Since this couple is a recurring theme in my Inbox, I hope you don’t mind me dealing with all the questions about the marriage in one post, because it keeps popping up. I’ve talked about this wedding as something that was definitely going to happen since the end of last season. I don’t know if some of you just didn’t see that part of my theories or blocked it out, but I have already explained this multiple times and shared links to the posts where I talk about it, namely here and here and also a little bit here. Things will be more clear if you read those before reading this one. If anything is unclear or you want to point out any leaps in logic, then it’s probably best to ask me more specific questions so I can clarify.
I think Hook & Emma’s marriage marks the end of their relationship. Instead of calling Hook the negative Animus - a container archetype for Emma’s negative image of men and her own masculinity - I’ll use Once Upon a Time’s own language to explain. You could say Hook is to Emma what Hyde was to Jekyll - it’s a little more complicated than that, but let’s keep it simple for the sake of this post. Hook is Emma’s Hyde. As the showrunners pointed out, the stories of the guest characters are meant to help us figure out what is going on with the main characters.
David: Is there a reason your evil alter ego doesn’t look anything like you?
Zelena: And is 10 times as strong?
Jekyll: Everyone sees their worst self differently… Some as a mirror image, others as a literal monster. However the mind conjures it.
Hook: Well, perhaps next time, try an aggressive bunny rabbit.
Something very curious happens when Jekyll explains why people’s dark alter egos don’t always look like them. First of all, right after he says “literal monster” he turns to look directly at Hook. The entire shot is composed to guide our gaze so we would do the same thing. It’s set up for us to associate Hook with the words “literal monster” and it’s encouraging us to see him as someone’s worst self. On top of that, we’re getting a clue that he probably doesn’t look much like his better self. The fact that he’s a man and Emma a woman is quite the disguise, I would say.
Another thing Hook has in common with Hyde? No matter what happens, he doesn’t die. That’s why Zeus couldn’t let Hook move on. He literally belongs to Emma, not romantically, but because he represents a part of her. Until she either takes that part back or dies, Hook will stick around.
Let’s go back to the time when Hook first showed up. It’s around the time Emma found her parents. She was shown as a gentlewoman, not afraid to embrace her masculine side and she was also clearly showing an interest in Regina. Unfortunately, it was probably also the first time in Emma’s life she had a family she really, really didn’t want to disappoint. It’s not that difficult to imagine that Emma - confronted with a very gendered fairy tale world and no examples of homosexuality - suddenly considered all these things a part of her worst self. As something she needed to hide so her parents wouldn’t reject her. As Hook appeared, she started to conform more and more to gender stereotypes, repressing more and more of the Emma we first met. Since we are in the World with Magic and magic is very literal, I think that explains why instead of this just being symbolic, part of her was literally transferred into Hook.
Considering Emma lived a very unprotected life as an orphan, undoubtedly encountering abusive men, it also makes sense that her worst self would be a man. On some level she would associate her own masculinity and sexuality with the sexual predators she has encountered growing up. Her challenge on this journey with Hook is to really examine her past in that respect and to learn to tell those experiences apart from who she is.
As explained in the links provided, Hook is specifically what Jung called the Animus. Emma’s inner masculinity and her experiences with important men expressed in one person. What are the odds she considers her sexuality part of her masculine side? I’d say they’re pretty high. Their entire relationship was an exploration of everything that Emma has experienced with men - or has done herself that she considers more masculine than feminine. It explains why Hook is so changeable. He becomes the issue she needs to deal with in the moment. Sometimes he’s good, sometimes he’s bad.
Charming is another Animus figure, but a more positive one. Hook and Charming going on an adventure together and Charming giving his blessing for a marriage is about those two pieces of her personality merging before the wedding. It’s about the positive and the negative Animus making peace, so a marriage to Hook symbolizes Emma accepting the negative Animus and the positive Animus at the same time.
The marriage being symbolic also explains why their relationship moves so fast. Or why didn’t we really get to see domestic bliss. Emma asking Hook to move in together meant that Emma initiated the process of taking back her “Hyde side” and making it part of who she is again. The marriage would mark the end of this process. It means she has completely taken her power back. Whatever is left in Hook after that marriage would symbolize false beliefs and negative experiences with men she actually needs to defeat. Neither one of them should be the same after that marriage and I expect them to act accordingly, although I have no idea how exactly it will play out.
It’s not a coincidence that the wedding is in the second to last episode and that it happens during the musical episode. The big resolution comes after this wedding in the finale. This is a step she needs to overcome before she can go for her real happy ending.
In many ways, season one prepared us for what’s happening this season. When Regina warned David about evil not always looking evil, we knew who the villain was. This time, we have to assume that evil is staring us right in the face again, but we didn’t get a warning. Isn’t Hook the most dangerous villain many contemporary women encounter? He stares right at us, is persistent and slowly breaks down all the barriers. He looks handsome, blinding us to the damage he is inflicting. He’s unapologetic, making us doubt ourselves. The insidiousness of the ongoing emotional manipulations making him difficult to spot. Will the Hook that remains after Emma takes back part of him that belongs to her, finally be revealed to be the true villain of a modern fairy tale?
Or will Emma turn out to be his villain, making good on this threat after finding herself again?
I guess we’ll find out before summer.
If you’d like to learn more about the symbolic reading, I recommend The Writer’s Journey - the Shapeshifter archetype is what you’re looking for - and for this subject specifically Animus & Anima by Emma Jung.
Might I be interpreting this wrong? Sure, but for me this is the only way I can make sense of it all in this point in time with all the information I have. I won’t know if I am wrong before the end of this season, but none of the spoilers or the things that have happened on the show since I’ve started talking about this, have undermined it yet, so this is my current answer to any questions about Emma and Hook.
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love this. I always find that you’ve articulated many of the same things that I’ve been seeing on the show, but couldn’t...
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