Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4962906-20151109114315/@comment-24674051-20151110224642

Joshleung wrote: CTrent29 wrote: How is she powerful enough to do that to a person who is supposed to be more powerful than her? exactly,it makes rumplestilskin looks just a fool too. Guys, Zelena is powerful. She had access to Merlin's spellbook, which contained all of his notes from when he tethered the Dark One to the dagger (the tip of Excalibur), and she had the other half of Excalibur. None of which Rumple, or anyone else for that matter, had. So it does not make Rumple look the fool.

Also, look at the goals. Rumple was all about 2 things. 1 was to be with Neal (which ultimately failed) and the other was to be free of the Dagger. neither of which required tethering any soul to Excalibur. Arthur, on the other hand, was upset with Merlin about the misunderstood prophecy,  wanted to have a complete excalibur, and have complete control of Merlin. All leading directly to tethering Merlin to the reamining part of Excalibur.

As for communicating via 'Blue Fire'. We never saw what the Apprentice saw. All we saw was the blue fire. But with Regina and company, we saw the blue fire (or blue glow), but then we saw what they saw in the midst of the glow. So I don't consider that detail forgotten in the least.

Now, as to whether he is responsible for the hat, i don't think we know the full story yet. And we may not ever know the full story, we must be prepared for that possibility. But we can't judge that until the series is finished, and then look back at all of the unanswered questions.