A Man in Marvel, Working for the System
More than a month ago, Tiyata came to Storybrooke and encountered Thompson in the forest as he was about to hang himself.
It took on Thompson's appearance.
It told Thompson that it was one of the incarnations through which a deity walked the mortal world.
Thompson knelt before Tiyata and wept bitterly.
He spoke of his frustrations and failures.
It turned out Thompson had not come to Storybrooke willingly; he had been pushed out. His personality was less gentle than cowardly.
When he heard that his ex-wife had remarried and would no longer allow him to see his son, Thompson had wandered into the forest as if possessed, even putting his neck into the noose.
Thompson believed this was God's mercy.
Tiyata was stunned. It had probably never expected that someone would believe such a casually made-up lie so completely.
Perhaps Thompson had not truly wanted to die. In order to keep living, God had to exist.
Tiyata told Thompson that Storybrooke appeared peaceful and tranquil on the surface, but its faith was weak. It had already caught the Devil's attention and was about to fall into the abyss.
Terrified, Thompson begged for God's salvation.
It told Thompson that only by shattering Storybrooke's most beautiful thing could the people lost in false peace be awakened.
As if possessed, the image of a little girl surfaced in Thompson's mind.
—Shirley Mitchell, an angelic little girl.
After that, the real Thompson went to Phoenix City for a conference and deliberately appeared on camera multiple times, delivering an academic speech in full view of everyone.
At the same time, Tiyata used Thompson's appearance to abduct Shirley, brutally murder her, and dump her body beneath a banyan tree.
The town split into two factions.
In Tiyata's