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Rumple clearly thinks of himself a coward at times. But I've always felt it was more... emotional cowardice, if that's a word. Like not daring to believe Belle would love him in 1x12 and stuff like that. Not daring to follow Bae into the bean portal.
His addiction to power/magic can also be partly motivated by fear, which might be why Rumple considers himself a coward. 
Might be that remembering Neal and what Neal did will help Rumple in the long run. I sure hope so. |
All of that stems from the abuse and abandonment issues he has. Even Emma herself said that she runs away as a means of protecting herself, and no one calls her a coward. It's because of her trust issues very similar to Rumple's. I guess it all depends on how much you like/dislike a character into how much you're going to look into what has happened to them as behind what motivates them.