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YMMV / Tangled: The Series

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YMMV tropes for the Tangled: The Series series

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    # - E 
  • Abandon Shipping:
    • Many fans who shipped Varian and Cassandra jumped ship following the Season 1 finale where he outright tries to murder her, all the while making a sick joke about it. Cassandra's own betrayal at the end of "Destinies Collide" made some fans hope the two would become a villain couple opposing Rapunzel, but Varian reforming in "Rapunzel's Return" quickly debunked that possibility.
    • Cassandra and Rapunzel had a lot of people jump ship after the events of Season 3 due to Cassandra's turn to evil, The Reveal that she was Gothel's biological daughter, meaning that, in a way, the two are sisters, and Cassandra attempting to murder Rapunzel multiple times.
  • Adorkable: Varian. It's one of his defining characteristics.
    • Attempts a dramatic entrance when Rapunzel and Cassandra come to see him, and he's also a fan of the books that inspired Flynn's name.
    • In "Great Expotations", his Precocious Crush on Cassandra is shown to be positively endearing.
    • In "Queen for a Day", he breaks into a little Happy Dance when his father agrees to let him come along to see King Frederic.
    • Even while manipulating Rapunzel, he still has time to be fascinated over the automaton (the guardian of Corona castle's vault, located in Der Soone's tunnels) and marvel over it.
    • In Season 3, the goatee Varian supposedly grew out when he was in prison is actually drawn on, likely since he thought he would look cooler. Lance easily rubs it off when he and Rapunzel are rescued.
    • In "Be Very Afraid", he fawns over the Demanitus Chamber and Lord Demanitus himself.
    • In "Cassandra's Revenge", while alone with Ruddiger in the Demanitus Chamber, he hosts a "metal contest" and becomes stuck over steel and iron, all while doing an over-the-top performance and a drumroll.
    • In "Plus Est en Vous", when Rapunzel solves Demanitus' riddle and uses fire to open a gateway at his tomb, Varian displays what is possibly the most adorable smile that has ever existed in the universe.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Does Varian actually have a case of Never My Fault, or does he know it's his fault, but blames it on Rapunzel in order to cope with his pain? Season 3 heavily implies it was the latter.
    • Why did Eugene ditch Stalyan at the wedding? Was it because of Stalyan being controlling of him? Or was it due to Flynn Rider's usual selfishness? At the time he was in a relationship with her, he never cared about others' feelings and he's betrayed a lot of people like it was nobody's business. Or was it a bit of both?
    • Cassandra is definitely an interesting individual for a multitude of reasons:
      • Given Cassandra's song "Waiting In The Wings", from "Rapunzel And The Great Tree", one has to wonder her true intentions of hanging out with Rapunzel and being seen as a hero. Is it out of genuine altruism and kindness, or is it all about inflating her ego so that she can be seen as superior? Both have a lot of evidence.
      • Speaking of the above, why did Cassandra betray Rapunzel? While her character did undergo a turn for the worse after her experience in the mysterious door in "Rapunzeltopia", there have been various hints throughout the series that Cassandra was not as altruistic in her intentions even back in Season 1. Her actions such as sabotaging Rapunzel's chances in winning in "Challenge of the Brave" even though it could put her in danger, and her willingness to murder the collectors when it seemed like Rapunzel's transformation was permanent, all showcase a darker side in Cassandra's intentions. Plus, when she grabs the moonstone, she says "This is my destiny" . Did her experiences behind the door really change her, or was it merely a push over the edge?
      • Is Cassandra a lesbian, or at least bisexual? Does she have romantic feelings for Rapunzel? Anytime she's involved with romance, whether for laughs or for story reasons, she generally turns down the guys, and has a lot of touchy feely moments with Rapunzel that are laced with romantic subtext, particularly in "Freebird". One of her lines in "Crossing the Line" also declares she and Rapunzel "over" as if they were a couple. This would cast her dislike of Eugene in a slightly different light as well.
      • There are some who have questioned the sincerity of Cassandra's Heel–Face Turn in the series finale. She does have a My God, What Have I Done? moment, breaks down into Tears of Remorse, and even defeats Zhan Tiri alongside Rapunzel, but this only happens after Zhan Tiri had already depowered her, given her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and imprisoned her alongside Rapunzel. In other words, had this not happened, Cassandra would've stolen the Sundrop as she had wanted. In Cassandra's defense, she does look guilty when Rapunzel and Eugene are hugging, as though she feels she doesn't deserve to be a part of it.
      • Was Cassandra's Heel–Face Turn in "Plus Est En Vous merely based on losing the moonstone or was it because Rapunzel finally reached through to her? Though, seeing as Cassandra broke down after losing her powers, it speaks to Rapunzel's encouraging words that lifted her up again.
      • Cassandra's decision to leave Corona. Was it because she wanted to find her own destiny, or because the people (minus Rapunzel, Eugene, and the Captain) didn't forgive her for her actions? Or both? Furthermore, was this a decision she was allowed to make herself, or had she been exiled from the kingdom as punishment?
      • Were Cassandra and Rapunzel ever really friends, or was Rapunzel just so lonely for a best friend she latched onto the first woman her own age to ever be part of her life?note  Season 1 shows her forcing herself into Cassandra's life on more than one occasion. It's mentioned that when they first met, Rapunzel spent weeks trying to treat Cassandra as a friend despite Cassandra's repeated objections. Given how Rapunzel's family employs both her and her father, and King Frederic's overprotective nature, it's likely Cassandra felt pressured to go along with it despite Rapunzel not intending this. By Season 3, Rapunzel is still insisting Cassandra is her friend despite Cassandra's multiple murder attempts, to the point she objects to Eugene and Varian building a nonlethal weapon to defend against Cassandra. The person Rapunzel believes Cassandra to be is not the same person anyone else sees.
    • Gothel.
      • Retroactively, some speculate that before the movie's events, she could have uprooted the Sundrop flower to hide it from everyone, but she knew the consequences of removing the flower from the ground and wouldn't put the land at risk.
      • Following the flashback at the premiere of Season 3, some fans have wondered at the exact motivation behind Gothel's actions in abandoning Cassandra. Did she go back to the cottage intending to pick up Cassandra, only to realize that doing so would get her caught by the guards right on her tail? Or did she intentionally lead the guards to her cottage, hence hiding and allowing them to reach it before her? If it was intentional, was it purely so she could trap them and cover her escape? Or did she want them to discover her daughter, knowing they would take care of her in her own absence? Gothel's behavior as a mother to Cassandra makes the latter unlikely, but not impossible to read in the ambiguity of the scene.
      • What makes Gothel's intentions and feelings murkier is that for a moment, she seemed to hesitate as she looked across the bridge and at Cassandra, before looking down at the infant Rapunzel and seemingly hardening her resolve. And even then, she didn't even cut down the bridge until Cassandra had unwittingly alerted her position. Is it possible, that despite her selfishness outweighing whatever she may feel for her daughter, that she was feeling guilt in that moment?
    • Zhan Tiri introduces herself to Cassandra and Varian with the same phrase: "A friend... or at least I'd like to be". However, she does it to Cassandra in a soothing, friendly manner, whereas with Varian she does it in an insane, creepy manner. Is it just because she sees them differently and has differing uses for them? Or is it because Cassandra reminds her of herself, yet Varian reminds her of her old friend Demanitus (especially with them both being skilled inventors), which in turn influences the way she presents herself to them?
      • Furthermore, considering "Race to the Spire" reveals that she was the blizzard from "Queen for a Day", this makes it likely she knew about Varian's desire to make his father proud. With this in mind, was part of the reason she chose to mind control the Brotherhood because she wanted to tear apart Varian and Quirin, in hopes of making the former suffer?
  • Angst Aversion: The more bleak scenarios presented have made things a bit too hard to watch due to the sheer amount of torture the characters go through, or with how swift the rug is pulled from under our main characters, particularly in "The Quest For Varian", "The Alchemist Returns", "Rapunzel and the Great Tree", and the last few minutes of "Queen For A Day" and "Destinies Collide".
  • Angst? What Angst?: In the series finale, the characters are clearly quite fine despite the sheer amount of destruction brought to Corona (which, to be fair, had likely been repaired), not to mention Zhan Tiri nearly succeeding in killing everyone in the kingdom. Additionally, Cassandra being allowed to leave and find her destiny was seen by a lot of people as her being an Easily Forgiven Karma Houdini, with all the damage she did whilst under the influence of Zhan Tiri being almost entirely unadressed.
  • Arc Fatigue:
    • The entire plot with the black rocks, which had dragged on since the start of Season 1, has begun to grate on some fans. It only took until the season finale for some resolution to the mystery of the black rocks to be unveiled only for it to continue on in Season 2. Not helping matters is that Season 2 becomes bogged down by the gang being stranded on an island, and then went on a lengthy hiatus immediately afterward. This is another Broken Base issue, as other fans argue that the black rocks plot is the entire show's Myth Arc as opposed to a simple story arc, and that expecting it to be over quickly is a tad nonsensical.
    • A common complaint that's lodged at the third season is that the arc involving Cassandra's Face–Heel Turn is simultaneously rushed and overly drawn out. The season premiere, "Rapunzel's Return", sets her up to be the main antagonist of the season after she's fallen to the dark side. Then it takes the next twelve episodes, until the season is already over halfway over, for her to start moving against Rapunzel and doing evil deeds. The following episodes each double down on how heinous and murderous Cassandra has become, lost in her own misplaced wrath and vengeance, while the show insists through Rapunzel that she can be redeemed. A few episodes even tease the idea of Cassandra seeing reason and pulling a Heel–Face Turn, before they rather cruelly Yank the Dog's Chain and have her commit to her new evil path with even greater strength than she did before. This led to a lot of fans feeling as though Cassandra's redemption in the series finale, "Plus Est En Vous", is rather rushed and unearned as a result, in contrast to Varian having months to think about how terrible his actions were and repeatedly struggling with forgiving himself even after his redemption.
  • Ass Pull: At the end of "Destinies Collide," Cassandra pulls Face–Heel Turn. Despite her anger at Rapunzel for what happened to her hand, she had resisted becoming like Varian and betraying her... only for her to still decide to betray her after learning that she was Gothel's daughter, and that Gothel abandoned her for Rapunzel (something which Rapunzel was in no way responsible for... and which was blatantly good for Cassandra and bad for Rapunzel at that).
  • Awesome Art: The art-style is absolutely beautiful, with fluid animation, a unique set of colors, and lots of attention to detail.
    • Of particular note is the Orbital Shot when the clashing duet between Varian and Cassandra kicks in during "Nothing Left to Lose." The shot would have necessitated the character modelers and animators to have created angles and poses to cover three entire fluid 360-degree rotations of both characters.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Rapunzel. She has a large fanbase who adore her for her upbeat, affable, and energetic personality, as well as her storyline and dealing of trauma, but also her fair share of detractors, usually among Varian's and Cassandra's fans, who find her to be overly controlling and insensitive, with the particularly contentious point going to her not checking up on Varian even after Zhan Tiri's blizzard was over.
    • Cassandra breaking a bridge in "Rapunzel's Return" is a nice illustration of what she did to the Series' fanbase.
      • In the beginning, a lot of fans like her because of her sense of humor, fighting prowess, and general badassery and because she shows her caring and sensitive side to Rapunzel and is protective of her, affirming their friendship. Others despise her because she endangers Rapunzel to get what she wants, and she is mean to Eugene, from being snide in their conversations to saying that he isn't good enough for Rapunzel. Later episodes give her and Eugene more Vitriolic Best Buds development, and have her support Eugene when he tries to become a Royal Guard, making her more likable. Also, she has softer moments with the massively popular Varian who appears to have a crush on her, and they are often shipped.
      • Her "I Want" Song in the Great Tree episode is cited as one of the best musical numbers of the Series and praised for showcasing her conflicting feelings, and Cassandra's fans sympathize with her desire for recognition. Her detractors, however, feel she is concerned with becoming a hero more than with her friends and kingdom's well-being.
      • In "Destinies Collide," Cassandra backstabs the team by taking the Moonstone for herself and taunts Rapunzel for being too trusting. Some feel this is an interesting and natural development and a tragedy, and for others, this comes out of the left field (seeing as she'd already achieved the glory and recognition as a hero she'd sought her whole life by leading the Royal Guards in her father's place to rescue the queen in the season 1 finale, so why would throw that all away out of petty jealousy?), and/or she loses her sympathetic qualities and puts the whole world in danger just to feed her ego. On the other hand, Cassandra's badassery goes up a few notches with her becoming a Person of Mass Destruction, so her fans think she's cool and hot as a villainess. Fans are also divided over whether she is a complex and relatable Tragic Villain, or a petty, selfish viper.
      • Her eventual redemption breaks the base once more. Her fans sympathize with her regret, praise her Character Development, stress her role in defeating Zhan Tiri, and forgive her just like Rapunzel does. Cassandra's detractors believe she doesn't do enough to make up for her misdeeds, and her redemption is rushed and only happens because Zhan Tiri depowers her and not because Cassandra comes to her senses herself.
      • Even Cassandra's fans are divided: some love her Season 3 arc, and some hate it while still loving the character in general.
    • King Frederic started exemplifying this trope in later episodes of the first season. When Rapunzel confronts him on keeping the black rocks a secret from others, he then proceeds to give her even more restrictions, mainly locking her in her bedroom, to make sure that she's protected. You either think that he's genuinely looking out for Rapunzel and is just too stubborn to trust her and give her freedom, or you think that he's a borderline dictator who's no better than Gothel. The fact that both Rapunzel and Eugene point out the latter in universe doesn't help one bit. There's also his questionable actions regarding the black rocks, and how he ignored the issue, as well as Varian.
    • The Lorbs - the Germanic leaf-type creatures who inhabit Terapi Island - are either funny and quirky, or annoying and a hindrance to the plot.
  • Catharsis Factor:
    • Rapunzel hitting Mother Gothel with a frying pan is cathartic for Rapunzel herself and for those who Love to Hate the woman.
    • In "Cassandra's Revenge", after several murder attempts on not only Rapunzel's life but all of her friends' lives, there's something very satisfying about Rapunzel finally kicking Cassandra's ass with the Sundrop's final incantation.
      • In the series finale those who disliked Cassandra's behavior in Season 3 got an even greater catharsis when Zhan Tiri steals the Moonstone from her seconds before she can cement her victory over Rapunzel. After doing this and assuming her true form, Zhan Tiri gives a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech calling Cassandra out on her ego. This has the effect of ending Cassandra's villainy for good.
    • After everything she pulled throughout the season, or rather, the entirety of the Tangled timeline as the Greater-Scope Villain, such as being responsible for the breaking of Rapunzel and Cassandra's bond and attempting to destroy Corona, seeing Zhan Tiri get utterly obliterated when Rapunzel and Cassandra themselves merge the Moonstone and Sundrop, the two elements she sought for centuries, is also incredibly satisfying.
  • Complete Monster: Zhan Tiri is a former friend of Lord Demanitus who betrayed him during their search for the Sundrop and Moonstone to claim the power of both artifacts for herself. Freed by her followers, Zhan Tiri corrupted the Great Tree to use its powers to kill any who opposed her, and when resealed, her followers took her teachings to commit monstrous acts in her name, such as Mother Gothel's abuse of Rapunzel; and a curse of Zhan Tiri's on the land of Corona leads to another character's descent into villainy. Playing as Cassandra's confidant, the "Enchanted Girl", Zhan Tiri manipulates her into betraying Rapunzel, pitting them against one another while she takes the Moonstone for herself and escaping her prison. Free at last, Zhan Tiri eventually betrays Cassandra to steal the two artifacts and with her newfound power attempts to painfully drain the lives of the people of Corona.
  • Contested Sequel:
    • The series is either seen as a great continuation from where the film had left off, or an unnecessary sequel considering that the film had already wrapped up the characters' arcs fairly well. Fans enjoyed it for its world-building and Character Development, while critics took issue with the return of Rapunzel's hair, the dragged-on plot with the black rocks and the series' controversial Cerebus Syndrome.
    • Season 2 has also generated similar feelings amongst fans. Some found it an improvement over Season 1, it having a more cohesive storyline and showing a bigger world beyond Corona with new locations and characters. Others however criticise Season 2 for its use of Padding that ends up bogging down the story's pacing, for the absence of Varian, for some of the characters being downright mean-spirited and unlikeable, and for the cliffhanger Downer Ending.
    • Season 3 proved polarising, due to its focus on Cassandra's incredibly divisive villain arc, and many prominent side characters going underused (The fact that there were less episodes compared to the first two seasons did not help). However, the season managed to avoid Seasonal Rot due to the Awesome Art, strong material for Rapunzel and Eugene, and larger roles for Ensemble Dark Horse characters such as Varian and Red and Angry.
  • Creator's Pet: Cassandra has been repeatedly accused of being this, especially after season 3. Chris Sonnenburg has often described her as a fan favorite character, while actual fan response to Cassandra has been decidedly more mixed. Detractors, in particular, tend to feel that Cassandra is Unintentionally Unsympathetic and that her redemption at the end is forced and unearned.
  • Crossover Ship:
    • It's quite common for Cassandra to be paired up with Elsa in various fanfics where the two meet.
    • There's a lot who would pair Cassandra with Catra due to both of them having the issue of being The Unfavorite to an abusive parental figure they shared with a blonde female protagonist, and feel like that protagonist is always blessed with everything while they end up being second best, and both have similar demeanor as well.
  • Designated Hero: Frederic is meant to be The Good King whose Knight Templar Parent issues are understandable, considering his only child was missing for nearly two decades, and someone who learned his lesson by the end of Season 1, but considering he makes crackdown on crime overly harsh following Rapunzel's disappearance, which caused Lady Caine to become fatherless and Eugene to nearly get hanged for a nonviolent crime, persecutes teenagers for petty theft in the same vein as adults, locks his royal tailor in a stockade for accidentally tearing one of his many robes, locks away the Sundrop Flower, attempts to steal King Trevor's pet seal as a prank, fails to acknowledge the danger of the Black Rocks, which puts his own innocent subjects in danger, sends guards to hunt down a poor orphaned young teenager, which caused him to be chased out of his own home, attempts to have Cassandra sent to a convent just for sneaking Rapunzel out the night before her coronation, reads his daughter's private journal, makes his daughter experience the same abuse she suffered under the hands of her abductor by locking her up, and never apologizes for his actions, it's not hard to see him as an oppressive tyrant instead.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience Varian does not reek of good mental health following his Face–Heel Turn, and his abandonment and betrayal issues have lead him to become openly calculating and vengeful, resorting to hostility and severe crimes to get what he wants. To a lesser extent, his inability to acknowledge his wrongdoings imply a sense of self-importance. Even King Frederic has to admit Varian needs help.
    • After his Heel–Face Turn, he is shown to still be heavily affected by his past misdeeds and events, to the point where he expresses moments of sadness and anger over them at certain intervals and is haunted by the prospect of them happening again, indicating he has (or had at the time) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
  • Draco in Leather Pants:
    • When Varian becomes a villain by the end of the first season, many of his massively numbered fangirls side with him and refuse to call him a bad guy because to them, he is just an innocent child wanting to free his father. True, he is a teenager, and he loses his only remaining family and stays alone for an unspecified amount of time. However, it is Varian's own careless experiment that gets his father sealed in amber, and even Rapunzel's magic hair is shown to be useless against it. Yet, just like Varian himself, his fans often blame his entire situation on Rapunzel, her friends and family, and all of Corona believing that he is completely justified in trying to murder them out of spite. In his reappearance in Season 3, Varian himself comes to admit that his actions at the end of Season 1 were completely out of line, and he's now deeply disturbed by what he's capable of.
    • In Season 3, Cassandra gets this treatment as well. Despite her turn to villainy, it isn't hard to find fans who excuse her actions, or even argue that she isn’t truly a villain. Some even place the blame squarely on the shoulders of everyone else (most notably Rapunzel) for not treating her better. True, her fall to the dark side is written as a tragic one, being motivated by her feeling as though she lived in Rapunzel's shadow as a servant standing next to royalty, as well as her revealed misfortune of being abandoned by Mother Gothel, her biological mother, as a toddler on the night she kidnapped Rapunzel. Even so, she nevertheless attempts to murder Rapunzel and the rest of her former friends many times over, turns the Dark Brotherhood into brainwashed servants to use as pawns (hypocritically so, given her own complex about feeling used), uses the black rocks to destroy Corona, and blames Rapunzel for stealing Gothel’s love from her, despite knowing full well she was kidnapped as an infant and subjected to abuse and imprisonment for the following eighteen years. Cassandra herself even acknowledges in "Nothing Left To Lose" that she'll do anything to get what she wants, and that her choices to be this way were her own to make.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Mood-Inverted Rapunzel. Despite only appearing in one episode, she has already gained massive popularity due to her Deadpan Snarker tendencies, and her bangs actually make her strangely more attractive in an aloof way.
    • Varian has really grown on the fans over the first half of Season 1. His being a nut-job in an Adorkable way plus his strong desire to make his father proud of him have made him endearing to the viewers. However, after he has a Face–Heel Turn and becomes an enemy to Rapunzel instead of a friend he turns more into a Base-Breaking Character. However, fans were incredibly happy when he performs a Heel–Face Turn in Season 3 and gains a larger role.
    • Lance Strongbow, Eugene's old friend and fellow thief is another fan-favorite. Fans enjoyed him for his sly, eccentric personality and for being a perfect comedic Foil to Eugene. It also helps that he is played by James Monroe Inglehart, who played Genie in Aladdin the Musical. This popularity might've helped him get promoted to being a regular character by the second season.
    • Vex and Quaid from Vardaros. The former is well-liked for one-upping Cassandra in the Deadpan Snarker department, while the latter is popular for being a badass in general. It helps that they come off as more likeable compared to the rest of their townspeople.
    • Adira, the mysterious woman appearing in the Season One finale, has won over many people. Fans like her for being a badass Cloudcuckoolander whose eccentricities provide a lot of the series humorous moments in Season Two. Being voiced by Kelly Hu helps out.
    • Lady Caine also gets a lot of fan attention for a character who has only appeared in two episodes besides the pilot movie.
    • "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" brought us Hector, who immediately got positive reception basically for a couple reasons, while fans also appreciate the Hidden Depths that are suggested with him, particularly in regards to his relationship with Adira.
    • Angry and Red, two Street Urchins who Eugene and Lance meet, are absolutely adorable even with their rougher edges. Them becoming recurring characters in season 3 was more than welcome.
  • Epileptic Trees:
    • There have been many theories surrounding the identity of Cassandra's parents, the most common being that she may be Mother Gothel's daughter. This particular theory was proven true by Season 3.
    • Despite what some fans might believe, the overall situation of Cassandra's betrayal and the speculation before it didn't started with the end of season 2 but actually goes all the way back to the start of the series and only noticed by more sharp eye viewers. In the tv movie pilot "Before Ever After" there was the whole speculation of who was Lady Caine during the infiltration of the ceremony, a fade cutaway leading to then Lady-in-waiting Cassandra lead to very early speculation of her doing a betrayal way before it became a subject in the season 2 finale. Most older viewers who saw this subtle edit easily saw Cassandra's betrayal from miles away before it was hinted by Vigor the visionary.
  • Evil Is Cool:
    • Cassandra. Cool earthbending-like powers, glowing blue hair, a snazzy Form-Fitting Wardrobe (which is black) and a BFG? What more needs to be said? Granted, perhaps having a built-in fanbase from her good-guy days could have something to do with it.
    • Hector has quite a few fans who find him cool, which isn't surprising given his striking golden eyes, Blood Knight personality and the fact that he has a pet rhino. That he rides on. He's also the first antagonistic member of the Dark Brotherhood that the heroes encounter.
    • Zhan Tiri who is the most evil and dangerous enemy Rapunzel and the others have face and is revealed to be responsible for all the events in the series.

    F - M 
  • Fanfic Fuel: The series finale sets up interesting thoughts to ponder.
    • What adventures is Cassandra going to have after leaving Corona?
    • What is Varian being the royal alchemist going to look like?
    • How are Kiera and Catalina going to be as Lance's adoptive children?
    • What will the interactions between characters be like after the series' end?
    • How will the characters address The Captain of the Guard now that he has retired?
    • Will Maximus and Fidella ever be together? Or will there be No Romantic Resolution? In the last episode, Maximus stays in Corona while Fidella is taken away by Cassandra, who leaves Corona.
    • How many other children did Gothel have over the centuries, and where are they now?
  • Fandom-Specific Plot:
    • The Moon Powers!Varian AU, in which Varian is born with moon-based destruction powers to contrast with Rapunzel's sun-based healing powers. How it goes from there depends on one's preferences. To a lesser extent, this is also used for Cassandra and Eugene. Hilariously enough, Cassandra becomes the closest to this AU in the Season 2 finale.
    • The theory/AU that Eugene or Varian is the Prince of the Dark Kingdom and the son of King Edmund, also known as the Dark Prince Eugene/Varian theory/AU. Also funnily enough, this theory ended up being true in regards to Eugene in the Season 2 finale.
    • Stories involving Varian redeeming himself or never turning evil in the first place are becoming (un)surprisingly popular.
    • The reveal in "Rapunzel's Return" that Cassandra is Gothel's biological daughter spawned some theories about how things may have turned out if Gothel raised both Rapunzel and Cassandra together.
    • Fans who disliked the idea of Cassandra being Mother Gothel's biological daughter and blamed this for many of the problems with her villain arc often came up with different backstories for Cassandra, making it more understandable why she would blame Rapunzel for her childhood traumas and giving her a more coherent agenda as a villain. Occasionally this involves taking one of the writers' scrapped ideas for her and making her a Big Bad Friend from the beginning.
    • Due to Varian's status as the breakout character of the show, "Varian and the Seven Kingdoms", the proposed spin-off rejected by the Disney Channel, has become a popular basis for fan stories.
    • There are many fics exploring what happens to Cassandra after the series finale, where she's shown heading off to parts unknown. Several of them have her going to Arendelle, since there's obvious story potential in having Cass react to her and Elsa's similar circumstances, or seeing Anna as a Replacement Goldfish for Rapunzel.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • After getting her Evil Makeover in Season 3, Cassandra got the nickname "Moonsandra" from fans.
    • Rapunzel's transformation when using the hurt incantation has earned the nickname "Dark Rapunzel" by older fans who have pointed out how her design looks very similar to fanarts of an evil Rapunzel. Others have jokingly called her "Emo Raps" due to all the bad emo fanarts and designs by fangirls in various fan pages who would often just badly color Raps hair black, though "Emo Raps" is more commonly used for Rapunzel's grumpy bangs-having self from Not in the Mood.
  • Fanon:
    • There are numerous fans that interpret Cassandra as being in love with Rapunzel, with a popular take being that Cassandra is jealous of Rapunzel's relationship with Eugene, and that her feelings are unrequited such that Rapunzel only sees her as a sister. Them saying "I love you" to each other is interpreted as Cassandra meaning it romantically, and Rapunzel meaning it platonically and sisterly.
    • Going off of the above, there are many fans who headcanon Cassandra as lesbian.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • With Elena of Avalor for both being shows about a heroic Disney princess airing around the same time as each other. More so when their respective Season 3's aired at the same time, especially with Cassandra and Esteban's betrayals and why they did it, in addition to both Esteban and Varian feeling that they've come too far, while both Varian and Carla have had their fathers be Taken for Granite and becoming turncoats (with Quirin at least being freed at the beginning of the season, while Victor was petrified soon after the beginning)..
    • Cassandra's betrayal and her motivation for doing it has netted her comparisons to Catra and Spinel, who also revealed their issues around the same time as she did. The other party (Rapunzel, Adora, Steven) has also garnered comparisons because of this as well, not to mention that both Rapunzel & Cassandra and Adora & Catra have plenty of Les Yay.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • In the series premiere "Before Ever After", Lady Caine's thugs discuss attacking the ceremony when they are told to wait till Lady Caine arrives. It then fades to lady in waiting Cassandra misleading the audience to believe that she is the then-unseen Lady Caine and the one to betray Rapunzel's trust. Cut to "Destinies Collide" where Cassandra does betray Rapunzel but under different circumstances.
    • In Chuck the main characters are played by Zachary Levi (Chuck Bartowski) and Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker), and throughout the course of the series, they become a couple, and get married. However, Sarah loses her memories of all the times they had together, putting their relationship on a somewhat tragic end. Come the Season 2 premiere, they portray Eugene/Flynn and Stalyan as exes, and their interactions really bring back sad memories to Chuck fans who remember the ending.
    • In the Season 1 finale during the "Ready As I'll Ever Be" song, Cassandra sings about her desire for others to trust her. The Season 2 finale has her betray her friends' trust and steal the moon opal's power for herself.
    • In retrospect, a lot of Cassandra's Jerkass tendencies such as in "Challenge of the Brave" end up foreshadowing her eventual Face–Heel Turn at the end of Season 2.
    • Also, in "Rapunzeltopia", Rapunzel cites things being better with Cassandra as one of her reasons for not wanting to leave the ideal world in which she's been caught. She leaves it anyway, and promptly gets kicked in the teeth when Cassandra betrays her and steals the Moonstone.
    • The very first song of the second season "Next Stop Anywhere," shows how excited Rapunzel is for her journey outside of Corona. She revels in the fact that she gets to share this journey with Eugene and Cassandra. Flash forward to the end of the season, with Cassandra's betrayal and fall from grace, one might wonder if Rapunzel is thinking that she made the wrong choice ever leaving Corona if it ended up costing her so much.
    • Cassandra's absence at Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding in Tangled Ever After, given what happens in "Destinies Collide".
    • In one issue of the spinoff comic, Cassandra turns into a Clingy Jealous Girl when Rapunzel befriends someone who is much more similar to herself and she apologizes for her behavior at the end, confessing that she's scared that this means she won't have a place in Rapunzel's life. Season 2 would then reveal that Cassandra is Secretly Selfish about her relationship with Rapunzel.
    • The "Caution: Wet Hair" story has a moment that becomes very sad in light of Season 3's events. Cass asks Rapunzel to keep herself presentable because of her busy princess schedule, but Raps' Samaritan Syndrome gets in the way. She asks Cass to not be mad and holds up her hand as though she's afraid Cass might give her Corporal Punishment, but Cass reassures her by saying "Hey, it's okay. You're not coming home to Mother Gothel anymore. You're right, Cass. But not for the reasons you think.
    • In " Happiness Is", Varian makes a cameo as a hallucination. Rapunzel watches in horror as he holds her father captive, claiming to need him for a "little experiment" all while he pours a potion down the fake Frederic's throat. Come season 3, King Frederic has amnesia and thinks Varian is his most trusted advisor.
    • Rapunzel reveals to Cassandra in "Freebird" that the reason why she's not taking the journey of following the black rocks seriously is because she's afraid of what they will lead her to. The season finale "Destines Collide" validates her fears as what the black rocks would ultimately lead her to was being brutally backstabed by Cassandra.
    • "Flynnposter" has Lance disobey and mess with Varian’s invention, which causes the apparatus to go out of control. Ducktales 2017 had the episode "Let's Get Dangerous" where James Monroe Iglehart play Taurus Bulba, a villain who also messed another person’s invention and disobeyed warnings, except he did so with far more malicious and selfish intent.
  • Heartwarming in Hindsight:
    • Even with Rapunzel and Eugene's show-spanning trouble about proposing marriage, you already know that thanks to Tangled Ever After, they'll be happily married and it ends happily ever after.
    • Cassandra's song "Waiting in the Wings" was about her wanting to be recognized for her talents instead of forgotten. Cut to a year later, and the song has won an Emmy. Many people have celebrated it by saying Cassandra is no longer waiting in the wings.
  • He Really Can Act:
    • Or, he really can sing, to be precise. Clancy Brown as King Frederic sings a couple of verses in the pilot episode. Then again, he does have vocals as Mr. Krabs...
    • Similarly, the Captain sings a verse or two in "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth".
    • Just listen to Varian's sorrow and passion and rage in his reprise of "Let Me Make You Proud" Jeremy Jordan gives the finest performance in the series thus far. And that's just season 1. His desperation in "Nothing Less to Lose" is incredible.
    • You can feel the anguish that Cassandra goes through during her downfall into performing a Face Heel Turn, and subsequently finding out she's the daughter of Gothel. Eden Espinosa just nails the performance.
    • Having played Naïve Everygirl Cloudcuckoolander Ally in Wicked World, Jennifer Veal's performance as the Ax-Crazy and sadistic Big Bad Zhan Tiri was very entertaining, especially combined with her facial expressions.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • I Knew It!:
    • Eugene's parentage is King Edmund, thus making him the Prince of the Dark Kingdom.
    • Cass' recurring association with the moon opposite to Rapunzel's association with the sun will mean something. She ends up being Rapunzel's moonstone counterpart in the Season 2 finale.
    • Several people figured as far back as the beginning of Season 1 that Cass would have a Face–Heel Turn.
    • That someone, a main character, will be Rapunzel's moonstone counterpart. That person is Cassandra.
    • That Cass' true parentage is Gothel. Along with that many assumed that when Rapunzel found out she would say that meant she and Cass were sisters.
    • Varian breaking out of prison and teaming up with his cellmate, although most expected it to be Caine rather than Andrew.
    • That the finale would parallel the ending of the movie: Cass dying, but being revived by the remnants of her and Rapunzel's magic.
    • Cass leaving Corona to find her destiny in the ending.
  • Inferred Holocaust: In "Once a Handmaiden...", Cassandra goes on a rampage, covering Corona's castle and city with black rocks. The property damage and possible victims aren't addressed.
  • Informed Wrongness:
    • Rapunzel in "Goodbye and Goodwill". While forcing Corona's optimistic lifestyle on Vardaros when it's clear the people don't respond well to it is seen as wrong and pointed out as being so by Cassandra, it does not warrant how needlessly cruel Vardaros' citizens treat her such as jeering at her and pelting her with produce. This is especially so considering how much Rapunzel had helped protect the town from the Baron's men the previous episode, making the townsfolk come off as Ungrateful Bastards.
    • Eugene falls into this in "No Time Like The Past". He actually supports the castle staff taking out Cassandra's stuff from the castle due to her betraying Rapunzel. She objects to this, saying that real friends don't leave each other. Eugene brings up a great point in that if Cassandra was a real friend, she wouldn't have betrayed them, yet he's supposedly in the wrong. The fact that Rapunzel altered time a little and made him more optimistic of helping her, essentially by force, doesn't help.
  • It Was His Sled:
    • Varian is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Given the popularity of "Ready As I'll Ever Be", it's practically mandatory to know this before watching the show.
    • Cassandra betrays her friends, merges with the Moonstone, and becomes a villain, but redeems herself in the final episode.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Cassandra in both "Challenge of the Brave" and "Cassandra V. Eugene" displays some of her absolute worst qualities, trying to sabotage Rapunzel's chances at victory out of jealousy in the former episode and had hoped to get Eugene in trouble with the King and possibly evicted from castle grounds over an accident in the latter episode, but in both we're shown clearly how and why she thinks and feels the way she does. We see how neglected she is by others and how little respect she gets even for things she doesn't enjoy doing but gets accomplished anyway, and we learn that like Eugene, she's an orphan who never knew her real parents and was raised by the Captain of the Guards on values such as how to "earn her keep", which might explain her constant clashing with Eugene, whom she feels always gets away with too much after putting in only the bare minimum of effort. The Jerkass part fully comes about when she undergoes a Face–Heel Turn and betrays Rapunzel. Season 3 reveals that she was Gothel's biological daughter, who treated her like a slave at worst and a nuisance at best. Then Gothel abandons her for the Sundrop Flower.
  • Just Here for Godzilla:
    • There are a number of viewers who come because this show features quite a number of fan-favorite, high profile recurring/guest stars, namely: Jeremy Jordan, who voices Varian, is more known to the fans as Toyman's son Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr. from Supergirl, Lance Strongbow's actor James Monroe Iglehart (due to his role as the Genie in Aladdin the Musical, and "Challenge of The Brave" features Danny Trejo guest-starring as Wreck Marauder.
    • "No Time Like The Past" is a treat for fans of Youtuber, Voice impressionist and Disney fan Brian Hull as one of the Stabbington Brothers, Teenage Sideburns.
    • Some people will come just for the Alan Menken-produced songs, especially "Wind In My Hair", "Ready As I'll Ever Be", "Waiting In The Wings" (which won an Emmy Award), "Crossing the Line" and "Nothing Left To Lose".
    • Taken to the extreme with Varian, who stands tall as the show's most admired and beloved character, surpassing even the parent film's original characters, as well as Cassandra, to the point where it is very difficult to find a discussion regarding the series on any site that doesn't include Varian as a topic. There are quite a few people who watch the show exclusively for him, to the point where his near-absence from Season 2 was decried by many. His return in Season 3 was one of the highlights of the season, especially as he had one of the most acclaimed songs ("Nothing Left to Lose") and a strong character arc which allowed him to redeem himself and to deal with the flaws and insecurities which had caused his slide into villainy.
    • Though Cassandra is a Base-Breaking Character, there are people who will watch the story mainly for her. In fact, for clips released to the Disney Channel YouTube channel, clips of either Cass or Varian or both of them tend to get a lot of views.
  • LGBT Fanbase: The show has gained quite a following from them due to the popular fan theory that Cassandra is lesbian, as she has not shown attraction to any male characters whatsoever, and the amount of Les Yay she has with Rapunzel.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Lady Caine is a notorious pirate leader who is respected in Corona's criminal underworld. Seeking revenge for her father's arrest when she was a child, she infiltrated the palace by impersonating the Duchess of Quintonia and having her men get caught and thrown in the dungeon. She broke her men out and attacked Rapunzel's princess coronation to kidnap the king, queen, and visiting nobles, fighting Cassandra evenly when Rapunzel and her friends fought back. Arrested, she plotted her escape by conspiring with her horse Axel to have him infiltrate the kingdom's guard in order to smuggle her out with a delivery of gold, nearly getting away almost without notice. She later led other villains in a successful mutiny of a prison barge and planned to overtake a ferry to use as cover to reach the mainland, where she and her allies would plunder to their hearts' content.
    • "Beyond the Corona Walls" and "The Eye of Pincosta": Stalyan is the daughter of the crime lord known as The Baron and Eugene's ex-girlfriend, as well as an accomplished thief in her own right. When her father blackmailed Eugene into agreeing to marry her, Stalyan tried to make Eugene question his relationship with Rapunzel and insisted that she and Eugene belonged together. She struck out on her own after her father's criminal empire's collapse, at one point scamming a thug in a game of darts to win his bejeweled dagger. Recruited by Rapunzel to help find the Eye of Pincosta to free Eugene who had been arrested for its theft, Stalyan discretely took it off of its owner's finger and then betrayed Rapunzel, intending to free Eugene herself and try to win him back. However, Rapunzel's insistence on seeing the good in her eventually won her over and she returned to help her fight a ferocious wrestler.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • "Ready As I'll Ever Be" has become popular animatic material on YouTube.
    • Various screencap edits of this show has been made by Constable Frozen.
    • Starting with Mother Gothel, then Varian and now Cassandra, it's become a joke with some fans that anyone with black hair will betray Rapunzel. Or that the producers really hate non-blonde people.
    • A few jokes have been made about Catalina's werewolf curse being an allegory for puberty or menstruation, given she's around pre-teen age, she transforms every month at the full moon, and her nickname is "Red".
  • Moe:
    • Varian, who remains extra huggable even after his betrayal. It's no doubt a contributing factor to his popularity. He earns this back in season 3 when he becomes Rapunzel's ally again.
    • Angry and Red, two Street Urchins who Eugene and Lance meet, are absolutely adorable. Extra Squee points are earned with their interactions with Eugene and Lance, who try to act as surrogate siblings to them.
    • Rapunzel is still definitely this.
    • Toddler Cassandra is considered this due to how she's very sweet and loyal to her mother, who is Gothel. It's a shame Gothel didn't feel the same and abandoned her.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • In "Freebird", the collectors "Mother" and "Father" cross it by transforming the gang into birds and forcing them to be part of their bird collection. However, they may have already crossed it long ago when it's revealed that said bird collection is made up of their previous victims who have lost their humanity for who knows how long.
    • The premiere of Season 3 reveals that Mother Gothel had already crossed it long ago when she abandoned her daughter Cassandra.
    • Andrew and the Separatists of Sapporia crossed it when they intend to blow up all of Corona along with its innocent citizens. They crossed it even further by planning to force the amnesiac King and Queen to watch as their kingdom gets wiped out, before killing them as well.
    • In "Cassandra's Revenge", the Enchanted Girl/Zhan Tiri's crimes consist of psychologically tormenting Varian in his dreams, manipulating events leading to a battle between Rapunzel and Cassandra that releases her from her prison, and "encouraging" Cassandra to break Rapunzel's spirit and make her watch as she murders her friends, actively taking delight in the princess' suffering. All she cared about by the episode's end was that she got what she wanted. And if not then, she crosses it in the series finale, by attempting to murder everyone in Corona.

    N - Z 
  • Narm:
    • For French viewers, the phrase "Plus est en vous" can be difficult to take seriously since it's not exactly grammatically correct. A better translation of "There is more in you" would be "Il y a plus en vous".
    • In the last episode, Zhan Tiri assumes her demonic form and becomes a giant ram with tentacles. She's supposed to be terrifying but some viewers just find her ridiculous. Maybe Eugene's right to say that "she has hit a really unfortunate growth spurt."
  • Narm Charm: The overarching Big Bad of the series, Zhan Tiri spends most of her screentime in the form of a small child. Despite this, she manages to be a pretty effective villain, due to Jennifer Veal's magnificently hammy performance, and turns out to be genuinely creepy at points, due to her sadistic plans, frequent hatefulness, and some freaky facial expressions...
  • One True Threesome:
    • Cassandra/Rapunzel/Eugene picked up steam pretty quickly with fans who like Cassandra. Some like to see her animosity toward Eugene as more like Belligerent Sexual Tension which when added with Cassandra and Rapunzel's Pseudo-Romantic Friendship makes for a perfect tri-relationship. Some shippers may also even feel inclined to include Lance Strongbow as a fourth wheel.
    • Lance/Rapunzel/Eugene has picked up steam after the Season 3 opener, with some Cassandra/Rapunzel/Eugene shippers jumping ship due to Cassandra's betrayal. The amount of Ho Yay between Lance and Eugene helps, as does the last song of the episode providing a good amount of screen-time for not just the trio altogether, but for two of them at a time.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • After being polarizing in the first half of the first season, the second half, plus the book Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon, endeared more people to Cassandra, as she showcased more sympathetic, admirable, and relatable qualities, and became more trustful of Eugene, having a more clearly pronounced Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic with him. She was even better received in the second season, which only made the last few minutes of the season finale that much more of an emotional gut-punch. The third season returns her to being a Base-Breaking Character.
    • The Captain of the Guard was not very liked for being a Jerkass who often holds the Idiot Ball, but the beginning of Season 3 has people acknowledge him to be a good man for comforting an abandoned Cassandra and subsequently taking her in, even knowing she was the daughter of the woman who kidnapped the newborn princess. The episode "Islands Apart" also helped his case by showing him to be more of a Woobie when he discovers Cassandra, and is genuinely crushed him when she disowns him, and he grieves over losing her. "Flynnpostor" boosted his popularity further by him naming Eugene as his successor and saying that he trusts him above all others, showing just how much he's grown since Season 1. It reached the point that by the end of the series, many people were disappointed that he didn't have even more of a role.
    • In Season 1, Varian was a Base-Breaking Character both before and after his Face–Heel Turn. Prior to his descent into darkness, he was either seen as endearing or annoying, and after his turn, there was a split among fans regarding just how sympathetic (or not) he really is as the Arc Villain. Come Season 3, however, and Varian pulls a Heel–Face Turn and undergoes Character Development. The season showcases a good deal of him becoming more heroic, kind, courageous, and downright wise, giving a lot of focus onto how he retains guilt and remorse over his past actions, and having him save the day on more than one occasion. It helps a lot that Varian has become incredibly entertaining and lovable, in addition to the episodes that have him in it often being regarded as superior to those that don't. By this point, Varian has become almost unanimously beloved by the fandom.
  • Ron the Death Eater:
    • Cassandra is a curious example. As one of the most controversial and polarizing characters in the fandom with a villainous arc in the last season, she tends to get the Draco in Leather Pants treatment a lot (like Varian), but there are also some fans who swing to the opposite extreme with her character. Before writing her off as a bad egg from the start and a complete lost cause, there are two important factors in her downfall that must be taken into account: the negative, destructive influence of the Moonstone on her mind, that causes her to become Drunk on the Dark Side the longer she has it, and Zhan Tiri's manipulation as a Toxic Friend Influence, who's constantly encouraging her to turn on her friends and cross brand new ethical lines, even engineering a few set-ups like "A Tale Of Two Sisters" to strengthen Cassandra's loyalty to her. Neither of these two mitigating factors excuse or exonerate Cassandra's cruel, selfish, power-hungry actions (like attempted murder), but they do make her a more complicated and conflicted antagonist than simply being a pure, irredeemable monster. And while it's true that Cassandra was Easily Forgiven by her friends in the series finale, she didn't get off entirely scot free, since Cassandra owning up to her actions and helping Rapunzel defeat Zhan Tiri actually got her killed and would have permanently cost her her life if Rapunzel hadn't found a way to revive her.
    • King Frederic, Rapunzel's father, is on the receiving end of this trope quite often in fanfiction. The original film alone establishes that he's a ruler with a ruthless streak who cracked down hard on all kinds of crime after his daughter was kidnapped, and the follow-up series shows that he can be quite the stubborn control freak when pushed. The hardest lesson Frederic had to learn in Season 1 was that he couldn't let his own fear and past regrets get in the way of treating his daughter like the young woman she was. He needed to let her make her own decisions, as both a young adult and a future queen, and he eventually adopts her approach to handling Corona's criminals. This character development carries over into Season 3, where he isn't shown to have a personal vendetta towards Varian or Cassandra and trusts Rapunzel to handle the latter while she's still an active threat. Fans who resent the king's character tend to flanderize all his worst traits into a heartless, sociopathic tyrant and a complete Hate Sink who learned nothing from Season 1 and only pretended to so he could abuse his power behind his daughter's back and gleefully abuse his subjects to his heart's content, enjoying their misery. Frederic is usually characterized this way in fanfics where Varian and/or Cassandra are given the Draco in Leather Pants treatment, to ramp up their Woobie status.
  • The Scrappy:
    • In Season 1 you would be hard-pressed to find many who care for the Captain of the Guards, who seems to be aiming for a record for how many episodes someone can juggle the Jerkass Ball and Idiot Ball. Fortunately, he gets Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in Season 3.
    • Uncle Monty. Many fans despise him for how irrational his dislike for Rapunzel is, all for reasons that Rapunzel has no power over given her traumatic childhood. Rapunzel herself is frustrated with his Irrational Hatred as well, though by the end of the episode, she decides that getting him to like her isn't worth it. Fortunately, in his reappearances his dislike for Rapunzel is drastically toned down.
    • Nigel, the royal family's advisor, garnered a fair amount of ire due to him ordering for Varian to be ejected into a blizzard at a time of need, in addition to quickly coming to the incorrect conclusion that he attacked Rapunzel. Besides that, he's seen as too annoying and uptight. Like the Captain, he was somewhat Rescued from the Scrappy Heap in Season 3 with the episode "Pascal's Dragon" making it at most more understandable why he acts as uptight and strictly cautious as he does (as the last time he prioritized a friend over the well being of his home and its people, there were disastrous consequences, so he wasn't willing to take the chance of Rapunzel doing the same in regards to Varian.)
    • The citizens of Vardaros (except for Vex and Quaid) haven't won over many fans due to the fact that they all act as very unpleasant Jerkasses towards Rapunzel, even though she sticks up for them twice against the Baron's men when she could have just abandoned them to their fate. With the exception of Vex and Quaid, not one of them shows a single iota of gratitude towards her and they suffer no consequences for how horribly they treat her. What's worse is that they are a horrible reminder of how Uncle Monty's initial characterization was, except they come off as even worse since Monty at least has redeeming qualities, even in his divisive debut episode.
    • Calliope from Keeper of the Spire for being an insufferable Know-Nothing Know-It-All who keeps blaming the gang for her own screw-ups. This also seems to be the gang's view of her in-universe as well, with even Rapunzel being barely able to tolerate her.
  • Ships That Pass in the Night: Though the two haven't met yet, some fans are shipping Varian and Vex together due to their age, dark hair, polar opposite personalities (now we're talking about pre-evil Varian) and their relationships with Rapunzel.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: While Rapunzel/Flynn are the Official Couple (on top of being a One True Pairing amongst the Disney fandom as a whole) and is a Foregone Conclusion in the show (as the show takes place before Tangled Ever After, where the two get married), many fans have wound up shipping Cassandra and Rapunzel due to their Les Yay and strong chemistry in the show. This, predictably, has led to plenty of bickering and fighting between the Rapunzel/Flynn shippers and Cassandra/Rapunzel shippers over who is better for Rapunzel. It doesn't help that Cassandra and Flynn don't get along in the show.
  • Signature Scene:
    • The "Ready As I'll Ever Be" sequence. Also serves as a Signature Song.
    • The Moonstone Incantation from "Rapunzel and the Great Tree".
    • The 360 degree shot of Varian and Cassandra during "Nothing Left To Lose"
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The song at the end of the season three premiere kinda sounds like "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang at some notes.
  • Theme Pairing: The Royal Protector pairs together Elsa from Frozen with Cassandra because they fit a Lady and Knight theme: Elsa is The High Queen and Cassandra is her tomboyish Battle Butler.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • While Lady Caine is rather popular, there are those who think she could've been utilized better. The pilot movie set her up with a sympathetic motive of wanting to get revenge on the king for locking up her father. You'd think this would make her a good candidate for a recurring antagonist who could even play a big part in the season finale if she found a way to become more competent. Instead, she appears two episodes before "Queen For A Day", which isn't the season finale, and the actual season finale, "Secret Of The Sundrop", has Varian as the antagonist, which some felt to be contrived. She only suffers further Villain Decay in Season 2.
    • Queen Ariana could be considered this since she's less developed than her husband due to appearing less without him, and having only one focus episode in season 1. Even then, her connection with Rapunzel over shared interests such as their mutual love for adventure and similar hobbies, all of which ended up getting usurped by Willow. When Rapunzel has her vision of her parents in "Happiness Is", their first season 2 appearance, she doesn't even speak. The fact that one of the show's directors agrees with this adds to the idea.
    • The Captain of the Guards. We never even learn what his name is!
    • The Brotherhood doesn't appear much in Season 3. Despite being one of the major new characters in Season 2, Adira vanishes from the show after "Rapunzel's Return" until Cassandra enslaves her at the end of "Race to the Spire" and spends the rest of the season as a mindless henchwoman. The fan-favourite Hector, the rogue Brotherhood member from "Rapunzel and the Great Tree," receives the same treatment.
    • Many fans felt that Varian had an insufficient role in the Series Finale. Although he constructs the portal to return Zhan Tiri to the enchanted realm, he spends most of the episode trapped in it with the rest of the supporting cast, and plays a relatively minor role in the final battle with Zhan Tiri. Although Varian is ultimately less important to the story than Rapunzel, Cassandra and Eugene, his status as a fan favorite and dramatic character arc meant a lot of viewers were disappointed by his contributions to Zhan Tiri's defeat.
    • It is possible to argue that this trope applies to Cassandra as well. Many online critics felt that the Wangst over being abandoned by Gothel overshadowed many of Cassandra's stronger and more relatable motives (such as her frustration over her status as a handmaiden) and prevented these from being explored properly. In addition, the focus on Rapunzel means that Cassandra's thoughts and feelings are rarely examined in depth, leading to the common complaint that her redemption in "Plus Est En Vous" feels rushed and unearned. As a result, many fans started creating alternative storylines where Cassandra was given a stronger, more sympathetic motive, with a common Fandom-Specific Plot turning her into an aspiring revolutionary who turns to villainy in order to make Corona a fairer place.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • While it was heavily theorized that Varian was connected to the Moonstone, this is thoroughly debunked by seasons 2, 3, and the series finale, with the only connection he has being that he's the son of someone sworn to it. The fandom, meanwhile, loves "moon powers AU."
    • As we find out in "Rapunzel's Return," Varian goes through an intense inner conflict and realizes the error of his ways by himself during season 2. It happens completely off-screen while we see rather pointless adventures Rapunzel and company have while stranded on an island.
    • In season 3, in pursuit of her own destiny, Cassandra merges with the Moonstone and gains control of the black rocks, while Rapunzel unlocks the whole potential of the Sundrop and acquires dazzling Light 'em Up powers. What grand heroic deeds they both can do now! Except Cassandra devotes herself to fighting her former friends and destroying her home, and she and Rapunzel use their powers almost exclusively to fight each other. And then, both the Sundrop and the Moonstone end up destroyed for good.
    • After Varian's Heel–Face Turn in "Rapunzel's Return", Quirin is never shown to have a reaction onscreen to his teenage son spending a year in jail, and Varian, likewise, is never shown to have a reaction to his father being a former warrior who was friends with a king when Rapunzel's friends and allies all join forces at the climax of the season - which implies that Varian and Quirin exchanged their most angsty and/or shameful secrets from Season 1 offscreen at some point during the season, which quite a few fans found disappointing.
    • The conclusion of "Islands Apart" suggests the Captain of the Guard is going to play an important role getting Cassandra back, especially after Rapunzel inspires him not to give up on his daughter. This leads to nowhere as the Captain simply disappears from the rest of the third season, only to show up at beginning of "Flynnposter" to retire and give his position to Eugene. He and Cassandra eventually do reconcile... off-screen and hug in the last closing minutes of the series finale.
    • Adira and Hector are hinted to have a complex relationship: she fights him in "Rapunzel and the Great Tree," only to stay behind to see if he's all right after he's defeated. Near the end of Season 3, both get enslaved by Cassandra, and when they are freed, they return to King Edmund's side and to the Dark Kingdom. Apparently, they reconcile... offscreen.
    • In the end, Cassandra will, presumably, find that destiny she dreams of... off-screen. Similarly, Rapunzel will marry Eugene and they will rule Corona together — after the series ends.
    • We won't see King Edmund, Adira, and Hector rebuilding the Dark Kingdom either. And now that King Edmund decided to rebuild it, he may need his only son to succeed him someday; how will this affect Rapunzel and Eugene's life?
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: Prior to Season 3 Zhan Tiri was treated as male, even in-universe. Then when that season came, her backstory revealed her true gender is female, and that a male demon/warlock was one of her forms she shapeshifted into. This led to a good number of fans to headcanon her as gender fluid at the very least.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic:
    • A number of people have this feeling about Varian during his time as the Arc Villain of Season 1. The series paints Varian as someone who fell to the dark side and crossed the line by committing high treason against Corona, as well as assault and attempted regicide, over something that was his own fault. While it definitely cannot be denied that Varian's actions are not acceptable in any way, it should also be noted that prior to this, Varian was a young teenager who was left all alone for months (granted, he had Ruddiger) without any guardians. He even had to lie low due to the people of Corona falsely believing he attacked Rapunzel, and was chased out of his own home by King Frederic's guards simply because he had the Demanitus Scroll. Him refusing to take the blame for his father's imprisonment in amber (which wouldn't free his father anyway) is understandable, considering how badly it'd affect him if he had to admit he was responsible for the loss of his only remaining family member, not to mention it was a complete accident stemming from his desire to save Corona from the black rocks. It's also hard to blame him for resenting Rapunzel and King Frederic, given that Rapunzel didn't bother to check on him after the blizzard was over, and Frederic outright ignored the problem about the black rocks and, as mentioned above, sent guards after Varian even before he did anything against the royal family.
    • Lady Caine. When she was a child, her father, a mere petty thief, was thrown in a cage like some animal, a sight she had to experience at a young age that likely traumatized her. She never saw him again, and it's likely he was a single father given she seemingly had no mother to sway her away from the wrong path, heavily implying she had to fend for herself afterwards and made her own life choices ever since. While her blaming Rapunzel and trying to abduct nobles as an adult are terrible, her circumstances render her hatred for Corona's law and aristocracy very understandable, something the series (as well as Rapunzel) never acknowledges, instead painting her as merely a greedy and narcissistic thief.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • The citizens of Vardaros (except Quaid and Vex, who have redeeming qualities and are frequent help to the main cast) fall hard into this trope hard, in both episodes centered around the city they largely come off as nothing more than a group of obnoxious jerks who don't deserve Rapunzel's help, and never in either episode do they acknowledge or express gratitude over Rapunzel helping rid the city of the Baron and his thugs, even in "Goodbye and Goodwill" where Rapunzel is supposed to be wrong about wanting Vardaros to be more like Corona how they act and respond still make them rather unlikable.
    • For Varian's massively numbered fans, Rapunzel falls into this starting from the end of "Queen For A Day" up until the end of "The Quest For Varian". Even though she believes turning away Varian's request to save his father in the midst of the blizzard is her greatest failure, she doesn't check up on him once the crisis is over. Some feel this reinforces his bitterness that leads to his Face–Heel Turn.
  • The Un-Twist: Eugene was given a warning that one of them is going to turn on Rapunzel at the end of her journey. He looks at everyone, and realizes something is off with Cassandra, who gives a sinister glare, leading us to believe it's going to be her. Cassandra ended up looking like a Red Herring after that; she's done nothing to even suggest that she would betray Rapunzel, and Eugene ends up being the one (unwillingly) turning on Rapunzel because his long-lost father tells him not to let Rapunzel touch the Moonstone if he wants her to live. Just as Rapunzel was about to take the Moonstone, marking the literal end of her journey, Cassandra then grabs it at the last second, which means it was her who was going to turn on them all along.
  • Wangst:
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While the series is still lighthearted most of the time, especially after "Queen for a Day", the series has a lot of dark elements you would not expect in a kids show. With stuff like complex Grey-and-Gray Morality with its villains, one of the main characters getting mutilated by the decay incantation, several near character deaths in pretty horrible ways, and a Myth Arc that deals with the potential end of the world and the idea that Rapunzel could end up dying as a result. Season 3 ups this by dealing with the fallout of the betrayal of one of the main characters and, in the end, revealing the true Big Bad as a villain who wants to explicitly kill everyone in Corona slowly and painfully.
  • The Woobie:
    • Rapunzel remains this even though her life has improved. She ends up in another Gilded Cage, so she can't explore outside Corona as she pleases, and the one time she sneaks out her hair grows back and can't be cut, which leads to further confinement after her father finds out. Then she starts suffering nightmares of Mother Gothel, can't find answers to why her hair grew back and has new powers, and suffers a bad painting. Also, thanks to her, the spikes that cause her hair to regrow end up endangering the kingdom, and ruin her friendship with Varian. It gets even worse in Season 3 where Cassandra keeps trying to murder her even though all she wants is for them to make amends. Thankfully, she gets both Varian and Cassandra back (eventually).
    • King Frederic, in how he and Arianna are trying to adjust to having a daughter again. He means well, but he still has flashbacks to when Gothel stole Rapunzel and the open window. At his daughter's coronation, he finds out that she sneaked out without his permission, and a petty thief nearly kidnaps him and several Royals. This gets even more pronounced in "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth", in which we see the extent of just how haunted he is by the fear of losing Rapunzel again. It gets worse when he doesn't think through sending Elite Mooks to fetch a MacGuffin from his daughter, which nearly gets her killed and strains their relationship.
    • Eugene after Rapunzel turns him down and refuses to tell him while her hair grew back. He gives her all his support and waits for her to be ready on both counts. In "Fitzherbert P.I." while trying to find an honest job, Eugene fails at a good number before eventually applying to be a Royal Guard. He's frustrated on how the Captain makes it clear he's doing all he can to sabotage Eugene's application. It's so bad that Cassandra changes her opinion of him as a Royal Guard candidate and gives him advice.
    • Pascal as revealed in "Pascal's Story". When he was just a hatchling, he lost his mother to a snake who nearly killed him as well had Rapunzel not saved him. Years later, he begins to feel that his relationship with his best friend is growing more and more distant. Not helping matters is how others treat him; Eugene and Cassandra unknowingly act insensitive towards him while Lance eats the meal Pascal prepared for Rapunzel and proceeds to rub it in Pascal's face by saying Rapunzel doesn't care about him anymore. This prompts him to run away back to the tower where's he's almost eaten by the same snake that killed his mother.
    • Varian, big-time.
      • Prior to "What the Hair!?", he doesn't have any company or friends aside from his father due to others fearing him for allegedly being a dangerous and evil wizard, and yet he remains a kind and well-meaning alchemist.
      • In "Queen for a Day", he travels a long distance from Old Corona to the castle during an extremely harsh and life-threatening blizzard all alone at only the age of fourteen so Rapunzel could help his father, yet she is unable to help him due to there being more important matters at risk. He's immediately dragged back out into the bizzard, travels the same distance back home, and finds that he is too late and his father is encased in amber. He can only break down in tears and swear revenge on Corona because everyone, not just Rapunzel, turned their backs on him. Then, he's forced to spend the next few months in complete isolation, with no-one to keep him company aside from his pet racoon, due to a completely false rumor that he attacked Rapunzel during the blizzard.
      • His return in the Season 3 premiere reveals that he holds immense guilt for what he's done, to the point of being willing to sacrifice his life to save Corona and make up for his mistakes. Even after everything is resolved, "Be Very Afraid" shows that he's still haunted by the encasement of his father and the idea of citizens of Corona labelling him a traitor and saying being unable to save his father was what he deserves for his crimes, with Cassandra's red rocks making him see these fears and nearly causing him to fail at his and Rapunzel's mission of stopping the red rocks.

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