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Hey SwanQueen family,
While digging into research for my next (hopefully delightfully complicated) chapter (Magic Knew First) I found something you have to see: a brilliant video essay by Ava Elle on YouTube that dives right into why this ship means so much — and why we’re still here, fighting for it, years later.
If you need a reminder — or want to feel less alone — this is it. ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
YOUTUBE VIDEO: 🍿 SwanQueen: Aa retrospective in redemption, restorative justice & lesbian rivals-to-lovers 🍿
SwanQueen isn’t just another ship. It’s a testament to how stories can slip through the cracks of what’s “canon” and still feel truer than what the writers gave us. It’s about the Saviour and the Evil Queen — two women who were never supposed to find common ground, yet ended up co-parents, partners in crime, mirrors of each other’s pain and healing. This ship represents chosen family, earned redemption, queer yearning, and that magnetic, complicated connection that defied the show’s own boundaries. For many of us, SwanQueen was the first time we saw the possibility of a messy, grown-up, unapologetically queer fairytale on mainstream TV — and we never let it go.
Ava Elle’s video breaks it all down in thoughtful chapters:
1️⃣ What is SwanQueen?
2️⃣ Motherhood & Redemption
3️⃣ The Lesbian Gaze 💛
4️⃣ Violence & the Intimacy of Animosity 💛💛
5️⃣ True Love
6️⃣ Conclusion: Pushing Back Against Fate
It’s research, it’s insight, it’s a love letter to all of us who saw more in Emma and Regina’s story than what the show was brave enough to admit.
So while you’re waiting for the next chapter of my fic — do yourself a favour: watch, listen, feel seen. And remind yourself why we’re still here, rewriting and imagining the ending they deserved.
P.S. I’ll say it forever: If Chris Hemsworth or Ryan Gosling had showed up on Regina’s porch saying, “Hi, I’m Henry’s father,” there’d never be an argument about who gets the True Love happy ending.
Watch it. Remember it. SwanQueen forever. 💛💛💛💛💛
