Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26347158-20150419103813/@comment-24674051-20150508135033

You know, that is kinda how I see it as well. I doubt Robert Carlyle will leave the show before the end of season 5, But I could see them radically changing his character, and setting up the showdown between the Dark One and the Light One (aka, Emma). In fact, in retrospect, I wonder if shady Blue did not somehow recognize the Light One aspect of Emma in TNPLH.

However, I would suggest that Regina, Killian, and probably Maleficent, will keep the happy endings that they found, because they found them without the author's intervention (and I would almost say in spite of the author's intervention). Remember that Emma, not the Author, is in control of the happy endings in Storybrooke. She is not going to screw over her friend, her love interest, or her childhood friend's mother.