@rumbelleluv I just read your tags on that gifset about why the portal looks different? A ring of fire rather than a green swirl that destroys the road. I have a theory about that!

Henry isn’t going to a realm within our reality – he’s going to another realm where the same stories play out differently. So the portal looks different because he’s not just travelling to another realm, he’s crossing reality.

Why do I think this? Well the portal reminded me of a Doctor Strange portal (also seen used by Ghost Rider in Agents of Shield) which crosses dimensions. Disney has the rights to Marvel which is why we’ve had the comic books shown on the show, they are never going to have the Avengers show up but that could be a nice little nod. Hello reality portal.

Also this ties into my theory as to how Henry got to be 28 but Regina and Hook haven’t aged – time isn’t consistent between realities. I mean that kinda makes sense with time being relative because of the storybook thing anyway. I mean the versions they’ve used on the show were “written down by the author Walt Disney” long before the events technically happened.

I mean the first Dark Curse created Storybrooke in 1983. Walt Disney died (and Isaac was recruited) in 1966. So if the Enchanted Forest and the Land Without Magic had time operating concurrently, that wouldn’t be possible. I mean the tale of Snow White was written long before Snow was actually born.

I know time was acting concurrently once the curse happened but maybe that’s why it was such a dark curse. It connected the realms in a way that wasn’t usual. Perhaps that’s why Isaac never aged from 1966 to present day, but Henry has got older while he’s been gone.

Just a couple of thoughts 🙂