Is Henry sick?
If the evil Queen’s curse is a metaphor then questions that we thought had been answered become questions again. If Regina wasn’t the evil murderous fairytale Queen who cursed everyone to another realm, then what was really behind Henry’s motivation to seek out Emma? The most obvious answer is that he had a hard time dealing with his adoption, but the show never really confirmed this.
We’re going to examine the hypothesis that Henry is ill and that’s why he went to find Emma. Why? If this show wouldn’t have made it to the second season, then the conclusion of the first season would have been the conclusion of the entire show. It ended with Emma saving a sick Henry.
Take the following scenario. Regina wants to adopt but she is rejected.
Roni: I did try to adopt once. A beautiful baby boy. Then at the last minute the adoption agency decided I wasn’t a good fit.
Regina then turns to Gold who finds a legal loophole to make her a mother.
Regina: I’m not in the business of making deals with you anymore.
Mr. Gold: To which deal are you referring?
Regina: You know what deal.
Mr. Gold: Oh, right. Yeah. The boy I procured for you. Henry. Did I ever tell you what a lovely name that was? However did you pick it?
Henry’s adoption is legal, but there is small print. Gold is a shark of a man and he uses the situation to blackmail Regina. The stakes are high. Regina could lose Henry.
Now, it’s unclear what exactly the setup is, but as usual, we want to offer up a possibility of what might have happened.
Imagine a pregnant Emma in jail. Gold is a lawyer who recognizes a desperate soul. He offers legal counsel to get her out of jail and uses the trust he builds to pressure her into giving up her baby.
Cinderella: I will do anything to get out of here. Anything.
It’s really easy to imagine that Emma is being told she is signing a contract for a closed adoption, while the legalese states something else. She simply trusts what Gold tells her is in the contract and she signs it.
It’s possible Emma signed a document in which she still had some claim to Henry. Regina may somehow be Henry’s legal guardian until Emma claims him back. The way it’s specified by the King of Loopholes, It’s perfectly legal, but since Emma doesn’t know she hasn’t completely given up her child, she will not come back to claim him.
To make sure Emma really doesn’t come back to claim Henry, Gold gives her money in exchange for the baby. Selling your firstborn or your child is a recurring theme on the show, and it speaks to Emma’s guilt.
Sean’s dad: I went through a lot of trouble to get her that deal. Ashley has agreed to give up the child and she’s being paid very well to do so.
Gold knows that even if Emma finds out and tries to get Henry back, she has something to hide too. She wouldn’t want Henry to know she sold him. It could probably also be used against her in court. More than the law, he understands the human psyche and manipulation.
Regina may not know any of the details of how Gold got Henry. There seems to be something else at play for her to do with Emma’s connection to Storybrooke and whatever transpired on the night Emma was born - which we talk about here. What she does know is that she didn’t follow the normal procedure and that Gold is the only one who knows the details of the transaction. For Gold it’s probably best if she knows as little as possible and is afraid of losing Henry without knowing where the danger might come from.
Now with that backstory in mind, let’s fast-forward a little. Considering the situation, it makes sense for Regina not to tell Henry that he is adopted. The fewer people asking questions, the better. All goes well until Henry is diagnosed with a disease for which the only known cure is an organ or cell transplant. Suddenly genetics become important. The normal procedure is to test family members for a match. It’s possible this is when Henry finds out he is adopted.
It makes a lot of sense for a child like Henry, dealing with disease and finding out he is adopted to look for comfort and solutions in fairy tales, but maybe everything he says before Emma’s accident is closer to reality than it seems.
Emma: “Oh kid, you’ve got problems.”
Henry: “Yup. And you’re gonna fix them.”
If Henry is resourceful enough to go find Emma, then he is smart enough to understand the concept of organ transplants. Somehow he has understood that for him to get better, in order to fix his problems, he might need something from his birth mother. He also understands that it’s a big ask and he doesn’t want to ask her directly.
Henry: “She doesn’t love me, she only pretends to.”
Suddenly Henry’s anger seems far more reasonable. He can tell Regina loves him, but he doesn’t know that Emma is a threat for Regina. That she might potentially cause Regina to lose Henry, Regina can’t explain any of that to Henry. So Henry can’t comprehend why if he’s sick, that his mother doesn’t do everything in her power to help cure him. Including finding his birth mother. If he can do it, then why wouldn’t she? She must only be pretending to love him.
Henry’s insistence that Emma is going to bring back the happy endings suddenly isn’t all that unrealistic. To him she is the key to making his life better.
So Regina’s worst nightmare has come true. Henry’s birth mother is on her doorstep and she might lose everything. At the same time, she loves Henry and now that Emma is here, she can’t help but think about a cure as well. She quickly recovers and comes up with a strategy.
Regina: How'd you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?
Emma: Got anything stronger?
She offers Emma a drink. She isn’t trying to be nice, she is doing two things. She is creating a moment so she can find out vital information and she is... taking Emma’s DNA.
She is shown to go into the kitchen and she takes two completely different glasses. This makes it easier to remember which glass touched Emma’s lips. The first reason is of course so she can be sure Emma is Henry’s real mother. The second reason may be to find out if Emma is a medical match without Emma having to consent to a test. If Emma is a match, Regina can decide in that moment to have the conversation, but if Emma isn’t a match, there is no reason for her to be in Henry’s life.
The second thing she does is ask very specific questions. First she checks what Emma knows about the adoption, because she knows something is fishy. Next she asks about the father. Henry’s father is another potential match for Henry, so it’s important to know. If the father is still in the picture then maybe Henry has siblings, siblings who could also be a match.
After she has enough information, she provides Emma with a plausible reason for Henry’s trip to come and find her. She is a strict mother who doesn’t have as much time as she used to for her son. It’s meant to keep Emma from asking questions. Regina actually knows why Henry really went to find Emma.
It’s not entirely clear what exactly Henry’s illness is, but there is a link between the name Henry and the term ‘Savior sibling’. Henry Goldberg’s case is famous, because it opened up the debate about designer babies.
Suddenly Emma being ‘The Savior” becomes very real and very relevant. Savior siblings come in when the parents aren’t a match, but in Emma’s case, Henry’s first quest was to find his potential Saviour parent.
We suspect Henry asking for juice in the pilot wasn’t random, it may have been a clue as to one of the symptoms of Henry’s illness. Nothing in a Pilot episode is a coincidence and if it doesn’t somehow serve the story, it doesn’t happen.
So, share your theories. Do you think Henry is sick? Did you pick up on any other clues? What do you think is wrong with him? What did he need from Emma?
