Swan Queen

Swan Queen is the femslash ship between Emma Swan and Regina Mills from the Once Upon A Time fandom.

Canon
Regina Mills, formerly known as the Evil Queen, is the adoptive mother of Henry Mills, the biological son of Emma Swan, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Regina and Emma meet through Henry, who is searching for his "real mom". There is a lot of animosity between these two, especially on Regina's part, as she hated that Henry went out and found his birth mother. When Regina learns that Emma is the "Savior" who is supposed to break Regina's curse, she hates Emma even more.

Emma and Regina continue to fight after the curse is lifted. But because Henry asked her to, Emma keeps saving Regina from the vengeful mob of newly awakened fairy tale characters who are out for her head. In her efforts to save Regina from having her soul eaten by a Wraith, Emma accidentally triggered Regina's own magic by placing a hand on her arm, then fell through a portal into the Enchanted Forest. Emma's absence gave Regina the opportunity to have Henry to herself forever, but because she had promised her son that she would "be better" and earn his love, she absorbed a death curse to save Emma and allow her to return to Storybrooke.

There have been a number of subsequent issues involving the return of Regina's abusive mother Cora, a trip to Neverland, the evil Peter Pan, the Wicked Witch of the West aka Regina's older sister Zelena, and while they still don't always get along, Emma and Regina are now more often than not working together to protect their family and the city.

When they weren't fighting evil together, they were there for each other when the other needed them most. Regina verbalizes that she needs Emma if she wants to go on a road trip together. They go on several road trips together after this.

Emma and Regina have put themselves in danger more than once to help each other. And they trust each other, even when they have no reason to. Back in Season 2, before Regina was redeemed, Emma refused to believe that she had anything to do with Archie's disappearance. She trusted her to tell the truth, because she never saw the Evil Queen, only Regina. Similarly, Regina saw the best in Emma when she was the Dark One. Emma, of course, took on the darkness to protect Regina from it, not wanting her to succumb to the darkness that tore her apart the first time. Regina was the only one who could still see the good in Emma when she was running around town wreaking havoc. And she was the only one who did not want to change her, but instead encouraged her to bring out the light that was hidden inside of her. She knew what it was like to fight the darkness, and she wanted to help her.

They are also amazing at understanding each other. As in Season 3, when the whole town thought Regina had cast the curse, Emma was the only one who trusted her unconditionally. She knew she was telling the truth, even though there was no concrete evidence.

In one of their final conversations, Regina explains how they started out hating each other, but it was Emma's willingness to not give up on Regina, to help her redeem herself, to learn how to co-parent that made Regina the hero she eventually became. This speech of hope, in turn, helps Emma find a third way in the final battle.

Children
Henry Mills Henry is Emma's biological son and Regina's adopted son. Emma gave Henry up for adoption after he was born, and he ended up being raised by Regina, who wanted Henry to love her. When Henry found Emma and brought her to Storybrooke to break the curse cast by the Evil Queen, Regina was worried that Emma would end up taking Henry away from her. In the end, Emma and Regina became friends and figured out a way to share Henry as co-mothers.

Fanon
Swan Queen is an extremely popular ship in the Once Upon a Time fandom, arguably the most popular. The ship was created as viewers began to notice the obvious subtext between these two characters, and as they began to parallel many of the show's canonical true love couples. This ship rivals both Captain Swan and Outlaw Queen, as well as other pairings for the two characters.

The pairing quickly gained traction in the fandom, attracting femslashers from far and wide. However, as the series progressed, fans of the pairing developed a somewhat tense relationship with the show's production team, as SwanQueen was repeatedly cited as an example of queerbaiting, one of the few known femslash examples of the same.

On AO3, Swan Queen is the most written about ship for both Regina and Emma. It is also the most written ship in the Once Upon a Time (TV) tag.

Fandom
FAN ART
 * SwanQueen posts on DeviantArt

FAN FICTION
 * Emma/Regina tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Emma/Regina tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

WIKIS

Trivia

 * SwanQueen has participated in the AfterEllen Ultimate Femslash Madness Tournament a few times:
 * In 2013, SwanQueen participated in the AfterEllen Ultimate Femslash Madness Tournament, but lost to Faberry.
 * In 2014, SwanQueen returned to compete in the AfterEllen Ultimate Femslash Madness Tournament, and won.
 * In 2015, SwanQueen participated in the AfterEllen Ultimate Femslash Madness Tournament, and won it for the second year in a row.
 * SwanQueen appears multiple times in the AO3 ships stats:
 * In 2013, SwanQueen ranked 78th among ships with the most fanfics on AO3, with 1005 fanfics.
 * In 2014, SwanQueen ranked 51st on the ships with the most fanfics on AO3. And first in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" with 2359 to 2366 fanfics.
 * In 2015, SwanQueen ranked 40th on the list of ships with the most fanfics on AO3. And in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" it took first place with 4602 fanfics.
 * In 2016, SwanQueen was ranked 27th in the ships with the most fanfics. And 1st in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" with 7249 fanfics.
 * In 2017, SwanQueen was ranked 27th in the ships with the most fanfics. And was ranked 1st in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" with 9071 fanfics.
 * In 2019, SwanQueen came in 35th place on the ships with the most fanfics. On the ships that had the most fanfics throughout the year, SwanQueen ranked 86th. SwanQueen ranked #1 in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" with 11388 fanfics.
 * In 2020, SwanQueen ranked #41 in the ships with the most fanfics on AO3. SwanQueen ranked #2 in the "Overall Top 20 Femslash" with 12286 fanfics.
 * SwanQueen has participated several times in "Zimbio TV Couples March Madness":
 * In 2014, SwanQueen participated in "Zimbio 2014 TV Couples March Madness" and reached the 4th round where it lost to Destiel.
 * In 2015, SwanQueen participated in "Zimbio 2015 TV Couples March Madness" and reached the 4th round where it lost to Shoot.
 * In 2016, SwanQueen participated in "Zimbio 2016 TV Couples March Madness" and reached the 4th round, where he lost to Clexa.
 * In 2017, SwanQueen participated in "Zimbio 2017 TV Couples March Madness". SwanQueen reached the 5th round, where he lost the prize to Clexa.
 * SwanQueen won the "Zimbio 2018 TV Couples March Madness" ship battle.
 * SwanQueen appeared on the "These Are The 20 Most Shipped Couples Of 2015" list at 14th place.
 * Lana Parrilla supports SwanQueen.
 * Lana had a conversation with Elen about SwanQueen.

Variations

 * DragonSwanQueen refers to the ship between Maleficent, Emma and Regina
 * Morrilla refers to the ship between their actresses Jennifer Morrison and Lana Parrilla
 * RedSwanQueen refers to the ship between Red, Emma and Regina
 * Swan Mills Family refers to the ship between Henry Mills, Emma and Regina