tangled the series has some… interesting writing. especially when it comes to characters and how the narrative displays & treats them [for example: rapunzel being a morally grey character, yet always displayed and treated as ‘in the right’. she typically faces little to no consequences for her actions]. one of my favorite examples of the very few well written characters in the series is varian. especially [but not necessarily limited to] his villain arc. the best element of his villain arc, in my opinion, is how it sets up his character for season 3. even if the rest of season 3 was an absolute shitshow that fucked up a lot of the main plot & core characters, it handled varian’s arc surprisingly well. it was a great continuation, in my opinion.
one of the worst written characters in tangled the series was cassandra. she started off great; her internal conflict was amazing and it was well-developed throughout season 2. what ruined her was season 2’s finale and season 3 in general. while season 3 was great for varian, it was a complete and utter nightmare for cassandra’s arc. most, if not all, of her pre-established character traits & personality was overwritten just to make a more marketable character. it was so disappointing when i rewatched it in the past year, looking back on a character arc that i had loved a few years earlier just to realize how utterly horrible and hopeless it was.long story short; varian works as a villain, and cassandra doesn’t. ‘why’ isn’t hard to determine. the entirety of cassandra’s villain arc was focused on developing and creating a new character, instead of expanding upon cassandra’s current one. i could even see alternatives of the arc where she doesn’t take the moonstone because it’s ‘her destiny’ [as she claims], where she grabs it in a feeble attempt to protect rapunzel, or out of fear of losing her forever. anything would’ve been better than what we got, if i’m being honest. villain cassandra isn’t the same cass that we met and bonded with in the first two seasons. that’s the major problem of her arc.
the ‘why’ of why varian’s arc works isn’t hard to find, either. he was well-developed. we meet him early on, and they establish a good and clear character from the very start. we’re introduced to him in the very first episode, as a young boy who just seeks his father’s approval. an intelligent young boy, but a child nonetheless. as his arc continues, we see his character not necessarily ‘grow’, but develop. when his father is encased in amber, it sends him into a spiral. rapunzel’s refusal to help makes the situation worse and makes him result to… desperate measures. because he is desperate. he’s a child, alone and scared with only a slight idea of how to save his father. and he would do anything to make that happen.