Mother Gothel is the main antagonist in Disney's 2010 animated feature film Tangled, voiced by Donna Murphy. She locked Rapunzel into her tower when she was a baby. As Rapunzel grows up, she has then believed that Mother Gothel has always been her mother and her motherly figure. However, each year on Rapunzel's birthday, strange lights come from the castle which Rapunzel curiously sees at her tower window and she then has doubts and wonders what they are and what they mean.
Role in the film
As an elderly woman near the end of her life, Gothel is the single witness of a drop of pure sunlight falling to the ground, creating a magical flower with healing abilities. When Gothel sings to the flower and strokes its petals, she becomes younger and beautiful. She is determined to keep this secret from the rest of the world and hides the flower to keep herself beautiful and young forever. Hundreds of years pass, and in that time a nearby kingdom prospers. Sadly, the young queen falls deathly ill while pregnant, and the entire kindgom searches for a cure. A guard manages to find the flower and Gothel is powerless to stop him. After drinking a broth made from the flower, the queen is cured and the flower's abilities are given to her unborn child, a girl named Rapunzel.
In the dead of night, Gothel breaks into the little princess's room and uses Rapunzel's long golden hair to replenish herself. When she tries to cut some of the hair for herself, however, it turns brown and the healing powers are destroyed. The king and queen awaken and Gothel kidnaps the little princess. She isolates her in a hidden tower far away from the rest of the world, and raises her as her own daughter. Gothel refuses to let Rapunzel go outside, telling her the world is a dangerous place where people would try to hurt her and use her gift for themselves. Rapunzel, however, sees some special floating lights every year on her birthday (really floating lanterns the king and queen set free to remember their lost daughter) and yearns to find out what they are.
Eighteen years later, Mother Gothel is still as manipulative and over-protective as ever. She constantly uses subtle jabs, over- the- top guilt trips and refrains of " Mother Knows Best" to keep Rapunzel from leaving the tower. She finally snaps and screams at her "You are never leaving this tower, EVER!!" when Rapunzel tries to bring up the subject about going to see the lights (she was really trying to tell her how she managed to capture Flynn Rider and is currently hiding him in the closet). Rapunzel promises to never ask about the lights again if Gothel will bring her back a special birthday present, a paint for her room made from white seashells, which will require a three-day journey. Confident that Rapunzel is safe, she agrees.
Mother Gothel strikes a deal with The Stabbington Brothers
While on her way, Gothel comes across Maximus, who is now without a rider and still searching for Flynn. Realizing what a riderless horse could mean the discovery of Rapunzel, Gothel hurries back to the tower and calls for Rapunzel to let down her hair. Desperate when she hears no reply, Gothel reopens a previously sealed entrance to the tower and enters the room. She is terrified to find no one there, but discovers Flynn's satchel with the stolen tiara and a wanted poster. Thinking he kidnapped Rapunzel, Gothel steals a dagger and begins his search for him. When she comes across the Snuggly Duckling tavern, however, she overhears Rapunzel singing how happy she is now that she is has left the tower. She spies Rapunzel and Flynn escaping through a hidden tunnel when the royal guards arrive and flirts with (then quickly threatens) Shorty the pub thug to find out where it leads.
Gothel soon comes across the Stabbington Brothers, who are out to get back at Flynn for betraying them. Using this to her advantage, Gothel gives them the crown but tells them she can offer them an even greater treasure, along with revenge on Flynn. That night she talks to Rapunzel while Flynn is out getting firewood and tries to get her to return to the tower with her. Rapunzel refuses, wanting to continue her journey and admitting she has some feelings for Flynn. Gothel insists the only reason why Flynn is with her is to get the crown, which she thrusts into Rapunzel's hands and orders her to give it to him as a test before vanishing.
Gothel betrays her minions
Gothel's plan is put into action while Flynn and Rapunzel are watching the lanterns the next evening. Rapunzel gives Flynn his satchel to show that she trusts him. Before they kiss, Flynn spies the Stabbington Brothers on the opposite shore and tells Rapunzel to wait as he goes to talk to them. Flynn tries to apologize and return the crown to them, but they reveal that they now know about Rapunzel's gift. The brothers find Rapunzel and tell her Flynn left with the crown and told them about her healing powers. Rapunzel refuses to believe them until they point out Flynn sailing away on a boat, ignoring Rapunzel's screams. Before the brothers can kidnap Rapunzel, Gothel betrays them so it looks like she's rescuing her. She leads the heartbroken Rapunzel home and Flynn, who was knocked out and tied to the mast of the boat, is caught by the guards, who prepare to hang him the next morning.
Mother Gothel begins aging to death.
At home, Rapunzel realizes that she is the princess who was stolen years ago and confronts Gothel with the revelation, standing up to her for the first time. Rapunzel insits she will never let her use her hair again, inciting Gothel's rage. When Flynn escapes on Maximus and returns to the tower, he climbs up Rapunzel's hair only to find her chained and gagged. Gothel stabs him from behind and prepares to take Rapunzel to a new hiding place, but her gag comes off and she promises to go with her willingly if she allows her to heal Flynn. Flynn would rather die than see Rapunzel trapped forever, however, and cuts off all her hair with a shard of glass. The healing power is gone forever, and a horrified Gothel watches as her true age begins catch up on her. As she writhes and tries to hide her aging beneath her cloak, Pascal moves the length of dead hair and she trips over it, falling out of the tower. When she hits the ground, only dust remains.
Trivia
- Mother Gothel's death is somewhat similar to the demise of The Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol, in that both villains disintegrate and are turned to dust.
- Mother Gothel is similar to Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame as they both don't allow their "ward" to be with civilization in order to use them for their own gain. However, Mother Gothel kidnaped Rapunzel whereas Frollo killed Quasimodo's mother and reluctantly raises him ever since.
- The actress for Mother Gothel was originally going to be Grey DeLisle. It is currently unknown why they replaced her with Donna Murphy.
- Similar to Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Gothel stabs her enemy, then falls a great distance to her death.
- Mother Gothel's clothes at the beginning of the movie when she first finds the magic flower is dark green dress and dark red cloak, the reverse of the clothes she wears for the rest of the film: dark red dress and dark green cloak.
- The directors of the film stated that Mother Gothel's wardrobe style is 400 years older than Rapunzel's wardrobe style, and Gothel is designed to be the opposite of Rapunzel, thus explaining her curly black hair (opposite of Rapunzel's straight blonde hair).
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