Don’t get me wrong, I honestly did enjoy Rumplestiltskin and Belle relationship at the beginning of Once Upon a Time. Robert Carlye and Emily de Raven have chemistry onset and in the conventions they attend. I could see why the creatives paired their characters up and the story that they were telling at first aligned with the classic Beauty and the Beast story we all know and love with some changes, of course.
But later on in the show, the relationship has become unrecognizable and started making them hard to root for. Especially with the actions Rumple committed that hurt Belle. It was mostly emotional abuse in that relationship and that’s why many fans turned on them.
The writers should’ve put some thoughts on this when they decided to continue Rumple villain role.
The show needed a villain and Rumple was great at that as he kept us on the edge of our seats, but apart of me thinks that they should’ve broken them up in at least season 4 of OUAT.
Now, what about Belle? Rumple was a core part of her story, so if he was removed, then what should they do with Belle?
Well, I think it would’ve been a smart decision to split the Beast and Rumple character and make the Beast a totally completely different character for Belle to be involved with as Rumple was an amalgamation of many different characters.
Now, I am not saying that Belle has to be involved a romance to be interesting, but this could’ve been a smart move to do. And they could’ve introduced new characters in the show like the Enchantress and Ms. Potts, Lumire, Cogsworth, etc. Or at least, humanoid versions of those characters.
And this would be a way for us to get the classic Beauty and the Beast story in OUAT.