Princess Rapunzel

Princess Rapunzel is the protagonist and the titular character in Barbie as Rapunzel. She is the only daughter of King Wilhelm and his unamed wife, the wife of Prince Stefan, daughter-in-law of King Frederick and the sister-in-law of Princess Melody, Princess Katrina, Princess Lorena and Prince Tommy. She is voiced by Kelly Sheridan.

Story

When Rapunzel was little, she was kidnapped by the evil witch; Gothel and placed in a castle, hidden in the deep forest behind the enchanted wall. She spent seventeen years in captivity, 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 Penelope, and rabbit Hobbie.

In one day, when Rapunzel cleaned one of the halls of the castle, she discovered a secret room, in which Gothel kept everything that reminded her of her past. Among other things, Rapunzel found a box inside which a silver brush was placed. On the brush was written "To Rapunzel on her first birthday, Love, Mother and Father." The message made no sense, for Gothel had potrayed to her that she was abandoned days after her birth.

Beneath the floor boards of the secret chamber was a dark and narrow passage. Rapunzel bravely followed it and discovered a small village. As Rapunzel strolled through the valley, she saved the life of a young Princess, with the assistance of Prince Stefan. Rapunzel realized the time and left before inrroducing herself to the handsome Prince. When she returned home, Gothel was waiting for her. Rapunzel tried to reason with her, but Gothel called her a liar and extended the height of Rapunzel's tower, trapping her.

Personality

Rapunzel is very kind, courageous and adventurous. She helped to Katrina, little sister of Prince Stefan. She was also a dreamer. Also, she's a good artist. She paints the whole time if there was nothing to do or when she finished all of the jobs Gothel has assigned her. She's quick thinking, leading Gothel to the magic portrait of the mansion. She is also very patient with Gothel, and hardly ever complains. She is rather optimistic about most things.

Appearance

General

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

Servant Dress

In the first part of the film Rapunzel is Gothel's servant. The bodice of her dress is pink with a hint of violet and 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 gold braid. The sleeves are a leg of mutton sleeve with the top part in a darker pink with gold braiding along the bottom, and the bottom part is a lighter pink and ends at her wrists. the skirt is full and gathered at the bodice, in the same shade of pink/violet as the bodice. It has a gold braid running along the hem at te bottom of the dress. Her hair is as previously described. When Rapunzel has a dream about Prince Stefan, she wears her hair straight with the sides pulled back into ponytail. Her hair is long enough to wrap around the column on the window and drape down the side of the tower and nearly to the ground. She wears her servant dress.

Paintbrush Gown 1

Rapunzel then discovers her hair brush magically turned into a paint brush, 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 a lilac colour, The sleeves are mutton of lamb sleeves again but with bigger and gathered puffballs at the top. The straight part of the sleeves are darker lilac and desend 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 darker lilac and a V neck, ending at her mid chest with a purple stone. this darker lilac material then continues onto the top layer of her skirt. The skirts bottom layer is pale lilac, gathered and A- line. The top layer is the same darker lilac material as the bodice, and sits either side of the lighter lilac skirt, The edges of this overlay are scalloped and wavy. Her hair is the same as when she is a servant.

Paintbrush Gown 2

The next one is rejected by Penelope and Hobie as they say it is "a bit much". The bodice has a boat neck neckline as before and is 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, the cap sleeves are lilac, they have a border of yellow and orange circles along the bottom edge and lilac bows near the shoulders. The 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 eache 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 hair is again the same as when she is a servant.

Paintbrush Gown 3

Another gown she painted is a colourful and unusual dress but Penelope and Hobie reject it again, because it was "ahead of this time". It is in a colourful cubist style, the bodice is dark pink, there are triangular shapes over the shoulders, the left shoulder is bigger and yellow and orange with stripes of brown, the right shoulder is a smaller triangle in orange. The sleeves are straight and end at the wrist, the left one is dark blue and the right on is yellow. There is 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 colours. The main skirt is dark pink, yellow and orange. She wears her the same as before, like when she is a servant.

Final Masquerade Gown

The last gown took a long time to transform. Rapunzel wears a glittering lilac and pink dress. The bodice is glittery, pale pink, lilac and has a sweet heart neckline. The centre of the bodice is pink with the side panels in lilac and gold braiding along the seams. Along the top of the neckline is also framed with gold braiding.The sleeves are 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 longer and reaches to just above the elbow, the straight sleeve ends at her wrist and is lilac with more 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 and cut so it parts to the sides of the white material.

The top layer of the skirt is a sheer, glittery material that covers the pink fabric. It is edged in more gold braid along every edge. Her hairstyle changes to, she now has long, straight hair reaching nearly to her feet, Two sections of hair from each side of her head are pulled back, along with the hair from the top of her head and secured at the back of her head. The ponytail is then section 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, a pink mask with lilac tassels and a matching dark pink gemstone, to the one on the necklace, on the centre top edge.

The Wedding Dress

Rapunzel's wedding dress has a simple design. It has puff sleeves with a sheer white material on the ends making a straight sleeve to her wrist. The bodice has a round neck and is divided into a centre panel and two side panels in white. 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 original story

Rapunzel is based on the iconic Grimm fairytale, but Mattel made several changes

She was given to Gothel promised by her father for some plants her mother craved, and Gothel forced them to give her Rapunzel. In the Barbie version, Gothel stole her for her father loving someone 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 than riding on a dragon Hugo. The iconic phase is "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair."
In the original, 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 met. Rapunzel and Prince Stefan married in the end.
In one revised version, Rapunzel became pregnant and gave birth to two children.
In the original version, Rapunzel never wanted to go and explore the world.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 in the wilderness. In the Barbie version, Gothel cuts her hair because she think Rapunzel lying to her when she was telling the truth.
The witch in the original version gives Rapunzel's hair to the prince, much to his horror and he falls into thorns and thus getting blind. In the Barbie version, Gothel disguises herself as Rapunzel and using her hair to fool Prince Stefan.
In the original version, Rapunzel and the prince reunited in the wilderness. She restores his sight, 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 when King Wilhelm blames King Fredrick for stealing her.
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 the witch had untied Rapunzel's braid after the prince leapt from the tower, and the braid slipped from her hands and landed far below, leaving her trapped in the tower. In the Barbie version she is stuck in the tower because she has a 'lying heart.'

Gallery

Quotes

(While Hobby warned her): "We still have a few minutes. C'mon! Something great could be down here."
(Looking at the scrolls): "I can't imagine Gothel attending all of these balls."
(Reading the writing in the brush and then commenting it): "Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved. To our daughter Rapunzel on her very first birthday with love forever. Mother and Father." This doesn't make sense. Gothel said I was abandoned when I was just a few days old. Why would she lie to me like that?"
(Looking at the tunnel): "Maybe this isn't a good idea" (Then after Penelope and Hobby talked): "But I've never been outside the magic wall. This is my chance, maybe my only chance, I'm going."
(Talking to Gothel): "Why are you doing this? You can't keep me locked away from the world forever!"
(While reading the brush and then looking at the stars): "'Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved.' I'm going to be free..."
(While talking to Hobby): "That's better than being a prisoner."
(When she arrived at Stefan's Castle): "You kept me locked up my whole life because you hated my father?"
"All those years I thought I was alone."
(Looking at princess Katrina as she says she's scared): "Just let one hand and reach up"
I've never been here.

Trivia

Rapunzel is based on Rapunzel from the original "Rapunzel" fairy tale.
Rapunzel's name came from a name of Campanula rapunculus, a kind of a harebell.
Rapunzel has some similarities with Rapunzel from the Disney film Tangled. Both of them have long blond hair, a purple dress, loves painting, has a reptilian sidekick, longs for an adventure outside of her tower, and they're kidnapped as babies from royal families.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character to be initially unaware of her identity as a princess, the second being Princess Rosella, the third being Merliah Summers, the fourth being Blair Willows, and the fifth being Lumina.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character as an only daughter of the family, the second and third are Anneliese and Erika, the fourth is Rosella, the fifth is Corinne, the sixth is Merliah Summers and the seventh is Lumina. Blair Willows and Princess Catania also the only daughter of her family, but Blair has an adoptive sister, and Catania isn't Barbie character.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character to have complete parents. The second is Annika and the third is Lumina.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character to be married, the second is Odette, the third and fourth are Anneliese and Erika, the fifth is Annika, the sixth is Genevieve, and the seventh is Rosella.
Rapunzel is the second Barbie character to be seen having a kiss their love interest, the first is Clara, and the third is Barbie in Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale.
Rapunzel is the only Barbie character who likes painting.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character as a servant. The second is Blair Willows.
Rapunzel is the first Barbie character who got kidnapped. The second is Anneliese.

Goofs

When Rapunzel was walking through the draft, she accidentally threw the candle right out of her hand when a mouse ran by. In real life, the fire would be supposedly gone, but in the movie, it's not.
When she was about to paint the wall with the Magic Paintbrush, you can see the image is blurred. As it was 'pixelized'.

Barbie as Rapunzel

Media: Barbie as Rapunzel

Quote: "Love and imagination can change the world."

Objects: Rapunzel's Paintbrush

Locations: Gothel's Manor | King Frederick's Castle | King Frederick's Kingdom

Transportation: Botticelli | Hugo | Penelope | Rapunzel's Paintbrush

Songs: "Constant As The Stars Above" | "Rapunzel Theme" | "Wish Upon A Star"

Barbie Movies Wiki

Spoiler Warning