Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-198.84.233.164-20130311151417/@comment-86.157.127.0-20130311182018

Both Cora and Rumple were dark and True love is implied to be an element of light. Remember the blue fairy called Rumple's love for Bae the last bit of light inside of him that was keeping the Dark one Curse under some level of control. Rumple later called Belle a "brief flicker of light in an ocean of darkness" and by that point the curse was deeply engrained in him. You also have to remember the way he acted around Belle durring their time together and how suprised he was she came back. He said to amnesiac Belle she made him want to be the best version of himself again and I for one think he was being honest about that despie being on his death bed at the time. The curse was also near death at that point so it was probably the "real" eumple talking and not the man twisted by the Dark one curse.