... Which, really, is kind of a problem with trying to hang a pseudo-scientific hat on something that was never intended to be more than pure fantasy in the first place. I actually would have welcomed an explanation that says that because of the whatsit properties of the orb, things that are transported through it tend to default to whatever forms they had whenever they went through it, and that way, if Hook must lose his hand for reasons that have nothing to do with Peter cutting it off, you could say that he was, I don't know, trying to force the orb to do his bidding, possibly to try and send Peter back home, which would make Peter indirectly responsible but would also give it a noble tragedy. Then again, I'm clearly giving this more thought than the writers sooo ...