Crystal Lillian Miller
Crystal is a complicated person but is mainly a hero at heart. Many of these characteristics are from the love and devotion she received from her mother growing up.
She's smart, strong-willed and courageous by putting others before herself and willing to do anything to protect her family and friends, including sacrificing herself in order to save those she loves. She is a very loving person, shown through her relationships with Mason, her twins, her father, family, the many residents of Storybrooke and her friends. Her soft spot is for young children, finding her passion by working in various daycares in New York and she finds the need to help them as she did with Brendan. This love followed her into Storybrooke where she quickly bonded with baby Neal and could easily adapt this when she entered motherhood herself. She truly does love her father, stepmother, and half-brother, even going as far as to show affection to the man who gave her life. She chooses to focus on the present, to try and make up for the lost time for 20 years and turn over a new leaf. She also attempts to see the good in people and maintain hope, something her mother taught her a long time ago. Additionally, she tries to see the beauty in everything and cherish the simpler moments in life. This can be seen when she uses her magic to play with the stars in the sky and just simply taking the time to see the reflections of light on the wet pavement in the city.
Crystal has an unusual sense of humour, making unusual metaphors or comparisons and being sarcastic when the moment presents itself. She also has a tendency to tease others, often by teleporting to various places and sometimes even taunting people before vanishing. It is possible she got this sense of humour from her father, but she mostly does it to lighten the mood or to get others or herself smiling. Although, some people find this annoying when used inappropriately. She tends to be spontaneous and more self-assured, often shown through her use of casual magic to do certain things.
Crystal is a straight shooter who isn't afraid to confront people with the truth, especially when they are being hypocritical and her special vision allows her to see the devious from the true. She never gives up on those she cares about, especially when they are in danger. Her devotion led her to find a temporary cure for Mason and saving him from becoming a complete monster, make sure that Tiana and Naveen got Brendan back, and save her family from the Shadow Clan's clutches.
However, like many people, Crystal harbours a dark side, something she says was influenced heavily by her father passing down his dark magic to her.
Since the day she was born, Crystal has been tormented by voices in her head, ones that tempted her with darkness and for the most part, she's acted on them. She's done things that she is not proud of and is very much haunted by her past. She may have had love and care from her mother, but she certainly didn't return it for a long time. She rebelled in every way imaginable growing up, feeling torn and confused about who she was as a person. She turned to drugs and alcohol, hung out with street gangs, stole things, damaged property and eventually it escalated to murder. Crystal has difficulty keeping her emotions in check, which in turn causes her powers to be extremely unstable. Although she's never fully embraced the path of darkness, she's leaned into and used it multiple times. She's always felt torn between good and evil, struggling to find that balance within herself. This led to the penultimate moment when she lost control of herself and ended up killing her mother in the heat of the moment.
Crystal lives with this regret but uses it to try and better herself. She has a tendency to bury her dark deeds by trying to do good in the world, but she'll still always feel unfulfilled, never being able to forgive herself for what she'd done to the woman who loved her the most.
Because of the conflict within herself, she has a very short temper, often snapping or becoming defensive when something happens. She can also be impulsive in these moments of frustration. Her anger is uncontrolled but often justified, especially when it comes to her father's actions and his deceit as the Dark One. This was shown when she met her father for the first time and she ended up throwing a car at him. Despite trying to love her father and show affection towards him, Crystal still blames him for her dark magic and who she became as a person. It was his voice that often convinced her to do wrong, but her father points out that she was the one who acted on them, instead of resisting. She will not let him get away scot-free however, she has a tendency to call her father names, remind him of his betrayal of her mother and that he tried to consume her heart to gain back his power.
Despite all her faults and conflicts, Crystal has proven time and time again that good can still prevail over evil, not letting her past define her and showing that true balance can be struck between two opposing forces as long as two elements are present; love and acceptance.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Crystal vows to never be like her father and raise her children with love and devotion.
- Parental Abandonment: A twist on usual parental abandonment. Lillian, Crystal's mother, deliberately abandoned her lover to protect her child from his nefarious intentions.
- Hates Their Parent: Crystal resents her father at the beginning of the story for abandoning her and her mother. While this hatred does soften over time, she also blames the Dark One for the dark magic she inherited that led to the death of her mother.
- Parental Betrayal: Crystal's mother felt betrayal from her lover Rumpelstiltskin after he lied to her and had the intention of killing their child to gain the magic he lost by passing it on to his child.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: All her life, Crystal was told her father abandoned her and her mother but no reasons were ever given.
- Parental Substitute: Due to the death of her mother, Crystal is always looking to fill the maternal void left behind. She manages to find this with Snow White, Regina Mills, and Belle French (who is also her stepmother).
- Thicker Than Water: Crystal views Emma's family as her own and loves them as such
