Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11058666-20141228031222/@comment-4050367-20150119210658

After reading everything above, I do agree with the idea of Rumple being like an addict to power. The dagger is basiclly the drug in a sense, and while I think it was good for him to try and remove the power of the dagger away, he was making one mistake: trying to keep the power. It's like trying to get off drugs but still having that same feeling. It just isn't going to work. You either do the drugs and have the feeling or you don't do the drugs and you don't have the feeling. It's all or nothing, and Gold has to realize this. The only way for him to truly be with Belle is to once and for all, choose love over power, to give up on power and accept a life without magic.

I believe once he said that magic is like his crutch to walk on and without it, he can't do anything. Gold has to go to rehab, go to physical theraphy, and learn how to walk without magic. He has to have a moment where he realizes that he has to give up not just the dagger, but the power that goes with the dagger to be with Belle. In essence, his real goal should be to try and find a way to not be the Dark One anymore, to destroy the dagger and its power once and for all. Once the dagger and its power are forever gone, he will be "drug-free", will stop his addiction to magic and power, and he'll be able to spend the rest of his mortal life trying to prove his love for Belle, and try to amend for his mistakes. And it will take his entire life to make up for what he's done.