Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin Character Analysis

The question of Rumple choosing power over love jumps right out at me, and my first thought is, why wouldn’t he? We haven’t seen him with his wife yet, but from what his body language reveals when he mentions her, however briefly, to Belle, it’s clear he loved her. Most likely, she was the one who ended the marriage. So what did romantic love do for him? And fatherly love didn’t do much better for him. He gave up his humanness for Bae’s sake, and Bad reacted (understandably) with fear and revultion. So for the moment at least, power seems the smarter choice. It’s. brought him those things he asked EQ for, comfort, security, and at least superficially, respect–no one would ever order the master of magic to “kiss my boot.”

But as he keeps saying, love is the strongest magic (“love is the higher law” as U2 would say). It appears he believes that; he just doesn’t seem to think he can ever have that power. We know better, though.

I keep thinking what if Belle had just been more experienced in human relationships. If she had just paid more attention to his reactions to her questions about his family, if she had just put some thought into her words. When he asked why she came back, if only she had realized what he was really asking…or if only she had been open and direct with him…”because I want to be with you…because I care for you just as you are…because I want to find out whether we can love each other.” But, oh, my heart aches that she spoke so impulsively, and what he heard from her was “I want to change you. You’re not acceptable to me as you are.”

Hmmm, that’s got me wondering how the queen would react if Rumple did become human again. Would she destroy him–out of revenge or out of insecurity–or would she brush her hands together, say “that’s that” and walk away, go back to her Snow vendetta?

I like that idea of Rumpel giving Regina her power. If Rumpel ever became human, I think that Regina would kill Belle and take out Rumpel’s heart. She would do something to make him suffer for eternity.

As I’m rewatching “Skin Deep” for the twentieth time or so, I’m thinking about the issue of which side Gold would see as more advantageous, Regina’s or Emma’s. He knows the wrong that’s been done, the families that were torn apart by the enactment of the curse; he respects and seems to like Emma; he knows she can put things right. On the other hand, if putting things right means that everyone returns to their original identity, that’s probably not a desirable prospect for him. MM gets to be Snow White again, David gets to be Prince Charming, but Gold has to be Rumple again. Once he learns that Belle is alive, perhaps his decision will be made for him: if, to help her, he has to go back to being the monster, I think he’d willingly pay that price, and consider it a bargain.

Although Rumples immediate reaction when Belle kissed him was to freak out when he learned that EQ had told her that kissing him would break the curse, the more I have watched Skin Deep the less I believe that he chose his power over Belle.

I think that after all those years of living by himself and only being wanted by other people for deal-making, that he and Belle had created somewhat of a “bubble” for themselves living together in the castle for all those months. I think that even though he got Belle in a deal I think he thought of her as totally separate from his magic/power. I doubt she went with him when he went to do any of his deals and he behaved much more humanly around her than he did when he was making deals. And in conversation she talked to him about how he wasn’t a monster and reminded him that he used to be just an ordinary man. So I think in many ways he started to feel very much human around her and started to believe that she actually was falling in love with him. So when he tested her by allowing her to leave and she came back I think he was at his most vulnerable with her when he asked her “Why did you come back?” He’s in shock because he couldn’t believe she would come back but deep down he really hoped she would (and he waited by the window all day!). And then she kisses him and he thinks “OMG she really does love me!” And then she mentions the him changing and the EQ and rips his heart out (no pun intended). I think at that point he is suddenly shocked back into the realization of what he is and is completely and totally emotionally crushed. I’m guessing that later he realized that Belle honestly had no idea who EQ was but he is still horribly, emotionally wounded. So when he tells her that his power is more important than her I think he says that because it is the only thing he has that he can say to purposely hurt her. He has nothing else in his life besides power/magic so the only thing he can use to hurt her with is power/magic. He loves her too much to actually DO something to her so he decides to hurt her emotionally the same way she crushed him emotionally. You know how some people do that? Some one will say something that hurts them and instead of telling the person they were hurt by their comments they will turn around and try to say something even more hurtful back to get even? That’s what I think Rumple did. And that’s why I think he is so guilt ridden over Belle. He really didn’t mean what he said and regrets that he said it. Hence, when EQ tells Rumple that Belle’s father kicked her out he is ready to go get her. Someone pointed out somewhere that Rumple says “So she needs a home?” Not “She needs a place to stay?” or “She has no where to go?” He uses the word “home.” That implies that he was ready to go get her and bring her back “home.” Like they had a fight and he is ready to go make up. Those aren’t the words of someone who is choosing power over someone they love. Now he may have a reason that he needs to remain Dark One Rumple (like to get Bae back) so he might not be able to kiss her but that doesn’t mean that he is choosing his power over Belle. He could have had both if she had approached it better.