“ | I'm fulfilling my destiny! | „ |
~ Cassandra betraying Rapunzel. |
“ | I tried to warn you, Rapunzel. You have to be careful who you trust. | „ |
~ Cassandra, after her betrayal and her most famous quote. |
“ | You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I’m the bad guy! | „ |
~ Cassandra quoting Mother Gothel before rising to power and overthrows Corona |
Cassandra is the tritagonist of Disney's Tangled franchise.
She formerly served as Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting and best friend, serving as a hero in the first two seasons of the show, but at the end of the second season, she betrays Rapunzel by obtaining the power of the Moonstone all for herself in order to fulfill her own "destiny".
Despite her villainous role in the third season, she is merely a pawn of Zhan Tiri in the latter's grand scheme to obtain both the powers of the Sunstone and the Moonstone so she could use their power once again in order to destroy Corona. After Zhan Tiri steals both the Sunstone and Moonstone, Cassandra ends her villainy and teams up with Rapunzel to save Corona. After the defeat of Zhan Tiri, Cassandra makes up with Rapunzel.
In the first episode of the third season, after her betrayal, Cassandra is revealed to be the daughter of the late Mother Gothel, the main antagonist of the original Tangled film.
She was voiced by Eden Espinosa, who is best known as Elphaba Thropp for the Broadway, Los Angeles, and San Francisco productions of the musical, Wicked. She was also voiced by Cassie Glow and Hudson D'Andrea as a child in "You're Kidding Me!", "Rapunzel's Return", and "Islands Apart".
Appearance[]
Cassandra is a pale-skinned medium height young woman with dark pink lips, hazel eyes, and chin-length black hair with slight grayish-silver highlights.
When Cassandra is wearing her handmaiden outfit, her hair is much shorter and contained. The outfit itself is a light blue and white dress with yellow stripes across the middle and two in between her legs and also with a white choker around her neck and a white headdress with a yellow ring on the top.
When she is wearing her signature warrior outfit, she wears a grayish-brown shirt with a reddish one underneath, she also wears black leather gloves, a dark brown belt with a purse and a dagger inside her belt, and she also wears dark and striped leggings with many colors, and she also wears brown boots.
When she is on the Lorbs Island, she wears a brown shirt similar to the one she usually wears but without the red one under it. she also wears brown and blue cufflinks, and a brown and light brown slit with brown pants.
After Cassandra's right arm is burnt when she touches Rapunzel while she performs the Decaying Incantation, to cover her hand she wears some knights' armor with a red cape.
After Cassandra is corrupted by the Moonstone Opal, her appearance changes drastically. Her hair and eyes both turn turquoise with cyan stripes and her clothes turn black with dark blue stripes around her. She wears a blue glove on her right arm with spikes similar to the Black Rocks. The Moonstone Opal itself becomes embedded in her chest and it is constantly glowing as well.
Throughout Season 3, her skin tone becomes paler, presumably due to the Moonstone's placement in her body, and her eyes regain some of the green color they formerly had.
After she loses the moonstone, she has her original suit, but it's completely gray with black stripes around it and a black hole in it where the moonstone used to be.
Later Cassandra sported a green tunic similar looking to her season one outfit, a black cape, black pants, and dark brown boots, along with her Cassandrium necklace on her neck.
Personality[]
Cassandra is described as being "tough-as-nails", a fitting description for someone who wishes to join the royal guard. She is snarky, sarcastic and has a somewhat dry sense of humor. Despite this, she is extremely supportive and protective toward Rapunzel, her polar opposite — so much so that she dislikes people who are rude to Rapunzel, and she openly holds animosity for Eugene, believing him to be selfish and undeserving of Rapunzel's love and friendship. One of the reasons for this belief is because she feels Eugene puts his own desires before Rapunzel's.
Although loyal to King Fredrick and Queen Arianna, Cassandra is willing to break their rules (and risk her job) for the sake of Rapunzel's happiness; this is seen when Cassandra offered to take Rapunzel beyond the kingdom's wall to explore some of the outside world and escape the pressures of royalty. Doing so required much stealth and cunning, traits Cassandra revealed herself to have that night.
Aside from her no-nonsense persona, Cassandra is also shown to be a free spirit, not unlike Rapunzel. Though she has a more cynical way of going about life, Cassandra also finds joy in adventure, living life to the fullest, and experiencing new things. This is most notably seen during "Wind in My Hair", where Cassandra is seen enjoying herself almost as much as Rapunzel.
In "Challenge of the Brave", it is revealed that Cassandra has insecurities about how she is seen just as a girl/handmaiden instead of a strong, skilled, and capable warrior who deserves as much respect as anyone in the royal guard, this would later contribute to her fall to villainy. These things can at times cause her to act selfishly and make her unable to be able to ask for help sometimes.
Cassandra also holds a strong belief that strangers can't be trusted, like for example when the group first meet Adira she immediately didn't trust her and still didn't even when she proved herself and saved her life and even after she revealed everything to them.
Cassandra also shares a strong rivalry with Eugene due to his past as a thief tying into her trust issues but over the course of the series, she becomes a lot nicer to him as well, at least for a while. Another factor behind her dislike of Eugene is his vanity, with the source of her irritation possibly being a subconscious one - as a child, she was witness to Gothel's constant preening and vain self-worship, and Gothel abandoning her was deeply traumatic; while she forgot this event in her conscious mind, there may have been underlying resentment at the mother who abandoned her, who happened to be incredibly vain, thus this parallel to Eugene provokes her disdain for him without her even understanding why.
Through Season 2, her insecurities and feeling of constantly feeling outshined by Rapunzel cause their relationship to become strained. This only got worse when she discovered her true backstory in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow and that Gothel choose Rapunzel over her making her steal the moonstone and become a full-fledged villain.
Despite all of this, Cassandra is still shown to have some good in her as she repeatedly reconsiders her path but is constantly turned back to darkness by the Enchanted Girl. This is especially shown in the episode "Be Very Afraid" where it established the only reason the red rocks form is due to her fear of the idea of killing Rapunzel, as they are connected to her emotions. Her newfound vulnerability has also caused her to become gullible, as she never asks Zhan Tiri for her name or questions her motives.
After "Cassandra's Revenge", she becomes even more ruthless and malicious than before, fueled by her hated and Zhan Tiri's manipulation, such as threatening Corona if Rapunzel does not comply with her demands, kidnapping Varian to use him as bait for Rapunzel, threatening to kill him & Eugene to force Rapunzel to fight, and leaving Rapunzel to die in cave after setting off the poisonous gas to have Rapunzel slowly die. Although even then there are still some things she is unwilling to do like killing Varian, at least until "Once a Handmaiden...".
Cassandra also gains a god-complex, refusing to take accountability for her own actions, blaming them all on Rapunzel and getting angry when people call her a villain. When Varian tries to reason with her, using his own descent into villainy to explain that such paths only result in pain and misery, however, Cassandra rejects his appeals, instead accusing him for being too weak to fulfill his own plots, thereby indicating her loss of compassion and logic. She also becomes more abusive in nature, attempting to gaslight and victim-blame Rapunzel for the reason as to why Gothel abandoned her. In the midst of her anger, she also gains poor judgement and is more spiteful, dragging people into her conflict with Rapunzel, brainwashing the Brotherhood, and trusting Zhan Tiri for so long.
In "A Tale of Two Sisters," when she and Rapunzel are trapped in a cave system beneath Gothel's old cottage, she is initially abrasive in response to Rapunzel's attempts to make peace. Yet as they overcome the various obstacles together, and reminisce their original sister-like bond gradually heals over their rift. They find a cave full of mirrors that magically store and replay specific moments shown before them; with every mirror displaying Gothel in repeated exercises in narcissism - including one with a child Cassandra being chided for sweeping "too loud" - which Rapunzel darkly jokes about, while continuing to try to reach Cassandra, trying to convince her that her jealousy is unfounded as Gothel cared about nobody except herself. Since Cassandra was beginning to rethink her actions, the Enchanted Girl planted a hand mirror in Rapunzel's satchel; after another rush to escape poisonous explosive gas, the mirror falls out of the bag. The mirror, while having a sliver missing, plays a memory that seemed to indicate Gothel being a loving mother to child Cassandra, which makes her adult self enraged; despite Rapunzel trying to explain that she didn't steal the mirror and would never try to deceive her, Cassandra angrily abandoned Rapunzel, leaving her trapped in a cave, with the threat of poison inhalation, explosions, or giant moles likely to kill her (although, Rapunzel's ingenuity allowed her to escape the cave-in).
In "Once a Handmaiden...", Cassandra discovers the lost mirror sliver, which when joined with the hand mirror, displays that the memory of a supposedly kind Gothel, actually ended with the woman annoyed and sighing in relief when child Cassandra finally stopped bothering her. Confronting the Enchanted Girl with her discovery, Cassandra finds out that she was actually Zhan Tiri, which made Cassandra remorseful over her actions. When she tries to make amends with Rapunzel and the rest of the Corona, she feels insecure about communicating with Rapunzel and her anxiety caused her to refrain from telling her the truth when she is in disguise. When she does try to tell Rapunzel the truth, Zhan Tiri stealthily removed the diguise cloak, when exposed Cassandra to a frightened crowd; while Rapunzel orders them to stop, guards keep trying to apprehend Cassandra, who fights them off with her black rocks. As Cassandra tries to explain she didn't mean harm, she is attacked by Project Obsidian, a weapon made to defend Rapunzel against Cassandra. Not knowing that Zhan Tiri instigated the attack, and outraged at Rapunzel's supposed attack, Cassandra returns to being sadistic and villainous, destroying Corona and attempting to do so with everyone in it.
In "Plus Est en Vous", Cassandra initially seems to have abandoned all good in her, except for sparing Rapunzel's vase made by her aunt Willow. She also loses trust in Zhan Tiri, likely due to the knowledge of who she really is, which stems her to betray the demon by imprisoning her. Cassandra gets exceedingly close to killing Rapunzel and taking the Sundrop for herself, but then Zhan Tiri ambushes her and takes the Moonstone and Sundrop from her and Rapunzel, restoring her to her original strength, thus Zhan Tiri transforms into her giant demonic form. Upon losing all of her powers, Cassandra feels as though she's failed in proving herself, causing her to regret her actions, made worse by Zhan Tiri's taunt about her failing in the same manner as her mother, Gothel, because of ego. Cassandra becomes despondent and wallows in self-pity for her mistakes, but when Rapunzel tells her that there is more in her this instills new confidence in Cassandra which has her team up with Rapunzel and finally defeat Zhan Tiri leading to her redemption.
All-in-all, Cassandra is a deeply complex character, starting off as a loyal friend to Rapunzel with good intentions, but is often misguided by her insecurities and pride. Throughout Season 2, she develops an inferiority complex as she is constantly undermined by others (including Rapunzel), making her question her self-worth.
After seeing Gothel abandon her for Rapunzel during a journey through her memories, Cassandra fully embraces her more evil side and spends all of Season 3 developing into a villain, though in the end she is still shown to have some good in her and is eventually able to redeem herself. Despite her fall into cruelty, she wasn't fundamentally a bad person, as she was constantly feeling overlooked for more prominent guard or warrior roles, emotionally scarred from her childhood abandonment, feelings of always stepping away from her own dreams for the sake of Rapunzel's whims, misinformed/misunderstood belief that her own mother abandoned her for Rapunzel (instead of it just being for Rapunzel's Sundrop power), insecurity about being replaced in positions such as the Royal Guard and as Rapunzel's main protector by Adira, and envy that Rapunzel seemed free to pursue her own dreams; these elements made her prime for manipulation by Zhan Tiri, who cunningly fueled Cassandra's insecurities and sabotaged every chance at reconciliation.
After Cassandra's redemption, she decided to continue exploring the world, rather than return to Rapunzel's side; while Rapunzel was sad, she was also happy to give her blessing and best wishes to her sister on her journey. While Cassandra and Rapunzel will be apart for some time, and maybe for most of the time, their bond had been restored, so they would always be together, and Cass would be welcomed back whenever she did decide to return or simply visit.
Powers and Abilities[]
Skills[]
- Sewing: When Cassandra was Rapunzel handmaiden, she was able to sew Rapunzel's clothes extremely well.
- Fighting skills: Cassandra is a skilled swordswoman and fighter, having trained in the ways of the Corona Royal Guard since she was six years old. For example:
- Swordsmanship: Cassandra is shown to be extremely good with swords. As she has a whole collection of them and always has one on her back. She has also stood up to many people in sword combat and used her sword to cut eight perfect slices of an apple.
- Archery: During "Challenge of the Brave", she uses a bow during one of her challenges and is extremely good at using it.
- Martial arts: During some of Cassandra's fights, she pulls out some martial arts.
- Acting Skills: Cassandra is shown to have decent acting skills as she uses it to trick Andrew into believing she loved him and that she hadn't caught on to his plans.
Weapons[]
She is adept with many types of weapons, as shown through her collection of them in Before Ever After. For example:
- Swords: She has a giant collection of swords and always carries one around.
Former Weapons[]
- Moonstone Opal: When Cassandra grabbed the moonstone, it was embedded in her chest. She later has the moonstone stolen by Zhan Tiri and then it ends up going back to the heavens.
- Shadow Blade: When Cassandra and Adira were fighting, she grabs Adria's shadow blade taking it for herself. It is later broken by Rapunzel in the final episode.
- Mind-Trap: She steals the mind-trap from the spire which she uses to control the entire brotherhood, or anyone that had declared protection to the Moonstone, even if they forsook it, so the mind-trap could even ensnare King Edmund. It later ends up destroyed by King Edmund.
- Shapeshifting Cloak: When Cassandra stole the Shapeshifting Cloak from the spire, she could use it to shapeshift into anyone. like for example; The Keeper and Faith. Though, if it were tugged by a third party, the transformation choice can be involuntary and alternating.
Moonstone Powers[]
When Cassandra she gains a few powers related to it. For example:
- Life-draining: She most likely gained the life-draining abilities that it possesses, as shown through its power coursing through her hair, through she never attempted to use it or the decay incantation.
- Control over the black rocks: she also gained the ability to summon the black rocks tied to her emotions. and when she learned the incantation her ability to summon the black rocks got even better as she was able to build an entire castle out of black rocks.
- Involuntary red rock generation: An ability that only manifested over one day, and was beyond her conscious control, but her fear interacted with the Moonstone, which created rocks akin to the black rocks, however, they were red and generated a field that induced fear, thereby provoking hallucinations of terror for anyone caught in its effect, and should the victim be scared enough, they would be frozen with a red sheen.
After Zhan Tiri takes the moonstone from her, she loses her moonstone abilities.
Weaknesses[]
- More Skilled Fighters: While an extremely good fighter she is not unbeatable, as she is overwhelmed by warriors who have trained longer than she herself has been alive, like Adira and King Edmund of the Dark Kingdom.
- Insecurity and Jealousy: It was her biggest weakness. The biggest example is that her insecurity and jealousy led to her letting rage cloud her mind and prevented her from seeing what she really needed, something which Zhan Tiri would later use to her advantage. Because of this, it caused her to betray Rapunzel in until her redemption in the series finale.
Former Weaknesses[]
- The Sundrop: When she had the moonstone, the Sundrop was the only thing that was able to negate her powers, especially after Rapunzel uses the incantation.
Quotes[]
“ | A friend wouldn't be so oblivious, Rapunzel!! You have no idea what this contest means to me!! I mean, you're a princess, you got nothing to prove!! To you, this was just a fun way to blow off a Saturday!! But to me, it was a way to show everyone that I am more than just your lady's maid!! And just when I've hoped I earned even the slightest bit of respect! Never mind. | „ |
~ Cassandra angry at Rapunzel in "Challenge of the Brave". |
“ | At the end of Rapunzel's journey, one of her party shall turn against her. | „ |
~ Demanitus' prophecy, foreshadowing Cassandra's betrayal. |
“ | I believe everybody's got a destiny. | „ |
~ A line foreshadowing her betrayal. |
“ | Rapunzel: You saw all of this in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow? Cassandra: I saw everything, Rapunzel. Rapunzel: Cass, if what your saying is true, then it means... Cassandra: It means that I'm Gothel's daughter and your destiny belongs to me. |
„ |
~ Cassandra after her betrayal. |
“ | Sisters?! My own mother chose you over me! My whole life I've been cast aside, for you. No more! | „ |
~ Cassandra when Rapunzel mentions that they are sisters. |
“ | I thought by taking the Moonstone my destiny would become clear. But, what if I don't even have a destiny? | „ |
~ Cassandra showing some doubt. |
“ | How dare you ask me that! You knew all along how much what was taken from me? You knew who my mother was, and you kept it from me. [...] You only did what was best for yourself. That's all anyone in my life has ever done. Well now... that's what I'm doing, this is my... THIS IS MY DESTINY! | „ |
~ Cassandra to her father, the captain of the royal guard. |
“ | Huh. Looks like our next stop is Corona.. | „ |
~ Cassandra planning to attack Corona. |
“ | Swell party. I'm guessing my invitation got lost in the mail. | „ |
~ Cassandra showing up to Eugene's party. |
“ | Yeah, we both have things the other wants. Which brings me to why I'm here. I want you to give me the scroll. | „ |
~ Cassandra giving her demand. |
“ | Give me the scroll and I'll leave Corona in peace. | „ |
~ Cassandra threatening Rapunzel. |
“ | Cassandra: Oh sure, let's have another chat about how my mother chose you over me. Rapunzel: Cass, Gothel took me and held me against my will, it wasn't my decision, you know that. Cassandra: Well, was it your decision to push her out a window? |
„ |
~ Cassandra and Rapunzel. |
“ | Look, I know none of this is your fault and I don't want to hurt you, so when Rapunzel comes for you, don't try anything foolish. | „ |
~ Cassandra talking to Varian. |
“ | You'll stay in that cage until this is done. And just in case you think of escaping... | „ |
~ Cassandra locking Varian up. |
“ | You can't have a war without soldiers, Princess. | „ |
~ Cassandra explaining why she wants the mind-trap. |
“ | Rapunzel, there is no bond between us anymore, got it?!!? The sooner you can accept that the better off we'll be. So I'm going in this direction and you're going to go...anywhere else. | „ |
~ Cassandra to Rapunzel. |
“ | Really!? The one mirror showing that Mother, MY mother, had a SHRED of affection for me, and it just happens to wind up in your bag! | „ |
~ Cassandra discovering the mirror and thinking Gothel cared about her. |
“ | You were right. Rapunzel did know that Gothel loved me. | „ |
~ Cassandra mistakenly believing Gothel loved her. |
“ | Do you wanna explain to me how this got here? Back at Gothel's I thought Rapunzel was hiding the one memory that proved my mother loved me. | „ |
~ Cassandra after discovering the broken piece. |
“ | And you manipulated that memory! Didn't you? You took this piece out. You tricked me into abandoning Rapunzel. | „ |
~ Cassandra. |
“ | You're?! You're that ancient demon, Zhan Tiri?! | „ |
~ Cassandra after discovering the Enchanted Girl is Zhan Tiri. |
“ | No. No I'm nothing like you! Just because I'm pursuing my destiny doesn't make me a bad person. | „ |
~ Cassandra in denial about being the villain. |
“ | Zhan Tiri: I don't understand. You could have just gone up to her and apologized, face to face. Cassandra: I said get away from me. Zhan Tiri: You made more than a few opportunities and even still, you haven't done it. Why is that? I think. Cassandra: Because I'm scared she won't forgive me. Zhan Tiri: You're right to be scared. I'm guessing she hasn't told you about Project Obsidian, a weapon that was designed to destroy you. Rapunzel just authorized it yesterday. Cassandra: What! No, I don't believe you! Zhan Tiri: You can ask her yourself if you don't believe me. Here. You might want something to defend yourself against her. This potion may be your only protection against the Princess when she inevitably turns on you. |
„ |
~ Cassandra continuing to be manipulated by Zhan Tiri. |
“ | Project Obsidian, huh? Zhan Tiri was right. | „ |
~ Cassandra being tricked by Zhan Tiri. |
“ | Not anymore. Corona falls, today! | „ |
~ Cassandra ready to take over Corona. |
“ | I can't tell you how disappointing that is to hear, Raps. Because if you're not holding back that means this is the best you can do. | „ |
~ Cassandra mocking Rapunzel. |
“ | Who will be left for me, Rapunzel? Let me tell you something. This whole ordeal has taught me, I don't need anyone. | „ |
~ Cassandra saying she doesn't need anyone. |
“ | I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! WHY WON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP ON ME?! CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT I'VE DONE?! Look around you! This is all my fault! I've done terrible things! All this time I tried so hard to prove that I was more than everyone thought but they were right! | „ |
~ Cassandra's despair after finally realizing the results of her actions. |
“ | Raps, I am so sorry. | „ |
~ Cassandra's remorse. |
Trivia[]
- Cassandra had been training to join the Royal Guard since she was 6 years old.
- She is 4 years older than Rapunzel. Since Rapunzel was 18 years old at the start of the 1st film, and 20-21 years old by the end of the series, Cassandra is likely 22-25 years old.
- An extremely popular fan theory is that she is Mother Gothel's daughter. It's confirmed to be true in the first episode of Season 3.
- Despite claiming that she and Varian aren't the same, ironically enough, she shares similarities with him as both lost their parents (Cassandra lost her mother after she kidnapped Rapunzel and Varian lost his father as he got trapped inside the amber) and used to be Rapunzel's ally, but they turned against her due to their desire for vengeance against her (Cassandra wanting to get revenge on Rapunzel for being chosen by Gothel over her, believing that Gothel truly loved her, while Varian wanted to get revenge on Rapunzel for a refusal to help him free his father Quirin), not to mention they're unaware that Zhan Tiri manipulated them both. Both also join forces with villains (Zhan Tiri for Cassandra and the Separatists of Saporia for Varian), only for them to betray their respective villainous allies. However, while Varian wanted to free his loved one from imprisonment, Cassandra's motivations were merely for her own benefits. Fortunately, both of them felt remorse over their actions and managed to redeem themselves by making amends with Rapunzel and help her fight against the villains. Additionally, a few of Cassandra's actions towards Rapunzel, Corona and the people that the princess cares about were somewhat similar to the ones that Varian had done in "Secret of the Sun Drop".
- In the same episode, both Cassandra and Varian fall off of Cassandra's Stronghold. However, Varian fell into the arms of Lance, whereas Cassandra had to save herself using her powers. This reflects how Varian turning back to the side of good has caused him to be surrounded by friends once more, but Cassandra's path of hatred and darkness has left her with no one but herself.
- Starting from the episode, "Islands Apart", Cassandra's skin grows paler. This is likely due to the Moonstone's effect on her body.
- Cassandra's line, "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy.", are the exact same words her mother said when she finally revealed her true nature to Rapunzel in the original Tangled film.
- Ironically, despite such statement, as well as Zhan Tiri's additional, yet mocking claims, Cassandra herself is absolutely nothing like her mother; Gothel is a legitimately wicked woman who has never shown any true love to anyone, even if she's reliant on them, whereas her daughter is simply a vulnerable lady whose own villainous actions were deeply motivated by her insecurities rather than any genuine spite, and is capable of redemption herself. What's more, unlike Gothel, Cass has shown a hefty amount of independence within her.
- Despite Cassandra's motive for seizing the Moonstone was for selfishness born from insecurity and jealousy, she may have actually saved Rapunzel. When Zhan Tiri had both Sundrop and Moonstone, and was tricked into slamming them together, their fusion ended up vaporising the demon; thus, had Rapunzel touched the stone, it would have combined with the Sundrop in her, likely at the cost of her life.
- Originally, Cassandra was going to be possessed by the Moonstone. However, this was cut.
- Cassandra could be a dark foil to Varian, representing what he would've become if he let his anger and vengeance consume him.
- Ironically enough, Cassandra's overall envy towards Rapunzel for being more favored by Mother Gothel is partially because Gothel herself was envious by the fact that the princess has possessed the Sundrop's powers.
External Links[]
- Cassandra on the Heroes Wiki
- Cassandra on the Disney Wiki
- Cassandra on the Tangled Wiki
[]
Villains | ||
Zhan Tiri & Followers Separatists of Saporia Dark Kingdom The Baron's Criminal Organization Others |