Belle

Lacey

Baelfire (Stepson)

Gideon Gold (Son)

Henry Mills (Step-Grandson)

**Belle** was chosen by Rumplestiltskin to pose as a caretaker in exchange for her family's well-being during the Ogre Wars, Belle starts to fall in love with her master, for unlike many others, she is able to see the man behind the beast. Her blossoming romance with the Dark One is cut short though, and she ends up prisoner of the Evil Queen up until the casting of the Dark Curse, where she spends the next 28 years trapped in the town of Storybrooke, now locked away in a mental asylum. She is freed shortly before the curse is broken, however, and she goes on to live as **Belle Gold** (née **French**), quickly reuniting with her beloved Rumple. Adjusting to her newfound life in Storybrooke isn't as easy as it seems though, for she is now tasked with helping the most darkened of ones along the bumpy road to redemption... but does she *really* have what it takes to achieve such a goal?

## Biography

### Life in the Enchanted Forest

During the Ogre Wars during an Ogre attack, **Belle's** mother Colette protected her daughter at the expense of her own life. Belle does not remember this and to get back her memories she travels to Arendelle where she meets Princess Anna, and is partially responsible for her being caught by the Snow Queen. When her father's realm is again threatened by the ogre wars, Rumplestiltskin offers to protect it in exchange for Belle becoming caretaker of his estate. Belle accepts the deal and the pair form a bond until Rumplestiltskin mistakenly believes that Belle is working for Regina and forces her to leave forever. Belle later joins an expedition to hunt the Yaoguai, a monster terrorizing a distant kingdom. Using her knowledge of books, she teams up with Mulan to defeat the beast, which turns out to be a cursed Prince Phillip. She then intended to return to Rumplestiltskin, though the Evil Queen captures her, even as Belle defiantly tells her that she will never keep her apart from Rumplestiltskin. Then, the Evil Queen falsely claims to Rumplestiltskin that Belle committed suicide, upsetting him.

### Prisoner of the Queen

In Storybrooke, Belle is kept beneath the town's hospital for 28 years by Regina. She is later released by Jefferson and finds Mr. Gold (Rumplestiltskin), professing her love for him when the curse is broken and standing beside him as he brings magic to Storybrooke. When Gold finds a way to leave Storybrooke without losing his memories, Belle is shot by Captain Hook, causing her to fall across the border and lose her memory again. Belle later "remembers" her cursed self as a scantily-clad barfly named **Lacey**, who encourages the darker urges in Gold. Gold later finds a potion that returns her original identity, after which she does not use the name "Lacey". As Mr. Gold, along with Emma Swan, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, and Captain Hook travel to retrieve a kidnapped Henry from Neverland, he gives Belle a protection spell to cast around Storybrooke.

### Seeing the Truth

Rumplestilskin encounters a form of Belle frequently in Neverland as an illusion to act as a crutch to his cowardliness; she is later revealed as his father Peter Pan's shadow in disguise. The two are reunited when the group return to Storybrooke after retrieving Henry, though Gold sacrifices himself to kill his father. However, Pan's curse remains and Belle, along with the other inhabitants are sent back to their original worlds. In the Enchanted Forest, Belle and Neal travel to the Dark One's vault. To the disapproval of Belle, Neal unlocks the vault, resurrecting Rumplestiltskin but sacrificing himself. Belle is returned to Storybrooke when Snow and Charming enact a new curse to stop Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West from taking their baby. Upon his freedom, Mr. Gold proposes to Belle after trusting her with his dagger (unknown to her, it is a replica) and the two are married. Belle eventually learns of his deception, banishing her husband from the town. Gold manages to return to the town, only to find Belle in a romantic relationship with Will Scarlet. As Gold's condition worsens, being consumed by the Dark One's powers, Belle confesses to him that she does not love Will. The Apprentice removes the darkness from Gold's heart, though he remains in a comatose state whilst the darkness is taken in by Emma Swan.

### Truth of the Dark One

With the other residents, Belle transports to the Enchanted Forest, taking Emma to Camelot in order to find Merlin and remove her darkness. However, weeks later, they return to Storybrooke with missing memories as to how they failed. During her time in Camelot she helped Mérida win back her kingdom while helping the others stop King Arthur and the previous Dark Ones from taking over Storybrooke. After her memory is restored, Belle remained in Storybrooke but is unaware that Gold, who traveled with Emma to the Underworld to rescue Hook, has reclaimed the powers of the Dark One, and is unaware that she is pregnant with their first child, which is tied to a contract that Hades is using due to Rumpelstiltskin having made a deal with a healer back in the Enchanted Forest in exchange for saving Baelfire.

Unfortunately, after she is sent through a portal along with Zelena and her daughter, Belle learns the truth from Gold about his reacquired powers and her pregnancy as well as the contract, putting her life and that of their unborn child in jeopardy once again. Motivated by Hades, Gaston moves against Rumplestiltskin with plans to kill him, reuniting Belle with her ex-fiancé. After confronting Gold about his murder of Gaston decades earlier, Belle intends to help Gaston move on, only to learn that Gaston blames her for his death. In an attempt to rescue Rumplestiltskin, Belle inadvertently pushes Gaston into the River of Lost Souls. Consumed with guilt over what she did to Gaston, Belle places herself under a sleeping curse, believing it would give Gold time to protect their child from Hades. Before falling under, Belle makes Gold promise to return her to her father. It later turns out that Gold's kiss of True Love cannot break the spell; Belle had begun losing faith in him again.

## Abilities

**High-Level Intelligence:** Most of Belle's abilities are based on knowledge and intelligence, instead of physical strength. One of Belle's more obvious abilities is her use of vocabulary. Possibly due to her love of books and constant reading, Belle is able to call out many words off the top of her head and use them in the correct context in order to prove a point or state a fact, such as "primeval" and "provincial". She also was apparently a speed-reader, having managed to complete a book in a short amount of time, which apparently shocked the bookkeeper when she came to return the book.