Who is Regina/EQ...really?

[maddarilke.livejournal.com]

I know that most of the residents of Storybrooke have names that have a connection to their Fairyland characters--

Mary-Margaret Blanchard = "Blanche" is French for "white."
Ruby = Red Riding Hood
Regina = Latin for "Queen"
Archie Hopper = Crickets "hop"

...etc. Now, look at the Mayor's full name: Regina Mills.

Didn't the story of Rumplestiltskin begin with a Miller's daughter?

Could Regina have been The Miller's Daughter before she was an Evil Queen? And would that mean that she's known Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold for far longer than we're aware right now?
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Comments

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

I was waiting for people to twig about her surname and Rumpelstiltskin's story. :D

Look at her father and how humble he appeared. Also that he addressed her as 'your majesty' until they were alone. She would call him Henry and only called him father when they were alone. Ever since I learned her full name, I wondered about it.

Was that the secret she shared with Snow? About how she couldn't spin straw to gold, but it was Rumpel who helped her? The king the miller's daughter marries is snow's father?

My own theory atm is that Regina gets the better of Rumpelstiltskin and it was the price she extracts from him, her magical abilities, or making what she had stronger.

[musing-mia.livejournal.com]

That is a good theory. If she is the Miller's daughter and Snow told her father the truth behind the lie, he might move to have their marriage annulled? I doubt they have divorce in FTL. Very interesting.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

Well considering how many marriages end in death in Fairy Tales, I would say no to the divorce in FTL ;)

If Snows father is the king from that story then it seems he's not a nice bloke either. He only marries the miller's daughter because of her ability to spin the straw into gold, nothing to do with love. Also the original story had Rumpel wanting the first child from the new Queen. Did he take her first child? Is that a nice parallel to her taking Snow's child and grandchild from her?

Also, hello Bones :D

[maddarilke.livejournal.com]

Awesome backstory sussing. So, that's the one I'm gonna go with until the show tells us what's going on. :)

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

*curtsies*

I've always been fond of a little metaising and this show is great to put my logical brain to work trying to figure things out. :D

[lovedbyahero.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that the Evil Queen lost someone and that she only married the king in her quest for vengeance. This is what I love about the show right now, there are so many fairy tales that we can link to certain characters and yet they haven't managed to make it tiresome

[obisgirl.livejournal.com]

I totally buy that. I think she saw what Rumple could do and got mixed up in that, thinking it was cool or perhaps, the only way to survive.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Ah, good theory! I never thought of that!

[lovedbyahero.livejournal.com]

I heard that Mills was based on Milo which is Greek for Apple.

[maddarilke.livejournal.com]

Ah. That makes sense, too.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

Interesting theory, but every name database I know states that Mills as a surname means 'from the mill' or a variation of that. None have used a Milo connection. The way they have gone with other names on the show, I would suggest they would have used Milo if that was the intention.

[lovedbyahero.livejournal.com]

Your Miller theory does make a lot of sense so maybe this is it. I just feel that Rumplestiltskin would be more angry and devious to the Queen because in the original folk tale, he was really angry that she found out. Also, the backstory for the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale is very similar to what they did with Cinderella.

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

But with knowing his name you earn power against him. I did think that she was really able to get the better of him in some way even more than what is in the original story. To my mind that is the best way to explain the real antagonism between the pair of them and possibly why he then gets his finger in various pies trying to get some power back.

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

only everyone seems to know he's called Rumplestiltskin.

[madwitch58.livejournal.com]

unless Rumpelstiltskin is not his real name, he could have a diffident birth name and taken the name of Rumpelstiltskin. that's what i would do if i were him.

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

that makes sense.

though then it's the folk tale that is puzzling - was that set back when few even knew what his assumed name ("rumplestiltskin") was, and he tricked them into thinking his true name was Rumplestiltskin?

I like your idea.

[vampirelissy14.livejournal.com]

Yes I believe Regina is the Miller's daughter and that she has a very important tie to Rumpelstiltskin. I hope that this theory gets proved right on the show, but, even if it proves not to be, I'm working (very slowly) on a fic based on this idea ^.^

[chloris.livejournal.com]

I've seen this theory a number of times in different forums and, to be honest, I rather hope she isn't the Miller's Daughter.

First, I like her evil and don't want her all that sympathetic. Second, it is too close to the Cinderella story they used here. And, third, I would think that Rumpel would be at the TOP of her revenge list along with Snow instead of her making deals with him. Or maybe she'd be at the top of his and he may not be working for her but so far I don't think he's trying to destroy her.

I'm not sure how the age issue works out either since we know that Rumpel has existed basically unchanged for several decades (and the Queen is unlikely to be that old considering the age of her father), but his name may not have been known until fairly recently.

Of course all my speculation is based on the story as written in fairytales and we know that the writers here are perfectly willing to twist things around.

I may have thought about this a bit. :D

[dj-rocca.livejournal.com]

I sincerely doubt she is, that's just too much interconnection.

But the ages in the show are nuts at this point, especially for Rumpel and Jiminy. They were both clearly about 30 (at least Jiminy) before he became a Cricket, Gepetto was like 10? So it's 40 years at least in top of that plus the 28 year haze...

[chloris.livejournal.com]

I suppose it could work with the proper twist but at this point I agree: too much interconnection. And they are interconnections that don't add up to the relationships we have seen so far.

Yeah, the ages are crazy in this show. I can get behind magically transformed creatures not aging (or at least having longer than human lifespans) but it makes it difficult to figure out how everyone fits! I will say that having Rumpelstiltskin be around for decades (at least) making deals does work since it gives him a great deal of time to amass power and pile up favors.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I don't the show's writers would recognize the concept of "too much interconnection." :-)

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

>First, I like her evil and don't want her all that sympathetic.
nobody is pure evil.

except for Hitler. and Regina is no Hitler.

> Second, it is too close to the Cinderella story they used here.
so is the Charming story -- taking a peasant (or lower class than peasant) and putting them in the palace.

[dj-rocca.livejournal.com]

Not that I trust IMDB but:

Names for many characters in Storybrooke are often coordinated with their fairy-tale counterpart. For example: - Mary Margaret Blanchard (Snow White): Blanchard derives from the French word "blanc" or "blanche" for white. The name "Mary Margaret" is from a real-life woman believed to be the inspiration of the Snow White character named "Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina Freifräulein von Erthal" (born on June 15, 1729 in Germany.) - Regina Mills (Evil Queen): Regina is a Late Latin feminine name meaning "Queen". Mills refers to the Greek word "Milo" meaning "apple" in modern Greek, which is in reference to the Queen poisoning Snow White with an apple. - Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin): Rumpelstiltskin spun straw into gold in his story. - Ruby (Red Riding Hood): A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone. - Ashley Boyd (Cinderella): Cinders precede ashes in the burning process. Boyd derives from the Gaelic word "buidhe" meaning yellow-haired. - Sydney Glass (Mirror): Because another word for mirror is glass or looking glass. Also, his newspaper is called The Mirror. - Archie Hopper (Jiminy Cricket): Crickets often hop to get around. Also, crickets are sometimes called hoppers. -- IMDb Trivia: Once Upon a Time (2011 TV series)

[hothobbit.livejournal.com]

"Mills refers to the Greek word "Milo" meaning "apple" in modern Greek, which is in reference to the Queen poisoning Snow White with an apple."

I thought that was what they were referencing as well (especially with other ties to Greek mythology and such)....but the Mill's daughter theory is interesting too

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

and the story of the Nixie involved a woman who fell in love with the son of a man who owned a mill-pond. (which would mean that she has an ulterior motive for keeping a huntsman nearby)

of course, maybe she's both of those (your suggestion and mine), and maybe Regina is neither.
(based on the previews, it's seeming to be Rumplestiltskin himself who tried and needed help spinning stuff into gold)

[kdala]

Might there also be a connection to the strange wind mill, remembering David of his wrong memories?
He was a shepherd and not a miller, right?

[wicked-reigns.livejournal.com]

It seemed they had a windmill on the farm he/his mother had - or am I completely remembering wrong?

[wicked-reigns.livejournal.com]

I also think it interesting we don't really know her first name, she is always referred to as "The Queen", so perhaps her first name might give us some clues.

My theory was that she loved someone else, but she somehow HAD to marry Snow's father (perhaps arranged/marriage of convenience, etc).
She already might have a grudge against Snow, because not only must she functionally serve as a wife to a man she might not love, but also as a mother to someone who is not her daughter.

Perhaps she confided in Snow her first love/magical ability, etc. in a ditch effort to get along?

Snow betrayed that only trust she had - and now she's bent on revenge. But that was just some of the theories going around in my head.

I like the Miller idea, I am mostly waiting for the writers to get us in the loop.