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In this crystal are the memories of my sisters which I stole from the people of Arendelle. Please return them, my sisters deserve to be known.

—Gerda's letter to Anna and Elsa src

Queen Gerda, also known as the Queen of Arendelle[1] and Regal Woman,[2] is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the fourth season and is portrayed by guest star Pascale Hutton and co-star Ava Marie Telek.

Gerda is based on the character of the same name from the fairytale, "The Snow Queen", and on Queen Iduna from the Disney film, Frozen.

History

Before First Curse

Gerda is the third child born to Queen Sonja and King Harald of Arendelle, and she has two elder sisters, Ingrid and Helga. As children, the three develop a close bond. One afternoon, they spot a punctured kite, and Gerda and Helga take a fancy to the kite's ribbons. The kite's owner arrives, but the man proves to be a scoundrel as he grabs Gerda; intending to sell her for money. With Helga also restrained in his grip, he then kicks Ingrid away. As she falls backwards, a stream of ice comes out of her hands, which breaks a large tree branch and knocks him unconscious. Ingrid fears hurting her sisters with her new-found powers, but Gerda and Helga are thankful for what she did earlier. Her sisters promise to help conceal the powers, and each take a kite ribbon to solidify their sisterhood. Years later, on the night of their father's birthday celebration, Gerda and Helga attempt to convince Ingrid into coming with them, but she doesn't want to ruin things with her presence. At the party, Gerda watches Helga introduce her admirer, the Duke of Weselton, to their father. After the festivity, the sisters arrive home to find Ingrid packing up as she believes with herself gone, they can have normal lives. Ingrid fears not being able to control her powers, so Gerda mentions a Misthaven resident, Rumplestiltskin, who can help. In exchange for their ribbons, Rumplestiltskin gives Ingrid a pair of gloves to cancel out her powers as well as an urn to entrap her if she becomes too dangerous. Later, in the royal garden, Gerda comes across Ingrid crying over the frozen and crumbled body of Helga. Realizing Ingrid had killed Helga, she refuses to side with her only remaining sister out of fear. Gerda disowns Ingrid as a monster before entrapping her in the urn. Grief-stricken of this incident, Gerda seeks out Grand Pabbie and tells him lost her sisters. When he prompts for details, she refuses to say as it is too painful to speak of. Due to the tragic circumstances, she asks him to erase her sisters' existences from everyone's memories, even though he implies a magical price will be extracted at her expense. Despite wiping out everyone else's memories of her sisters, Gerda chooses to retain hers. ("Family Business", "The Snow Queen")

After marrying her husband, they rule as Queen and King of Arendelle and have two daughters, Elsa and Anna. When Elsa exhibits powerful and dangerous ice powers, the couple decides to find a way to save their daughter from her magical abilities. They pretend to everyone that they have to leave for a diplomatic mission to the Northern Isles, as they are planning their real journey: to Misthaven. Days before they leave, Gerda and her husband visit Grand Pabbie to tell him the truth about their journey, and to ask him some questions about Misthaven, without revealing what they want there. ("A Tale of Two Sisters")

After they leave Arendelle on their ship, Gerda and her husband track down a pirate, Black Beard, in the nearby land of Misthaven and bargain with him to obtain a wishing star. Though they had hopes of removing Elsa's powers with it, the item can grant a wish only if used by a pure-hearted person. Since neither are able to harness it, the pair consults with a wizard to get rid of Elsa's magic. During the sea voyage home, the ship is caught in a terrible storm. Realizing neither of them will make it out alive, Gerda hastily jots down a long note, explaining her past with her sisters. Within it, she expresses her remorse about hiding Ingrid and Elsa out of fear for their powers. Gerda also regrets letting that fear get the better of her by turning on Ingrid when she should have been there for her. She pleads for her daughters to set things right and restore their aunts' memory to the people with a memory stone she's attached to the message. Gerda also wants Ingrid free from her prison. She requests that the girls give her apologetic words to their aunt: that she always loved her and would give anything to hold her hand again like Ingrid wanted. After sealing it in a bottle, she has her husband throw it overboard in hopes it will one day fall into Elsa and Anna's possession. The ship then capsizes and sinks, along with the queen and her consort. ("A Tale of Two Sisters", "Fall", "Shattered Sight")

After Second Curse
Thirty-five years later, Gerda's message falls into Anna's possession in Storybrooke and she shows this to a vengeful Ingrid, who realizes Gerda's love for her was genuine all along. Ingrid forgives her sister and abandons her vendetta against the world by sacrificing her life to lift the Spell of Shattered Sight. After Ingrid's death, she reunites with Helga and Gerda in the afterlife, where the three hold hands. ("Shattered Sight")

Family

Unknown[3]
 
King Magnus[3]Queen Astrid[3]
 
King Olaf[3]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Queen Sonja[3]
 
 
 
 
 
King Harald[3]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IngridHelgaGerda
 
King of Arendelle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kristoff
 
 
AnnaElsa
 
 
 

Notes:

  • Solid lines denote parent-child blood relationships
  • Dashed lines denote marriages that result in offspring
  • denotes the deceased

Trivia

Production Notes

  • She was supposed to appear in "Breaking Glass"[1] but her scenes were cut due to unknown reasons.

Props Notes


Dearest darling daughters,
you need to know the truth about
why we went to this voyage.
It wasn't what we told you.
I wish we could be telling you
in person but alas that does not
appear possible. Elsa, Anna, time is running out. I do
not know if your father and I
will ever get back to you
but I need you to know we
were so wrong. We were wrong to
tell Elsa to conceal her powers.
You must know this. I feel terrible.
This happened before and I
cannot let it happen again.

Years ago I made the same
mistake with my sister Ingrid.
She like you had ice powers.
I never told you about my
sisters Helga and Ingrid. They
were beautiful and kind and
Ingrid they they were beautiful [sic]
and kind and wonderful and I[sic]
was fearful and I let that fear
guide me. I made the mistake
of letting Ingrid hide when we
should have celebrated her for
how she was. I loved her so much.

In this crystals are the memory
of my sisters which I stole from
the people of Arendelle.
Please return them. My sisters
deserve to be known. In a

cave in the north valley, you will
find an urn that contains my
sister Ingrid. Please do what I
should have done years ago and
release her. She deserves to
be remembered and more
importantly like you, Elsa and
Anna, she deserves to be loved.

When you see her, please tell her
I love her and that I am sorry. Tell
her I would give anything to take
back what I did, to hold hands with
her just one more time.

All my love, mama.
("Shattered Sight")

Script Notes

Appearances

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

See also

References

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