Ruddiger

Ruddiger is a raccoon that is currently owned (sort of) by Varian in Tangled: The Series. Despite the path that his owner's anger was blatantly leading him down in the second half of season one, Ruddiger chose to remain at Varian's side. Although he serves as the secondary antagonist for the latter half of the first season he's still friendly and kind.
==Background==
===Personality===
Ruddiger enjoys eating apples, spending time with his young owner and friend, Varian and getting attention from him. Initially appearing as a sluggish pest, Ruddiger evolved with his screen time. When Varian became a villain bent on destroying Rapunzel, Ruddiger proved his nobility by working with the royal family to foil Varian's schemes. Though fearful, Ruddiger never became spiteful towards his master; he believes that Varian will someday regain his conscience and compassion, evidenced by his choosing to remain by Varian's side after the alchemist was arrested. As of the third season, Ruddiger is no longer fearful because his owner and friend redeemed himself.
When Ruddiger was under the influence of Varian's formula, the raccoon became violent towards the people that came near him. The formula buried Ruddiger's kind, sweet, and friendly nature and brought out an untameable, wild, and vicious side in him.
Ruddiger is shown to not be very athletic, as he doesn't have the same amount of endurance and speed Maximus has and gets tired about ten minutes into a race.
===Physical appearance===
Ruddiger has monochrome gray fur and a long striped tail, like all raccoons. Ruddiger is seen as a chubby one, with green eyes and only has one tooth, which is only seen when his mouth is opened.
When under the influence of Varian's formula, the raccoon became larger than a human while his fur turned brown. His eyes turned white, and his formerly small teeth and claws become sharper and longer, which made him look ferocious. He also had odd blister-like patches on his elbows and knees.
In "Cassandra's Revenge", Ruddiger wears goggles and a pair of gloves that look very similar to Varian's current goggles and gloves.
==Role in the series==
===Season One===
As the number of the black rocks grew to the point of destroying the mainland village of Old Corona in the events of "Queen for a Day", Varian consults his concerns and theories of the rocks with Ruddiger before taking the matter into his own hands. At the same time, Rapunzel is taking over for her parents while they're away, but her lack of knowledge over ruling is what causes Corona to be engulfed in a deadly blizzard by the evil Zhan Tiri. When Varian starts down on his path of revenge against Rapunzel and Corona for turning their backs on him while his father is encased in amber, Ruddiger hides under a bench as he could sense what Varian's betrayed feelings were slowing turning him into. He became Varian's only companion after Quirin was trapped and with the rest of the villagers abandoning the black rock-covered village.
Ruddiger later accompanies Varian on his task to obtain the Sundrop Flower from Corona, in "The Alchemist Returns". The duo also journeys through Der Soone's underground tunnels with Rapunzel and Pascal beside them.
In the events of "Secret of the Sun Drop", Varian uses one of his chemical formulas to turn Ruddiger into a large, monstrous, and vicious version of himself to serve as a distraction for Rapunzel. After he is captured by Rapunzel and her friends, the effects wear off and Ruddiger reverts back to normal. Not long after the royal family fell for the vengeful alchemist's trap and were captured, Ruddiger frees the caged Pascal, so that he could free Rapunzel and her parents. When Varian's plan crumbles and the young alchemist is arrested for his crimes against the crown, Ruddiger willingly accompanies his master to prison. He sympathetically consoles Varian as the young alchemist swears to make his father proud.
===Season Three===
Sometime after his owner's redemption, Ruddiger accompanies Varian to the castle in "The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne", so they and the others can help Rapunzel rebuild the damage throne room from the Separatists of Saporia attack from the event of Rapunzel's Return. While everyone was up to it at first but they later became angry with the labor and had started to fight with one another which had led to Ruddiger and Maximus glaring daggers at each other, until one of the damaged walls revealed a hidden treasure map that gave Rapunzel the idea of hosting a team bonding race to claim it. Rapunzel's H.A.T. invention, that she used to team everyone up in pairs of two, teamed Ruddiger up with Hamuel the raven.
In "Day of the Animals", Ruddiger and Varian accompany Rapunzel, Pascal, Maximus, Hamuel, Angry and Red to Neserdnia. In "Be Very Afraid", Ruddiger was one of the first victims of the red rocks having been petrified in mid-run. For most of the episode he was used as an example for what would happen if people remain under the red rock's fear power for an extended period of time until Varian breaks off their fear power.
In "Cassandra's Revenge", Ruddiger acted as Varian's assistant having taken on his goggles and gloves until Varian accidently ruined them. When Cassandra attacks their new lab, Ruddiger fights her to protect Varian and the Graphtic Scroll but fails.
In "Plus Est En Vous", Ruddiger appears alongside Varian and the people of Corona as they all face against Zhan Tiri to save the kingdom, Once again Ruddiger turns into a large, monstrous beast That allowed Varian ride on his back as his steed horse. Ruddiger appears at the end when everyone celebrates happily ever after and is at Varian's side when he creates hot water with his father.
==Trivia==
*Ruddiger made his first appearance in "What the Hair?!", but his name wasn't revealed until "Queen for a Day".
** "Rüdiger" [sic] is a German name, roughly equivalent to English "Roger". Rüdiger is the name of a tragic character in the famous medieval German poem, The Nibelungenlied, in which he is a vassal of King Etzel (aka Atilla (!) the Hun), whom he convinces Princess Kriemhild, the heroine of the poem, to marry.
*When Rapunzel encountered the friendly raccoon in "The Alchemist Returns", she knew the name that Varian had given him, which suggests that Varian had introduced his pet to Rapunzel around when he was showing her the black rocks that appeared in his village.
*Despite the Kingdom of Corona'a having a vaguely historic European ambiance, raccoons are in fact native only to North America. While they are present in Europe, they weren't introduced until the mid-20th century.
==Gallery==
Rudiger Tangled.png
What the Hair - Rudiger.jpg
Rudiger-1.png
Rudiger-2.png
Varian and Rudiger.png
Ruddiger in horror.png|Ruddiger horrified at what Varian is going to do
The Alchemist Returns 4.JPG
Secret of the Sun Drop 36.jpg|Rudiger as a giant monster
Beast Rudiger - caught.png
Secret of the Sun Drop 33.jpg
Treasure hunters line up.png
The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne (12).jpg
Ruddiger covered with beestings.jpg|Ruddiger covered in bee stings
Ruddiger sets a trap.png
Ruddiger wonders why the trap failed.png
The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne (13).jpg
Day of the Animals (9).jpg
Day of the Animals (7).jpg
Day of the Animals - Max, Pascal, Ruddiger, and Hamuel.jpg
Day of the Animals (12).jpg
Day of the Animals (3).jpg
Be Very Afraid - Varian and Ruddiger.jpg|Ruddiger tells to Varian
Be Very Afraid (27).jpg|Ruddiger doesn't like the new Red Rocks
Be Very Afraid (18).png|Ruddiger frozen from the red rocks
Cassandra's Revenge - Ruddiger.jpg
Cassandra's Revenge - Good Job Ruddiger.png
Plus Est En Vous - Everybody.png
Plus Est En Vous - Ruddiger, Quirin and Varian.png
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:Tangled characters
Category:Pets
Category:Disney characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Silent characters
Category:Raccoons
Category:Males
Category:Transformed characters
Category:Neutral characters
Category:TV Animation characters
Category:Disney Channel characters