Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-26255666-20150401220207/@comment-26255666-20150424070140

I think Neal was the most heroic of every character we have seen so far. To me, he sticks out because if anyone should have been the savior it was him. I don't think anyone did more to save others or tried to save as many as he did. He also never hesitated. It was also nice for Henry to have a father in his life as well as Baelfire being able to be the parent that his could never be. Personally one of the saddest things about Neal dying was the fact that he had the most hope, loyalty and sacrifice. In a lot of ways his character was the perfect example of what a "hero" is. His mother was a home-wrecking "wench" (for lack of better terminology as to be used on this forum) who should never have been a mother as she really wanted to be a pirate more and his father was the Dark One, the most evil person in his realm. Yet Baelfire was all light, even from the beginning. When his mom left he and his father, he did not want to abandon his father for Peter Pan, when the Darlings took him in and gave him a home he sacrificed home and family to save ONE boy (since The Shadow only wanted 1), when he found out he was a father then he wanted to be completely involved in Henry's life, when his dad was dying despite their bad terms he risked his life for him twice, when he saw Emma on Neverland he found a way to cross worlds and save Henry.

All in all, Baelfire/Neal was the most altruistic hero on this show so far and I think that's why there's such a strong fan base that is discontent with his eternal death. In a lot of ways, he was everything good where Rumple/Gold is bad.

And to address Neal's being a "thief" in the real world, yes this is true but he had no social security number or birth certificate. He was going to have to lie from the minute he entered this world so while it's not totally excusable, it is more logical to fit his character and situation.