Reply To: 421/422 Finale: Promo

So concerning what Rumple and Isaac do to Hook in this AU, someone somewhere else suggested this interesting theory. What if in this reality, Hook becomes the coward? I could totally see Rumple telling Isaac do that to him.

I could, too. However, the brief snippet we saw of Hook makes him look like a swashbuckler still. He’s still dressed in black, he’s still wearing guy-liner, and he even has his hook still. Based on that, I think Hook is still a pirate in the AU, since he seems to straddle the line between hero and anti-hero. Come to think of it, how does Hook still have his hook if this is an AU? It seems Isaac didn’t want to change Hook’s characterization that much, since he could’ve easily written Hook has having a hand again.

Also, if this is an AU in which the heroes and the villains swap places, then how is it Belle is still dressed like a fairytale princess? Belle is a hero in the original story, so shouldn’t she be a villain in the AU? I suppose maybe Rumple influences Isaac to leave her alone, since his happy ending is about being a hero and getting the girl. Yet, if the rules are now stacked against heroes, making them into villains who don’t get their HEA, then that role-reversal should technically also apply to Belle, meaning she wouldn’t be getting her HEA.