#it's the self-sacrificing. it's the protector trope. it's the way they are given a form of life

[shalom-iamcominghome]

My eyes are red? ...It's just hay fever

(What they don't know is that I was crying in a supply closet yet again because I thought about golems)

[hardcoretwins]

Hector

Hmmmmm….. He’s very... interesting...

You know, he kinda physically resembled Varian to me. (Brace yourself. Long rant incoming.)

He said Adira was lying to them and where they’re going only death awaits, Adira said that he’s sadistic and will stop at nothing to destroy them.

But Hector isn’t a villain. If anything, he’s exactly like Varian. Sure, he’s violent, dangerous, clever, has large rodents as pets, knowledge about things the gang doesn’t understand, and he’s very determined to fight back against anyone no matter what side they’re on, but actually he’s everything EXCEPT sadistic.  

Everybody who supports Varian will understand me when I say there may be more to Hector, Adira, and Quirin than we all may think (of course). In the flashback the three of them were given strict orders by their king as protectors to keep anyone and everyone from finding the moonstone and unleashing its evil upon the world the world no matter what. Those were King Edmund’s dying wishes. Adira wanted to venture out and find the sundrop, something they only believed to be a theory. We don’t know too much about Quirin, but from the looks of it he wasn’t on board with her, risking everything for a fairytale. Heck, the flower could have been completely fabricated just to give the people hope for all they knew. Hector had to keep reminding her that to do anything other than obey their king was treason. And from the few flashbacks we have, Edmund seems to have the weight of the entire world’s survival on his shoulders. Ideally, he wants to do only what was best for entire world.  As of now, only Hector remains loyal to King Edmund, somebody who only had the entire Earth’s best interest at heart.

The thing that stands out to me about Hector is that he doesn’t come off to me as manipulative or conniving in any way shape or form, which is a trait you’ll find in most disney villains. He’s not as mysterious as he seems, and he doesn’t seem to give two shits about who any of them even are. Which came off as strange to me considering most villains we’ve met so far has tried to manipulate someone in the group to get something, or set up an entire stage to exact revenge or some shit, and the major villains, like Gothel or Vairan, uses Rapunzel for her hair and for her powers.

But not him. He didn’t show up to sit here and play mind games with everybody. He’s not out here lying to anyone, trying to manipulate them or lead them down a particular path for his own personal gain. That’s one of the things I loved about him. He knows he’s the baddest bitch in the land. If he wanted Rapunzel for her power, he seems like the kind of person that would just get it, no story arch or anything. But he doesn’t want her power. He doesn’t have any vendettas, or grudges against any of them. There is literally no self-satisfying personal gain from fighting her or her friends at all. So why does he?

I believe everything he said about Adira wasn’t a lie. He just really doesn’t seem like the kind of person to give a shit about who Rapunzel associates herself with. But seeing Adira, a known traitor to their kingdom, show up with an entire wagon full of people who know about the moonstone? Now that’s a cause for alarm. I think he may have become aware of the group after the island fiasco, seeing as how they’re following the rocks. I think he was following them, figuring out their names, if they’re a threat, where they’re all going, etc. But to be honest, he probably does that to everyone who stumbles upon the rocks, just to make sure they don’t get curious. But I think it wasn’t until after seeing them Adira, who told them about the tree before the episode started, did he realize it’s probably a good time to intervene and put an end to this before it becomes a problem. Which gives me the impression that he’s very observant, stealthy, and although it wouldn’t seem likely, capable of making rational judgements. I say this very liberally of course, because if he was following them for some time and didn’t try to intervene until they found the tree, then he probably follows a lot of other people too, like travelers and such, until they leave the rock trail or go away. If he were a sadistic madman like Adira says, something tells me he would just kill anyone who so much as happens upon the rocks or got too close to the tree without actually finding it. 

Hector is in a very complicated spot in the show right now. Everybody has their own motivations for their actions. Varian wants to figure out the mystery behind the rocks to free his dad, Rapunzel wants to find out what’s at the end of this trail because she believes its her destiny, Cassandra wants to protect Rapunzel and maybe fight whatever evil they encounter, Eugene was to go wherever Rapunzel wants to go, Lance wants to stick with Eugene because he doesn’t have a place to just fit in and call home by himself in Corona (Idk about Hookfoot and Shorty), Adira wants the sundrop to arrive safely at the moonstone without complications because she believes Rapunzel is the key to ending this mess, but Hector seems to be the only person that doesn’t have any personal reasons for being involved. In fact, he’s only thinking about the bigger picture, no personal gain, and refuses to believe in something all because of something like “hope” or “dreams”. If they get there, and Adira’s “fairytale” plan fails, the moonstone’s magic could become unleashed, corrupted, and possibly destroy the world. Hector’s not a villain, he’s trying to save the world. He just doesn’t look like a hero. Heck, he probably cares about protecting the world twice as much as the group does. He’s practically honor-bound to obeying King Edmund’s dying wish. 

Only Quirin, Adira, and Hector know what the moonstone power can really do. They’re the only living people who’s ever seen the thing and knows what exactly what it’s capable of doing. They may not know everything, but they know enough to know it shouldn’t be messed with. And this is where I believe Hector can be used as a comparison to Varian. Varian wanted to know more about the rocks to try to stop it before it became a problem as well, but Fredrick forced everybody to turn a blind eye and ignore it. All these secrets… secrets, secrets, secrets… secrets were the reason he lost Quirin. Varian stopped giving a shit about good and evil then, too. He only knew the rocks were evil and this evil needed to be destroyed no matter the cost, and naturally this got him pegged as a villain, because doing so involved Rapunzel being in danger. And like Hector, he was totally on board with sacrificing one person to save others. The problem is, neither of them knew that Rapunzel was damn near indestructible. Ultimately, Varian just lost it and wanted everybody to hurt as bad as he does. 

Varian gave the series its first real step forward in potential. Hector can give the series a huge leap if he becomes a recurring character. After he recovers, I can see him being more hands on than Varian or Gothel was, and even going as far as to follow the recurring trope of the Tangled villains and end up completely unraveling by the end. Similar to how Gothel lost her shit and chained the child she raised from infancy to a wall, stabbed Eugene, and swore to run away with her so no one will ever find her again all in a fit of complete desperation and rage. And we all know how Varian ended. Since I believe Hector is actually a calm, collected, reliable, and loyal protector, I can see each of his failures actively getting to him. Each time we see him, he’s slowly less calm, slowly less collected, and little by little he becomes more and more determined to the point of breeching desperation. He will fail; Rapunzel is indestructible after all. The closer she gets to the moonstone, the more dangerous he becomes. He can’t stop her, but if she gets past him, then he would have failed King Edmund. If he fails, the world could pay the price of his failure. Remember, he doesn’t even believe the sundrop exists, let alone trust whoever Adira is gambling on.

In the end, I can see Hector’s fall out in the season finale, just like Varian and Gothel (in the movie). But unlike Gothel (who’s desperation derived from selfishness, greed, and vanity), and Varian (who’s desperation derived from grief, anger, and a need for justice for his father), Hector’s desperation will derive from a special type of fear, panic, and anguish, in a final attempt to fulfill his purpose to prevent this potential cataclysm, ALL only for Rapunzel to find out he was telling the truth about Adira being known for being traitorous and lying to them, and that he and Cassandra were right all along. Cassandra nearly killed him near the end of the Great Tree episode. What would Rapunzel do if he, an honor-bound man who only wanted to spare the world from destruction, ends up dying because they trusted Adira? I wonder if he’d haunt her dreams the way Gothel and Varian have. As if watching Cassandra’s hand burn because she wouldn’t listen to her wasn’t bad enough, right?

 Anyway, I know this is a lot. I just wanted to get my opinion of the guy out there before I start seeing people make stories or fanart of him being this cold, malicious person that I really don’t feel he is. In conclusion, I like this guy. I hope we start seeing more of him and less filler episodes. I feel like the island was enough of a waste of time. As for Adira, that may be a discussion for later. I had a feeling about her earlier in the show, but now after this episode, I think we all  just have to wait and see.