Belle & Rumplestiltskin Relationship Thread

[Jiminy’s Journal]

Rumple went “Zero to Hero, just like that!”

[Keb]

Well. Rumple loves Belle AND the dagger, or at least the power it gives him. And he was completely honest with her about that, the baby deal, and why she and Baby Hood are suddenly in the Underworld.

Belle is upset, as happy as she was at the thought of having a child with him, which makes perfect sense.

So how much truth is there in the idea that she loves both the man and the beast, that when she accepts that, it will be okay for Rumple to be whatever man he’s become at this point?

I think it does go along with what we’ve been shown…she fell in love with him when he was almost at his most evil, and while she has never supported his hurting others or lying (save when she was Lacey), she’s also never been as attracted to him when he was going for All Good (this includes her time as Lacey, which seems to have come from some aspect of herself as the other Storybrooke personas did). I think she could settle for a menacing imp who doesn’t actively hurt people…but he’s going to have to compromise as much as her for that to work.

The one thing that seems a barrier to that is Rumple’s insistence that he’s not going to change at all…I think that he still has this desire to be a hero, but doesn’t believe it does him any good anymore. And I think that it’s healthy to realize that you cannot make people change–Belle is still naive enough to believe she could. You have to decide whether you can accept who they are or not, and that’s the choice he’s presented to her.

But I don’t think she CAN just accept him as is. Nor do I think she wants to let go of him to adhere to the principles that she believes in. I think they’re both going to have to bend a little for this to work–he’s going to have to show her that while he may be the Dark One again, he’s going to use his power in positive ways and stop with the murdering, and she’s going to have to recognize that her love for him has to include accepting his darker side and dark past as part of what makes Rumple Rumple. She’s been able to see that occasionally, but just as she was deep in denial about things she coudldn’t accept in 4A (the mirror scene shows this), she’s been in denial about how she loves her husband…I think Rumple spoke the truth, and maybe he has learned a thing or two.

Keeper of Belle's Gold magic, sand dollar, cloaks, purple FTL outfit, spell scroll, library key, copy of Romeo and Juliet, and cry-muffling pillow, Rumple's doll, overcoat, and strength, and The Timeline. My spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9R0RUNm4xR3RhMEU/view?usp=sharing

[PriceofMagic]

I’m glad that Rumple was honest with Belle about everything. Although she is shocked by everything, which is a natural reaction, I think she will appreciate the fact that Rumple was honest with her instead of lying since normally the lies is one of the main issues between RumBelle.

Potentially, this sets up a future storyline for RumBelle IF the writers are willing to utilise Belle as a character instead of a glorified babysitter. Rumple says he loves Belle AND the power, however I think by series end he is going to have to choose one over the other. So what if Belle accepts Rumple as he is but then he starts to notice that the power and darkness is only dragging Belle down. He’d have to choose, does he give it all up once and for all for Belle or does he watch the woman he loves give in to darkness.

Considering it’s been rumoured that Bobby has supposedly said season 6 will be his last, it would be a way to tie up the RumBelle story and have Rumple choose Belle over power once and for all and they get their happy ending.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[Keb]

TLK failed, and Daddy French won’t wake Belle.

Honestly I have hopes that this has to lead to Rumple’s finally choosing Belle and his child over power, but I’m very worried about Moe’s lifespan right now.

So what will Rumple have to do to earn Belle’s forgiveness at this point? What would make this ship work again for those who have jumped ship based on Rumple’s behavior since S4 started?

Keeper of Belle's Gold magic, sand dollar, cloaks, purple FTL outfit, spell scroll, library key, copy of Romeo and Juliet, and cry-muffling pillow, Rumple's doll, overcoat, and strength, and The Timeline. My spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9R0RUNm4xR3RhMEU/view?usp=sharing

[thedarkonedearie]

So what will Rumple have to do to earn Belle’s forgiveness at this point? What would make this ship work again for those who have jumped ship based on Rumple’s behavior since S4 started?

Give up the darkness.  Either destroy it somehow or refuse to use it evil.  If he does that, I will root for this couple.  What I would rather have is Belle just accept the darkness and have them be a little evil duo, but I know I’m not going to get that.

[RumplesGirl]

So what will Rumple have to do to earn Belle’s forgiveness at this point? What would make this ship work again for those who have jumped ship based on Rumple’s behavior since S4 started?

To be perfectly honest? Nothing. Giving up the darkness is good and all but it doesn’t negate all the bad he’s done. I don’t care what kind of platitudes the show sends about how one good deed wipes out all the bad…it doesn’t. Not when your bad deeds are murder and your good deed is giving something up that you had already gotten rid of previously before selfishly taking it back because you really really love it.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[PriceofMagic]

What I would rather have is Belle just accept the darkness and have them be a little evil duo, but I know I’m not going to get that.

I agree, it would be great to see RumBelle causing troube for the “heroes” after how badly the “heroes” have treated them over the course of the series. I wish Lacey had been saved for next season.

The reason why RumBelle TLK didn’t work is because both of them are cursed. Rumple as the DO and Belle with the sleeping curse. We’ve seen before with Snowing in season 1 that a TLK between two people can’t work so if RUmple does want to wake Belle, he’s going to have to give up being the DO.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[nevermore]

So what will Rumple have to do to earn Belle’s forgiveness at this point? What would make this ship work again for those who have jumped ship based on Rumple’s behavior since S4 started?

I’m not sure the ship is recuperable because I’m not sure Rumple’s character is recuperable. Rumple’s original appeal as a character stemmed from the fact that he was written with enough room for interpretation, and RC’s layered acting really highlighted this. I think when people say Rumple was retconned (while other people claim that he’d always been obsessed with power), it is a testament to that original ambivalent complexity. As the show developed, the writers narrowed Rumple down, trying to “fix” the audience’s interpretation, thus recasting the entire character arc as a single dimension of that originally much more complex construct. Similarly, in the early seasons, Rumple’s relationship with Belle had a life of its own. It was underdetermined, but it was given room to breathe. By contrast, the further we go, the more the relationship is portrayed as didactic.

I think Rumbelle serves 3 purposes, none of which have to do with any sort of organic narrative development. First, it’s there to serve  Rumple’s characterization. And Rumple’s characterization is itself only there to serve the purposes of PLOT — more often than not, to fill the “villain” vacuum when the show demands it. Second, it sometimes is used to nod in the general direction of the half-baked conceptual themes that OUAT attempts to raise but actually never fully explores — like the business of changing another person. And third, it serves as foil to whatever other relationships are being highlighted and peddled. Functionally, Rumbelle is the stand-in misfit relationship on the show. I suspect they’re there to enable a sense of schadenfreude — “good things it’s not me.”

In this sense, I’m afraid there is nothing to “fix.” Both Rumple and Rumbelle fulfill a specific role on the show, and it’s unlikely that this role will change.

[RumplesGirl]

In this sense, I’m afraid there is nothing to “fix.” Both Rumple and Rumbelle fulfill a specific role on the show, and it’s unlikely that this role will change.

And because they fulfill a specific role and because there’s no “fix,” when they do inevitably reconcile it’s going to feel rather hollow.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[AKA]

I have a question, if the Black Fairy has Gideon’s heart was that Gideon in the dream world or Gideon being controlled by the Black Fairy?  I mean technically he was not even born but it always bothered me that we see him as he is now, a 28 year old man and his purpose was to warn Belle that Rumple would tear their family apart as he did his first family.  This never made sense to me as he was a great father to Bae before the dark one curse maybe the whole purpose was for the black fairy to separate out Belle and Rumple so that Belle would give Gideon to the Blue Fairy and therefore the Black Fairy could steal him.

Maybe the Black Fairy is like Rumple in the fact that she can see the future but does not know all the parts of the puzzle so she knows what she needs to do but not the finale results? The show gave some very good hints that they are paralleling Rumple and the Black Fairy they even had her saying “dearie” I wonder if her motivation has something to do with Rumple and winning his forgiveness somehow?  Or maybe she is just evil.

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