@slurpeez108 wrote:
In the second clip, my first thought was how human and normal Rumpel’s voice sounds. He seems to have more of his humanity at this early stage. It is rather like Golem’s transition in Lord of the Rings. The longer he possessed the ring, the more the ring possessed him. I wonder if Rumpel becomes less human and more creature-like the longer he is the Dark One and the more power he gains. He was able to stop the Ogre War and save thousands of children, but acceding to Bae, Rumpel hurts people all the time. I wonder if Rumpel, in his quest for more and more power, concocts a potion which has the consequence of creating the vortex we saw in the third promo.
I think that’s right. I remember Robert Carlyle saying in an interview that this episode takes places like 7 months after Desperate Souls, so Rumple hasn’t totally ‘lost’ his soul yet. That’s why he still has those human qualities.