Belle & Rumplestiltskin Relationship Thread

[AKA]

So I am not complaining about the ending because Rumple did not die and Rumple and Belle get to maybe live happily ever after raising Gideon.  Well okay I guess I am complaining, does anyone else feel unsatisfied with the rush ending and the under utilization of Belle this half.  I mean OUAT completely DESTROYED Rumbelle in 6A and yet this half Belle was barely present.  I mean when she was present her and Rumple were working together trying to help their son, but come on guys after destroying Rumbelle at least take some time fixing it.  Those two should have had at least some kind of big moment any or all of these would have been nice:

Rumple choosing love over power (I guess he did this but Belle did not even see it, she needs to SEE him choosing her over power)

Rumple finally accepting that Belle loves him that he is lovable.

Rumple stating to Belle that she has never been his weakness but his strength and that his power is his weakness

Belle accepting and understanding that Rumple has no desire to be everyone’s savior and hero he just wants to be her and Gideon’s savior and hero

Rumple accepting and understanding that Belle does not want him to be perfect she just wants him to let her in, to trust her, and for him to try and do the right thing

Belle understanding and accepting that Rumple feels he needs his power so that he does not loose the people he loves because when he is powerless the people he loves die(Bae) and he does not ever want to loose her or Gideon.  That basically he is scared.

Rumple understanding and accepting that Belle in insecure especially about herself, her heroism, and her relationship with him and that she needs reassurance that she means something to him.

[RumplesGirl]

At the end of this story, because this is the end, it’s became incredibly clear that

1) The writers never knew what they wanted to do with Rumbelle or Belle

2) The writers like Dark!Rumple more than AttemptAtRedemption!Rumple

They rushed through it for both reasons. If the shippers are happy that they got a HEA, then great! But I think looking back the story is more than just flawed…it’s bad.

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

[hjbau]

It is unfortunate that Rumpel didn’t give up his power, but i understand they probably did that because they intend to bring him back.

[AKA]

If the shippers are happy that they got a HEA, then great! But I think looking back the story is more than just flawed…it’s bad.

I think most of us were major shippers from the very beginning which was about someone who was flawed and felt like no one could possibly love him finding love.  The problems started in season 4 although I could even rationalize that as Rumple being in a very dark place after Bae’s death and his imprisonment with Zelena (although OUAT went out of their way NOT to show this) They just never truly fixed it after that.  I don’t think it got truly BAD until season 6A.  I mean Season 4B was Rumple trying to take the easy way out by changing the story, season 5A was Rumple on a redemption arc and promising to be honest and courageous with Belle, season 5B was him in the underworld maybe not making the best decisions but at least being honest and upfront with Belle.  It all fell apart in 6A where they were both truly horrendous towards each other.  I am happy that they got a HEA but it should not have been instantaneous. These two have some major trust issues with each other and like I said before if they were going to do a big back together there needed to be a major relationship moment between them which we did not get.

It is unfortunate that Rumpel didn’t give up his power, but i understand they probably did that because they intend to bring him back.

which tells you that the Rumple of season 7 will probably be our Rumple not WR Rumple or some alternate universe Rumple.  So A and E could very easily just rip the HEA away.

[hjbau]

Yeah, i don’t know which way they are going to go. It does seem like they are going to use the same version just in the future. The comments about wanting to let the audience have their moment with the happily ever afters sort of suggests they are going to rip them away. Also, the whole there is a new curse, new memories, new town, kind of makes it seem the other way where they are different versions. I don’t know.

I think they really should be the same versions that we have gotten used to or really what is the point in bringing them back at all. I really hope that Regina is not the Evil Queen again.

Season 6 was rough. They went to far with a lot of stuff.

[thedarkonedearie]

So I sort of fall in the middle on this issue.  I really liked that Rumple made the right decision by not choosing ultimate power.  And I am happy that he had to make that decision himself.  It’s annoying that Belle doesn’t get to witness it firsthand but I felt that if Belle was there trying to convince him to do the right thing, it would mean less.  The fact that he did it on his own and fought his inner dark one by himself says a lot.  And I love that his right choice was rewarded by getting to start over with Belle and raise a baby Gideon.

That being said, the relationship was a disaster.  So they need to fix it and unfortunately Belle won’t be back next year.  Belle did not get the screen time needed to repair their relationship this season.  Instead, Gideon and Black Fairy and Rumple got all the screen time.

And I’d bet a lot of money that if Bobby wasn’t coming back, they would have had him give up his Dark One powers.  But in the meantime, they just have way too much writing for DO Rumple.  But all things considered, I was very pleased with how these two and Gideon finished their story for this book, all things considered.  My expectations were low so I came out enjoying it.

[nevermore]

I think Rumbelle has been a disaster for a while, but 6A really outdid itself. So the HEA was telegraphic and not very satisfying because it didn’t fix anything. But telegraphic as it was, I do hope they leave Rumple and Belle well enough alone, even if it’s offscreen. Yes, DO Rumple is entertaining, but A&E haven’t used him in interesting, smart ways since Season 1. He’s a schema at most. The Mr. Gold/DO Rumple dualism of the first 3 seasons is where the narrative potential was, and they just dropped the ball on that completely. I enjoy Dark One Clippy in homeopathic doses, and I don’t enjoy Black Hat full on “Godfather” style  Mr Gold much at all, despite Bobby’s incredible acting talent. I did absolutely adore Mr. Gold in the first few seasons, precisely because it was a much more complex, rounded out character. Bobby’s flat, joyless affect in playing Mr. Gold makes me thing of Emma’s slow transformation, and that makes me a bit sad.

But as far as Rumbelle is concerned, the problem isn’t just that A&E seemed averse to wanting to develop Belle, which I think is just a symptom of the show’s kind of latent misogyny, whereby the only female characters they’re interested in developing are the ones that seem the most male-like. There are structural problems that I don’t think they could overcome no matter their intentions. Ultimately, A&E are not good writers, and that’s just that. But here are the overall problems I think that underpin what happened with RB:

1) Rumple without Neal lacks an orienting axis of motivation. Gideon does not substitute for Neal effectively. Belle by definition cannot.

2) Since S1, Rumple has been massively overpowered and difficult to use plot wise. A&E should have produced some kind of consistent check on his powers, perhaps exploring the idea that “magic comes with a price” in a more active way. It would help if they didn’t change their rules of magic every three seconds.

3) Rumple and Belle have a massive power differential, which makes the couple hard to write without Rumple automatically coming off as abusive or high-handed. This would be a difficult pairing in the hands of sensitive, psychologically complex writers. A&E aren’t that, so in a sense, the safest thing to do is shelf Belle as much as possible.

4) The show’s framing of Rumple’s powers misses the main point of what makes his predicament interesting. As the DO, he’s effectively managed to mostly not let the darkness (TM) wreak havoc on the world for, give or take, hundreds of years by (1) avoiding enslavement and (2) telling Clippy off whenever he can. In other words Rumple fulfills the socially useful function of keeping the DO power more or less contained, which means that through inaction he’s actually doing a good thing. The drama of the character, in principle, is that as soon as he wants something for himself, any sort of action is a liability because any action/desire is warped by the darkness. Which effectively means that there’s an internal mechanism that makes it very difficult for him to act in the world. But A&E seem to have missed this aspect of the character.

 

[PriceofMagic]

Rumple was always used as a back up villain for when the arc villain got defeated or to support the arc villain because they weren’t “enough” on their own. I expect Rumple to be used in a similar fashion in season 7 (the writers just need to leave RumBelle alone).

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

Rumple was always used as a back up villain for when the arc villain got defeated or to support the arc villain because they weren’t “enough” on their own. I expect Rumple to be used in a similar fashion in season 7 (the writers just need to leave RumBelle alone).

Quote

But does’t that beg the question can you leave Rumbelle alone and have Rumple fulfill his main role which is to fill in as a villain when the arc villain isn’t enough? Even if Belle’s not there just the idea that Rumple is gonna black hat it up in S7 would put quite a damper on Rumbelle, no?

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

[thedarkonedearie]

But does’t that beg the question can you leave Rumbelle alone and have Rumple fulfill his main role which is to fill in as a villain when the arc villain isn’t enough? Even if Belle’s not there just the idea that Rumple is gonna black hat it up in S7 would put quite a damper on Rumbelle, no?

I wish they would either fully redeem him and make him a force of good or make him the main big bad to close out the show.  I’m getting sick of him partnering up with the latest villain who strolls into town.  Rumple is incredibly powerful.  Who better to have as the final villain?

[Author]

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