That’s a loaded statement though. If Baelfire was manipulated by the darkness of the dagger, which has shown it’s influence before, it’s hard to say that it was Baelfire’s fault, or even that Rumple was wrong for saying that about his son.
So, shockingly, I think I agree with you. 😉 I have no problem believing that Rumple, in that moment, believes it with all his heart and by and large he’s not wrong. First of all it’s hard not to think of one’s child as essentially good. Sometimes that’s just willful obliviousness and refusal to acknowledge the facts, but I don’t think this is the case here. Except for this instance, Nealfire always leaned towards being a good, compassion, courageous person. If we liken the dagger/dark magic to a drug — as they’ve always done on this show — then we have to assume that the decisions made under its influence are not necessarily in line with a person’s character. In other words, if, like a drug, dark magic profoundly alters a person’s brain chemistry, then it’s not hard to believe that their actions might be grossly different from their ‘usual’ selves.
I hate the Baelfire retcon, but it doesn’t ruin the character for me because I still think he was a good person. The problem is that I have to do a lot of work to explain to myself what they’re trying to do. As I see it, there are two main problems: sloppy worldbuilding and consequent retconning of the dagger, and Baelfire ordering to kill Beowulf. This part especially is either just lazy, sloppy writing, or a conscious effort to take the character off the “pedestal,” or a combo of the two. Much like what they did to Snowing at one point.