I didn’t ask for that! I don’t want it!
When Emma Swan spoke those words in Once Upon a Time’s Season-One episode “The Stranger,” she was talking about her role as the savior of all of the cursed inhabitants of Storybrooke. However, she could have been talking about most of the events in her life up through—and even following—that point. Emma is a character who has been defined by things that have happened to her; she is an active woman whose real curse is the way others have so often rendered her passive, stripping her of any ability to choose her own path. But if Emma’s tragedy is the lack of agency she has been afforded in the first 28 years of her life, her journey to her own happy ending is a journey to finally getting to choose what she wants that happy ending to be.
Even before she was born, Emma was a victim of circumstance. She was destined to be the savior because she was the product of Snow White and Prince Charming’s true love. And once she was born, her parents had to make a choice no parent should ever after to make: keep their daughter, knowing she would be cursed along with them, or send her into an unknown world without them because it gave her the best chance to become the savior she would one day need to be. It was an impossible choice, and Snow and Charming cannot be faulted for choosing the way they did. However, their good and loving intentions still meant that Emma grew up alone because of someone else’s choice. Rumplestiltskin chose to create the curse, Regina chose to cast it, and Snow and Charming chose to save Emma from it by sending her through the portal. The only one with no real choice in the matter was the one person who would be most affected by it—baby Emma.
Little did Snow and Charming know, though, that Emma didn’t have to grow up alone. Pinocchio was also sent through the portal, but he was tasked with a job too difficult for a small boy to handle: taking care of the savior. Like Snow and Charming, Pinocchio (who we later come to know as August) was faced with choices no person in his situation should have to face: struggle to take care of a baby when he himself was just a child or strike out on his own. It should come as no surprise to anyone that he chose the latter.
The story of Emma Swan’s formative years is a story of people choosing to leave her, including her first set of foster parents, who decided to send her back into the system when they started their own family. Emma grew up believing that she was abandoned by her parents and subsequently by anyone who ever came close to caring for her. She was powerless to stop people from leaving her behind, completely devoid of control over her own life. She was—in so many ways—a lost girl.
And then she met a lost boy.
In Season Two’s “Tallahassee,” we see Emma choose to open her heart to Neal, a kindred spirit and the first person since that original foster family who Emma appeared to have found a semblance of home with. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Neal had more in common with her than just being a young thief without a family. Both were from the Enchanted Forest, both were abandoned by their parents, and both were children deeply damaged by the price of magic. The difference between Neal and Emma was that Neal’s story—Baelfire’s story—was one of action, one of choice. Baelfire chose to go to a land without magic, and he chose to go to Neverland in place of the Darlings. They may not have been easy choices, but he was still able to make them.
In the end, Neal got to choose again, and Emma was left powerless. When faced with August’s truth about Emma’s identity and her role as the savior, Neal chose to believe August, who said there was no other way for Emma to break the curse than to be sent to jail. In Emma’s own words from Season Two’s “Manhattan”:
You left me and let me go to prison because Pinocchio told you to?
And just like that, Emma ended up in jail because two men couldn’t think of a better way to get her to live out the destiny she had no say in choosing. Without any warning or discussion, she was left to believe that the man who loved her didn’t love her at all and let her take the fall for his crimes. Emma saw her fate as punishment for choosing to open her heart to someone, when it was actually a reaction to something she never chose—her true identity and role as the savior. Neal even told Emma in “Manhattan” that, had he known who she was from the beginning, “I wouldn’t have gone near you.” Emma’s true identity—an identity she wouldn’t know for more than another decade—was supposed to reflect her power to restore happy endings. However, it was the reason her happy ending was taken from her without her say. Her future power as the savior was the very thing that frightened a man who really loved her into leaving her powerless again, stuck in a jail cell.
Making the choice to send Emma to jail didn’t just alter her life without her say, it altered the life no one knew she was carrying. Like her parents before her, Emma had the choice to keep Henry with her but didn’t really have a choice at the same time. She knew she couldn’t be a mother given her current circumstances, so she gave Henry up without even holding him. Like loving Neal, giving Henry up was a choice Emma made that didn’t lead to joy; it led to heartbreak. It was another building block in the wall Emma built around her heart to keep her from choosing love ever again.
That wall began to crumble when Henry showed up at her door in the show’s pilot episode. By choosing to let Henry into her apartment, Emma took the first tentative step toward choosing to let someone into her heart for the first time since Neal left her. Little by little, Emma began to choose to open herself up to others—to Henry, to Mary Margaret, and, then, to Graham. Graham didn’t give her a choice when he first kissed her, but he certainly gave her a choice the second time—and Emma ran with it. But that choice once again led to tragedy, as moments later Graham lay dead in her arms. It appeared to be a rule of Emma’s life: Deciding to open yourself up to love brings only pain.
Even Henry kept Emma from making her own choices in order to have her fulfill her destiny. Henry ate the apple turnover that he knew would put him under a sleeping curse because he wanted to make Emma believe. Emma had to endure the pain of watching her son die because someone once again chose to act for her—even if it was in her best interest, even if it was out of love.
Ultimately, it was Emma choosing to love Henry that broke the dark curse. True love’s kiss only works if both parties actively choose to love one another, and Emma chose to love her son with enough strength to break both his curse and the curse on Storybrooke.
Emma chose to love Henry, but she still never chose to be the savior. She still saw herself as a lost girl; she was still a woman whose life was determined by forces beyond her control. Throughout Seasons Two and Three, Emma was hardly ever able to choose happiness for herself—choices needed to be made for the greater good instead. She also lost Henry for a time because he chose to give his heart to Peter Pan, and she almost lost her mother and father because Snow chose to stay in Neverland with Charming before a cure for his poisoning was found.
That’s why Emma’s declaration, “I’m a mother,” in the Season Three premiere was so important—it represented an active choice she made to define herself by something she had control over. It was her way of choosing to live out the advice she gave Ashley in Season One’s “The Price of Gold”:
People are going to tell you who you are your whole life. You just gotta punch back and say, ‘No, this is who I am.’ You want people to look at you differently? Make them. You want to change things? You’re gonna have to go out there and change them yourself because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.
Although her family may still see her as the savior, Emma was finally given a chance to define herself. In Neverland, Emma began to move beyond seeing herself as a lost girl; she began to choose to forge her own path instead of relying on the one laid out before her since the day the dark curse was cast. She chose to lead not because she’s the savior but because she wanted to find her son. It wasn’t about obligation or feeling powerless in the face of her destined role; it was her way of claiming her own power on her own terms.
Emma also began to claim her own power in her romantic life in Neverland. So many of Emma’s relationships with men left her feeling powerless, but in Neverland, she started to see that there was one man who was giving her as much power as she wanted to take—and that was Hook. Their first kiss came about because Emma chose not to walk away from his flirtations and instead chose to seize a moment where she felt truly powerful. Hook may have made it clear that he wanted to kiss Emma, but she was the one who kissed him. She also chose to walk away, and he respected that choice.
Hook’s relationship with Emma is different from any other we’ve seen her engaged in up to this point. He gives her all the power, making his feelings clear but giving her the space she needs to choose for herself whether or not she wants to respond to those feelings. When Emma kissed Hook, she chose something not because it was for the greater good, but because she simply “was feeling good.” She chose happiness for herself in that moment; she chose to be a woman of action.
As the first half of Season Three drew to a close, Emma was making great strides towards choosing her own path and choosing to accept love even after so many years of being hurt every time she chose to open her heart. Neal and Hook gave her the space she needed to work through her feelings about both of them. Even her father helped her discover the importance of choosing to focus on good moments instead of bad ones.
But it wouldn’t be Once Upon a Time without a plot twist, right?
Just when it seemed that Emma was finally allowed to choose her own path to happiness and fulfillment, another curse was enacted that took away her agency yet again. Emma and Henry were forced to leave Storybrooke with only each other, despite their desire to stay with those they loved. Even their memories of Storybrooke would be gone. Every choice Emma had made on the path to leaving the lost girl behind wouldn’t even be remembered. Instead, both she and Henry would be given false memories—happy, but false. In these memories, Emma chose to keep Henry as a baby. But in reality, Emma never made that choice. It might have led to a happier life with her son, but that life wasn’t real. And, if given the choice, Emma is a woman who would want something real.
At the conclusion of Season Three’s midseason finale, “Going Home,” Emma and Henry’s happy life is interrupted by Hook. Unlike she did with Henry in the pilot, Emma didn’t choose to let him into her apartment (and her heart). She chose to knee him in a very sensitive area instead. But Hook knows Emma is the kind of woman who would rather have all her options presented to her—as crazy as they may sound—than live a life she didn’t actually choose for herself.
Emma yearned for a day off from being the savior, and she was given a year away from her destiny. Hook’s arrival presents a decision Emma must make for herself: believe him and accept her role as the savior once again or continue living her life with only Henry. Hook was someone connected to Emma’s growing sense of agency, someone who saw her as powerful not because she was the savior but because she was Emma. Therefore, it made sense for him to be the one to present her with this choice. From a storytelling perspective, it had to be Hook.
Hook may be relentless and determined to get her to remember, but it’s ultimately Emma’s choice to believe him or to even consider believing him. However, I think we all know what Emma is going to choose. She’s going to believe Hook and return to help her family, but the important thing is that it’s her choice this time.
That’s Emma’s true happy ending—no longer being a lost girl because she chose her own path. It doesn’t matter if Emma ends up with Neal, with Hook, with a character we’ve never met (or a surprising one we have), or without any love interest. What matters is that Emma gets to make that choice. And if she chooses anyone, what matters is that they respect her right to make her own decisions about her life and their life together.
For a woman whose life was so often defined by the choices made for her, the happiest ending imaginable is one she chooses for herself.
Nerdy Girl Notes 
Wow, Katie, what a lovely examination of Emma Swan. It was a treat to be able to read this going into the 3B premiere in a little over a week.
Emma is definitely my favorite character on Once, and no matter how many other supporting characters are brought into the story, the fact of the matter is that Emma is the show’s core. Emma is the one character that truly grounds a show about fairytales in reality. We are seeing her journey to a happy ending. And as you so beautifully laid out, that journey is all about choices.
It really is sad to see everything that Emma has been through laid out like this. That girl has had one crappy life. Makes me think back to one of the more memorable Emma Swan quotes from the season 1 episode ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’: “Not feeling anything’s an attractive option when what you feel sucks.” And It makes me root for her happiness even more than I already did (which was already a lot).
I also love your summary of Hook’s influence on Emma’s shift to making decisions for herself and taking ownership of her own happiness. The reason I have been such a fan of Hook and Emma’s interactions to this point are largely because of his positive influence on Emma. From episode 1, Emma is constantly being told who she is. She is Henry’s mother. She is Snow White and Prince Charming’s daughter. She is the savior. But she spent 28 years of her life not knowing she was any of these things. All she saw herself as was an unwanted orphan – nobody willing to fighter for her – which molded her into a fiercely independent woman with no emotional attachments. These new labels were more abstract concepts of who she is, and Emma does not truly identify with these roles when Hook meets her. She is starting to explore these new sides of her identity, especially the protective mother side, but she is still insecure in all of these roles. Hook doesn’t see her as any of these labels, and falls in the love with the flawed, emotionally scarred orphan. Hook loves Emma for who she sees herself as in that exact point in time, not some abstract concept of who he wants her to be or who she is destined to be. Emma inspired Hook to fight to be a better man, the man of honor he once was, and in turn, Hook gave Emma the strength and encouragement that she needed to truly feel like the mother, daughter, and savior everyone else saw her as. Its a no brainer that Hook be the one to remind Emma of who she really is. Nobody else really comes close to being qualified. And regardless of where their journey takes them in the rest of show, there is no denying the positive, life altering impact the two of them have had on each other up to this point, and I have loved every second of it.
I have a feeling Emma’s story is going to start shifting in 3B from someone who was slowly starting to believe in herself to being a full blow bad-ass heroine, and I am ready for it! 3A turned me from casual watcher to full blow obsessive fangirl thanks to Emma’s journey, and I am beyond excited to see what is in store for her in 3B!
Thanks for the awesome comment, Shauna! You said everything so well that I have little to add except bravo to your wonderful analysis of Hook and Emma’s influence on each other. For as much as Hook has helped Emma find a growing sense of agency, she has also helped him choose something very important—to be his best self instead of the dark person he had become for so long.
Like you, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Emma in 3B. I was so impressed with the way her characterization and her journey were brought back to the forefront of the show in 3A, and I am so hopeful for that to continue!
That season one quote of Emma’s to Ashley is still probably my favorite quote from the series. It was the perfect one to use in this article because that’s finally what Emma is getting to do for herself after having to realize how little control or say she’s had in her life.
I don’t have a lot to add to this, I just wanted to tell you that you did a great job with this essay and I’m happy you were able to get it written and that you’re proud of it.
Thank you so much, Heather!
I’m so glad you love that quote, too. It’s one I’m proud to have on my “Favorite Quotes” section of my Facebook. 😉
No words for how much I loved this essay! Thank you so much for taking the time and pains to articulate what so many of us feel and think but can’t find the words to express.
I lived every word, particularly the role you ascribed to Hook, “someone who saw her as powerful not because she was the savior but because she was Emma.”
Of course it had to be him at her door in NY.
Perdonally, for the very reasons you listed, I’m rooting for Emma and Hook with all my heart – however, I also know that Adam and Eddy live these characters even more than we do. So I trust them to continue to tell Emma’s and Hook’s and everybody else’s story as masterfully and intelligently as they have until now – wherever said story might lead.
Thank you so much for this very kind and very thoughtful comment! I really appreciate your respect for the show’s writers—I feel they’ve done a good job so far (especially this season) with Emma’s story (and most of the other characters as well), so I have faith that they will continue to do so.
Amazing essay!
Thank you! 😀
Kudos on the essay, it is really great and very well written. I agree with most of it but I think you got a couple of things wrong.
You say:
“Neal and Hook gave her the space she needed to work through her feelings about both of them.”
Well, that’s not entirely true. They fight for her in Neverland, to the point of putting their lives in danger, and keep annoying her about choosing between the two until Emma has to make clear that at that moment Henry is the only man she has a place in her heart for. And once they go back to Storybrooke Hook does step back a bit, but Neal keeps pressuring her. That is not giving someone space, not at all.
Also, you say:
“Instead, both she and Henry would be given false memories—happy, but false. In these memories, Emma chose to keep Henry as a baby. But in reality, Emma never made that choice. It might have led to a happier life with her son, but that life wasn’t real. And, if given the choice, Emma is a woman who would want something real.”
The new, supposedly unstoppable curse that Peter Pan cast on Storybrooke would erase Emma’s and Henry’s memories, and there she didn’t have a choice. But hers and Henry’s new memories were a GIFT from Regina; and a gift, you can accept or reject. Regina told Emma she would give her that gift and just as well as Emma replied that the memories would not be real she could have said she didn’t want them, but she didn’t. And I doubt that Regina would have forced her “gift” on Emma if Emma had been against it (if that were the case, she would have just done it and not explained herself to Emma).
That’s another point that I think you overlook in your essay. You talk about how Hook gives her power in Neverland and is one of the few people in her life to do so but you’re forgetting another person who does so too: Regina. And it is very telling in my opinion that someone like the Evil Queen would defer to the person she’s been fighting against since the first episode of the series.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about “ships” here nor is this a Captain Swan vs Swan Queen rebuttal. Emma is a strong enough character and doesn’t need to be defined by a romantic relationship. What I’m talking about is characters that have more in common than it seems (I’m sure you could write a similar essay about Regina being stripped of choice in her life too, again and again) and that CHOOSE to leave that behind for the one thing that they’ve let themselves become the most important thing in their lives: their son.
Regina lets Emma lead in Neverland when Emma chooses to do so. She lets her make the calls, including ripping out the lost boy’s heart. And when she doesn’t agree about going in search of Neal, she doesn’t force Emma to go with her and keep looking for Henry, she just leaves. Her choice. Hook and Charming weren’t even going to tell Emma about Neal, therefore taking away her choice in the matter.
I think the relationship between Emma and Regina has developed into something based mainly in respect, and the shared belief that Henry and his well-being is more important than their own. And in that sense, I think you not mentioning Regina’s role in giving Emma the power to choose is unfortunate.
To finish, I understand that this is an essay centered in Emma and the power of choice taken from her but maybe for the sake of fairness you should have pointed out how she, like basically every human being I imagine, is also guilty of taking away that power from other people, as shown in several occasions in the show.
That said, sorry for the very long reply and again, congratulations on the essay! =)
I think if you take a look at some of the past discussions around the OUAT there has been a very robust discussion about the parallels of Regina and Emma and especially this season how they serve as a yin/yang in the storytelling for the show. Emma and Regina aren’t very different in the circumstances that life has laid out for them. Regina’s life is equally defined by loss. The fun of the show is the counterbalance of how Regina’s course of action has navigated her fate in conjunction with Emma’s.
I’m new around here (I followed the link to this essay from a retweet from JMo) so I haven’t read that but I’ll make sure to check it out. Thank you!
Welcome Red, it’s a fun discussion group and moreover a really respectful one. Makes for great conversation and breakdowns of our favorite shows. The OUAT recaps from Season 3 are particularly robust. In my humble opinion totally worth the time if you enjoy dissecting this show.
Thank you! I usually lurk about tumblr and twitter, commenting on occasion, but it gets rowdy over there at times. Fun and respectful sounds incredibly appealing. =)
I do enjoy dissecting the show, the characters, and can be quite a nut for detail. I did find a video giving a tour of the house that poses as the mayoral mansion and that made me really excited, so go figure!
I’m most definitely sticking around. Cheers!
This is by far the best place I have found to come and have an intelligent conversation about OUAT. Katie’s recaps are always insightful and well written, and I look forward to them as much as I do watching the show. I am much more of an Emma fan than a Regina fan so I always enjoy reading insightful comments from people that think as much about Regina’s story arc as I do about Emma’s.
Brilliant! I am quite partial to Regina but Emma is also a favourite of mine. I believe they are the most deep and complex characters in the show, both characterisation and story wise. The marvelous talent of the actresses playing them does wonders for the story, too!
Terrific! Because I often hold down the Regina fort it will be nice to have someone else doing so. – LOL, lots of Emma love around here, but I wholeheartedly agree with Shauna. The recaps NGN produces are always thoughtful and thought provoking. So come dissect away, we love that around here.
You said almost everything I wanted to say regarding Hook and Regina! The bulk of the article is spot on as are your comments.
We should e-highfive!
First of all, thank you for writing such a thoughtful and articulate comment. No need to apologize for it being long—I LOVE long comments because it means you’re passionate about what you’re saying, and it leads to more discussion.
I actually really enjoyed reading your thoughts about Emma and Regina. You’re right—Regina did help Emma in Neverland to gain a sense of power and control over her own life because she showed her genuine respect. My omission of anything about Emma and Regina’s growing sense of mutual respect is more a reflection of trying to fit all my thoughts into a word length that wasn’t too absurd rather than any sense of disagreement with your points.
I am thankful you brought this up because Emma’s relationship with Regina is an important one for far more reasons than just both of them being Henry’s mothers. As you said, these two share many similar circumstances. I’d actually love to write another essay someday about all the ways they are two sides of the same coin. Thanks for inspiring me!
Thank YOU for writing such a well thought essay about a subject I really enjoy. As you’ve probably noticed I’m fairly biased when it comes to Regina so I’m really looking forward to reading that piece. Cheers! =)
“because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.”
First off kudos for pulling this off! I know you have been grappling with it for the bulk of winter. It was completely worth the wait and I adored how you dissected the three season journey of Emma Swan. Great stuff. I agree over time that Emma is often placed in a position of circumstance not choice. But where I counter on the theory is that independent of circumstance Emma has always retained the power of how she responds to it. It is what makes her and Regina such a fascinating yin yang.
Emma being a lost girl is a journey from being defined by others choices for her, as you so aptly point out, to taking on her own power to forge ahead and carve out her own path. We may not control what happens in life, in fact many things we envision for life ultimately don’t come to fruition. Happiness (and power) evolve from our ability to adapt and accept what gets thrown in our way. Prior to season 3 I think we watch Emma deflect and sidestep her realities. When she first arrives in Storybrooke she avoids embracing her role as Henry’s mother, she looks builds it as a friendship, a camaraderie instead. The same for her struggles with the acceptance of being the savior. Time after time over the course of the journey that leads to Neverland we watch Emma act in reluctance of that role. At times it is as though she does so in spite of herself. What made the Neverland arc extraordinary for me was that by coming back to the emotional place that defined her beginnings — as a lost girl, she was able to find the acceptance that empowered her to move forward and shift her character from reactionary, to deliberate. There was no doubt from the moment they set foot in Neverland that Emma was steering her own course. It is why her heartbreak at the idea that her memories will be false is so profound. Emma had finally landed in a place of acceptance around her past, reconciled her pain and defined her present through love as Henry’s mother. It was as though fate was going to take that away just as it had as a baby and over the course of her life. It is why Regina’s words are profound. When Regina tells her that the future won’t be a lie, she does so from a place of knowledge. Regina created an entire lie when she cursed the kingdom and created Storybrooke. Henry was the only real thing. Because love is real and it transcends in spite of hurt, betrayal, pain and circumstance.
There is a great quote at the end of Shadowlands that C.S. Lewis explains his take on love. He says, “Why love if losing hurt so much. I have no answers anymore, only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I’ve been given the choice. As a boy and as a man. The boy choose safety, the man chooses suffering.The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.”
I feel like that quote defines Emma as well. As you so eloquently pointed out. Emma avoids and denys her heart for a significant portion of the first two seasons. She believes she is protecting it and herself, but what she comes to realize is that she is in fact denying her power, not just as savior, but as a person. Emma’s lesson from Neverland and from all that has come before is that she may not control the path life lays out for her, but she has the power when it comes to navigating it.
“What made the Neverland arc extraordinary for me was that by coming back to the emotional place that defined her beginnings — as a lost girl, she was able to find the acceptance that empowered her to move forward and shift her character from reactionary, to deliberate.” This is definitely the main reason I loved the Neverland arc as well. Well said. Really looking forward to seeing the new deliberate Emma in 3B.
I could read your commentary all day. This was such a wonderful comment. I have little to say except YES to everything you wrote—especially about Emma responding to her lack of agency in a way that still leaves her some power. I’ve always respected Emma as a character because her circumstances could have easily led her down a much darker path (like Regina), but she instead retained her good heart and kept a good head on her shoulders. It’s nothing short of heroic that he is still a fundamentally good person despite what had happened to her in her past.
That C.S. Lewis quote is beautifully profound. Thank you for sharing it!
Very spot on review about Emma, and I totally agree with what you said.
Thank you! Also, I love your username—Brienne is my favorite Game of Thrones character! 🙂
Reblogged this on inksplatis: this is my design.
While I don’t disagree with some of the Emma meta, the Hook part is, as usually, completely biased. You should indicate that this is your personal opinion. You have no idea why Hook is the one in New York. Frankly, I am getting tired of CS shippers who completely forget what an asshole Hook was in Season 2 AND assume in 5 days he turned into a perfect hero (despite his lies and keeping information along the way and trying to use Tink to make Emma jealous) while the other villains of the show have been struggling to change for months. Yes, Colin and Jennifer are good looking. So what? Why don’t you focus more on the Emma introspection than on promoting your ship for a change.
First, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and offer a counter-opinion (which I’m sure many who have come across this essay share), and I am happy you agreed with some of what I said about Emma.
I would hope that the fact that this is a blog run by someone who is just a regular OUaT fan would cause most people to see that all I’m doing is sharing my personal opinion on everything I write. I would never try to pretend like I know more about the show and its characters than any other fan. I won’t hide the fact that I have enjoyed Emma and Hook’s development up through this point in the show, but I completely respect other fans who would rather see Emma with another character (or enjoying her life as a single woman).
Hook isn’t a perfect character (and I wouldn’t want him to be—I don’t want any perfect characters on any show I watch), but I find his character arc from Season Two through now believable because we saw him starting to realize he needed to change even by the end of Season Two. Every “villain” on this show is motivated by different factors, so every struggle to change will be different and take different periods of time.
I’m sorry you think I focused more on “promoting” Emma/Hook than I spent on Emma’s journey. That wasn’t my intention at all; it just so happens that I think Hook plays an important role in Emma’s ability to choose her own happiness (at least as of 3.11). And I will admit that both Colin and Jennifer are very attractive, but, if we’re being honest here, Josh Dallas is more my type. 😉
As someone who regularly has a different take on OUAT than the creator of this blog, I come into it with the understanding that this is her perspective on the show and its characters and her personal opinion – it’s her blog. As such the shows, topics and positions she takes offer what I have found (across several shows she blogs about) to be the launch point for conversation. A discussion about a show we all come to from a mutual space of loving and having strong enough opinions about that we take time to write, share, agree, disagree. While our gracious host would never say so, I feel compelled to say – it is for her to decide what she writes about/doesn’t. We as readers have the ability to stay and engage a dialogue or to move on. However, telling her what to focus on in a space she created for her own use seems like a pointless act. Make a counter argument if you disagree with her opinion, but telling her what she should focus on disrespects the spirit we enjoy here at NGN.
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I, for one, found this a fascinating insight to Emma and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Thank you for taking the time to write it. It’s just a shame someone has to turn something so thoughtful and discussion provoking into it being about a ‘ship’ – I despair of this fandom at times.
I, too, would enjoy reading a piece about Regina and Emma if you find the time to write it. I think it would be quite compelling.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, and I appreciate the kind words. It always makes me happy to see fellow Once Upon a Time fans who can appreciate the characters outside of just the “shipping” aspects of the show.
I’m so excited that there’s a lot of interest in an essay about Emma and Regina because I’ve been developing points for it since the early episodes of Season Two. I will probably wait until the summer to write it to see how their arcs develop as 3B progresses, but I’m looking forward to sitting down and writing it!
I ship Katie & Essays!! 😉
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