Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6905051-20131203105732/@comment-5106672-20140427130946

Applegirl wrote: ^^ I agree completely with your thoughts. I'm not adopted, but I can see that maternal instinct extends past being blood related or not. Regina *is* Henry's mother. She adopted him and named him and raised him as her own. She basically loved him almost as if she gave birth to him herself. So while they are not biologically related, the familial connection extends deeper than just genetics. I do think Regina wanted to drive Emma away as fast as possible because she feared Emma's title as Henry's birth mother would be enough to lose him. I believe Regina's protectiveness of Henry, in which she basically told Emma to gtfo from Storybrooke (at the end of Pilot) caused Emma herself to perceive, based on her own growing personal dislike of Regina, that Henry wasn't loved by his adoptive mother and in turn caused her to stay in town for a week. Which made things more complicated.

I agree for the most part, except the "almost as if" part. People who choose adopt have to often go to greater lengths to have children, so I think they love them just as much as biological parents.

On the other hand, as Regina herself said, she just doesn't know how to love very well, which is why she often went through Henry to hurt Emma. That's not surprising, given the example Cora set for her: the way our parents teach us to love affects us deeply, it's no wonder Cora's twisted “maternal love” made Regina's feeling showcases somehow twisted.