Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26394456-20150516145148/@comment-24674051-20150520182414

DatNuttyKid wrote: Yes because we TOTALLY need more Emma vs. Lily. (Jk. Kind of.)

I think the Apprentice is quite dead. We were told there would be a permanent death in the finale. Yes, we were. But I have learned to take what is said with a grain of salt, because of the way that they twist things.

Another way to interpret the "permanent death" is that Rumple, as the Dark One, is dead. What we will see from Robert Carlyle in the future will be a different Rumple (maybe even totally different).But the Rumplestiltskin that was the mover and shaper of events in the EF is dead, never to return.

The Apprentice may very well be dead. He may be mortally wounded, He may just be slightly injured and tired from his fight with the Dark One. We don't know. As far as I am concerned, his status at this time is uncertain.