Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6036560-20161024024732/@comment-24674051-20161024042905

Another thought, based on the events of tonights episode. What if the whole vision is a result of Emma using (or attempting to use) the shears? The person under the hood is Emma (not dark swan, but just Bail Bonds person Emma) and the Emma we see is the savior aspect. The Shears represent removing the savior, and so Emma is thrusting the shears (represented by the sword) into the Savior to kill it. The others that show up represent her family that are there to help Emma carry the Savior burden and are trying to stop Emma from going through.

And Keep in mind that Jafar told Aladdin that the future was not set in stone. and I suspect he was speaking in half-truth, as a means to trick Al into using the shears. I think that we never see Emma actually fall, Emma just assumes that she dies based on what the oracle said. But remember that even Rumple mentions taht the future is a puzzle with missing pieces, and hard to interpret.

So, Bottom line: non-savior Emma is under the hood, savior emma get stabbed, and somehow this process is stopped before reaching the fatal conclusion.