Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20161205015930/@comment-1894786-20170220083809

CoolDudeAl wrote: Edward Zachary Sunrose wrote: CoolDudeAl wrote: Aine1989 wrote:

And let me clear it up, I'm annoyed that Neal is constantly brought up because as an Emma fan, it's frustrating to see the guy who screwed her over the most (after Regina and Rumple) and gave her trust issues praised as a hero. Also, he died 3 seasons ago, move on writers. Okay, that doesn't make sense. Just because someone dies, doesn't mean everyone instantly forgets about them. In fact I find it annoying when a significant character dies or otherwise leaves a show, and all the other characters who were super close with them all of a sudden act as though that character never existed. Yeah, a bit. I would argue that Graham wasn't that important of a person though. Emma knew him for a few weeks, and he was basically just a sex toy to Regina. In the past he wasn't really super connected to any of the characters either. Regina hired him and then enslaved him, Snow convinced him not to kill her, and he was raised by werewolves, but we haven't really seen much of them (besides 207 and the one comic) either. Neal is different in that respect, as he is much more important to many people. Emma's lover, Gold's son, Henry's father, Hook's psudo-son, etc. Graham was important. He and Red were in love, and that was never mentioned the few times she showed up after Season 2 (in flashback or present day), despite it being confirmed canon again and again. Now that she's with Dorothy, I doubt he'd even be mentioned unless it was in passing. Him and Emma were in a budding relationship. And yes, it was definitely a budding relationship. Emma even mentions him among her dead loves in Season 4 (Neal, Walsh, Graham), and don't get me started on the fact that Emma's longest relationship pre-Hook was with Walsh and he's never been mentioned again after his death.
 * cough*GRAHAM*cough*

Graham was also an ally to Snow and Charming, and considering he's not shown with Regina by the time of the Curse, we can assume he's now been freed somehow from Regina's control. And speaking of Regina, he wasn't just a sex toy to her. He was her confidant in the EF as shown by Shadow of the Queen, and in the script pages for his death scene (which were tweeted just months ago), the scene directions clearly state that Regina shows regret for his death (a choice which Lana Parrilla played beautifully, as she's clearly crying when she crushes the heart).

Let's be honest, the only reason why he isn't mentioned more is not because he's not important (he's saved the lives of a handful of important characters like Snow, Charming and Red, has strong ties to both Regina and Emma, and has unexplored backstory, like y'know, his ACTUAL NAME or what the whistle he gave to Princess!Snow does), it's because Jamie Dornan is completely busy with the 50 Shades franchise. If they mention him after all this time, people might assume he's coming back, which is obviously impossible. (Likely the same reason why Sebastian Stan hasn't returned as Jefferson, since he's now busy with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.)