Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4962906-20151003135616/@comment-25701646-20151018162850

CTrent29 wrote: ''Regina may have loved Henry but she gaslighted him, made other people think he was crazy, and, when that wasn't enough to keep him in the dark and to herself, tried to murder his birth mother. That is not physical abuse but it is psychological abuse and that is just as bad.''

Everyone, including Emma, thought Henry was mentally disturbed anyway, because he kept talking about the Curse and their true identities. Yes, Regina did gaslight him. Emma tried to do the same in late Season 3 by maintaining his amnesia and lying to him in order to ensure she can drag him back to New York City and resume their fantasy life, following Zelena's defeat. Snow and David lied to Emma, fearful of how she would react to their kidnapping of an unborn Lily.

Yet, overall, all of them proved to be decent parents. I have no problems with Zelena wanting to raise her child in Oz. But I have no sympathy toward her situation because she became pregnant in the first place due to her rape of Robin via deceit, and her lack of remorse of her actions. The difference is that Regina knew Henry wasn't crazy and made him think he was anyway. The others had every reason to believe Henry was crazy because the curse (which, again, was all Regina's fault) had erased their memories of magic and had resulted in Emma being raised without magic.

No, Emma didn't try to do the same thing. The amnesia was already in place and they didn't know how to cure it. She might have wanted it to continue to give him a better and safer life, but she didn't actively fight trying to cure it. Yes, she lied to him. However, there's a difference between lying to someone to make them think they're crazy and lying to someone because they won't believe the truth and to try to keep them safe. In Emma's case, part of the reason she wanted Henry not to remember was because it was safer in New York, without monsters attacking them every week, and it would be easier for him to live there without  Also, I don't think there's ever been a situation quite like Henry's. It's always difficult when dealing with loved ones with amnesia because, on one-hand, you want them to remember, on the other hand, you need to be careful to let them remember and not merely 'remember' the moments because you told them about it so many times it feels like a memory. With Henry, magic was the truth, but the amnesia had him not believing in magic. It's one thing for an amnesia victim to hear about a life that doesn't quite seem like his own. It's another for one to hear about a life that doesn't seem like his own and is rooted in a whole other reality. Henry could have thought everyone around him was crazy, have started questioning his own sanity, or end up not really remembering but thinking he remembered because he was told the stories so many time. Emma doesn't actively stop him from remembering because she's busy trying to save him and Storybrooke. She does debate what's best, but she tells him what she's able to tell him without traumatizing him or putting him in danger and, in the end, does find a way to help him remember. This is very different than Regina, who actively tried to make Henry think he was crazy, not so he would be safe, but because she didn't want the world where only she was happy to end.

With Snow and Charming, yes, they lied to Emma. That's not the same as psychologically abusing.