Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-25926288-20170117214222

Alas, the concept of speed is how the battles tend to go on Once. Zelena in season 3 often outsped Regina trying to fireball her. It happened like three times. It wasn't pure power on power, but Zelena often countering or simply hitting first. (At best we have to see comparable feats.)

If you talk raw power, then I agree Emma's stronger than Regina. But "powerful" sometimes means skill or feat or who would win in a battle. If that's the case, then it's more complicated. I'll take your example.

Regina and Cora easily destroyed Emma's protection spell (216). Zelena easily destroyed Regina protection spell (320). Emma easily removed Regina's containment spell (410). But Cora took some time to break Emma's alone (216), while Emma wasn't even denting Zelena's protection spell (521).

Does it mean there's just power? Does it involve skill? We probably won't ever know. But if we go by that then: Zelena >> Emma >> Cora or Regina. So, Emma's not nearly the strongest and given her role I expect she's not close to it. (Theory: A Savior is just powerful enough to defeat the great evil, but not every villain.)

Blue was around when there were probably only small magic users, deities, and the Dark One. So, it's quite possible she was looked up to, but she's pretty much likely just Regina/Zelena level.

I agree with the DO stuff as I put Rumple with more abilities (as just 2 x DO) because the writers have statements that give the notion that Rumple has all the power of all DOs (like x 25 DO). But then, they have Hades easily dismiss him. XD