Home › Forums › Once Upon a Time › General discussion and theories › Rumpelstiltskin’s reaction to seeing Belle › Re: Rumpelstiltskin’s reaction to seeing Belle
I loved BOTH Rumbelle scenes. I didn’t have ANY problem with the scene in the woods. We have to remember that Gold had been planning for this particular moment for hundreds of years when suddenly Belle shows up. As much as he loves her and as overwhelmed as he is that she is alive he can’t just suddenly stop his years old plan to spend quality time with her. Her timing was a bit unfortunate for the big, romantic reunion we were all hoping for but I think that if you think about what was happening and the potential threat to both Regina and Rumple due to how everyone in SB feels about both Regina and Rumple, he had to work FAST to get magic back or he was going to be in serious danger. Regina wasn’t going to be the only person in SB who was going to need to hide – and Regina doesn’t have a limp and doesn’t have to walk with a cane.
I thought it was adorable that there was a brief moment of vulnerability to Rumple right after Belle said his name. He had this look like he wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to think of him or how she was going to feel about him now that she remembered who he is. I thought this addressed everyone who had a problem with how he treated her when she kissed him in Skin Deep. He did recognize that he didn’t treat her well and didn’t know how she was going to react to him. So when she told him that she loved him I felt like there was a feeling of relief from him that she still loved him not just that she remembered him, and when he said “yes” I felt like he was reminding himself “yes, you idiot she always did love you, you were just too untrusting to believe her.” And I thought that the way he said he loved her too had a bit of a sound of surrender to it – kind of like “Yep, you were right – you called me on it before. You always knew I loved you even though I tried to deny it.”
I also thought it was significant that, not only did he take her along with him to his trip to the well, but he also TOLD her what he was doing. In Skin Deep I had the impression that once he left Belle’s father’s castle he never let her see the side of him that used magic or made deals – kind of like he was very careful to only let her see one side of him. But instead of just taking her along to make sure she was with him to keep her protected, he is now including her in what his plan has been all along. She did ask him to tell her about Bae back in Skin Deep but he never did – now he has a chance to make good on that promise. I think he has a lot of guilt and regret with Belle and now has a opportunity to make up for the mistakes he made. But that doesn’t mean that he can just stop all the plans he has made for hundreds of years to get Bae back. It’s interesting to me that Rumple has ALWAYS worked alone but now it seems like he is going to have someone beside him.