#which is why she was so quick to trust zhan tiri:

[bestworstcase]

legitimately it fucks me up that RDO is widely considered both in and out of cassunzel circles to be just. cassunzel tangled au: the episode, and that in cassunzel spaces its reputation is largely that it’s a sweet romantic episode that comes as close to canonizing cassunzel as a disney princess cartoon could reasonably get–

–like it is unfathomable to me that RDO is seen this way when RDO is a horrific coda to RATGT and puts the final nail in the coffin of rapunzel’s and cassandra’s friendship-as-it-presently-stands. what cass sees in the house of yesterdays tomorrow isn’t the point of no return: RDO is. i will die on this hill.

RATGT ends with cass, having been mutilated by rapunzel, insisting that she is fine, donning armor, and quietly but determinedly telling rapunzel “it’s your call” re: whether the gang will press on to the dark kingdom or, you know, turn back to maybe seek medical care cassandra’s barbecued hand. this comes on the heels of rapunzel telling cass that 1) rapunzel is the future queen, 2) she is going to make decisions cass disagrees with, and 3) she needs and expects cass to “be okay” with that.

meaning, cassandra at the end of RATGT is attempting to do precisely what rapunzel asked her to do: set aside her own feelings completely and subordinate herself to rapunzel’s leadership, no matter what.

and RDO is a brutal examination of how untenable this state of affairs is.

because the premise of RDO is this: rapunzel cannot stand that cass is acting cranky and curt over what happened in the great tree, and she manipulates the situation to get cassandra alone with the intention of forcing cass to talk to her so things can go back to normal again.

furthermore, rapunzel is angry at cassandra for a constellation of interrelated reasons: 1) she has recast the events of the tree as “i told cass i had it under control, she didn’t listen and burned herself, if she had listened to me none of this would have happened,” ignoring or forgetting that she did not have it under control and that cass did not interfere until rapunzel said she couldn’t control the incantation, 2) because she blames cassandra for the injury, she feels indignant that cass is mad at her for something rapunzel has decided is not her fault, and 3) she has convinced herself that they just need to talk things out to make everything better and is infuriated that cass refuses to discuss it. she literally draws cassandra as an enraged monster while processing her feelings about this. rapunzel states that she “gets” why cass is mad at her, but her behavior makes it clear that in rapunzel’s mind, cassandra is the “bad guy” in this conflict.

meanwhile cassandra is focused on retraining her injured hand—not on healing, not on recuperating, not on working through her feelings about what happened, but on recovering her fighting ability because without that she has no worth to the group. i won’t even qualify that with an “in her mind,” because at this point… yeah. these people are her friends but at no point between RATGT and DC do they lift a finger to support her, express concern for her well-being or feelings, or treat her like their equal; in mirror mirror they will walk out on her mid-sentence and eugene will scoff openly at the idea that any of them would ever listen to her, in lost and found eugene will leap to the conclusion that cass is the traitor, and in destinies collide he and rapunzel will openly doubt her loyalty, intentions, and physical ability to help them (while also continuing to blame her for the injury). cass is worthless to them.

cassandra does not want to talk about it with rapunzel, probably because the last time she tried to be vulnerable with rapunzel she got shot down on the grounds of rapunzel being in charge. she makes this very clear. rapunzel strong arms cass into going on a scouting trip with just the two of them, and even becomes dismayed when cass tries to bring owl along because she wanted cass completely alone. she continually prods at the wound, trying to get cass to talk.

this comes to a head when they camp, and rapunzel directly initiates a conversation… leading with “i’m mad at you too” and again blaming the injury on cass. cass says, “if that’s how you feel, it’s fine,” and rapunzel pushes harder because it clearly isn’t fine, and she wants cass to talk about it NOW so they can resolve it and be friendly again. she harangues cass until cass snaps and shouts that she wishes rapunzel would forget the whole thing—

—and then boom! magic amnesia cassunzel tangled au. the whole thing is predicated on an enormous violation of cassandra’s boundaries by rapunzel, a violation which involved rapunzel blaming cass for the trauma rapunzel caused, a violation that continued relentlessly over cassandra’s repeated requests to stop until cass lashed out.

rapunzel without her memories is oblivious to this context and her painful history with cass. cass is not, and feels a huge weight of responsibility to fix her mistake. she recognizes that she inadvertently hurt rapunzel and throws herself into making it right… while continuing to withhold the truth, because the trauma is fresh, because she has too much bad experience with rapunzel to feel comfortable being emotionally open with her as she once was, and because she feels guilty about wiping rapunzel’s memories. at the same time, rapunzel’s reset back to a sweet, happy, excited person rather than one who is furious and harassing cassandra for having feelings about being maimed reminds cass of all the reasons she does love rapunzel…

…which all culminates in cassandra restoring rapunzel’s memories and apologizing. she details for rapunzel the reasons she’s upset, but follows it up with saying she shouldn’t have snapped, shouldn’t have touched the wand, shouldn’t have lied, and that while she is angry she isn’t always going to be: she’ll get over it because that’s what friends do.

there is no apology from rapunzel. rapunzel doesn’t take any accountability for burning cassandra’s hand, nor does she apologize for pestering and pushing until cass snapped, nor does she apologize for blaming cass and vilifying her for being mad. the framing of this reconciliation is “cass was wrong, and rapunzel graciously accepts her apology” which is SUPER FUCKED UP in the context of “rapunzel mutilated cass then blamed her for it and got mad that cass was upset and then nagged her until cass finally lost her temper.” which is what happens. but because rapunzel was harmed when cass lost her temper that context is shoved aside and cass ends up in the position of apologizing and accepting blame for the entire conflict.

lastly: paired together, “rapunzel accidentally mutilated cass” and “cass accidentally wiped rapunzel’s memories” are a stark illustration of how unbalanced the relationship has become, not just in the sense of rapunzel being the princess and cassandra her servant but also in the emotional sense that cass gives and rapunzel takes. when rapunzel accidentally harms cass she shifts all the blame onto cass, browbeats her for being upset, and makes it all about HER feelings and what SHE wants. by comparison when cass accidentally harms rapunzel she takes full responsibility and goes to great lengths to try to fix it while shoving her own feelings aside, and then offers rapunzel a heartfelt apology while also giving rapunzel the reassurance she demanded that things can be fine between them again—despite the fact that rapunzel’s stance on the great tree incident hasn’t budged.

RATGT digs a grave, but RDO is what puts their friendship in the ground. because cass is given no quarter: she is not allowed to be mad or upset, because rapunzel doesn’t want her to be. she is pushed and pushed and pushed until she snaps—and then she’s the one at fault for the whole thing, she’s the one apologizing, and she’s the one reassuring rapunzel that she’ll just get over her bad feelings without rapunzel having to do anything to earn her forgiveness. there is no real communication happening; RDO is where their ability to communicate dies. and personally i’m convinced that the device of rapunzel temporarily losing her memories was used specifically because the episode ends with rapunzel experiencing another false “reset” of sorts: she walks away from that conversation with cass believing everything is fine, or at least on a path to becoming find again, when in reality their friendship is now in the morgue.

[akizumy]

Plus est en vous

This One Shot is part of my Impersonator!AU, which is Varian-centric and whose basic plot is this : everything is the same as in the show except that Cassandra refuses to team up with Zhan Tiri. There are not a few changes, mainly that Cassandra gets her redemption faster (because she isn’t manipulated by Zhan Tiri in staying angry at Raps) and that Zhan Tiri has to find another way to get the Ultimate Power. This takes place during the finale, and yes the title is both an indication and a pun. I hope you’ll like it ! Trigger Warnings for possession and threats to use violence (which of course remain threats, no violence shown here) -----

Rapunzel was silent as she walked down the corridor, letting her steps guide her through the castle. Her mother whom she just left had told her that king Edmund was on his way and would reach Corona in a matter of hours. Hours, and he would take the Moonstone back to the Dark Kingdom it should never have left in the first place. She should feel relieved. After all these months of trying to get through to Cassandra, things were finally about to get back to normal : Rapunzel and her friends -her family- right by her side, having their happily ever after at long last. She should feel relieved, yet she wasn’t. She couldn’t help the bad feeling gnawing at her insides, warning her to be on her guard, whispering that there was more coming. And there was. When Cassandra handed her the Moonstone, she told her about that mysterious ghost girl who had appeared to her. The warrior had of course been wary, refusing to listen to the spectre and feeling that there may be more going on than what she was letting on. Truthfully, Cassandra had hesitated to turn to the ghost, but her suspicion had been too strong; she didn’t know who she was, but that girl gave her the same impression that the servants of Zhan Tiri had -something ancient and powerful-. Cassandra had sent her away and the ghost had no choice but to do as told : before she disappeared however, she had made the threat to get her hands on the Ultimate power one way or the other. Rapunzel was no fool : she knew that threat was not to be taken lightly. That ghost girl, whoever she was, had almost gotten through to Cassandra of all people. Although she had fortunately not revealed herself for now, Rapunzel knew it was just a matter of time. She had to be lurking around, watching them at any time, waiting for them to make even the slightest misstep : and when one of them irremediably would, spiraling into dangerous thoughts, indulging in the wrong feeling for a little too long, then she would be there. No one was safe. No one but Edmund could be fully trusted, King Edmund who had already endured the Moonstone’s tricks for decades. That was why the princess had not taken any risk- she couldn’t take any risk, not with magic that could quite literally destroy the world as they knew it. Ever since Cassandra had given the Moonstone back, it had been locked away in a chest- a piece of ancient Corona metallurgy whose only key was guarded at all time by Rapunzel, and Rapunzel only. But the princess was only one person, and so it had been decided that a tag-team of sort would be formed so as to have at least one person watching over the chest at all time. Rapunzel had of course chosen people she trusted with her life : Eugene, Lance, Varian and Cassandra. She had gotten a lot of reproaches for this choice, but the princess had stood her ground : they were all redeemed, good people who wanted to do what was right- to protect the world. All of them were. A faint sizzling sound caught her attention, so subtle she almost missed it, soon followed by the muffled sound of glass breaking. But- there wasn’t anyone else in the empty corridors, just like there was no glass nor fire. In the span of a second, Rapunzel became extremely aware of her surroundings. Without her noticing it, her steps had led her near the royal vault, where no one was ever wandering and where the Moonstone had been hidden for that exact reason. Rapunzel didn’t think. She couldn’t think as she ran to the vault’s door and threw it open. Someone had to be in there, one of her friends as they had intended and surely they were the cause of that sound although there was no glass or fire in the vault, nothing but a chest and someone watching over it- There was indeed someone in here. There was one of her friends. That’s what she should think. That’s what she would think, if the chest was closed. Instead, the chest was wide open, its lock completely melted; if Rapunzel had to guess, she’d say it was because of whatever had been inside the small vial, now mere shards of glass on the floor. The room was bathed in a soft blue glow, illuminating the walls, the ceiling and the face of the person towering over the chest- over the opal. Varian. For a second, Rapunzel thought she was mistaken. The room was oddly dark, except for the blue glow : surely this wasn’t her friend, it had to be someone else, and even if that would be far more alarming it would be better in a way. Everything would be better than seeing Varian’s blue eyes staring at the opal gently floating in front of him, seemingly mesmerized. But then she heard Pascal croak in her ear, and she knew this was reality. This was actually happening -being betrayed, the Moonstone getting stolen- and she had to do something. She had to protect the Moonstone and stop Varian now before it was too late. She shared a look with Pascal, and the chameleon on her shoulder immediately understood, going invisible before climbing down. With that out of her mind, Rapunzel took a deep breath, air finally filling her lungs again : as she exhaled, evacuating both air and bad thoughts, Varian turned his attention towards her, finally noticing her presence. "Varian. What are you doing ?" The moment their eyes met, the moment she spoke these words, a race against time started. The clock was ticking now, and it was up to Rapunzel to buy as much time as she possibly could in order to avoid the worst case scenario. "Nothing to worry about, princess : simply what I must." Varian's voice was calm, too calm in a situation like this, and Rapunzel hated it. She wanted him to be scared, to be regretful, to be sorrowful : she wanted a proof that he was acting against his will, that he didn't want to betray her once again. She wanted to trust him. So she did. "Varian, you don’t have to do anything. Whatever this ghost girl has told you, it's all lies : she's only using you as a tool.” Chancing a small step forward, she extended her hand, “Please, let me help you." She had been expecting many responses -denial, lashing out, pleading-, but the chuckle that escaped Varian was not one of them. The sound of it wasn't malicious or condescending, but genuinely amused instead : it reminded the princess of the afternoons they would spend together, exchanging jokes and funny memories. "Oh no- you've got it all wrong, princess. Well, except for one point," He replied with a smirk, "I am afraid I have indeed been using him as a tool." Rapunzel's brain stopped completely. Him ? What...? All this time, she had been afraid the ghost would use one of them to reach the Moonstone. All this time, the princess had been so sure their enemy was trying to divide and conquer. She had never thought she would only conquer, never thought she would use one of her friends that way. But as realization crashed into her, Rapunzel had to face the horrible truth that the person right in front of her had not betrayed her, for the sole reason that they had never been her friend. "Who- are you ?" She whispered, her voice gone because of the shock. This- this couldn't be. Varian was- he was- "What have you done to him ?" "Don't look at me that way. I needed a body, and your little friend here appeared to be needing some sort of break. It is an arrangement, if you please." 'Varian' replied, and Rapunzel wasn't sure if she was more horrified by the fact that a child -her friend- was being possessed or by the casualty with which the ghost had told her the news. "As for my name, it would be rather difficult to provide you with an answer : you see, I was given many names throughout the centuries, tales or even forms I have taken." She waved Varian's hand -no, her hand because Varian was no longer in control of his own body, if he was even there- with a knowing smile. "A warlock. A demon. Even a blizzard. But I think most of your kind knows me as-" "Zhan Tiri." Rapunzel whispered. "Indeed." The demon replied with glee, as if Rapunzel's heart wasn't sinking in her chest, as if her whole worldview wasn't being shattered. Zhan Tiri was real- she was there. She had taken over Varian's body, and was using her friend to take the Ultimate Power for herself. What was she supposed to do...? "Now, if you'll excuse me-" Rapunzel felt her heart stop as the demon outstretched her arm, reaching for the floating opal. At that exact moment, Pascal reappeared next to the chest, sending his tongue right into Zhan Tiri's left eye : the demon stumbled back, more surprised than actually hurt, and Rapunzel didn't waste a second. Throwing her air, she caught one of Zhan Tiri’s wrist, restraining her and keeping her from going anywhere near the Moonstone. The demon was however quick to respond, grabbing one of her alchemy ball and throwing it at the princess. Rapunzel heard Pascal shriek in fear but she was quick to step aside, avoiding the pink goo as it expanded on the floor. When she brought her eyes back to the demon however, it was to see that Zhan Tiri had managed to get ahold of Pascal during their short fight, holding the chameleon with her free hand. "I advise you stand down, Sundrop." The demon laughed, and Rapunzel quickly thought of her options. She was all alone with a demon who was possessing one of her friends and wouldn't hesitate to hurt the other; no one ever went to the vault and the next shift, which was Cassandra's, wasn't before another ten minutes. Could she hold on that long without getting any of her friends hurt ? As if she had read her mind, Zhan Tiri's grip on Pascal tightened, urging the princess to make her choice. "Well ? What will it be, Sundrop ?" Rapunzel watched in horror as Pascal let out small croaks of pain and terror in Zhan Tiri's vicious grip, the demon threatening to hit him on the sharp side of the chest. "Let him go, please !!" Rapunzel blurted out, unable to stand the thought of her best friend getting severely hurt, or worse. "Let both of them go." Zhan Tiri only loosened a bit her grip on Pascal, eyeing Rapunzel in an insistent and impatient kind of way. With a defeated sigh, the princess released the demon's wrist : the latter immediately opened her hand, freeing the chameleon who ran out of reach of Zhan Tiri. "And Varian ?" The princess insisted, staring at the demon as she waited for her to complete her part of the deal. She couldn't really attack her as long as she was hiding under Varian's skin like a human shield, but once he was free she could- "I can't let the alchemist go for now, I'm afraid : as long as I don't have a body of my own, I will need to use his. I have been doing so for some time now after all, and I don't see the point in fixing something that isn't broken." The demon raised one of her hands to her head, brushing the raven bangs back in place as if she was merely taking care of something that was hers; Rapunzel was fuming, feeling an unfamiliar, unbridled anger surge through her, making her see red. "No- you can't just-" She cried in anger, gripping her hair more firmly : she wanted to fight, had to fight, but- could she do so without hurting Varian ? "Give him back !!" "Oh, don't worry your Heigness," In a smooth gesture, Zhan Tiri took Varian's goggles off of her head and let them fall to the ground, a gleeful smirk appearing at her lips at the sound of the lens breaking on impact. Finally, with all of her enemies rendered powerless, the demon could get rid of her disguise : no more pretending to be this pathetic alchemist. She would show them all who she really was, and they would fear her. "Your friend won't suffer nearly as much as the rest of Corona." Zhan Tiri finished, outstretching her arm and closing her hand around the Moonstone; Rapunzel let out a cry of terror as power exploded, filling the room before everything was drowned in a sea of blue and white.

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Cass Season 3 Analysis (And Criticism)

I’ve previously done an analysis post on what I thought about Cass’s S1 arc and ideally would’ve done a season 2 analysis post (my personal favorite Cass arc in the whole show) but since my thoughts on S3 are on my mind atm, thought I’d dump them here.

Note: If you would prefer not to see any criticism on season’s 3′s writing, I’d suggest you don’t further read.

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a hate post as Cass is one of my favorite characters (Discussion is welcome but would really appreciate that my criticism isn’t used as a fuel for hatred against the character). Thanks!

I’ll start with the Gothel reveal. Personally my feelings towards it initially were very mixed, perhaps because I was never to interested in it when it was still a theory and thought it was a coincidence that Cass physically resembled Gothel. A part of me felt that the Gothel twist was too cliche, generic and it failed to wow me. I was basically like “Oh! So... this is the direction they’re going with? Ok... lemme see where this is going...” Then another part of me was like Cass dealt with a lot of issues of feeling like she’s not good enough, not taken seriously, or that she was outshined by Rapunzel since S1, so maybe the Gothel reveal was just the last straw that pushed her into villainy but not necessarily her primary motive (Or at least I wanted to believe that).

Basically we didn’t see too much of Cass in the first half of S3 aka the fillers, except her being pushed more and more into villainy by Zhan Tiri in the last few minutes of the episodes. I personally thought that the manipulative aspect was really cool! (Reminded me a lot of Anakin and Palpatine vibes from Star Wars, which is also a franchise I dearly love).

Then of course we approach the Cassandra’s Revenge, also my personal favorite episode of the season, where now Cass is full-on villain, no question, no doubts. Honestly Eden nailed the VA and Cass was totally owning and rocking her villainy! I loved that continued to rock her villainy into Race to the Spire too!

And now the negativity starts. A Tale of Two Sisters.... In all honesty I was enjoying the episode until I got to the ending, and then I finished off the episode feeling so disgusted. I personally wasn’t fond of the whole Gothel loving Cass or not “mystery” because the answer was pretty obvious. It just felt so weird that Cass knew of Gothel’s abuse towards her and Rapunzel and saw with her own eyes that Gothel deliberately abandoned her as a child, but was still convinced that Gothel “loved” her, like seriously?! And I’m not even gonna go into how much I hated the ending because it’s way too obvious.

Once A Handmaiden, very unfortunately, is my very least episode of the season. Like it had some good moments in it but all in all I hate so many aspects of it. First we start with Cass walking out and smiling and then she finds the missing mirror shard. Mystery solved. Cass now realizes Gothel never loved her and then finds out that her “friend” is Zhan Tiri and she runs off. Now she’s good and needs to “make amends” Rapunzel. My biggest problem with this episode treated the problem as if Cass and Raps got into a small fight and need to make up. But this is waaaaay bigger than that. Cassandra had done awful things including murder attempts, kidnapping, and threatening war against Corona. She needed to do more than seek Rapunzel’s forgiveness, she needed to clean up the mess she’s made, especially ZT getting released and all. She needed to accept accountability for her actions, regardless of what the consequences were. She gets incased in the amber, boom! Now she’s full on villain again because she’s angry about a weapon made for self-defense purposes that she had led to. Of course the number one scene I hated in this episode was the Gothel quote (my least favorite movie reference of all time and my least favorite Cass scene in the entire series). She destroys all of Corona and forces everyone to flee.

Last but not least, her “redemption” in Plus Est En Vous. As someone who completely adores Cass, I wanted to see her being given the best possible redemption that she deserved to have written for her. But unfortunately, in this episode, we see her being full villain and was gladly stripping Rapunzel of the sundrop only for Zhan Tiri to overpower her. As @zhantiri mentioned (And completely read my mind lol), she didn’t redeem herself because she saw the wrong in her actions, but rather because she was overpowered by a bigger villain. Questions I’ve always had since the finale were “What if she got the power of the sundrop too and survived? Would she have been redeemable then? What would she have done with that power?” See the problem is that to me, her redemption didn’t feel sincere or as impactful as it should have been. Like sure I cried when she cried but primarily because Eden nailed the VA, but idk.

So my here are my overall criticisms of her villainy:

1) A lot of things in her villain arc felt so OOC, like the fact that she instantly trusted a random ghost child she met in the House of Yesterday’s and follows her around for months not questioning who she is, even after the midseason when she was in her corporeal form. Like since when was Cass so quick to trust anyone? In the past 2 seasons, we all saw how Cass took time to trust Eugene, Lance, and Adira, and how she was so skeptical of new places. I will just never understand how she instantly trusted a ghost child over her closest friends whom she’s known for about 2 years...

2) Building off of her being OOC, I absolutely despised how she was being turned into Gothel 2.0 rather than being her own character! She was so well set up the last two seasons and now is being forcefully turned into Gothel, because ya know “Like mother like daughter right”? My biggest problem with this is that Cass in the past 2 seasons is hardly anything like Gothel in character. Like sure she does have flaws and certain toxic traits, but she was way too hotheaded and insecure compared to Gothel. And the cloak in To2S, sure it looked cool but was so stupid and unnecessary. And I’m not gonna go into the other details to avoid being further infuriated. I know there’s controversies over the movie reference in Plus Est En Vous but here are my honest thoughts. The problem with Cass’s death scene was not only do we have absolutely no idea why she died but it was for the sake of tossing in a movie reference. It basically took Eugene’s iconic sacrifice scene from the movie and handed it to Cass, which I felt was incredibly unfair to both characters. It was Eugene’s special scene which should’ve been his and his alone. Cass deserved to be given her own special scenes instead of being given Gothel and Eugene’s scenes. I personally felt that she was being robbed and it was as if she couldn’t be great as her own character and needs to be handed other characters’ special scene in order to be so.

3) The motive, regardless of whether the Gothel twist was used or not, there needed to be strong and clear motive as to why she would make the complete change to villainy. And getting revenge against Rapunzel because she victim-blamed her for being left by Gothel is not a motive! There were several other aspects of her character that could’ve been focused on that would’ve worked waaay better and could’ve been more been more legitimate reasons for her to become a villain, otherwise it was just entirely forced.

4) Last but not least... the lack of consistency with her villain arc in the last few episodes was so irritating to watch! I personally think she needed a proper redemption arc during the last few episodes were she was seeing the wrong in her actions and worked to correct her mess rather than waffling back and forth between redemption and villainy only to become more evil than before! Her villain arc became waaaay too sloppy and it overstayed it welcome till the finale to the point where it was no longer enjoyable to watch.

All in all, Cass’s villain arc is not my only problem with season 3 nor is it my biggest one. But still, I really wanted to like it. Sure there were some great aspects about it but unfortunately it was mostly badly written and sloppily handled, showing that there was no solid or proper planning for it. As for the Gothel twist, my feelings about it became more negative because of how it was handled and I really wished they could’ve come up with something else to push her into villainy. For me, this was actually quite painful and sad because Cass grew to be my favorite series exclusive character and my favorite along with Rapunzel and Eugene because I loved how she was written in the first two seasons, but I feel like season 3 did her pretty dirty.

Update!: I added the link to my Cass S1 analysis at the top but didnt't know why it's not showing so Imma attach it here!

[whitecatindisguise]

Let Me Make You Proud 20

Another chapter is here. So, the bomb was dropped. I saw many of you freak out, so let me assure you once more: this story WILL have a happy ending. Getting there won’t be a field trip, but I promise it will end on a happy note.

Anyway, Varian must now come to terms with the real form of his powers. And Zhan Tiri isn’t helping, being the manipulative b*tch we know she is.

TW: Thoughts on sacrifical suicide, Zhan Tiri, manipulation. If I missed anything, let me know.

------

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Varian questioned the moment Zhan Tiri strolled into the room. She cocked her head in surprise.

“I was not aware I should tell you anything, Moon Child.” She replied, her eyes scanning the room. There were books and scrolls set in piles on the floor, random notes lying around. “I take it your little study session was fruitful.”

“Fruit-!” The boy gasped at the words and shook in anger. “Damn fruitful! I know everything! You lied to me!”

“About what, exactly?” The demon didn’t look at him, picking up one of the notes and scanning it. 

“This… It’s not power! It’s a curse!” He cried in anger. “It kills whoever uses it! Were you even going to tell me about it?!”

“Why? Would you even believe me?” She questioned and he stared back at her. “From what I gathered, you don’t really put much trust in what I say.”

“That… You still could have said anything!” He argued, but it wasn’t as strong as previously. Would he believe it, if she told him about the curse? About how the power is killing him? 

“I could.” She agreed. “Or, I could provide you with a way to find out by yourself, from a much more reliable source, don’t you agree?”

“And if I had the Moonstone…? Would it really prolog the time I have?” He asked in a quieter voice. 

“Yes.” The demon replied and his head shot up. “But I need it to stay with Cassandra. She, too, has a role to play in this battle.”

“But… isn’t it also killing her?” Varian questioned. “If the Moon power itself is a curse, then the Moonstone-”

“That is not your concern, Moon Child.” Zhan Tiri interrupted. “If I were you, I would practice some more, so you can actually try and use your power in the upcoming battle.”

“But the curse-!” He argued but the demon was quick to shut him up.

“Won’t act so soon, since you’ve been using your powers for only a week now.” She said, her gaze stern. “Unless you aren’t planning on using all of it at once, I wouldn’t be worried.”

 He fell silent, pondering about what he learned. Zhan Tiri said he’d be fine, unless he uses too much power at once. He shouldn’t be worried about that, since his level of control wasn’t enough to go full-god-mode anytime soon. Then, something else he heard hit him.

“Wait… you said a week?” He asked, his eyes wide. 

“Why, yes. What of it?” Now Zhan Tiri was truly puzzled. Why was the boy so interested in how much time has passed. It didn’t really mattered at this point. 

“When… when are they planning an attack?” Varian’s voice trembled. It couldn’t be… did it was almost two weeks already?

“In two days. A little bit earlier than originally planned.” The demon replied and a knowing smirk appeared on her face. “You sent the message to the princess, didn’t you, Moon Child?”

His eyes widened in horror. She knew about that? Did that mean… Andrew knew too…?

“He doesn’t know about your little betrayal.” Zhan Tiri’s voice ringed in his ears. “Not that it matters, at this point. Either way, Corona will fall. With or without their knowledge.”

“No.. that’s… they have Rapunzel… and Eugene… and Max… and…” His head spun, vision after vision, each more worrying than the previous one. Corona in flames. His friends, lying motionless on the ground. The Saporian flag waving at the top of the castle. Himself, either dead or thrown out from the kingdom. His dad’s disappointed gaze. 

“Oh, yes. The Sundrop and her little tea party.” The demon laughed. “I wonder how will she react to know not one but TWO of her so-called friends have sided with the enemy. You think she’ll be angry? Sad? Heartbroken?”

Varian felt something trailing down his cheek. He rose his finger and touched it, surprised to find it wet. Oh… he was crying, wasn’t he?

“This will, for sure, be the sight to enjoy.~” Zhan Tiri sing-songed as she circled around the alchemist. “Those green eyes, widening in realization, when she finally understands what’s going on. And you… using the black rocks. She will feel betrayed, won’t she?”

“No! I would never-!” He tried to argue but his voice was stuck in his throat. 

“Oh… but you did.” The demon cooed, her grin widening. “The moment you agreed to work for the Saporians, all the weapons you built for them… the automaton you so eagerly decided to drive into battle. It all speaks for itself.”

Varian slumped to the floor, his knees giving out under him. He hid his face in his hands, crying. 

“I didn’t want it. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want it.” He repeated over and over, his whole frame shaking. 

“Did you?” Zhan Tiri whispered into his ear. “Because if you truly didn’t want to betray her… why didn’t you chose the other option?”

It took him only a few seconds to realize, what she was talking about. Traitors to Saporia pay with their lives. If he didn’t agree to help them, he would…

“See? In the end, it was your choice, Moon Child.” Zhan Tiri whispered and he heard her stepping away, creeking the door open. “You chose to betray her.”

He heard the door lock behind her and he bowed lower, shaking with spasms of tears. It was like that day in the snowstorm, one year ago. It was just like it, and different at the same time. Because, this time, it wasn’t Rapunzel who betrayed him. This time, it was him who betrayed her. 

~~~~~~

It was late at night, and he was still awake. After his hysteria back in the study room, it took him several hours to finally calm down. When Juniper came to pick him up, he wordlessly followed her to the cafeteria, forced some food into his stomach just enough to last until next meal, and silently went back to his room. 

There, he laid promptly on his bed and stared at the ceiling since then. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t sleep. He didn’t even know if he wanted to, terrified of the nightmares that could taunt him. So he just laid, staring at the ceiling. 

More than once he came back to the conversation with Zhan Tiri. He tried to find loopholes in her reasoning. To prove he didn’t, in fact, betray Rapunzel. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t find any other explanation. And it made his stomach turn. 

If only I died, he thought. But what would that change? All of Corona already thought of him as the villain. If he died now, it wouldn’t change anything. 

His train of thoughts stopped abruptly, as an idea hit him. If he died now, nothing would change. But what if…

He once again remembered what the demon said. 

Unless you aren’t planning on using it all at once, I wouldn’t be worried. That’s what she said. So… what if he did. But not in the way she thinks he would.

What if… he used it to HELP Corona. What if he somehow managed to push Saporians away, make them leave the battle. Would that… redeem him of his crimes…?

He pondered about that thought. Sure, the idea was risky. He didn’t have much control, so he wasn’t sure it’s even going to work. But… it’s worth a try. 

And the automaton…if he could somehow use it to thin Saporian forces, would that show Corona which side he was truly on? Sure, he remembered both Andrew and Juniper threatening him about turning against them. But in reality…? He didn’t really care at this point. If he does it during the battle and gives Rapunzel and the others a way to defeat the Saporians, his dad shouldn’t be in danger. 

Plus… if everything goes the way he plans… they won’t have a reason to hurt him anymore. After all, even if Saporia wins, he won’t be around anymore. And with him gone… his dad will finally be safe.

[wiildhcartsrun]

Varian & Cassandra Parallels!!!

Bonus, Cass Rejecting VILLAIN STATUS

below is my commentary on similarities and differences in their villain arcs

i’m going to start with the whole, knowing they’re the villain / accepting the term villain from other people.

VILLAIN ACCEPTANCE:

One key difference between Varian and Cass as Villains is that Varian knew he was a Villain the whole time. He probably knew it from the moment he decided to get revenge on Rapunzel. Whereas, it took Cass a whole season to finally say, I’m the bad Guy. While, yes the same can be said for Varian as we don’t hear him to say it until ‘Ready as I’ll Ever Be’, he’s never denied it - yet, Cass denied it / refused to believe she was the bad guy until it became clear to her that she was indeed the bad guy.

A factor in this could be their relationships with everyone. Varian wasn’t close to the Princess when he ‘attacked’ her, the kingdom and guards were already looking at him as if he were the bad guy for going to Rapunzel in the first place, because Nigel sent around false information that Varian had attacked the Princess, when in fact he hadn’t. Nigel saying this, spread false information, and therefore casting out Varian within his own home - and this was before he grabbed the flower, so he already knew, that going forward, betraying Rapunzel flat out will make him the villain, but he knows why he’s the bad guy. He doesn’t care that he’s being called the bad guy because if he has to be the bad guy to get his father free, then he’ll be the bad guy. Varian doesn’t care, he just wants his father free and it seemed, to him at that time, that becoming the villain was the only way to get what he wanted. He also has no one reaching out to him, no one telling him to stop this crusade because well, no one knows about it until it’s too late, and yet even then he’s like ten steps ahead of everyone up until the point where his plan fails. 

No one prompts him to say he’s the bad guy, all Arianna says is his name, in what we the viewers hear as a plea / concerned filled voice, but the damage has already been done, that is all that happens for him to say ‘I’m the bad guy, that’s fine’

But, with Cass, she refuses to believe she is the bad guy. She feels like, what she is doing is right, to her, what she is doing is what she is meant for and it’s good. She doesn’t see how the moonstone nor Zhan Tiri are manipulating her worst emotions. And there is the fact that, Rapunzel is always there trying to get her to come back, that there are others are still trying to get her back when she does cross their paths. Nothing Left To Lose and literally any Moonstone!Cass and Raps interaction is someone reaching out to Cass, and therefore Cass probably is thinking no one reaches out to the villain, or pleads the bad guy to come back. Because why would you pleaded for the Villain to switch sides? You don’t, yet - you do if you care deep enough about the person ( Example from another fandom is Annabeth/Thalia w/ Luke from PJO, both girls, Annabeth the most tried to plea with Luke to come back until they saw he couldn’t and saw him for the ‘Villain’ he was ), but unlike with them, Rapunzel never saw Cass as a Villain, or Bad Guy either.

Cass denies herself being the Bad Guy because Rapunzel and a few others never treated her like one. It wasn’t until she was ‘treated’ like a Villain did she accept it. Varian, during Nothing Left to Lose, says she is the Villain and she refuses to accept it - she doesn’t see the fact that, while she has committed the SAME ACTS that she, herself has called Varian a bad guy/villain for, that she is the Bad Guy in this situation.

Varian knew himself to be the Bad Guy because there was already glares being thrown his way for a small act, and he knew as his acts get bigger, he was going to be the Villain. Cass only really got treated like the Villain in Once A Handmaiden.

When it comes to Arianna or Rapunzel ‘reaching out’ to Varian, Rapunzel had the chance to send someone if she had not gone herself to see what the issue with Varian was after the storm, but she sent no one and that is CANON that no one had went to check on Varian until ‘The Quest for Varian’/‘The Alchemist Returns’ - which then, in turn means that Nigel has spread all this hate / false allegations about Varian attacking Rapunzel - therefore Villainzing Varian already in the eyes of those in his village.

ARCS

We watch Cassandra’s ‘Origin Story’ play out, we see it set up from Season 1, but we don’t see her Redemption Arc. We get a quick overview of Varian’s ‘Origin Story’ we don’t really see it play out, but we see more of his Redemption Arc ( even though we could have seen more of him fixing his relationships with everyone ), play out through out Season 3.

NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE BREAK DOWN

this is mostly from varian’s point of view and a copy and paste from an old post but i have edited it to try and put in more from cass’ point of view during this song.

In Varian’s eyes, Cass is up there with Rapunzel with being ‘better’ off. Kind of like how Cass see’s herself as lesser to Rapunzel. Neither of these two are wrong, they’ve both grown up differently and had things differently. They are, all three, are on different levels of class. Rapunzel, who did go from I would say from Varian’s Class to the Royal Class, is higher up on this out of the three. Cass, who went from Varian’s Class to a Higher Class due to her being adopted by the Captain of the Guard - making her be up there because he would definitely be getting paid a lot and she does live within the castle and works for them too, making her in I’ll say around a Working Class ( High ). And Varian has always been at the Lower Class of the spectrum, this would stem from his father having to uproot his whole life and start in a whole new kingdom. But, this level of Class, which would be Working Class ( Low / Medium ) is all Varian has known.

The first verse is Varian trying to sympathise with Cass, and tell her that it may feel right, but in the end you will lose it all in the end if you continue down this path. Because right now, from Varian’s point of view at this time, Cass still has Rapunzel even if Cass doesn’t want that. Cass still has a support system waiting for her when / if she choose to forgo her task of destroying those who love her. Cass still has people who will be there for her, which he didn’t have because his support system was in amber, or he felt betrayed by them.

He’s telling her he knows what it was like, because this was how he felt when he lost his father and his trust in Rapunzel. That, if she keeps going Rapunzel will eventually lose her faith - that no one will want to help her in the end if she continues this way. He feels like, if she does more damage, Rapunzel will lose her faith in Cass, much like she had done with him because at this time - he forgets that Cass and Rapunzel have a stronger bond because of her position as Lady in Waiting, compared to him when he had done what he had.

You have so much to hold onto - Referencing the support system that Cass has for when she comes back. The family and friends she has, waiting for her. He didn’t have that, as soon as he betrayed Rapunzel, it was all out for him. The Guards, the King - everyone was out for his head. He didn’t have a support system, all he had was Ruiddger. And anytime Rapunzel showed fear for Varian or what would happen to him he didn’t see it and she didn’t do anything about it except express it. She never begged him after he fled, she never sought him out when she knew where he would be - but he knows Rapunzel has begged, he witnessed it, for Cass to stop, which tells him that Rapunzel still is trying to get to Cass, even after everything she’s done and how fearful Cass going full Villain makes Rapunzel.

All’s not lost, don’t be so blind - talking about how Cass is being blind to the love her father and Rapunzel still have for her.

He’s saying all this because in his eyes, Cass has someone to fall back on if she comes back from this ‘rampage’ she is on. She has people that care about her, even in this darkened state of mind of hers. People who still believe in her after she betrayed them all, something that to him makes her lucky, compared to him.

[greatbigfour]

02. Known Yet Hidden

As soon as MK told them that Mavis was already at Town Hall and was planning on looking at the files, the group dashed to their vehicles and raced to Town Hall. Mavis herself was waiting at the front desk and ushered them in. 

“I figured you would come here,” said Mavis as they walked to the file room, “so I figured on making things a little easier and give you a hand. Not only that, but, I’m beginning to realize that I might not know about everyone who is here. I was so focused on getting back at Merida that I didn’t realize how many other people were brought here! And I don’t know half of them!” She paused as she quickly unlocked the door. She shot MK a smile. “Even though I trust you, I figured we couldn’t have just anyone wandering in here.” 

MK laughed. “I agree with you on that.” Mavis led them into the room. “You’ve been changing some things up.”  Instead of the boxes, Mavis had brought in ten filing cabinets, which made the room look so much nicer. 

Mavis nodded. “Yes, makes it look more professional.” 

MK nodded with approval at the new set-up for the files. “That’s definitely true. Let’s get started.” Each person went to a filing cabinet and began straight away to look through the contents. 

Rapunzel had paused. “Are you sure this is a good idea? We’re looking at people’s personal information.” 

“Just look at the pictures and names, Punz,” said Jack as he opened a filing cabinet. 

Mavis nodded. “I have everything set up to where I can just glance at names and pictures to find someone, just in case.” 

Rapunzel let out a breath. “Alright.” She stepped up to a filing cabinet, opened it, and began looking through the files. “Oh! I see how this works! OK, this isn’t that bad after all.” 

“And pretty quick,” said Hiccup as he practically flew through a drawer. 

“But, are there any other villains we don’t know about?” asked JJ as he quickly flipped through the folders in his filing cabinet. 

Jack and Hiccup paused in their search to glance at each other. “He’s got a point,” said Jack. 

“Well, if you’re not sure, just say the names out loud. We can tell you if they are or not,” said Merida as she closed the top drawer on her filing cabinet. 

Hiccup grinned. “Good idea!” 

Merida flipped her hair. “Well of course, I’m just full of them.” 

Jack laughed. “It’s why he married you.” 

“I know,” said Merida as she shot a playful grin at Hiccup. Hiccup chuckled. The next minute, the only sound that could be heard was the ruffling of files with the occasional opening and closing of drawers. 

Rapunzel found the first one, evident by her shriek. “Jack!” 

He was by her side in a second. “What is it? Who did you find?” She showed him the file. His eyes bulged. “Gothel’s here?” He shared a startled glance with MK. “But, when we looked for your folders, neither one of you were here!” 

Mavis blinked. “Really? I found Rapunzel’s while I was sorting the files.” MK and Jack shared another shocked look. Mavis’s brow furrowed. “Though, it was odd that it seemed like there were a few more files than I remember . . .” 

MK turned to Mavis. “Where did you find Rapunzel’s file?” 

Mavis shrugged. “In a box under my desk, along with Gothel’s file and a few others.” 

Jack relaxed. “Well that explains that, we didn’t look in there.” 

“But, I didn’t put it there!” By then the others had crowded around them to look at the villain. They shared a startled glance at Mavis’s announcement. 

“But if you didn’t, then who did?” asked MK. 

“That might be something you’ll have to figure out,” said Mavis. 

MK waved her hand. “That’s going to have to wait. Right now, we have Gothel’s file, which means she is here in Cedar Grove.”

“But, where is she?” asked Merida. “I don’t recall seeing her around town.” 

“Neither do I,” said Jack and Jaime at the same time. They glanced at Mavis. 

She put up her hands. “Don’t look at me, I’ve never seen her before in my life.” 

Jack rubbed his chin. “Maybe she’s outside the city lines with Pitch? I mean, maybe she’s one of the few who could leave the town without repercussions.” 

“And if she is out of town, there’s a big chance she could come back,” said Rapunzel. 

Jack put a protective arm around her. “But we can handle her.” 

Hiccup thought a moment. “But, I don’t think she was the one who shot arrows at Jack. She would have gotten close to attack.” 

Jack nodded. “That’s true, that’s how she works, up close and personal.” He glanced back at the file. “So we have one villain, but it’s not the villain we’re looking for.” 

MK pointed to the table. “Maybe we can put all the villains we find on the table. I think we need them separated from the rest of the town.” 

The others nodded. “Good idea,” said Hiccup. Jack gently took the folder from Rapunzel and set it on the table. 

“Well, there’s one. Let’s find out who else is here.” The others nodded and went back to looking through the folders. Jamie found the next one. 

“Dagur’s here too! But, I haven’t seen him around town.”

Hiccup was the first to reach his side to look at the folder. “Really?” 

Mavis saw the folder too, she and Jamie nodded firmly. “It would be hard to forget Dagur,” said Jamie. 

“Definitely, but, where could they be?” said Mavis. 

“Apparently there are some things you don’t even know,” said Jack. The others glanced at him. “And in a way, that’s almost terrifying.” His face hardened as he glanced at each person. “Let’s keep looking, make sure we have everyone. Then we’ll proceed from there.” The others nodded and went back to looking. They ended up with five folders on the table at the end of their search; Gothel, Dagur, Drago, Mordu, and Hans. “With Pitch, that’s six, and if Mavis hadn’t decided to change, there would have been seven,” said Jack slowly. 

MK’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “S-seven?” 

Jack held her gaze. “Yes, seven, there are seven heroes to save us all, and I think seven villains you will have to face. But, I don’t think these are the seven villains. Like I said, Mavis would only have been one if she continued down her path of revenge. But she has finally realized the truth and is now on our side. And of the remaining six, Gothel and Pitch are the main ones we really have to watch out for, the rest are easily handled.” 

Merida scoffed. “They’re not that easy.” 

Jack waved his hand. “Ok, Ok, not that easy, but easy in comparison to Pitch and Gothel.” 

Merida huffed. “Oh, alright, I’ll give you that one.” 

Jack grinned for a brief moment before turning back to the folders. “Though I think of this group here, I think only Pitch is one of the seven.” He gazed at JJ pointedly and sadly. 

JJ gulped. “You think . . . he’s the villain I have to face?” 

“It makes sense, too much sense.” 

“B-but what about Zhan Tiri?” 

Rapunzel gasped. “The Sandy’s told you about Zhan Tiri?” 

Jack sighed. “It would make sense that they would, JJ is your son after all. Besides, Sandy is sort of like the opposite of Zhan, just like the Sandman is the opposite of Pitch. But there are seven heroes, so someone else is going to have to handle Zhan Tiri.” 

“A-and who do you think the other five are?” asked MK. 

Jack let out a breath as he ran his hand through his hair. “Laverna, Rothbart, HEX, Binary, and . . . “ he shot a sideways glance at Mavis, “I’m beginning to think Frieda is the last one.” 

“But all the power my mom had was in that staff. She’s practically nothing without it!” 

“But you know magic,” said MK slowly. 

“Well, well yes, I learned how to use it . . . with some help from the staff.” 

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Well that explains a few things. But no, I think Frieda is one not because of magical capabilities, though the rest certainly have that, but because she is manipulative and determined to achieve her goal. Not that any other villain isn’t, but, I don’t know, there’s something about her . . . maybe your mother hasn’t unlocked her full magical potential.” His face really hardened. “And to be honest, I wouldn’t want her to.” 

Mavis’s face twisted with disgust. “And I would agree with that.” 

Merida smiled wanly. “It’s going to take some time to get used to you talking like that.” 

Mavis glanced at her. “Yeah, I understand that.” 

“But it’s good to hear,” said Merida with a smile. Mavis smiled back. 

“Yes, definitely!” said Jamie as he hugged Mavis.

MK turned to Jack. “But if Frieda isn’t the last villain?” 

A bit of fear crept into Jack’s eyes. “Then it’s a villain I have never heard of, and that’s worrying.” 

“How can you be sure the others are part of the six too, though?” asked Hiccup. “Laverna’s been beaten by Elina several times, and Odette and Daniel have subdued Rothbart with the help of the Enchantress.” 

Jack shrugged. “You’re right about those two, but they are the only other two who are capable of being on the same level as Pitch, Zhan Tiri, HEX, and Binary. I know for a fact that those four are definitely going to be four of the villains. Joey is pretty sure about that too. It’s why he, Moana, and their son are in hiding.” Jack rubbed his chin. “Now, if only I could get in contact with them.” 

“And that’s one reason why we have to get back to the magical realm,” said Merida, “besides the fact that Frieda and the rest of the villains are still there and running amok.” 

“But we have to take care of the villains running amok here,” said Hiccup, “provided we can find them.” His eyes widened and snapped his fingers. “The cave!  We haven’t actually explored it!” 

Jack pointed him. “You’re right! And I bet those vines we battled were actually put there by Gothel to prevent people from getting through! Well, at least to Rapunzel, she might have another trap set up before the area where they’re staying.” 

“But, how would they have gotten food?” asked Merida. “Mavis, Jamie, you and I certainly haven’t seen them around town!” 

“Right, we wouldn’t have, because we mostly stayed in town,” pointed out Jack. 

Merida gasped. “The farms!”

Jack nodded. “And it would be easy too, they wouldn’t recognise any of these people, though your parents would have recognised Drago and Mordu. But only Drago and Mordu, they wouldn’t have known the others.” 

MK picked up the files. “Then that shall be our next stop, the farms, see if anybody recognises them and know where they might be hiding.” 

“It has to be the cave, though,” said Hiccup slowly. 

“They could be in separate places, Dad,” said MK. “We did find Rapunzel’s tower, one or more of them could have stayed there.” 

Jack nodded. “She has a point. But, we can’t go to the farms yet.”

“Yeah, I was just going to ask about that,” said Rapunzel. 

JJ glanced between his parents. “Why?” 

“We need to get to the Onceler’s store, that’s where we’re supposed to be meeting with the Sandy’s.” Jack looked at MK. “And I think it’s time you all learn about the Lorax.”

[bestworstcase]

Could you possibly give some examples of Rapunzel being manipulative? Your character analysis of her is super interesting to read.

sure!

so to start off with, because i think a lot of people hear “manipulation” and think “gaslighting and guilt-tripping,” what i mean when i talk about manipulation is this: 

1. it is a method of using indirect, deceptive, emotional tactics 2. to alter another person’s behavior to better suit the manipulator

in the broadest sense, the tools of manipulation are: 

1. positive reinforcement (when something nice is GIVEN) 2. negative reinforcement (when something unpleasant is REMOVED) 3. intermittent reinforcement (when reinforcement is SPORADIC) 4. punishment (what it says on the tin)

and we could break this down even further into the many, many different techniques of manipulation but that’s getting a bit too into the weeds. the main thing to grasp here is 1) manipulation takes many different forms and 2) not all manipulators are actually good at it. 

so you have manipulators like zhan tiri, who is an excellent manipulator because she is flexible, she lies easily and well, she understands human nature, and she intimately knows her victim’s particular weaknesses and how best to exploit them. 

and you have manipulators like gothel, who emotionally brute force their victims into compliance by strategically giving and withholding affection (intermittent positive reinforcement) and gaslighting, guilt-tripping, and browbeating (all mixtures of positive reinforcement and punishment). your garden variety emotional abuser; all they’ve got is a hammer (emotional abuse) and everything looks like a nail. 

and then you have people like rapunzel. 

rapunzel is not, i think, someone who is naturally inclined to be manipulative. but she was raised in isolation by a manipulator, so that model of interpersonal reaction is the first, and for a good long while the only, one she knows. so, when she runs into an interpersonal conflict or a person who behaves in a way that she doesn’t like...

...she manipulates the people involved in order to fix the problem.

in cassandra vs. eugene, rapunzel: 1) deceives cassandra and eugene into believing that the other wants to apologize, in order to 2) lock them in together against their will to force them to work together to escape, which she believes will 3) make them like each other and end the bickering.

there is an element of punishment here (she locks them up because they annoyed her with their constant fighting) and of negative reinforcement (if they play her game and work together, they will be removed from this unpleasant situation of being locked in with each other). i think this is the most clear-cut example of rapunzel’s manipulative streak, but many people miss it because it doesn’t fit the “emotionally abusive” model that many people think of when they think of “manipulation.” 

but there’s plenty of other examples, too!

in rapunzel’s enemy, rapunzel showers monty in gifts and favors in an attempt to get him to like her, and when this doesn’t work, she disguises herself and lies to him in order to trick him into being her friend. 

in under raps, rapunzel again goes to excessive lengths in an attempt to persuade cassandra to share what’s going on, including painting eugene’s face on a training dummy. gift-giving with the intention of gaining something in return is a classic form of positive reinforcement (and though it isn’t shown in tangled, i would wager a lot that it’s something gothel used often to keep rapunzel in line. where do you think all those paints and brushes and materials for assorted fun pastimes came from?)

when rapunzel desperately wants something, such as in pascal’s story when she’s tearing the palace apart for pascal, or beyond the corona walls when she’s determined to crash the wedding and rescue eugene, she demonstrates anger very aggressively to shut down any naysayers: 

(which is not bad, mind. in these examples, her loved ones are in real danger and this anger is justified. but compare this to the guilt rapunzel feels when she gets annoyed with people; under normal circumstances, rapunzel keeps a tight lock on her own anger, but when she can use it to protect somebody she loves, she does so without hesitation, to punish people [by getting angry at them] who try to stop her.)

in the return of quaid, rapunzel’s entire plan to inspire quaid relies on manipulation: she sets up a fake robbery to give him an easy, public victory (positive reinforcement) in order to persuade him to do it for real (earning further victories on his own merits and creating a self-reinforcing spiral). this is also why he’s so distraught when he learns that the first victory was just a ploy; he realizes that she manipulated him. 

in the eye of pincosta, rapunzel correctly guesses that stalyan is going to betray her and take the eye for herself, and she writes a letter appealing to stalyan’s good side (with a light garnishing of guilt for good measure; “I hope you will make the right decision”) in an attempt to persuade her otherwise. 

this behavior tapers off somewhat in season two and is almost completely gone by season three, because as i said, i don’t think rapunzel is naturally inclined to be manipulative, and over time she begins to see that even manipulation that is well-intended can backfire and hurt people (eg: the consequences for rapunzel’s meddling in under raps, quaid’s devastation when he realized the truth in return of quaid). manipulation is still something in her toolbox—and honestly, something she’ll have to use from time to time in her role as queen, because that’s just politics—but it stops being what she instinctively reaches for whenever she has a problem.

imo, this is also part of the reason why cassandra is so quick to believe that rapunzel would hide the hand mirror from her in a tale of two sisters: she believes rapunzel is manipulating her because rapunzel has manipulated her before. from cassandra’s perspective—from the perspective of somebody who saw rapunzel acting manipulative frequently, but wasn’t there to see her fully outgrow that behavior—rapunzel purposefully withholding information in order to trick cassandra into trusting her again is absolutely in line with who rapunzel is as a person. when cassandra becomes upset and walks away while blocking off the path so rapunzel cannot follow her, it is no different from how quaid reacts when he learns that the “robbery” he stopped was fake. [i do not think cassandra predicted or intended for the gas to leak out and put rapunzel’s life in danger, and once she was outside she had no way of knowing; they were a long way from the depths of the tunnels where the gas had been a problem, right next to the surface, and rapunzel was surprised to see it too.]

[bestworstcase]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 run wild I didn't specify a topic

rapunzel is a fantastic character but ranks at the very bottom of my list of characters i would want to encounter as real people. like i genuinely would rather deal with a gothel or a zhan tiri than a rapunzel mvbnfabzbf

because manipulators are simple to deal with when guilt and social obligation are not feelings you experience in any meaningful capacity. the gothels of the world in particular can often be OHKO’d by just not giving a damn what they think or want or say. zhan tiri is more slippery and targets a wider range of emotional vulnerabilities, but like. she targets emotional vulnerabilities. and i do have those of course, but my emotions are so fleeting and ephemeral that frankly she’d have her work cut out exploiting them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but the rapunzels of the world. my god. she’s hung up on making people happy, and she DOESN’T LISTEN unless what she hears conforms to her personal assumptions about what a person is feeling. i have a flattened affect; unless i go out of my way to perform emotion (which is incredibly draining) my face looks like this 😐 most of the time and my voice sounds like a disinterested, dry monotone. which is to say: people assuming i’m miserable or furious when i’m not is a constant problem. my friends figure out quick that i will say so if i have a problem, but… frankly if you don’t “look” happy, most people will assume you’re lying if you say “i’m fine.”

(sidebar: this is why the social expectation that you say “i’m fine” when you’re not in order to ~not make waves~ or whatever is BULLSHIT. fuck off and say what you mean.)

and the rapunzels of the world—the pleasers who are obsessed with positivity and making people smile—are the worst for this. you can say “i have a flat affect, emoting with my face and voice is something i have to force, trust me to speak up if i’m distressed, i’m a very easy going and generally happy person and do not need your help” until you’re blue in the face and they still won’t get it. you know the short where rapunzel does all this crazy stuff to make crowley smile? that’s a nightmare. because i’m not not smiling because i’m unhappy, i’m not smiling because i have to consciously think about moving the muscles in my face and then it feels weird and stiff and tends to get stuck that way until i consciously relax the muscles in my face. smiling is a performance.

and like yeah obviously there’s times you just buck up and put on the mask for other people’s sake. if a kid starts babbling to me on the street (which happened a lot pre-plague, we’re next door to a park and across from an elementary school lol) yeah, i’m going to grin and put in the extra effort to show them i’m engaged. bc theyre a kid. and for work stuff, if i’m face to face or my video is turned on, i’m gonna mirror the other person’s demeanor. i smile at service people because god knows they deal with enough crap on a daily basis and i don’t want to add to it. but like… i’m not interested in performing to appease random acquaintances who just think i seem dEpReSsEd because i act insufficiently cheerful 🤨 (<that emoji is pretty much my only natural facial expression and my gf is the only person who can accurately read Degree Of Eyebrow Lifting to assess my mood. it’s hilarious.)

anyway rapunzels exhaust me and i avoid associating with them irl unless it is absolutely unavoidable to do so. an object lesson in how liking a character =/= liking their behavior in a real life context lol