Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[lisas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psnf0iGEsso&sns=tw

In case it was missed…. you’ll forgive me for crying over the fact that he nominated JMo and Bobby. #BitterOverShow

 

I’m so happy Mikey did this and to even take 2 buckets & donate for deadlines he missed make him a real class act in my book

 

I read a claim that SF fans don’t really understand Emma’s abandonment issues and tend to gloss over them for the sake of a fairytale ending. I wrote why I think this is a misconception about how SF fans think, but I’ll just share it here. I can’t speak for all SF fans, but the majority I have come across certainly understand that Emma has abandonment issues, both from her parents and Neal letting her go to fulfill her destiny. However, what we also understand is that Neal also had abandonment issues from his mother walking out on him and his father letting him go due to dark magic. We took the time to understand both Emma and Neal, and saw the parallel trajectory of their lives. If anything, I started out as a big fan of Emma in s1, before we even knew who Henry’s father would be. I was simultaneously a big fan of Baelfire since he was introduced in “Desperate Souls” and we saw their stories unfolded in parallel form until they crossed paths in “Tallahassee.” That is why I think I may have shipped Swanfire before I ever even knew I did: because I loved Emma and Bae so much as individuals and wound up liking them as a couple. The fact that both Emma and Bae had a fear of abandonment complicated his decisions and helps to explain why he didn’t go after Emma when she initially broke the curse. He feared she would never forgive him. He also had severe abandonment issues from his father’s choices and never wanted to see his old man again. We SF fans also know Emma had big trust issues after the man she loved left her, because all she knew for ten years was that he left, but not the reason why. Emma eventually recognized that he did it to get her home. There was also the issue that August broke his promise to Neal to look after Emma and split with $20K from the watches that Neal intended to give to Emma. Maybe if August hadn’t stolen the money, Emma never would’ve given up Henry. Then again, if she hadn’t, she may never have come to SB, since Henry was the one who brought her there in the first place. Moreover, I would add that both Emma and Neal were orphans who both grew up alone in a world which wasn’t their own and found a home for a time with one another, in spite of everything. They understood each other on a deep level because they both had sad, lonely childhoods. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was destiny that brought them together initially, and out of their love came a child with the heart of the truest believer. So, no matter what, Emma can forever be thankful something good came from their time together: their son. I think Emma and Neal truly loved one another on a deep level. Fans of Emma and Neal rooted for them because of the mutual love they shared, both in the past and present. We were not blind to both of them having abandonment issues. In fact, I think most of us recognized that Emma was afraid of getting hurt again, just as Neal was afraid of being rejected. We wanted them to grow as people, to work on their issues, to talk about these things, whether or not they ever ended up together in a romantic sense. We saw that love existed between them, both in the past and the present. They said as much, and it would’ve been nice if they could’ve just talked things over more and to find a way to co-parent Henry. I think by the end, they were on good terms, laughing about nearly marrying evil minions, and Neal was able to wish Emma happiness, even if it weren’t with him. He respected her and gave her the necklace which had crossed worlds twice to find its way back to her. I think it’s untrue that love had only ever brought Emma pain. Think of all of the things Neal added to Emma’s life in a positive sense, not just a negative one: their son, the bug, the necklace, her concept of home…all of these things which helped to make Emma, Emma.

 

Amen Slurpeez I coudn’t have said it any better myself thank you for speaking up for us all.