Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5679696-20130311021240/@comment-24674051-20150914145115

Also, Cora relied on what I would call stealth. Yea, she could kill a bunch of people, but many times, she wanted things to happen that could not be traced immediately back to her. Xavier had no magic, yet he managed to manipulate Cora when she was about to kill him.

Cora and Rumple are both about manipulation as much as magic. And that requires working behind the scenes, and making sure actions are not traceable.