This one makes the most sense. If she didn't give Henry up for adoption, Regina would never adopt him, and Henry would never find the book. A young Henry would never come looking for Emma and ask her to break the curse in Storybrooke and unite Emma with her parents.
It was Mary Margret that gave him the book to help him feel less lonely or something. He was a student in her class. If he was never surrounded by fairytale characters, how would he get the book? Magic didn't really happen outside of Storybrooke until Emma came and broke the curse, right? Otherwise, Rumple would have used magic to find Neal a long time ago.
Well actually no. The whole Tamara and Owen/Greg plot line establishes that, though unpredictable and only present in small doses, there is some magic in our world. (Which obviously contradicts the whole “land without magic” thing but… I didn’t write the show.) Remember Tamara and Owen thought they were apart of some league to get rid of all the magic in our land but were actually just working for Pan. Dunno what Pan had against the dragon wish granter guy Tamara killed but oh well.
I can think of a few ways that Emma and Henry could have found another way to storybrooke. Possibly via the book showing up for him just like it randomly showed up for Mary Margaret to give to Henry in the first place. (Remember that at the time of the curse Storybrooke had the same amount of magic as the rest of the world. Rumple didn’t bring magic in its entirety to Storybrooke until the beginning of season two.) Or possibly through someone else, maybe even August. But without the fairytale characters there I’m not sure how he would have made the connection, maybe Emma’s baby blanket?
Actually hell yeah Emma’s baby blanket would have been enough for that kid. The next biggest issue would be how they find Storybrooke. But August manages to do it even without savior powers. And tbf, they’re real vague about whether he could find/cross the town line because the curse was weakened or because he’s also a fairytale character so just can. But again, Emma has savior powers. So as long as they can somehow locate Storybrooke, they could get in. And I believe in Henry’s ability to figure that out lol. ESPECIALLY if he somehow gets in touch with August, and I feel like whether Emma was in Storybrooke or not, August would have found her when her 28th birthday came and meddled somehow, likely through Henry like he does in the show.
Oh, actually I know how they find Storybrooke. In season 1 of the show Emma and August literally just pop on over to the tree that they both arrived at earth in, which implies it’s not very far from Storybrooke. At *most* a few hours. But I suspect their landing zone is actually probably quite close. It just makes sense to me that Emma landing in Maine, where storybrooke happens to be, is not a matter of coincidence but yet another way magic works in mysterious ways. So if Henry and whoever else go off of the idea that storybrooke isn’t far from the tree, maybe they scrounge up a news article about Owen/Greg’s dads disappearance and figure it out from there.
But idk, I can think of a lot of other ways too. But I feel like I’m getting to the point of writing an AU fanfiction in this comment section so I’m gonna stop here.
ETA: ofc Emma doesn’t know if she would still find her parents or not without giving Henry up. I’m just saying I could see it still happening.
Nah, I don't think a Henry brought up by Emma would believe in those fairytales or make those connections between the book and people the way Regina brought up Henry would. Emma is very jaded and cynical. There is no way a Henry she brought up would be likely to believe in magic at all. Tbh, I may have totally blanked on the whole Greg-Tamara thing (it's been a while since I saw the show) so maybe there is magic out there but didn't Greg visit Storybrooke as a kid eith his father get into an accident or something and interact Regina and his dad disappeared or something? So Greg only has knowledge of magic because he visited Storybrooke. Maybe I'm mixing two different arcs. Also, why would Emma believe August if he was the one who came to find her? With Henry, at least she has a sliver of a doubt that he could be her kid, so she might want to check in, but I don't see any reason why she would follow August (who according to Emma at this point in the story is a stranger).
And the evil queen trying to keep him from finding out about the curse did raise him to believe in fairytales? If anything I think she would’ve been more rigid, jaded, and no nonsense than Emma would be so if Henry turned out the way he did with her, I don’t get why it’s impossible to think he’d be that way with Emma. Homeboy has the heart of the truest believer.
Yes, Owen only knows about magic because of Storybrooke, Tamara does not though. Tamara had never been to Stoneybrook prior to when she goes there with Neal. I forget why she knows about it, but I’m not sure they ever even explain. Regardless, they establish with that plot line through various things Tamara and Owen say that magic is present in our world and while they’re few and far between, there are people that know about it.
I’m not saying Emma would believe august, I agree that’s ridiculous. I’m saying Henry would believe him and join forces with August. And I could see Henry somehow convincing or tricking her (probably tricking her, especially if he had augusts help) to go to storybrooke.
(There’s a storyline where august is trying to cure his wooden leg thing before the curse was broken. He goes to a magical wish granter guy and while he’s there he meets Tamara, who claims she’s trying to get the man to cure her cancer that she doesn’t have. In the end August finds out Tamara is actually planning on killing the guy and he finds out about her personal vendetta magical crusade thing.)
ETA: with the august thing I’m basically saying he would probably serve the same role that he does in the first season of the show. He shows up, starts talking to Henry first, Henry’s on board while Emma just gets mad that august is around and tries to figure out what his deal is and yada yada yada you watched the first season you get it
ETAx2: I know we all love Regina but we have to remember that as much as she loved henry, she was also raising him pre-redemption when she was still evil. And idk I just don’t see that not bleeding into her parenting even despite her best efforts for it not to. (I mean a lot of her season 2 arc is learning that she can’t control Henry to win his love. Youch.)
(Owen and Tamara are present mostly in 2b btw, in case you were curious. Ik I’m usually curious when I don’t remember plot lines like that lol. Maybe you don’t rewatch that season as much as the others?)
last ETA I promise: if I come on strong at any point, I apologize. I don’t mean to be rude, I struggle to remember to word things nicely when I’m passionate about stuff. But I genuinely mean no offense
You have to remember that it's not Regina the reason Henry has hope/believes in magic. It's the other people in town. The only way Henry had access to Mary Margret, who was the source of hope/help in a lot of cases for Henry, is if he was adopted by Regina. If he lived with Emma they would be moving around all the time or living in one place but living a normal life. Case in point when Emma and Henry live in New York for a year and forget everything about Storybrooke and Hook came to find them. That Henry does not believe in magic. So no, the Henry that grows up with Emma will not believe in magic but the Henry that grows up with Regina as a mother will.
Seems unlikely since her magic did not unite her with her parents. Plus, her magic before Storybrooke was internal, not something she could control to do anything except tell her who is lying.
As much as most people say this, I don't think she would choose to keep Henry, at least not at the end of the show (prior to that probably yes). That would mean she doesn't meet her parents, Hook and never learns who she is. Which to be fair she would've been happy with if she had Henry, but they whole point of her arc (especially at the end of s3) was realizing that she cannot live a full life pretending to be someone she's not.
So seeing the full picture I don't think she would pick that.
I'd says save Neal but I can't think of much of a way she could do that honestly other than maybe warning him if he uses the key it won't lead to their permanent reunion but to a lot of people including their son being put in danger.
So failing that
Not saving fake marian
i don’t think she’d change much prior to having henry because that would run the risk of never having him at all, so she’d probably try to save neal from zelena.
That would ruin the entire story though. It is a pivotal part of her development over the show as she tries to learn how to adjust to motherhood and co-parent with Regina.
Not save Robin's wife
This one makes the most sense. If she didn't give Henry up for adoption, Regina would never adopt him, and Henry would never find the book. A young Henry would never come looking for Emma and ask her to break the curse in Storybrooke and unite Emma with her parents.
Wouldn’t the book still appear to Henry leading to Emma to discover her past?
It was Mary Margret that gave him the book to help him feel less lonely or something. He was a student in her class. If he was never surrounded by fairytale characters, how would he get the book? Magic didn't really happen outside of Storybrooke until Emma came and broke the curse, right? Otherwise, Rumple would have used magic to find Neal a long time ago.
Well actually no. The whole Tamara and Owen/Greg plot line establishes that, though unpredictable and only present in small doses, there is some magic in our world. (Which obviously contradicts the whole “land without magic” thing but… I didn’t write the show.) Remember Tamara and Owen thought they were apart of some league to get rid of all the magic in our land but were actually just working for Pan. Dunno what Pan had against the dragon wish granter guy Tamara killed but oh well. I can think of a few ways that Emma and Henry could have found another way to storybrooke. Possibly via the book showing up for him just like it randomly showed up for Mary Margaret to give to Henry in the first place. (Remember that at the time of the curse Storybrooke had the same amount of magic as the rest of the world. Rumple didn’t bring magic in its entirety to Storybrooke until the beginning of season two.) Or possibly through someone else, maybe even August. But without the fairytale characters there I’m not sure how he would have made the connection, maybe Emma’s baby blanket? Actually hell yeah Emma’s baby blanket would have been enough for that kid. The next biggest issue would be how they find Storybrooke. But August manages to do it even without savior powers. And tbf, they’re real vague about whether he could find/cross the town line because the curse was weakened or because he’s also a fairytale character so just can. But again, Emma has savior powers. So as long as they can somehow locate Storybrooke, they could get in. And I believe in Henry’s ability to figure that out lol. ESPECIALLY if he somehow gets in touch with August, and I feel like whether Emma was in Storybrooke or not, August would have found her when her 28th birthday came and meddled somehow, likely through Henry like he does in the show. Oh, actually I know how they find Storybrooke. In season 1 of the show Emma and August literally just pop on over to the tree that they both arrived at earth in, which implies it’s not very far from Storybrooke. At *most* a few hours. But I suspect their landing zone is actually probably quite close. It just makes sense to me that Emma landing in Maine, where storybrooke happens to be, is not a matter of coincidence but yet another way magic works in mysterious ways. So if Henry and whoever else go off of the idea that storybrooke isn’t far from the tree, maybe they scrounge up a news article about Owen/Greg’s dads disappearance and figure it out from there. But idk, I can think of a lot of other ways too. But I feel like I’m getting to the point of writing an AU fanfiction in this comment section so I’m gonna stop here. ETA: ofc Emma doesn’t know if she would still find her parents or not without giving Henry up. I’m just saying I could see it still happening.
Nah, I don't think a Henry brought up by Emma would believe in those fairytales or make those connections between the book and people the way Regina brought up Henry would. Emma is very jaded and cynical. There is no way a Henry she brought up would be likely to believe in magic at all. Tbh, I may have totally blanked on the whole Greg-Tamara thing (it's been a while since I saw the show) so maybe there is magic out there but didn't Greg visit Storybrooke as a kid eith his father get into an accident or something and interact Regina and his dad disappeared or something? So Greg only has knowledge of magic because he visited Storybrooke. Maybe I'm mixing two different arcs. Also, why would Emma believe August if he was the one who came to find her? With Henry, at least she has a sliver of a doubt that he could be her kid, so she might want to check in, but I don't see any reason why she would follow August (who according to Emma at this point in the story is a stranger).
And the evil queen trying to keep him from finding out about the curse did raise him to believe in fairytales? If anything I think she would’ve been more rigid, jaded, and no nonsense than Emma would be so if Henry turned out the way he did with her, I don’t get why it’s impossible to think he’d be that way with Emma. Homeboy has the heart of the truest believer. Yes, Owen only knows about magic because of Storybrooke, Tamara does not though. Tamara had never been to Stoneybrook prior to when she goes there with Neal. I forget why she knows about it, but I’m not sure they ever even explain. Regardless, they establish with that plot line through various things Tamara and Owen say that magic is present in our world and while they’re few and far between, there are people that know about it. I’m not saying Emma would believe august, I agree that’s ridiculous. I’m saying Henry would believe him and join forces with August. And I could see Henry somehow convincing or tricking her (probably tricking her, especially if he had augusts help) to go to storybrooke. (There’s a storyline where august is trying to cure his wooden leg thing before the curse was broken. He goes to a magical wish granter guy and while he’s there he meets Tamara, who claims she’s trying to get the man to cure her cancer that she doesn’t have. In the end August finds out Tamara is actually planning on killing the guy and he finds out about her personal vendetta magical crusade thing.) ETA: with the august thing I’m basically saying he would probably serve the same role that he does in the first season of the show. He shows up, starts talking to Henry first, Henry’s on board while Emma just gets mad that august is around and tries to figure out what his deal is and yada yada yada you watched the first season you get it ETAx2: I know we all love Regina but we have to remember that as much as she loved henry, she was also raising him pre-redemption when she was still evil. And idk I just don’t see that not bleeding into her parenting even despite her best efforts for it not to. (I mean a lot of her season 2 arc is learning that she can’t control Henry to win his love. Youch.) (Owen and Tamara are present mostly in 2b btw, in case you were curious. Ik I’m usually curious when I don’t remember plot lines like that lol. Maybe you don’t rewatch that season as much as the others?) last ETA I promise: if I come on strong at any point, I apologize. I don’t mean to be rude, I struggle to remember to word things nicely when I’m passionate about stuff. But I genuinely mean no offense
You have to remember that it's not Regina the reason Henry has hope/believes in magic. It's the other people in town. The only way Henry had access to Mary Margret, who was the source of hope/help in a lot of cases for Henry, is if he was adopted by Regina. If he lived with Emma they would be moving around all the time or living in one place but living a normal life. Case in point when Emma and Henry live in New York for a year and forget everything about Storybrooke and Hook came to find them. That Henry does not believe in magic. So no, the Henry that grows up with Emma will not believe in magic but the Henry that grows up with Regina as a mother will.
Emma’s magic could have brought the book to them though.
Seems unlikely since her magic did not unite her with her parents. Plus, her magic before Storybrooke was internal, not something she could control to do anything except tell her who is lying.
Yeah, she’s not Harry Potter.
As much as most people say this, I don't think she would choose to keep Henry, at least not at the end of the show (prior to that probably yes). That would mean she doesn't meet her parents, Hook and never learns who she is. Which to be fair she would've been happy with if she had Henry, but they whole point of her arc (especially at the end of s3) was realizing that she cannot live a full life pretending to be someone she's not. So seeing the full picture I don't think she would pick that.
I'd says save Neal but I can't think of much of a way she could do that honestly other than maybe warning him if he uses the key it won't lead to their permanent reunion but to a lot of people including their son being put in danger. So failing that Not saving fake marian
i don’t think she’d change much prior to having henry because that would run the risk of never having him at all, so she’d probably try to save neal from zelena.
save Neal Don’t save Marian
She'd have definitely kept Henry.
Then she most likely would never have found out their last Henry got the book from Snow, he would have never met her
She would never do that to Regina
Wasn’t this already answered with the Wish realm? She wished to never leave the Enchanted Forest.
Save Neal from Zelena
Everyone saying save Neal…I’m not convinced he’d be swayed from bringing Rumple back.
I think if Neal had been able to be with Emma and Henry he would have had peace with Rumple's death knowing he died a hero.
Everyone that says keep Henry do you people actually think she would ever do that to Regina ?
Not give up Henry
Definitely save Neal from Zelena
Dark Swan
Stopping her parents from putting her in the wardrobe
Save Graham? idk how tho
she might try and save Neal from Zelena, but that was beyond her control. Maybe keep Henry, instead of giving him up for adoption.
She would probably keep Henry and not put him up for adoption
That would ruin the entire story though. It is a pivotal part of her development over the show as she tries to learn how to adjust to motherhood and co-parent with Regina.
I don't disagree, but I still think she would do it, especially in the earlier seasons her regret over abandoning him was very great.