HEAD CANON - NOT EVEN CLOSE TO DONE AKJSDH
First are foremost, what I believe is an important part of Rapunzel’s character is the fact that she doesn’t know what some emotions are. While she may have read about things like greed or jealousy or loathing, she’s never truly experienced them for her own self. And when I make that point, I’m also implying that is she did feel these emotions, how would she be able to place them? No one can describe what hating is-it differs from person to person. So if Rapunzel hates, let’s say carrots, all she’ll know is that she doesn’t like them as much as something else-not that she despises them.
And that isn’t just evident for the bad emotions. It’s there for love, and like, and happiness too. What do you define as true love? Or even as true happiness? Since the only love Rapunzel has ever known has been from Mother Gothel-which was basically built on lies-how can she place love in others? And when you make that point-this of how emotionally wounded Rapunzel must have been from what Mother Gothel did to her. Would she even want to love again? If it backfired so much, how could she find it in herself to love Eugene Fitzherburt?
But, with that point there are weak points as well. Rapunzel, being locked up in a tower for all of her life, clearly is a bit oblivious to things like that. And if you tie this back into my first point… how could she place Mother Gothel’s lies as ‘betrayal’? Truth be told, she probably believe that her mother had reasons for what she did, even if Rapunzel doesn’t exactly agree with them. I think the basis for this bit of headcanon is when Pascal trips Mother Gothel, and Rapunzel’s face is… truly heartbreaking. She’s upset-and what is upset to her? Losing someone?-and it’s obvious that… despite knowing how much lies Mother Gothel filled her head with, she still, well, loved her.
“Love” is a point I brought up before. You and I both know there are different kinds of love-the love you feel for family, what you feel for friends, for idols, and for lovers. How does Rapunzel differentiate between those? Well, she knows that she feels differently for Flynn, Pascal, Maximus, and Mother Gothel. But how does she know which is love as a friend, or family, or any listed above? It’s a bit… well, let me put it this way. The only “love” Rapunzel has ever known has been from Mother Gothel, her mother. That was a lie, pretty much. So when Flynn came around, and he saved her from that lie… wouldn’t she “fall” for anyone who did that? I guess what I’m really getting at is a point I’ve already made-how does she know what “love” is? How can she say she loves Flynn, if she doesn’t understand the emotion herself?
And I think, despite obliviousness, Rapunzel knows this. She knows she has no idea what love is and… even still, she knows whatever emotions she holds toward Flynn are powerful. So I believe that even if those feelings are really strong, Rapunzel refuses to say “I love you” to Flynn, until she’s 100% sure that that’s what she really feels. It’s probably obvious for everyone else to see that she does love him, but until she comes to terms with that herself, she chooses to not lie to Flynn. Because he’s important to her! She can tell him whatever feelings she has towards him are super strong, but she can’t place a label on them, and she refuses to do so. Even if it gets him mad at her… Rapunzel will not pretend to have an emotion if she isn’t positive that’s how she feels.
I’ve been talking about emotions this whole time, so I’d like to switch gears a little bit. Think to the end of the movie, when Flynn says “After years and years of asking, I finally said yes [to the marriage proposal]” You and I both know it was Flynn doing the asking, and Rapunzel giving the answers. So, for years and years, Rapunzel continually gave him the answer “no”. Why? Well, let’s see.
Arguably, Rapunzel’s life up until then had been a complete lie. So of the first time… there was something real in her hands. A real family, and a real kingdom too! She was the princess of a place where people would depend on her and look to her for knowledge and kindness. Assuming their monarchy works the same as ours, if Rapunzel and Flynn got married, that would mean that they would become king and queen. King > Queen. Flynn would have more power than Rapunzel-he’d be in charge. Rapunzel’s pretty clever, so she’d be able to piece that together herself. And… well, she wasn’t willing to offer that up to Flynn. Sure, she wanted to give him everything and make him happy, but her kingdom? Nu-uh. That’s her’s, and only when she got more used to having a real life, would she let them be married.
When people have been poor their whole life, then suddenly receive and influx of money, they tend to want all the materialistic things -- owning their own stuff, and buying everything and anything they can. I imagine Rapunzel went through this kind of phase once she got to the castle. I sort of "everything is mine, give me more give me more" ideal. She lived her entire life without owning and single thing (including her own hair) so there was a sort of... rush to go buy anything she could get her hands on.
Sooo, because of that, Rapunzel has a couple of rooms around the castle, just filled with.. stuff. She used to try and make a "clothes" room, or a "painting" room, but her desire of all tangible things made that very difficult very easily. I imagine that the townspeople often gave her things for free as well, so it was just... throwing wood in the fire. Rapunzel grew super protective over those items, so when ever anyone enter those rooms, she'd be like
NO.
So in a way, it was like she was having her "terrible twos" at. 18 years old. Something had to get done, because if things kept going like this, Rapunzel would grow to be selfish and greedy, just like her "mother".
And that isn’t just evident for the bad emotions. It’s there for love, and like, and happiness too. What do you define as true love? Or even as true happiness? Since the only love Rapunzel has ever known has been from Mother Gothel-which was basically built on lies-how can she place love in others? And when you make that point-this of how emotionally wounded Rapunzel must have been from what Mother Gothel did to her. Would she even want to love again? If it backfired so much, how could she find it in herself to love Eugene Fitzherburt?
But, with that point there are weak points as well. Rapunzel, being locked up in a tower for all of her life, clearly is a bit oblivious to things like that. And if you tie this back into my first point… how could she place Mother Gothel’s lies as ‘betrayal’? Truth be told, she probably believe that her mother had reasons for what she did, even if Rapunzel doesn’t exactly agree with them. I think the basis for this bit of headcanon is when Pascal trips Mother Gothel, and Rapunzel’s face is… truly heartbreaking. She’s upset-and what is upset to her? Losing someone?-and it’s obvious that… despite knowing how much lies Mother Gothel filled her head with, she still, well, loved her.
“Love” is a point I brought up before. You and I both know there are different kinds of love-the love you feel for family, what you feel for friends, for idols, and for lovers. How does Rapunzel differentiate between those? Well, she knows that she feels differently for Flynn, Pascal, Maximus, and Mother Gothel. But how does she know which is love as a friend, or family, or any listed above? It’s a bit… well, let me put it this way. The only “love” Rapunzel has ever known has been from Mother Gothel, her mother. That was a lie, pretty much. So when Flynn came around, and he saved her from that lie… wouldn’t she “fall” for anyone who did that? I guess what I’m really getting at is a point I’ve already made-how does she know what “love” is? How can she say she loves Flynn, if she doesn’t understand the emotion herself?
And I think, despite obliviousness, Rapunzel knows this. She knows she has no idea what love is and… even still, she knows whatever emotions she holds toward Flynn are powerful. So I believe that even if those feelings are really strong, Rapunzel refuses to say “I love you” to Flynn, until she’s 100% sure that that’s what she really feels. It’s probably obvious for everyone else to see that she does love him, but until she comes to terms with that herself, she chooses to not lie to Flynn. Because he’s important to her! She can tell him whatever feelings she has towards him are super strong, but she can’t place a label on them, and she refuses to do so. Even if it gets him mad at her… Rapunzel will not pretend to have an emotion if she isn’t positive that’s how she feels.
I’ve been talking about emotions this whole time, so I’d like to switch gears a little bit. Think to the end of the movie, when Flynn says “After years and years of asking, I finally said yes [to the marriage proposal]” You and I both know it was Flynn doing the asking, and Rapunzel giving the answers. So, for years and years, Rapunzel continually gave him the answer “no”. Why? Well, let’s see.
Arguably, Rapunzel’s life up until then had been a complete lie. So of the first time… there was something real in her hands. A real family, and a real kingdom too! She was the princess of a place where people would depend on her and look to her for knowledge and kindness. Assuming their monarchy works the same as ours, if Rapunzel and Flynn got married, that would mean that they would become king and queen. King > Queen. Flynn would have more power than Rapunzel-he’d be in charge. Rapunzel’s pretty clever, so she’d be able to piece that together herself. And… well, she wasn’t willing to offer that up to Flynn. Sure, she wanted to give him everything and make him happy, but her kingdom? Nu-uh. That’s her’s, and only when she got more used to having a real life, would she let them be married.
When people have been poor their whole life, then suddenly receive and influx of money, they tend to want all the materialistic things -- owning their own stuff, and buying everything and anything they can. I imagine Rapunzel went through this kind of phase once she got to the castle. I sort of "everything is mine, give me more give me more" ideal. She lived her entire life without owning and single thing (including her own hair) so there was a sort of... rush to go buy anything she could get her hands on.
Sooo, because of that, Rapunzel has a couple of rooms around the castle, just filled with.. stuff. She used to try and make a "clothes" room, or a "painting" room, but her desire of all tangible things made that very difficult very easily. I imagine that the townspeople often gave her things for free as well, so it was just... throwing wood in the fire. Rapunzel grew super protective over those items, so when ever anyone enter those rooms, she'd be like
NO.
So in a way, it was like she was having her "terrible twos" at. 18 years old. Something had to get done, because if things kept going like this, Rapunzel would grow to be selfish and greedy, just like her "mother".