caution for the vain

the-silence-in-between:

Out of every character on Once Upon a Time, I think that I may hate King Leopold the most, and no, I’m not kidding about that.  I’ve seen a lot of people around the Internet arguing that Leopold is actually a perfectly nice guy who’s just written/acted a little weirdly, and NO.  I know that most Regina fangirls already know what a grade-A tool Leopold is, but I’m hoping that this post can be busted out any time someone tries to argue about what a nice guy Leopold is, because really, NO.

Actually, I take that back — Leopold is totally a Nice Guy™.  I’m sure that you know a Nice Guy™, too — that perfectly kind, polite gentleman who opens all the doors for you and stands when you enter the room and secretly thinks that the fact that you can vote and own property is destroying the fabric of the nation.  Sure, Leopold is all smiles and cheerfulness and “happiness for all”, but he has also repeatedly demonstrated in the two episodes in which he appears that he is a misogynistic prick.  Here, in chronological order, is the evidence:

• Leopold proposes to a woman just because she was a decent human being and helped his kid.  Because if she’s a woman and unwilling to allow a child to be harmed, then she’ll totally be a good mother, right?  The fact that it seems that she’s not even out of her teens yet, and your kid is twelve, is an unimportant detail, huh?  Really, what this tells me here is that Leopold isn’t really interested in gaining a new mother for Snow; he just wants a babysitter for his kid, someone who will care for the girl during the day while Leopold does all of his kingly stuff and then disappear in the evening so that Leopold and Snow can be a happy little family.  That scene at Leopold’s birthday party in “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” (see two below) pretty much confirms this for me.
• Leopold apparently finds nothing wrong with his now-fiancée’s mother accepting his marriage proposal on her daughter’s behalf.  This is especially awful given the utter look of horror on baby Regina’s face when Leopold pulled out that ring and Cora said yes.  I mean, does Leopold not understand how facial expressions work?  Is this his first time looking at another human being’s face?  This man does not care that his near-child bride does not consent to their marriage.  Regina is young and female, so she is her parents’ property, and Leopold enters into a business transaction with Cora (and Henry) with Regina as the goods to be sold.
• Leopold appears to be completely inconsiderate not only of Regina’s feelings, but of her entire existence in general.  At his birthday party in “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” (mentioned above), Leopold leaves Regina sitting alone at the table while he fawns over Snow and goes on about how her mother was so awesome and how much he loved her WHILE HIS NEW WIFE IS SITTING IN A FUCKING CORNER ALL BY HERSELF.  Seriously, Leopold?  (Side note: The first time that I saw this scene, I thought that Regina was just feigning being sad because she knew that the Genie was watching, but after seeing “The Stable Boy”, I’m convinced it wasn’t all acting.)
• Leopold reads Regina’s diary.  Yes, I am certain that Regina wrote that entry fully intending for Leopold to read it, but I think the fact that Regina can reliably predict that her husband will intrude into her most private thoughts and fly into a jealous, murderous rage speaks volumes, IMO.
• Leopold tells the genie that he seeks “nothing more than the happiness of all who set foot in [his] kingdom,” yet refuses to allow his wife to be happy.  I mean, he even flat-out acknowledges to the genie that “the Queen is unhappy and yearns for someone to love her in a way that I never can,” yet has apparently done absolutely nothing to alleviate her misery.  Is Regina not a part of his kingdom?  Does she not count as a person?  Are wives just possessions in Leopold’s kingdom?
• Regina feeling, but not acting upon, the stirrings of love = betrayal in Leopold’s mind.  ”I never imagined that she would betray me like this,” the man says literally IMMEDIATELY after admitting that he can never love Regina (and it’s painfully obvious that he’s still pining after his first wife), and the mild warning bells in my head reach a cacophonous crescendo of “THIS MAN HAS CREEPY ABUSER TENDENCIES RUN RUN RUN RUN FOR YOUR LIFE”.
• Leopold’s reaction to the news that his wife has finally found love (read: happiness, the one thing he said that he wanted for everyone in his kingdom) is to hire someone to find the guy so that Leopold can have him murdered.  I know that some people have argued that Leopold was not necessarily planning to have the Genie murdered, or even that Leopold was actually planning to let Regina be with her lover, and was acting creepy in front of the Genie to save face and avoid being branded a cuckold, but guys, NO.  How is being branded a cuckold worse than being branded a murderer, especially if you’ve built your entire reputation as king on being a Nice Guy™?  Seriously, look at this man’s face as he says “I need someone with your wits to learn the identity of the man who has stolen my wife’s heart” (and FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU LEOPOLD, YOU NEVER EVEN  WANTED HER HEART IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU THREW IT AWAY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ALREADY BRUISED AND LEFT IT TO BE TRAMPLED), and look at how dark it gets when he says “[What I plan to do to him] is my concern, not yours.”  Dude is a fucking possessive prick of a husband, y’all.
• Leopold has Regina locked in her chambers simply for falling in love with another man, without even acting on those feelings.  Okay, I admit that this one is debatable, as it’s entirely possible that Regina had some guards that she trusted (whose hearts she had in her vault?) pretend to be holding her prisoner on Leopold’s orders.  Still, after all of the other shit that Leopold has pulled, it’s not a far cry to think that he would have done this, too.

So, in summary: Leopold is a Nice Guy™ in that he acts kind and gentlemanly upon first meeting, but a deeper look reveals that he is a fucking prick with disturbing possessive tendencies when it comes to his wife that constitute major warning signs for abuse.  Seriously, fuck this asshole and his creepy bald head.  I shed no tears when this douche died, ngl.

the-silence-in-between:

I have noted previously that Regina Mills, as both the young romantic and the evil queen, is a character that defies the expected gender norms of her time and place through her dress (wearing pants, wearing lots of the color blue) and her actions (horseback riding without a saddle [and astride], being an evil queen).  I find it notable, though, that despite this rejection of patriarchal ideas of how she, as a woman, should behave, the three people whom Regina loves most are all male: Daniel, her father Henry, and her son Henry.  Contrast this with the three people, at least until the finale, who earned the most of Regina’s ire: Cora, Snow/Mary Margaret, and Emma.  Though Regina does have two shallow female friendships with Maleficent and Kathryn, her relationships with women in general seem to be fraught in a way that her relationships with men are not.

A prime example here is Rumpelstiltskin; although there does seem to be a strong rivalry between the two of them (cf. “Skin Deep”), Regina repeatedly keeps turning to him for deals and help, despite knowing that he is not trustworthy.  Even after Gold reveals in “The Return” how he completely fucked her over with the whole Kathryn abduction thing, Regina still goes back to him in order to save Henry in “A Land Without Magic” and only truly seems to realize how much he’s manipulated her after he ties her up and absconds with the true love potion.

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adventaim:

theycallmesweethome:

^TAMA!

the-silence-in-between:

bbroccs:

Ok need to get something off my chest that has been really bothering me for a while. People in this fandom just make me scratch my head and make me want to bang it off a brick wall sometimes. Seriously. Regina is condemn at every turn for murdering Graham etc. That’s fair enough she is guilty of those crimes and I can accept people hating on her for that. However, when Snow/Grumpy and even Red kill innocent people ie King George’s guard and then smile and practically high five each other over their dead bodies they are considered badass’s. I just don’t understand this logic. I mean Grumpy’s line about Red having someone on her face just shocked me but everyone else thought it was hilarious. Why is Regina condemned for what she has done but Snow etc deemed badasses even though they are guilty of murdering innocent people as well. Dunno just doesn’t seem right to me.

THANK YOU!  As much as I enjoyed the abundance of Queen Regina in the last episode, I still cannot get over how blasé Snow et al. were over causing the deaths of other human beings.  They’re fighting for Charming, and I get that, but the grinning and that stupid line from Grumpy (I’m glad that I’m not the only one who went WTF at that) had me floored.  This gif has never before been more appropriate:

mimisaurus:

thedesperatescousewife:

I feel like this can apply to anyone. Whether you’re saving your first time for marriage or you’re simply waiting till it’s right for you and your partner I don’t think sex means loss. I think the concept of “losing” a piece of you is harmful to peoples’ minds. Like you’re less of a person because of having sex? Anyways, sexual debut is kind of an awesome term. 

gosh, feelings on this because we were talking about this earlier and i was like

“dude, it doesn’t matter how many times she’s had sex with other people”

“in fact the way you’re saying how she gave it all is wrong in so many levels”

because it is not something you fucking give okay

i mean is a woman’s virginity like a piece of chocolate we give out in an appropriate time??? really? :I