Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1475805-20150331011255/@comment-24674051-20150331145322

Theauthorforsure wrote: maybe that's why the previous dark one tricked him into killing him? I am thinking the same thing. We know that Rumple is 300+ years old. His actions, particularly of late, have been getting much darker, and the distance between the dark and light sides of him is increasing. I think, as Eskaver said, the Dark One consumes the heart of whoever it is possessing until there is nothing left of the original person. He has, so far, been able to resist being fully absorbed because of the Love he had for Bae, and to a lesser extent Belle. But Neal's death, I think, started a downward spiral, and lessened his resistence to the Dark One. This was furthered along when Zelena was controlling him. And finally, the Hat, which I think does have the power to seperate Rumple from the Dark One, is causing a schism to form, and the Dark One actually fighting to preven Rumple from seperating, at least until it has completely consumed him.

I wonder if we will actually, at some point, see Robert Carlyle playing 2 roles (albeit briefly). Rumple/Gold (powerless, but with an extensive knowledge of magic), and a seperate Dark One.