InfoPost for Amat - Rumpelstiltskin | Once Upon a Time

[cantwalkwithoutit]

STATS
» NAME: Rumpelstiltskin
» FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
» CANON POINT: Just before the end of "Kansas"
» AGE: Physically mid-forties, Canonically around 330 years.
» GENDER: Cisgendered male.
» ORIENTATION: Straight/Learning Toward "Unknown" - Canon shows Rumpelstiltskin chiefly in relationships with women. At his earliest-shown point in the OUaT timeline (which jumps around a bit, let's be fair) he is married with a son, though his wife leaves him later, and much later develops a relationship with Belle, which continues to be a sticking point in the series. Mind that I did not say "attracted to" women, though this can be assumed, because Rumpelstiltskin's relationships are more suggestive of who he falls in love with rather than who he is physically attracted to. He doesn't readily display physical attraction to anyone, and subtle clues that could be used, such as pet names ("Dearie" comes up quite often), appear to be used rather freely between both men and women. Am I suggesting that this denotes possible deviations on the Kinsey Scale? Not really. I would sooner suppose that we don't see Rumpelstiltskin display attraction toward people he doesn't love because 1) he's too self-conscious and awkward in his canon romantic relationships to put that part of himself out there very often, and 2) He comes from a world where true love is a tangible, powerful thing (that he himself has a deep and abiding respect for) and may very likely regard such acts as sex to be indivisible from love (or at the very least they should be). For these reasons he may have trouble experiencing a strong physical attraction toward a person if he is not in love with them.

» COLLAR: A very simple leather collar with a gold buckle

KINKS
» YES: Just ask
» MAYBE: Just ask
» NO: Just ask
» PAIRING PREFERENCES: None.

EXTENDED PROFILE
» APPEARANCE: He stands about 5'8" and is of an average weight and build for a man his age and size, though he appears to keep in good health and look after himself. His eyes are large and expressive, a deep brown, and as a human he is a good deal less vaudevillian in terms of gesticulation and facial expression. Some would describe him, even, as subdued compared to his old self. He has brown hair that he usually wears at shoulder length and almost never ties back, and is, for his apparent age and disposition, always impeccably clothed. His manner of dress frequently reflects that of someone of considerable wealth, whatever the fashion happens to be for that sort of person in whatever world he happens to be in. Unlike his last appearance on the island, he no longer needs to use a cane to walk.
» PERSONALITY: Something that has remained true of Rumpelstiltskin even before his transformation into the Dark One is that he is a fearful person. The word "coward" is used quite often to describe him, at all points in his life, and it's a word that stings him personally, though inwardly he doesn't disagree with it. "Anxious" may actually be a better term, however. When he was young, he became infamous in his own village when he went to war and then fled the field of battle. Despite that he will not deny this, he did it (hobbling himself in the process) because he believed he would die on the field in a coming battle and thereby abandon his son. From this, he earned something of a reptuation for being a coward.

Much of his anxiety comes from a general lack of feelings of self-worth that are not tied to power. Before becoming the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin didn't believe himself to be much of anything, and most people agreed. A lonely spinner, a cripple, a coward, cuckolded and abandoned by his wife -- he thought himself ugly and never believed he was really very good at anything but his job. He didn't seem to think himself a good husband, and after the loss of his wife and his dignity, he held onto his son just as much out of desperation as love, just for want to be connected to something that gave him some personal value. As a father he means something to somebody, and without Baelfire, he saw himself as meaning nothing to anybody, unless they wanted something from him -- something his power as the Dark One uses to wicked effect. His cowardice ties back into this, as even though he loves his son dearly, he lost him because he was too afraid to let go of that power in order to stay with him. Without Bae, he is admittedly wretched, and without the power he is nothing at all. Even when planning to become part of the Curse, he made deals to still assume some power -- wishing, even, to be someone wealthy and respectable, all of the things he didn't see himself as when he was a man -- because by no fault of anyone else, he has never seen himself as such.

It must also be established that Rumpelstiltskin has abandonment issues, which ties in to a lot of what is mentioned above. He was abandoned by his father as a young child. Before he built his own reputation, he had to shoulder his father's -- that of an alcoholic, cowardly layabout who amounted to nothing but making a kid he couldn't take care of. It's a shadow he spent much of his life desperate to escape, but it also left him desperately afraid of being left by people he cares about -- who have become decidedly fewer over the years. He stayed in a marriage where he was miserable (and frequently verbally abused, canon suggests) because he couldn't bear the thought of being left. He hobbled himself to get discharged so that he wouldn't damn his son to the same fate. Even as the Dark One, while he forges very few bonds and can burn bridges all on his own, it still hurts him.

Having power as the Dark One gave Rumpelstiltskin purpose and a means to exert his will on others. It makes him something of a bully, to be certain, but then this also appears partially to be his perception of people who were stronger than him before (and he wasn't exactly wrong on that front, either). He has made claims at least to himself that he'd be willing to give up the power for good if he can just find his son, but in time, he's shown that he's stopped trying to do this -- accepting he simply is magic, and he'll use it responsibly or not at all. (Attempt to, anyway.) When given the chance the first time he couldn't do it (and he regretted it), but he ultimately did show, at last, that he could put his love of magic aside to do the right thing, when he gave his life to save everyone in Storybrooke without using magic.

Contracts became an important part of Rumpelstiltskin's life since becoming the Dark One, largely because he was tricked into assuming the mantle by the previous one without fully knowing what it would entail. True to the old man's words, he has never misunderstood a deal since, and he has also only ever broken one: his promise to his son that he would go with him to a world without magic if he found a way. In a long, roundabout way, he is still hoping to someday keep it. The point is that while Rumpelstiltskin can be a bit...slippery, he's also very good on following through his deals to the letter and expecting people to do the same. The trouble is that he plays with words too much, so often less than clever persons might not fully understand what they're bargaining for, and Rumpelstiltskin will be the first to tell you that all boons, particularly magical ones, come at a price. He believes this even of good magic, because he refuses to believe it is really so different from evil magic, no matter what others say. While contracts can be amended for new favors, he does not do this lightly, and he's proven himself to be especially vicious to people who fail to meet their end of a bargain. Overall, this will reflect in his behavior on the island in that he will try to know as much as he can about how the place works, especially its patron goddess, and he will likely strike a contract or two among other denizens if it serves his purposes.

The bit about contracts creates another interesting wrinkle in his personality: Rumpelstiltskin is actually pretty big about consent. He doesn't make deals with children, because they can't. In fact, the only times he seems to allow his dealings to directly affect children is when it's key to getting to the world without magic and his son. He made a deal for Cinderella's baby because at the time he knew he would need a child conceived of true love to play the role of the savior. He made a deal with Archie that would orphan Gepetto because Gepetto had a destiny that also tied in. When he started to fall in love with Belle, a servant in his household as the result of another deal, he released her from service and waited for her to initiate any contact because he knew it would be terrible to take advantage of her with that power dynamic in place. He gets this. What he kind of fails on, with regard to his deals and consent, is making sure the people signing the contract are fully informed. If they don't see the loopholes, then as far as he's concerned, it's their fault. Another way in which "consent" intersects with his personality is that he just spent just over a year in forced servitude (as Zelena got hold of the dagger). While in the canon he's maintained by simply carrying on with his life as quickly and efficiently as possible, he won't have the same luxury on the island, a place where an inanimate object is, once again, forcing him to do things he wouldn't normally want to do.

Being Mr. Gold has affected Rumpelstiltskin in terms of personality and mannerisms, as mentioned before. For one, as the "respectable" but still quite shrewd Mr. Gold (whose first name could very well just be "Sir" as far as the people of Storybrooke are concerned), he saw himself perhaps as not necessarily more attractive, but less beastly. It is strongly implied that despite the curse affecting everyone else in Storybrooke a specific way, he became aware of himself when Emma arrived and spoke her name in his presence. He retains all his memories as Mr. Gold. As a result, he appears overall more patient and less overtly like he's toying with everyone he talks to. Regardless of his appearance, the more impish inflections and propensity toward inappropriate laughter are all but gone, his voice reflecting his deeper, more normal voice from before, with perhaps a slightly more sophisticated turn of phrase. He does less with his hands, where once every thought expressed aloud seemed to come with numerous dramatic gestures. He's still one to mince words just a bit, but he does so with an air of a crooked but ridiculously effective lawyer rather than fae. What he maintains, other than his love of fine print, is a rather explosive temper. In fact, this seems to have gotten a little worse. While before becoming the Dark One, he was meek and hesitant to act, since then, when angered, he has always been quick to retaliate, often with a magical spell, but in Storybrooke (even with magic returned) he frequently employs violence or at least a strong verbal lashing. In this state he might be quick to draw conclusions where there are none and say many things he will regret later -- this has almost never changed. There are few people who can rile him up that far, and even so they have to try hard. His exchanges are more a game of cat and mouse, and he only loses his temper when the advantage is stolen from him and it takes him by surprise, such as learning his wife was alive, or if he has some pent-up aggression to deal with, seen in his encounters with Belle's father, whom he blamed for her supposed death. He has killed thoughtlessly and without remorse, and this is important to note, despite that over time he's actually less quick to kill and even remorseful when called to do so at times -- sometimes. Very few people other than himself mattered in the grand scheme of things for a long time. The change has come because he now suddenly has a family, even after the unfortunate death of his son. He has a fiance, a grandson -- he's invariably been tied to the entire Snow and Charming clan, quite unintended on his part.

Speaking of Belle, it should be noted that her influence, before and after the curse, has had some affect on his character. She was one of the first people he truly opened up to about his past (to some degree). In fact, she very nearly broke the curse on him as the Dark One, but a misstep led him to believe that Regina, the Queen, had used Belle to get on his good side, so he threw her out, believing her love to have been false. This was something he deeply regretted later, almost equally as much as the loss of his son, when Regina convinced him that Belle had been driven to commit suicide by her father shortly afterward. Discovering the truth and being found by Belle again was more than a shock for him, and until she chose to move out to live and work on her own he took care of her to the best of his ability. Despite her attempts to convince him to stop using magic and to do good, he has disappointed her again and again, but at this point in the series she also understands why. Their relationship, as of the canon point I have chosen, is one based on mutual understanding and so much of their time spent losing and finding each other all over again. Right now, she's something of an anchor for him -- with his son gone, she's the one person still alive that he cares about most, and as a result he may be quite lost on coming to the island.

It needs to be noted that since Emma Swan's arrival in Storybrooke, Rumpelstiltskin has gone through some significant changes all on his own. He did finally come to terms with the poor decisions he made that led him to losing his son, and he seemed quite ready to make amends, until, of course, he discovered he had opened up to an impostor. Despite a tearful revelation (no different, really, from his sudden desire to change his mind after it was too late when he first lost his son), he seemed to become all the more intent on his goals as a result. He even, at Belle's behest, attempted to do more good and less magic, in general, but it was a promise that he repeatedly broke, only making a significant change when, on accepting he was destined to die, he struck out for Neverland to save his grandson. Not all of his flaws are solved, however. He uses magic, and he will likely continue to TRY to use (or at least FIND) magic on the island. His willingness to attempt for Belle's sake at least put him back in a position he was in before Baelfire disappeared, and now there are people in existence that can sway his judgment and keep his "light" glowing, as the Blue Fairy put it -- even though one is no longer alive.

» BACKGROUND: See the following links for background and history: http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Rumplestiltskin, and http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Gold

Furthermore, here's how he changed after his last visit to the island:

On the island, Rumpelstiltskin had to get over much of his self-consciousness very early on or risk death. He was almost stubborn enough to let himself die, but the pity of a total stranger tugged on the fear of death he still retained, and he gave in. From there, he focused on his work and eventual deal with Atia to regain some of his power, regaining as much as he could, little by little and largely relegating his collar loosenings to trips to the brothel, though he did enjoy one or two casual hookups with rival attorneys before Belle came to the island and he remained exclusively with her. While he came with a lasting ankle injury that required a cane to walk, he healed this once some of his magic returned, and this change will continue because he also did this in canon after the point I originally took him from. He learned he could be equally as attracted to a man as a woman thanks to his trysts at the office, among other changes, and probably sits somewhere fairly comfortably on Bisexual as an orientation at this point. He still prefers it with people he at least cares about, but he's not so hung up on it anymore that he won't be able to just deal with it when the situations arise.

» OTHER: None.

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