This is a totally off-the-wall theory, but I wonder if Rumpelstiltksin is trying to bring back Baelfire from the afterlife.
I think this is possible, I think Baelfire is already dead because he went to a land without magic centuries before the dark curse was enacted. At the very least, he’s going to be an adult.
Maybe but the past few episodes showed us that realm jumping is possible across space AND time. So Bae could have ended up in our world the same time as Emma and Pinocchio.
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"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"