Once Upon A Fan

I predict in subsequent seasons that we are going to see flashbacks of Emma's life growing up - and it will feature a red-haired, brown-eyed young man with the initials RLB.

A bold and specific statement - but one I can make a case for.

First we start with A Wooden Boy (notice the bright blue eyes):

You can easily see A Wooden Boy growing up into August Wayne Booth:

And officially becoming wooden again (again, notice the bright blue eyes):

But look at the Real Live Boy version of Pinocchio and compare him with the others above. Notice how brown his eyes are:

Why cast a redheaded, brown-eyed boy as Pinocchio when the animated movie reflects a younger version of Eion Bailey - and then gives you Eion Bailey as Pinocchio? Sure, hair color can change from youth to adulthood, but eye color sure doesn't. Casting agents don't make mistakes with eye color. This is something deliberate. It's something that we aren't meant to see, but once the twist is revealed, you look back and say, "Oh yeah - why didn't I notice that in the first place?"

I think August didn't tell the whole truth (surprise, surprise) about what happened to him when Emma set foot in Storybrooke. He didn't just start having convulsions as his body slowly converted back to wood. He woke up with an entirely different body.

And even though he ran off to have adventures, Storybrooke was always on his mind - and it was a place he visited on occasion (one of the few things out of his mouth that I do believe). He knew about the book and we even saw him creating pages. Nobody recognized him because when he visited in the past he had a different body.

Emma was always on his mind, too. He checked in on her from time to time from afar, because she's the one connection to his old world that is NOT trapped in Storybrooke. Here's an impressionable young girl growing up, and every now and then she sees a handsome, redhaired rogue 7 years her senior sitting on his motorcycle watching her.

She's going to feel a strong pull to him, as he is the first person she's meeting who is from her world. She's going to end up getting involved in his crowd - and with him. This would explain how she ends up in jail - and getting pregnant. Because whose antics would get her there in the first place.

So we'll see this new character - and maybe we'll think it's Baelfire. But we'll be tricked again.

And if you buy my previously published theory that Baelfire and Morain are the marionettes in Rumplestiltskin's possession - and combine it with this one, that would make Rumplestiltskin Henry's great-grandfather on his father's side. (Regina is already his step-great-grandmother on his mother's side.)

Food for thought...