Emma Swan

## Defining Moments

### Heroic Action

Breaking both the Sleeping Curse inflicted on her son and the Dark Curse placed on Storybrooke's inhabitants by giving Henry true love's kiss.

### Event Moral Horizon

Ripping out the heart of thirteen-year-old Violet Morgan and force her to break Henry's heart.

**Emma Swan** is the main protagonist of the ABC television series *Once Upon a Time*.

## History

Emma Swan is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, Who was born in the Enchanted Forest on October 22, 1983 the day the Dark Curse was cast. Her parents were forced to give her best chance by transporting her to the land without magic. Gepetto secretly sent his son, Pinocchio through the wardrobe first so the curse wouldn't turn him back into a puppet. Tasked to look after Emma, Pinocchio takes her to an diner, where they were both sent into the foster system. He later abandoned the baby Emma, leaving her to grow up alone. After several foster homes, Emma never truly feel like she was at home. She was adopted at the age of three; however, her foster parents gave her up when they had a block child of their own.

In 1989, Emma and some children from her group home visit a movie theater in Minnesota to watch the Disney film, *The Sword in the Stone.* ￼She is cryptically warned by an usher to never pull Excalibur from the stone, no matter what the cost. Being 6 years old at the time, Emma is frightened by the usher's warning. In reality, the Usher was secretly, the wizard Merlin and Emma wouldn't remember this encounter until she was an adult. A year later Emma runs away from home again after feeling unwanted. A teenage runaway tells her that running from home is not the answer and inspires her to take the last name Swan after telling her the true message of the ugly Duckling

At age fifteen, Emma met another runaway teen, Lily Page, who claimed to be an orphan like her. However, Emma learned that Lily was lying to her when she encounters James, Lily's adoptive father. Angered, she withdrew from her as Lily called out to her. Emma was later sent to a foster home ran by Ingrid, who was a native of Arendelle sent from Emma's homeworld. The two bonded until Ingrid pulled her in front of a moving car and urged her to stop it with her magic. Instead, Emma moved out of the way and it gave her the impression that Ingrid was insane. Running away, Emma was adopted by a couple, Katie and her husband Bill, until Lily appeared again. She was tricked into breaking into Lily's boyfriend's apartment to retrieve a necklace from the room. When her foster parents found out the truth why Emma and Lily knew each other, Emma ran away from home yet again when Bill accused her of putting their children in danger, which didn't include her. Angry at Lily for ruining her chances having a family, Emma walked away from her for good, having many regrets later in life.

## Analysis

### Unforgivable Moments

#### As the Dark One

Since Emma became the Dark One, she struggled with between her dark magic and her light magic.

* When she first recieved her powers, she ripped out Merida's heart and most likely would have killed her until her family appeared.
* In order to free Merlin, Emma uses her dark powers:
* Watched the origins of how Merlin got trapped in the tree in the first place and how King Arthur and Guinevere enchanted her parents in a Dreamcatcher. at first she kept its secret from Regina of how she knew this until telling her otherwise.
	+ In order to free Merlin, Emma and Regina need the tears of someone who suffered their first heartbreak. After being told by Henry he is in love with the girl violet  Emma secretly approaches her.Knowing Regina's tear will not be enough to free Merlin, Emma rips out Violet's heart and forces her to break Henry's heart. This act is presumably one of the most horrific things Emma could ever do, especially when she intentionally but rather sadly did this.
	+ In "Dreamcatcher," Regina and Robin later view this memory in a dreamcatcher's they stole from Emma's house earlier. Henry was heartbroken by it when he saw Emma's acts several weeks later, proving this to be the most terrible thinking she could have ever done.
* Unwilling to lose Hook after being wounded by Excalibur's wound, Emma uses the Darkness to tether him to the blade and make him another Dark One. While she is doing it to save the man she loves, Emma is still disregarding Killian's dying request. However, in the present-day, Emma is forced to kill Hook and destroy the Darkness with Excalibur.

### Heroic moments

#### Pre-Series

* Knowing she couldn't be a mother or provide for a son, she gave up Henry for adoption to give him a better chance.

#### Season 3

* At first, Emma wants to take Henry away from Storybrooke after they defeated Zelena. However, Emma changed her mind after watching her mother supposedly dying at Regina's hands. She decides to stay when they return

#### Season 6

* Emma breaks up her engagement to Hook because he was never going to tell her the truth of how he killed her paternal grandfather. However, they later forgive and become engaged again.

## Trivia

* Emma is based off of the ugly duckling from the fairy tale story of the same name written by Hans Christian Anderson.
	+ When she is the Dark One, she is a play on of the Black Swan from the ballet Swan Lake.
	+ She could also allude to Marty McFly (both due to traveling in time, and accidentally preventing their parents from meeting and falling in love. Their mission is to get their parents back together in order to both save the future and ensure their own existence isn't erased.)
	+ Or based on a Orpheus, the hero who went into the underworld to rescue his lover and bring her back to life. Emma does the exact same thing in season 5, going to the underworld to bring Hook back to life.