Rambling about Cassandra
Since we’re nearing the last episode of Tangled, I can’t stop thinking about Cassandra and going over her arc throughout the season. And honestly...
I really like it. Sure, Season 3 has some weird pacing and the structuring of episodes make them feel awkward but Cassandra’s arc about becoming the villain is something that genuinely interests me. In the show, she’s so desperate to be somebody of importance that she’s willing to steal another person’s destiny. On a meta level, she’s a secondary main character who wants to be the focus of the show and becomes the villain to achieve that goal.
Let’s start with “Rapunzel and the Great Tree.”
We can’t talk about Cass without this episode, it is literally the most important episode regarding Cassandra. Not just because we get good insight into her character but because it’s the moment where she starts to change for the worse.
Throughout the episode Cassandra is dealing with two things:
1) she wants her “moment of glory”, a chance for her to shine in the spotlight and be the big hero, the one everybody turns to
2) her feeling like Rapunzel doesn’t trust her judgement.
It’s amazing how these two things are so intertwined throughout the episode. Cass is quietly upset when Rapunzel, not unkindly, reassures that she can take care of herself now. She’s frustrated and angry that Rapunzel takes Adira’s side more in the Great Tree. Adira is the one who saves Rapunzel from the first Decay spell, while Cass couldn’t even move. She tries to stop the tree but Rapunzel is too worried about Eugene to wait for Cass and instead uses the Decay incantation.
Each moment is where Cass has the chance to prove herself, to be the hero, and instead it gets swept under the rug by something or someone else.
When Cass confronts Adira she isn’t doing so just out of mistrust but also because she’s trying to return to the status quo. Cass wants Rapunzel to trust her judgement, she wants Rapunzel to be like she was in S1 when she was naive and turned to Cass for guidance and protection. That isn’t Rapunzel anymore though. Rapunzel is independent now and knows that being the future Queen of Corona means that, while she still needs input from her friends, she has to be the one who makes the final call on what is best for Corona no matter how many disagree. Rapunzel may not fully trust Adira, but she does know that they don’t have many options and that Cass suggestions just aren’t reasonable for the situation.
However, Cass see’s this differently. This isn’t just a spat between friends on the best way to handle a situation, or whether the weird lady is trustworthy. This, to Cass, is about how worthy she is to be heard. Cause I think that Cass, throughout S1 and S2 has tied her self-worth so closely to how people view her and depend on her that having Rapunzel, the one who previously depended on her the most and is her best friend, disagree with her feels like a betrayal of trust. This is only heightened when Rapunzel puts her foot down against Adira leaving, and Cass’s response is to say “yes, your highness.”
Cass see’s a line being drawn between them, one where she’s the Lady in Waiting (which, now that I’m writing this down, wow that title really got a lot of weight to it) and Rapunzel is the Queen, which even realizes her previous concerns in “Beginnings” (S3) about how a princess and a servant could be friends. Cass came to see her and Rapunzel on the same level in S1 and that continued further in S2 because Rapunzel depended on her, but now that that’s changed (as characters do) she feels like she’s loosing her place in the world.
This gets even worse when Rapunzel proceeds to use the Decay Incantation again, despite how much Cass tries to reassure that she can stop the tree with the spear if Rapunzel just trusts her. It’s not just about the danger of the incantation, this SHOULD be Cass’s moment to shine, to take the spotlight that calls her name and prove herself to everybody around her. But Rapunzel is scared for her friends, for Eugene, and, ironically, just can’t afford to wait any longer.
Not only does this episode capture everything about Cassandra’s view and how it’s evolved over time, but it proceeds to beat her into the ground about how her view on the situations are RIGHT.
Cause the real fucked up thing is? Cass has this big, beautiful song about how she wants to shine like a star and claim her moment of glory but something always keeps her in the wings. Normally, in Disney, in the same episode she would get to prove herself and everything will be okay. Not here though.
Cassandra loses every. single. time.
Rapunzel chooses Adira over her. Adira is the one to save Rapunzel the first time. Hector gets the jump on her, and even though she defeats him the second time that just makes things WORSE when he gets controlled by the tree. She tries to get the spear to stop the tree but Rapunzel chooses to use the Incantation. She tries to help Rapunzel and ALMOST LOSES HER ARM!
Cassandra doesn’t get to walk away being reassured that she has nothing to prove, that she is enough. Cassandra walks away being reassured that she isn’t enough and that she’s not the hero of this story, that no matter how hard she tries she will always be pushed aside by someone or something. Something that, in my view, is only made worse when Rapunzel continues to reaffirm that using the Decay Incantation was the best solution; unintentionally feeding into Cassandra’s own self-loathing. The armor she dons at the end becomes a symbolic gesture of her walls coming back up, as a way to keep Rapunzel out and protect herself from future disappointment, as she accepts what clearly is meant to be her fate.
And the thing is, is that if you take this new mentality and go back to Season 1? There’s actually some moments where stuff like this does, repeatedly, happen to Cassandra. When she’s entrusted to taking care of the gopher for Goodwill day, Eugene feeds it the wrong berries making it go crazy. When she goes undercover with Andrew, Rapunzel gets in the way and nearly blows it. When she comes to rescue Rapunzel and the others from Zhan Tiri’s first disciple, she ends up having to be saved while Rapunzel saves herself. In the final battle Varian captures her briefly and she has to be saved by Rapunzel. Even when Rapunzel goes hunting down the old legend of the Demanitus Device (”Queen for a day”) is a good example, because it was such a risky move on Rapunzel’s part but it STILL worked out in her favor.
And she even continues to lose! In The House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow she has to be saved TWICE by Rapunzel, and is unable to save herself.
Cassandra walks away in the Great Tree realizing that it’s Rapunzel who is the most important person in the room, that the story and the spotlight naturally gravitate towards her. Something, we, the audience, aren’t surprised by because the show is about Rapunzel.
Gothel
So this is, admittedly, weird. Because I do have to wonder if it was necessary to make Cassandra Gothel’s daughter at all. Like, I’m fairly certain they had enough material to work with already and could have had Cass flashback to all those S1-S2 moments where Rapunzel was the big hero while Cass was waiting in the wings. Like, it still could have worked for what they were setting up in the finale of S2, Gothel just seems there to add more drama.
Though on the other hand, there are aspects I like. Like how Gothel used Rapunzel’s naivety and defenselessness to keep her in the tower vs. Cassandra using Rapunzel’s naivety and (supposed) defenselessness to define her self-worth. Neither exactly the same or played for the same reasons, but both not good in their own way. I do also like the reveal being the catalyst to Cassandra’s spiral into villainy. She just realized that the world is bending itself to Rapunzel’s feet, that it chooses Rapunzel over her, and now that it’s been going on since she was a child. Like, it’s irrational because we all know Rapunzel didn’t ask for any of this, but it’s that irrationality that makes me enjoy it.
Cassandra never had a movie with her mother. She never got to experience, fully, how terrible Gothel was. She never got to break away and realize that Gothel never loved her. Heck, before the movie, if we tried to tell Rapunzel how horrible Gothel is/was she probably would have become angry and brushed us off. Of course Gothel loved her, Gothel was her mother and the only person she had growing up, she took care of Rapunzel, so of course Gothel loved her. But like I said, Rapunzel got to have her epiphany, while Cassandra’s feelings were repressed so far she made herself forget. Then all those memories come back to her, about how desperate she wanted her mother’s love and how much she clings to even the barest scraps. And then she sees that the Universe couldn’t even give her that. So she takes that anger that’s been building up, that frustration at the world and herself, and places it at Rapunzel’s feet.
The Moonstone, the Line, and the End Results
Cassandra taking the Moonstone is her finally saying “fuck you” and forcing herself into the spotlight. She’s tired of waiting for her moment. Tired of trying to prove herself. Tired of watching Rapunzel be literally lead to her destiny (seriously, watch her expression when the Black Rocks form a bridge over lava for Rapunzel, Cass is so done), something that must clearly be amazing and wonderful because it involves Rapunzel, and decides to take it for herself.
And it works.
When Cassandra takes the Moonstone she gets elevated to the same level of importance as Rapunzel. Whatever this destiny is, now it’s also her destiny. She’s no longer waiting in the wings, watching Rapunzel from a far, instead she’s right there in the thick of it. And on a meta-level, Cassandra moves from being the supporting main character to the Antagonist of the series, and throughout S3 is constantly focused on as having a direct influence on the plot rather than just being an addition.
All of this gets reflected beautifully in her part of the song “Crossing the Line” where she voices how she divided she felt things were between her and Rapunzel despite how much she wanted to be on the same side. Which can be called back to how divided they were in The Great Tree, and how Cass came to realize they may never fully be on equal ground due to their stations (which could be a metaphor for Cass always being off to the side while Rapunzel plays the lead role). She talks about the “opportunities” Rapunzel has been given and how much she’s been denied, in regards to how things just naturally work in Rapunzel’s favor and her great destiny. So, finally, Cassandra has stepped out of the wings and over the line to claim her destiny for herself.
Except, Cassandra has no idea what that destiny is.
Which makes sense because we don’t even know what that destiny is, just that the Moonstone and the Sundrop need to be reunited. We’re as clueless as everyone else. All we know is that there is a destiny.
Because of this, Cassandra ends up claiming what she’s wanted all along, at the cost of her friends, and in the end is left with nothing. The only thing she knows is that the Moonstone is hers and she can’t give it back to Rapunzel, because then it’s just going back to the old ways and stepping back into the wings. I think this is also why things are so complicated for Cassandra through S3, because she was so determined that she was justified that she never stop to consider what was going to happen afterwards.
Enter Zhan Tiri.
It is weird how quickly Cassandra seems to latch onto ghost girl, though it does make some sense at the time.
Cassandra is alone. She’s claimed a destiny she knows nothing about. She finally has what she wants but now has no purpose. Which is why it’s easy to trust Zhan Tiri at first, because she provides answers, tells her how to control the rocks and informs Cassandra about Rapunzel “stealing” the Moonstones power. Which, by the way, has to be a lie given we learn later that Zhan Tiri is trying to keep the Sun and Moon apart. What better way to do that than to play into Cassandra’s anger and issues by saying that the power she’s claimed isn’t fully hers but Rapunzel’s? That once again, Rapunzel (and by extension, fate) has taken something from her?
This gives Cassandra exactly what she needs: motivation. A goal. She needs to reclaim the power that was (ironically) “stolen” from her.
(Which leads to another parallel I just found. Rapunzel makes the trek across the country to find the Moonstone to find her destiny. Cassandra makes the trek back to Corona to claim the Sundrop and complete her destiny).
Zhan Tiri offers kindness and guidance, understanding, first before she starts to push Cassandra towards killing Rapunzel. She plays on Cassandra’s own fears and doubts, into her desire to have a destiny and her fear of being sidelined, continuously building them up in order to keep Cassandra going. All the while setting things up behind the scenes to prove Cassandra’s fears and doubts true.
When Cassandra returns in A Tale of Two Sisters she says, “You were right. Rapunzel did know Gothel loved me.” This implies that they talked about this beforehand, and given Cass ends up at the cottage the same time as Rapunzel? I’m betting Zhan Tiri told Cass that Rapunzel was trying to get rid of any evidence that Gothel loved her. This is why Cassandra says she was informed of “suspicious activity,” why Cassandra has such a negative reaction when the mirror is discovered. This is Zhan Tiri’s plan, a full on set-up.
This is also highlighted in Once a Handmaiden. We know Rapunzel approved Project Obsidian out of necessity, she doesn’t know what Cassandra is willing to do and needs to protect her kingdom. We also see that Obsidian can shatter the black rocks in general, which is pretty useful even if not used against Cassandra. However, Zhan Tiri says Rapunzel approved it to destroy Cassandra. To kill her. Cassandra can’t believe that, because it’s not who Rapunzel is, but she’s smart enough to know just how badly she’s messed everything up. But Zhan Tiri plays on that doubt, that fear, because if Rapunzel did approve Project Obsidian that would show Cassandra that there was no forgiveness, no fixing this.
And Zhan Tiri proves her right. She has Obsidian misfire, encasing Cassandra in Amber which should either have kept her there until freed or destroyed her. In that moment, Cassandra see’s that Zhan Tiri was right: Rapunzel signed off on a weapon to kill her. Whatever Rapunzel is feeling doesn’t matter in that moment, because right then it proves to Cassandra how far she was willing to go to protect herself. To Cassandra, she see’s the last possible bridge between them burning and decides that there’s no way to save it. So she goes forward, and accepts her role as the villain.
Emotions
This reaction, and episode, also perfectly shows the flaws in Cassandra’s character and how they’re a detriment to her recovery. Cassandra can’t talk about her feelings. She has difficulty admitting to being wrong to others. So she acts. She pretends to be Faith in order to gain Rapunzel’s favor and put her in a good mood, but Zhan Tiri calls her out as being scared that Rapunzel will never forgive her. And then when confronted with something she doesn’t like, she can’t take a step back and breath. Her refusal to, ironically, wait keeps her from hearing people out and finding a solution to the problem. To understanding that not everything is as she sees it.
Gothel abandoned her. She’s always fighting to prove herself worthy, and yet she never gets the chance. When she does get the chance, she fails and somebody else has to clean up her mess. She wants to be somebody important but how can she when she has no destiny.
Her response to all this? To lash out. To blame Rapunzel because it’s easier to put that on somebody you love than accept you’ve been dealt a bad hand. And I think that’s why I like this so much. It isn’t fair to Rapunzel, there is no rationality behind it, but it’s so very human.
Fredrick was scared to lose his daughter again after spending 18 years without her, and we understand that fear. But it wasn’t fair to lie to her about the rocks, her destiny, and lock her in the tower “for protection.”
Varian lost his father and felt betrayed, and we understand his anger. But it wasn’t fair to blame Rapunzel for everything and try to kill her and her family.
Tangled shows us, repeatedly, these characters who do have a right to feel hurt, and scared, and betrayed and then proceeds to have them lash out unfairly because that’s what humans do. There doesn’t have to always be a 100% logical reasoning behind our actions, sometimes we take cruel action despite how much it conflicts with who we are or want to be.
I just really like this show and love Cassandra a lot.
(Even if S3 is a bit of a mess).
