Board Thread:Off-Topic Fun/@comment-24179430-20150114200216/@comment-1894786-20150115231311

There's actually two very plausible ways for Graham to come back to life if A&E ever wanted.

Poseidon as Ursula's father is a gateway character. Based off of the Greek god, he opens the door for Disney's adaptation of Hercules, where Hades is known for making deals with the dead (I have no idea if he does so in actual Greek mythos). For example, in the movie, he makes a deal with Megara (Hercules' future wife). Megara gives her soul to Hades in exchange for the revival of Adonis, her deceased lover. He is brought back to life by Hades (and promptly leaves Meg for another woman).

So if a Hercules arc is ever done, Hades would be introduced, obviously. And as Graham is dead, he wouldn't know about Regina's redemption (in the Greek mythology, the dead are not automatically given omniscience as they are in the Judeo-Christian Heaven) but he would obviously know who killed him and why (Regina had squeezed his heart previously in the Enchanted Forest). So in a potential Hercules arc, Graham could come back to Storybrooke after having made a deal with Hades. Probably to help him take down Regina or Rumple.

My second theory is a lot more unlikely. A few fans on this forum, including me, would like to see the traditional Japanese myth "The Tale Of Jiraiya The Gallant" mashed-up with the popular, long-running manga series "Naruto", the way "Frozen" was a set-up for "The Snow Queen". In "Naruto", there is an antagonist named Orochimaru (based off of the antagonist of the same name from Jiraiya The Gallant) and Orochimaru has mastered a technique where he can revive the dead as long as he has living sacrifices as vessels, and the DNA of the subject to be revived.

In this theorized storyline, Orochimaru invades Storybrooke in search of the Nine-Tailed Fox, a monster of untold power sealed with Naruto himself. In order to keep the Once characters busy, Orochimaru would use his technique (which in Once would not need DNA) to revive people our characters love. Graham (Emma), Neal (Rumple), Henry Sr. (Regina) could be potential choices.

Since our characters love these people, they'd be hesitant to stop them. While Orochimaru controls them and forces them to wreak havoc in Storybrooke, he'd be able to hunt down the Fox in peace, and it would be a very character driven arc because all of our characters would be faced with people from their past and go through growth. At the same time, we'd also get some much needed Eastern influence in a very Western show. After all, Mulan and the unknown Dragon from season 2 are the only Asian characters we've had so far... Unless you count Jafar and Cyrus.