Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-28162607-20180101191335/@comment-25926288-20180101204052

I'll not rank those whose arcs have been too short of really call an arc. Ingrid had a redemptive sacrifice, but that "arc" was really over the course of a few minutes. Ursula had little to accomplish since the greater evil was on Hook and Poseidon's side of things. Maleficent really didn't change. Snow and David, uh....Etc, etc.

Zelena

There were a few roadbumps, but Zelena's road to redemption didn't  really have sharp turns and roundabouts. She over the course of time was given an opportunity, turned it down, yet found her way to recognizing her flaws slowly, to show her more vulnerable side beneath all the "Wicked" bluster. She was capable of making intrapersonal sacrifices and then an internal sacrifice. Even when she really didn't do anything significantly wrong towards her sister (in season 6), she was the bigger person and was still willing to help and to make futher amends.

Neal Cassidy

Towards Emma, he was able to reconcile his hatred for magic and for brevity's sake, recognize that Emma would be best to move on from him and to find "Tallahassee". From season 2 to season 3, that is the best, uninterrupted or stagnated redemption arc. (Probably not planned, imo)

H2R (interchangeable between Regina and Hook, not so much with Rumple)

Regina

The start (1 to 3Bish) was strong, the end (season 6) was great, the end result (7x03./7x06) was beautiful. The middle? It had Regina do evil under the guise of good and an underlying narcissism (though it plagues Snow and David's trademark "Heroic Morality"). If you ever saw me talk about the heroes' (quite self-centered) morals, then you can see why Regina's arc was problematic.

Hook/Killain Jones (the star of Once Upon a Time: Secrets and Lies)

The start (2 to 3Bish) was strong, the end (season 6) was beautiful. The middle? Well, let's just say that our one-handed friend (the show makes way too many jokes about this) has two modes: (1) "I am a sad, brooding man, because of Swan" and (2) "I am angry for Swan's sake!"

Rumplestilksin

The start (1 to 3A) was strong, the end result (7x04) was beautiful. The middle? The world's most unsafe rollercoaster. The strong acting by Carlyle carried the grey of the character, but the writers' were inconsistent on which shade of grey he was.

That's pretty much the only really developed redemption arcs. Others are too short or vaguely defined to consider arcs.