The Terrifying Brilliance of Mother Gothel 

I’ve always liked Gothel as an antagonist because her goals are very understandable. When it boils down it, all she wants is to be young and beautiful forever, things most people want. No takeover the world scheme, no wanting to kill a child because they slighted them or be evil just for the sake of evil, she just wants to stay alive by any twisted means necessary.

This woman is genuinely terrifying, the queen of gaslight,gatekeep and girlboss. I hate her even more after the series

There is one thing I disagree with. Mother gothel doesn't fail because of mere chance. She fails because she doesn't believe that people can sometimes be selfless. I think it was a great well written character flaw. She's narcissistic and only cares about herself. She is shown how the king and queen only cared about themselves and took that magical flower for themselves. She is also used to using people by getting their selfishness out like how she uses the twins since they wanted the crown.

Also, she feels really smart. In the prologue, she didn't break into the castle with the intention of stealing the royal baby, she was going to silently get in, get a lock of hair and then get out. No harm to anyone and worse case, parents are concerned about the haircut and up security. It was only after she learned that wouldn't work that she resorted to kidnapping. Her motives, while selfish, are understandable because it was LITTERALLY the only way to keep her alive and at this time, she did have a child of her own so there's a lot of grey area with her

I love the metaphor of her death too. Vanity and jealousy died near instantly, crumbling into nothing but a dusty veil. Meanwhile, generosity and selflessness could stay alive simply by being generous and selfless. Its great stuff

I love mother gothel for two reasons very specific to me. To preface I have four narcissistic parents, each one their own unique blend of narcissist. As a kid I NEVER REALIZED mother gothel didn’t care about rapunzel because she is exactly like my mother. I thought it was mean they killed her becuase technically the kindgom stole her stuff and cursed her to die. Rewatching as a teen on the other hand made me realize just how horrible my parents where treating me and allowed me to escape that abuse

The thing is, Gothel should’ve left the kingdom with Rapunzel. She wouldn’t have to worry about the lights or being discovered. It would’ve been so easy to just lie and tell Rapunzel that she was the one who got sick during the pregnancy and needed to sacrifice the flower to save Rapunzel. Then she could guilt trip her into healing her indefinitely. She would then be free to see go around and see if anyone knew of a way to transfer the powers into her or something else that would allow her to continue to live without needing the hair. She’s smart, yes, but these are *massive* flaws. She should’ve taken the flower somewhere else in the beginning, but I can understand why she might’ve been hesitant to do so. Though, given that the legend was known to other people, she should’ve chosen a better method of hiding it, because there’s no way that it would work during the day. Other than that, which is mostly needed for the plot setup, she’s a pretty well-rounded character, really clever.

Mother Gothel is one of the best Disney villains. She hides a flower that only got found by luck, her lantern bumping the basket hiding it. She then as a old woman took Princess Rapunzel as a baby and outran the guards and his her away from 16 years. Kept her unwilling to leave for fear of the outside and the people there using backhanded compliments and insults. After Rapunzel leaves, she came up with a plan get get the Stabbington Brothers to team up to take down Eugene and takes them out before they can get Rapunzel. She planned on taking Rapunzel with her to a new location after Eugene returns and she stabs him. Only losing to luck, not expecting him to let himself die from his wounds than let Rapunzel suffer as a prisoner of the most clever woman in the Kingdom Of Corona. (Yes that's the name of the kingdom, it was 2010 back then.)

Mother Gothel was top tier.

It's interesting that in the tangled tv series we learn thar gothel had a child that she abandons when she kidnapps rapunzel.

And then she haunts the narrative of the tv show so well, the wrote rapunzel really well as someone raised by a manipulative abuser and there's tons of scenes where Raps is frozen with fear or panic at the mention of Gothel

Agreed, she's def well done.

Mother Gothel imo is one of the most underrated Disney villains. Some find her a bit boring because of how simple her ultimate goal is: staying young and beautiful forever. Her character is so much more than merely outrunning death. When I was in high school at the time it came out, I almost thought Gothel actually did love Rapunzel a little bit as her daughter, specifically whenever she says “I love you most” and I never noticed she is actually kissing her hair and looking at her hair instead of Rapunzel’s face like Flynn does, always pushing it out of the way to see Rapunzel herself, not her hair. The best quality of Gothel is merely the fact she’s a realistic villain with understandable goals, but not forgivable. She basically tore a family apart just to keep her youth and merely kept Rapunzel satisfied with her paints and other hobbies she brings her when she returns home. There’s even a deleted song about Rapunzel being gaslit by believing she’s being selfish for wanting to see the outside world after everything Gothel has done for her and she should be grateful for being safe in the tower. It shows how Gothel doesn’t actually care about her and only sees her as kinda like a flower which is even her pet name, meaning she’s not actually a person in her eyes. Also Gothel becomes a lot more terrifying in the Tangled Series. I find Gothel like Frollo, both are amongst the best villains Disney has ever created and it really irritates me how Hans is a more popular villain Disney constantly makes fun of in their movies and shorts just because he broke Anna’s heart. He’s constantly brought up almost every time just for them to make fun of him and not actually show his character of being a mistreated royal prince in his own kingdom. While Gothel is actually pretty terrifying with everything she does to get her precious flower back, including fooling the Stabbington Brothers and getting them and Flynn arrested and potentially doomed to being hanged. While the song Mother Knows Best isn’t on the same level as Be Prepared or Hellfire, I will argue it’s very unique for a villain song, her sweetly telling Rapunzel how dangerous the world really is and only she can protect her. The reprise especially completely shows how Gothel’s patience is running thin and is trying to tell Rapunzel how foolish she’s being for believing Flynn actually likes her and isn’t using her or going to betray her first chance he gets. Plus Gothel’s final demise and defeat is actually very ironic for her, she sought to stay young and beautiful forever, but once she touches Rapunzel’s brunette hair she becomes a very old woman and becomes hideous as her body keeps decaying. If she hadn’t fallen out the window she would’ve become a pile of dust anyway. It’s similar to how the Wicked Queen became a wretched old hag just to become the fairest in the land, showing the true beauty of her heart as something so grotesque and disgusting just to kill Snow White out of jealousy and bitterness.

I wholeheartedly agree! Their relationship feels so genuine, even tho they knew each other for like, 3 days, but it seems like a week. Gothel didn't know Eugene was gonna cut Rapunzel's hair to save her, since she revealed how it works. 8:22 gets me every damn time, since you might not think she'd go that far!! I hate her, but love her at the same time for being her! This is the Disney movie villain, besides Frollo of course, EVER!

My hypothesis is she is like an addict, maybe once she was freaked out by death but over time she loved how she got praise for her youth and the magic warped her thought process

Mother gothel is debatably a twist villian, except instead of a twist for the audience she is a twist for the characters. And arguably thats how it should be, the twist villian should be revealed to the audience before the characters so the audience can see how and why she is evil and how far she can go

I remember watching Tangled when I was younger. I liked mother gothel but she always rubbed me the wrong way… When she did the “repunzel knows best” reprise of mother knows best, I said to my mom rapunzel knows best. But she said she felt mother knew best. I kinda got it I guess. Aside from killing flint, she seemed like a good person. But as I got older, she gave me a weird feeling. Turns out, the reason I felt like that is cuz she’s just like my mother, who was also emotionally abusive. I’m no longer in contact with her.

Gothel alongside Frollo, were some of the best villains out there. Gothel in particular was just like you said perfect! Sure she had her flaws but who doesn't, it just shows that even if she is this manipulative, cunning and sly woman even she slips up and that's ultimately what led to her demise.

Actually one thing..... Rapunzel is 18 and one and only of a very few Disney princess's that's not under age and has a man alongside her

Mother Gothel got so much more character development in the animated series

What I really enjoy about her depth of character is that she doesn’t set out to kidnap rapunzel. She only wanted the power, she didn’t want a child. But because the only way to get the power is through the child, she had to take her.

Mother Gothel is so good

This could've been a 10 second video. All you should've said was 'she slays and has gaslight gatekeep girlboss energy'

Somes says in tangled the serie she was some sort of witch... others resume her way with song 《a little guilt, a lot of force of course you have to lie. Remind them without you they'll shrivel up and die》

so excited to watch this!!

Hands down, Gothel and Scar (from the Lion King) are my top two Disney villains.

Another thing: both Gothel and Rapunzel are super-hot.

Everytime Gothel was exasperated, it was genuinely unnerving and made a scary and threatening villian. The fact that she manipulated Rapunzel for 18 years, along with everyone else around her perfectly shows how intelligent and cynical she is (yes,there are flaws in her plan,like how she could have lied about Rapunzel's birthday,but she's still a really clever character) She's also just truly evil: while her motives were somewhat valid,a large amount of antagonists from 18+-rated movies can go cry in the corner, because Gothel certainly ranks very high on the evil spectrum. I will also vote her as "most realistic Disney bad guy". She isn't a supernatural monster with magical powers, she's just an exceptionally smart and twisted individual who wanted to stay alive by any means compulsory. Her design is also appealing,i love the detail of her dress being from the Renaissance-era,and visually she's a beautiful woman. Plus,her "Mother Knows Best" song is amazing. Mother Gothel checked all the boxes and made me love her as a villian. Mother Knows Best! ❤

I absolutely enjoyed this movie since it came out and it still remains one of my favorites. I gain a new appreciation and view at how real gothel was made by the game Dreamlight Valley. Where Gothel uses these tactics on your player character. And when getting to see how her words both affects my character and myself the horror of her made it more real and rather terrifying.

As an adoptee with three narcissistic siblings who kept my heritage from me for 17-18 years, emotionally/verbally abused me for not being kin & disabled, yes. Gothel is real. Very realistic.

There’s only two things I think gothel should’ve done to be absolutely perfect in her villainy. One, don’t tell repunzle that she has a birthday at all. The lanterns wouldn’t even affect her that much. And two, maybe indulge her with some outside. Like a fish on a hook give her a little taste of the world and reel her in.

Mother Gothel is to Disney what Heath Ledger’s Joker was to the Batman movies. It’s always the more quiet soft spoken villains that are the most unsettling! Both so fun to watch.

Can we not mention that of all villains she actually won. Oh yes repuzel you look up at the ceiling youve stared at for 18 years and conveniently know that you're the princess yeah right.

Too bad she wasn't that smart enough to move kingdoms or changed her fake daughter's birthday date. I just think that'd be the first thing to think about. This way there could've been no interruptions to her plan. Till Rapunzel grew old and died at least. What would she do then?

I. Would. Have. KILLED. To see Donna Murphy in Follies. She is absolutely why Gothel is so brilliant, because she brings the full Broadway performance to Tangled. (Just look up "Donna Murphy Would I Leave You" and you'll understand why I want to see her in Follies.)

For me I think what has made Mother Gothel stick with me as a villain is the realness of her motives and manipulation. Because as someone who had a narcissistic and manipulative mother, so much of what Gothel does in the movie is things I have seen and honestly? Gothel is one villain who I am terrified of just due to that real factor.

Amazing video as always! Hope you're doing well and continue to fo so 😁

I REFUSE to call this character ‘Mother’ anything - to call Gothel as such would be an insult to all ACTUAL mothers 😡

Agreed with all your points good video

This guy favorite Disney movie must be Tangled.

7:06 yeah true but it's is a shame that she was also arrogant and egotistical which is very common in villains nowadays

She's my favorite part of the film, no lie--and she has the best songs! I just wish she was less overdramatic; it'd make the audience question if a part of her really did care about Rapunzel.

I think you should make one on Cruela (from Cruela)

So Mother Gothel is a good villain because she feels less like a fairytale character… in a literal fairytale film? RU-vid was a mistake.

Why stone cold do

60th like 😋

It's so sad/annoying how her boyfriend killed her mother. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

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