Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-24376757-20150821192304

So, we all know that Rumple can be a formidable enemy, and is very good at thinking ahead. In the first season, he gets the curse broken, Belle back, and magic doing one thing, and knowing that everything else will fall into place. What he wanted was his happy ending, and he couldn't get that without turning Emma dark. Now it is common knowledge that he needed to get her dark so he could use her blood (that is now dark) as the ink. Of course, they end up using Lily's blood and that's that. However, what if he had a different plan. What if he could get everything he wanted, and screw over the author, who was flip flopping on what side he was on. So he made sure that Emma would save the day and that the Apprentice would take the darkness out of his heart, healling him, getting him Belle again, and it latching on to Emma, making her dark.  