Evil Queen

"I shall destroy your happiness... if it is the last thing I do."

- Evil Queen to Snow White and Prince Charming

Queen Regina Mills, formerly known as the Evil Queen, currently known as Roni, briefly known as Wilma and Ursula, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She debuts in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Lana Parrilla and guest star Ava Acres.

The Evil Queen is based on the character of the same name from the fairytale, "Snow White", and the child of the miller's daughter from the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin". She also briefly takes the place of the Sea Witch from the fairytale, "The Little Mermaid", and Ursula from the Disney film, The Little Mermaid.

Trivia

 * -|Character Notes=

Etymology

 * The name "Regina" is of Latin origin that means "Queen".
 * Cora alludes to this meaning when she names her newborn daughter Regina and states, "For one day, she will be queen".
 * It was Snow White who added "Evil" to her title.
 * The surname "Mills" is of English origin that was an occupational word used for someone living near or working on a mill. It also alludes to the "Rumpelstiltskin" fairytale as her mother Cora was the miller's daughter who could spin straw into gold.
 * Regina is one of the few characters from the first curse who is confirmed to have the same real name in Storybrooke as her Enchanted Forest counterpart; the others being David Nolan, Jefferson and Mother Superior.
 * Roni is named after Ronnie Spector. Edward Kitsis explained they "wanted a name that was specific" and they thought "Roni" was "such a cool and fun name, and at the same time [they] could totally picture Lana with background singers".

Character Notes

 * According to Lana Parrilla, Regina is portrayed as Latina to represent Lana Parrilla's own ethnicity.
 * Before the first curse, even though she was banished by Snow White to live alone with her misery and she was "not a Queen anymore", she was still called as the "Queen" many times, both by Snow and Prince Charming and even by herself.
 * Her house in Storybrooke is white; complementary to her palace, which is black.
 * The Evil Queen has a black feather tattoo on her right wrist. However, her cursed persona, Regina Mills, has no tattoo.
 * After her husband's death, Regina re-decorated the palace into something befitting an evil monarch and adopted a much darker wardrobe.
 * Initially, Regina retained a small amount of magic via items she carried over from the Enchanted Forest, including her apple tree. After the curse is lifted, all of her powers are restored, and by the third season, she is as powerful as before the curse.
 * According to Regina back when she was 18 years old, people said that she was looking like her mother when she was younger.
 * Even though she was cursed and adopted many Land Without Magic aspects (like technology, driving cars, or knowing everyone's Storybrooke names), Regina was never a victim of the curse, therefore she can leave the town whenever she wants contrary to other inhabitants, which she did in "Save Henry".
 * Regina named Henry, her adoptive son, Henry Daniel Mills after her deceased father and deceased true love, Daniel.
 * According to Isaac, Regina has "very clear goals, damaged personality and a self-destructive streak"; she is also the villain who gets "screwed over" the most.
 * When she was a child, Regina had a doll that she named Isabella.
 * Regina is approximately eight-nine years older than her stepdaughter Snow White.
 * Unlike Henry, Mary Margaret and Emma, Regina does not like hot cocoa with cinnamon.


 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * According to Edward Kitsis, the Evil Queen is inspired by Alexander McQueen's runway shows.
 * With the exception of "The Crocodile", "Tallahassee", and "The Bear King", Regina has appeared in every single episode of Once Upon a Time, thanks to all her counterparts. It makes her the character who appears in the most episodes.
 * Lana Parrilla keeps her own timeline of Regina's history as a way to immerse herself in the character's mindset, and to know how to portray Regina for certain time periods during her life.
 * During Season One, crows can often be heard when Regina's cursed persona is around; a conscious decision by the sound designers. For example, when Regina tells Emma to leave town in "Pilot", and when Regina is talking to Sidney in "The Thing You Love Most", crow sounds are heard.
 * The casting call for her younger self describes her as, "Latina. 9-11 years old to PLAY 10. Neglected and lonely, longs for companionship. Still many years away from becoming the Evil Queen, she has no interest in the royal duties her mother's so engaged in. Determined to fill the hole in her heart somehow, Regina puts it all on the line for a chance at family..."
 * According to Lana Parrilla, Roni is "a little rough around the edges". She explained "this version feels really different" as "she's no longer in charge. We've always seen Regina in charge, and then she redeemed herself, but this Regina is something else". She added "I’m having a blast playing her. [...] It’s refreshing, it’s different".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Regina's heart caskets are similar to the one the Evil Queen has in the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
 * Regina turning into an old woman is a reference to the Disney movie in which the Evil Queen turned into an old woman in order to make Snow White eat the poisoned apple.
 * While masquerading as Ursula, Regina says to Ariel, "My dear sweet child", which are the spoken words at the start of the song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sung by Ursula in The Little Mermaid.
 * In "Ariel", Regina mentions the evil munchkins' dirt road from Oz the Great and Powerful.
 * In "Save Henry", Regina makes a reference to the game Space Paranoids from Tron.
 * The red dress Regina wears in Camelot resembles Mother Gothel from the Disney movie Tangled.
 * According to the Evil Queen, Regina and Henry watched the Star Wars movies together several times.
 * While under the Blue Fairy's spell, the queen sings, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, I'm tortured by some spell / Mirror, mirror, on the wall, please save me from this hell". This is a reference to the classical line from the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all".

Lost

 * Regina's house number is 108, a reference to the sum of all the numbers on Lost.
 * In "The Cricket Game", upon being told the battle is lost, Regina says, "Don't tell me what we can or cannot do!" This is a spin on the mantra often repeated by Locke on Lost.
 * The storybook page where young Regina is running away, and the page Robin Hood finds, are number XXIII (as Regina points out), a reference to the fifth Lost number, 23.
 * Regina offers Devin an Apollo bar, a fictional brand on Lost.

Popular Culture

 * In "Witch Hunt", Regina mentions the Lollipop Guild from the 1939 MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz
 * While helping Regina look for the candle, Belle picks up a candelabra. To this, Regina sarcastically calls the latter Liberace; referring to the renowned pianist.
 * Regina gives Henry a set of comics, which includes issues of the Marvel Comics Thor and S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * While spending time with Henry, Regina pretends to read the trade paperback comic book Ultimate Comics: Wolverine: Legacies. She also makes a reference to the main character's trademark adamantium claws, and mentions "purple shorts", a reference to the Hulk, who always wears large purple shorts in the comics.
 * When upset because Emma is planning to get rid of her magic, Regina says that they're "not talking about a pair of old Jimmy Choo shoes".
 * According to Regina, her happy ending "is not a Stephen King book-on-tape".
 * Before the ball at King Arthurs castle, Regina mentions Club Med with her line, "I should be figuring out how to free Merlin, not fox-trotting my way across Club Med-ieval."
 * When Regina summons a cyclone to send her sister back to her homeworld, she refers to Oz as the "somewhere over the rainbow". This is the feature song by Judy Garland from the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film.
 * While they are tracking down Henry, Emma mentions that it was Regina's idea to get food from Hardee's, an American fast food restaurant chain.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * As the Evil Queen, Regina possessed a silver chest, which she has retained in her office in Storybrooke.
 * Lana Parrilla says that the silver chest is the prop that she wants to take as her own from set.
 * King Leopold's coat of arms is several overlapping black squares on a white background, with a black torch billowing out reddish-orange flames at the top. When the Evil Queen takes over, she uses a modified version of his crest: Overlapping white squares on a black background, with a white torch instead of a black one. The squarish symbol is reminiscent of the grid on the Nine Men's Morris board game, also known as "Mills" or "The Mill Game". Mills is the Evil Queen's last name in Storybrooke.

Costume Notes

 * Regina's Evil Queen ring is made from a gemstone called a black star diopside by Canadian-based jewelry designer Leanne Guthrie Johnston. The ring itself is part of a jewelry brand, LeaFloria, and is sold through Esty, Steveston Village's Juvelisto jewelry shop as well as Cavalier.
 * The ring Regina Mills wears is a prop specifically hand-picked by Lana Parrilla to help her understand the character she is playing.
 * The Evil Queen has a circular necklace with an apple tree in the center.
 * The shoes Regina wears when she summons Rumplestiltskin are the same shoes worn by Belle when she was Rumplestiltskin's maid in "Skin Deep".
 * The dress worn by Regina when she is imprisoned in the Royal Castle is the same dress that Emma wears after she becomes the Dark One in "The Dark Swan" and "The Price", but with a different cloak. In "There's No Place Like Home", Emma wears a lightened version of the same dress when she is the Evil Queen's prisoner.
 * Regina has a secret room in her mausoleum displaying dresses, mirrors, and jewelry from her time as the Evil Queen.


 * -|Other Notes=

Other Notes

 * In Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is credited as "Queen Grimhilde", though this name has rarely been used in the decades since.

Appearances
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.