Cora

"Love is weakness."

- Cora's iconic phrase

Princess Cora Mills, also known as the Queen of Hearts, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. She debuts in the seventeenth episode of the first season of Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by guest stars Barbara Hershey and Rose McGowan, and by co-star Jennifer Koenig. She does not have a Storybrooke counterpart.

Cora is based on the Miller's Daughter from the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin", and the Queen of Hearts from the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the Disney film Alice in Wonderland.

Trivia
|-|Character Notes=

Etymology

 * Cora's name is a reference to the Latin word for "heart".
 * In the Storybrooke Graveyard, Cora's body is kept in Regina's vault under the name of "Cora Mills" as Regina's cursed surname is Mills.

Character Notes

 * Before Rumplestiltskin was imprisoned, he fought Cora and won. It is implied that she came close to winning.
 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The casting call describes her as "late 40s to early 60s, the Evil Queen's elegant yet manipulative and imposing mother. She gives truth to saying like mother, like daughter, and we realize that this is the woman who taught Regina her dark ways."
 * Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz revealed in the podcast for "Queen of Hearts" that it was actually Barbara Hershey who voiced the Queen of Hearts in the episode "Hat Trick", in which Jennifer Koenig portrayed the character. This is also confirmed in the DVD and Blu-ray audio commentary.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * The mask Cora holds resembles the baton that the Queen of Hearts carries in the Disney film Alice in Wonderland.

Popular Culture

 * The scene where Rumplestiltskin teaches young Cora to spin straw into gold is an homage to the famous clay sculpting scene between Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in the movie Ghost.


 * -|Set Notes=

Set Dressing

 * Among the numerous fairytale illustrations in Henry's room are:
 * An illustration by the American illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith, from Nora Archibald Smith's book Boys and Girls of Bookland (1923). It features Alice in a scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, surrounded by the characters of Wonderland, including the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter (although we only see his hat on Once Upon a Time) and the White Rabbit.
 * The illustration also appears in "The New Neverland"; however, in this episode, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter have been cropped off.
 * "Who stole the Tarts?", by the famous English book illustrator Arthur Rackham. This illustration depicts the scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland where the Knave of Hearts is standing before the White Rabbit and the King and Queen of Hearts, as he (the Knave) stands trial for a tart burglary. (Note that the illustration can be seen on the right hand side of Henry's cuckoo clock, but not very clearly. It can be seen more clearly in a Flickr set photograph from Season Two.)
 * Cora's coat of arms in Wonderland is a red heart on a white background, fitting for the Queen of Hearts. It is also a reference to the living playing cards who serve as the Queen of Hearts' soldiers and servants in the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
 * The graffiti on a gate, which young Emma and Lily pass as they run from Lily's father, has "Cora" written on it.

Costume Notes

 * The clasps on Cora's coat in "The Stable Boy" have hearts on them.
 * Cora's necklace is a Silver Grey Gardens Petal Necklace By Alexis Bittar, which she wears during "We Are Both", "Lady of the Lake", "The Crocodile", "Into the Deep", "Queen of Hearts" and "In the Name of the Brother". It is the same brand as Regina's necklace from "The Dark Swan" and "The Price".
 * There is a heart-shaped jewel on Cora's tiara.
 * Cora's wedding dress is the same as Aurora's wedding dress from "Enter the Dragon" and Cecelia's party dress from "One Little Tear", but with different sleeves.
 * The dress Cora wears when Anastasia tries to run away in "Heart of the Matter" is the same dress that she wears in the Enchanted Forest when she orders the guards to take Zelena away from the Royal Manor years earlier, but with different embroidery.


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * In "It's Not Easy Being Green", in the mirror scene where Cora abandons her child, after she puts her daughter down, she immediately walks out of there and goes. However, this scene is not matched with the one in "Bleeding Through", where after Cora puts her daughter down, first she tells her about why she's leaving her and slowly walks out of there which makes it impossible to do that all in a couple of seconds.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.