Eugene Fitzherbert

**Eugene Fitzherbert** (better known as **Flynn Rider**) is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2010 animated feature film, *Tangled*. A swashbuckler known for his charm and quick-wit, Flynn made a name for himself as a notorious thief. In a turn of events following years of travel and plunder, however, he experienced a change of heart upon falling in love with Rapunzel, the lost princess of Corona.

## Background

Eugene Fitzherbert was born to King Edmund and his wife as **Horace**. During Eugene's infancy, the kingdom was corrupted by a powerful opal that threatened to destroy the land. King Edmund ordered for a kingdom-wide evacuation to protect his subjects from the opal's destructive power—including Eugene, who was escorted out of the kingdom by a servant woman and later placed in an orphanage. Eugene never knew the truth of his lineage. He grew up believing that his parents were fearless adventurers traveling the world to make names for themselves. Eugene remained hopeful that once they did, they would return to the orphanage and take him back. In the meantime, Eugene spent all his days with his fellow orphans. His only companion at the time was his lifelong friend, Arnwaldo Schnitz.

Every night, Eugene would read "The Tales of Flynnigan Rider", stories of a rich and dashing swashbuckler who had an abundance of thrilling adventures wherever he went. The more Eugene read it, the more he dreamed of a more audacious lifestyle and decided to break out of his orphan upbringing. Eugene eventually ventured out with Arnwaldo—now known as Lance Strongbow—and grew up into a dashing swashbuckler and gifted horseman under an alias taken from his childhood hero: Flynn Rider. With Lance by his side, Flynn became one of the most infamous thieves in all of Corona, making enemies at nearly every port. He would also plunder regions well beyond Corona, such as Italy, where he learned to speak Italian. Being drawn in more and more by his new ambition and becoming more and more aloof from the people around him, Flynn sought a solitary life of money and freedom, far away.

Apart from Lance (with whom he eventually lost contact), Flynn formed partnerships with other criminals, one of which being a ruthless kingpin known as "the Baron." During their alliance, Flynn developed a relationship with the Baron's daughter, Stalyan. The two were eventually engaged, but Flynn created a bitter enemy in his employer when he left Stalyan at the altar.

Everything Flynn ever wanted, however, quickly lost its appeal in the days he met Rapunzel. When Flynn met the lonesome girl in a remote tower, he was quite irritated to be coerced into taking her to see the Festival of Lights at the kingdom so that he could get back a valuable stolen tiara she had hidden from him. As he spent time with her, he gained a respect for the headstrong young lady that became strong affection and caring. As Flynn cast aside his cares for treasure and solitude he realized his old dream had been replaced by a new one. Flynn fell completely in love with the lost princess and helped her reunite with her parents and reclaim her throne.

Eugene went back to his birth name, stopped thieving, and married Rapunzel a few years later. The two are currently living happily ever after.

### Official Description

*The ultra-confident Flynn Rider is his own biggest fan, and he has long relied on his wit, charm and good looks to get out of even the stickiest situation - and Flynn's life just happens to be full of sticky situations. Flynn is a thief looking for the one last, big score that will allow him to finally live the life he's always dreamed of. He's never been closer to having it all when he meets Rapunzel, an odd girl with ridiculously long hair. Rapunzel seems to be the only girl in the world immune to Flynn's moves, and for the first time ever he seems to have met his match. An unlikely alliance with this girl from the tower sends Flynn on the adventure of a lifetime, and helps him realize that sometimes you don't know what you want... until it hits you over the head... literally.*
### Development

During the movie's production, Eugene was almost an actual Prince, like his fairy tale counterpart. He was originally intended to be a wayward prince hanging out with a group of bandits. Soon after he was designed to be a sort of "bandit prince" and was the leader of a group of rogues (the rogues themselves eventually became the Snuggly Duckling thugs). Soon he was conceived as a British farmer named Bastian, who was orphaned at a young age and forced into a life of thievery to survive, though he hated it. Disney almost went with using the design of Bastian until his voice actor, Zachary Levi was finally cast. Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard agreed fairly early on that Rapunzel's love interest would not be a prince, but rather a thief; this would add a comedic edge to the character.

The original concept of him being a prince was later used in *Tangled: The Series* making him the prince of an abandoned kingdom.

The character design of Flynn came from the process called the "hot man meeting" by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, during which they set up a meeting with all the female employees of the studio in one room and asked them for their opinions of what made a man good-looking, in order to create Flynn's character design with features such as eye color, hair color and style, and body type. Video footage showed concept art and photos of various male celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, David Beckham, and Gene Kelly, on the walls of the room. Other inspiration came in the form of such personalities as David Beckham and Clark Gable.

"*...all the ladies of the studio came into the 'Hot Man Meeting,' where we gathered pictures of their favorite handsome men—we collected pictures from the Internet and from books and from women's wallets. They were very specific about what they liked and what they didn't like*."
The process ultimately led to the final design of Flynn Rider.[2][3]

### Personality

When first introduced, Flynn is presented as arrogant, backstabbing, and trouble-making. He unabashedly committed acts of thievery on the royal family of Corona, all to achieve a selfish lifelong goal of becoming as wealthy as humanly possible. Despite these antagonistic traits, Flynn viewed such acts as mere means to boost his ego which, at the start of the film, was comedically inflated, to the point where he would rely on his supposed charisma to sneak his way out of a potentially dangerous situation. He is something of a gentleman thief and acts polite even to those he betrays.

As mentioned above, Flynn is also rather comedic, whether it's intentional or not. He has a peculiar relationship with the palace horse, Maximus, who he constantly finds himself at odds with throughout the film, being that they were highly different on the moral spectrum at the start of the film. Even so, they managed to form a meaningful partnership, and eventual friendship; initially for the sake of Rapunzel, though they were shown to have become fond of one another over time. Despite viewing himself as charming, a recurring situation involving Flynn includes the thief being looked down upon by other characters (such as the Pub Thugs or the palace guards) who would often perform acts that would purposely result in Rider's humiliation, such as having the portraits of his "Wanted" poster be depicted with cartoonishly large or unattractive noses, much to his annoyance. He can also be a bit dimwitted at times.

Despite all of this, Flynn's arrogance is revealed to provide a false sense of optimism as the thief is highly vulnerable and capable of showing and feeling legitimate emotion. This is seen after he meets and forms a relationship with Rapunzel. The princess' refusal to be fooled by Flynn's charisma, and genuine interest in his life and struggles, would be the first motivators to dropping the "Flynn Rider" persona and accepting who he alluded to being in the orphanage, which was caring, starry-eyed, and selfless.

Once his facade is dropped, and Eugene truly opens up to both Rapunzel, and himself, he is portrayed as a loving, loyal, and protective companion. For Rapunzel, he was willing to give up his life of thievery to remain by her side, in hopes of starting a new life for both himself and the princess, believing they've both deserved second chances after facing experiences less than pleasant over the years.

Unlike Gothel, Eugene viewed Rapunzel as a person, caring for her feelings, rather than her magical hair. In spite of being greedy at the start of the film, Rapunzel's magic was never a concern to him, nor did he once ponder on the thought of using her for her powers to obtain wealth. When those who attempt to do so came about, such as Gothel, Eugene takes action and becomes a fierce protector, willing to go against foes twice his size, if necessary. He also proved himself to be selfless in this instant, risking his life for Rapunzel's safety, despite being given the chance to leave a situation safely.

### Physical appearance

Flynn is of average height with a muscular build and fair skin, short dark brown hair, a scruffy goatee, and light brown eyes.

As far as attire goes, Flynn regularly dons a dark turquoise vest with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, coupled with dark cream pants and brown bucket-top boots. He also wears a belt with a similar color scheme around his waist; connected to it is a miniature satchel.

## Trivia

* Zachary Levi auditioned for the role and got it with a British accent. Later, this idea was dropped and Levi read for the role with his natural American accent instead.
* In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, his real name (Eugene Fitzherbert) was changed to "José Bezerra".
* Dan Fogler was the original choice to voice Flynn Rider. Clay Aiken was also considered for the role at one time.
* With the reveal that King Edmund is Eugene's father in "Destinies Collide", it is confirmed that Eugene is 25 and later 26 years old ("Cassandra's Revenge") during the series, and 24 years old during the movie. This contradicts with what the Nathan Greno and Bryan Howard had stated that they personally saw Eugene's age, as Nathan Greno admitted that he personally sees him as being about 22 years old, whereas the story writers see him as being younger than that. Byron Howard also stated that Eugene is about 22 years old.[4] Nathan stated that the early twenties is what they all agreed upon being his age.[5]
	+ This may also indicate that Eugene was 26 years old or older when he married Rapunzel in *Tangled Ever After*.
* Eugene doesn't know his actual birthday. Rapunzel decided to grant him birthday in "Lost and Found", though he later learns it in "Cassandra's Revenge".
* By total coincidence, Eugene, in its Greek origin, means "born of nobility", making his name actually foreshadow his true origin as the prince of the Dark Kingdom.
* Eugene was originally thought to be the second Disney Prince after Aladdin to become royalty through marriage until it was revealed he is actually a long-lost prince.
* As a running gag, every time a wanted poster of Flynn is shown in the movie, his nose is drawn differently.
* Eugene is the exact opposite of Mother Gothel. Unlike Gothel, he truly cares for Rapunzel and loves her whereas Gothel only loves Rapunzel for her hair, due to it being able to heal anything or anyone. Eugene's love for Rapunzel was declared when he sacrificed himself and freed her from Gothel's cruel and wicked ways.
* One of Flynn Rider's original designs (seen in concept art), was used to help form Kristoff's appearance in *Frozen*.
* Even though his real name is Eugene Fitzherbert, credits for other films and books keep his nickname Flynn Rider.
	+ According to a scratch reel, Eugene mentions that he was named after his father Eugene Fitzherbert Sr.[6]
* During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Flynn was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural.
* In "What the Hair?!", it is shown that Eugene prefers to be called by his actual name and not the "Flynn Rider" alias, as he corrected Varian (in a rather annoyed tone) when he referred to him as the latter.
	+ As seen in "Fitzherbert P.I.", the Captain of the Guards still refers to Eugene as "Rider", as do the Stabbington Brothers (as seen in "Cassandra v. Eugene"). This goes for anyone he's ever encountered in the past.
* Rapunzel has considered giving Eugene a nickname like Fitz or Bert since she loves his nickname for her (Blondie), but she decided to keep calling him Eugene since people have called him Flynn Rider in his whole life.[7]
* Eugene notes in "Fitzherbert P.I." that he only attended school for three days.
* In "Fitzherbert P.I.", Eugene notes that he traversed the world as a thief in the past; during which, he outsmarted guards in numerous regions and became fluent in some foreign languages, such as Italian.
* Captain Quaid of Vardaros was the first man to ever arrest Flynn and Lance.
* Eugene is referenced in the *Sofia the First* special "The Curse of Princess Ivy". He is mentioned by Rapunzel when Amber tells her how she was cursed by stealing Sofia's amulet for a selfish want. Rapunzel tells Amber that she must prove that her love for her sister is worth more than anything just as Eugene did.
* In the original fairy tale from which *Tangled* is based, Rapunzel's love interest is a nameless prince. He is riding through the forest and suddenly hears her singing from her tower. He is entranced by her voice and comes back to listen to her day after day. When he finally finds out how to climb the tall tower after seeing the witch visit her, he goes up and introduces himself. He confesses his love and asks her to leave the tower and marry him.
	+ Rapunzel then tells him to visit her every evening and bring some silk thread, so she can weave a ladder long enough for her to climb down and run away with him. However, the witch soon finds out about him when Rapunzel innocently says that her dress is growing tighter around her waist (hinting pregnancy), while other bowdlerized versions have her unthinkingly saying that the witch is heavier to pull up to the tower than the prince.
	+ When the prince comes back that night, the witch lets Rapunzel's severed hair down to haul him up. To his horror, he finds himself meeting the witch instead of Rapunzel, who is nowhere to be found. After saying that he will never see Rapunzel again, the witch throws him out of the tower, sending him falling into a bramble bush, which scratches his eyes and blinds him. For months, he wanders through the wastelands of the country and eventually comes to the wilderness where Rapunzel now lives with the twins she has given birth to, a boy and a girl. One day, as she sings, he hears her voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each other's arms, her tears immediately restore his sight. He leads her and their twins to his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.
* He hates snow.
* It was revealed in "Return of the King" that Eugene's birth name is actually Horace, meaning the orphanage might have given him the name Eugene, which he believes is his real name.
* It is mentioned by himself in the episode "You're Kidding Me!" that he is a cat person.
* When Eugene first meets Rapunzel in the movie, he says "How ya doin'?" as he flirts with her. This is the same line Joey Tribbiani says when he flirts with women, in *Friends*.
* Eugene and Rapunzel made a cameo appearance in the first *Frozen* film, which lead to many fans to believe that Rapunzel was related to Anna and Elsa, and that Anna and Elsa's parents were sailing off to attend Eugene and Rapunzel's wedding when their ship went down. However, this theory was proven to be untrue in *Frozen II*, where it showed the true reason behind the parents' journey and deaths.
* Every time Eugene is effected by the decay incantation, he holds his stomach in the same place Mother Gothel stabbed him in the movie.
* According to himself in "Lost and Found", Eugene has a book that he writes all the dates he and Rapunzel have been on or that he wants to do.