It has come to my attention that some people (SwanFire shippers, it usually seems) genuinely don't understand why the CaptainSwan ship even exists. And I just want to say, before I get started, that it is not my intention to start a ship war between CaptainSwan and SwanFire. The intention of this article is not to convert SwanFire shippers, but to help them understand where some CaptainSwan shippers might be coming from.

This article is not intended to speak on behalf of all CaptainSwan shippers because while we agree on the Emma x Hook relationship, we may not all be on the ship for the same reasons.

This article is to voice my opinion and to share why I'm on Team Hook and not on Team Neal.

Neal vs. Hook

Let's start with Neal...

Emma's first l’amour and first heartbreak. Emma was young and naive, and both were in a bad spot in life. It's easy to understand why they were drawn to each other and their meeting was cute. Everything was seemingly going great until August revealed Emma's true identity and her destiny. Then Neal not only abandoned her, but turned her into the police and she wound up getting locked away. This devastates her and scars her emotionally. She moves on with her life (kinda), lands a job as a bounty hunter, but has no other significant relationships that we know of up until Storybrooke (Graham, and that wasn't really a significant relationship). Meanwhile, Neal has moved on. And not only did he déplacer on, he met Tamara and fell in love. It wasn't a rebound, he truly loved Tamara (as a dit par the writers) and proposed to her, completely ready to commit to her and spend the rest of his life with her. Even after he received the postcard, he never tried to find Emma to even see if things could be patched up between them. It's because of this that I believe Neal cannot be her true love. One thing this montrer has been pretty consistent about is that true l’amour does not give up. If she were his true love, he would have waited and the seconde he got that postcard, he would have been on the first flight to get to Storybrooke (or train, ou taxi, whatever his preference). But he didn't, he chose to give up on Emma and their relationship. Sure, he probably knew that what he did was horrible and thought that there would be no chance in Hell that she might still l’amour him, but he should have found her to at least apologize for what he did. He didn't, though. It wasn't until Emma found him that he finally told her what happened. Then, fast-forwarding to the Gremara Team vs. Storybrooke battle, secondes after Tamara betrayed him, the woman he loved and was prepared to spend the rest of his life with, he suddenly claims that he loved Emma all along. And not only that, just earlier on that very same day, he was getting physical with Tamara (if you're catching what I'm throwing). Uhm..what? Sorry, but not happening. Father of my child ou no, I would never accept that even without the knowledge that just hours before my ex's confession, he was doing the tango with Tamara. I believe that if the circumstances were different (like he didn't get shot and wasn't about to be sucked into a portal) and Neal had a dit that he loved her after Tamara's betrayal, Emma's reaction would have been different. She probably would have a dit something like: "What? Yeah, right. And I'm a unicorn." Emma is not the same girl Neal fell in l’amour with and I doubt he's the exact same guy that Emma fell in l’amour with. A relationship between the two wouldn't be a healthy relationship, especially considering they weren't that healthy for each other in the beginning. Neal was necessary in Emma's life, I can't deny that. Because of Neal, Emma had Henry and eventually broke the curse as part of her destiny. But Neal isn't necessary in a romantic aspect anymore. I think they could salvage a friendship after all of the unresolved issues get taken care of, especially for Henry's sake, but anything plus than that...no. For Emma to take Neal back would be to take two steps back instead of a step forward. Emma needs to déplacer on for her own well-being.

My opinion on this also comes from personal experience. When I was 16, I fell in l’amour and went through a similar ordeal, though not to that extreme. I didn't get put in jail ou have a kid, but the situation was enough to give me some perspective on what Emma has gone through and is still going through.

Now for Hook...

Their relationship had a rocky start, that's for sure. There was a lot of back and forth going on between them (she ditched him, he left her in Rumpel's cell (though I'm still convinced that Hook knew Emma would get out somehow), etc..), but that back and forth has turned into friendly banter and even a little bit flirty, depending on how toi look at it. Hook gave up his quest for revenge to help Emma and has fallen in l’amour with her in the process. Hook and Emma are similar in just the right ways and I believe that they would be able to bring out the best in each other. If they were to get into a relationship, it would provide the best potential for amazing character growth. Through a relationship, they would grow so much individually and as a couple. Emma's influence on Hook is already changing him for the better. Hook saved Emma's father, didn't keep the secret that Neal was alive and in Neverland to himself, tried to be smart about letting Emma find out (telling Charming and Snow know first because he wasn't sure if it was a trick, but Snow shot that one down), and revealing his deepest secret, his feelings for Emma, so she could get to Neal even though it made him so vulnerable and brought her one step closer to being reunited with the man he thinks might take Emma away from him. That is the most selfless thing Hook has done for her, and possibly the most selfless thing that anyone has done for her (maybe not, but I can't think of anything else at the moment). Hook might be flirty, but he's faithful and when he loves someone, he would never just abandon them. What Hook can offer Emma is exactly what I think she needs and I think that Emma has fallen for the Captain, whether she knows it ou not. In the latest episode, the scene where Emma and Hook have their little private talk and tells her that he will win her cœur, coeur without trickery, he also tells her that he knows she will get Henry back. The look on her face in that moment says everything. Hook a dit exactly what she needed to hear exactly when she needed to hear it. And those words came from Hook, not Neal. This is why I think that Hook understands her better than Neal does and maybe ever will.

So that's what my perspective is when it comes to Neal and Hook. These are some of the reasons why people have chosen Team Hook and why CaptainSwan exists. For those SwanFire shippers, I tried not to bash Neal too much and I promise I'm not trying to ruffle your feathers. This can be a touchy topic, I know, but I'm sure we can agree to disagree. :)

♥Matches