The Unfortunate Circumstances of Fate
Once there was a girl who was given no chance to determine her own fate. She was given no opportunity to choose as others determined themselves worthy of choosing for her. You never intentionally play the villain in someone else's story. Often you fall into the role quite by chance, if their goals don't align with your own, suddenly you are enemies. For the girl who would become the Queen, it was never quite so simple. In her case fate had deemed her destined to play the role of evil in the happiest realm of fairytales. Evil isn't born, it's made much like Destiny or True Love, by design. In the case of Regina, it was fashioned by a heartless Mother, the cruellest twist of fate and the most unfortunate of circumstances.
When your destiny is controlled by another what sort of life do you live? Whilst others learn of True Love, happiness and light, live in castles or go on grand adventures, a seed of bitterness is planted in the souls of those who are left behind.
This was the truth of her Mother.
And her sister.
So what chance did she have?
As others met their loves, completed quests and lived, her love was stolen, her path chosen and her life ruined, what else was that seed going to do but grow?
For years she followed the path chosen for her, she began to believe the rhetoric her mother fed her and she let her hatred fester. The seed had grown into a tree and twisted. Its fruits bearing seeds of their own, spread until no part of her was left untouched. Bloodthirsty and hell bent on revenge there was no empathy, no sympathy, no morality and no desire to help anyone but herself. This tree she named Snow White.
She took her revenge with a curse. She cast her misery and hatred upon those who fate had been kindest too, to those who had never had to endure the harsh lessons that life can bestow and it was glorious.
She destroyed the last thing she could claim to love to force those around her to suffer as she had.
The thought of their misery made her smile.
But it did not make her happy.
She watched as those she hated and who hated her in return, forget who they were, forget who she was and forget what she had done. She trapped them in a realm without magic, where True Love and Destiny were fairytales, and her revenge was complete. But the novelty wore off quickly. Suddenly victory became nothing, for she had no one to share it with. No one who remembered her success to suffer accordingly. Suddenly the evil queen wasn't so sure she enjoyed watching those who had wronged her, suffer. Suddenly it didn't seem to matter so much anymore.
Perhaps she was punishing the wrong people.
Perhaps, deep down, she knew she never should have started down this path. Despite what her mother believed, it did not and would not, ever make her happy. Maybe she knew even then that her mother never really cared about her, maybe she knew her mother only wanted the power the position of Queen (now Mayor) could provide them both.
When the saviour came to town she almost welcomed it. Welcomed the opportunity to face the truth of what she had done and accept the punishment she deserved from those she had wronged, because she could see it now. It had never been them, it had been her all along. She who brought misery to them all, as they, those damned heroes, tried to right the wrongs she had caused, for all, not just for themselves. They did not crave power or revenge, they craved justice.
How had she missed such an important lesson?
But old habits die hard, so she tried once more to believe in the lessons she had had forced upon her and to hold on to her perfect world a little longer. She killed one more, the Sheriff, just for the hell of it. She killed him simply because he might not have had a heart or any real memories but he still chose good.
It still didn't work. Her hatred didn't win her anything. The curse still broke and the saviour took it all. She watched as her son, her control and her life were taken from her again. But this time she watched as those who forgot remembered and reminded her of another important lesson. She learned an important lesson that day as they tried to forgive her and move on. They showed her mercy and kindness too, and they helped her find good within herself.
In her life the Queen learnt that sometimes the hand you are dealt is cruel and that sometimes you are expected to play the villain in the story. But it will never eliminate the element of choice. So now she prides herself on no longer being evil- as if the title ever mattered- she prides herself on simply being the Queen and Mayor of Storybrooke.
Now she stands tall. Now she has True Love and a family and she remembers while cruelty and hatred stole her childhood, it never controlled her destiny. She knows now that darkness is never rewarded until it is defeated. She took control of her own fate and now she is strong, now she is a hero.
Isn't wonderful when it's possible to have happy ending?
Long live the Queen.