I’m beginning to see reasons why they killed off Neal.
1. It keeps us on our toes- We’d become a bit complacent in thinking the regulars were safe because they were regulars. Killing off a main character shows that anyone can die whether or not they’re a regular.
2. Why Neal?- Why kill off the guy who has had such a crappy life and deserved a happy ending? Because it ups the stakes. It shows happy endings aren’t guaranteed, even to those who do deserve them. It stops the audience being complacent.
3. Why did Neal say what he did such as telling Emma to find Tallahassee with someone else, which is some of what has angered SFers?- Because Neal knew he was going to die. In his last few moments with Emma and Rumple, he told them stuff that would enable them to move on. He told Emma to find love again especially as previously she had trouble opening her heart to anyone because of what happened with Neal. He told Rumple to “let go” because Rumple had created a curse just to find Bae, who knows what he would’ve done to bring Bae back.
4. How Neal died- Neal didn’t get to see Henry and I think the point of him dying how he did was to show that death can happen anytime, it’s not foreshadowed, it can occur out of the blue without warning. Kind of like in Buffy the Vampire slayer where Buffy returns home to find her mother lying dead on the sofa.
It is sad that Neal died, and everyone would’ve preferred him not to die. Nobody wanted anybody to go. However I can see why his death panned out as it did, and it wasn’t just to make way for CaptainSwan.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix