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This is something I haven’t done in awhile, but want to put out into the universe because if it turns out I’m right, then I am going to be asking for cookies.
I have a theory about Rumple’s happy ending quest for S4B and how this all ends. I’ll state up front that this likely to make people unhappy and while that’s not my intent I can absolutely see the show going in this direction.
My basic theory is this: at the end of S4B, Rumplestiltskin will permanently die either in battle against the heroes or as a sacrifice to achieve his happy ending (for the record, I believe the latter more than the former). I believe that Rumple came back to town not so much to find the author and demand that he be given a happy ending but to die but to first make sure that others get their happy ending as a way to atone for his sins. I think Rumple is ready to shake off this mortal coil and end his addiction to power and magic.
Evidence: for me there are four main pieces of evidence for this.
1) The Gun Factor
In episode 412, “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” Cruella held a gun to Rumple’s head and told him that outside the town of SB, Rumple could die a mortal death. Rumple agreed. Now it’s very possible and even probable that Rumple was lying to Cruella and it does feel like a retcon from what we know about the Dark One’s curse, but let’s face it–this show ain’t exactly consistent. What stood out to me was the way Bobby portrayed Rumple in that moment–actually terrified to die at that moment, before he had managed to do whatever he wants to do. I think the writers having Rumple admit that he can die outside the town of SB is a big ol’ clue.
2) The Happy Ending Factor
Again in episode 412, at the town line with Cruella, Ursula, and Rumple–Ursula wants to know if everything Rumple is doing is “about that maid.” Rumple neither confirms nor denies but is super cagey and says that his happy ending is his business. It’s an odd stance to take when the audience AND Cruella/Ursula know about Belle as someone Rumple loves. He could have admitted right then and there that, yes, he was trying to get his wife back. But he didn’t. Instead he spoke in vague generalities which is TV’s way of saying “there is something else going on here.” There is no reason to keep your audience or in-show characters in the dark when everyone already associates Rumple’s happy ending with Belle.
3) The Ingrid Factor
Last season, Ingrid got her happy ending in a very unusual way: she died. In death, she was able to rejoin her sisters who were waiting for her. I had a lot of issues as to how the show presented what I called “suicide as happy ending” but it could very well have been preparing the audience that another villain–one we know quite a bit about–would also be willing to die to achieve his happy ending. And let’s not forget, the person Rumple has signaled out as being his actual happy ending…is dead. My theory also suggests that the final scene we will ever have of Rumple is him entering some sort of afterlife and meeting a 14 yr old Bae, waiting for his Papa.
4) The Bobby Factor
I try not to put a lot of stock in rumors that come from set because it’s unfair to the actors, but it’s hard for me to deny what is front of my eyes, namely that Bobby Carlyle seems to be over or at least unenthusiastic about OUAT lately. At the Summer Comic Con, when asked point blank why Rumple killed Zelena, Bobby said, “I don’t know.” For an actor of Bobby’s caliber to not understand his character is a big sign that there is something going on with the actor and the show–a disconnect, if you will. Especially when A and E gave Bobby free reign to shape Rumple as he saw fit. Now, Bobby remains one of the strongest (if not the strongest) actors on the show and even if he’s not quite as Rumple-y as he once was, he still does a great job, but there does seem, to ME, to be a lack of enthusiasm lately. He’s either bored or just “over” it. And yes, there are rumors that Bobby is deeply displeased at the choice to kill off Nealfire.
Whether or not any of this comes to pass, I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I did want to put it out there. If we get news that Bobby is leaving the show, I’m not going to be surprised.
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Honestly, I have had similar thoughts for awhile now that Rumple might die for good, and just based on comments Robert Carlyle has made, he doesn’t believe Rumple even deserves a happy ending or Belle. And it’s no secret that Robert Carlyle is displeased with the direction the show has gone. At CC 2014, he said he thought is was a real shame when MRJ left the show. Also, let’s face it, the entire humanizing character motivation for Rumple died when his son died, and not even Belle’s love was enough to temper his desire for power. Rumple wanting to cleave himself from the dagger was a natural progression after Zelena not only took away Rumple’s free will last season, but she took away his happy ending, i.e. Baelfire.
However, knowing like we do now that Rumple knows how to use blood magic to resurrect the dead, it seems like the obvious natural progression ought to be bringing his son back to life. His happy ending was, and always will be, his son. Rumple himself was the one who wronged Baelfire the most by abandoning him, so all he has to do is shed a drop of his own blood on his son’s grave. Rumple doesn’t even have to die to bring back his son, since a small paper cut would do the trick. Yet, I know ABC is probably disinclined to do so, and that the actor who played Neal is currently unavailable.
Having said all of that, the one thing that makes me think Rumple may still come back from the brink is something I read in a spoiler. Adam and Eddy said things about Rumbelle that made it sound like there could still be hope for them. From THR:
“Belle has to be strong, and I think one of the things that happened in that relationship with Rumple is as his lies grew and his betrayals grew, the audience was seeing that Belle was unaware of any of this, and we really wanted to go from the first half of the season of her discovering [the truth] and then letting her act out of strength,” Horowitz added. “And now, if they are to have any chance of being together, she has to be a strong person and what he has to do is difficult.” And a brokenhearted Rumple is not someone you’ll want to cross. “You have a man who’s lost everything — Belle has moved on, [so] he’s going to do his Rumple-est to get it all back,” Kitsis teased. “The Queens of Darkness think they’re working with Rumple, but we all realize you work for Rumple.”
“After what happens at the end of the episode, he doesn’t disappear,” Horowitz added. “That activates him in a way that starts him on a new quest that he’s energized about.”So it sounds like Rumple is going to do his best to make the author rewrite him a happy ending. However, I’ve prepared myself for the idea that Rumple might not survive very long if his dark one curse is finally undone.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
I think you may be on to something, but I’ll be incredibly disappointed if that’s the route they go. (I’m still hoping they find a way to bring back Baelfire somehow, I confess.)
Anyway, the fact that the DO can die outside of Storybrooke is consistent with the arc in 214-216; the only reason Hook was able to get the poison close to Rumple’s heart was because he struck in a land without magic. (Why bringing him back to Storybrooke didn’t automatically fix him…well…PLOT. But since it was a magical poison, I’ll…let it go.) He also can’t be controlled with the dagger in a land without magic, as we saw in The Return when August attempted and magic had not yet been brought to Storybrooke.
I think he’s also cautious about pinpointing Belle because he knows people like to use her as a weapon against him, and that puts her in danger. He likes to play his cards close to his chest anyway; here he’s got a solid motive to divert their suspicions because they know, we know, and he knows that he’s most likely going to betray the QoD at some point, and he doesn’t want to put Belle in more danger than he must.
As I said, I’m still hoping for everyone to go to the underworld and battle to get Baelfire’s soul returned. That could lead to Rumple sacrificing himself for a kind of happy ending for everyone else.
And I agree that Bobby has seemed less thrilled with the character with the heart of who he was ripped away by killing Neal. He’s still putting in an amazing performance though, and clearly still enjoys working with the others on the show; he’s just coping with having built a character for three seasons around a central purpose and obsession that was suddenly nullified (and for no good reason that I can yet see).
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
The problem is that with Mal, she was intentionally preserved by the curse, and she was magical–her dust is like the dust of the urn or the bit of magic that Hook and Elsa brought to Rumple. Baelfire was not magical, so…it may be far more complicated to bring him back (magical rules–can’t bring back the dead, can’t change the past, can’t make someone truly love you–though of course between Once and Wonderland we’ve seen all but the last violated multiple times).
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
The problem is that with Mal, she was intentionally preserved by the curse, and she was magical–her dust is like the dust of the urn or the bit of magic that Hook and Elsa brought to Rumple. Baelfire was not magical, so…it may be far more complicated to bring him back (magical rules–can’t bring back the dead, can’t change the past, can’t make someone truly love you–though of course between Once and Wonderland we’ve seen all but the last violated multiple times).
The fact that Baelfire wasn’t magical shouldn’t matter. David technically died when his heart was crushed and sacrificed to recast the dark curse. He was dead for several minutes before Regina split Snow’s heart in half and put it back in his body. And honestly? The whole “magically preserved dust” idea is just a stupid, arbitrary, magical handwavy “rule” which could be easily circumvented. And as you say, Wonderland proved that magical laws are more like guidelines than insurmountable barriers.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
However, knowing like we do now that Rumple knows how to use blood magic to resurrect the dead, it seems like the obvious natural progression ought to be bringing his son back to life.
Natural, to be sure. But unlikely. And learning that for whatever magic handwaving reason that Rumple can’t bring back Neal would only strengthen his resolve to die.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The problem is that with Mal, she was intentionally preserved by the curse, and she was magical–her dust is like the dust of the urn or the bit of magic that Hook and Elsa brought to Rumple. Baelfire was not magical, so…it may be far more complicated to bring him back (magical rules–can’t bring back the dead, can’t change the past, can’t make someone truly love you–though of course between Once and Wonderland we’ve seen all but the last violated multiple times).
The fact that Baelfire wasn’t magical shouldn’t matter. David technically died when his heart was crushed and sacrificed to recast the dark curse. He was dead for several minutes before Regina split Snow’s heart in half and put it back in his body. And honestly? The whole “magically preserved dust” idea is just a stupid, arbitrary, magical handwavy “rule” which could be easily circumvented. And as you say, Wonderland proved that magical laws are more like guidelines than insurmountable barriers.
Andrew Chambliss, one of the writers of the episode, said this in response to how Maleficent was able to come back:
@Love4LeaM @KalindaVazquez Maleficent wasn't dead. Regina had placed a spell on her that kept her alive no matter what happened to her body
— Andrew Chambliss (@AndrewChambliss) March 9, 2015
Maleficent was preserved by Regina’s magic, no matter what happened to her. If Baelfire could come back the same way, Rumple would have already brought him back.
I do think Rumple is going to die at the end of this season. With Disney releasing the Diamond Edition in October, 5A will be Aladdin. If they can get Naveen back as the big bad, then they might be willing to let Bobby go early, depending on what his contract really is. 5B will be the conclusion of the show. Whether it’s a full 11 episodes for both 5A & 5B I don’t know.
I read an interesting post on tumblr last night. I’m going to link it because it’s too long to post it here: http://forzaouat.tumblr.com/post/113142095401/okay-here-we-go
Although she thinks Rumple’s gone after season 5 instead of 4, she has a lot of great points. Despite my rage over Will/Ana and whatever happened to them, they could still do the huge Beauty and the Beast ending AND kill him off AND have Belle move on. Imagine him sacrificing himself at the end, Belle proclaims her love, cries over his prone figure, they kiss and TLK lifts the Dark One curse. However, he still dies. We get our B&TB kiss and ending and Belle can move on with Will. And Rumple is reunited in the beyond with his son. Happy ending for everyone, but the fans.
I think a lot of Bobby fans are convinced he’s exhausted by this show. Rumple no longer has his sparkle. There is no growth in his character. I always said that it would have been more interesting to see his curse broken earlier and him living with the effects of mortality, including having a much younger wife and probably having children again. Sadly, we’ll never see that. And Bobby has other irons in the fire. He directed and stared in a movie that is being released this year with Emma Thompson. I can see him not wanting to be tied to tv anymore with his kids being small and getting into directing.
To me the show ended at 3×10 with the Floof Family hug. I will maintain that. I’m good at denial. To this day Little Women ended with Jo accepting Laurie’s proposal. 😛 So I can end the series with Rumple/Neal/Belle hugging.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
If they can get Naveen back as the big bad, then they might be willing to let Bobby go early, depending on what his contract really is.
Contracts are far easier to get out of than we think. Bobby wouldn’t have a problem for one very good reason
S5 is most likely the very last season and thus the writers can be a more liberal with ratings since it’s the very last. Losing Bobby will be a hit, but they can float along with Lana and Colin and just shrug at the ratings that come in because “it’s the last”
Despite my rage over Will/Ana and whatever happened to them, they could still do the huge Beauty and the Beast ending AND kill him off AND have Belle move on. Imagine him sacrificing himself at the end, Belle proclaims her love, cries over his prone figure, they kiss and TLK lifts the Dark One curse. However, he still dies. We get our B&TB kiss and ending and Belle can move on with Will. And Rumple is reunited in the beyond with his son. Happy ending for everyone, but the fans.
Yup. That makes sense
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Maleficent was preserved by Regina’s magic, no matter what happened to her. If Baelfire could come back the same way, Rumple would have already brought him back.
As I wrote, that “rule” is arbitrary, and as WL proved, “rules” are more like guidelines than insurmountable obstacles. On this show, where there is a will, there is a way. If the writers wanted to bring Baelfire back, they’d make it happen with the snap of a finger. Yet, like I also wrote, the chances of ABC supporting his return are slim to none, and besides, the actor who played Neal is currently unavailable.
Yet, it doesn’t really matter, since whatever it is that Rumple wants, he clearly is going about it a different way than resurrection. His objective is to find the author, and like Regina, get him to rewrite the villains their happy endings. In 4×12, Rumple had bought into this idea that the odds were stacked against them, which is why the villains always fail. Rumple seems to think that he can change the odds by changing the Author’s will. However, I think this idea is ill-fated, because as Cruella said, blaming the Author sounds better than the truth for the villains’ failure, which is “bad judgement and gin” (or in the case of Rumple, dark magic).
ETA: I don’t think Rumple has a death wish. He said in 4×12 he’d like to survive for his happy ending. So, hopefully, his happy ending doesn’t include his death — though I’m prepared that is the price he may have to pay to give Belle hers with Will.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
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