Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-8567299-20130511155019/@comment-5106672-20130511172547

I think the wardrobe and its ashes were a "special" portal, kind of an emergency exit. The magic did not lie in the wardrobe itself, but in the enchanted wood it was made of. The Jolly Roger and Pinocchio are made of similar wood, so I guess it simply bends to the use people needed it to have. It became a portal to our land because that was the only available protection from the Curse (aside from Cora's shield), and remained a portal ever since. But as the original magic wore off after the use, probably it needed to be pointed to some specific land again when its magic was restored by the water of Lake Nostos. Thus the compass.

About the bean Tamara used, I had the same thought.