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Actually I now think that his end at the end of all things is going to be the same as it was in S3A but with a different motivation. Instead of Rumple sacrificing his life for the town, I think it’s likely that he’ll be sacrificed by the heroes in an effort to end the darkness for good OR to end the “final battle”
Bingo. It’s what I’m hoping for. We will absolutely get what this new motivation is. And when we do, he will either overcome it and sacrifice himself again, and actually be the hero, although I doubt it, or the heroes will have to defeat him in order to rid the darkness forever (and somehow they won’t become the dark one by doing so). This is why I went with “Dark vs. Light” as my season 5 finale title prediction. I think the darkness is the overarching theme for this season, and just because Rumple has it back now, doesn’t mean the story is gone. For me, it means that they got an idea to potentially kill off Rumple and get rid of the darkness for good all in one story. So they switched their plan, put the darkness back inside Rumple, to set up the back half and the finale. Rumple’s head is now on the chopping block, and the darkness will be defeated with no more dark ones by the end of season 5.
[adrotate group="5"]I’m actually glad that he took back the DO power–though I want to see a solid motivation for it–because taking the darkness out of him via Apprentice magic was too “easy” for his character. It needs to be something that he chooses for it to resonate.
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
Even crazier thought, what if Henry still is Rumple’s undoing? What if Henry is the one to kill Rumple to rid the darkness forever? I never felt the whole undoing thing was really concrete. Similar to the hopeful evil fairy idea, I have always thought since season 3 that we hadn’t actually seen Rumple’s undoing yet, even though they implied we did.
I’m actually glad that he took back the DO power–though I want to see a solid motivation for it–because taking the darkness out of him via Apprentice magic was too “easy” for his character. It needs to be something that he chooses for it to resonate.
Out of all the possible reasons as to why they had Rumple take his power back, that’s the one I could see eye to eye with the most. Like you said, Rumple didn’t lose his power due to his own accord. It was taken from him while he was unconscious.
However, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. It just comes across as Rumple not learning anything, and still choosing to make the wrong choices. There’s only so many times they can have Rumple go back and forth, while testing the audience’s patience. To have it happen after he was made out to be a hero with a pure heart in particular further adds insult to injury. Not only that, but he’s right back to deceiving Belle, and after she decided to give him yet another chance.
To have it happen after he was made out to be a hero with a pure heart in particular further adds insult to injury. Not only that, but he’s right back to deceiving Belle, and after she decided to give him yet another chance.
Yes this. Him taking back the DO’s powers felt like it came completely out of left field after the season was set up as 1) no longer the DO and 2) spent the season learning to be a hero (albeit in a highly questionable manner).
When the writers realized they wanted Hook to go evil only to be killed and brought back later in 5B, they also realized that they needed one of the main cast to still be villainous so Rumple has a bottle of magic laying around and wam bam, DO Rumple again.
This brings us to another question, and one we’ve been somewhat avoiding. Is Rumple’s inconsistent character writing a result of trying to make Hook look better? Or is it because the writers don’t know what to do with Rumple? Or is it because they find Dark Rumple more interesting? OR is it not inconsistent writing at all?
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"To have it happen after he was made out to be a hero with a pure heart in particular further adds insult to injury. Not only that, but he’s right back to deceiving Belle, and after she decided to give him yet another chance.
Yes this. Him taking back the DO’s powers felt like it came completely out of left field after the season was set up as 1) no longer the DO and 2) spent the season learning to be a hero (albeit in a highly questionable manner).
When the writers realized they wanted Hook to go evil only to be killed and brought back later in 5B, they also realized that they needed one of the main cast to still be villainous so Rumple has a bottle of magic laying around and wam bam, DO Rumple again.
This brings us to another question, and one we’ve been somewhat avoiding. Is Rumple’s inconsistent character writing a result of trying to make Hook look better? Or is it because the writers don’t know what to do with Rumple? Or is it because they find Dark Rumple more interesting? OR is it not inconsistent writing at all?
I think it’s mostly the writers not knowing what to do with Rumple, while finding Dark Rumple more interesting. Maybe it’s not so much wanting Hook to look better, but rather them wanting at least one of the mains to struggle with their nasty habits at a given time. Whether it be Rumple, Hook or Regina. At least one of them has to slip every now and then, character development be damned! Of course, they’ve had Rumple slip back way more on a consistent basis.
I think it’s mainly that they’re not sure what to do with Rumple OR Belle, tbh. They hit on a chord whose strength they couldn’t have predicted with Em’s and Bobby’s chemistry, and not knowing initially how long they could tug on that string, they’ve had to compensate.
Killing Neal killed a huge part of who Rumplestiltskin was and what drove him, and that’s left them flailing about with a character whose power is too immense to allow unchecked; if he’s always helpful, the heroes won’t have to work for anything, and if he’s always evil, they can’t win against him. Likewise with Belle–to keep her in character, they have to keep her in the dark about things, because she’s Super Smart (as is Rumple) and figures things out too quickly for anyone else to have a chance unless they either dumb her down (as they have done on occasion) or distract her.
Regina and Emma are likewise powerful, and Henry clever, but Rumple’s the foil to all three for large segments of the show. When he teams up with them, however, you have to find a way to deal with the fact that he’s supposed to be one of the ultimate powers in their universe, and not only that, the most knowledgeable. Resolving his search for his son so early and closing that door by killing Neal made it impossible for his ulterior motives to be both consistent and potentially at odds with the others.
They’ve given us explanations since then that sort of make sense, but just aren’t as satisfying as when it came from the core of who he was–the bit of love left inside the Dark One for his son, which Belle ultimately helped keep alive both by reminding him of his purpose (when he cast her out) and what real love felt like; once she understood his motives, she was fully supportive of them. Now nobody understands them because his motives keep shifting.
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
Of course, they’ve had Rumple slip back way more on a consistent basis.
Yes but even when the other two–Regina and Hook–slip back, there is an “excuse” that doesn’t directly have to do with them, their very selves.
For example: Regina often snarks at Zelena and threatens her. But the excuse is that Zelena raped Regina’s true love and got pregnant with Robin’s daughter. On top of that, Zelena is fairly comfortable with her villainy and makes no apologies. It’s “understandable” then that Regina would turn on her “Evil Queen” persona.
For Hook, the biggest slip so far was as the Dark One. The “excuse” was that it was inflicted on him by Emma and the Darkness was controlling him and feeding into his fears, insecurities, and hostility.
For Rumple, by contrast, it’s that he is simply an addict or a coward. The responsibility is on him and him alone because he should have willpower or remember his past mistakes or what his fear/addiction have cost him before.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Futher, Hook and Rumple are studies in narrative contrasts. For example
S4: Rumple working (mostly) with Ingrid for his own selfish ends, not to mention hat-sucking. Rumple lying to Belle about how he hasn’t really changed, is found out at the end of arc, is forced to deal with consequences from romantic partner.
S4: Hook working against Ingrid with the help of Emma and Emma’s family, and any hat-sucking was done because he was controlled by Rumple. Hook lying to Emma about how he hasn’t necessarily changed (beating up Will, ect), is found out off screen and never forced to deal with consequences from romantic partner.
S4B: Rumple working with the Queens of Darkness and the Author to get his own happy ending, everyone else (except Belle) be darned.
S4B: Hook working against the Queens of Darkness and the Author trying to protect his and, by extension, Emma’s happy ending.
S5: Rumple is set up as a hero who pulled Excalibur only to take back on the Dark One’s powers for his own agenda. We are also told that Rumple’s real motivation for leaving the war out of fear and never anything to do with Bae.
S5: Hook is set up as a hero-turned villain who first helps Emma only to take on the Dark One’s power but loses them in self-sacrifice, declared a hero and going to be saved from Death. We are told that Hook’s father abandoned him and even named his new shiny son after Hook’s brother.
And even though it took 2 seasons
S3: Rumple dies for the town and only two people go in search of him, no matter how many times he has proved useful and actual family to rest of the gang.
S5: Hook dies after almost killing Emma’s child and family and everyone goes in search for him.
It’s a matter of contrasts.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"For Rumple, by contrast, it’s that he is simply an addict or a coward. The responsibility is on him and him alone because he should have willpower or remember his past mistakes or what his fear/addiction have cost him before.
THIS.
In fact, I’m sorry I always come back to this, but I think a show like OUAT — family show on ABC with a potentially very wide and diverse audience — should have some responsibility in terms of its representational politics. Such as:
– don’t kill or send to their mamas all the POC characters
– don’t represent all your mentally ill characters as raving and murderous psychopaths
– don’t represent female sexuality as a source of mortal danger
– don’t make all the poor people into natural villains
– don’t make anyone who isn’t hot, young, and white either die or turn evil
Did I miss some?
Along with Regina, Rumple is probably one of their most non-normative characters (at least from the regulars). I remember that in S1 many fans interpreted him as gender queer (in a broad sense of the term), as mentally ill — and he’s also played by an actor who is older than the rest of the cast. So with this in mind, I really think OUAT dropped the ball.
I agree with @MatthewPaul — I don’t think the writers know what to do with Rumple, but I also think that they didn’t have to either turn him into a hero or a villain. In fact, keeping him at Chaotic Neutral would have worked just fine. The Trickster archetype would have given the writers the opportunity to reflect on and maybe begin to subvert the whole “heroes/villains” dichotomy, which is, frankly, simplistic — if not outright puerile.
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