Board Thread:Wiki-Related Discussion/@comment-34924658-20171106211527/@comment-2153169-20171106232659

The very problem of the Black Swan case is that we mostly thought of it by association of ideas. Emma Swan + Dark One -> Dark Swan = Black Swan, for many people. But, is she really based on these characters?

First, Odette aka the White Swan.

"As the heroine of the story, Odette has been transformed into a swan by Rothbart and can only regain her human form at night. She has many companions under the same spell, who have made her their queen, hence her title 'The Swan Queen.' She is forced to live by a lake that was magically formed from the tears of her grieving mother after Rothbart kidnapped her. The only way for the spell to be broken is by the power of eternal love between Odette and a young man who will remain faithful to her, for if the vow of eternal love is broken, she will remain a swan forever. When Odette falls in love with Prince Siegfried, hope for her freedom has come at last, until Siegfried is tricked into breaking his vow by Rothbart, trapping Odette as a swan forever. To escape the spell, Odette chooses to die and Siegfried chooses to die with her; the lovers drown themselves in the lake and are reunited forever in death."

Clearly, we can definitely say that Emma's story and Odette's story have nothing to do with the other. Maybe the fact that they are both turned into something? But that's all, and not really enough to pretend that she is based or an allusion to Odette.

Then; let's give a look at Odile aka the Black Swan.

"Odile, the Black Swan is the daughter of Rothbart, who is also an evil witch and who is willing to follow in her father's footsteps. She only appears in the third act, usually dressed in black and magically disguised as Odette in order to help her father trick Siegfried into breaking his vow of love to Odette. In some productions, Odile is known as the Black Swan and, rather than being magically disguised as her, is actually Odette's evil twin or double."

Well, story-wise talking, I think it is the same here. Emma has not much in common with Odile. Witch dressed in black? Not enough to say that she is based to, pretty sure there are many evil witches dressed in black. Even the "evil" point is debatable about Emma. Dark Hook was a way more evil and worse than her. So, even the "evil alter-ego" point does not seem to work here.

So yeah, from a story-pov, we really don't have enough details to say that Emma is somehow based on these characters.

About your points:
 * 1) True, Adam and Eddy could have said it. But, this very statement is contradicted by the entire 5A arc. If it would make her the Black Swan so surely, as they seemed to say, then why they never called her the Black Swan in the series? They named her the Dark Swan, because she is Emma Swan, the Dark One. The very lack of references about that in the series tend to prove that Emma may not be so much based on the Black Swan.
 * 2) As proven above, her story is absolutely not a parallel to Odette/Odile. Their stories are really different, with some really different endings. Same for Rumple/Nimue. They have nothing in common with Rothbart at all. Well, except being some powerful evil witch/wizard, but this is not a proper point to Rothbart or the Dark Ones; so not based from him.
 * 3) That's not really similar, as the backstory with the Ugly Duckling is clearly stated and treated by the show in 611. Emma directly took her name from this story.
 * 4) We're back at what I was saying at first. Common association of ideas. Because Dark Swan/Black Swan are similar in their names, we tend to think they are similar. If we look at the details, not so much.
 * 5) This case is completely different from Up. Up is confirmed by writers AND actors. Plus, characters are similar to Up, story is similar to Up, music is similar to Up, visual and scenes are similar to Up, details are similar to Up and, most important, themes are similar to Up. We can't say the same thing about Dark Swan/Black Swan arc.

Honestly, I see where the discussion is coming from. We already discussed it in the past, but I think we'll just end up with the same conclusion. If we think so much that Emma = Black Swan, it is only by a common association of ideas cos she is Dark Swan. If we look into the details... Well. Not so much to say.

At best, I'd say it should be included in the Trivia section. Saying that Emma/Dark Swan can be seen as a hommage to the Black Swan. But, we just don't have enough of elements - or, proper elements to Swan Lake - to add anything in the intro sentence.