Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20150420004954/@comment-24674051-20150422194155

Nakis91 wrote: Oooh dumb me I only realized:

Cruella was unable to kill so Emma killed a defenseless person (no matter how crazy she was). Of course Emma didn't know that but she will find out... Which, if you rewatch the episode and pay close attention to the conversation between Emma and the Charmings earlier, Emma makes a statement to the effect that she would not harm an defenseless person. (Nice touch there, writers).

Again, though, Emma was in a situation where an assailant was holding a hostage and had a weapon drawn. That the hostage is her son is really not relevant, though it does increase the intensity of the situation. Emma does NOT know that Cruella is unable to harm Henry, so she has to work under the assumption that Cruella is capable of hurting and killing someone.

And did Emma know she could do something else? She was not aware of the limitations of Cruella's magic (she might have protected the gun from being Poofed away). And she could not afford any mistakes. So when given the opportunity, she had a clear shot and she took it.

I can guarentee that David would have done the same thing (with a gun or sword since he has no magic). In fact, David has, I am sure, killed his fair share of people, and his heart did not seem blackened when Regina ripped it out of him (prior to Snow casting the curse).

Ok, having said all of that, I can see where Emma will have issues dealing with what happened after the fact, particularly when she finds out that Cruella was defenseless. The emotional let-down may be enough to darken her. But what Emma did was not even on the same level as what Mary Margaret did to Cora, and all that happened with MM is that she had a strong bout of depression afterwards. MM was not darkened.