"Red" Lucas, better known as Red Riding Hood, currently known as Ruby, and also known as Wolfie, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She is a werewolf in this show and is Snow White's best friend.
She is portrayed by Meghan Ory.
Synopsis[]
Before First Curse[]
In a small village, the daughter of a werewolf, Anita Lucas, is raised by her grandmother Widow Lucas, who separates her from her mother to prevent the girl from following in Anita's footsteps. She grows up not knowing her parents, and believes that her mother died some time ago. When she turns thirteen, the girl experiences shapeshifting for the first time, but has no recollections of it. Granny then trades a red cloak from a wizard to prevent the girl from turning into a wolf while wearing it. From that time, she becomes known as Red Riding Hood because of the red cloak she wears. In a budding romance, Red falls in love with the blacksmith's son, Peter, and the two have secret rendezvouses near her cottage window at night. They dream of running away together, but things are not safe in town with a bloodthirsty wolf running around on every wolfs time, or full moon. One evening, she and Widow Lucas receive Mayor Tomkins at their door. He asks for more volunteers to help the hunting party kill the wolf. Red expresses an interest in it, but Widow Lucas refuses and the pair lock down the house for safety. As Red goes to rest for the night, Widow Lucas reminds her to keep her cloak on since the color red repels wolves. The next morning, she finds a woman, who calls herself Mary, hiding in the chicken coop barn. Red offers her shelter at the cottage. When they go to fetch water from the well, the mangled, bloody corpses of the hunting party is discovered. After returning to the village, Mayor Tomkins calls for a meeting where he demands an even larger hunting party so they can put an end to the massacre of people and their livestock. Widow Lucas protests by explaining her own terrifying experience of having been marked by a wolf in the past. ("Red-Handed")
During the evening, Red Riding Hood grabs hold of an idea to simply kill the wolf and get rid of the danger so she and Peter can be together. Mary is reluctant to agree but eventually agrees to help. The next day, they follow the wolf's footprints, which oddly begin turning into human tracks, and stop at Red's cottage. Stunned, they conclude Peter must be the wolf. Red meets with him in the woods to tell him the truth while Mary masquerades as her in bed. Peter believes Red's theory and agrees to be tied up in chains. However, when the full moon rises, it is she, not Peter, who shifts into a wolf. Despite Peter's frantic attempts to make her recognize him, she no longer has any sense of her human self. She tears him apart and feasts on his remains just as Mary and Widow Lucas arrive to put her out with a silver-tipped cross bolt. Then, Mary places the cloak on Red to turn her back into a human. At first, Red awakens in a disoriented state and asks where Peter is, only to catch a glimpse of what is left of him after she in wolf form did to him. While Red reels from the revelation of who she truly is, Widow Lucas urges her and Mary to leave before the hunting party arrives. ("Red-Handed")
Now on the run in the woods, Red and Mary flee from pursuing soldiers looking for Mary, whose real identity is Snow White, a fugitive wanted by her stepmother the Evil Queen. They evade capture, but Red notices her cloak is partially torn. In fear of shapeshifting again and possibly hurting Snow, she sends her away for the time being. Red wakes up in the morning, relieved that the cloak's magic held through, and takes it off when she goes to wash up at the stream. There, a stranger grabs her cloak and runs off. Red chases after the thief and stops him from burning her cloak. The man, Quinn, admits he is a wolf too, and takes her to a den to his leader, Anita, who confesses she is actually Red's mother and that they were separated because Widow Lucas didn't want her granddaughter growing up as a wolf. With Anita's help, Red is taught to master control of herself while in wolf form and finds her place among her own kind. When Snow White treads into the den of the wolves looking for Red, the pack is on guard until Red persuades them that Snow, despite being a human, means no harm and is her ally. Though the two women had planned on traveling together, Red regretfully states that she wants to stay with the wolf pack. Suddenly, the Queen's guards burst in looking for Snow and in the midst of the battle, Quinn is shot dead by one of the guards. Blaming Snow for Quinn's death, Anita prepares to execute the girl as retribution, but Red defends her. In wolf form, mother and daughter have a scuffle until Anita accidentally impales herself on a spike. With her last breaths of life, Anita accuses her daughter of choosing a human over her own pack, but a tearful Red asserts that she chooses herself because she is not a killer and neither is Anita. After burying her mother, Red thanks Snow for constantly supporting her as both a wolf and human. ("Child of the Moon")
At some point, Red Riding Hood begins providing food to starving villagers when she learns the Queen and her Huntsman are raiding it, and they have joined forces with Anita's former wolf pack led by Adair. As the Queen and her allies are traveling, Red assumes her wolf form to spy on them, however,the Queen immediately spots her. Mistakenly believing this wolf is part of the pack, she orders the beast to get back in line with the rest of her kind, but Red merely growls at her. Noticing the Queen is carrying a box, Red knocks it out of her hands. This attracts the attention of the other wolves, who charge at Red to exact revenge for Anita's death. Red ends up constricted in the air by the Queen's magic, but she is dropped when the Huntsman aims an arrow at an approaching Adair. While the Huntsman runs off with the box, Red snatches it from him. He tracks her down, to which a human Red threatens to kill him because of his affinity with the Queen. She drops her guard, however, upon learning the box contains his heart, which the Queen stole from the Huntsman and controls him with, which is his punishment for sparing Snow White's life. After returning the Huntsman's heart, Red learns from him that the Queen and the pack intend to hunt down Snow White, so they head to King Midas' realm. There, they join Snow and travel to Lake Onondaga to find a totem can be used to transform the shape-shifters into normal wolves, but it can be wielded by someone only once. On the way there, she and the Huntsman develop an easy rapport and share a wolf joke. Snow remarks on the pair's growing closeness, and on glimpsing the lake, she nudges Red on how romantic it looks, to which Red blushes at Snow's implication about her and the Huntsman. While the Huntsman grabs the totem, his companions hold off the wolf pack. However, Red and Snow fall into the lake as the Huntsman jumps in after them. Because of the totem’s power, all three turn into aquatic creatures. Before regaining human form, the Huntsman convinces Red to talk sense into the pack. They approach Adair, who refuses to listen and calls out the wolves. To menace the Queen, the Huntsman threatens Adair's life, but she incinerates the man herself; causing the upset wolves to attack her. As the Queen prepares to kill the pack for turning against her, Red urges the Huntsman to take Snow away while she stays behind to defend her pack. Instead, the Huntsman decides to give himself up to the Queen to ensure the wolves go unharmed. Red says she can't bear the thought of him returning his heart to the Queen, but he insists they both must bear it and assures her he can stand it as long as Red remains safe. As the Huntsman leaves, Red watches him go before turning into wolf form to allow Snow to hop on her back. Snow tells her that what Red and the Huntsman have is true love and suggests they cannot be kept apart forever. After the women make their getaway, Red returns to human form and continues traveling with Snow on foot. Snow expresses regrets for how much Red has given up for her, but the latter wants to continue protecting her in order to honor the Huntsman's wishes. Snow promises to find a way to stop the Queen so the Huntsman can remember who his heart truly belongs to. Red ponders that perhaps Snow's prince will do the same too, a sentiment Snow quietly echoes. ("Shadow of the Queen")
Many weeks after, Red Riding Hood brings food with her to Snow White's secluded forest hideout. She keeps Snow up-to-date on all of the Enchanted Forest's current events, including Prince Charming's impending wedding to King Midas' daughter Abigail. Snow is uneasy over the news and longs for some magical cure to forget about Charming. Red remains quiet, which piques Snow's suspicions that she knows something. After some prodding, she tells Snow about Rumplestiltskin, a man with great powers who might be able to help her take away her love for Charming. The next day, Snow sets out to meet with Charming at King George's castle after he sends her a love letter requesting to see her. She does not return for several days, and Red comes across Charming when he arrives at Snow's hideout to look for her. ("7:15 A.M.")
Realizing Charming is searching for Snow, Red informs him that Snow never returned after she went to meet with him. She states Snow went to the castle because of her love for him, though Charming doesn't believe her. Red attests that Snow intended to confess her feelings for him unless something changed her mind. As Charming realizes King George must have forced Snow to reject him, King George and his soldiers arrive to apprehend him, but he and Red make their escape on horseback. ("What Happened to Frederick")
While still on the run, Red and Charming camp out, but King George's men catch up to them once again. This time, Red insists on staying behind to buy him more time while he flees. As the soldiers approach, she rips off her cloak and shape-shifts into a wolf to attack them. ("Heart of Darkness")
Though Prince Charming eventually finds Snow White, the two are separated when he is taken as King George's prisoner. Snow enlists help from Red Riding Hood, Granny, the seven dwarves and the fairies to rescue him. They overtake the castle, but the rescue attempt is unsuccessful as Snow discovers he has already been traded to the Evil Queen, who agrees to spare Charming's life if Snow has a parlay with her on the condition she does not bring weapons. Upon learning Snow agreed to the deal, Red, Granny, and the dwarves beg her not to go, but Snow insists upon it, believing she must follow the Queen's rules if it means Charming's safe return. Shortly thereafter, they go looking for Snow and find her lifeless body. They believe her to be dead, and remain unaware she is under a Sleeping Curse. ("An Apple Red as Blood")
With the power of Prince Charming's kiss of true love, Snow White is revived to life. Soon after, Red Riding Hood helps the pair fight against King George in order to take back the kingdom. She alerts them to a rumored general of King George's called "The Leviathan". Their camp is soon forced into battle when the king's forces take them by surprise. ("Lady of the Lake")
As the war wages on, King George's army falls in battle. Following the capture of the Evil Queen, Red Riding Hood is one of the many war council members discussing what they should do with her. Though Snow White is against it, the final vote is to put the Queen to death for her crimes. At the public execution, Red listens to the Queen give her last words on the gallows. The Blue Fairy releases arrows to kill the Queen, but moments before they can pierce her, Snow commands for the execution to stop. ("The Cricket Game")
Altered timeline[]
In the altered timeline, At Snow White's request, Red Riding Hood arrives at nightfall to help Prince Charles and Prince Charming break into the Queen's castle to rescue Princess Leia. Taking off her cloak, she morphs into her wolf form and attacks the soldier guarding the castle prison entrance while Charming knocks the man unconscious. Then, Hook covers her with the cloak, which restores Red to human form. As they travel further in, she hears someone approaching, but it is only Leia and another freed prisoner. Their hopes of regrouping with Snow are dashed, however, when the foursome witness her being tied to a post in the courtyard, where the Queen hurls a fireball at Snow and incinerates her. Sometime later, Charming discovers Snow escaped death by using fairy dust to transform herself into a bug. After Snow regains her human form with help from the Blue Fairy's magic, a relieved Red hugs her. ("There's No Place Like Home")
Trivia[]
- Ruby is bisexual.
- She was in a relationship with Peter in the Enchanted Forest.
- She fell in love with Dorothy Gale.
- It's never explained if the DunBroch Witch was using her roundabout magic methods to help Ruby find "her family" or if she turned Ruby into her guard dog for another reason.
