Princess Rapunzel

## Rapunzel

**Princess Rapunzel** is the main protagonist in *Barbie as Rapunzel*. She's played by Barbie and Her voice is provided by Kelly Sheridan.

## Story

When Rapunzel was little, she was kidnapped by an evil witch named Gothel, and was placed in a castle, hidden into the deep forest behind an enchanted wall. She'd spent seventeen years in captivity, and as a servant thinking Gothel had saved her as a baby when she was young. With her, in the castle were two animals: a kind dragon named Penelope, and a rabbit named Hobie.

One day, when Rapunzel was cleaning one of the halls in the castle, she had discovered a secret room, to which Gothel kept everything that reminded her of her past. Amongst other things, Rapunzel finds a box with a silver brush inside. On the brush, it was written, "To our daughter Rapunzel, on her first birthday, with love from mother and father". The message had made no sense at first, because Gothel told her that she was just abandoned days after she was born.

Underneath the floorboards of the secret chamber was a dark and narrow passageway. Rapunzel bravely followed the path and discovered a small village. As Rapunzel was strolling through the valley, she'd saved the life of a young Princess, with the assistance of Prince Stefan. Rapunzel realized the time that was left and before she could introduce herself to the handsome Prince. When she'd returned home, Gothel was there waiting for her. Rapunzel tried to reason with her, but Gothel didn't believe her and called Rapunzel a lair and extended the height of her tower, trapping her inside.

## Personality Traits

Rapunzel is very kind, courageous, and adventurous. She helped save Katrina, the little sister of Prince Stefan. She was also a dreamer. She was also a good artist too. She painted all the time if there was nothing else to do or if she had finished all of her chores Gothel assigned her. She's also quick thinking, leading Gothel to the magical portrait of the mansion. She is also very patient with Gothel, and hardly ever complains. She is rather optimistic about most things.

### Physical Appearance

Rapunzel has light skin, blue eyes, and very long blonde hair. In the first part of the movie, her hair was as follows. Both sides of her hair at the front were pulled back to meet into the center of the back of her head. They then descended into an extremely long braid that rests a few inches above the ground. It is knotted at the end so it won't tangle.

In the first part of the film, Rapunzel is seen as Gothel's servant. The bodice of her dress is pink with a hint of violet and it is gathered at the chest. The stomach area is pink and ends at a point with gold braiding along the bottom edge where it joins the skirt. The neckline is a boat neck shape, edged with a gold braid. The sleeves a leg of a mutton sleeve with the top part in a darker pink with golden braiding along the bottom. The bottom part is a lighter pink and ends at her wrists. The skirt is full and is it gathered at the bodice, in the same shade of pink/violet as the bodice. It has a gold braid running along the hem at the bottom of the dress. Her hair is as previously described. When Rapunzel was having a dream about Prince Stefan, she wears her hair straight with the sides pulled back into a ponytail. Her hair is long enough to wrap around the column on the window and drape down the sides of the tower. She wears her servant dress.

Rapunzel then discovered that her hairbrush is magically transformed into a paintbrush. The brush can paint anything she wants it to. She first painted a simple purple and white dress, which she identified it as "too simple".

The bodice was again a boat neck shape with ruffles, in lilac color. The sleeves are mutton of lamb sleeves again with bigger and gathered puffballs at the top.

The straight part of the sleeves is darker lilac and it descends into bishop sleeves. The bottom of the sleeves are loose at the top and tight at the wrist and they are lilac. The top layer of the bodice is a darker lilac and there is a v-neck, ending at her mid-chest with a purple stone. This darker lilac material continues onto the top layer of her skirt. The skirt's bottom layer is pale lilac, gathered and A-line. The top layer is the same darker lilac material as the bodice and sits on either side of the lighter lilac skirt. The edges of this overlay are scalloped and wavy. Her hair is the same when she is a servant.

The next one is rejected by Penelope and Hobie because they saw it is "a bit much". The bodice has a boat neck neckline as before and it lilac again. Along the bottom of the bodice are three lemon yellow bows where it joins the skirt. The sleeves are full cap sleeves with a straight sleeve underneath. starlight sleeves are lemon yellow and end at her wrists. The skirt is extremely full and pale pink on the top layer, with lilac bows in a line. The bows have ruffled pink fabric with a lilac border coming out of the bottom of them. The bottom layer of the dress is lemon with a lilac scalloped design running along the bottom. There are lemon bows in each of the scalloped pink indents. Rapunzel also wears a huge lilac and pink bonnet covered in lilac and pink flowers. It ties around her chin with a lilac strap and a lemon bow. Her hairstyle is again the same from when she was a servant.

Another gown she painted is a colorful and unusual dress but Penelope and Hobie rejected it again because it was "ahead of this time". It is in a colorful cubist style. The bodice is a dark pink. There are triangular shapes over the shoulders. The left shoulder is bigger and yellow and orange with stripes of yellow. There is also a huge triangular shape on her right hip in dark blue with a small yellow triangle. There are more triangles pointing towards the hem of the dress in various colors. The main skirt is dark pink, yellow, and orange.

The last gown took a longer time to transform. Rapunzel wears a glittering lilac and pink dress. The bodice is glittery, pale pink, and lilac. It has a sweetheart neckline. The center of the bodice is pink with the side panels in lilac and gold braiding along the seams. The top of the neckline is also framed with gold braiding. The sleeves are a more exaggerated leg of mutton and lilac. The bottom of the puff on the sleeves is again trimmed with gold braiding. The puff of the sleeve is long and reaches to just above the elbow. The straight sleeves ends at her wrist and is lilac with a gold braid along the cuff. The skirt is full. The bottom layer of fabric is white and gathered. The next layer is pink to match the bodice.

The top layer of the skirt is a sheer, glittery material that covers the pink fabric. It is edged in a gold braid along every edge. Her hairstyle changes too. She now has long, straight hair reaching nearly to her feet. Two sections of the hair from each side of her head are pulled back, along with the hair from the top of her head. The ponytail is ten sectioned into two long, plaited braids with knots in the ends. The two sections from the side are made into two braided plaits at either side towards the back as well. The rest of her hair is straight. She wears a gold necklace with a pink stone and Penelope and Hobie make a mask for her to match the gown. The mask is simple. It is a pink mask with lilac tassels and a matching dark pink gemstone, to the one on the top of the necklace, on the center top edge.

Rapunzel's wedding dress has a simple design. It has puffy sleeves with sheer white material on the ends making a straight sleeve to her wrist. The bodice has a round neck and is divided into a center panel. The skirt is full and gathered at the top. Her hair is the same as with the masquerade gown and instead of a veil, she wears a flower crown on her head.

## Differences from the Original Story

* Rapunzel is based upon the iconic Grimm fairytale, but Mattel made several changes.
* Rapunzel was given to Gothel by her father for some plants her mother craved, and Gothel forced them to give her Rapunzel.
* In the Barbie version, Gothel stole her from her father for loving somebody else.
* In the original story, Gothel named her instead of getting her name by birth in the Barbie version.
* In the original version, she is not of royal blood, unlike the Barbie version.
* She lives in the middle of the woods locked in the tower like the Barbie version, but Rapunzel lives in an invisible area around the dark woods.
* In the original version, Gothel climbs Rapunzel's hair, rather then riding on a dragon named Hugo. The iconic phrase "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair, so that I may use it as a ladder and stair".
* In the original version, there is no magic paintbrush.
* In the original version, Rapunzel met the prince when he heard her singing in the tower. In the Barbie version, they met when she saved one of his sisters.
* In the material, the prince asked Rapunzel to marry her when they first met. Rapunzel and Prince Stefan married in the end.
* In the revised version, Rapunzel became pregnant and gave birth to two children.
* In the original version, Rapunzel wanted to go and explore the world and the prince visits her every night. In the Barbie version. Stefan visits her in the tower, but it was only in Rapunzel's dream.
* In the original version, Gothel cuts Rapunzel's hair in anger for the prince seeing her and forces her to live out in the wilderness. In the Barbie version, Gothel cuts her hair because she thinks that Rapunzel was lying to her when she was actually telling the truth.
* The witch in the original version gives Rapunzel's hair to the prince, much to his horror and he falls into the thorns and he is then blinded.
* In the Barbie version, Gothel disguised herself as Rapunzel and used her hair to fool Prince Stefan.
* In the original version, Rapunzel and the prince reunited in the wilderness. She restores his eyesight, and they go back to his kingdom where the prince takes Rapunzel and their children to his kingdom. In the Barbie version, they reunited when Gothel was about to end the war.
* In the original version, Rapunzel's father knows Gothel took the baby from him unlike King Wilhelm who blames King Fredrick for stealing her.
* In some versions of the story, Rapunzel's hair magically grows long and beautiful again, once the prince touched it. Unlike the Barbie version, her hair grows long again in months.
* In another version of the story, the story ends with the revelation that witch had untied Rapunzel's braid after the prince leaped from the tower, and the braid slipped from her hands and landed far below, leaving her trapped in the tower. In the Barbie version, Gothel is permanently stuck in the tower because she has a lying heart.