Thats interesting. I guess it’s possible that Mr. Gold could magically block him from realizing who he is.
Did the book really say that about H&G’s father? I dont remember when the book was mentioned in that episode.
At first I assume the once-befores were a visual representation of the stories in the book. Especially in the episode where Mary is reading to coma-James and it’s obvious that it is written like a story and it coincides with what we saw in the once-befores. So that’s what I’ve been going with.
But now I’m not sure. I think the once befores are just flashbacks for us and the book doesnt contain everything that we see.