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Oh, I agree–it was painful in a way because I identified so much with it–but seeing Belle go through that mirror scene and the fallout with Rumple was one of the most powerful moments on the whole series for me.
[adrotate group="5"]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
Belle’s been through a LOT since S1. The Belle we saw in Skin Deep, even counting her loss of her mother and disastrous adventure with Anna, hasn’t been through nearly what our current Belle has been. Since then she’s:
–Fallen for the Dark One (we did see that, but her father suggested it’s had a negative influence on her in S2–is that true? Maybe!)
–Gone Robin Hood hunting (witnessing the darkest of the dark one and still seeing good in him…)
–Been cast out by her true love (also S1)
–Went on an adventure with Mulan
–Been held captive by the Evil Queen (and nearly killed by Hook) for about 3 years
–Spent almost 29 years in a bleak asylum with no real memories at all, at least 6 months of which time was actually moving for her
–Realized that Rumple would twist words to keep the truth from her
–Been kidnapped and nearly mind-wiped by her own father
–Been handcuffed in her own library when she was just trying to help
–Been shot by Hook and lost her memories and wound up locked in the hospital for at least a week
–Transformed into Lacey and endorsed lots of Dark Dark Dark Dark One action
–Said goodbye to her true love when he was suicidal and convinced he’d never come back to her
–Watched her true love actually die
–Watched her true love’s son, whom she had befriended, die to save him
–Seen her true love nearly kill her and be in the clutches of an evil witch while she was powerless to help him
–Gotten married to Rumple & reconciled with her father (good things, yay)
–Been given what she’s been told is a dagger that gives her a heck of a lot of power when she needs it…just having that THERE is a hard temptation not to give in to. And she’s human. She did.
–Been under the spell of the mirror which was like a magical version of the most horrible kind of depression. And when she lashed out at Rumple she was still under that spell. She was under attack by her own thoughts and fears, and her mind and body interpreted him as another attack. Of course she lashed out.
The darkest thing she actually did wasn’t striking him–that was pretty dark but it was under influence of the mirror’s magic. The darkest thing was giving in to the temptation to use the dagger when he wouldn’t help of his own free will.
And I think that parallels with his giving into temptation with the hat…and with Emma’s desire to lose her magic.
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
He turned on Emma because she came to him and BEGGED him to take her powers. It was an opportunity that would have gotten him MUCH closer to filling up the hat with the power he needs, possibly a shortcut right to the end which is why he was so willing to betray DQ, too, and actively break a deal.
It’s a bit like handing an alcoholic a drink and begging them to drink it so you don’t have to.
His speech to DQ showed that he may even have believed this to be the lesser evil. Instead of betraying Storybrooke to DQ’s whims, he was just betraying DQ and Emma.
And when Emma doesn’t go in the hat, he’s feeling a loss because for a few hours he believed that he was going to get all that power in one simple go. But tells Hook that he’s going to find “another way to fill that hat with the power it needs.” I’m not sure he’s going to try it on Emma twice…and that, to me, also says that it was a good opportunity but that he’d rather not hurt Emma directly if he doesn’t have to.
And yes, I get that his long-term motives for evil before Neal’s death made a lot more sense than what we know of his motives right now. The fact that DQ suggested there’s more he wants than just his freedom, that it’s beyond the boundaries of Storybrooke, makes me wonder. I don’t believe world domination is what he wants…power, yes. I keep hoping that what he really wants, though, is a way to bring his son back–that the hat is offering him that in the end. I still believe the writers are going to make me sympathetic to whatever his goals are (and I already am to his desire to be free of the dagger and keep his power, even if the methods are evil).
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
By saying he’s the devil I don’t mean he’s the ultimate evil, just that he functions narratively the way the devil often does in stories. He tempts people, makes deals, and is the most powerful dark force we’ve seen (which is not the same as The Most Evil or the Most Powerful). As I said elsewhere, I don’t think he’s 100% evil even if he does think that.
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
Archie doubling as Roger would make a lot of people happy, I think.
We need to see Belle more, whoever else we add.
But this is a great excuse to bring back Ariel, Phillip, Aurora, and more Pongo. And maybe Mulan.
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
I have to admit I’m still a bit in shock that I called it’s being Hook who was in danger…I didn’t even believe that call fully myself because it didn’t make sense until they connected it to his knowing Rumple before he was the DO. But I’m pleased with my reading of the show at least 🙂
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
He is the devil. But every single thing he says in that scene is ambiguous and true both in its manipulative purpose and its underlying sentiment.
He wouldn’t go into that room because he makes wrong choices–yes, that tells Emma “DO IT” but at the same time he’s saying that if he were actually making a good choice, he’d give up his powers because he’s a bad guy with them. And he won’t (because he’s afraid and because he believes he’s a villain who can’t change).
Emma makes good choices and is a good guy. He does not outright state that she SHOULD go in the room (though yes he is manipulating her toward that choice). He says she doesn’t need to change. It can be read both as “you’re better off with your powers, as you are” AND “you don’t need to change your mind about going in there.” And for him, in that moment, both statements are true.
And I do think they point to an underlying internal conflict about what he’s doing. He’s good with words–capable of saying the truth while still manipulating people to do what he needs them to do. I think this speech is the best example of that, and to look at it only in one light is to slight the mastery of both RC’s delivery and the development of a truly complex villain.
His scene with DQ is the one that confirms for me that a, this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up rather than the plan all along and b, something that he has mixed feelings about.
And while I admit I’m in denial that he would ultimately have killed Henry (thankfully, we’ll never know), if half-heartedly attempting to put Emma into a hat is the straw that breaks you on Rumple…you’ve got a pretty high tolerance for evil already. We’ve watched him outright murder no fewer than 17 people, including his son’s mother, and manipulate others in to killing, betraying, and endangering people they loved. We have watched him take sadistic pleasure in beating and torturing helpless people.
As adorable as he is when he expresses his love for his son and Belle, as awesome as he is when he points our heroes in the right direction and tells them the hard truths they need to hear, as heroic as his death to stop Pan was…Rumplestiltskin is Not a Nice Guy. And he knows it.
And yet, yes, I do still see good in him. I do still want to see that good man drawn out over the course of his story. I want to see him fighting for the people he loves and fighting the darkness he loathes within himself.
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
She also goes to the Land Without Magic in 1982. If all this happens within days of Anna meeting Belle, who hasn’t gone after Robin Hood yet, whose wife Marian hasn’t given birth yet therefore…
It should still be 1981.
More time HAS to pass somehow.
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
Honestly the only way I think I can accept this pairing now is if they reveal that the Robin Hood we saw in Lacey isn’t the Robin Hood who fell for Regina (but they already stated it was, of course).
That Robin was Robin Hood. The pathetic, whimpering cheater who lets his “soul mate” be the Other Woman while his wife is frozen and in danger of death and his son is…hanging with Little John all night? is NOT the same man who risked Rumplestiltskin’s wrath to save his wife and son’s lives.
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
My guess? With the walls down, some of the residents want to go back to the Enchanted Forest. So there’s a split–some stay in Storybrooke, some go back. Since I believe that Anna & Elsa WILL go back to Arendelle and it’s in the same realm, they’ll likely take some people with them that direction when they figure out a way.
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
