This blog is designed to provide updates on my current fanfiction works in progress and also to blog about some of my favourite fandoms such as Star Wars, Doctor Who. Harry Potter, Kingdom Hearts and Tangled!
My contribution to the Cassandra Appreciation Month ➴ ₊˚⚔️˖✴︎
I decided to make this piece for the Cassandra appreciation month as well as pride month. I didn't just wanted to make fanart, I wanted to make an art that summs up what I feel about what is always going on in the Tangled The Series fandom, a reminder of Cassandra's story and her importance to Tangled. The situation that prompted people to create Cassandra Appreciation Month stemmed from someone gaining access to exclusive and rare (and lost media) content from the production of Tangled, but who vehemently refused to show Cassandra's artwork, out of spite for her character. Online pressure eventually made the person relent and post it, but this situation is not new. In the Tangled fandom, it's constantly possible to see people referring to Cassandra as an unofficial character, an "OC" of the series creator, unimportant, or else very hated, misunderstood, with superficial opinions very popular about her arc. In short, she is the target of a lot of hate and is a very misunderstood character.
It could really be a small and irrelevant case if much of this backlash wasn't also accompanied by the invalidation of her queerness. I consider her a very unfairly treated character for many reasons, the first being: because part of the series' production managed to sneak in purposeful queer coding in her arc, right under the noses of right-wing producers, thus changing the shallow message that these producers originally wanted to convey, and I see this as something beautiful. Because of the implicitness of her queer coding, and due to a lack of confirmation from superiors (obviously), the part of the fandom that hates her continues to ignore that this trait is present and highly important to her development. Seeing her story through a queer lens changes all her actions, and because she is an important character to the plot, it affects the entire plot. From the production to the audience's reaction to Cassandra, it's an example of how invalidation is very real, proving that this topic is still taboo. Furthermore, it shows that the existence of this trait in the character causes deliberate erasure, hatred, and complaints among those who are not queer. Cassandra is an important character in Tangled just as much as the other protagonists, and with her, comes the queerness as well, this should not be erased.
There is so much invalidation that the hatred is often times implicit, and those who commit it say it's not because of that. Regardless of all the invalidation, Disney's omission, and right-wing producers who are very loud when saying she's not queer, the series was produced as it was, and for all these reasons, I consider Cassandra a character that should be remembered as a pride icon, and one that was sneaked under the Disney Princesses franchise's nose, by actual queer artists.
✴︎ . 🗡 ⊹ ₊ ⚔︎ 🏹 ‧ ➴ ₊ ˚ ⚔️ ˖ ✴︎
About the artwork:
At first, I wanted to make something simple or inspired by a tarot card, with a more abstract background, but I decided to stick with a style inspired by canvas paintings of the 1700s (the period where Tangled is supposedly set) with a landscape background and a dramatic pose. I know that the colors shouldn't be so saturated then, but I don't mind because it's Disney and it's cute. I'm new to digital art so I'm learning the techniques and I already don't usually draw backgrounds, so sorry if it looks a little wonky.
This is the first time I draw her in digital and I loved translating her to my style with the right tools. Her features look just the way I wanted, I'm so happy with the result!! I will make more art of her, probably ones that aren't so meaningful, but I will.
The whole art is covered in symbolism and nods to her character arc. It would be a really fun game if you tried to find out and told me about you guesses.
✴︎ . 🗡 ⊹ ₊ ⚔︎ 🏹 ‧ ➴ ₊ ˚ ⚔️ ˖ ✴︎
Pictures of the process:
haha I just sent the last one to my friend. it's not organized to be "aeathetic" but I find it cute.
✴︎ . 🗡 ⊹ ₊ ⚔︎ 🏹 ‧ ➴ ₊ ˚ ⚔️ ˖ ✴︎
Meaning / symbolism:
I can never be non-chalant, I'm overly-chalant, so I'll explain the choices to make everything clear (don't read this if you're trying to find out):
Cassandra is kneeling down on the ground, a nod to her position in the cast throughout the whole show, she seems determined and honoured but not exactly happy. Her sword is piercing the ground; interpret that however you want. She is holding her sword with her right arm, the one who was burnt, and by the blade instead of the handle, meaning she holds it together even when she might get hurt (like in her friendship with Rapunzel). She is wearing the captain of the guard uniform, a nod to her dream of being part of the guard but that didn't come true; In paintings from the 1700s, it was common for people in positions of power to have paintings portraying them in clothes that represented that power, so if she ever had the chance to be part of the guard (in this case, the captain) she could have gotten a painting like this, but that was never the case. Besides, her father is the capitain, and using that uniform represents her wish to prove her value to him. She is proudly wearing a lesbian flag as a cape, because I was tired of implicity; this is part of her character. She is widely accepted as a lesbian so don't bother me about that.
Cassandra is in front of a lagoon in the forest, that is meant to represent the lost lagoon (even though I imagine it a little different but nothing in this art was meant to be accurate). The lost lagoon is a Tangled The Series novel that is considering not canon, but canon-compliant, and that adds a lot of depth to Cassandra's and Rapunzel's relationship, along with tons of queer coding (another reason of why it's hated by the extreme New Dream lovers who also hate Cass), another important part of her story that is constantly dismissed. Around the lagoon, there is a stone slab broken in two which is also a reference to the vows in the lost lagoon.
Around the lagoon there's some yellow flowers that are vaguely similar to the Sundrop flower, that started all this (the story of Tangled). The blue little flowers on top of the cascade at the right are a reference to the episode "Rapunzel Day 1". The white flowers at the left are a reference to the flower Rapunzel wears in her hair. Actually, most of the flowers reference how Rapunzel is everywhere in the story, even when the protagonist of the painting is Cassandra... everything around Cassandra is also about Rapunzel. Flowers are also a common thing in Corona. At the top of the image, you can see in the trees the style of vines Rapunzel always paint. At the right there is another flower that resembles the Sundrop flower, next to it there's a brown flower, representing Eugene. On the other side there is a big blue/purple flower that I always use as a sticker in my Tangled inspired edits, that I put here to symbolize Cassandra, and there's a little blue flower next to her that is just a little reference to my OC Vivianne, but it's so implicit, it's personal. Them being in opposite sides have a very self-explanatory meaning, but Rapunzel's vines and flowers are all around everything. Around her feet, there are pink flowers at one side and blue flowers at the other, representing her and Rapunzel (the blue ones can also be a little reference to Vivianne but it's more about Cassandra). There are few black rocks hidden in the landscape, a reminder of Cassandra's mistakes; they could take the beauty of the painting, but they don't.
In front of her feet, the ribbon she used to wear around her neck as a lady in waiting lays on the ground, and at the bottom of the painting, she is surrounded by violets, flowers that are considered a symbol of sapphism and queer-coding in history because the poet Sappho mentioned them in her poetry about women. Some of the petals are down and a flower was plucked.
Far in the sky, the moon can be seen in the daylight, Owl is flying above Corona, and the little smudge on the bridge represents Fidella. Arguably, her distance to the castle and closeness to the forest and facing away from the kingdom could also mean something, but I didn't exactly had this in mind when I was drawing...
The writing on the "canvas" is unnatural for a 1700s inspired painting, as if someone had vandalized it and written over it (I wonder who it is) as a scream for validation. It's common for historical paintings to be filled with symbolism that tells stories, many of them have to be interpreted, read and understood, but the writing shows a wish to stop being implicit and vague. Caligraphy was really important at that time so it wouldn't be writen in a punk way or in spray paint.
✴︎ . 🗡 ⊹ ₊ ⚔︎ 🏹 ‧ ➴ ₊ ˚ ⚔️ ˖ ✴︎
Final considerations:
I couldn't do most of the Cassandra appreciation month prompts because I was busy working on this and dealing with personal life, but I hope this makes up for all the times I missed the prompts. I really wanted to pay a meaningful homage not only to her but to as a criticism to the whole discourse that surrounds her and is caused by real-life problems. Characters are not just characters, they're symbols, have you ever heard the saying "life imitates art"?
Thank you for waiting for the art (if you're one of the people who supported me through the painting process), and this was my love letter to Cassandra!! Happy pride month and thank you fandom for making a Cassandra appreciation month.
Today, please post your final thoughts on anything to do with Cassandra, what did you enjoyed most about this month?, would you like to do this again or would you like a yearly appreciation week?
I want to thank each and everyone of you for all your contributions for this month! It has been fantastic running this event! And I really hope you all enjoyed the last month!
I would love to do this again. I think a yearly appreciation week would be great too. It's my pleasure to be a part of this wonderful month.
I raised it yesterday too, but maybe part of a future event could also be creating a fanfic/fanart prompting event possibly like those posted on fandom events, @fanwork-exchange-promos, @femslashfandomevents, or @femslashevents, plus those promoted on the fanfiction exchange subreddit which I used to frequent last year, to give a few examples. Just throwing that idea out there. It may be a bit of a heavy lift, but if needed, I'd be happy to help with that. It could be another way to share the love/appreciation for Cass.
Apart from that, your contributions this month, and hosting this has really inspired me to write another story with Cass. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I can say it will probably be a crossover of some kind. Thanks to everyone who participated and to @the-writer1988 for hosting this wonderful event/month.
So, I’ve recently got into TADC and my favourite is Pomni. Of course, I had to drag Cass into this! 🙂↔️ when your special interest and your hyper fixation are fighting, bring them together!
Thank you so much for hosting Cassandra Appreciation Month @the-writer1988, it’s been incredible!!! Amazing contributions to everyone involved ❤️❤️
A special thank you to @the-writer1988 for making all of this possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was really fun to read everyone’s fanfics and see all the fanart!
Does anyone have a favorite outfit that Cassandra wore?? (I really love her winter fit, her red and grey fit, and her finale fit)
⬇️This is a random Cassandra Amv/tribute I made back in March I believe. (I’m not a pro at CapCut) The song’s called “The Call” by Regina Spektor, it’s from the Prince Caspian Narnia movie.
I’m not trying to ship Cassandra with anyone in this Amv, just showing her relationship with the cast and how they brightened her life.
I’m afraid the intro’s long, but I thought it’d be cool to share it.
The fanart at the end is by @chiscribbs on here! https://www.tumblr.com/chiscribbs/621051567892742144/finally-able-to-post-this-woohoo-i-had-the?source=share (Don’t search first if you’re going to watch the Amv, it sorta spoils the ending)
I hope you enjoy it should you choose to watch it!
Cassandra memes from Pinterest:
Some fun screenshots:
This month was a blast, I really enjoyed it! I can’t believe it’s really over…
I've been grateful for this month for a number of reasons.
First, the excellent contributions by @nerdasaurus1200, @twotangledsisters, @stanleytherex, @flossy2003, @frozenwolftemplar and many others. I've enjoyed your art, your fics and your discussion posts. And I love how nice and supportive you've all been.
This month has also been helpful for me. I've been dealing with a lot, including poor health (both physical and mental) and filling out these prompts has been good motivation for me to actually get up and do something. The fic prompts were particularly helpful in this regard. There was so much I couldn't do, that was out of my control, but I sure could write something. Thank you so much for that.
It was also really nice to spend time celebrating Cass and revisiting all these aspects of her character.
Thank you so much @the-writer1988 for making this possible!
Oh man, last day you guys...I won't lie, I've been putting this off all day cause I don't want it to be over XD
I wanna give a big shoutout to everyone who participated. @majorabbey @twotangledsisters @flossy2003 @jy4stine @lefemmerougewriter @stanleytherex @sparkycanteven @frozenwolftemplar and so many more. You guys are awesome, you're troopers, you create such wonderful content and you are the greatest blessings to this fandom.
And a massive MASSIVE thank you to @the-writer1988 for putting this whole thing on, it was such a fun way to spend the month. Not that I ever really left but this...this has really gotten me back into the show. And it's reminded me how much I love the show and how much I love Cassandra as a character.
And at the risk of sounding cheesy, I love that this is what we chose to do. The artbook issue could've been another thing but instead we all came together and chose to let it unite us in the love of something. And I just think that's really beautiful.
Today, please post your final thoughts on anything to do with Cassandra, what did you enjoyed most about this month?, would you like to do this again or would you like a yearly appreciation week?
I want to thank each and everyone of you for all your contributions for this month! It has been fantastic running this event! And I really hope you all enjoyed the last month!
Well, that's a bit of a long story, and it starts with this image:
Well, not this exact image, but it was definitely this page.
You see, prior to this, all we knew about Cassandra was that she was a "tough as nails handmaiden" who'd be joining the Tangled cast for the series. There was a shot from the TBEA trailer featuring a woman who would turn out to be her, but we didn't know that for sure. These things intrigued me, but that was as far as it went until the TBEA novelization came out. Someone took some photos of the contents, and this page was one of them.
Now, she was the kind of character who would intrigue me. Lady with a sword? Check. Similar sense of style to myself? Check. An owl? (I love owls.) Okay. I'm sold. But what really got my attention was this:
"The daughter of the captain of the guard, she is a skilled fighter who dreams of joining the royal guard."
Anyone who's followed this blog for a long time knows how fond I am of the Captain. He's been a special interest of mine since I saw the movie (back in 2011), one that got me through one of the worst times of my life, and during that time I came up with a lot of headcanons about him. A lot of them involved his family. In fact, writing about said family was also helpful during that time. And this lady I already liked the look of was also going to be his family? Well, she was going to be part of the special interest now. It wasn't just a case of "oh, this character looks cool" anymore. It was more like "I want to know as much about this character as I possibly can."
I can't tell you how that works with other people, even other autistic people, but I can tell you how it works for me. It involves taking a close look at The Character. Not just what they say, but how they say it, why they make the choices they make. My brain just homes in on this stuff naturally. That's what it did with Cass.
And I loved what I saw.
Cass resonated with me, not just because of the cool aesthetic or the family connections but because, out of the main cast, I felt like we had the most in common. I tended to be the serious one in the group; Cass's behaviour in "Freebird" being one example. I've felt like I've had to work twice as hard for what I wanted, and while I didn't like it, I accepted it as the way of the world. I knew what it was like to not feel comfortable discussing certain things. I didn't think she was perfect, but I liked that about her as well. None of the characters I love are perfect. I could see why other people disliked her, particularly regarding her treatment of Eugene (the earliest Cassandra Discourse tended to be about that and/or her sexuality), but I loved her. I still found her intriguing, but now it was about what her history was and whether or not she'd become a guard. She even managed to fit in remarkably well with the aforementioned headcanons; her existence even inspired me to take a closer look at other Cap family members to see how they'd interact with her. (Pretty early on, I had a whole story about her being Cap's illegitimate daughter by his first girlfriend. When we learned she was adopted, I scrapped it; kept the girlfriend, though.)
By the time we got to season 3... well, I've said my piece on S3 before, but no matter what issues I had with it, the writing never managed to put me off Cass as a character. I got annoyed with her storyline at times, but I still loved her. And there were parts of her villain arc I liked. My memories of the show aren't always good ones, but Cass is still a character I love. Even Chris couldn't ruin her for me. Not least because we've taken her from him.
So, that's my story. Cass went from being an intriguing character to one of my favourites in the series (second only to her father, in fact). And the examples I included are just some of the reasons I love her. I'm still finding new ones whenever I revisit this series. Whether it's a particularly funny line, or a relatable moment (sometimes a brand new one; when I was in hospital, unable to walk, Cass's arm injury hit home in a way it never had before), Cass is a character I keep coming back to. And that's fine by me.
Cassandra Appreciation Month Day 27! Tagging @the-writer1988
Why I love Cassandra...
Honestly I love her mental struggles most of all. As messy as it is in season 3, it's nice to see a character with trauma that they never really move past.
So many times in media we treat trauma, especially childhood trauma, as this kind of character arc where you go through some rough lessons and face your abuser and then you're "cured" and you're never a villain. Heck Rapunzel herself is a peak example of that.
But Cassandra lets her trauma rule her for a good long while, it's controlled her life and shaped her personality as an adult in ways that she never even realized. And though it's a flawed character arc in terms of writing it definitely feels a lot more realistic. Because in real life childhood trauma isn't something you just get over in a few episodes.
And even beyond the trauma, even women in general in media are so rarely allowed to be mad the way Cassandra is mad. I genuinely think that's really cool that Cassandra doesn't shy away from her anger.
- She’s very human. She has flaws, she can be relatable and she can make mistakes. She’s more nuanced and complex than a lot of other animated children’s characters I’ve seen and I think that’s really important.
- She’s a very kind, compassionate person with a heart of gold hidden behind her tough exterior and her kind side is my favourite side of her 🥺
- She can be so sweet and adorable (I GOTTA ADMIT THAT’S INSANELY CUUUUUTTTEEEE!)
- She can be so goofy sometimes and I really hope she embraced that side of her after the series. Especially since Rapunzel said that Cassandra’s laugh shows the real her 🥰
- Eden Espinosa is very talented and clearly had a blast voicing Cass. Cass wouldn’t be Cass without her, honestly!
- Her design is GORGEOUS. NO NOTES, THAT’S STRAIGHT UP FACT 👏
- She’s a great character to write fanfiction for 🤭
- She has some of the best songs in the series
- She has great banter with Eugene
- She can be such a cutie patootie (she would HATE me saying that 😂)
Weirdly, I started off not really loving Cass when I first saw the show. I was more confused by her presence because I was just expecting Rapunzel and Eugene. That all disappeared after pilot movie!
I was desperate for a Cass doll when it first came out and got the mini handmaden doll. Fast forward nearly ten years later and I have a whole load of Cass merch!
I thought I'd pen a response to a post by @the-writer1988 who has done a great job hosting Cassandra Appreciation Month. I've been a big fan of Cassandra "Cass" for a while. In fact, I was for many years, the main/key moderator of the /r/cassunzel subreddit, before the Reddit admins perma-banned me (that's a whole other story), which remains active to this day! Anyway, let me get to the question:
WHY DO YOU LOVE CASSANDRA?
I would say I like her character because for one, what she goes through is very relatable. Her strong bond with Rapunzel "Raps," the arguable queer subtext between both of them, and how much they care about each other through everything, even when Cass is being influenced by Zhan Tiri and is a villain-of-sorts (even having a page on villains wiki with a lot of assumptions about her "crimes"), tapping into her insecurities and trauma, causing her to see Rapunzel as her enemy.
I differ a little from stanleytherex said earlier today, in that I don't have some big origin story for when I started loving Cass, but it was probably some time around September 2020 when I created /r/cassunzel. I even watched the entire series in Italian before I went to Italy in 2023 (it didn't really help with my Italian funny enough). Anyway, at that time, I had been watching Steven Universe, The Owl House, Final Space, and SPOP at the time, so that certainly influenced what I thought about Cass. I was drawn to her character due to the singing and what she was going through, although I did enjoy Rapunzel's character, and Eugene to an extent (although less so after the awful political views of his voice actor). The whole series was done so well and it really clicked with me.
That only strengthened over the years as I watched more and more animated series, relating as much to her as I did to some of my other favorite female characters like Shego (from Kim Possible), Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (from Phineas and Ferb), and Marceline the Vampire Queen (from Adventure Time). Different from all of them, I found her captivating in a unique way, including her singing voice of course. Eden Espinosa is such a talented singer and voice actress. It's funny because she also voices some other characters in series I like such as Elena of Avalor (Orizoba) who has some similarities to Cass in certain ways, but not in many others, as Cass is a unique character and of herself.
Like stanleytherex, her sassiness, cool action lines, humor, and everything was great, with Espinosa giving her a heart and soul, and her amazing skills, and how she grows over the course of the series. She cares about Raps deeply and not, at all, heartless. Surely, stanleytherex has a point that she is flawed and can be icy at times, but who isn't? I would add that while you can certainly say that season 3 could have been written better, considering the number of episodes from that season seems like it was cut from the original order (I think by a few episodes), she is still such an iconic character.
As the years went on and I watched more and more Western animation and anime, I came up with some out-there crossovers, and I've written, to date, eleven fics with Cass, including a number which are set post-canon. I wanted to give her a happy ending of sorts, differing from what we got in the series finale. I had her meet the iconic catgirl Catra in one of my favorite stories I've ever written and the just-as-iconic Latine international thief, Carmen Sandiego, in another. One of my most ambitious ones was a four-chapter story where Cass returns to Corona one year later as a space pirate, with a girlfriend in tow, and meets Raps once more, saving them from an invisible virus (the equivalent of COVID-19 in their world). I love all my stories with Cass and would never replace her with any other character.
I don't have much more to say than what I've already said so far, but I will say that I'm not going to stop loving Cass, as a character, any time soon. In fact this whole appreciation month is inspiring me to write about her character again in a fic, or making some more silly fanart or memes. Cass is way better than any of the other Cassandra characters out there. To all fans of Cass out there, it has been great to have this appreciation event (thanks to the-writer1988 for pulling this all together), and to see all your views on her character.
I really hope that there are future events in the future, perhaps even a Cass-themed fic/fanart challenge for AO3 and Squidge World? (just throwing that idea out there). Cass is more important than ever with the animation industry in a bad state right now and companies pulling back on queer representation, even when it is needed most to get everyone through an awful period. So, I hope that the appreciation and love for Cass continues for years to come, no matter what happens.
In part of “Cassandra Appreciation Month”, it is time to ask myself this question: Why do I love Cassandra?
This is the kind of question that I would never expect to think about. After thinking it over, I have my reasons that I'm ready to share. But before I do that, I want to dive way back into how Cassandra became my favorite Tangled character in the first place. This post will be a very long read, so I hope you guys won't mind about that. With that being said, let's dive into this mega post!
When did my love for Cassandra start? - It was over five years ago((In 2021)) when I decided to watch the Tangled TV series for the first time. Back then, I used to like watching Disney content at least once every month that lasted for several years. When I was thinking about what Disney show that I wanted to check out next, I saw the interesting stuff when people talked about how good the Tangled TV series is as it caught my curiosity. So, I’ve binge-watched the whole show that took me about five days to complete.
As I watched the series during my first viewing, I was impressed with how well it expands the world following the events of the Tangled movie. I was also surprised that I had some great laughs with it, the animation was done well, and it also has some really strong musical numbers that feels as if I’m watching a real Disney animated studio film. Most of the characters as well I enjoyed watching such as Rapunzel’s character growth and fun personality, Eugene’s sense of humor, and Max being one of the most awesome horses ever! But out of every character from this show, there was one that stood out for me the most, and that would be this amazing woman…
When I first saw Cassandra, it took me a while to start liking her. It was likely during the “Cassandra vs Eugene” episode where my interest with her started to grow. There was something about Cass’ traits that I found quite captivating, but I couldn't fully picture it yet. As I watched more episodes with her major involvement, I was liking her more and more. But it wasn't until she sang “Waiting in the Wings” is where Cassandra suddenly became one of my new favorite Disney characters. Her voice sounded so emotionally beautiful during the whole musical scene, and the way she sings it in such a very heartbreaking way seriously moved me. That was when I started to love Cassandra so much!🥰
Why do I love Cassandra? - The first reason why I love Cassandra is what drawed me into liking her to begin with, and that'll be her voice. Whatever it’ll be through her sassy attitude, delivering cool action lines, having an emotional moment, and even singing any lyrics, Cass sounds very one of a kind with every dialogue. Her voice is just generally so beautiful to listen to! Eden Espinosa has done such a brilliant job in not only giving Cass a heart, but also embracing her soul as well.💖
I also love how savage her sense of humor can be too. Especially in her interactions with Eugene. Probably my absolute favorite insult quote she ever said to him comes from “Mirror, Mirror”. Eugene is keeping up with his looks in a mirror, and when Cass notices, she saids; “Seeking of awful, I see you're looking at yourself, AGAIN, pretty boy!” Not only was that line so humorous, but that facial expression she did while saying it is super priceless! Watching her delivering those kind of insults all just for her own personal pleasure is so awesomely hilarious!😂
There are so many other major traits from Cassandra that I can go on about such as her amazing action skills, love for animals, relatability, and character growth. However, this might be a very biased opinion, there is one about her that truly makes Cass my favorite character…
The most important reason why I love Cassandra so much is because of her heart! She doesn't show it pretty often, but there's something about Cass' heart that feels so genuine.
One example comes from “Free Bird” where Rapunzel used the last unhatched egg to turn Cass back to normal while sacrificing herself in becoming a full bird brain for life. Cassandra gets devastated when she learns of what her best friend has done for her and mourns in believing that Rapunzel is gone forever. But by a huge miracle, a peacock Shorty lets out a spare egg that Cass uses in hoping it'll bring her friend back. And when Raps became normal again, Cass has one of the biggest joys on her face as she runs over to hug her friend. I love this scene so much because it shows Cassandra letting her heart speak during those emotional moments in the most impactful way. It demonstrates how much she truly views Rapunzel as that best friend. So as she sees her princess friend back in being human, Cass has her heart to fully embrace that happiness return that means so hugely to her.
And one more scene that also highlights Cassandra’s heart so beautifully comes from “Plus Est En Vous part 3”. Before heading off for that destiny quest, she has her final goodbyes to her friends and father. During each farewell, Cass does it heart to heart with those that she loves most. Especially in that last hug between her and Rapunzel that is so emotionally touching to see. And in this screenshot of Cassandra as she smiles towards her sisterly-like figure and says; “I love you, Raps.” This is Cass at her most heartfelt, and it’ll always give me a great warmth within my own heart every time I watch it.❤️
These scenes powerfully show that Cassandra is not at all a heartless person. She may have her flaws and icy moments throughout the series, but she is more than capable of displaying what a very caring character she can be. That strong heart inside her is why I’ll continue to love Cassandra as one of my most favorite Disney characters of all time!
And that will conclude this very long post! To anyone that has read the whole post, thank you so much for reading through all on what I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed it! To all Cass fans out there, this has been a phenomenal appreciation event in being able to share my love for Cassandra with you all. And once more to “the-writer1988”, thank you very much for hosting this month-long event. May the appreciation and love for Cassandra continue on for many more years to come as I’ll do so myself. Take care! ⚔️🦉💚
I have one more drawing to show in part for “Cassandra Appreciation Month”. Here’s a chibi Cass taking part in celebrating pride month! Although it’s never said on what identity she views herself as, I could likely see Cassandra as a lesbian due to the strong feelings she has towards Rapunzel. I also would imagine that she’ll be a huge supporter for gay rights if she lives in the modern world today. And her appearance is based from how she is shown from Disney’s Chibi Tiny Tales where Cassandra actually does appear in one of the Tangled shorts as you can see here.
I figured why not show some appreciation of her chibi appearance as well since she was so cute in that short.🥰
Zan Tiri manipulated Cass in a similar way to how Gothel manipulated Rapunzel!!!
In tangled, Gothel makes it seem like Eugene never cared about Rapunzel and that she’s the one who wants what’s best for her. Rapunzel runs to hug Gothel crying “You were right about everything Mother!”
At the end of Tale of Two Sisters, after Zan Tiri makes it seem like Rapunzel was deliberately hiding the truth from Cass, she returns to her tower and tells Zan Tiri, “You were right…” she also re-iterates it in Once a Handmaiden after Zan Tiri manipulates the situation again, “Zan Tiri was right!”
Story parallels:
-Gothel tells Rapunzel that the outside world is dangerous.
-Zan Tiri tells Cassandra that she can’t escape from who she is.
(They both leave their respective towers)
-Both Gothel and Zan Tiri re-confront Rapunzel and Cassandra to re-iterate their point and say that Eugene and Rapunzel don’t care about them and will end up turning against them.
-Both Gothel and Zan Tiri orchestrate events to appear like Eugene traded Rapunzel and that there’s no chance for redemption on Cass’ part. (‘They want her dead’)
(Both end with you were right and have “now I’m the bad guy”)
Why did Cassandra not realise she was the bad guy? What part of her previous actions made her believe she was the good guy?
She believed initially that she was justified in forcefully taking what she felt she deserved.
I believe she had like this mindset of “I played the role of a servant, letting everyone (especially the royals) use me for their own benefit and the second I stop following what the higher-ups want, I get labeled as the bad guy!”
Did she feel sad and upset that the revelation her Mother never really loved her?
Yes. She’d been desperately trying to humanize her mom (in response to the manipulation she’d gotten as a kid). In Tale of Two sisters, she was constantly bombarded with evidence that her mom was horrible and was on the verge of accepting it as true, but as soon as she finds the mirror with alleged evidence that her mom had a shred of affection for her, she latches onto it, hard.
We see her happier than we’ve seen her all season at the beginning of Once a handmaiden. I think it’s because one of the things she’d been craving this whole time, her mother’s affection, had been granted to her. She literally carrying it around everywhere with her!
It makes me so sad that as a child, all she wanted from her mom was the bare minimum, one glance, one touch. And even as an adult, she was still fulfilled with a shred of affection.
Why is Cassandra so surprised that she is attacked by Corona guards at her identity being exposed? Surely she should be more understanding since she has, perhaps, realised, she is the villain?
Ah yes, the topic everyone gets heated about. I think it’s a mix of things:
why is she so surprised?
-Rapunzel has been constantly repeating in this episode that she believes Cassandra can be redeemed and that she still cares about her, that’s what finally convinces Cass that it’d be safe to reveal herself. -Cass got the short end of the stick, she only knew what ZT wanted her to. From her perspective, Rapunzel and the people are unleashing the planned attack to destroy her.
Shouldn’t she understand?
At first, Cassandra seems to only attack with blunt rocks in her definition of self defense, she only attacks when they get close while attempting to talk to Rapunzel, but yeah, she could’ve been more understanding.
Why did Cassandra not believe Varian's attack on her was not his fault considering his reaction to it?
It almost appears that the amber is potentially sound-proof…. Rapunzel calls to Varian and he responds that it malfunctioned but Cassandra continues like that exchange meant nothing to her. What if she couldn’t hear it?
She could’ve read potentially read their expressions, but by now Zan Tiri’s words had already taken effect. She was the villain in Corona’s story. There was no running from who she was, she’d play the villain if that what they wanted.
Why did Cassandra lose hope so quickly when the Moonstone was removed from her by Zhan Tiri?
I think the moonstone armor gave Cassandra confidence and the moonstone itself was honestly the only thing she had left. She’d lost all her friends and Zan Tiri’s support, and now she’d lost everything. She traded everything she had for the foolish notion that she could be more than everyone thought. I don’t even know if she views life as worth living anymore.
Do you think Cassandra was surprised by how accepting both Rapunzel and Eugene were with her at the end? First with Rapunzel's words to her when they were trapped together and then by Eugene's inclusion of her in their hug?
Definitely, you can see right before Eugene pulls her into the hug, she seems to regret that she’d decided to throw this away but understands that it’s lost, she prepares to walk away when Eugene offers his hand and you know the rest.❤️
Do you think it was an easy decision for Cassandra to leave at the end and Where do you think Cassandra went first after leaving Corona?
I’m honestly not sure, this has always been something I’m not sure about, I’m excited to hear other ppl’s theories. I think it’s be sweet if she was able to find a good mother figure out there somewhere.
I think she stayed in Corona for a bit and maybe helped rebuild it. Rapunzel’s the kind of person who’d save the castle for last, the land outside looks pretty happy.
Cassandra’s arc wasn’t that well written in some parts, but it’s not horrible either, just weak in a few areas.
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