Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at What Once Was Mine

It’s been a minute since we’ve looked into the Twisted Tales series, a series of books that take beloved Disney classics and reimagines them in different and often darker ways. First things first, for those of you who actually pay attention, you may recall that I teased the Twisted Tale based on Alice in Wonderland a while back. Truth be told, I started rereading that one and felt it wouldn’t make as interesting an article as I was hoping. Maybe we’ll cover it another time, but for now, we’ve moved things around and today we’ll be looking at What Once Was Mine, the Twisted Tale based on Tangled. Adapting Tangled into one of these is trickier than you might think as The Tangled Universe is surprisingly continuity heavy thanks to the popular aimated series Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures. In order to properly market this book, the writers needed find a careful balance between making the book accessible to both fans of the show and those who have only seen the movie. The solution: pulling a Princess Bride. By including a framing device of a brother telling his own version of the story to his sister who is currently going through chemotherapy, the writers basically are now given the excuse to do whatever the hell they want, continuity be damned, including the odd reference to the series, but not feeling the need to strictly adhere to it. Well played Liz Braswell, well played. So, how does this loving older brother rework this Disney classic? Well, as the title would suggest, this book asks the question What If Rapunzel’s Mohter Drank a Potion from the Wrong Flower? In this case, instead of finding the Sun Drop flower like in the film, the royal guards find the Moon Drop flower. The potion saves the Queen’s life, but this time around Rapunzel’s hair turns a brilliant silver and instead of the power to heal, Rapunzel now seemingly possesses the ability to kill with a thought, as evidenced by how a tantrum thrown as an infant causes the death of one of her nurses. Fearing that this power may grow beyond the child’s control and may pose a danger to the kingdom, the King and Queen reluctantly entrust their child to the care of someone who promises to keep her safe and away from the kingdom. That someone turns out to be Mother Gothel, who in reality, plans to keep an eye on the girl until she comes of age and then sell her to whatever corrupt nobleman places the highest bid so that they may use her powers for their own ends. However, as we’ve come to expect, Rapunzel escapes the tower and encounters a bunch of new friends, some of them familiar faces, some new. Along the way, Rapunzel learns that there’s more to her powers and her life than she ever realized. Let us waste no further time and take a look at What Once Was Mine.

Main Character:

Rapunzel in this version is still very much the character we know and love but like with a lot of Twisted Tales we’ve covered, she’s in a new and different environment. See, in this version, Rapunzel is under the belief that her hair kills people and under the further belief that cutting it will end up killing her. This has caused her to be a lot more cautious as her hair isn’t just coveted, it’s dangerous… or is it? See, the Sundrop Flower had the power to heal and that’s kind of it, at least if you go by the movie, the animated series is another story all together. My point is, the Moondrop’s powers are a lot more versatile and vary depending on the phases of the Moon. When Rapunzel killed her nurse, it was a new moon, and I guess that’s the time her hair gains the ability to kill, and then, only if she concentrates hard. Other times, it can turn an ordinary lizard (this story’s version of Pasquale) into a miniature dragon, shrink a castle or even heal like the sundrop if the moon is right. I really like how excited Rapunzel gets about exploring her abilities and likes the idea of being a witch even more than the idea of being a princess. Oh, yeah, by the way, the reveal that Rapunzel is actually the lost princess comes a lot earlier in this version, and we actually see Rapunzel come to terms with the fact that her whole life has been a lie over time instead of all at once like in the movie. I actually really like Rapunzel questioning what she really wants and actually leans more towards exploring a different path. Mind you, she does ultimately decide to go home to her parents, but still finds the balance she’s looking for. Still, through all of this, Rapunzel still has that lovable, bubbly personality that made her such an endearing character in the movie as well as her incredible intelligence from reading the books in her tower over and over again for nineteen years. She’s kind, friendly, and surprisingly brave and quick on the uptake when the situation calls for it. You can see why the Snuggly Duckling thugs like her so much. There’s just something so charming and innocent about her that you can’t help but love. This was true in the film as I feel it is in this book.

Villain:

We actually have quite a few villains in this story. As I said, part of Gothel’s plan was to auction Rapunzel off to the highest bidder amongst a group of corrupt foreign nobles once she came of age. We’ll swing back around to Gothel herself a bit later, but one of those nobles almost usurps her spot as the main antagonist. That would be real life Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Turns out Brendan, our narrator, is a bit of a history buff and decided that throwing a real life evil historical figure might spice up his version of Tangled. Bathory is a monster in this story, just as she was in real life. In fact, many consider her one of the inspirations for the modern vampire myth given how it was believed that she bathed in the blood of virgins. While some of the other Nobles plan to marry Rapunzel if they win the auction, an unsettling concept in and of itself, Bathory only sees Rapunzel as a weapon which she can use to rule the world. Bathory has a massive army at her disposal, including several deadly bloodhounds. She's so evil she even burns down the Snuggly Duckling. Every second we spend with Bathory is just, deeply unsettling. She puts up the façade of a demure noblewoman, but never lets you forget that she can and will kill you whenever she wants. Bathory may be a nightmare, but I’ll give her this, at least she’s honest about what she is, the same can’t be said for you know who. Yup, there was no way in hell that this story was going down without one of the most loathsome Disney villains of all time showing up. Gothel is very much still Gothel here, but her evil plan in many ways, far more sinister this time around. See, say what you will about how evil Gothel is in the film, at least her decision to kidnap Rapunzel was one made out of a sense of self-preservation. She needed the magic of the Sundrop to stay alive, Rapunzel had the magic, so she took her. Here, Gothel doesn’t actually need Rapunzel, in fact, she doesn’t even bother with kidnapping. See, when baby Rapunzel accidently killed her nurse, the king and queen sent out the call to any magically inclined individuals with knowledge of the magical arts to care for their child and keep her separated from society. All Gothel had to do was do what she does best, lie and manipulate, and the royal family all but handed their magical baby over to her. Convincing the child that she killed her own parents and taking every opportunity to remind her that she is a murderer, thus keeping her obedient, submissive and terrified of herself. For nineteen years, Gothel grooms the child, their parents well aware of her location but far too distraught to ever arrange a visit, believing that it could kill them. When Rapunzel comes of age, Gothel plans to sell her charge to the highest bidder to use as a weapon, or a consort. Yikes. Gothel, in any universe, is a goddamned Monster! I'm glad that she gets hers at the hands of a hired assassin in the books epilogue.

Side Characters:

Alright, side characters! Well, first and foremost, we have our old pal, Flynn Rider, also known as Eugene Fitzherbert. I mean, I don’t really know what to say about Flynn that I didn’t cover in our original Tangled article. He’s every bit the lovable dashing idiot rogue we know and love. I do appreciate the fact that Rapunzel actively seeks him out as opposed to them just meeting by happenstance. He still snarks at Rapunzel and often times puts his foot in it, but at the end of the day, he’s a good, honest man who steps up when it comes time to do the right thing, even if that means willingly surrendering himself to the authorities.

Maximus is also in this story… kind of. Remember, this is a story that’s literally being made up as it’s being read to us, so anything goes here. As such, Maximus starts out as Justin “Maximus” Tregsberg, the captain of the royal guard and one of the few who knows what actually happened to the princess, (the rest of the kingdom having been told she was killed by a poisonous snake as an infant). He is repeatedly shown to be a good and honest man who takes his job seriously, but also understands how criminals think. It’s not elaborated upon, but it’s hinted that at one point in his life, he used to frequent the Snuggly Duckling. When he’s mortally wounded in the final battle, Rapunzel tries to use her magic to save his life, but remember, Moon Magic is far more wild and unpredictable than Sun Magic so the magic saves his life… but also turns him into a horse. Neat!

Anywho, on to new characters. First and foremost, we have Gina, a young girl adventurer who hangs out in the Snuggly Duckling who joins Flynn and Rapunzel on their journey. She’s clearly based on Cassandra from Tangled the Series but with a few tweaks to her character to fit this particular narrative. At first, I had a lot of the same concerns I had about Cassandra, namely that she was a new love interest for either Flynn or Rapunzel. In the case of Cassandra, I’m all for LGBTQ representation, but I also think that Raps and Eugene are too great a couple to break up. In the case of Gina, I was worried that she and Flynn would end up together, but fortunately, Raps and Eugene fall in love like they’re supposed to and it turns out, Gina is actually Eugene’s sister. It’s established that our narrator is a Star Wars fan, so he probably couldn’t resist throwing in a Luke and Leia twist.

Gina’s mother is a fun character. She’s the witch who explains to Rapunzel the truth of her powers. It’s hinted that Rapunzel will eventually study under her, but that’s never actually confirmed.

However, the characters I really would like to talk about are Brendan and Daniella, our narrator and his younger sister. I absolutely loved this framing device, and not just because its nature kept the story mostly unpredictable. I just really liked the back and forth between this brother and sister. His sister has cancer, so of course he’s worried about her, but they have this special relationship where they take the piss out of each other, which grants Daniela the sense of normalcy that she desperately needs. They’re really sweet together and can sometimes be as compelling as the actual story.

Memorable Scenes:

I really dug the scene where Gothel meets covertly with all the corrupt nobles. Something about the way it’s described, with all the nobles wearing hoods and Gothel silhouetted by fire just sounds cool as hell. Speaking of Gothel, I really love the scene where Rapunzel finally tells Gothel to fuck off once and for all. See, this time around, Rapunzel learning the truth about everything is more of a slow burn, with her learning more and more about her true nature and the nature of Gothel’s deception over time. By the time Gothel confronts Rapunzel during the final battle, Rapunzel now knows everything, and Gothel has no more power over her. And unlike in the film, Gothel doesn’t have the upper hand anymore, so she has no choice but to walk away, defeated, and powerless.

Story:

Like I said, the framing device of this story allows the writer to do whatever the hell they want with the source material and that actually makes for a surprisingly fun read. I also like little touches here and there. For example, they established that Brendan is a fan of Star Wars, so, here and there, they throw in a subtle Star Wars reference or quote. Never to the point where it gets obnoxious, but just enough to where the story feels like it’s being told by a nineteen-year-old sci-fi nerd. There’s not much else to say here. It’s just a nice new take on the story of Rapunzel with some intriguing new elements thrown in.

The Dark Disney Factor:

This one gets pretty gnarly at a few points. Early on, when Rapunzel is showing signs of rebellion, Gothel forces her to kill a chicken to remind her that her powers are dangerous, causing god only knows what kind of emotional scarring. And in actuality, the whole thing was done, not for Rapunzel’s benefit, but to demonstrate her destructive potential for an envoy of some potential buyers. Just another one of Gothel’s twisted manipulations. And of course, there’s the involvement of Bathory to consider. The fact that she bathes in the blood of virgins well… do I need to say anything else? I mean… Jesus!

Final Thoughts: Out of all the Twisted Tales books I've read, this is definitely the most unique, and while As Old As Time remains my favorite, this one was a blast to read. It's a unique take on the story of Tangled that finds a clever way to untether itself from the source material. Give it a read and see for yourself. Our next Article will be something truly special. We're going back to where we started, taking everything we've learned over the course of the past one hundred plus articles, once again, counting down the Top 20 Disney Villains.