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Name: Chris
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fairytalelie
E-Mail: whatineverhad[at]gmail.com
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Character Name: Mr. Gold, aka Rumplestiltskin
Series: Once Upon a Time
Timeline: 3x11: Going Home
Canon Resource Link: Rumplestiltskin and Mr. Gold
Character History: As the son of a coward and a con, Rumplestiltskin found himself more world-weary and sensible at the age of eight than most people manage in their entire lifetime, and that's enough to make any kid want to run away and join the circus at the earliest available opportunity. Love, unfortunately, is a fatal flaw when it comes to Rumple- every horrific event in his life can be traced back to loving something or someone too much- and it began with his father.
Malcolm didn't love his son (at least not a father's love), a fact that Rumple wasn't aware of until too late, being young and naive and overwhelmed with love for the only parent he had. It didn't matter that the bastard earned a living by being a con or that he often spent all their money on liquor- he was his father and he loved him and he wanted to be with him, as evidenced by the emotional breakdown he has when his father tries to pawn him off on a couple of spinsters to get him out of the way. Rather than choose a new life for himself- a selfish decision he had earned- per the spinsters' warning that he would never escape his father's name, he took the magic bean they gave him and tried to use it to get a fresh start with his father.
His father insisted they go to Neverland.
It became clear to Rumple upon their arrival that Malcolm had no interest in a fresh start with his son- Neverland was a place from his dreams and all he cared about was fulfilling his wishes, dragging his long-suffering eight-year-old around with him, all while Rumple never quite lost hope in the idea that eventually his father would come down from his high and they'd be able to move on. This led to the most defining moment of Rumple's life (and Malcolm's as well)- Malcolm, unable to embrace Neverland the way he wanted to because of his son, traded Rumple for eternal youth, sending the boy back to the spinsters and becoming Peter Pan. Rumple was left abandoned and everyone in the village embraced his father as a coward- a legacy Rumple, himself, grew up in the shadow of. That legacy haunted him for years until eventually he strived to be rid of it once and for all.
Years later, now married to a woman named Milah and living a provincial life as a spinner, Rumple enlisted in the Duke's army to fight in the Ogre Wars- a bloody, violent war that had been claiming lives left and right. Believing that fighting in the war would restore his honor and liberate him from his father's name, Rumple was thrilled at the opportunity... right up until he got to the front. Rumplestiltskin had not grown up a brave man- quite the opposite, actually. And his anxiety and fear of what might happen was only worsened when he met a young Seer in camp, who told him his wife was pregnant and that "his actions on the battlefield would leave his son fatherless." Interpreting her words as his own inevitable death and scared he'd leave his own child to grow up as he did, Rumple made the first rash decision in a long line of rash decisions- he hobbled himself with a sledgehammer (OKAY KATHY BATES) so he'd be sent home without ever fighting.
This, understandably, did not work out that well for him. His intentions may have been good, but the action, itself, was cowardly, and he was branded the village coward, alienated from Milah, and left with only one good thing in his life- his newborn son Baelfire.
Years passed and he and Milah became increasingly more tense, due to his refusal to leave the village and get a fresh start (simultaneously out of fear of what happened the LAST TIME he tried that and because he felt he deserved his fate). Milah became enamored with a pirate named Killian Jones, who allegedly "kidnapped" her and then challenged Rumple to a duel to win her back. Rumple, knowing he would lose a fight against a pirate, refused to even try, leaving him to tell his son that Milah had died, rather than admit the truth- that his own actions were the cause of Milah's departure.
For years after that, it was just Rumple and Baelfire, and Rumple contented himself with that. They lived a decent life, even if it was in squalor and shame, and Bae grew up looking after his father more than the other way around. However, the Ogre Wars were still being fought and growing worse by the minute. The Duke began drafting children, lowering the age of the draft to fourteen and Baelfire was due to turn fourteen soon, leaving Rumple with no choice but to flee the village with his son. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Duke's soldiers and Hordor, their leader, taunted Rumple, relentlessly, forcing him to kiss his boot in front of his son to avoid being punished for deserting. Broken, Rumple and Bae were forced to return home, aided by a kindly beggar that Rumple had given money to on the road, who promised to repay Rumple's kindness by being his "benefactor."
A desperate Rumple confessed to the beggar that he had nothing but his son and that losing him would break him utterly. The beggar, in turn, explained the Duke had enslaved the Dark One- the most powerful sorcerer in all the realm- and that if Rumple could steal the Dark One's dagger, then he could control the Dark One and protect his son. Rumple admitted he was too afraid to control something that powerful, so the beggar offered another option- kill the Dark One and take the power for himself.
Rumple decided that seemed legit enough and set fire to the Duke's castle.
Once the dagger was in his possession and the Duke's castle properly burninated, Rumple summoned the Dark One and ordered him to submit. Sensing Rumple's lack of commitment to (literal) sparkle motion, because of his fear of the power he was in control of, the Dark One taunted him, telling him that Baelfire was probably a bastard because Milah fucked the pool boy or something along those lines and Rumple, acting on years of pent-up rage and frustration, stabbed him in the heart with the dagger. This turned out to be a mistake as the Dark One turned out to be the beggar and this was all an elaborate scheme to transfer his curse to another poor sap. The beggar died and Rumple became the new Dark One, sparkles and all.
It took approximately .5 seconds for him to go mad with power and not consider the weight of the Dark One’s dying words at what a curse this power was, killing the men who were coming to take his son away and striking fear into the hearts of his entire village. This, unfortunately, wasn't exactly what Baelfire had wanted in the grand scheme of things, and thus began the downward spiral of that relationship.
Fearing Bae would leave him, Rumple became overly protective and smothering, claiming it was because he feared that someone would use Bae as leverage to steal his power away or to hurt him because they couldn't touch the Dark One. (And probably believed this too, even if it wasn't the only reason.) Bae, in turn, grew to resent his father for not trusting him enough and being a violent douchebag who went around terrorizing the village, simply because he had thirty years of being everyone's bitch committed to memory and it was time for a little payback. This led to Bae running off to Hamlin (yes that Hamlin) after hearing some totally sweet pipe tunes and Rumple mercilessly hunting down the alleged pied piper, who turned out to be.... His father.
Meeting his eternally fourteen-and-with-great-eyebrows papa again shook Rumple to his core, proving you can give a guy sparkles and magical powers, but that will not change his daddy issues. Pan explained he intended to take Baelfire back to Neverland with him, but offered Rumple a deal- if he asks Bae if he wants to return home with him, then he'll be allowed to go, but if Bae refuses, then he'll go to Neverland with Pan. Rumple refused to take the deal, stealing Bae back to their home, where Bae revealed he knew exactly what Pan was doing and that the deal was a scam- he was going to return home with him, but he needed to prove that Rumple trusted him. Rumple, in one of many attempts to cover his own ass, explained that Pan couldn't be trusted, but refused to tell Bae why beyond that when he was younger, Pan had betrayed him. Understandably, this wasn't a good enough answer by Bae's standards and Rumple eventually stopped hovering so much, allowing him to go out and make friends to prove he totally could trust him not to run away. Really.
Eventually, Bae offered Rumple a deal- if he could figure out a way to break the Dark One's curse without killing either of them, then Rumple would take it and they could get their family back on track. Rumple agreed to these terms, but when Bae's foolproof plan turned out to be a magic bean that led to a world without magic, he panicked in a combination of remembering the last time he went through a portal and also because he needed his magic. In the end, Bae went through the portal alone and Rumple was left realizing he'd just made a huge mistake- one that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The Seer's prophecy had finally been fulfilled. To congratulate her on being a vague-ass bitch, he tracked her down, took her powers from her, and killed her (granted she... kinda asked him to), becoming a Seer himself. In her dying breath, she left him with one last prophecy- a young boy would lead him to his son, but the boy would be his undoing.
That didn't really bother him because he could just kill the kid (duh), so Rumple set out to find another magic bean, which led him to a shady bastard named Smee, who claimed to have one and would trade it if Rumple agreed to make him young again. Rumple was prepared to make the trade when he noticed that Killian Jones was back in town and his desire for revenge got the better of him. He cornered him in an alley, taunted him, and challenged him to the duel he refused years ago. Rumple wiped the floor with him, but just before he could deal the killing blow, Milah appeared. The reunion was a bitter one with Rumple being annoyed as hell that Milah had chosen a pirate over him and had the gall to be happy with him, but Milah offered him a deal- she would give him the bean she stole from Smee and, in return, he'd spare their lives. Rumple agreed, but on the day of the exchange, he fucked everything up by throwing a raving hissy fit at Milah and blaming her for what happened to Baelfire. This argument led to Milah saying she'd never loved him and in a fit of rage, Rumple ripped her heart out and crushed it, sending Killian into his own fit of rage. The pirate vowed revenge, and refused to give up the bean because Rumple didn't keep his word, leading Rumple to cut off his hand. Unfortunately, Rumple did not learn fucking ANYTHING about sleight of hand from his con father, because Killian had tricked him, leaving him with the right hand of a pirate who had just become Captain Hook. Dammit.
Over the next several centuries, Rumple became everyone's favorite Faustian demon- making deals wherever he could in the name of developing a reputation and gathering everything he needed to execute his plan to get back to Bae. Knowing that without Bae, he was little more than a monster, a monster is what he became, one who earned the fear and respect of lesser mortals, who came to him at their most desperate. It was something to occupy his time while he worked on his master plan and it taught everyone object lessons about the price of magic- one he'd been bearing for ages. Rumple is nothing if not vindictive in the desire to teach people the same lessons he learned the hard way.
A dark curse was required to bring him to the Land Without Magic, but casting it himself was out of the question, because the price was too great (and because a seer told him he wouldn't cast it). He would need someone else to cast the curse and that person was the daughter of a particular miller's daughter- Cora. The girl in question had been imprisoned in a tower because she claimed she could spin straw into gold and Rumple offered to help her in exchange for her firstborn. Cora, however, wasn't having any of that and said that she'd make the deal, but only if Rumple taught her magic. They agreed and the two became lovers, all while Cora schemed her way to the throne. Their individual scheming came to a head, however, as Cora's wedding day approached. Rumple, once again blinded by love, changed the deal so that Cora would bear him his child and the two of them could run away together and likely forget their individual goals, but at the last minute, Cora crapped out on him, leaving Rumple to believe for years that she had betrayed him for power and because of the deal being changed, he would never be able to have her daughter.
Or so Cora thought.
Cora's daughter, Regina, was prophesized to cast that dark curse and Rumple being a manipulative fuck accustomed to getting what he wanted, was going to ensnare her one way or another. It helped that Cora, due to the lengths she'd taken to ensure nothing stopped her from reaching her goals (like ripping out her own heart), wasn't much of a mother and had left Regina a bitter broken bird with a lot of anger she didn't know how to deal with. Rumple took advantage of that- offering Regina a means to get rid of her mother without killing her. This led to Regina realizing she had a gift (and worse- a passion) for magic and Rumple took her under his wing.
Unfortunately, Regina was not committed to sparkle motion- she didn’t have the stomach for the dark magic. Claiming she was wasting his time because she couldn’t get over her dead boyfriend and was only invested in magic as a means to bring him back, Rumple devised a plan. With the help of his portal-jumping hatter friend Jefferson, he traveled to a World Without Color where he met Victor Frankenstein and offered him a deal- he’d fund Frankenstein’s research so he could revive the dead and provide him with a magical heart that could save his brother, if Victor would come back to the Enchanted Forest with him. From there, Rumple, Victor, and Jefferson schemed to trick Regina, convincing her that if Victor couldn’t revive her dead boyfriend, then no one could. The trick worked and Regina committed to her anger and her lessons. Basically, don’t ever deny Rumple what he wants- he will go to ridiculously complicated means to make sure he gets it.
Eventually (and perhaps inevitably), Rumple and Regina’s relationship became less about magic lessons and more about inflicting pain on each other. Rumple was determined to break her spirit so severely that she would have no choice but to cast the Dark Curse, shifting every domino so that it left Regina with nothing. And he did this primarily through his meddling in the affairs of Regina’s sworn enemy Snow White and her Prince Charming. By bringing them together, he thwarted nearly every one of Regina’s grand schemes to be rid of Snow White, driving her farther and farther into darkness.
Unfortunately for him, Regina can also play hardball.
Rumple’s determination to get his curse cast so he could find his son was derailed when he met Belle- a princess from a kingdom under threat from ogres. Belle agreed to go with him and be his maid if he promised to protect her village and the deal was struck. At first the pair of them were antagonistic- Rumple refused to let anyone (least of all a young woman) see that he was more than a monster and Belle was determined to not fear him and let him walk all over her- but after Rumple spared the life of a thief who had stolen from him in order to save a wife and unborn child, Belle began to suspect there was more to the story. Her kindness caught Rumple off-guard and over the next several months, he began to grow fond of her, eventually letting her go, expecting that she would never return to him.
She did, however, return, much to his surprise. However, when she kissed him and it began to break the curse over him, he panicked, believing Belle had been sent by Regina to take his magic away and make him weak. He eventually sent Belle away, claiming he didn’t want her and that his magic meant more to him than her, but Belle called bullshit- he was just too much of a coward.
Later, while he was in the middle of brooding over his newly lost True Love ™, Regina stopped by and explained that Belle had been killed (in all actuality, Regina had kidnapped her), sending Rumple into a fit of despair, and giving Regina some leverage over him, as he was too self-deprecating to even suspect for a second that she might be lying- he’s a monster and bad things happen to people he loves. Why wouldn’t it be true?
With Belle gone, Rumple continued to set things in motion for his curse. And for reasons absolutely no one fucking knows, he set his sights on Cinderella, taking the place of her fairy godmother and sending her to the ball in exchange for her firstborn child. Ella and her prince were having none of that, however, and devised a plan with Snow White and Prince Charming to capture Rumple (using magic nullifying squid ink) and snake their way out of the deal. The plan succeeded, although Ella lost her prince as the cost for breaking the deal (he turned up okay later, though, so… no harm done???).
Rumple was imprisoned in a cell in the dwarf mines, where he remained until Regina vowed to cast her dark curse (that was actually Rumple’s dark curse, but who’s counting?), which was when Snow White and Charming paid him a visit and he revealed the details of the curse to them- they were going to be ripped away from their land and transported to another land where they would be separated from those they loved with no memories of their life in the Enchanted Forest, locked in a time loop for eternity until a savior could break the curse. He revealed that their unborn daughter would be that savior and demanded her name as payment for the information. Using squid ink he had hidden in his cell (that he could have left AT ANY TIME, but chose not to, because he was “right where he wanted to be”), he wrote the child’s name down over and over again so that it would stick in his mind, and when the curse hit, he was transported to Storybrooke, Maine with everyone else.
For twenty-eight years, Rumplestiltskin was Mr. Gold, pawnbroker and landlord, who held most of the real power in Regina’s personal fantasyland, beyond the fact that, unlike her, he couldn’t remember a thing. It wasn’t until the night Emma Swan came to town and introduced herself that his memories came rushing back, per a loophole in the curse he worked in- Emma, the name of Snow White and Prince Charming’s daughter. The Savior.
During Emma’s stay in Storybrooke, Gold began to push her towards breaking the curse, using any means necessary, often through manipulation and twisted gambits. The pair of them butted heads, as Emma found his methods repulsive, but Gold never relented and continued to play up the helpful pawnbroker act wherever possible, all in the name of getting Emma to accept her destiny. He also managed to get a favor out of her through Cinderella (now Ashley Boyd) still owing him her firstborn- if he let Ashley keep her baby, then Emma would owe him a favor one day.
Eventually, Regina cottoned onto the fact that he remembered and when he wouldn’t deign to discuss the matter with her, she resorted to a game of her own. Using Belle’s father as her lackey, she had Gold’s most cherished possession- a teacup that Belle had chipped while she was staying with him- stolen from his home, causing Gold to nearly beat the man to death over both it and the fact that he blamed him for Belle’s “death.” Emma arrived just in time to put a stop to it and arrested him and once imprisoned, he was free for Regina to chat with to her heart’s content. She forced him to reveal that he does, in fact, remember everything now and the two of them began to scheme behind the scenes. Despite attempting to help Regina be rid of Emma and her meddling, he used his advantageous position in her good graces to thwart her plans from within, constantly pushing for Emma to break the curse without showing his hand.
During the curse, Gold began to get suspicious of a stranger in town named August Booth, who seemed to be really obsessed with him- poking around his shop, etc. After finding a drawing of the Dark One’s dagger in his hotel room and hearing that August was in town “looking for his father,” he convinced himself that August was his son and confronted him in the woods. August admitted to being Baelfire and the two of them shared a heartfelt reunion, after which August admitted he was looking for the dagger, believing that if Gold still had it, he hadn’t changed. Gold found it for him and handed it over, telling him that he didn’t need it anymore now that he had his son. Unfortunately, August then promptly tried to control him with the dagger and showed his hand- he wasn’t Bae at all, merely using Gold’s feelings for his son to blind and trick him. Unable to control him because there’s no magic in Storybrooke, Gold fought back and threatened August, demanding to know why he wanted the dagger and August explained that he was sick and needed magic and that he couldn’t rely on Emma breaking the curse. The two of them struck a bargain- since August was a dead man either way, at least if he got Emma to break the curse, Gold will have gotten something out of him.
Things finally reached a turning point when Emma’s biological son and Regina’s adopted son Henry fell under a sleeping curse meant for Emma, forcing both women to come to Gold for assistance. Gold revealed the existence of a potion made of pure True Love, the strongest magic of all, that he made using strands of Snow White and Charming’s hair. Suggesting that the potion could restore Henry, Gold sent Emma to fetch it from the dragon that Regina’s been keeping underneath the clocktower. However, after Emma succeeded, he tricked her into giving him the potion, leaving her empty-handed and with no way to save her son but with an accidental True Love’s Kiss that broke the curse over the town once and for all.
Ah, but it wasn’t over yet. After reuniting with a newly freed Belle, Rumple leads her out to a well in the middle of the woods and drops the True Love potion into it, revealing that he’s bringing magic to Storybrooke, because “magic is power.”
Unfortunately, bringing magic to Storybrooke had an unforeseen “price”- namely that anyone who crossed the town line lost their memories and defaulted back to their cursed state. Unable to track down Baelfire until the curse over the line was broken, Gold set about trying to fix that, while also trying to make his relationship with Belle work. Unable to explain to her why he needs magic, Belle leaves him in a huff, prompting him to search for her. After a harrowing ordeal involving her father attempting to send her over the town line to erase her memories of having ever loved Gold, she told both men she never wanted to see them again. To apologize, Gold gave her the key to the town library and told her about his son and why he needs magic to get to him- he’s still a coward and magic is a crutch he can’t walk without. He intended to leave her to live her life without him, having explaining his hard backstory to her, but Belle decided to give him another chance if they can take it slowly- hamburger dates, basically.
During this time, Emma and Snow White fell through a portal back to the Enchanted Forest and managed to get information back that they had met up with Cora there. Determined to keep Cora from entering Storybrooke, Regina and Gold teamed up to keep her out at any cost- including killing Emma and Snow- but Regina crapped out at the last minute. Luckily, Cora didn’t come through and Gold later apologized to Emma for assuming she wasn’t capable of handling the situation. Emma confronted him about the squid ink in his cell, which she found and used to escape, and demanded to know if everything about her was just a part of his game, to which he replied, “I created the curse, dearie, but I didn’t make you,” implying that everything Emma is, including being the product of True Love, was her and her parents’ doing and he only took advantage of it, meaning he wasn’t aware of what Emma could do- she has extremely powerful magic and Cora wasn’t capable of taking her heart.
Gold eventually found a loophole around the town line curse by enchanting an object he held dear with a potion and carrying the object on him. He chooses Bae’s shawl to be that talisman and informed an excited Belle that he only had enough potion for one person to cross the line and she wouldn’t be able to come with him, despite him wishing she could. Later that day, Belle was attacked by none other than Captain Hook, who arrived in Storybrooke with Cora via a magic bean. The attack was meant to get Gold out of his shop so Hook’s first mate (Smee, himself) could break in and steal the shawl. Gold vowed to get the shawl back himself and begged Belle to stay out of the way, fearing she’d get hurt, but Belle takes orders from no man and went to confront Hook, herself.
Gold eventually found his way to the ship where he nearly beat Hook to death and only stopped after Belle told him that she sees good in him and that Hook only wanted to prove he was nothing more than a beast. Gold spared Hook’s life and he and Belle went to the town line to test the potion- it worked and he was able to cross the town line, but just before he and Belle could share their victory kiss, Hook appeared and shot Belle in the shoulder, causing her to fall over the town line and lose her memories. Hook then demanded that Gold finish what he started and Gold summoned a fireball to BURN THE BITCH DOWN, but a car driving into Storybrooke distracted him, hit Hook, and then crashed. Emma and her parents arrived on the scene and Belle was rushed to the hospital, where Gold tried to restore her memories with True Love’s Kiss. Unfortunately, when someone doesn’t have memories, it’s more like True Love’s Sexual Assault Charge and, defeated, Gold tried to leave, only to be accosted by the town who want him to heal the stranger who crashed. Gold refused, claiming he owed no one anything and that healing the stranger would only invite questions because he saw him throwing magic around- it would be better if he died.
Gold retired to his shop, attempting to figure out a cure for memory loss, where he was met by Cora. After some banter, Cora gave him a peace offering in the form of an enchanted globe that would help him find Baelfire- in exchange, she wanted him to spare her and Regina and let them attempt to reconcile. He agreed to her terms and Cora insisted they seal it “like they used to”- with a kiss.
He returned to the hospital with the chipped teacup and begged Belle to look at it in the hope that it would restore her memories, but Belle, frightened because he was being REALLY WEIRD, threw it against the wall and smashed it, leaving Gold with no choice but to leave her in the hospital and set out on his journey to find his son.
Calling in his favor from Emma, she and Henry were forced to accompany him to Manhattan where he panic attacked his way through airport security, because being out of his element startled him. Eventually, they found Baelfire’s apartment, but when Emma tried to get him to answer the door, he took off down the fire escape. Gold explained that the favor he’d been saving all this time was for her to get Bae to talk to him and sent her chasing after him, while he received life advice from an eleven –year-old. Emma returned empty handed and Gold’s logical response was to break into his son’s apartment, despite Emma’s protests, and realized in doing so that Emma and Bae have met before. The two of them began to fight, but before Gold could get violent, Bae arrived to put a stop to it. As it turned out, Bae was actually Neal Cassidy in this world… and the father of Emma’s son, making Gold Henry’s grandfather.
Neal refused to talk to his father until Gold pointed out that Emma’s deal won’t be fulfilled until he does, proving that he can even manipulate his son (what a dick). Neal granted him five minutes and Gold fumbled his way through his apologies and Neal wouldn’t buy any of it, claiming that Gold hadn’t changed at all and that he was still using magic to fix his problems. He refused to forgive him and Gold was left with the sorrow that his journey had come to this and that the boy destined to be his undoing- Henry- was actually his own grandson.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Hook managed to make it to Manhattan (not deterred by the town line curse because he wasn’t cursed to begin with), where he tracked down Gold and stabbed him with his… hook. As if brutal shanking weren’t enough of a downer, Hook poisoned him with dreamshade- a deadly poison from Neverland- and Neal and Emma begin frantically rushing around to figure out a way to get him back to Storybrooke before he died. Proving that everything is awful when you’re part of the Charming family, Emma also got a phonecall from Snow back in Storybrooke saying that Cora and Regina are searching for the Dark One’s dagger in order to control Gold. Emma emotionally manipulated Gold into giving up the location of his dagger so her parents could find it first (claiming that he ought to trust his family, if he trusted anyone), and Neal carried them back to Storybrooke on Hook’s ship. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, Cora and Regina had found the dagger and chose not to control him, because of the state he’s in, planning, instead, to kill him so Cora could become the new Dark One. Emma, her parents, Neal, and Gold made base camp Gold’s shop and Gold proceeded to manipulate everyone in the room, even while dying of poison. He convinced Emma to use a protection spell, teaching her a fundamental lesson of magic- it’s emotion, not an intellectual endeavor. More importantly, he manipulated Snow’s anger at Cora by giving her a magical candle that would trade his life for Cora’s if Snow lights it over Cora’s heart, telling her it’s the only way she can keep anyone else she loves from dying.
As time ticked on and Cora and Regina continued to try to get through the barrier, Gold asked Emma to let him speak with Belle and gave her a heartbreaking, moving speech about who she is, since she couldn’t remember. The love behind the speech moved Neal, who claimed he didn’t think his father had that in him and Gold admitted that everything he’d ever done had been motivated by love. The two of them share a tender embrace just before Cora and Regina break through. Cora eventually made it to Gold and he told her that he saw a vision that this day would come, but it never told him what he really wanted to know- if she ever really loved him. She explained that he was the only man she ever loved and that was why she had to rip her own heart out. AND JUST BEFORE SHE COULD STAB HIM IN HIS, Regina appeared and shoved Cora’s heart back into her body. As it turned out, Snow successfully cursed it and then manipulated Regina into giving it back to Cora, thus causing Regina to unwittingly kill her own mother. Gold lives, Cora dies, and Regina swears revenge. Must be Sunday.
Newly restored to life, Gold attended Regina’s private funeral for Cora, claiming that despite everything, she still meant a great deal to him and would always have a place in his heart. He tried to impart advice to Regina about moving on from revenge or risk losing Henry, and that she couldn’t have everything. Regina, however, refused to listen, and Gold promptly ran and told the Charmings, but, at first, refused to get involved any further until Charming reminded him that he owed Snow a debt for saving his life. The two of them uncover Regina’s plot- a spell that will convince Henry that he loves Regina and only Regina that she must cast using Snow’s heart- and Gold basically ollied out, because warning them about the curse fulfilled his end of the bargain and his only suggestion was that they kill Regina, because a blood feud could only be ended with the spilling of more blood. With some prompting from Henry, Regina destroyed the curse on her own, and spared Snow, but her roaring rampage of revenge wasn’t over yet.
Still unable to reconcile with Neal, Gold tried to turn his focus to Belle, believing that if he could restore her memories, then it would prove he really had changed and that Neal would see the good in him and they could be one big happy family. Thanks to his heartfelt speech, Belle was a little more open to speaking with him now and the two of them struck an agreement that he’d help her get her memories back, if she’d help him “remember who he is.” Regina, however, triggered “sleeper” memories in Belle, convincing her she was a barfly named Lacey who wanted nothing to do with Gold’s lovelorn puppy advances. With Charming’s help (and he now owed HIM a favor too), he managed to convince her to go on a date with him and presented himself as the man that Belle loved- a kind of awkward, dopey man who is utterly in love with her and wouldn’t hurt anyone- which Lacey admitted surprised her as she’d heard he was ruthless and vicious. After Gold accidentally spilled wine on her, Lacey excused herself and then never returned, forcing Gold to go looking for her, and finding her with another man. Lacey told him that she wasn’t Belle and that she didn’t love him and stormed off, leaving Gold to admit that no, she wasn’t Belle at all, and when the man Lacey was macking on attempted to reconcile with him, Gold realized there’s no point in him trying to be good anymore. He tore the man’s tongue out with magic and began beating him violently, which Lacey witnessed and became sadistically enamored of him because he was “as dark as they say.” Seeing this as his way of getting Belle back and protecting Lacey from herself, because that’s totally logical, Gold retorted that he was “much darker” and continued assaulting the man, much to Lacey’s amusement.
Gold began to spend most of his time entertaining Lacey at the expense of his son, who had invited his fiancé to stay with them in Storybrooke. After Neal broke up a fight between his father and another man who he believed was “eyeing” his girlfriend, the two of them argued about how he hadn’t changed a bit, while Gold called BS on Neal’s relationship with Tamara, because he still carried a torch for Emma. The two of them parted ways on bad terms and Gold retired to his shop to drown his troubles with Lacey. As usual, this was interrupted by Charming and Snow who inform him that Regina has been abducted. At first, Gold refused their pleas for help, because he was pretty chill with the idea of Regina being missing, but Charming called in his favor and forced him to help. Unfortunately, Lacey happened to be eavesdropping on the conversation, so the magical elephant in the room was now visible. Luckily, she thought it was the coolest shit ever and he proceeded to show off to her like a pimp. She asked him if he could make her young forever so “they can be together,” but Gold confided in her about the prophecy saying that while he’ll live forever, he can be killed and that his death was imminent. Lacey challenged him by saying she thought he was a man who wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way and that sealed it. He had to kill Henry if he wanted to survive.
His decision to murder Henry and make it look like an accident was thwarted, however, by Charming arriving with some bad news- Neal was shot (by his fiancé) and sent through a portal and was likely dead. Gold had a breakdown and when Charming tried to get him to help save the town from inevitable destruction and stop the people who killed Neal, he explained that “they didn’t kill my son, I did.” He was prepared to die and face the consequences of his actions and retired to his shop with Lacey, while the town went to hell around them. Unable to confide in Lacey about his son’s death, he used a memory potion he got literally five minutes earlier that the Blue Fairy created (WOW SUCH TIMING VERY PLOT) that restored Belle’s memories (apologizing to her because he didn’t want to “wake her up to die,” but he needed her) and the two of them share a tender embrace as they prepared for the end.
The end didn’t come, however. Emma and Regina saved the town and Henry was abducted by Tamara and her partner and they escaped via one of two remaining magic beans. Gold agreed to follow the Charmings, Regina, and a kind of redeemed Hook in pursuit of them, and gave Belle a protection spell to ward the town, telling her that the only way he could honor his dead son was by saving Henry and accepting the prophecy- he won’t be coming back to her. Belle told him that fate can be changed and that she would see him again and he joined the Charmings on Hook’s ship, where they use the last bean to sail off to Neverland- aka the place where his father lived.
Knowing what must be done in Neverland and not wanting to be weighed down by Charming morality, Gold left the group as soon as they arrived and headed into the jungle alone, where he tracked down Tamara, now dying thanks to a Lost Boy arrow. He saved her life and interrogated her about Henry’s whereabouts and expressed genuine sympathy for her plight when she apologized for what happened to Neal, but when she begged him for forgiveness, he denied it and ripped her heart out, killing her. Shortly, after he was found by Pan’s second-in-command (Felix), who told him that Pan was excited to see him (of course he was) and that he could stay as long as he liked (yeah where was that hospitality WHEN YOU ABANDONED HIM AS A CHILD) and that there was only one caveat- if he was here to get Henry , then that made him Pan’s enemy. Gold explained that he knew he was going to die and that he didn’t care and he’d bring down as many Lost Boys with him as it took to get Henry back. Felix fled back into the jungle, but not before throwing a doll at him- that last thing Malcolm gave his son before he ran off and became Peter Pan. Overwhelmed, Gold cried about it for awhile and ended up with decision paralysis about facing his father.
He cut off his shadow and sent it away with his dagger to keep Pan from getting it and proceeded to do nothing for awhile, until he began seeing a vision of Belle, who offered him advice about letting go of his past and embracing his future and all that bullshit. Eventually, he decided that he would go after Henry and confided in the Hallucibelle that he had nothing to live for, and that he had no future with her, because eventually she’d see him for what he really was- a monster. His only true ending was breaking his nasty habit of self-preservation and dying to save Henry.
As he geared up for his confrontation with Pan, he met Neal in the woods and believing him to be a trick tried to attack him. Neal convinced him he was the real deal and, relieved that he wasn’t dead, Gold explained that the only way he could go up against Pan was to be willing to die- which he was. Neal told them there was another way and the pair of them went fishing for squid ink to hold Pan while they got Henry. Unfortunately, as soon as they enacted the plan, Pan decided now was a great time to drop the whole prophecy bomb on Neal and while they successfully got Henry away, Neal forced Gold to admit the truth- that he had planned to kill Henry to subvert the prophecy, regardless of what his current intentions were. Unconvinced that his father had really changed, Neal used the squid ink to bind Gold and took Henry and leaves, despite Gold warning him that he’d never survive without his magic to protect him. Once again, Gold is left alone, unsure of how to proceed. And Neal got abducted by Pan and Henry taken from him, so Gold was right about that. Hah.
Hallucibelle managed to convince a broken Gold to return to Storybrooke and abandon his mission entirely, but before he could take her hand, Regina appeared and forced the hallucination to show itself for what it really was- Pan’s shadow. Regina then proceed to belittle Gold for being a FUCKING IDIOT, which he didn’t argue, because he sure had been wandering around the jungle like a moron for six episodes. He was still hung up on his plan to kill Pan, but Regina planted another idea in his head- maybe they could trap him. They enlisted the help of a mermaid named Ariel, who could swim to Storybrooke, and sent her to find Belle. While they’re waiting, Regina asked Gold if he really thought that Belle would be able to get what they needed, and he actually broke down and admitted his real and true feelings for Belle- a matter he’d avoided up until this moment, especially when it came to Regina. Ariel returned, now with Pandora’s Box in tow, and Gold and Regina reunited with the rest of the party, but not before Gold sent Ariel back with a message for Belle- he would see her again.
Because Gold has no luck at all, Neal had already reunited with everyone by the time they arrived and immediately told everyone that Gold intended to kill Henry. Gold’s explanations fell on deaf ears and to earn the trust of the group, he gave Neal Pandora’s Box, so Neal could stop him if he tried to go for Henry’s throat. Emma, Neal, Regina, and Gold went out to Skull Rock to face Pan in the final showdown, but only Gold could pass through Pan’s barrier because he didn’t cast a shadow. Neal gave him Pandora’s Box, now believing he was telling the truth the whole time, and with the blessing of the team, he went to face his father once and for all.
Pan, in a desperate gambit to get Gold off his dick about the whole #SaveHenry plotline, tried to play the devoted father card and offered him a deal to make a fresh start with him here in Neverland. Gold refused, claiming that he’d be making a fresh start, but not with him. Unfortunately, Pan had a million ranks in sleight of hand and when Gold went to open Pandora’s Box, he realized it had been switched with a fake and Pan had the real one. He sealed Gold into the box and proceeded with his plan to take Henry’s heart and live forever.
He… failed, however, and Gold was released from Pandora’s Box on the trip home once Henry was rescued. He and Neal reconciled at long last, but just before everyone could return to Storybrooke, Gold sensed a disturbance in the force and everyone rushed downstairs where Pan was trying to attack Henry. Gold sealed Pan in Pandora’s Box and everything was finally great. Yay.
Gold reunited with Belle and confessed to her that now that the prophecy had been subverted, he had to start thinking about his future and the only future he cared for was the one where the two of them were together. Unfortunately, as Storybrooke couldn’t go five minutes without imploding, his future planning with Belle was cut short by the Charmings on the verge of another crisis, because they believed that Pan was still causing a problem from within Pandora’s Box. They took Pan out into the woods with the intent to execute him over the town line where he’d have no magic to fight back, only to find Pan trying to convince everyone he was actually Henry. Gold refused to believe it wasn’t a trick, but Panry managed to convince Emma and they realized the true danger- if Henry was in Pan’s body, then Pan was in Henry’s body.
They rushed to Regina’s vault, but were too late- Pan had stolen the scroll that contained the Dark Curse Regina cast twenty-eight years ago to make Storybrooke with the intent to re-cast it and plunge everyone back into their cursed states. Gold and the rest devised a plan to switch Pan and Henry back and destroy the scroll to eliminate the new curse (TEAMWORK AND FAMILY). Once everything was set and Henry was returned to his own body, Gold remained alone with an unconscious Pan to finally deal with his father once and for all. The dramatic conversation that Gold was hoping for (one where Pan regrets everything he ever did and understands what a terrible burden he put on his son) didn’t happen- what he got was a treatise on how much he sucked and how badly his father wanted to be free of him, so Gold deigned to oblige him his request by murdering him. Unfortunately, the band that Gold put on Pan that was meant to suppress his magic didn’t work on him, but it did work on Gold- a matter Pan demonstrated, and then proceeded to curbstomp his son, telling him that he’d kill everyone he loved and he’d be powerless to stop it. As Pan left to make good on this threats, Gold, in an act of desperation, considered cutting off his own hand to get his magic back, but decided against it at the last minute- CHARACTER GROWTH. He tracked down Pan, who was about to murder Gold’s entire family, and confessed that he had a job to finish and he had to do it no matter what it took- no more loopholes. He said his goodbyes to Belle and Neal, thanking Belle for making him stronger and telling Neal that he could still get a happy ending, but it wouldn’t be with him, and summoned his shadow (and his dagger) back to him. He stabbed Pan in the back, causing Pan to revert back into Malcolm, who begged him to stop this, because they still had a chance to have a happy ending. Gold responded with, “I’m a villain… and villains don’t get happy endings,” before completing whatever weird spell he was performing, which caused some sort of magical singularity that made both of them disappear. Don’t question it. The important thing is he thought he sacrificed himself to save his family and that’s all that matters.
Abilities/Special Powers: As the Dark One, Gold is blessed (re: cursed) with incredible magical ability. However, this magical ability is only present in worlds that actually have magic, as evidenced by the fact that he had to actively bring magic into Storybrooke to be capable of using it and leaving town renders him incapable of using his magic. Magic rules are played fairly fast and loose in OUAT, but the basic gist of it seems to be "magic is different" in other worlds meaning spells are much harder to come by and gives him an IC excuse to be supremely nerfed. The rule of thumb I'll be using for the game is that he has minimal magical ability on the ship (enough to keep him from losing his mind and going nuts), in ports with in-universe magic systems, he'll be a bit more powerful, and in worlds with no magic system at all, he'll be unable to use magic completely. He'll never be at full power unless he's actively in the Enchanted Forest where he hails from.
In all circumstances, magic comes with a price, however. Specifically, every spell performed selfishly has a negative consequence for yourself (it may be small or huge, depending on the spell). Spells performed for other people usually mean that the person who demanded the spell pay the price. Again, the rules are fluid and the show has a problem sticking with them, but that's the best that I understand them and how I'll be playing them in-game when possible.
Gold's magic can be used to perform AT LEAST the following feats, but there's likely more. A more detailed guide to OUAT magic that I’ve written up because I’m INSANE can be found here
Bargains: Less of a power outside the Enchanted Forest and more of a skill (as he can't manipulate reality to the same extent outside of his home realm), Gold deals in, well, deals. Basically, if you come to him for something, he will find some way to procure it for you, provided you can pay the price. It might be simple or it might be complex, but you will pay for it. He has no tolerance for people who break deals with him.
Telekinesis: He has some form of telekinesis and is capable of throwing people across rooms with a wave of his hand or pinning people to walls with a thought. This seems to be one of the easier spells to manage, even in worlds where magic is a bit different.
Dishearting: The process of ripping out a heart without killing the person it belongs to, thus enchanting it. Holding a heart means you control the person it belongs to and can make them do just about anything. Squeezing the heart or crushing it will either hurt or kill the person it belongs to. This is not a power he uses very often, however, so I wouldn't worry about him trying to collect hearts like a crazy hoarder. (That's Regina's thing.)
Enchantments: These seem to be done mainly with potions (which no one is exactly clear on how they're made beyond MAGIC AND HAIR AND SOMETIMES ENCHANTED GOLD), but can also be done with actual spells- it's all of a piece, really. Essentially, Gold can enchant objects to have a desired effect. For example, he has implied that he can manage a protection spell to keep Hook from coming near Belle, enchants a cup to trigger Belle's memories (it doesn't work), creates a potion that allows him to cross the town line without losing his memories, and a potion that can track a person so long as you pour it on an object the person owned (it has to belong specifically to them, however). The enchantments are not always foolproof and as magic will always come with a price, there tends to be side effects.
He can also heal people and himself, which I guess falls under this category.
Transfiguration/Curses: He can transform people or objects into different things, ranging from rats to puppets to pretty much whatever the hell he wants. Like the enchantments, he can also do this with potions rather than his own hand, which is how he typically deals out transfiguration spells when someone makes a request of him for one, because it usually means the person who asked for the spell will have to observe the price of the magic. (This is shown when he makes a deal with Jiminy Cricket for a potion that would get rid of his parents and he accidentally kills Gepetto's parents instead.)
He can also manufacture curses (such as the sleeping curse), but they're typically minor and not quite as large scale as the Dark Curse. The transfiguration spells are likely classified under the same heading as a traditional curse and can be broken by true love's kiss or fairy dust.
He can also spin straw into gold. But you knew that.
Motherfucking Dark One, Bitches: Being the Dark One gives you certain advantages that unfortunately don't translate across realms, so while Gold doesn't have his enhanced reflexes and his knee injury is still definitely a knee injury, he's still remarkably strong and resilient for a man his age. He also can't die (unless someone stabs him with the Dagger and please to enjoy being the new Dark One, person who did that). However, this only applies to the ship and ports where magic is a thing, because if magic is not a thing, he is as mortal as they come.
Also, apparently, being the Dark One makes you an evil shit whisperer, as Gold summons and sort of halfway controls a wraith at one point.
Spoilers: This probably only works on things out of the Enchanted Forest, but, hey, if the dumb monsters of the world want to obey the guy with the sexy Scottish accent and the magical dagger, let's do it.
Also he can beat the hell out of you with his cane. And let's be real, that's probably what he's going to do first if you piss him off.
Third-Person Sample: Truth be told, Gold wasn’t exactly sure what he expected after that little stunt. Death had been nothing more than a haunting notion, choking his dreams and freezing him in place with every decision he tried to make back in Neverland. He had prepared for this moment- more than that, prepared to subvert it, but never had he ever entertained the notion of what would happen if he just let go and embraced his fate.
Darkness, perhaps. Darkness that even he couldn’t comprehend and he had known darkness for more years than anyone should count. A suffocating, smothering absence of everything, and him hovering eternally, unable to find a single way to combat it. Something else entirely. Hell isn’t much of a concept in the Enchanted Forest- they have legends about underworlds, but no real proof that they actually exist, and Gold stopped believing in gods when he all but became one.
This certainly wouldn’t have passed for an underworld. In fact, if he didn’t know any better, he would be certain that he passed through a portal into some other world, rather than died. He glances around, squinting in the evening light as he searches for anything familiar and finds nothing recognizable. His dagger is still gripped in his hand, knuckles still white around the hilt, but his father is nowhere to be seen. He lifts the dagger, staring at it with an expression somewhere between shock and distaste, the blood giving the blade the same eerie cast as the night it first bore his name. His eyes wander away, down to his wrist where the band that suppresses his magic remains.
His expression darkens. “Oh, well that’s convenient, isn’t it?”
First-Person Sample:
[Gold’s tone is so dry, you could use it as sandpaper.]
I’ve never been fond of Wonderland. [Offhandedly. Obviously not the point he wants to make either- he’s just expressing dissatisfaction that of all the worlds there are, he had to be abducted to this one. I trust that since no one seems to be leaving very quickly, the rabbits are either well hidden or difficult to catch. Well, well- some things never change.
[It’s not the same Wonderland. He knows this, but any realm bearing that name is bound to be of a sort he doesn’t want to deal with.]
That said, I’m looking for a woman named Regina Mills. Black hair, brown eyes, foul-tempered- she may have threatened you once or twice. [He lets that sit for a second and then elaborates:] There’s just been a lingering question on my mind since I arrived here and I think she might know the answer.
[“Is this all your fault?”]
DW username:
fairytalelieE-Mail: whatineverhad[at]gmail.com
IM: KawaiiSpinel42
Plurk: quasigina
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Mr. Gold, aka Rumplestiltskin
Series: Once Upon a Time
Timeline: 3x11: Going Home
Canon Resource Link: Rumplestiltskin and Mr. Gold
Character History: As the son of a coward and a con, Rumplestiltskin found himself more world-weary and sensible at the age of eight than most people manage in their entire lifetime, and that's enough to make any kid want to run away and join the circus at the earliest available opportunity. Love, unfortunately, is a fatal flaw when it comes to Rumple- every horrific event in his life can be traced back to loving something or someone too much- and it began with his father.
Malcolm didn't love his son (at least not a father's love), a fact that Rumple wasn't aware of until too late, being young and naive and overwhelmed with love for the only parent he had. It didn't matter that the bastard earned a living by being a con or that he often spent all their money on liquor- he was his father and he loved him and he wanted to be with him, as evidenced by the emotional breakdown he has when his father tries to pawn him off on a couple of spinsters to get him out of the way. Rather than choose a new life for himself- a selfish decision he had earned- per the spinsters' warning that he would never escape his father's name, he took the magic bean they gave him and tried to use it to get a fresh start with his father.
His father insisted they go to Neverland.
It became clear to Rumple upon their arrival that Malcolm had no interest in a fresh start with his son- Neverland was a place from his dreams and all he cared about was fulfilling his wishes, dragging his long-suffering eight-year-old around with him, all while Rumple never quite lost hope in the idea that eventually his father would come down from his high and they'd be able to move on. This led to the most defining moment of Rumple's life (and Malcolm's as well)- Malcolm, unable to embrace Neverland the way he wanted to because of his son, traded Rumple for eternal youth, sending the boy back to the spinsters and becoming Peter Pan. Rumple was left abandoned and everyone in the village embraced his father as a coward- a legacy Rumple, himself, grew up in the shadow of. That legacy haunted him for years until eventually he strived to be rid of it once and for all.
Years later, now married to a woman named Milah and living a provincial life as a spinner, Rumple enlisted in the Duke's army to fight in the Ogre Wars- a bloody, violent war that had been claiming lives left and right. Believing that fighting in the war would restore his honor and liberate him from his father's name, Rumple was thrilled at the opportunity... right up until he got to the front. Rumplestiltskin had not grown up a brave man- quite the opposite, actually. And his anxiety and fear of what might happen was only worsened when he met a young Seer in camp, who told him his wife was pregnant and that "his actions on the battlefield would leave his son fatherless." Interpreting her words as his own inevitable death and scared he'd leave his own child to grow up as he did, Rumple made the first rash decision in a long line of rash decisions- he hobbled himself with a sledgehammer (OKAY KATHY BATES) so he'd be sent home without ever fighting.
This, understandably, did not work out that well for him. His intentions may have been good, but the action, itself, was cowardly, and he was branded the village coward, alienated from Milah, and left with only one good thing in his life- his newborn son Baelfire.
Years passed and he and Milah became increasingly more tense, due to his refusal to leave the village and get a fresh start (simultaneously out of fear of what happened the LAST TIME he tried that and because he felt he deserved his fate). Milah became enamored with a pirate named Killian Jones, who allegedly "kidnapped" her and then challenged Rumple to a duel to win her back. Rumple, knowing he would lose a fight against a pirate, refused to even try, leaving him to tell his son that Milah had died, rather than admit the truth- that his own actions were the cause of Milah's departure.
For years after that, it was just Rumple and Baelfire, and Rumple contented himself with that. They lived a decent life, even if it was in squalor and shame, and Bae grew up looking after his father more than the other way around. However, the Ogre Wars were still being fought and growing worse by the minute. The Duke began drafting children, lowering the age of the draft to fourteen and Baelfire was due to turn fourteen soon, leaving Rumple with no choice but to flee the village with his son. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Duke's soldiers and Hordor, their leader, taunted Rumple, relentlessly, forcing him to kiss his boot in front of his son to avoid being punished for deserting. Broken, Rumple and Bae were forced to return home, aided by a kindly beggar that Rumple had given money to on the road, who promised to repay Rumple's kindness by being his "benefactor."
A desperate Rumple confessed to the beggar that he had nothing but his son and that losing him would break him utterly. The beggar, in turn, explained the Duke had enslaved the Dark One- the most powerful sorcerer in all the realm- and that if Rumple could steal the Dark One's dagger, then he could control the Dark One and protect his son. Rumple admitted he was too afraid to control something that powerful, so the beggar offered another option- kill the Dark One and take the power for himself.
Rumple decided that seemed legit enough and set fire to the Duke's castle.
Once the dagger was in his possession and the Duke's castle properly burninated, Rumple summoned the Dark One and ordered him to submit. Sensing Rumple's lack of commitment to (literal) sparkle motion, because of his fear of the power he was in control of, the Dark One taunted him, telling him that Baelfire was probably a bastard because Milah fucked the pool boy or something along those lines and Rumple, acting on years of pent-up rage and frustration, stabbed him in the heart with the dagger. This turned out to be a mistake as the Dark One turned out to be the beggar and this was all an elaborate scheme to transfer his curse to another poor sap. The beggar died and Rumple became the new Dark One, sparkles and all.
It took approximately .5 seconds for him to go mad with power and not consider the weight of the Dark One’s dying words at what a curse this power was, killing the men who were coming to take his son away and striking fear into the hearts of his entire village. This, unfortunately, wasn't exactly what Baelfire had wanted in the grand scheme of things, and thus began the downward spiral of that relationship.
Fearing Bae would leave him, Rumple became overly protective and smothering, claiming it was because he feared that someone would use Bae as leverage to steal his power away or to hurt him because they couldn't touch the Dark One. (And probably believed this too, even if it wasn't the only reason.) Bae, in turn, grew to resent his father for not trusting him enough and being a violent douchebag who went around terrorizing the village, simply because he had thirty years of being everyone's bitch committed to memory and it was time for a little payback. This led to Bae running off to Hamlin (yes that Hamlin) after hearing some totally sweet pipe tunes and Rumple mercilessly hunting down the alleged pied piper, who turned out to be.... His father.
Meeting his eternally fourteen-and-with-great-eyebrows papa again shook Rumple to his core, proving you can give a guy sparkles and magical powers, but that will not change his daddy issues. Pan explained he intended to take Baelfire back to Neverland with him, but offered Rumple a deal- if he asks Bae if he wants to return home with him, then he'll be allowed to go, but if Bae refuses, then he'll go to Neverland with Pan. Rumple refused to take the deal, stealing Bae back to their home, where Bae revealed he knew exactly what Pan was doing and that the deal was a scam- he was going to return home with him, but he needed to prove that Rumple trusted him. Rumple, in one of many attempts to cover his own ass, explained that Pan couldn't be trusted, but refused to tell Bae why beyond that when he was younger, Pan had betrayed him. Understandably, this wasn't a good enough answer by Bae's standards and Rumple eventually stopped hovering so much, allowing him to go out and make friends to prove he totally could trust him not to run away. Really.
Eventually, Bae offered Rumple a deal- if he could figure out a way to break the Dark One's curse without killing either of them, then Rumple would take it and they could get their family back on track. Rumple agreed to these terms, but when Bae's foolproof plan turned out to be a magic bean that led to a world without magic, he panicked in a combination of remembering the last time he went through a portal and also because he needed his magic. In the end, Bae went through the portal alone and Rumple was left realizing he'd just made a huge mistake- one that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The Seer's prophecy had finally been fulfilled. To congratulate her on being a vague-ass bitch, he tracked her down, took her powers from her, and killed her (granted she... kinda asked him to), becoming a Seer himself. In her dying breath, she left him with one last prophecy- a young boy would lead him to his son, but the boy would be his undoing.
That didn't really bother him because he could just kill the kid (duh), so Rumple set out to find another magic bean, which led him to a shady bastard named Smee, who claimed to have one and would trade it if Rumple agreed to make him young again. Rumple was prepared to make the trade when he noticed that Killian Jones was back in town and his desire for revenge got the better of him. He cornered him in an alley, taunted him, and challenged him to the duel he refused years ago. Rumple wiped the floor with him, but just before he could deal the killing blow, Milah appeared. The reunion was a bitter one with Rumple being annoyed as hell that Milah had chosen a pirate over him and had the gall to be happy with him, but Milah offered him a deal- she would give him the bean she stole from Smee and, in return, he'd spare their lives. Rumple agreed, but on the day of the exchange, he fucked everything up by throwing a raving hissy fit at Milah and blaming her for what happened to Baelfire. This argument led to Milah saying she'd never loved him and in a fit of rage, Rumple ripped her heart out and crushed it, sending Killian into his own fit of rage. The pirate vowed revenge, and refused to give up the bean because Rumple didn't keep his word, leading Rumple to cut off his hand. Unfortunately, Rumple did not learn fucking ANYTHING about sleight of hand from his con father, because Killian had tricked him, leaving him with the right hand of a pirate who had just become Captain Hook. Dammit.
Over the next several centuries, Rumple became everyone's favorite Faustian demon- making deals wherever he could in the name of developing a reputation and gathering everything he needed to execute his plan to get back to Bae. Knowing that without Bae, he was little more than a monster, a monster is what he became, one who earned the fear and respect of lesser mortals, who came to him at their most desperate. It was something to occupy his time while he worked on his master plan and it taught everyone object lessons about the price of magic- one he'd been bearing for ages. Rumple is nothing if not vindictive in the desire to teach people the same lessons he learned the hard way.
A dark curse was required to bring him to the Land Without Magic, but casting it himself was out of the question, because the price was too great (and because a seer told him he wouldn't cast it). He would need someone else to cast the curse and that person was the daughter of a particular miller's daughter- Cora. The girl in question had been imprisoned in a tower because she claimed she could spin straw into gold and Rumple offered to help her in exchange for her firstborn. Cora, however, wasn't having any of that and said that she'd make the deal, but only if Rumple taught her magic. They agreed and the two became lovers, all while Cora schemed her way to the throne. Their individual scheming came to a head, however, as Cora's wedding day approached. Rumple, once again blinded by love, changed the deal so that Cora would bear him his child and the two of them could run away together and likely forget their individual goals, but at the last minute, Cora crapped out on him, leaving Rumple to believe for years that she had betrayed him for power and because of the deal being changed, he would never be able to have her daughter.
Or so Cora thought.
Cora's daughter, Regina, was prophesized to cast that dark curse and Rumple being a manipulative fuck accustomed to getting what he wanted, was going to ensnare her one way or another. It helped that Cora, due to the lengths she'd taken to ensure nothing stopped her from reaching her goals (like ripping out her own heart), wasn't much of a mother and had left Regina a bitter broken bird with a lot of anger she didn't know how to deal with. Rumple took advantage of that- offering Regina a means to get rid of her mother without killing her. This led to Regina realizing she had a gift (and worse- a passion) for magic and Rumple took her under his wing.
Unfortunately, Regina was not committed to sparkle motion- she didn’t have the stomach for the dark magic. Claiming she was wasting his time because she couldn’t get over her dead boyfriend and was only invested in magic as a means to bring him back, Rumple devised a plan. With the help of his portal-jumping hatter friend Jefferson, he traveled to a World Without Color where he met Victor Frankenstein and offered him a deal- he’d fund Frankenstein’s research so he could revive the dead and provide him with a magical heart that could save his brother, if Victor would come back to the Enchanted Forest with him. From there, Rumple, Victor, and Jefferson schemed to trick Regina, convincing her that if Victor couldn’t revive her dead boyfriend, then no one could. The trick worked and Regina committed to her anger and her lessons. Basically, don’t ever deny Rumple what he wants- he will go to ridiculously complicated means to make sure he gets it.
Eventually (and perhaps inevitably), Rumple and Regina’s relationship became less about magic lessons and more about inflicting pain on each other. Rumple was determined to break her spirit so severely that she would have no choice but to cast the Dark Curse, shifting every domino so that it left Regina with nothing. And he did this primarily through his meddling in the affairs of Regina’s sworn enemy Snow White and her Prince Charming. By bringing them together, he thwarted nearly every one of Regina’s grand schemes to be rid of Snow White, driving her farther and farther into darkness.
Unfortunately for him, Regina can also play hardball.
Rumple’s determination to get his curse cast so he could find his son was derailed when he met Belle- a princess from a kingdom under threat from ogres. Belle agreed to go with him and be his maid if he promised to protect her village and the deal was struck. At first the pair of them were antagonistic- Rumple refused to let anyone (least of all a young woman) see that he was more than a monster and Belle was determined to not fear him and let him walk all over her- but after Rumple spared the life of a thief who had stolen from him in order to save a wife and unborn child, Belle began to suspect there was more to the story. Her kindness caught Rumple off-guard and over the next several months, he began to grow fond of her, eventually letting her go, expecting that she would never return to him.
She did, however, return, much to his surprise. However, when she kissed him and it began to break the curse over him, he panicked, believing Belle had been sent by Regina to take his magic away and make him weak. He eventually sent Belle away, claiming he didn’t want her and that his magic meant more to him than her, but Belle called bullshit- he was just too much of a coward.
Later, while he was in the middle of brooding over his newly lost True Love ™, Regina stopped by and explained that Belle had been killed (in all actuality, Regina had kidnapped her), sending Rumple into a fit of despair, and giving Regina some leverage over him, as he was too self-deprecating to even suspect for a second that she might be lying- he’s a monster and bad things happen to people he loves. Why wouldn’t it be true?
With Belle gone, Rumple continued to set things in motion for his curse. And for reasons absolutely no one fucking knows, he set his sights on Cinderella, taking the place of her fairy godmother and sending her to the ball in exchange for her firstborn child. Ella and her prince were having none of that, however, and devised a plan with Snow White and Prince Charming to capture Rumple (using magic nullifying squid ink) and snake their way out of the deal. The plan succeeded, although Ella lost her prince as the cost for breaking the deal (he turned up okay later, though, so… no harm done???).
Rumple was imprisoned in a cell in the dwarf mines, where he remained until Regina vowed to cast her dark curse (that was actually Rumple’s dark curse, but who’s counting?), which was when Snow White and Charming paid him a visit and he revealed the details of the curse to them- they were going to be ripped away from their land and transported to another land where they would be separated from those they loved with no memories of their life in the Enchanted Forest, locked in a time loop for eternity until a savior could break the curse. He revealed that their unborn daughter would be that savior and demanded her name as payment for the information. Using squid ink he had hidden in his cell (that he could have left AT ANY TIME, but chose not to, because he was “right where he wanted to be”), he wrote the child’s name down over and over again so that it would stick in his mind, and when the curse hit, he was transported to Storybrooke, Maine with everyone else.
For twenty-eight years, Rumplestiltskin was Mr. Gold, pawnbroker and landlord, who held most of the real power in Regina’s personal fantasyland, beyond the fact that, unlike her, he couldn’t remember a thing. It wasn’t until the night Emma Swan came to town and introduced herself that his memories came rushing back, per a loophole in the curse he worked in- Emma, the name of Snow White and Prince Charming’s daughter. The Savior.
During Emma’s stay in Storybrooke, Gold began to push her towards breaking the curse, using any means necessary, often through manipulation and twisted gambits. The pair of them butted heads, as Emma found his methods repulsive, but Gold never relented and continued to play up the helpful pawnbroker act wherever possible, all in the name of getting Emma to accept her destiny. He also managed to get a favor out of her through Cinderella (now Ashley Boyd) still owing him her firstborn- if he let Ashley keep her baby, then Emma would owe him a favor one day.
Eventually, Regina cottoned onto the fact that he remembered and when he wouldn’t deign to discuss the matter with her, she resorted to a game of her own. Using Belle’s father as her lackey, she had Gold’s most cherished possession- a teacup that Belle had chipped while she was staying with him- stolen from his home, causing Gold to nearly beat the man to death over both it and the fact that he blamed him for Belle’s “death.” Emma arrived just in time to put a stop to it and arrested him and once imprisoned, he was free for Regina to chat with to her heart’s content. She forced him to reveal that he does, in fact, remember everything now and the two of them began to scheme behind the scenes. Despite attempting to help Regina be rid of Emma and her meddling, he used his advantageous position in her good graces to thwart her plans from within, constantly pushing for Emma to break the curse without showing his hand.
During the curse, Gold began to get suspicious of a stranger in town named August Booth, who seemed to be really obsessed with him- poking around his shop, etc. After finding a drawing of the Dark One’s dagger in his hotel room and hearing that August was in town “looking for his father,” he convinced himself that August was his son and confronted him in the woods. August admitted to being Baelfire and the two of them shared a heartfelt reunion, after which August admitted he was looking for the dagger, believing that if Gold still had it, he hadn’t changed. Gold found it for him and handed it over, telling him that he didn’t need it anymore now that he had his son. Unfortunately, August then promptly tried to control him with the dagger and showed his hand- he wasn’t Bae at all, merely using Gold’s feelings for his son to blind and trick him. Unable to control him because there’s no magic in Storybrooke, Gold fought back and threatened August, demanding to know why he wanted the dagger and August explained that he was sick and needed magic and that he couldn’t rely on Emma breaking the curse. The two of them struck a bargain- since August was a dead man either way, at least if he got Emma to break the curse, Gold will have gotten something out of him.
Things finally reached a turning point when Emma’s biological son and Regina’s adopted son Henry fell under a sleeping curse meant for Emma, forcing both women to come to Gold for assistance. Gold revealed the existence of a potion made of pure True Love, the strongest magic of all, that he made using strands of Snow White and Charming’s hair. Suggesting that the potion could restore Henry, Gold sent Emma to fetch it from the dragon that Regina’s been keeping underneath the clocktower. However, after Emma succeeded, he tricked her into giving him the potion, leaving her empty-handed and with no way to save her son but with an accidental True Love’s Kiss that broke the curse over the town once and for all.
Ah, but it wasn’t over yet. After reuniting with a newly freed Belle, Rumple leads her out to a well in the middle of the woods and drops the True Love potion into it, revealing that he’s bringing magic to Storybrooke, because “magic is power.”
Unfortunately, bringing magic to Storybrooke had an unforeseen “price”- namely that anyone who crossed the town line lost their memories and defaulted back to their cursed state. Unable to track down Baelfire until the curse over the line was broken, Gold set about trying to fix that, while also trying to make his relationship with Belle work. Unable to explain to her why he needs magic, Belle leaves him in a huff, prompting him to search for her. After a harrowing ordeal involving her father attempting to send her over the town line to erase her memories of having ever loved Gold, she told both men she never wanted to see them again. To apologize, Gold gave her the key to the town library and told her about his son and why he needs magic to get to him- he’s still a coward and magic is a crutch he can’t walk without. He intended to leave her to live her life without him, having explaining his hard backstory to her, but Belle decided to give him another chance if they can take it slowly- hamburger dates, basically.
During this time, Emma and Snow White fell through a portal back to the Enchanted Forest and managed to get information back that they had met up with Cora there. Determined to keep Cora from entering Storybrooke, Regina and Gold teamed up to keep her out at any cost- including killing Emma and Snow- but Regina crapped out at the last minute. Luckily, Cora didn’t come through and Gold later apologized to Emma for assuming she wasn’t capable of handling the situation. Emma confronted him about the squid ink in his cell, which she found and used to escape, and demanded to know if everything about her was just a part of his game, to which he replied, “I created the curse, dearie, but I didn’t make you,” implying that everything Emma is, including being the product of True Love, was her and her parents’ doing and he only took advantage of it, meaning he wasn’t aware of what Emma could do- she has extremely powerful magic and Cora wasn’t capable of taking her heart.
Gold eventually found a loophole around the town line curse by enchanting an object he held dear with a potion and carrying the object on him. He chooses Bae’s shawl to be that talisman and informed an excited Belle that he only had enough potion for one person to cross the line and she wouldn’t be able to come with him, despite him wishing she could. Later that day, Belle was attacked by none other than Captain Hook, who arrived in Storybrooke with Cora via a magic bean. The attack was meant to get Gold out of his shop so Hook’s first mate (Smee, himself) could break in and steal the shawl. Gold vowed to get the shawl back himself and begged Belle to stay out of the way, fearing she’d get hurt, but Belle takes orders from no man and went to confront Hook, herself.
Gold eventually found his way to the ship where he nearly beat Hook to death and only stopped after Belle told him that she sees good in him and that Hook only wanted to prove he was nothing more than a beast. Gold spared Hook’s life and he and Belle went to the town line to test the potion- it worked and he was able to cross the town line, but just before he and Belle could share their victory kiss, Hook appeared and shot Belle in the shoulder, causing her to fall over the town line and lose her memories. Hook then demanded that Gold finish what he started and Gold summoned a fireball to BURN THE BITCH DOWN, but a car driving into Storybrooke distracted him, hit Hook, and then crashed. Emma and her parents arrived on the scene and Belle was rushed to the hospital, where Gold tried to restore her memories with True Love’s Kiss. Unfortunately, when someone doesn’t have memories, it’s more like True Love’s Sexual Assault Charge and, defeated, Gold tried to leave, only to be accosted by the town who want him to heal the stranger who crashed. Gold refused, claiming he owed no one anything and that healing the stranger would only invite questions because he saw him throwing magic around- it would be better if he died.
Gold retired to his shop, attempting to figure out a cure for memory loss, where he was met by Cora. After some banter, Cora gave him a peace offering in the form of an enchanted globe that would help him find Baelfire- in exchange, she wanted him to spare her and Regina and let them attempt to reconcile. He agreed to her terms and Cora insisted they seal it “like they used to”- with a kiss.
He returned to the hospital with the chipped teacup and begged Belle to look at it in the hope that it would restore her memories, but Belle, frightened because he was being REALLY WEIRD, threw it against the wall and smashed it, leaving Gold with no choice but to leave her in the hospital and set out on his journey to find his son.
Calling in his favor from Emma, she and Henry were forced to accompany him to Manhattan where he panic attacked his way through airport security, because being out of his element startled him. Eventually, they found Baelfire’s apartment, but when Emma tried to get him to answer the door, he took off down the fire escape. Gold explained that the favor he’d been saving all this time was for her to get Bae to talk to him and sent her chasing after him, while he received life advice from an eleven –year-old. Emma returned empty handed and Gold’s logical response was to break into his son’s apartment, despite Emma’s protests, and realized in doing so that Emma and Bae have met before. The two of them began to fight, but before Gold could get violent, Bae arrived to put a stop to it. As it turned out, Bae was actually Neal Cassidy in this world… and the father of Emma’s son, making Gold Henry’s grandfather.
Neal refused to talk to his father until Gold pointed out that Emma’s deal won’t be fulfilled until he does, proving that he can even manipulate his son (what a dick). Neal granted him five minutes and Gold fumbled his way through his apologies and Neal wouldn’t buy any of it, claiming that Gold hadn’t changed at all and that he was still using magic to fix his problems. He refused to forgive him and Gold was left with the sorrow that his journey had come to this and that the boy destined to be his undoing- Henry- was actually his own grandson.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Hook managed to make it to Manhattan (not deterred by the town line curse because he wasn’t cursed to begin with), where he tracked down Gold and stabbed him with his… hook. As if brutal shanking weren’t enough of a downer, Hook poisoned him with dreamshade- a deadly poison from Neverland- and Neal and Emma begin frantically rushing around to figure out a way to get him back to Storybrooke before he died. Proving that everything is awful when you’re part of the Charming family, Emma also got a phonecall from Snow back in Storybrooke saying that Cora and Regina are searching for the Dark One’s dagger in order to control Gold. Emma emotionally manipulated Gold into giving up the location of his dagger so her parents could find it first (claiming that he ought to trust his family, if he trusted anyone), and Neal carried them back to Storybrooke on Hook’s ship. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, Cora and Regina had found the dagger and chose not to control him, because of the state he’s in, planning, instead, to kill him so Cora could become the new Dark One. Emma, her parents, Neal, and Gold made base camp Gold’s shop and Gold proceeded to manipulate everyone in the room, even while dying of poison. He convinced Emma to use a protection spell, teaching her a fundamental lesson of magic- it’s emotion, not an intellectual endeavor. More importantly, he manipulated Snow’s anger at Cora by giving her a magical candle that would trade his life for Cora’s if Snow lights it over Cora’s heart, telling her it’s the only way she can keep anyone else she loves from dying.
As time ticked on and Cora and Regina continued to try to get through the barrier, Gold asked Emma to let him speak with Belle and gave her a heartbreaking, moving speech about who she is, since she couldn’t remember. The love behind the speech moved Neal, who claimed he didn’t think his father had that in him and Gold admitted that everything he’d ever done had been motivated by love. The two of them share a tender embrace just before Cora and Regina break through. Cora eventually made it to Gold and he told her that he saw a vision that this day would come, but it never told him what he really wanted to know- if she ever really loved him. She explained that he was the only man she ever loved and that was why she had to rip her own heart out. AND JUST BEFORE SHE COULD STAB HIM IN HIS, Regina appeared and shoved Cora’s heart back into her body. As it turned out, Snow successfully cursed it and then manipulated Regina into giving it back to Cora, thus causing Regina to unwittingly kill her own mother. Gold lives, Cora dies, and Regina swears revenge. Must be Sunday.
Newly restored to life, Gold attended Regina’s private funeral for Cora, claiming that despite everything, she still meant a great deal to him and would always have a place in his heart. He tried to impart advice to Regina about moving on from revenge or risk losing Henry, and that she couldn’t have everything. Regina, however, refused to listen, and Gold promptly ran and told the Charmings, but, at first, refused to get involved any further until Charming reminded him that he owed Snow a debt for saving his life. The two of them uncover Regina’s plot- a spell that will convince Henry that he loves Regina and only Regina that she must cast using Snow’s heart- and Gold basically ollied out, because warning them about the curse fulfilled his end of the bargain and his only suggestion was that they kill Regina, because a blood feud could only be ended with the spilling of more blood. With some prompting from Henry, Regina destroyed the curse on her own, and spared Snow, but her roaring rampage of revenge wasn’t over yet.
Still unable to reconcile with Neal, Gold tried to turn his focus to Belle, believing that if he could restore her memories, then it would prove he really had changed and that Neal would see the good in him and they could be one big happy family. Thanks to his heartfelt speech, Belle was a little more open to speaking with him now and the two of them struck an agreement that he’d help her get her memories back, if she’d help him “remember who he is.” Regina, however, triggered “sleeper” memories in Belle, convincing her she was a barfly named Lacey who wanted nothing to do with Gold’s lovelorn puppy advances. With Charming’s help (and he now owed HIM a favor too), he managed to convince her to go on a date with him and presented himself as the man that Belle loved- a kind of awkward, dopey man who is utterly in love with her and wouldn’t hurt anyone- which Lacey admitted surprised her as she’d heard he was ruthless and vicious. After Gold accidentally spilled wine on her, Lacey excused herself and then never returned, forcing Gold to go looking for her, and finding her with another man. Lacey told him that she wasn’t Belle and that she didn’t love him and stormed off, leaving Gold to admit that no, she wasn’t Belle at all, and when the man Lacey was macking on attempted to reconcile with him, Gold realized there’s no point in him trying to be good anymore. He tore the man’s tongue out with magic and began beating him violently, which Lacey witnessed and became sadistically enamored of him because he was “as dark as they say.” Seeing this as his way of getting Belle back and protecting Lacey from herself, because that’s totally logical, Gold retorted that he was “much darker” and continued assaulting the man, much to Lacey’s amusement.
Gold began to spend most of his time entertaining Lacey at the expense of his son, who had invited his fiancé to stay with them in Storybrooke. After Neal broke up a fight between his father and another man who he believed was “eyeing” his girlfriend, the two of them argued about how he hadn’t changed a bit, while Gold called BS on Neal’s relationship with Tamara, because he still carried a torch for Emma. The two of them parted ways on bad terms and Gold retired to his shop to drown his troubles with Lacey. As usual, this was interrupted by Charming and Snow who inform him that Regina has been abducted. At first, Gold refused their pleas for help, because he was pretty chill with the idea of Regina being missing, but Charming called in his favor and forced him to help. Unfortunately, Lacey happened to be eavesdropping on the conversation, so the magical elephant in the room was now visible. Luckily, she thought it was the coolest shit ever and he proceeded to show off to her like a pimp. She asked him if he could make her young forever so “they can be together,” but Gold confided in her about the prophecy saying that while he’ll live forever, he can be killed and that his death was imminent. Lacey challenged him by saying she thought he was a man who wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way and that sealed it. He had to kill Henry if he wanted to survive.
His decision to murder Henry and make it look like an accident was thwarted, however, by Charming arriving with some bad news- Neal was shot (by his fiancé) and sent through a portal and was likely dead. Gold had a breakdown and when Charming tried to get him to help save the town from inevitable destruction and stop the people who killed Neal, he explained that “they didn’t kill my son, I did.” He was prepared to die and face the consequences of his actions and retired to his shop with Lacey, while the town went to hell around them. Unable to confide in Lacey about his son’s death, he used a memory potion he got literally five minutes earlier that the Blue Fairy created (WOW SUCH TIMING VERY PLOT) that restored Belle’s memories (apologizing to her because he didn’t want to “wake her up to die,” but he needed her) and the two of them share a tender embrace as they prepared for the end.
The end didn’t come, however. Emma and Regina saved the town and Henry was abducted by Tamara and her partner and they escaped via one of two remaining magic beans. Gold agreed to follow the Charmings, Regina, and a kind of redeemed Hook in pursuit of them, and gave Belle a protection spell to ward the town, telling her that the only way he could honor his dead son was by saving Henry and accepting the prophecy- he won’t be coming back to her. Belle told him that fate can be changed and that she would see him again and he joined the Charmings on Hook’s ship, where they use the last bean to sail off to Neverland- aka the place where his father lived.
Knowing what must be done in Neverland and not wanting to be weighed down by Charming morality, Gold left the group as soon as they arrived and headed into the jungle alone, where he tracked down Tamara, now dying thanks to a Lost Boy arrow. He saved her life and interrogated her about Henry’s whereabouts and expressed genuine sympathy for her plight when she apologized for what happened to Neal, but when she begged him for forgiveness, he denied it and ripped her heart out, killing her. Shortly, after he was found by Pan’s second-in-command (Felix), who told him that Pan was excited to see him (of course he was) and that he could stay as long as he liked (yeah where was that hospitality WHEN YOU ABANDONED HIM AS A CHILD) and that there was only one caveat- if he was here to get Henry , then that made him Pan’s enemy. Gold explained that he knew he was going to die and that he didn’t care and he’d bring down as many Lost Boys with him as it took to get Henry back. Felix fled back into the jungle, but not before throwing a doll at him- that last thing Malcolm gave his son before he ran off and became Peter Pan. Overwhelmed, Gold cried about it for awhile and ended up with decision paralysis about facing his father.
He cut off his shadow and sent it away with his dagger to keep Pan from getting it and proceeded to do nothing for awhile, until he began seeing a vision of Belle, who offered him advice about letting go of his past and embracing his future and all that bullshit. Eventually, he decided that he would go after Henry and confided in the Hallucibelle that he had nothing to live for, and that he had no future with her, because eventually she’d see him for what he really was- a monster. His only true ending was breaking his nasty habit of self-preservation and dying to save Henry.
As he geared up for his confrontation with Pan, he met Neal in the woods and believing him to be a trick tried to attack him. Neal convinced him he was the real deal and, relieved that he wasn’t dead, Gold explained that the only way he could go up against Pan was to be willing to die- which he was. Neal told them there was another way and the pair of them went fishing for squid ink to hold Pan while they got Henry. Unfortunately, as soon as they enacted the plan, Pan decided now was a great time to drop the whole prophecy bomb on Neal and while they successfully got Henry away, Neal forced Gold to admit the truth- that he had planned to kill Henry to subvert the prophecy, regardless of what his current intentions were. Unconvinced that his father had really changed, Neal used the squid ink to bind Gold and took Henry and leaves, despite Gold warning him that he’d never survive without his magic to protect him. Once again, Gold is left alone, unsure of how to proceed. And Neal got abducted by Pan and Henry taken from him, so Gold was right about that. Hah.
Hallucibelle managed to convince a broken Gold to return to Storybrooke and abandon his mission entirely, but before he could take her hand, Regina appeared and forced the hallucination to show itself for what it really was- Pan’s shadow. Regina then proceed to belittle Gold for being a FUCKING IDIOT, which he didn’t argue, because he sure had been wandering around the jungle like a moron for six episodes. He was still hung up on his plan to kill Pan, but Regina planted another idea in his head- maybe they could trap him. They enlisted the help of a mermaid named Ariel, who could swim to Storybrooke, and sent her to find Belle. While they’re waiting, Regina asked Gold if he really thought that Belle would be able to get what they needed, and he actually broke down and admitted his real and true feelings for Belle- a matter he’d avoided up until this moment, especially when it came to Regina. Ariel returned, now with Pandora’s Box in tow, and Gold and Regina reunited with the rest of the party, but not before Gold sent Ariel back with a message for Belle- he would see her again.
Because Gold has no luck at all, Neal had already reunited with everyone by the time they arrived and immediately told everyone that Gold intended to kill Henry. Gold’s explanations fell on deaf ears and to earn the trust of the group, he gave Neal Pandora’s Box, so Neal could stop him if he tried to go for Henry’s throat. Emma, Neal, Regina, and Gold went out to Skull Rock to face Pan in the final showdown, but only Gold could pass through Pan’s barrier because he didn’t cast a shadow. Neal gave him Pandora’s Box, now believing he was telling the truth the whole time, and with the blessing of the team, he went to face his father once and for all.
Pan, in a desperate gambit to get Gold off his dick about the whole #SaveHenry plotline, tried to play the devoted father card and offered him a deal to make a fresh start with him here in Neverland. Gold refused, claiming that he’d be making a fresh start, but not with him. Unfortunately, Pan had a million ranks in sleight of hand and when Gold went to open Pandora’s Box, he realized it had been switched with a fake and Pan had the real one. He sealed Gold into the box and proceeded with his plan to take Henry’s heart and live forever.
He… failed, however, and Gold was released from Pandora’s Box on the trip home once Henry was rescued. He and Neal reconciled at long last, but just before everyone could return to Storybrooke, Gold sensed a disturbance in the force and everyone rushed downstairs where Pan was trying to attack Henry. Gold sealed Pan in Pandora’s Box and everything was finally great. Yay.
Gold reunited with Belle and confessed to her that now that the prophecy had been subverted, he had to start thinking about his future and the only future he cared for was the one where the two of them were together. Unfortunately, as Storybrooke couldn’t go five minutes without imploding, his future planning with Belle was cut short by the Charmings on the verge of another crisis, because they believed that Pan was still causing a problem from within Pandora’s Box. They took Pan out into the woods with the intent to execute him over the town line where he’d have no magic to fight back, only to find Pan trying to convince everyone he was actually Henry. Gold refused to believe it wasn’t a trick, but Panry managed to convince Emma and they realized the true danger- if Henry was in Pan’s body, then Pan was in Henry’s body.
They rushed to Regina’s vault, but were too late- Pan had stolen the scroll that contained the Dark Curse Regina cast twenty-eight years ago to make Storybrooke with the intent to re-cast it and plunge everyone back into their cursed states. Gold and the rest devised a plan to switch Pan and Henry back and destroy the scroll to eliminate the new curse (TEAMWORK AND FAMILY). Once everything was set and Henry was returned to his own body, Gold remained alone with an unconscious Pan to finally deal with his father once and for all. The dramatic conversation that Gold was hoping for (one where Pan regrets everything he ever did and understands what a terrible burden he put on his son) didn’t happen- what he got was a treatise on how much he sucked and how badly his father wanted to be free of him, so Gold deigned to oblige him his request by murdering him. Unfortunately, the band that Gold put on Pan that was meant to suppress his magic didn’t work on him, but it did work on Gold- a matter Pan demonstrated, and then proceeded to curbstomp his son, telling him that he’d kill everyone he loved and he’d be powerless to stop it. As Pan left to make good on this threats, Gold, in an act of desperation, considered cutting off his own hand to get his magic back, but decided against it at the last minute- CHARACTER GROWTH. He tracked down Pan, who was about to murder Gold’s entire family, and confessed that he had a job to finish and he had to do it no matter what it took- no more loopholes. He said his goodbyes to Belle and Neal, thanking Belle for making him stronger and telling Neal that he could still get a happy ending, but it wouldn’t be with him, and summoned his shadow (and his dagger) back to him. He stabbed Pan in the back, causing Pan to revert back into Malcolm, who begged him to stop this, because they still had a chance to have a happy ending. Gold responded with, “I’m a villain… and villains don’t get happy endings,” before completing whatever weird spell he was performing, which caused some sort of magical singularity that made both of them disappear. Don’t question it. The important thing is he thought he sacrificed himself to save his family and that’s all that matters.
Abilities/Special Powers: As the Dark One, Gold is blessed (re: cursed) with incredible magical ability. However, this magical ability is only present in worlds that actually have magic, as evidenced by the fact that he had to actively bring magic into Storybrooke to be capable of using it and leaving town renders him incapable of using his magic. Magic rules are played fairly fast and loose in OUAT, but the basic gist of it seems to be "magic is different" in other worlds meaning spells are much harder to come by and gives him an IC excuse to be supremely nerfed. The rule of thumb I'll be using for the game is that he has minimal magical ability on the ship (enough to keep him from losing his mind and going nuts), in ports with in-universe magic systems, he'll be a bit more powerful, and in worlds with no magic system at all, he'll be unable to use magic completely. He'll never be at full power unless he's actively in the Enchanted Forest where he hails from.
In all circumstances, magic comes with a price, however. Specifically, every spell performed selfishly has a negative consequence for yourself (it may be small or huge, depending on the spell). Spells performed for other people usually mean that the person who demanded the spell pay the price. Again, the rules are fluid and the show has a problem sticking with them, but that's the best that I understand them and how I'll be playing them in-game when possible.
Gold's magic can be used to perform AT LEAST the following feats, but there's likely more. A more detailed guide to OUAT magic that I’ve written up because I’m INSANE can be found here
Bargains: Less of a power outside the Enchanted Forest and more of a skill (as he can't manipulate reality to the same extent outside of his home realm), Gold deals in, well, deals. Basically, if you come to him for something, he will find some way to procure it for you, provided you can pay the price. It might be simple or it might be complex, but you will pay for it. He has no tolerance for people who break deals with him.
Telekinesis: He has some form of telekinesis and is capable of throwing people across rooms with a wave of his hand or pinning people to walls with a thought. This seems to be one of the easier spells to manage, even in worlds where magic is a bit different.
Dishearting: The process of ripping out a heart without killing the person it belongs to, thus enchanting it. Holding a heart means you control the person it belongs to and can make them do just about anything. Squeezing the heart or crushing it will either hurt or kill the person it belongs to. This is not a power he uses very often, however, so I wouldn't worry about him trying to collect hearts like a crazy hoarder. (That's Regina's thing.)
Enchantments: These seem to be done mainly with potions (which no one is exactly clear on how they're made beyond MAGIC AND HAIR AND SOMETIMES ENCHANTED GOLD), but can also be done with actual spells- it's all of a piece, really. Essentially, Gold can enchant objects to have a desired effect. For example, he has implied that he can manage a protection spell to keep Hook from coming near Belle, enchants a cup to trigger Belle's memories (it doesn't work), creates a potion that allows him to cross the town line without losing his memories, and a potion that can track a person so long as you pour it on an object the person owned (it has to belong specifically to them, however). The enchantments are not always foolproof and as magic will always come with a price, there tends to be side effects.
He can also heal people and himself, which I guess falls under this category.
Transfiguration/Curses: He can transform people or objects into different things, ranging from rats to puppets to pretty much whatever the hell he wants. Like the enchantments, he can also do this with potions rather than his own hand, which is how he typically deals out transfiguration spells when someone makes a request of him for one, because it usually means the person who asked for the spell will have to observe the price of the magic. (This is shown when he makes a deal with Jiminy Cricket for a potion that would get rid of his parents and he accidentally kills Gepetto's parents instead.)
He can also manufacture curses (such as the sleeping curse), but they're typically minor and not quite as large scale as the Dark Curse. The transfiguration spells are likely classified under the same heading as a traditional curse and can be broken by true love's kiss or fairy dust.
He can also spin straw into gold. But you knew that.
Motherfucking Dark One, Bitches: Being the Dark One gives you certain advantages that unfortunately don't translate across realms, so while Gold doesn't have his enhanced reflexes and his knee injury is still definitely a knee injury, he's still remarkably strong and resilient for a man his age. He also can't die (unless someone stabs him with the Dagger and please to enjoy being the new Dark One, person who did that). However, this only applies to the ship and ports where magic is a thing, because if magic is not a thing, he is as mortal as they come.
Also, apparently, being the Dark One makes you an evil shit whisperer, as Gold summons and sort of halfway controls a wraith at one point.
Spoilers: This probably only works on things out of the Enchanted Forest, but, hey, if the dumb monsters of the world want to obey the guy with the sexy Scottish accent and the magical dagger, let's do it.
Also he can beat the hell out of you with his cane. And let's be real, that's probably what he's going to do first if you piss him off.
Third-Person Sample: Truth be told, Gold wasn’t exactly sure what he expected after that little stunt. Death had been nothing more than a haunting notion, choking his dreams and freezing him in place with every decision he tried to make back in Neverland. He had prepared for this moment- more than that, prepared to subvert it, but never had he ever entertained the notion of what would happen if he just let go and embraced his fate.
Darkness, perhaps. Darkness that even he couldn’t comprehend and he had known darkness for more years than anyone should count. A suffocating, smothering absence of everything, and him hovering eternally, unable to find a single way to combat it. Something else entirely. Hell isn’t much of a concept in the Enchanted Forest- they have legends about underworlds, but no real proof that they actually exist, and Gold stopped believing in gods when he all but became one.
This certainly wouldn’t have passed for an underworld. In fact, if he didn’t know any better, he would be certain that he passed through a portal into some other world, rather than died. He glances around, squinting in the evening light as he searches for anything familiar and finds nothing recognizable. His dagger is still gripped in his hand, knuckles still white around the hilt, but his father is nowhere to be seen. He lifts the dagger, staring at it with an expression somewhere between shock and distaste, the blood giving the blade the same eerie cast as the night it first bore his name. His eyes wander away, down to his wrist where the band that suppresses his magic remains.
His expression darkens. “Oh, well that’s convenient, isn’t it?”
First-Person Sample:
[Gold’s tone is so dry, you could use it as sandpaper.]
I’ve never been fond of Wonderland. [Offhandedly. Obviously not the point he wants to make either- he’s just expressing dissatisfaction that of all the worlds there are, he had to be abducted to this one. I trust that since no one seems to be leaving very quickly, the rabbits are either well hidden or difficult to catch. Well, well- some things never change.
[It’s not the same Wonderland. He knows this, but any realm bearing that name is bound to be of a sort he doesn’t want to deal with.]
That said, I’m looking for a woman named Regina Mills. Black hair, brown eyes, foul-tempered- she may have threatened you once or twice. [He lets that sit for a second and then elaborates:] There’s just been a lingering question on my mind since I arrived here and I think she might know the answer.
[“Is this all your fault?”]