Lady Belle x Dark One Rumple au

Canon Divergence, in which Rumple makes weekly reports to Neal’s grave, unaware that his son’s spirit is actually there, to hear every last piece of ridiculous gossip.

rumbelle au

ouat text posts: rumple (pt. 28)

the difference between rumplestiltskin and literally all the other dark ones is so funny to me. like. rumplestiltskin as the dark one is this campy, flamboyant, giggling, mischievous imp of a guy, who traded the dark one's typical ominous dark robe for skin-tight leather, thigh high boots, and a magical blowout. was he like that before he became the dark one? no. not at all. were any of the previous dark ones like that? also no. were either of the two dark ones after him like that? again, no. there's no actual real given reason for why he behaves like that. he just does. and i adore him for it

I've a theory there is a reason. Baelfire. And children in general.

Look at Rumple right after he takes on the power. He's following the script, the ominous, face slightly hidden, vicious murders.

But then Bae looks at him with fear. And he only did this to protect his son.

What is one of the first things Rumple does after that scene? Well, he brings the children home from the senseless war their lives were being thrown away for.

Moiraine says to Baelfire that his father doesn't scare her, obviously, he saved her.

But at that point, he's acting just a little bit odd, dressing like a rich nobleman, has a servant hired. Getting ruthless.

And eventually, fear causes him to lose his son.

But he has a soft spot for children, and that never goes away. And one of the things that comforts kids is laughter. His slightly off kilter, high pitched voice, and exaggerated movements might creep the hell out of adults, but that's just a bonus.

Robert mentioned the voice was based on hearing his young son's babbling talk. There's a playfulness to so much of the character, and some of it comes directly from a child. I see that as intentional.

He's acting childlike to keep himself centered on his goal, the protection of children, and the return of his own child. Forgetting what it's like to be a child would make it too easy to stop feeling for them, stop understanding them. But children are the reason for his power.

That's such a good and tragic observation when you consider how his whole life the thing that was most important to him was being different from his father. And the reason he wanted to be there for his son no matter what was because his father wasn't there for him and he wanted to be better than that. But then he becomes this childlike parody of himself exactly like his father.

I am once again thinking about the alternate universe in which the writers actually bothered to unpack Rumple's mental state after being held in captivity by Zelena and used that as a motivator in his plot points instead of just making him so evil again for no reason

ouat text posts: rumple (pt. 27)

Robert Carlyle as Frank Keane in Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)

God bless the OUAT fandom

save me characters doing fucked up things out of self-preservation…..characters doing fucked up things out of self-preservation save me………..

save me character who made an undeniably terrible decision but man i dont know what i would have done either………

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY