Disney’s Tangled was released in 2010, and still, audiences love watching the love story unfold between Princess Rapunzel and thief Flynn Rider. Their journey to see the lanterns for Rapunzel’s birthday contains quite a few adventures, and naturally, an antagonist. Audiences surely remember the brutal and unforgiving Gothel, who guilt-tripped her adoptive daughter the entire way, memorably with the catchy but manipulative song, “Mother Knows Best.”
Gothel wasn’t a good parent and was capable of awful things. She was selfish, cunning, and smart, which made her a great Disney villain. Audiences know that Gothel is bad news, but in certain ways, she’s still an underrated Disney villain.
Updated on July 28th, 2022, by Lynn Gibbs: Did Mother Gothel really know what was best for Rapunzel on Tangled? To manipulate Rapunzel into doing whatever she wanted for her selfish gain, Gothel struck fear in Rapunzel so that she wouldn’t leave the walls of their tower. Gothel knew if Rapunzel left their tower, she would realize that she was a princess, kidnapped, and used for the magical properties in her hair. These are rather dark messages in Tangled but that’s what made Gothel one of the darkest, underrated villains in any Disney movie.
She’s Unpredictable
Gothel will utilize whatever she has at the time to achieve her goals. Making the deal with the Stabbington brothers is one of those instances. Some of her decisions are ones that she makes in the heat of the moment, like when she kidnaps Rapunzel when she broke into the castle intending to cut off her hair for its healing power.
At first, Gothel was only planning on cutting off a strand of Rapunzel’s magical hair. It wasn’t until she realized the hair died of its powers once it was cut that she changed plans and kidnapped Rapunzel to keep her to herself. That kind of unpredictable mentality makes her dangerous. This could be why she’s one of the few Disney villains without friends.
She Was Never Capable Of Loving Rapunzel
Since Gothel raised Rapunzel after kidnapping her and pretended to be her biological mom, it would be assumed that she grew feelings for her supposed daughter. She raised Rapunzel for almost 16 years and taught her everything she knew, it would be assumed that she’d love Rapunzel as her own.
Shockingly, there were no terms of endearment for Rapunzel and Gothel used her as a means of living forever — that was it. In the end, it would have been expected to see Gothel upset that her “daughter” was missing from their home, but she was more worried about the magic than the love she had for Rapunzel.
She Takes Dangerous Risks
Gothel isn’t afraid of the consequences of her actions. She’s somewhat cocky in that sense, thinking that she could get away with anything and everything forever. In the film, the first dangerous risk she takes is kidnapping the princess. She could have faced severe consequences, like imprisonment or even death, if she had been caught.
Likewise, when she made the deal with the Stabbington brothers, she risked her life to do so, given the brothers were very dangerous and bloodthirsty after having been betrayed by Flynn Rider. Still, it was just another day at the office for Gothel, as she didn’t seem to care about the repercussions of her actions. Because she’s a risk-taker, she’s one Disney villain who shouldn’t be redeemed for fear of what she’d accomplish next.
She Detached From Everyone
Anyone she comes into contact with, she uses. Gothel used massive guilt trips to get Rapunzel to do what she wanted; she always used Rapunzel specifically for her hair. Again, she used the Stabbington brothers to get Rapunzel back and take care of Flynn Rider as a bonus.
As soon as Gothel gets what she wants, she’s done with people and takes off whether or not she upheld her end of the deal. She’s unreliable, and she can’t be trusted on any level, but this makes her an excellent villain. Unfortunately, she’s so good at what she does that it takes even Rapunzel a while to figure out what Gothel’s true colors are. For viewers who thought it didn’t make sense for Rapunzel to abide by Gothel for so many years, she had no choice.
She’s Intelligent
Gothel has to be wicked smart, or else she never would’ve gotten away with hiding the magical flower that gave off healing powers. Being able to get into the castle despite its heavy security, and kidnapping Rapunzel, is a daunting task but Gothel made it look easy.
She’s good at coming up with plans, especially evil ones, and seeing them through so that they unfold the way that she wants them to. Making herself look like the hero in Rapunzel’s eyes when she saves her from the Stabbington brothers was pretty brilliant on her part. She’s one of the more intelligent Disney villains for her manipulation skills. Unfortunately for her, the moment didn’t last long as Rapunzel soon saw through Gothel’s tricks.
She Doesn’t Have The Capacity To Love Someone Else
Gothel never loved Rapunzel; she was just using her to get what she wanted. She doesn’t love anyone or anything, even herself. Given the fact that Gothel is so hooked on her vanity, and appears to hate herself when the healing powers wear off, revealing her actual age, it makes sense that Gothel doesn’t love herself, either.
She has no problem with her manipulative and selfish nature, but she has major problems with her looks, and if she isn’t young and beautiful, then she completely breaks down. It’s sad, but it explains a lot of things about Gothel. If she could never love herself, how could she ever love or even care for anyone else?
She’s Manipulative
Gothel is dangerously good at playing mind games to get what she wants. Just look at how she treated Rapunzel throughout Tangled. She’s good at nitpicking a person’s mind, preying on their vulnerabilities and desires, and using them to her advantage so Gothel herself can get what she wants from them.
It wasn’t until Rapunzel left the tower that she could see past the manipulation; Gothel is that good at what she does, and she’s been doing it for a long, long time. If Disney viewers were scared of villains like Ursula from The Little Mermaid, they’d be horrified by Mother Gothel.
She’s Incredibly Selfish
Everything is about Gothel. The world revolves around her, as far as she’s concerned. She doesn’t care who she hurts or takes advantage of along the way, as long as she is happy and fulfilled. Frankly, if she doesn’t get what she wants, she goes off the rails and does whatever she can so that the world is made right again, just for her.
Her selfishness is her drive and has been for years upon years. Gothel was too set in her ways to change, and her judgment too clouded to see her wrongdoing. This kind of pure self-interest makes for a fascinating kind of villain.
She Has No Remorse For Her Cold Actions
Not once does Gothel feel even a twinge of guilt for all the things she’s done. For one, she hoarded the magical healing powers of a flower, just so she could stay young and beautiful forevermore. When the flower is found by the kingdom and given to the sick queen as a cure, its power transfers to Rapunzel and Gothel, not about to let the power of it go, kidnaps Rapunzel as a baby and hides her away in complete isolation to keep that magic to herself.
Not once does she feel bad for what she’s done not just to Rapunzel, but also to the entire kingdom by hoarding the flower as long as she did. She never second-guesses herself, and it’s concerning that she never feels remorseful. Instead, she feels like everyone owes her something. This is proven in the villainous songs she sings throughout Tangled. As long as she’s taken care of, she’s fine.
She’s Realistic And Didn’t Need Superhuman Powers To Defeat Those Around Her
One of the things that makes Mother Gothel so scary is the fact that she’s realistic. Unlike Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty or Jafar in Aladdin, Gothel is human and has no magical powers. She’s sneaky, intelligent, and unbelievably cunning. She’ll do anything to retain her youth.
Villains that can exist in real life, beyond the film, are scarier than villains like Freddy Krueger, who audiences know isn’t real. Gothel is dangerous in more ways than one, and audiences would never want to meet her.
She Continued To Get More Evil
Near the film’s conclusion, Gothel declares that she’s now the “bad guy” and decides to imprison Rapunzel forever after she refuses to allow Gothel to use her hair’s healing powers ever again.
Flynn shows up to save Rapunzel, and Gothel stabs him, making things worse with potential murder. Gothel had no way of knowing that, even after Flynn had cut off Rapunzel’s hair, that Rapunzel would still be able to save his life. Gothel had no qualms about imprisonment or cold-blooded murder and probably would have only become eviler over time. That makes her more than vicious. Seeing Gothel’s villainous acts in a live-action film should be next on Disney’s to-do list.
