I’m just going to lay out my headcanon concerning Eric:
Hook is Eric.
Eric was born a Prince in a kingdom far away. As a young boy both his father and mother died and his vengeful uncle, who most likely killed his parents, was out to kill Eric so that he could not take the throne. Eric was stolen away in the night by his mothers most loyal servant and raised not knowing his true heritage. But then the loyal servant died and Eric was forced to make his way in the world. He took up with Davy Jones and came to see him as a father figure, even though Davy was a terrible man who did not love Eric. Eric changed his name in order to win his new fathers approval to Killian Jones. Then Davy abandoned Killian but Killian managed to be picked up by pirates, the Captain of the ship grew to care for Killian and made him his heir. When the Captain died, Killian took over as Captain of the Jolly Roger and decided he wanted to travel around FTL. And then one night, he walked into a bar….
My tweak on this is that whoever ran away with little Eric changed both of their names and they went into hiding, posing as father and son, Davy and Killian Jones. Killian believes that Davy abandoned him, as he told Bae, but whatever actually happened is the origin story for the Davy Jones character we know from legend.
I wouldn’t mind either pairing. However, my point is making Hook Eric kind of sets up that if CaptainSwan doesn’t last Hook has to end up with Ariel.
Ariel going to be pining after Hook during the CaptainSwanFire triangle. At some point somethings got to give. Either Hook has to end up with Ariel because he’s Eric thus making the triangle pointless, or Ariel is left out in the cold because “Eric” is off with another woman.
They wouldn’t have to reveal Hook’s full backstory and true identity until later in the season. Same deal with Ariel’s full story. They could let the triangle play out before revealing anything about Ariel and Hook being destined for a relationship.
Also, Hook isn’t settling because he and Emma will realize that they aren’t meant to be and that their “relationship” however brief was just as a way to fill a hole in the moment. Hook won’t be pining for Emma because he knows he never truly loved her in a romantic love sort of way. He loves her as his best friend, but nothing more. Thus, Ariel isn’t backup.
Yep, that!