Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20161031005929/@comment-4260948-20161031132504

The simplest answer for everything -- and to why Nemo and Liam aged -- is this. Ariel wasn't taken by the first curse -- why? Maybe because she was UNDERWATER, just like the Nautilus. We see the curse go over water (when Cora casts the protection spell on the safe haven) but we NEVER see it go UNDERwater. So, simple answer -- the Nautilus was too deep to be caught by the curse. As for not ageing -- maybe it was in Cora's protection zone too? Hook hasn't aged since that flashback, so he had to still be within the confines of her spell. If the natulius was too deep to be hit by the curse and then sailed into water under Cora's protection charm years later, maybe it froze too. Then time started and it did too, just in time to find Hook for this flashback.