@PriceofMagic wrote:
Isn’t Neverland meant to make you forget about home so that you never want to leave? Neverland wouldn’t have made Hook forget about his revenge.
I think Bae would have wanted to forget about his past. He saw his father turn from a kind man into a monster who thought nothiing of cold blooded murder. Bae would have found himself in a new land where he could be whoever he wanted to be and not the dark one’s son. Given enough time, Bae could have created his own backstory and believed it to be true. His true past coming back to him in the form of nightmares.
In season 1, Emma’s denial was so strong it caused her not to see August’s wooden leg even though it was right in front of her. What if Neal’s denial of his past is just as strong?
I don’t know about Neverland, but I do think that Nealfire’s past was so traumatic that he could have repressed his memories and created new ones. Plus, it might not just about those memories being so traumatic, it could have been a matter of survival in Nealfire’s mind too because I’m sure he either realized that people would brand him as crazy if he told them the truth. Maybe he did tell some people the truth, and of course they probably thought he was crazy and eventually convinced him that he created these fake memories to deal with the stress of losing his family. Or maybe he kept silent, but observed how “different” people were treated by those around them, and convinced himself over time that it was all just fake memories that he made up. (Of course, this is actually if he did have his memories when he first arrived in this world because it’s possible that he has amnesia depending on how he landed. He wasn’t worldy or mature nor did he have a ship like Hook did, so maybe he landed on his head and really did lose his memories except they come back to him when he’s dreaming.)
Now with August who was also sent here as a young boy, I think the reason he didn’t repress his memories, at least not that we know of, is because he was young enough that people around him could write off his stories due to his age, and eventually, he’d learn not to talk about his past to people. He would know that he was actually telling the truth, but to fit in, he would just learn to hold his tongue about it, but not repress his memories like Nealfire may have. Plus, while his life was traumatic in many ways, I think his life was generally all around better, especially because his father sent him away to keep him alive, unlike Nealfire’s father who let Nealfire come here on his own because he’d rather have power over him.
Further, if Nealfire is repressing his memories, for me that doesn’t mean, that he won’t be angry at his father, because I’m sure if he is repressing his memories, once he starts accepting those memories are real, he will be very angry with his father not only for choosing power over him in the first place, but also for everything that his father did to be reunited with Nealfire.