Red Riding Hood


 * This article focuses on Red Riding Hood. For Red Riding Hood's Storybrooke counterpart, see Ruby. For the fairytale, see Red Riding Hood (Fairytale).

"When there's something I want, I'm good at tracking it down."

- Red to Snow White

Red Riding Hood, better known as Red, is a major character on Once Upon a Time. She makes her debut in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Meghan Ory, and is the fairytale counterpart of Ruby.

Red is based on the titular character from the fairytale, "Red Riding Hood".

History
Red Riding Hood lives in a poor village that is terrorized every wolfstime, or full moon, by a large and malevolent wolf. She often dreams of running away with her true love, a blacksmith's son by the name of Peter.

During the third night of wolfstime, she is visited at her window by Peter. After a short conversation and a kiss, she is called by her grandmother, Widow Lucas, and leaves. Mayor Tomkins, the leader of the village, is in the front of the house, asking for help for a hunting party meant to kill the wolf. Widow Lucas, called Granny by Red, refuses and calls them fools. Red helps her lock down the house. On her way to her room, Granny reminds her to wear her cloak.

The next morning, Granny tells her to check on the chickens to make sure the wolf didn't hurt any of them. As Red collects the eggs and prepares to leave, she notices one nest empty. Suddenly, a young woman runs out and confesses to stealing a few eggs for herself. When asked about who she is, she reveals that she is on the run from someone. Red is fine with this, but she needs something to call her. She introduces herself with the alias as Frosty, then Margaret, then finally settles on Mary. However, the girl is actually Snow White after the Huntsman spared her life.

Red invites her to stay with them until she can find a place to settle down, and they go to the well to fetch some water. As Red is hauling it up, she marvels at the red color of the water. When she asks for Mary's opinion, Mary is unresponsive. As a result, Red turns around and stares, horrified, at the mangled corpses of the hunting party.

When they return, they discover that Mayor Tomkins has called a town meeting. Tomkins expresses regret at the village's loss and demands for an even larger hunting party so that they could forever end the massacre of people and livestock. However, Granny protests, and tells the villagers about her own experience with a former wolf that had once preyed upon the village.

That night, in Red's bedroom, Snow White mentions how the wolf was keeping her from leaving the town with Peter. Red realizes that she's right, and presents the idea of killing the wolf. Snow White thinks it is crazy, but Red persuades her to help her look for the wolf.

The next day, they set out to hunt the wolf down and kill it in its sleep. They eventually find the wolf's tracks, only to have them lead back to Red's house. They come to the conclusion that Peter is the wolf, as he was by the window the night before. Red presents her theory to him, and Peter agrees that they should tie him up in chains.

However, that night as the full moon shows itself, it is Red, not Peter, who shifts into a wolf, with no sense of her human self. Peter tries to calm her, to make her recognize him, all to no use. The wolf growls and lunges at him. While it is eating Peter's remains, Granny and Snow White arrives, and Granny shoots the wolf with a silver-tipped crossbolt.

Snow White lays the magical red cloak over her - for it was the cloak that kept Red from being affected by the genetically-inherited lycanthropy at wolfstime - and the wolf turns back into Red. Red is disoriented at first, but then she realizes that she was the wolf, and responsible for Peter's death. Suddenly, the torches of a mob appear on the other side of the clearing, and Granny tells them to leave. Snow White leads a devastated Red away, with Granny left to fend for herself. ("Red-Handed")

Many weeks after, Red brings Snow White food once a month while she is hiding in the Enchanted Forest from the Evil Queen's forces. She keeps Snow White up-to-date on all of the fairytale world's current events, including Prince Charming's wedding to Princess Abigail.

Snow White is very upset at this and asks for some magical cure to heal her broken heart. Red is quiet, which alerts Snow White to the fact that she knows something. After some prodding, Red tells Snow White about Rumplestiltskin, a man who has great powers who might be able to help her take away the pain of yearning for Prince Charming. The next day, after Snow White leaves to go after her love, Red comes across Prince Charming as he is searching for her. ("7:15 A.M.")

She tells him that Snow White went to the castle because she loved him. Upon meeting Charming's confusion, she says to him that Snow White really does love him and has been intending to tell him so, unless something has changed her mind. Just then, King George's men come in an attempt to kill Charming. She and the prince escape together. ("What Happened to Frederick")

Later, they are seen making camp when the king's men catch up to them. She tells Charming to run and when he asks how she can hold them off she looks up at the full moon. Charming leaves and Red takes off her cloak. Her eyes turn gold and she runs towards the approaching soldiers. She changes into her wolf form and when the scene changes you hear a distant howling. ("Heart of Darkness")

Red reunites with Granny, and the two of them work with Snow White, the Seven Dwarves, and some fairies to rescue Charming from King George's castle. They take the castle, but the rescue attempt is unsuccessful because Charming has been traded to the Evil Queen.

Snow White leaves to make a deal with the Queen for Prince Charming's safety. Shortly thereafter, the others find Snow White's body. Red discovers Snow White is not breathing, and they believe she is dead because they do not know the nature of the sleeping spell she is under. ("An Apple Red as Blood")

She is later seen fighting along side Prince Charming and Snow White against King George in order to take back the kingdom. ("Lady of the Lake")

Many months later, Red is present with her grandmother when Prince Charming seaks advice on how to defeat the Evil Queen's Dark Curse. ("Pilot")

For events occurring after the breaking of the Dark Curse, see Ruby's page.

Trivia

 * Red is both Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf.
 * Many scholars claim that Little Red Riding Hood is a metaphor for puberty (with the red cape representing menstruation) and is meant as a cautionary tale against young girls going after their carnal desires (the wolf). This may explain why Little Red Riding Hood's alter-ego, Ruby, is usually shown as being flirtatious.
 * Granny mentioned Red's mother died when she was a baby from being mortally wounded by a hunting party, but didn't mention Red's father which has lead some to believe that he's not in the picture or he is dead, too, leaving Red as an orphan.
 * Red seems to be immune to any weapon while in the form of a werewolf. When Granny shot Red and turned her back into a human, Red didn't seem to have any wounds from the attack. She is also unable to remember her experiences as a werewolf when in human form.
 * Her red cape has mystical properties that prevent her from changing into a wolf as long as she is wearing it.
 * It's interesting to note that she kissed Peter, yet true love's kiss didn't break her curse. This could mean that there are some curses that cannot be broken or that her and Peter's love was not true love. There is also the possibility that true love's kiss would only work when Red is in her wolf form, as that is when her curse is active.
 * It is possible that her being a werewolf has more to do with genetics than magic, as it was passed onto Red through her mother and grandfather, and not a traditional werewolf bite like Granny's.​​​​
 * A small doll plushie of Little Red Riding Hood is seen on the shelf of Emma's nursery in Fairytale Land during "The Thing You Love Most".
 * Red's love interest being named Peter is a possible reference to the Prokofiev composition "Peter and The Wolf".
 * She showed some control over her wolf form when defending Prince Charming from King George's men.
 * In An Apple Red as Blood, Red seems to have gained even more control over her wolf form. She uses it to her advantage, scouting the castle, and signaling Snow White and the others that the coast is clear.
 * The close relationship between Red and Snow White, as well as some of the events in "Red-Handed", may be a reference to the story, Snow-White and Rose-Red.

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