Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11058666-20141228031222/@comment-6175354-20150119224813

Eskaver wrote:

In any case, his love for his son should greatly and is shown to greatly outweigh his love for Belle. So in my mind as of Season Three, Bae >= Dagger >> Belle. After all, he said that Bae is his happy ending, which I believe still.

Side-note: Wouldn't Rumple outlive Belle anyway? lol, it would have never even worked even if he told the truth and gave up on freeing himself because they would have went on normally until Belle died and Rumple would be back to evil again. I agree.... Rumplestiltskin always felt, that his son would be his happy ending. The only way for Rumple to be reunited with Bae, is to die.

You brought up another interesting point, as well. Being immortal, Rumple would outlive Belle. They could never have a normal live together, no matter how much they tried. As she would age and die, while he would stay the same. Rumple's main problem, is that he is incredibly greedy. He still thinks, that he could have it all.