This story started with the howling of a wolf. A wolf - as we later learned through Graham’s story - who is a friend. A guide.
What if Emma didn’t just inherit Graham’s badge? What if she inherited the guidance of the wolves along with it? Except the modern fairy tale version of the Wolf guide is Ruby. The wolf woman.
On the surface, Ruby and Peter’s story just looks like any other story of young love. Taking a closer look, there are a few moments that should have clued us in about what was about to come. Ruby might have loved Peter, but from the beginning, we were shown a possible ulterior motive. She felt caged by her grandmother and saw Peter as her ticket out. Peter’s behavior suggests she may just be exchanging one cage for another as he grabs her arm.
Even as she orders him to let go, he doesn’t. She isn’t playing, her body language is clear. She just wants him to let go.
In that sense Ruby’s relationship with Peter looks a lot like the beginning of Hook and Emma’s relationship.
Both men ask for a kiss as a form of payment.
Ruby hesitates, she even makes a remark about Peter’s breath during that scene, insinuating she doesn’t really want to kiss him. Granny yelling at her reminds her of what she’s running from. She is considering if it’s worth it.
Peter’s very chilling. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. He knows that he is her ticket out and he knows it puts him in a position of power. After this exchange, Ruby smiles and kisses him, making it seem like they were just flirting, but the subtext of the scene is pretty clear.
Later, when Ruby thinks Peter is the wolf, her words sound an awful lot like… wedding vows? She vows to stay with him all night and for all the nights to come. It’s a dark truth since he only has one night left. Peter, again, smiles without it really reaching his eyes. He doesn’t reciprocate, it’s as if he takes her for granted. He feels he already won her heart so he allows her to tie him up.
We know there is a wedding coming for Emma and Hook. Just like Peter, Hook thinks he has won Emma’s heart. He feels confident and comfortable binding himself to her. If Ruby really is the guide, the "until death do us part“ may follow soon after.
Red is both human and wolf. Peter only ever knew one side of her and mistook it for the whole. It was his downfall. She couldn’t even warn him, because she hadn’t been allowed to get to know herself first.
Hook makes the same mistake with Emma. She may not be a werewolf, but she is both light and dark, and he is only interested in one side of her. He doesn’t know the whole. He loves the Savior because she can be his redemption, but he doesn’t know Emma.
The Savior wants to be with Hook. Just like Ruby, she loves what this man could mean for her future. It’s only sometimes Emma’s real nature, her real feelings shine through. Sometimes through projection, most often through her body language.
So what is this wolf nature really about? Let’s see. It happens every month, starts when you’re a teen. Your mother has it too. Granny used to have it but doesn’t anymore. Your responses become just a little more intense. Oh and for some reason men want to eradicate it completely, but they can’t, no matter what they try, the next morning there’s a bloody mess. Which also kind of horrifies you at first.
I bet lycanthropy was the first thing that came to mind, wasn’t it?
Yes, this episode really is about… periods. The mystical moon cycle. In more broad terms it’s about the repression of our instincts. Often women are considered irrational when they are on their periods. Angry. Emotional. Lashing out for no reason. Or so the cliches go. Our cycles have been used against us, to demonize us, to control us. Even to keep us away from power - ask any woman running for president. They still are. We are still being shamed. We’ve rarely been allowed or encouraged to think of them as something positive.
The story suggests that what happens during our moon time isn’t bad. In a way it’s heightened awareness. Red can’t repress her instincts when she turns into a wolf. Peter had shown his true colors to her, but Red chose to ignore the alarm bells, even if her face told us she felt them go off. When she turned into the wolf, she had no choice but to suddenly act upon them. A woman’s cycle will often just amplify feelings below the surface - justified feelings. They’re not irrational at all, but as long as women repress their true nature, they may eat their boyfriends. Meaning if you don’t embrace your own feelings as legitimate, then when they do come to the surface, it may be in a way you don’t like, in a way you have no control over. As Ruby accepts her nature later on, she gains control over what she does when she changes into the wolf.
Emma warned Hook that he couldn’t handle a kiss from her, maybe it wasn’t flirting, maybe it wasn’t bluffing. Maybe it was a fair warning that in the end, he will find out that she had been the wolf in their story all along. Or maybe she will learn from her guide and she will have grown enough to let go without bloodshed this time. Only time will tell.
Oh, and just in case anyone needed a reminder…
This is where the wolf guide takes us eventually.
Further reading
140 Notes/ Hide
- bluearmslove liked this
- katian13 reblogged this from anothershadeofpurple
- ultrareginarules liked this
- crmsncrwndknght reblogged this from frenchiewriting
- kimmy530-stuff reblogged this from frenchiewriting
- frenchiewriting reblogged this from anothershadeofpurple and added:
Just rewatched 1x15 and that’s a good reread! I miss Shady’s posts!
- lovelycyberpanda liked this
- up1701steps-wayward reblogged this from anothershadeofpurple
- jagthebah liked this
- queerpeanut reblogged this from frickminister
- still-worship-this-love reblogged this from colyssa
- afflictioneclipsedbyglory liked this
- justanoutlawfic liked this
- ticiatigr reblogged this from anothershadeofpurple
- ticiatigr liked this
- feypoehlerlover liked this
- stillthere4me liked this
- tuupii liked this
- languidlover liked this
- honor-knight liked this
- auddj reblogged this from flutterblossom
- flutterblossom reblogged this from anothershadeofpurple
- flutterblossom liked this
- xdiogar liked this
- kimmy530-stuff liked this
- calzonafan2014 liked this
- left-glove liked this
- evilyregalofsuburbia reblogged this from swanqueenisendgameyo
- chuutonin liked this
- yeahparakitty liked this
- nadyuuwatase reblogged this from colyssa
- bloodyshadow1 reblogged this from crmsncrwndknght
- bloodyshadow1 liked this
- trinityraven99 reblogged this from swanqueenisendgameyo
- mostdefinitelyatransman liked this
- trinityraven99 liked this
- brutallyromantic reblogged this from swanqueenisendgameyo
- stregaomega liked this
- anothershadeofpurple posted this
- Show more notes