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guardiansofthemadness · 7 years

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Varian Parallels in ‘What the Hair?!’ and ‘Secret of the Sun Drop’

Okay, can we take a moment and talk about some of the parallels involving Varian’s character that we were given when compared to how he was introduced to us in ‘What the Hair?!’ and what became of him in ‘Secret of the Sun Drop’ ? Because after re-watching both the first (that is, if you don’t count ‘Before Ever After’ as the first episode) and last episode of the season, I couldn’t help but take note on some of them!

In fact, there is a good amount of parallels that can be noticed and pointed out when it comes to how different Varian became by the time the final episode had aired to how he use to be when we first met him. But in order to keep this post from coming extremely long and possibly confusing, especially since I have a habit of trying to explain things in as much details as I possibly can, I think I will only point out about five corresponding parallels that I have noticed and wanted to address.

That being said, here are some of the interesting parallel’s I couldn’t help but noticed between the first and final episodes of the season!

1. Varian is very dangerous

To start this all off, I am going to go with the obvious and refer to the first thing we were ever told about Varian, which came from Cassandra herself - Varian was known to be dangerous.

When Cassandra told Rapunzel this, she did so as a warning of what was to come when both women decided to visit the alchemist. Neither of them knew who Varian actually was outside of any rumors that Cassandra had heard about him and so of course, when they both finally arrived to his house, how did both Rapunzel and Cassandra reacted? They were both on guard, basically bracing themselves for any sudden attacks Varian might throw at them in case he decided to attack first and ask questions later. Which to be honest, wasn’t wrong of them to do because once again, they didn’t know who Varian was outside of him not only being dangerous, but also possibly being a wizard of some sorts. They didn’t know how old he was, how powerful he was, if he was even nice or willing to help or well, just nothing! They had to prepare themselves for whatever happens when meeting him, and so that is what they did when they had arrived to Varian’s home.

But of course instead, they found themselves meeting a fourteen year old alchemist who wasn’t actually a wizard, and frankly who didn’t look like he could even hurt a fly. Okay, well maybe not being able to hurt a fly may seem a bit of a stretch, especially when considering he already had a trap laid out within the entrance of his lab, but then again Varian had only created that trap to stop Rudiger or any other animals from sneaking into his lab. He didn’t have the tap out to hurt the raccoon, just to keep the critter problem out of the way.

So yeah, when we and the girls officially get to meet Varian, he seemed to be anything but dangerous. In fact, he turned out to be a very eager kid who was more than happy to be graced by the presences of the princess of Corona and even more elated to help her with her hair situation. I mean sure, there were a lot of things within his lab that influences the reason behind the rumors of Varian being dangerous and in the end, he had accidentally cause a disaster within Old Corona, but as we had seen in the first episode, all Varian wanted to do was help. Everything he invented or created, was for the good of corona and not for the bad.

And yet at the same time, this parallel so well with Varian in the final episode of the season because what do we get to see by this point of the show?

Exactly how dangerous Varian actually could and can be.

I’ve mentioned this before in where every other past dangerous situations that Varian had been responsible for, were merely accidents. It was those accidents that influences peoples perspective on Varian that he was nothing more than a boy who was going to cause some kind of problem and would even get someone hurt. That being said, the Varian in ‘What the Hair?!’ wouldn’t want to intentionally hurt anyone if he can help it. But at the same time, the Varian in ‘Secret of the Sun Drop’ on the other hand, happened to have done the exact opposite.

Where as in the past, any pain and destruction the alchemist had caused were accidents, in the shows current present, they were very much intentional. By tricking the princess to cause a treason against her kingdom, stealing the sun flower, creating multiple automatons, pretending to attack the princess just so he can actually kidnap the queen, then purposely attacking Rapunzel’s friends with said automatons, ambushing the the king and the princess with a calculated trap, threatening to incase the queen within the same amber rock that is currently incasing his own father, purposely trying to crush his former crush and the queen and basically tried to do whatever it takes to keep Rapunzel from being happy, even if it meant causing more mayhem than he already has done?

Yeah, Varian has proven to use that he actually he as dangerous as he rumored to be.

And I honestly can’t help but find this parallel so interesting because after his first appearance, I don’t think any one of use expected Varian to become an antagonist to Rapunzel and her kingdom. In fact, we had expected him to become part of the team and frankly, after watching Varian’s second appearance within the show, we were given only an even greater reason to why he would become part of the team, rather than against it. Yet, it didn’t turn out that way because as I had theorized in a past post of mines, Varian has always been meant to become an antagonist for our heroes. It just so happens that instead of showing us this right away, the creators and writers of the show instead told us this by having Cassandra mention that she heard that Varian was dangerous.

Because he is. He is extremely dangerous and I love that in the first episode we are only told that he was dangerous and were given a small glimpse of it when his invention to give hot water to his village backfired on him and caused a severe earthquake that destroyed a good amount of homes within the village. Yet as a parallel, in the final episode we can see that when Varian has the actual intent to be dangerous, his actions comes off as terrifying rather than accidental.

2. His coat and glowing green eyed mask

The next thing I want to talk about is Varian’s coat and glowing eyed mask outfit.

This is more of a minor detail, but I absolutely loved that Varian ended up wearing his black and grey trench coat and mask from the first episode in the final. I knew that when we saw him wearing it for the first time, it was a hint of him becoming an antagonist because that overall outfit did scream ‘look at me, I’m a villain!’ in some kind of way. I mean, for crying out loud, the drawing that Rapunzel had done of Varian had him wearing that exact same coat! Like she didn’t need to draw him in it to make Varian look antagonizing, since the way she drew his expression did a well enough job at portraying it. Yet at the same time, having Rapunzel draw Varian in that coat, shows that she had been a bit afraid of Varian when she had first met him. That she did view him as a dangerous man, even if for a moment because we all know that Rapunzel only likes to look at the good in people and not judge them by the way they look or are dressed.

And yet, Varian ended up wearing that exact same outfit when he kidnapped Queen Arianna.

I get that he most likely wore it to disguise himself from the people, all in order to keep anyone from recognizing his face and attacking him. But like, we all know how smart Varian is and the sheer fact that he was able to create a fog within Corona and even had a plan set up for when Rapunzel and company had decided to ambush him, the alchemist could have very well gone on looking like he always does, with his face all exposed and most likely still would have been successful in kidnapping the queen.

But honestly, I am glad that he wore the outfit because in a way, I feel like those are his villainy outfit. I mean, he doesn’t really need to wear it to show that he is an antagonist and obviously he only had it on when he had kidnapped the queen, but I felt like the coat and mask was a nod to Varian’s official introduction and to how we don’t know what to expect of him since no one, not even Rapunzel or Cassandra, knew what they were expecting when they met him.

And to say the least, Varian in a sense, was terrifying when he first appeared out of the fog with those glowing green eyes his mask had in the first episode. If he had attacked the girls from the start, than honestly at that time it wouldn’t have been a shock because what he was wearing made he look like he was an actual bad guy. So for Varian to once again wear that same outfit when he had creeped behind the queen, it honestly was yet another terrifying moment. Even more so when he had placed the queen unconscious.

The only difference between those two terrifying moments however, was that the first time around Varian had no ill intentions despite what was said of him, whereas the second time around he did have ill intentions hence the corresponding parallel between the two scenes.

I also have to admit that the glow of the eyes on his mask is what truly gives the eery vibe from his character, because once you take that mask away and you look at his face, all we see is an innocent kid. But Varian is not as innocent as he seemed to be, and so that outfit is suppose to be like what I feel is a way to both throw the characters and the audience away from automatically realizing his future outcome but to also show us that yeah, he was going to go bad from the start despite his pure dorky and naive personality.

3. His referring to Rapunzel and her title

Another thing I want to mention is of course his attitude towards Rapunzel.

Now this is something I actually want to go into more and full detail in a separate post that I have in mind, which hopefully will be the next one that I will write, but in terms of what I am going to say here is this; We all know that Varian’s overall attitude towards Rapunzel had completely flipped from the first episode to the final episode.

But has anyone else noticed the way he refers to Rapunzel had completely changed as well? Because it did, and this honestly is possibly my favorite parallel in regards to Varian.

When Varian first met Rapunzel, he was ecstatic at the fact that the princess was personally looking for him. Varian was more than willing to help Rapunzel with anything she asked for, was delighted (though possibly a little surprised) to be given the honor to call her by her actual name rather than as her title as princess and I mean, heck the alchemist was literally holding on to every single word she had made because she was someone of importance.

To simply put it, Varian respected Rapunzel.

Which makes sense, seeing how she was the princess after all. He had to respect her, and even if he didn’t Varian still respected her because she was the princess. It just so happens that the princess was at his own presences and had deemed him as someone who was both important and capable enough to relay on him for help. Which of course in the first episode, Varian was more than willing to do, because how could he not help the princesses when she came all the way to Old Corona specifically for him? She had put herself in possible danger just by going to meet him because once again, she nor Cassandra knew what would happen when they met him but they were lucky enough to see that Varian was a very smart yet very eager kid who essentially likes helping.

It also just so happens that outside of wanting to see if Varian could find out what was the issue revolving her hair, Rapunzel also ended up finding a friendship within Varian. She cared for him enough that she viewed him as a friend and so when Rapunzel had entrusted Varian with what she and the others were trying to do about the black rocks, Varian was happy to help. His respect for Rapunzel grew, even more so than just the way a common folk would do towards someone of royalty.

But of course, by the final episode Varian’s respect towards Rapunzel was anything but there. In fact, while I don’t want to automatically say that he truly hates Rapunzel, I have to admit that at the same time it is quite clear that he does. Or at least, he believes that he does since the majority of his resentment is targeted towards Rapunzel. Varian doesn’t respect Rapunzel at all and while by the final episode we already knew that even without seeing what Varian ends up doing, one way we can see just how much respect Varian ends up lacking for Rapunzel had to be the way he said her name or referred to her by her title.

When Varian spoke Rapunzel’s name that moment she and her father realized that Varian had been prepared for their ambush, it was said in a way that showed that Varian wasn’t the same kid who hung at her every word. Whereas before, he found it a little difficult to refer to Rapunzel as anything but “princess” or “your highness” and even became quite giddy at the fact that the princess allowed him to call her by her name, Varian by the end essentially mocks Rapunzel and her title. Sure, he still referred to her as “princess", but he constantly says it in a way that held so much resentment and hatred rather than any of the admiration and respect it use to have before she broke her promise.

Really, there was a snarky and condescending tone when Varian spoke her name, especially considering the situation that both Rapunzel and the king were in at the time. He had them at his disposal and in a way, when he had welcomed her it was also as if he took advantage of the fact that she had given him the ability to refer to her by her actual name. That by this point, it could almost be seen as Rapunzel should have regretted ever given him that honor because it wasn’t such an honor for Varian anymore. It was more of a shame and regret or even a realization that she should have never trusted him from the start and probably should have stayed away. But she did and now Rapunzel and everyone else are facing the consequences and Varian is taking advantage of it.

Plus, Varian referring King Frederic as “dad” was another mocking tactic of his, since of course just like with Rapunzel, Varian also lacks any form of respect towards the King or the rest of Corona.

That being said, this detail is one of my favorites when re-watching the first and final episode of the season, because besides the way Varian had sassily called King Frederic “dad,” it was also done in a way to show once again the corresponding difference between Varian’s attitude towards Rapunzel. Literally, this is the same boy who had told Eugene that when the princess of Corona speaks to you, everything she says is important. But now, it doesn’t even matter to him that Rapunzel is the princess or even that Frederic is the king, whatever either one of them has to say, especially Rapunzel, is nothing more than a lie or ploy to trick him again. Rapunzel could beg and plead to him all she wants, she could try and make new promises that this time she would try and keep, but it really doesn’t matter at all to Varian.

She lost any form of respect and admiration that Varian had for her when she didn’t come back with him to Old Corona. And one of the ways this was displayed to us was by the way Varian referred to her. The way her name or title is said, it’s suppose to give us a bit of a chill because and show us exactly what Varian feels for Rapunzel since sometimes our actions doesn’t always show us how someone else feels. But our words can, in fact our words are known to be more powerful than our actions and things such as referring to someone by a name or title each have a different meaning to them and within each meaning, they can be altered by the way they are being said.

4. The literal crushing on Cassandra

I have known from the very first time of watching ‘What the Hair?!’ that the look Varian had given Cassandra after she had saved his life was suppose to represent that he was going to have a crush on her. It honestly wasn’t all that hard to see it, especially thanks to the way he referred to her as “my lady.”

But of course, that scene could have been viewed differently and honestly if it wasn’t for Varian’s followup appearance point blank showing us that Varian did have a crush on Cassandra, than his reaction could have shown that he was grateful for Cassandra in helping him. But he did find himself having a crush on Cassandra and by having a crush on her, all the alchemist wanted to do was sweep her off her feet. At least, that is what Varian had said just before he began to crush her and the queen.

Now, the parallel to this moment from both the first and final episode is the sheer fact that in the first episode, it was Cassandra who had saved Varian from getting hurt. It was her act of bravery and courageousness kicking in that had caused her to push Varian out of the way before he had gotten crushed. It was also this action that made him suddenly infatuated with her, so much to the point in where he wanted to impress her and as stated, he wanted to sweep her off her feet one day. Sadly for Varian though, that never happened because with Rapunzel betraying him and with Cassandra being Rapunzel’s lady in waiting and her best friend, chances are that Cassandra would end up taking Rapunzel’s side of the situation regardless on whether she was actually in the wrong or not.

This essentially is why even though majority of Varian’s resentment is towards Rapunzel, he did not hesitate to attack or hurt the others, including Cassandra. Because really, while their age gap is more than enough a reason to why they both can’t be and won’t be together, think that Cassandra is ever going to want to be with someone who would attack her best friend? Think Varian would want to try and attempt to keep a friendship with her when he knows that she is still close friends with the one person who he blames for all of his misfortunes? Of course not!

But anyways, I have to admit that one of the most appalling moments during the final was when Varian had both Cassandra and Queen Arianna in his robotic grasps and when he began to crush both of them. While the reason behind that moment was because he wanted to make Rapunzel feel the pain that he was currently feeling, the fact that he had specifically chosen Cassandra was an interesting move. Yes, Cassandra was the one who had tried to attack him, but even so Varian could have just as well as thrown her back and away from him and could have only taken the queen or heck, he could have even tried to reach for Eugene even since Eugene is Rapunzel’s boyfriend or even the king. But instead, he did this to Cassandra and I felt like this was somewhat of a parallel moment when compared to the first episode because instead of Varian being the one to save and protect Cassandra this time around like she had done with him, he is once again the cause of the situation and the one who is doing the exact opposite of what she had done to him.

By Varian’s comment of wanting to sweep Cassandra off her feet, it was clear that he meant it in a way in where he wanted to return the favor for her not only saving him once, but twice for that matter. He wanted to make her swoon for him like he had for her, but instead he ended up translating his bitterness towards her and used her as a leverage to try and make Rapunzel understand all of the pain she had given him. Plus not only that, but it is kind of ironic when you think of how he had literally tried to crush Cassandra. He has a crush on her, yet he had physically tried to crush her. To death even! (Although I want to hope that he was only trying to do it in a way in where both Cassandra and the queen fell unconscious, but considering that even Varian doesn’t know if his dad is alive, chances are he most likely did have the intent to cause a double murder at that point).

It’s even more ironic when you consider that his crush was formed by her preventing him from being crushed. Like, it’s crazy that her payment for saving Varian’s life was pretty much her own life, and then some when counting Queen Arianna. It’s also so sad, because we also know that if Varian ever does come to his senses and gets the help he needs, if he had succeeded in crushing Cassandra and the queen, Varian would never be able to forgive himself for it. Not just because he had literally attempted to crush his own crush, but because he had honestly believed he had ever reason for doing so.

Shocking moment really, but I can’t help but marvel at the irony of this moment and how it correspond so well from what had occurred between the two in the first episode.

5. Disappointing his dad

The final parallel I want to talk about is another obvious as we all know about Varian’s need to make his dad proud. In fact, from the very first episode it was kind of evident that the one thing Varian has always wanted to do was to make Quirin proud of him.

I mean, when he was showing Eugene his latest invention to give hot water to his village, what does Varian end up saying about his dad? That if Quirin finds out what he was doing, he would kill him. But if he also did find out, he might be impressed by it too.

The fact that Varian makes a small comment about his dad possibly being impressed by what Varian’s latest invention, it was a clear sign of him wanting to make his dad proud of him. Heck, Varian most likely had figured that by giving hot water to his village and possibly anywhere else around Old Corona and Corona as a whole, and actually being successful in doing so, would be a great reason to make his dad proud of him. In fact, at the time Varian had hoped that he would for once not make Quirin disappointed at him. I mean, sure his latest invention was causing a few earthquakes here and there, but you know Varian? He has to try and try again until he finally succeeds!

So maybe the last few other attempts weren’t good enough, but his current attempt in the first episode could have been the one in where he will finally win!

But it wasn’t and so in the end, Varian ended up destroying their village and to add, Quirin clearly shows disappointment in his own son. Really, he didn’t need to say that he was disappointed in him, the look on his dad’s face showed us that he was and with the way Quirin just shook his head and turned away from him. And to add even more? The look Varian makes when he lets his own head fall down, in both despair and in disappointment in himself. In disappointing his dad yet once again.

And yet, despite what seems to be a constant failure for him, Varian is still trying.

As for some forsaken reason or another, Varian truly believes that by causing all of this mayhem that he is doing to Corona and their royal family, that Quirin would be proud of him. That if he tells his dad he did all of this because he wanted to save Quirin from the amber rocks that he was incased in and that no one wanted to help him (which we all know that isn’t true,) there isn’t any reason for Quirin to be disappointed in him. Varian is so clouded by his need for vengeances and for wanting to get back at Corona, that he isn’t considering how his dad would feel once he is finally saved. And that is if it ever happens.

Which we do know that it will eventually happen and honestly, while I doubt that Quirin would actually be proud of everything that Varian was currently doing, we also do know that Quirin at some point would say that he is proud of his son. In fact, this is something I want to explain a little more in detail in either my next post or in another one, but frankly if it isn’t Quirin outright saying it to his son’s face? Than at the very least Quirin being proud of Varian is written within the letter that he had wrote to his son. But we have to wait until that moment officially happens within the show to know for sure. And until then, Varian is still going to want to try and make his dad proud of him and not disappointed in himself at all.

It just sucks though, that by watching Varian kidnap someone, attack multiple and attempt murder, that we know if Quirin wasn’t actually incased within amber rocks, that he would frankly be the most disappointed in his son than ever. Because honestly, while every single action Varian has made was all in the name of saving his father, Quirin wouldn’t want Varian to hurt others like this.

It’s one thing accidentally hurt people because of the inventions he makes that had good intentions when used, but it is another thing to try and purposely hurt others and think that by claiming that it was all done in order to make someone else proud would justify it. How can anyone be proud of that? Even more so seeing how Varian still has the intentions of getting back at Corona even after he does save his dad! Which I am really interested to see how Varian will go about it, because unless Quirin has something against the kingdom as well (which he could seeing how he is close to the king), I highly doubt that Quirin would allow Varian to continue on with his revenge. Frankly, by continuing on, Varian is just going to keep on disappointing his dad and then where will he be if that happens?

It’s crazy seeing how a good kid like Varian doesn’t see that there are other ways for him to make his dad proud or that Quirin is most likely already proud at Varian, he just never actually showed how proud of his son he really is. All Varian sees is the disappointment his dad gives him, which in return makes Varian disappointed in himself. And the fact that Varian was unsuccessful in breaking his dad free, I can imagine how deep that disappointment in himself became.

Even without Quirin being able to give him that exact same look from the first episode, Varian must have imagined his dad’s constant disappointed expressions when he wasn’t able to cut the rocks with Rapunzel’s hair like he had assumed. To him, it was yet another failed experiment of his that he now needs to recalculate and make better.

Really really sad. Wanting to make his dad proud is simply another way of him not wanting to make his dad disappointed. But Varian’s actions in the first episode was only a small hiccup in a parallel comparison to what he did in the final episode.

And with that, I am done.

I kind of went a little off course when writing this, but I tried to connect certain situations and moments within the final that I had noticed were also done in the first episode. But if none of this makes sense, well I tried!

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