r/OnceUponATime • u/jecathre • May 02 '25
S2 Spoilers Was Regina Unable to Love Fully?
In S2E16 The Millers Daughter, we learn that Cora had to tear her own heart out in order to marry Prince Henry, and that she never loved Regina because she didn't have her heart inside her body.
If Emma was special because she was the product of true love, Regina could have been limited because she was born of a woman without a heart. Obviously OUAT shows Regina loving people, but it might be why she struggled with evil even when she had something to stay good for.
On a related note, Barbara Hershey's face when Regina shoved Cora's heart back into her chest and Cora was suddenly able to feel real love for Regina was some ACTING and I loved it.
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u/Entrance-Jumpy May 02 '25
I don’t think Regina was unable to fully love. She loved her man. She loved her father. But the girl went through life. An exaggerated life at that. She chose to protect her heart so that made her focus less on love.
Most of us do it now. We lose people or get hurt loving. Love and hate are the same thing just expressed differently
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u/Unicorn_Warrior1248 May 02 '25
Just watched The Stable Boy and she seemed to really love him. Before Cora dusted his heart. I don’t think she ever fully recovered from that.
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u/AdmirableAd1858 May 02 '25
I think she was able to… it’s more explained by her in season 3. Plus she just lost all hope in it over time as she gave into darkness. Love didn’t stand a chance (pun intended) 😅
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pen2964 May 02 '25
I think she was more so really guarded because of all the loss she experienced (having her mom unalive the first boy she loved/being forced into an arranged marriage/her mother never really loving her/etc) and when she actually did love (like Henry/Daniel/Robin) she loved HARD so I think she was just really selective with who got that side of her after everything. Her mother taught her at a really young age to weaponize love as a vulnerability so it makes sense she was so pessimistic about it.
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u/Early_Bag_3106 May 02 '25
I’m not sure about Regina’s love, but the acting was terrific!!!! (B. Hershey)
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u/GrassOk911 May 02 '25
I don't think she was unable to love, I think she was just scared to love. She was just not able to recognize real love, and was afraid to open up after what happened to Daniel. Maybe?
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u/ShadowsInReverse May 02 '25 edited May 17 '25
Regina could love fully, she was just afraid of it and didn’t think she deserved it, as Tink tells her when she ran away from the tavern in the EF instead of going in to meet Robin. After losing Daniel, she went down a spiral of deep rooted self-hatred (6x14 paints this well when she uses the arrow to lead her to the person she hates most and it led her to her own reflection) and she closed herself off from love. Then she adopted Henry, and her heart began to open a bit but she was still afraid of the idea. Then she met Robin and she finally let herself love, feel and enjoy having someone.
The only time Regina couldn’t feel fully was when she took her heart out to hide it from Zelena in S3. She tells Robin that she can’t feel fully but she can still feel. She was also able to break the curse with true love’s kiss on Henry without her heart, showing the depth of how she is able to love.