Will Henry become the Dark Swan? The Sorcerer? Will he take Emma's place?

There is always an unexpected twist to the season finale.

There has been so much speculation about Emma going dark…lots of chatter among fans as well as official online articles.  One article even specifically mentioned the photos of Emma with the dagger.  My question is…what will be the twist for this season?

In an interview posted today, May 1, K&H said that Henry is going to have the opportunity to step up and be the hero he has always wanted to be. They also indicated that season four will end with a similar feel to season one.

Season 1 finale…Henry takes Emma’s Place – At the end of season one, episode 121 – An Apple as Red as Blood, Henry stepped in and grabbed the apple turnover from Emma’s hand, taking a bite of the turnover thus saving Emma from the fate Regina had planned for her.

Season 4 finale…Will Henry take Emma’s Place Again by Taking the Dagger?  – What if, at the end of season four, Henry steps in and grabs the dagger from Emma’s hand thus saving Emma from the fate that awaits her as Dark Swan.  I do not know if this is what is going to happen but I do see a tremendous amount of supporting evidence that this could be the direction the series is headed.  Henry Mills aka Henry Swan…sacrifices himself to save Mother…thus becoming the Dark Swan.

Daniel’s Headstone in the Sneak Peek for Episode 420 – “Mother” and its connection to Henry sacrificing himself for Emma.

We have a sneak peek of the episode, Mother, where Regina aka The Evil Queen rips out the heart of a young man who was getting married in the Royal meadow. After ripping out and crushing his heart, Regina makes a visit to Daniel’s headstone (is Daniel in the ground or in her vault?).  We have only seen Daniel’s headstone in one other episode, An Apple as Red as Blood, the second to last episode of Season One. Regina met Snow White and showed her the headstone. Snow White learned of Daniel’s death and willingly took a bite of the apple to save Charming’s life. This is the same episode where Henry grabbed the turnover out of Emma’s hand and willingly ate of it to save Emma from the fate Regina had planned for her.

K&H discuss Henry’s role in the finale – In an interview posted today on Entertainment, this question was asked…

Question: What role does Henry play in the finale?

Kitsis: He plays the role of hero.  You’re going to see Henry step up and be called upon to finally be the hero he’s always been reading about and inspiring other people to be. 

Horowitz:  It’s been too long since Henry has been front and center and it’s time for him to come into his own.

Kitsis: It’s kind of like his bar mitzvah, but magically.

If Henry steps in and takes Emma’s place, it will fulfill his desire to become a hero…saving Emma,  and it will end the season with a similar feel to the ending of season one.  If saving Emma involves taking the dagger from her, I think we have to consider the possibility that it will be Henry who goes dark…not Emma.

Henry aka The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – We heard Anna describe Rumple as an “Evil Sorcerer” in episode 406, “Family Business.”  We saw Henry become the Dark One’s…the “Evil Sorcerer’s” (aka Henry’s Grandpa Rumple) apprentice.  We even see Henry sweeping with the broom.

Will Henry become a Mash-Up Character…not only being The Sorcerer’s Apprentice but also being The Sorcerer? –  I dare to even imagine that it is possible Henry will become a mash-up character and not only be The Sorcerer’s Apprentice but also be The Sorcerer.  The second episode of Season Two gave us a heavy dose of, “We Are Both.”  If Henry…aka The Sorcerer’s Apprentice becomes The Sorcerer…well, in the words of Charming when Philip turned into a flying monkey…I didn’t see that coming.

Prophecy of Rumple’s Undoing. Could Henry fulfill the prophecy at the end of this season? – We have the prophecy that the boy will be Rumple’s undoing.  Is it possible if Henry takes the dagger, this will somehow release Rumple from being the Dark One? We know Rumple wants to “cleave” himself from the dagger.  That is his entire focus right now. What a twist that would be.

Henry’s Family History :His “Father” History –  Rumple, Henry’s grandfather, made a dark choice when he stole the dagger and became the Dark One to protect his son, Baelfire, Henry’s father.  Rumple also “undid”  his father’s false youth by using the dagger to turn stab both himself and his father through the heart, thus changing Peter Pan back into the form of his father.

Rumple’s father, Henry’s great grandfather, made a dark choice…but in my opinion a choice of a different sort…not a choice to try to help but rather a selfish, self-centered choice to abandon his son and choose to become young again as Peter Pan.

The writers said Neal made a dark choice when he “undid” (my word), when he released Rumple aka The Dark One, from the vault to save everyone by allowing Rumple to reveal to all the identity of the Wicked Witch as Zelena.

In the last few episodes we have seen the past dark choice made by Henry’s grandmother Snow and Henry’s grandfather David.

Could it be that Henry will follow in the footsteps of his fathers and make a dark choice?  If becoming a hero means taking the darkness upon himself…Wow!

Rumple’s father was running out of Time…Now Rumple is running out of Time – Just like Rumple’s father was running out of time, Rumple is now running out of time.  Henry was the target for Rumple’s father and I think Henry may end up being the target of this season ender.

*Henry’s mom, Regina aka The Evil Queen has The Most Resilient Heart.

*Henry aka The Dark One? or The Sorcerer has The Heart of The Truest Believer.

This picture of their hearts is an interesting parallel between Mother and Son.  If Henry enters the Family Business of Darkness, he sure has a lot of family who have been there before him.

Back to the Kitsis quote, “It’s kind of like his bar mitzvah, but magically.” 

When a Jewish boy becomes a Bar Mitzvah, “an agent who is subject to the law,” he can make a vow that is legally binding.  His parents are no longer responsible for and cannot be punished for his “sins.” An interesting background midrash involving Bar Mitzvah is centered around the story of Isaac (also the name of the author) and his twin sons, Jacob and Esau.

“Up to thirteen years Esau (who was red and hairy) and Jacob (liked to hang out at the tent with Mom) went together to the primary school and back home; after the thirteen years were over the one went to the beit ha’midrash for the study of the Laaw, the other to the house of idols.”  With reference to this, Rabbi Eleazar remarks, “Until the thirteenth year it is the father’s duty to train his boy; after this he must say; “Blessed be He who has taken from me the responsibility [the punishment] for this boy!”

In the story of Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau, we find Jacob tricking(with the help of his mother) his old blind father into giving him Esau’s blessing by putting goat skins on his arms to make them feel hairy and then pretending to be Esau.  Earlier, Esau had given up his birthright as oldest son…selling it for a bowl of stew. Jacob usurped his brother and took his place.

What does this have to do with Henry?  If being a Bar Mitzvah is being an agent who is subject to the law…the first law that comes to mind is the Law(s) of Magic.  Could this be when Henry becomes a wielder of Magic…becoming subject to its laws? If Henry makes a vow binding himself to the dagger, keeping with the Bar Mitzvah image…the vow would be legally binding.  If Henry were to become dark, his parents would not be held responsible for his darkness. Bar Mitzvah’s occur at the thirteenth birthday.

Rumple’s Dream…Henry’s Birthday and the choice of the magical wand – Rumple had a dream and in that dream Henry was having a birthday party.  Rumple let Henry choose a present and Henry chose a magical wand.  Rumple, while “showing” Henry how to use the wand, instead turned to Henry and poofed him into a porcelain figurine.  Rumple then shattered Henry.

The only other person we have seen turned into porcelain and then shattered was Henry’s aunt, the Wicked Witch aka Aunty Zelena…whose mission was to change the story by going back in time and taking the place of her sister Regina….and Regina never being born.  Was this scene of Henry turning to porcelain and shattering a foreshadow of Henry choosing to be a Hero by taking the magical dagger thus becoming Dark and Wicked…Henry choosing to pay the price of the magic?

Zelena had also been Rumple’s apprentice and for a while, Zelena had possession of the dagger.  Will Henry also gain possession of the dagger?  Will he truly become a Lost Boy whose goodness is shattered by a choice that saves his mother?

Jewish Kabbalah and Regina’s Book of Magic – In addition to Jewish Bar Mitzvah we have an additional Jewish connection in Jewish Kabbalah which means”receiving tradition”.   Go to wikipedia and look up Kabbalah.  You will see an illustration that says, “Part of a series on Kabbalah.”  Compare the diagram to the diagram in the spell book that Regina shows Emma in The Jolly Roger.  They are very similar.  If Henry is to receive tradition it is my guess that tradition is going to magic.

The ultimate twist to Snow and Charming’s decision would be that yes, their action saved Emma from becoming dark but it cost them the loss of their grandson to dark magic.  Their prophecy became a self fulfilling prophecy similar to Rumple injuring himself on the battlefield to prevent Baelfire from losing his father.

Throwing out my wild card here…an even better twist would be Henry becoming the Original Dark One…or The Original Sorcerer.  Timeline problems?  I have no doubt they could figure out a way to make it happen with the way time shifts. The ultimate irony would be that the Hero’s actions actually created the Dark One or The Sorcerer (if the Sorcerer is evil).

Who is the Chess Master? – The big questions for me throughout the entire series is this, “Who is the Chess Master and who is the Pawn?”  For a while I thought it was Rumple…then I thought it was Cora.  I’ve thought maybe the Blue Fairy…but what if it is Henry.  What if some weird shift causes him to be propelled back in time or some other shift and he is the one has been setting the Chess Board to right things again.  It would explain how he comes up with such great names like Operation Cobra.  In the words of August Booth aka Pinocchio…the boy may not remember the man but the man remembers the boy.

As a footnote:  I sure hope we find out who the old man and woman are.  They are in almost every episode…front and center but we do not know who they are and what they are doing.  I’ve wondered if they are the older version of current characters…sort of an old Spock meets up with young Spock sort of situation.  I’ve wondered if the old woman is Regina because when Regina is entering the Town Hall in the episode broken, when she passes the woman she says, “It’s just little ole me.”  Could they be Regina and Robin?  Snow and Charming? Henry and ___?  Watch for them…he wears a hat most of the time.  They have attended funerals…been at the bar in Granny’s, you name it…they have been a part of it but we still do not know who they are.