As a lover for Tangled which is Disney’s newest fairytale I have decided to go into detail about the legend of Rapunzel,what versions of the tale is out there and concept art of Rapunzel.

About Rapunzel

Rapunzel is a Brothers Grim fairytale (the creators that brought you Cinderella & Snow White) and she the story of Rapunzel is as follows.

A lonely couple that wanted a child lived next to a walled garden which belonged to an enchantress named Dame Gothel. The man’s wife noticed a plant as a result of his wife’s pregnancy and it belonged to Gothel(the garden). He begged for mercy and so the old woman agreed to be lenient on condition that the unborn child would be surrendered to her at birth. When the baby was born the young girl was brought up by Gothel as her own. Whenever someone comes to see Rapunzel from the tower they say Rapunzel,Rapunzel let down your hair and her long beautiful golden hair would fall down from the tower so that the person would climb up on her hair. One day a handsome prince rode through the forest and heard Rapunzel singing from her tower. Enchanted by her singing voice he went to look for the girl and found the tower but he couldn’t find a way to see her. When he finally climbed up when Dame Gothel was gone he asked her to marry him and she accepted.

In another version the prince was blinded by thorns and Gothel cut Rapunzel’s hair and she had the hair that she had cut off as a decoy for the prince who (as I mentioned above)was blinded by the thorns. He searched for her until he heard a young girl with short blonde hair singing and they married.

In another version the ending revealed that the witch untied Rapunzel’s hair after the prince leaped from the tower but it slipped from her hands and landed in the tower this left the witch trapped in her tower.

The original story came from the story of Rudaba in an ancient Iranian book called Shahnameh written by Ferdowsi around 1000 bc.


Film Adapatations

Shrek 3: Rapunzel was working for Prince Charming in this movie and she was in fact bald in the end of the film.

Barbie as Rapunzel: This one was about a girl who loved to paint and her evil mother Gothel locked her in a tower and she was in love with Rapunzel’s father who was a king. Rapunzel used to escape with a purple dragon who couldn’t fly and a rabbit. Rapunzel falls for a prince who met Mother Gothel wearing Rapunzel’s chopped hair at some masquerade ball.

Tangled: SPOILERS AHEAD>>>>>.

Disney’s newest fairy tale and this version of Rapunzel is about a lost princess who’s mother was very ill and she got a healing flower that only works when Rapunzel would sing a song. She falls for a rogue thief named Flynn Eugene Fitzherbert Rider and together they go on a whirlwind adventure together. Near the end of the film it is revealed that Rapunzel is in fact a brunette and Eugene chopped her hair of using a broken mirror as he got stabbed by Mother Gothel who wanted to keep Rapunzel all to herself because she looks around 100 years old and as Rapunzel sings the following lyrics:

Flower,gleam and glow let your power shine,make the clock reverse bring back what once was mine, Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design save what has been lost bring back what once was mine, what once was mine.

And it either makes the person young again or it heals them. In the end of the film Rapunzel married Eugene.




Out of the three that I have mentioned Tangled is way better as its funny and a bit of a tearjerker. Mandy Moore provides the voice of the beautiful princess and Zac Levi voices Eugene Fitzherbert(aka Flynn Rider).