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| This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains. Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban. | ||
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| “ | I really did try, Rapunzel. I tried to warn you what was out there. The world is dark and selfish and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it. | „ |
| ~ Mother Gothel rationalizes her abuse of Rapunzel. |
| “ | Mother knows best! | „ |
| ~ Mother Gothel's catchphrase. |
| “ | You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy. | „ |
| ~ Mother Gothel's most famous quote |
Mother Gothel, simply known as Gothel, is the secondary antagonist of Disney's Tangled franchise.
As her name suggests, she is Princess Rapunzel's archenemy who seeks to remain youthful and immortal by utilizing the Sundrop-infused magic hair of her "daughter", having kidnapped her from her biological parents and hiding her in a tower for years. However, all of this would soon fall with the arrival of Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert, an outlaw who ultimately liberated Rapunzel from Gothel's obsessive control over the princess.
In the television series, Gothel is revealed to be the biological mother of Cassandra, whom she abandoned when kidnapping Rapunzel for her hair, which caused her daughter to eventually become a villain herself.
She was voiced by Donna Murphy, who also played The Witch in Into the Woods. In Tangled: The Musical, she was portrayed by Katie Whetsell.
Personality[]
Mother Gothel is an extremely vain, self-centered, manipulative, sinister, and shrewd woman who only cares about herself and her beauty, even willing to abandon her biological daughter Cassandra in favor of Rapunzel because of the latter's magic hair. While she pretends to be a caring and devoted mother, the fact that she calls Rapunzel "flower" and touches her blonde hair whenever she displays "affection" clearly shows that she cares only about the power on Rapunzel's hair, and not Rapunzel herself. 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 18 years subtly maltreating Rapunzel, verbally and emotionally, to destroy her self-esteem and make her completely dependent and vulnerable on her.
Despite being older than the kingdom, Mother Gothel proves to be quite childish and entitled; she displayed behaviour that was typically associated with a teenager, such as joking with Rapunzel like a peer, rather than parent, and she expressed flippant opinions about her adopted daughter's hopes and dreams. She wants things to unfold following her design and gets very furious the second the situation starts escaping her. This shows prominently when her "sweet mother" act quickly slips away as Rapunzel expresses a desire to see the outside world. In a very similar manor to Judge Claude Frollo, Gothel "protects" her Rapunzel by planting false stories about how cruel the world is. She loves to see herself in the mirror, reveling and flaunting in her beauty. Although she would rather regain Rapunzel's trust by making it seem like she was right, when she fully drops the act, she is not above assaulting and restraining her "daughter", and even stabbing her love interest in cold blood. Also, she never keeps her word when striking bargains and betrays her allies as soon as she stops needing them.
Other than vanity, Gothel's main trait was selfishness. When she stabs Flynn once he enters the tower, she blames Rapunzel for it. Raising her biological daughter, Cassandra, she would be frequently absent to the point of negligence, choosing to avoid her daughter instead of care for her, and when Gothel was home, she'd emotionally manipulate Cassandra into making her food, as well as forcing her to do all of the cleaning - whether she was there or not. Gothel would placate her daughter with trinkets like the music box, but only to make Cassandra leave her alone, rather than it being an actually considerate gift. Like for Rapunzel, she'd forbid Cassandra from leaving the residence, however, this was more for her own convenience as opposed to keeping her trapped for an ulterior motive. As the silhouette in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure indicate, Gothel was presumably one of the three students of Lord Demanitus that betrayed him to join Zhan Tiri; however, unlike her fellow students, she didn't dedicate time to release their new master, as upon finding the Sundrop in a flower, she used it to maintain her youth due to vanity - her other main trait - for centuries, instead of helping her new master's ambitions. Gothel lacked any semblance of loyalty, since after betraying her first master, she would only go on to turn her back on the second, therefore showing she isn't loyal to anyone besides herself.
Biography[]
Past[]
Most of Gothel's life is unknown, other than the fact that she is centuries, if not millennia old. But judging from a silhouetted flashback in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, it is possible that she was one of Lord Demanitus' pupils who went on a journey with him to find the fabled Sundrop and Moonstone. However, somewhere during the journey, Gothel, along with her fellow students, Sugracha and Tromus, betrayed their teacher by summoning his sworn enemy, Zhan Tiri, likely under the promise of incredible power and immortality. However, Demanitus defeated the evil warlock, and then Gothel parted ways with Sugracha and Tromus, who eventually died but continued to serve Zhan Tiri.
At some point, Gothel found the Sundrop, which had the power to heal wounds and extend one's longevity through a mystic incantation. Using its power, Gothel kept herself young and beautiful and intended to do so for all eternity.
Tangled[]
| “ | Rapunzel! Let down your hair! | „ |
| ~ Mother Gothel |
Before the events in the film, an elderly lady named Madame Gothel hides a flower born from the sun's dew that keeps reverses her age whenever she sings to it. But someday, the flower is found and given to the queen so that she would not die in childbirth. All the magical flower's power is now in the queen's daughter, Although her original plan was to simply cut a lock of Rapunzel's hair for herself to stay young, she discovered that once the hair is cut, it goes from golden blonde to dark brown and loses its power, so Gothel instead abducted her and kept her in a hidden tower for 18 years, teaching the little girl to sing for her. She spent the following years raising Rapunzel as her daughter and causing her to fear the outside world, which she describes as frightening, dull, selfish, cruel, and unforgiving.
Once Rapunzel turned 18, she begs to see the floating lanterns on her birthday; however, Gothel refuses both musically and angrily. To trick her, Rapunzel asks for special paint for her birthday, a gift that would take three days to get. While reluctant, Gothel believes Rapunzel and sets off.
However, when she sees Maximus, one of the guards' horses, she worries that someone was searching for Rapunzel. When she arrives at the tower, she is horrified to find that Rapunzel was already gone. Believing that she was kidnapped, Gothel takes a sharp dagger from her drawer and sets out to find her. She passes by the Snuggly Duckling Inn and while paying attention to the thugs and Rapunzel sing, she realizes that no one kidnapped Rapunzel, but she left with a wanted criminal named Flynn Rider (Eugene) instead. Deeply outraged, when one of the men staggers outside and attempts to flirt with her, she threatens him with her dagger unless he tells her where they are.
When she finds their location, she runs into the Stabbington Brothers, Flynn's partners who he abandoned. She gives them the decision of receiving either the princess's tiara that he stole or revenge on Flynn. They unhesitatingly chose revenge. She encounters Rapunzel afterward, saying that Flynn's only with her for the tiara. Unfazed by Gothel's warning, Rapunzel agrees to put him to the test.
Soon, the Stabbington Brothers take the tiara and knock Flynn unconscious and tie him to a boat, making it look like he was abandoning Rapunzel. They try to kidnap her, but Gothel double-crosses them by knocking them unconscious (deliberately making it look like she was rescuing her). She comforts the heartbroken Rapunzel home and leads her home.
Back at the tower, after undoing Rapunzel's braid, Gothel reminds her that the world is intolerant of joy and happiness, and will destroy any ray of sunshine it finds as the finishing touch of destroying the princess' glimmers of optimism. As Gothel leaves Rapunzel's bedroom to fix dinner, Rapunzel has an epiphany and slowly realizes that she's the lost princess and Gothel is nothing but a kidnapping fraud.
Rapunzel confronts Gothel confidently announcing her realization that she's the lost princess and that Gothel kidnapped her from the start. Stunned, Gothel nervously tries to suppress these revelations, but Rapunzel denies her words. Gothel claims that everything she did was to "protect her," but her manipulations no longer have any effect on Rapunzel. Rapunzel claims that she has been spending her entire life hiding from people who would use her hair for her power, even though she should have been hiding from Gothel. Gothel stops Rapunzel saying she has nowhere to go and that Flynn won't be there for her, since he is being hanged for his crimes in the kingdom. She then tries to calm a shocked Rapunzel down by saying that "all of this is as it should be," before attempting to touch her hair. However, Rapunzel stands up to her and swiftly grabs her arm. She furiously tells her that she was wrong about both the world and herself, and that she will never let her use her hair's magic again, just as Gothel breaks free only to shatter the mirror. With her mind made, Rapunzel starts to leave the tower, but Gothel drops the charade and slowly and menacingly follows Rapunzel.
Flynn escapes from prison (thanks to the help of Maximus and the ruffians and thieves from the Snuggly Duckling) and enters the tower to try and save Rapunzel, but Gothel stabs him from behind and tries to take a shackled and gagged Rapunzel away by forcefully dragging her out of the tower, with intent on finding a new hideaway where she will be forced into slavery. Pascal attempted to stop her by biting Gothel's dress, but she kicks him away, knocking him unconscious. Rapunzel shakes her gag off and begs her to let her cure Flynn in exchange for being her captive forever. While being hesitant, Mother Gothel agrees but chains Flynn to the wall to prevent the chance that he might follow them.
Rapunzel intended to heal him, but Flynn cuts her hair with a shard of glass from the broken mirror, preferring to die saving Rapunzel than let her be perpetually enslaved by Gothel. Horrified, Gothel tries to salvage Rapunzel's cut hair but it turns brown and loses its power. Gothel begins to rapidly age hundreds of years; she looks in her broken mirror and sees her youth disappear. Gothel pulls her hood over her face and begins to stumble around before Pascal trips her with Rapunzel's locks, sending her falling out of the window. As Gothel plummets from the tower, her body turns to dust, leaving only her cloak.
Gothel's death freed Rapunzel from her abuse and slavery, brought Eugene back to life, and they returned to Corona, allowing Rapunzel to be reunited with her real biological long lost parents, to their overwhelming and tearful joy.
Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure[]
| “ | Hopefully, that'll keep her out of my hair for a while. Lousy, little pest. | „ |
| ~ Gothel revealing her actual feelings towards Cassandra. |
Mother Gothel appeared in the series as a posthumous antagonist. She is mainly alluded to throughout the series as a form of Rapunzel's PTSD, and it's implied that she is a disciple of the ancient demon Zhan Tiri, who like Gothel, sought the sundrop's power. She first appeared in the episode "What the Hair?!", where she appeared in a nightmare that Rapunzel was suffering after losing control of her newly grown hair. She reappeared again in the episode "Rapunzeltopia", where Tromus (a disciple of Zhan Tiri) takes on the form of Gothel to haunt Rapunzel in her dream, only for Rapunzel to thwart him by hitting him in the face with a pan.
It is later revealed in the third season that Gothel is the biological mother of Cassandra (the father's identity is never known, however). Despite their blood relation, Gothel cared more about maintaining her eternal youth, even going too far by deliberately abandoning Cassandra for Rapunzel just to avoid being caught by the Royal Guard, leading to Cassandra's adoption by the Captain of the Guards. This event is what drove an embittered Cassandra to develop a fit of certain jealousy towards Rapunzel, even betraying her by taking the Moon Stone for herself to become as powerful as Rapunzel.
She had a secret room with a copy of the Demanitus' scroll and magic mirrors playing what she recorded when someone touched them. One mirror showed Cassandra a scene where Gothel berated her for her loud sweeping, then another where she scolded Cassandra for not preparing dinner. The small mirror Zhan Tiri took showed Gothel and her daughter together when Gothel explained to Cassandra how to work a music box she had and to know she loved her, but the piece that Zhan Tiri removed revealed it was a distraction and Gothel never actually loved her daughter.
Cass eventually found out this and tried to make up for abandoning Rapunzel, but Zhan Tiri tricked her yet again. After Zhan Tiri absorbed the powers of both the Sundrop and Moonstone, she taunted Cass for suffering the same fate that her mother did: letting her ego be her downfall. However, Cass has had enough and aids Rapunzel in tricking Zhan Tiri infusing both stones, resulting in Zhan Tiri's death.
In Other Media[]
Once Upon a Time[]
- Main article: Mother Gothel (Once Upon a Time)
Kingdom Hearts III[]
Mother Gothel appears in Kingdom Hearts III. Her role in the Kingdom of Corona world is pretty much the same as the film Tangled, with Marluxia's Nobodies taking the place of the Stabbington Brothers. Learning of Rapunzel's escape with Eugene, she is approached by Marluxia who she fears at first while hesitating until she was eventually hypnotized to trust him. After Rapunzel's hair was cut, and Gothel aged rapidly before her defeat in the movie, Marluxia turned her into a Heartless called the Grim Guardianess before her cloak hit the ground to battle Sora, Donald, and Goofy and the trio ended up slaying the beast.
Powers and Abilities[]
While the character from the original fairytale was a witch, Mother Gothel has no magic powers whatsoever, aside from the knowledge about the Magic Flower and how to use it.
However, Mother Gothel is a highly skilled and intelligent manipulator, able to make Rapunzel fear the outside world, and then by making her believe that her trust in other people was unfounded. She is very good at talking people into agreeing with her, convincing them of what she wants them to believe, and lying efficiently. Finally, she displays no fear when confronted with people bigger and more imposing than her, and proves a very temperamental and dangerous fighter with a dagger in hand, though she would rather avoid confrontations and prefers setting traps and taking foes by surprise.
Family[]
- Rapunzel (adoptive daughter; disowned; archenemy)
- Cassandra (daughter; disowned)
Quotes[]
| “ | The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you're safe. | „ |
| ~ Gothel telling young Rapunzel why she can't go outside. |
| “ | Enough with the lights, Rapunzel! You are not leaving this tower! EVER! | „ |
| ~ Gothel aggressively insisting Rapunzel to stay inside the tower for a while. |
| “ | Gothel: I love you very much, Dear. Rapunzel: I love you more. Gothel: I love you most. |
„ |
| ~ Gothel manipulating Rapunzel by telling Rapunzel she "loves" her |
| “ | Gothel: Rapunzel? Rapunzel, what's going on up there? Are you alright? Rapunzel: I... am the lost Princess. Gothel: Please speak up, Rapunzel. You know how I hate the mumbling. Rapunzel: I am the lost princess. Aren't I? Did I mumble, mother? Or should I even call you that? |
„ |
| ~ Gothel telling Rapunzel to stop mumbling upon the latter's realization of being the Kingdom of Corona's long-lost Princess. |
| “ | Gothel: [scoffs] Oh, Rapunzel. Do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question? Rapunzel: It was you! It was all you! |
„ |
| ~ Gothel trying to blow Rapunzel's question off when Rapunzel realizes the truth. |
| “ | Everything I did was to protect you. | „ |
| ~ Gothel revealing her true nature to Rapunzel while trying to justify her heinous actions. |
| “ | Gothel: Where will you go? He won't be there for you. Rapunzel: What did you do to him? Gothel: That criminal's to be hanged for his crimes. |
„ |
| ~ Gothel revealing she set Flynn/Eugene up and had him caught by the authorities to be executed. |
| “ | Rapunzel: [gasps] No. Gothel: Now, now, it's all right. Listen to me. all of this is as it should be. Rapunzel: [Grabs Gothel's hand] No! You were wrong about the world. And you were wrong about me. And I will never let you to use my hair again! |
„ |
| ~ Gothel tries to comfort Rapunzel but she refuses to her lectures. |
| “ | Gothel: Now look what you've done, Rapunzel. Oh, don't worry, dear. Our secret will die with him. And as for us... Hmph. We are going where no one will ever find you again! (Pascal tries to stop Gothel by biting her clothes, but Gothel kicks him away) Gothel: Rapunzel, really! Enough already! STOP FIGHTING ME!! |
„ |
| ~ Gothel after stabbing Eugene/Flynn, then attempting to drag Rapunzel to a place where she will be tortured forever. |
| “ | In case you get any ideas about following us. | „ |
| ~ Gothel to Flynn/Eugene as she chains him up. |
| “ | NO! Oh no. No... What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! NO! No. No! No! | „ |
| ~ Mother Gothel's villainous breakdown and last words as she ages to death. |
Trivia[]
- 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 and Turbo.
- She is also the only female villain from this era so far to have faced such fate (as Dawn Bellwether was arrested for her crimes, while Te Kā got restored to her original self).
- According to her voice actor, Donna Murphy, Gothel is 387 years old by the time of the movie.
- Vanity is a recurring theme around Gothel, as shown by her constantly checking and admiring her reflection in the mirror which she later breaks. This vanity is ultimately her downfall in more ways than one; breaking a mirror is thought to bring bad luck according to common superstition. Flynn uses a shard of the mirror to cut Rapunzel's hair and it is the sight of her aging in the broken mirror that causes her to fall to her death when she is not looking where she's going.
- According to the makers of Tangled, Mother Gothel's dress is inspired by fashion coming from the Renaissance, an era 300 years older than the rest of the setting and characters in costume in the film, which was instead inspired by the 1780s. This is meant to emphasize Gothel's immense age.
- Interestingly, when Rapunzel's hair is cut off and she experiences the centuries of aging she'd avoided within a few seconds, all that remains behind is her cloak, implying her dress was similarly old and she had been using the hair's magic to let it stay together.
- In the Kingdom Hearts series, she is the second Disney villain to become a Heartless after her initial defeat in the film, followed by Scar, and the first to take on a new form.
- Mother Gothel and Zhan Tiri are the only villains in the Tangled franchise to succeed in murdering someone. However, the only murder Gothel committed was later undone.
- Funnily enough, their respective deaths involve the Sundrop itself, as well, to the point where their murderous actions were really done for nothing thanks to it.
- In Tangled: The Series, it is implied, based on the silhouette in "Lost And Found" and many more times in the series, that Mother Gothel was once a pupil of Lord Demanitus before betraying him to serve Zhan Tiri, which would also explain how she knew the Healing Incantation.
- The main setting of Tangled is the fictional kingdom of Corona. Ironically, Gothel's voice actress, Donna Murphy, was born in the Corona neighborhood of the borough of Queens in New York City.
- 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 whole life.
- Also, her neglect and abandonment of her biological daughter, Cassandra, led the girl - whom was Rapunzel's best friend - into becoming a villain herself, and one that would have destroyed Corona if not for Zhan Tiri's revelation of her manipulation; and Cassandra's emotional vulnerability would have left her destitute and dying, if not for Rapunzel's forgiveness and encouragement.
- Because of Gothel's parentally abusive behavior throughout her appearance that's correlated to the Sundrop Flower, which was later harnessed by her illegitimate adoptive daughter Rapunzel, she has embodied each of the seven deadly sins.
- Pride: She takes very good care of her own physical beauty, and shows no concern for anyone but herself.
- Envy: Because Rapunzel has beared the flower's healing powers, Gothel decides to kidnap the princess for that matter alone.
- Wrath: It doesn't take that long for her to eventually lose her temper when someone else challenges her in any sort of way.
- Gluttony: For years, she has been using Rapunzel's healing powers for herself to maintain her own beauty while leaving the princess to stay inside the tower.
- Greed: She only views Rapunzel as her pathway to eternal life rather than as an actual child. She also kept the Sundrop for herself even though its healing power could help many ill and injured people.
- Lust: She gets very eagered whenever she regains her youthful beauty.
- Sloth: Her own parenting skills are rather subpar at best, given that she focused more on maintaining her beauty rather than actually being genuinely maternal. The musical number "Mother Knows Best" even provided evidence for that point.
- Gothel's desire to stay young forever is rather symbolic, as it exemplifies the psychological phenomenon known as regression, to which it even applies to her further when considering the fact that she can't accept her natural old age throughout her appearance.
- There is one flaw to Gothel's intention of keeping Rapunzel in her tower forever. Once Rapunzel starts to grow older and will eventually pass on due to natural causes, this would mean that Gothel's plan to stay young forever would not have worked regardless if anyone found Rapunzel or not, meaning that Gothel's kidnapping of Rapunzel was technically all for nothing.
- Oddly enough, when Gothel literally backstabbed Flynn/Eugene with her dagger, no blood from him was stained on her weapon. This was probably done to keep in line with the original film's PG rating.
- Ironically, despite that apparent intent, visible blood stains from Flynn's impaled wound can still be seen on his white shirt.
- Mother Gothel acts as a foil to Flynn Rider, as they are both have known of Rapunzel, as Flynn reluctantly helped Rapunzel escape from tower to see floating lanterns while Gothel keeps Rapunzel imprisoned in her tower so she can use her hair to become young forever. However, Flynn starting to become caring and protective to Rapunzel (such as accompanying Rapunzel in a journey to see floating lanterns, rescuing Rapunzel from Mother Gothel, and sacrificing himself to save Rapunzel from Mother Gothel). On the other hand, Gothel refuses to change her ways out of her obsession over youth and beauty and prefers to tie Rapunzel up in a chain to keep her imprisoned in her tower and make sure that she will stay away from Flynn Rider forever, making her hatred over him increase. Gothel serves as an example of what Flynn Rider would become if he had never been there with Rapunzel.
- She can also serve as a foil to King Frederic, as they both imprisoned Rapunzel from the outside world. While Gothel did it for her own selfishness, Frederic did it because of his love towards her.
- Ironically, Gothel's manipulative parenting skills towards Rapunzel is what kept the latter from being inherently corrupt as she grows older, as that essentially made Rapunzel herself realize that she's the lost Princess of Corona, and that Gothel was just fooling her for over 18 years.
- There is a great contrast between her and Queen Arianna as mothers themselves:
- Generally speaking, Gothel's abusive and Arianna's supportive.
- Whereas Gothel only viewed Rapunzel as a fountain of youth, Arianna truly sees her as a daughter.
- Gothel's negligent towards her own daughter Cassandra, while Arianna shows deep concern for her.
- Her version in What Once Was Mine, which is part of Disney's A Twisted Tale book series, is depicted as being considerably sympathetic, as she truly cared for Rapunzel, who was instead depicted as having inherited the Moonstone's powers, which prove to be fatal when in use. Because of this, Rapunzel's 18-year tower residence, courtesy of Gothel herself, is given a more sensible reason, even if her methods were still extreme, like that from her original self.
- Gothel's ultimate demise in the original film is rather ironic, because for years of locking Rapunzel up inside the tower, she soon met her maker after she went out of it, thanks to Pascal tripping her with Rapunzel's trimmed hair, just as she was slowly aging to death.
External Links[]
- Mother Gothel on the Disney Wiki
- Mother Gothel on the Tangled Wiki
- Mother Gothel on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki
- Mother Gothel on the Wikipedia
[]
 Villains
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Zhan Tiri & Followers Separatists of Saporia Dark Kingdom The Baron's Criminal Organization Gothel Family Lady Caine's Pirate Crew Others | ||
