Rumpel was in essence a nice, warm, kind person. The curse turned him into The Dark One... He is cursed.

But as Belle said: "Rumpelstiltskin, this is not YOU!" I hope we'll see him in the end as the man he once was, plus the experience that he has accumulated and that made him more confident and stronger.

I really don't know... Even if he is The Great Dark One, he is still a coward...
He needs his magic so that he can achieve his goals... Plus i am sure he won't take a risk being attacked by an angry mob....

You'll never know, maybe he will be more brave and confident without his powers.....
But i like him, he-s one of the top charachters on my OUAT list
ps.

Many of you are gonna disagree with me, but....

i am not ready yet for nice Rumpel and good Regina...
I prefer them as evil, because they're epic... (even if they do cruel things...)

^ Totally agree.

See I'm not really sure either. I don't know how much of it is the said curse and how much is him actually wanting to be like that. He admitted his cowardice and that is what drives him to use magic, even without the dark one curse he may feel inclined to be more evil to with hold his fearlessness. On the other hand he may rather lose the bad attitude.

I'm also not entirely ready for either Gina or Rumple to turn good, it needs to be gradual.

I'm happy that they have show their other side :DD, but ... they are so awesome whe they're evil.. :D

Totally agree!

Rumpel is in essence good. And now he is stronger and brave. I'm proud of what he has achieved... and hope that by the end he would get back his former qualities as well

I think he'll die once the curse is broken.

That's possible. Would be sad if he did.

He's done too much, gotten way too addicted to power to go back to the way he was. I think everything he's done so far in Storybrook proved that.

^ that's a good point, in Storybrook there was no magic what so ever so he couldn't have had the dark one curse on him at the time, and he still behaved in the same manner.

Actually Mr. Gold did a lot more good than bad in Storybrooke.

All the good Gold did (wow, that's a tongue twister) he did for his own benefit. That's hardly the behavior of a "nice and sweet man." That's the behavior of a master manipulator.

Compared to the other 'monster' of our story, gina, Mr. Gold did a lot of good in Storybrooke.

*points at last comment*

Even if you compare him to Gina (which has no relevance at all to this discussion so I don't know why you would), Gold still did everything he did for himself. Not, for others, or the greater good. He did it because he got something out of it.

yes, he does that. he makes deals and everyone involved has a benefit. and he keeps his deals, respects them. unlike gina, who hasn't got the dignity to respect hers and doublecrosses everyone for her own benefit.

I hope Belle's love will help Mr. Gold become the sweet and kind man he once was. I think it will.

I don't know why you keep bringing Gina up and trying to compare them. Gina being a bad person doesn't make Gold a good person. A person's worth isn't determined by the worth of the people around him.

A good person does good things because they're the right thing to do. Gold doesn't do good things because it's the right thing to do. He does them because he benefits from doing them. Yes, sometimes others benefit, but his goal isn't to benefit others.

But when did I EVER say Gold is a good person?! NEVER. I pointed out that he's better than others. But I've never said he's a good person. He is the villain of the story!

What I did say was that I think that in the end he'll be again the sweet, nice man that he was once. As Belle said: "This is not you!" (n.r. a bad, violent person). Hopefully he will find the confidence he was ripped of and be his true self again.

Actually, he's not the villain. Bad=/= villain.

If you're goal wasn't to make Gold look like a good person, then what were you trying to accomplish by comparing him to Regina, and pointing out how villainous Gina was, and how non-villainous Gold was? Actions speak louder than insinuated words.

I know what you said. I know what you believe. And I don't agree with you.

As I've said above, I was trying to prove he's better than others. Not that he's good.

I see what you think too. And I don't agree with you either.

And now we've come full circle.

I've given arguments for my point. I could go on, but I think it's ok to stop now.

I'm pretty sure he's not going to lose all his "Dark One" memories. They're bound to have an impact on him.
Just like how Charming says David is still with him and will always be a part of him..

Not immediatly anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I though "the dark one" will stop become a "dark one" only when he die (someone kill him with his knife)? So I guess it's kinda hard to become a sweet guy again if he's not even alive

I'd have liked to see more of Rumple free of the Dark One, but I also think that all his memories and experiences of being that would have to have an effect on him, so it'd be impossible for him to fully go back to the way he was before.