Interesting power dynamic I just noticed in OAH
So naturally the only one who sits in Cass's throne is Cass
And in OAH, we see Zhan Tiri by the throne, but never actually sitting in it
She is right there beside it, almost like a Stewart or right hand to the "monarch". And yet in the confrontation scene in this episode, she and Cass are hardly on equal foooting.
Zhan Tiri has stayed out of the throne out of "respect" for Cass, but it's all about giving her the mere illusion of power and control. When in reality she has all the power. And Cass climbs up to try to attain the same or a higher level of power as Zhan Tiri by confronting her about all her lies in manipulation. And she does get to Zhan Tiri's level, but she never gets higher and reclaims her throne
Cause Cassandra isn't the one with the power here
And heck as soon as the jig is up Zhan Tiri finally actually takes the symbol of power for herself, sitting on the arm of the throne
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My autistic rambling about Cassandra from Tangled.
I refuse to use Gothel as her last name…
Anyways,
Saying that Cassandra was “angry at Rapunzel for getting kidnapped” is such a grossly incorrect representation of what was actually going on and I am tired of people pushing that that was all that upset her, instead of the seasons long conflict that was building up that culminated in her taking her anger about something only partially related out on Rapunzel because she was ALREADY upset with her.
Cass’ issues with Raps did not start when she took the moonstone, hell it didn’t even start when she went into the room in the house of yesterday’s tomorrow. It started in season one when Rapunzel was constantly, even if unintentionally, finding ways to overshadow her. It was worsened when Raps stopped valuing her opinion, which was a problem for Cass because she felt she had outlasted her usefulness, even though Cass is shown as a character who feels like she always needs a purpose or a duty to follow (which is likely a trauma response from being abandoned tbh???). Everything builds through seasons one and two, and Cassandra consistently finds herself overshadowed and ignored by Rapunzel and the people around her.
And THEN, Cass is given earth shattering news. Everyone else already chooses Rapunzel over her, of course her own mother did too. This particular instance wasn’t Rapunzel’s fault, but it pushed the same idea and feeling that all these other instances did; Cass isn’t important, and will always be outshined by Rapunzel. Something she had felt and experienced over and over, but this time the information was just big enough to be what sent her over the edge.
Yes, Cassandra overreacts, but she also is CONSTANTLY shown to be seeing whats wrong with her actions and rethinking everything. The first time, during Crossing The Line, she only doesn’t back down because Rapunzel triggers her by telling her to “wait”, the one thing she had been doing her entire life.
After that, every single major conflict with Cass throughout season 3 involves her realizing her error or questioning her path in some way, but people love to forget that she was actively being manipulated by Zhan Tiri at this point, leading her to being convinced to stay on the path Zhan Tiri wants her to be on. Yeah Cass is acting terrible, because an actual warlock found her when she was at her lowest and used her negative emotions to manipulate things in their favor. Eventually, when she is freed from that relationship with Zhan Tiri, everything resolves rather quickly, her having noticed the errors of her ways for a while now, but being constantly assured she was right.
In a way, Zhan Tiri plays a very similar role for Cassandra to that of what Gothel was to Rapunzel in the original movie.
I can probably do a more coherent, not-written-at-almost-midnight analysis of Cassandra eventually, because I have a lot to say and this is all over the place, but to conclude: Cassandra’s anger is not directly at Rapunzel for being kidnapped by Gothel. That simply happened to be the straw that broke the camels back after other events causes Cass similar feelings. This reveal was just the biggest, held the most weight. Even though Cass calmed down and again and again realized her wrong doings, the wrong person had influence over her when she was extremely vulnerable, leading the conflict to continue when it could have easily been avoided without the warlock’s influence.
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How would you redesign Zhan Tiri?
Lean into the ethereal. Pour on a heaping helping of feywild beauty and awe. This is supposed to be some massively powerful non human, shape-shifting creature of legend. Looking like "We have Yzma at home" did this character no favors.
She should have looked imposing and powerful, not frail and uninteresting. Something more stylistically distinct from tbr main csst in terms of fashion and less peasant looking in garb. Give her an appearance that completely sets her apart to show an even bigger rift between her and Demanitus. I sketched these super quickly and don't love them but I'm immediately more invested I whatever this lady is up to than village granny.
I would also change her color pallet. Because what they gave her is boring. Maybe give her some green in her wardrobe to bring in that disney villain color and compliment her purple hair. Also pointed ears because I will put elves in everything and you cant stop me
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