#rta analysis

In TTS/RTA, when Cassandra wears red, it's representative of her loyalty to Corona and Princess Rapunzel. The most vivid red she wears is the sleeves of her guard uniform.

It's important that it's vivid, because this is when her loyalty to the kingdom itself is her priority. And it's the same uniform the other guards wear. It's also brighter than the red she wears as part of her 'action' outfit:

This is a much more brownish red, almost pinkish, which is interesting because pink is one of Rapunzel's preferred colours. This is significant because Cassandra tends to set aside her loyalties to the kingdom in favour of her loyalty to Rapunzel specifically, which is demonstrated the first time we see her wear this outfit - when she sneaks Rapunzel out of the kingdom for one night of freedom before her coronation.

Also interesting is that the red is worn mainly on her undershirt. From there we can assume that the red undershirt is actually touching her skin (at least on her arms and neck), and it's also presumably the last layer of clothing over any undergarments, meaning it's almost directly over her heart. Loyalty is something that, at this point, she is making her own decisions about.

But then, at the Great Tree, Cassandra's loyalty to Rapunzel is her undoing. Someone else summed it up elsewhere, but basically, Cassandra and Eugene both see Rapunzel's safety as their number one priority - but Rapunzel's number one priority is Eugene's safety. No one has Cassandra's safety as their number one priority, not even herself, and that's why she's the one to get injured. Her arm is badly burnt, even withered, so she puts on this outfit:

Two things are important to note here. First, the arm that was withered was Cassandra's right arm - her dominant arm, established in the next few episodes where she is forced to relearn how to use a sword. This is significant because it means her right arm is the one she uses to protect Corona and Rapunzel, and now it has been destroyed. She's slipped further away from that position of loyal bodyguard by another tiny amount.

The other thing to note is that she is still wearing red, but now, rather than a garment worn over her heart, it's a cape. The red is on full display, but now it's the furthest garment from both her skin and heart. She's shrouding herself in it now, because at this point she's trying to pretend that everything is still as it was and that she's still highly capable of doing the job she was given (first by insisting she's not as badly injured as she is, and then later when she begins to contemplate double crossing Rapunzel). But she's slipping further and further away, and her loyalty to Rapunzel is nothing more than a mask by the time they reach the Moonstone Chamber of the Dark Kingdom.

A third thing that's interesting to note is that the cape is a much... purplier shade of red than anything else Cassandra is worn. Where else have we seen a purplish red before?

In fact, knowing that the Great Tree - where Cassandra got the armour - was once Zhan Tiri's stronghold, for whom Gothel once worked, there's even the possibility that the cape is made from the same actual fabric as her dress.

hot takes and plot ideas on Eugene and his royal heritage being significant to how he ended up as a thief...because the brainworms are wriggling again

Cassandra’s initial outfit (which will go here because Raps and Eugene’s starting clothes are established in the movie) is plain, subdued and practical, setting her apart from the other Coronans and the country’s bright and cheery aesthetics, while also showing her down-to-earth and reliable nature. The dagger on her belt and hidden one in her boot show that she is inclined to violence in her protectiveness of her loved ones, country and ideals and is a capable fighter who likes to be extremely prepared and self-reliant. The most dominant colour being dark red subtly foreshadows her connection to Gothel. But red is also the colour of the royal guards. Her own style is in all respects at odds with her pastel blue, flowing, lacy, demure handmaiden dress, showing us that she really isn't meant for or thriving in her job. Cass the handmaiden is not Cass, but merely a front, a box she’s been forced into.

Rapunzel’s Season Two outfit is sturdier and more practical than her previous more stereotypically ‘princess-y’ dress and has some darker and more muted colours, even outright black. This reflects this season’s more adventurous and serious tone and Raps’s personal increase in courage and confidence, and loss of innocence. The flower in her hair is replaced with a bird pin; she’s traded the symbolism of flowers, growth and renewal (from the renewal of her life as and growth into the princess of Corona), for that of birds, freedom and daring. This brings to mind the bird imagery in “Set Yourself Free” and the birds that flew past her way back when she first escaped the tower.

Eugene’s Season Two outfit is likewise more… swashbuckling. It’s the vibes, you know what I mean! The shoulder pad indicates that he’ll be doing dangerous, athletic activities, for example. The blue jacket is more similar to his most-of-Season Three one than it is to the old waistcoat. I’ll get to that in a bit, but basically what I say about that applies here but less so and minus the sun stuff. It’s kind of like the proto-Season Three jacket.

Cassandra is the only lead not to get any new clothes in the second season opening. Yes, obviously she’s changed a lot since Rapunzel came along (before that her father was the only close, positive relationship she'd ever had in her whole life, as far as we know). But in some very important ways, especially to her, she remains stagnant: she’s still in service to Rapunzel. Her existence is still legally considered inherently subordinate to Rapunzel. She goes on the journey in the first place with orders to protect Rapunzel, after all. Her outfit hasn’t changed because, handmaiden vs 'bodyguard' technicalities and Raps genuinely considering her an equal and friend aside… her role as ‘gal pal side character’ and servant in the heroine’s story is exactly the same, and Cass becomes increasingly attuned to this fact. And she isn’t happy about it.

Cassandra’s armour between “Rapunzel and the Great Tree” and “Destinies Collide” represents her reinforced emotional walls, her desire to protect herself from further harm and betrayal by anyone, but specifically her own friends, and most of all Rapunzel, who has just permanently crippled and traumatized her. She finally gets new clothes, the better part of a season late. Just like Rapunzel gets everything first, while she’s left waiting until she can scavage some armour from a random, forgotten knight, exactly who she wants to avoid being. Cold steel physically cuts her off from human warmth and affection. The deep red cape continues that link to Gothel. I think her new disability is important to this outfit. It’s firmer to limit her withered arm’s movement and provides it with better protection and insulation, possibly acting as an improvised brace, thereby giving us an impression of how painful and inconvenient the injury must be.

All of that applies tenfold to Cass’s black rock armour. It is literally indestructible, the way her toxic coping mechanisms are intended to make her, but that only highlights her emotional vulnerability in contrast. The blue right gauntlet draws attention to her formerly crippled arm, a sharp reminder of the pain that drove her to this point. Her skin turns ashen, implying that though the Moonstone cures her arm, it is (unsurprisingly for a power of death and decay) causing some kind of biological damage or sickness to parallel its toll on her mental health. Her theme colour besides black abruptly switches from red to blue, its near opposite. Her dark hair and eyes that connoted how grounded, sincere and trustworthy she was are turned a naturally impossible luminous blue, much more intense than her handmaiden dress’s pale blue. Her villainy is unnatural and wrong for her as her suppression was back then. But this is far worse for herself and everyone else. (“Waiting in the Wings”, which spells out Cass’s insecurities and ambitions that lead to her defection, occurs in a dark setting lit with blue moonlight, an early glimpse of Moonstone Cass’s black and blue colour scheme.)

Rapunzel’s Season Three outfit has elements brought back from her old dresses, like the puffy upper sleeves of the Season One princess dress and layered skirt combo with the front parting from Season Two, but it’s more elegant and refined than both of them. In a word, it’s regal. The colour gold is present for the first time in the cuffs, belt buckle and embrodered sun, connoting power and success and nicely complementing her purple. And of course, it matches her blonde hair that glows gold when she uses the Sundrop's magic. She truly masters that power from now on. This look befits at first her role of acting queen, and throughout the season her development into a wise, responsible, mature leader to her people. The sun symbol’s placement on her chest mirrors Cass’s Moonstone, contributing to the parallels between them that this season is brimming with. It also foreshadows the solid Sundrop’s manifestation there in “Plus Est En Vous”.

Eugene’s pre-promotion Season Three outfit is similarly more mature. He proudly wears the crest of the land he used to be an outlaw in on his shoulders, a display of commitment to Corona’s people and wellbeing and his own belonging there. Despite now knowing himself to be the heir to the Dark Kingdom, his home is and always will be Corona. That’s a significant step forward after his identity crisis in “Destinies Collide”. The knee pads are a continuation of his last outfit’s shoulder pad. There being two pads this time contributes to the outfit’s symmetry and adds to the professional feel. Like Cass used to, he wears a dagger, illustrating his protective role in his relationships and to his country (maybe royal guard foreshadowing?).

Eugene’s promotion to the captain of the guard brings his character arc full circle. The broken, lonely man who cared only for himself and mocked justice, clad in cool blue, has become a happy, loving and loved man who fights for justice and the greater good, clad in warm red. Again, there’s the Corona sun.

For Rapunzel and Eugene, their Season 2 outfits have always been my favorite! For Cass, her armor is my second favorite after her green ranger finale outfit, but I still find so much symbolism in it!

I think Rapunzel has matured by the end of series enough to accept responsibility for her part in disabling and scarring Cass. True, it was an accident on both parts, but the way she was blaming Cass’s suffering and permanent disability on her was so wrong. She definitely holds responsibility. But here’s why I think she’d apologize after the finale, not before.

While Cass was away being treasonous, Rapunzel didn’t have to face the present consequences of her harmful treatment of her. She could focus on her rose-tinted memories of their friendship and hopes of saving Cass or that idealized perception of her, because avoiding bad feelings, especially feelings as terrible as all the grief and guilt and hurt wrapped up in Cass’s betrayal, through distracting herself with real or imagined positives is a, and specifically Rapunzel’s, natural response. Because it was all she could do in the tower to not feel like shit all the time, with how she was punished for showing any kind of disapproval or negativity. (Thanks again, Gothel. Your actions once again harm both your daughters simultaneously.)

“Cassandra’s Revenge” shakes that mindset up somewhat, but not fully. She and Cass spend little of that episode actually talking substantially about what’s happened between them. The few times they do interact, Cass is too busy showing off how totally evil and powerful and remorseless she is now; and Raps is too busy ineffectually claiming love and forgiveness which doesn’t land because she hasn’t been doing the work of understanding the openly flawed, problematic, messy, mentally ill Moonsandra in front of her and choosing to forgive her, instead of just wanting the Cass she used to have back. They’re talking at each other, culminating in them literally just using their words as weapons via the incantations. Ironically the improv scene in “Once a Handmaiden” is one of if not the most sincere and productive conversation they have in Season Three, and they’re both acting and Cass is in disguise so they can’t even take advantage of it in the moment! This comfortable way of thinking about Cass - her loyal lady-in-waiting, heroic friend and caring big sister (not her own person) who was so happy by her side and just needs to come home - is so persistent we even see it right up to the finale in “I’d Give Anything”. It’s a beautiful song and I love it, but though the sentiment is well-intentioned, notice how in all the memories Cass is in her repressive handmaiden uniform that doesn’t represent her personality whatsoever and indeed has an opposite aesthetic. And the item symbolic of the old Cass and their friendship that she sings it to isn’t one that was important to Cass herself, like her medal (from an episode that explored Raps being a bad friend disrespectful of Cass’s independence, no less!) or one of her beloved weapons, but the deindividualizing veil of a servant of the princess. Although I don’t think it’s conscious, Raps isn’t singing to the real, current Cass here. How can she, when she can’t even accept the fullness of her existence? To be fair, reconciling *fawns over Pascal in a dress* and *fights with her life for Corona and her friends* Cass with *takes over and ravages Corona* and *mind-controls people to kill their children* Cass is a hell of a task. But Raps isn’t even trying to tackle it.

Then? Then? Cass fucking dies. For a good minute or two, she’s gone. Not out of sight, unpleasant emotions out of mind. Not able to pretend that she’s fine being a handmaiden or unneeded bodyguard or villain or traitor. Not allowing Raps to entertain the hope that everything could go cleanly back to when they were all happy. Dead. No pulse; not breathing; limp; cold under Rapunzel’s hands.

This is while Raps isn’t the Sundrop, too. This whole time she’s been the adored crown princess of Corona with incredible magical powers. Why shouldn’t everything be okay if she wills it to be hard enough? But now, Rapunzel is utterly helpless on her own. Her best friend could be gone forever and there are so many things she could never get to say, never said when she had the chance -

like sorry.

Raps bringing Cass back doesn’t negate that this has to be a huge wake-up call. Eugene is the love of her life. She knows him better than anyone, their relationship is her deepest and most intimate. So even though the show doesn’t reference it seriously (a missed opportunity, gotta say) he has to have trauma from his murder and by this point, Raps has to have seen it. He must have talked to her about it. She’s probably comforted him after nightmares and grounded him during flashbacks. She knows that an experience that awful isn’t something you just get up and walk away from, metaphorically at least. Even without that analysis, death is as heavy as it gets. There’s no denying or downplaying how much Cass has suffered and the gravity of all they’ve put each other through after this. There is no pretending that things can ever be the same again after this.

(Side note: losing Cass must be extra painful due to triggering her likely PTSD from losing Eugene. This show is so cruel to its main characters. I love it!)

This may potentially be a long post so Imma write this under the line. Also this is not meant to be hate or negativity towards any of the characters so if that’s what you’re looking for, this may not be something you’d be interested in.