Everybody deserves a happy ending.

@Master_YODA said:

From what I remember:

• She murdered a whole village.
• Threatened the whole kingdom.
• Killed a lot of guards.
• Enslaved and killed the sheriff. (Do the Charmings know that?)
• Put everybody under a curse and messed up their memories.
• Killed her own father
• collected a lot of hearts from persons we don´t know

In her defense:

• had a terrible mother, that´s it ;)

She belongs in prison or shut put her powers to a lifetime of helping people/social service ;) Strange enough they gave her evil half a happy end with false Robin. If Rumple can get one with belle then Yes Regina can have a lot of happy endings

@FlamboyantRose said:

I would've bought it completely had it been in Season One her arc, but whenever she has a backstory episode they just add to the list of atrocities she has committed against other people. And she was a little self-righteous in Season 4 and 5.

But since this is a fantasy show, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief as she had...

An abusive childhood, and "loved with all of her heart" Daniel, who died, and was the only thing preventing her from despair. In the past, she grew into a deep depression in her castle, forced her mother away, was alone for several years and ended up attempting to kill herself. She ended up pushing away another chance at happiness with Robin.

She was technically was punished for 28 years under the curse that she caused and never came any closer to being happy or filling the void in her heart, except for a child she adopted as she could not have any due to an infertility curse she placed upon herself to prevent her mother from using her, which she came to regret.

Later, that child would be attempted to be taken away from her.

Then, she almost sacrificed herself as she wanted to "die as Regina,". Snow and her have come to amends in Season 3, and she grew closer to Emma, and forgives Snow for murdering her mother as she realized how evil she was before. She fought against her sister in the Enchanted Forest to save them, and ended up destroying Zelena by using the good in her heart.

In Season 4 she even defended Marian, her past lover's, Robin's, wife. She fought against the darkness when she was pressured into working for the heroes, and managed to prove herself of no longer being falliable to the whims of wickedness.

In Season 5, Emma was able to trust her with her life and Regina was careful with it, and cared for the plight that Emma was in when under the Dark Curse. She did all in her power after finding her father and mother in the Underworld to be able to give them a chance at happiness even before Cora deserved any. She appealed to her sister, and they became close.

Then Regina was so ashamed of herself, she separated the darksess within and the first half of Season 6 was about destroying it, until she realized she had to live with the evil inside her, and that this was a war that would have to be won as a price for all she has done in the past.

She wished and seemed genuinely happy for Emma's engagement and aided in attempting to prevent the Black Fairy's curse from occurring.

Now, she is joining them in The Final Battle to fight against the ultimate evil, after going through this whole redemption arc in a little over six years.

Good summary and of course... it is a fantasy Show. But still ... she killed so many people who never get a happy End. I found the twist of her evil half in the enchanted forest helping the poor fitting.

A lifetime of helping others to redeem herself feels right. A little bit like Angel from Buffy did with his detective agency.

I would watch a similar show with Regina fighting for others against the evil in the world -> *Queen Regina vs. the power of Evil *;)

The main problem is - most of the characters belong in prison and punished: Rumple, Regina, Zelena, Hook... but the actors are much to charming ;) In the real world - people who did those things - wouldn't be so charismatic and lovable.

@Master_YODA said:

In her defense:

had a terrible mother

she's really hot

*fixed

Definitely deserves a happy ending .

I would like a happy ending from Regina.

FOR Regina, I mean!

@Master_YODA said:

In her defense:

• had a terrible mother, that´s it ;)

• she pretty.

The entire notion of villains "turning good" is one of the more naive of common fantasy tropes, and this show, G-d love it, almost shamelessly embraces it.

Traditionally, of course, you see this trope with a villain who dies. Just at the end, he makes a heroic sacrifice, redeeming himself. (Think Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi.) Because of this, the question of paying the price for past atrocities becomes moot.

But in OUAT, the redeemed villains not only get to live, but face no legal consequences for anything they did prior to redemption, almost as if they're given a blank slate purely from their change of heart. And it's not as if this fairy-tale society lacks a justice system. Zelena, for example, after being defeated is sent to one of the cells, and even after showing real signs of sliding back into evil, finally reconciles with her sister, and then...nothing! She's permitted to remain a free woman (or free witch). And this is someone who only very recently threatened the entire town and even murdered one of their friends.

And I haven't even gotten into how ridiculous it is from a psychological perspective to think someone who has lived as a mass murdering sociopath for decades could truly change their ways. With Hook, at least, there's some rationale, since it goes back to the theme in the original Peter Pan tale that the magic of immortality causes people to remain static. So even though he lives hundreds of years, he remains in the form of a young scoundrel for all that time and isn't able to grow until after he leaves Neverland.

The most convincing of the show's antiheroes is Rumpelstiltskin, because he never totally turns good, and he never was purely evil to begin with. He's presented, consistently, as a man of contradictions, with a lust for power and a certain self-centerdness overwhelming a deeply buried conscience.

But the show never provides a convincing explanation for Regina's transformation, beyond the lame idea that it happens simply because she loves Henry. I almost felt like the writers painted themselves into a corner after her defeat in the first season. To keep her as a main character, they felt they had to turn her into one of the heroes. So they just sort of forced the issue and largely ignored the consequences of what such a transformation would actually entail.

Regina is the only villain who actually behaves differently now then she did earlier in the show. Rumpel, Hook, and Zelena the serial killers who have not changed at all and still treat everyone terribly do not deserve anything, but jail either. If they can get a "happy ending" then why not Regina. The whole evil isn't born, it's made is the stupidest thing i have ever heard. They may not have been born evil, but they certainly are evil now and them not killing anyone for a year or for five minutes, doesn't mean they should hang around, be part of the good side, and marry or babysit your children. The treatment of evil and villains on this show is ridiculous. All of them.