Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-26971388-20160505192841/@comment-6770938-20160719232706

Eskaver wrote: That simply highlights another issue: Useful or nah? Belle is used to do research, babysit, and used as leverage against Rumple. If she's none of those, they sort of leave her be and seemingly don't care.

Need leverage against Rumple to save Hook? Threaten to tell Belle. (That's like using blackmail aginst a man who's abusing his wife. Terrible.)

Need some info on the recent monster? Go ask Belle.

Need a babysitter? Go get Belle.

Belle needs some help to save Rumple? Nah, we have other things to do.

Belle needs help awakening? Nope, I'm sure she's content being in that dreadful sleeping curse that our family has plagued us for generations.

I'm afraid if Belle has a baby, she'll have to watch it 24/7 unless Granny's around. You can totally say that again.

Like I said again and again, THEY OWED BELLE, from Time Spell to Mirror Spell, all the time. But she has been like a literal tool used by those heroes, i.e, a screwdriver or a hammer - when it's needed, it's useful and when it's not, its job is to collect dust. Pretty sure if Belle hadn't been such a brainiac and be basically the intelligence central(or, for those who watch NBC's Grimm; the Trailer) for them she'd be no different than that customer who breakfasts at Granny's. Does "not standing by your friends when they needed your providable assistance" count as one of the merits for being a true hero? Well, at least in my country, on my end... NO.

Well, Rumple may be at fault too. He may have high self-esteem, be an individualist, a self-independent, and don't always like to ask others for assistance, thinking that would mean he would owe them, but instead of isolating himself from the group, maybe he just needed help realizing that some games he cannot play alone(from Zathura), and not everything is a business transaction. Sometimes seeking assistance, receiving assistance and assist back when the other side needs it builds trust, comradery, appreciation, and it closes gap.