#i just fall back into my hellerism tendencies once in a while </3

[deanwena]

There seems to be a lot of fighting in this fandom over how people interpret different characters, and while I think it’s stupid to fight over this stuff in any case, I’d still like to make an attempt at helping everyone find some common ground re: Dean + commitment (specifically marriage).

I know a lot of people don’t like the whole Destiel/Saileen weddings endgame (and for valid reasons, personally that one is lower on the list for me but as an annoying multishipper I still enjoy it in some cases!), but I think the “Dean would never ever want to get married” take is not the greatest — hear me out.

It’s all about perception. A huge reason as to why marriage was not always his thing was because he never believed he could have this kind of steady presence and this normalcy in his life (so marriage would also signify moving on from his past life and embracing a new one). During a lot of the earlier seasons and even in the later seasons, marriage wasn’t a thing on the table for Dean; in the beginning, marriage is seen as an either/or scenario, in that getting married (to someone who... isn’t Sam) would mean an end to his life with Sam.

We see a significant change to the discussion in later seasons, with a focus on settling down with someone in The Life. (i.e. someone who can accept and love all parts of them, including the hunting life they share with each other, so it isn't an either/or with hunting and marriage/a family/whatever, but rather an enhancement of what they've already got). So once things started looking up in later seasons (and post-canon), I think he would’ve opened up to it a bit more (remember how he talked about retiring and going to the beach and stuff?).

After defeating Chuck (however you imagine them doing that), they'd know that there is no one messing with their lives, there's no next apocalypse looming that keeps them caught in a destructive cycle that can only sustain both brothers. They can expand now, have each other in their lives and a significant other on top of it. Even here, with Dean having hope for the future, I understand why one might be still hesitant to believe marriage is something Dean might want to do — which brings in my next point.

I think marriage IS within the realm of possibilities for Dean because it would be a way of his partner, whomever that may be, promising they won’t leave him; which is something Dean struggles with a lot. His whole life people left him and he had no idea how to ask them to stay (I could talk about the “I want you to stay but I don’t know how to ask you to” / “I want to stay but I don’t know how to tell you that” and “person who pushes people away before the other person can leave” / “person who leaves before the other person makes them” Destiel dynamics all day, but I digress). So I think the concept of binding his bond with someone (even in just a small, not-extravagant and not-legally-binding way like just getting rings and saying “we’re married” then bickering for a hundred years) would be incredibly reassuring to Dean and allow room for a lot of healing in his relationships and himself in general.

Obligatory author’s note: I know I mentioned Destiel in here a few times, but I promise I’m a bibro and big time codependency enjoyer that thinks even if Sam and Dean got into separate romantic relationships they’d still live very close to or with each other because they’re just that insane. I just also happen to be very multiship and Destiel made the most sense for the examples I was giving; the message I am trying to convey, however, can apply to any Dean ship.

[themattress]

OUAT AND ME: FINAL ANALYSIS

"That is indeed a complicated story. The timelines alone would make one’s head spin. Only a true Author could weave such a tale." - The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 7x21: "Homecoming"

So, the question still stands: how am I supposed to make my peace with Once Upon a Time? How am I supposed to fully love it again and hold on to that love when it made such a tragic downward spiral in quality? It seemed like an impossibility, but in keeping with the spirit of the show back when it was true to its message, I held firmly onto hope that I could do it.

And as frustrating as having to re-experience the show's decline was....I have!

Because you see, I came to remember something important. In the end, OUAT isn't about hope, or morality, or redemption, or what it is to be a hero or a villain, or happy endings, etc. 

OUAT is about stories. And regardless of whether a story is told well or told poorly, it is a story nonetheless. This commitment to being all about stories remained true from start to finish for OUAT, as it went balls to the wall telling stories within stories within stories. While the creative staff behind the show seemed to have differing agendas in many aspects, this was the one aspect they were firmly united behind, and in the end that's what makes OUAT special.

And in the spirit of that storytelling focus, and in the spirit of the show's own tendency to stand on wobbly logic in order to tell its stories, I have decided that the story of OUAT is actually a timestream; one that branches into several different versions (or tellings, if you will) of the story, all of them with differences in their timelines, plotlines, and end points.

The "Snow Falls" Timeline - This is the original telling of the story, spanning from the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1 to the Neverland Saga of Season 3. It begins with Henry Mills seeking out his birth mother Emma Swan and bringing her to Storybrooke so that she can break the Dark Curse, and concludes with Emma and Henry driving across the town line as Storybrooke and all its inhabitants are sent back to where they came from, the Dark Curse fully undone and Henry's "Once Upon a Time" storybook disappearing within the cloud of purple smoke. And in this timeline, the Wonderland Saga happens in the timeframe of the early events of the Price of Magic Saga, as it was originally intended to in the initially filmed pilot episode.  Anything that happens beyond "Going Home" is left up to the imagination.

The "Snow Drifts" Timeline - This telling of the story spans from the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1 to the Operation Mongoose Saga of Season 4, with the Wonderland Saga transpiring directly afterward. It begins with Henry Mills seeking out his birth mother Emma Swan and bringing her to Storybrooke so that she can break the Dark Curse, and concludes with Henry becoming the new Author, freeing everyone from Isaac Heller's illusionary reality, followed by the rest of the heroes looking to find a way to contain the Darkness after it is removed from Rumple. Afterward, this hypothetical Season 5 of mine is able to transpire.

The "Heroes and Villains" Timeline - This telling of the story spans from the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1 to the Underworld Saga of Season 5, with the Wonderland Saga transpiring after Season 4's Operation Mongoose Saga. It begins with Henry Mills seeking out his birth mother Emma Swan and bringing her to Storybrooke so that she can break the Dark Curse, and concludes with a finale like this one, except that Robin sadly is dead.

The "Final Battle" Timeline - This telling of the story spans from the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1 to the Savior's Fate Saga of Season 6, with the Wonderland Saga transpiring after Season 4's Operation Mongoose Saga. It begins with Henry Mills seeking out his birth mother Emma Swan and bringing her to Storybrooke so that she can break the Dark Curse, and concludes with Emma triumphing in the Final Battle, saving all the realms and light magic from destruction. There are two versions of this telling, one where Rumple dies sacrificing his heart for Gideon, and another where he lives and is given a second chance at a family.

The "Coven of Eight" Timeline - This telling of the story spans from the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1 to the Hyperion Heights Saga of Season 7, with the Wonderland Saga transpiring after Season 4's Operation Mongoose Saga. It begins with Henry Mills seeking out his birth mother Emma Swan and bringing her to Storybrooke so that she can break the Dark Curse, and concludes with Regina being crowned Good Queen of all the realms.

So now you must be wondering, how did these branches of the timestream come to be? Well, each but one holds two possible options for their creation, both equally valid: they are either the result of a new Dark Curse being cast or of the fabric of time being messed with.

The "Snow Falls" Timeline was created by either Snow and Charming casting a new Dark Curse or by Emma and Hook traveling through time and altering the past. The result caused the events of "Snow Drifts" to supplant those of "Snow Falls", which meant that the now-alternate timeline in which "Snow Falls" was canon had to be branched off at the exact point before the events leading to "Snow Drifts" (in other words, the Wicked Saga) happened.

The "Snow Drifts" Timeline was created by either Nimue casting a new Dark Curse through Dark Hook or by Isaac Heller temporarily rewriting reality. This means that the timeline that was currently in effect was rendered alternate at the exact point before the events leading to Nimue's Dark Curse (in other words, the Dark Swan Saga) happened, or at the point when Isaac messed with reality (in other words, the Operation Mongoose Saga).

The "Heroes and Villains" Timeline was created by either Fiona casting a new Dark Curse or by the Evil Queen creating the Wish Realm to trap Emma in. This means that the timeline that was currently in effect was rendered alternate at the exact point before the events leading to either of these causes (in other words, the Savior's Fate Saga) happened.

The "Final Battle" Timeline was the only one created by a single possibility: Drizella leading the Coven of Eight in casting a new Dark Curse, since it was both the casting of a Dark Curse and screwing with the fabric of time by sending everyone back several years into the past. This means that the timeline that was currently in effect was rendered alternate at the exact point before the events leading to this (in other words, the Hyperion Heights Saga) happened and that the "Coven of Eight" Timeline is now the "official" timeline, aka the show.

While I technically can conceive of ways in which the story could stop at either the Wicked Saga and even the Frozen Saga, they can't realistically be made into branches of a timestream because they rely too much on cutting out things that are present in the show, which is a leap too far and I'd feel like a real Isaac Heller if I did that. And it goes without saying that (even though it's satisfying in of itself) the story can't really end at the Dark Curse Saga since there's way too much still up in the air, least of all the big "magic is coming" cliffhanger; the Price of Magic Saga since its ending is a direct lead-in to the Neverland Saga; or the Dark Swan Saga because its ending is a direct lead-in to the Underworld Saga (it can end with the Underworld Saga as it does in the Heroes and Villains Timeline because the "Only You" / "An Untold Story" Season 5 finale is it's own thing apart from that arc, so its removal and replacement isn't affecting anything.) So I’m left with just these five options.

And with the variety presented here, I find myself kind of loving Once Upon a Time again! The quality of the story may fluctuate wildly depending on which timeline / telling it is, but regardless of which one it is, it’s something that - for better or worse - you’re going to find quite unlike anything else out there. And so at least I have made peace with it, realized that it is bigger than its awful creators, and have accepted that regardless of my personal feelings towards all of the less than desirable parts of it....I’m a ONCEr. And I always will be.

“And you may think this is just a story. But that's the thing about stories. They're more than words. They live inside of us. They make us who we are. And as long as someone believes that......there will always be magic.” - (Teenage) Henry Mills, 7x20: “Is This Henry Mills?”