Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[TheWatcher]

Saw on Tumblr.

One thing that was striking to me was that Emma, Baelfire and Henry were all original characters with no fairy tale counterparts. They all spent most of or all of their lives here in the real world. They all experienced parental abandonment and hopelessness at some point in their lives. The story that I wanted to see was that of these three characters learning to love and forgive each other. The story that I wanted to see was that of the Lost Boy and the Lost Girl, who represented both the dark and the light and had conceived the Truest Believer. I wanted to watch these three find the idea of home in one another and get to Tallahassee as they would have, had it not been for August’s intervention. I thought it was alluded several times that the happy ending was Neal, Emma and Henry in a castle. As Henry said, “We could get a castle. You, me and Neal.”

And this:

Neal told Emma in 3×06 that he would never stop fighting for her (meaning he’d always love her, support her and defend her), and in 3×10, he said that if she didn’t meet him at Granny’s, it was okay, he wouldn’t harass her with his feelings—it didn’t mean he would stop loving her; he was merely respecting her agency and giving her space to deal with her conflicting feelings for him. Meanwhile, in 3×05, Hook flirted with Emma moments after she’d had an emotional breakdown over Neal, and he went as far as asking for a sexual reward for having saved Charming. Even after Emma told him the kiss was a one-time thing, he told her in 3×07 that he would “win” her heart in a “contest” (thereby objectifying her.) He also gave her an ultimatum at the worst possible time of having to choose between him and Neal. He pressed her with his feelings. He pressed her with his feelings. In 3×10, he said he would back off and let Neal have a chance to talk to Emma, but seconds later, he was drunkenly hitting on Tink in an effort to forget about Emma (thereby attempting to use Tink as a mere comfort woman, which is very misogynistic) and then make Emma jealous. He didn’t back off at all. He didn’t respect Emma’s space.

In the lost year, Neal fought hard trying to find a way back to Emma and Henry. By contrast, Hook abandoned Emma’s family immediately and returned to drinking and piracy.

With regards to Emma’s failed relationship with Walsh, Neal told Emma he was sorry that it didn’t work out because he cared about her happiness, even if it wasn’t with him. Hook told Emma he was happy her heart was broken because it meant it worked. This line makes no sense because it was always obvious her heart worked when it wasn’t broken! She genuinely loved Walsh. She genuinely loved Henry. To me, it just seemed like Hook was happy that Emma was now “available”.