#teenage eugene and lance were so adorable

[whenlifedaydreams]

Don’t lie, y’all wanted teen Eugene to have a huge crush on Rapunzel too!!

[blondehairstripe]

So I think that as of S3, Varian is crushing hard on Rapunzel. And in this case, it goes deeper than mere infatuation, given the nature of their relationship and everything that’s transpired between them within the series.

Read on for in-series analysis with screencaps and some bonus post-series fanon speculation!

IN-SERIES ANALYSIS

Before he went villain, I’d say that Varian’s feelings toward Rapunzel were more hero-worship, so he likely thought she was pretty, but undoubtedly out of his league and already taken to boot. No signs of crushing yet—he instead becomes infatuated with the only unattached person who came to visit him: Cassandra.

In my humble opinion, Varian didn’t have a romantic attraction to Rapunzel until it hit him like a bolt of lightning when she told him “It’s your mess, but it’s my kingdom” in Rapunzel’s Return.

Though he was oddly flirty with her while she was in that dungeon cell...

There is also the distinct possibility that the cell was where the first stirrings of a crush began to form during their reconnection. The basis for this theory comes from the absolutely adoring look he gave her when she said “we need him�� and how he looked pretty well smitten as she pulled him along.

By the end of the episode Rapunzel frees Quirin, and hoo boy, is that the final nail in Varian’s coffin of feelings. She’d forgiven him his atrocities, kept her word, freed his father—honestly, it’d be weirder if he didn’t fall for her if you ask me.

Then Be Very Afraid rolls along, and we learn that Varian considers Rapunzel “wondrous and magical,” something Rapunzel notes rather slyly and Pascal seems to think is sweet. The look on Varian’s face when she takes his hand and pulls him along again says it all. Boi is smitten.

Additionally...just look at this dork when Rapunzel catches him being a nerd about metals and drinking hot cocoa in Cassandra’s Revenge. This is the reaction of a teenager who just got caught doing something embarrassing by his crush. He zeroes in on Rapunzel specifically and doesn’t seem to care that any of the others caught him.

But through all of these new feelings for Rapunzel, Varian loves Eugene too (90% platonically in this case), so my take is that he’s resolved to not interfere in their relationship. And after everything that’s happened, he likely feels that Eugene is a better match for her and that they truly deserve each other. Though after his stint as a villain where Varian completely lost his respect for the ruling class, the whole “she’s a princess I’m a peasant” thing would likely not be a factor for him anymore. Also, he’s clearly never given a crap about age gaps, and the 4 year gap between him and Rapunzel is even smaller than his canonical S1 crush on Cassandra with an 8 year gap.

Now that we’ve covered the analysis of canonical events, we can delve into pure fanon speculation territory.

POST SERIES SPECULATION

While Varian has indeed resolved to not do a single stupid thing to mess up Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship, he can’t keep himself from wanting to be close to Rapunzel and craving her affection. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) Rapunzel is a very affectionate person, so she’ll hug Varian, hold his hand, even cuddle him because he’s her precious friend. Also, she’s a pro at giving him the verbal validation that seems to fuel him (aka his love language: words of affirmation).

This results in Varian coming up with excuses and ways to stay close to Rapunzel, and at times when he ends up being sandwich-snuggled between Eugene and Rapunzel (because let’s face it, we’ve seen that Eugene is huggy) he sometimes catches himself trying to pretend Eugene isn’t there, which he instantly feels super guilty about.

Side note: Ruddiger is completely aware of how he feels because Varian is an open book when he’s alone with his little raccoon buddy, and the devious little critter sometimes manipulates situations to try to get Varian alone with Rapunzel or to set them up for what he believes is a romantic encounter (what do you mean being trapped inside a dumpster together isn’t romantic? Intimate dark setting, and all the garbage you can eat!). These setups only work about half the time, and so while Varian appreciates the sentiment, he’d prefer Ruddiger to stay out of it because the failures tend to end with Varian being horribly embarrassed.

And if Rapunzel ever gives him what she views as chaste kisses on the cheek or forehead, Varian’s over the freaking moon and always blushes so hard he almost passes out. Rapunzel finds it cute while Eugene thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and teases Varian he’s gonna have to get over that habit if he ever wants a girlfriend/boyfriend of his own. Whether he’s aware of Varian’s crush or not is up for debate, but he for sure has no idea how deep it runs and thus considers it harmless if he’s aware of it.

Varian probably also frequently gives Rapunzel gifts in order to get her attention and favor in the form of inventions/discoveries he thinks she’ll like. He might even bake her things since we’ve seen he has a knack for it. His favorite thing is if he can get Rapunzel to come work on a project with him, giving him the one-on-one time he craves while doing something he loves.

Also, I think that if anyone were to insult Rapunzel in Varian’s presence, they might find their shoes sticky bombed to the floor. Looking at you, Uncle Monty. Varian might become the second person in Corona to not like him.

Of course, he’s not so obsessed with Rapunzel that he has no life outside of her, since he very much enjoys one-on-one time with both his dad and Eugene (Lance is kind of a 50/50 shot for him, and the girls are like little sisters to him). And of course he spends most of his time in his lab doing alchemy. But he lights up every time Rapunzel enters the room and gravitates towards her, and would do pretty much anything for her.

And for a while, Varian convinces himself that this is fine, and that he doesn’t need Rapunzel to love him back the same way he loves her. Though he feels small flares of jealousy whenever she and Eugene kiss or indulge in other romantic gestures that Varian would never hope or dare to try, but he stomps the jealousy down for the greater good of everyone involved.

The wedding would be super bittersweet for him, since he’d be so happy that his friends have found happiness together, even while knowing that Rapunzel is unquestionably out of his reach now. But that doesn't stop him from continuing to love her. His dad says he’ll get over her one day (his only human confidant, the dude is legendary at keeping secrets), but Varian isn’t so sure.

And from this point, the fanon possibilities are pretty much endless, some of them running the gambit from Varian continuing to respectfully pine for Rapunzel in secret, to him getting over her and finding his own happiness with someone else, to him gradually descending into madness and going just a touch yandere. Depends on what flavor of Varian you’re in the mood for: pining Varian, happy Varian, or villainous Varian. And of course, you can get real fancy and combine different Varian flavors to make something unique!

@varipunzel​

[seeing-the-light]

For the character thing, Eugene ofc 😌💕

Sexuality Headcanon: To me, he’s probably bi or pan, with a preference for women.

Gender Headcanon: I see him as someone who identifies as male but isn’t afraid to be gender nonconforming- I fully believe in dress-wearing Eugene supremacy and think he deserves the chance to try on heels and paint his nails and whatever other fun shenanigans he’s gotten up to through the course of his crazy life :)

A ship I have with said character: like I said for Rapunzel, I ship those two adorable dorks together with all my heart

A BROTP I have with said character: Lance and Eugene! Love how much they’re both there for each other and clearly care even if their relationship is full of banter at times (I also continue to stan Team Awesome, just figured I’d highlight another one I love here)

A NOTP I have with said character: Honestly what I hate most with him is the suggestion that he still pines for Stalyan and wishes Rapunzel was more like her, or trying to spin her criticism of him as legitimate when he was a teenager being coerced into a marriage with someone who treated him in ways that definitely looked abusive onscreen, so probably them.

A random headcanon: I’m kinda obsessed with the idea that post-season, after the castle/city has been fixed and things have settled a bit, Eugene goes to the Dark Kingdom to check on his dad’s efforts and help out a bit, and they get the chance to bond more and maybe that’s the first time Edmund begins to open up more about Eugene’s mom and it’s very soft.

(Bonus from a conversation my friend and I had today- for some reason Eugene and Rapunzel’s kid takes a shining to Dabney, and has it as their personal bear comforter instead of a usual baby blanket, and Eugene humors the kid but will absolutely never admit how many times it’s badly startled him when he sneaks in for a late goodnight kiss.)

General Opinion over said character: Um, I love him and he deserves the world. That’s it. That’s my opinion.

...jk, so, Eugene’s one of my favorite characters, period. As much as people talk about the hot man meeting and I agree that he’s very aesthetically pleasing, that’s honestly one of the lowest reasons in the list. I think one of the first things that stood out to me was actually his personality. Like when he first complained about the poster, I genuinely thought he was distressed about the fact that he was on one, so the joke actually got me. And like... the entire way he interacts with Rapunzel in the beginning, from “it’s in that pot isn’t it” to pointing out her conflicting emotions to “stay calm, it can probably sense fear” to his utter confusion about why these thugs who were about to kill him had now broken into musical number to “let’s just assume everyone here wants to kill me” and being ridiculously proud of his stunt with the frying pan to trying not to freak out about hair to finally feeling comfortable enough to open up a little about his backstory.... like wow. I’m absolutely going off rn but these are all iconic things that have lived in my brain rent free since 2010. And we slowly get to see his mask get pulled back and shatter, slowly get to see him respond well to receiving compassion for the first time in his life. The movie culminates in him being so self -sacrificing, and then it could’ve ended with him getting the castle and his dream and being loved for the person he really is.

But it doesn’t? In fact, we see fairly early on in the series that now that he’s here, he’s trying to spread that to others- whether that’s in being there for the kids he claims he’s not good with, or searching for ways he can contribute something to castle life because he doesn’t want to just be a freeloader- he doesn’t just stop there. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t think the series did his character and feelings justice in many ways, but the times that it did? Peak content. He doesn’t just sit on these lessons he’s learned - he applies them to other people- like Lance, when he tries to steer him down the wrong path, or his father. But he’s also not afraid to speak his mind or stand his ground when there’s good reason for him to not budge. He values life, a lot- even In people who’ve tried to kill him, like when he pulls Edmund back from the edge in Destinys Collide, or going back for the Stabbingtons. (Which is probably because he knows what dying is like in a way no one else can.) At the same time, he’s always so ready to close his eyes and accept it when he’s in those sorts of positions- almost like he knows he’s on borrowed time and just expects that to run out some day. He still seems so surprised when he’s shown love and affection, he’s so deeply committed to Rapunzel that he doesn’t let a misunderstanding like what happened in BEA put any sort of distance between them- if anything, it pulls him closer as he commits to being patient. He STILL has some of the most iconic moments in the series - I could gesture to most anything he does in the finale to support that. But like he does in BVA, he’s also more than ready to recognize his friends’ strengths and push them into the limelight.

This is getting super long so I should probably force myself to stop or else it’ll never end but yeah. Yeah, my opinion is that I love him, and he’s good, and deserves all the love and support and affection he gets, and I appreciate how patient and understanding he is of his friends even when sometimes they don’t even give him the time of day, and I’m grateful they gave him an existential crisis as ripe as the one he explored in DC because he had more than enough reason to have one, and how much he grows into his place and relationships . He deserves many hugs. 💜

Thanks for the ask! Feel free to send more my way!

[polymathart]

“Cass has no canonical interest in men.”

Does she? This post is not to bash anyone who disagrees. Nor is it to promote any sort of homophobia. I believe all healthy ships are valid and disapprove of ship hate and shipping wars. This is merely to posit a different opinion. If you do not wish to read, you are welcome to ignore this post.

People say Cass has “no canonical interest in men,” but if you think about it, the few men that she actually knows mostly are on tease / play fight level with her. Eugene and Lance aren’t “sweet and fluffy” to Cass. They’re snarky and goofy around her which annoys her. She’s never known anyone other than Rapunzel who is so wholesome and warm towards her.

Most of the men we have seen Cassandra interact with on screen (save for elders and authorities such as King Frederic, her father Cap, and Uncle Monty) have been either obnoxious and loud in her eyes (Eugene and Lance and Hookfoot), or have been hostile and demeaning to her (various ruffians and Hector).

To Cassandra, most of the men she has ever truly interacted with have been annoying or immature. (This may or may not also be off the fact that she had grown up with her father’s prejudice towards criminals.)

This is not to paint Cassandra as prejudiced against all men. She has grown to tolerate Lance, Eugene, and Hookfoot. That is clear. But she is just easily irritated by immature, juvenile people. Going off of what little the Series has provided us about Cassandra’s past, we can assume that she never had many friends to grow up with—male or female. She is still on the road to learning about opening up to people. Everyone she knew in Corona were just the beginning of that journey.

Cassandra has a liking towards the sweeter, softer, more wholesome and gentle ones. Rapunzel fits that category quite easily. However, there is another individual Cass knows who also fits that category—one who has been compared to and shares many characteristics with Rapunzel: Varian.

Since the start, Varian has been portrayed and almost universally received as an endearing, friendly, and soft individual. Four moments when his openness and concern for others shine most are in “Great Expotations” when he listens to and understands Cassandra’s desire to please her father, in “Rapunzel’s Return” when he admits his error and desire to make amends with Rapunzel, and in “Be Very Afraid” when he opens up to Rapunzel about his remorse and fears of his past, as well as listening to and comforting Rapunzel when she talks about her own fears of losing Cassandra. The final, most poignant instance of Varian’s kindness is in “Cassandra’s Revenge” when he begs Cassandra to reconsider her choices. It is one of his best moments: when he throws down his own shame and turmoil in an effort to show his friend that she is not alone and that she was in danger of losing herself as well as the everything she loved.

Cassarian shippers do not ship them out of contempt or denial of the possibility of Cassandra’s interest in Rapunzel or other women. We ship her with Varian when he is older because he is remarkably kind and gentle and overall sweet to everyone. He has that kind and loving smile just like Rapunzel has. Yes he is dorky and clumsy and impulsive sometimes, but he does not carry that suaveness or flirting personality as Eugene, Lance, or Andrew have. He tries to charm her once before but he never tries to puff himself up or “flex” himself to her.

Cassarian shippers see Varian as being the adorable, playful, unassuming, and helpful yet bold, righteous, mature, courageous, and curious young man he will be by the time Cassandra does return to Corona. Cassandra’s sharp, sassy nature will not be competitively butting heads with another sharp, sassy nature. Rather, she will meet a nature that is forgiving and patient while still not being malleable or breakable.

Cassandra is like Eugene—quick on the draw, cunning, and competitive but not abusive. Varian is like Rapunzel—patient, understanding, and eager to help others but never easy to take advantage of.

Once again, this is not to shame or start a fight with anyone. This is merely to put forth my very own opinion. I am open to criticism and debate whether publicly, privately, or anonymously.

Dominus vobiscum,

Polymath.

ADDENDUM

I think overall Cass just is attracted to softer and more sincere people.

Though she and Eugene bite at each other, she does show a certain bit of care to him when he is being truly humble. Like when she saw that he was genuinely hurt that Cap kept dismissing Eugene’s skills to be a guard. She actually reached out to him. When Eugene set off to look for Frederick and Arianna, she didn’t roll her eyes or anything. She admitted that even she was hoping he would pull through.

And never once when Rapunzel is having doubts about Eugene does she take it as an opportunity to chat it up with Rapunzel. I think Cass genuinely loves Eugene and Rapunzel being together not just Rapunzel being happy. That’d just be selfish. She cares that yes Rapunzel is happy but also Rapunzel is happy with the right person.

Cassandra showed interest when she realized how “graceful” Lance could dance. And I speculate that if she saw Lance taking care of Angry and Catalina, she would’ve smiled, too.

Cass didn’t like Andrew for his smooth talk but for his faux sentimentality and penchant for books. And she kept the rose because she actually kinda liked going on a date and treating her nicely, even if it was just a ploy.

And she shows no interest in Varian at all during the series. However, she did feel for him when Quirin first appeared. She smiled when Varian actually understood her issues with her father. And when Varian first called her a friend. And finally when she realized just how sincere and honest he was about the expo and impressing her rather than throwing a fit, she saw that Varian wasn’t some annoying teenager trying to charm her. He actually had substance and depth.

Rapunzel overall is the sweetest person Cass has ever known. Her happiness and compassion is what Cass grew to love. She isn’t used to seeing such character in people, especially in most guys. There’s a light that goes off in Cass’ heart when she’s with Rapunzel, yes. But when she finds other people with real feelings and wholesomeness, too, that same light turns on.

[whenlifedaydreams]

Another old reblog for the countdown

@tangledaddict

(Ignore the inconsistency with the acne)

Don’t lie, y’all wanted teen Eugene to have a huge crush on Rapunzel too!!

[whenlifedaydreams]

Ahh I’ve been so caught up in exams that I completely missed that there was a Teengene day!!

What a lovely Idea @carlyrider !!

Don’t lie, y’all wanted teen Eugene to have a huge crush on Rapunzel too!!