Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

Phee wrote: Love how the light is reflecting off the blade in that photo, so it’s really obvious. SwanFire going into battle together! Bring it on!

So for me: it’s a bit like Rumbelle. Rumple literally carried a piece of her to another world, the chipped cup. And now for 302 he has metaphorically carried her with him, conjuring up visions of her to help him through his ordeal. Emma carried the pendant and the car with her and now she’s got his sword, it’s like her new talisman.

You’re right! While we’ve all been discussing the many parallels that exist between Swanfire and Snowing, sometimes we overlook the parallels between Swanfire and Rumbelle.

• The first parallel is the one RG pointed out about the significance of talismans across worlds: the chipped cup for Rumbelle and the swan pendant/yellow bug/dream catcher/sword for Swanfire .
• Both Rumple and Neal had to live with the regret on a daily basis regarding the fate of the women they loved, Belle and Emma, respectively, for years. Where they differ is that Rumple drove away Belle for the sake of keeping his power while Neal let Emma go so she could reverse the curse his father had created.
• Both Belle and Emma saved their people by being brave and doing the brave thing. Both went up against “monsters” to win the fight: Belle tamed a beast and Emma slew a dragon.
• Both Neal and Rumple realize that love is a like a flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness. Neal has experienced nothing but loss and sorrow ever since his mother left him and his father let him go. For the first time since Bae left the Darlings, Emma represented the home in that yellow bug which stood out against all the pain he’d lived with for over a century in NL. Rumple lives an even darker and lonelier existence than anyone, because his dark one curse keeps his heart ensnared. Belle is the one person whose love and patience was able to momentarily allow Rumple to overcome his despair and gloom. The beast allowed himself to be undone by this beautiful and kindhearted woman.
• Both Rumbelle and Swanfire loved each other despite the odds against them. Rumple’s dark curse stood in the way of true love, or so he believed, until their mutual love overpowered his hideous dark one curse that enslaved him. Even if it was just a brief flicker of hope, it showed that their love would set him free, if only he allows it. With Emma and Neal, they found each other in a world that wasn’t their own in a most unexpected way. Emma, the savior of the curse, fell in love with Baelfire, the reason for the curse. The thing that stood in their way was the curse itself, which could only be broken by a sacrifice of love. Nevertheless, Emma found Neal again to learn that after all the hurt, their mutual love continues on.
• Both Rumple and Neal have experienced a fear of rejection, largely because of how their own relationship as father and son deteriorated when Rumple let go of Bae. Rumple knows his cowardice is to blame to letting go of his son, but he also might have thought Bae wanting to go meant that Rumple was unloveable. Both before and after the curse, Rumple saw his wife and then his son leave. By the time Belle came along, Rumple really felt that no one could ever love him, which is the root of his rejecting Belle’s freely given love. With Neal, his father letting him go and choosing power over him is that root of Neal’s abandonment issues. Neal has daily lived with the reoccurring nightmare of going through that portal. After Neal had to let Emma go to fulfill her destiny as the savior, Neal’s own issues of fear of rejection hindered him from seeking out Emma. Neal has so much anger towards his own father for letting go of him that he believed Emma would carry nothing but anger towards him for letting her go.
• Belle and Emma both have an enormous ability to forgive the men they love, Rumple and Neal, respectively. Even after spending 30+ years as Regina’s prisoner, Belle doesn’t hold a grudge against Rumple for driving her away because of his fear of rejection. What does she do? She tries even harder and  tells him that once you find something worth fighting for you never give up. With Emma, she loved Neal enough to search for him for two years in Tallahassee, even though at the time she believed he’d set her up just to take the fall for the watches he’d stolen. Emma searched for the man who’d broken her heart. While Emma did become hardened after her hopes were dashed and she buried her feeling of hurt in order to survive, Emma never lost that love for Neal. And when Neal explained he did it so she could fufil her destiny and that he regretted it every day of his life, what happened? Emma’s walls came crashing down when she realized she was losing the love of her life again and she declared her love for him again. Emma never stopped loving him, and that love could be enough to overcome past hurt. Now Neal won’t stop fighting to get back Emma, the woman he loves.