đ What Should Have Happened After Tangled â And Why Flynn Deserved Better
Disney had so many options for how to give Rapunzel and Flynn a realistic, romantic, and satisfying ending. Instead, they went with the lazy, unrealistic âeveryoneâs fine with it nowâ route â and then let the TV series drag Flynn through years of humiliation, rejection, and classist nonsense.
Hereâs how it should have gone:
1ď¸âŁ The Anastasia Route â Eloping
In their historical time period, itâs laughable to think Rapunzel and Flynn could:
Date for years without being married
Or marry without royal approval
Especially since her parents had literally sentenced him to death without a trial for stealing a crown. The idea that theyâd just âaccept himâ is absurd.
They could have run away together, married in secret, and lived free â showing:
Flynnâs transformation into an honest man working to support them
Rapunzelâs willingness to give up royal privilege for love
2ď¸âŁ The Aladdin / Little Mermaid Route â Fighting for Love
They could have:
Faced her parentsâ rejection head-on
Proved to the kingdom that their love was real
Earned the royal blessing after showing courage, loyalty, and sacrifice
That wouldâve made their marriage feel earned, not handed to them in a convenient fairytale shortcut.
3ď¸âŁ The Sleeping Beauty Twist â Prince Reveal as the Key
Instead of Rapunzel spending years calling marriage a prison until Flynn turns out to be royalty, the story could have:
Had her parents forbid the marriage
Then had the âFlynn is secretly a princeâ reveal win their approval
That way the âtitleâ reveal comes from the worldâs prejudice, not Rapunzelâs own shallow classism.
4ď¸âŁ The Bitter Greens Approach â Marry Before Returning
They could have married before going back to her parents, securing their bond before any royal politics could tear them apart. This is actually common in Rapunzel retellings (where the prince marries her before taking her to his kingdom), and it makes sense:
Ensures no one can separate them
Shows Rapunzelâs commitment to Flynn the man, not Flynn the title
5ď¸âŁ The âForget the Palaceâ Option â Leave the Kingdom
Honestly? The healthiest, most in-character choice would have been:
Not returning to parents who condemned Flynn to death
Building a life together somewhere far away
Living free of the crown and choosing love over status
That wouldâve been the ultimate arc:
Flynn proves his growth through hard, honest work to take care of her
Rapunzel proves her love by choosing him over power
â What We Got Instead:
Rapunzel returns to strangers who almost killed the man she loves without ever questioning that cruel sentence
Immediately acts like titles matter more than love
lies to him, lets everyone insult him, draws his face on a freaking punching bag for a toxic friend, rewrites his personality through time travel without ever feeling guilty about it
Spends years calling marriage to him a prison, a trap, a nightmare
Only changes her mind when heâs revealed to be royalty
This is after he literally died for her freedom.
The message? âLove is only worth it if your partner is royal.â Itâs insulting. Itâs classist. And it completely destroys the love story of the original movie.
Flynn Rider deserved better. Heâs the sweetest, most selfless Disney male lead. He gave up his life for Rapunzel, gave up his old ways for love, and was ready to commit fully. And in return, he got years of rejection, humiliation, and abuse from someone who once called him her ânew dream.â
Disney could have given us a love story for the ages. Instead, they gave us a cautionary tale about how to ruin one.
Which option would you have preferred?









