The Queen's Castle (Once Upon a Time)

The Queen's Castle is one of the main locations in the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time. It belonged to Snow White after both her parents died and was soon taken over by the Evil Queen who caused Snow to leave the castle and become a bandit on the run from the queen.
==History==
===Before the First Curse===
Many years prior to the first curse, Snow White was born here and was raised by her parents, King Leopold and Queen Eva, up until Eva's death when Snow was about 8 years old. Following the queen's death, Leopold married Regina Mills by order of her mother, Cora Mills, eventually becoming queen. As Snow White grew up, the queen became resentful of the princess and grew to hate her stepdaughter with a passion after her father died. By the time Snow reached teenhood or adulthood, she was forced to flee the castle to survive against the queen, who vowed to kill her by crushing her heart.
As the years went by, Regina built a crypt to keep all the hearts of her victims. When Snow falls in love with Prince Charming, she and her fiance' vow to take back the castle and kingdom from the queen. However, Some time later, Regina threatened the kingdom with plans to enact a dark curse to destroy their happiness. The queen succeeded and the people of the kingdom were sent from the Enchanted Forest to a new location, created by magic, named Storybrooke, which became the Land Without Magic. During this time, the castle remained in the forest while Regina also joined the Enchanted Forest residents in Storybrooke, but as mayor, for 28 years.
===Before the Second Curse===
Many years later, after the first curse is broken, the residents of Storybrooke are sent back to the Enchanted Forest while Emma and Henry lose their memories of their lives in the town and spend a year in New York City with new memories. During these events, Zelena the Wicked Witch from Oz takes ownership of the castle and Regina sneaks her way in to find out who is in there. Regina is able to enter and meets Zelena, who reveals she is the queen's half-sister through Cora. A while later, Charming and Snow realise they must enact another curse to return to Storybrooke and get Emma to return. They are successful through Charming sacrificing his own life so they can return home. Regina splits Snow's heart to allow Charming to live while the curse takes effect and Zelena adds a forgetful potion so no one remembers the past year. Everyone returns to Storybrooke while the castle, again, remains vacant.
===During the Alternate Reality===
When the author creates a new reality where Snow and Charming are the villains, they are owners of the castle while Prince Henry is a knight, residing there too and their step-daughter Regina is on the run. Snow White strolls up to the man, Isaac, and wonders which part of his body she'll separate first. Isaac insists he is on her side and warns her about a boy named Henry who is trying to take away her happiness. Wordlessly, the Queen walks back to her throne, using a heart to summon Prince Charming, who she orders to sever Isaac's head. Desperate to save himself, Isaac reveals he know who Snow White truly loves and that he died because of Regina. Convincing her that Regina is a threat and Henry is dangerous, he persuades the Queen into revenge, revealing where her stepdaughter's location. When Snow White questions what he wants out of it, Isaac asks her to kill Regina and Henry.
Regina and Henry are soon on the run with the Seven Dwarfs hunting them. While walking around the table, Snow White reasons that she is not angry at them, but must set an example for their failures to motivate them to do better next time. Eventually, she stops behind Doc, ripping out his heart and crushing it, as her other followers look on in terror. After Doc is dead, Snow White warns Grumpy against failing again or she'll cut down another dwarf. Following her departure from the room, everyone remains speechless, which is followed by Doc's lifeless body slumping off the table.
===During the Fourth Curse===
After the Black Fairy enacts a new curse, the heroes - minus Emma who is affected by the curse - are banished back to the castle. While there, they are able to observe Emma who is being antagonised by Fiona to burn the storybook that will destroy all fairytales and the characters. Later, Regina transports herself and other survivors to the palace so she can begin working on a way back to Storybrooke. Hook, with his own plan in mind, leaves to fetch a magic bean. As Regina works on cauldron brew, she asks Zelena to pick out lizardhorn from her collection, but the redhead notes that there is none left. Regina is then astonished to see that all her ingredients are gone and suspects someone broke into the palace recently. The two investigate a banging door, believing the culprit is on the other side, however, the door opens to reveal the Evil Queen, who freely admits to living in the palace ever since she left the Wish Realm with Robin because everyone there was trying to kill her. Emma's belief continues to fade, which is continuing to destroy other worlds. Following Charming's fall from the Beanstalk, Snow senses something has happened to him, to which Jasmine travels with her on a flying carpet to find him. Hook, after being found by Snow and told to return to the palace, presents the bean to Regina. Through the mirror, the two Regina's, Zelena, and Hook observe Henry, who tells them of his determination to fight the Black Fairy on his own since Emma cannot. The queen perishes and Regina takes everyone to the courtyard and they all hold onto each other as they embrace, ready for the impact, just as Emma's belief returns.
==Trivia==
*The castle is black, which contrasts to her Storybrooke house, which is white.
*According to Robin Hood, the castle is located closely to Sherwood Forest, stated in "The Tower".
**Charming also mentions that it is less than a day's ride from Aurora's palace.
*During King Leopold's reign, the castle had a lighter look to it and the decor was more cheerful, but after his death, the castle's look became darker and a lot more black was used, symbolising Regina's dark personality and her evil plans.
==Gallery==
Once Upon a Time - 2x02 - We Are Both - The Evil Queen's Palace.PNG
Evil-Queen-castle.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 6x10 - Wish You Were Here - Dark Palace.jpg|The palace in the wish realm.
==External links==
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Category:Locations
Category:Once Upon a Time locations
Category:Heroes' residences
Category:Villain's lair
Category:Castles