This is a great thread. Lots of options discussed and most of them seem potentially plausible to me. I’m really interested to see who Henry’s dad ends up being.
The only idea I’m really subscribing to at this point is that I really think it’ll turn out he was married and had an affair with Emma. She’s hinted at having been involved with a married man, and I know that part of the story she told Henry about his dad was bogus, but I don’t think it was all a lie. I can’t get past the bit about how he always asked for pumpkin pie, and Emma seemed to be remembering it as a quirk in him she’d found endearing. Can’t help but take it as a “Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater” shoutout. He, “had a wife and couldn’t keep her,” and also, “had another but didn’t love her.” I don’t think it means he’s THE Peter, character from a nursery rhyme brought to life or anything, I just think it was a hint about his personality and his story.
I wouldn’t have a problem with Henry’s dad being some ordinary person from our world, and think he could still have an impact and play a vital role in the story without being Bae.
As things are right now, Regina is on the outs, and Emma’s gonna be wanting custody of Henry. If they now have access to the outside world and vice versa, (I know we don’t know if that’s so yet, but considering Mr Gold was planning a trip, I’m guessing that the barrier between Storybrooke and our world is now gone), Regina could very well go looking for Henry’s father just to throw a wrench in Emma’s bid for custody. And once an outsider comes to town and gets involved with these people…
@Oncescape wrote:
If muggle means a normal person, then oh agreed, Heather. It would be interesting for the show to ever face a threat of outsiders figuring out fairy tales are real and what they would do if they did. ? Would he try to blackmail them? Would there be more magic power hungry people descending on their town? Could add some urgency to the “We must get back to fairy tale land.”
…exactly! It could potentially add a whole new dynamic to the show if Henry’s dad is just a regular person from our world, and through his connection to Henry and Emma, Storybrooke could become exposed to our ordinary world for what it really is.
But then it would also be a great storyline if he ends up being Bae and that ties Rumple to the other characters in a whole new way. So I really don’t mind which way it ends up going. I could certainly see that Bae could have become a tormented man if he had to grow up in our world with his FTL memories, so Emma saying he wasn’t a nice guy could certainly fit. And the whole Baelfire/firefighter thing could potentially be a huge hint.
I also haven’t given up on the idea of Bae having become Peter Pan though. Oooo, crackpot theory time…he originally went through the vortex to Neverland, became Peter Pan, who had the ability to travel to our world and at some point opted to stay here, aged, and ended up being the Peter cheater from the nursery rhyme who got Emma pregnant. Or would that be too convoluted? LOL