Wicked Witch of The West

"The Queen may be Evil, but I'm Wicked. And Wicked always wins."

- Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the West, also known as Zelena, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the twelfth episode of the third season. She is portrayed by guest star Rebecca Mader, and is the Oz counterpart of Zelena.

The Wicked Witch of the West is based on the character of the same name from the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

History
Zelena is born as the first daughter of Cora, though her father is unknown. She is abandoned in Oz and lives a bitter life. Later, Zelena becomes a disciple of Rumplestiltskin, honing magic, while her contempt for Cora's other daughter, Regina, grows. She is even jealous that Rumplestiltskin chooses Regina over her to cast the curse. (Witch Hunt) Zelena, now known as the Wicked Witch of the West, begins taking residence in Regina's former palace and breaking the latter's magic lock on the crypt, which was created by blood magic. Conveniently, due to her blood link to Regina, this allows her easy access into the fortress. Zelena later enacts her own protection spell to keep outsiders out. Upon learning from Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip that the old inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest have returned, she sends her minion, a flying monkey, to extract some of Regina's blood. After doing so, the Wicked Witch mixes the blood with a potion intending to seek revenge on Regina. (New York City Serendae) and (Witch Hunt)
 * -|Before the Curse=
 * -|After Undone Curse=

While still in the palace, she notices Regina and a man break in through the underground tunnel with intentions of bringing down the barrier encasing the building. Zelena also learns that Regina is concocting a brew of the Sleeping Curse and planning to use it on herself. Only after Regina, having broken the palace shield, prepares to use the curse, she finally reveals herself to the other woman. The Wicked Witch speaks freely about having tried on Regina's clothes and seeing all the various rooms in the palace such as the crypt. While Regina believes Zelena forcibly opened the crypt, which is bound by blood magic, she insists that is not the case. When she admits their relation as half-sisters, with Cora as their shared mother, Regina doesn't believe her. Zelena elaborates by detailing how she was sent away to Oz while scathingly recounting how Cora gave Regina everything. Though Regina considers her lucky to have escaped Cora's tyranny, Zelena is too hurt by her mother's abandonment. Additionally, Zelena feels inferior to her since they were both students of Rumplestiltskin, but yet she wasn't the one chosen to enact the curse. Upon learning Cora and Rumplestiltskin are dead, she is somewhat disappointed by the news. Nonetheless, Zelena announces that her true intent is to get what she desires; describing it as "her dreams being realized" while Regina will suffer a "fate worse than death". (Witch Hunt)

Zelena entraps a man named Lumiere into a form of a candle; forcing him to manipulate Belle and Neal into reviving Rumplestiltskin by using a key to open the vault of the Dark One. Unknown to the pair, whoever resurrects the Dark One will lose their life. Shortly after Neal opens the vault, he begins dying while Rumplestiltskin is resurrected. As opportunity would have it, Zelena reveals herself to Rumpletstiltskin as he is holding his son as well as the accursed dagger. As he is unable to cling onto both Neal and the dagger, she grabs the weapon. To keep his son alive, Rumplestiltskin quickly absorbs him into his own body. Zelena orders him to kill Belle, but before he can, she is entrapped by Lumiere's flames. The girl flees unharmed, taking Lumiere with her, while Zelena furiously seethes. (Quiet Minds)

Trivia

 * The name "Zelena" is of Old Greek origin derived from the word "selene" that means "moon". "Zelena" also means "green" in various Slavic languages.