Why Varian Worked Where Cassandra Failed - TTS Analysis

[@yamihere5409]

Varían after his redemption arc: just vibes Varían after he gets kidnapped by Cassandra: *vibes anyway*

[@0calliestar0]

You can’t stop the Varian vibe

[@PrincessOfTheWholeUniverse]

@@0calliestar0 He certainly passed the vibe check

[@selectedshipper8282]

Honestly we stan

[@mothhuuny]

@@0calliestar0 varivibe

[@lemonpie_vanilla]

Lmao cinnamon roll always be vibing

[@AM-nq2qo]

Cass: Hey can I copy ur villain arc? Varian: Yeah sure just change it a little so no one notices Cass: Ok

[@TailsFan]

I WHEEZED. XDDD

[@laylabaker5494]

lol

[@dakilangraikage9988]

666th like, you are now cursed you're welcome

[@MistyLose]

I like how your icon is varian too

[@smugmidoriya8924]

Nice

[@haininhnguyen398]

"he just want his dad to be proud of him, doesnt every characters with black hair want that" me touching my hair, gasp dramatically : how dare you

[@amandarama3314]

**looks at my black hair and daddy issues** ...

[@moon4236]

Me with black hair but no dad: _heh_

[@len5630]

Huh, maybe that's why I started bleaching my hair after my dad went to rehab

[@cupio-stardust]

My character with blue hair: pathetic.

[@tan-tan5913]

Gon : The green part will never betray me !

[@KeepCalmContemplateYourChoices]

Rapunzel in the movie: "When I make a promise, I never EVER break that promise" Rapunzel in the TV Show:

[@singer2be256]

Looking back, I think that's why the scene ends with Varian's "You promised" echoing in the halls while she hides her face in her hands. They were trying to emphasize this was her first time breaking a promise.

[@KaylaT-Music]

@ngocthach4020 it kind of was, she had a kingdom to protect (something she greatly struggled with at first as seen in the episode), and varian was demanding that she leave now. I'll admit, he had a good reason to be worried, but Rapunzel couldn't just leave like that. Plus, she never actually broke that promise, she did help free quirin and she did figure out the mystery with the black rocks so all in all, Rapunzel can still say she's never broken a promise,

[@KaylaT-Music]

@ngocthach4020 Ok, so I thought about what you said, and I decided to go back and watch though the end of Queen for a day and skim through The Quest For Varian (the one where she finds Quirin in the amber, without varian with her). Here's what I've concluded. In A Queen For A Day, she pretty much almost loses everyone close to her. Pascal, her parents, as well as her boyfriend, and she has to place all her trust in what was then considered a 'fairy tale'. She is definitely shaken in the last moments of the episode. In the next episodes (Painters Block and Not In The Mood), she gets put in a trance and then drugged, pretty much. So she's clearly not in her best state of mind. After her vision in TQFV, she almost immediately goes to talk to her father, who then lies about the situation in old Corona. Had she not read Varian's letter, she would have been under the impression that everything was fine with the black rocks and there was no reason for her to worry about it. When she did read that letter from Varian, she immediately went to old Corona to try and help him. She accompanies Varian in his quest to steal a petal from the physical flower (which could be seen as committing treason!) and gets betrayed by him in the end. Then the events of TSOTS play out. So I do firmly believe that Rapunzel did all that she could to help Varian. *Edit I said queen for a day when it should have been secret of the sundrop

[@eddog6666]

Varian is in the wrong. Rapunzel was left in charge of the entire kingdom however her priorities were to save the people in the city. It could be considered a state of emergency. How would you take it if your town got hit by a disaster and the government decided to focus all their resources in trying to find one criminal that is out there. Rapunzel made the right choice. She made a decision worthy of a Queen. The Queen has to do what benefits the many. It’s the trolley problem. Runaway trolley is head for 5 works stuck on the track and 1 on the other track, do you switch the track? Yes or no? That was the same problem Rapunzel faced.

[@KeepCalmContemplateYourChoices]

@@eddog6666 That's the point. He isn't thinking straight, he's blinded by anger and desparation and wants revenge which makes him go evil. And that's why Varian's villain arc wouldn't be able to support an entire season, which is why Cass' didn't work.

[@cupcakegirlpoweredits9732]

The funny thing is that Varian was literally a last second character that they pulled out of the hat when the writers realized they needed someone to get Rapunzel out of Corona.

[@rockhistoria2537]

Gotta give them props because of how well written that last second character is

[@nanalove3819]

and he is the best character in the show by far. That's funny.

[@Passions5555]

I hate he was only a plot device

[@kate-yj2kw]

And he’s the best character ! Love that

[@pina_nina_fresa]

the other funny thing is that his arc was so well written at "last minute" while Cassandra's was so messy and she was planned on being a villain from the very beginning, they were drawing her as moon Cass before Cass even had a final character design

[@tyathedude]

Varian: always helped rapunzel but got rejected when he asked for one. Lost his dad, his home, and lost his faith. Cassandra: *JEALOUS*

[@irlelliewilliams]

She wasn’t jealous of nothing also she too had problems and ignoring them isn’t doing her any good

[@tyathedude]

it was just a joke but okay...

[@mysterysunfurled]

@@tyathedude don't worry, I thought your joke was funny!

[@Yams-Hams7734]

@Dark Shadow Storm yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that Cassandra is an adult, she can rely on herself and make her own choices. While Varian was a kid in a dire situation, also what does Cassandra getting abandoned by Gothel have to do with almost killing Rapunzel, Calliope, trying to crush Eugene, and almost killing countless others. There’s no way to justify that, she did that, and for what to be recognized. How does killing people, starting wars, and getting veagence for her mother do that exactly? If anything it makes her just as bad as Gothel.

[@Yams-Hams7734]

@Dark Shadow Storm yeah, you do have a point. I can reason with that.

[@TailsFan]

The thing about Varian's arc is that he wasn't FIGHTING Rapunzel. Rapunzel was as much a tool, to him, as the Demanitus Scroll was a tool to Cassandra later. Varian was fighting the one that kept him trapped in the ruins of his hometown, the one that vilified him and kept him from trying to get help legally, that allowed a false rumor to spread about him. He was fighting Frederic, and his "she's right, dad" gloat was him declaring "Checkmate" on their ongoing challenge. Was he mad at Rapunzel? Yes. But Frederic was the big obstacle to him helping his father, the one making moves in secret to beat him down. That's why his arc, to me, was so compelling. He wasn't just fussing over a broken promise, he was fighting the entire Royal Family, but especially the King, for his life and freedom to save his father without armed men in masks hunting him down.

[@Prior2Popular]

True!!!! He has that whole political speech when they’re all in the courtyard in the smoke, which is honestly in my opinion his *best villain moment* where I think they really use the character and his strengths in a way that makes sense and isn’t just a cliché villain thing. And also the fact that he made his pet a literal biological weapon is awesome and horrible, but also awesome 👏🏼

[@LibraryAmbientJunkie]

Right. He was never the villain. King Frederic was. This is why I hated the end of season 1 so much and season 2 even more. S2 was just more of letting Frederic off the hook (and Raps too because she wasn’t entirely innocent in this either). It was also kind of annoying that it was never really addressed in S3 either.

[@TailsFan]

@@LibraryAmbientJunkie Yeah, in season 3 he's basically given a free pass because his brain was still a bit addled from getting his memory wiped, which is just...honestly, Rapunzel gave too many people free passes that didn't deserve them. Yes, while he didn't remember we shouldn't punish him, but once he DID? Frederic should've been answering for his crimes against the Kingdom. He went directly against the vows he made when he took the crown, vows we hear Rapunzel being told just before Lady Caine attacked the first time. Not to mention his betrayal of his friendship with Quirin by attacking his son as soon as he was unable to protect him. The man took no time in making Varian's life hell, driving him to desperation and crime to escape what he was doing to him and to try to free his father. No remorse, no apology, not from Cassandra and not from Frederic.

[@nekohybrid7610]

@@TailsFan finally someone talking sense. Rapunzel is just too idealistic for her own good.

[@DragonGoddess18]

​@@TailsFan At least you're talking sense. Fred and Raps annoyed me since neither of them truly owned up to what they did

[@Iris-is5ou]

"And this is when Variam shifts from the sweet cinnamon roll that the fangirls love to the angsty alchemy based anarchist that the fangirls also love" I legit just died at that!! 😂

[@Chcikene]

Same lol

[@Tomy_Lightning]

Fanboys too I love him best character alongside his bro Eugene/Horace.

[@gabbykillin2010]

The king is indeed stupid and dose not take blame for anything. What I have also said is after the storm Raps never goes and visits Varian. See what he needed.

[@0calliestar0]

Ikr I was so confused why Rapunzel never checked on Varian once she wasn’t busy trying to save the kingdom, I feel like it could have solved a lot of problems lol. Maybe she couldn’t find Varian, like he didn’t want to be found so he hid away anytime he says guards coming by? Idk

[@ladyofways]

@@0calliestar0 Yeah, I think she mentioned that he went MIA for a while in the Alchemist Returns episode

[@maem7462]

The King made me so mad. Also he said he was going to get Varian help after they “won” against him. Where was that help apparently it was NOWHERE. He thought it was a good idea to put Varian a I think 14 year old atm in a JAILCELL WITH ADULTS. But earlier in the season he said he couldn’t put kids in jail. Now that I think about it they were putting kids in jail when Eugene was going around stealing things. Frederick stop putting kids in jail! He handed it in the worst way possible

[@gabbykillin2010]

@@maem7462 true, if he gotten help (therapy) he never would have joined Andrew

[@im_waiting_for_the_catbus]

@@ladyofways Yeah I think that’s what we’re supposed to believe, which I do. But I think they should’ve made it more clear to the mainstream audience that Rapunzel *could not* find Varian or knew where he was. I think that’d deflate a lot of the invalid Rapunzel hate from some fans.

[@twinkacast]

"you killed my father" speeches never get old. For example. "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die"

[@Krill_Phil]

Aaaaaaaaaaagdrqgvettsbsusiehv *YES!!!* Absolutely iconic! ‘The Princess Bride’ is one of my all time favourite movies for many reasons and THAT LINE is high on the list!

[@LL-tr5et]

hahah yes

[@LL-tr5et]

@@Krill_Phil the book as well :)

[@Krill_Phil]

@@LL-tr5et Is that’s what the movie’s based on?

[@LL-tr5et]

@@Krill_Phil ....yeah?? what else would it be based on lmao. although i havent watched the movie so they might have some differences

[@therandomstudio8942]

Honestly as much as I love moon Cassandra the arc really do be all over the place

[@0calliestar0]

I know I’m like this is terrible writing but waiting in the wings tho ✊😔

[@DLxxx]

@@0calliestar0 Waiting in the Wings didn't have to be part of a villain arc though. It could've just been a deeply engaging exploration of her character that led to her finally getting the shine she deserved. Instead, they chose to use it as justification for a negative arc that had little foundation to exist (for as long as it did anyway), and swapped my favorite character with a completely different person for the vast majority of the final season. And believe me, EVERYONE watching the show was infuriated with Cass' OOC thought process at the beginning of season 3.

[@gracekim1998]

@@DLxxx well I wasn’t 😅

[@briannapicanco6337]

I personally think the entire series was a flop. There were some good characters and good moments, but that ultimately couldn't save it. I know the show is ment for kids but I found it got too silly at times and had too many characters that were there just for comic relief. It really starts to make it hard to feel like the problems they are facing is a real threat. (Most of these issues started mid season 2) I hated that they practically turned varian into a background character and think they could have showed him struggle a bit more after his redemption to fit in. I also hate that they made Flynn a prince and found that it was pointless and ruined the uniqueness of his and Rapunzel's relationship. Cassandra was probably the worst because the reason for her betrayal was weak, She-ra did a better job at the whole manipulative/abusive mother with two daughters and put more reason in for Catra being bad. Overall they were trying to make a fantasy adventure show with a bigger sceme at play and with meaningfull characters but wasn't able to make it serous enough and put too many pointless characters and scenes in it. They put too many silly scenes and whacky mini adventures in the overall journey that distracted you from the characters overall goal. They could and should have ended the series sooner by cutting out all the extra garbage and made the characters feel more meaningful by putting more weight into their personal problems and emotions. They could still have silly moments, they should have just toned it back more, a good example just the right amount of silly is The dragon Prince.

[@therandomstudio8942]

@@briannapicanco6337 I honestly agree with what you're saying the series was kind of a flop but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't enjoyable. For me it was like very charming I liked all the characters and I enjoyed watching their shenanigans every episode. I do wish we got more Varian because he's literally the best character in the show but i personality like it even if it is kind of a mess 😅 I tend to not look at many things critically and just enjoy em ya know. But I totally agree with you!

[@doubleslashkarma]

Something that makes me sad about Cass's villain arc is that she only admits she was wrong once she looses her power and is betrayed by Zan Tiri. Varian sorts himself out once he realizes the raiders actually plan to hurt people, and willingly turns on them even though he's outnumbered. Cass's "redemption" kinda felt like she didn't really mean it. It happened when she was reduced to nothing, sitting in a cage with no moon stone left. It just feel insincere imo.

[@charliepugh6049]

What should have happened, is that her adopted father should have been killed in the final battle in which he would have apologised with tears in his eyes to Cassandra just about she is about to take out the Sun Drop for not telling her the truth about her mother and that no matter her actions, he would always love her. Cassandra slowly starts to lower her hand, but then Zhan would have grabbed the moon Stone from Cass, the Captain tries to save her but Zhan would have stabbed him to death and he would died in Cass’s arms when she and Rapunzel were trapped. And that would have been a great time for Cass to break down and cry in Rapunzel’s arm,

[@whizz_0711]

For me, I’d think of it like; She was starting to doubt her choices, and whenever hat happens, the goat lady (Zan Tiri) would pop out and manipulate her. But that last part, SHE was the one who left her, and Zan Tiri’s manipulation is making it seem like SHE’S the only one Cass can count on because everyone else has turned their backs on her. So she only realises after Zan Tiri takes her powers, because it seems as if she lost everything; her friends, Zan Tiri, her magic, her home

[@mysterysunfurled]

Cass shouldn't have been redeemed on the last episode. It made it really hard for me to buy it. She should have been redeemed a little earlier so that we could actually see she changed.

[@kate-yj2kw]

Yes! It wasn’t a satisfactory confession. It’s like… well you’ve threatened to kill the princess and the whole kingdom, should you apologize now that you don’t have powers? I don’t know it just felt insincere. Which sucks cause I love cass🤎

[@kate-yj2kw]

@Dark Shadow Storm yeah, I get that! But, I feel like for the her arc it would’ve been beneficial for her to risk more considering how threatening and irrational she was to everyone for a while. I am very glad everything turned out alright though :)

[@alien5520]

The thing that always bothered me about Cassandra's arc was a lack of purpose/plan. For Varian it was simple: steal the flower -> free his father. Turns out Rapunzel was the flower? Get leverage (kidnapping the queen) -> distract everyone -> get Rapunzel to help free his father. And he achieved that, his plan and execution was flawless, he was only wrong about the flower being able to destroy the amber. (which he had no way of knowing, so he just had to gamble) As for Cass, we have: get the moonstone (which she had no way of knowing if it would give her powers or simply kill her) -> ...destroy Rapunzel i guess??? But what does that mean? Kill her? She had plenty of oportunities to do that even before moonstone. Destroy Corona? Then why wait so long, she could've done that the moment she figured out how to use her powers. Show everyone who's boss? Okay, but... what does that achieve? At first her being kinda lost made sense, but after a while it became aparent that she had no real goal.

[@beingafk3494]

@Dark Shadow Storm Agreed. Also: I have seen you under so many comments now, trying to make people understand Cassandra better. You are like a lonely warrior in a pool full of superficiality. My respect for that and have a nice day!

[@mysterysunfurled]

That's one of the reasons it was so hard for me to sympathise with Cass.

[@adlirez]

@ngocthach4020 I mean, I don’t know much about the series, but as far as I know from Crossing the Line, yes, Cassandra felt overlooked, like she was just a side character that would appear and disappear and no one would really remember her. When you listen to her song, you learn that she sees a clear difference between her and Rapunzel (“a line between the winners and the losers” and “a line between the chosen and the rest”). Clearly she sees Rapunzel as the one who gets off lucky while Cassandra fights all she likes but she has to deal with the consequences of Rapunzel’s actions and circumstances. Mother Gothel chose Rapunzel over her, Rapunzel chooses to listen to herself over listening to Cass (as far as I know with the back-and-forth where Rapunzel tells her to wait while Cass says she won’t wait). Cass is done with Rapunzel’s shpiel and she wants to have her turn, her opportunity in the spotlight, her opportunity to be listened to (“you don’t know how much I’ve been denied” and then something something “but now it’s my turn”). Which honestly comes off as tantrum-y, but in the context of Cass, it makes sense (in my mind, at least). Rapunzel was always chosen over Cass for all of their lives, and Cass is sick and tired of it. She’s sick and tired of being a doormat, she’s sick and tired of not being chosen because some random blonde with magic hair is better, she’s sick and tired of being Rapunzel’s janitor for whatever shenanigans she ends up in, she’s sick and tired of face-palming when Rapunzel’s ideas don’t work like how Cass knew it would’ve, and she is sick and tired of being told “aight your idea sounds cool but I’ma try my idea first instead of yours, aight?”, and then have everything go downhill because of course it does. All of this takes a toll on a person and Crossing the Line seems to be the part where Cass finally freaking snaps and calls Rapunzel out (to no avail because Rapunzel doesn’t realize the calling-out when it happens, nor does she realize that she’s even being called out in the first place; she just wants Cass to not be bad and just come back to how things were before). I could be wrong, though, my knowledge of the series is limited to the first episode, clips and songs (notably Ready As I’ll Ever Be and Crossing the Line).

[@insertnamehere5193]

@Dark Shadow Storm That's Cass's motivations and problems not her goals. Excellent execution in that department, but from a writing perspective, she has no end goal lmao.

[@insertnamehere5193]

​@Dark Shadow Storm Again, that's Cass's motivation- distinguishing herself from Rapunzel and achieving things. The video already states the lack of goals and build-up conflict so I can't say much more. What was Cass going to do? Destroy Corona? Rapunzel? Then what?? She doesn't gain anything from any of her supposed "goals". Her being lost was fine at first, but it started to crack when she took action without reason. Plus, like the video says, it's pretty much an over-extension of her conflict with Raps in the Great Tree for the sake of plot. I love the story, it's just flawed. I'm not trying to bash it :).

[@tuneaj2763]

And Varian’s arc is even *more* sympathetic when you look at everything else that isn’t directly stated in the show. Nigel accuses Varian of attacking Rapunzel _before he even did anything,_ so he’s likely not going to be able to go into town to get stuff like food in the amount of time he spends at home trying to free his father before The Alchemist Returns-we know his reputation was already that of a ‘dangerous wizard’, and with this added onto that, life would’ve been far from easy. And in Quest For Varian, King Frederic literally sent guards to drive this kid out of his home because he knew too much! And when he promises he’ll get Varian help, he just...doesn’t. I’m so mad that Fred never faced the consequences of his actions just because he’s Chris Sonnenburg’s self-insert. The stuff with Varian isn’t even close to everything he’s done. It’s so weird how Varian’s arc, which was only there as a plot point to get Rapunzel to go to the Dark Kingdom, is so much better than Cassandra’s, which was a planned part of her character _and the show,_ from the beginning.

[@phousefilms]

Varian: Does things to save his father(who he feels responsible for trapping)and his village, which was destroyed thanks to the royal family doing nothing(and also, thanks to Fredric taking the Sundrop and Rapunzel touching the black rocks)to help except to have them move to a new home(which would not have done much thanks to the spreading of the black rocks). Drugs people with a truth serum, since Fredric lied and hid the flower(dead and useless)away, is told that he betrayed Rapunzel when he really didn't and, when the flower does not work on the drill, he is forced to escalate, first with automatons, then kidnapping the Queen. When Rapunzels hair does nothing, he has a complete breakdown, trying to kill them all out of anger, before being locked away and promising to "Get him help." Locking him away in adult prison, most likely under the castle. With a Separatist of Saporia. Cassandra: Betrays Rapunzel and steals the moonstone just because she feels its "her destiny", sends a mass of fear creating red rocks to assault Corona, kidnaps Varian, threatens to murder Eugene to make Rapunzel unleash her power, tries to destroy the Spire and kill Calliope, brainwashes the Brotherhood, destroys Corona Castle and helps a demonic entity attack the kingdom. Rapunzel: I won't ever give up on a friend! Me: Like, bitch,...what?!! And Cassandra gets to run off scot free. I swear, if Rapunzel spent even a FRACTION of the time she did on Cass with Varian, he could have been a heroic character at the end of season 1 and gone with the party instead of friggin' Hookfoot(the worst of the companions for filler episodes).

[@Passions5555]

I despise that Varian was only a plot device. And it shows in how he is treated in the narrative.

[@mohammedismail-kn5xv]

@@phousefilms Sometimes I imagine a season 2 with Varian in it because Rapunzel tells Varian to just FRICKIN' WAIT CUZ HER KINGDOMS DYINGGGGGGGGG.(I'm still mad at her fur that, like gurl that's so out of character for u)But King Frederic was the one who locked Varian up. He's worse than Calliope in my opinion. I find that Queen Ariana is like the one who knows that everything will work out fine and gives good advice and is the sweetest parental figure everrrr. But Raps could've maybe tried to prove Varian innocent. Really, imagine if Blondie just CHECKS UP ON HIM AFTER THE STUPID STORM and once V sees she can't help he just continues to bond with her. They become good friends but Raps still gets those dreams and one night Varian finds the scroll, deciphers it and advises her to embrace the rocks and the story goes on. but tbh, villain Varian is the king of villain sass

[@PersonallyPerhaps]

It’s funny how varian’s ace was just a plot thread and cass was supposed to be the biggest threat but I keep thinking to myself why? They had a much harder time when Varian was the villain the real villain all along was bad writing!! Bam bam bammmmmmm

[@PersonallyPerhaps]

I just hate the king in this show it’s like bruh “ kidnaps your wife ( go to adult prion) “ Kidnaps a kid, threaten and try to kill your daughter, tries to destroy your kingdom” your off the hook it’s fine. Seriously why the Queen would have been a far greater ruler in a pg13 version of the show the king dies and the queen takes over the kingdom is way better out sorry about my long rant!

[@whizz_0711]

The fact that Varian FELL off Cass’ TALLLL TALL stronghold, but rapunzle went to check on Eugene, and none of them went to check in Varian after, is concerning. (But dang, the face Varian made when hugging Lance is ✨ g o l d ✨)

[@slutforsoukoku]

i didnt think of this and this made me incredibly sad.

[@LemTheDemon]

Fr i was so annoyed 😭

[@Passions5555]

Rapunzel collapsed after using her sun powers battling Cassandra. And did not seem aware that Varian had been pushed off the tower from the blow back of the clashing powers energy. Rapunzel needs a pass here, she seemed over wrought with exertion and therefore not super aware of her surroundings. Also Eugene called out for Varian right when he got blown off. He rushed over to Rapunzel instead of Varian because Rapunzel is the love of his life and she was crumpled on the ground surrounded by ruble. She was his most urgent concern at that moment. It's interesting but Rapunzel also did not even bother to check on Cassandra or seemed all that concerned for her even though Cassandra was in the direct blast and was right in front of Rapunzel when she fell off the tower. But no one mentions or cares about that it seems.

[@somewackoonyoutube2449]

To be a tad fair to Cass, I would not say her being ticked off at Rapunzel for “stealing Gothel” or whatever is entirely unreasonable. This is because in real life, children who are abused by their parent(s) really want their the latter's approval. And oftentimes the more abusive the parent is, the more the child wants to get their affection. EDIT: Dang, I think this is the most likes I’ve ever gotten. Thanks~

[@maem7462]

That is true. I think something else that effected Cass is that she isn’t normally an emotional person. Since her emotions were suppressed for a while and when Mother Gothel was revealed to be her mom that wa the final nail on the coffin that made her emotions explode and she was super lost

[@somewackoonyoutube2449]

@@maem7462 I guess so. And it probably didn’t help that Zhan Tiri exploited Cassandra’s negative feelings toward Rapunzel to manipulate her.

[@elsie8757]

I feel like it would be one thing if, after being abandoned by Gothel, Cass then had no one at all to love or take care of her and had a rough life on the streets or something. In that case, I could understand why she might think that having a cold, emotionally abusive parent would at least be better than having no parent at all. But of course that's _not_ the case! She was immediately adopted by the Captain and got to live in the castle with him, and he raised her to be a capable, well-liked young woman. It's as if he's suddenly chopped liver while she's busy inexplicably yearning for the non-existent love of her biological mom, who we all know was an abusive bitch and not worth anyone's affection.

[@maem7462]

@@elsie8757 That is a fair point. When ppl hate trauma they likely don’t think about things rationally. Most the time when ppl see one bad thing they focus more on that than the good. She did have some problems with how her adopted dad raised her because he was very protective of her and also put her to a high standard. She had a parent that loved her. I do agree that mother Gothel’s affection isn’t worth trying to get. A lot of the time ppl who go through having an abusive parents have a hard time dealing with it. I think in Cass’s case it was easier for her to blame someone else than accept that her own mother never loved her. Of course it’s an unhealthy coping mechanisms and not the right thing to do. I will say that they could have focused more on the angle of Cass thinking that if her own mother didn’t love her does that mean anyone has or maybe she thought she would never be good enough to be the captain of the guards. We the audience knows that’s not true but they could have played on one of those insecurities that Cass likely has. I do know she had a chance to prove herself to be the captain of the guards in season one but maybe she could have been scared that she would mess up and wouldn’t be able to live out that dream. One that they kinda brought up but didn’t talk about was how she feels like Repunzel is in the spotlight more and everyone focusing on her and forgets about Cass or only sees Cass as Repunzel’s lady in waiting or Repunzel’s guard and not her own person. They didn’t go that deep into it but they could have gone more into that with her turn to becoming the antagonist

[@frauleinzuckerguss1906]

If I might refer to another show that had a very similar but, imo, better integrated plot to this. She-Ra had this chosen one vs scapegoat dynamic as well with Catra and Adora. Now say what you will about Catra (I know she's toxic and not at all justified) but I feel like they showcased both sides in a pretty realistic way on an emotional scale. Catra was constantly verbally and physically abused by Shadow Weaver and threatened that she was only kept around because Adora liked her. Meanwhile Adora, while chosen by Shadow Weaver, was constantly told she had to be good enough, to put her duty before herself or her loved ones would get punished. I don't really know where I'm going with this rn but I just feel like it had a better build up and execution of the chosen vs abandoned character dynamic while Rapunzel vs Cass just felt kinda forced. Rapunzel was chosen, yes, but she was constantly verbally abused (even if it was subtle), kept isolated and used for 18 years while Cass was neglected until she found a loving but strict father figure. Yes, she kept getting set back but the fact that she took it all out on the one person who always tried to be there for her, even if she didn't always manage or made mistakes, felt so annoying. I know that Cass was irrational because of her trauma and Zhan Tirir but I feel that the writers could've made it more compelling. Because while it is fun to hate a villain in a "love to hate them", it is not well-executed if you hate them as a villain because they feel annoying.

[@luzdrann]

Also the fact that Varian went to JAIL being 14 and Cassandra did so much more damage and got away without a single punishment?? I hate that

[@r0bl0x_stuff55]

Same actually I mean I get that Cass is Rapunzel's best friend but Varian is literally a kid idk why they did that but maybe because he "attacked" Rapunzel in queen for a day 😑😑 whatever it is it's really annoying

[@sixty-one8832]

I mean Cassandra is "exiled" in a way 😂

[@ashley14-04]

Yeah and they let brock thunderstrike go its just weird

[@Virgo.x0x]

im so glad someone mentioned that, and also when the king said Red and Angry couldn’t go to jail because they were kids but the sent a 14 year old to jail. AND CASS DID WAYY MORE DAMAGE THAN VARIAN

[@luzdrann]

@@Virgo.x0x RIGHT?? SHE SHOULD AT THE VERY LEAST HELP REPAIR THE DAMAGES SHE'S CAUSED. Varian has a bigger heart than I do bc if I saw someone get away with doing all that while I had to go to prison, i'd be MADDDDD

[@wretchedcats4909]

I do kinda understand why cass is so desperate for gothel's love but watching her flip flop around for a season is so frustrating. Cass go to therapy challenge

[@justzombie7594]

The song is better than her entire arc in the third season, imho.

[@kate-yj2kw]

And the blaming of rapunzel 🤦🏻‍♀️ like I’m so sorry she was kidnapped by your psychotic mom..? Like I get where the jealousy comes from. Rapunzels life really panned out really well and for the most part she’s really happy. But, that’s not really her fault. And cassandra’s bg is really heartbreaking, but she took it out on her best friend… who proceeded to give her multiple second chances. But, Cass was so sporadic the entire season.

[@loseeraleeert2444]

DONT forget, Jeremy Jordan’s voice acting for Varian was also PHENOMENAL

[@Passions5555]

I never even heard of Jeremy Jordan before and I have to say that his talent is so impressive. I am blown away that this was his first ever voice over roll, because of how naturally he plays Varian. He is phenomenal at emoting and I think that is what I loved the most about by his performance as Varian. He really brought the pathos to his character and why I think Varian as a character (in spite of the writers seemingly wanting us the audience to hate him) was so impactful and popular.

[@mariapsi7844]

answering to a 2 year old comment yeah but Eden Espinoza's (Cassandra) performance was also amazing, the way the both voices harmonize in Nothing Left to Lose is just so amazing, you can feel how the characters feel

[@loseeraleeert2444]

@@mariapsi7844 honestly fair, after two years I have come to realize I did NOT give Eden's performance enough credit as a voice actor haha

[@Passions5555]

​@mariapsi7844 Honestly, both Eden Espinosa and Jeremy Jordan gave such wonderful performances voicing their respective characters that they are the talent that elevates this show.

[@MewGamer-bj9in]

Agreed.

[@DWAkhaten]

8:47 "And so, Season 1 ends with Varian being seriously messed up on the inside and the king is like 'Ew, get this peasant out of my face', great" Savage, girl.

[@ReeseAugust]

That's basically what he does, yeah. The king says "Oh yeah, I'll do whatever I can to help him." Like, ok dude. Was 'whatever you could do to help him' throwing him in prison with an adult traitor, and forgetting about him for six months. Yeah, great job there, Fred.

[@jackpearce367]

@@ReeseAugust let me level with you for a second. I am not defending Fred he sucks. But isn’t possible he was trying to get help but got his memory erased before he could

[@Passions5555]

@@jackpearce367 possible. But do you think he would show mercy to someone who almost killed his wife and daughter once he has him at his mercy beyond not having him executed outright?

[@jackpearce367]

@@Passions5555 yeah you’re right that does make sense I made that comment to defend Fred more than anything

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Varian himself was done well but Rapunzel's behaviour in Season 1 was a bit... iffy. I wish the writers found a way to make Varian feel betrayed without turning Rapunzel into such a negligent douche. Rapunzel who let the guards throw Varian out of the castle and Rapunzel who went postal after Pascal went missing didn't even feel like the same character. Varian also needed more screen time in Season 1 before the turning point. Let him interact with the main cast, let him feel like belongs in the group.

[@Halo-Bunny]

Bruh, ikr- Like, this 14-year-old boy braved a literal blizzard to get to the castle and they just throw him out the minute he gets there. And then Rapunzel just apparently forgets he ever came and never checks back later after the blizzard is over to be like, "Oh yeah, sorry I couldn't help you then but I'm here now."

[@scaringthecrow]

This ain't it chief

[@gracekim1998]

Again, being FLAWED isn’t a crime😅

[@Neevkl_7]

I think the Pascal thing was in character tbh, like if you were a prison or your whole life and only had one friend who stuck with you through it all, you’d probably go a little mad if something happened to them.

[@fairieprincessflutterspark1330]

I feel like Rapunzel's behavior throughout this series was iffy. She's supposed to be this adventurous, caring, intelligent young woman. She fights back when she's wronged, like when she discovers the truth about Gothel but, when it came to this series, she seemed careless and selfish. People question where Cassandra's sudden betrayal came from but seem to forget that she tried to convince Rapunzel that being turned into a bird by strangers in the woods was a bad idea but was ignored because Rapunzel wanted to fly. All was well in the end because Rapunzel selflessly sacrificed herself to save lives she put in danger, though. Rapunzel put lives in danger and Cass tries to stop it but is ignored because Rapunzel just wants to do a thing, and that's not the Rapunzel we knew.

[@otakugirl5512]

The problem is that Varian had a valid reason to lash out: he wanted to save his father and he believed everyone was against him. He was an impulsive kid with no one to turn to, and he was treated as a dangerous criminal. Cassandra had no reason to attack Rapunzel and destroy the kingdom other than she just wanted to be special. She had an entire support system who she could've confided in about her struggles, but chose not to, and she was seen as a victim of everyone's shortcomings.

[@hadrianhexe9603]

Ya'll keep doing this thing where you act like Rap being the reason Cassandra was left was the only reason she had to be mad, which frankly is enough reason to be mad. Rap also consisently got in Cassandra's way and forced her way of thinking onto her and caused recognation that should have been given to Cassandra to be given to herself instead. Cassandra didn't want to be 'special', she wanted the things that she was literally owed. So tell me, if you're constantly working to be noticed and prove yourself only to have a singular person constantly screw you over, how the hell are you gonna react when you also find out the reason yo own mother left you was because she valued that person more than you. I doubt you're going to react well, especially not when you're also being manipulated by a literal fucking demon.

[@Dysmey_cz]

Guys, it doesn't matter if you're 14 or 24, but both of them had their right against Varian, they turned their backs when he needed help the most and Cassandra was robbed of her family and under the influence of zan tiri 😂

[@hadrianhexe9603]

@@Dysmey_cz Exactly.

[@riymeep6708]

The awful cherry on top that ruins things more for me is how Cass never had to face any repercussions for literally trying to destroy Corona. When Varian lost, he was imprisoned with Andrew. if he hadn't escaped, he probably would have been locked up in there for much longer than a year. After he was redeemed, he stayed around to help fix all the damage he caused. When Cass was redeemed, she just left the wrecked castle behind with no punishment.

[@jeku4572]

I think you got her leaving wrong😒

[@saml815]

I'll try not to go on a huge rant about it, but I feel like Cass's arc would've gone so much better if it focused more on her being insecure, and then having Zhan Tiri take advantage of that? Like it would make so much more sense for her to lash out if she had started to feel insecure and conflicted about her relation to Gothel, and then on top of that had been bitter about constantly being pushed aside/ignored. Imagine if she had this whole spiral where she thinks Rapunzel will disrespect her MORE once she finds out about Gothel being her mom, because now she'll never be able to look at her the same again... And then Zhan Tiri comes around and tells her that yes, Rapunzel would ruin her over it and that Cass would lose her reputation and everything she's worked so hard for... So in her fear, Cass grasps onto this belief that she needs to "beat" Rapunzel before Rapunzel can "beat" her, and then it actually makes more sense for her to not be able to come around after an episode or two. Idk, not a perfect idea of course but I really wish they had just played around more with the idea of Cass being conflicted about Gothel being her mom (both jealous AND horrified/ashamed) as opposed to being like "I can't believe you betrayed me by being kidnapped by my mom as an infant >:( "

[@sta._rina]

You did it.. you fixed the arc! Go home everyone. Shows over, this person wrote the arc better than the actual writers did.

[@spaghetto9836]

That's an amazing idea. Why do us average people have to fix the errors of professionals all the time?? Is this so hard to think of???

[@gracekim1998]

@@spaghetto9836 the magic of creativity 😎

[@gracekim1998]

That would work but just remember victims can be in denial about how horrible their abuser is even when they KNOW deep down 😅

[@williamnissen5083]

That I think could have made the Gothel twist work for me though I do just hate the idea of tying Cassandra to Gothel in general because it just feels like a lazy tie in no matter how you do it. plus it over shadows Cassandra’s whole feeling overlooked thing which probably should have been the focus beginning because bringing Gothel into the equation is just dumb in my opinion. I do think you’d need to tell the audience straight away in season 2 and explore Cassandra a bit more before the betrayal in order for for your idea to work completely

[@fionna_cool_girl]

Varian is actually a likable character and his dark turning point is one you can sympathize with. His dad is trapped and he's losing everything and the one person that can help him, doesn't help him and feels betrayed and it makes sense. When Cass turns evil, she sounds like an ungrateful brat because while yes her mom abandoned her but at least she was adopted by a man that DID ACTUALLY love her! Yet she gets mad at Rapunzel because somehow it was Rapunzel's fault she was kidnapped and Gothel "loved" Rapunzel in the end??? Oh no, totally forget it wasn't her fault at all and she was lied to for 18 years by the only person she thought was her mom. Totally all her fault. I just couldn't sympathize with her like Varian.

[@mollymcmurtrie8037]

Well didn't like it Virian went evil but you understood why and Cassandra it doesn't work

[@Disneyfan82]

@Dark Shadow Storm All these Cass haters calling Cass an ungrateful brat are so blindsided and narrowminded that they only see one side of things and are too obsessed with babying Rapunzel and coddling her, even Varian just because he is good looking. I see hypocrisy in them. None of them know anything about Cassandra at all.

[@Disneyfan82]

@@mollymcmurtrie8037 That doesn't make this video RIGHT as it tries to persuade you to believe.

[@Disneyfan82]

@Mxchii Well I'm not going to list my reasons for why else I find people's defense in Varian hypocritical and their obsession for focusing to be so hateful toward Cassandra more than Zhan Tiri who is the one that started all this, that I find so childish as well.

[@toadlord8594]

@@Disneyfan82 Well Mr Cassandra lover, make your own essay on why Cassandra is the best character then?😡

[@ap7635]

I'd boil it down to a few things 1. Varian is significantly more pitiable and his tragic backstory involves something horrible happening to a loved one rather than just to him. Cassandra's motivation is entirely self-centered. He's also a teenager whereas Cass is a grown woman. 2. Varian's descent into villainy happens in believable steps. At first he resents Rapunzel for breaking her promise. We as an audience understand why she did so but from his perspective he left his dad to slowly freeze because he thought Rapunzel would be able to help him. It's understandable that he feels betrayed when she doesn't even try, regardless of the circumstances. Then he resents Corona because they apparently treat him like a criminal for "attacking" Rapunzel during the blizzard. Even then he isn't out for revenge yet. His main goal is still to save his father, though he is a lot more willing to do things like drug the guards in order to accomplish that. He only really starts craving revenge after Rapunzel decides not to give him the flower. And even then he still mainly wants to help his dad. He only goes full villain when his plan doesn't work and he decides to kill the queen out of bitterness. Cass' betrayal on the other hand was meant to be just as shocking for the audience as it was for the characters. Sure this made for a more dramatic reveal, but at the cost of said reveal being far less earned. 3. Varian was self aware. Even if he felt like the royal family deserved his hatred he still admitted that he was the bad guy. That he was sinking pretty low. Cass acted just as evil but seemed to think she had a right to do so. She was insulted by being compared to Varian. Frankly the opposite feels more justifiable. 4. Varian feels genuine remorse, and is grateful for the chance to redeem himself. In comparison Cass flip flops. She leaves Rapunzel to die because a ghost demon tricked her and then has the gall to feel betrayed when she sees that Corona is starting to prepare for her eminent invasion. The fact that she could do all that and still feel like she deserved an apology was just awful for her character. 5. Arguably one of the biggest reasons and yet the easiest to ignore (I didn't even really think of it until long after I made this comment). Varian was a major part of about 2 episodes before queen for a day. I don't want to devalue the relationship he had with Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra because he instantly had great chemistry (read alchemy) with all of them and I always considered him part of the main cast despite his few appearances. But the fact is he didn't even live in the same town as them. There is a huge difference between turning against the friendly princess you've met a few times and turning against someone who's shared multiple season's worth of life and death scenarios with you and basically sees you as a sibling in all but blood. To sum it up where Varian feels tragic, Cass feels entitled and where Varian feels reformed, Cass just feels placated. Also, I don't know if this really contributes, but Varian is far more impressive as a villain. Cass terrorizes the kingdom with the power of the stolen moonstone but Varian did the same with only his personal abilities. That kind of gave his character more impact especially due to the contrast with his previous bumbling antics. Honestly one of the few things that bothered me about his arc is that his competence seems inversely related to his morality. As a villain he's a force to be reckoned with who backed the entire kingdom into a corner. Literally the moment he reforms he's throwing bath bombs instead of weapons. It's a shame that Varian centric spinoff got rejected. I feel like it would've been really fun to see his character continue to grow.

[@houston_co7769]

@Dark Shadow Storm damn you here defending Cass in like every comment hating on Cass

[@gracekim1998]

Wait SPIN-OFF?!

[@gracekim1998]

@Dark Shadow Storm mmm you have a point there

[@ap7635]

@@gracekim1998 Some of the creators pitched a Varian centric spinoff called Varian and the Seven Kingdoms. It would have been about Varian traveling the seven kingdoms while trying to learn the seven laws of alchemy and find his mother. He'd also have several other alchemists as companions. I think it was pitched by storyboard artists but the main writers of the Tangled series totally supported it. Even the execs liked it. It mainly got rejected because they didn't want to make a spinoff which might alienate people who never saw the tangled series. They suggested swapping Varian for a completely new character but the creators didn't want to go for that. From what we got about the proposed story and characters it would've been pretty great. It's a shame it'll almost certainly never happen...

[@jessica-ness]

@Dark Shadow Storm right but what she did present day is what is dislikable. There was no build up to that moment, it looked like she just decided to enact her revenge because she has the chance and power too, not because she thought about it. The fact she only realised she was in the wrong when she had that power taken away proves that.

[@gueswho6288]

SCREAMS THE AMBER GUN WAS A MISTAKE IM AAAA

[@gueswho6288]

ok but yeah this was really good!! I'm glad I'm not alone when it comes to the er...disappointment with cass's arc. She had such good potential [sobs]

[@gueswho6288]

im still watching this atm so id just like to point out. further motivation for varian: the time between QFAD and the finale is canonically 3 months, so he was on his own(and rapunzel ignored his situation) for at least a month, maybe two. So yeah, id have a grudge too.

[@0calliestar0]

@@gueswho6288 What?! It was just him in that little lab with his dead father right behind him for 3 months?! Varian nooo ;-;

[@7.kingdoms_cos]

@@gueswho6288 I was actually looking into how long Varian was left alone for, recently. I did some research and I think I figured it out. Apparently Rapunzel’s birthday is in May and considering that Corona is based somewhere it Europe it would be around Spring time. The blizzard in QFAD would’ve had to be in or around winter considering that the characters weren’t surprised by the snow and seemed like they were kinda expecting it. Also, it would’ve been the first snowfall of winter or something like that because Raps said it was her first time being outside when it snowed, referring to her being in the tower whenever it snowed. This means it would’ve had to be around December-January. (I’ve never experienced snow in my life so I’m just assuming with this bit) After the blizzard, we don’t hear of or see Varian until a couple of days before Rapunzel’s birthday in ‘The Quest for Varian’ and ‘The Alchemist returns’ so if you add everything together, I think, it would be around 4-5 months of Varian being alone with no one to check on him. Being alone that long, no wonder he went crazy. Also sorry about this long essay of a comment 😂, I just figured this out the other day with my friend and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share this information.

[@gracekim1998]

@@7.kingdoms_cos wasn’t the blizzard magical?

[@MasterBuilderDragon]

“Why is Rapunzel being so negligent towards Cass?” The same reason she betrayed Varian; gotta force a conflict somehow.

[@drkgaming7792]

Yeah no wraps had a good reason for varian she was stuck between a rock and a hard place

[@Passions5555]

@@drkgaming7792 ... okay...was that an intentional pun?

[@drkgaming7792]

@@Passions5555 def

[@Passions5555]

@@drkgaming7792 I can respect that

[@Moonstar79]

Alright but I can’t be the only one who was mildly pissed off that all of Varian’s actual redemption happened in just one episode

[@BuizelCream]

It's one of those examples where I'm glad it didn't stretch out for too long, but then again I remember watching Season 3 premiere and my takeaway with that was that it was very rushed, even though rewatching it no longer felt otherwise.

[@bellatrn9125]

I honestly hoped it would've been a little longer, but not like half a season long. It just felt rushed? like they needed to get over with his villain arc so they can move on to cassandra.

[@Moonstar79]

I think you guys are right- it feels super rushed after an entire season of absolute shenanigans wherein Varian wasn’t even addressed, and then it’s immediately followed up with a super dragged-out Cassandra arc

[@alien5520]

I like to think that Varian's redemption arc happened off screen, probably when he was stuck in jail, thinking about it all over and over again. The actual episode is just a conclusion. We have to remember that a year has passed between the end of season 1 and the start of season 3. -still, we could've gotten like one more episode or smth-

[@TailsFan]

Actually, his redemption arc was not complete until "Be Very Afraid", up until then he still had close calls with his temper and people mistreating him for his past actions. So, it actually took a third of the season, if I'm doing my math right. And, thinking about it, I think the reason that Varian was never told about Cassandra's betrayal is because all of them feared, up until they found him in a cage, that he would side with Cassandra if he knew she was alive and had turned against Rapunzel as he had before. Even after he stopped the red rocks, his joy at seeing her and confusion during the fight implied he didn't even know Cassandra was alive. All he knew, probably from Andrew, is that Cassandra was "a sensitive subject". So you COULD say his redemption wasn't complete until they knew without a doubt that he wouldn't betray them for Cassandra.

[@ReeseAugust]

I love how King Frederic in S1 is like: Wait, no, don't pay attention to me lying my head off and not doing my job as king, pleas- OH LOOK A HEARTBROKEN 14 YEAR OLD THE PERFECT SCAPEGOAT!

[@badlymadecontentforgeeks2847]

Very true XD

[@justzombie7594]

Frederick is a very bad king, but he can be understood exactly as a person. He went to great lengths to save his wife and protect his daughter, but jeopardizing the rest. He loves his wife very much, since he went for it. His daughter was abducted and he was heartbroken for many years. And he was ready to do anything to prevent this from happening again, not realizing that he was only making it worse. He is not like the other fathers at Disney - either no, or absolutely positive. But it can also be understood. And he is not a perfect king, he is also involved in bad things, like all politicians then and now. I feel his alive, maybe a little more realistic? I like his ambiguity as a character, honestly. I can believe that a heartbroken father will do anything to protect his family, even if it is dirty methods. In the third season, he was made a laughing stock. I didn't like the mother more because of her detachment from her daughter's affairs or a very passive reaction. I know that she could, in the early plot concepts, go on a trip with her daughter, but still it would not be very reasonable when you are literally the queen, and there has just been destruction and panic in the capital. Still, in such a situation, it is better not to leave and solve problems, since the husband does not want to. And who knows, maybe Frederick would have died suddenly, and there are only very stupid courtiers in the kingdom, as the series showed. But her participation in the life of Rapunzel in the first season at least could have shown more! Rapunzel can't love her parents when she hasn't known them all her life, just like that. They could show how their relationship is progressing, and not stupid jealousy of their aunt for one episode. How she worries, after all, for her daughter. But more often it is simple... she seems kind, calm, but she doesn't really worry about anything except a series with jealousy. I just don't remember any of her active reactions to anything, except for this series and the series where she almost married a Frenchman. Frederick is far from the best, but he was prescribed better as a character.

[@ReeseAugust]

@@justzombie7594 That's true. Frederick does get points for not being a bland idiot. I'll be honest, my problem is that Varian is a sweet angel who can do no wrong in my eyes (exaggeration) and so anyone who does my boi harm gets the axe. LOL

[@ReeseAugust]

@@justzombie7594 Also, nice essay. Admirable.

[@crickety6092]

Frankly, I would have LOVED to see Rapunzel get angry at Cass because she went through so much, and cass is acting like it was something to be jealous of.

[@justzombie7594]

She tried to kill Rapunzel's family many times... And she destroyed the city, almost killing its inhabitants. On the ruins of the city, the houses of people for whom Rapunzel constantly cares, is responsible and who have not done anything personally to Cassandra... Rapunzel's song about the fact that she will "give everything" for Cassandra looks like a mockery of a corpse.

[@justzombie7594]

@Dark Shadow Storm I have a huge number of arguments AGAINST this, but I don't want to discuss it with another blind fan of Cassandra. Because you do not notice the fact that her past a) is not so dramatic b) her character is VERY hysterical specifically in the third season, it is hysterical, without logic and awareness of a 20-year-old girl, as it always was c) none of her excuses is absolutely not worth how much pain and destruction she brought. I can't respect her either as a good character, or as a positive hero, or as a negative, or as an antihero, no one, although I liked her character before and I was even ready to give her a chance as an antagonist, because I saw great potential in this. But it completely disappointed me, and I was even more disappointed with the conclusions made by the scenario. The conclusions of the script, submitted like this-it looks disgusting in the end, and it doesn't matter what they wanted to do initially. Any well-written antihero can be understood, even if his actions are terrible. But this still does not cancel out the terrible deeds. In the case of Cassandra - a complete failure. She has done a lot of terrible things, but she has no real remorse, such that it is easy for the viewer to check. There is no "arch of redemption". There is a vague scenario where the character is treated toxically, but she protects abuser, even when abuser destroys the lives of people whom this person SHOULD protect. I understand WHAT they wanted to make the character of Cassandra, and that makes it more disgusting to me what it became in the end. We didn't get a good character and we didn't get an interesting antagonist, who can be understood and really forgiven. Only emptiness and disappointment.

[@mysterysunfurled]

@Dark Shadow Storm I think you should admit, the reason so many people have a hard time understanding Cass and sympathising with her, is cuz the writing was just terrible. The writers messed the character up in season 3, her arc could've been handled much better. She had a lot of potential really, she could have been an amazing villain, but then it just became annoying.

[@hadrianhexe9603]

@@justzombie7594 Bruh.... Ya'll keep doing this thing where you act like Rap being the reason Cassandra was left was the only reason she had to be mad, which frankly is enough reason to be mad. Rap also consisently got in Cassandra's way and forced her way of thinking onto her and caused recognation that should have been given to Cassandra to be given to herself instead. Cassandra didn't want to be 'special', she wanted the things that she was literally owed. So tell me, if you're constantly working to be noticed and prove yourself only to have a singular person constantly screw you over, how the hell are you gonna react when you also find out the reason your own mother left you was because she valued that person more than you. I doubt you're going to react well, especially not when you're also being manipulated by a literal fucking demon. If you don't have sympathy for that, then it speaks on you, not the writing because the writing made it incredibly clear numerous times why Cass did what she did but you're so focused on the effects of Rap's trauma that you're blatantly ignoring Cass'

[@Theonecalledcait]

"Cassandra pulls a Yue and turns into the moon" Sokka:

[@0calliestar0]

Rapunzel: My first girlfriend turned into the moon Eugene: That’s rough buddy

[@thatsroughbuddy8742]

@@0calliestar0 YOu DiD nOt!

[@maem7462]

I didn’t think about the fact that Cass has already given up when she sings Waiting In The Wings. That’s an interesting point

[@Prior2Popular]

I wish Cass became a good guy earlier and somehow lead the guards to defeat Zhan Tiri... that would complete her arc of wanting to be a part of the guard- would’ve been way more full circle and right for her character.

[@BuizelCream]

I agree with this one. It would be nice to see Zhan Tiri's manipulating plan fail a least for a bit, where Rapunzel lets Cassandra's guard down, and basically have the first redemption plotpoint part of "Once Upon a Maiden" transfer to wrap up nicely in the end of "Tale of the Two Sisters".

[@kate-yj2kw]

I agree. I felt her “redemption” was weak and a little too late

[@casscassarianamvs8518]

She did, in the ending.🥰 But I see your point though.

[@leomcshizzlepjocastdeserve1631]

one thing that bugged me was how much rapunzels trauma was neglected you're telling me that she found out that the woman she thought to be her mother was a psychopath who kidnapped her, never loved her, abused her, and manipulated her her whole life and she has no trauma except for like 3 scenes? as nancy wheeler would say "its bullshi*t"

[@sunsetskye483]

Exactly, she deserved better writing in this show

[@tsuumee4545]

Yeah, I wish they illustrated her trauma more. It sounds like I just want Raps to suffer, but it’s more realistic that way.

[@Passions5555]

I honestly would have liked to have seen Rapunzel mourn Gothel a little if for no other reason than because she was the one she believed was her mother for all her life. Maybe show some flash backs of how screwed up her situation was with living with Gothel and have her go through the mental task of recontextualizing her interactions with her and just how fucked up her treatment was. Maybe even have her distant and shy with Arianna, her real mother who is much more open and genuine with her affections and interactions because they are so different to how Gothel acted with her. It would have been so nice to see peak inside Rapunzel's head on thongs like this. As it stands I feel like she treated her parents as though she grew up with them when she didn't.

[@TheLuckyKira]

10:30 "You know what, this is actually pretty in-character" it is so in-character because he accidentally discovered it, and being the smart boy he is, definitely would have made it positive. Varian is this weird mix of somehow being both cynical, but also optimistic and I love him,,, As for Xavier: I think it's a case of a lot of like. It's prose. It's stories. Varian isn't all that different from Xavier, but the difference between them makes Varian easily frustrated. Varian can talk on and on, but he's almost always providing information. He confuses people with a lot of explanations, but ultimately he's always providing important information. Xavier likes to tell legends, and often in a storytelling format, so there's set-up, and a lot of dancing around before getting to the information. That and Varian is not huge on things he can't prove. We see he does learn to appreciate it though. It's just funny how two characters who you would THINK get along, don't. You say a lot of what I thought. The king is honestly. Awful. Honestly, Cass going for the moonstone would have worked if maybe her objectives and the breaking point was different. I would have loved if Cass had come to the realisation that the Kingdom was worse than they thought, and so she decided the only way to fix it would be to destroy it (this is something I love reading in Varian fics, because that kid had every right to be mad at the King and the decisions he made that forced Varian down this path. The King is totally unjust, and I really wish we could have seen Varian acknowledge that). It'd then make her an evolution of Varian's arc too. She doesn't get pushed down it like Varian did, but she chooses to take action, take her Destiny and use the Moonstone against Corona (and because Rapunzel is part of the Royal Family, her anger to Rapunzel is still easily explained). Cass then falls down the path of villainy not because she's blaming the wrong person, but Zhan Tiri pushes her into worse and worse choices. Zhan Tiri could have easily have flipped her story. Say that the reason she and Demanitus fought is because she learnt the Royal Family was bad. They have been abusing their power. That's obviously not something we know, and we only have the current King to go from, but what's a little lie for a demon? Zhan Tiri convinces her to do things like fighting Rapunzel and attacking Corona, all under the false pretense of this. Meanwhile, you can easily have Rapunzel (still with a memory wiped King), realising once she's in power that... things haven't been great. Maybe a further conversation with Varian and why/how he knew Andrew when,,, the King was supposed to be helping him? But sure, lock him up with an adult criminal (though the Saporia plot line is... also questionable... but not the point). Maybe even also about things in S1 that were kind of messed up? Like. Rapunzel then uses S3 to actively try and learn the truth what her dad was doing, as well as trying to get through to Cass, but Zhan Tiri causing problems that means they never truly get to talk it out (Zhan Tiri basically escalates the situation for her own gain, proving to us that Zhan Tiri is truly the big bad, and Cass is being misguided). It gets to the point where Cass actually kidnaps Varian. Again, Zhan Tiri has been pushing, but there's an easy way too. Zhan Tiri convinces Cass that Varian has been wronged too, and that he might be a good ally against Corona. They obviously don't know about Zhan Tiri, but when Cass tries to convince him, they get their whole song. At this point Cass is very lost, but ultimately what motivates her isn't wrong - Corona, and specifically the King, fucked up. We would see this reflected in Rapunzel in this example that Cass isn't wrong, but she's being manipulated and prevented from learning that how she's trying to fix the problem isn't right, because it's already being addressed. Varian tries to break through to Cass, but she breaks. Varian is the one person she had hoped would agree with her, because he had gone through the same thing. But he stands by Rapunzel. He doesn't get the chance to explain more because he gets put in the cage. I could go on from here, but I think it ends up then relatively the same. Cass then plots to go to war against Corona basically, while Rapunzel and co have to start preparing for defending Corona. They don't want to, because Rapunzel still hopes she can get through to Cass, but it falls through. (I don't know how the Gothel cottage episode would fit, and honestly in this I'd just remove it. The Gothel twist was cool, but Cassandra could have a way better motivation for her villain arc) So in this, it means that Cass still goes to talk to Rapunzel. She pretends to be Faith, and she slowly realises that there's been changes in Corona (though she never discovers the full extent, just enough to think that maybe she can come back). The Zhan Tiri does her thing, Rapunzel tries to get people to stand down. They remain prepared, but do ofc, but. Zhan Tiri happens again too. Cass takes being attacked as a sign that while things may have begun changing, they aren't actually better, and Rapunzel is emulating her father by condemning her (ouch), and so. She decides sure. She'll be the villain if it means wiping Corona off the map and getting rid of what she thinks is still a corrupt kingdom. Finale goes very much the same too. Cass doesn't trust Zhan Tiri either, she and Rapunzel fight, but finally get to talk, something that should be keenly avoided prior to this point. All conversations between them needed to have been cut off, interrupted or warped in some way, all by Zhan Tiri, and now Zhan Tiri has the power, she lets them talk properly, because what are they gonna do? I went on a lot, but like. I have feelings about the Moon Cass arc, and just. There's a legit reason to hate Corona,,, sob

[@0calliestar0]

Yeah I agree with all of that, and when you think about it the political state of Corona is a mess lol. First they had the king’s coverup of the rocks to the point where Old Corona was basically destroyed, then Rapunzel went away for a bit and they were immediately taken over by a terrorist group and forced into slavery. Then there was peace for a little bit but now Cassandra is threatening to destroy the kingdom so it’s time to start up the war effort again, only for an ancient demon to almost destroy the entire world. It must really suck to live in Corona lol

[@maem7462]

That would have been better. I completely agree that all Cass and Raps conversations should have been cut off by someone or something most of witch would probably have been Zhan Tiri stopping the conversation but they could do some other things as well to prevent from the repetition. With this the Mother Gothel storyline doesn’t play much of a part. The thing that makes me sad if that isn’t included is we don’t get Waiting In The Wings Reprise and I do like that song and it did make me cry. If they wanted to have the Mother Gothel storyline contribute to that then they should have had Cass remember Mother Gothel through rose colored glasses and thinks that she actually loved her. Mother Gothel is good at making ppl think she cares. If what Cass saw was love but the audience knows isn’t then that would make more sense for her to be mad at Raps

[@ripplingriver9482]

If you’re not already one, you should consider a hobby or career in writing- this was so well thought out and described, and quite detailed

[@angelic252]

I LOVED all of these ideas but why would destroying the entire kingdom to get rid of corruption be a logical thought process in Cass' mind? Overthrowing the royal family, sure, destroying the castle and aristocracy because they've proven themselves unreliable leaders, great. But the entire kingdom's destruction is a bit much haha

[@samanthagolding3876]

At least she then would've made sense

[@vfred]

Omg this was a great analysis!! u literally captured everything I thought about varian and cass’s villain arch too👏👏

[@0calliestar0]

Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!

[@ethan1969]

I felt the exact same way. Cassandra’s whole story left me frustrated. Like she turned evil because she was mad at Rapunzel for something she had no control over. Cassandra knew her mother was an egotistical, selfish liar and abuser, but she’s mad at Rapunzel for “stealing” her mother even though Rapunzel was a baby. And then she tries to kill her old friends multiple times because she’s jealous and spiteful for something they had no part in. But by far the worst episode for me was Once A Handmaiden. Because Cassandra is all like “am I the bad guy 😭” like yeah no sh*t you tried to kill your friends and adoptive father. And then when she discovers the Rapunzel is creating a weapon against her because god forbid Rapunzel try to defend her kingdom from this murderer, she acts like this is some great betrayal even though she’s been trying to kill Rapunzel for a while now. And then in the finale, when Cassandra loses all of her dark power and has nothing, she’s plays the victim to get Rapunzel to feel bad for her. It’s actually the laziest writing I’ve ever seen for a villain. This whole story is just Cassandra “playing the victim” and it’s really badly handled.

[@ethan1969]

@Dark Shadow Storm yeah but still. The way that scene is framed and the things she says, it makes it seem like Cass is mad that Rapunzel is trying to use force to stop her from hurting people since she clearly can’t be reasoned with. And that’s just.... very wrong. And again, the townspeople aren’t wrong for hating her. Cassandra was already not a very nice person before she became evil, and now that she’s evil, of course people want to stop her. And Cassandra knows this, but she’s still mad at Rapunzel for defending her kingdom. That’s just bad character writing.

[@fauxhuman0]

Just one thing I wanna say: *Hans’ writing still feels lazier* Other than that I agree with everything and I wish the writers had put more effort into it.

[@gracekim1998]

Again she was in denial of her mother’s behaviour

[@ok.4720]

@@gracekim1998 That would have made sense if she didn't know beforehand but she and everyone knew what happened, Even after finding out that Zhan lied about her mother loving her she still went on and tried to kill rapunzel and destroy the kingdom, she literally said "You lied to me, my mother doesn't love me!"

[@BratzRockAngels]

Cassandra also doesn't look at how privileged she was that she was raised by a loving parent, rather than her abusive mother, like Rapunzel was. Rapunzel spent 18 years of her life abused and locked away from the entire world, yet Cassandra was spared that experience and was raised with a loving father. Of course, believing that your mother abandoning you for someone else is saddening, but I think that should've been looked at as well.

[@thebanana3099]

You have to take into account that King Frederick knew about the rocks but kept them a secret and Varian was accused of attacking Rapunzel during the blizzard and became a wanted fugitive. Also he was chased out of his village by masked guards who were after his father's scroll on the king's orders. His fall to villainy makes more sense in light of all of this

[@Passions5555]

I find it baffling yet telling that they have these elements of Varian being legitimately mistreated by Rapunzel's Dad present in the story, but the writers bend over backwards to gloss it over in an attempt to make it vague at the same time. I find it weird that the story does not show us what was happening to Varian on his end between getting kicked out of the castle during the blizzard and when he sends Rapunzel his note pleaing for help. I think it reeks of insecurity on the writers part of them fearing that if they showed more of Varian's turmoil with being shunned by people for "attacking the princess" and being driven out and harassed by the disguised castle guards from his home we would take his side in this conflict. Boy did they screw the pooch on that one! 😂🤣😂🤣 but seriously, we only get vague dialogue on what he was putting up with going through all that. The writers not showing his perspective during all that, shows the writers worry of the audience taking his side when they want us to sympathize Rapunzel.

[@tesslichtman7302]

Yep.

[@stablekat5011]

i really would like to see at least a comic strip about Varian working through his trauma. shooting stuff at pictures of cass was a start to working through his trauma, but jeez this kid has really gone through it. he’s most likely going to have to deal with the guilt of nearly destroying corona for the rest of his life, not to mention having to watch his father being encased and being betrayed by the saporians, and he doesn’t have any relationships other than quiran in old corona. i also would like to point this out, nobody talks about this- when he was grieving for what seemed to be his forever lost father, he got to watch rapunzel, to him, the source of all his problems, be with both her parents. her dad wasn’t stuck in amber, her mother wasn’t gone. also, since the fandom missed varian in the second season, in that one prison barge episode, that would’ve been a good time to pop him in there. he could’ve maybe helped eugene, since he isn’t mad at eugene and max. he’s mad at rapunzel. also i wanna see how those specific villains would’ve treated him, they aren’t as cynical as the saporians are. i also find great about varian’s redemption arc that he was a bit more frustrated and kind of cold after he got redeemed, but he was softening up a bit over time. and at the end, he was almost back to normal. he had changed, but for the better.

[@Passions5555]

I noticed he was quick to anger after his redemption. I personally felt his snappy attitude with Xavier felt out of character. Like, really? You're going to get pissy with the one person in the kingdom who not only isn't actively shunning you but also didn't mind being paired up with you in a tresure hunt? I would think he would be grateful, not getting annoyed at a few long winded legends. Xavier even seemed mildly pleased to be partnered up with you and treated you nicely the whole time.

[@mariak5096]

You captured my feelings on this perfectly! The thing that always bothered me about Cass' villain arc was that it was just never logical to me. She's blaming Rapunzel for...being kidnapped? As a baby? What? At least with Varian, he blamed Rapunzel for, you know, a choice that she actively made, that had negative consequences for him. Not to mention, like you said in the video, Cass actually got the better deal because she was adopted by a loving father and raised in a palace while Raps was trapped with the emotionally abusive Gothel for most of her life, entirely against her will. Cass is a fully-grown woman who is aware of all of this, yet she somehow still chooses to hate and blame Rapunzel for a whole season. It made her seem really stupid, not at all like the clever, cool character she'd been in seasons 1&2. Talk about a character butchering. (Actually, the show came rather close to acknowledging that point during an exchange in Cassandra's Revenge....I forget the exact dialogue, but Rapunzel told Cass she'd been kidnapped and held against her will, and all Cass had to say was "w-well...you pushed her out the window!! So there! >:(" to which Raps replies "you weren't there!!!" and completely forgets to mention that Gothel tripped and fell out the window and wasn't pushed at all,,,,,the writing in this arc was so sloppy it kills me, man. Especially after how good the first two seasons were.) Also, while I get what you're saying about the buildup to the arc, even that felt pretty disjointed and awkward to me. For example, the first time I heard "Waiting in the Wings," I remember thinking, "um, didn't Cass already get her moment to shine at the end of the last season? When she led the assault? Why is she still upset?" And looking back, the conflict of that episode was that she felt her opinions weren't being taken seriously, so...why is she singing about wanting to do something great and be noticed or whatever? Seemed like a weird shift to bring back a problem that I already thought had been solved. The episode Rapunzel: Day One had this problem too--maybe I'm naive and not good at picking up on little nuances but I genuinely thought that episode had wrapped up the conflict between them from Great Tree. They talked it out, there was an apology, albeit awkward, they're best friends again, and it's over right? Nah, once again the writers just opened it back up for no apparent reason because they confuse "buildup" with "constantly bringing back problems that should have already been resolved." Not to mention the betrayal feels like even more whiplash after the episode Freebird. Remember when Rapunzel sacrificed herself to save Cass? Remember when Cass cried over her and said Rapunzel was her best friend? Yeah, totally someone who's gonna betray her later. And the weak reasoning behind the betrayal makes it worse. ...I wanted to say some stuff about Varian too, but I've already left an essay in your comments so I'll shut up now haha. I'm just glad someone else pointed out how silly the whole thing is. Great video!

[@leeb.3095]

@Dark Shadow Storm If her gripe wasn’t with Rapunzel, why did she want revenge against her so badly to the point where she nearly killed her & her friends? And why in the world would she be jealous of the attention Gothel gave Rapunzel when she knows that it was an emotionally abusive, manipulative relationship and Rapunzel was essentially held captive for 18 years? Especially when Cassandra was the one who grew up with a loving adoptive parent? Her motivations for her villain arc seemed disjointed to me and made little sense.

[@AmberyTear]

@@leeb.3095 You're thinking in a rational way but that's not how children of abusive parents think. Cass is actually very well written but most people who have decent relationship with their parents seem to not get it.

[@gracekim1998]

@@leeb.3095 you forget she’s a victim of abuse, they don’t always look at their situation logically given they see it as ‘normal’

[@gracekim1998]

@Dark Shadow Storm yeah. That’s exactly it😅 gosh you’re a lot better with words on this subject

[@FedericaCorradino]

@Dark Shadow Storm Hi, just stopping by to tell you that I'm reading all your comments under this video and I really appreciate them. Good analysis. Thank you very much for opening up my eyes on things I didn't notice in the first place.

[@razertheredlantern6203]

Varian at least had the excuse of not only being young with understandable reasons, but being the first character with this ark. By the time we got to Cass, we were exhausted of that storytelling. Imagine if Varian and Cass switched the time of the arks. Varian probably wouldn't have been as popular as he is now.

[@razertheredlantern6203]

@Dark Shadow Storm Thank you for the explanation. I never saw it that way.

[@razertheredlantern6203]

@Mxchii Those are really good ideas that could have made her ark better.

[@Doomzdeh]

Varian: Loses his dad, suffers constant insecurities about how disappointing of a son he is, and feels betrayed by Rapunzel because she didn’t try to help him fix it at all and never came searching for him afterwards. Cass: Had some mommy issues when she was 4, which were cancelled out by the Captain (a legit good guy) adopting her as his own. Oh yeah, and she apparently felt like she was overlooked, even though she was on-track to become Captain after her dad and was included on Rapunzel and Eugene’s crazy adventures as the third part of their trio. I think we can all see why the Cass arc was floppish compared to the Varian arc. They tried to set it up wayyyyyy too late in the game and didn’t give good enough motives to show enough of a change in Cass. A better hook would’ve been that (as the Guard and the Royal Family seemed to know that Cass was Gothel’s daughter) Cass figures out that it was hidden from her this whole time and she feels betrayed. She would resent that Rapunzel was all that her mother cared about and feel that she was being strung along only so that she didn’t become a problem (she would think that Rapunzel and Eugene only bring her along so much to stop her from becoming evil, as she would feel was true after how cautious they were that she would betray them). She would think that she was constantly overlooked by the Palace because of her past and would feel resent for her mother and for her adoptive father for allowing that to happen. She would take the Moon Stone like a sad, angry child instead of a suddenly-evil villain. That whole thing about Cass loving her mother and blaming Rapunzel for everything was such bs. Cass really should’ve hated Gothel too, and resented the Royal Family and her Adoptive Father for keeping her so that she doesn’t turn evil later and never allowing her to shine because of her parentage. She would resent Rapunzel for her power, ability to always get out of bad situations, status, and even her relationship with Eugene (Cass got tricked by Andrew earlier in the show). BAM. Came up with that in like 2 minutes.

[@gachalifeakiegaming3315]

They came up with the cass arc in 1 minute

[@Passions5555]

Cass wasn't tricked by Andrew, she was on to him since day one and played along with his game to get one over on him. She also seemed genuinely attracted to him and was enjoying the ride of their romance between them even though she was aware of his game.

[@jukori]

I love that Varian wasn't a real bad guy. He fought to free his father and when he saw no other way out he takes to more drastic measures. The only time he snapped was after he realized his father would be trapped in the amber forever. (basically death) In the end, his story is a tragedy.

[@ewwwitscosso2292]

I believe you missed a very important point on why Varian works so well •Jeremy Jordan

[@kate-yj2kw]

👏🏻!!!

[@Blue-di9hw]

Varian's villian arc actually had a reason meanwhile Cassandra's was just BOOM!! villian time

[@Araxijiro]

We love Varian. Amazing hero, and an amazing villian.

[@tesslichtman7302]

Indeed.

[@Bunnygottalive]

Varian:Commits a crime because he was a broken,sad,desperate child and gets jail time and basically abuse.Pays for his crime for the rest of his life with guilt and the town hating him Cassandra:LITERALLY DESTROYS THE KINGDOM…leaves to “dIsCoVer hErSelF”

[@bloxworld6593]

⁠@darkshadowstorm7056Very true. Fred said he won't put children in jail, even after Angry and Catalina committed several crimes. Then he put Varian in jail after telling Raps that he would get help for the poor baby. :(

[@ninjax6276]

Tbh I hate how Rapunzel even after the disaster never checked in on varian. She knew he needed help and she had free time. So why did she never even think, Maybe I should go to varian. This REALLY bothered me.

[@scarlett.sketches]

A TTS analysis?? in 2021?? I LOVE it! Great Analysis, I was waiting for someone to cover it 👏👏

[@0calliestar0]

It’s always the right time for a TTS analysis! Hahaha

[@ariadn3825]

@@0calliestar0 so right 😌

[@932ForeverLove]

Very nice! I like that you said you weren’t blaming or faulting Rapunzel for not being able to handle a hiccup in her relationship with Cass. The problem isn’t Rapunzel, the problem is the writing. Thank you for saying this. Also, I agree that we needed more episodes with Varian to make his betrayal more emotionally impactful. Have him interact more with Rapunzel and build their relationship before it falls apart. Also, his redemption post Rapunzel’s Return would have been more emotionally satisfying if they had shown more of him struggling to reinsert himself back into society. Show people shunning him, referencing his actions as a walking disaster and traitor. (Still think Red’s werewolf episode would have been GREAT to show people’s fear, anger, and wariness of Varian.) And For Pete’s sake, SHOW US him and Quirin mending their relationship! They had some MAJOR things to talk about. Varian’s mishaps and bad choices, Quirin’s past and secrets, how they struggled to connect in the years prior to the show’s opening. Okay, I’m done now. Thanks in advance for reading this! And for posting this video. It was well thought out, well articulated, and well edited.

[@im_waiting_for_the_catbus]

this thisthis this THIS THIS this thisthsisthsi THIS THIS ALL OF THISALLLLLOFTHISSSSSS

[@gracekim1998]

I admit I remember being curious by his tattoo

[@Passions5555]

I wanted this so badly 😢

[@DWAkhaten]

There's one more reason why the writing in Cassandra's villain arc is terrible. As you mentioned, Varian crossed over to the dark side for a few episodes at the end of Season 1 and he did some truly messed-up stuff, like trying to murder Rapunzel and her friends and trying to raze Corona to the ground. When he returned in Season 3, he not only showed remorse for his actions, but he also stepped up to save Corona multiple times in multiple episodes, like "Be Very Afraid", "Cassandra's Revenge" and "Plus Est En Vous". By the end of Season 3, he earned the audience's forgiveness. By comparison, Cassandra's villain arc is stretched out over an entire season. During that time, she knowingly puts the safety of everyone in the entire world in danger for her own self-gain by running off with the Moonstone. She tries to brutally murder her old 'friends' multiple times out of jealousy and spite (whether it's trying to make Lance and Eugene fall to their deaths in a huge chasm, or trying to crush Rapunzel to death with a stone pillar). She repeatedly accuses Rapunzel of setting out to steal her mother's 'love' from her, despite knowing full well what kind of person Gothel was and what kind of hell she put Rapunzel through, because the only thing she cares about is how Gothel hurt her. She has zero ethical problems with using magic to turn members of the Brotherhood into her mind-controlled slaves so she can get what she wants. She's perfectly okay with Zhan Tiri trapping Calliope in a living hell for all eternity so she can get what she wants. When she realizes the people of Corona might never take her back and that the consequences of her two-faced actions might be permanent, she decides to destroy Corona's capitol and leave hundreds of people homeless out of spite. And then, in the final episode of the entire show, Zhan Tiri makes off with the moonstone and leaves Cassandra with nothing to show for her actions, so she decides to cry her eyes out to Rapunzel about how sorry she is. Cassandra finally decides to act like the grown woman that she is and clean up her mess by helping Rapunzel fight Zhan Tiri. Then she dies for like thirty seconds before Rapunzel revives her. Then all is forgiven and she's off to go find her destiny. That's basically it as far as Cassandra's 'redemption arc' goes. This show went out of its way to make Cassandra a terrible, terrible person in every way possible - like considerably worse than Season 1 Varian - and then it devoted way less time to redeeming her character and trying to get the audience to forgive her than it did with Varian. She basically got off scot free for everything because one, she was the main character's BFF, and two, Rapunzel had already been simping for her all season (even while Cassandra was trying to kill them all) and that's pretty messed up.

[@anamariaramirez9341]

It is! Even worse is she barely did jack to redeem herself. Varian meanwhile, earned the forgiveness of others by making up for his actions multiple times over -proving without a shadow of a doubt that he's changed for the better and is worthy of trust.

[@ethan1969]

Couldn’t have worded it any better.

[@gracekim1998]

Um....just remember she’s in denial of her mother being terrible 😅

[@DLxxx]

@@anamariaramirez9341 She barely had time left in the SEASON to redeem herself. The issue is with the writing forcing her to be a completely different character to the extreme and then stretching it out so far that they have virtually no time to redeem her for it. Don't confuse Cassandra as the problem here. She's a VICTIM of blatant character assassination for the vast majority of season 3.

[@benraven9087]

Just saying, when I saw what Corona looked like after Cassandra's attack, it sure looked like she did a lot more to those people than just leave them homeless.

[@ItssMelissa]

They very clearly didn’t decide on Cas’ story line until ages into production as a result: -They didn’t give her enough opportunity to show us how much she cared about her ambitions (she did not get excited at every chance she got to be a guard despite this being her main goal, if she had we would have cared about her a lot more) -They didn’t show enough examples of her sacrificing her ambitions for Rapunzel -They didn’t show how these examples affected her in the episodes afterwards -They didn’t establish well WHY she wants what she wants -The Gothel kid reveal needed to happen earlier and more publicly So we could see Cassandra struggle with it more, it needed more build up -Zhan Tiri kinda just wasn’t super needed :/ + the twist ZHAN TIRI WAS A GIRL also took away from it cause you kinda feel cheated by them calling her “him” this whole series Conclusion: it wasn’t necessarily that the arc was bad, but the build up and execution was terrible

[@justzombie7594]

I don't like her arch, but I agree, it would be MUCH better this way. Correctly placed accents strongly solve the situation.

[@benraven9087]

Interestingly, Cass was meant to betray Rapunzel at some point as far back as the pitch phase. Varian was actually created as a plot device to get Rapunzel on the road to the dark kingdom and was conceived much later.

[@MadameTamma]

The Cassandra betrayal arc feels 100% like an old Shamalan twist. They wanted to write a scene that'll really shock the audience more than they wanted a story beat that will fit within the narrative. And they got that. It was a very shocking season two finale at the time, but now that it's all finished and we can look at the narrative as a whole, you see just how much it doesn't work.

[@gracekim1998]

But wasn’t it foreshadowed?🤔

[@kate-yj2kw]

It felt like they were in over their heads a bit.

[@MadameTamma]

@@gracekim1998 It was foreshadowed that Rapunzel and her would split apart, there's no doubt about that. My problem isn't really that it happened. My problem with it lies in the execution. It's kind of like this. Imagine that you set up a mystery where the reveal is 'the butler did it'. It's a well put together mystery, just enough clues are set up that it gives the audience a chance to figure it out, but not enough that it was revealed too early. And then When the mystery is solved and everyone asks why the butler did it, the answer makes no sense and then the butler proceeds to run off to do more things that make no sense.

[@BoredandStriving]

It does feel pretty predictable, like when her betrayal happen in season 2, I was like "HOLY SHIT" but watching season 3 and hearing her motive and all she put Raps through that season, I was like "Bitch scuze me?"

[@Houtblokje]

@@gracekim1998 I watched the entire show for the first time and I knew from the beginning Cass was going to be evil at some point, so i watched season 2 closely. 1 ep before the finale and i still couldn't see why she would do that. And then in season 3 they tried to fix it by dumping a bunch of backstory on us that doesn't work anymore because it feels like they are retconning her to be a sympathetic villain. Also, the whole "cassandra struggles with being a villain but she is forced to be this way" they tried to pull off in season 3 makes no sense. Cassandra doesn't want to be the villain. Rapunzel doesn't want her to be the villain. Cassandra wants to talk. Rapunzel wants to talk. YET NONE OF THEM DO THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE PLOT REASONS I GUESS. Also, Cassandra getting manipulated so easily in the third season was... quite a bit out of character. Like, she is set up as a smart, not easily trusting character yet she believes the first scary ghost child she sees without asking A SINGLE question? Like, even i could figure out that that child was zhan tiri well before the reveal (that also doesn't make sense, like why would an ancient evil that is spending their time brooding tell the one person that can stop them that they exist?) so why couldn't cass? The first season was awesome, the second season was ok but this shows third season... well they probably fired all their writers or something because not a single thing makes sense when it comes to character writing and motivations.

[@ADragonAmongRoses]

I call Cass' ending as "the writers pulled a Sasuke"

[@HermitPurple]

That’s exactly what I was thinking when I finished the series. Sasuke’s descent to villainy was better executed anyways

[@ADragonAmongRoses]

@Dark Shadow Storm My comparison to Sasuke is literally just "the writers have no way to redeem this person back into society for Happily Ever After, so they Set Them On A Journey". Which feels lazy, because even Varian got to have *some* adjustment of villain to good guy. Cass got chucked into the woods.

[@firefly5934]

25:34 My reaction for the entire final VOTE fight. Okay, real talk though, Sasuke’s arc ending was honestly a cop out. Like Varian fighting to save Corona, they could’ve done that with Sasuke during the war. Him changing his ways on his own and deciding to help with no “rEVolUtiOn” bullshit. There was just no point; no reason for Sasuke to have this new philosophy, only for it to disappear just as fast as it came. And Sasuke should’ve stayed and have the group go on missions together again until the last where he leaves to protect the village. The entirety of Shippuden was built on Sasuke coming back and then being team 7 again, but that never happens since Sasuke immediately leaves right after he gets released.

[@Katyloveheart]

I love Naruto but the writing is so bad and it's just frustrating

[@maem7462]

One thing that I think worked with Varian is that is his story was told from his POV and the royalty wasn’t ppl that Disney already set as a protagonist then Varian would likely be the hero and the kingdom would be the villains. Corrupt kingdom not helping the citizens when they know they need help. That could have easily been a villain role but they set it up to make things more complicated and I love it

[@mattwo7]

There's also the fact the producers at some point forgot that _Rapunzel is the Sunstone,_ it's not some external thing that can just be taken off of her like the Moonstone.

[@sarah12232]

yea I really wished cass and raps had become this duo of warriors with cool powers which i thought was foreshadowed when they had to cooperate and i thought it would explain why cass felt like it was her destiny to take the moonstone... maybe cuz it _was_ her destiny?? Edit: it really felt like they pulled a reversal at the end so the ending of the movie still makes sense

[@maem7462]

I will agree that moon Cass lasted too long. It didn’t need to last as long as it did. I do love the song Nothing Left To Lose and that episode is a good episode for the most part. We get a good conversation between them in song form

[@Theblueguy1234]

The writers after varians arc they were like “wait a minute this is a kids show” and ruined it

[@mikaylaeager7942]

I wish they had had Cass realize she had been manipulated at the very end of the mid-season just as Zhan Tiri regains her physical form. Then the second half of the season could have been Cass working with Rapunzel to fix the mess she created and banish Zhan Tiri once and for all... and also work through the feelings that made her so easy to manipulate in a healthy communication type of way.

[@DLxxx]

THIS is what I was saying from the beginning! The writers had absolutely no excuse to drag he villain arc out as long as they did. It's just.. **Sigh** Those stupid writers made my favorite character into something people will only seem to remember as a stain on the show. She's NOT a bad character or a bad person. She's a VICTIM of character assassination, but no one seems to be able to separate the two. It's painful that the only places I can express or find love for the character are effectively echo chambers that won't speak of season 3's terrible characterization of her (minus the flashbacks and Once a Handmaiden).

[@TooningIn2008]

THIS

[@commpisto5948]

The thing is, that Cass was perfect for a villain. She was just bad for a villain that was supposed to be REDEEMED.

[@Nick-tl8ot]

I hated the whole Varian is "crazy because I just didn't do what he asked" thing. That actually pissed me tf off and made me hate almost all the main characters. Varian is (from what I remember reading) 14!!! A CHILD. And they are treated him like he's an adult with adult thoughts and emotions. Cassandra pissed me off extremely mainly because she kept breaking promises to him and he kept playing it off like it was okay when everyone AND I MEAN EVERYONE knew it wasn't okay. And Varian was so patient to me that it was almost annoying how everyone kept ignoring him. (Yes I am attached to this character and connect to this character due to my own trauma and negligence from others). This was a build-up just waiting to happen. People ignored him and some of his ideas then once he did something they cared. Great shows how great friends they all are. Personally, I think everyone should've dealt with Varian like the child HE IS. With patience and understanding. And not like he can deal with his own problems. That whole episode reminded me of the last season of Bee and Puppycat it just made me angry. While Varian is extremely smart he's still a child with child emotions and a child thought process. Rapunzel pissed me off most in this episode cause like you said she couldn't keep her promise and personally help him but the least she could've done is sent ONE guard. Just ONE to check on his dad. It would have been that simple but instead, they pushed him away treated him as if he ASSAULTED HER, and then continued to treat him as the villain until he became one. I will say I do sympathize with him completely because I know how that feels. I know the anger it strikes into you. The want to make everyone feel that exact pain of losing the one you loved most because no one was there for you while you lost yours. It does make you feel like you wanna set the world on fire. While I'm not exactly condoning all his actions I know how it feels to want to do anything to get your loved ones back and I mean anything. This episode did make me hate the show for a while. Everyone was treating this child like a grown man wanting to hurt people for no reason when they know exactly why he's doing this. Instead of doing the Disney Princess thing and idk trying to give him a fresh start and let him understand they get why he did this or give him some love and compassion and just talk to him and tell them that they are gonna figure it out together, they threw him in jail.. IN FXCKING JAIL. Now he's gonna come out and continue to seek his vengeance because ya'll couldn't just treat him like a child or a person. And I'll be rooting for him cause ya know what? Fxck them. Yup, I said it. I just hated that episode so much. It made me dislike this version of Rapunzel.

[@thebanana3099]

Dude honestly I still haven't forgiven any of the main characters for how they treated Varian. I think I also kind of relate to Varian too, he is most people's favourite character for a reason. I'm not gonna say all his actions were right but I am gonna say that he didn't exactly have many options or avenues to get out his situation.

[@ladyofways]

The "blame everything on rapunzel" angst ark maybe could've worked for a whole season if Cassandra had more of a plan after she got the moonstone for what came next and if Rapunzel had screwed up Cassandras plans throughout the season then Cass just saying "my shit mother kidnapped my ex-best friend and it's all Rapunzel's (AKA: the V IC T I M S ' ) fault, not my shit mothers'." You know, I never realized how much Cass victim-blamed(shamed?) until I watched this. She victim shamed both Rapunzel AND Varian. The only hate I have towards Nothing Left To Lose was the very fact that Cassandra basically told Varian that his feelings and the reasons for his villain ark were not invalid and that HER hatred towards Rapunzel was. She flat out said "You lost your nerve, you lost the game. But you and I, we're not the same. I'm not lost, this fate was mine to choose", and that just makes me so angry. Varian was lost big time but so was she but she literally shoved him and what happened to him out the window, ignoring his pleas and very good reasoning to SEE REASON and stop trying to justify her way too over the top actions. At that part of the series, Varian is canonically 16 and Cassandra is around 23 yet Cassandra is spitting out words that a teenager would say to their parents the "you will never understand what I'm going through" shit. Don't get me wrong, I love Cassandra but she blamed Rapunzel for what her MOM did, shat on Varian for having a mental breakdown because he was ignored, his best friend was unable to keep a promise to protect him, and his father was pretty much GONE (and he knew that it was his fault for the amber) and he was a FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD KID! I could go on more rants sooooooo many rants but I should probably stop now

[@0calliestar0]

And listening to the song made me think about how much worse Varian had things than Cass and it made her seem even more overdramatic lol

[@leosparkflame]

EXACTLY 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 omg yes. I also have problems with how they handled rapunzels character in the show but i completly acree with what you just said and what us stated i the video

[@maem7462]

Something else that bugged me with Cass’s arc when they tried to redeem her they even had that go on for too long. I would have liked if she came to the conclusion more for herself that this isn’t what she wanted to do instead of her realizing she’s the bad guy because she’s working with Zhan Tiri. I do agree that if they wanted it to last a full season the writing needed to change

[@Prior2Popular]

Yeah she was written horribly. I vibe with the under-appreciation thing, but it’s just too selfish of a reason to be a full-blown villain and expect sympathy.

[@Prior2Popular]

Although as an older sibling, I do understand the “you’re younger than me, so what could you know” thing lol 😂

[@lorddaraken7568]

Cass's anger towards Rapunzel feels unjust because it wasn't her fault, she was just as much a victim as everyone else. Varian meanwhile has every right to be angry with Rapunzel, she made a mistake. It was her fault.

[@JWeb66]

For Varian he was trying to save his father from a mistake he caused and only escalated when things didn't go his way. Cassandra decided to avenge the mother that abandoned her in favor of the infant she kidnapped to get her eternal youth. And she immediately went from zero to a hundred for no real motivation than just pety jealousy and listening to a creepy ghost girl she had no reason to trust.

[@pokiish]

'' you pretty much forgets he exists'' that's where your wrong because we varian fangirls lie awake each night waiting to see when he would be back

[@carolinelutz397]

Just saying that the woman who wrote most of Varian's arc and basically his character is directing the monster at work spin off show coming out this summer. So yeah I think if we want more good writing we should be looking out for this show 👀

[@0calliestar0]

Wow that’s cool! Also I thought I heard something about a proposed Varian spinoff show, although it’s probably not gonna get made and will just be an internet fanfic kinda thing?

[@carolinelutz397]

@@0calliestar0 you asked the right person, I spent two years fixating on Varian and one of those included Varian and the seven kingdoms (the spin off idea) So basically, Kate and Ana (two writers of TTS) developed a spin off idea for Varian. They presented it for it to be produced and the people liked the story but didn't think that it was a good marketing choice to produce a spin off series about Varian since, he was indeed very loved by the TTS fandom, but said fandom was very small and so this character was unknown to the large audience. They did present the idea of producing this show if it was about a brand new character, but Kate stated that it was Varian's story and she didn't wanted it to be another character's story. So when TTS ended, she dropped a lot of informations about Seven Kingdoms on her Tumblr (characters, plot and other details) and the fans pretty much fell in love with it. Ana dropped many informations about Hugo (an original character for this spin off that many fans fell in love with, he became a favourite) on her Tumblr. Recently Disney + stated in a tweet that they noticed the hype around the story concept, but there is nothing else. Link to Kate's Tumblr : kritterart.tumblr.com/ Link to Ana's Tumblr : banannerbread.tumblr.com/ Link to the resume of the plot : 66.media.tumblr.com/2da0dc6aeac487a2b74e4b6636ffd812/d14d87f32005b5c3-a2/s1280x1920/f66cdc840050630db20ef2c89850d6c16a0e3865.png

[@carolinelutz397]

Kate is the one who wrote Varian btw

[@0calliestar0]

@@carolinelutz397 Yeah I thought I heard about that! I hope it gets made at some point and I’d love to see another show in the TTS universe in general, even if the Varian spin-off gets rejected cause Disney wants money lol

[@ariadn3825]

@@0calliestar0 Disney thinks Varian is not popular enough- like, smh 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@teddybearpaladin]

My own thoughts on the matter of Varian and Cass’s respective Villian arcs: Varian’s talents are established rather succinctly, with him being a practicing alchemist and inventor in a world otherwise trapped in Medival stasis. It’s shown that whilst he’s a bright young man, his enthusiasm in dealing with fields of engineering and science in which he has no reference other than himself for often leads to disastrous results for those around. There is a clear rift between him and his father, something which Varian hopes to rectify. He is used to solving problems through scientific research and prepared formulas. Then enter the black rocks. While Varian does an Admirable job observing them, all his scientific observations and alchemical practice don’t so much as dent it. The opposite in fact, as it directly places himself in peril and his father in Amber. And here’s the most important part of Varian’s start of darkness: Rapunzel and Corona actually do wrong by him. Rapunzel was forced to break her promise by duty and circumstance, and he was wrongfully accused of assaulting the Princess (something Rapunzel never gets around to correcting. There is also the fact that post snow storm crisis, she didn’t immediately head to help Varian. Or even seem to remember him. I don’t think this intentional, just perhaps something to keep in mind Season definitely had its downsides.), and has guards sicced on him and his home by the king to silence over the quite real threat of the black rocks. The point being, whilst Varian went from kind intentioned to callous, that change is understandable given how circumstances play out. It doesn’t absolve him of responsibility for his misdeeds, but his motive is that of desperation to save a loved one. It is his capacity for engineering and alchemy, as well some rather solid capacity for planning, that gets him as far as he goes. No magic powers, just whatever he himself could build with his own two hand. (Admittedly pretty damn industrious hands, considering how many Corona mechs he puts together for the Season 1 Finale). As for Cassandra, let’s start with her motivation. It is a sudden last minute turn that is only built up by the last few episodes of season two, through the absurd reveal she’s mother gothel’s biological daughter. Mother Gothel, an utter self centered sociopath with no actual care for other people, who had been avoiding them for years on end whilst living eternally via flower, for some reason decided she wanted to get laid and have a child she didn’t care about. Why in earth she raised the child at all is beyond me. Why Cassandra craves the affections of someone who was so painfully neglectful when she had a better, if still flawed, father/parent figure in the Captain of the guard, I don’t understand. Why she blames Rapunzel for being a kidnapped fountain of youth that Gothel never cared for, is beyond me. What she actually gains from taking the Moonstone that lines up with her motives established prior to season is... nonexistent. Even considering her desire for respect, it’s not as if she has been consistently tossed over for less capable people. And her immediate plan upon acquiring the Moonstone is to betray everyone she ever cared about because some ghost girl said “but mother Gothel really did care”. And for that reason, Cass becomes one the most insufferable villains who doesn’t present others actions in a different light, but just shows an arbitrary distrust for people who have done right by her for so long. And she goes along with the ghost’s plans despite their being nothing in it for her. I thought she wanted the respect of her father and the people of Corona, but acting as an antagonistic villain to everyone spits in the face of everything we learned about her in season and arguably two. In short, where as I understood what Varian wanted and why he was willing to go where he did, I’m at a complete loss for what the hell Cass thinks any of her actions at the end of Season 2 and near all of season 3 will get her. If she wants attention and affection, how does destroying the Kingdom of Corona get her anything other than the status of a hated monster?

[@RoseCadenza]

"Even though Varian is now working with Keanu Reeves and the Freedom Fighters..." Oh my goodness! That's hilarious! 😂😂

[@oxfordshoes]

i am SO glad someone finally decided to talk about this

[@Prior2Popular]

The description to this video gave me a good laugh, “the moody teenagers of TTS” LOL 😂 I freaking love this

[@Sakurakitto]

This is everything that I felt was wrong with Cass's betrayal arc. I also felt like they took her villainy way too far, that it just made her short "redemption" in the final episode all the more unbelievable. She taunts Rapunzel into fighting her by threatening to kill Eugene, she leaves Rapunzel to die in a poison filled mine shaft, very poorly tries to redeem herself before becoming the villain again to kill Rapunzel in their final battle. Since her reasoning for betraying Rapunzel in the first place is so weakly written, all of these actions she takes just seem so incredibly unforgiveable. The whole scene where she cries and hugs Rapunzel, like "Woe is me, I'm a failure at being bad too! *sob*" is just terribly handled. She doesn't show true remorse for her actions, only that she failed in execution, which again paints her in a terrible light. I used to like Cass as a character and I related to her original insecurities and aspirations, but the final season tore her positive character traits to shreds and made her so unlikeable in my opinion.

[@BoredandStriving]

What fucking bothers me is that in "Cassandra's Revenge" Raps told her that Gothel abused her and held her hostage for 18 years, all that demented bitch Cassandra could say "don't care, you pushed her out the window" She knew damn well that Mother Gothel was an AWFUL women and was aware of the abuse Raps was put through, but the moment she finds out that that demon of a women is her biological mother, all of sudden Raps is a two timing bitch for stealing her mother love.

[@therealfinnaspring8585]

I gotta say though Cass shoulda taken the job with the buff ladies. She barely knew Raps she didn't owe her anything and she could have won the thing then helped Raps up and been like "thanks for helping me get this new step in my career!" And they would have been friends. Raps acting like Cassandra owed her putting her career on hold for a person she barely knew is entitled and selfish. Very silly

[@therealfinnaspring8585]

@Dark Shadow Storm after Raps literally pouted and acted like it was the biggest betrayal ever. Raps guilted Cassandra

[@nanalove3819]

I thought a lot about this (hum, I must get a life) and I came to the conclusion that the key difference is in their goal and what happens after they became villains. Most of the time, to be a good villain, you need a goal that you can try to achieve in a way that put you in conflict with the heroes, and a reason why you chose the villain way instead of another. For Varian, it was clear. He wants to save his dad. For that, he needs Rapunzel's power for that. But as Rapunzel broke her promise to him and never investigated the rocks, he can't trust her anymore and is not willing to take any risk with something so important. So instead of accepting her help, he will make sure she helps him by all means. People can argue about if he was right or wrong to not trust Rapunzel, but this is a logical path. But for Cass... I won't say that her stealing the moonstone isn't logical : she felt outshined by Rapunzel and thought Rapunzel "stole" her mother, so she took something that should give Raps even more powers to use it for herself. Here again we can argue that her jealousy is misplaced, but in her mind it is logical. But then, what? She took the stone and what does she wants to do with it? She wants to gain more power, but why? Does she just wants to play with rocks on her own all day? Does she wants to hurt Rapunzel? Take revenge on people who lie to her? Does she just want respect (becoming a villain would be a strange way to get it but being seen as a valuable person drove her character in the previous seasons, so...) What she wants is never explained. And when I say that, I don't mean it as "it is not explained bur there is a real reason that will be revealed eventually" (like it is with Zhan Tiri, and it is ok), but as in "it is not explained because the writers themselves have no clue". She just talk about her destiny and following her own path which is very vague and doesn't mean anything... in particular when you let a ghost girl tell you what to do, which contradict the desire of freedom that leaded her to become a villain in the first place. In the end, it left Cassandra with no plan, and so the conflict between her and the heroes have no real purpose. They put all they have in the "heroes try to get her on a good path again" but it fails because they never explained why the "dark path" was about. To sum it up : if you want a good villain, giving your character reasons to become villain is not enough. You have to figure out what they want too.

[@justzombie7594]

Truth

[@mysterysunfurled]

Yeah the writers really had no idea what to do with her

[@sylvieshuu]

Varian is such a great character, not to mention his arc brought us the masterpiece that is Ready as I'll Ever Be

[@drhappybanana8533]

All Varian's songs were great.

[@Passions5555]

​@@drhappybanana8533yeah, all three if them...😒

[@curekibouka_6243]

18:10 I personally think that it’s exactly *because* Cass is Rapunzel’s best friend that Rapunzel is being oblivious. It’s easy to assume that someone you love loves you back. It’s easy to assume that a small discussion has already solve any bumps you’d have with your best friend. I don’t think Rapunzel has suddenly lose all braincells for comprehending human emotions, I just think she’s instinctively understating the problem. I think it’s just normal that a human can’t believe someone they love would betray them. I hope this can help you understand what’s happening to Rapunzel in the finale of season 2 😊

[@sirorliktheironclad]

Varian turning evil hurt me so bad because he’s sweet and misunderstood. He just wants his dad to understand him and be proud of him. Varian clearly loves his dad, he’s hurt when his dad is imprisoned, and he feels betrayed by Rapunzel since she didn’t help him at first. Varian went down a dark path because he wants his father back. Varian’s a teen by the way so this event would not have a good impact on his mental health. Varian does eventually turns good again, forgives Rapunzel, and his dad is proud of him. Throughout the rest of the show he remains good. Varian wasn’t evil he was misunderstood. Cass I agree has a tragic character change too, but I think Varian is better.

[@galacticjewels7856]

I lost all respect for Cass during this arc. She victim blamed Rapunzel, put her own want for power above everybody else’s safety and just acted completely selfish and childish, and never even really apologized for it when she got “redeemed”. Her character was always a bit selfish, and she kind of always invalidated other people’s pain, but that character flaw of hers came out to the extreme during this arc. She hurt literally everybody who cared about her and her one excuse for it was that she was never “given what she deserved”. The way she blamed Rapunzel for getting kidnapped and thus “stealing” her mother’s attention was literally disgusting and toxic, and then to go on and try to kill rapunzel, one of the only people whose ever put faith in her and befriended her, and never seemed guilty about it. She reminded me of having a toxic friend, a person who puts their needs before yours, invalidates your problems and justifies themselves by claiming they are the victim. I’ve known a Cassandra, honestly her whole villain arc turned her into one of the most toxic characters to be around or look up to that I have ever seen and I’m shocked it didn’t turn the entire fandom off of her. Even when she supposedly gets redeemed, she never actually feels BAD for her actions, apologizes or repents. Rapunzel just finally tells her what she wanted to hear and then suddenly she just stops whining. She doesn’t ever apologize to her FRIEND for trying to kill her, and honestly acts like she still feels her actions were justified even when she is redeemed. Unlike Varian, who repented for his actions, apologized often and showed CLEAR guilt over how he had acted and who he had hurt, Cass did none of those things and literally doesn’t acknowledge any of it. If she had behaved at ALL remorseful I might have forgiven her, but she literally did not at all. At least Varian had a somewhat reasonable motive, Cassandra was just mad that her mother kidnapped some other girl and decided to throw a big temper tantrum because no one could satisfy her power fantasy. Justifying her by saying “she was always in rapunzel’s shadow” is such bullshit, being jealous of someone who did nothing wrong or to hurt you does not justify hurting them. And the way people and the show treat the situation like just because Cass had a traumatic childhood, it excused her actions sickens me. Trauma does NOT excuse violence and abuse, I don’t care what anyone says, nothing Cassandra did was valid or excusable. The fact that Rapunzel even took her back after everything just made the whole relationship feel toxic and abusive and I don’t get how so many people love Cassandra or excuse what she did. She went from one of my favorite characters to one of my all time most hated characters during this arc, I genuinely wish they had redeemed her better so I could forgive her but they didn’t even do that, it’s almost like even the show’s writers excused her abusive actions by not making her pay or show guilt or apologize.

[@0calliestar0]

The one thing I always found ironic was that while Cass gets to do whatever she wants cause she had a bad childhood, Rapunzel is held up to a super high standard and gets almost no leeway even though her childhood was extremely traumatic. And it’s been at least a decade since all of that bad stuff happened to Cass, Rapunzel only got a year to deal with her trauma before being thrust into more traumatic situations with her destiny as the sun drop. Yet for some reason people are way more critical of her than of Cass? That never made sense to me lol

[@galacticjewels7856]

@@0calliestar0 YES!! Literally that’s exactly what I’m taking abt. I will neverrr understand why people let a lot of Cass’ toxic behavior go just bc she had a sad childhood as if that makes it okay, and then on top of it criticize Rapunzel, who had honestly a much more traumatic childhood, for things mostly out of her control. Legit don’t get Cass fan’s logic and it bothers me that the writing in the show enabled her so much, it felt like enabling toxic friendship and abuse?

[@mikahb7862]

@Dark Shadow Storm you are literally the person who they are complaining about here

[@irlelliewilliams]

Cassandra still had her reasons I can explain

[@justzombie7594]

This is REALLY something that has been in my head all this time, and that I was surprised that NO ONE was paying attention to it. Their relationship is a literal description of how a person is humiliated, destroys his life, causes him moral and physical pain, tries to kill him and his loved ones, but he still always forgives it and is not even really angry ALL this time. If this was somehow corrected, if she had redeemed herself, if only she had at least a real hopeless MOTIVATION and real reflection, I would understand more, although it still feels uncomfortable. But her "redemption" in the series made the situation even worse.

[@thekarlshow_tm]

"The moody teenagers of the Tangled family" why is that phrase so beautiful

[@CormDaCrow]

Remember that time Cass kidnapped and drugged a child in his sleep?

[@selenesspoilers6006]

I do!! She kidnapped Varian

[@vange13113]

Remember the time that Varian crushed Cassandra and Arianna with a giant robot, with no remorse? Remember when Varian drugged the ENTIRE kingdom? Not excusing Cassandra’s actions here at all, but Varian did do these things and they kinda get overlooked and excused, when Cass’ don’t, even though she was manipulated and controlled by the moonstone throughout the whole thing, while Varian was just acting on his own.

[@vange13113]

@ngocthach4020 But that’s got nothing to do with the characters, that’s to do with how much time the writers had to fit everything in. It’s stated that Cass fully redeemed off-screen.

[@vange13113]

@ngocthach4020 Not true, that’s not how story writing works, that would be telling you, rather than showing and leaving it up to interpretation

[@vange13113]

@ngocthach4020 No, it would be telling. Just because it’s on screen, doesn’t mean you’re not showing your audience. What I meant by telling, is not giving the viewer the chance to come up with their own interpretation of events, and rather having those events just spoonfed to them. Showing, not telling, is a very important method to use in writing, especially screenwriting. You don’t want to give too much away.

[@mediakira6621]

I’ll give Varian this, he didn’t trust someone who was so obviously evil that she’s one step away from laughing evil and twirling a moustache in Cass’ face.

[@super-sizedmcshizzle6235]

“Then Varian gets kidnapped but Cass for a hot second, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” IM CROSSING THE *LINEEEEEEE* I’m not funny ;(

[@0calliestar0]

Gotta dramatically cut those bridges, it runs in the family

[@maem7462]

I love it

[@klausically]

when crossing the line 💔😔

[@phungphuong8350]

I can see why

[@super-sizedmcshizzle6235]

@11CA1-22- Phùng Lai Như Phương ...but it was actually funny. I know you probably won’t believe me about this part, but I often let my little brother use my phone and I don’t watch tts much ( though I’m starting to get interested) so I’m pretty sure this was him. You know how many children love this series? And there’s a good chance you’re replying to one of them when you do make a reply. So congratulations, you just told a child they weren’t funny

[@LordofFullmetal]

Honestly, if they'd shown Cass struggling with her identity a bit more, they could've made the Mother Gothel thing work. That would've made sense - she didn't know who she was or where she came from, so when she was GIVEN a background she ran with it. It didn't even necessarily have to be true. She just needed to think it was true. She got told she was a villain, so that's what she became. Unfortunately, they do the exact opposite with her. She knows EXACTLY who she is, and it doesn't really matter where she came from. There's no conflict there to build the Mother Gothel twist on. It just feels clumsy. There's so much they could've done with her being an orphan. That comes with so many internal struggles that easily could've explained her turn to evil - feeling like she has no place in the world. Feeling unwanted. Struggling to find her identity. But they made her too self-assured in the beginning, so that they could have their standard "girl wants to sword fight" arc (which is honestly a bit overplayed), and they ruined the actual interesting part of her character.

[@sunsetsky9885]

The line “you have so much to hold on to” in ‘nothing left to lose’ really got me thinking and it just makes varian’s arc more tragic and cas’ arc more annoying. The only support varian had was a strained relationship with his father and a good, yet not very deep, friendship with Rapunzel. And he loses both in one very short and traumatic moment. Not to mention he is immediately vilified for “attacking the Princess” which he never did. So Varian basically had no one and then he looses the fight and completely breaks down emotionally (which is kinda hard to watch I just feel so bad for him) then spends a minimum of a year, maybe 1 and a half years in prison by himself then he thinks of himself as irredeemable (tbf many of his actions were very yikes but still) and has to prove himself before being trusted again. Cass on the other hand had a best friend who loved her unconditionally as well as all of her friends of friends who still love and believe in her for rapunzel’s sake. No one ever says she went to far, she can come back at literally any point and rebuild her relationship but refuses. She had a pretty good life and is also in her early 20s or around that. She’s very ungrateful for her dad and acts like she would have preferred the evil witch who traumatised her friends as a parent. She’s mad at people who literally never did anything to her, just disagree and, most frustratingly she ONLY APOLOGISES ONCE SHE LOST ALL HER POWERS! Like she could just be lying to avoid any more consequences and she only kinda helps save the day and every one’s just fine with her. Again contrast with Varian who needed 2 episodes to redeem himself, one to Rapunzel and one to the rest of the kingdom. So in short, Varian loses pretty much everything, is vilified for asking for help and has to redeem himself, Cass still has everything good that she’s always had and throws it away by her own will but basically has permission to regain it at anytime, only apologises when she has no other option and doesn’t really need any redemption!

[@Passions5555]

I have a lot of sympathy for both Varian and Cassandra and honestly, I get a little annoyed by how people look down on Cassandra's villain arc...but when you put it like that.

[@windstar120025]

its important to recognize that there is a massive difference between, Justified and valid. People often think that they kinda come hand in hand but thats not the case. In Varians case, while his actions aren't entirely justified, his motives are in a way valid. He WAS betray, he WAS abandoned in his time of need, but he WAS also the person with the most likelyhood of being able to find a workable solution, ESPECIALLY since the actual people with any information were withholding for poor reasons and doing nothing but causing more problems. So what did they do to him, they falsely vilified him labeled him a criminal and our Hero did little to nothing about shit. Varian wasnt just a pretty good Antagonist, but he was simply the best characer in the sho, BAR none.

[@windstar120025]

also gave us the best song in the show, jsut saying

[@clarissacortez250]

I LAUGHED SO HARD AT “cass’ crispy hand”

[@benraven9087]

Fun fact: Cassandra's betrayal was part of the show's original pitch circa 2014-15. Varian was conceived during the writing of season one much later.

[@miehald3115]

Honestly, Cass victim-blaming Rapunzel for a whole season really put me off, it seemed sooooo weird - Cass was a smart girl who believed in justice, I really didn't get why she got so mad at Rapz (WHO DIDN'T ASK TO BE KIDNAPPED!)...

[@miehald3115]

@Dark Shadow Storm Still victim blanding from ak otherwise smart character - her villain arc could've been good, but as the video above states, it was just ok.

[@miehald3115]

@Dark Shadow Storm Yeah, I get that, I've seen it done really well in other shows. I love this one too, and Cass is one of my favourite characters. It just wasn't well executed, IMO. You can see it however you like and think it's great, that's perfectly fine 🙂 But I don't think it was well-done - could've been, but wasn't...

[@justzombie7594]

She not only blamed the victim, but was also very toxic in general. Well, that is, I really don't believe that it's okay to "fight for friends to the end" and say "I still love you and I will give everything for you" when a person is literally trying to kill you and your family simply because of his jealousy and hatred, VERY much and VERY blindly. This is literally a description of abusive relationships, but at the same time, the relationship of Rapunzel and Cassandra as friends, sisters or as a couple(often with shippers, I do not share) very romanticizes this and gives out that it you don't have to redeem yourself, but simply "sorry" when the "weapon"has already been taken away.

[@justzombie7594]

@Dark Shadow Storm Zhan Tiri not is a big factor. Her manipulations are a complete farce and absurdity, and her role is terribly illogical(this villain is even more disappointing for me than Cassandra in the third season). I could have believed in her influence, if not for the prescribed character and age of Cassandra before all this. Moreover, she easily gave up influence when it was convenient according to the script, but SHE HERSELF started up again from a half-turn and threw stones at people right and left. And even WITHOUT the special influence of Zhan Tiri, Cassandra did it an awful lot of times. And she didn't have a really strong redemption for it all. It's like justifying an ADULT INDEPENDENT person who does terrible things to you, that he was advised so by a friend whom he has known for two days. This is a bad message if you DON't write it well in the script. And this is spelled out poorly. Very bad.

[@Simbala-bq5vy]

Yeah. It sometimes feels weird. But the major reason why she became evil is because of Zhan Tiri..she planned everything. Cassandra taking the moonstone, Breaking up the friendship, showing her this memory and so on. If Zhan Tiri never lured Cassandra in that one door, she would still be a hero, Rapunzel can take the moonstone and so on.

[@lettuceforlife4827]

This is an incredible analysis. This is so well put. I can’t wait to see your channel blow up. I hope more people discover it.

[@0calliestar0]

Thank you so much! (Also crossing my fingers because this video is slowly gaining views and I hope the algorithm will choose me lol)

[@lettuceforlife4827]

@@0calliestar0 I got this in my recommended so I think you got picked

[@maem7462]

@@lettuceforlife4827 It was also in my recommendations as well

[@AngryDuck143]

I think that the main thing the writers should've emphasized and surround her villain arc around more was the fact that she always played second fiddle to Rapunzel and wanted to step out of the shadows, like how you mentioned before as well. By making that entirely or at least more focused on, it would've made Waiting In The Wings that more impactful. I think this could also work with Mother Gothel's betrayal as well, the "even my own mother chose you over me" sort of thing and lead down the path of "I want to prove myself that I can be better and more worthy than you".

[@lovefromwonderland]

Varian felt like his redemption arc was actually planned while Cassandra felt like she was only there to shock the audience and the writers had to stick to that betrayal lol

[@adrinka]

I loved Cassandra and the relationship she had with Rapunzel but they kinda ruined her for me in the last episodes of season 3. As you said, she kept pushing and pushing with the same crap bout Gothel and her always being the second best .... it became really tiring. Also what even was that episode when she wanted to get things right and disguised herself as Rapunzel's lady in waiting ? Why was she so suprised when she found out they had a gun to defend themselves ? She literally tried to kill Rapunzel several times. Not to mention her redemption arc in the last episode was almost nonexistent. She didn't really seem to question her actions till they got trapped in that cage. And suddenly ... she lost all of her motivation and anger ? It was really all over the place. But thank you so much for this amazing analysis. I'm so glad somebody's still talking bout Tangled the series.

[@adrinka]

@Dark Shadow Storm I'm aware that it was more complex. I sympatized with Cass to some extent. Thank you for bringing up the point bout her narcissistic mother, I didn't consider that one before but it makes a lot of sense. Her childhood must've had some impact on her even though she didn't remember it. I still think that her redemption arc wasn't enough tho ... she tried to kill Rapunzel and others several times, destroyed Corona and overally acted like a selfish jerk (considering that Rapunzel tried to save the entire world from the black rocks ). Mommy issues and feeling like a second best just don't justify those actions in my eyes. Her anger towards Rapunzel was mostly ridiculous ... it's not like she had any control of the things Cass was angry about. I could understand Varian better, imagine the emotions of a kid who accidentally "kills" his only parent and the only person he trusted to help betrays him. Cass was a grown up who had issues with her best friend and suddenly found out bout her mother she didn't even remember before ... and she knew that woman was a kidnapper who kept her best friend locked for 18 years. Very traumatizing, yes ... but to turn against that best friend ? And writers building an entire season on that ? Idk. Also let's not forget that she had a loving father and a group of great friends beside her. I know i have to consider the fact that she was manipulated but it still doesn't sit right with me. I agree with the author of this analysis that Varian just works better although I loved moonstone Cass. She was a very cool villain, some of the fights were epic and the betrayal scene ... out of this world. I just think it wasn't handled that well towards the end of the season.

[@tyler-_-kellan]

Very well put! Also something I just remembered, Varian LITERALLY HAD A CRUSH ON CASSANDRA where she constantly and Repeatedly IGNORED him and shot him down. Then, She was ANOTHER person who didn't understand him. Barely even noticed when he came back. Then, BAM she's evil now and Kidnaps him. AND HE TRIES TO HELP HER!! He tried relating with her and letting her know she is not alone. So she put him in a cage. Like, Honestly! Oh and I still stand by the fact that Varian is a CINNAMON ROLL and I would LITERALLY kill for him. Anyways.

[@Nexility]

I’m honestly surprised this doesn’t have more attention. I’m watching this entire thing at 2 am and I do not regret it.

[@freshcupofangst]

Don't mind me, just watching an entire analysis on a show that I've always wanted to watch but never have.

[@funnyfallguys]

So I’m not the only one lol

[@nkechi4635]

Same. I heard it was pretty good but judging from the comments, I think I might just give it a pass. The direction the show went sounds frustrating

[@Passions5555]

@@nkechi4635 please give it a chance. This series has a lot more to offer than just the villain arcs. I personally still think it is a really good show. This show !ade Rapunzel my favorite Disney princess and Eugene and Rapunzel my favorite Disney couple ( tied with Tina and Naveen).

[@crfstewarje]

I feel like Varian's anger is more justified, by the fact after the blizzard, Rapunzel doesn't even go to check up on him and try to help his father! All she does is sit around moping.

[@DragonGoddess18]

Yeah She can't claim to be "a strong, independent woman that don't need no man but herself" or be so eager to learn about the world And just sit around and mope as things get hard. The world doesn't stop just because you feel sad

[@jeku4572]

Same thing can be said for varian

[@ronoir2674]

The one thing that frustrated me about Cassandra was her damn insecurity. She had a man who adopted her and loved her as if she were his own. She was made a Lady in Waiting for the mf princess who was literal sunshine and becomes her best friend. She then also gets the opportunity to fight for the kingdom which is a big thing for women in this time. She starts feeling insecure over Rapunzel listening to Adira. Then she just flips her script and betrays and assaults Rapunzel and co. Then she threatens the kingdom and kidnapped victims. Like after all that, seriously what the hell.

[@mikieliza]

I think Eugene should've taken the moonstone. Hear me out: Eugene had ALL the reason to take it. At this point he knew his mom died because of the power of the moonstone. He's also the prince of the dark kingdom so he could've seen it as his responsibility. Couple that with wanting to protect Rapunzel and make sure she doesn't meet the same fate as his mother-- if I were him I totally would've taken it in a spur of the moment decision so she didn't die. And THAT would've been a more interesting arc, imo. Eugene loves Rapunzel but is being corrupted by Zhan Tiri and is conflicted about the decision, maybe even pulls an Elsa type thing where he runs away because he doesn't want to hurt her. Meanwhile Cass at this point could've had her "repair" arc where she leads the way to find/confront Eugene when Rapzunel can't bring herself to, and Cass saves the day. Rapunzel and Cass have a heart to heart, Raps understands where Cass is coming from, Cass feels sympathy for Raps who is having a crisis because her boyfriend basically just broke up with her to be an evil villain when all he was doing was trying to protect her, and after it resolves all three characters grow a ton and become better people with stronger relationships. Everyone wins! I wish it was written that way ngl. But mooncass is good too, just not as good as moongene imho

[@justzombie7594]

For some reason I have a feeling that they even wanted to do this, but changed their minds(based on all the arguments about Eugene in the series, from an interview with the screenwriter, where it was said that "they wanted to do something else, but Cassandra seemed more interesting" and one of the first concepts similar to the "poster", where a completely different atmosphere and the distribution of characters is felt, but where attention is already fixed on the fact that Rapunzel is from almost a sunny kingdom, and Eugene is from a dark one).

[@mikieliza]

@@justzombie7594 I wholeheartedly agree. It seems like the whole show was set up for that. I'm kind sad they didn't do it tbh. BUT mooncass is fine too, and the songs are bangers, so I'm not too mad

[@mysterysunfurled]

For real! I've seen many different moonstone AU'S (moon Varian, moon Eugene, and even "new moon" which is Eugene and Rapunzel kinda sharing the moonstone power and protecting each other) and they're all so much better and seem more interesting than moon Cassandra

[@yezmer]

"From the sweet little cinnamon roll that the fangirls love To the angsty anarchist alchemist that the fangirls also love" I mean- Yeah.

[@yassvaritaass]

It is my personal headcanon that Quirin still knew more than he let on. It pisses me off to know extent that we never find out what the dramatic note Quirin wrote when he was getting encased in the amber. For real, it drives me crazy that we also don’t ever get a chance to see literally anything regarding Varian’s mom either. All the moments in Queen for A Day with Quirin staring at that portrait of baby Varian and his parents made me think it would be a serious plot point. I literally cannot even express how much I love this show, but I feel like a little more Varian and Quirin development could have made it so much better in a huge way.

[@gracekim1998]

Oh yeah....I really watched to know