Emma Swan
Emma Swan is a fictional character and the protagonist of ABC's television series Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by Jennifer Morrison as an adult, by Abby Ross as a teenager, and by Mckenna Grace as a child. Emma appears in the series' pilot as a bail bond agent in Boston, Massachusetts, until she meets her biological son Henry, whom she gave up for adoption 10 years before. She learns she is the long lost daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who gave her up shortly after her birth 28 years ago so she wouldn't die at the hands of Regina Mills, also known as the Evil Queen. Sadly, she doesn’t learn this vital information until the beginning of season two. Henry tells Emma of her true identity; she is the prophesied “Savior” and is destined to break the Evil Queen’s curse, saving the fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine, and restoring the residents’ happy endings.
Morrison described her character at the beginning of the first season as "broken, damaged and worldly." During the fourth season finale, "Operation Mongoose," Emma absorbs the power of the Dark One into herself to save Regina. In order to successfully create a dark version of Emma, Morrison explained that "In order to build Dark Emma, I've been doing a bunch of research there with some of their mythology books and old fairy tale books and just looking back through the history of swans and the etymology of 'Swan'" and explained that Emma's rate of evolution "challenged on a daily basis." Emma became the primary antagonist of the fifth season's first half, until the end of the season's eighth episode when it is revealed that she was never actually evil and was an anti-villain during that time.
Morrison's portrayal of Emma has received praise, with some reviewers noting a feminist twist in the depiction of fairy tales and a strong female lead. She is loosely based on the title character of the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling," a swan which was lost and raised by ducks, before finding its birth family and recognizing its true nature, while her Dark One persona is loosely based on Odile from the ballet Swan Lake. It is revealed in the season 6 episode "Tougher Than the Rest" that she chose the last name Swan when she was young after a friend mentioned that story.
Character development and casting
In the early stages of the conception of the character, Emma's name was Anna, and she was supposed to have three children, but she ended up having just Henry. In the original script of the pilot she is described as "Late 20s. Beautiful, with great strength behind classic features. But also not quite at home in her skin."It was reported that actress Katee Sackhoff auditioned five times for the role of Emma but, according to her, the producers really wanted Morrison to play the part, and she accepted a role in the television series Longmire. In the end, Morrison was hired for the part of Emma. Morrison explained her character as someone who "help her son Henry whom she abandoned when he was a baby and who seems like he's a little bit emotionally dysfunctional," but noted that Emma does not start out believing in the fairytale universe. Morrison has described Emma as being like an overgrown teenager who does not know how to properly do certain things, like eating or taking care of herself; this is due to Emma not growing up in a family unit. Morrison said that when she does not know what to do with Emma, she thinks, "What a 14-year-old boy would do?" According to the creators of the series, the name Swan is "very symbolic and fairy tale name and it just felt right for her and for the journey we are creating for Emma."
After Emma became the "Dark One" at the end of the fourth season of the series, Morrison began doing research with mythology books and old fairy tale books and looking back through the history of swans and the etymology of 'Swan' to prepare for this new trait of her character. Morrison said that it was a great opportunity to now play a villain and it was challenging for her to portray a character that is constantly evolving.
Character Background
Emma is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, older sister to Prince Neal, wife of Killian Jones/Captain Hook and mother to Henry Daniel Mills and Hope Swan-Jones.Seasons 1 & 2
When Snow White becomes pregnant, Geppetto forms a magical wardrobe for her and Charming, after Rumplestiltskin informs them that their daughter is the key to breaking the Evil Queen's curse in 28 years. Emma is born shortly after and placed in the wardrobe along with Pinocchio, successfully traveling to the new land. Pinocchio leaves Emma in the foster home, which brings Emma to live alone.In the real world, Emma grows up in foster care, bouncing from various families, one including Ingrid, the Snow Queen. As a teenager, Emma becomes a petty criminal with Neal Cassidy. They plan to start a new life in Tallahassee, Florida, until Neal is persuaded by August Booth to turn Emma over to the police, to protect her destiny. Emma is jailed, later giving birth to Henry, whom she gives up for adoption to give him a better life; he is then adopted by Regina Mills. After some time in prison, Emma becomes a bail bond agent. On her 28th birthday, a 10-year-old Henry Mills arrives in Boston, explaining Emma's origins. Disbelieving him, she returns him home to Regina in Storybrooke, who becomes worried that Emma wants to be in Henry's life. Regina's repeated warnings to leave town and keep out of Henry's life make Emma decide to stay. In Storybrooke, Emma initially wants Henry to let go of his theories of the curse, but later plays along. She moves in with Mary Margaret, unaware that they are related, and Sheriff Graham appoints Emma his deputy as the two form an attraction, until Regina crushes his heart, causing him to die in Emma's arms. Emma is soon elected sheriff, assisting in the arrest of Mary Margaret for the alleged murder of Kathryn Nolan until she is found alive. When August Booth arrives in Storybrooke revealing her destiny of breaking the curse, a pressured Emma decides to leave the town, not wanting Henry to suffer from her and Regina's feud. Regina, however, attempts to poison Emma, though Henry willingly consumes it to prove that magic exists. Emma finally believes, but Henry is pronounced dead. However, he is awoken with true love's kiss from Emma, thus breaking the curse and allowing all residents to remember their true identities.
Emma reunites with her parents, only to fall through a portal with her mother to the Enchanted Forest. They meet Princess Aurora and Mulan who help them return to Storybrooke. Emma then helps Mr. Gold travel to Manhattan to locate his son Baelfire, who she discovers is Henry's father Neal. Returning to Storybrooke, Emma deals with Regina and her mother Cora who are trying to use Mr. Gold to kill them and take back Henry but they eventually stop them then end up dealing with newcomers Greg Mendell and Neal's fiancée Tamara. Emma's skeptical theories on the pair are proven correct when it is revealed they want to destroy magic. After Emma and Regina stop their trigger to destroy Storybrooke, Henry is taken to Neverland by Greg and Tamara; Emma, Neal, her parents, Regina, Hook and Mr. Gold follow them.
Seasons 3 & 4
The team eventually manages to rescue Henry from the sinister Peter Pan, and return to Storybrooke. However, Pan enacts the original curse once more, forcing Emma and Henry to leave Storybrooke after Regina reverses her curse, erasing the events following its enactment. Emma's past is temporarily altered by Regina. After leaving Storybrooke, Emma lives with Henry in New York City. Sometime later, she meets Walsh and they begin dating.One year after the curse's reversal, Hook restores Emma's memories with a potion and the two return to Storybrooke with Henry to save her family by breaking the new curse caused by Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West. She finds an insane Neal trapped within Mr. Gold's body. Losing his mind, Neal asks for Emma to free his father by killing him to defeat Zelena; she reluctantly agrees. Regina later helps Emma to strengthen her magical powers, though they are removed when Zelena curses Hook but thanks to Regina they managed to defeat Zelena and close her time portal.
After Emma and Hook are dragged into Zelena's time portal, she accepts Storybrooke as her home, regaining her magic to re-open the portal to the present where she begins a relationship with Hook. However, unaware to her, she also brings a previously deceased Maid Marian to the future which ruins Regina's happiness, having not heeded the warning of messing with the past. Elsa, who was trapped in an urn, was also brought to Storybrooke by the time portal. While working with Elsa, who helps Emma to finally embrace and control her powers, Emma helps her new friend find her sister and return home while balancing the threat of the Snow Queen, who turns out to have been one of Emma's foster mothers, against her friends and family. After a period of peace, Emma begins to help Regina on her quest to find the Author of Henry's book. Cruella De Vil and Ursula soon come into town resurrecting Maleficent and working with Rumplestiltskin to find the very same author, intent on giving villains their happy endings. After Cruella De Vil threatens to kill Henry, Emma kills her, soon after learning of her parents' actions of removing Emma's potential for darkness by putting black magic within Maleficent's daughter and Emma's childhood friend Lily. She also learns that her entire life is controlled by destiny. After Emma returns to town, with the encouragement from Hook, she chooses to forgive, apologizes to her parents for how she unjustly mistreated them, and let go of her anger. But little did she know it or bothered to, but the author was the one who made her parents hurt Maleficent and Lily under the writing of his pen in order to hurt both because he foolishly believed they and real heroes represent his bad bosses from his past. In moments before the finale, Emma is able to finally let her walls down and tells Hook she loves him. Emma then chooses to sacrifice herself for the town of Storybrooke, asking her parents and Hook to save her, she voluntarily plunges the dagger into the Darkness, transforming into the new Dark One.