Reply To: Was Rumple a Lost Boy? (spoilers!)

[Slurpeez]

I think the far more poetic story is that Rumple found himself in NL while Bae was there and Bae saw.
However, that doll comes back up….way too much emotion for a seemingly random object that obviously already has a emotional connection to Rumple. And, from what we’ve heard about this scene, more than just “my son is dead, I’m going to cry over this random toy.”

Now, I’m open to Rumple having been a Lost Boy himself, and maybe Rumple has been in NL more than once. I just think Rumple’s emotional turmoil is due to the very recent secondary loss of Baelfire. I don’t think this doll is just some random toy. As a parent, I’d openly weep over a sentimental object connected to my child (no matter how old), especially if I had just lost that child to death. But I wouldn’t cry about a toy from my own childhood. In Rumple’s case, it is especially poignant to be reminded of how he failed Bae not just once but twice. He failed when he let his son go the first time and now he believes his son is dead and gone forever. Now, if that doll is in anyway connected to Bae, seeing it as a reminder about the little boy Bae used to be would be enough to cause a bereaved father to break down and bitterly sob, especially because he feels somewhat responsible for Neal’s “death.” Had Rumple not been so consumed by doing dark magic for Lacey he and Neal would have re-connected and Rumple might have realized that Tamara was up to no good. That doll represents a fresh pain, even if he hasn’t thought about that specific toy in a long time (250 odd years).

Also, going back to those quotes about Bae, I believe he has been running from his dad for a long time. Rumple said so in 2×14, and he meant it in the literal sense, not some metaphorical sense. There must be some reason Neal bolted when Emma showed up in NYC. He knew the curse had been broken and that his dad might come looking for him. Also, recall in 2×6 that August didn’t say Bae’s name aloud. Well, one theory is that Rumple, who traffics in names, may have enchanted his son’s name so that every time it was said aloud, Rumple was able to discover his son’s whereabouts. How else, after centuries of trying to find a way to his son, could Rumple have confirmed his son was even alive? Baelfire is mortal, and would only live a normal human lifespan. Yet, it’s been about 250 years since Rumple lost his son (and time runs parallel in EF and our world). So, I think Rumple might have discovered his son’s life was somehow being preserved, so maybe he deduced that Bae was in a land without time.

If Rumple went to NL to pick up the Curse, I’d guess it was after Bae arrived there. There was only 6 months between Bae leaving Rumple, and arriving in NL. I guess technically that’s enough time for Rumple to find out that the Curse exists, but then why spend a couple hundred years setting it up? There wasn’t another true love couple around in the couple hundred years pre-Snowing?

The reason it took Rumple so long to come to our world could be:
1) He tried to find a less drastic means of transport other than the dark curse
2) Rumple didn’t just need a couple with true love; Rumple needed someone to cast the curse for him. There was no way Rumple was going to kill the person he loves most (Bell) to find Bae. That is why it took Rumple so long to set the stage with Cora, who set into motion the animosity between Snow and Regina, his protege. He was stacking the deck just right so that the result would be Regina killing her dad to cast the dark curse to bring Rumple to A Land Without Magic.