Emma Swan is a fictional character in ABC's television series Once
Upon a Time. She is portrayed by Jennifer Morrison as an adult, by
Abby Ross as a teenager, and by Mckenna Grace as a child. Emma first
appeared in the series' pilot as a bail bond agent in Boston,
Massachusetts, until she meets her biological son Henry, whom she gave
up for adoption 10 years before. She learns she is the daughter of
Snow White and Prince Charming who gave her up so she wouldn't die at
the hands of Regina Mills, also known as the Evil Queen. Henry urges
Emma to go to the town of Storybrooke, Maine, to break a curse enacted
by the Evil Queen and to restore the fairy tale characters' happy
endings. After the first season her role had more or less decreased in
primary focus.Morrison described her character at the beginning of the
first season as "broken, damaged and worldly." During the fourth
season finale, "Operation Mongoose," Emma absorbs the power of the
Dark One into herself to save Storybrooke In order to successfully
create a dark version of Emma, Morrison explained that "In order to
build Dark Emma, I've been doing a bunch of research there with some
of their mythology books and old fairy tale books and just looking
back through the history of swans and the etymology of 'Swan'" and
explained that Emma's rate of evolution "challenged [her] on a daily
basis." Emma became the primary antagonist of the fifth season's first
half, until the end of the season's eighth episode when it is revealed
that she was never actually evil and was an anti-villain during that
time.Morrison described her character at the beginning of the first
season as "broken, damaged and worldly." During the fourth season
finale, "Operation Mongoose," Emma absorbs the power of the Dark One
into herself to save Storybrooke In order to successfully create a
dark version of Emma, Morrison explained that "In order to build Dark
Emma, I've been doing a bunch of research there with some of their
mythology books and old fairy tale books and just looking back through
the history of swans and the etymology of 'Swan'" and explained that
Emma's rate of evolution "challenged [her] on a daily basis." Emma
became the primary antagonist of the fifth season's first half, until
the end of the season's eighth episode when it is revealed that she
was never actually evil and was an anti-villain during that
time.Morrison's portrayal of Emma has received praise, with some
reviewers noting a feminist twist in the depiction of fairy tales and
a strong female lead. She is loosely based on the title character of
the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling," a swan which was lost and raised
by ducks, before finding its birth family and recognizing its true
nature, while her Dark One side is loosely based on Odile the Black
Swan from the ballet Swan Lake. It is revealed in the Season 6 episode
"Tougher Than the Rest" that she chose the last name Swan when she was
young after a friend mentioned that story.In the early stages of the
conception of the character, Emma's name was Anna, and she was
supposed to have three children, but she ended up having just Henry.
In the original script of the pilot she is described as "Late 20s.
Beautiful, with great strength behind classic features. But also not
quite at home in her skin." Emma Swan Top Movies & Young Movies