Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-24062891-20131017201823/@comment-5106672-20131021211013

Belleheart wrote: Ruby ridinghood wrote: doesn't Regina still have her heart? I think the only reason Cora's heart isn't black is because she removed it before she starting doing all the bad things she did. Yes, Regina still has her heart; Tinkerbell gave back Regina her heart. My comment was referring to the few minutes that Tinkerbell held her heart while Regina talked to Tink. Regina was able to express her love for Henry even without her heart, in those few minutes. Which just reminds me Cora probably did the same without a heart while she looked for Regina in Storybrooke. So there goes my theory that one can express love verbally without a heart.

As for Cora's heart being not black, I am glad you are confirming that you saw a red heart for Cora too like what I saw when Snow first found it. So it looks like the heart is an absorber of black morals if it was inside the person doing bad stuff. I think that while Regina carved her own heart out, she still retained the knowledge of loving Henry. Maybe she didn't feel it right there and then, but she knew she does with her heart in. Most likely she did even remember* what it was like to love him, so she could talk so vividly about that to Tinkerbell.


 * I have always assumed that was Regina's punishment to the Huntsman, rendering him unable to feel while he could remember what it was like to feel before his heart was ripped out, which would add to the torment. Also, in Cora's case, I think she didn't ever realised she truly loved Regina up until when it was too late because she didn't have her heart since long before she was even born.