Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11058666-20141228031222/@comment-24674051-20150328205253

exactly. Think back to "Lacey", when Belle made the statement to Rumple (in his castle) "You really are as dark as they say", Rumples response was simply, and matter-of-factly, something along the lines of  "Even Darker, dearie". And you look at what Gold told Emma at the Sorcerer's mansion right before he tried to suck her up in the Hat. He has a high level of self awareness (Something that I like in his character). He knows that he has issues. He knows he's a monster. The only problem is that he chooses the wrong ways of trying to rid himself of the monster.