Neal Cassidy

"I wanted to look for you, but I was too afraid that you wouldn't forgive me because I never forgave myself. There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I don't regret having left you."

- Neal to Emma Swan

Neal Cassidy, formerly known as the Mysterious Man, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the second season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Michael Raymond-James, and is the Land Without Magic alias of Baelfire.

History
At some point, Baelfire escapes the world of Neverland and ends up in the Land Without Magic where he grows up with the name Neal Cassidy.
 * -|During the Curse=

Neal and Emma meet in Portland when they are both trying to steal the same car. They quickly fall in love and began traveling through the country together and running cons to make money. Planning to retire from their life of crime, they choose to build a life together in Tallahassee, but Neal gives Emma the bad news he is currently wanted for stolen watches that are now hidden in a train station. Emma retrieves the watches back and they decide to meet up at a specific location after Neal finds someone to buy the watches. While doing so, Neal is confronted by August, who claims Emma is meant to do something greater rather than live a life of a thief. He shows knowledge of Neal's past persona by opening a typewriter with the words, "I know you're Baelfire" written on them. Afterwards, August tells Neal about Emma's magical history and convinces him to turn her in to the police so she can fulfill her destiny. After Emma is arrested, he runs away to Canada where he sells the watches. He asks August to send all the money plus their car to Emma, and asks August that ifshe ever fulfills her duty to let him know by sending a postcard. Unbeknownst to him, Emma is pregnant with his son.

When Emma breaks the Dark Curse, Neal resides in New York City, where he receives a postcard delivered by a dove. One side of the postcard reads, "Broken", and the other is a photo of the Storybrooke Clock Tower with the phrase "Greetings from Storybrooke", which is sent to him by August.
 * -|After the Curse=

Per her obligation to fulfill a favor for Mr. Gold, Emma goes with him to Manhattan to find Baelfire. She brings along Henry because she does not trust her son to be in Storybrooke while Cora on the loose. They arrive via taxi to Manhattan in front of an apartment complex building, and enter the building to find a locked gate with a call box listing all the residents and their room numbers on the wall next to it. Searching through the list, Mr. Gold does not recognize any as a possible name for Baelfire. Emma steps up to the call box and picks apartment room 407, which she notices has no name on it, and has a hunch it is a person who does not want to be found. She pretends to be delivering a UPS package for room 407, but no buzzer rings for the apartment complex door to open. They hear someone coming down the fire escape, and rush outside in time to see a hooded person jumping down and running away from the building. Mr. Gold tells Emma that he is sure that person is his son and that she must get him to talk to him due to the favor she owes him which he is using now. After tailing the hooded person through the streets, Emma eventually tackles him to the ground. They both get up at the same time, and she is shocked to see Neal was the person she chased.

Neal, not wanting to have a confrontation in the middle of the street, pleads for Emma and him to go somewhere private so he can explain what is going on. He succeeds in getting Emma to a nearby bar where he reveals that he is, in fact, Baelfire and they discuss their past. Neal makes note of the fact she is still wearing the necklace he gave her, but Emma takes it off just then and hands it back to him. He suggests that they go their separate ways and that she tell Mr. Gold she lost him. Although Emma agrees, Neal decides to go back to his apartment as he knows what his father does to people who break deals with him. He stops Mr. Gold from threatening Emma and commands him to leave, but feels confused when he sees Henry, who he does not recognize. When Emma states Henry is her son, Neal admanantly demands to know how old he is. Henry shouts back he is eleven years old, which is the exact amount of years since he and Emma were together. He realizes the boy is his son. Mr. Gold blackmails Neal into talking with him as that is the only way to fulfill Emma's bargain. Neal tells Mr. Gold since he himself as an abandoned boy never got closure, so neither will his father either. Emma allows Neal to get to know Henry, but warns not to break his heart.

Some time later, Neal is building a relationship with Henry by introducing him to New York-style pizza and promising to take him to a museum. Neal tries to tell Emma something important, but their conversation is interrupted. While waiting in the lobby of Neal's apartment building, Mr. Gold is suddenly attacked by Hook, who sailed his invisible ship to New York. To everyone's surprise, Neal admits he is already acquainted with Hook. Mr. Gold tells Emma the wound inflicted on him by Hook contains poison and the only way to cure him is with magic in Storybrooke.

Realizing that Hook's ship is the fastest way to get back, Neal offers to steer the ship and arranges to borrow someone else's car to the harbor. Emma curiously asks how he knows Hook and how to pilot a pirate ship, though he evasively says the land without magic is not the first world he arrived in, because if it had been, he would been over 300 years old by now. When they arrive next to a large car, Emma thinks Neal is going to hot wire it, but he has the keys. The owner of the car runs over to greet Neal and Emma meets his fiancée Tamara for the first time.

Neal pilots the Jolly Roger from New York to Storybrooke with the aid of Henry. While en route, Emma telephones David and Mary Margaret, to fill them in on what has happened. David explains to them Cora and Regina have possession of the dagger which can be used to control Mr. Gold. They arrive at the pawn shop, and once inside, Mr. Gold gives a piece of magic invisible chalk to Emma and tells her to draw a magic barrier across the door with the chalk.

Neal jokes around with Emma; saying that he did not know she could use magic, and Emma responds he did not tell her about Tamara; not to mention him being the son of Rumplestiltskin. When Cora and Regina reach the shop they use magic to break the barrier, and end up battling Neal, Mary Margaret, David and Emma. Cora and Regina are easily able to eject David is thrown out of the shop. Emma proceeds to draw another barrier with the chalk; protecting them for a little longer. After overhearing Mr. Gold's emotional conversation with his girlfriend Belle, Neal realizes the changed man his father is. In that moment, Neal admits he is still angry at him, but still loves his father. They are interrupted by Cora breaking through the barrier. Though Neal and Emma rise to defend Mr. Gold against her, she teleports the two away to the town forest.

After Cora's death, Mr. Gold visits the apartment to warn Neal, Emma and David about what Regina has planned for Mary Margaret. Henry is horrified about his family's possible intent to kill Regina to end the feud. Emma takes an upset Henry to the diner where Neal hangs out with him. He orders him a nice dessert, but Henry knows Neal is in on trying to sweeten him up so he does not try to get involved with Regina. Neal asks Henry to move to New York with him where he will be safer. Henry agrees, and then goes to the bathroom. Emma comes back to check up on them, and is incredulous that Neal fell for the "I'm going to the bathroom" trick; especially since Henry took his backpack with him. They try to catch up with him, and get to the mines with help from Ruby and realize Henry took dynamite to blow up the wishing well and be rid of magic. They hurry off to the well, and almost have a heated battle with Regina, but Henry manages to get everyone to stop. Henry convinces her to not use the spell on him, and she willingly burns the paper.

Henry and Emma pay a visit to Neal at his guest room at the bed and breakfast. While Neal sends Henry off to the diner and order three hot cocoas, he finds the time to tell Emma that Hook has escaped from the storage closet, and also Tamara is coming to Storybrooke. Emma does not like the idea of another outsider in town, and tells Neal he should tell Tamara his true identity. Emma decides to stick around and meet Tamara. The foursome have an awkward breakfast in silence, but the conversation picks up when Henry asks how the two of them met. Tamara recounts the day Neal ran into her and spilled her cup of coffee all over her blouse. As a remedy, he gave her his scarf and after exchanging numbers, she called him back and they got to know each other. Once Henry and Emma head off to elsewhere, Neal shows Tamara the book and tells her about his life in the Enchanted Forest; stating all the fairytales in the book are real. Perceiving this is a ploy to drive her away so he can get back with Emma, Tamara expresses anger and frustration at his story, and storms out.

Neal witnesses a completely wooden August dies in the arms Marco with his last words warning Emma about "her". After Mother Superior arrives and transforms August back into Pinocchio, Tamara arrives to witnesses the power of fairy magic, and discovers Neal was telling her the truth. Tamara affirms she is staying for Neal because she loves him.

Mr. Gold is watching Neal and Henry practice wooden sword fighting in the park when Regina approaches to ask what his son is doing with hers. To Regina's shock, Mr. Gold reveals Neal is Henry's father. Regina believes Mr. Gold planned all this, but he tells her it was fated. At the end of the day, Neal brings home a worn out and asleep Henry. Emma tucks him into bed and then the two sit down to talk. She casually asks him if he would go back to the Enchanted Forest if there was a way, but Neal states he spent his whole life running from it.

Emma and Henry continue their now "altered" operation, Operation Praying Mantis. They hide in Emma's yellow VW bug, and duck down as Neal and Tamara come out of the bed and breakfast.

They break into the guest room as Emma harbors a suspicion Tamara is up to something. Neal returns to the room, and finds Henry guarding the door outside. He comes in to see Emma pry open a loose floorboard in an attempt to find evidence. Emma explains her suspicion of Tamara with her possibly being the person August was warning them about. She also harbors doubts since Tamara has a list of everyone in town and their fairytale names, though Neal replies he gave that list to her so his fiancée can come to grips with this place and his identity. Neal asks Emma whether her reluctant behavior is due to Tamara being in Storybrooke. Emma strongly denies it and leaves with Henry.

Neal awakens in bed to see Tamara dressed and ready to go on a marathon training run. He tries to persuade her to sleep in, but she reasons the training is necessary so she can be prepared for the upcoming marathon. Emma confronts Neal with the news Regina is missing and goes back to pointing the finger at Tamara. Neal is still very much in disbelief even when Emma notices sand on the floor left by Tamara's shoes, which indicate she has not recently been running in the woods but near the beach. He follows Emma along to the shoreline where Tamara casually jogs up. She explains to Neal the reason for her change of jogging spots from the woods to the beach; an answer that satisfies him but does not keep Emma's guard from lowering. After Tamara resumes her run, Neal tries to be sympathetic to the difficult time Emma is having in his fiancée being in town. Emma fights against his accusations that she is in any way jealous of his current relationship. When she tries to walk away, he spills out the truth about wanting to go back for her when she went to jail in his place. Neal admits he truly wished he did, but was too scared to face Emma thinking she might never forgive him as he never forgave himself for leaving her.

Emma receives a lead of Regina's whereabouts from David after Mary Margaret, with the help of Mr. Gold, forges a bodily connection with Regina and briefly sees and feels everything she does. David mentions Mary Margaret could smell sardines, which helps Emma realize Regina must be trapped in the town fish cannery. Neal and Emma enter and regroup with David and Mary Margaret. While Emma's parents rush forward to secure and clear further rooms in the cannery, Neal and Emma lag behind and cautiously walk the halls. David catches Greg as the culprit behind Regina's kidnapping. When he runs, David warns Emma via phone to be on the lookout for Greg as he is trying to escape the building. Neal is relieved to hear Tamara has nothing to do with it, but his ease turns to horror when Emma unexpectedly is knocked out unconscious by her. Neal is in shock at the betrayal and lies. Tamara fully admits to lying about everything since the day they met. Though she thinks he is a good man, her job is more important. She shoots Neal in the abdomen and apologizes for the action when Emma gets up to kick the pistol out of Tamara's hands. Just as Emma makes a grab for the gun, Tamara distracts them by throwing a magic bean and opening up a portal. Emma almost falls into it, but is pulled up by Neal. Then, their roles are reversed and Neal ends up being the one clinging onto Emma to keep from falling into the portal. He urges her to let go, but Emma stubbornly refuses; stating whatever world he ends up in he'll likely die from the gun wound. Terrified of losing him, she confesses her genuine love for Neal. He reciprocates the same feelings back and lets go to be sucked into the closing portal.

He lands in the Enchanted Forest by the shoreline of the beach. While unconscious, three strangers, Prince Phillip, Aurora and Mulan take him back to the palace and tend to his injuries. Awakening on a bier, Neal is met with the watchful stare of Mulan. She asks who he is, and Neal responds with his name. Her companions, Aurora and Prince Phillip, rush over to inspect the stranger. Hastily, Aurora helps to bring water to him while Neal wonders where this is. She says him he is in their kingdom, and further questioning prompts Prince Phillip to tell Neal they are in the Enchanted Forest. Shocked, Neal murmurs he is back, which causes Aurora to think he's a native of this land, but Mulan points out his clothes are foreign and similar to Emma and Mary Margaret's. At the mention of Emma's name, Neal realizes they are acquainted with her as well, and tries to explain he needs to save Emma from harm. In attempting to move from the bier, Neal struggles to sit up as his wound is not yet completely healed, but despite that, he is set on finding out if Emma and Henry are alright. Aurora queries if Neal is Henry's father, and goes on to fill him in on how she once met Henry in the Netherworld. She mentions having harnessed the power to walk the dreamworld and find others like her, and it's possible to find Henry. Neal asks if she can find Emma to let her know he is alive.

Assuming a laying spot on the bier, Aurora attempts to find with Emma or Henry in the dreamworld. While Prince Phillip watches over her, Neal and Mulan wait at the sidelines and converse. Mulan learns Neal assumed death was imminent after falling into the portal, and from focusing his thoughts of the Enchanted Forest, that's how he ended up here. Curious about the other world, Storybrooke, she asks what it's like there. Neal starts off by saying people of that land believe the Enchanted Forest inhabitants to be fictional, and exemplifies it with the Mulan animated movie. Confused, she inquires what a movie is, but the exchange is interrupted by Aurora's awakening.

Crestfallen, Aurora notifies Neal she was unable to make contact. However, Neal recalls his father always had plans, and could have left something behind if he ever came back to the Enchanted Forest. He has hopes of finding such an item and using it to get to Emma and Henry by traveling to his father's castle. Prince Phillip raises the question of who his father is, and Neal admits it's Rumplestiltskin.

Neal and Mulan go on foot towards the castle. Wishing to learn more about Neal's relationship with Emma, she asks why Emma never mentioned him before. Neal confesses he broke Emma's heart by letting her go to fulfill the breaking of the Dark Curse, and after it was finished with, fear of rejection kept himself from coming back to her. Mulan remarks that his belief in love wasn't strong enough to overcome rejection, which Neal says is the greatest regret of his life.

Inside the castle, though it has been ravaged and severely plundered, Neal can tell someone has been living in it. Suddenly, they are surprised by a man, Robin Hood, aiming an arrow their way, and claims the castle is his. Neal explains the castle once belonged to the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin, and he is his son, Baelfire. Robin Hood decides to trust Neal's words and believes no one would make a claim unless it were true. Additionally, he mentions being indebted to Rumplestiltskin for sparing his life in the past.

Neal looks around the castle for an unsuspecting magical item that may help to find Emma and Henry, and picks up his father's old walking stick. He grasps the item and swings it around; prompting a hidden door to appear. Robin Hood expresses astonishment as he once tried to wield the stick before, and nothing ever happened. Through Neal's words, he shares knowledge of his father's enchantment of the walking stick with blood magic that only allows the caster or those of his blood to be able to use it. From within the door, Neal discovers a crystal ball. Reluctantly, he agrees magic is the only thing that can help him now, and attempts to get the ball to activate by touching it, which causes no change. Mulan suggests to think about how he feels about Emma, and that will guide him to see her. Neal follows her instructions, and the crystal ball shows him an image of Emma in Neverland.

Panicking over finding another pathway to Neverland, Neal searches all over for something that could be of use, but to no avail. Just then, four of Robin Hood's allies from their group, the Merry Men, enter into the castle. From beneath the leading man, Little John, a four-year old boy, Roland, crawls out and runs into Robin Hood's arms. Neal finds out the child is Robin Hood's son, to which he suddenly comes up with the idea of how to traverse worlds. He suggests Roland can use a summoning incantation to call the Shadow so he himself can gain a pathway to Neverland. Once Robin Hood learns the Shadow is notorious for snatching away young boys and whisking them away, he is extremely resistant to the idea. However, Neal reminds him how his father saved Robin Hood's wife, which allowed her to give birth to Roland, and as such, this makes him in Rumplestiltskin's debt. Robin Hood finally relents, and in preparation, Roland is told what he must say in order to lure to Shadow to the Enchanted Forest.

At nightfall, Little John brings Roland back to Robin Hood. To make sure, Robin Hood asks his son if he remembers what words to speak out loud, to which Roland begins to enunciate them, but is hastily stopped by everyone. Neal, Robin Hood and Mulan assume their readied attack positions as Roland enunciates the magic words, "I believe". Nothing happens at first, but a beat later, the Shadow flies down from the sky to take Roland away. Mulan acts quickly by severing the arm of the creature holding onto the boy while Neal grabs onto the Shadow and hitches a free ride back to Neverland.

Dropped by the Shadow onto the island of Neverland, Neal has a rough landing on the ground and is greeted by Felix. The Lost Boy welcomes him home, and promises Pan will be very happy to see him.

With his wrists bound, Neal is forced to trail behind Felix through a trek in the jungle, but begins to undo his restraints without the Lost Boy noticing. Felix expresses hopes that since their last encounter years ago, he might never have to see him again. Neal retorts he's here for Henry, though Felix has doubts as Pan is someone not be trifled with. Felix doesn't think Pan will just give up Henry, the heart of the truest believer, without a fight. To buy himself more time as the binds loosen, Neal replies it might work if he asks nicely, which causes Felix to scoff at his stupidity. Neal changes things up with a surprise ambush on Felix. After rendering him unconscious, Neal makes a run for it.

He sprints straight into a stranger wielding a spear. Upon stopping, he realizes, in bewilderment, it's his father, Mr. Gold, who begins accusing him of being a mirage. Utterly confused, Neal doesn't understand what is going on, but Mr. Gold continues to say he is not real just like Belle and assumes an attacking position. Neal refutes his judgment and tries to explain he didn't die from the gunshot wound. Yet, he is lunged at and held in a vice grip by his father. Mr. Gold insinuates Neal is nothing but an illusion as a reminder of his failures and make him question the decision to save Henry. As he tightens his grip and presses the spear blade into Neal's neck, Mr. Gold upholds an unwavering resolve to die so Henry will live. However, Neal chokes out a plea by calling him Papa, which prompts Mr. Gold to loosen his grip in a moment of growing doubt and breaks down in relief at the realization his son is not dead.

Afterwards, Neal shortens the long story of his journey to Neverland by briefing Mr. Gold on the debt Robin Hood owed has been paid. From asking about Emma, he learns the last his father saw her was on Hook's ship during the sail to the island. Mr. Gold has no doubts Emma's intentions are good, though she doesn't have the stomach to do what must be done. He also has inclinations that Neal is the same, but the latter promises otherwise. Recalling his father's previous display of words, Neal wonders if he was being dramatic about sacrificing his life to rescue Henry. Mr. Gold proves to be serious in his intentions by clarifying Pan is powerful and the only way to beat him is to go in willing to die. Even so, Neal has another way to render Pan powerless.

They reach a lake shoreline where Neal blows into a conch shell to bring forth a colossal squid to the water’s surface and, with accurate throwing aim, impales a spear on its body. Since the spear previously had a line tied to the handle, Neal and Mr. Gold use it to reel the thrashing squid in. After the creature is dead, Mr. Gold extracts squid ink from its body, which Neal wants to use in immobilizing Pan with a crossbow arrow.

The same evening, Mr. Gold infiltrates Pan’s base to put Henry and everyone there to sleep. While Pan confronts him about what he intends to do to free Henry, Neal sneaks in with the crossbow. Nonetheless, he’s noticed by Pan early on and forced out of hiding. Neal readies to aim and then fires the arrow, which Pan catches in his fist. Pan commends him for being clever, but realizes too late that Neal coated the arrow’s shaft, not the tip, with squid ink. With their nemesis frozen in place, Neal goes to grab a slumbering Henry. However, Pan still has one card to play on the deck and tells Neal of the prophecy that Mr. Gold wants to keep from coming true by murdering Henry.

After the two of them have left with Henry, Neal demands an explanation from his father about what Pan said. Mr. Gold insists Pan was simply messing with his head. When Neal tries to wake Henry up, he’s advised to allow the sleeping spell to wear off since it’s dangerous to pull someone out of it by force. Neal presses on the previous subject until Mr. Gold comes clean. He acknowledges that the prophecy spoke of a boy, presumably Henry, would help him find Neal, but ultimately is his own undoing. Mr. Gold explains this was all before he discovered Henry is his grandson. Despite that, Neal is disgusted his father was planning on killing someone just to keep the prophecy from happening. At Mr. Gold’s admission that’s exactly what he was going to do, his son loses trust in him. As proof Mr. Gold changed from the past, Neal asks for the Dark One’s dagger. Though he swears the dagger is hidden in a place not even he knows where, it sounds like another empty excuse to Neal.

Reasonably, Neal fears Mr. Gold could change once he goes back to Storybrooke, reunites with Belle and then realizes the only thing standing in the way of his happy ending is the prophecy. Mr. Gold proclaims his happy ending is with Neal and promises he can be strong if his son has faith in him. Neal, hiding a leaf coated in squid ink in his palm, grabs and presses it into his father's hand in a feigned gesture of affirmed trust. He brings up a childhood wish, while living in Neverland, of his father coming to save him. Later on, he realized it was never going to happen because of how Mr. Gold abandoned him in the first place by choosing the dagger’s power over his own son. Therefore, Neal cannot find it in himself to believe things could be any different in the present with the dagger still at large. After he pulls away, the squid ink in Mr. Gold's palm takes effect in paralyzing him immediately. Neal carries Henry away with the purpose of finding Emma and getting off the island so he can have his family back. Mr. Gold attempts to dissuade him against it because without magic, he won’t be safe against Pan on his own. Neal suggests he has no other choice as it’d be safer without him and leaves.

On his own, Neal enters upon a deserted campsite. Placing Henry down, he kneels down to test the heat of the burnt out fire. Since it still has some warmth, Neal reckons that Emma only recently left when Pan surprises him by commenting he was so close to finding her as the Lost Boys converge all around. Pan complains Neal should know better as he once taught him never to break into a place without knowing the way out. He laments over Neal’s decision to leave Mr. Gold and doing so made him vulnerable without protection, however, if they had not separated, Henry would be the one in danger. From the sidelines, Felix picks Henry up and hoists him over his shoulder. Neal swears he will do whatever it takes to get his son back. Humorously, Pan states that’s the point of the game; Neal took Henry, so now he’s stealing him away again. He points out the real problem for Neal is no one walks off the island without his leave. Neal boasts he already did that once before, but is left unsure when Pan reminds him where he is now and everyone is exactly where they should be. At the sound of Henry groggily waking up, Pan ushers some of the Lost Boys to take Neal away to an unknown holding location. The rest, with Pan, leave in the other direction. As Neal is dragged away, he shouts for Emma and Henry. Pan promises Neal that he will only be imprisoned until the board is reset for a different game to start.

Drugged and placed in a cage, Neal slowly drifts into unconsciousness when Pan arrives to check up on him. On his orders, the Lost Boys hang the cage up next to another confined prisoner.

At another time, Neal, while still in the enclosure, is brought into an Echo Cave as bait for rescue on a platform. He awakens to see David, Emma, Hook and Mary Margaret standing at the other platform end of the cave. Separated by a gaping bridge-less space between the two sections, Hook, Mary Margaret and David all satisfy the requirements of the cave by revealing a guarded secret about themselves. Subsequently, each time, one part of a bridge forms until the whole area towards Neal is cross-able, so Emma makes her way over. After checking up on him, Emma attempts to slash the enclosure to bits, which is all in vain, when he implies that she, too, must also follow the cave's requirement. She bends down to face Neal, who coaxes and reassures her it's okay to be honest with him. Emma unfurls how she really felt after hearing he might be alive, which was not elation, but terror. Furthermore, she didn't understand her own reaction until now. Recalling how they crossed paths again after so many years, Emma voices that the meeting proved her feelings for him never died. Additionally, before there was time to process all this, Emma lost him again; causing all the pain and hurt she had hidden away for years came bubbling to the surface. She admits to uncertainty about going through all those emotions once more and affirms her love for him will likely always be there. Yet, Emma bursts into tears while acknowledging that she had hoped he wasn't alive so it'd be easier to put him behind her than to face the pain all over again from their relationship. Finally, the cage bars melt away as he and Emma warmly embrace each other.

When they reach the outside, Neal thanks everyone for their efforts in rescuing him. David thinks it's too soon for that since they still have to get to Henry. Hook fills him in about discovering his star map, which Neal promises if they can find Henry, he can definitely get them off the island. Hook instructs they should regroup with Tinker Bell first and continue on with the mission from there. He, David and Mary Margaret head back while Emma and Neal stay behind. Emma feels guilty about what she told him earlier and is sorry her feelings can't be changed. He disagrees and doesn't think she has anything to apologize for after everything he put her through. Then, Neal tells Emma his own secret; he won't ever stop fighting for her. At this, he exits.

Trivia

 * The casting call describes him as, "in his 20s or 30s, charismatic, sexy and mysterious, but also loyal and kind, and he's running from his past in a land full of danger."
 * The casting call name for him was "Jack".
 * The name "Neal" is of Irish Gaelic origin derived from the "Niall" that possibly means "champion" or "cloud".
 * The surname "Cassidy" is of Irish Gaelic origin derived from the surname "Ó Caiside" that means "descendent of Caiside". By itself, "Caiside" is a given name that means "curly haired".
 * The song playing on his iPod during the walk to his apartment is "Charley's Girl" by Lou Reed.
 * His apartment is situated across the street from the back building of real-life Italian pasta supplier Piedmont Ravoli Co. Inc. located on 162 Mulberry Street in New York.
 * Has many vintage items in his apartment such as an array of old radios, old microphones, classic cameras, records and record player, old pencil sharpener and old telephone.
 * There is a sign in his apartment that reads "Cleaner & Hatters".
 * The dream-catcher he has hanging in his apartment was given to him by Emma.
 * According to his wanted poster, he was born March 23, 1977 in New Jersey. Since Neal and Emma met in 2001, he would have been twenty-four while she was seventeen or eighteen at the time.
 * His wanted poster reads as, "Neal Cassidy has a scar on his left arm from a knife wound."