Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5583089-20140617224509/@comment-25536775-20141125160117

I think it was in 3B that it was established that bad memories power magic, while good memories control and shape it. So, even if you're practicing Dark Magic, you'd still need both kinds of memories. So while emotion could heighten your power level, you'd still need to study to get some skill at it.

In the top of the ladder there's Rumple, Pan, Zelena and the other witches of Oz. Rumple is powerful because he's the Dark One (Even referred to by Walsh as the most powerful wizard of all). Pan is literally the god of Neverland, and I do think he became less powerful when he left (Anyone can cast the Dark Curse. Snow did it and she had no prior knowledge of magic). Zelena and the Witches are powerful because of their pendants, remember that they were the only objects (Aside from the Three Genies thing) that could effectively change the laws of magic.

Then you've got the likes of Regina, Emma and Jafar (And possibly Cora, but I'm still iffy about her). They were (Excet for Cora) all born with the ability to do magic, which is why I think theyre significantly more powerful than the other magic users in the show, but not as much as 'Godlike' beings such as Rumple and Pan.

Lastly you got practitioners like the Red Queen and Cora. They weren't born with any magic, which confuses me because Cora if feared by Regina and Rumple in S2. However, when you actually think about it, it could very well be their emotional connection to Cora, and the sheer absurdity of someone taking her own heart out that scared them, because most of the time she used her political power, as well as manipulation, to get what she wanted. And the Red Queen used very little magic in the whole series.