Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4821842-20151114051347/@comment-24674051-20151130164909

Why, other than for story purposes, he needed Mal, Cru, and Ursula is unclear.

I am suspecting that the room that held the dark curse was *POOF* proof, though. Even Rumple's magic could not break that one.

And though Rumple is immortal (as the Dark one), his body (as we have learned) is not. It could not be harmed by normal methods, but I am betting that someone, particularly someone familiar with how the Dark One works, could easily develop counters that would harm the current DO host body.

If all of that is the case, then the choices start to make a lot more sense. multiple obstacles that would require cooperation to overcome (something that is usually not found in villians).