Dark(er) Side of the Enchanted Forest

Hello, Fantaicals! Today is going to be a bit darker of a day. For those of you who have seen the show, you know that there are a lot of borderline dark themes throughout the series. However, I took to a Once Upon a Time group on Facebook to ask for opinions, and the darkest of today's theories was brought up.

TODAY'S TRIGGER WARNINGS include the mention of Sexual Assault, and SA of a minor. I will leave this theory FOR LAST and will warn you once again at the beginning of that section. There will also be talk of infertility, however this is actual storyline and potion induced.

So, let's take a look at the dark(er) side of the enchanted forest.

Infertility Potion Issues

We know from the show that two people became infertile via a potion: Regina and Snow. Many people believe that Regina's infertility was just a theory, however I believe it was Snow's that was just theory. While there are scenes from the show of them both taking the potion, it is the physical body reaction that causes me to take pause and question. Let's look at Snow first.

Snow was brought before King George by Lancelot, and accidentally drank from a cup he gave her only for him to tell her that he laced it with an infertility potion. However, when it hit her system, she just stood there; in fact, she even finished the cup before turning around and walking out. After that, it supposedly only took a single drop of water from the lake to "cure her"?

I don't know how much I really believe she was under the infertility potion, as the "old wives' tale" prediction that David's mother did generally only takes place and predicts the gender AFTER you are pregnant. In order for it to have read a gender like that, Snow would have had to already be pregnant even if only a week or two. Therefore, I honestly believe that when Snow took the potion from George, she may have already been pregnant which means the potion would not have taken hold and explains her lack of reaction; something that Regina had plenty of.

When Cora was trying to push Regina into marrying the Sherriff of Nottingham to have a child, Regina gets so angry she takes things into her own hands and takes an infertility potion. However, when she takes it, you see her literally double over in pain; like you can see the visual effects of the potion working on the inside. Then for everything she goes through, she never ends up pregnant.

It's genuinely this reason as to why I believe that Snow was never infertile. The complete difference in their reactions says a lot. If Regina was in so much pain, then why wasn't Snow? Supposedly, George's wife also took one which is why he made the deal with Rumple to get a child from a poor farmer for his heir. I wonder, though, if he was even around when she took it. If he wasn't, it would explain why he didn't question that she was still standing. If he was, then either his wife had the same reaction as Snow-which I, personally would find suspicious-or he just assumed not everyone reacted the same way.

If there's anything I've learned from the Enchanted Forest, it's that reactions to certain things like potions and spells never waver; they don't change from person to person.

Snow, Master Manipulator?

Snow was quite young, and still impressionable when Cora and Regina came into her life. However, when we see her as an adult, you have to ask yourself if she is just a really good actress or a master manipulator with a conscious. The whole thing with Cora's death was a huge factor into this.

She managed to get into where Regina kept all of her hearts, and with such a straight and innocent face told Regina that she was getting Cora's heart FOR her so that Cora could love her fully for the first time. It makes it worse that we had actually seen her plan, so we knew that the innocent tone she took wasn't true. Despite how much Regina has hated and ad issues with Snow for all those years, she suddenly saw the little girl who just wanted to do right by her future stepmother.

We see Snow's conscious come through when David finds her after Regina leaves to give Cora her heart back; she is in complete tears and practically inconsolable. However, it begs the question: did Snow pick up her manipulative side from Cora and Regina?

Zelena and her Adoptive Father

TRIGGER WARNING: I did not title the area, so as not to cause an immediate trigger, but this is a HEAVILY DARK theory that includes SA and SA of a minor. You have been warned.

I mentioned earlier how I took to a Facebook group for the show to ask for fan theory opinions. This was a theory that came up, and I was REALLY shocked at first; but after reading the reasoning, and thinking a bit about it, I realized the horrific potential behind it: Zelena was sexually assaulted by her adoptive father.

The user who posted it mentioned a couple clues that are terrifyingly accurate for this suspicion. They mentioned that while she was shaving Rumple, she was playing with him in a slightly sexual way, but she was also talking about her father. There is also how much of an emotional mess that she is, as she struggles to deal with her feelings in a healthy way. Some women who go through this type of traumatic experience at a young age have this type of struggle as they get older, it's not unusual in any way for this to be a potential clue.

Zelena also has a thing for men who are more powerful than her, like Rumple and Hades. However, when compared what a "normal" relationship looks like (Regina and Robin, Emma and Hook, or even Snow and Charming) there is no normal sexual tension. Even in my own relationships, there's always some underlying tension even if it's a result of not having a lot of time for each other. Zelena and Hades never went further than kissing, but yet you see her use her body to get what she wants. We see it with Rumple when she tries to get him to teach her magic, but you also see it with Robin when they are in New York. Obviously with Robin, she took it a step further and guaranteed a pregnancy to keep him partly in revenge against Regina, but it was still her body that she used to get what she wanted.

Now, I want bring attention to the theory itself. The fact is that her adoptive mother died when she was young. She was also very clearly marked as beautiful. Her and her adoptive father lived alone in a cabin in the woods, where he used alcohol to cope with the loss of his wife. It's very clear he was extremely dependent on it, which lead to the issue of not being able to work, most likely due to shaking and rage ect. However, you can also tell that him not working caused problems and made them very poor. As his wife had died when Zelena was young, and he probably took straight to the bottle there is a possibility that he would have wanted to deal with the loneliness but not have the money to buy women to deal with it.

He makes it very clear that he never saw her as his daughter, as well. Therefore, it would not be too far-fetched to believe the sick impossible could have gone on. You know the saying... "Behind closed doors" and all that. It's also possible that he was very much not gentle with her when this happened, as in the Season 7 flashback we see her fear and avoidance who Ivo is very gentle as he gives her the necklace back.

While it's not a theory you would want to imagine, it's one that has clues to the possibility of being true. The same can be said about the curse of infertility; while you would never want to imagine that something that was supposed to curse two people could be cured for one and not the other, or rather just not take place well... As Rumple is famous for saying, "All magic, comes with a price!"

Come join our community, and tell us your thoughts on today's theories. Join me tomorrow as we go on the hunt for missing fairytale characters whose fates are unknown! Until then, keep on theorizing!