Some Rumpelstiltskin/Belle Thoughts (Once Upon a Time)

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.

Despite the creepy, unhealthy slant to the relationship, especially this season (he maintains an insidious lie and uses magic on her to keep her in the dark, and she tries to control him against his will by wielding the Dark One’s dagger – please tell me no one sees Twu Wuv in that!), I like that Rumpel’s villainy and twisted power issues don’t negate his feelings for Belle.  She’s one of his few vulnerabilities, and to the extent that he’s ever conflicted about his actions, it’s due to her view of him.  For her sake, I don’t want them together, but for his, I felt for him during their big falling-out in the fall finale.  While he deserves every bit of it and I’m so glad Belle’s (finally!) wise to his deceit, I get why he’s so wrecked when she casts him out.  It gets back to complicated and dark, and that’s what I get behind when it comes to these two.  Being a villain doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her, and loving her doesn’t make him less of a villain – there’s a self-awareness to that portrayal that the pairing needs.  Don’t give me twisted and call it romantic, but make it equal parts intense, dark, messed-up, and bittersweet, and I’m there.

Favorite Characters: Rumpelstiltskin (Once Upon a Time)

 

Yes, I know the show spells it “ple,” not “pel,” but what can I say – I like the traditional spelling.  At any rate, Rumpelstiltskin is a stellar character.  Unlike Emma or Snow, while he occasionally aligns with the good guys and flirts with redemption, he’s more villain than anything else. 

 

One thing I like about Rumpel is his utter devotion to the long game.  In flashbacks, his fingers are in countless pots, showing the myriad ways in which he orchestrates Regina’s casting of the curse.  At the heart of it is his desire to correct a mistake and recover what’s been lost to him – a sympathetic motivation perhaps, but it becomes an obsession that spans centuries and ruins lives.  All across the Enchanted Forest, he carefully nudges others into place, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly.  Random, seemingly out-of-character actions in one episode become mammoth dozens of episodes later.  Seeing how he uses the entire realm as his personal house of cards is endlessly entertaining and shows he has brains and patience to go with his magic.

 

Along with that is his generally cavalier attitude toward his villain status.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time agonizing over how people see him.  He’s embraced his identity as the Dark One, the monster, the demented dealmaker – in fact, he’s thrown more when someone views him like a person – and this avoids much of the woobifying that drags down many villains.  Rather, he regards his evil actions as utilitarian means to far-off ends or treats them like a twisted game.  It’s an intriguing, unflinching approach that works well.

 

It’s not all “mwa ha ha,” though, and like I said, the show sometimes offers more sympathetic glimpses of Rumpel, chiefly in his love for the few important people in his life.  Yet, it usually avoids suggesting that love trumps any terrible things he does.  Additionally, his consuming need for power (his magic, yes, but also just a need for control) constantly damages these relationships he cares about, but he continues to choose power.  I like seeing how his choices have cost him, and I hope the show keeps that up.  (His romantic relationship – I won’t say with whom, for spoilers’ sake – is hugely problematic and unsettling, though, and one major area where he consistently remains unpunished.  Hopefully, he’s heading toward a reckoning in season four.)

 

Since his nefariousness tends to be goal-oriented and he doesn’t have any big projects in the pipeline, a large-scale redemption arc may be coming.  Though the outwardly-evil Rumpel is definitely the most fun to watch, I’m not oppose to the idea.  Yet, given the show’s track record with Regina, I’m apprehensive.  Redemption for villains has to be handled so carefully, or you get Regina complaining that people don’t trust her and don’t applaud her efforts to change, and me saying, “Shut up – you murdered people.”  If the writers are looking to redeem Rumpel, it’ll require a steady hand and probably an ultimate choice of good/love/somethingover power.

 

Also, the acting is impeccable.  Rumpel in his flashback imp form is scenery-chewing perfection.  An odd compliment perhaps, but with over-the-top acting, there’s a thin sliver of audaciousness that plays, not as hammy, but as fantastically eye-catching, and Robert Carlyle’s performance hits it every time.  I love his weird, affected voice and the playful way he delivers horrific lines.  I love his flourishy, theatrical gestures, simultaneously funny and creepy.  I love his psychotic little giggle when his pieces fall into place and he’s the only one to see it.  Gleeful, bedeviled, or enraged, he’s held my attention from his first moment onscreen.