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Villain Overview

Love is weakness.
~ Cora Mills's iconic phrase.

Cora Mills is a major antagonist in ABC's television series, Once Upon a Time, and a minor character in the spinoff series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

She takes the place of the Miller's Daughter from the tale of Rumplestiltskin and the Queen of Hearts from the Lewis Carroll novel Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. She is the mother of Regina the Evil Queen and Zelena the Wicked Witch and a prominent enemy of Snow White and her family.

She was portrayed by Barbara Hershey, Jennifer Koenig, and Rose McGowan (who also portrayed Courtney Shayne in the 1999 live action film Jawbreaker, Marique in Conan the Barbarian, and Parallel World Paige Matthews in Charmed).

Personality[]

Cora was a cruel and controlling woman who appears to have forgotten her humble origins, always wanting to achieve royal status at all costs. She learned how to control magic to turn her life around, but all that power went to her head. While she could have changed Rumplestiltskin's trajectory by loving him, her actions led him to double down on his most paranoid, malicious plans instead. Cora had the opportunity for love with Rumplestiltskin or with her husband Henry, who seemed to adore her. Instead, she ripped her own heart out so as not to be influenced by it again.

She loves her daughter very much but would always force her to do the lessons that would lead her to becoming a Queen. Cora raised Regina under strict control, using magic as a punishment. She raised her daughter to believe that status and magic were the ways to get ahead in life. When Regina found love, she killed her daughter's lover Daniel because she thought he was too lowly for her. Regina's mother took it away to force her into an unwanted marriage, and then consistently continued to meddle in her life even after being sent away, pushing Regina to be her worst self.

As for Zelena, Cora abandoned her in the forest to die, and then ignored her for the rest of her life. It was later revealed that Cora knew exactly where Zelena was, tracking her down in Oz to save Regina, only to abandon her yet again, making Zelena the jealous and insecure villain in season three. With even more influence like the fact that she abandoned Zelena and erased memories of Zelena and Regina together as children so her plans wouldn't be ruined.

Cora also had a relationship with Snow White. She tried to corrupt Snow from childhood, offering her a chance to save her mother by choosing someone else to die instead. While it didn't work then, something about Cora was dangerous and anger-inducing enough for Snow to do something terrible, which fundamentally changed her nature and perception of self.

Beyond her influence on Rumple and Regina, Cora was a ruthless villain in her own right. She was all about power, doing everything she could to become royalty which eventually she did by taking hearts and killing to gain power in the Enchanted Forest and in Wonderland as the Queen of Hearts. With a room so large in the Enchanted Forest alone, there were easily hundreds of people's beating hearts under her complete control at any given point in time.

For much of her life, Cora used masks to hide her true self. When Cora was younger, she sneaks into a castle during a masquerade ball to try and win over the affection of Prince Henry. She wore a mask to hide her true self; the poor miller's daughter. It was this disguise that sent her down a path of hiding her identity to further her position in the world. Later, when she's sent through the looking glass to Wonderland, Cora became the Queen of Hearts as she had a knack for taking hearts. As the Queen of Hearts, she always wore a red veil over her face or a gold and red masquerade mask baton. This was another symbolic way to mask who she is so that she can become this strange, mysterious leader who strikes fear in her subjects.

As the Queen of Hearts, she did not like outsiders in Wonderland always asking how and why a person has come to Wonderland. To mask her identity, the Queen of Hearts communicates through whispers by using a horn that the Knave of Hearts would speak for acting as her herald. She had a short temper, easily decapitating an individual if they annoyed her.

She finally took off her mask in season 2 to show her true self to Hook when he's brought to her castle. Cora has been seeking a way to Storybrooke to find her daughter and after the Dark Curse broke, she met Emma and Snow White. Cora later took the form of Lancelot to find the portal to take her to Storybrooke and after she was exposed, Cora said she killed him a long time ago, but it was revealed that he survived in season 5.

After the Dark Curse was broken, she massacred an entire community to send a message and nearly became the Dark One, which could have made her the most powerful villain in the series. Those in the Enchanted Forest who didn't get taken by the Dark Curse formed their community, which functioned relatively well until Cora didn't find them useful anymore. When the heroes return to the village, they find everything destroyed, with villagers sporting bloody chests from hearts ripped out.

In order to get the Dark One Dagger from Snow White in Storybrooke, Cora threatens the life of Snow's childhood maid Johanna, one of the last living ties to Snow's mother. Even though Snow gives up the Dagger to save Johanna, Cora still hurls Johanna out of the clock tower and plummets to her death, an act that was both unnecessary and cruel.

Cora manipulates her own daughter and her desperation to be reunited with Henry, just so Cora can get the Dark One Dagger and the power she desires. In many ways, Cora is a more manipulative and merciless version of her daughter. While Regina is struggling to become a better person, Cora impedes her progress for her own selfish gain.

Because she had no heart, she had no real weaknesses, though she also could not find peace and pass on until she experienced real love for her daughters in the Underworld.

Powers and Abilities[]

Cora was a powerful and deadly sorceress who many feared, including her own teacher Rumplestiltskin and her daughter Regina, the former of which barely won a duel against Cora. Her original power was spinning straw into gold. Cora used magic via spell books and incantations. When Cora used magic, it gave a pink, violet or purple glow. Her magical abilities included telekinesis, able to lift and throw objects and people, teleportation of herself and others, making objects appear out of thin air via purple smoke, and turning things invisible. Cora can also perform acts of transformation over herself or someone else and created a protective shield that blocked out the Dark Curse in a small portion of the land.

She was also able to easily manipulate the natural elements; fire, earth, air and water, but above all she has shown a greater affinity in manipulating vegetation (both when she prevents Regina from escaping from her marriage and even during her long period as Queen of Hearts).

Her most signature powerful act of magic was ripping out hearts and storing them away. Cora used the hearts of others to control a victim's speech and actions, used a heart to reanimate her victims' dead bodies, and mostly crushing and killing her victims. Having her heart ability led her to become the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland. Cora, as the Queen of Hearts' magic allowed her to cause physiologically impossible situations, such as cutting off someone's head without the occurrence of death (a skill that she also transmitted to her pupil, the Red Queen).

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Arguably, Cora is one of the main antagonists of the series as whole, as she is behind three main antagonists.
    • She killed Regina's true love, which caused her to go dark and become the Evil Queen, and eventually the main antagonist of season 1.
    • She herself was the main antagonist of Season 2A.
    • She abandoned Zelena and sent her to Oz, which led to her becoming the Wicked Witch of the West and the main antagonist of the second half of season 3.
  • She is also responsible for Anastasia's dark turn in the spin-off series, as she is the one who taught the future Red Queen how to use magic and has partly contributed to widening the rift between the girl and her true love Will Scarlet.
  • Without her heart, Cora is Pure Evil, not showing any signs of love whatsoever and believing that love is weakness. She shows remorse over this upon regaining her heart.
  • Cora appeared in and was an antagonist in every single season of the show, except Season 6. This includes the spin-off series.
  • She is the main antagonist of Souls of the Departed, working under from Hades.
  • Cora is one of two main antagonists to redeem herself in the underworld after death, other being King Arthur (though some consider him secondary antagonist to Emma or Hook in Season 5 Part 1).

Navigation[]

           OnceUponATimeTitle Villains

Main Villains

Regina Mills/Evil Queen | Rumplestiltskin | Cora Mills | Captain Hook | Tamara | Greg Mendell | Malcolm | Zelena | Ingrid the Snow Queen | Maleficent | Ursula | Cruella De Vil | Isaac Heller | Emma Swan | The Darkness | Nimue | Hades | Fiona | Lady Tremaine | Drizella | Mother Gothel | Anastasia | Jafar |

Secondary Villains
King George | The Shadow | Felix | King Arthur | Mr. Hyde | Gideon | Dr. Facilier | Jabberwocky |

Other Villains
Magic Mirror | Prince James | Blind Witch | Knave of Hearts | Monstro | Wraith | Mr. Smee | Anita | Jacqueline | Sheriff of Nottingham | Medusa | Blackbeard | Jonathan | Bo Peep | Prince Hans | Duke of Weselton | Chernabog | Lily Page | Captain Silver | Gaston | Mordred | Lady Tremaine | Clorinda | Henry Jekyll | The Woodcutter | Isla | Cheshire Cat | Caterpillar | Snow White | David | The Walrus & the Carpenter |

Groups
Dark Ones | Black Knights | Lost Boys | Flying Monkeys | Hans' Brothers | Queens of Darkness | Coven of the Eight |

           Alice in Wonderland LogoVillains

Books
Alice in Wonderland: Queen of Hearts | Card Soldiers
Through the Looking-Glass: The Jabberwock | Jubjub Bird | Frumious Bandersnatch | The Walrus & the Carpenter
Unbirthday: Queen of Hearts | Card Cutter
Bilbiomania: Alice | Books (Serpent)
Alice (2016): The Jabberwocky | The Rabbit | Caterpillar | The Walrus
Red Queen: White Queen | Black King | The Goblin | The Jabberwocky
Looking Glass: The Jabberwocky | The Bird-Man | The Boy | Rabbit | The Grinder | Wilhelmina Ray

Movies
Alice in Wonderland (1951): Queen of Hearts | Cheshire Cat | Card Soldiers | King of Hearts | The Walrus & the Carpenter
Care Bears: Adventures in Wonderland: The Wizard of Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1999): Queen of Hearts | Card Soldiers | The Walrus & the Carpenter
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Iracebeth of Crims/Red Queen | Ilosovic Stayne/Knave of Hearts | Card Soldiers | The Jabberwocky | Jubjub Bird | Bandersnatch | Hamish Ascot
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): Iracebeth of Crims/Red Queen | Hamish Ascot | Card Soldiers | The Jabberwocky

Television
Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966): The Jabberwock | The Three Witches
Alice (2009): Queen of Hearts | King of Hearts | Card Soldiers | Mad March
Once Upon a Time: Cora Mills | Knave of Hearts | Card Soldiers
Ever After High: Courtly Jester | Cheshire
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Jafar | Jabberwocky | Red Queen | Cheshire Cat | Caterpillar
Alice in Borderland: Mira Kano/Queen of Hearts | Takeru Danma/The Hatter

Video Games
American McGee's Alice: Queen of Hearts | Jabberwock | Red King | Card Soldiers | Tweedledee & Tweedledum | Mad Hatter | Duchess | March Hare | Dormouse | Voracious Centipede
Alice: Madness Returns: Angus Bumby/Dollmaker | Queen of Hearts | Ruins | Card Soldiers | Executioner | March Hare | Dormouse | Tweedledee & Tweedledum | Mad Hatter
Trick or Alice: Shadow/Kamijou Tooya

Theatrical
Wonderland: Mad Hatter

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