How Tangled And Snow White Are Connected, According To TikTok
Disney has no shortage of villains to give its princess heroes trouble. These span the gamut, from classic terrors like Ursula, Gaston, and Governor Ratcliffe to more modern (and well-rounded) antagonists like "Raya and the Last Dragon's" Namaari and "Moana's" Te Kā. The House of Mouse is always busy cooking up a new threat to its growing library of female heiresses. While most of these opponents are refreshingly different from one story to the next, one popular fan theory suggests that an iconic baddie reprised her inimical role over 70 years after her first on-screen appearance.
The clever premise comes to us via TikTok influencer @its_ivanmars, who suggests that the Evil Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is the same character as Mother Gothel from "Tangled." The hypothesis opens with the fact that both Gothel and the Evil Queen are clearly driven by an obsession with immortal beauty. The former uses a magical flower to stay young, while the latter uses her Magic Mirror to constantly quell her inner insecurities about being the most beautiful woman in all the land.
From there, the theory jumps to the Evil Queen's ending, where she falls off a cliff while in her old woman form. That witch-like appearance happens to look remarkably similar to Mother Gothel's aged look. You know what else? The cliff where Gothel initially finds the flower also happens to look an awful lot like the one where the Evil Queen meets her fate.
Culture and context are also considered. For instance, the theory highlights that both fairy tales are Germanic in origin. In addition, if you look closely, the decor in Mother Gothel's tower includes an apple — perhaps a nod to her princess-poisoning past.
Another candidate for the Mother Gothel connection
But wait, there's more! The "Evil Queen is Mother Gothel" theory is a good one, and the TikTok video has resonated with Disney fans to the tune of three million likes and over 10,000 comments. Interestingly, though, a good number of those comments counteract the theory with another popular one: Mother Gothel is actually Meg from "Hercules."
Another TikTok video (this one racking up over seven million views) by @super_carlin_brothers lays out the equally popular theory that there is a clear through-line between the ancient Greek Herculean love interest Meg and Rapunzel's wicked captor.
The theory starts by highlighting the significant time gap between the ancient and medieval stories (a matter of a couple of thousand years). This is easily dispensed with via the golden magical flower granting Mother "Meg" Gothel immortality over the centuries.
From there, the theory returns to geography, pointing out that the spot on earth where baby Hercules arrives from heaven looks similar, once again, to the spot where Mother Gothel finds her youth-giving botanical.
As far as the heroic (though morally gray) Meg becoming such an evil character, the theory elaborates that if Hercules died first after giving up his immortality, out of desperation, Meg would have searched out the spot where he arrived on Earth. There, she would have found the flower and sung her song — which includes lines like "Make the clock reverse" and "bring back what once was mine." That same song also references the capital "F" Fates, who are a key element of "Hercules." The theorist even connects Rapunzel's sacrifice for Flynn with Meg's selling her soul to Hades to save Hercule's life. Oh yeah, and both Gothel and Meg use the phrase, "Ya big lug."
Assembling a super theory
Okay, so far, we've seen two separate theories: the first that the Evil Queen is Mother Gothel, and the second that Mother Gothel is Meg. Is it possible to connect all three? You can bet your bottom dollar we're going to try.
Say Meg starts off in ancient Greece. After living a long and fulfilling yet immortal life, her hero husband dies, and she finds his origin point on the globe, where she discovers a flower of youth. She clings to her newfound immortality, and, like Gollum's tragic backstory, over time, it corrupts her utterly.
Eventually, she becomes an Evil Queen, and her vainglorious past bubbles to the surface again. She's married into Greek mythology, so she taps her extended family's abilities to come up with a Magic Mirror, which she uses to ensure that she remains the most beautiful woman in the land. This leads to a run-in with Snow White, which sends her tumbling off of a cliff — only to land right next to her life-giving flower.
After that, she lays low for a bit. Accepting her fate as the second-most beautiful woman in the land, she retreats to a tall tower. There, she lives peacefully until a king finds her fabled flower in a desperate search to save his sick, pregnant wife, sparking her last act with Rapunzel.
It's possible to get most of the loose ends to line up. As with most theories, though, there are holes. Maybe the answer to all of this isn't forcing the theories together. Perhaps the best explanation for the similarities is the simple fact that Disney's animation team just likes to recycle their locations, lines, characters, and story inspirations a bit too often.