Regina was born in the shadow of her mother who constantly reminded Regina that whatever it was that she did, it was for her ‘own good.’ Regina was raised Royally though she wanted no part of it; all she wanted was to ride horses and be free, however her mother would not allow it. Regina grew rebellious and eventually fell in love with the stable boy, Daniel. The two met in secret on a regular basis and one day, Daniel proposed. The two planned on running away together, Regina cared not for her royal future; all she wanted was true love.

On the afternoon before they were to run off together, Regina heard a little girl’s cry for help and spotted a little girl on the back of a spooked horse, running to their sure death. Regina jumped on her own horse and chased down the little girl, eventually stopping the wild horse and saving the little girls life. It wasn’t until Regina got home that she realized that the little girl was King Leopold’s daughter, Snow White, and King Leopold was out and about looking for a wife. And since this woman had saved his daughter from her death, he sought out Regina at once.

Regina’s mother, Cora, accepted the betrothal on Regina’s behalf and in anger, Regina ran to the stables, determined to run away with Daniel. She met with him in the barn and cried out her worries to her lover, however Snow White, who had come to thank Regina and also welcome her as her new mother, overheard everything and ran off, crying. Regina chased after Snow and tried to tell her about true love, and made her promise not to tell anyone. Snow White promised not to tell. Regina and Daniel then decided that it would be best for them to run away on a different day, and so their secret remained hidden.

Cora took it upon herself to start spending time with little Snow White since she was to be her step-granddaughter. Cora then began telling Snow that she was jealous that she and Regina got along so well, since Regina seemed to distance herself away from her. She then went on to tell Snow that she was upset because all she wanted was to make Regina happy. Snow, unable to hold the secret any longer, then begged Cora to not make Regina marry her father because she was in love with someone else. Cora then took it upon herself to put the pieces together.

On the night that Regina and Daniel were to run away together, the night before the wedding, Regina met Daniel in the stables; however Cora had followed her daughter there and found out everything. Out of rage that Regina was going to throw away her right to be Queen, Cora ripped out Daniel’s heart and crushed it in front of Regina, demanding that she marry King Leopold and take the throne as Queen. Now heart-broken and left with no other choice, Regina married the King and became Snow White’s step-mother. But she never stopped thinking about Daniel. It was because of this empty hole in her heart that got Regina thinking…can magic bring back the dead? There was only one person that would ever be capable of doing such a thing…and so she summoned Rumpelstiltskin and became his apprentice, learning the ways of dark magic although Rumpelstiltskin made it quite clear that “…dead is dead…” So Regina began to fill the empty hole in her heart with power, anger, and vengeance towards Snow White and in the process, killed her very own mother.

Years of plotting and planning, Regina finally came up with the perfect way to get back at Snow White. Through her heart. Regina staged Snow’s father’s ‘accidental’ death and reveled in her tears at the funeral. Afterwards, Regina sent out her Huntsman to chase Snow down through the woods and bring back her heart. The Huntsman, however having a kind heart, let Snow go and tried to trick the Queen by bringing her the heart of a stag instead. Regina was not fooled.

Regina spent the next couple of years searching for Snow White through the forest, but never prevailed. Snow just always seemed to be one step ahead of her, all the time. And so Regina, tired of playing the game of cat and mouse, took matters into her own hands and began to torture her subjects. Anyone who knew information about Snow White but kept it to themselves was killed and thus the blood count by Regina’s own hand grew and grew the longer Snow hid. Snow was unable to take it anymore, unable to let others take the fall for something she had done, and so she agreed to meet Regina to make the bloodshed stop.

Regina handed Snow a poisoned apple, telling Snow that if she did not take it willingly, Regina would kill Prince James (Charming) as she had him captive and continue to torture the innocent people in the villages. Seeing that Snow had no other choice, she bit the apple and fell lifeless to the ground.

Now all Regina had to do was make sure that ‘True Loves Kiss’ wouldn’t be able to break the curse, and so, she went to Rumpelstiltskin for a curse that would keep the two of them apart forever. However, the curse came with a heavy price, and Regina was forced to rip the heart out of her very own father to create the curse. Now, it is only a matter of moments before this curse is unleashed and will destroy the entire Enchanted Forest.