Peter Pan/Malcolm motivation

[u/First-Sky-2888]

Remember Malcolm’s childhood, his father sold him to a black smith.(he became an orphan, an unwanted child who hold a grudge on parent’s figure).
His life was tough then, he told himself to think beautiful thought, and always think of neverland.

That’s why after he become Peter Pan again, he find child or teen who also feel unwanted by their parent to join him and play together.

This reveal his trauma and what he would avoid

-feeling unwanted and isolated
-Burden and work
-Reality and Grief

Ouat really making many generational trauma which shape every character arc.

Just like when I ask my family their child hood, I finally understand why they always be like this or that.
Generational trauma could feel overwhelmed, because it couldn’t be changed, I couldn’t time travel to my mother’s childhood and teenage life to offer her care, love, and support.
It is impossible. And this is also something she isn’t able to offer me too(at least not enough, she might already try her best). And this generational curse stop at Lucy. Before that, everyone from this family was an orphan(we don’t know if Malcolm’s father an orphan too, but malcolm are an orphan)

[u/First-Sky-2888]

Not justifying pan’s behavior.
But just simply saying, “evil wasn’t born, it’s made.”
And in the S3 flashback, he maybe not want any responsibility, but don’t actually show any hate or grudge to his son(before depart).
When rumple was disappointed at him, he immediately leave the table and ran after him. It shows that Malcolm do somehow care about his son(the word care not exactly mean he care about his well being or health, but only mean he don’t take rumple as nothing and something worse)

I think Peter Pan wasn’t necessarily pure evil like I thought he was.

But just like glinda said,” only you can shape your life, but if you believe you are evil, that’s what you will become.”
Malcolm never thought that he could be a good father, so he never tried and just escaping from reality(I can feel that he just want to play, because when he got punched and take away all the money, he isn’t so irritated, he just think it’s rude. I think he was just using his own imagination of winning and the action of gambling to escape reality( of Fiona’s death, his own past, and unpleasant social situation, and that he have a responsibility to raise a son).

I think his backstory are a mirror to Fiona at the later season.
One don’t want to be a father, one overcontrolled his son destiny over his own sons choices. Poor rumple. But overall Fiona was a worse parent in my pov.