Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. As we enter the month of February, we come upon one of my favorite things to do, the Birthday theme. I usually celebrate my birthday by taking a look at something that is either important to me or important to Disney as a whole for my birthday theme. This year, we are going with the former. Anyone that knows me will know that Tangled is my favorite Disney movie ever. And in March of last year, Disney Channel debuted Tangled: The Series. I took a look at the pilot movie and enjoyed it but I could not leave you guys there. I had to return to this series as I was blown away by what I saw week in and week out as I watched this show. (Dare I say, it might even be better than the movie).
There have been many animated series from Disney based on their movies but Tangled: The Series is easily the best of these types of shows. And I would still say, even if Tangled wasn't my favorite Disney movie. What is it, that sets this show apart? Part of it is how the show lures the audience into thinking that they are watching a simple slice-of-life show about Rapunzel and Eugene's life after the events of the movie.
And for the first half of the season, you are. Sure, there's an ongoing mystery about these mysterious rocks that are destroying Corona and Rapunzel's hair returning but that's in the background as the show wants you to get know the new characters. But once, the show reaches it's halfway point everything changes and that mystery comes to the forefront and the show takes a darker tone than it had before. And we learn that people Rapunzel loved had been keeping secrets from her (we will get to that, during this event) or in the case, the character that we are looking at today, we see what happens when an ally feels betrayed by the Princess of his kingdom and vows to exact revenge on someone that he once considered his friend. As we will observe throughout this article and this event, the character that we are looking at is the first Disney to break my heart. With that outta the way, let's begin.
Voice Actor
Jeremy Jordan
Varian is played wonderfully by Broadway star, Jeremy Jordan. (This show has a lot of Broadway actors in it). If you aren't familiar with his Broadway work, you may know him as Winn on Supergirl.
However, I was first introduced to him as Jack Kelly in the original Broadway run of Newsies.
And from everything I have read, this was Jordan's first animated role and I must say that he did an excellent job with the role and played one of the best characters in the show and made you feel for him, the entire time you watched and he really made your heart break for his character.
First Appearance
Varian makes his debut in the first episode after the pilot movie, "What The Hair?!" and when you first meet him, he just seems to be a dweeby 14 year old that wants to help the princess and is a very smart alchemist that has been messing with the rocks and his father does not approve of this. However, there are some small hints at his future role as the villain in the show. TV Tropes puts it best by describing it as such.
...He's introduced wearing a bulky welding suit with his voice deepened by the metal helmet in a dark room, making him seem like a very intimidating presence. Then he lifts up his helmet and reveals he's very boyish and has a gentle voice. Played straight after the events of "Queen for a Day", which sees him actually shift from good to villainous.
And that is the case throughout the first half of the series as he remains an ally to Rapunzel throughout the first half of the series but after the events of "Queen for a Day", he promises that he'll make them pay and starts his road towards villainy. We will touch more on this in the next two segments but Varian is a very sympathetic figure in that he only becomes the villain as he thinks that is the only way to get what he wants. As everyone had turned their backs on him.
Personality
Once again, we are looking at a character who saw a personality shift throughout the series as he started as a bit clumsy, naive & compassionate. And he genuinely looked to Rapunzel as a friend. Rapunzel Eugene, and Cassandra (Rapunzel's best friend) were most likely the first friends that Varian ever had as he is the product of single parent household and the villagers in his neighborhood tended to ignore him because of his weird inventions that usually caused more harm than they did help.
But, when the events of "Queen for a Day" come about, Varian snaps and changes as he feels that Rapunzel betrayed him. He came to Rapunzel about the rocks as they had been getting worse and Corona was experiencing a terrible snowstorm that could have destroyed the entire kingdom and almost did. Rapunzel had to make the decision as to, does she save the kingdom or help a friend. And being a ruler, she had to go with the former but Varian took this as a betrayal on Rapunzel's part. And afterwards, he became bittered, coy, angry, and deceitful. Where there once was love in his heart, it was now fueled with hate and passion.
This actually brings about something that is thrown back in Rapunzel's face. One of the first things that Rapunzel says to Flynn in the movie is this.
And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise. EVER!
Well, two episodes after "Queen for a Day", Varain throws this back in Rapunzel's face with this line.
"Sorry... Princess. But I know firsthand how well you keep promises."
And the worst part is that for a split second, it seemed as though Varian had forgiven Rapunzel until he throws that line at her. And when you consider that it has been established that Rapunzel values keeping a promise, hearing someone that she once considered a friend say that to her has to feel like a stab through the heart.
Why
Ah well, here's a segment that we haven't used much in the past. The "why" of it all. Why did Varian become a villain. Well, the biggest reason is that he saw this as the only way to save his father. You see, during "Queen for a Day" as Varian was experimenting on the rocks, they turned into some kind of crystal and during an argument with his father, the crystals encased his father.
Talking with Pretty Boy on Facebook about this, we both came to the conclusion that Varian is a lot like Mr. Freeze in that while what he is doing is wrong, you can understand it and it is just the situation that he found himself in, that has made him the bad guy. I'm conflicted that on yes, he did cause his father to be encased in the crystal and he was just looking for someone else to blame and that is when he put the blame on Rapunzel. But at the same time (and this hurts me to say this), there is a good argument that if Rapunzel had helped Varian, he could have avoided the path to villainy.
Grand Desire
His grand desire is twofold and they both revolve around his father. The first and most obvious one is that after what happened to his dad, he wants to save his father. But when you dig a little deeper, you will find what Varian truly wants and it is hard to stomach. He wants to make his father proud as Varian doesn't think that his father is proud of him. And this just breaks my heart as while Varian's father may question some of things that he does, he does love his son and you can see that he is proud of his son, even if he doesn't understand everything that he does.
Varian is a character that doesn't think he's good enough and ultimately, he's not seeking fame or power, he just wants recognition from his father that he is proud of his son. Even as Varian is arrested at the end of the season finale, his last words in the show are "I will make you proud" And you know the worst part about all of this, he wasn't able to save his father in the end.
Songs
I'm not calling them Villain Songs here as they more show a regression into Varain becoming a villain as the first song isn't a villain song at all but rather, one of the saddest Disney songs I've heard in a while. Especially considering the path that Varian ends up on.
Let Me Make You Proud
This song ties into what Varian's Grand Desire is and the obvious comparison to make here would be Proud of Your Boy from Aladdin (my favorite Disney song) as those are both songs sung by a child that doesn't think they are good enough for their parents to be proud of them. And if I could get personal here for a moment, I have noticed that I have a tendency to latch onto characters that think they aren't good enough. Whether it be Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Evan in Dear Evan Hansen. Even Aladdin. And now Varian. I think that comes from the fact that for so long, I doubted myself and made myself believe that I wasn't good enough. And sadly, Varian is a dark reflection of that. I mentioned that he is the first Disney character to break my heart and that's because I see the encouragement and help I got along the way to better myself that Varian never got. And just hurts as he's not a bad kid, he just made some really bad decisions because of how he felt he had been mistreated.
Let Me Make You Proud (Reprise)
The reprise of this song is where you start to see Varian head down the path towards villainy but once again, I get it. He is only going down this direction as he wants to save his dad and he thinks that he has to make those who ignored him pay. Which is kinda interesting considering what the King reveals in the finale that Varian's father warned him that taking the sun flower could have great consequences but the king chose not to heed those warnings.
Ready as I'll Ever Be
Now, this is more a group number that many others have compared to Menken's work in Pocahontas. Namely, "Savages" but I like this number more but obviously for the sake of this blog, I won't to focus on Varian's lyrics. And once again, they are a punch in the stomach. First, we have these sets of lines.
Believe me, I know
I've sunk pretty low
But whatever I've done you deserved
I'm the bad guy, that's fine
It's no fault of mine
And some justice at last will be served
Varian acknowledges that he has gone to a place that is hard to return from and more importantly, that he is now the bad guy. Kinda reminds me of this.
With one key difference being that you can hear the trembling in Varian's voice here as it seems to indicate that he is in a spot that he didn't want to be in but he felt he was forced into because of the circumstances that led him to making these decisions. There is one more line that needs to be brought up here.
I'll make them hear me
And this brings us back to the idea that Varain has felt shut out most of his life and as though, no one listens to him or takes him seriously and this is the only way for people to notice him.
Most Evil Deed
I hate having to pick this out but I think it might either be tricking Rapunzel into committing treason and stealing the last of the sun drop from the flower or kidnapping Rapunzel's mom. They are both pretty bad and while they do come from a place of desperation, that does not excuse what he does.
Demise
I forgot to cover this but Varian comes to the realization that he can harness the power in Rapunzel's hair to free his father and that is his main objective in the season finale. It's a bit much to explain, so I'll just copy from Varian's Disney Wiki page for what happened. Varian causes a huge distraction and kidnaps the queen. And it leads to this.
After the kingdom realizes what had happened, a full-scale counterattack on Old Corona, now surrounded in black rocks, is organized. Rapunzel and King Frederic decide to sneak in to Varian's home separate from the kingdom army to sneak out the queen. Unfortunately, Varian had planned ahead, and traps Rapunzel and the king, while launching an army of automatons on the kingdom's forces. Varian reveals his plot of kidnapping the queen as simple bait to bring Rapunzel to him. Varian threatens to incase Queen Arianna in the same crystal his father was trapped in if Rapunzel didn't give him her hair to free his father. Much to Varian's heartbreak, Rapunzel's hair doesn't work against the crystal, and the kingdom's forces defeat the automatons. Varian's plan failed,
Varian is heartbroken as stated here and turns his heartbreak into anger as he gets into one of his giant automatons (think mech) and attacks the heroes. However, it as this point that Rapunzel realizes that her hair can control the rocks and she uses them to destroy Varian's robot. And then we see that Varian is arrested.
Rapunzel makes her father promise her that Varian will get the help that he needs and phew. I'm gonna need a minute.
I want to talk about my reaction to Varian in the season finale here. I was honestly hoping for a last minute redemption for Varain as I saw that he's not a bad kid, he's just angry and upset and that is what led him to make these decisions but as I watched the finale, the show made me realize that giving him a last minute redemption wouldn't feel earned. The show knows that Varian has to atone for his actions before the thought of redemption is even presented.
Is Varian A Good Villain?
I really don't want to call Varian a villain but I can't ignore the fact that a lot of his actions were very villainous. So, for all intents and purposes as much as it pains me to say it, Varain is a villain. But I do think there is hope for Varian to redeem himself in the second season. At least, I hope so. Who knows?
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