So apparently it goes like this Cora is the miller's daughter who promised the king she would spin straw into gold. That's the original Rumplestiltskin tale after all. Apparently the spoiler goes like this: Eva (Snow's mum) has a brother Henry Sr. (as seen on the show) and there's a ball where they try to find a bride for him. It seems Eva wasn't always so nice as we saw her last week and when she recognized Cora at the ball, a simple peasant, she wanted to have her thrown out but Cora said that'd be her loss because after all she can spin straw into gold. The deal in the end, if Cora can pull that off, then she gets to marry Henry. Of course she can't (as in the original fairy tale) and has to strike a deal with Rumplestiltskin. – Now the speculation from some parts of fandom is that indeed Rumple is Regina's father because of him demanding her first child from her as payment. Honestly, that'd be just too much for my taste. First of all I liked Cora's little husband with the pointy ears. Secondly Regina being Snow's cousin is already adding more twists in that whole family dynamic. Thirdly if Rumple was Regina's father... I can't wrap my head around it timeline-wise. Okay we know that Bae was in Neverland for a while which kept him young etc. but still. Plus he was always very affectionate with Bae whereas he really doesn't care for Regina. So I'm honestly hoping this is a big no. And also just from a point of logic: Wouldn't King Leopold have realised that he is marrying his niece? I mean obviously they are not related by blood but still one would think that in that episode "The Stable Boy" he would have recognized Henry and Cora as his brother-in-law and his wife. Also Rumple asked for Cinderella's/Ashley's child as payment and you can't tell me that's because Alexandra is his daughter.