Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24898439-20140526200255/@comment-24898439-20140527095836

To respond to your points. As for Elsa being the villain, I'm not really sure how long they can sustain that arc. My understanding is tthat they intend to honor the movie character, who was more misunderstood than evil. I suspect that her problem causing arc will be takn care of by the end of 4A. Or else, she will be around and helping the second half of the season. So, I'm inclined to think that they need another villain. Also, it would be nicely parallel. There were two villains in season 3, so two in 4. One was wicked and misunderstood, while the other was staight up sociopathically evil. If we do get Elsa and the Black Fairy, that description would also fit them. In any case, that's why I think we'll need a second villain.

As for preserving the love triangle, imagine if the Black Fairy continued to pretend to be Marian for a while (perhaps until the 4A finale). You would have even more angst. Robin would have to fight against his feelings for Regina and his growing sense of wrongness with Marian, all the while telling himself it was because of their long separation, but trying to make it work because of his past love for her and their son. Meanwhile, Regina would have the knife stuck in a little bit more everyday. And if Regina would be instrumental in fighting the Black Fairy down the line, it makes sense to neutralize her, so to speak. (I just think it's interesting that we now have three magic users: Emma, who uses only light magic, Rumple who uses only dark, and Regina who can now use both).

It could be normal behavior, or not. Though she might not want to intrude, at first, I can't imagine that it wouldn't eventually come up that night before going to sleep. One assumes that there was at least an hour or two between Snow's debugging and their telling Marian of the plan to bring her to the future. It also makes more sense of the fact that Marian says to Emma and Kilian that she doesn't trust them after they tell her of this plan. She might not believe them (perhaps thinking them looney tunes), but there's no reason to not trust them as they did just save her and they helped save Snow White, the EQ's biggest enemy. On the other hand, in keeping with my BF theory, I wonder if the reason that she never says her name is because she cannot outright lie. Mislead and twist words, misdirect and withold info, but not outright lie. For it's Robin who says her name, finally, and not Marian, thereby sparing her the need to lie if she is the Black Fairy.

When I have a moment, I will try to find the link where A & E say that Regina won't turn evil, but for now I have to go to work.