I find the decay of emmas character in the later seasons super fascinating (and also depressing af) because you can look at it from both a doyalist and a watsonian perspective and it makes sense either way
on the doyalist side you have just plain character assassination as a result of the romantic plot tumor that is cs and a minor case of chickification (losing some of her badass qualities, wardrobe change from tomboyish to floral patterns and uncharacteristically feminine clothing, her entire existence revolves around her relationship to a man (and its not henry), loss of agency, all the important actions/decisions are designated to other characters instead of emma like it used to be) which are both indicators of bad writing
on the watsonian side emma becoming a shell of her former self and letting her life be directed by other people's expectations is entirely in character for her because of her deep-seated insecurities and fear of losing her family, the thing she always wanted in her life, to her love is conditional so she feels like she has to live up to their expectations to earn their love (this is confirmed to her by her parents reaction to her magic getting out of control and how they were scared of her and encouraged her to get rid of her magic) - be good, be the savior and bring everyone their happy endings, basically putting everyone else's needs above her own, but it's also expected that she gets a happy ending just like her parents, which means settling down with her true love, preferably with a man, marriage and kids (basically very heteronormative), add in the fact that she also lost a handful of people she loved in her life (Neal, chleo, lily, she almost lost hook as the dark one (my opinion on this deserves its own post lol but lets just keep it in for the sake of my argument) she is obviously desperate and clinging a little too hard to this idealized version of a happy ending because this might be her last chance at a happy ending, being with hook is a mix of 'this is what everyone expects of me, what I'm supposed to want' and responsibility because he literally admitted she is his happy ending and as the savior she is responsible for everyone's happy endings, she also has already invested so much time and effort into her relationship with him, she went to Hell for him which cost Regina Robin (you cannot tell me she doesn't feel a little responsible for that even if Regina went willingly for Emma and doesn't blame her at all) so to break it off with him now would mean all she and everyone else sacrificed was for nothing
so yeah, no matter what way you look at it, it is absolutely tragic for different reasons
