I am sure this will be very unpopular here, but I don’t think that even Belle understood Rumpelstiltskin.
She certainly knew there was something there, under that sparkly skin and this “I/m a villain! I’m a coward! I’m a monster!” exterior, but I don’t think she realized that he really wasn’t any of that. at all.
I mean, the first thing she tells him in SB after she remembered herself was “don’t give in to your hate” “hate?” he probably wanted to ask, “I don’t HATE Regina, I never have… I can’t say I’m not furious at her for locking you up, but hate is a strong word!”
and again when she talks about Hook she sais, “don’t let your hate for this man get in the way of that” He really doesn’t look like he hates Hook at all. even after almost killing him with dreamshade, all he did was ask him if he’s done trying to kill him. again, I’m sure he is very angry at him for stealing Milah from Bae, but he doesn’t seem to care that he flirts with Emma or that he sees all these unpleasant moments with no one trusting him especially his own son. he ignores Hook’s snide remark about the wardrobe change, and unlike Regina, he never said “I haven’t forgotten about that by the way” when talking about the elixir that can cure David. Maybe I’m blinded, but I really don’t see any hatred radiating toward Hook at all.
maybe if he’d seen this…
it’s all just way, way back in the past to care about. Sorry, Hook, you’re just not important enough to hate.