Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-34924658-20171113182231/@comment-24593235-20180202000941

Tysonjackson wrote: DeviousPeep wrote: Tysonjackson wrote: So I’m changing my opinion on 5A to Nimue, Emma and Hook as the mains. Looking back on it, yes, Arthur was the main antagonist in the EF but then again that part of the story ended in like 7 or 8 and the real conflict was honestly trying to save Emma anyways. She was the Big Bad until Birth and then Nimue (mostly through use of Hook).

Also, I think I’m sticking with 7 as Victoria and Drizella, with Gothel as secondary. Even though she was playing them both, she was still not as big of a problem as them. 7B though is Gothel with the Coven as secondary. At least currently. Thoughts? For 5a I'd say "The Darkness" instead of individual characters. The way the show sees it, Emma and Hook weren't really the bad guys, more just being possessed by a greater force as their actions weren't really them in the right mindsets.

For 7a, I'd cut Victoria from being a main antagonist and make it Drizella & Gothel or only Drizella. Victoria was just a redherring until the reveal that Ivy was behind everything. She's a key player in the story, but she's definitely not the main threat they're dealing with. Gothel's trickier because it took a little while for her to get settled in and, from what we know, the curse was still Drizella's idea. It's clear that she's evolving into their main threat though, which seems to be the case for 7b. Well here's how I look at it (and I'm trying to be more open minded and less motivated by favoritism): For the first five episodes, Victoria was our main villain. Ivy was just her henchwoman and Gothel was barely anything. Then Drizella takes over, while Gothel is still basically there for support. Even though she was clearly manipulating them both. Even after Drizella's reveal, Rapunzel/Victoria still managed to act as a threat, especially in 7x09. I'm iffy about Gothel either way, so I'll just forget about her.

Ivy wasn't really Victoria's henchwoman since she was awake the whole time. The curse was all orchestrated accordingly to make Victoria think she was in charge when really it was Ivy. Ivy was only ever acting in her own interest, and whatever she did for Victoria was to keep up the ruse. Victoria was a threat, yeah, but looking back she's not that relevant in the grand scheme of things. Victoria didn't orchestrate the curse, Ivy and Gothel did. Hell, Victoria even tried to help the heroes prevent the curse from happening. She had her vendetta against Ella, but in the flashbacks she doesn't really go after her beyond 7x03. I can see her being more compared to Rumple in most seasons, usually having some kind of goal or scheme going on, but not really being the heroes' main priority. In the flashbacks they stopped caring about Rapunzel after 7x03, transitioning over to Drizella, and in the present day mostly everything she did was as a result of Ivy plotting out the curse that way. As for 7x09 with Lucy, by that point it really shifted to Ivy and Gothel being the main threat. Victoria was just there trying to revive her daughter by any means necessary, which was more of a B-plot story.

In my opinion, the only one I think we can definitively say is the "main" antagonist is Drizella.