The whole Pan/Rumple thing was not explained well–maybe if they’d totally ripped off Harry potter and said the Dark One’s dagger was a horcrux and that sustained Peter’s immortality–but it just didn’t all come together for me.
Yes, Rumple had no magic and part of the beauty of his choice was he realized he didn’t need it–but at the same time using the shadow and dagger sort of was using magic. So it undercuts it, but I guess it is part of him as he was turned into a magical creature and it was one last act to call it back and stab.
This thread is long and I’ve lost track of the unanswered questions we have here so far, and we had an earlier “pot holes” thread too that tackled some of the wonky things we’ve wondered about.
Maybe at some point over the hiatus we can create a version of the really unanswered things, and the things that seem like there’s no way to explain it even within the logical rules of magic (like continuity errors and stuff) (actual plot hole mistake).
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass