And one of the things we learned in Screenwriting was that to add higher stakes, the writer can give the hero a time limit they need to complete their mission. If the heroes only have, lets say, three days to find Hook or else they die, it make for more drama.
That’s a good guess. That stuff happens *all* the time. I’d say it’s a bargain with Hades, though. Emma has X amount of time to find Hook and get him out of the Underworld or she has to remain in the Underworld as well. Hades gets two new souls (and the soul of the Savior at that) but if Emma succeeds, Hades releases Hook’s soul and doesn’t come for him until “the proper time” or something. The whole arc is a bit of a gendered swap Orpheus and Eurydice and that story has a deal as well: if Orpheus can get his beloved out of Hades by walking in front of her and never looking back, then Eurydice can go back to the land of the living. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t work. It’s not a time limit like you suggest, but it does add higher stakes.