Emma Swan

"*As the Savior. It's a title I've thought about running from numerous times, but I never have, and what she did today reminded me why I don't run, why I fight. Because I want to protect my family and my friends and the people that I love*"
—Emma to Killian

Princess **Emma Swan**, also known as **the Savior**, briefly known as **the Dark One**, and alternatively known as **Princess Emma**, is the protagonist of the first six seasons of the ABC drama TV series, *Once Upon a Time*.

Emma is the mother of Henry Mills and Hope Jones, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, older sister of Neal Nolan, niece of Prince James, wife of Killian Jones, half-sister-in-law of Liam Jones II, sister-in-law of Liam Jones, granddaughter of Ruth, Queen Eva, and King Leopold, adoptive granddaughter of King George and the step-granddaughter and close friend/former enemy of Queen Regina.

Originally from the Enchanted Forest, Emma became an independent woman who also falls into the Real world, giving birth to a son she gave up for adoption. On her twenty-eighth birthday, Emma's wish of not being alone is answered when her son comes to take her back to her family. Finally breaking the curse after giving Henry true love's kiss, Emma fell through a portal with her mother and returning to her birthplace.

In the final battle, Emma and Rumplestiltskin restored the balance of good of evil after the Black Fairy's death.

Emma is portrayed by McKenna Grace as a child, Abby Ross as a teenager and Jennfer Morrison as an adult.

## Personality

As a product of true love, Emma has a pure heart, both physically and metaphorically. She is a deeply damaged and a very conflicted woman. Growing up, Emma had become conflicted. At the start of season 1, she is a loner, having no friends until her son shows up after ten years to help her save their family. Despite the fact she doesn't believe, Emma still cares about the other people around her. Like Mary Margaret, she grows to realize she is her family (while both of them were unaware of their relationship as mother and daughter. She later grows to be protective of her son Henry and played along with his curse because of her believing he had an overactive imagination. . Sometimes she is distrustful of those around her, because Lily Page had lied to her while they were friends hiding away.
She does not like being lied to and later becomes to trust her other friends.

## Physical Appearance

Emma has wavy blonde hair and hazel olive eyes. Her skin is as pale as her mother's white skin but crossed over with her father's skin tone. She is also very beautiful. Her signature clothes are black tank top, red leather jacket, blue jeans and boots,
Emma has her mother's facial structures and she inherited her hair from her father and eyes from her mother. As the Dark One, her skin is paler than her natural and she also has white hair. Emma also has worn dark clothes, undergoing hardly any physical change. After the darkness is removed from her, Emma then reverts back to having her blonde hair, red jacket, white shirt and jeans.

## Powers and Abilities

Emma has the Magic of True Love, which is one of the most powerful forms of magic of all. She exhibited true love's kiss by kissing Henry, breaking the curse instantly out of her maternal love towards her son. If any witch rips out Emma's heart, they will not succeed and only be blasted with an energy of magic. Because of her inexperience with magic, Regina becomes her magical mentor. Emma can also create fire by making fireballs and lighting candles of her own free will. She also had a powerful ability of lie detection due to the fact Emma had no magic until Storybrooke had been infested with magic.

### Weaknesses

* **Laws of Magic:** Emma is limited to the Laws of Magic. The laws of Magic state you can not bring back the dead, you can't make someone fall in love with you or time travel (though Zelena almost succeeded in breaking this law.
* **Leaving Storybrooke**: if she left Storybrooke, Emma would become mortal and then she would be powerless and lost all her magic. However, Emma can still leave Storybrooke more than most people

#### Former weaknesses

* **Dark One's dagger:** During her reign as the Dark One, Emma's weakness was her own dagger. Anyone who possessed it could control her every thoughts or actions. Whoever killed Emma with her dagger, she lost her title the Dark One and she would be predecessor of the new Dark One.

* **True love's kiss:** Another one would be true love's kiss, but it will not work unless she enjoyed the magic or if both Dark Ones are involved with each other.

## Relationships

### Family

* Henry Mills - Son
* Hope Jones - Daughter
* Lucy Mills - Granddaughter
* Prince Neal - Younger Brother
* Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard - Mother
* Prince Charming/David Nolan - Father
* Killian Jones/Captain Hook - Husband
* Queen Eva - Maternal Grandmother
* King Leopold - Maternal Grandfather
* Ruth - Paternal Grandmother
* Robert - Paternal Grandfather
* Prince James - Paternal Uncle
* Queen Regina - Step-Grandmother and Former Enemy turned Close Friend
* Cora - Step-Great-Grandmother and Enemy
* Prince Henry - Step-Great-Grandfather
* Xavier - Step-Great-Grandfather
* Zelena - Step-Great-Aunt and Former Enemy
* Robyn - Step-Great-Cousin

### Allies

* Neal Cassidy - Ex-Boyfriend, Love Interest, Father of Her Child
* Cleo Fox - Former Captor
* Fairy Tale Land
	+ Enchanted Forest Residents - Friends and Subjects
		- Little Red Riding Hood/Ruby Lucas
		- Widow Lucas/Granny
		- The Huntsman/Sheriff Graham Humbert † - Love Interest
		- Seven Dwarves
			* Grumpy/Leroy
			* Doc
			* Dopey - Former Cursed Victim
			* Bashful
			* Sleepy
			* Happy
			* Sneezy
		- Blue Fairy/Mother Superior
		- Aurora - Former Companion
		- Mulan - Former Companion
		- Pinocchio/August Booth - Close Friend
		- Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper - Former Therapist, Family Friend
		- Gepetto/Marco
		- Cinderella/Ashley Boyd -Family Friend
		- Hansel/Nicholas Zimmer
		- Gretel/Ava Zimmer
		- The Evil Queen/Regina Mills - Step-Grandmother and Enemy turned Ally and Close Friend
		- Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold
		- Marian † - Friend
		- Elsa - Close Friend
		- Lily - Former Best Friend
		- Merry Men
			* Robin Hood - Companion and Friend
			* Little John
		- Ursula - Former Enemy
		- Maleficent - Former Enemy turned Ally
	+ Wish Realm
		- Robin Hood (Wish Realm)
	+ Arendelle
		- Anna
		- Kristoff
		- Ingrid † - Former Adoptive Mother and Brief Enemy turned Ally
	+ Camelot
		- Merlin † - Mentor
	+ DunBroch
		- Merida - Former Enemy turned Ally
	+ Agrabah
		- Aladdin - Former Fellow Savior
		- Jasmine
* Evil Regina - Former Enemy turned Ally
* Killian Jones (Wish Realm)
* Neverland
	+ Lost Boys - Former Enemies turned Allies
	+ Tiger Lily

### Enemies

* Enchanted Forest
	+ Cora †
* Neverland
	+ Peter Pan †
	+ Felix †
	+ The Shadow †
* Tamara †
* Greg Mendell †
* Walsh/The Wizard of Oz †
* Magic Mirror/Sidney Glass
* Marshmallow †
* Merry Men
	+ Will Scarlet
* Cruella De Vil †
* Arthur Pendragon †
* Nimue †
* Hades †
* Cerberus †
* Mr. Hyde †
* Dark Realm
	+ Black Fairy †
	+ Gideon - Former Enemy and Former Killer
* Oz
	+ Flying Monkeys

## Character development

Emma was originally a girl named "Anna Swan" before her name was changed to what it is today. Also, Emma was originally going to have three children as opposed to one. Her iconic red leather jacket was originally black before it was changed back to her red color. Also, Emma was derived from two fairytales: "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen and the Black Swan, Odile from the play "Swan Lake".

### Fairytale Origin

Emma derives from the fairy tale "Snow White" and the Disney film, *Snow White and the Seven Dwarves* because her parents are Snow White and Prince Charming respectfully. Her fairytale alias, the "Dark Swan" comes from the Black Swan from the ballet, *Swan Lake* .

***Main Article: Ugly Duckling (character)***

She also comes from "The Ugly Duckling" in a way because the Duckling turns out to find no family because of his ugliness. He later finds his true family, like Emma does finding her true family and who she really is like the Duckling in the fairytale figured out of.

## Family tree

**Family notes:**

* † is the deceased
* The bold name is noting which character page this is.
* Henry was adopted by the evil Queen/Regina Mills.
* Emma and Neal were never married and thus Henry was born as their illegitimate son.

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Emma was born October 22, 1983. Since season seven takes place in 2018, Emma is currently 35.
2. ↑ https://oncepodcast.com/forums/topic/and-baby-swans-name-is/
3. ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/13/hot-seat-once-upon-time-bosses-answer-your-burning-questions
4. ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/13/hot-seat-once-upon-time-bosses-answer-your-burning-questions