DigificWriter

I'm just starting Season 4 and wanted to comment on the perception that Rumplestiltskin's actions over the course of both halves of the season make him one of its Big Bads.

I've never bought into the description of Rumplestiltskin as being a villain, even when he was doing despicable things, because his motivations were always transparent and rooted, ultimately, in nobility and unconditional love, even when he himself believed otherwise, and I think we get the clearest overall example of this in Season 4, first when he sets out to tryand acquire and harness the power of the Sorcerer's Hat and then when he teams up with Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella in order to find Isaac and manipulate him into rewriting history and their stories in order to give them all happiness, since in the first instance he's trying to free himself from the Dagger and live up to the promises he made to both Neal and Belle and in the second instance he's trying to undo the damage he caused to his relationship with Belle. The execution is morally questionable, but the intent is noble and unselfish, and so I've never viewed his actions as evil.