I think they can show a young boy dressed in white, blue cloak that is not fancy peasant garb, on a ship. The captain is chatting with the boy about how the war in his kingdom is finally ended and he can return home now, to meet his real parents, but then they’re interrupted with the warning that they are being boarded by pirates. The Captain (Davy Jones) says a pity that everyone abandoned ship, as he wanted a fight. Then he sees this boy left behind trying to fight the pirates off. He admires the bravery of the boy, says something about fighting for what you want, and says he won’t kill the boy if he will serve him. The boy says never, and the Captain laughs and says he’ll change his mind. Then we cut to Colin made up to look younger, fighting alongside the Captain as he’s dying, and its clear they have forged a bond by now, and he tells Killian Jones to take over the JR. So that tracks with the boy feeling his father abandoned him, his story to Bae not being entirely truthful and why he didn’t remember his royal background.
Something that suggests without stating openly that he is Eric.
Sounds pretty good to me! Though I also like the idea that if he has royal blood, he doesn’t know it, but it’s still a great story if he does know.
Then later they can flashback to Ariel just naming the guy Eric in a reverse of the scene in Little Mermaid where he guesses her name,
That would be fun!!
As for when Ariel meets Eric, I think it is post-Milah, and it involves how he got out of Nl. I think she met him there, and fell for him, and she struck a deal with Ursula/Regina. Hook leaves NL instead of choosing to be with her, in the traditional backfire, Ariel lets him go, pining away.. Hook knew about Belle in the tower, that Regina had her, but we don’t know how. Regina knew about Hook and his vengeance, but we do not know how.
This way Regina can be Ursula/Vanessa, without it being a romantic thing with Hook (just the usual flirty/dangerous vibe they have), she cuts a deal with Ariel that ends badly for Ariel, and Ariel is only pining for 28 or so years, not hundreds. What’s 28 years if you have true love as Charming said….but of course Hook never knew Ariel sacrificed something to let him escape. He never knew she loved him and saved him. And when she sees him again, she will misread his interactions with Emma and there’s angst, without there being an actual love rhombus.
My original headcanon, (I’m not even sure I have specific headcanon anymore with all the cool ideas everyone keeps bringing up), had them “meeting” way back when. If I were to align my original headcanon with that scenario you just outlined, I’d have him fall overboard in the middle of the battle and Ariel would come along and save him, but he’d be unconscious and never see her. So he wouldn’t know about her until after Milah, but she’d know about him since they were both 200andsomething years younger.
This is where I really wanna know if JMo’s slip was legit and Regina really does have a history in NL. She was talking about the mermaid in FTL, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the mermaid was also in FTL at the time, but she could have been, because we don’t know she was never there at some point. If Ariel’s in NL and always has been, how does she even know about Regina in FTL to ask her for help? Or is Regina known in NL, and if so, how and why? Did Regina go to NL for something for herself, and if so, what? Part of me wants to say it could have been how she got the failsafe, but I dunno if the t-word would fit? My head hurts.
As for how Hook knew about Belle, I’ve been thinking that Maleficent told him, because if there’s one person Regina would have told about kidnapping the Dark One’s girlfriend, it’s her best frenemy, (and I’d love them to have a reason for another Malenficent flashback). That doesn’t explain Regina knowing about Hook though, but that could be solved with your suggestion that Regina helped Ariel to get to Hook. I like the twisty-ness of everything you proposed. Working in the nod to Eric/Vanessa with Hook/Regina is clever.
Looking at how many different ideas we can come up with for how stories could potentially play out, how on earth do K&H actually decide which cool ideas to go with as canon?
The year of Ariel….!
I don’t know when
I don’t know how
But I know something’s starting right now
Watch and you’ll see
Some day I’ll be
Part of yourworldshow
😆