Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-4877635-20140505150912/@comment-8345449-20140505152742

I think the china thing was just a tribute to China girl from the Disney Oz movie.

I think Zelena's really dead. My guess is she created a fail-safe beforehand that would trigger upon her death to open the time travel portal. She's gambling that someone would get dragged inside the portal and change past events in such a way that she doesn't get killed in the altered timeline (butterfly effect and all that).