Speculation WITHOUT Spoilers: Lalalalala! I can't hear you!

[YaddaYadda]

So basically, if Merlin does know how to defeat the Darkness, he's a giant ass for making Rumpel/Zoso/Emma suffer as the Dark One in addition to allowing the Dark One to torture/murder/screw over countless people rather than destroying the Darkness once and for all. Merlin sucks.  It will probably work out that he needed the Saviour to become the Dark One for whatever asspull the writers are going to come up with to solve this problem. At some point, Emma will most likely "die" as part of the destruction of the Dark One.

 

This is what I don't get personally.  If Merlin knew how to defeat the darkness, then why didn't he just do it?  Are they evenly matched in terms of their powers that Merlin came within an inch of his and the immediate solution was to tether the darkness to a human soul?

 

When we saw Merlin, he was in a cave and he wasn't corporeal.  So is his ass still regenerating after that battle?  I mean the Dark One isn't corporeal either.  What I'm getting is that the black goop is the Dark One's essence, the same way we saw Merlin's when the Apprentice went to him.  I'm assuming they will be casting someone to be the actual Dark One at some point this season and we'll see them playing chess in Avalon, talking about their mommy issues because we all know Merlin and the Dark One are brothers.

 

As far as Emma dying, I could see it happening though I'm more inclined to think that she will be cursed instead (which I guess is like dying).  Captain Swan has been heavily paralleling Snowing and I don't think this part of bringing Emma back from the darkness will be different.  I think she will be cursed so that the darkness can be pulled out of her without too much harm coming to her.  But then I could be wrong, since I'm wrong a lot.

 

Rumple was basically passed out when the Apprentice pulled his heart out of him and "cleansed" it.

[daxx]

Maybe the heart must be removed to take out the darkness but because Emma's heart cannot normally be removed they need her true love to do the removing.

[KingOfHearts]

Here's the actual dialog regarding the Dark One and the Sorcerer:

Apprentice: "... the Sorcerer battled the darkness. He was able to keep it from consuming the realms. He tethered it to a human soul that could be controlled with a dagger."

Emma: "The Dark One..."

Apprentice: "The Sorcerer is the only one with the power to destroy the darkness once and for all before it destroys everything."

Emma: "Where is he? Who is he?"

Apprentice: "He's far, far from here... find him. The name is Merlin. You must stop the darkness... find Merlin."
 

I thought he meant it was Merlin's own darkness since a darkness able to destroy realms seem like it would originate from the dark side of the most powerful wizard. The phrase "battled the darkness" popped up to me as someone who was conflicted with evil. There's the question of why Merlin didn't destroy the darkness if he had the power to, but was able to put it under the control of a person and a dagger. It's like he was hesitant to get rid of it because of his own temptations.

Edited June 26, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

The phrase "battled the darkness" popped up to me as someone who was conflicted with evil. There's the question of why Merlin didn't destroy the darkness if he had the power to, but was able to put it under the control of a person and a dagger. It's like he was hesitant to get rid of it because of his own temptations.

 

If we go with that interpretation, the Dark One's "darkness" is actually Merlin's inner darkness, and he did to himself what Snow and Charming did to baby Emma's potential "darkness." So that dark swirling cloud that absorbed Emma is a visual cousin of what Snow and Charming supposedly transferred inside of Lily. Except, I'd imagine the Sorcerer's darkness cloud is a lot more dangerous and evil than Emma's darkness cloud.

 

God, I hate this plot so much.

[KAOS Agent]

I figure they'll eventually have a True Love's Kiss between Emma & Hook, but I just don't get some people's expectations about angst with it not working for them because Emma & Henry share proven True Love. Hook is not needed in this equation (note: I don't see that commentary here, but it drives me crazy to read all about it elsewhere). Why would there be angst? The Apprentice easily made portal doors, so why wouldn't Merlin make one to get Henry? Or maybe Henry could write himself a door? It's not a complex process to travel between worlds.

I just see them taking the Saviour metaphor all the way at this point. Right now she's sacrificing and taking on all the sin in the world, after a time she'll need to "die" and then later she'll be resurrected - possibly with True Love's Kiss. Or Hook will share his heart with her because I hear that's a thing now.

Edited June 26, 2015 by KAOS Agent

[Shanna Marie]

I thought he meant it was Merlin's own darkness since a darkness able to destroy realms seem like it would originate from the dark side of the most powerful wizard. The phrase "battled the darkness" popped up to me as someone who was conflicted with evil.

Okay, I can see that interpretation. I guess I've read too many fantasy novels because I went straight to the Darkness as some kind of entity, like Sauron as that weird eye thingy.

 

And I just figured that maybe in the hundreds of years since creating the Dark One, Merlin figured out a way to destroy it, but by that time had lost control of it because someone else had the dagger. Now that a person who doesn't want the power for herself is the vessel and with someone who doesn't want to use the power in control of the dagger, they might be able to use what Merlin figured out to destroy it. It sounds like the trick will be finding Merlin, if the Apprentice was only able to tell them he was "far, far away" and told them to find him rather than giving GPS coordinates.

[Curio]

Is the Dark One's "darkness" related to the "dark curse" Regina cast? If so, then maybe the rules are similar. To cast the dark curse, you have to destroy the thing you love most. Maybe in order to destroy the darkness and the Dark One entity once and for all, you also have to destroy the thing you love most—which is why the mantle always gets passed on to new vessels because the person is either a) too selfish to destroy the thing they love most, or b) would rather keep the Dark One darkness inside them instead of destroying the thing they love most.

 

Or I could be way off base here. I'll admit to not paying too much attention to this show's Dark One/dark curse mythology.

[YaddaYadda]

Okay, speaking of the Dark Curse.  My understanding in season 4 was that Rumple stole the curse (being guarded by Chernabog).  We don't know if he modified it to get it to work like he wanted, added the whole clause for the Savior and so on.  

 

Merlin seems to have manipulated an awful lot of things, like sending Ingrid to the LwM knowing that Emma was going to land there sometime later.  He and the Apprentice knew that she would sacrifice herself to fix her errors (the Apprentice told her that sometimes people can surprise you).  Merlin told the Apprentice that Lily and Emma's lives were always going to be entwined with or without what Snowing did.

 

I thought Rumple was a master manipulator.  Merlin seems to have surpassed that by leaps and bounds.  It's like he wanted everyone to end up in Storybrooke, so he just made everything easier.  He and the Apprentice can cross realms without blinking an eye and suddenly, the town that's stuck in a time warp has the internet and Henry is able to find his birth mother by going online?  They have fucking dial up!!!

[LizaD]

 

I'd imagine the Sorcerer's darkness cloud is a lot more dangerous and evil than Emma's darkness cloud.

 

But I thought Emma's darkness cloud had the potential to be the most evilest to evil ever. They got rid of her darkness cloud and Chernabog still went after her. Like it's so dark, even after they got rid of all the potential darkness she's still the darkest! Yeah that's Once logic right there for you.

 

Which reminds me, how was it Mal was darker than Cruella so that Chernabog went after her and not Cruella? Maybe Rump misinterpreted Chernabog's darkness meter and he just likes chasing after blondes.

 

 

share proven True Love

I don't think True Love destroys that goo. It would just be removed from the person, freeing the goo to kill off the entire world and then they would have to attach it to someone else again. Also they're not going to bother explaining how Rumbelle's true love kiss almost worked but they never bothered trying it again are they?

[Camera One]

I'm guessing Darkness will win the "Word of the Season" award next year.  

[Curio]

Also they're not going to bother explaining how Rumbelle's true love kiss almost worked but they never bothered trying it again are they?

 

They could actually explain that by saying Belle's True Love's Kiss™ was in the process of taking the darkness out of Rumple, but since he stopped it, she couldn't finish the whole process. If she had done the whole process, there would have been a big cloud of black goop floating in the room. Yeah, I don't know.

 

Maybe Hook and Emma will do a reverse of Snowing's half-heart thing. Whereas Snowing can't live without the other one and share one heart, Hook and Emma also can't live without each other, so Hook agrees to take half of the darkness goop living inside of Emma and they both live with half darkness in them the rest of their lives.

[Camera One]

They could actually explain that by saying Belle's True Love's Kiss™ was in the process of taking the darkness out of Rumple, but since he stopped it, she couldn't finish the whole process. If she had done the whole process, there would have been a big cloud of black goop floating in the room. Yeah, I don't know.

 

Yes... or they could say Rumple thought it might work and didn't want to risk it.  Or the kiss wouldn't have been able to completely return him to human.  It's like cough medicine and works for awhile.

[YaddaYadda]

Or they can say that in season 1, it was a curse but then went into their acid trip of what if we turn it into a dark smoke err goop instead?  #saynotodrugs

[Mari]

Which reminds me, how was it Mal was darker than Cruella so that Chernabog went after her and not Cruella? Maybe Rump misinterpreted Chernabog's darkness meter and he just likes chasing after blondes.

I think she was pregnant with the egg that would become the eggbaby that became Lily.  Lily, being a blank slate, would have lots of potential for evil. . . or, at least, I think that's logic facsimile.

[Camera One]

Dark Emma backs new housing development:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/27/old-oswestry-hill-fort-housing-development

[KingOfHearts]

We don't know if Merlin is actually in Camelot. If he were, I'm not sure why the Apprentice would be so vague about it since he was intent on helping Team Hero find him to stop the darkness. But with these writers, he's probably in the most obvious castle in the middle of Camelot with every peasant happy to give people directions to it. You'd think there'd be a reason he'd be chilling out in Camelot while the rest of the world is fractured from the Dark One and the Dark Curse.

[YaddaYadda]

Is that cave the Apprentice went to to see Merlin is the EF, in Camelot or a whole other realm.  I mean given how easily the Apprentice travels between realms, opens doors and portals, Merlin could be absolutely anywhere.  The guy traveled to Arendelle to find Ingrid when he was initially in the Enchanted Forest because that's where Anna met him.  I'd say that pin pointing Merlin's location might be hard without the Apprentice (though I'm sure our heroes will try to get to Camelot/Avalon) who might've kicked the bucket.  Is he the first person the Dark One killed after that awesome idea of stuffing the goo in the hat worked so very well?

[Camera One]

I assumed the Cave was the one beneath the Apprentice's "secluded" log cabin that anyone could find.

[KingOfHearts]

 

I assumed the Cave was the one beneath the Apprentice's "secluded" log cabin that anyone could find.

In the Infinite Forest... which isn't that infinite after all.

[YaddaYadda]

Isn't the infinite forest in the Enchanted Forest?  Or is that too much forest?

[Shanna Marie]

Bringing some pure speculation over from the spoilers thread:

And I'm totally down with the Arthur is Hook's dad theory. Hell, he could even be the king that Liam referred to who betrayed them. I know it sounds a little iffy, but Prince Charles refers to his mother as the Queen in public. It would be possible to have the boys do the same thing with their father, right?

I don't really see how the king the Jones brothers were fighting for could be their father, whether or not that's Arthur. You'd think the fact that it was their father giving the order would have been enough of a factor to be mentioned in the "It's poison, the king lied, and he wants to commit genocide!" "No! It's a healing herb and it's the weird kid who's lying!" argument. That's a situation where, when talking just to each other, they'd have dropped protocol about referring to their father as "the king," given that this meant they were debating whether or not to trust their father. When Killian was begging for Pan's help, he said Liam was all he had, which suggests that their parents were gone by that time. And I'd think that it being their father who betrayed them would have made Killian's flip-out far more personal. Wouldn't he have gone to directly confront his father rather than just turning pirate and starting a private little war?

 

(ETA -- then again, that wouldn't be the biggest and least likely retcon ever on this show)

 

On the other hand, the idea of Arthur as Killian's father might fit my wacky theory that the Jones family adopted young Killian after the man he knew as his father abandoned him, and it turns out that his "father" was either a kidnapper or the loyal soldier sent away with the infant prince in order to protect the baby from the king's enemies.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Shanna Marie

[Mari]

We've also got to factor in the timeline issues--Merlin would've had to be alive when Rumple/Hook were young, because Dark One, but Lancelot has shown up as a contemporary of Snow and David's. 

 

Unless they do some story retcon with Lancelot, like they did with Ursula, it's likely Arthur is closer in age to Snow, David, and Regina than he is to Rumple and Hook.

[Camera One]

Lancelot got dragon egg pieces (Oil of Olay equivalent in the Enchanted Forest) lodged in his skin 1000 years ago and it kept him forever young.  

[YaddaYadda]

We've also got to factor in the timeline issues--Merlin would've had to be alive when Rumple/Hook were young, because Dark One, but Lancelot has shown up as a contemporary of Snow and David's.

 

 

Merlin tethered the darkness to a mortal soul.  And the Apprentice said that Merlin battled the darkness before their stories began.  Hook was there, so I took it to mean that it was before his time too.

 

We don't know how long Sozo was the Dark One though it seems to have been long enough for him to want his life to end.  I took it to mean as in the beginning of time, Merlin fought the darkness and since he couldn't defeat it, attached it to a human soul.

 

As far as Lancelot goes, him being a contemporary of Snow and David doesn't cause timeline problems since Merlin and his Apprentice seem to have been around forever and a day.  

 

All of this makes me wonder about the state of Camelot though and if they won't kill off Arthur at some point.

Edited July 2, 2015 by YaddaYadda

[Curio]

The only way King Arthur could realistically be Hook's father is if he drank from a fountain of youth, went to Neverland for a couple centuries, or drank a magic potion from his immortal buddy Merlin because, like Mari said, Lancelot was a contemporary of Snow and Charming's timeline, and you'd think Arthur and Lancelot would be in the same story/universe.

 

The only legitimate thing we know about Killian's father is this:

Hook: When I was a boy, my father and I boarded a ship with plans to travel the realms. One morning, I awoke, and he was gone. Turned out, he was a fugitive. He had fled in the middle of the night to avoid capture.
Baelfire: He abandoned you?
Hook: Aye. That he did.

So, if the king Liam and Killian worked for was after their father for being a fugitive, maybe Davy (because that's totally his name and no one can convince me otherwise) went on a vengeance quest to destroy the king and take his place. Once he murders that king and takes his power, he also takes on a new persona: King Arthur.

 

And then we'll watch the episode and the big "surprise" will be that Arthur is actually Lily's father, and everyone in the audience will be like, "Oh, wait. Is she still a character on this show? I totally forgot about that plot line."

Edited July 2, 2015 by Curio

[YaddaYadda]

We get to know Lily's origins before we know Hook's origins.  Sounds about right!

[Shanna Marie]

There is the part of the Arthur legend that has him sleeping, not dead, until Britain (or I suppose the relevant fantasy equivalent) needs him again. Merlin's legend also sometimes includes stuff about hibernation and possible return. So there's a chance that Merlin could have been around for the first Dark One tethering, but it took all his strength and sent him into a non-aging magical coma, and then he woke and ran into Arthur around Hook's time, and then Arthur was put on ice and Merlin became incorporeal, and one or both came back later around Lancelot's time. Then there's the 28 years of the curse to deal with, with Arthur not looking all that much older than any of our other characters unless they age him up for the "present" and use his real look for flashbacks.

 

But in spite of the physical similarity, I'm not holding my breath for this to end up having anything at all to do with Hook. By the time they get there, if they ever do, whatever they do come up with will be a lot lamer than all the crazy speculating we'll have done by then. His father will just be Some Guy and it won't matter much at all. It'll be one of those thematic flashbacks to remind him to believe in himself or explain why he doesn't trust, or something like that.

[Rumsy4]

Based on the casting for Blackbeard, tons of people were speculating that he would be Killian's dad. But that didn't happen. I think it's the same issue here. I can't imagine a reason for King Arthur to be related to Hook, as A&E don't seem to be interested in exploring Hook's backstory at this point. It's more likely that Lily ends up being connected to the Arthurian mythology. She's probably some Morgana archetype. She is looking for her father, and will likely accompany Emma and the Nevengers to Camelot. That way, they could conveniently dump Lily in Camelot at the end of 5A or 5B when the Dark Swan arc is over.   

Edited July 2, 2015 by Rumsy4

[Camera One]

as A&E don't seem to be interested in exploring Hook's backstory at this point.

 

He still got a centric last season, so he might get one where he goes to Camelot and gets tempted again, so we can see him struggling with his dark side for the umpteenth time.

[YaddaYadda]

We've also got to factor in the timeline issues--Merlin would've had to be alive when Rumple/Hook were young, because Dark One, but Lancelot has shown up as a contemporary of Snow and David's.

 

The only thing I'll say about this is that the Lily actress is not under contract.  I'm not sure how a recurring status works and what type of contract is involved with that.

 

I doubt Arthur and Hook are related.

[orza]

There are tons of British and Irish actors with brown hair and blue eyes. I see no resemblance between the two men.

They dropped lots of hints last season that Lily is connected to Merlin's story with the star tattoo and crescent moon necklace, which she said was the only thing she had from her father. The twist will probably be something like Arthur can transform into dragon with or without Merlin's help, hence the name Pendragon, and had a little fling with Maleficent.

Hook's flashback had a definite Regency/Hornblower look and feel to it with the costuming and ship construction. The Arthurian legend predates the Regency period by at least a millennium. Camelot will no doubt be portrayed as a medieval society, If Hook was from some fictitious land that was as advanced as Regency England I don't see how Hook and Arthur could be living in the same realm.

[Curio]

It definitely makes more sense story-wise for Arthur to be related to Lily. However, from a casting/visual lens, my eye just sees a ton more resemblance between Liam and Colin than Liam and Agnes/Lily's younger actress. But like you guys have already pointed out, we'll probably never get a decent backstory on Hook's past, so I'll stop wasting my time coming up with crazy fan theories about that...

[Camera One]

Lily's father is probably the dragon that Charming cruelly murdered in "The Shepherd".  This dragon was the one person who could have rid Emma of the dark blob.

[RadioGirl27]

as A&E don't seem to be interested in exploring Hook's backstory at this point.

At this point or ever, really. I don't understand why the fans keep thinking we are going to get something about Hook's parents when it's pretty obvious A&E don't care about it. When asked about Hook's backstory, they always deflect the question.

Oh, and Arthur is totally Lily's father. The fact that A&E introduced the mystery about her father in the finale is really telling.

[Curio]

I don't understand why the fans keep thinking we are going to get something about Hook's parents when it's pretty obvious A&E don't care about it.

 

Because hope springs eternal. But yeah, I'd rank "A multiple-episode arc about Hook's past/parents" just slightly above "The true nature of Graham's death will be revealed and Emma will actually react realistically" on a list of events that might legitimately happen on the show.

[YaddaYadda]

We had to wait 3 whole seasons to get a glimpse of teenage Emma and then had to wait some more to get a glimpse of her foster homes and the second one was just to set up the Lily stuff and the darkness.

 

If I had to bet, I'd say Merlin is more likely to be Lily's father than Arthur with the whole star and crescent moon which were all over the Sorcerer's hat anyway.

 

ETA - 

 

Merlin can technically shape shift.  I wouldn't even be surprised if he knocked up Maleficent for some purpose/design he had with Lily and Emma seeing as he said that their lives were going to be linked together regardless of what Snowing did.

Edited July 2, 2015 by YaddaYadda

[Shanna Marie]

Hook's flashback had a definite Regency/Hornblower look and feel to it with the costuming and ship construction. The Arthurian legend predates the Regency period by at least a millennium. Camelot will no doubt be portrayed as a medieval society, If Hook was from some fictitious land that was as advanced as Regency England I don't see how Hook and Arthur could be living in the same realm.

I really don't think that's relevant. The Enchanted Forest world is such a massive mish-mash of costuming influences that the style signifies nothing. They seem to be at a mostly more or less Georgian look, with occasional bits of medieval, Victorian and 1980s Cher, and the overall style and look (and technology) hasn't changed at all from Rumple and Hook's era to the present. Almost all the fairy tales are put into the same time period, unless they're needed for Rumple's backstory. So Camelot could easily co-exist either with the Horatio Hookblower era or Snow White's era and might be fairy-tale medieval as envisioned by Bob Mackie, and it's all part of the same crazy world. The time period the story originated from or is set in has very little to do with the way it will be used on the show.

 

This is, after all, the show that had Belle wearing a very Georgian coat with ruffled cravat and cuffs with skin-tight hotpants. Our world's fashion history and rules don't apply.

[Mari]

I doubt Arthur and Hook are related.

I was actually sort of going for that, too  I don't think they'll have Arthur and Hook be related.  I'm fully expecting Merlin to have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, and because of the "Arthur'll be back" part of the legend, Arthur might have been spelled somehow to still be around.

 

But since they made Lancelot a contemporary of Snow, David, and Regina, I'd be surprised if any other Arthurian characters are also hundreds of years old. 

[YaddaYadda]

and because of the "Arthur'll be back" part of the legend, Arthur might have been spelled somehow to still be around.

 

That would actually be cool.  Arthur's story played out centuries ago and he is now back during Camelot's time of need as the legend always said he would.  Lancelot was raised by the Lady of the Lake in her magical kingdom.  They could really play with this.  

 

Rumple has been alive for centuries because he was the Dark One and Hook has been alive for centuries because of Neverland, so why not Lancelot?  He gets banished from Camelot, retires to Avalon for a while before deciding he's going to go back into the world, then gets stuck in Cora Dome.

 

Gwen can be done in flashbacks.

 

I doubt it will happen though, but it's sort of nice.

[KingOfHearts]

I'm thinking Camelot had to be protected from the curse somehow with Merlin's help. (Yes, I know - Cora Dome retread. Or I guess it could have been under the dome? Who knows.) There has to be reason the sorcerer has been away from the Apprentice and all his prized possessions for so long.

[Shanna Marie]

There has to be reason the sorcerer has been away from the Apprentice and all his prized possessions for so long.

And why the mansion wasn't in the last curse but was in this one.

 

Not that this seems like the kind of house you'd have found in the Enchanted Forest. Maybe it's the Storybrooke version of an Enchanted Forest castle, transported and translated the way the dwarfs are turned into humans when they're brought over. But why this one building when no other buildings come over -- unless it's something like Regina's crypt, which seems to come over?

[Camera One]

I'm not sure there's a reason, except the Sorcerer only has half a brain.

[KingOfHearts]

 

I'm not sure there's a reason, except the Sorcerer only has half a brain.

It'll be something where the Sorcerer's actions will be just what the writers needed for the plot at the time. They'll never explain or give any real logic to why they transpired or why he made his decisions.

 

 

Not that this seems like the kind of house you'd have found in the Enchanted Forest.

It would probably be his house if he had a cursed personality. But if he's "far, far from here"... why did his house come to Storybrooke?!

Edited July 3, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

He's also a bunch of smoke.  Good point about the house.  I wonder if we'll ever get an explanation for that.  Why was Apprentice living in a hut?  Did he know about the room with the empty books?  Did the Apprentice keep trying to find a new Author after Isaac?  I wonder if we'll get these answers in 5A.  Somehow I doubt it.

[PixiePaws1]

I also hate Emma the Dark One storyline with everything in me. Mainly because I just know it will Regina the Purest Light that even shined (even though she hid it under a bushel of homicide, patricide, attempted infanticide and just plain psychotic evilness) who will be the one who saves that 'damn Charming brat' despite the multitude of horrors rained down on her innocent self by Emma's mother.

I can handle a small time jump but I just loathe the idea of poor Emma (& by association, Killian) having to suffer for months on end.

I will also be violently ill if Emma has been off sexing it up with another man or men , ala Walsh, or whatever humanimal they come up with this time. While Killian is yet again trying to save her....although it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she's in Camelot working her way through the entire Round Table with Arthur on the side!!! Ok...so I exaggerate..but you get my drift.

[YaddaYadda]

About the Sorcerer, for one, he can see into the future.  And I mean not Rumple's Seer power that he stole and has a hard time making heads from tails with his visions.  

 

I find it funny that on the show where we talked about free will and the Author changing someone's story, Merlin seems to be doing just that, manipulating everything.  It's like he's playing a game of chess and these people are his pieces.

 

He sends Ingrid to the LwM in exchange for the hat that is oh so very important to him because he knows she'll end up doing the right thing.

His mansion is there with the second curse, but not the first curse.  People and the stuff in Gold's shop have been travelling with curses, not houses and especially not mansions.

Rumple didn't even write the original curse.  It was already written, he probably just modified it to for the finished product (let's add in a Savior born out of true love and keep people in stasis until she comes and breaks the curse)

The Apprentice could have easily gone to the LwM and retrieved Lily and brought her back to her mother, but the Sorcerer was like oh no biggie!  She and Emma's lives and entwined anyway and since Emma will eventually end up there anyway, then whatever...works with my plans.

He probably gave Blue the very last magic bean in the whole wide Enchanted Forest and told her that way she'd be rid of Rumple for good, but instead, he probably knew that Baelfire would be the only one to realm jump.

 

Merlin aka Master Manipulator, it seems.  To what end I'm sure we'll never find out because it's this show and it's these writers.

[Camera One]

Replying in Continuity

[Camera One]

Psh, who needs Morgana? They're totally going to reveal Madam Faustina was Madam Mim who got sucked into a portal to our world after Merlin attempted to throw his darkness into it.

 

If they do Camelot for the entirety of Season 5, maybe they will bring in Morgana and/or Mordred as the big bads in 5B.  

 

What do you all think of the prospect that Camelot will take the entire Season 5?  Or do you think A&E will be done with those shiny toys and move on to Evil Pocahontas with her sidekicks Evil Bambi and Evil Dumbo in 5B?

[OnceUponAJen]

I really hope we get a season-long arc. I don't think Operation Save Emma can be rushed....but I've been wrong in my apprehensions before about what the creators of this show deem to be important and worthy of fuller exploration.

[Camera One]

I anticipate that by the end of 5A, Dark Emma will be no more and Merlin will be found, and the dark matter will escape or go into someone who will become the bigger villain.  This will leave 5B for Emma and Merlin to work together to defeat this bigger evil.  5B will also probably have Emma dealing with the stuff she did while Dark.