- “It's as if you spend every second staring at your own reflection!”
- ―Mother Gothel to Evie in The Isle of the Lost: The Graphic Novel
Mother Gothel is the main antagonist in the 2010 animated film Tangled. She is one the villains imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost, where she teaches Selfishness 101 at Dragon Hall. She is also the mother of Ginny Gothel, and formerly the adoptive mother of Rapunzel. She was the host of Skin Deep with Mother Gothel before the Evil Isle TV station was taken down.
Background Information
Character origins
Further information: Tangled
Gothel as she appears originally in Tangled.
Gothel kidnapped Princess Rapunzel because her magical hair would grant her eternal youth, taking her to a tower where she raised her pretending to be her mother and separating her from the outside world.
When Rapunzel leaves the tower, Gothel goes in search of her, allying herself along the way with the Stabbington Brothers to separate her from Flynn Rider, with whom Rapunzel fled, and make her believe that he abandoned her.
After taking Rapunzel back to the tower, she discovers the truth about Gothel kidnapping her. Gothel tries to hold her back, but when Flynn arrives, he and Rapunzel confront Gothel. When Flynn ends up cutting Rapunzel's hair, Gothel begins to age, turning into dust as she falls from the tower.
History
The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel
Mother Gothel is one of the villains brought back to life only to be imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. She now serves as a teacher at Dragon Hall and has a daughter named Ginny Gothel.
Trivia
- She is the first villain in the Descendants franchise to originate from a computer animated film instead of hand-drawn.
- In the television series Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventures, outside of the Descendants continuity (which is based on the canon of the original film), it is also revealed that she has a daughter called Cassandra.
- Gothel bears similarities to Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, seeing as Frollo attempted to keep Quasimodo inside by claiming the world is a cruel and dark place, while putting on a kind and caring personality to hide his own dark self. However, it should be noted that, while Gothel simply lied to Rapunzel out of her own misanthropy, that the world is cruel and dark, Frollo genuinely believed that the world, aside from himself, was indeed cruel.
- Gothel shares similarities to both The Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Lady Tremaine from Cinderella. Gothel's old crone appearance is similar to the Evil Queen as well as her black hair, and they are both witches who are obsessed with beauty. Gothel locks Rapunzel in a tower for 18 years to prevent her from going outside, much like how Lady Tremaine locked and trapped Cinderella in the attic to stop her from trying on the glass slipper.
- Her class, Selfishness 101 is also known as "Advanced Selfies Seminar" in The Isle of the Lost: The Graphic Novel.
- Gothel is the fourth evil parent figure in a Disney film, after the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine and Claude Frollo.
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