Goodbye Zelena

[sherazade]

I fully expected Rumple would kill her. He was her prisoner for almost a year and as far as we saw, he promised to kill her at least once a day, during that time. Keeping promises is ingrained in his being. (Although he’ll happily find loopholes around promises he doesn’t like). And this was a promise he wanted to keep because he blames her for Neal’s death.

That said, the way he did it was pretty despicable, even for him. That whole trust speech he gave to Belle was rude to say the least. I’m going to blame it on trauma. He has been through a lot, which is not an excuse, but does (imo) explain this moral setback somewhat.

 

[Gaultheria]

Anyone else think there are two Rumpels now because he duplicated the dagger? I think that even people who cheer for good Rumpel enjoy Carlyle’s performance as a villain, so this could be a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too situation.

Gaultheria's fanvids: http://youtube.com/sagethrasher

[Hook’s Girl]

Just thought of something. It was a given that Rumple was going to kill Zelena. There was no way he’d let Zelena live for what she did to Neal. Rumple has murdered 2 people for killing Neal. He killed Tamara for it back in 3×1. Too bad we never got Neal’s reaction to that murder when he found out. Not to mention all the suffering Rumple went through being controlled. Zelena had it coming.

Nothing is impossible on OUAT. Everything has a way of repeating itself. Keeper of the Keeper tread: https://oncepodcast.com/forums/topic/official-keeper-thread-3/#post-217924

[Cinders]

I suspect that it might take a while before anyone finds out that Rumple killed Zelena. Her cell door was left ajar. There is no body, and no trace of her. Her body, her emerald, her magic, not a trace of her left behind. I would think everyone will assume she escaped through the time travel portal.
Plus, I think Rumple might just keep mum about his role in her disappearance. So we might not see a reaction from Belle right away.

However, assuming Belle does find out, I hope she leaves him. I hope she walks away and never looks back. She’s been there for him always, and he betrayed her. I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I hope she leaves him, and he can only watch her from afar.

Also, with all the sweet redemption stories, OUAT really does still need a lovable villain.
Heroes don’t kill. But villains do. And villains don’t get happy endings.

[Grimmsister]

Im not so sure Zelena is really dead. Because when Rumple stabbed her she shattered like glass- Im thinking thats like she WAS her pendant, Glinda told her in EF when she gave her the pendant that it was in many ways her life now. And at the same time we see, the cabinet drawer In Reginas vault with the pendant inside and the green smoke coming out. Like she turned to green Smoke after the Water trick with Dorothy.

So when she is green smoke- she is not necessarily dead.

But I admit it could also be just like ‘her last breath’ going to the circle and starting the time-spell back up Again and then thats the end of her. If thats the case, then R.I.P Z. I felt sad for her, she had a sad story. Come to think of it she never really single handedly killed anyone. She had A hand in Neals death, but not THE hand. In the end I saw a flicker of hope that she could have changed, when Regina gave her a chance but that went puff* Up in to smoke! Poor Z 🙁

[schaendlich]

I’m sorry, but I don’t care that he lied to Belle.   Hold your pitchforks and hear me out.
I…kind of no longer care about the lying to Belle part. I hate that Rumpel covered his lie with a proposal (which is despicable), but I honestly don’t think that making a loophole in his promise so that he could kill Zelena matters as much (in this situation) as people think it does. I feel it’s more of the type of show that Once is, ingrained more in superficial, and abnormal feats of morality and forgiveness, that makes us focus more on the least meaningful part of what is actually a really understandable reaction.

1. Rumpel had to live a year of enslavement to Mrs.Psycho-Crazy. A year in enslavement, while attempting to desperately sort through the madness in his own mind to save his dying child…that he was holding within his own body. Can one even imagine holding your dying loved one for a year within yourself while being treated like a dog, and then your first moment of clarity is your loved one’s death?

2. Rumpel has busted his butt for hundreds of years just to see Nealfire again.

3. Regina was going to let Zelena live in close proximity to him and everyone else for “blah” reason, and he was expected to immediately forgive her for her extensive part in his trauma. Not to mention, Zelena was going to potentially become one of the many “redeemed” villains of Storybrooke, just waltzing around, never more than a couple streets from his home. Rumpel would have had to see, experience, and tolerate Zelena every day. Knowing Zelena, she’d probably taunt him for it, too. I’m sure that all of this must have been running through his head.

4. Rumpel’s sacrifice and redemption only pertained to Neal and Belle, not the town. Neal even said it himself. Perhaps, had Rumpel lived and Zelena never appeared, his heart would open to the others and his true redemption could begin, but Rumpel’s ideals were understandably shattered when (what he percieved to be) the only good thing he’d ever done, was completely turned on it’s head, resulting in the death of one half of his list of important people. He doesn’t care about the lie, and character wise, he probably shouldn’t. So far, in Rumpel’s eyes, he has been given the ultimate middle finger for trying to be a nice person. Though, I can’t excuse any other time he’s flopped over to the bad side, at this point, his mindset of  “It’s too hard to be good” is understandable.

5. Mind you this is perhaps the first few hours at the most, that he has been able to express himself in a year. This reaction is an immediate and primal need for some semblance of justice in his own eyes. Something that occurs to everyone, including people who lose loved ones in less extreme situations. With the coupling of his enslavement, he’s had no time to process anything. All he’s done is plan to take out one person. That person loses power, and like a spring, he’s on them, ripping out their throat like an animal. It’s all understandable here, and shouldn’t be coupled with his previous actions at all. I’m sorry, but I give him a pass.

Granted, I don’t condone Rumpel lying to Belle in any of the other situations that he has. It’s terrible that he manipulated her trust in those moments when it wasn’t even close to an understandable thing to do. I also do expect some serious consequence in their relationship for what he’s done now (possibly to the point of ending it). But, I just think that all of the crap that has occurred to Rumpel over such a short period, is just being taken despicably lightly by other “pure” characters who have, and/or have shown/told that they would kill someone for messing with their kids. If there was time for Rumpel to rage a bit, and everyone left him be, while giving him the “I understand you, but it’s also wrong” spiel (as they usually do) I’d be fine. However, the moment he’s finally out of Zelena’s clutched, the disgustingly hypocritcal message given by everyone is immediately shoved down his throat as if they would never sin in such a way. “Oh yeah, she played a huge part in murdering your son, and you didn’t even get to go to his funeral. Oh, well. Just forgive her now. It’s not like she made your life a living hell just now or anything. She’s going to be your neighbor soon, so suck it up.”

[Grimmsister]

Shaendlich-

“If there was time for Rumpel to rage a bit, and everyone left him be, while giving him the “I understand you, but it’s also wrong” spiel (as they usually do) I’d be fine.

However, the moment he’s finally out of Zelena’s clutched, the disgustingly hypocritcal message given by everyone is immediately shoved down his throat as if they would never sin in such a way. “Oh yeah, she played a huge part in murdering your son, and you didn’t even get to go to his funeral. Oh, well. Just forgive her now.”

Everyone should not just leave him to rage a bit , if raging a bit Means killing. Sure its understandable that he wants to kill someone that murdered his child, very very understanable from his point of view. However those who has a clear view that is not clouded by thoughts of revenge and sadness, should stop him in that exact moment (like Regina did) because killing is never the right thing to do, even when in rage. Stopping Rumple IMO is an act of love and understanding towards Rumple. Its not shoving Down his throat that they are better than him, more so saying to him that he himself is better then that.

 

[sherazade]

Killing Zelena might not have been the “right” thing to do. But it was clearly what Rumple was going to do, for all the reasons schaendlich mentions. I love Belle to death, but I think she was very naive here. She KNOWS Rumple better than anyone, she loves him (“even the darkness”).
To ask him to simply let Zelena walk away (and eventually live in the same town, where they can have conversations about the weather “did you see that cyclone the other day?”) is simply not realistic or fair. He may be a better person than he was. But he’s been through a lot and he’s still no saint. Belle should know that simply asking him nicely to spare Zelena would not be enough.

This town could really use more than one psychiatrist! Archie’s office must have looong waiting lists.

[RumplesGirl]

I have a question, having read the newest responses. If Belle is being naive in what she’s asking of Rumple, then what could she have asked that would be fair to the grief and trauma Rumple is going through but also not murder?

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

[Heart of Darkness]

Rumple really should’ve followed his own advice.

Remember the conversation he had with Regina while she was burying Cora in the episode “Welcome to Storybrooke”? It’s a pretty similar situation: The death of a family member (Cora/Neal) causes them to seek vengeance on the murderer (Snow/Zelena), but their loved ones (Henry/Belle) don’t want them to go through with it. Now, what did Rumple tell Regina back then? He didn’t tell her to deceive Henry and kill Snow. He told her to give up on vengeance, because she “can’t have everything”. Yet here, Rumple does exactly the opposite: He tries to get everything by deceiving Belle, even having the nerve to propose while doing it. That’s pretty despicable in my opinion.

And this is the second time he’s done this! Did he learn nothing from the Wraith incident?! Like he told Regina, it’s one or the other. And since he chose revenge, he’s now going to lose Belle. She won’t marry him after she finds out about this.

[Author]

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