Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-25375217-20180117025415/@comment-27060727-20180117031515

DatNuttyKid wrote: Wicked Wizard of the West wrote: No need for Rumple to exit in this ep. Maybe they just introduce the Guardian, but Rumple thinks he needs to finish helping Henry and everyone with the Gothel problem and stick to the finale. Well, the Guardian has already been "introduced" twice -- Alice was strongly hinted to be the Guardian in Beauty, and Anastasia was outright confirmed to be the Guardian in The Eighth Witch. The Guardian needs to do something notable in their next central episode, especially if we have 711-716 where they aren't doing anything. That could be taking Rumple's power, or it could be killing Gothel, or it could be something wildly unpredictable. But if we get another episode of "hey this person is/might be/will eventually be The Guardian!!!" that doesn't amount to anything... bleh. I don't think Rumple is going to exit right after he finds out who the real Guardian is.

And if we are to assume he dies during the present day, I'm pretty sure they're not going to frame it as a suicide and have him ask the guardian finish him off - he'll likely have to stick around to be killed off as a major plot point.