Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5825802-20140429201359/@comment-24769579-20140429204147

Killian Jones wrote: WinterWoodsGal wrote: When someone passes through the hat it appears torn until they pass back. The hat ended up being thrown in a fire. I guess that's your personal theory? We have no evidence to base that XD

King George (well, his counterpart) threw the hat into the fire to 'ruin Charming's happy ending'. Then they had to find other ways to get them back to Storybrooke.