Hi guys! I’m new here and I just thought I’d give you a few thoughts on what I think of Rumpelstiltskin.
I personally see Rumpelstiltskin’s character as more of a tragic figure rather than an evil villain. Traditionally, tragedies are described as when good or decent make one fatal mistake that leads to their downfall. This is exactly what happened to Rumpelstiltskin. Before he became the Dark One, Rumpel was a good and decent man. A bit of a coward, however that doesn’t make you any less good. Most people possess some form of cowardice anyway, so I don’t fault him for that.
His wife abandons him and Bae for whatever reason (an affair, frustration or probably even death), so he’s left alone to raise a child that many don’t even believe is truly his. So from the outset, you have Rumpel already doing something that many men would refuse to do, especially given the time period they’re living in, and that’s raising a child on their own. Many would have given up their child or refused to a child whose whose paternity is under question. I feel like these are things that are conveniently overlooked when people talk about Rumpel’s character. Rumpel probably still has questions about whether or not Bae is his biological son, and yet he still created the curse and sacrificed everything just to find him.
Someone in another thread on this forum brilliantly said that if a man has the common decency to raise the child of another man, then that makes him a REAL MAN. A lot of people have no idea how difficult it is to raise a child, and given everything that Rumpel went through before he became the Dark One, I’d say he did a stellar job. UNTIL he actually became the Dark One. That’s when he screwed up.
Another thing people tend to forget is that after Rumpel became the Dark One, he saved thousands of innocent children from the Ogre Wars. That is no small thing. He ended an entire war. I think that should be highly commended. In the beginning, Rumpel meant to use his new-found powers as a source for good. Saving people, protecting his son. But the evil power of the Dark One slowly began to eat away at his goodness, at his decency. To me, I classify this as the ultimate tragedy. A good man has been lost all because he wanted to help.