Master Manipulation. Peter > Blue > Rumple > Cora > Regina

[Keb]

Well, Regina’s very impulsive; Cora and Rumple less so. So their manipulations are far more effective. Rumple’s goal was always finding his son–everything else was just in service of that–and because his goal was so focused it was easier for him to make long-term, cool-headed decisions most of the time. Cora’s goals were a little muddier–she wanted vengeance, and power, and for her daughter to be queen, but because she didn’t have a heart, she was less impulsive. Regina’s goals were kind of all over the map, reflecting her impulsive nature; she wanted to escape her mother’s influence as a youth, she wanted to learn magic during her marriage, she wanted revenge on Snow White which became a major goal of hers in which gaining power became a tool–but the exact revenge that she wanted varied from day to day–and she wants her son to herself now (but at all if not all to herself). It’s less of a laser beam for her and more of a cloud.

But yes, Regina -is- manipulative in her own way. She’s just not as good at it because she’s not as good at focusing her goals, or understanding other people. Rumple’s got a keen insight into people’s motivations (being 300 years old helps), which he uses carefully. He can work out what you want most and use that to his advantage. Regina can’t even figure out why a kid (Hansel, Gretel, Owen–not touching on Henry, who rightly sees her as one of his parents) would want to be with his or her own parents instead of her, or why the people would support a kind princess instead of a queen who kills entire villages. It just goes completely over her head. She does, however, understand the pain of losing one’s true love, and she uses THAT as a tool against both Snow and Rumple–effectively.

I will argue strongly that on screen, at least, we’ve seen Cora manipulate Rumple a lot, and nothing of him manipulating her at all. She may have actually loved him, but she was the one suggesting changes in the contract initially (to be fair, he’s the one who jumped at the idea of having his own child, but she kinda planted the idea in his head), she was the one who decided to pull out her own heart and leave him (may or may not have been any manipulation there, but he sure thought there was), and she manipulated the heck out of Snow to get the dagger (and I half wonder if she was hoping to manipulate Rumple from afar to get it–cuz that’s how it worked out). Oh, and she gave him the globe with THE most manipulative little speech, which did prompt him to leave town right away despite what had happened to Bae and gave her time to get to Regina without interference from him.

I don’t think Cora’s the same mastermind at it that Rumple is, but she’s very skilled at knowing the right strings to pull–on him, on Snow, on Regina, on Hook–and incredibly cruel about it, too. I’m just not sure a hierarchy is appropriate here. And I really don’t see anything of Rumple manipulating Cora as of yet. At all. Unless perhaps you count his final question to her to get two more seconds before she killed him.

[crackedmirror]

I reckon the whole puppet master thing would be severely cool, and it sounds plausible. That and the Blue=evil thing would help explain why her “original power” is so powerless. Most of the time.

I still want to know how August knew Neal was Bae. Maybe he encountered the home office or Blue had something to do with it?

As to Regina being manipulated though, I don’t think the blame for her evilness should rest on Cora or even Rumple. No one forced or even encouraged her to murder Leopold, Graham, Kurt or those countless villagers. In fact rumple seemed quite disapproving of the village torching thing.

[RumplesGirl]

I still want to know how August knew Neal was Bae. Maybe he encountered the home office or Blue had something to do with it?

I know some people think that August may have gone to Neverland at some point when he was still a boy. We haven’t actually seen the original Pinocchio story, jut the tail end. But in the original, Pinocchio goes to a place called Pleasure Island–which resembles Neverland in spirit. And the boys aren’t allowed to leave. So it could be that August was in NL as a boy and maybe the BF somehow got him out or arranged for him to get out.

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

[Keb]

Oh, that would be a delicious way to play it, RG. It’s also possible he got there as a puppet–and could have escaped because he wasn’t a real boy?

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

[Demileto]

@Keb wrote:

Oh, that would be a delicious way to play it, RG. It’s also possible he got there as a puppet–and could have escaped because he wasn’t a real boy?

That’s exactly how Pinocchio arrives in Pleasure Island in the original tale: as a puppet. It’d be very easy then for August to recognize Neal as the grown up Baelfire but not the other way around, as Neal would never guess the 23-24 year old man in front of him was the wooden puppet boy he met in Neverland.

I have no explanation as to how Pinocchio would get there and how he’d get out, though.

[RumplesGirl]

I don’t know how Pinocchio got there, but as far as escape: PP could have let him go, knowing that he would be crucial to the overall plan. In my head it works like this:
PP needs Henry
PP learns of Pinocchio’s arrival to NL
PP can see the future and order Pinocchio to be taken back to FTL where he will finish out the Pinocchio story, turn into a real boy by the BF. This is where The Stranger picks up. Gepetto bargain with the BF and Pinocchio is sent through the wardrobe before Emma.
A few years later PP also releases Bae from NL.

PP needed Emma to go through the wardrobe without Snow, thus releasing Pinocchio sets up that thread. PP needs Emma and Bae to have Henry, and thus lets Bae go after the Curse is enacted.

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

[Demileto]

^ That’s a good guess, RG. Would definitely be interesting to find out that Peter meddled with Rumple’s carefully orchestrated plan to find Bae, adding his own twists. But I hope that Peter letting Pinocchio and Bae go would be done in a more subtle manner, as in he does it so in a way that makes them believe that they found a way out on their own.

[RumplesGirl]

@Demileto wrote:

^ That’s a good guess, RG. Would definitely be interesting to find out that Peter meddled with Rumple’s carefully orchestrated plan to find Bae, adding his own twists. But I hope that Peter letting Pinocchio and Bae go would be done in a more subtle manner, as in he does it so in a way that makes them believe that they found a way out on their own.

I agree. I see Peter Pan as hiding in the shadows (as it were) and letting things happen that seem almost like luck or chance but really he’s pulling at a lot of strings.

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

[Author]

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