Reply To: The Rumbelle Dilemma

[Slurpeez]

To play devil’s advocate, though, is he planning to do that?

Belle has due cause at least to be concerned, if not outright suspect her husband’s motives, given Rumple’s miserable track record.

Because he said that he could be a better man, but not different. I take that to mean he’d stop killing the peasants.

What reason does she have to think he could be a better man without giving up the curse that binds him? Rumple sucked all those magical creatures into the sorcerer’s hat. He has unleashed so many villains on Storybrooke, without any real concern for the town, and he left the heroes to defeat them: Cora, The Snow Queen, Cruella, Ursula, and Mr. Hyde. Even when he wasn’t the dark one in S5a, Rumple still found a way to become the dark one again, only the darkness was amplified 100 fold. Rumple told Baelfire that he would use the power for good to save the children from the ogres war (which he did), but then that power corrupted him. I don’t believe Rumple really would or could only use the darkness for good. Not even Emma, true love incarnate, had the strength to do that since every time she used dark magic, its lure grew stronger and her resistance became weaker until she took the darkest possible path and tethered Hook to Excalibur.

Did she give him a chance or just demand a change in behavior and when her demands were unanswered, she withheld affection, support, and acceptance.

Belle gave Rumple another chance after the darkness was forcibly expunged from him, despite how much he had hurt her, and he still found a way to become the darkest of dark ones, which he conveniently withheld from his wife and then got Belle pregnant her without her knowledge of it, which some might consider a lack of consent issue.

I think the problem is that we often have a hard time rationalizing this Belle with “I love him. All of him, even the parts that belong to the darkness.”

Some fans think that means Belle somehow condones or loves the dark deeds that Rumple does. No, she clearly doesn’t. she didn’t love it when he tortured Robin Hood or when he threatened to kill Hook. When properly interpreted, I think that line means Belle loves all of Rumple, even if he’s cursed. Belle was able to separate Rumple the good spinner and loving father from the dark one curse itself, but that doesn’t mean she loves the darkness in him (which is amoral). She has never loved the curse since she has always hoped their love would be true enough to break it. She said in Skin Deep that she might love Rumple (the man) but that something dark had taken root in him. She wanted to free Rumple of that curse.

I don’t blame Belle for wanting to protect herself and her son but she’s apparently ALWAYS known what sort of depravity Rumple could sink–torturing Robin, using a baby for his own agenda, ect–and still that never stopped her from loving him, fighting for him, advocating for him, or wanting to be with him. I don’t want to say mixed signals but…mixed signals.

Just maybe the writers have always meant for this version of Beauty and the Beast to be more of a cautionary tale.

Evil Queen: So, if I’m right, you love your employer, but you’re leaving him.
Belle: I might love him. I mean, I could, except… Something evil has taken root in him.
Evil Queen: Sounds like a curse to me. And all curses can be broken. A kiss born of true love would do it.
 Oh, child, no. I would never suggest a young woman to kiss a man who held her captive. What kind of message is that?

What kind of message indeed? A cautionary one. Rumple kidnaps children, tortures his victims, makes unholy deals, and kills or maims whoever displeases him. Belle thought that was just the dark curse, but now Rumple has claimed that is who he really is. Belle has tried time and time again to say it doesn’t have to be that way, but Rumple has insisted he’ll never be the man she thinks he can be. He has embraced the darkness rather than fight it anymore. The curse has amplified his natural ability to sin, especially as he’s given into its lure, and it’s taken hold of him.