Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-4772791-20160218074223/@comment-25926288-20160218132016

I don't think Bella Swan was as bad as Rumple, just terribly bland....oh, you mean Belle.

What you are doing is blaming the victim for not reasoning with the criminal. Rumple knew he did wrong to Bele, so the case is already over at that point. Belle had every right to leave Rumple because this isn't the first time he's done this and she shouldn't have to give a guy five chances to get his act together. She wanted some time to herself and that should be respected. Plus, you have to see her side of the story because only the audience knows what Rumple did.

Let's go through it together in Bele's POV.

Belle gets married to Rumple and he's finally choosing love over his hatred and power. Belle doesn't want the dagger and suggest that Rumple put his dagger far, far away in his vault; however, he declines.

Belle carries the dagger around, despite not wanting it, and she and Rumple encounter her "friends" that spot that Zelena has "killed" herself and Rumple's scot free.

Belle is a human and uses the dagger to serve her selfish wish of being a hero and Belle apologizes. (Because she wanted Rumple to put the dagger away, but he refused). Belle stumbles upon a gauntlet and sees it doesn't lead to her or the fake dagger and manages to appear in the clock tower where Rumple is performing some dark ritual doing all evil things she was afraid of. (Belle dreamed of Rumple reverting to his sinister ways in a dream and here he was being all sinister).

So, she and he go to the townline and she really doesn't want to, but she sees that he has lied to her, potentially countless times, and he still can't overcome his thirst for power and revenge. So, she does what a hero would do and not give in to her selfishness and banishes Rumple to the LWM.

Fastforward

Rumple returns and blah, blah, blah, now he's dying. She was scared to let him in her heart once more, but she can't just let him die, so she warns her "friends" to come assist. Rumple is in a coma and there's a new entity to stop. Belle, still afraid of him worming his way back into her heart, stays to watch over him because noone else would and she still cares for him, obviously.

Rumple comes out of his coma, after none of her "friends" helped her and finds him. She's confronted by a wimply coward that she's never seen before. Is this a ploy? This wouldn't be the first time he's tricked her. As you can see on her face, she wants to help him, but nothing more. She can't allow this man who broke her heart so many times to seduce her, so to speak. She helps him get about and back to a normal life as any decent person should.

Rumple faces his fears and shows new strength that she's never seen before, but he's hurt her too many times that she needs time to herself and to figure things out for herself before trying again.

Then in Swan Song, she sees that Rumple has truly changed for the better and is willing to try at it again.

That is what Belle sees. It's not her fault she didn't know Rumple's secret plan. How would she know when she......gasp, wasn't there! And you can't blame Lacey (who isn't Belle) and attribute it to Belle when clearly she wasn't herself.