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Yes, it's me. The Wicked Witch. I'm fabulous.
―Zelena to Robin and Alice

Zelena, formerly known as the Wicked Witch of the West, is a character in ABC's Once Upon a Time.

She is the daughter of Cora, the half-sister of Regina Mills, the mother of the second Robin Hood, the adopted aunt of Henry Mills and the adopted great-aunt of his daughter, Lucy. Zelena is also a former member of the Witches of Oz, the former ruler of Oz and the Emerald City, as well as the former lover of Hades and the creator and former leader of the Flying Monkeys.

Zelena Is one of the most powerful witches in the franchise and had a strong affinity for dark magic and flying monkeys. Zelena holds a grudge against her sister Regina because Cora kept her and Rumplestiltskin shows Regina to cast his curse. After a failed attempts at ruining her sister's happiness, Zelena redeems herself after having the love of her daughter and reconciling with Regina.

She is portrayed by Rebecca Mader.

Role[]

She is the main antagonist of the second half of the third season, a supporting antagonist of season four, an anti-villain in season five, a villain-turned-anti hero-turned protagonist in season six and a protagonist in season seven.

Creation[]

She is based on the Wicked Witch of the West from Frank Baum's Oz book series and the stepmother from "Hansel and Gretel." Zelena is also an allusion to the Enchantress from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast and Persephone from Greek mythology.

The character was written specifically with Rebecca Mader in mind. During production, Mader wore at least five to seven shades of green to make up for the witch's green skin. In this form, Mader's scenes for films in front of a blue screen instead of a green one because the makeup blended with it

Background[]

Zelena in Once Upon a Time

Zelena was abandoned in the woods by her mother, Cora, a woman who lusted for power. She was later sent through the portal of a twister to Oz, landing in the magical land. Zelena later is adopted by a woodcutter and his wife. The wife is blind and does not believe that the baby is magical while the father (thinking his new daughter cute at first) realizes she is nothing but a witch.

Many years later, after her mother died, Zelena was verbally and physically abused by her father. Around twelve years old in 1947, Zelena came across Cora, unaware the woman was her biological mother. She later befriended her half-sister Regina when they were young, and learned they were related. However, Cora separated them and sent Zelena back to Oz, giving her a potion that made her forget all about Regina. After having enough of her father, Zelena left to look for her biological family, bujt she was soon spoiled and hated her mother for abandoning her and later became determined to ruin her half-sister's happiness, but also her existence.

Sometime over the course in Oz, Glinda invites Zelena to come join their circle of "sisters" along with the Witch of the East and the Withc of the North. However, when Dorothy Glae arives in Kansas, Zelena starts turning green again. After realizing that Dorothy will be out of her way, Zelena banishes Glinda to the Enchanted FOrest and takes over control of Oz.

Many years later, Dorothy returns to Oz in order to bring down Zelena. During this time, she meets Hades the Lord of the Dead after scareing off the Munchkins. The romance between them blossoms, but Zelena cannot let him love her, in fear that her revenge will never be completed. Zelena sends him away, warning him to never show his face to her again

Personality[]

Zelena was once a kind-hearted individual who cared for her family and was very friendly, especially using her magic to heal an unhatched baby egg and putting it back up in its tree. As a young teenager, she was close with her sister Regina when they were children after saving her. However, after meeting her biological motherand sister, her memories of them were erased. As Zelena grew older, she grew angrierat her adoptive father. After calling her a witch, Zelena immediately wasdesperate to search for her real family. At first, Zelena is happy to learn ofher new family, but after learning why her mother never kept her, Zelena grewembittered and quick with envy when she learned that Rumplestiltskin no longertook interest in her. It took Zelena as far to become a murderer, as she even attempted to kill her sister, but it was Rumple in disguise.

For a short time, Zelena lost envy with Regina and was focused on using her powers for good and taking up responsibility as the Witch of the West.  However, her envy was replaced with her jealousy towards Dorothy. . Another moment she was in love was when she met Hades, the Lord of the Dead, but she isn't entirely trustful of those around her, mostly because Zelena rejected his love for her. So, in a way, she did not want to be seen as weak. As the Wicked Witch, Zelena also has cold intentions and was willing to hurt anyone who stood in her way. One, she caused the death of Neal Cassidy, which caused Emma Swan to hate her completely. She also once imprisoned Mr. Gold and mocked him for his pain and even willing to kill Henry, Emma's son. However, Zelena is not a complete monster. For she has some glints of humanity left in her. After having her child, Robin, Zelena tries to change for the bestof her and is even motherly towards Roland, by giving him a hug and promising to come so Roland can see his baby sister. Also one of the reasons why she held Toto hostage was to get back the silver slippers so she could get back to her daughter, once again showing the love for her child. Zelena's love for Regina returns when their memories are restored by Cora

Zelena has redeemed herself and shows that she actually loves her sister and will also do anything for her family. Selflessly, she gave up her dark magic in order for Fiona couldn't harness the Black Crystals for the Final Battle and their family could win. Now that she was no longer the Wicked Witch, Zelena's sarcasm became more light-hearted and often joked with her family, shown when she sarcastically and jokingly told henry that it was "Operation Shut Up Henry" while smiling. As Kelly, Zelena became happier and forgot all about her life as Zelena.

However, when she did awake from the Curse, Zelena was a bit sad because she was no longer happy. and was very remorseful for all the things she did as the Wicked Witch of the West. Usually, back then, when she was the Wicked Witch, Zelena would kill people more than anything if they were seeking revenge. When Nick was at her mercy, he yelled for her to finish the job, but Zelena refused and said that wasn't her any more.

Physical appearance[]

When she was younger, Zelena did not have green but fair skin, curly red hair and blue eyes. After growing envious and jealous of her sister, Regina, Zelena's fair skin turned green. However, it temporarily went away when she accepted her role as the Witch of the West, only for it to resurface when she gained jealousy for Dorothy. Zelena later adopted a dark wardrobe, consistant of black dresses, a pointed hat, and other dark wardrobes.

After her reformation, Zelena continued to wear black clothing but added either white or green to them.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Magic: Being the daughter of one of the most powerful darkest Witch Cora, Zelena has had strong affinity with magic, having manifested her powers as an infant. However, Zelena wasn't powerful enough to handle light magic, as she was burned by Emma's light magic and easily outmaneuvered by Regina when she tapped into light magic. She temporarily gave up her powers so her dark magic would not fuel the diamonds that the Black Fairy tricked her into darkening, and make it so Fiona couldn't use the diamonds to make black fairy dust. However, Zelena's powers were restored when her daughter Robin gave her the Resurrection Amulet that was used to take Robin's magic when her daughter realized she has a knack of using a bow and arrow.

Abilities[]

Manipulation: Due to the new curse, everyone forgot Zelena was the Witch. For this, she was able to successfully manipulated Snow into believing she was a midwife before the curse. This granted Zelena access to Mary Margaret's unborn child, which she needed to complete her time travel spell. She was able to further lie by saying she used to be friends with Snow's former servant, Johanna.  However, after Rumple warned Emma that the witch's true identity, Zelena was forced to abandoned this pretense. A couple of weeks later, Zelena faked her death when Rumple stabbed her and time-traveled with Emma and Hook. After seeing Emma's plan to take Marian with her, Zelena found an opportunity to ruin her sister's life: by sabotaging her relationship with Robin. She killed the girl while she slept and used the six leaf clover she had taken from Oz. Posing as Marian, Zelena passed off as the woman easily, managing to fool the woman's own husband and son.

Weaknesses[]

  • Light magic: According to Glinda, light magic is one of Zelena's weaknesses and the only thing capable of defeating her. Snow and David believed that their daughter, Emma's magic, would be powerful enough to complete this. Zelena fears light magic, such as placing it a forgetful potion in the Curse before it was cast and cursing Hook's lips so it would drain Emma of her magic. This is later proven true when Emma uses light magic against Zelena when she was threatening Henry's life, causing the witch extreme pain from it. However, after Emma gave Hook mouth to mouth resuscitation when Rumple drowned him, her light magic was gone. Fortunately, during Zelena's attempted time travel spell, Regina tapped into light magic and was able to defeat her sister and snatch the pendant off Zelena's neck, rendering her powerless.
  • Crimson Heart: had the ability to strip magic users of their powers She sacrificed her magic in order to cure the Diamonds she infected with her dark magic after being tricked by Fiona (who needed to darken them to enact the Final Battle.
  • Loss of her pendant: After becoming the Witch of the West, Zelena's powers were tied to a green pendant. If it is remove, it renders her powerless, which is what Regina did after defeating her. Even after her defeat, Zelena's soul managed to leave her body when Mr. Gold stabbed her was still able to find a way to reactivate her time travel spell

Once Upon a Time[]

Season 3[]

Season 4[]

Season 5[]

Season 6[]

Season 7[]

Heinous Acts[]

Warning: Due to the nature of the show doing flashbacks and present day events, the following list of Zelena's heinous and villainous acts are in chronological order, as

Trivia[]

  • Zelena is one of the six main antagonist to survive the season she was the main villain of, proceeded by her own sister Regina, Greg and Tamara (though they were killed in the season 3 premiere), and succeeded by Rumplestiltskin (though he later sacrificed himself in season 7), Maleficent, Ursula, The author and Drizella
  • However, Greg and Tamara were killed shortly after the season 3 premiere.

Gallery[]

Heroes and Villains has a collection of images and media related to Zelena.


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