Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34666273-20180625190306/@comment-24593235-20180627191740

Would it not have been Neal?

Besides being Emma's first love, he was both Henry's father and Rumple's son/main motivation, heavily connecting him to some of the series biggest plot threads in the earlier seasons. Since his re-introduction in 2x14 and throughout the remainder of Season 2 and 3A, the writers seemed to have been building up to the two of them eventually getting back together. His death felt random and rushed, and a cheap means of getting him out of the way so that Emma could be with Hook.