Hey everyone, this is Hailey from Cartoon Universe and today I have a special treat
for everyone because I’m going to be doing a Tangled Theory!
And as you have likely already noticed from the title of the video, I have chosen to talk
about everyone’s favorite alchemist, Varian!
It really wasn’t too hard to decide what to talk about since Varian is one of the most
interesting characters in the show and perhaps even for cartoons in general.
But first you might be wondering... who the heck is Varian?
I don’t remember him from the movie!
Well, you are correct because Varian is not in the movie.
In fact, most of what I am going to talk about today is not from the movie, but in fact from
the currently airing cartoon, Tangled: The Series which is actually now called Rapunzel’s
Tangled Adventure.
But before you click away, I highly recommend you watch the show.
Yes, it is about a princess and is considered a girl’s show but it gets surprisingly deep,
and proof of this is the video you are watching right now.
It’s one of my favorite currently airing cartoons and shows just how much love is put
into the shows Disney currently makes.
Contrast it to the shows based on movies 10 or so years ago.
There is definitely a big difference.
So go watch the show if you haven’t already, then come back and watch this video.
You’ll thank me later.
But for those that have seen some of the show but are not caught up, here is a spoiler warning
up until around the beginning of Season 2, but definitely all of the first season of
the cartoon.
So without further ado, let’s talk about Varian!
~
Starting off as a teenager eager to impress Rapunzel and especially Cassandra, Varian
soon became a very serious threat.
While he was apprehended at the end of season 1, we have good reason to believe he will
eventually make a return because he has unfinished business of both saving his father and getting
revenge on all those that wronged him.
But what I would like to talk about today in particular is a possible connection he
may have to Rapunzel, who we know at this point in the show seems to have some magical
destiny waiting for her.
And according to this video, Varian’s future is intertwined with Rapunzel’s, making his
role in the show just as important as hers.
I’m going to explain a lot of lore for this series, so get ready for a lot of that!
So, to begin I think it would be best to start off by explaining everything we know about
the Sundrop Flower, and its counterpart, the Moon Opal.
As explained in the original Tangled movie, the sundrop flower was created when a single
drop of sunlight fell from the heavens onto the ground, which is later where this golden
flower sprouted.
Mother Gothel first found it and discovered its healing abilities, which helped to keep
her alive for hundreds of years.
But one day the Queen of Corona became sick and the flower was found and taken to her
to save her life during childbirth.
As a result, her new daughter has the powers that the flower did, as well as giving her
extremely long blonde hair.
This hair eventually gets cut and turns brown.
But the television series brings the long blonde hair back, and with it a whole new
set of abilities.
Her hair is now indestructible, but can no longer heal others.
This happened in Tangled: Before Ever After when Cassandra takes Rapunzel to the spot
where the Sundrop flower was first found.
In this area black sharp rocks have appeared, and getting close to them caused her long
hair to return.
And thus, begins the series, which is about uncovering the mystery surrounding the return
of her hair and how it is connected to the dark rocks.
What we later learn is that when the King removed the Sun Drop flower from its original
spot, he released a devastating darkness through imbalance.
And as we see in the first season, the rocks end up chasing Rapunzel to the point where
she eventually had to touch them and unleash their full potential.
But after that happens, the rocks have now started to form a path to a region called
the Dark Kingdom.
We do not yet know why they are making Rapunzel go to that place, but following that path
is what Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra, and the rest of the group have been doing during season
2.
The team also pieces together a few parts of a ripped scroll that has the sun and the
moon on it.
The sun drips down to the sun drop flower, and the moon drips down to create the black
rocks in the Dark Kingdom, making these two things clearly connected.
And as sun and moon things usually go, one is usually the direct opposite or the mirror
of the other.
So what does all this have to do with Varian?
Well, as we learned at the beginning of season 2, Varian’s father, Quirin, once served
King Edmund, the ruler of the Dark Kingdom.
This was 25 years ago, long before Varian was born.
However, black rocks were everywhere in the kingdom and had destroyed too many lives.
The source of all this was believed to be the Moon Opal, which was being kept inside
King Edmund’s castle.
However, when the King tried to destroy the Opal, he, Quirin, and Adira were hit by a
blast as a result.
The King told Quirin and Adira to stop anyone who tried to get the Opal, and they were forced
to leave the kingdom.
So for a long time Quirin has been associated with the opal.
And many years later he has a son who we know to be Varian.
And something interesting to note is that Varian has a blue stripe in his hair.
This is very unusual where in this world almost everyone has a natural hair color, with perhaps
the exception being Adira who has white hair but maybe she is special too.
There even seems to be a slight indication that Varian had the stripe when he was born,
although it certainly wasn’t as prominent as it is now.
And his eyes match his hair stripe, giving him more in common with the black rocks coloration
wise than his own father.
We don’t know if his mother’s eyes were blue however.
Could this be a side effect of Quirin absorbing some of the Opal’s blast, just as Rapunzel’s
mother caused Rapunzel to gain the Sundrop Flower’s powers when she was born?
I would like to believe so!
That would make Varian tied to Rapunzel on a much deeper level than we were led to initially
believe.
One represents the sun and the other the moon.
They are inverses of each other, in regards to how they look and their personality.
It was even confirmed by executive producer Chris Sonnenburg that these parallels are
intentional.
Although one thing they do have in common are freckles, which are said to be a rare
trait in Corona.
I think that’s a very clever detail associating the two together.
So we really seem to have a classic Yin and Yang situation going on.
And I am not done pointing out the connections between them just yet!
In a few of the dreams Rapunzel had, we see Varian.
He acts as a messenger, telling her to face her destiny.
And later he says that running away is not going to solve the problem.
With everything I mentioned in mind, it makes sense that he would be the one to show up
during such dreams.
He has a direct connection to the black rocks, and in some ways, they could be speaking through
him.
But I have yet to talk about what all of this could mean.
What is the point of the connection between the two?
The most likely conclusion I have right now is that they will need to work together since
history is bound to repeat itself.
In Queen for a Day, the character Xavier tells the story of a legend about a creature that
made a winter storm so big it destroyed everything in its path.
It took the combination of both magic and science to create a machine that could change
the direction of the wind to push away the creature.
The machine was made by Lord Demanitus, who was in a constant battle against the evil
warlock Zhan Tiri.
While Zhan Tiri may have been defeated once, it was also said that the storm he created
will return when Corona is at its weakest.
The Demanitus Device was used in Queen for a Day to get rid of the storm when it returned,
but it is very likely that Zhan Tiri will return.
And when he does, I see it likely that Varian and Rapunzel, representing science and magic
respectively, will need to work together to defeat this evil as well as figure out the
full mystery surrounding the black rocks.
And you might be saying, Varian is not on Rapunzel’s side anymore!
Why would he help her?
Well, I would say that there is a very big possibility for him to be redeemed because
of a change of heart or though his actions for helping Rapunzel.
I really like the idea that Varian also relates to the moon because it has phases in regards
to the sun.
He starts off good and, in the light, and later goes against Rapunzel and into the dark,
but eventually she will help him and get him to rejoin her side and come into the light
once more.
Even his name alludes to this fact since it means variable or versatile, meaning he will
go between both sides.
So that covers pretty much everything I have regarding Varian and his future importance
in the show.
I found some other posts that give more insight into the parallels between Rapunzel and Varian,
as well as a more detailed look at this theory.
I will have those linked in the description.
But I would like to know everyone’s thoughts on this theory!
Do you think Varian will be able to use magic eventually just as Rapunzel does?
Or will he forever only be a man of science?
Tell me in the comments section!
Also let me know if you’d like to see more Tangled The Series videos in the future.
I have a Tangled the series chat on my discord, so make sure to check that out.
The code for the server is CartoonUV.
For my next video I am planning on returning to the world of Villainous to discuss all
the new occurrences in the orientation shorts that have appeared since my previous video,
so stay tuned for that and make sure to subscribe and click the notification icon if you enjoyed
the video.
Have an animated day everyone!