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Count me in as someone who can empathize with Milah. I wouldn’t have made the choices she did but I understand her and feel that fandom has generally been unfair to her and way too forgiving of Rumple.
Aww, welcome to our small & select club Sweetgrass 😉
Rumple killed Milah and maimed Hook because he wanted to, because he wanted to punish Milah for leaving him and Hook because Milah loved Hook and not him. Rumple crushed Milah’s heart after she told Hook she loved him. He acted in a jealous rage. It wasn’t to get the bean. Milah offered Rumple the bean in exchange for an amicable separation. If Rumple cared more about getting to Bae than punishing Milah, he would have said they had a deal and been done with it. Instead, Rumple acted like he had a deal so that he could get close to the bean but never actually said he did. Just like he never agreed not to hurt Zelena with Belle when he proposed. For me Rumple was always intent on punishing them. He probably was planning on killing Hook but Milah told him the truth and he couldn’t handle it.
THIS! Exactly! This is the exact point that Rumple defenders over look or gloss/skip over in their defense of him & flaming of Milah & Hook.
The rest of your post also deserves Rum & hooky cookies 😉
The only thing Milah did that was wrong was leaving Bae, but even then she left him with a loving parent, whereas Rumple basically abandoned Bae to an unknown world. What he did was worse. I actually don’t find Rumple’s childhood as an excuse for any of his actions. Malcolm left Rumple with two kindly women who cared about Rumple before Malcolm became twisted Pan.
Agreed.
I can understand how Rumple’s childhood could affect his decision making process as an adult, but lets be honest, adults cant keep blaming everyone but themselves, for their poor life choices.
Yes Rumple’s father was a grade A douche bag, but 1) He left Rumple in the care of some LOVING spinsters, 2) Said spinsters did all they could to give Rumple a “happy,” “loving” home & childhood 3) Rumple chose to go back to those same spinsters AFTER his father abandoned him & be raised by them 4) Said spinsters gave Rumple the ability to better his prospects & have a good future.
So it’s not like Rumple’s childhood was “horrible”, nor does it seem like Rumple Never had any “good” examples to learn from or follow.
There comes a time where as an adult, one has to either “choose” to take responsibility over ones own life, or “choose” to live as a victim, blame everyone else for ones problems, therefore sucking the life out of those around you- since they are expected to make things ‘ok’ for one- right up until eventually everyone is driven away or leaves (which to be honest is EXACTLY what Rumple did- I dont blame either Milah or Bae for ditching someone whom chose to be such a septic & toxic person).
It’s funny how people over look Rumple being ‘brave’ enough to want to & be proud to go into battle, to protect his family, his kingdom & to Remove the stigma, he himself STILL carried from his own fathers shady dealings, so it’s not like Rumple didnt know FULL WELL what he was doing by injuring himself- he knew FULL well he would be condemning his family by going through with it, yet he chose to do so anyway.
So yes, while I agree that Rumple as an adult, with a family to support, shouldnt be using his father abandoning him as an excuse or a pass for his treatment of Milah’s & his son’s needs, prospects & desires, I do think it is understandable- in his mind- why he injured himself- not that I condone what he did in anyway shape or form, but I do ‘get’ why he chose to do it- he didnt want to Bae to grow up father-less (& that is the one thing Rumple wanted- his father)- Of course, that doesnt take context into consideration- Rumple’s not having a father, due to said father being a manipulative, lair whom chose eternal youth over his son, as opposed to Rumple possibly dying in battle, fighting to keep his kingdom & son ‘safe’ from ogres, it’s not like Rumple would have been abandoning Bae for his own selfish desires & leaving Bae feeling as if he wasnt worthy of being loved by his father- dying a hero in battle is hardly ‘abandoning or emotionally abusing’ your child & if anything it would have maintained his families standing with-in the community & ensured Bae a better standard of living.
@surayya, Did A&E say that about Rumple refusing Milah’s requests for a fresh start elsewhere before or after 308? Rumple probably did refuse Milah’s requests to move else where without saying why, which was probably frustrating to Milah, but he had his reasons.
They point blank laid it out for everyone in one of the specials (A&E outright stated on screen that Milah had asked (or begged) many times to move & what we saw in crocodile was her last attemptto convince him, which he shot down & thats when she decided to leave, as she knew this was her chance to escape the life he had forced her into… I doubt she would have ever agreed to marry & bear the children of the village coward).
I have all the specials stored on my external HD, so will hunt them out & track down exactly what they said, but I’ve already paraphrased (as couldnt remember if my wording was ‘exactly’ as they laid it out, in order to be direct quoting) what they said on the matter.
I know he had his reasons- but she didnt know that (at least A&E never said she did know his back story- probably because A&E didnt actually know the exact details of his back story until 3A LOL :p ) & it’s hardly her fault Rumple refused to move & give their family a chance to flourish again, just as it is hardly Rumples fault for thinking Milah was being abducted against her will- he didnt tell her why he wouldnt move & start over for the sake of their family, she didnt tell him she was leaving if he wouldnt allow them ALL to move on & start afresh.
Both were selfish in their own ways, as both took the ‘easiest’ option out for themselves- Milah however did NOT choose to murder Rumple out of spite, yet he choose to murder her out of it.
It is also one of those situations that is no win for the character, Milah was damned if she did, damned if she didnt- just like many other characters have been- no matter which choice a character makes in those situations, they’ll inevitably tick of a decent section of the fandom as a result 😉
It would be interesting to see more flashbacks of the Rumple/Milah marriage and also flashbacks of Milah/Hook. We’ve not really seen much of Milah beyond the two episodes she’s in and the audience were predispositioned not to like her because the first time we saw her, she wasn’t being kind to crippleRumple who the audience already had sympathy with because of what we saw in season 1.
It would be interesting to see those flash backs, yes- I seriously doubt we’ll get any though 🙁 , which is a shame, as it could be a great way to ‘grow’ at least 2 of our main characters directly & ALL the other mains indirectly, through their connections with either Emma or Belle.
I guess thats where I’m different & maybe thats where those of us that can understand Milah’s actions (even if none of us would ‘chose’ to do ditch a child while doing so), differ from those that cant- I’m not a great Rumple fan & tbh I never have been (not sure if the others are the same or not)- I dont hate Rumple at all, I can just take or leave him- although he does tend to drive me INSANE, making the same mistakes repeatedly lol. So I’m not emotionally attached to Rumple in such away that way that I cant see the wood for the trees in this situation 😉
Maybe that’s why I dont like Rumple more- to much risk of the character doing something I just cant fundamentally accept as being acceptable & be comfortable sweeping under the rug. Ie. I accept Charming & Snowing etc. Killing in battle to protect themselves & their kingdom etc. I cant accept Rumple & Regina’s murder of innocent people- just to further their own means- although Regina hasnt killed anyone recently, so she has grown on me considerably & now ranks as one of my top 5 characters (girlfriend better not make me regret this new found fondness in S4 lol :p ).