Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26116863-20150512000952/@comment-24674051-20150513214951

Putting aside Rumpbelle for a moment, the situation that Rumple finds himself in this time is different. Admittedly, it was his cowardice that initially caused the problem. Not afraid to fight, but afraid to leave his son fatherless (which is unfortunately what he ended up doing). When Rumple left for the Ogre Wars, he saw that as an opportunity to redeem himself and his family name with honor. The Seer played a mind game on Rumple, and Rumple caved to his own weakness, injuring himself so that he did not have to fight and possibly die.

As a result of his actions, he was branded the village coward, shunned by everyone, including his own wife, who finally left him to go sailing with a Pirate. Rumple was alone, but was still trying to raise his child right. Then, when Bae was turning 13 (or was it 14, I don't recall that detail) and was due to be drafted for the Ogre War, it became too much for Rumple, and with no-one left to turn to, he took the one option presented, which was becoming the Dark One. And this choice eventually drove away the one person that would still stand by him.

Long story short, he was always alone and shunned by others, so it's no wonder he has self-confidence issues. And because he was always alone, he had no one to help him through the problems. And left to his own devices, is it any wonder that he journeyed farther and farther down the road of darkness to where he was prior to the Apprentices recent actions?

This time around, he's got a fresh start, unfortunately with 300 years of Darkness weighing him down. But he has Henry, his one and only blood relative, who just might be willing to give his grandfather a second (third/fourth/fifth...) chance. He has Belle that, for whatever reason, chooses to love Rumple, even when she knows what he is (or at least was). And he's got other people that would be willing to help him if he would just open the door a little.

He's in a better place than he was 300 years ago, so I would say that at least gives him a fighting chance of coming out on the right side this time. Will he actually reform? only time will tell.