The Mad Hatter/Jefferson Character Analysis

[hjbau]

He knew Regina would use magic on him which she did when he tried.

[Oncescape]

Yeah, she makes the floor stick to his feet or something.

Jefferson is on my villains list actually. He aimed a gun at Emma's head and we don't KNOW what would have happened if Mary Margaret hadn't hit him with the croquet mallet. He now knew Emma didn't believe, she'd made a hat and it didn't work, and he may have been convinced she was now useless. He also may have felt vengeful against her for not truly TRYING to help him.

Then all the stuff he did in the last two episodes. He hasn't been shown to have concern about anyone but himself and Grace. (Kinda like how Regina doesn't really care about what happens to anyone but herself and Henry.)

We know Jefferson didn't want to leave his daughter fatherless. We know he felt bad about what happened to Grace's mother (whatever that was.) We know he's creative and imaginative. These are all nice things, but none of them actually make him a good person. (Especially if like me, you don't define good as simply at the absence of evil. You can do good, you can actively be good. You are good if you do and be those things.Which he doesn't even have the absence of evil going for him actually. Retrieving that apple was pretty evil.)

[charming]

Jefferson is like Rumple in that he has one goal and that is to be reunited with his daughter. The ends justifies the means, more so with Jefferson. Jefferson and Rumple are different in that Rumple has a master plan and will not be used by anyone but does use others to acomplish his goal. Jefferson has been used and does not really have a plan. He seems to be improvising and using anything he can to accomplish his goal.

[darcyfarrow]

He's also given up, whereas Rumple has been trying for centuries and probably never will quit. Jefferson asked Regina to take away his memory of FTL and Grace. His hope is gone, maybe because he's spent his entire time in SB powerless and friendless. Since his awakening, Rumple has had the freedom to keep trying.

Now that the curse is broken and Paige knows who she really is, he's going to have a resolution. It may not be the outcome he'd hoped for, though.

[Clockwatcher]

I have a question!
If Jefferson couldn't leave his house... how could he stalk his daughter everywhere, including the school where she left her bike? Yeah, he has telescopes, but his house seemed to be in or near the forest. Away from the school.
Plus, what was really keeping him in his house? He was able to leave when he went to see Regina...

[Josephine]

I wondered that, too, Clockwatcher. He was stuck in his house for 28 years. I haven't rewatched the episode too closely, just parts, but I got the feeling he could only leave the house when Emma came to Storybrooke. Regina's punishment for him was probably more cruel than Snow's. He actually remembered his daughter and got a reminder everyday looking in the telescope, but never being able to contact her. I think that's worse then forgetting completely.

I also wonder what else she made happen when she came to town: the clock started working, Jefferson could leave his house, August started getting sick...there has to be more we find out happened to others.

[Clockwatcher]

Actually, Josephine, a good question is: why did Regina give him that punishment? Her goal was to get revenge on SW, right? What could Jefferson have done that was so horrible that he deserved the punishment he got?

Jefferson is on my villains list actually. He aimed a gun at Emma's head and we don't KNOW what would have happened if Mary Margaret hadn't hit him with the croquet mallet. He now knew Emma didn't believe, she'd made a hat and it didn't work, and he may have been convinced she was now useless. He also may have felt vengeful against her for not truly TRYING to help him.

Honestly, I don't think Jefferson would have fired that gun. As Regina pointed out, he's too good; he doesn't have it in him.
However, he seems to know a lot about the curse; he knew that if he killed Regina, the curse would remain unbroken forever, and he'd never get Grace back. So, it seems likely that he would have known that, had he killed Emma, the curse would be broken. Maybe this is why he figured he had nothing to lose; either Emma did what he wanted, or the curse was broken and he got his daughter back.