Rumplestiltskin

"All magic comes with a price!"

- Rumpelstiltskin's iconic phrase

Rumpelstiltskin is a major character in Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is played by starring cast member Robert Carlyle, and is the fairytale identity of Mr. Gold. Rumpelstiltskin is an extremely powerful but crooked and greedy Wizard who is able to foresee the future. He is one of the most feared beings in Happily Ever After and is notorious for his deals.

Rumpelstiltskin is a main character in a fairytale of the same name.

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Season One
Rumpelstiltskin was once a normal widowed spinner with a son named Baelfire, whom he loved with all his heart and was his most treasured possession in the world. At some point before Baelfire was born, Rumpelstiltskin ran from a war that he was meant to fight in, and was forever labeled as a coward.

When the kingdom finally has to resort to using children as soldiers in The Ogre Wars, Rumpelstiltskin and his son flee into the forest, only to be found and tormented by royal knights. After the knights leave, Rumpelstiltskin and Baelfire are approached by a mysterious old man who offers them shelter in exchange for a small amount of food and company.

After listening to Rumpelstiltskin's story, the old man tries to inspire him to find another way to save his son, but Rumpelstiltskin is adamant that the only real choice was to run away. Knowing that Rumpelstiltskin cannot run forever, the old man offers him a more complete solution to his problems.

He informs him that the Duke of the kingdom has a magical dagger in his possesion. The Duke, in turn, uses this magical dagger to control the Dark One, a terrifying entity with unmatched magical powers who is the most feared being in all the land.

As such, if Rumpelstiltskin could steal the dagger, he, rather than the Duke, would have control over the Dark One. Thus, he could protect Baelfire and turn the Dark One into a force of good. Of course, Rumpelstiltskin realizes that he would never be able to truly hold the Dark One as a slave because he will be terrified of him. The old man sympathizes with Rumpelstiltskin, but reiterates that obtaining the dagger is the only way to protect Baelfire from being taken away.

Convinced that he had no other choice, Rumpelstiltskin plots to steal the dagger by setting fire to the Duke's castle during the night. After stealing the blade, Rumpelstiltskin runs back into the forest to meet Baelfire, whom he told to go wait at home while he summoned the Dark One.

Upon calling the name on the dagger, "Zoso," the Dark One appears. Though he attempted to act brave, Rumpelstiltskin cowered in the Dark One's presence, and when the entity implies that Baelfire isn't truly Rumpelstiltskin's son, Rumpelstiltskin stabbed the Dark One in a fit of blind rage.

Upon getting a better look at the dying entity's face, Rumpelstiltskin discovers the Dark One was in fact the old man who had told him about the dagger in the first place. Shocked, Rumpelstiltskin asks him why he would do such a thing as plot his own murder. The man tells him that all the horrible deeds he was forced to carry out as the Dark One has made his life a burden, and that he welcoms death as a release.

Cackling at Rumpelstiltskin's blind faith and desperation, the old man spits his last words: "Magic always comes with a price," knowing that now that price was Rumpelstiltskin's to bear forever, sealed with his own name replacing Zoso's on the dagger.

Rumpelstiltskin, now with more power than he ever dreamed, returns to his hamlet to humiliate and kill the knights who had harassed him the other day, all while Baelfire watches in horror as his father relished in their deaths. When Baelfire asks his father the cause for his actions, Rumpelstiltskin states that he had simply protected what belonged to him, and that he wasn't longer afraid, thus beginning his reign of terror.

Some time later, Rumpelstiltskin has amassed considerable wealth and a castle of his own, but grows lonely and seeks someone to take care of his estate. Summoned by King Maurice to protect his town from a horde of ogres, Rumpelstiltskin made a deal to protect the kingdom in exchange for the king's daughter, Belle, to live in his castle as a caretaker.

After holding her captive for several months, Rumpelstiltskin grows fond of Belle, and allows her to go into town on the pretext of fetching him straw for spinning gold (although he suspected she would not return). While traveling on the road, Belle encounters the Evil Queen who encourages her to kiss Rumpelstiltskin by saying "true love's kiss" would cure him of his evil.

Against Rumpelstiltskin's assumptions (as well as her own) Belle returns to the castle and kisses him, causing Rumpelstiltskin to begin to revert to his human form. Shocked by her actions, {C /span>Rumpelstiltskin incorrectly believes that Belle was working with the Queen when Belle says that she learned from a dark woman that kissing him will break his curse.

In a fit of anger, Rumpelstiltskin locked her in his dungeon and then cast her out of his castle, saying that he valued his power more then the love Belle was willing to give him. However, Belle challenged Rumpelstiltskin, saying that despite all his efforts to be seen as powerful and feared, he was still a coward at heart for not being able to accept that someone could actually love him, and that all that his power would bring him in the end would be "an empty heart and a chipped cup."

After Belle leaves, the Queen visits Rumpelstiltskin and goads him about her fate, telling him that after Belle had returned to her own kingdom, her father had locked her in a tower and sought priests to cleanse her, believing that she had succumb to Rumpelstiltskin's evil ways. According to the Queen, after being tortured and disavowed, Belle had killed herself by jumping off the tower.

Visably shaken by this knowledge, Rumpelstiltskin believed the Queen was lying and tells her to leave. Left in his grief, an emotional Rumpelstiltskin replaces a golden chalice in his trophy room with the teacup that Belle had chipped on her first day as his caretaker, the only memento he has of his lost love.

Some time later, he is summoned to King George's court, where King George begs him to bring his son, who had been killed in a tournament, back from the dead. Rumpelstiltskin admits that not even magic can bring back the dead, but tells the King that his dead son had a twin. Years before, the King and his wife could not bear children and had made a deal with Rumpelstilskin to bring them a child. He made a deal with a poor, couple that had given birth to twins but were about to lose their farm and gave one of their sons to the King.

He demands the location of King George's family fairy godmother in return for getting the other twin, which King George reluctantly gives. He goes back to the farmer's farm to collect the other twin, who turns out to be Prince James. He convinces James to go to King George's court and become a prince, which he does.

Some time later, he meets with Snow White, who wants him to give her something that will make her forget about an unforgettable love. Rumpelstiltskin makes her a potion and takes some of her hair in return. Prince James, still in love with Snow, is determined not to marry Abigail. After helping Abigail free her true love from a curse, he goes to Rumpelstiltskin to ask for help in locating Snow. He tells Prince James that he will help him as long as he gives him his cloak that he is wearing. Prince James agrees to give him his cloak and leaves with the information on how to locate Snow. After Prince James leaves, Rumpelstiltskin takes a strand of hair off the cloak and puts it in a bottle with the hair he took from Snow White and places it on his shelf with his other potions.

Rumpelstiltskin then goes to Cinderella's step-family's manor, where the fairy godmother is in the process of granting Cinderella a chance to go to Prince Thomas's ball. He destroys the fairy godmother and takes her wand, much to Cinderella's shock. However, despite her angry protests, he convinces her to make a new deal with him instead - she could go to the ball for something precious in return.

Cinderella agrees, signs the contract, and hurries off to the ball. Later, at their wedding ball, Rumpelstiltskin briefly shows up to remind her about their contract, then walks off. Many months later, he meets with Cinderella again, who tells him that she was having twins, and wants to make a new deal. At first, he doesn't buy it, but eventually agrees to sign a contract with a magical quill, which paralyzes him.

Thomas, Grumpy and James load him up into a cart to take him away to prison, when Thomas mysteriously disappears. Cinderella confronts him, but he says that Thomas would never return unless he recieved her baby. Then he is carted away to his prison in the dwarves' mine.

A few weeks later, Snow White and James come to him, asking for help because of the Evil Queen's Dark Curse. Rumpelstiltskin agrees to give them information in exchange for their unborn baby's name, to which Snow White agrees. He, along with every other character, is consumed by the Dark Curse on the day of Emma Swan's birth.

Appearances

 * Pilot
 * The Thing You Love Most
 * The Price of Gold
 * That Still Small Voice
 * The Shepherd
 * The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
 * Desperate Souls
 * 7:15am
 * The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
 * Skin Deep
 * Heart of Darkness

Trivia

 * He was in love with Belle and was once known as The Beast from Beauty and the Beast.
 * Both he and his counterpart have a habit of being captured and locked in prison cells. The Thing You Love Most, The Price of Gold, The Shepherd, Skin Deep.
 * Ironically, Rumpelstiltskin is given a deadline of three days to save his son from becoming a soldier in the Duke's army. In the original fairy tale, the girl Rumpelstiltskin spins gold thread for is also given a deadline of three days to guess his true name or else she must foreit her firstborn child.
 * He is seen spinning gold out of straw in various episodes. However, he states that gold itself is meaningless to him, and the real reason he spins so much is that it helps him relax and forget what he has lost.
 * His powers can be taken away by a kiss from his true love since his powers are a curse. Because of this, he is very cautious as there are many who would take advantage of his powerlessness to enact revenge on him.
 * He is a potion-maker and claims to have a potion for every magic in existence except for true love, which he also claims is the the most powerful magic there is. Heart of Darkness.
 * His counterpart and himself prior to being cursed with Zoso's powers talk in a more suave tone and had normal skin tone. During his time making deals, his voice seemed to become higher-pitched and his skin became grayish.
 * In the traditional fairytales, Rumpelstiltskin was an imp, who spun straw into gold for a girl in return for her firstborn child. The girl was told she could keep her child if she could guess his name. When she finally did, Rumpelstiltskin destroyed himself.

Rumpelstiltskin