#ouat theories

[naivesilver]

Self-fulfilling prophecies, or: I think Rumple and Blue messed up big time, folks

Disclaimer: I am a comparatively recent OUAT fan, so while smarter people probably thought this through before I even watched the show, I have never seen it happen and thus can't know if I'm stating the obvious. Please bear with me, this is going to be a long post.

So prophecies! OUAT has a lot of those. There is an entire wiki section about them, and most of the early ones are offered to us by Rumpelstiltskin, because as we know, he gained the power of foresight from the Seer. But what exactly did said Seer tell Rumple, when she relinquished her power to him?

What we gather from the (cryptic) explanations that we get is that with foresight, you can see all the ways the future might untangle, and practising+physically approaching the time of the events make you able to discern which of those paths will ultimately be the right one. Bae's destiny after the Seer's first on-screen prophecy proves that while the future is highly dependent on people's actions, they cannot forcefully steer it in the direction they want - Rumple thought he could avoid losing his son by crippling himself, but in doing so he followed EXACTLY the road that had been paved for him.

We don't know, however, what would have happened if he hadn't spoken to the Seer. SHE knew, presumably, that by drawing him close she would put the doubt in his mind, but it's unclear whether he would have still left his son fatherless by dying on the battlefield or something entirely different would have happened. We don't know - and Rumple doesn't, either.

Here's the catch, though: everything he does in the first few seasons follows the same pattern of that night in the army, blindly assuming that it makes a difference. He micromanages every main character's life because he sees them as pieces of the bridge he HAS to build to reach Bae. He doesn't account for things going wrong because he thinks they can't, and he's fucking EVERYWHERE anyway, so nothing can slip out of his fingers.

But what if THAT is what actually cements this timeline as the "definitive" one? The Seer told him he would find his son again, he could have simply bid his time and waited knowing this would be the result anyway. When his first apprentice disappoints him as the curse-caster, Regina and her grudges still happen, after all. He probably didn't need to do anything to ensure it - if he'd just leaned back and spun his little wheel, the future would have come around on its own, one way or another. But he doesn't, and instead sets in motion a very specific chain of events, and thus the show happens.

Why would he do that? Maybe he didn't learn how to parse through his visions correctly and he thinks this is a "will be" future and not a "can be" one. Maybe that first prophecy didn't teach him anything, and he still thinks he can cheat destiny (as proven by the fact that when learning that a boy will be his undoing, he refuses to accept it, believing he can just kill said boy before it happens). Maybe he thinks he's like MCU Doctor Strange, who sees thousands of possible outcomes and makes sure the one that leads him to Bae the quickest will happen. I have no clue. But what I think has happened is that for any of these reasons, he made this destiny happen by KNOWING it would happen (or believing it would, as you'd have it), thus fulfilling the prophecy by willingly acting on it.

So Rumple fucked himself over, big deal. We have seen it happen multiple times after s3. But you know who else might have unknowingly led the future where she thought it'd go, in this endless loop we have just described?

At this point in the story we don't really have proof of whether Blue has prophetic powers of her own or she's just going off Rumple's words, but it does seem to me that the way she's telling the story has a bit more nuance than his version did during the Charmings' visit to the cell. So either she went back to pry further, from a man that she generally does NOT trust...or somehow, she's autonomously privy to details most of the others don't have.

But what does she DO with that knowledge? Does she work with what she has to guarantee Emma will fulfil her destiny? Does she trace very clear boundaries for everyone to stay within to adhere to her plan? No. She lets Geppetto convince her to lie. She allows him to risk jeopardizing the safety of an ENTIRE kingdom in the span of five minutes, which makes no fucking sense considering she has never shied away from weaponizing her influence for the sake of what she thinks is the greater good (which in turn is what made people think she was the villain all along, but I digress).

Moreover, some of my friends once had a discussion that, everything else aside, made me realize how fucking dumb it was of Blue to just LEAVE when Geppetto had threatened to do as he pleased with the wardrobe. What kinda preparations did she have to do, literal HOURS before a curse where she would lose all her free will and magic anyway? It was pointless at best, detrimental at worst, and the way I see it, PREMEDITATED to begin with, because while I utterly despise Blue and would have no problem calling her an idiot, this would objectively be a bad move. She could have literally lied to Geppetto about what kind of person could go in the wardrobe, or used magic to prevent the worst from happening. She has done similar things, before AND after that moment.

If she indeed knew, either because of Rumple or her own abilities, how shit was "meant" to go down, it's not too far-fetched to assume she might have acted accordingly in an attempt to guarantee the success of this plan. Even if there had been other possible paths to take, e.g. worlds where Emma might have gone to the LWM with either of her parents, and EVEN IF Rumple hadn't already prevented those variables from happening by that point...if Blue thought the only way for it to work was to stick to the timeline she had envisioned, then there was nothing anyone else could do.

To sum up this theory: Rumple sees the chain of events that develops through show canon, and either decides or mistakenly believes it will be made true, putting all his effort into ensuring it does. Blue makes the same mistake (depending on how you see it, obviously) and instead of forcing people's hands to change the course, allows Geppetto to make what she thinks is an unavoidable decision. By doing so, BOTH of them fulfil what they think is an already written future, but might have still only been one of the various options available among endless variables.

Besides, if they HAD realized that they'd fucked up in hindsight, I doubt they would have admitted to it. It would have been too late by then: knowing them, they would have felt forced to stick to their guns, to avoid considering the possibility to have made a mistake - ESPECIALLY Blue, who was already responsible for the start of this avalanche, what with giving Bae the bean and suggesting the curse to Rumple. It's hard to believe they would have been able to live with themselves, if they'd taken the option into account.

And in the end, what are the results of this proactive decision? Rumple and Bae's reunion is angry, unsatisfying and with catastrophic consequences for the whole family. Emma grows up alone, forced into a destiny she did not sign up for, having been ten minutes old at best. And as for the third victim of prophetic crimes...

Without these beliefs, solid or imaginary that they might be, there is a chance nothing would have gone as we know: the 28 years gap might have meant something else entirely, a lot of people would have been spared the pain, and an external hand would have prevented Pinocchio from being sent on an impossible mission, with a baby and no tools to navigate this world in his hands. Another child lost to the Land Without Magic as a pawn in a game played by two magic users who each thought they were outwitting the other - at least Emma got to grow and heal throughout the show, as an ADULT.

Did Pinocchio?

(OOF. This is almost certainly not what the writers had in mind when they planned the plot of this series. I am, unfortunately, aware of that. But I still think it's worth being put into words as a theory - I probably didn't formulate it as coherently as I hoped, but maybe the message will still filter through, despite the fact that I am 1) overtly verbose 2) tragically Italian. Unforgivable sins, both of them LMAO)

[queenofglassbeliever]

Top three contenders for Ella's father.

King of Maldonia, Lancelot (Wish Realm), and Destin Mattias. In no particular order, I'll give a brief story for each. At the end they'll be a poll and you can vote based on which story you liked the most.

King of Maldonia (fc: Colin Salmon)

Cecelia, Ella's mother, was married to King of Maldonia for a brief while. Then he suddenly, without any reason, cast Cecelia aside and remarried. Cecelia was pregnant with the King's child, but he refused to legitimize the baby or recognize her as his. The King eventually had two sons, Naveen being one of them, whom would become his heirs.

Lancelot (Wish Realm)

Sometime in between officiating Wish! Snow's and Wish! Charming's wedding and Wish! Snowing stopping the Evil Queen's curse, Lancelot traveled to The Magical Forest. There he met Cecelia and fathered Ella. While Ella was still a baby, Lancelot enlisted in a war. He saved the life of a cook - who would go on to change the tide of the war and marry Queen Eudora - to the detriment of his own life.

Destin Mattias (fc: Ricco Ross)

(This is a reimagining of the character Lieutenant Destin Mattias from Frozen II). Destin was the son of a Duke who was also the head of the Royal Army. A Marquis himself, Destin became military leader and the best swordsman in the realm. As a young man he fell in love with Cecelia whom he married. They had Ella together and were very happy. One day, Destin led an investigation into why people were suddenly going missing in a mist shrouded forest. While investigating Destin himself disappeared.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Remember when the Audrey villain leaks came out and then we saw the offical c4 and s3 outfit reveals and saw the c4 on the isle and the s3 in an auradon forest and we all thought there had been some sort of time spell where Audrey twisted time and instead of the c4 coming to Auradon it was the s3 so Audrey stayed with Ben and there was a whole adventue to fix the timeline? no? just me? okay

[crowfromfoggyforest]

Oh my god. I just realized something. I think i'm onto something. This is wild. I finished watching s6 of ouat over a month ago, and i just saw a random rumbelle post, and something clicked in my brain.

Lacey liked Rumple's dark side, but he still wanted Belle. We already knew that.

Belle kept wanting Rumple to become someone else, she couldn't accept him the way he was. We knew that too.

Rumple says he loves Belle because she sees the good in him. But in later seasons, he realized that he felt unable to become who she wanted him to be. He accepted who he was, didn't want to change anymore, but still loved Belle for seeing him as a better man than he actually was. For putting hopes in him that would be dissapointed again and again.

That's not a positive thing. That's not "you make me believe in myself and in my ability to change." He's convinced he won't change. He knows he will only cause them both pain. And he loves that pain.

You can't convince me otherwise, Rumple has deep-rooted self-hatred. He thinks he deserves to suffer. His love for Belle isn't positive. It's masochistic. He unconsciously uses it to punish himself. He can tell himself he has accepted his dark side all he wants, deep down, he still hates himself for not being able to change. And he wants Belle to remind him of this. He gets a bitter satisfaction out of dissapointing her again and again. "See? I'm a failure. No one could ever love me for who i am."

[ouatsqincorrect]

Zelena: Wait, Regina is doing the right thing? Zelena: [to Emma] You did this to her.

[campbells-content]

If yall have more requests for sss, lmk, whatever is wrong with me is kicking me to hell. I was listening to chapel roan and litraly felt like i was floating. Brian is not working independently rn, but im good at fillinf in blanks

[piraterefrigerator]

How long would you have headcanoned that Milah would have lived if she didn't get murdered early? Do you think she would have retried raising Baelfire?

Hmmm. That depends on many factors, but I think probably at the very least ten more years? And yes, I think she and Killian would've stuck with their plan do go back for him (wholesome family content!)

[shawolsos]

THEE best friend dynamic is

"You know it's literally a kids movie, right?"

And

*Has extensive theories and lore and headcanons about said movie*

Prove me wrong

[queenofglassbeliever]

If you follow me then you might have seen some post theorizing that Tiana and Ella are half sisters who share the same father. Recently I was talking to @heatherfield about a new angle. What if instead, Eudora and Cecelia were the half sisters?

I thought of this after making this theory on lavender lemonade being the hot chocolate with cinnamon of season 7. In it, I talk about how the hot chocolate is used to tell the audience that the people who like it are related. It's framed as an inherited taste. Two out of three times that lavender lemonade makes an appearance it's shown to be a favorite drink. It's explicitly said to be Cecelia's favorite. And when Tiana is brought a glass by Eudora, the tone of the interaction tells that the lemonade is usually a comfort drink. I also point out that Cecelia says to Rapunzel that she [Rapunzel] "makes the best lavender lemonade north of the bayou" and that Eudora's palace is in the middle of the bayou. Implying that Cecelia may have at some point tried Eudora's lemonade. That Cecelia may have once even lived in the palace. And that Cecelia and Tiana both like lavender lemonade because it's an inherited taste.

It got the gears working in my head. How could Tiana and Cecelia be related? I then came to the idea that Eudora (Tiana's mother) and Cecelia could be half sisters. In this scenario Eudora and Cecelia would share a mother, who was queen before Eudora. I think of their kingdom as matriarchal meaning that it follows the female line of succession. I've been calling Eudora's mother Evangeline, a clear reference to the evening star in The Princess and the Frog movie. Eudora's father I call Raymond, a reference to the firefly Ray also from tpatf. And I call Cecelia's father Pedro. Pedro (the name) is related to the last name Perez, which is the spanish version of the name Perrault. As in Charles Perrault the fairytale writer who wrote one of the most well known versions of Cinderella. The version on which Disney based the animated movie.

Evangeline would have been married to Raymond first. They had Eudora and when she was still a child, her father passed away. After which Evangeline got remarried to Pedro and Cecelia was born shortly after. Evangeline's favorite drink was lavender lemonade. A taste she pass on to her daughter and granddaughter, Tiana.

Part 2

Part 3

[wicked-storybrooke]

Gothel knew so much about Alice and Killian's lives in the tower. But how? I can't stop imagining her hovering in the air and peeping over the windowsill or through one of those scooby doo-style portraits with eyes. Or maybe she was on the ceiling the whole time :O!

My best guess is that she communicated to Alice through her dreams or could telepathically gather information that way. Or it could be that she's just telepathic at all times, as she seems to have the psionic ability to control minds (like the Desk Sergeant).

What do you think is most likely @fairytalepsuedonym ?

[magical-misfit]

Wow I can’t believe Brennan Lee Mulligan invented Once Upon a Time (2011-2018)

[victoriously-wicked]

NOVEMBER 14TH 2023

ONCE UPON A TIME APPRECIATION WEEK DAY 3

FAVOURITE FAN THEORY ARTWORK- THE BLACK FAIRY IS A FRAGMENTED PIECE OF THE BLUE FAIRY

THE THEORY: Fiona is a result of Blue trying to rid herself of her inner darkness.

Blue’s attempt at ditching her evilness goes awry; she does succeed in removing the bad from inside of her, but it doesn’t mean that the darkness is necessarily destroyed. That’s when Fiona is brought into existence, becoming the physical embodiment of Blue’s dark side. (obviously this theory isn’t true, but after hearing about it, I thought it could’ve made for a pretty interesting storyline, had the writers decided to go in this sort of direction with the plot. Also, Blue is shady as hell, you can't convince me she hasn't done some dark stuff)

[tiredly101]

Masterlist

Request are always opened so please go ahead and do one!

Request list/Rules

The Big Bang Theory:

Sheldon Cooper x Rajesh Brother Male Reader; We met in the sports bar

Howard Wolowitz x Mexican Male Reader; Comic Shop

Sheldon Cooper x Male Reader; I love you too

Howard Wolowitz x Rajesh Koothrappali x Argentinian Male Reader; He's shy and I'm stupid

Leonard Hofstadter x Male Reader; Leonard... He's gone

Once Upon a Time:

Killian Jones x Emma Swan Twain Brother Male Reader; Aren't you a jewel?

Mr. Gold x Ex Military (Emma best friends) Male Reader; I finally found my Darling, evil queen

Mary Margaret (Snow White) x OCC Female Reader; I will always love you...

Two villains and one soulmate (COMPLETE): part 1 and part 2

Love is coming our way (COMPLETE): Part 1 and part 2

Wendsday:

Bianca criticizes Y/N on their fencing skills

Couple Goals

In a bookstore

Trick or Treat

Three maniacs together

Welcome Home:

Wally Darling x Writer!Male reader; New Neighbor (STILL GOING): Part one, Part two, Part three, Part four, Part five , Part six, Part 7, Part 8

Wally Darling x Abused!Male Reader; Broken (STILL GOING): Part one, Part two, Part three, Part four, Part five

Wally Darling x female reader headcanons (REQUEST): Lovely Days

Home x Platonic!Architect!Female reader headcanons (REQUEST): Colorful Afternoons

Wally Darling x Baker! Gender neutral Reader (REQUEST): Home is a language

Wally Darling x Julie's Sibling! Gender nuetral Reader (REQUEST): Shy cutie

Wally Darling x Julie's Sibling! Gender nuetral Reader Part two (REQUEST): Apple assault

Barnaby x Short bunny personality!Male Reader (REQUEST): Puppy love

Wally Darling x Gymnastics Eddie adopted!Gender fluid Reader (REQUEST): Love letters

Tall! Wally Darling x Engineer!Male Reader: Grease Smudge

Acrobat human!Wally Darling x Acrobat!Male Reader: Circus...

Wally Darling x Oracle Fallen angel!Male reader: Sinner’s way

Human!Wally Darling x Latino!Male reader (UPCOMING): Latino flavor

Wally Darling x Chef!Male reader (REQUEST): My cute chef

Random post/Polls:

Welcome Home ideas (CLOSED): Poll

Wally Darling x Male reader (OPEN): Poll

[wildlife4life]

Okay I’m getting off tumblr for the rest of the night. I need to settle more and just… idk be less upset and remind myself it’s just a tv show that I started watching before buddie was even a thing, before Eddie even joined. I just don’t like where my head is at and I want to be positive again and enjoy 911 still. I want to be happy for S7. But right now I’m not.

Honestly I can’t see myself writing a coda for the finale. Maybe once my spirits are lifted and I’m given hope and inspiration. We’ll see. I look forward to everyone else’s codas.

I am still a buddie stan and them not getting a inkling to come is not what’s upsetting me. It’s the reused storyline of Buck taking back a girl who ran from him yet according to interviews it’s not?, the couch being for another girlfriend when I feel like we were being shown a whole different direction with the diaz boys, and just the hypocrisy of using Buck and Eddie for the whole relationship drama because everyone else is settled and happy.

*sigh* sorry for being a downer. Really. I hate being like this. But I’m going to not pull a Buck and actually learn from this, which means having lower expectations and maybe not look so deep into certain aspects of the show.

Please send hugs and hope as I drown in fanfic and possibly return to OUAT for a bit. Need a palate cleanse with CaptainSwan, where chemistry led to a beautiful relationship.

[campbells-content]

I'm thinking about bringing back ship, sink, or swim polls

I did it on amino years ago, but idk if anyone would be into that I'll tag the fandoms that would most likely get polls and maybe post a couple for example

[ouatsqincorrect]

[finding a dog alone in Storybrooke]

Regina: I think he looks like someone's pet. Maybe we should put up posters.

Emma: Yes, it should have a big picture of him and the words "Is this your dog? Not anymore."