Evil Queen

"My life was never just one story. It was many stories. To some, a villain. I hurt people... in ways I can never make up for. To others, I'm... a hero. They've seen my strength, my ability to do the hard things, even when I thought I couldn't. I want to start a new story. One where the Evil Queen doesn't get a part."

- Regina Mills to Snow

Regina Mills, formerly known as the Evil Queen, currently known as Roni, and briefly known as Wilma and Ursula, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She debuts in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Lana Parrilla and guest star Ava Acres. She is the main reality version of the Evil Queen.

The Evil Queen is based on the Queen from the fairytale, "Snow White" and from the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the child of the miller's daughter from the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin". She also briefly takes the place of the Sea Witch from the fairytale, "The Little Mermaid" and Ursula from the Disney film, The Little Mermaid.

History
{{During Fifth Curse| After she cast Drizella's curse to save Henry's life, Regina Mills becomes Roni, the owner of the local bar Roni's in Hyperion Heights, and completely forgets her past as the Evil Queen. Roni is pressured by Victoria Belfrey into selling the bar as she watches much of the community in Hyperion Heights get similarly chased away. The day before she is supposed to sign the papers, Roni is setting up the bar when Henry walks in. The two talk, with Roni explaining her issues with Victoria, and Henry revealing that a girl showed up at his apartment and claimed to be his daughter before stealing his laptop. Jacinda, Lucy's mother, arrives to return Henry's laptop, apologizing for her daughter's behavior, as Henry muses that he's now certain Lucy can't be his daughter because he would have remembered Jacinda. Recognizing the romantic tension between the pair, Roni offers them both drinks to break the ice. Roni watches as they bond, but they are unfortunately interrupted when Victoria arrives, livid over learning her granddaughter Lucy sneaked out during the night to see Henry, a complete stranger. Victoria criticizes Jacinda for day drinking and announces her plan to take full custody of Lucy. At midnight, as Victoria waits for Roni to sign the bar over to her, Roni decides that she will not go through with the deal, having been inspired by Jacinda's attempts to stand up to Victoria. She explains to Victoria that she has hope for Hyperion Heights, considering the bar is her home and rips the contract to shreds. Infuriated, Victoria tells Roni that she will regret her decision, but Roni assures her that regret isn't her thing. Once Victoria is gone, Roni takes a look at her bar and smiles. {{Ep|Hyperion Heights|The Eighth Witch}}

At her bar, Roni is questioned by Weaver about why Henry was in her pub that morning, but she refuses to divulge anything, stating that bartenders are like therapists and are sworn to secrecy. An unimpressed Weaver tells her he'll get his answer either way and after he has left the bar, Roni warns the detective's partner Rogers to be careful of him. She mentions that all of Weaver's past partners have mysteriously disappeared, and asks him to consider just how badly he wants this detective job. {{Ep|A Pirate's Life}}

One night at her bar, Roni serves a customer who works for the building commission in Hyperion Heights. This customer, while inebriated, talks about how he will be making lots of money soon once he helps Victoria with a certain favor, and that he is meeting with her in the afternoon at Hyperion Plaza. Later after Henry arrives to join Roni and Rogers at the bar, Roni mentions her conversation with the drunk customer, whom Henry suspects is accepting a bribe from Victoria to help her redevelop the neighborhoods. While Rogers is on a stakeout to corner the customer, Roni continues tending to her bar as Henry is doing research. Jacinda comes bearing information about Victoria's plans to demolish the community gardens today and replace them with condos. Roni discovers a loophole from a building manual, which states an injunction can be overturned as long as the community deems the property essential to the public good. She gives Jacinda the idea to form a petition and get people to sign it as a way to halt the demolition. After Jacinda burns the signed petitions to accept an offer given to her by Victoria, Jacinda recuperates at the bar, telling Roni about how her actions disappointed Lucy, despite that she believes she was right to destroy the petitions for a chance to be with her daughter. Roni assures her there's nothing wrong with wanting to be with Lucy, however, she has to consider how much she is willing to give up to Victoria to do that, as the woman will take away everything from her if she lets her. Later, Roni helps to quiet down the noisy residents who are gathered at the garden, where Jacinda makes up for her mistake by persuading them to sign the petition again and join her in planting more flowers to show Victoria that they won't stand for the demolition. {{Ep|The Garden of Forking Paths}}

For Halloween, Roni dresses up as Sandy from the movie Grease and lets Henry sample one of her new drinks called the Poisoned Apple, though Henry suggests it could use a bit of cinnamon. She notices he is more downtrodden than the day before when he was eating ice cream with Jacinda and Lucy, and Henry tells her about finding the cemetery where his wife and child are buried. Roni sympathizes with his reluctance to move on from them, but reasons that eventually he has to let go of their ghosts. She presses him to ask Jacinda out to a Halloween party, and though Henry says he might not be ready yet, she reminds him that moving on doesn't mean he has to forget about those he lost and if he loved once before, he owes it to himself to at least try to find happiness again. {{Ep|Beauty}}

At the bar, Roni agrees to help Rogers store a box of evidence pertaining to the missing girl he never found. After Rogers departs, she grills Henry about why he was having drinks with Ivy during the other night. Roni doesn't trust Ivy because she is Victoria's daughter, even when Henry suggests Ivy might be willing to help them. Henry later informs her about the intel he got from Ivy concerning Victoria's recent habit of spending time on the top floor of Belfrey Towers, but Roni is unhappy he actually believes the girl and the possibility that he is falling for her. She insists Jacinda is the better option for him because she doesn't believe Ivy has genuine feelings for him. Henry expresses frustration over her acting like his mother, although Roni reasons that, if his mother were present, she'd tell him to get back into writing, ask Jacinda on a date and tip her generously for giving him such sound advice. Upon seeing Henry begin leaving, she inquires about where he is going, to which Henry exasperately states that he's headed to the bathroom unless she means to hold his hand in there too. Ivy texts Henry to meet her in the office lobby, however, Roni secretly replies for him, telling Ivy "he" will be there, only to delete both texts from Henry's phone afterward so Henry won't know about it. Roni goes to confront Ivy in-person about her suspicions that she is only going after Henry to ruin what he and Jacinda could have. Despite Ivy explaining how much she is risking to bring down Victoria, Roni insists she prove her worth by taking her to the top floor room. Ivy obliges, but unknown to the latter, she asks the woman in the room to hide from Roni. On the top floor, Roni sees a tea set tray on the ground and guesses that Victoria might've had company, as Ivy feigns ignorance about who the person is. Roni then spots a paper flap sticking out from an open locker and discovers a shocking photograph inside. Later, she comes clean to Henry about what she did before showing him what she found: a purported picture of herself in stylish clothes as she hugs a young boy. Roni is sure that she doesn't know who the boy is, but a stunned Henry recognizes the child as himself. {{Ep|Greenbacks}}

As Roni and Henry look at the picture together, Henry deducts they were photoshopped into it, with Roni as his mother the Evil Queen and him as her son from his book. Roni assumes Victoria is playing around with them and grabs her baseball bat to go teach her a lesson, though Henry persuades her to calm down so they can investigate things first. Jacinda pops in to borrow tools from Roni as she has a new food truck to fix, but when Henry offers his help, she declines before leaving. Roni, having no answers about Jacinda's brush off towards him, offers him a beer as consolation. She is in the midst of cleaning the bar counter when Henry tells her about discovering pictures Ivy posted from their bar night and that Jacinda may have assumed from seeing them that they are together. Lucy rushes in and asks to see the photo as well, with Henry mistakenly believing she means the one with Ivy and him, but Roni realizes she wants to see the one of herself and Henry. The girl pieces together who is who in the photo, including the fact the Evil Queen Regina adopted Henry in Boston, and goes off to execute a way in which Regina can remember her old life. After Roni takes Henry out for pizza, she talks about her failed attempt to adopt in the past, however, Henry assures her that she is a mother to lots of people in Hyperion Heights. Roni suggests they pretend to believe Lucy's fantasies so she stops being defensive about her beliefs and will accept the truth in her own time. Henry dubs their mission Operation: Heartbreak, but rather than going together to where Lucy is now, Roni directs him to Jacinda's food truck, jokingly telling him to "be charming and don't slouch." Roni finds Lucy in her old room, where the girl was hoping to locate Henry's old storybook which might allow a person to recover their memories if they touch it. She persuades Lucy that she is willing to take a chance in believing, and then they team up by getting information about Regina from Weaver, whom Roni agrees to owe a favor. Looking over Regina's signature on the adoption agreement, Roni signs the same name and notices her penmanship matches the woman's. That night, Ivy drugs her drink with a serum created by the Witch in order to make her regain her true memories. Regina finally wakes up, and after recognizing Drizella, she tries to choke her but her magic doesn't work in a Land Without Magic. She moves to answer a call from Henry, but a smug Drizella leads her into remembering that, if the curse breaks, something bad will happen to her loved ones. Drizella admits she is close to enacting her revenge on Victoria and cannot have the curse ending any time soon with true love's kiss, so she orders Regina into separating Henry and Jacinda. While Henry reports to Roni that his date with Jacinda went well, she asks about his mother under the pretense this information may help Lucy. Henry reveals he was born in prison and grew up in the system because of never being adopted, and that his wish to have a mother is what made him create two of them in his book. Regina almost tells him the truth, but catches herself before she does and instead says she is glad that they are getting to know each other. {{Ep|Wake Up Call}}

In celebration of the fixed electrical system on the food truck, Henry and Jacinda stop by the bar for some drinks from Roni. Jacinda mentions being without income since the truck business hasn't started yet, but Roni graciously chips in by hiring her. After Henry and Jacinda grab a table together, Ivy badgers Roni at the counter, once again warning her to separate the couple before they share true love's kiss or face the consequences if the curse breaks. Jacinda, during a work shift with Roni, excitedly tells her about her upcoming date with Henry and the possibility of working on regaining custody of Lucy. Falling in line with Ivy's demands, Roni subtlely convinces Jacinda that pursuing a new relationship with Henry won't look good in the eyes of social workers if she intends to get her daughter back. Now worried about spoiling her chances of regaining Lucy, Jacinda cancels her date with Henry as Roni guiltily watches nearby and notices her son's disappointment. Later, Henry informs Roni and Jacinda about Victoria being arrested for holding a woman captive, with these circumstances freeing Lucy from her Victoria's guardianship. {{Ep2|Eloise Gardener (Episode)|Eloise Gardener}}

While Ivy is trying to get closer to Henry, Roni interrupts in the nick of time to ask for Henry's help with unjamming the keg room door, which he happily obliges. Roni warns her to stay away from her son, but Ivy instead mocks her for sounding very "Evil Queen" and recalls how much it must've hurt her to have to drive a wedge between Jacinda and Henry during the other night. Roni cautions her to tread lightly with her words or face the wrath of her baseball bat, however, Ivy reminds her that neither of them want the curse broken and Roni is outnumbered now that Eloise is free from her mother. Roni is surprised to hear she is working with Gothel, even asking how they know each other, but Ivy scoffs, declining to villain monologue for her. Worried about what Ivy and Gothel have planned, she goes to the station to look for Weaver, in the hopes of making an alliance with him as she knows he is awake like she is. However, Weaver is not there, though Roni takes the opportunity to suggest to Rogers that he shouldn't be so hard on Tilly, Weaver's street informant, because she only played the part of a pawn since she had nothing else to live for. Roni spots the cake that Eloise gave Rogers and she dumps it into the trash, telling him that too much sugar will kill him. When Weaver shows up at the bar, Roni questions him about what the name Rumplestiltskin means to him, but after he gives her a flimsy answer, she wastes no time calling him out for hiding under the radar and asks for his help to fight against Gothel. Weaver continues feigning ignorance and eventually goes to leave, to which Roni wonders if he is keeping his cover because of the Guardian and tells him to consider that Belle wouldn't want this for him. This appears to strike a nerve in Weaver, though he manages to turn around with a neutral face and ask her who Belle is. Frustrated with Weaver's noncompliance, Roni drops the subject and states she'll get help somewhere else. Roni later finds Henry getting drunk in her bar while he is heartbroken over Jacinda and persuades him to join her for a trip to California to find someone whose assistance she desperately needs. ( "Pretty in Blue")

She and Henry land in San Fransisco. Going to a fitness center, they pretend to be new members so Roni can meet Kelly, Zelena's cursed persona. Kelly hates Roni due to sqabbles about boyfriends. Meanwhile, Henry gets a call from Jacinda regarding Lucy's comatose state, so he leaves for Seattle. Roni convinces Kelly to take a sip of whiskey which restores her memories. However, Zelena reveals she is engaged to someone to Regina, but agrees to put the wedding off. At the airport, they discuss the implications of breaking the curse. ( " The Eighth Witch" )

Trivia

 * -|Character Notes=

Etymology

 * The name "Regina" is of Latin origin that means "Queen".
 * Cora alludes to this meaning when she names her newborn daughter Regina and states, "For one day, she will be queen".
 * It was Snow White who added "Evil" to her title.
 * The surname "Mills" is of English origin that was an occupational word used for someone living near or working on a mill. It also alludes to the "Rumpelstiltskin" fairytale as her mother Cora was the miller's daughter who could spin straw into gold.
 * Regina is one of the few characters from the first curse who is confirmed to have the same real name in Storybrooke as her Enchanted Forest counterpart; the others being David Nolan, Jefferson and Mother Superior.
 * Roni is named after Ronnie Spector. Edward Kitsis explained they "wanted a name that was specific" and they thought "Roni" was "such a cool and fun name, and at the same time [they] could totally picture Lana with background singers".

Character Notes

 * According to Lana Parrilla, Regina is portrayed as Latina to represent Lana Parrilla's own ethnicity.
 * Before the first curse, even though she was banished by Snow White to live alone with her misery and she was "not a Queen anymore", she was still called as the "Queen" many times, both by Snow and Prince Charming and even by herself.
 * Her house in Storybrooke is white; complementary to her palace, which is black.
 * The Evil Queen has a black feather tattoo on her right wrist. However, her cursed persona, Regina Mills, has no tattoo.
 * After her husband's death, Regina re-decorated the palace into something befitting an evil monarch and adopted a much darker wardrobe.
 * Initially, Regina retained a small amount of magic via items she carried over from the Enchanted Forest, including her apple tree. After the curse is lifted, all of her powers are restored, and by the third season, she is as powerful as before the curse.
 * According to Regina back when she was 18 years old, people said that she was looking like her mother when she was younger.
 * Even though she was cursed and adopted many Land Without Magic aspects (like technology, driving cars, or knowing everyone's Storybrooke names), Regina was never a victim of the curse, therefore she can leave the town whenever she wants contrary to other inhabitants, which she did in "Save Henry".
 * Regina named Henry, her adoptive son, Henry Daniel Mills after her deceased father and deceased true love, Daniel.
 * According to Isaac, Regina has "very clear goals, damaged personality and a self-destructive streak"; she is also the villain who gets "screwed over" the most.
 * When she was a child, Regina had a doll that she named Isabella.
 * Regina is approximately eight-nine years older than her stepdaughter Snow White.
 * Unlike Henry, Mary Margaret and Emma, Regina does not like hot cocoa with cinnamon.


 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * According to Edward Kitsis, the Evil Queen is inspired by Alexander McQueen's runway shows.
 * With the exception of "The Crocodile", "Tallahassee", "The Bear King", and "One Little Tear" she has appeared in every single episode of Once Upon a Time, thanks to all her counterparts. It makes her the character who appears in the most episodes.
 * Lana Parrilla keeps her own timeline of Regina's history as a way to immerse herself in the character's mindset, and to know how to portray Regina for certain time periods during her life.
 * During Season One, crows can often be heard when Regina's cursed persona is around; a conscious decision by the sound designers. For example, when Regina tells Emma to leave town in "Pilot", and when Regina is talking to Sidney in "The Thing You Love Most", crow sounds are heard.
 * The casting call for her younger self describes her as, "Latina. 9-11 years old to PLAY 10. Neglected and lonely, longs for companionship. Still many years away from becoming the Evil Queen, she has no interest in the royal duties her mother's so engaged in. Determined to fill the hole in her heart somehow, Regina puts it all on the line for a chance at family..."
 * According to Lana Parrilla, Roni is "a little rough around the edges". She explained "this version feels really different" as "she's no longer in charge. We've always seen Regina in charge, and then she redeemed herself, but this Regina is something else". She added "I’m having a blast playing her. [...] It’s refreshing, it’s different".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Regina's heart caskets are similar to the one the Evil Queen has in the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
 * Regina turning into an old woman is a reference to the Disney movie in which the Evil Queen turned into an old woman in order to make Snow White eat the poisoned apple.
 * While masquerading as Ursula, Regina says to Ariel, "My dear sweet child", which are the spoken words at the start of the song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sung by Ursula in The Little Mermaid.
 * In "Ariel", Regina mentions the evil munchkins' dirt road from Oz the Great and Powerful.
 * In "Save Henry", Regina makes a reference to the game Space Paranoids from Tron.
 * The red dress Regina wears in Camelot resembles Mother Gothel from the Disney movie Tangled.
 * The Once Upon a Time version of Mother Gothel débuts in "Eloise Gardener".
 * According to the Evil Queen, Regina and Henry watched the Star Wars movies together several times.
 * While under the Blue Fairy's spell, the queen sings, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, I'm tortured by some spell / Mirror, mirror, on the wall, please save me from this hell". This is a reference to the classical line from the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all".

Lost

 * Regina's house number is 108, a reference to the sum of all the numbers on Lost.
 * In "The Cricket Game", upon being told the battle is lost, Regina says, "Don't tell me what we can or cannot do!" This is a spin on the mantra often repeated by Locke on Lost.
 * The storybook page where young Regina is running away, and the page Robin Hood finds, are number XXIII (as Regina points out), a reference to the fifth Lost number, 23.
 * Regina offers Devin an Apollo bar, a fictional brand on Lost.

Popular Culture

 * In "Witch Hunt", Regina mentions the Lollipop Guild from the 1939 MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz
 * While helping Regina look for the candle, Belle picks up a candelabra. To this, Regina sarcastically calls the latter Liberace; referring to the renowned pianist.
 * Regina gives Henry a set of comics, which includes issues of the Marvel Comics Thor and S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * While spending time with Henry, Regina pretends to read the trade paperback comic book Ultimate Comics: Wolverine: Legacies. She also makes a reference to the main character's trademark adamantium claws, and mentions "purple shorts", a reference to the Hulk, who always wears large purple shorts in the comics.
 * When upset because Emma is planning to get rid of her magic, Regina says that they're "not talking about a pair of old Jimmy Choo shoes".
 * According to Regina, her happy ending "is not a Stephen King book-on-tape".
 * Before the ball at King Arthurs castle, Regina mentions Club Med with her line, "I should be figuring out how to free Merlin, not fox-trotting my way across Club Med-ieval."
 * When Regina summons a cyclone to send her sister back to her homeworld, she refers to Oz as the "somewhere over the rainbow". This is the feature song by Judy Garland from the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film.
 * While they are tracking down Henry, Emma mentions that it was Regina's idea to get food from Hardee's, an American fast food restaurant chain.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * As the Evil Queen, Regina possessed a silver chest, which she has retained in her office in Storybrooke.
 * Lana Parrilla says that the silver chest is the prop that she wants to take as her own from set.
 * King Leopold's coat of arms is several overlapping black squares on a white background, with a black torch billowing out reddish-orange flames at the top. When the Evil Queen takes over, she uses a modified version of his crest: Overlapping white squares on a black background, with a white torch instead of a black one. The squarish symbol is reminiscent of the grid on the Nine Men's Morris board game, also known as "Mills" or "The Mill Game". Mills is the Evil Queen's last name in Storybrooke.

Costume Notes

 * Regina's Evil Queen ring is made from a gemstone called a black star diopside by Canadian-based jewelry designer Leanne Guthrie Johnston. The ring itself is part of a jewelry brand, LeaFloria, and is sold through Esty, Steveston Village's Juvelisto jewelry shop as well as Cavalier.
 * The ring Regina Mills wears is a prop specifically hand-picked by Lana Parrilla to help her understand the character she is playing.
 * The Evil Queen has a circular necklace with an apple tree in the center.
 * The shoes Regina wears when she summons Rumplestiltskin are the same shoes worn by Belle when she was Rumplestiltskin's maid in "Skin Deep".
 * The dress worn by Regina when she is imprisoned in the Royal Castle is the same dress that Emma wears after she becomes the Dark One in "The Dark Swan" and "The Price", but with a different cloak. In "There's No Place Like Home", Emma wears a lightened version of the same dress when she is the Evil Queen's prisoner.
 * Regina has a secret room in her mausoleum displaying dresses, mirrors, and jewelry from her time as the Evil Queen.


 * -|Other Notes=

Other Notes

 * In Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is credited as "Queen Grimhilde", though this name has rarely been used in the decades since.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.