Despite being the overall secondary antagonist of Disney's Tangled animated franchise to Zhan Tiri, Mother Gothel is still the most personally evil villain to the main protagonist of the franchise, Rapunzel since she kidnapped her as a baby to use her hair to restore her youth and being around her for 18 years her ...
Mother Gothel is the main antagonist of Disney's 2010 animated feature film Tangled. She is a wicked crone who has retained youth for hundreds of years through the healing properties of a magic, golden flower.
Although she did take care of her when growing up and did gain her affection through treats, birthday gifts and pretense of motherly love, she spent eighteen years subtly but viciously abusing Rapunzel, verbally and emotionally, to destroy her self-esteem and make her completely dependent and vulnerable on her.
The story by the Brothers Grimm begins with a mother's craving for rampion, a leafy green vegetable. This craving leads to her giving up her baby to Dame Gothel. Dame Gothel names the child Rapunzel, but as the child ages, Gothel realizes how beautiful Rapunzel is and hides her in a tall tower to protect her.
Rapunzel was eventually freed from Gothel by her lover Eugene Fitzherbert as Pascal and threw Gothel out of the tower and destroyed Rapunzels powers that kept Gothel alive. It is unknown of the fall from the tower killed her or that she turned to dust because of Rapunzels hair being cut off first.
Why did Mother Gothel keep Rapunzel her real birthday?
The villain took every precaution to ensure that her abducted daughter wouldn't be discovered by anyone, including keeping her entirely confined to a tower for 18 long years. It would have been the least of her deceptions to tell Rapunzel that she was born on a different day.
She stopped showing any affection to Rapunzel when she expressed her want for freedom because she could no longer manipulate her anymore into thinking everyone wanted her hair. Her love was conditional and she did not love her whatsoever.
What personality disorder does Mother Gothel have?
Tangled in the Narcissist's Tower
As you may recall, baby Rapunzel is kidnapped by Gothel from a kind king and queen who never give up hope for their daughter's return. Gothel is a once-beautiful but now aging narcissist who restores her youth and beauty as long as she is exposed to Rapunzel's healing long hair.
Her actual age is around 400 years old, and due to this Gothel became obsessed with regaining her youth. She was ultimately forced to kidnap Rapunzel and raise her as her own at the cost of abandoning her birth daughter, Cassandra.
The Mattel cartoon Ever After High (2013–2017), features Rapunzel's has two daughters: Holly O'Hair and Poppy O'Hair. Tangled: The Series (2017–2020) is a 2D animated TV show based on Disney Animation's computer animated musical feature film Tangled.
According to the Brothers Grimm, Princess Rapunzel is named after the cultivated vegetable of the same name, growing in a witch's garden. The wording of the story suggested to me that the Grimms' contemporaries would be familiar with the plant as a vegetable, that it wasn't a fantastical invented thing.
Once upon a time, a drop of sunlight created a magical flower with the power to heal and restore youth. An old woman named Mother Gothel discovered this flower—apparently in unclaimed forestland—and recognized its magical properties. She decided to hoard the magic for herself.
Mother Gothel's original name was Madame Gothel. She is one of the few Disney Villains in the Disney revival era to die along with Dr. Facilier, Turbo, Arthur and King Runeard. According to her voice actor, Donna Murphy, Gothel is 387 years old by the time of the movie.
What was Rapunzel's real name before she was taken?
Rapunzel's real story is said to have been loosely based on a true story about a woman, Saint Barbara, in Italy around the 3rd century. The story of Barbara was that she was so beautiful that her father felt he had to lock her in a tower to protect her.
Meanwhile, Flynn manages to escape the palace and journeys to rescue Rapunzel. When he arrives at the tower, he is fatally stabbed in the stomach by Mother Gothel.
Gothel fatally stabs Flynn upon his arrival and attempts to leave with Rapunzel, who offers to go willingly with her if she can heal Flynn. Gothel reluctantly releases her. However, Flynn unexpectedly cuts Rapunzel's hair, causing it to lose its magic and turn brown.
Once Rapunzel disobeys her and begins to fight back, Mother Gothel becomes overtly violent, more abusive and dangerous. Mother Gothel consistently puts Rapunzel down in underhanded ways. In her brilliantly written villain song “Mother Knows Best”, she insults her “adopted daughter” incessantly.
In “Rapunzel,” the Grimms took a story that was about rites of passage and, while maintaining that element, added a moral message about the importance of female purity, catering to the ideals of the time in which they lived.
The true story of Rapunzel is thought to be about a young woman in Italy named Barbara who was so beautiful that her father locked her away in a tower so no men could get to her. Though many asked for her hand in marriage, Barbara dedicated herself to God and a newfound Christian faith, and refused them all.
Rapunzel must've seen the other Disney princess movies — she's painted homages to them on the newel posts in the staircase in her tower. There's an apple for Snow White, a slipper for Cinderella, a rose for Belle, and a shell for Ariel. She also has a real spinning wheel in there, too, as a nod to Aurora.
In the TV series, Rapunzel's magic hair grows back to the length and color it was in the film. It grows back when Rapunzel and her handmaid, Cassandra, discover some mystical rocks with magical properties during a secret adventure.
She has given birth to twins that she raises on her own until the Prince happens to find her. Rapunzel's tears magically restore his eyesight. Once his family is reunited and his sight is restored, he takes them back to his kingdom where they are celebrated.
