Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24892318-20140529205030

Who do you think had the greatest character development over the last 3 seasons? I think we have 3 main contenders: Regina, Hook, and Emma. And of course, we'll see some parallels.

Regina is an obvious choice because she's gone from TEQ to being able and willing to use light magic. But not only that, we've seen her go from a young woman in love with Daniel to TEQ to Regina in love with Robin. So there's a long arc from good to evil to good. And from love (Daniel) to bitterness (Snow) to love (Robin.)

Snow's betrayal (and Rumble's help) transformed Regina into TEQ. She fed into this bitterness and need for revenge for years, in the EF and in SB. It wasn't until Emma came to Storybrooke and Henry started calling her on her shit that she wanted to change. And I think that this was the main impetus for her transformation - her love for Henry. Plus I think that she realized that villains don't get happy endings and she wanted one. By the time Robin walked in, heart or no, she was open to love. Once she knew he was her soul mate, the die was cast. Now that she's faced with a near identical betrayal by Emma as the one by Snow, what will happen to Regina's character?

Another strong choice is Hook. Again, with the parallels, we see him going from good to bad to good. We also see him go from love (Milah) to bitterness (Rumble) to love (Emma.)

We also see the long arc. It starts with the young Lt. Killian Jones in the King's Navy, betrayed by him and the nightshade. This turns him to the pirate's life where he finds his Milah. When Rumble takes his love and his hand from him, he spends the next 300 years in a quest for revenge. It wasn't until he thought Bae was killed that he was able to forgive Rumble and begin to redeem himself on NL, becoming once again a man of honor. He fell in love with Emma but lost her to the curse. Then, when he betrayed Ariel, he betrayed himself, proving himself a coward, hiding his broken heart behind his ship. Then he redeemed himself, by sacrificing the thing he loved most, his ship, the same ship he let a man die for. And in the end, this pirate, who started out a villain, proved to us and to Emma that he finally won her heart not due to any trickery, but because she wanted him.

A case can be made for Emma too. We see her young and in love with Neal. She is betrayed and loses both Neal and Henry. She becomes hard, closed off and emotionally unavailable. Then Henry finds her and brings her to SB. She struggles to accept that she is the savior. She finally does. We see her struggle with finding Neal and losing Neal. But she still refuses to see SB as her home, despite the fact that she's been searching for one her whole life. We see her refuse to accept David and MM as Mom and Dad. We see her push Hook away time and again. Finally, when she has a chance to miss it, she realizes SB is home. And when she realizes what Hook sacrificed for her, that just pushed her over the top. So it took her awhile to get there, but she got there.

So, with Hook. Losing Milah, hating Rumble, forgiving Rumble, redeeming his honor, falling in love, losing Emma, losing his honor, redeeming his honor again and finally winning Emma....best character development.

Regina. Losing Daniel, hating Snow, forgiving Snow, loving Henry, redeeming honor, falling in love, winning Robin, losing Robin...second best character development.

Emma. Losing Neal/Henry, finding SB, resisting savior, accepting savior, finding Neal, losing Neal, resisting SB/Hook, accepting SB/Hook....weakest character development.

Those are my thoughts. Feel free to discuss. 