zanhar1 I think she tries to love him but doesn't know how. However I do see your point of view as well.

bri-marie Does anyone else feel like the Regina-Henry-Emma thing is similar to a nasty custody battle? "Oh, you send him to a shrink because he believes in a fictional book? Well, I'll pretend to believe in the book so he'll like me more!" "Oh, you meet secretly on this playground? Well, I'll destroy the playground! No more secret meetings!" Maybe that's just me... Anyway. I'm not going to disagree with what you're saying. But I honestly believe that Regina simply doesn't know how to be a mother. She was abused by her mother, and, in turn, abuses Henry in much the same way. It's not something she's doing on purpose, it's just that she honestly doesn't know how to show true, healthy affection. The cycle of abuse is just that -- a cycle. It takes a very strong person to be able to break it, and, by the time Henry came into Regina's life, she wasn't nearly strong enough to do that. I also don't think we can count Emma's powers as exactly reliable anymore. She can't tell when Syndey's lying. She can't tell when August is lying. She couldn't tell when Jefferson was lying. And I don't think she can tell when Mr. Gold is lying. (Has he lied to her yet? I can't remember.) That's an awful lot of exceptions. Maybe Regina is an exception as well.

Princess-Yvonne very good point and a well written article!

zanhar1 All in all I think it was a good article, but I do think Regina loves Henry as I said above.

robinsparkles97 She definitely cares about him...but I'm not sure she LOVES him. She wants to.But like zanhar1 said, she doesn't know how.

Princess-Yvonne Regina thinks she "loves" Henry just like her mother Cora thought she loved her. She does messedup, evil things to him and justifies herself in front of her guilty conscience like her mother did.

zanhar1 I agree but I disagree; I think Cora didn't even try to love Regina. She tried to keep her out of poverty but that was more for herself. Where as I think Gina tries to love Henry but just doesn't know how to.

Princess-Yvonne Cora wasn't poor, she didn't have to do anything for herself. She wanted her daughter to be somebody in life, A Queen, not the wife of a stable boy. That was her way of understanding the love for a child.

zanhar1 She used to be a miller's daughter; a miller is a lower class job in the mideval times. She didn't want to sink back into it or let all her work go to waste because Regina wanted to marry a working class stable boy. She said it herself. She wanted her daugter to be somebody and was trying to help, I agree, but that was only a small fraction of the picture, Cora wanted to withhold her status more then she cared to keep her daughter out of poverty. She did want to help Gina but it was more for herself, so her hard work wouldn't go to waste, so she wouldn't look like a failure.

Princess-Yvonne Cora was no longer the miller's daughter at this time. They had a mansion, servants, magic to dispose of. Judging by Regina's clothes she was raised as a princess. They did have money now. "Cora wanted to withhold her status more then she cared to keep her daughter out of poverty." now..that is just your opinion. She never says that, we can't know that.

zanhar1 And Cora didn't want her image marred by her daughter leaving a luxury life to be a stable boy's wife. I think it was implied there was a qoute in the sene where she's killing Daniel that proves it. I don't remember what itvwas because it was kind of long, but she was talking about how hard it was to get herself out of poverty and she didn't want Regina to ruin it.

Princess-Yvonne In that scene your talking about she was implying she didn't want her daughter to go through what she did, to have to endure what she had to endure. it was for her daughter that she strive for a better life.

zanhar1 As I have said prior, I do believe Cora kept what was best for Gina in her mind but her own needs were more prominent.

Princess-Yvonne Yep. Just like for Regina her own needs are more prominent than Henry's.

zanhar1 I personally think it was 50-50 with Gina. She wanted to meet her needs but also wanted the best for Henry.

Princess-Yvonne that is just your view on the things. Personally, I think your making up a fan-fiction Regina that is not 100% the Regina the tvshow presents. Maybe you are right, but maybe you aren't about the 50-50. It's your personal vision, as you've said

zanhar1 Somethings are opinions and predictions some things I said are there. I feel as though I am basing things on fact some may be a bit of optimism but a lot of things I put thought into and read between the lines. Those things may or may not prove to be true. This stuff is based on personal expurance, info from the show, and a bit of an understanding of phycology and how the brain works. Of course iisnt 100% but I don't believe it's like 10% either. Maybe maybe not. As you said it's all opinion.

Princess-Yvonne I base my opinions on the same things.

zanhar1 Indeed. So this is another one of those agree to disagree things. Because I actually have to go soon.

Princess-Yvonne It was doomed to be from the beginning.

zanhar1 Lol right! I don't about you but I do this for fun, or to see if we can actually agree on something lol.

Epicurean I have an opinion in between zanhar1 and Princess-Yvonne. :D You guys put together would be me, lol. Anyways, like most people said I think she doesn't know how to love anymore, she forgot it.

RuefullyYours Regina is this one-track minded person who stops at nothing to get what she wants, and who, when it comes to love, centers all her affection into just a few choice persons. I think with both her father and David gone, she's just looking for someone to love who would also love her back. I think she does love Henry, only maybe she just puts too much priority on her revenge than on how to make her child happy. I guess that's just how she works.. (she did rip her father's heart out for the curse..) And then Henry is oftentimes aloof to her and I guess it also kills her a little to see someone she loves do that. I think she pretty much expects Henry to love her as much as she loves him and gets frustrated when he doesn't.. Maybe she also feels that Henry doesn't have any emotional connection to her at all and all she could do is to at least make his life as comfortable as possible, perhaps believing Henry would eventually warm up to her if she tries hard enough, but not realizing that her obsession with her revenge is getting in the way of the boy's happiness. Or maybe she does realize it, but like I said she puts more priority on her revenge so that when her own interests comes in conflict with her boy's happiness, she'd rather give up the latter for the former. It is a very, very selfish kind of love. But yeah, I definitely believe she loves Henry.

DR76 Regina made two mistakes in regard to Henry. When she suspected that he might know about the Curse and her true identity, she projected the idea that he might be emotionally disturbed. And in "We Are Both", she tried to get Henry back by force, using magic. If Regina really was a terrible mother incapable of love, Henry Mills would have turned out to be a disturbed child. And guess what? Henry wasn't a disturbed child. I think this idea that Regina was a terrible mother who didn't love Henry is full of shit.

LowriLorenza89 We never directly find out whether Emma sensed Regina's answer as truth or a lie. The writers confirmed that they left it deliberately unclear. Either she sensed a lie and stuck around to give Henry one loving mother, or she sensed truth and stuck around to try to help Henry realise that Regina does love him. Anyway, Regina's behaviour throughout the rest of the series makes it pretty clear that she does love him.