Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-34563899-20180202235154

So your reaction to the title of this post may be surprise that I would make such a statement. I mean Rumple is horrid right? He created the dark curse, killed his ex wife, tried to steal Cinderella's baby the list goes on right?

This is most people's opinion on Rumple. He has been a villain for centuries, a vile evil villain and thats the case closed.

However these people are overlooking some very important information.

The Dark One curse. The show makes it very clear that the Dark One curse pushes those who are a victim of it to act selfishly in all circumstances. The victim can fight back against these pushes and sometimes overcome them if without the curse they would not act in the ways they are urged to by it but fighting back against the curse is shown to be very difficult even for the purest of hearts.

I mean look at Emma and Hook when they were dark ones. They did awful things, not because they were terrible people but because they were urged to by the dark one curse.

Before Rumple became the dark one he was shown be a very nice man. A coward, but a very nice man. He was extremely gentle, a loving father and husband. I mean Milah was very cruel to him yet he was always very respectful and kind toward her. Also when Rumple and Baelfire first meet Zozo the previous dark one to Rumple, Zozo is pretending to be a beggar and asks Rumple for spare change. And Rumple gives him spare change. This just goes to show that before Rumple was the dark one he was a very good man.

Then when Rumple becomes the Dark One he *then* starts doing awful things. Since he was such a good man before he became the dark one, and knowing the nature of the dark one curse which I explained earlier in this post, doesnt that just tell you that all the evil things Rumple did prior to the events of season five weren't really his fault but that of the curse?

Also even as the Dark One Rumple is often shown managing to fight back against the urges it gives him and do the right thing!

Like:
 * Ending the Ogre's war and thus saving thousands of lives many of which were those of young children
 * Saving Belle from the Queens Of Darkness in the process having to give up an item that was very important to him (forgot what this item was)
 * Saving his family and friends from being murdered by Peter Pan *at the cost of his own life*
 * Saving Emma from the monster Gideon tried to get to kill her(Know this was after season five in which i have said he was a villain during but still)
 * Trying to prevent the final battle between Emma and Gideon so neither of them would get hurt or killed(yeah season six after season five when i said he was a villain but still)

The fact he's able to do so much good at times *even with the dark one curse burdening him* just goes to show that not only is he innocent but actually a pretty good guy!

In season five however I would say that he becomes a villain. This is because the dark one curse that causes so much death, grief and destruction was at last abou to be destroyed..... but Rumple restores it so that he can have his powers back. Therefore in season five Rumple is undoubtedly a villain, but before that? No, before that I'd even go as far as to say he was a hero.

I suppose he has redeemed himself now in season seven though since he is now trying to pass the dark one curse onto the guardian so that it can never be used for evil ever again but... still what he did in season five was vile. 