Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25896389-20150514071947/@comment-11464223-20150515000943

I made a thread a while back detailing what I would've done differently with the Peter Pan arc. It didn't gain much discussion traction, however...maybe this is a chance to revitalize the ideas I had for more quality discussion? :P

I'll copy/paste the message here:

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How I Would've Done Peter Pan and the Neverland Arc

(There's a tl;dr at the bottom, much shorter than the rest of it)

So I've thought about this a lot and I've gone back and forth about bothering to post it here but it looks like I'm finally doing it.

I don't know how I'm even going to format this but I just want to communicate the differences in how I expected, wanted, and would've done Peter Pan's backstory, as opposed to how it was done.

I, for one, think it would've been much more interesting if Peter was another boy taken in by the spinsters that befriended Rumplestiltskin after Malcolm abandoned him. In this scenario, I see Peter as a little older than our dear Rumple, and a role model to him-"the cool older friend" everyone has and looks up to at the age Rumple was at. Rumple looked up to Peter, and Peter was the one person Rumple expected never to leave him, after both his parents abandoned him, one by one (first his mother, perhaps walking out on his father and him for some reason or another-maybe Malcolm was a heavy drinker, but at the same time, very protective of Rumple? And then Malcolm himself-or maybe Malcolm died, in this scenario? And Rumple was left alone, with no other family, therefore taken in by the spinsters? I mean, being a drunkard, you could still easily be a coward...hmm). Peter's backstory, perhaps, was that he was abandoned by his mother and/or father after they chased the Fountain of Youth, which you could tie in to the series that way, perhaps setting up a later plotline, and that as a result he ended up alone, and always marked by that? Maybe his parents abused him or treated hi like dirt, telling him he'd never amount to anything, and abandoning him after drinking from the Fountain? Perhaps then, Peter, while being a best friend to Rumple, always went on about youth and "if there was another way," and etc.?

I guess that's the main difference I'd make: Peter and Rumple having been best friends, as opposed to father and son, or anything else. I think it would've made their relationship more dynamic instead of basically repeating the Neal-is-Rumplestiltskin's-Lost-Son storyline, And then, Peter comes across Neverland somehow...:

Perhaps he creates it, in his dreams, akin to how Malcolm did in the real OUaT canon? Yeah, I'll go with that-Peter Pan creates Neverland in his dreams: a place of eternal youth, for children, where time doesn't pass, continuing to be consumed with the idea of eternal youth left on him by his parent(s)' choosing the fountain of youth over him. And he talks about Neverland, every day-every day after visiting it in his dreams, he talks and talks with Rumple about Neverland, describing it to him and all its' wonders, and it becomes the boys' complete fascination.

That's the second change I'd make: Neverland being both their secret, not just Pan's.

Then, one day, they get a chance to go. Somehow or another, perhaps from both spinning as much as they can, they can afford a magic bean, and then they travel to Neverland, or at least try. And it works. And everything's there...just as they imagined.

But...Peter begins to get warped. After spending some years on Neverland together, Rumple begins to notice some changes in Peter: He's becoming corrupt, and he wants to be the ruler of Neverland. He's consumed by this idea of eternal youth, and he's worried that it'll run out: They discover the hourglass together, and what it means: That once it runs out, the magic of Neverland keeping them young will run out, and they will both die. Somehow or another they find out about The Heart of the Truest Believer, and how it can save one of them, at the cost of killing another.

This idea, that killing someone is the price they have to pay for eternal youth, scares Rumple, as does Peter's complete consumption with it, and corruption, and the power Neverland holds. He begins to miss the spinsters.

This is when Pan rips off his own shadow, and the first trip it makes, is back to the EF, transporting a young Rumple. Pan feels Rumple doubting him, and gets enraged, and sends him back.

Third change I'd make: The origins of Pan's Shadow, and the beginning of his corruption.

And finally, I wouldn't make Rumplestiltskin kill him at the end of it all. I'd have made the punishment for Pan to grow old and remain in Storybrooke: I'd keep Stephen Lord as the actor for an aged Peter Pan, because I loved him <3, and I'd have chosen a different actor for Rumple's Daddy, if he was even relevant enough to show.

Yeee. Last change I'd make: Pan doesn't die, Pan grows old.

So, tl;dr: They were best friends, not father and son or anything else. I think this adds dynamic to their relationship, and adds a lot more to Pan's abandonment of Rumple, because their relationship feels less forced: As a father and son, them being close is "forced"-being father and son, they "have to" be close, versus if they were best friends, the abandonment becomes even more tragic, because the relationship was completely genuine and created.

Neverland having been both their thing just adds to Rumple's character and gives him pain from even being there, for all the memories. Not that he didn't feel any already what with Pan having been his Dad in the real OUaT canon, but they certainly didn't show it, and it wouldn't be as prevalent as if he spent more time there, watched his best friend go corrupt there, and etc.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;">The origins of Pan's Shadow and his corruption and the whole backstory with Rumple on Neverland and them there together gives it almost a Grindelwald-and-Dumbledore-y feel. Not that Rumplestiltskin was gay for Pan, no, the relationship would've been different, but the reminiscence is still there, and that's just an awesome thing to have. That our protagonist (at least in the Pan arc, what with Rumple being the main character against Pan with their backstory and etc.) was once part of the antagonist's plan, that whole feel, that just adds so much to things, I think.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;">And finally, the ending where Pan grows old, and perhaps even reconciles with Rumple, just adds variety to the ends that the main villains meet since Rumple and Regina in Season 1. Cora's death was good, that worked well, and fit her character, but Pan's death was...ehhhh. It would've fit his character so much better to be forced to grow old, I think. It would just have added to the interest in the show and the intrigue and all that, I think.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Yeeeee!! Thoughts? :3

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<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">Further, a reply made by Hmcooper4 added to my ideas something I also thought was really cool, so I'll put that here, too:

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<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;margin-top:0px!important;">I like this story as well. And I think, had it played out this way, his departure from the Jolly Roger (when the gang went to rescue Henry) early on, and the dialogue used there, could have stayed the same, but would have had a lot more meaning. I also love the idea of Pan's demise being that he actually was forced to grow old.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;">And (if  I may be so bold to add to your story), the reason that Peter sent Rumple back is that, not only did he find out that the heart of the truest believer was needed, but that the heart had to be from a descendant of the creator of NL (a fact he never shared with Rumple), brought and sacrificed before their 13th Birthday. He could extend the time a little by sacrificing other boys (again under age 13), but eventually even that would not work. The reason that Rumple would work is that, while NL was Peter's dream, it did not actually come into existance until BOTH boys tried to go there using a magic bean. So both Rumple and Peter are considered creators (if you will) of NL. This would explain why other boys were taken, and would tie real well into the original PP story.

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<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:22px;">Thanks for reading! :)