@RumplesGirl wrote:
I’ve asked that already in the other thread, but maybe it’s better to discuss it here: Why should Cora ever have given back the dagger if she once had it? Cora doesn’t struck me as a person caring much about deals or code of honor, she does, what she thinks she has to do. So, unless she had no idea, why the dagger is so important for Rumple, why should she have given it up? I mean, come on, controlling the Dark One, what a power that offers, power to become rich and powerful and get everything for the daughter. Not saying the story by no means could go that way, but then have to come up with some good explanation, why Cora hasn’t the dagger anymore.
Yeah, I can’t answer this. lol. I admit it’s a huge hole for this whole “dagger” theory. But I don’t think it’s his name either just because Rumple always introduces himself, which is strange. If Cora found the dagger, made the deal for magic she may have thought she’d be powerful enough to take him on once she gave back the dagger. And we do know she and Rumple are almost equal in power; Rumple admitted that their fight was a close one in “Into the Deep.” Cora could have kept the dagger and controlled the Dark One but it would have meant that there would always be one person more powerful than her, which I think would have occurred to her and trouble her. She could have killed him and become the Dark One, but Cora’s so vain that she may not have wanted to be green? (I’m stretching a bit here, I know 🙂 )
It could be as simple as Rumpelstiltskin tricking her into getting it back. I just think it’s unlikely right now that they’ll follow the Miller’s Daughter story exactly by having Cora get out of giving up her baby to Rumpel by guessing his name. I know Henry Sr. doesn’t refer to him by name, and it’s certainly possible that he kept his name from people until Cora found out what it was, and then after that he just decides to tell everyone his name.
However, I agree that with RumplesGirl that Rumpel admitted that he and Cora are almost equal in power and that they fought a close fight once. He also seems very scared of her, and I think that maybe related to the Dagger. If she only guessed his name and got out of her deal, I don’t think he would be so concerned about her; although, I could be wrong about that. I also don’t know why they would possibly fight if Cora was just able to simply guess what his name was to get out of their deal like in the original Miller’s Daughter tale, and I think that there must have been something more that went on during the time that she first made the deal and when Rumpel decided to go a different route and just wait until Regina was older. Now I guess it’s possible that Cora only found out about the Dagger and saw his name to be able to guess it and didn’t actually get a hold of it to control him, and he’s scared that she even knows of its existence. I think it goes beyond though because of how frightened Rumpel is of her, and how something must have lead to them fighting each other magically at least one time.