You all know the story – how the princess Rapunzel was saved from slavery to Mother Gothel by the thief Eugene's sacrifice and how her love saved him in turn with a miracle while the villainous Gothel vanished as she apparently fell to her death from the tower. Of course the lost princess and the thief were welcomed back home by her parents with open arms and within a year they were married to live happily ever after. But what you may not know are the secret parts of the story hinted at but never revealed and all these secrets are about to tangle our young married lovers all up in knots.
What are these secrets you ask? Well secrets are revealed by asking questions of the past. So let us ask. The first secrets concern the Flower of the Sun we saw at the beginning. If this flower could heal Mother Gothel and restore her youth by bathing her in its light, then why didn't the King use its light to cure the Queen and preserve the flower to use on all the needy people of the world? Were the King and Queen self-centered and thinking only of themselves just like Mother Gothel was accused of doing? If they weren't then why did the King destroy a flower which would benefit everyone if kept alive to create a one-time use potion? Then there is the potion itself. Who created it and why did it cross through the placenta walls and enter the Queen's unborn daughter? Why did it end up in her hair where it could be destroyed so easily instead of hiding inside her body where it could be protected?
Everything happens for a reason and to get answers to all these questions about the Flower of the Sun there is one person you'd have to ask and his name is Murherder, the King's Wizard. He is actually a sorcerer of the highest class who has devoted his life to studying the powers of the Flower of the Sun. He is the one who told the King what he had to do (I'm sorry. Wanted him to do) to save the Queen. He is the one who designed the potion to do what it did. Why? Sorry. Those are his secrets.
Murherder is also the one behind the recognition by the King and Queen as to who Rapunzel was when she turned up unannounced at their court. Instead of spending weeks proving whom she was she had instant recognition. It was a very simple spell which worked so well because all four of them wanted to believe it. He is also the one who erased everyone's animosity towards the thief Eugene who had caused a lot of anger and grief by his exploits in stealing from innocent people. It's to the sorcerer's advantage to have them all close.
Murherder is a silver-haired elderly gentleman with blue eyes, an average nose and chin and he appears in public with a black-feathered owl on his grey-cloaked shoulder. He always has a kind word for children and seems to be everyone's friend. He was not surprised at all by the new-born princess' affliction, but he was greatly surprised and very displeased when she vanished into thin air. He was enraged when his magic could not locate her or her abductor but he was only sorrowful and respectful in front of the distraught parents and ensured them he would try his best. He even suggested the floating lanterns to be released on her birthday and imbued them with his strongest search magic but he never caught a hint of her as Mother Gothel had secrets and powers of her own.
And what of Mother Gothel? There are questions surrounding her too. First, why did she keep the flower a secret? Was it selfishness as some claimed or were there other factors involved? And if she was as mean or selfish as she was portrayed to be then how did Rapunzel grow up to be such a nice person? You don't turn out nice if you are raised only experiencing meanness from your first awareness. And who taught Rapunzel to speak so fluently and to have such good manners? This took a lot of time, effort, and concern on Gothel's part. It seems when the girl was growing up Gothel whose name in German means God Mother truly acted as Rapunzel's godmother and put a lot of love into raising her. Why did she change to be such a villain later in the story? Was there some truth in Gothel's claim that Rapunzel's powers were why she had to be locked away as there were those who would use her cruelly? Was Gothel speaking from bitter experience? Did she know about Murherder and his plans for the girl? And how could Gothel keep her hidden so long but so near the palace and hide her from magic searches if she didn't have powers of her own? Well, it turns out that she did.
Mother Gothel seems like two women with different personalities sharing the same body and there is a horrible truth there. One woman cared deeply for Rapunzel as if she were her own daughter but the other sees her only as something to be used and protected at all costs. But can this matter if Gothel died from her fall from the tower? Did she?
Rapunzel and Eugene think everything is untangled in their lives now. Unfortunately it's all about to be tied up into knots with the secret strings from the past.