Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160425010026/@comment-24674051-20160425165644

CoolDudeAl wrote: Just because there are other things that you like too much to hate on, doesn't mean they don't suffer from the exact same things Once does. Even the Harry Potter book series, which is probably the best work of fantasy fiction in the last 50 years, has some questionable retconning. Like I said, it is going to happen in the serialized format. And Once doesn't "retcon" every small thing. I thought the flashback had everyone very much in character. Cora went to whatever lenghts she had to, to make sure Regina could become queen. So to me, that fits perfectly. Furthermore, both Regina and Zelena have only been seen as babies, and then again around 18 years old (played by Lana and Bex), so we really had no idea what sort of things could have went on between 0 and 18. Ok, let's look at what we are talking about.

First, a definition of Retcon (from dictionary.com): The common situation in fiction where a new story "reveals" things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the "facts" the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation.

So, what they did with Cora, Regina, and Zelena definitly fits the definition, since up to this point, we were all under the assumption that Regina and Zelena had never interacted prior to 3B.

Now, my interpretation of Retcon also includes a very subjective item, which is that the retcon is not previously hinted at. which in this case, there was nothing to hint to us that there might be more to Zelena and Regina's history that what had been shown to date. Some story elements may appear on the surface to be retcons, but a careful examination of the story reveals that small hints were presented along the way to support the final reveal.

Again, in this case, Regina/Zelena/Cora is a retcon, by definition. But, as has been pointed out, not all retcons are bad. The depth and additional character development that this particular story added to all of the characters justifies retconning the story.

So, while I will agree that this is a textbook retcon, it is a relevant and meaningful one that adds to the story, not takes away from it. (My opinion)