Rumplestiltskin

"All magic comes with a price!"

- Rumplestiltskin's iconic phrase

Rumplestiltskin is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the first episode of the first season. He is portrayed by starring cast member Robert Carlyle, and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Mr. Gold.

Rumplestiltskin is based on the titular character from the fairytale "Rumplestiltskin", and takes the places of the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" and of the Crocodile from Peter Pan.

Rumplestiltskin is one of the most feared beings in the Enchanted Forest and is notorious for his deals.

Before the Curse
In Rumplestiltskin's young age, his father is branded a coward and he is raised by spinsters. When he is older, he marries a woman named Milah. One day, he is called upon to fight in the ogre war, he is excited to prove himself and show that he is not a coward like his father. However, the prisoner he was assigned to watch over as his first task--a Seer--indicates she knows of his fate, and would gladly exchange this information for a glass of water. She tells him that Milah is pregnant, and that "his actions on the battlefield would leave him fatherless". At first, skeptical, Rumplestiltskin eventually believes what she says and intentionally injures himself, so that he can get out of the war and be with his son, Baelfire. Milah was bitter over the life she had with Rumplestiltskin and arranged to disappear with Killian Jones, a pirate captain. Rumplestiltskin did attempt to "rescue" his wife from the pirates, but his cowardice overcame him and he was forced to return home to Baelfire and tell him that his mother was gone. When the kingdom finally had to resort to using children as soldiers in the Ogre Wars, Rumplestiltskin and his son flee into the forest, only to be found and bullied by royal knights. After the knights leave, Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire are approached by a mysterious old man who offers them help in exchange for a small amount of food and company.

After listening to Rumplestiltskin's story, the old man tries to inspire him to find another way to save his son, but Rumplestiltskin is adamant that the only real choice was to run away. Knowing that Rumplestiltskin 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 possession. 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 Rumplestiltskin 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, Rumplestiltskin 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 Rumplestiltskin, but reiterates that obtaining the dagger is the only way to protect Baelfire from being taken away.

Convinced that he has no other choice, Rumplestiltskin plots to steal the dagger by setting fire to the Duke's castle during the night. After stealing the blade, Rumplestiltskin 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 attempts to act bravely, Rumplestiltskin cowers in the Dark One's presence, and when he implies that Baelfire is not truly Rumplestiltskin's son, Rumplestiltskin stabs the entity in a fit of blind rage.

Upon getting a better look at the dying entity's face, Rumplestiltskin discovers the Dark One was in fact the old man who had told him about the dagger in the first place. Shocked, Rumplestiltskin 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 welcomes death as a release.

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

Rumplestiltskin, 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, Rumplestiltskin states that he had simply protected what belonged to him, and that he was no longer afraid, thus beginning his reign of terror. Eager to fulfill his promise, Rumplestiltskin puts his newfound powers to use by bringing about an end to the Ogre Wars, walking into the middle of battlefields and brokering a truce between the warring parties. However, while this good deed brings Rumplestiltskin reverence and respect, the powers of the Dark One have corrupted him, causing him to continually hurt people and seek more power for fear that he would not be able to protect Baelfire from his enemies otherwise.

As such, reverence turns into fear, allowing Rumplestiltskin to become a wealthy and powerful individual who terrifies those around him, much to the distaste of Baelfire, who believes that his father would not need so much power to protect him if he simply did not have any. Rumplestiltskin knows this is not an option, as the only way he knows he could be rid of the Dark One's abilities would be if someone killed him with his magic dagger.

Wanting things to return to the way they were before, Baelfire offers his own deal to Rumplestiltskin: if Baelfire is able to find a way for Rumplestiltskin to give up his powers without killing him or hurting Baelfire in the process, Rumplestiltskin must do so. With this goal in mind, Baelfire seeks out the Blue Fairy, who offers him a magic bean which can produce a portal to transport him and his father to a "land without magic," where Rumplestiltskin would be powerless—but alive and with his son.

However, when it the time comes to follow through with Baelfire's plan, Rumplestiltskin reverts to his former personality. Not wanting to give up the influence he had garnered as the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin clings to the edge of the bean's magic portal with his dagger, abandoning Baelfire in the process. In their last moments together in the Enchanted Forest, Baelfire calls his father a coward and Rumplestiltskin breaks the only deal he ever really cared about: sacrificing power for his son's happiness.

Immediately regretting his decision, Rumplestiltskin summons the Blue Fairy and begs her to send him to be with Baelfire. When she says that it is impossible to do so by any magical means, Rumplestiltskin tricks her into revealing that a powerful curse could allow him to be with his son. From that point on, Rumplestiltskin swears that he will stop at nothing and would sacrifice an entire world if it meant seeing Baelfire again, acknowledging that he had "all the time in the world" to figure out how. A short time passes since he lost Baelfire, and the seer appears before him once more. She proclaims the future she foresaw for him many years ago has recently come to pass. Rumplestiltskin threatens her to tell him how he can find his son again. Eventually, she allows him to take her powers so that he may learn to see into the future. By doing so, the burden of future sight is no longer in her hands. Just as the seer is drawing her last breaths of life, she sees into his future one last time. The seer speaks of how he will reunite with his son under the most unusual of circumstances, and that there is a young boy who will be the key to Rumplestiltskin finding his son again. However, this boy will also be his undoing. Rumplestiltskin does not see the boy as a true threat, and says he'll have to kill him. A time gap passes. Rumplestiltskin meets with a mysterious man in a bar who claims he could get a magic bean to allow travel to another world. Rumplestiltskin agrees and promises the man eternal life in exchange. If the man proves false, Rumplestiltskin will age him to dust. Before leaving the bar, Rumplestiltskin sees Killian Jones enter with his crew and stays to follow after them. In the alley outside the bar, Rumplestiltskin passes them and the pirates proceed to mock him. When Rumplestiltskin reveals himself, Jones recognizes him as the coward from his ship, but also as the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin challenges Jones to continue their duel, which Rumplestiltskin wins. As he attempts to rip out Jones' heart, he is stopped by the appearance of Milah, who is alive but now a pirate.

When questioned, Milah says that she fell in love with Jones the night in the bar when he shared stories of the world. She also admits that the story of her having been kidnapped by Hook all those years ago was a fabrication. Rumplestiltskin is furious, but Milah wants to trade their lives and freedom for the magic bean Rumplestiltskin wishes to find. Wanting to first see the bean, Rumplestiltskin returns to the ship with Milah and Jones. He confirms that they do indeed have the magic bean. Milah again asks if they have a deal. Rumplestiltskin questions her if she felt any regret for leaving their son. While Milah does admit that she is haunted by her choice because she let her misery cloud her judgment, but she could not bear to remain with Rumplestiltskin because she never loved him. In fury, Rumplestiltskin rips out her heart. Jones screams in fury, holding Milah to him as she whispers her love for him. Rumplestiltskin crushes Milah's heart. Jones prepares to attack, but Rumplestiltskin cuts off his left hand that is still clutched around the magic bean. Despite Jones' driving a hook into Rumplestiltskin's chest, Rumplestiltskin departs with the severed hand. However, the magic bean is not in the severed hand and Rumplestiltskin realizes he has been tricked. Some time later, Rumplestiskin finds Jiminy Cricket and gives him a potion to be "free" from his parents (Martin and Myrna), but does not care what the potion makes them. Jiminy's parents switch the potion to give it to Geppetto's parents, Stephen and Donna, which converts them into puppets. Sometime later, Rumplestiltskin visits a miller's daughter, Cora, who is stuck in a room with straw after boasting she can spin straw into gold. King Xavier will give her death if she does not do it. Rumplestiltskin claims that he can help her, but for a cost. He shows Cora that he can spin straw into gold, and states that he will spin the straw into gold if she agrees to his terms. When she asks what this is, he tells her she must give him her firstborn child. She agrees after asking him to actually teach her how to spin straw into gold, to which he agrees. He explains the key to making the magic work is to give into the rage of emotion someone feels at their worst moment. For him, it was when he had to kiss the boots of a man in front of his son. Cora envisions making everyone who humiliated her kneel before her to the point where their knees and necks crack and break from the strain. The straw then turns to gold. Later, Cora demonstrates her skill in front of the whole royal court, and accepts the hand of King Xavier's son, Prince Henry, in marriage. In the crowd, Cora's eyes meet Rumplestiltskin's, and she gives him a satisfied smile.

On the day before Cora's wedding, Rumplestiltskin visits her, and the two engage in a passionate kiss. Cora muses about how she is fifth in line to the throne to become queen, and that this cannot be accomplished without an awful lot of bloodshed, and realizes she would rather have what Rumplestiltskin can give her. He replies he can only give her darkness and isolation, and Cora responds that he can also give her love. The two share a romantic embrace, and Rumplestiltskin suggests they change the deal to be that any child of Rumplestiltskin's and Cora's is his. Cora readily agrees to this, but then asks him to teach her how to rip the heart out of someone; specifically for the purpose of ripping out King Xavier's heart and showing it to him before her dies. He agrees. Later that night, Cora goes to King Xavier, who offers her the chance to run off with Rumplestiltskin or marry his son and have the whole kingdom at her feet. Basically, he wants Cora to choose between love and power. Cora leaves King Xavier's chambers with a box--presumably containing the king's heart--and goes to meet with Rumplestiltskin in the courtyard of the castle. She states she will not be going with him, and she has chosen power over love. He is puzzled, and confused over whose heart is in the box. She admits it is her own, and that she had to for the sake of doing whatever it takes to get to the top. When Rumplestiltskin demands payment for the deal, Cora reminds him the deal was changed by him. Tearfully, she says any child she has will never be any of his. After Regina hears from her father, Henry, of a mysterious book Cora received from a man long ago that made her change drastically, Regina steals the book. She reads out a summoning spell using Rumplestiltskin's name and he immediately appears on a couch. The two start to talk and Rumplestiltskin tells her that he already knows who she is and that she and his family have known each other in the past and in the future; even that he held her as a baby. He suggests she can help kill an enemy, but Regina says she does not want to hurt anyone, much to Rumplestiltskin's surprise. Rumplestiltskin makes a magical mirror appear in the room and shows her that it is a portal to an annoying little world. She will not have to physically harm anyone; the only thing she has to do is give the person a little push into the mirror and he or she will be gone from her life forever. On Regina's wedding night, Rumplestiltskin appears inside the looking glass and beckons Regina to push her mother, Cora into it. Regina obeys. Shortly after, Regina meets up with Rumplestiltskin and gives him back the book that her mother stole from him. She then tells him that she cannot use magic because of how much she loved it. Rumplestiltskin says he could teach her many things. Regina agrees, telling him that she will not turn out like her mother. She also asks what the price is and he tells her that she will do something for him. At some point in time Rumplestiltskin arrives in the Land Without Color. He watches Victor Frankenstein and his brother. He somehow discovers that Victor is attempting to revive the dead. Rumplestiltskin appears to him while he is setting up his lab and asks Victor to teach him this knowledge. After seeing the amount of gold he will receive, Victor begins to introduce Igor to this man, only to find that Rumplestiltskin has vanished in a flash of lightning.

Rumplestiltskin appears to Dr. Frankenstein once again after the death of his brother. Due to the drastic medical procedures, Gerhardt's heart has become scorched. Rumplestiltskin strikes a deal with the doctor. Dr. Frankenstein can travel back to Rumplestiltskin's land, with help from "a master of the hat". He tells him that in his land there are hearts that can withstand anything. He also tells Victor of a woman named Regina, whom has a vast collection of these hearts. If Victor is willing to put on a show for her he will obtain one of these hearts. Rumplestiltskin begins training Regina in the dark arts, but Regina cannot bring herself to use magic the same way her mother did. Annoyed by her hesitation, Rumplestiltskin tells Regina to figure out what is holding her back. Later, Regina asks how she might be able to bring back someone who has died, but Rumplestiltskin states "magic can do many things, but not that." During the conversation, Jefferson appears with a white crystal ball to give to Rumplestiltskin. When Rumplestiltskin asks about a pair of slippers, Jefferson says he was unable to get them, but Rumplestiltskin still takes the crystal. Regina asks about continuing the magic practice, but Rumplestiltskin states that she is wasting his time because she cannot let go of her love.

Later, Regina finds Rumplestiltskin, who is training a new apprentice because Regina did not have what it takes. Regina simply turns and grabs the girl's heart and crushes it. Then, Rumplestiltskin resumes her lessons. Later, Jefferson and Dr. Frankenstein meet up with Rumplestiltskin, who thanks Dr. Frankenstein for his assistance and gives him the heart he took from Cora's vault as payment for removing Regina's distraction. Dr. Frankenstein and Rumplestiltskin disagree on the usefulness of magic, but Rumplestiltskin says that, sooner or later, Frankenstein will find out how useful magic truly is to him. Some time later, Rumplestiltskin has amassed considerable wealth and a castle of his own, but grows lonely and sought someone to take care of his estate. Summoned by Sir Maurice to protect his town from a horde of ogres, Rumplestiltskin makes a deal to protect the kingdom in exchange for Maurice's daughter, Belle, to live in his castle forever as a caretaker.

After holding her captive for several months, Rumplestiltskin grows fond of Belle, and allows her to go into town on the pretext of fetching him straw for spinning gold. In actuality, he expects to not see her again once she leaves; assuming she has the opportunity to finally leave on her own. While traveling on the road, Belle encounters the Evil Queen, who encourages her to kiss Rumplestiltskin, as "true love's kiss" would cure him of his evil.

Against Rumplestiltskin's assumptions (as well as her own) Belle returns to the castle and kisses him, causing Rumplestiltskin to begin to revert to his human form. Shocked by her actions, he incorrectly believes that Belle was working with the Queen when she stutters that she learned from a woman that kissing him would break his curse.

In a fit of anger, Rumplestiltskin locks her in his dungeon and later casts her out of his castle, saying that he values his power more than the love Belle was willing to give him. However, Belle challenges Rumplestiltskin, saying that despite all his efforts to be seen as powerful and feared, he is 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." Little does she realize the true motivation behind his incessant quest for magic and power is an all-consuming drive to reunite with his son.

After Belle leaves, the Queen visits Rumplestiltskin 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 succumbed to Rumplestiltskin's evil ways. According to the Queen, after being tortured and disavowed, Belle killed herself by jumping off the tower. This is, of course, a lie, as she is still alive years later in Storybrooke.

Visibly shaken by this knowledge, Rumplestiltskin calls the Queen a liar and tells her to leave. Left alone in his grief, an emotional Rumplestiltskin 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 still 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 has been killed in a tournament, back from the dead. Rumplestiltskin admits that not even magic can bring back the dead, but tells the King that his dead son had a twin. Apparently, years before, the King and his wife could not bear children and so had made a deal with Rumplestiltskin to bring them a child. Rumplestiltskin, for his part, made a deal with a poor couple that had given birth to twins but were about to lose their farm, whereby they might give one of their sons to the King in exchange for clearance of all their debts.

He demands the location of King George's family fairy godmother in return for getting the other twin, information which King George reluctantly gives. He goes back to the farm to collect the other twin. He convinces him to go to King George's court and become a prince. To find the Fairy Godmother, Rumplestiltskin goes to Cinderella's family 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, but she would owe him something "precious". Cinderella agrees, signs the contract, and hurries off to the ball. Some time later, he meets with Snow White, who wants him to give her something that would make her forget about an unforgettable love. Rumplestiltskin plucks two hairs from her head, using one to create a forgetfulness potion for her, keeping the other as payment. Prince Charming, however, is still in love with Snow White and just as determined not to marry Abigail. After helping Abigail free her true love from a curse, he goes to Rumplestiltskin to ask for help in locating Snow White. He tells Prince Charming that he would help him in return for the cloak that the prince is wearing. Prince Charming agrees and leaves with information leading to Snow White. After Prince Charming leaves, Rumplestiltskin takes a strand of hair from the cloak and puts it in a bottle with the hair he took from Snow White.

As he places it on his shelf with his other potions, it begins to glow. In this manner, Rumplestiltskin succeeds in bottling the last and strongest magic, which he has heretofore been unable to capture. With it, he can do "anything." He creates the Dark Curse and places a single drop of true love on the parchment, as "a little safety value". After that, he confronts Prince Charming in the Infinite Forest, struggling to find his way out and get to Snow White. Rumplestiltskin uses magic to steal his mother's ring, and enchant it so that it will glow when Snow White is near, then offers a deal. Charming vehemently disagrees, and draws his sword. Rumplestiltskin humors him with a fight, but with his powers, he easily defeats Charming, and informs him that they're after the same thing: he and Snow White being together.

He shows Charming the remainder of his true love potion, to which Charming asks what Rumplestiltskin could know about true love. He confesses that he once loved someone, "a brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness", but she died. The fragile nature of true love combined with its unequaled power, the ability to break any curse, is why Rumplestiltskin wants it to be protected. He informs Charming that his end of the deal is hiding the potion "inside the belly of a beast". When asked why he would hide it, he replies that he's saving it for a rainy day.

After Charming successfully puts the egg in Maleficent's Dragon Form, he confronts Rumplestiltskin on the beach near Maleficent's castle. Rumplestiltskin gives him the ring, and then uses his powers to give him a princely outfit to make him ready for his big moment. Charming asks why Rumplestiltskin is helping him so much, and he replies that he's a fan of true love, and what it creates. After the war to take back the kingdom between the forces of Charming and Snow White and the combined armies of King George and the Evil Queen is over, the Evil Queen is captured and nearly executed. Rumplestiltskin is in attendance at the execution that never took place. Later that evening he meets with Snow White in the courtyard and gives her a way to prove if the Evil Queen really can change. It is an enchanted knife that when used will not harm Snow White, but whoever uses it will never be able to harm Snow White or Charming in that land ever again. The Evil Queen does use it, proving she cannot change and she is banished to her castle. Rumplestiltskin visits her there, and she is angry with him because he disabled her from harming her enemy Snow White in the Enchanted Forest ever again. However, Rumplestiltskin reminds her of the particular caveat of the enchantment, she cannot harm them in this land, he says but there are other lands she can harm them in. Now Regina is reminded of the Dark Curse, and she goes to Snow White and Charming's wedding to announce her plans to enact it. Later, at a ball celebrating Cinderella's wedding to Prince Thomas, Rumplestiltskin shows up, just long enough to claim his "precious" price as her firstborn child. Many months later, he meets with Cinderella again, whereupon she tells him that she was having twins and wants to make a new deal (this is just a ploy to get Rumplestiltskin to handle a cursed quill and trap him somewhere where he could not take her child). At first he does not believe her but, after warning Cinderella about the consequences of using magic against him, he eventually signs the contract with a quill filled with Squid Ink, which paralyzes him.

Prince Thomas, Grumpy and Prince Charming load him up into a cart to take him away to prison, but Thomas mysteriously disappears. Cinderella confronts Rumplestiltskin, who says that Thomas would never return unless he receives her baby: all magic comes with a price, and this was it. Then he is carted away to his prison in the dwarves' mine. When Snow White becomes heavily pregnant, she also grows even more concerned about the threat of the Dark Curse from her former step-mother. Snow White and Prince Charming go to Rumplestiltskin, the only man powerful enough to counter Regina's magic. Their escort warns them not to tell him their names, because it would give him power over them, but Rumplestiltskin already knows who they are. He greets them by name and tells them to take down their hooded robes.

Rumplestiltskin agrees to give them information in exchange for their unborn baby's name, to which Snow White agrees, in spite of the guard's earlier warning. He tells Snow White and James that the only thing that can save all the people in the land from the curse is "that thing growing in her belly" and that the final battle will not begin until her 28th birthday. As they turn to leave, Rumplestiltskin asks for "her" (the child's) name, seeing through Prince Charming's lie that it is a boy. After a moment of hesitation, Snow White agrees, and so Rumplestiltskin finds out that the savior's name will be Emma. Afterwards, he wrote Emma's name repeatedly using Squid Ink on a piece of parchment to ensure he would remember it. Rumplestiltskin knew that Emma's name would be the key to regaining his memories while under the influence of the Dark Curse. When Regina attempts to fulfill her plans to use the Dark Curse, she finds that it does not work. She vis Rumplestiltskin to find out why, and his price for the information is that he receives riches, comfort, and influence during his life in Storybrooke—and that if he comes to her for any reason, she must give him anything he asks for, provided he says "please." After the Queen agrees to this, Rumplestiltskin tells her that she must sacrifice the heart of the thing she loves most for the Curse to work. He, along with every other character, is consumed by the Dark Curse the night of Emma Swan's birth. For events occurring after the casting of the Dark Curse, see Mr. Gold.

Trivia

 * His true love is Belle, and he takes the place of the Beast from the fairytale, "Beauty and the Beast".
 * Rumplestiltskin is 300 years old by the time the Dark Curse is cast.
 * According to the Blue Fairy, Rumplestiltskin's (The Dark One's) powers do not belong in the Enchanted Forest.
 * During the series premiere, it was mentioned that Rumplestiltskin is prophetic. This ability to see the future may be how he set so many plans ahead.
 * He is seen spinning gold out of straw in various episodes. However, gold is worthless to him; he does it to forget what he has lost.
 * Like all curses, Rumplestiltskin's curse of being the Dark One can be broken with a kiss of true love.
 * He is a potion-maker, and once claimed to have a potion for every magic in existence, except for true love—a potion that he later crafted from intertwined strands of hair from Snow White and Prince Charming.
 * While human, Rumplestiltskin looked normal. Over time as his existence as the Dark One (about 300 years), his voice became higher-pitched and his skin became more gray.
 * Calls everyone he meets "dearie".
 * He says "Tick-tock, dearie, tick-tock!" to Milah (Killian said he looked "not like a rat, but a crocodile" because of his greyish and scaly skin), a reference to the crocodile who swallowed a clock from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
 * He says that true love is the most powerful magic of all. Rumplestiltskin discovered the power of magic when Milah tells him how she fell in love with Killian Jones.
 * Before he was imprisoned, Rumplestiltskin fought Cora and won. It is implied Cora came close to winning.

Appearances
Rumpelstiltskin Rumpelstiltskin Titelitury Rumpelstilzchen Rumplestiltskin Tremotino