This
isn’t a Relationship Spotlight post, because it’s not one I love – not even in
a fascinating, dysfunctional way like Tony and Sid on Skins. Still, I’ve been
thinking about these two since Once Upon
a Time’s fall finale and wanted to write about them. Belle/Rumpel spoilers ahead.
When I saw
Belle’s season 1 intro, I was intrigued that the show’s version of her story
placed Rumpel as the Beast. He doesn’t
look like the Disney Beast, of course – less animal, more imp – but more
importantly, he acts different. Where the movie’s Beast is mostly selfish and
quick-tempered, Rumpel really is a monster when he meets Belle. He’s killed people, psychologically tortured
others, preyed on and manipulated countless desperate souls, and is feared by
most of the realm. In caring for Rumpel,
Belle has to do far more than look past his monstrous looks; she has to see the
glimmer of a good man he might have been once and could possibly be again.
This is
a darker story, more about saving Rumpel’s soul than restoring his non-cursed
humanity, but it becomes frustrating because Rumpel so rarely indicates that he
wants saving. Ultimately, he’s only ever
on his own side, and on the occasions he aids the heroes, it’s either because
their goals align with his or he’s “playing good” to placate Belle. The genuinely heroic and/or altruistic things
he does over the course of the series are negligible, so it makes Belle – who’s
supposed to be really smart – seem like a dupe.
It’s painful to see her lecture rightfully-suspicious Storybrooke folk
about Rumpel’s “good heart” when he’s being anything from amorally shifty to
blatantly villainous behind her back.
Not only does it severely weaken her character, but it has an abuser/abused
ring to it when she forgives him no matter how times she discovers (to her
utter shock) that he’s been lying to her and doing horrible things on the sly.
The
whole things is further complicated by the fact that Rumpel doesn’t want his curse to be broken by True
Love’s Kiss. The recurring theme of Belle
and Rumpel’s story is that he wants her, maybe even needs her, and loves her
after a fashion, but loves his power more.
In season 1, he explicitly rejects Belle’s offer of True Love for fear
of breaking his curse and losing his Dark One powers. Ever since, though their pattern is for him
to beg her to stay when she catches him out and for her to take him back, it’s
clear that he’ll always choose his power over her. In addition to being one sick puppy (albeit a
massively compelling, entertaining one,) he’s a total magic addict, ruled by
his need to be the most powerful, and she can’t compete with that.
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