this will probably be very unpopular here, but I am almost sure Rumpel will stay dead throughout season 3b (maybe even 4), and this is why I think so:
(wait, don’t worry, Rumbellers, we WILL see passionate rumbelle kisses… in Belle’s dreams. and I’m sure we’ll see some relationship action in flashbacks)
Belle and Rumpel have something very special between them, and it is much greater than just true love. because of the places they both came from – He never really had anything like true love, and for centuries so one has ever even patted him on the shoulder. he has really lived in darkness and isolation. Belle OTOH came from a place where she was forced to marry someone superficial and behave like a proper woman of the times while in her heart all she wanted was adventure and a chance to be a hero. she was too smart to be stuck in a life like the one she had. she needed love to be layered and mysterious.
but most importantly, she was a hero to go with him, and she then brought out the hero in him.
Gold’s story arc was terribly painful and tragic and beautiful. we thought at first that all his problems began with him becoming the DO, but we later realized that his tragic life started long long before that when he was abandoned by his evil but extremely powerful magical father and that he himself in a way created neverland by giving the bean and naming PP. (names… they make things real)
so after all these years and everything he has been through, he finally meets a woman who not only loves him, she would stay with him. but he still wouldn’t just take her and forget his beloved son. so on to the making of the curse, belle is locked up etc. when he finally finds his son and then thinks he will die, it would have been an ending, but not a very happy one. there was no real reconciliation between father and son. and Belle didn’t even remember who he was.
so if we look at Rumpelstiltskin’s story arc, his story is basically finished. the end is tragic but really beautiful and epic. it’s VERY tragic because it happened the way it did – after he started believing that it will end differently, after he had his survival instincts kick in so powerfully, that even after he knew all was lost he still struggled with that cuff so desperately, and tried to cut his hand (I bet he did cut off his hand but the cuff would not allow it) he wanted SO MUCH to live and have that future with Belle…
for him to come back from the dead now would be anticlimactic to say the least. and after he’s back? there is really no story there anymore. OUAT is not about heart disease or toothbrush drama. and even if Belle has to go to Hades to save him, this story would be fantastic and wonderful, but then it would end. besides, if we think about next half of the season, it’s about something completely different. there will be no time for Rumpel hunting in Hades or wherever.
so where can they go from here? I think that the only thing that would make his heroism more epic is if he had knowledge of all the evils coming their way (maybe not a perfectly clear picture of the future, you know, it’s a puzzle and all) and in real Rumpelstiltskin style, he would have an answer to all the problems that will be coming up. there would be objects, scrolls, and who knows what other magical items hidden in his castle or his shop that will show themselves through Belleexsactly when they will be needed to defeat whatever evil comes their way.
the words he said before he died might have very specific meaning. he said he used the curse to find Bae TO ENSURE THAT HE HAD A CHANCE AT HAPPINESS. this line made me stop and think… if he’d stayed with Emma and raised Henry and other children in Tallahassee, wouldn’t that be happiness? maybe not, because maybe there were other evils lurking that would take that happiness away… (now we know that Henry was in real danger of being kidnapped one day by GoaT and be shipped to neverland to die. how would his parents protect him in Tallahassee?) who knows what other evils are lurking? wouldn’t it be great if Rumpel saw all that from the beginning and prepared for it? (by making Emma powerful, by teaching Regina by leaving Belle behind, and in charge of who knows what weapons?)
when Gold said “now I’m ready” before plunging the knife, I’m ready can mean very specifically, that now he finally IS ready. His plans for the future are complete, he can leave the rest of the work to Emma, Regina, and the rest of them. all these people are going to be there to protect his son and ensure that he has a chance at happiness.
the only things that were unexpected in his fortunetelling were Belle and Henry. I don’t think he knew that he’d have anyone who would truly love him, and he didn’t realize that the child of his “Good Witch” that he sort of created, would be his own bloodline as well!
that’s why I think that when Belle goes to wherever to find him and bring him back to life, it won’t only be her lonely adventure, but everyone will join her and look for a way to bring him back. and it will probably happen toward the end of the series.
oh, and I have a feeling Henry will play a big part there too