Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27603417-20150515092359/@comment-24674051-20150519212504

Actually, on the surface it appears like a plot hole, but I think there are other things going on. Before anyone asks, the following is all conjecture, based on what we know as of Operation:Mongoose.

With the Dark One curse, what does breaking the curse actually mean? I doubt it means actually destroying the Dark One. It probably would be breaking the tether between the dark one and the human soul to which it is attached. So if the tether is destroyed, what happens to the Dark One? I think the final scenes from Operation: Mongoose clearly show us that the actual entity that is the  Dark One would become free to roam the earth, and sucking all the light out of it.

Listening to Rumple towards the end, he knew the the Dark One untethered was NOT a good thing. He may have known that all the way back when he first met Belle. Meaning that he knew that breaking the curse that way (with TLK) was NOT the answer, and created it's own set of issues. After that moment, he knew that Belle was his True Love, and that he would need to take precautions should they ever meet again. So he probably did something that prevented him from ever receiving or giving TLK. And that something probably caused him to continually push her away in order to protect her from him and the Dark One.

Getting back on topic, my point is that TLK would indeed break the Curse. But breaking the curse does not destroy the Dark One. And while Rumple wanted to be free, he also did not want to inflict the DO on any one else.