Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25926288-20151211170125/@comment-31140381-20170125014247

I'm a Captain Swan shipper, or at least a supporter. I don't ship it like I ship other couples, but in some ways, I do. But that wasn't the topic, the topic was, is Emma putting Hook over Henry (in theory) a real thing (If I understood it right.)

OUAT actually has a thing for making abuse look romantic. Just look at Rumbelle. Their relationship was abuse from Day 1, but it got changed to "seeing the man behing the beast" to "seeing a beast and lying to myself there's still some humanity left behind it", sweetened up with a proposal using a fake symbol of trust and a wedding in the middle of the woods with two witnesses, with citations in "nobody's perfect" way.

If you look it like that, Captain Swan doesn't seem as bad. Unlike Snowing, a literal fairytale romance, all other ships have its flaws.

Snowing's biggest flaws is that it's too perfect, there's no conflict and they somehow seem like a boring couple. But trying to kill someone's son doesn't make just an couple obstacle, is a serious argument to call it a toxic relationship. Well, it is, unless you realize the man who tried to do all that wasn't really Hook. It was Dark One Hook, who tried to emotionally damage and hurt Emma using her deepest wounds and sending her family to supposed Hell. Real Hook would never do something like that.

Dark Swan arc was a flawe concept, and Dark One Emma was a flawed concept. It started with her almost killing Merida, than a time jump of full Evil Emma dramatically threating her entire family, done to make an episode more intense for the sake of plot and logic, then went to flashbacks of Emma making Hook the Dark One, as we learn of her taking away all of her family's memories of the entire Camelot thing just so they don't remember Hook was ever a Dark One and make Hook somehow forget it himself. This again, is messed up, weird, illogical because Hook seemed okay until he learned what Emma did. And it didn't just make Hook darker, it made Emma darker.

In later episodes, after this whole dramatic "I'm going to punish you" performace, we can see how Emma is trying to connect with Henry, how she feels isolated and we, wievers, wonder what happened, how did she get like this.

Emma didn't really go evil. She did some morally questionable things (like making Violet break up with Henry, which was shocking and so not Emma-like, and supposedly evil). But she wasn't Evil Queen Evil, Cruella Evil, Rumple Evil. Not even Emma Evil. When she did something morally questionable, she thought she did it for the right reason, for a good purpose. Even when she was hurting her own son, she stil thought she's doing the right thing and she later felt great guilt.

Her mind was not the same, her sense of morality was not the same, she did things Savior Emma would never do. Even though she is a Savior and a part of her darkness was removed before her birth, she still didn't stay the same.

And now let's look at Hook. This man was spending centuries trying to avenge his murdered lover and kill her murderer. He spent years as a pirate, killed a man for calling him one-handed and an another one for drinking his wine. He was a villain. Unlike Emma, he had a lot of darkness.

He begged Emma to let him die, because he knew he can't resist the darkness and he wanted Emma to move on and be happy. She didn't, because she was selfish: yes, she was. But she lost Neal. She lost Graham. Even Walsh died. Every single one of Emma's love interests has suffered such a fate. She said it herself. She was afraid she was losing Hook! And now, she was losing him. In this moment, she had a choice- let my love die or try to save him. She was aware she'll make herself darker and she was already fighting the darkness. But she loved Hook and she would risk it to save him from death. We can call it selfish.

She was aware it will possibly turn Hook into a vengeful murderous pirate again. She took that risk because she loved him and she believed he loves her enough to not murder people. And when Hook went dark, when Hook was mad at Emma, and hurt by Emma not respecting his wishes, Emma still tried to save their relationship, doing everything she thought is right.

Yes, Emma's character changed since season 1. This women went from a bail bonds person and a non-believer to a daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who shares custody over her biological son with an now ex Evil Queen, the son who is also the son of the son of Rumplestiltskin, dealing with constant curses, dangerous new villians, learning magic herself... and a lot of emotional trauma that would seriously damage a person. She found her family, but it was hard for her stop seeing herself as an orphan. She's not the same person anymore.

Also, Neal. He left her pregnant in jail (not knowing she's pregnant) for stealing watches. Neal was a nice guy, but all those years Emma thought of him as a man who betrayed her, deeply hurt her, broke her heart. Hook isn't with Emma because Colin is hot, he's with Emma because they love each other. Neal was Emma's past love, a big love. She loved him and she still does, but not the same way. He's still Henry's father.

Hook is her future, Neal is her past.

Also, Henry is grown up now. While it might seem that Regina and Emma sometimes choose their lovers over their shared son, we all know they'd both die for Henry, that's not questionable. But Henry, he is now a practically grown man (who missed a lot of school and is much more mature then my classmates ever were). Henry is the Author, he is a hero. While he stilll needs his mothers' love and attention in his life and he has it, while Emma loves him the same as all past seasons, while they are still a mother and a son who love each other, he isn't a little child anymore. Emma cares about Henry's happines the most, but he has grown enough to take care of his own life. It also matters to say neither Emma or Regina or Snow are perfect mothers, same as they are not perfect people.

I'd say... Hook and Emma's relationship isn't bad for Emma and Hook cares about Henry, and Emma loves Henry. Hook, as a newborn Dark One, wasn't really himself when he endangered and tried to kill Emma's family. This isn't a man Emma is dating right now.