farfar_aways | Let's chat: Characters!

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character discussions

Let's chat: Characters!

Guys, one of the things I love SO MUCH about our little Once Upon a Time community here at Milliways is that we are all rabidly obsessed with characterization, canon, and merging the two with the sheer descent into madness that is Milliways.

Of course, canon can only take us so far (especially once we've gotten into the long dark soul-destroying tunnel that is the summer hiatus), and part of the joy of RP is discovering or theorizing your own ideas for the character that fit in with what's already known about them.

With that in mind, we would like to offer this space as a place to discuss all your thoughts, all your theories, all your FEELS: canon, head-canon, questions without current answers, theories to discuss and agree upon (like: is Red a super-smeller? Does Regina have any magic outside the Enchanted Forest? Why the hell do the illustrations in Henry's book change mid-way through the season?). I'll post main threads, one for characters and one for the show, and you all just go to town. Yes? Got it?

Ready...

Set...

Theorize!

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Post your ideas, thoughts, feelings, and questions here! Canon, head-canon, whatever you like.

I have head-canon for her! A lot of it, actually, up to and including: Emma can hotwire a car. Thanks, life-or-death situation, for clearing that up! Here are just a few bullet points:

- Emma chose her own last name. It fits with her swan necklace, and the whole "ugly duckling" thing she's got going on.

- Part of the way she dealt with getting bounced from foster homes was by cutting the decision off at the start by being a terrible, rebellious kid: sneaking out at night, stealing money and generally being a smartass.

- She lived briefly in Manhattan.

- She stayed in Tallahassee for two years because she fell for a guy.

- Unfortunately, that guy was married.

TBC!

Emma should read David the Riot Act so he stops acting like a prat.

This is my head-canon.

*whistles*

Charming would like to vouch for his SB self's true goodness!

(If what the writers claim is to be believed, his indecision/poor decision-making/what have you is a result of the curse, so.

Think of what what you will. :| )

(Iiii think that conveniently relieves him of responsibility for his screw-ups - particularly as he doesn't always make the best decisions in FTL, anyway. I mean, he's clearly worse in SB, but I don't think the curse fundamentally changes character.

*EYES WRITERS A LOT*)

I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS. AND FEELS. And a lot of those thoughts/feels come into play with her relationships and how they function. SO I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO COMMENT HERE SO WE CAN DISCUSS HOW OUR CHARACTERS' RELATIONSHIP WORKS. :D?

That aside, I don't have a scrap of Millicanon yet -- yet -- but a lot of theories on canon I'm desperate to work out. Such as: how much power does Regina have in SB? Is magic completely repressed, or is her influence, access to everything, and ability to always be two steps ahead of Emma part of a more supernatural ability (in the case of those moments where you wonder how did she know about that?)? Just what is her deal with Gold? If she didn't know about the book/Henry's fairytale theory until Emma told her about it in the pilot, what was she taking him to see Archie for? For how long? And how much control does she have over what Archie tells him, anyway? Or the rest of Storybrooke, for that matter?

Umm, I'm clearly getting into Regina's relationships with other people anyway. SO GUYS, CHIP IN. I WANT TO WORK OUT ALL THE THINGS. I'm also a little brain dead, so when I'm thinking straight again I'll try to actually write something helpful about Regina's canon. :D?

♥

Well, my headcanon is that she killed her mother, and that's part of why she's so... horrible. Cora's helper tendencies certainly planted the seed that made her capable of it, but. XD
I also don't think Regina and Red (or Ruby, for that matter) interact/ed much. Given her spy tendencies she's certainly aware of Red's friendship with Snow.

(also my eeevil side really wants Daniel to show up at some point and go 'oh, Regina, *what have you done.*' Because I highly doubt he'd want her to have a vendetta against a child who just wanted everyone to be happy and have their family.)

Oooh. I have to be honest, I do wonder what happened to Cora after that fateful marriage, and have myself entertained the thought that maybe Regina killed her. Or had her killed. But I'm still waffling on that quite a bit.

Ashie and I just had a dialog about The Stable Boy, because I've been stewing on how fascinating it is that Regina went from meek, scared of magic, frightened of her mother, to a powerful witch. I could even justify the misplaced hatred for Snow, blaming her for Daniel's death, because she expects Cora to be evil but Snow? She trusted Snow, and Snow chose to betray her. Ashie said something that really connected for me -- Cora is like a force of nature. You can't stop her, you can't fight her, so what's the point? I think that builds up quite a bit of Regina's headspace. That fear of her mother, that resentment, and turning her disgust for her mother's tactics into those of her own to destroy this little girl? I'm keenly interested in seeing more Cora, and what happened with them after Regina started learning enough magic to rival her power.

Plus, I see in Regina a lot of the markers of an abused child, and a sufferer of PTSD. The way she went from furious to completely cold with Snow in the dress fitting scene, the detached way she views the world, still interspersed with these aching moments of "But why don't the children love me?" She's a complicated bag of emotions, she is.

*NOD* You're probably right re: Red-Regina. I feel if they did interact much we would have seen it already. But, if the Queen had enough eyes to know Snow was "cavorting with dwarves," she probably would have picked up on Snow's BFF at some point. Red probably knows all about the Queen from what Snow's told her, too?

(GAAAAH. Oh, ouch. Yes, that would be painful but so great to see. Daniel, I imagine, would be horrified to see the woman Regina has become. And Regina would be horrified to let him. *weep*)

I've been thinking a lot about Archie as I try to write his EP, getting good and in his head. I've developed a few things that I plan on hanging on to.

Prior to standing up to Regina in 1.05, he was just as under her control as Graham - out of fear. She has something on him (I'm not sure what, but I've got a few thoughts) and has been using it to keep him in check.

As a psychiatrist, he's in an ideal position to 'damage control' for strong willed personalities that may from time to time question the illusion or have dreams/memories of the past that feel exactly like that sort of thing that someone would go to a psychiatrist for. Unwittingly, he's been a strong influence in maintaining the illusion - planting memories to placate those who can't remember things about their past that *surely* must have happened.

Less subtly, and with his full awareness, Regina has made him do things that he knows are unethical and outright immoral. Where we are in canon (and up to as far as I've seen this far) Henry's words in 1.05 weigh heavily on him. He feels guilty because he can't reconcile Henry's insistence that he's a moral compass when he himself has done things he can't bear to face.

I'm curious about his possible involvement with Belle - it seems logical that he would be aware of her and treating her under Regina's guidance. But, that's speculation.

I SUPPORT THIS MESSAGE.

ugh, Mal. I somewhat annoyingly have questions, and they are the kind of questions that make me doubt my ability to play her, because I don't know anything augh canon.

In my head - canon pending, obviously - Maleficent is an evil fairy, a fairy (godmother) turn dark instead of just a human woman turned powerful witch.

And she is genuinely tired of all the games ('Must we do this') and all of it, but I worry that if I do anything, I'll be horribly jossed.

So. Bah.

Help? Thoughts?

I think OUaT has shown enough deep ties to the Disney versions of the fairy tales that you can feel secure in your decision that Mal is more Evil Fairy Godmother than Normal Human Turned Bad. If the '59 animated version took that tack, it supports a few minor things we see in Once Mal (as I mentioned before: immediately taking to flight; the ridiculous sparkly headdress; et al.). The only things that would cause a game-changing circumstance for you is a) if she is a fairy, how does she interact with the other fairies? b) is she victim to the same hatred Gold holds for the other fairies? c) would she follow suit in SB and be a nun like the rest of the fairies?

However, I think you could still play her while leaving all these 'what ifs' ambiguous until we know more about her. She's retired evil, so "mysterious magical person who likes animals" explains her well enough. She won't be flitting off on a job or mission or anything like that. :D

Also, I think Mal proves an interesting counterbalance to Regina. They have similar histories -- both powerful women, undone by heroine princesses, exiled -- but Regina chose a dark path while Mal accepted the loss and retired from the game. And tries to convince Regina to do the same. (And, a thought I've been noshing on for a bit -- with their conversation of, "Yes, about the same age you were when you were outwitted by..." would that mean Aurora was also a young girl when Mal tried her wicked plot? Or is there a greater age difference between Regina and Mal than first appearances might give?)

YAY RED I WILL HAVE RED SOON. I HOPE.

Main things:

*Yes, she is a super-smeller. Given that Granny can still do it even though the show implied the physical end of the wolf thing stopped when she hit menopause, there's no way Red isn't. I think Ruby could do it too, if she knew, and that is in fact how she found David in the middle of the woods, but she has no idea what to do with that information - probably no idea that she's even picking up on it.
*Given 'Widow Lucas,' I'm using Lucas as Ruby's last name. She's never thought twice about the fact that she has her maternal grandmother's last name, despite living in a patronymic culture. She doesn't remember her mother in either world; for Storybrooke purposes, her mother probably died of a drug overdose, but Granny doesn't talk about it. (Relatedly, I read something somewhere that the show said Red's given name is Eliza? But I don't remember the show actually saying that? But I like it as a given name for her.)
*Sometime between the flashback events in "Red-Handed" and her giving James a head start in "Heart of Darkness," Red learns how to control the wolf. I don't know how and am perfectly happy to let her learn that in Milliways.
*WHY THE SHIT DIDN'T GRANNY JUST TELL HER WHY THE HOOD WAS SO IMPORTANT JKHDFGIUHERTLURHKSDFGHAKRFHG.

I think I remember Widow Lucas calling her 'Eliza' at one point, though I don't remember which episode it was in. If I find it again, I'll let you know!

ALSO, THIS RE: WHY DIDN'T GRANNY TELL HER.

ARG.

sweet! Either way, I do think it's a good name for her.
SERIOUSLY, SHE SEEMS LIKE A VERY TOGETHER OLD LADY. OTHER THAN THAT ONE KIND OF GLARING OVERSIGHT. JUST TELL HER.

Ah-ha! I played a hunch and turned on "Red-Handed," and sure enough about 5 1/2 minutes in, during the scene where Granny and Ruby are arguing about taking more responsibility, Granny says, "If I wanted to punish you, I'd have better reasons. For one thing, you were late. For another thing, Eliza, you dress like a drag queen during fleet week."

Of course, the closed captioning says "Liza" (which only makes me think Liza Minnelli), but I trust them about as far as I can throw them. Er. Metaphorically.

WHY THE SHIT DIDN'T GRANNY JUST TELL HER WHY THE HOOD WAS SO IMPORTANT JKHDFGIUHERTLURHKSDFGHAKRFHG.

ahahaha, this so much. I mean, considering how dire the situation was ... you'd think. IDK.

Especially when she knew Red was getting out of the house. I mean, REALLY. Granny's a pretty together lady, for the most part, you'd think that would come up!
(And Red's the kind of girl who needs a good reason to follow the seemingly arbitrary rule. SO YEAH.)

Moooore to come, I think! But here's what I've got rattling in my brain thus far.

Graham:

- lived in Storybrooke all his life
- he and Regina have been involved in a secret rendez-vous-y 'thing' for as long as he can remember; it didn't exactly have a starting point - it just always was, probably a segue from FTL to SB.
- every now and then, he thinks he actually feels something when he's with Regina (a spark, some emotion, something that gives him a hook); this is the reason he keeps coming back to her, besides the fact that it's just what they've always done - until Emma shows up and shows him otherwise
- the reason he gets all mixed up and conflicted re: Regina and how he feels about himself - uh, being more or less being Regina's plaything - is because of Emma. Emma makes him feel, and not just temporarily, but every time he's near her.
- helps at an animal shelter - did some charity fundraising (according to this picture!)
- played baseball (judging by his trophies, and possibly a glove) and probably helped coach a little-league or something in the summers

The Huntsman:

- abandoned by parents as a baby (reasons why: still pending, but I have inklings of ~theories~)
- raised by wolves
- believes in purity of heart in animals / not in people
- the wolves take him, from time to time, into society - like villages and such - in order for him to still maintain a sort of connection to the people who look just like him. That is where he learned to appreciate human food as well, though he always feels like it's a 'sin' whenever he gives in to these temptations
- as a kid, he used to steal things like food, etc., from the nearby village
- when he grew older and stealing wasn't always possible, the Huntsman sold pelts from the animals he killed for gold to buy food; he doesn't do this often, again because it's all ~human~ (ew, gross!) but you gotta do what you gotta do
- once he becomes the Evil Queen's prisoner, he makes at least two or three escape attempts; his punishments were ... definitely unpleasant.

QUESTIONS.

For Graham, I get the impression he's a well-liked Sheriff, and he's pretty involved in town shenanigans. He's described as 'compassionate' (so says the newspaper article on him) and no one really seems to have had any beef with him, as far as I could tell!

So. His relations to everyone else in SB - I would love to know ALL THE THINGS. I think I have a decent idea of what he and Regina get up to (heh) but what is his friendship with everyone else in town like?

Ruby? Archie? Henry? Mr Gold? MM? Sydney Glass? Dr Whale? Everyone ever?

I loooove your attention to detail. Omg, that newspaper article. *___*

I think I have a decent idea of what he and Regina get up to (heh)

Bwaaaahaha. Ahem, yeah. I don't have much more to add at the moment that we haven't already flailed about in e-mail, so.

I APPROVE OF ALL THIS.

D'awww. <3333

I am blushing!

BUT YES.

I will also be emailing you soon about our first OOM. :D:D:D?

HELLS TO THE YES! :D

WOO!

I AM SO EXCITE

Because the poor fridged boy moved into my head, and he's easier to handle than Mal for various reasons.

So, Daniel!

- only about 23 or 24 in The Stableboy
- has worked from a very early age, hence the fact he can look a lot older. Became a stableboy around 13 or so.
- grew up in a borderland realm, under the rule of a minor baron: when said baron went to war against the ogres (because ogres seem a constant threat in various part of the Enchanted Forest), the fourteen year old Daniel went as part of the baron's force. He minded the horses, but war is war. He also fought.
- after that little war was over, he left the baron's service and became the stableboy of a wealthy merchant who was involved in horse shows. That gave him the experience to be taken up next in service by Henry and Cora.
- He was in service to Henry and Cora (and Regina) maybe 18 months to two years before canon.

TBC.

From the writers of LOST comes...a show that makes just about the same amount of sense. Let's figure out some ground rules, people!

So, I blame this thought entirely on what I'm doing with Michael Westen, but it seems logical to me that the curse would have an effect on how doors operate.

Namely, it doesn't like to let strangers through - or perhaps only strangers that can break the illusion or have a major impact on the town.

Thoughts?

This is briefly discussed here!

Of course! Hah, I can't believe I missed that.

Though, I do like the idea of the curse (malicious as it is) sending would be intruders somewhere else as opposed to simply not allowing the door to open.

I do, too! I'll edit the post to say people can get sent somewhere else, or are blocked, but won't go through the door to Storybrooke.

I am wondering how many people have left, and thus died horribly, actually. Henry seemed particularly terrified over Ella-Ashley, and Jefferson confirmed that people who try and leave vanish.

So, I'm pondering - who is missing, who would have tried to leave? And have the people staying forgotten about them, or just assuming "gone"?

This is important for both scent-attuned characters in general and the specific possibility of Red: How does the curse affect people's scents? They're basically the same people, but it's buried under layers and layers and layers of magic; what does that do? does anything of the original slip through when people (ex: Gold) are aware of what's going on?

(Say for example Red bumps into Mary Margaret. No matter what, Red would go o_O and avoid her afterward due to her uncanny resemblance to Snow, but would she be able to pick up that it *is* Snow somewhere under all that? Since we're not steamrollering the curse, I wouldn't let her actually breach the subject, but the fact remains that I need to know what would be going on there.)

A big part of what answers this question would involve several non-confirmed variables, I think.

1) Does Enchanted Forest magic have a smell? Some canons specifically cite magic having an odor, some canons say it doesn't, some canons never specify. Have any characters thus far remarked on any magic having an odor?

2) Whether FTL and SB are the same place with a layer of magic illusion over it, or if SB is someplace entirely different. I've always thought of the places as being different, but there are other theories that it's the same world with a mask/illusion over it. If that is the case, would the forests smell the same? The animals? Even the air itself -- congestion, smog, pollution? I would think people would smell the same if it's just an illusion, but if it's a real transformation/different place, then perhaps there is something off.

3) If the curse affects Ruby's ability to recognize she can smell things out, does that mean there's a mental block put in place or does that mean things basically smell "normal" to her? Would a different set of smells affect her if she remembered the former world? Would the curse go so far as to mess with her senses, or just keep things at a comfortable level so she never questioned it?

Also, you have to figure in modern amenities -- soaps, shampoos, perfumes, colognes, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotions, aftershave, etc. Things a FTL character may not ever use that a SB character has in their daily routine.

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Let's chat: Characters!

CHARACTERS

Emma Swan: head-canon

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Regina Mills/The Queen, a Study in Rambling

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Re: Regina Mills/The Queen, a Study in Rambling

Archie

Re: Archie

Maleficent

Re: Maleficent

Red!

Re: Red!

Re: Red!

Re: Red!

Re: Red!

Re: Red!

Sheriff Graham/Huntsman | A conglomeration of head-canon + canon

Re: Sheriff Graham/Huntsman | A conglomeration of head-canon + canon

Re: Sheriff Graham/Huntsman | A conglomeration of head-canon + canon

Re: Sheriff Graham/Huntsman | A conglomeration of head-canon + canon

Re: Sheriff Graham/Huntsman | A conglomeration of head-canon + canon

Daniel

THE SHOW

The Curse & Doors

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Re: The Curse & Doors

Re: The Curse & Doors

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the curse vs. people's scents

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