319 Press Release

Wasn’t Glinda the good witch of the NORTH in the original?  The fact that she’s the “South” makes me wonder if Emma is the Good Witch of the North?… (kinda like the theory that Regina is the Wicked With of the East).

If that’s the case, perhaps Glinda enacted the curse to bring them all back to Emma…who is the only one powerful enough to defeat Zelena.  Or at the very least…it was Glinda’s idea to reenact the curse even if she didn’t cast it.

And imdb has an actress listed as the Witch of the North for 320: https://oncepodcast.com/forums/topic/karen-holness-cast-as-the-witch-of-the-north/

It seems to me that Zelena is able to cross realms without the curse.  Even if she doesn’t have the slippers, she can summon another twister to take her to the land without magic.  No – I still think Glinda cast the curse or perhaps it was her idea even if she didn’t cast it.  She knows Emma is the only one powerful enough to defeat Zelena and therefore she had to send them all to Emma.  Zelena won’t leave Storybrooke without the Snowing baby.  And she even had one of her monkeys keep an eye on Emma to make sure she didn’t return to Storybrooke.

The only thing that stumps me is the memory loss.  If Glinda or someone else that’s “good” cast the curse, then why the memory loss?  Why not retain their memories?  Or is that just an unfortunate side-effect of the curse?

Somehow I doubt that Glinda would sacrifice her own heart just to “protect” everyone by casting Zelena’s curse. Firstly, Glinda doesn’t know any of these people (as far as we know), since they’re not from Oz. Why would she sacrifice her life to protect perfect strangers? Secondly, Glinda killing herself for this new curse wouldn’t even “protect” anyone. They were cursed to forget the missing year, which meant they were in even graver danger. Zelena wanted Regina and everyone else to forget everything they learned during the gap year, and her original goal was to take everything she needed (e.g. Charming’s courage, Regina’s heart, Rumple’s dagger) without anyone realizing who she was or why she was collecting the items to change the course of history. That is my longwinded way of saying that I doubt Glinda would sacrifice herself for strangers, and even if she did, it wouldn’t be to protect them since it only put everyone in SB in even greater danger by giving everyone amnesia.

As I’ve been thinking about who cast the curse, it does seem to play into Zelena’s plans. If she can get the baby without them knowing she is not a midwife, it makes things a lot easier on her. Plus, they probably figured out in the EF she wanted them to forget.

So now I’m wondering if she forced Rumple to perform the curse using Neal ‘s heart. Maybe there is a magical way to keep someone alive without a heart temporarily at least? Zelena could have magically separated them briefly. She would be getting back at him for not using her for casting the curse by making him cast it. It sounds a little crazy, but she IS crazy.

Also, while Neal is himself, he could somehow escape and send word to Hook. Hook uses the wood of the Jolly Roger in Lake Nostos as a portal to get to Emma & escapes the curse .