I mean look at how many Rumbelle fans talk about how “hot/sexy” Rumple is, yet they dont get told they “only like him because he’s hot”- it also seems to escape the notice of ‘some’ fans that Rumple has indeed treated Belle very poorly in the past & is doing so again in someways, yet he’s still deserving of love & redemption.
Two things:
1) I disagree with the view that Rumple has treated Belle poorly. Whilst he isn’t and hasn’t always been honest with her, which is something he needs to work on, he hasn’t mistreated her. Belle isn’t the type of person to fall in love with someone who just treats her as a pretty little trinket or worse. Rumple does treat Belle well, he loves and cares for her, he just needs to learn to be more honest with her.
2) I think the reason that “they only like him because he’s hot” gets brought up in regards to Hook rather than the likes of Rumple or Charming (though both are indeed “hot” and Rumple and Hook normally top the most handsome guy on Once polls) is because at the moment CS is not proven to be TL. Also since both Hook and Neal were part of a love triangle, people were always going to root for one guy over the other and belittle the other guy.
Also, genuine question, Do you think fans can actually influence both positively and negatively how other people see a character?
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix