Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-25926288-20161204111958

It's not a plot hole over a plot contrivance. If you look at the scene in the house right before, you can tell that Zelena is pretty much kissing Robin goodbye. The only known way to stop the EQ is to kill Regina.

The notion that Zelena can "manhandle" Regina is false. Zelena and Regina are roughly the same strength without the amulet that boosted Zelena's magic. There are at least one or two ways you take the scene if you ignore the interpretation of the house scene:

1. EQ simply outsped Zelena (who is typically a fast spellcaster). Regina started with fireballs in Season 3, Zelena outsped her each and every time. And

2. The battle durability of any person is really small, so one hit and it's over. Zelena makes it as if the fireball took everything out of her, including the energy to heal herself. This is the real part that makes little sense, but anyone can headcanon that fireballs that hit either destroy the target or at least knock them out and Zelena remained intact and conscious.

Now, EQ should be the height of Regina's dark magic. Regina currently uses dark magic. Thus by simply algebra, I'm guessing EQ should be stronger than Regina. But in all cases, nothing really makes sense.

EQ's magic is treated separate from Regina's magic. They treat EQ like Regina's twin sister rather than part of her. EQ's magic should be the same as Regina's magic and they've shown Regina put spells over Snow and David's heart that she could not break, even though they are the same person with the same magical capabilities and strength.

Nevertheless, Regina (and thus EQ) should be roughly the same strength as Zelena, so even if the battle wasn't so short, the result would be the same because EQ can't die. Even someone weaker than you can defeat you if they are the immortal one.

(Magic is just wonky. See Black Fairy's exchange with Rumple. She outright chokes him and tosses him on the ground as if they are sparring partners. All other fairies are like fodder to basic witches. So, either the Dark One isn;t as powerful as we think or they just do things because---plot.)