Captain of the Guards

The Captain of the Guards is a supporting character in Disney's 2010 animated feature film Tangled. He is the head of the Corona Royal Guard, tasked with protecting the kingdom from criminals and thieves. He is typically aided by his palace horse, Maximus.
==Background==
The captain, as his title indicates, is the head of Corona Royal Guard. As such, he spends the majority of his time working to ensure the safety within the kingdom remains intact.
At some point in time during Mother Gothel's kidnapping of Rapunzel, the captain came to adopt an orphaned girl named Cassandra, who was the daughter of the woman who had kidnapped the Princess of Corona. Despite this, he raised Cassandra as his own daughter, giving her more love than her biological mother ever did. Though the Captain was always busy with his job in protecting Corona, he did give Cassandra a happy childhood as she grew up and became a handmaiden working in the castle.
He eventually decided to retire as Captain of the Guard as he did not want to go in battle against and refused to fight his own daughter.
===Personality===
The captain is gruff and no-nonsense, with a strict sense of order. He does not tolerate any criminals within the kingdom and will go on an endless pursuit to apprehend those who offend Corona's crown. He tends to view criminals as worthless and pathetic, and understandably refuses to show even the slightest bit of sympathy or kindness toward them, as seen in his relationship with his arch-rival, Flynn Rider. Even after Eugene proved his selflessness by rescuing Corona's lost princess, Rapunzel, the captain refused to welcome him into the castle with open arms and still hold a grudge against him. Instead, he chose to ruin Eugene's life whenever the chance came his way, even if it meant going against common decency and fairness, showing a bitter and spiteful side to himself.
However, the captain is not as cruel as he may seem; he is able to show humility and admit when he may have overreacted, though he is a man who will stand by his decisions for the most part. Eventually, the captain's views do come to change after years of witnessing Eugene's heroic and noble actions in protecting the kingdom, leading him to let go of his resentment towards him, accept the former thief and trust and respect him enough to appoint Eugene as his successor.
He is also loving and protective toward his daughter, Cassandra. Like Rapunzel, he wanted to bring Cassandra back to Corona. According to Cassandra, the captain raised her to be strong, independent and taught her the importance of earning your keep through hard work. He also appears to have a soft spot for Maximus, whom he interacts within an extremely friendly and jovial manner, a side of the captain that is practically never seen elsewhere. Maximus is also the only character that the captain appears to genuinely respect, outside the royal family.
==Appearances==
===Tangled===
The captain first appears with 4 other guards after Flynn Rider and the Stabbington Brothers had robbed the castle of the lost princess's tiara. The chase leads the captain and his men into the forest, where Flynn manages to evade a majority of them. The captain and his faithful horse, Maximus, come close to apprehending the thief, only for the captain to be kicked off his horse, separating the two and allowing Flynn to escape. Meanwhile, the captain and his guards succeed in arresting the Stabbington Brothers.
Later on, the captain receives intel that Flynn is at the Snuggly Duckling. The guards raid the place, but are fooled by the local Pub Thugs into believing Flynn had never arrived. Maximus returns, however, and is able to sniff out a secret passage that was likely used by Flynn to escape. Fortunately for the guards, this turns out to be the case, as they soon encounter Flynn and his accomplice, Rapunzel. A chase into a canyon ensues, where the captain and his men are quickly defeated by Flynn. That leaves only Maximus to battle, but due to Rapunzel's interference, Flynn escapes once again. The captain and his crew regain consciousness, but before they can make another attempt, they are swept away by rushing waters released as a result of the broken dam.
The next night, he and a guard named Stan arrest the Stabbington Brothers for stealing the crown.
The captain does not appear again until the final act of the movie, where Flynn Rider and the Stabbington Brothers have finally been arrested. Rider is sentenced to death for knocking him and 3 other guards out with a frying pan, but on their way to the gallows, the guards are taken out by the Pub Thugs in their effort to rescue Flynn. The captain is knocked out by Attila, thus allowing Flynn to escape. The captain is not seen again for the remainder of the film.
===Tangled: Before Ever After===
The captain plays a minor role in the sequel, taking place six months after the events of Tangled, and before Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding in Tangled: Ever After. He retains his position as captain of the guard, and is first seen chasing down Rapunzel and Flynn (now going by his true name, Eugene) as they pursue the kingdom's border wall to allow Rapunzel a chance to look out into the land surrounding Corona. The captain fails to stop them, once again, but simply accepts defeat and calls Rapunzel back once preparations for her coronation are set to begin.
Later on, the captain is seen ensuring King Frederic that Corona's security has been amped, per request, although this does not stop the pirate Lady Caine and her band of thieves from crashing Rapunzel's coronation. The thieves barricade the hall's door, locking the guards out, though they manage to break through in time to arrest the villains, who were already defeated by Rapunzel, Eugene and Cassandra.
===Tangled: The Series===
 
The captain plays a supporting role in the animated series, which expands his character. Due to being considerably more pessimistic, jaded and down-to-earth than the other characters, the captain is often looked down upon as an antagonistic figure of sorts. Most significantly, however, his relationship with Cassandra is touched upon; the episode "Great Expotations" revealed that the captain has reservations about granting Cassandra a portion on the guard, despite believing her to be more than qualified for the job. She manages to prove her worth after assisting the young alchemist, Varian, in saving the castle, though she would continue to make efforts to highlight her capabilities. In "Under Raps", Cassandra lured a separatist into Corona to uncover the reasoning behind his fascination with an ancient journal that belonged to one of Corona's previous kings. As revealed to Rapunzel, part of her reason for doing so was to prove herself to her father.
In "The Quest for Varian", the Captain of the Guards is ordered by King Fredrick to hunt Varian down for the Demantius scroll to hide the connection between Rapunzel and the Black Rocks. When Rapunzel and her friends search for the scroll, they run into the royal guards, who are in disguise. After a chase that ends in the destruction of Rapunzel's old home, the Captain is exposed, and by extension, Fredrick's deception.
In "Secret of the Sun Drop", King Frederic learns that Cassandra was responsible for getting Rapunzel across Corona's wall. As a punishment, she is scheduled to be sent to a convent. The captain shows no anger toward Cassandra's actions—only deep remorse for not being able to speak against the king's decision. His inability to do so disappoints Cassandra, creating a brief rift between the two. Later on, the castle falls under attack by a young alchemist and his monster. During the battle, the captain is injured. Cassandra rushes to her father's side and expresses that she has never been disappointed in him, apologizing for her words from earlier and mending their rift. Due to his injuries, however, the captain is unable to lead an ordered assault against Varian. He instead finally embraces Cassandra's capabilities and appoints her as his replacement.
The rivalry between Eugene and the captain remains, despite Eugene being a much-beloved resident of the castle's household. Examples of this are seen in "Fitzherbert P.I.", where Eugene pursues a position in the royal guard, prompting the captain to sabotage Eugene's chances of earning the job, and "Big Brothers of Corona", where the captain was against the idea of hiring Eugene's former partner, Lance Strongbow, as a much-needed guard instructor. Despite his firm stance on situations, the captain has shown that his mind can be changed, and he will begrudgingly own up to his wrong doings, if any.
In a prologue in "Rapunzel's Return", on the night Rapunzel was kidnapped as a baby, the Captain and several Guards were in pursuit of Mother Gothel. The Captain located Gothel's cottage and young daughter Cassandra, but Gothel managed to escape with the princess, abandoning Cassandra. Following Gothel's escape, the Captain assured Cassandra she was safe with him and took her back to the Castle and adopted her, raising Cassandra as his own child. In the present day, King Frederic and Queen Arianna fell under the control of Varian, Andrew and the Separatists of Saporia, allowing them to take command of Corona. In order to save the kingdom, the Captain conducted search parties to find and bring back Rapunzel since she is the only remaining person with the power and authority within the royal family. He is still currently away searching, unaware that Rapunzel and her friends recently returned to Corona after learning the news.
In "Islands Apart", he is revealed to have wished for a four-year-old Cassandra, due to the real one bearing resentment against him for not telling her about her mother Gothel, staying by his decision even after finding out about his wish's repercussions. However, Rapunzel and Eugene convince him to not give up hope on Cassandra, and he makes it his mission to reform his daughter and get her back.
In "Flynnpostor", the Captain has a nightmare about battling Cassandra. Although he managed to destroy the Moonstone, he hesitated to harm his daughter, causing him to wake up in shock. The next day, the Captain appeared before King Frederic and Queen Arianna, admitting to them he had come to realize he could not battle or face off against his daughter and with a heavy heart, decided to retire. Although surprised by his decision, they understood and respected his choice. The Captain proudly revealed the person he chose for his replacement would be Eugene Fitzherbert, confidant he will make a great successor after years of witnessing him continually risking his life to defend and protect Corona and its citizens.
 In "Plus Est En Vous", after Cassandra redeems herself and defeats Zhan Tiri alongside Rapunzel, he meets up with her personally, and the two reconcile and hug before she leaves the kingdom to find her own place in the world. The former captain is last seen singing alongside everyone in the reprise of Life After Happily Ever After.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The Captain's full given name has never been revealed.
*The outfit he wore in the series finale "Plus Est En Vous" is similar to Prince Phillip's outfit.
*Like the Stabbington Brothers, he mostly calls Eugene by his alias Flynn or Rider. There are times when he does call Eugene by his actual name, however.
*In Tangled Ever After, he wasn't shown attending at Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding, since he retired as captain of the royal guards.
*It's shown in "Painter's Block" that Cassandra sometimes addresses the Captain as "sir" when it comes to his duties, instead of "dad" or "father".
*He retired in "Flynnpostor", as he refused to go against Cassandra in battle. The captain decided to appoint Eugene as the captain in his place, showing the Captain's soft side and how much he clearly thought Eugene changed since his thieving days.
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