Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-26116863-20150317015052/@comment-26103640-20150317145416

I agree that Rumple started holding back with Belle, and some how holding on to his Dark One curse once he realized that loving her would mean giving up his power.

I think that there also might be a time and place for true loves kiss kind of thing. With Snow's curse, you know that the Charmings must have kissed each other at least once. But that didn't break the curse. And they can't be the only people in town truley happy and in love. My theory is yes, true loves kiss can break any curse, but there has to be some sort of intention of curse breaking (and acceptance of curse breaking) by both parties.