Varian's villain arc but instead of personal revenge he starts a class revolution.
Because what the heck happened to the citizens of Old Corona??? If how Frederic handled Varian is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if he had the masked guards run them away from the kingdom to that empty farm land Quirin asked for in code during his audience. Not mentioning other times they could have been turned away by the main kingdom, I feel they are a group of people that could absolutely be pissed off at Corona's Monarchy. They are obviously not a priority to Corona, despite probably being responsible for a lot of the kingdom's produce...
Then the young son of their leader finds them exiled in the forest, spinning a tale of the king and princess betraying him— them. The king knowing about the black rocks and doing nothing but letting destruction take over, the princess asking Varian's help but turning him away and ignoring him for weeks after his father was imprisoned by the rocks, him being confined to his home by the masked guards so that he won't tell anyone what the king did— well.
I'm sure a lot of people in Old Corona were wary (and weary lol) of Varian and his ability to cause destruction, but I'm also sure not everyone hated/held it against him. I think he'd be able to rally enough people with his righteous anger to organize, and use his inventive capabilities to help them rebuild some of their livelihoods as a show of good will. Also, being Quirin's son would give him some serious brownie points. It would take some planning, resource gathering, and recruiting, but Varian would be able to put together a pretty good revolution plan considering he literally able to defeat an entire kingdom in canon.
I feel Varian would want there to be a lot of violence and fighting (like in canon) but since he escaped the guards in this au to find the people of Old Corona rather than trying to help his father alone, he would have adults around him to be like 'no. That's a really bad idea, and you will definitely feel horrible about that later.' And yeah. They're right.
But anyways, rather than the canon battle of Old Corona, Varian leads a siege on the castle with his automotons, armed neighbors, and other pissed off people that would have had their lives destroyed by Frederick's inaction if it weren't for Rapunzel's Dues Ex Machina magic moment at the end of season one.
End goal? Probably dissolve the total power of Corona's Monarchy. Varian wanted to do worse to Frederic initially, but realized it could alienate potential allies and other citizens. Also, seeing Frederic get taken down a peg or several would be just as satisfying and more gratifying than lashing out. In the place of the Crown's power, I imagine a council of democratically elected officials would be put in place instead. Varian would definitely not want to be a part of it, more content to help Old Corona, but he'd probably get some sort of seat since he started this whole thing. The royals would also have seats, but they would no longer wield absolute power.
I personally think Varian has enough wit and charisma to pull it off if he had some support. His speech before he kidnapped the queen in canon, and his other villainous monologs? He has quite the way with words when he needs to. Not to mention with his alchemy and engineering skills, he has the power to back it up. It would be a stepping into his father's shoes moment (maybe he even carries his father's sword with him, as a reminder of why he's doing this.)
And maybe his intentions start off selfish, what with him wanting revenge and to free his father first and foremost, but they quickly become altruistic when he sees how many people are suffering. He still wants to free his father, but he also wants to make him proud. And helping his village recover from a disaster and making sure this never happens again would be a better way of doing that. Also, I imagine actually having people to rely on rather than being isolated in the ruins of your city by creepy masked guards while staring at your father's 'corpse' everyday would help Varian stay a little more stable. He'd realize he couldn't free his father with alchemy alone, and be able to grieve that loss a little easier while channeling his anger towards helping people.
Either way, it would completely change canon in an interesting way, especially season 2. Rapunzel would no longer be an heir to an entire kingdom, rather more of a figurehead position. She like her family would not be happy at first, but then she and Varian have an important conversation that makes her conflicted. Basically: now everyone in the Kingdom has a better chance of being represented in the government, and less people will fall through the cracks. And besides Varian's opinions, even if the inexperienced Rapunzel was a great ruler one day, who's to say her children will be? Or her children's children? Because there were some pretty heinous things the royals covered up in the archives, and other current events happening in the Kingdom that she had no idea about. Basically she gets told this isn't about her, and she can still help Corona even without absolute power. She would definitely be more reflective about everything than in canon, since the canon narrative just never let her ponder or develop meaningfully from her mistakes (I am not saying she is at fault, but even if she didn't do anything wrong, sometimes people still get hurt by your actions. This applies to her and Varian.) Neither she nor Varian apologize since they're both still sore, but the whole black rock path still happens and she leaves on her expedition with reassurance that the kingdom will be in multiple capable hands while she's gone.
Eugene would be furious at first, but then he remembers his beginnings as an unwanted orphan that turned to thievery to get by and take out his anger at the world. Cass would say nothing, because she agrees so much with everything, but wasn't able to say so because she felt stuck on Rapunzel's side.
And because Rapunzel no longer has as much power over all of her citizens, maybe Cass would be able to breathe a little easier. But more likely, I don't think she would want to be her servant anymore like in canon. Maybe she agreed with Varian, but she wants to take it farther. Maybe she thinks it was a step in the right direction, but that things need to change more drastically. Especially when she learns about Gothel. She would take the moonstone, but her escalation to destroying Corona would probably be more focused on Rapunzel since she no longer represents the whole kingdom. Or maybe she's jealous of Varian for being the hero she always wanted to be. She might even be able to come to her senses sooner, and realize she's being manipulated by Zhan Tiri and that she's no longer in the right. (I'm not 100% sold on this though, a better idea might come to me.)
And oh, Quirin being freed. He would be both so proud, so angry, and so sad for his son. Everyone in Old Corona sings Varian's praises now, about his bravery, his capable mind, his help for everyone that needed it. He would be furious that Varian painted such a massive target on his back, that he basically decimated Corona's Monarchy (as a former dark kingdom knight, he would have conflicted feelings about this.) He would also be so sad that Varian had to resort to this, that he had to mature and grow up so much that at first glance Quirin found him unrecognizable. But ultimately, seeing Varian finally find his place in Corona would make him feel so incredibly proud first and foremost.
And Varian? He breaks down. He had to be so strong for so long, and now he can finally hug his father again and just take a rest.
Wow, okay this got away from me. Definitely going to write some one-shots about this, I'm in love.
