughter to stay in the Underworld, even if it means him being sent to "some place worse", because her friends need her. Later on, at the fire pit, Regina arrives to stop her mother punishing her father. Cora uses her magic to make the flames swallow Henry before teleporting away, however, the flames soon disappear and a bridge appears, leading to a bright white light. Henry realizes his unfinished business was getting Regina to let go of Cora's grip on her. He says goodbye to his daughter and meets his grandson for the first time ever; they both thank each other for looking after Regina. Henry Sr. walks into the bright light and finally goes to a better place. Regina returns to the group with the good news and they all realize everyone in the Underworld can be saved. Once they all decide to stay, Regina notices the destroyed clock tower light up and move.

Robin and Henry go to see if they can find maps of the Underworld in Regina's office, a task at which they eventually fail, while Emma and Regina discover Hook's escaped cellmate Megara, who's being chased by the three-headed hell hound Cerberus. They manage to escape him and Mary Margaret believes she know who can defeat the beast, then using the Blind Witch to learn that the demigod Hercules works at the town dock. They try getting him to fight the beast, as is his destiny, but he is sent running. It almost kills the others too, but Hades calls it off, wanting to confront the heroes instead. Regina tries making him answer some questions she has about the Underworld, to no avail, and the interaction culminates in him showing them Hook's bloodied hook. Mary Margaret is sent into hysterics about her lack of heroic prowess and it takes Regina, of all people, to talk her back up again. She reminds the former bandit that she survived everything the Evil Queen ever threw at her and defeated her in a way no one else could - by befriending her. She tells her that Mary Margaret is no longer needed, only Snow, and eventually she is able to defeat Cerberus with Herc and Meg's help. This defeat allows the latter two to ascend Mount Olympus, and also forces Mary Margaret to realize that she doesn't want to be Mary Margaret anymore... she wants to be Snow White again. Regina thinks it's about time.

After the apartment is cleaned up from Cerberus' attack, Gold comes to the heroes with a plan, soon taking Emma and using his dead wife Milah to cross the threshold into Hades' lair, which allows them to rescue Hook. At the same time, Regina, whose magic is on the fritz, learns from Cruella De Vil that if someone's grave in the Underworld graveyard is upright, then they're there; if they're tipped over, then they're in a better place; but, if they're cracked, then they're in a worse one. Snow accompanies her when she goes searching for the grave of Daniel, then giving her a moment alone when she discovers that it's tipped, meaning that the stable boy has ascended Mount Olympus. On their way back, the two of them discover an injured horse which Regina then heals with her magic, meaning that it's returned. They then regroup with the others, including Hook; they want to get the heart-splitting process done and dusted, but Emma's heart cannot be removed for some reason. They then learn that that reason is that Emma's name has been carved onto one of the graveyard's headstones... along with Regina's and Snow's. Hades wanted Hook to pick which of his friends would have to stay behind in exchange for the souls that they helped to move on, but it seems he's done the picking himself. This means that Emma's heart won't work to resurrect Hook, and that she, Regina and Snow are trapped in purgatory until further notice.

Hook's brother Liam lets on that the key to defeating Hades lies in a book, and Emma thinks that maybe this means the Underworld version of Henry's storybook. Regina helps search for it in the apartment but they soon learn from Henry that it's in the Sorcerer's house, and they decide to go about their normal business before going to steal it so as to not rouse any suspicion from Hades. For Regina and Emma, this means heading to Granny's Diner for a drink, and Emma expresses her concerns that Liam doesn't think she's good enough for Hook. Regina assures her that, in actuality, she's too good for Hook, and she proceeds to explain that the reason Hook is so despondent with her right now is because he hasn't forgiven himself yet. Speaking as a former villain, Regina knows that forgiving yourself is the hardest thing. When the book is found at the mansion, Hades' story has been torn out. As it turns out, Liam did it due to a long-standing deal he has with Hades, but all is soon forgiven and he's able to move on. However, the heroes are still stick with the damaged book, until Henry reveals that he has the Author's magic quill and he plans to use his untapped power to uncover Hades' story.

Henry wakes up having added new pages to the storybook, but it's all useless drivel regarding Snow and David eating breakfast in the present. He ends up storming off when his mothers try telling him to focus harder, and they are soon distracted by the arrival of Zelena. Regina is thrilled that somebody finally did her sister in, but Zelena reveals that she's quite alive, having fallen through a portal along with Belle, who ran off with Baby Hood. Robin offers to track her down and Regina and Zelena tag along, with the latter scolding her baby's father for abandoning their daughter to go on some heroic quest to save Hook. Regina soon tells her sister that she used to be a lot like her, but then her enemies became her family and she would do anything for them now; she hopes the same thing can happen for her. The three of them eventually find Belle and Robin takes his daughter into his arms. However, she's hungry, and Zelena has a bottle of formula with which to feed her. As she does so, her magic suddenly returns for a brief moment and she runs off with the baby. Regina, Robin and Belle find her at her farmhouse and she ends up tearfully giving her daughter to Regina, not caring what happens to herself any longer and merely wishing to keep her safe because she thinks that Hades - with whom she had a romance in the past - might want to use her as an ingredient in a time travel spell. Robin heads to the woods with his daughter to keep her safe, while Regina remains with the other heroes.

Regina draws a number of magical symbols over the library elevator doors to break the magical protection over them and thus gain access to Hades' lair. However, when she and Emma manage to get them open, the entrance is still blocked, meaning they're going to have to do something else. Emma has an idea of how to burn the names off the gravestones, with a spell having come to her in a dream, Regina would like to have a sisterly chat with Zelena and find out if she knows what Hades' weakness is. She finds the Wicked Witch moping at Granny's Diner and expresses her concern, proceeding to ask about her history with the Lord of the Underworld. Zelena explains how Hades fell in love with her, to Regina's shock, and proceeds to note how ridiculous it is that anyone could love her. This leads Regina to ask if Zelena loved him back, and based on her tearful reaction it seems that she did, but then Regina makes the mistake of inquiring after Hades' weaknesses, leading her sister to realize that that was the only reason she acted like she cared. Regina assures that she does care, but she also wants to know how to free everyone from the Underworld, and Zelena eventually states that the only weakness of Hades' that she knows of... is her. Regina later discovers Emma, Snow and Hook hiding in her vault from a creature and helps to convince them to face it together like they always do. They end up stunning it in the woods, only to discover that it's actually Ruby in her wolf form.

Red is brought back to the apartment where she explains that she came to the Underworld looking for Zelena, who reveals that she put Dorothy under a sleeping curse with no way of waking up since she doesn't have a true love. Regina continues to goad her sister into redeeming herself and asks for the silver slippers so that they may get to Oz, and, to everyone's surprise, Zelena actually hands them over. The girls than have the idea to bottle a kiss from Dorothy's deceased Auntie Em, who is down in the Underworld, and on the way to finding her it is revealed that Hades ordered all the phones to be ripped from the haunting booths. This causes Snow to panic because it means that she can't talk to her son, and Emma decides that it's time her parents went home using the slippers to look after him. Regina points out that Snow can't leave because her name is on a headstone, meaning David has to be the one, and proceeds with the group to Em's diner. Unfortunately, she is spiked with some water from the River of Lost Souls and bottled up by Hades. Luckily for Dorothy though, there is another person who loves her: Ruby. Ruby decides to return to Oz and administer true love's kiss, and when Hook scratches Snow's name from the headstone at David's behest and puts David's name in its place, she is able to leave with her. It is confirmed via Henry's writings that she made it home safe, and that Dorothy was successfully woken up.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.