Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25701646-20151001004105/@comment-25926288-20151001013229

Male characters aren't becoming pawns, because they always were XD Except Rumple.

The thing for this show is strong women and although they do have a weird way of showing "strong" women, they also have fairly "weak" men. Rumple is actually a weak man hiding behind power, while Belle is supposedly the strong woman confronted with not enough power or whatever.

In terms of characters, Emma is the upmost main character. Next, there are the major players, Rumple, Regina, and Snow (when the writers remember her importance). Next are their counterparts and Henry.

So, looking at it that way, you see that they simply don't have many major players that are male. No, Hook isn't one and shouldn't be one. However, they could give him a story arc. As I did post on the Robin appreciation thread....

They tend to look like pawns and noobs because they get the short end of the stick when it comes to the story. Emma gets first dibs, then it'll be the villain, then it'll be the major players, the recurring guests for the season, then everyone else.

So, in the 11 episode arcs, you have one for each of the major players, so (11-4 =7), then you subtract those of the guests and you get maybe one or two for the counterparts.

But Belle is as much a pawn as Robin and Hook are. It is because of the character tiers more than because of gender. Though, the strong women concept is a part of it.