talk to me about the lingering effects of Rapunzel's trauma
I love this question! My answer is longgggg
First of all, I’ve touched on a few elements of Rapunzel’s trauma in my fanfic “Blossoming Jealousy”:
“Like when the handmaidens had tried to brush her choppy cap of hair for her, and she’d cried because that was supposed to be a mother’s job, but her new mother hadn’t even offered--obviously because her hair wasn’t special anymore, so of course the Queen didn’t love her, because if she did why hadn’t she come to do it herself? Or when she’d tied her bedsheets together and rappelled from her bedroom window, giving them both a heart attack, because she’d wanted to visit her friends at the Snuggly Duckling and hadn’t realized that as long as she brought a chaperone, they would freely give their permission for her to roam the kingdom as she wished. Or the night they had tried to make her feel more comfortable by having her favorite: hazelnut soup. Despite the chef’s attempts to replicate the recipe, Rapunzel had cheerfully remarked, “It tastes so much different than Mother’s!”
Of course there's the dangers of information and sensory overload and dealing with the pressure of succeeding at everything because she’s desperate to be liked and viewed as a “worthy” queen and daughter, especially because she’s already good at so many things (baking, knitting, sewing, paper mache, music, chess, you name it). After all, it’s hard to unlearn the concept of conditional love that Gothel clearly hammered into her brain.
Social interaction of course, and not just learning the nuances of love languages and sarcasm and the different ways to show you care (as we see in the show’s plotlines about her & Cassandra or Monty). I think the most egregious lingering effect of her trauma in this case would be understanding the grey areas of what makes people good and bad. Yes, Gothel was lying about a lot of things, and the world/other people aren’t all bad. But then again, some of what Gothel said is true--there are some people who existed in the Tangled universe who, had they heard about Rapunzel’s magic hair, would have tried to kidnap her and sell it--Stabbingtons, anyone? Rapunzel tries to see the good in everyone, so this might be hard for her to comprehend at first. Also, Gothel herself was able to manipulate Rapunzel by appearing loving and caring at times--I think Rapunzel would find it overwhelming to study those nuances of human behavior. While there are bad people in the world, some can look like good people and do things that may seem “good” for bad reasons. Granted, I think she does understand the flip side of this concept (that some people might do bad things that hurt people but not necessarily BE bad people) thanks to Eugene being so open about his past as a thief. I think this confusing concept may have contributed to her troubles with Cass, as Cass is definitely a character whose morality runs more grey than black and white.
On a different topic, I think a lot about how difficult it must be to unlearn what Gothel taught her a parent-child relationship should be, especially since Rapunzel is technically an adult. Her parents want to establish boundaries and rules because they know what is and isn’t safe and understand how the world works, but they also have to restrain themselves from being too controlling or infantilizing her/underestimating her abilities. On Rapunzel’s part, she has to figure out how + when to stand up for herself versus when it’s important to listen to their advice, even when she doesn't understand it or may even disagree.
After spending her whole life forced into the submissive role to her mother’s dominant one, I think Rapunzel would have a hard time balancing her newfound independence with the fact that she still has a lot to learn. To me, this might look like vacillating between being reckless--because she’s desperate to prove she can handle things on her own (as expressed in the show)--and then slipping back into a codependent dynamic, only with Eugene or Pascal instead of Gothel because they are the most familiar and “safe” to her. Examples of this could be insisting that Eugene explain everything new to her, or not wanting to go anywhere without Pascal present. It could also mean that she naturally seeks out Pascal or Eugene when she’s frightened, stressed, overwhelmed, or confused. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I do believe both would be amazing at comforting her and want to do so, but I think one challenge for her might be learning how to self-soothe when they aren’t there (either because they’re not present, they don’t know what is going on, or they don’t have the emotional energy to comfort someone else). She also might struggle more with learning to trust other people, like her parents, with those feelings instead of always running to Eugene or Pascal.
On the subject of Pascal, having him by her side 24/7 and being the only remnant of her previous life could also create some problems. Pascal will always understand her on a level no one else can because of what they’ve experienced, so finding boundaries and managing a shift in how much time they spend together as both of them form new friendships and hobbies could also be a journey in itself.
Additionally, I believe Rapunzel would have a rougher time figuring out the dynamic between her and Queen Arianna. She’s never had a father figure before, so she has no preconceived notions of what that relationship is supposed to look like. But Arianna is literally replacing the only person she socially interacted with for 18 years straight, so there's bound to be some awkward moments and mistakes there. As I say in my fic, for Arianna the struggle would be to accept the fact that “to Rapunzel, she had the potential to be a lot of things: Mom, Ma, Mama. But Mother would always be someone else. Someone who had gotten to see her first steps, teach her her colors and shapes, spend birthday after birthday with her. Someone who had danced with her, wiped away her tears, given her advice. Someone who had seen her grow up.” Because of how Rapunzel grew up, I think her natural instinct would be to resort to a “fawn response” and walk on eggshells around Arianna, and even blame herself for things feeling awkward because Gothel always made her feel like everything was her fault.
Then we have the ol’ classics: nightmares, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, pushing herself too hard to learn everything perfectly, not wearing shoes even when it would be appropriate. Not having her magic hair might be a trauma in itself too: not only can she actually get hurt now, which definitely takes some getting used to, she also can’t heal anyone she cares about. That sense of helplessness can be quite terrifying, especially for someone as protective and caring as our girl.
Thanks for the ask! I have a lot of thoughts on Rapunzel and her journey--I would love to expand on it more, so feel free to send more asks if there’s something I didn't touch on!
