If they don’t kill him, it leaves the possibility open that he’ll return. If the writers don’t want RH on the show anymore for whatever reason, I can see how they see killing him as the most reasonable option to keep having to avoid saying “he’s not coming back” over and over again. Not that that worked with Neal. But eh.
Personally, I see killing off Robin in a permanent capacity even crueler for three main reasons: 1) Outlaw Queen has had so much build up and development for 3 Seasons. We also had a huge amount of drama with the couple in Season 4 in particular. So Regina has to suffer losing her true love yet again, despite how far she’s come? We as viewers would have gone through all of Outlaw Queen’s emotional rollercoaster for nothing? 2) Robin Hood has two little kids, with one of them being an infant. You kill off Robin, and Roland is completely an orphan with none of his birth parents around anymore. As for Baby Pistachio, her remaining birth parent would be Zelena… 3) All of 5B is about bringing Hook back from the dead, so they’re going to tell us that Robin’s death has to stick in the same arc? The more the show finds loopholes around “dead is dead”, the harder it is to convince the viewers when they really want us to believe it for certain characters. That’s why there are some Neal fans out there who continue to not entirely rule out the possibility, even when the show continues to remind us “he’s not coming back” at least once per Season. In Season 3 it was Emma saying “you can’t prevent his death from happening in the past, because he died a hero saving all of us. You can’t take that away from him.” In Season 4 it was the Apprentice saying “he died in the real world, and that can never be undone.” In Season 5, it’s Neal himself telling us “I’m not in the Underworld. I’m in a better place, and I’m happy there.”
This!