Well, pretty much everyone in Once Upon a Time to be honest.
- Regina and her relationship with Henry: is he right that she's just pretending to love him for show, or does she honestly care about him as much as she's able to with the void the curse caused in her heart? From the last episodes of the first season, Emma's Living Lie Detector hasn't worked actively in all cases, and the finale reveals she genuinely loves Henry, albeit not in a particularly healthy way. Alternatively, Regina genuinely loves Henry, but not as much because he's Henry, as for how he has the capacity to make her feel loved, wanted and appreciated. Her actions in "Welcome To Storybrooke" and the flashbacks of "Save Henry" speak to this theory, but present-day actions, especially in "Going Home", seem to confirm that, even if that was once true, she has ended up loving Henry for Henry rather than for herself.
- Regina herself. Self-centered murderer who blames Snow and everyone around her for her troubles? Or originally kind girl Driven to Villainy by Snow not only getting her happy ending, but constantly proclaiming the power and love conquering all and good always winning, while she indirectly ruined Regina's chance at said happy ending?
- Rumplestiltskin alleges Cinderella's Fairy Godmother is actually evil as she wasn't going to mention the Equivalent Exchange part of magic in the Enchanted Forest.
- The Blue Fairy, related to the above.
- Is Rumplestiltskin just pissy about not being the only one granting wishes and that she gave his son the magic bean that separated them, or is the Blue Fairy not telling people everything? She is profiting off the slave labor of the dwarves... on the other hand, Jiminy was perfectly fine with trading his humanity to aid Geppetto in order to get away from a life of crime. Yes, magic comes with a price, but the fairies might actually be more willing to ask for a sacrifice that the recipient can live with.
- Her treatment of Nova and Dreamy is also suspect. Dreamy doesn't enjoy mining and all the other Dwarves think he's insane for wanting to leave, while Nova is incompetent at her job and the Blue Fairy herself admitted she's not going to be a Fairy Godmother anytime soon. Why exactly would it be so bad to cut them lose and let them be together? Or does she believe that the tenets of True Love only applies to humans? Also telling Rumple about the Curse, and then not doing anything about it.
- Her treatment of Tinkerbell was even worse. Tink found someone who was surrounded by darkness and may have been redeemable at that point (Regina wasn't slaughtering villages or murdering husbands or trying to kill Snow yet although she already seemed to have killed Rumple's previous student, that was just bad editing since the episode is supposed to take place before that and she was just bitter and practicing dark magic under Rumple), who could have desperately used a fairy's help to dig her out. But what does Big Blue do? "Nope! Don't even bother to try!" and strip Tink of her wings and magic, then exiling her without any means of defending herself. Seriously, what the hell Blue Fairy?! She does, however, show regret for this at least, and acknowledges herself that it was a pretty awful move and she was wrong to do it.
- There's also the fact that she's responsible for everything bad that's happened since Baelfire went through the portal. She may not have known that the giants were still growing magic beans, but if she had told Rumpelstiltskin about the magic tree right off the bat, everything could have been avoided.
- Kathryn: Really someone who wants David back, or is more interested in the trappings of marriage than the man himself? She wants her husband and their kids someday but it's clear the person with her is more interested in fulfilling his obligations than 'her', but is she so guilt-ridden about their earlier tragedy she ignores it?
- David and M.M.'s affair: True love, the most powerful magic (directly stated by Rumplestiltskin) logically overcoming the Dark Curse? A deconstruction of how harmful all-consuming passion and fairy tale fancies are in Real Life? Or two weak-willed adults refusing to act emotionally mature or responsible?
- Snow White: The Paragon and the most morally righteous character in the Enchanted Forest but willing to do dark things when needed, or is she just a deluded hypocrite given the fact she's done some pretty morally reprehensible things herself, grew up with a step-mother whom she knew was married to her father against her will and apparently saw nothing wrong with that, and contributed to a few villains going down the dark path, even if not to Regina's level. Season 4 plays with this; after she and Charming were tricked into banishing Maleficent's unborn child to the World Without Magic, they made a conscious decision to strive to be The Paragon as a means to atone for such.
- Prince Charming: All of the points listed above about Snow can be applied to him as well. However, in many cases he is even worse than Snow and is incredibly judgemental. For example, he blames Regina for Snow and Emma ending up in the Enchanted Forest even though he saw the wraith pull them into the portal; Henry at least had the excuse of not seeing the event. His inability to trust her also likely contributed to the events later that season. In Season 4 he does not seem to show the kind of remorse that Snow does for what happened to Maleficent's daughter and he has to be talked into confessing by her. Season 5 has an even worse example, he outright states that he would have been happy to let Hook die to stop the Darkness. Snow gives him a well earned What the Hell, Hero? for that.
- In the Enchanted Forest, there's the ring Ruth, Charming's mother, gave to him when he left home. It guarantees that he'll find true love. You can watch him fall for Snow when he's not fast enough to stop her from putting it on, and she only considers him romantically after doing so. So if she hadn't put it on, would they have still fallen in love, or is their true love the result of permanent brainwashing by his mom's ring?
- Rumplestiltskin: monster, or a Woobie who's Driven to Villainy? The first couple of seasons appear to make him more of a monster, but more recent seasons, up until Season 6 Episode 19, made it seem more like he just had really serious abandonment-issues (his Mother abandoned him, because she didn't want him to grow up to destroy her. His father, Peter Pan, abandoned him because Pan blamed Rumple for the mother leaving. Baelfire abandoned Rumple because Rumple got too attached to the Dark One's Dagger, and more recently, Belle attempted to leave because she realized Rumple was pure evil). The next few episodes do make it clear that the Black Fairy didn't leave him voluntarily, but rather that she was sealed away by the Blue Fairy (which, in turn, contributed to Rumple and Peter Pan turning evil).
- Rumplestiltskin's wife, Milah: Self-empowered woman who escaped a confining marriage to a weakling coward to embrace true love and a life of adventure and exploration? Or self-centered bitch who abandoned a loving family to pursue her own selfish whims and ultimately got her comeuppance? The truth may be a mix of both: Milah herself acknowledged the latter and was remorseful about it when Rumple confronts her after becoming the Dark One, but this also means that "her comeuppance" wasn't entirely called for.
- There is also the implication to some that she suffered from depression.
- Snow's father, King Leopold: Awesome King, loving father and all around Nice Guy who wants nothing more than the happiness of all who set foot in his kingdom? Or Bitch in Sheep's Clothing douchebag who didn't see a problem with proposing to a teenager, took her mother agreeing as a "yes", and after all that was a lousy husband. Furthermore, if he's aware he's not a good husband, why does he get so jealous when he discovers his wife has affection for another? And did she "accidentally" leave the diary in plain sight, knowing he'd read it... or does he normally read it? Or is he really jealous at all, and is just upset that Regina wouldn't trust him with the truth? Or perhaps he's so blinded by his grief over losing his wife that he just doesn't realize how possibly immoral his actions are, given the fact that he's a king in a fairy tale world.
- Another thing to consider: did Leopold really expect the genie to find the man Regina loved? Or was this a Secret Test of Character and he knew that the genie was that man? It certainly wouldn't be a stretch for him to put together the facts, since Regina only wrote about a man she loved who gave her a mirror after the genie came to the castle, and his demeanor toward the genie in the scene does seem to hint at him knowing more than he lets on. If the genie had just confessed, chances are Leopold would have let him have Regina, since Snow had outgrown the need for a stepmother at this point.
- "Bleeding Through" makes the above even more likely, as he did the exact same test with Cora. Eva told him of her deception, and he gave her a chance to be honest with him, saying he'd still accept her as his fiancé if she was. Cora wasn't honest, of course, and thus failed his test and was thrown out. Of course, this same episode also throws his later marriage to Regina further into question, especially with the fact that it's his old fiancé's daughter. Though the fact Regina risked her life to save Snow certainly helped. He might have seen the apple falling far from Cora or seen himself as rescuing Regina from her wicked Witch with a Capital "B" excuse for a mother the only way he knew how.
- Also Snow's mother, Queen Eva: A kind, benevolent woman who grew out of her phase of being a Rich Bitch who looked down on peasants and wanted to teach her daughter to not be like that at an earlier age, or a full on Bitch in Sheep's Clothing just trying to cover her tracks and look perfect in front of her child, husband, and subjects? The former is more credible, but there are some who actually believe the latter to be true.
- August/Pinocchio. Manipulative Jerkass who is only breaking the curse because he's turning into wood or a man who was given a massive responsibility as a kid that he wasn't ready for and is now trying to fix his mistakes? The latter gets some weight to it when Gepetto, his own father, says as much and that August is shown to be willing to die if it means making up for his mistakes in the process (even as he fully turns to wood in the Season 1 finale, he still begs Emma to break the curse and free the residents of Storybrooke from it, with no knowledge as to whether or not that will revive him)
- Granny: Is she a Memetic Badass who brought her grand-daughter up with good intentions, or an incredibly foolish, destructively self-hating woman who came close to ruining Red's life by not telling her she was a werewolf or teaching her how to retain sentience in wolf form?
- Neal/Baelfire: Is he a sleazeball who never really cared about Emma and discarded her once she stopped being useful, a Heroic character who did love her but let his fears overcome him, or a man who just keeps making bad decisions despite his good intentions? Like father, like son?.
- Peter Pan/Malcolm, Rumplestiltskin's father,. A psychopathic monster who truly never loved his son as he said, or a victim of The Dark Side Will Make You Forget who once truly loved his son, but has long since seen that love drowned out by years of indulging in his own selfish whims? Malcolm's behavior seems to suggest a mix of both: he never loved his son, but felt guilty about this since he knew his son loved him and so he tried to treat him well up until he became Pan and completely lost any sense of guilt or regret. His behavior at Rumple's birth implies that he is delighted to have a baby initially, but after said baby leads to Fiona's banishment, he turns on his son.
- Furthermore, is he serious about offering Rumple a second chance or just trying to aggravate his son further?
- Cora, did removing her heart make her totally evil, or was she always a sociopath regardless? Keep in mind other characters who've had their hearts removed like Graham and the Knave of Hearts from the spin-off, are still fundamentally good people without their hearts, though less heroic than before, more like weak but sympathetic. Her last words to Regina, true remorse or part of a Thanatos Gambit to keep Regina as her tool beyond the grave? Word of God firmly supports the former, and the case now seems to be that she had been evil even with her heart but had she kept it in her body while raising Regina, love would have redeemed her.
- Did she really consider the Red Queen as a replacement for her daughter like she claims or did she only use her as a pawn to get rid of her rival king, then rule all of Wonderland? Given some revelations in the fourth season, did she choose Anastasia because Regina no longer can have children?
- Zelena: Concerning the reason of her jealousy. Yes, it had to do with Cora's treatment of her, but what about Rumplestiltskin? What did she feel about him? Just Hot for Teacher or seeking a father figure? Her spiteful insults centered much more around Baelfire than on Belle, which would indicate the latter. However, the events of "Bleeding Through" would indicate the former. She coerces Rumple into going on a date with her, going so far as to invade his personal space. Rumple tries to takes advantage of the situation by kissing her passionately in hopes of getting the dagger back. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
- Glinda. Is she a benevolent witch who did everything she could in order to keep Zelena in the good side or is she a Manipulative Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who knew all along that Zelena will turn evil and have to be replaced in the sisterhood?
- Hook: genuinely redeemed or just interested in a relationship with Emma? Come Season 3, the fandom has been divided on this. Some fans think that Hook confessing and apologizing to Ariel even when it has no benefit to himself or a relationship with Emma redeems him, while others disagree due to the fallout of this event, arguing that he's not being honest with Emma. As of Season 5, all doubts of his redemption are cleared with the Test of True Love he and Emma face in the Underworld, and constantly showing his unending devotion to putting her and her family first.
- A minor one related to Aurora in the season 2 premiere: her reaction to Mulan being a woman could be her being a little sexist, shocked that a woman is a warrior. Or she could be quickly panicking about what her fiancée was doing travelling with another female. Given that she seems to immediately pick up on apparent feelings between Mulan and Philip, the latter is quite possible.
- The Sorcerer aka Merlin: mysterious Big Good, or a power hungry selfish conjurer who cares nothing for the chaos of his realm. This has gotten worse in the fifth season, where his vague prophecies are what drove King Arthur to madness.
- Drizella: Is she truly faking her kindness and interest in Henry in Hyperion Heights, or is she actually touched by how he seems interested in her and her conversations with him are honest and hold more weight than first glance? Is she possibly going through an Even Evil Has Loved Ones moment? The first meaningful conversation Henry has with her is after she's already been crying for quite a while, with no need for her to pretend to be sympathetic while Henry wasn't around... unless she wasn't pretending.
- From Once Upon a Time in Wonderland:
- Alice's stepmother Sarah: Is she a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who successfully separated her from her husband and daughter or did she genuinely want to help Alice via some Deliberate Values Dissonance ?
- The Jabberwocky: Was her change of side genuine or did she intend to backstab Alice after Jafar's defeat?
