When she was exiled from the castle. The Queen wanted the huntsman to kill her, but he didn’t. She lived on her own a while in the woods, lived some with the dwarfs, and also with granny. It’s been years since she was pampered.
You can’t really think too much about the timeline in this show or it will make you crazy. Neither HEAL or Storeybrook deal with the characters changing or getting older. Other than Snow going (offstage) from a 10 or 11 year old who couldn’t ride to being RobinHoodette, and Regina (also offstage) going from objecting to magic to being a proficient user; everyone looks the same age all the time*. We can only assume that Snow started studying wood craft and martial arts soon after her father’s marriage, and Regina started studying to be a witch at the same time.
If you really want to go crazy, consider whether or not Henry is the only child who is ageing in town. MadHatter’s daughter Grace/Paige has not aged in 28 years. But Henry was apparently brought town as a baby, and is now a ten year old.
*Except Rumplestilskin, we’ve seen him change. But we have no idea how old he is compared to Regina or Snow. The only evidence we have is that it appears he believes that it has not been so long that Balefire must be dead.
I don’t believe that was the kind of job you were thinking. Due to the lady in red’s wolfy nature, I presume she’d just been partaking of…well, perhaps a different part of the flesh than people might have thought. 
Pinocchio also aged.
August/Pinocchio aged *outside *of town. If Henry had been raised outside of town and adopted by Regina recently, I think someone would have mentioned it by now.
Yeah, but learning to hunt/scavenge is NOT the same as learning martial arts.
But I shouldn’t cavil. Otherwise I’ll start wondering how the hell the Evil Queen ended up in charge after the King’s death, because it DID NOT happen that way in medieval times. Kings were succeeded by their sons, and if no sons, by their daughters.
The women they married? No way. They might end up in temporary charge while a son was too young, but Snow was plenty old enough.
That said, it’s not historically unheard of for a mother/stepmother to pull a palace coup on a youthful legitimate heir. Regina’s specialty is in getting people to do what she wants, either for love or out of fear.
Okay, just saw the finale & I loved it! would love to hear what the rest of your thought. Loved Jefferson freeing Belle. Wonder if August will turn human or if the spell-breaking was too late. I’m glad there was some recognition that Regina, though evil, really cared about Henry. ( I hate the idea that ‘birth mothers’ are somehow better than ‘adoptive mothers’. but this show isn’t serious enough for me to get too riled up about that.) Not exactly sure why it was so important to Rumplestiltskin to bring the magic back, except to find his son, maybe?
Well that answered the question about how Snow became a kick ass warrior-fighting to take the kingdom back from Regina.
I loved it and I think next season is going to be with Gold as the primary villain while Regina becomes more of Gold’s old role of side switcher. All in all a good years entertainment from Storybrook and HEAL.
I liked it. I finally felt that Regina really does love Henry, in her own twisted way. I’m excited that the curse is broken and everyone is remembering who they are.
My main gripe is the transition from Emma not believing to believing. She just picked up the book and suddenly she now believes it all. Why couldn’t that happen before? And then five minutes later she’s fighting a dragon? I would have liked more of a build up to that.
Before the puple cloud I thought season 2 was going to be with story book characters dealing with the modern world. Now I have no idea.
Though I do note that unless a new curse happens, there isn’t a reason for most people to stay in Storybrooke anymore.
Brian
Yeah, I loved it too! Looking forward to season 2… in 4 and a half months, hmrm. 
For August, I’m not sure if breaking the curse alone would have done it, but the purple cloud of magic might turn him human again!
Gold/Rumplestiltskin: I interpreted that as falling back into his own dark side, as seen in the fairybacks. If the wishing well could bring that much magic, it could probably have brought his son back directly. But at the critical moment, he wanted power for its own sake more than he wanted his family back together. That’s just his dysfunctional character.
I’m sorry to be so stupid/forgetful, but what are fairybacks? Do you mean the flashbacks to HEAL?
I think it’s hysterical that throughout this entire season, the show has thrown week after week of male eye candy at us, and what do we women do? Lust after the middle-aged guy who on his best day was never handsome, and is playing a crazy evil guy with long fingernails and really bad teeth!
Wow. Has any show ever advanced the plot so rapidly in a season finale?
I need to watch it again. I’m sure I missed details.
And how in heck are they going to keep this show going for more than a year or so past this? Maybe have Regina fight the U.S. military? Is next year going to be like “Bewitched” on steroids?
My guess is that in the next season, the action will take place in Storybrooke, but without any interaction with the outside world.
Yeah - that’s a term I saw on another website recapping the show. Sorry. Fairytale + flashback = fairyback. 
I’m not sure - as mentioned above, I expected them to drag it out longer before actually breaking the curse. But I suspect that the writers have something up their sleeves. I wonder if they had to write the season finale before getting the season 2 pickup, and so wanted to write something that could serve to wrap up enough plot threads to be a final episode for the whole show.
Because it happened in a moment where she wanted/needed to believe… only believing in magic gave her any hope to save Henry’s life.
at this point I’m happy they had one good year, since everyone was so surprised this year was good, let’s hope the writers have something creative up their sleeves for next year (obviously they’re gonna have to!). As I’ve said previously, I’ve studied and read fairy tales and legends my whole life, so this show touched one of my areas of interest.
Question - thoughts on why Regina adopted Henry in the first place? was that really explained? does it have something to do with the unknown father or perhaps because she knew it would draw the curse-breaker to Storybrooke where Regina could deal with her? Maybe this was answered in earlier episodes when I wasn’t paying attention.
Yep, lots of good male eye candy - But Robert Carlyle’s Rumplestiltskin is the character that stands out!
Regina adopted Henry to fill the hole in her heart left by her killing her father to enact the curse itself - she wanted to be loved and have someone to love - the curse itself - 18 years of the same thing day in/day out and no forward movement had to be somewhat boring.
As far as how she got Henry - that was Gold’s doing, and clearly at the time Regina did not think mr. Gold had retained his memories, so had no reason to question his motiviations/choice.
Wow, there was a lot going on in this episode. Concurring with the above I didn’t expect the writers to end the curse this season; the resolution felt a bit rushed to me. But I give them kudos for not dragging the same plotline on forever and ever. This show ended up about three thousand times better than anyone could have expected from the elevator pitch — “Disney versions of fairytale characters imprisoned in the real world by Rumplestiltskin and the evil queen from Snow White” — so I’m looking forward to next season.
Noting the important point that (in case well he’s back forgot) Regina’s father was also named Henry. Presumably she took his name for her son.
In general I hate it too (especially calling a birth mother the “real mother”) but in the case of the show it just happens to be true.
Not that Regina’s really been a bad mother. I mean, she doesn’t beat Henry, he’s not malnourished or neglected, etc. She’s controlling and manipulative, but a lot of parents that aren’t evil queens magically transported to earth are controlling and manipulative.