Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11058666-20141228031222/@comment-25701646-20150318031203

That's tricky. I love Rumbelle and I'd love to see them back together, but something drastic would need to change. Rumple's hurt Belle so much and that would need to be addressed before they could move on.

I think Rumple genuinely changed at the end of the Neverland arc. However, he was brought back to life (something he hadn't planned on) and it was done in a way where he had to lose his son or his sanity, did end up losing his son (despite his sacrifice), was enslaved, and then forced to turn against his family. It would be difficult for anyone to come out of that unscathed, let alone someone who was newly reformed and didn't have a lot of practice in fighting to make the right decisions. Then of course, the instrument that has done so much damage to his life is still around and he's still tied to it, meaning that any happiness or saftey he has could disappear as soon as someone picks up the dagger. That means Gold can never feel completely at ease and just live his life. Of course, that doesn't justify that Gold did go back to the dark side and betrayed everyone in his life. However, I do think that, if helped to recover from the trauma and if the threat of the dagger was taken away, Gold would slowly be able to reform again.

However, Gold lied to Belle about the dagger. I think he originally meant to give it up but then fear took over and, while I can't fully blame him for fearing something that's already ruined his life and taken away so much freedom, Gold still made this grand gesture of giving up his freedom for Belle then taking the dagger back, letting her believe she had it. The deception makes any noble intentions he may have had look like lies as well. I think Belle might have been a bit hurt if Gold had come to her later and asked for the dagger or said he needed to be free, but it would have been something they could work through and she would have helped him free himself in a way that didn't hurt others. However, Gold stealing it back and then going to great lengths to prevent Belle from disvoering the lie put a huge wedge in the trust Belle had in him.

Gold also vacuumed up the fairies, the Apprentice and tried to kill Hook. It would have been bad enough if he had done this to strangers but these were Belle's friends. He's shown her that no one's safe from him and, while he won't physically hurt her, he's got no problem lying and manipulating her into a 'happy' relationship with him.

For them to come back from this, Gold would need to a) prove that he's truly sorry, b) turn over a completely new leaf, and c) rebuild the trust he and Belle once had. I think he can do it, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. By plotting with the Queens of Darkness and threatening Storybrooke Rumple's shown that he's not sorry about what he's done and he hasn't changed. Maybe he's sorry he hurt Belle but he's more sorry he got caught before he could put his plan in motion. Until Rumple dedicates himself to changing, Belle won't even consider taking him back. And, once he does change, he's going to need to prove he's changed. The process I see taking at least a year but probably more since, at this rate, I don't see Rumple even attempting to change until at least the end of the season.

Most of Seasons 1-3  for his character was about the descent into darkness and then the struggle to reemerge. It took 2 and a half seasons for Gold to get to the point where he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family. I predict that it'll take another 2 and a half seasons for Belle and Gold to rebuild their relationship. If they do. After all, much as I love the couple, if I were Belle, I don't think I could ever trust Gold after all he's done.