Finale Neverland Theory

[nod]

This has been a little hard to pick up, but I just realized where this is probably going to go.

There is a serious problem. In quite a few ways, there are NO adults in Henry’s life who are paying attention to his needs as a person. They act around him, keep him in the dark, shuttle him off to Ruby, send him into the other room, and pay no attention to how this might affect him. In fact, I would say that Regina and David are the only ones who have been concerned with Henry’s mental well-being at all this season. And that was ONCE, where Regina realized that her magic was hurting Henry at the beginning of the season and David realized that Henry needed his mother. There hasn’t been a single instance after that anyone has been concerned with how he’s taking everything.

I’m seeing a lot of parallels to Baelfire’s position with Rumplestiltskin. People are getting hurt, possibly killed, his Father was hidden from him, they’re threatening to kill his mother… And no one is listening to Henry, saying that “it’s for your own good” a la Rumple. (Including Nealfire, which makes me sad.) Henry may be right: they’re going to war over a feud and not caring about who gets thrown under the bus on the way. Archie was nearly killed, Rumple almost died, Belle lost her memories, and Regina’s mother died.

Emma’s line in the last episode was very telling: “He’s your son!”

Henry loves his family and WANTS his family, but with the arrival of Tamara (his parents will probably never get together feelings) and one half of his family trying to kill the other half over HIM, he will probably come to the same conclusion Bae did — it’s better to remove the catalyst.

I think Henry may run away to Neverland. I don’t know how exactly, but so far they’ve been building to a lot of the same conclusions that caused Bae to seek a “world without magic.” Perhaps the catalyst for the finale is this: Henry’s tired of his family’s feud hurting everyone he loves. He sees magic and himself as the problems with this feud, and his attempt to destroy magic has failed.

What’s left, but removing himself? And where do the Lost Boys go?

[sarah_tn]

I think your theory has legs. Growing up, I (and my sister) was caught between two feuding families. My parents divorced, remarried, didn’t get along, and were so focused on their own hurts, wants, desires, and selfishness, that their hearts had no room to see how the decisions they made (for themselves) would impact us…not for years later. That left me feeling like a tug-of-rope, and based on what I’m reading about your theory, I can absolutely see how Henry might feel that way.

If Henry runs off to Neverland…would that be a good decision, or a bad one? Well, I think it would be a good decision if it’s purpose is to be a wake-up call for those around him for hope of a better outcome upon a foreseen return. If it’s just to get out of dodge, I think it’d be a bad one because in the end, Henry would be the one who loses the most. His families fight, but the one thing they all have in common is that they all love him. Very sadly, there are kids (and people) in this world who don’t have that.

I do think he’ll run off to Neverland, but I don’t think the only lessons to be learned in the interim will be everyone else’s. The decisions others make do not remove consequences for the decisions we make for ourselves, and so I think Henry’s in store for a lesson about the happiness that can come with the grace of overlooking others’ faults in recognition of our own imperfections, while we appreciate the people who we have around us. That’s what bothered me so much in Manhattan, how unforgiving he was toward Emma when she’d lied to him. Every person reading this can count on two hands the wrong things we did right in our lives, and the things we’ve done wrong. Henry is a good kid, but not faultless. Nobody is. I think he was being cold and unfair to Emma, but then again, he’s just a little boy who is still learning about the full picture of what love is, and what that means for him.

[kfchimera]

@Sarah_TN wrote:

I think your theory has legs. Growing up, I (and my sister) was caught between two feuding families. My parents divorced, remarried, didn’t get along, and were so focused on their own hurts, wants, desires, and selfishness, that their hearts had no room to see how the decisions they made (for themselves) would impact us…not for years later. That left me feeling like a tug-of-rope, and based on what I’m reading about your theory, I can absolutely see how Henry might feel that way.

If Henry runs off to Neverland…would that be a good decision, or a bad one? Well, I think it would be a good decision if it’s purpose is to be a wake-up call for those around him for hope of a better outcome upon a foreseen return. If it’s just to get out of dodge, I think it’d be a bad one because in the end, Henry would be the one who loses the most. His families fight, but the one thing they all have in common is that they all love him. Very sadly, there are kids (and people) in this world who don’t have that.

I do think he’ll run off to Neverland, but I don’t think the only lessons to be learned in the interim will be everyone else’s. The decisions others make do not remove consequences for the decisions we make for ourselves, and so I think Henry’s in store for a lesson about the happiness that can come with the grace of overlooking others’ faults in recognition of our own imperfections, while we appreciate the people who we have around us. That’s what bothered me so much in Manhattan, how unforgiving he was toward Emma when she’d lied to him. Every person reading this can count on two hands the wrong things we did right in our lives, and the things we’ve done wrong. Henry is a good kid, but not faultless. Nobody is. I think he was being cold and unfair to Emma, but then again, he’s just a little boy who is still learning about the full picture of what love is, and what that means for him.

Thanks for sharing that–I think it would be very touching if the writers did take Henry on such an emotional journey. Yet he is such a useful plot device to drive conflict between Regina and Snow’s family, that I think he will always end up acting in ways that make us frustrated with him. In a way, Henry may get stuck in an emotional Neverland until the end of the show.

“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

[TheGoldenKey]

It’s a sound theory. 🙂 That theory, among others, are already being discussed under spoilers for 2×22. Here is the link.
https://oncepodcast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=92&t=3432

Keeper of Pandora's Box & The Yellow Brick Road.

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