Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-5899967-20170704181208/@comment-6274680-20170709190103

Here's my theory: I tried to think about what Hook, Regina and Rumple have in common and it's that they are all redeemed villains. Maybe the s7 big bad is someone who think villains don't deserve redemption at any cost and decided to curse HRR.

Imagine that: some time after the dinner scene in the s6 finale (while Henry is still a teen and everyone else is happy), HRR gets cursed but at the same time, they get sent to the future/new present time (when Henry is an adult with Lucy) and Lucy somehow figured it out and that's why she told him that his family needs him. Not only Henry will have to break the curse but also to send them back to the past.

If they get sent back at the exact moment they were cursed, it will be like nothing happened and CS, Rumbelle etc won't be ruined and we won't have to wonder Emma & cie are and how they are reactiong to the others' absence. Season 7's main timeline will be in Seattle 2025 (?) with the new characters and cursed HRR and Storybrooke 2014-ish won't matter. Also when Hook and Emma came back from the past in 3x22, the others didn't notice they were gone, so that would be the same thing here.