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Alright someone explain to me why Rumbelle’s TLK didn’t work. She’s cursed; he’s her true love; it should work (like it has in the past)…so whattup?
I agree in general with @Keb’s interpretation — it has to do with sacrificial love of some kind. I think more broadly, there’s got to be an element of letting go — say, of giving up the ego/self (whether as a form of self-sacrifice, as its ultimate expression, or as a kind of “goodbye”).
I think in both instances of the Rumbelle kiss (the one that half-worked, and the one that didn’t), both parties are still showing up to the table with a whole lot of ego (or, say, a kind of ‘hubris’). I don’t think it’s exactly about accepting the other person unconditionally — that’s, as @RG said, not the sort of thing that happens with romantic love. Rather, it’s about leaving one’s own hang ups and desires and projections at the door. At least, that’s my head canon for this.
Anyway, the definition of True Love has gotten so very vague on this show that I’m really not sure of the actual mechanics. Likely, it’s whatever the writers came up the night before.
[adrotate group="5"]The idea of sacrificial love doesn’t hold up for me. Hades hasn’t sacrificed anything of importance. Ruby didn’t sacrifice anything for Dorothy; she ended up in the underworld by accident. As for Rumple and Belle, he was willing to sacrifice his life in 5X06 wasn’t he? And later, I think she rejects the opportunity to travel the world to return to him. So how recent does the sacrifice have to be? You could argue that Rumple’s changed. So does that mean that you have to be the exact same person who made the sacrifice? Everyone’s changing all the time, so that’s impossible. Also, does the sacrifice have to be something specific? What if Rumple was willing to give up his life for Belle, but not his power? And exactly what sacrifice has her father made that he can awaken her with TLK?
The idea of sacrifice being central to True Love is also a disturbing message. Sacrifice is heavily romanticised in myth and literature, but it real life having to make too many sacrifices usually just means that you’re incompatible. Then there is the thorny question of whether you should make any particular sacrifice. Is it right to sacrifice yourself for your partner when you have children who depend on you? Is it even wise to sacrifice your happiness for your partner? It’s OUAT’s over-the-top portrayal of grand sacrifices for love that makes it seem ridiculous and unrelatable at times – examples include a pregnant Snow splitting her heart and Emma traipsing off to the underworld for her boyfriend when she has a thirteen year old son. Sure, love may involve sacrifice, but there are many other vital components too. Sacrifice in and of itself does not make love between two people special.
The idea of sacrificial love doesn’t hold up for me. Hades hasn’t sacrificed anything of importance.
I strongly agree with this, because I don’t think Hades really gave up anything of real value when he tore up that contract. Rather, Hades got exactly what he wanted when Zelena broke his curse: his ticket out of the UW. While I do think true love has something to do with putting another person’s needs before one’s own, I also think the presentation of what true love looks like on this show has sadly been watered down and warped to the point where it’s no longer recognizable. You know there’s something amiss when Nimue is heralded by Emma as being the “true love” of Merlin after Nimue’s spirit convinced Hook to murder Merlin in order to enact the dark curse. The notion of what true love even looks like is drastically cheapened, if not entirely ruined, as a result.
I also think it’s rather absurd that Hook’s dad could be woken up from a sleeping curse by a nurse he’d never even met before he was cursed. Really? He fell in “true love” with the nurse while he was in a comma (and his consciousness was elsewhere in the burning red room from S2, if we’re going to be consistent, which I know the snow isn’t). Likewise, it’s equally absurd that characters like Zelena and Hades or Ruby and Dorothy shared TLK after having only shared a handful of conversations, ever. True love at first sight? What? I know “love at first sight” is a trope that exists in traditional fairytales, but it never really used to on OUAT. Prior to S5, TLK actually meant something (e.g. Snow and Charming or Emma and Henry). There used to be high stakes involved and well-developed, meaningful reasons shown and explored why these characters really love one another. But now, whatever it means to share TLK really no longer carries much, if any, real meaning.
"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 also think it’s rather absurd that Hook’s dad could be woken up from a sleeping curse by a nurse he’d never even met before he was cursed. Really? He fell in “true love” with the nurse while he was in a comma (and his consciousness was elsewhere in the burning red room from S2, if we’re going to be consistent, which I know the snow isn’t). Likewise, it’s equally absurd that characters like Zelena and Hades or Ruby and Dorothy shared TLK after having only shared a handful of conversations, ever. True love at first sight? What? I know “love at first sight” is a trope that exists in traditional fairytales, but it never really used to on OUAT. Prior to S5, TLK actually meant something (e.g. Snow and Charming or Emma and Henry). There used to be high stakes involved and well-developed, meaningful reasons shown and explored why these characters really love one another. But now, whatever it means to share TLK really no longer carries much, if any, real meaning.
All of this.
^^
Good point about Zades – I haven’t actually thought of that but yes, he got exactly what he wanted. Tearing up he contract — if it in fact WAS the real thing — didn’t make much of a dent in Hades’s plans. In other words, TLK is just another MacGuffiny deus ex machina device that works or doesn’t to fulfill the needs of the plot.
And actually, now that I think of it, it’s really morphing in the last few season into some sort of merit badge. Who is gonna get a gold star on their relationship homework? This week, it’s Zelena and Hades! Oh and Rumbelle fails again — booh! Next week, it will be some other random new and shiny couple!
What a truly vapid message.
And actually, now that I think of it, it’s really morphing in the last few season into some sort of merit badge. Who is gonna get a gold star on their relationship homework? This week, it’s Zelena and Hades! Oh and Rumbelle fails again — booh! Next week, it will be some other random new and shiny couple! What a truly vapid message.
True love in general has become some sort of goal and it’s what proves a couple as “valid.” Hence why shippers want to know when their couple–whoever it is–will be confirmed and get upset when it doesn’t happen with the big gold star that is TLK
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"True love in general has become some sort of goal and it’s what proves a couple as “valid.
Yes, exactly. And the fact that the cases of TL that aren’t romantic love — and, increasingly, some kind of love at first sight version thereof — are now almost nonexistent really feels jarring to me.
I think a story where Regina and Snow share a version of TLK — as “sisterly” love or friendship, after years of bitter enmity — would have made for such a wonderful completion to the original story of Snow White and the EQ.ETA: and this is to say nothing of the fact that when the right moment for a TLK did come along–at the elevator, meaning there was no agenda or goal at the end, unlike the hug-tackle previously with a specific goal on the line–the writers still didn’t use their ace in the hole (TLK) on CS. So, yes I think the writers were going for TL confirmation, but they did it in the weirdest way possible.
What would TLK done at that point? If I recall correctly TLK has been used to break curses. Death is not a curse, and Killian wasn’t even killed by magic (curse kind or otherwise). If death was a curse then the Dark Curse is not even that severe, you may be able to sacrifice the thing you love most, then TLK it back to life… Instead of say, splitting hearts or something, apparently… 🙂
ETA: and this is to say nothing of the fact that when the right moment for a TLK did come along–at the elevator, meaning there was no agenda or goal at the end, unlike the hug-tackle previously with a specific goal on the line–the writers still didn’t use their ace in the hole (TLK) on CS. So, yes I think the writers were going for TL confirmation, but they did it in the weirdest way possible.
What would TLK done at that point? If I recall correctly TLK has been used to break curses. Death is not a curse, and Killian wasn’t even killed by magic (curse kind or otherwise), even if the events that lead him there were magic. If death was a curse then the Dark Curse is not even that severe, you may be able to sacrifice the thing you love most, then TLK it back to life… Instead of say, splitting hearts or something, apparently…
Easy: you handwave away this whole “his soul has been out of his body too long” thingy. I mean Pan’s entire body vanished but apparently you put a living heart into his soul/essence/thingy walking around the Underworld and we’re supposed to accept that it’ll allow him to go topside. It’s true love of the Savior–certain tropes and mythologies dictate that it’ll do quite a number on death so it’s still weird that in that moment they didn’t give a TLK in order to “undo death” by virtue of Savior true love.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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