Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25926288-20151120140037/@comment-26116863-20151121211134

The darkness seems to prey upon its host's weaknesses, magnifying them and using them as the driving force for dark deeds. Rumple's was cowardice and a fear of rejection, which were always his motivations whatever his plot happened to be that episode. Emma's, in my opinion, was overprotectiveness and fear of losing her loved ones.

I don't believe that she's selfish, per say. It's really just a sort of extroverted cowardice, instead of Rumple's inwardly focused fear.

She is very protective (maybe you could say selfish for, if that makes sense) of the people she has allowed to be close to her, and is willing to go to extreme lengths to protect them, whatever the cost to the people who aren't close to her. Which may be why she is very reluctant to let people get close in the first place, lol. It invariably leads to her doing crazy things to protect them, and still getting her heart broken in the process.