Jefferson's Hat And The Implications in 1X21
It's a season one thing, but I'll still cut part of this just in case. I feel like a whole new possibility for fic was created in 1X21, not to mention for the OUAT universe at large.
When Jefferson uses the hat to retrieve the apple, he reaches back to not just a specific place, but a specific -time-. Instead of opening into a room of portals, a single portal opened and something fell directly into it. If that can be done with cobbled together magic, what could be done with full power? I don't even know if the writers thought about the full implications(although I'm sure somebody did, they may just not use it). Maybe to get back to a different time, you have to enter from another realm, but even then, it could change so many things. Regina could try to retrieve Daniel, or stop her mother right there. Any number of characters, if they could convince Jefferson to help them, could try any number of things. Now, imo the curse actually gave many secondary characters a second chance, but that doesn't mean there aren't those who might want to change something. The first two things that popped into my head were Regina trying to retrieve Daniel, and that from a fic pov, there's a possibility of someone going back to try and save Graham now that wouldn't be really, really hard to make "logical". Whether it changes the timeline or not is a whole other thing to be explored. I think that's half the point though. It creates a million different ways to create AU's.
When Jefferson uses the hat to retrieve the apple, he reaches back to not just a specific place, but a specific -time-. Instead of opening into a room of portals, a single portal opened and something fell directly into it. If that can be done with cobbled together magic, what could be done with full power? I don't even know if the writers thought about the full implications(although I'm sure somebody did, they may just not use it). Maybe to get back to a different time, you have to enter from another realm, but even then, it could change so many things. Regina could try to retrieve Daniel, or stop her mother right there. Any number of characters, if they could convince Jefferson to help them, could try any number of things. Now, imo the curse actually gave many secondary characters a second chance, but that doesn't mean there aren't those who might want to change something. The first two things that popped into my head were Regina trying to retrieve Daniel, and that from a fic pov, there's a possibility of someone going back to try and save Graham now that wouldn't be really, really hard to make "logical". Whether it changes the timeline or not is a whole other thing to be explored. I think that's half the point though. It creates a million different ways to create AU's.