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The first thing that occurs to me here is that Buffy and Emma have as much that separates them, if not more, than what they share. Yes, they're both the blond leading ladies in their respective shows, and have to deal with being made into saviour figures by shady magic wielding men. But Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for the greater part of the show, is decidedly a coming-of-age narrative (and not only for Buffy); the high school setting, the school-as-hell metaphor of the first three seasons, the college experience in the fourth, and just the start of adulthood in the fifth, sixth and seventh can't be separated from who Buffy the person is. Once upon a Time is many things, but as far as Emma's story is oncerned, it is about making connections, allowing connections and finding a community as much as it is about anything else. And this can't be separated from Emma being very much an adult. The show as it is would not work with a teenage Emma; Emma's double existence as a mother and a lost daughter is too much at the heart of it.
Speaking of teenage Emma: she shares more with Faith than with Buffy. Emma never gets into details regarding what happened to her in the foster system, but it was enough to make her determined not to let other children end up there and have her on the run living from stealing at age 16. While Emma never appears to have killed or tortured anyone (that would have come up by now), prison seems to have been a similar turnaround for her as it was for Faith. Adult Emma's existence as a bounty hunter with intimacy issues when her son Henry reenters her life is what I could see Faith developing into. Mind you, later season Buffy has her own share of trust and intimacy issues - does she ever! - and Wishverse Buffy practically consists of them. These, however, are very much the result of her life as a Slayer through the show. And Buffy still has the memory of having had parents who loved her (until after When She Was Bad, 2.1., at which point Hank Summers in absentia becomes a deadbeat dad), and that is very much a part of who she is, much like Emma thinking of herself as an orphan, abandoned, is part of who Emma is.
On second thought, though, there are some other traits and narrative qualities they share, among more differences.
( Spoilers for OuaT and BTVW newbies alert! )
Speaking of teenage Emma: she shares more with Faith than with Buffy. Emma never gets into details regarding what happened to her in the foster system, but it was enough to make her determined not to let other children end up there and have her on the run living from stealing at age 16. While Emma never appears to have killed or tortured anyone (that would have come up by now), prison seems to have been a similar turnaround for her as it was for Faith. Adult Emma's existence as a bounty hunter with intimacy issues when her son Henry reenters her life is what I could see Faith developing into. Mind you, later season Buffy has her own share of trust and intimacy issues - does she ever! - and Wishverse Buffy practically consists of them. These, however, are very much the result of her life as a Slayer through the show. And Buffy still has the memory of having had parents who loved her (until after When She Was Bad, 2.1., at which point Hank Summers in absentia becomes a deadbeat dad), and that is very much a part of who she is, much like Emma thinking of herself as an orphan, abandoned, is part of who Emma is.
On second thought, though, there are some other traits and narrative qualities they share, among more differences.
( Spoilers for OuaT and BTVW newbies alert! )
