Regina Mills

Regina Mills is a major antagonist of the ABC drama, Once Upon a Time. Presently, she is the Mayor of the town of Storybrooke, but her former identity in the fairy tale world is Snow White's evil stepmother. She is portrayed by actress Lana Parrilla.

History
As a young woman, Regina was constantly tormented by her mother, the powerful sorceress Cora, who wanted her daughter to marry into a life of wealth and luxury. However, Regina was already in love with a handsome stable boy named Daniel.

Cora got Regina noticed by widowed King Leopold, by having the pony of his daughter, Snow White, go wild, and the girl was saved by Regina. As a motion of gratitude, the king asked Regina to marry him and be Snow White's mother, an offer Cora accepted for her.

Regina begged Daniel to elope with her, but the lovers were caught by Snow White. Though the little girl was upset that Regina did not want to marry her father, Snow White wanted Regina to be with her true love, and promised that this event would stay a secret. Unfortunately, Cora manipulated Snow White into telling her about her daughter's love, and acted against it by murdering Daniel in front of Regina. Heartbroken, Regina went along with her marriage to King Leopold, where Snow White revealed that she had told Cora about Daniel. From that moment on, Regina swore revenge on Snow White for destroying her happiness.

Queen Regina's first act against Snow White was to manipulate a genie into killing the king. She then tried to have a misanthropic huntsman murder Snow White, but he spared her. After finally finding the object of her hate to be living with dwarves, the Queen found the poisoned apple and captured the true love of Snow White: Prince David. Regina told her step-daughter that in return for Snow White willingly eating the apple, David would remain unharmed.

The victory over Snow White was short-lived, as David found and awoke her with True Love's Kiss. On the lover's wedding day, the Queen swore that, not only Snow White and her loved ones, but everyone would feel her revenge. She performed a curse that transported all fairytale characters to a town called Storybrooke in the real world, where they are comletely unaware of their true selves, and living lives that are missing what they loved most.

Though she finally had her victory, Regina became lonely, so she adopted a boy she named Henry. However, Henry turned out to be the son of Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince David, and the one person destined to brake Regina's curse.

Personality
Regina is ruthless, cunning, and downright evil. She cares nothing for others, but genuinly loves her adopted son Henry, and will do anything to keep him. She even killed her father, the last human being she cared for, to activate the curse. When someone she dislikes interferes with her life, she will often have the sheriff arrest that person. She has control over everyone in the town, and almost every citizen is afraid of her, except for Mr. Gold and Emma.

Powers and Abilities
As the Evil Queen, she has an immense arsenal of magical powers including: teleportation, elemental manipulation, casting curses (notably the Dark Curse), casting various spells (i.e. barrier spell, immobilizing spell, preservation spell) and telekinesis. As Regina, once magic is introduced to her in Storybrooke she is shown wielding her powers of spell casting, elemental manipulation, telekinesis, and increased physical abilities (catching an arrow that was shot at her).

We learn in the Season 2 Episode "The Doctor" that magic was taught to her by Rumplestilskin. She hoped that he could teach her how to bring back her lover Daniel, who was killed by Cora, from the grave. This however ultimately fails and causes her to transform from sweet, innocent, Regina into the Evil Queen.