Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[Slurpeez]

I’ve been wondering, in my head, the difference between why I not only think Belle will forgive Rumple, but am okay with it, and the CS thing – and I think ultimately it boils down to WHO these women think these men are. They are both lying to their significant others – yes. But in Belle’s case, she KNOWS who Rumple is, KNOWS that he is capable of this, and has made the decision to love him anyways. With Emma, she’s with Hook because she thinks he’s changed, because he’s claimed NOT to be that person. She hasn’t said, “You’re a pirate and you do crappy stuff and I’ll date you anyways.” So there’s a whole other level of deception there and I think that’s the deliniation.

The difference between Rumple and Hook is that Rumple knows he’s fully the dark one, whereas Hook still hasn’t admitted to himself that his own darkness is causing him to act badly towards others. Rumple thinks he’s inherently unlovable and will never ceased to be amazed that Belle would ever chose to love him. Hook, by contrast, thinks he’s God’s gift to women and that there’s no way Emma could ever resist his charms (e.g “When I win your heart”). That’s the real clincher. Hook expects worship from women. Rumple expects no love. That has been one of Rumple’s biggest redeeming quality since S1.

Before I get into this any further though, let me preface this by saying up front, I loved Rumbelle in Skin Deep, and they’ve had their cute moments scattered throughout S2 and S3. S4, however, is testing that notion by making Rumple seem almost unlikable. My reservation with Rumbelle now started at end of S3. Rumple has been descending evermore into darkness in S4 since the loss of his son. I’m still hoping Rumbelle will work it out, but I don’t think the way Rumbelle is being written now is meant to be portrayed as a healthy dynamic. Rumple is lying to Belle, and burying himself ever deeper in lies. Yet, Belle still thinks he’s the changed man he was when he sacrificed himself to save everyone in 3×11. She doesn’t grasp that since Rumple lost Bae, he’s become more of the dark one than he ever was when he believed Bae still lived. Poor Belle fully trusts Rumple. She believed him to be true to his word when he proposed and gave her the dagger, thinking he fully placed his trust in her. So while Belle says she loves even the darkness in Rumple, I feel like if she continues to overlook Rumple’s bad behavior after she finds out about the dagger, she’s going to be in solid addiction-enabler territory. Tragedy territory would be if Rumple’s darkness could result in making Belle complicit in his dark deeds or they get a divorce. Now I don’t think this will be the way Rumbelle ends (even if that is what Robert Carlyle believes to be the most emotionally honest outcome). I think Beauty and the Beast is too iconic a Disney story for Rumbelle ever to split up permanently.

Why do I bring all this up? Well it’s because of how it seems to be being paralleled with the CS thing right now. Both Rumple and Hook are caught in a nasty web of lies right now. Both are making threats against the other’s wife/girlfriend. Heaven knows they aren’t going to get out of this one without the whole house of cards falling down on them. How Belle handles her situation with Rumple may give a clearer idea of how Emma might handle things with Hook. I just don’t know yet how Belle’s reactions might influence Emma’s (though that would actually require Belle to have more 2 mins of screen time per episode).