RumplesGirl wrote: I have been thinking about the broken dreamcatcher a lot. I think–now having seen most of the season–it broke when Neal “died” in EF. I would really like to see that thing again.
That is actually pure genius, RG. When someone first brought it to my attention that the dreamcatcher was broken in 3×12, I acknowledged it but chalked it up to a mishandling of the prop by the prop master.
Yet, with hindsight bias, I agree that the thread of the dreamcatcher was broken chronologically after Neal had brought back his father during the missing year. This idea of broken threads really reminds me of the power of balefire in WoT being able to cause someone’s life pattern to unravel.
Balefire is a weapon of the One Power usable by both male and female channelers. Its widespread use during the War of Power began to cause the Pattern to unravel, and it was subsequently banned from use by all wielders of the One Power.
When a target is struck with balefire, its thread in the pattern is destroyed, in an amount proportional to the power of the balefire strike. This translates to the target’s existence being completely erased, chronologically in reverse.
The dreamcatcher is symbolic of the pattern of Baelfire’s very life unraveling. The only way to fix this unraveling is to unravel Zelena’s life in the past to make sure she never harmed Baelfire in the future (how very BTTF of them)!
Now, as DSB pointed out, we have the broken wheel amongst the rubble of Dorothy’s farmhouse in 3×20. We have the broken dreamcatcher. We have Emma’s broken heart. The only way to correct all of these things is to turn back the wheel of time, to balefire the past, to fix the future. Then Baelfire’s pattern will be restored and he’ll get his second chance, Henry’s very existence will be guaranteed, and Emma’s hope for a happy ending will be recognized.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy