Neal Cassidy


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 * This article focuses on Neal Cassidy's Land Without Magic alias. For his Enchanted Forest identity, click here.
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"We've been on the road long enough. Maybe it's time we retire the "Bonnie and Clyde" act."

- Neal Cassidy to Emma Swan

Neal Cassidy is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the second season. He is portrayed by guest star Michael Raymond-James, and is the Land Without Magic alias of Baelfire.

Before the Curse
Before comming to the land without magic Neal had been to other lands and he had met Killian Jones (better known as Captain Hook) some where on the way and also becoming alomst 200 years old.

During the Curse
Neal and Emma met in Portland when they both unknowingly were trying to steal the same car. They quickly fell in love and began traveling through the country together and running some cons to make money. They planned on retiring from their crime life and living together in Tallahassee but in order to do that they first had to retrieve stolen watches that Neal had previously hidden in a train station. While Emma picks up the watches, Neal is confronted by August Booth who tells him that he knows who he really is. After that, he tells him about Emma's magical history and convinces him to turn Emma in to the police so she can fulfill her destiny. After Emma is arrested he runs away to Canada, where he sells the watches. He asks August to send all the money plus their car to Emma, and asks August that if Emma ever fulfills her duty to please send him a postcard. Unknown to him, Emma was pregnant with his son.

After the Curse
Presently, Neal resides in New York City, where, shortly after Emma Swan breaks the curse in Storybrooke, he receives a postcard delivered by a dove. One side of the postcard reads, "Broken", and the other is a photo of the Storybrooke Clock Tower with the phrase "Greetings from Storybrooke", which was presumably sent to him by August. Emma goes with Mr. Gold to Manhattan to find Baelfire. She brings along Henry because she does not trust her son to be in Storybrooke while Cora on the loose. They arrive via taxi to Manhattan in front of an apartment complex building, and enter the building to find a locked gate with a call box listing all the residents and their room numbers on the wall next to it. Searching through the list, Mr. Gold does not recognize any as a possible name for Baelfire. Emma steps up to the call box and picks apartment room 407, which she notices has no name on it, and has a hunch it is a person who does not want to be found. She pretends to be delivering a UPS package for room 407, but no buzzer rings for the apartment complex door to open. They hear someone coming down the fire escape, and rush outside in time to see a hooded person jumping down and running away from the building. Mr. Gold tells Emma that he is sure that person is his son and that she must get him to talk to him due to the favor she owes him which he is using now. After tailing the hooded person through the streets, Emma eventually tackles him to the ground. They both get up at the same time, and she is shocked to see Neal was the person she chased. Neal, not wanting to have a confrontation in the middle of the street, pleads for Emma and him to go somewhere private so he can explain what is going on. He succeeds in getting Emma to a nearby bar where he reveals that he is, in fact, Baelfire and they discuss their past. Neal makes note of the fact she is still wearing the necklace he gave her, but Emma takes it off just then and hands it back to him. He suggests that they go their separate ways and that she tell Mr. Gold she lost him. Although Emma agrees, Neal decides to go back to his apartment, as he knows what his father does to people who break deals with him. He furiously stops Mr. Gold from threatening Emma and commands him to leave, but is confused when Henry comes into the room as he does not know the boy. He begins to have a suspicion when Emma states Henry is her son. Neal demands to know how old he is, and Henry says he is eleven years old; which is the exact amount of years since he and Emma were together. He realizes the boy is his son. Mr. Gold blackmails Neal into talking with him as that is the only way to fulfill Emma's bargain. Neal tells Mr. Gold that Baelfire never got closure, so Rumplestiltskin will not either. Neal suggests to Emma that they both try to get over the past and be there for their son. In Manhattan, Neal and Henry return to his apartment, and when they come back down Mr. Gold has been attacked by Hook with a poison which has no antidote, and can only be cured by magic in Storybrooke. They decide to use Hook's ship to get back. Neal and Emma go to his car, and he talks about meeting Hook before, and how he can drive a ship. When he gets to thecar, Emma thinks he going to hot wire it but he has the keys. Just then, a woman walks over unexpectedly and greets Neal happily. She introduces herself as Tamara to Emma, and Neal introduces her to Emma as his fiancée.

Trivia

 * His casting call: "For Once Upon a Time, the role of Jack is being cast (as a "guest role with option"). He's in his 20s or 30s, charismatic, sexy and mysterious, but also loyal and kind, and he's running from his past in a land full of danger."
 * He has many vintage items in his apartment: an array of old radios, old microphones, classic cameras, records and record player, old pencil sharpener, old telephone, and a dreamcatcher hanging on the wall by the window (that he and Emma found when crashing in a vacant hotel room). He also has a series of monocles hanging by the door and an odd set of glasses in a bowl by the window.
 * The song playing on his iPod during the walk to his apartment is "Charley's Girl" by Lou Reed.
 * There is a sign in his apartment that reads "Cleaner and Hatters".
 * His name probably comes from the infamous poet and member of the Beat Generation Neal Cassady, who was the main inspiration for the character Dean Moriarty on Jack Kerouac's novel, On the Road.
 * The dream-catcher he has hanging in his apartment was given to him by Emma.
 * According to his wanted poster, he was born March 23, 1977 in New Jersey. This means in 2001 he would have been 24 when he met Emma, who was 17 at the time.
 * His wanted poster also says: "Neal Cassidy has a scar on his left arm from a knife wound."
 * He gave Emma the Pyrrha Swan Necklace, which was part of a key ring originally.