The Evil Queen Ouat - Tumblr Posts

Once upon a time is an incredible show and I need to talk about the flashbacks (spoilers)

So obviously there are loads of flashbacks and I love the fact that they pay attention to character details when they go back. No matter how much a character changes, when they show the past it will be how they used to act, not how they currently act.

Like Regina isn't evil anymore but whenever there's a flashback she's fully evil, they don't try to say "oh she wasn't that bad actually! She always felt bad about it :( " they actually show how bad she was and don't try to change the character before it's time.

My gal can be doing something really nice and then there'll be a flashback to where she casually killed an entire city because someone there annoyed her. And it's all in character. They don't try to downplay her cruelty to prove her kindness.

And then there's Killian who goes from his golden retriever bf mode to the past "I'm going to kill him and if you stop me I'll kill you too." And they don't try to say he didn't mean it because he did. (Not that he likes gold any more now but there's a huge change)

I've seen loads of shows where any flashback seems wrong because they try to stick the developed character's new personality onto the old version and it doesn't fit them for that time in their life.

Once upon a time proving that it's fucking incredible at flashbacks/characters changing, made two characters go back in time and even then, the way they interacted with their loved ones was different because at that point it wasn't someone they know. There was a scene where present Killian literally punched past Killian in the face.

And when Emma started dating Killian so he made gold reattach his hand but the hand wasn't a part of him anymore, just how he used to be. So naturally, with that much magic involved, the old hand made the new Killian act how he used to because it basically infected him with his own past self.

And when Regina and Emma went to the weird alternate-genie-universe where everyone acted how they used to and it was so emotional because Regina saw her dead boyfriend acting like the asshole he was before they met and not as the man she loved.

Every time there's a flashback the characters are so accurate to their past selves. There is a really clear distinction between Regina and The Evil Queen. And between Killian Jones and Captain Hook. And I love the consistency of it.

(Once upon a time au - spoilers for season 3 and I think season 6)

Ngl I kinda loved the Henry/Pan body swap I low-key wish it stayed like that. It probably wouldn't have been great in the actual show but I'd love to see that in a fic/au

Everyone really struggling at fighting Peter because he looks like Henry? Amazing. And I like thinking about if they kept it that way, imagine them trying to raise the kid who looked like their enemy

(this is an angsty and long post)

Rumple looking at his grandson and only seeing his father who betrayed him. Tbh, I don't think he thought of Pan as the same person as his dad in general. Like pre-neverland he only saw him like that twice and it probably would've been more "the boy my dad invented to get rid of me" yk? That's my opinion at least

So Rumpy knowing Henry was supposey fated to kill him and then looking like that guy? He would not have handled that well and I'd have loved to see him having more of a reaction

Killian seeing his stepson and trying to ignore that he looked like the man who killed his brother. Pre-neverland I think he only knew Pan from when he rocked up and tricked him into killing his brother/best friend/only remaining family? So going from that, as well as everything in neverland, to marrying Emma and having to live with someone in Pan's body would've been sad as shit and I'd have loved it. He was dealing with his own guilt a lot when he moved in and I think this would've made it just that little bit worse

Regina and Emma trying to raise their son while looking at the man who kidnapped him. Both of them are definitely "fight first, question later" girls and they would've had to try to unlearn that in order to not hurt their son. Especially since they knew Pan as the guy that kidnapped Henry and the guy that tried to kill them all.

If this happened then the way I'd have done it would be someone finding out he was planning the curse and killing him before he could kill Felix (to stop the curse and also bc I love Felix and I have plans for him). Since he was still in Henry's body when he did the curse I would've said they killed him before he could switch places (I forgot how and when they switched back mb, doesn't affect the au too much right?)

So somebody (Rumple would probably work best but readers choice ig) killed Peter/Malcolm while he was in Henry's body and he got trapped in that body with magic so that he couldn't escape. Since the body would've been messed up when he got killed, Henry stays in Pan's body.

And I mentioned I had plans for Felix - he was clearly very devoted to Pan, like he didn't even get that mad when he killed him. I'm willing to bet that if he survived he still would've defended him. But now "Pan" is actually not Pan, it's the boy Pan wanted to sacrifice and I think Felix would've been pissed about that.

So he'd also be struggling with this entire situation. Losing Pan, but still seeing him in this town. Knowing Henry he'd try to talk to Felix too. Felix would either fully isolate himself, seek revenge on anyone and everyone who took part in Pan's downfall or he'd follow Henry around, trying to cling to any remaining part of Pan's existence. Assuming Regina doesn't kill him that is

Or if you want to stick to the canon show a bit more then Rumpy could kill him after the curse was cast but before he could turn back to himself.

And side note- Peter actually looks more like Emma and Neal's kid tbh. Like Henry looks sort of like Regina's son, and I see the snow white in him, but I don't see the Emma yk? So in the "Emma loses her memory again and thinks she's a regular parent" storyline she'd just assume he turned out more like her, Regina could alter her memory into thinking he always looked like that anyway.

And in that version she'd have the two versions of her memory. One where she sees her son as he always was and then getting the memory of who he actually was dumped on her. And struggling even more with seeing both simultaneously, even worse because Henry also wouldn't remember.

Which brings me to the point of - imagine Henry trying to grow up looking like the guy that took advantage of his kindness like that? Every time he looked in a mirror he'd see Pan instead of himself (and there are a lot of mirrors around when you're being raised by the former evil queen).

He'd see everyone struggling to adjust to him, he'd know why, and he'd probably feel insanely awful about it. He blamed himself for Neverland anyway, now he'd blame himself for everyone's discomfort.

And like I said at the start of this lil au infodump, I don't think it would've worked long term in the actual show. I don't think the writers could've got it to work in some of the storylines, but Pan-Henry has been rattling around in my brain like a lego stuck in a jar since I first watched it. Basically I want everyone to be sadder and I want more Pan, the angst potential in this is incredible to me.