Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-9186670-20140503145341/@comment-8345449-20140504162938

Child of the Moon7 wrote: Rumple wanted that curse to be cast, and that makes me think there would've been a curse even if Regina hadn't been born...

Without Regina, Belle would still be living in Rumple's castle. They eventually fall in love and Belle frees Rumple from the Dark One's curse which also frees Cinderella's prince. Without Henry, Peter Pan loses his magic and immortality and dies of old age.

Mostly everyone has their happy endings. The downside is that Hook is still evil and Henry doesn't exist (and maybe Ariel and Eric can only sleep together once a year).

So now Emma, in order to regain Henry, has to destroy everyone's happy endings, and that sets the stage for Season 4....