Belle & Rumplestiltskin Relationship Thread

[Josephine]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I go out of the house for a few hours and this happens!

Let’s get ready to RUMBELLEEEEE!

[RumplesGirl]

@emiliederavin agh! forgot to # @robertcarlyle_ (the pretty one in the pic) luv ya 🙂 #OnceUponATime #Rumbelle #Belles 💙

— Emilie de Ravin (@emiliederavin) October 20, 2013

Yeah EdR just called Bobby the pretty one. She’s a fangirl.

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

[PriceofMagic]

Awww just saw the pic of the two of them. They’re so cute together.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[Josephine]

Okay, I’m kinda freaking out. I was rewatching and looking for a new Rumple avatar when I paused on Rumple’s face but got this:

She’s upright and walking, not leaning over or anything. Here are pics from Skin Deep to compare:

and

Just something I noticed. Doesn’t mean they’d even write it into the show. But it just stood out to me. I noticed it also in the pic she tweeted earlier today, too:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/73df0d9c80c970c3a44a1de826f74396/tumblr_muzgj7RZft1sn9ej4o1_1280.png

😎

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[RumplesGirl]

Dear Screwball:

Let me love you!!!

(a little fic for my Rumbellers today)

http://screwballninja.tumblr.com/post/64696415057/fic-a-good-dream-rumple-belle-t-masterlist

 

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

[PriceofMagic]

Okay, I’m kinda freaking out. I was rewatching and looking for a new Rumple avatar when I paused on Rumple’s face but got this:

She’s upright and walking, not leaning over or anything. Here are pics from Skin Deep to compare:

and

Just something I noticed. Doesn’t mean they’d even write it into the show. But it just stood out to me. I noticed it also in the pic she tweeted earlier today, too:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/73df0d9c80c970c3a44a1de826f74396/tumblr_muzgj7RZft1sn9ej4o1_1280.png

Are you implying Belle may be pregnant?

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

Are you implying Belle may be pregnant?

Or Emilie, but not Belle.

I’m not convinced. I think she just put on a wee bit of weight OR she’s sitting/standing/kneeling at an odd angle so that her tummy poofs a bit.

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

[PriceofMagic]

I agree.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

Screwball has an entire post about what happened with Rumbelle in 304. There is a response by another Tumblr and then a Screwball response. I’ll post it all.

From ScrewBall

Now hold on just a minute, here … What is Belle to Rumple? Chopped liver?

THREE times this episode Rumple denied that Belle was a good reason for living and his happy ending.

1. Rumple tells Vision!Belle that his ONLY reason for living, Baelfire, is dead— when Vision!Belle protests that maybe Actual!Belle is a good reason to keep breathing, Rumple says NO, and by the way his goodbye at the docks was a permanent one ‘cause she’d leave him anyway. So in his mind, they’re already broken up?
2. Neal hypothesizes that being “reunited with Belle” is Rumple’s happy ending, and Rumple tells him: “No, my happy ending is YOU”— implying that being with Belle ISN’T his happy ending
3. Later, Vision!Belle tells Rumple to be happy because his ONLY reason for living, Neal, is alive— and Rumple tells Vision!Belle to “Go away”

Yikes. Rumple doesn’t even want to talk to a Belle-shaped figment of his imagination, never mind fight for the real thing? At first I was miffed that Vision!Belle wasn’t Actual!Belle, but now I’m thrilled Belle wasn’t on the boat so she’s not around to be dissed and dismissed like that.

If Belle ever shows up in Neverland Rumple best take a couple of poisoned arrows to the heart for her because damn, I was not feeling the love tonight. I know Rumple’s on a suicide mission and watched his relationship with his not-quite-dead son crash and burn, but ouch. I think NEAL ships Rumbelle harder than Rumple does right now, and Neal’s never really met her.

They’re gonna fix this in future episodes, right? RIGHT?

From Tumbrl Ask-occKillian

So, I still haven’t finished coping with Rumbelle feels and have instead been distracting myself with CS feels, because that’s my coping mechanism.

But, you have to remind yourself that Rumple is preparing himself to die. He knows full well that dying for Henry’s sake is his redemption. Being attached to the idea of a happy ending with Belle or even the idea of Belle will tempt him to want to live on and at the moment, everyone seems to think that in order to do that Rumple would have to kill Henry.

Having Belle in the metaphorical room is too painful. Rumple is telling his subconscious, ‘no, i will not entertain the idea of killing my grandson’ because that’s what Belle has been set up to represent in this episode.

He’s not dismissing Belle-Belle. He’s dismissing the idea that he would be selfish enough to choose his own happy ending over his grandson’s life.

THIS IS STRENGTH.

This is Rumple’s love for his grandson and son coming through. You know who helped Rumple get in touch with his ability to be selfless… yeah, Belle.

Belle in this episode does not represent Belle. She represents his selfish desires. Rumple is not saying ‘Belle, go away.’ He wants to focus on being selfless. Which, ironically, is what Belle taught him to be.

It’s a complexity that is actually quite beautiful once you get over the initial shock.

And this is Screwball’s response

So we have two theories:

1. (Sacrifice theory) Rumple is lying— he loves Belle dearly but is denying it and giving up his happy ending with her to save his grandson and redeem himself
2. (Nihilism theory) Rumple is telling the truth— his self-loathing, abandonment issues, and desire to honor his son above all else is stronger than his belief in love

For the Sacrifice theory to be true, Rumple would have to be lying to himself/Vision!Belle AND Neal about Belle. Given how painfully honest Rumple’s been with both himself and Neal about his conflicted motives over Henry, his self-loathing, his abandonment issues, his willingness to try and break the cycle, and his previous murder attempt of Henry (!)— are we really to believe Rumple is on the level about all of that and at the same time lying his sparkly head off about his feelings for Belle? And not just lying to himself, but to his son, the one person he swore to be honest with (and actually was this episode, much good it did the poor bastard)?

Keep in mind Rumple could have changed the message entirely by slightly tweaking what he said to Neal when Neal suggested being “reunited with Belle” was Rumple’s happy ending:

• “It wouldn’t be a happy ending without you, son.” This implies Rumple believes his happy ending is Belle + Bae, which is what I think a real happy ending would be
• “I love Belle, but I’m willing to sacrifice that to save you and your son.” That would straight-up tell Bae he’s priority #1 without dismissing Belle’s importance in his life

Instead, Rumple says his happy ending AND his only reason for living is Baelfire, and denies that Belle ranks even a close second. For Rumple to be “sacrificing” his happiness with Belle, he’d have to believe that he DOES have a future happiness with Belle. But in his first speech to Vision!Belle, Rumple specifically says he believes their relationship is doomed EVEN IF HE RETURNS FROM NEVERLAND because she’ll eventually see that he’s really a monster and leave him. If he really believes that, he’s not sacrificing happiness as much as denying it’s a real possibility. For Rumple, then, bliss with Belle is a transitory state in-between hundreds of years of loneliness, and only his relationship with his son is real and lasting.

That’s depressing, but it’s not like this is the first time Rumple has proclaimed that Baelfire is the most important thing in his life (1×12, 2×04, 2×11)— and we know his self-loathing and abandonment issues run deep (“No-one could ever love me!” etc. etc.). And that’s why I subscribe the Nihilism theory— that Rumple doesn’t believe he really HAS a happy ending with Belle, because why should she stay, when everyone else he loves leaves? So if Belle is just a break-up waiting to happen, why should Rumple fight to return to her? Better to go full-out on a suicide mission and die with some honor. That mentality still leads to a noble action (saving Henry), but it changes Rumple’s motives from noble to nihilistic.

Also, note at the end when Vision!Belle accuses him of trying to worm out of the prophecy and possibly endanger Henry in order to save/get closer to BAELFIRE, that’s when Rumple tells her to go away … implying that he is, in fact, weighing whether to save Baelfire (and live) over saving Henry (and die). I have faith that Rumple will eventually make the right choice, but the fact that it’s implied he was conflicted about this argues against the “selfless” component to his actions. Rumple’s wrestling with his selfish “nasty habits” this episode, and assuming self-sacrifice at this point in his redemption cycle is a bit optimistic, I think.

I would LOVE to be wrong about this, though! And this is only Rumple’s mental state this episode. Who knows what will happen next week? Maybe Hook will bean Rumple in the head with a coconut and Rumple will realize he needs actual Belle, and not just an ersatz conscience in a corset.

http://screwballninja.tumblr.com/post/64682504544/ask-oockillian-screwballninja-now-hold-on

I bolded the part that I ascribe to. I think Rumple has never really believed in the possibility of a happy ending with Belle becuase everyone he loves, leaves. PP event tells him “being left is what you’re good at.” And Rumple knows it. He will ever stop believing that Belle will evnetually leave him. They could be married with 6 kids and he’ll still think it’s a wonder every day for the rest of time that she hasn’t walked out the front door. His self hatred and abandonment issues are so intense that they will cloud him forever. So if he does do the right thing and try to sacrifice himself for Henry, as I suspect he will, maybe knowing that he finally did the right thing will help but Belle has to work to make him see that she really will never leave.

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

[Keb]

I’m wondering if his lack of belief that she’ll continue loving him is the answer to why his curse isn’t broken yet. I think for a shining moment in FTL in Skin Deep, he let himself really believe–to the point that he was willing to sacrifice for her happiness (he let her go) and vice versa (she came back). He’s been too afraid to believe it could last since then, too guarded to give in to True Love.

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

[Author]

Posts