Yes, more Mulan. More Aurora. Canon femslash. What? Who said that!?
I'm not the biggest fan of Regina's Daniel backstory (I only like it a tiny bit because I am a huge fan of Lana Parrilla's kicked puppy face) but I have to admit to handwaving it somewhat; I think we all do that to a certain extent with our particular favourites, adding things that didn't happen on screen and ignoring others to make them make sense in our heads. So I've been assuming that it wasn't just Daniel's death that sent Regina over the edge, it was her borderline abusive upbringing by Cora and being married off unwillingly to some guy twice her age who she didn't even like, Daniel was just the straw that broke the camel's back. But, yeah, that's all headcanon, and I admit, much as I love her, Regina in Evil Queen mode became less interesting to me as a villainess when it became clear that her main motivation was a blood feud against an eight year old.
It's interesting you mention Rumple's love of Belle being largely paternal, especially with the way they met in Storybrooke being a helpless Belle being sent to Gold for protection, and with Belle now having lost her memory. Which is, actually, another thing-- does Belle even have a Storybrooke persona to remember, given that she was Regina's prisoner for the entirety of the curse, or is she a blank slate now?
It was why I liked Belle's burgeoning friendship with Ruby so much, it was part of her becoming less dependent of Rumple, which I liked a lot.
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I'm not the biggest fan of Regina's Daniel backstory (I only like it a tiny bit because I am a huge fan of Lana Parrilla's kicked puppy face) but I have to admit to handwaving it somewhat; I think we all do that to a certain extent with our particular favourites, adding things that didn't happen on screen and ignoring others to make them make sense in our heads. So I've been assuming that it wasn't just Daniel's death that sent Regina over the edge, it was her borderline abusive upbringing by Cora and being married off unwillingly to some guy twice her age who she didn't even like, Daniel was just the straw that broke the camel's back. But, yeah, that's all headcanon, and I admit, much as I love her, Regina in Evil Queen mode became less interesting to me as a villainess when it became clear that her main motivation was a blood feud against an eight year old.
It's interesting you mention Rumple's love of Belle being largely paternal, especially with the way they met in Storybrooke being a helpless Belle being sent to Gold for protection, and with Belle now having lost her memory. Which is, actually, another thing-- does Belle even have a Storybrooke persona to remember, given that she was Regina's prisoner for the entirety of the curse, or is she a blank slate now?
It was why I liked Belle's burgeoning friendship with Ruby so much, it was part of her becoming less dependent of Rumple, which I liked a lot.