He would then be the tragic character, the fallen angel. The one who tried but didnt make it… Or maybe that kind og story would be too dark and grimm for a Family show, but I would like it 🙂 Hence, my name.
You’ll be interested to know that Bobby Carlyle agrees with you. He thinks Rumple shouldn’t get his happy ending because of all the things he’s done and Rumple can never be truly happy after 300 of so much darkness.
However–the writers like their happy endings, don’t they? The fact that Rumple got married at the end of the last season, I think, means that he’ll get there but it’s going to take longer.
I think Rumple’s happy ending (which won’t truly happen until series end) is going to be the most bittersweet one of them all. Snow and Charming lost 28 years with Emma but they have the future with her and they have a new baby. Regina has a hole in her heart, but she has Henry and Robin (cause I don’t believe for one second that A and E would ever truly break up OQ–and that comes from someone who doesn’t particularly feel strongly either way about that ship). Emma has her son and Hook, so it’s a happily ever after, though I think part of her will always have small walls (they are hard to break, trust me).
But Rumple…his happy ending died. Literally. “You’re my happy ending” is what he tells Nealfire in NL. And then Neal died. And yes Rumple can have Belle and marriage and more kids and maybe be redeemed but he lost the center of his world. He’ll wake up everyday with that hole in his heart. And there is no way to fill it–not with Belle or other children. Life will go on, and he’ll be happy, but he’ll never be whole. So I don’t foresee any sort of happy ending for Rumple anyway. And that might always keep him a bit in the Dark. Identity isn’t so easy as “you are this or you are that.” Part of Rumple will always be called to the darkness and to the magic that made him feel like a “real man.” Just like part of Regina will always be the Evil Queen who used darkness to get what she wanted (and we can discuss Regina more in a week or so when we move on 🙂 ) So asking if he’s too far gone…he might already be. But not in the way you’re suggesting, being just THE DARK ONE forevermore. But part of him will always belong to the Darkness.