So since we're at the start of a new season, one that seems to promise quite a bit of excitement as well as some long needed character development, I want to take a moment to muse about the the development of the main trio over the past four seasons, as well as a brief look at the rest of the cast, and point out where I think their characters still need development.Emma Swan and Regina Mills: Parallels
-- Let's start with Emma Swan, the Dark Swan/Dark One herself, and her counterpart in the show: Regina, the Evil Queen, now New Savior. Emma began Season 1 as the hoped for Savior, and we learned exactly how she'd been "created" that way by none other than Rumpelstiltskin, who also, as we soon found out in Seasons 2 and 3, created her arch-nemesis in Season 1 (and arguably her counterpart in the story) the Evil Queen. In seasons 2 and 3 the show explored how Regina and Emma felt now that they had time to process being forced into these roles, partly by Rumpelstiltskin's manipulations, and partly by their respective parents (who, of course, had their best interests at heart).
Regina: From Evil Queen/Mayor to New Savior:
The end result of this was Regina's redemption arch (which technically spanned three, if not four seasons), turning her from an abusive, manipulative parent (in the vein of her mother Cora), a rapist, a murderer, and someone obsessed with vengeance in Season 1, to a wavering villain -- questioning her loyalties to her mother -- in Season 2, to an anti-hero (not afraid to get her hands dirty) in Season 3A, to the more explicit hero and wielder of light magic in Season 3B, and finally to the woman who could willingly give up everything she loved (at one point or another) without needing revenge and who could now advise Emma and the Charmings as to the right course of action in Season 4 -- someone who actually makes sense as a hero in Isaac's topsy-turvy version of the story. Finally, in Season 5, Regina is in name and probably in spirit the Savior.
Emma: From Savior to Dark One:
In contrast, we have Emma, an unlikely but salty Savior in Season 1; a confused and unwilling Savior in Season 2 - questioning her loyalty to her parents; a desperate mother still not ready to leave the hurting inner child behind, coming into her own and beginning to change the dynamics of the show's main relationships in Season 3A; a woman who is slowly starting to embrace her full birth-right of magic and savior-hood in Season 3B (as well as finally dealing with her romantic relationships); a woman who is struggling with her identity as what it means to be a savior/lover/mother/friend/hero becomes ever more confusing in Season 4; to the Dark One in Season 5.
We can see from this how neatly Regina and Emma's lives have paralleled and mirrored each other up to this season. Regina is able to deal with her identity as a Savior because she has already openly dealt with her identity as a villain. In fact she has both apologized for and unapologetically claimed it. Emma delayed dealing with her identity as a Savior until it was almost too late, and is now having trouble (or so it seems) dealing with her identity as a villain (in fact she still seems to be refusing that identity, even while she claims it). They now stand in each other's shoes, in a manner of speaking.
Rumpelstiltskin -- From Victim, to Dark One, to Hero?
This leads us to the last part of the main trio: Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpel begins as a weak but clever victim of abuse (as are so many of our main cast of characters) who embraces the persona of the Dark One because it helps him deal with his reality and his own traumas. In Season 1 he is the master manipulator, the puppeteer of Regina and Emma's lives; he is almost all Dark One; in Season 2 he begins a struggle against his own nature (Dark Oneness) that begins with Belle, but that is really only superficial. As soon as he loses her (mid-Season), he reverts back to being the Dark One. In Season 3A, there is a slight change but not for the better. He legitimately seems to lose the fight against what he sees as fate (his death) and makes a "heroic" sacrifice (which Baelfire/Neal later calls BS on) at the end of the season. For the present moment, it seems like Rumpelstiltskin has won out over the Dark One. But he only really solves the immediate problem of his wicked father by killing himself; he doesn't resolve his emotional problems or confront his curse.
But the major turning point for his character begins in Season 3B when he is resurrected, and his still unresolved issues begin to force the moment to the crisis of Season 4's conclusion. Clearly, this resurrection wasn't part of his plan or what he believed was possible. He has never really dealt with the results of his past actions, nor with the guilt and shame he still carries. Because of this, his imprisonment by Zelena turns him into the ruthless, secretive Dark One we see in Season 3B and through most of Season 4. He is more Dark One now than he was in Season 2. Again, outside forces (Belle) force him to confront his real emotional problems openly, but as always he avoids any real confrontation with the problem of his curse -- his plan to separate himself from the dagger but keep his magic shows that he no longer understands that it is the power, and not the darkness, that is keeping him from resolving his issues. The problem is fixed by an involuntary detox and intervention in the form of the Apprentice (and Emma's sacrifice). In Season 5, as of The Bow and the Bear, Rumpelstiltskin has finally got the opportunity to come to grips with his biggest problems: fear and shame. As of the latest episode, it seems that he has indeed started on the path to redemption (like Regina) as he is able to face his real demons (at last) and to defeat them. The neat hint of his hero status (played with in Season 4's conclusion) is now explicit.
Understanding the Redemption Arcs: The Fatalist, the Realist, and the Optimist.
The emotional core is necessary in order to understand why Rumpelstiltskin's first sacrifice in Season 3A isn't enough to make him a hero or redeem him, and to understand why his Redemption Arc takes so much longer than Regina's. Rumpelstiltskin is like Emma in this respect: there are certain issues he continues to avoid. He struggles with major inferiority and self-worth issues that tend to cripple his ability to imagine other, more positive identities for himself. But unlike Emma, who prefers what is safe and familiar (and why shouldn't she, given her history?) and deals with hurt by ignoring it, Rumpel turns to magic and an alternate identity to deal with his trauma and his belief in his own worthlessness. He is a fatalist, where Emma is a realist. Regina, oddly, is an optimist in this equation. Unlike Rumpelstiltskin, she has a very solid sense of self-worth, possibly instilled by her mother, but like him before he was the Dark One, she has a lot of frustration and a learned helplessness. As a villain she often chose the easy way. As a hero, she is capable of making hard choices. Rumpelstiltskin seems to have learned this too as of S5x6.
What's Love Got to Do with It? (A lot, actually.)
Their differences and similarities are most interesting in how they deal with the need to be loved and accepted. Regina's sense of self worth means that she seeks out love from others and sometimes believes that such love is a given, or that she's entitled to love. Naturally, she doesn't deal well with rejection. Rumpelstiltskin has no sense of self worth and expects rejection, even though he does still seek out love (his lack of self worth means he accepts any love -- bad or good). Emma is afraid of rejection, and so distances herself from all situations that could lead to it. Emma likes to ignore love.
Case in point: How they deal with children. Regina cares whether or not the commoners love her as queen, which baffles Rumpelstiltskin (who accepts as a given that no one will ever love him because he is unlovable). If Emma were in the same situation, she would probably retort that she didn't care if anyone loved her or not -- choosing not to address the issue of whether or not she deserves love and acceptance. This is why Regina initially longs for children (like Zelena, chillingly enough) to love her, why Rumpelstiltskin constantly fears his child will leave him (because he isn't worth loving), and why Emma rejects her child at birth because she doesn't want to deal with her feelings.
Because of how they deal with love and what they believe about themselves, their character arcs take on these interesting patterns. Regina doesn't really begin her turning point until she learns to love Henry unselfishly (not taking his love for granted) by sacrificing herself to save the people Henry loves (end of Season 2). Rumpelstiltskin doesn't begin his turning point until (possibly) last night's episode, when he seemed to accept that it was possible for him to have a different identity, an alternative to being worthless, and he won't ever fully finish his arc until he accepts that he is lovable. Emma also has yet to complete her turning point, though in some ways she has begun it by starting to deal with her emotions openly. Her acceptance of Hook is a good start, but I think she won't fully resolve her issues until she accepts her parents' love despite their mistakes. This is something that has been an ongoing issue through the show, and Emma has yet to deal with the rejection she felt (mistakenly) from them as a child. The rejection that started it all.
The Charmings: From Star-Crossed Lovers to Imperfect Parents
Snow and David have followed the arcs of our main trio, somewhat, in that they have not yet fully dealt with the consequences of some of their actions and have yet to come to terms with the nature of their relationship with Emma. This is difficult for them, since they (rightly!) have a hard time trusting those who spent so much time persecuting them in the past. But until they learn to question their own perceptions of reality a bit more closely, they will probably not be able to heal their broken relationship with their abandoned daughter (no matter how justified the abandonment was). This blind spot on their part is understandable if we remember what these two went through to be together in the first place and to survive. They have had to come to believe that their actions are right, but now that they are in a new environment, they still need time to adjust to the change in their major relationships. Snow, in particular, has to come to terms with her identity as Cora's killer, and I think she and David should embrace the fact that they have done evil and good, and made difficult decisions, and that they don't have to be perfect. When the Charmings allow themselves to be normal human beings (instead of living up to impossible standards), they will probably deal with the present turmoil more gracefully. Indeed, the majority of their mistakes in the past come from a belief (on Snow's part, mainly) that they need to live up to a certain standard of purity, and a well-earned distrust of the motivations of others.
Hook: From Traditional Villain to Unlikely Prince
Hook is still a bit of a mystery to me. And I'll confess that I still think his turn at the end of Season 2 had little to do with his sudden love for Emma and more to do with its convenience as a plot device for the writers as well as the populatiry of his character (especially as a possible love interest for Emma). However, I think some of this has been mended by more recent development, which shows Hook rejecting Dark Swan (a bold move, and a possible indication that my pet theory that Dark Swan isn't Emma could hold some weight) and accepting that he has been partially responsible for Rumpelstiltskin's mess. This bodes well for the character. We'll see what happens next.
Belle: From Book Worm to Sorcerer's Assistant
Belle is my favorite character, apart from Rumpelstiltskin, so I will say that I'm very excited to see her character develop in ways I had only dreamed about during Seasons 3-4, when it really seemed like all hope was lost for her ever recovering from the interruption that was Lacey. Belle began as an ignorant but lovely character, who was one of the few characters on the show who didn't make instant judgments about the others, which I found refreshing. Her love for Rumpelstiltskin still seems somewhat unfathomable, but I'm enough of a Romantic not to question it too closely (yes, I used the capital R). Her belief in her unwavering devotion being enough to save Rumpelstiltskin and their relationship from his emotional problems took a beating from the reality of the ugliness of addiction, but I think she learned invaluable lessons from that, such that she has become much wiser (which was what she chiefly needed) and more OK with being seen as strong (she was always a strong character). What is ironic to me is those who watch the show and believe that Belle is the one who has self-worth issues, that she will accept abuse and call it love. It seems rather obvious that the shoe is on the other foot. Rumpelstiltskin is the one who is like this in their relationship -- he is the one with the self worth issues, not Belle. Belle could abuse him and he would probably not lift a finger; whereas, every time he has so much as crossed the line, she has let him know in no uncertain terms that this behavior is not acceptable and she will not tolerate it. (LOL!) Belle has struggled with having confidence in her own decisions, and this is due (as the show often indicates) to an over-protective upbringing which discouraged her self-reliance and inquisitiveness. But she is making up for that now. In the most recent episodes it seems clear that she still deeply loves Rumpelstiltskin, but that it will probably take a while for them to have a relationship again, if they ever do. (I hope they do, but I'm fine if they don't.) In the end, Belle is fast becoming one of the most solid and stable characters on the show, and as I've pointed out before, she is a great parallel to Charming, who, if he were given the opportunity, could be as much a force for the positive as Belle is.
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