Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5521796-20130130052521/@comment-4975807-20130204185341

75.141.193.117 wrote:

She knew she was a coward for leaving Bae. She felt sorry for that and said "I let misery cloud my judgement". Leaving her son still isn't worth a death sentence.

"Hook shot Belle!"

He could have been aiming for Gold for all we knew, and even if he wasn't, he managed not to hit her in the head or vital organs. That said, yeah, he's an awful person for doing this. Doesn't mean that any of his views on Rumpel are unjustified. Awful people can still be right about things.

People forget a lot of things about Rumpel. He killed or aided in the deaths or poor conditions of many innocents. Off the top of my head ... his mute maid, Gaston, Zoso (granted, that guy was a monster), his own wife ... He threatened Snow and her family with death (including Henry!) ... He manipulated a victim of abuse into helping him set off a curse that destroyed most of a world.

Yet: "But he ruined Rumbelle!"

Like I said, shippers. To be accurate, it was not Milah admitting she was a coward and wrong for letting her unhappiness help her make the decision to leave her child behind that scorned Rumple enough to kill her. It was her say, I never loved you! that really grated his nerves. He let his emotions get the better of him, and made the ruthless action to kill her to appease his anger, which was really a terrible decision on Rumple's part.

I haven't forgotten about all of Rumplestiltskin's bloody deeds. I would not dislike Hook for such a shallow reason as "He tore apart Rumbelle" because although it was heartbreaking to see Belle lose her memories and Mr. Gold in his anguish. Yet, at the same time, while I was sympathetic to him, I also saw that him losing his precious Belle was almost like all the bad karma he earned from doing all those bad things to other people was coming back to him, and the debt was finally settled.

I do like Rumbelle, if you are wondering, but I feel their relationship is a bit of a power struggle, too. It's a truly imperfect relationship. Belle is a bit idealistic when it comes to love, and she so wants Mr. Gold to be good and not have to depend on magic. But truly, Mr. Gold has lived with magic for so long it's become like breathing air to him. He doesn't know how to deal without magic, and being Rumplestiltskin, he needs magic. To him, power has always been magic. Magic is power.

But these characters do not live in a perfect world, and having seen Hook do what he did for revenge, it makes me think, "Is revenge ever worth it? Is it worth it to get even with the other person?" Rumple killing Milah, I believe, is what made Hook turn into a very bitter, revenge driven man. He doesn't care about anything else besides getting even with the man who took away his love, and I think Hook was willing to do anything to have that chance to settle it with Rumple. Yet, it's a real dynamic considering Rumple had wanted to get even with Hook for "stealing" his wife and then finding out Milah went along willingly, and thus Milah became the person of his absolute hate and disgust for choosing a pirate over him. That doesn't make Rumple any less guiltier than Hook for using revenge as a platform for harming another person.