I feel the same way as some of you. Belle has only been in 2 episodes, but she’s already becoming one of my favorite female characters. I really like Emilie de Raven as an actress and Belle was always my favorite Disney princess, so I couldn’t myself. 😆 I can’t wait to see how Mr. Gold handles having Belle back in his life (for better or worse).
And as far as the popularity of Rumpel and Belle, Snow White and Charming are definitely the most popular pairing, but Rumpel and Belle are very close behind. But then again, Snow and Charming had since the beginning of the season to build their fanbase. So the fact that Rumbelle has such a large fanbase after only a month and half really speaks volumes. As someone already stated, I think part of the reason why so many people love Rumpel and Belle is because their love story came as such a shock. No one really expected to see Rumpel actually fall in love and let his guard down. So, when we finally got to see that, many of us fell in love.