It was a great ending! I just wish we could have seen more of Hayley and Cami in the end. 🙂

Well, the two shows aren’t even really similar at all to be honest. I find Moonlight more closely aligns with the 1980s Beauty and the Beast.

This list is “in no particular order.”

What do you mean he treated his son badly? Oh, do tell.

Agree! He treated his wife terribly, just as he did with his son.

‘He chose to be evil’.

He stole the Dark One’s dagger to protect his son because he knows that when Bae goes to join the Ogres War, there’s no going back. Especially for a young adolescent like Baelfire. But of course, Zoso had to taunt Rumplestiltskin.

Told him that the people who would take his son, his only family, the only person who stood by him while countless people shunned him away, called him a coward were on their way to his house to take his son. If Baelfire was even his son at all? After all, he wasn’t a coward like him. So he asks him again, what would he have Rumplestiltskin do?

With these taunts out in the open, Rumplestiltskin was of course, filled to the brim with countless insecurities. It didn’t help that almost everyone he held dear left him. His father, Milah, heck probably his mother (but we may never know). Killian had to taunt him as well for being a coward and not fighting him with a sword (who asks that to a cripple?) to claim his wife.

‘He kills like it’s nothing.’
Being the Dark One can do that to you. I’m sure we all have that little voice that whispers to us to do bad things. Imagine that voice amplified.

And if you’re referring to the time when he killed the people who tried to take Bae away, remember that he was still new to being the Dark One. He’s still not used to having a very dark and sinister being in his mind telling him to kill. Add that with the strong urge to protect his only son. I know what he did was wrong. But he didn’t kill like it was nothing. He killed because he was fighting for something.

By lying and deceiving Belle, are you talking about the gauntlet? I would like to clear that up. The gauntlet brings you their weakness. Usually, it’s the thing they love the most. Note the word usually. At this point, Rumplestiltskin is still the Dark One. Therefore, the dagger can still control him. Meaning that when someone (for example Zelena) takes hold of the dagger, you are basically controlling his entire being. That’s his greatest weakness.

It’s not the thing he loves the most. It’s more in the lines of the thing he fears the most. Being controlled. Being subjected to actions he rather not do. After Zelena, I’m sure Rumplestiltskin wouldn’t want to be controlled again.

‘Nothing he experienced excuses his actions.’ Are you saying that trying to get his freedom after experiencing abuse from Zelena means nothing?

He “chose” power because after everything that happened to him, he believes that having this large amount of control can finally bring him his much wanted freedom. He tries to become more powerful than others because he’s afraid that if he’s not the most powerful, there is still that sliver of chance that he might get controlled again.

And you’re right, he does call himself a villain. Rumplestiltskin is a very sensitive man (or at least that’s the vibes I’ve been getting) and he always thinks lowly of himself. Even before he became the Dark One. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he calls himself a villain because he is always portrayed by other people as the bastard who ruins lives.

Also, thanks for the lengthy and informative reply. Usually when I try to stand up for Rumplestiltskin, I’ve been shot down with rather rude replies.