Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-25926288-20161217004206

I sometimes hate-love discussing this because it's always so weird. I've went from Zelena's far more poweful than Regina to just being about the same (I assume raw power is same, emotion vairable, and Zelena's slightly more skilled or at least knowledgeable since Regina went to Zelena for magical help once.)

I was rewatching some scenes with Ursula. I recall not ranking her, but it's pretty much representative of all that is discussed here. Let's see some things about Ursula:

1. She has a portion of deity magic.

2. She has stated to have the power to control the seas at a whim.

3. She still has her mermaid ability to create portals and with the Cecaelia form she can pull things thorugh. Assumption: She has superhuman strength because Mermaids were rocking the Jolly Roger and Ursula fully expected to pull the Jolly Roger (full size) through. This is slightly inconsistent because she appeared to require effort to pull Maleficent up and faced Maleficent briefly.

4. Regina claims that Ursula and Cruella can't magic their way out a paper bag.

5. Ursula shows no magical skill besides trying to get her voice out of the shell.

The conundrum with Ursula is that it's very clear that she isn't skilled. However, I guess one should argue do you really have to be skilled when your a deity, given that they just will things. Statements would seem to connote that she's nigh deity level, because controlling all the seas would easily place her above Ingrid and Maleficent in powerful range spellcasting.

So, I would have to go with her having immense raw power, likely just below or even equal to above Dark One. However, her skill level shown is below Blind Witch and even Anastasia (who is slightly underrated).

So, then the question would be where to place Ursula. If we just use a nice four person strata,

A Tier: Dark One

B Tier: Apprentice/Amped Zelena

C Tier: Regina

D Tier: Blind Witch/ Witch (Brave)

Her raw power statements and estimates would say Tier B. Her skill and knowledge says Tier D. So, would she be in the same tier as Regina? She would estimatedly have more raw power than her, but can't magic her way out of a maze of tissue paper. This is the conundrum many others face, like Emma (and Aladdin). They have raw power likely equal or greater than Regina by statements and estimates given prophecy, but they don't have nearly enough skill or knowledge. Jafar with Amara (staff) is easily on par with Regina/ Amped Zelena raw power-wise, with probably a little less skill. However, Aladdin easily beat him and his spells. Magic battles in Once are primarily about speed and manipulation.

So, if I open the second "conundrum", where do we place Aladdin? Jafar with Amara as a slight boost shows great raw power. Jafar is pretty skilled. So, he's roughly Regina level. Aladdin easily beat him. So, is Aladdin above Jafar (with staff)? Rumple says Emma is all about beating the Evil Queen. Is Emma just above Regina? What do we base things on if otherwise?

According to season 6 (and 5x21-23) battles and feats,

1. Rumple

1.33 Black Fairy

1.67 Gideon

1.99 The Dragon

2. Evil Queen (maybe Regina)

3. Zelena (maybe Regina)

4. Emma

5. Aladdin

6. Jafar with Staff