Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1962215-20140317132636/@comment-25926288-20151018195128

Edward Zachary Sunrose wrote: TrumpetofTheSwan wrote: I agree. He really wasn't evil until the DO got its hands on him. If we're going to say tha he's an evil person for succumbing to the darkness, then we shouldn't ever be able to fully view Emma as a good person again either. I could be wrong here, but haven't people been pretty understanding about how Emma has been acting, because they know that she's under the influence of the DO? It's like someone who is heavily intoxicated; you don't expect them to behave as well as they normally would because they're under the influence of something which has a powerful effect on their judgment. You know that's not what they're truly like when fully in control of their thoughts. Yes, but where Emma always did the right thing, pre-DO Rumple did not. He hobbled himself instead of fighting (it's the equivalent of deserting the army in the middle of combat nowadays, which is a felony), he let his wife be "kidnapped" then told his son she was dead, and he comitted murder in order to gain power.

There were solutions to all of his problems. Milah gave him the option to run away together to find happiness during "The Crocodile". That was also an unspoken option in "Desperate Souls" in order to save Bae. In "Manhattan", I'll give him a pass. He had no possible way of knowing that the Seer didn't mean he'd die on the battlefield. Still, didn't Milah say something early on in the episode like "I wish you hadn't signed up" or something like that? He willingly chose to go to war, which he didn't have to do.

All of his decisions have been the wrong ones. That's why he doesn't get the same understanding that Emma, someone who's always done the right thing, gets. Emma (Pre-Do) didn't always make the right decision. So, I think that staement is surely invalid for comparison. Cowardice doesn't make you an evil, evil person. He choose to flee because of love, makes him no difference when David flees to run off with Snow when the kingdom is bankrupt and people are suffering, or Neal when he left Emma for destiny. He didn't let his wife get "kidnapped". He would have lost, left Bae alone, and that would solve absolutely nothing. LAstly, Rumple didn't murder Zoso for the power lolz, he was angry too (Zoso goaded him into anger).

He made wrong decisions, though. And he realizes that and he accepts that even when he does the right thing, bad things happen.