before the library, varian asks hugo if he’s hiding something. hugo says he isn’t, and varian mumbles “i don’t know why i asked that when i knew i’d only believe one of your answers.”

varian bonds with hugo, yes, and part of that is because he is genuinely hopeful that this could be the time that ends well. the other part is self-punishment for deeds he’s already made up for, because he feels like they’re doomed, and all he can control is how much it hurts. (he gets so very close, and it will hurt so very much.)

and then hugo’s standing across from varian, and varian’s connecting the dots he knew were always there. anger flickers across his face, but it fades to tiredness, and varian walks through the portal without another word.

when ulla’s excruciating light has faded from her son’s eyes and varian has allowed hugo to hug him with all the desperation he’s never shown before, hugo asks why he doesn’t seem furious.

varian’s answer is contemplative in a way that can’t fully conceal how much the words hurt him. “i think there is something bad i have in me, or… or some ‘x factor’ everyone else has that i don’t. something about me is easy to betray and lie to and make false promises to and forget about. and being mad at you for it… that’s like being angry at the sky for raining, when it was my fault for trying to have a picnic under storm clouds. you know?”

over the years, hugo will be able to make up for shattering varian’s mixture of faint trust and fainter hope. hugo will be able to convince him that he’s just had rotten luck and lived through things no one should have had to. hugo will be able to show varian that he is worth loving and he deserves not to be let down, but to be cherished.

Analysis:

And we’ve got another one, folks! This one hit hard for me for sure. Just the way that the show set it up...it’s incredible. So without any further adieu...

“Well, shall we get started?”

Motives

So I’m just going to come right out and say it: Varian is selfish in Season 1. The whole way through. (Now don’t leave yet! If you know me you know how much of a fan I am of this complex alchemist and this is not a hate post by all means!)

But yes. Throughout the whole of Season 1, Varian has a very self-centered mindset that’s hard to pick up on at first, but it’s there. Here’s some dialogue examples:

“I am sure that I, Varian, can unlock the mystery of your hair with the power of science!”

“Hey Flynn Rider? Wanna come with?”

“It doesn’t matter. The truth is all I really wanted to do was impress you, I thought that if I showed you what I was capable of you might see something in me.”

“Actually he’d probably be impressed. At least I hope he’d be impressed.”

Most of these quotes sound perfectly innocent, and they are! But it’s the motives behind them that make them more self-centered. Varian’s main goal, his life blood practically, is affirmation. He yearns to be adored and recognized for his achievements. It’s a perfectly normal and human want. I myself struggle with this all the time. But when it’s the only thing that you strive for? The only thing that makes you happy? It effects everything that you say and do. If you dig deep into these quotes, you can see what he’s really craving.

By discovering the mystery of Rapunzel’s hair, Varian gets credit and especially admiration. By showing his idol his inventions, he’s expecting Eugene to tell him what a genius he is or how amazed he is that this fourteen year old kid could build all this. The third one is just wanting Cassandra to recognize him since he looks up to her, and went to great lengths to impress her. Even when he helped her, it was still because he wanted to impress her and get her to help him in return. Throughout that episode he’s trying so hard to get her to compliment his work. In three of these examples, he gets the adoration he asked for. But that’s the problem: he asked for it. Eugene and Cass essentially tell him the same thing, “you’re a great, smart kid with good intentions.” And both times he responds more...despondently. For Cass it’s “thanks for saying that.” For Eugene it’s just looking at him sadly because this wasn’t what he wanted to hear. In essence: it isn’t enough.

And the last quote obviously represents the affirmation he craves the most, his father’s, and the one that he doesn’t get.

Even slight comments like “I build it myself,” “of my own design,” and “wanna see my new invention?” all have the underlying motive of craving affirmation from his peers. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but since Varian often has tunnel-vision and can’t see the consequences of his actions, it quickly becomes an issue. Especially in the case of, of course, the black rocks.

Taking it Too Far

We find out that Varian discovered the rocks in Great Expotations. Rapunzel inadvertently tasked him with figuring out how to get rid of them, and in his mind he needed to. To impress her and possibly all of Corona. So he ran tests and got reprimanded by his dad probably more than once. But this is the biggest thing he could ever do: rescue his village and the kingdom and make his dad proud in the process. That’s why he wanted to come with him and hopefully talk to the king. Yes, in this case he actually wants to help his village, he’s not heartless and he cares a lot, but he’s predominantly focusing on the rewards that will come after he figured it out.

Of course we know his plans go awry again, but he never stops focusing on his goal of making his dad proud of him. Seriously...NEVER.

Taking it WAY Too Far

Enter: Villain Arc. Suddenly his need to be adored and affirmed flips upside down. He doesn’t want compliments anymore, he wants people to fear him, respect him, and listen to him.

Examples:

“I have asked for help and have been ignored, I will not be ignored any longer!”

“I tried asking for help in a civil manner but was denied by everyone in Corona. So, unfortunately, this is my only remaining recourse.”

“I’ll make them hear me...”

I touched on this in my Confidence analysis, but Varian never loses his drive. And his want to be revered, consumes him. Even when he goes to prison, he joins Andrew and takes over Corona to be feared. But he soon realizes, it’s still not enough. His want for revenge doesn’t satisfy him or make him happy, it just makes him feel worse as the weight of what he’s done gradually crashes down on him.

By the time Rapunzel comes back, it’s all an act. He’s not craving adoration anymore. He just wants a way out of this cycle of disappointment that isn’t getting him anywhere. You can tell from the lines, too.

“Me? No, not really.”

“So that no one will forget they turned their back on my father!”

“I took their queen prisoner! I threatened their princess! I helped these guys take over their kingdom!”

Now the first one is small, but it actually shows a lot of development (even if he says it in a rather dorky way) because he’s not taking credit for something or taking the “fear” that he wanted so badly. The second one just sounds like a threat but it’s not “they turned their backs on me,” like it was in season 1. It’s back to his father, and it’s, in a way, humbling Varian by taking himself out of the picture. And of course the last one is the most evident: he’s listing his faults and realizing he doesn’t deserve the adoration he used to crave so much.

Making it Right

During Varian’s redemption...we see these thoughts really come to light.

“All I ever wanted was for my father to be proud. But if he were free from the amber now, and saw everything I’ve done, well he’d be ashamed.”

This is his turning point. This is where he owns up to how warped and twisted his mindset was and makes an effort to fix it with Rapunzel. Not for himself; not for the glory, but because it’s the right thing to do. He knows he messed up with the Quirineon, and he’s literally willing to die to make up for his mistakes. This is a direct contrast to his previous statement: “I will make you proud of me, dad. If it’s the last thing I ever do.”

Because if he dies fixing his mistakes, he doesn’t expect any kind of praise. He’d leave a legacy of horrible deeds that would never make his dad proud; but he’d be saving Corona and that’s all that matters. Of course he doesn’t actually die, thank goodness, and Rapunzel saves Corona instead, but he’s learned something from this whole experience. And one thing he especially didn’t expect was for Rapunzel to keep her promise after everything. And even when his dad finally says those words...they were supposed to mean everything, but they don’t. It still isn’t enough. Especially not after everything that’s happened. I touched on this in another analysis as well, but he feels like he doesn’t deserve those words.

From this point, Varian has a whole new outlook on life, not dependent on gaining recognition. He’s still the cocky, confident alchemist we know and love, but he shows off his inventions because he’s proud of them, and that’s enough. He saves Corona from the red rocks because he genuinely wants to help his kingdom, he doesn’t have any underlying motives whatsoever. He helps with the Demanitus Scroll because he wants to help Rapunzel figure everything out. And at the end he helps defeat Zhan Tiri because he knows he can help, and he genuinely wants to. (And here’s where I get emotional.)

Varian doesn’t once ask for compliments or a “thank you” throughout season 3, yet that’s exactly what he gets. After all of those years of seeking and yearning for adoration, he finally gets it when he doesn’t need it anymore.

In every selfless thing he does for Corona, he gets a reward in some way. When he rescues the kingdom from black rocks, he didn’t ask for anything in return, yet his reputation was restored. When he agreed to help with the scroll, he actually got to work in Demanitus’ Lab, someone he’s admired forever. And when he helps with the portal, he gets to go see Demanitus’ tomb and I mean...

that’s the happiest we’ve ever seen him. And it isn’t just the big things either, it’s the little ones. The way that Rapunzel calls him “a genius,” when he doesn’t ask for it or allude to it in any way. The “good job, buddy,” that Eugene tells him after he fixes up the balloon. And every time he’s complimented, he stays humble. He even responds one time with “just doing my part.”

And at the very end of his arc, after all of that selfless work he did for Corona out of the goodness of his own heart, he’s given his very own title of “Royal Engineer.” An official position in the kingdom that people truly look up to and respect.

Conclusion

I’ve been sitting on this ask for a bit mostly cause I’ve been busy but now *cracks knuckles* I’m ready to spill the tea!

See even in season 1 he’s still not passive, he’s eager to please and does have a tendency to shut down in the face of adversity but he’s not passive. He’s energetic, excitable, outgoing, enthusiastic, and last but not least he’s confident. Something a lot a lot of people tend to forget about him. The best example of this would be in the expo episode with how he approaches Cass. He’s a flirt, he’s actually pretty smooth, and yeah he is awkward but it’s not a shy awkwardness. He’s not deterred at all when Cass shoots him down, which is the opposite of passive.

Also in What the Hair if he was a passive person he would’ve listened to Eugene way sooner, like that’s his hero and he still doesn’t just bend at the knee and do whatever Eugene asks of him. It takes Eugene getting down on his level and practically begging Varian to turn off the machines in order to get him to listen. Doesn’t sound too passive to me.

In Queen for a Day he had a full on argument with Quirin. He shoved his own father! He is an aggressive person even with those he looks up to/cares about.

And then of course *gestures wildly to villain arc* DOES THAT LOOK LIKE A PASSIVE PERSON TO YOU!?!?

And as you said season 3 Varian is a feral gremlin who I love. He shouts, he gets angry, he doesn’t put up with people’s crap, he speaks up for himself. When he gets kidnapped by Cass he most definitely was not passive, he fought against the truth serum, he sang a full on duet with Cass and even when she starts attacking him he didn’t stop trying to reach out to her. He is not passive. He is anything but passive.

People mistake Varian’s awkwardness for passivity but it’s not. He’s not shy or passive, he’s outgoing and aggressive and he’s confident. He is smol and ready to fight at any given moment.

there’s the “bravado” option. scornful back talk, plowing over andrew’s monologues, telling him he’s a loser, etc. (maybe varian even has a plan for escape in the works). that’s the option the animatic went with, and— again— it turned out very well.

i do love this route, especially for that inevitable shift in power. you know the one: it’s a subtle set of a knife on a desk, andrew getting a bit too close in varian’s space. it could manifest in a yell that has varian flinch and cut himself off. no matter what, the dynamic shifts, and varian’s taunts no longer work.

or there’s the “silent” option: a complete lack of response on varian’s end. this could be displayed by him ignoring andrew/trying to pretend he isn’t there, being speechless/in verbal shutdown (neurodivergent varian is practically fact), or disassociating.

this may seem more in line with a younger varian. these are all childlike avoidance tactics, and, if we’re talking about vat7k, varian would be eighteen.

but i think that’s the point.

andrew represents the most powerless time in varian’s life, hands down. andrew represents when varian was willing to do nearly anything to gain some facsimile of safety. andrew was a support net and a constricting trap all at once. andrew is overwhelming and frightening and fills varian with hate and— and he holds a piece of home, because varian was with him for a whole year. a year that wasn’t so long ago at all.

abusers have a way of shrinking us, and i think it’d be incredibly realistic for varian not to be a wisecracking annoyance. he’d have no way to prepare for seeing andrew again.

now, i’m not saying that the “bravado” take isn’t incredibly valid. we’re talking about mr. sang-his-way-through-a-blizzard. varian has incredible willpower, and he can probably disassociate enough to pretend he doesn’t care that andrew’s right in front of him.

all i’m saying is that the other possibility doesn’t make him weak.

he’s not the hulk. there’s no threat of “you won’t like me when i’m angry”, because varian doesn’t want to make good on that threat. (except for the part of him that does want to.)

“the wizard of old corona” isn’t entirely a defense mechanism either. (in “the incision always follows”, that’s what hugo sees it as, but he’s only seeing the part he’s feeling most connected to.)

i don’t think that mode varian can slip into is another personality, necessarily (although i would like to see that interpretation!). it’s more like an adrenaline rush… sometimes. and sometimes it’s not.

it’s instinct and blind action and well-thought-out plans. it’s a collection of skills that varian had to learn on the fly. it’s an expansion of things he knew all along. it’s part of him, the too-far progression of his core traits, and somehow the antithesis of him at the same time. maybe it is another personality. maybe it’s his own desires that he usually keeps locked away.

because he just came from the battle of old corona. he’s rattled and he almost got pierced through by a giant rock and he doubts anyone would have cared. he just failed to save quirin in what he believes was his last chance. there’s nothing left for him now except to sink into the guilt of what he’s done.

but then there’s andrew, who at first treats him with disinterest and then noticeably perks up when varian lists his crimes. varian feels too unsafe to be anything other than attuned to andrew’s every move, so he picks up on this. he decides to just let it happen, since he’s not going anywhere and it’s better to be complimented on his horrific acts than have to go into a spiral over them. it’s better to be distracted.

and then it escalates from there, with andrew telling him about the oppression all saporians are enduring, and varian can’t distinguish the truths from the lies anymore (because they are in fact getting oppressed, but andrew’s words are muddled in meaning because he doesn’t know what he’s really doing but fighting anyway). and then, partially because varian’s getting attached and partially to hurt himself since this’ll probably go horribly, he decides to just believe what andrew says.

i think the “varian was still way too emotionally heightened and had been through way too much to spare any room for being suspicious of andrew” interpretation is valid, and varian isn’t any less smart if that’s how it went. but i also think it would be interesting if varian could trace things back to a conscious choice he made in listening to andrew. most likely, that would be another thing he’d blame himself for.

ALRIGHT, WE’RE BACK IN THE GAME!

It’s been wayyyy too long since I’ve done one of these but I was rambling about Varian again and this kinda happened 😂

I’ve kind of touched on this before, but I haven’t fleshed it all out so NOW’S THE TIME!

So without any further adieu-

“Well, shall we get started?”

Before the Storm

One of Varian’s biggest desires in life is helping others. He sees a problem, he comes up with a solution...and it usually doesn’t go as planned. It’s not always his fault, but he tends to harm people through his attempts to help. This only makes him more eager to assist, but it continues in a cycle.

He wants to help, he fails, people get hurt, and he tries again.

He’s so intelligent that he’s able to build these highly dangerous machines, but he doesn’t immediately see the problems before they go haywire.

So, what does he do? He tries to make up for it by building another invention.

And they just keep blowing up in his face every time.

It’s gotta be exhausting.

So when the amber happens and things still go horribly wrong, even though this time he was sure he was finally going to get something right, it takes a huge toll. Especially now that it involves his only living parent.

Villain Arc

Instead of giving up or shutting down, Varian tries harder, giving it everything he has to save his father and losing himself along the way. This also means (as I covered in another analysis way back when) his motives changed. Saving Corona is the farthest thing from his mind, so caring about the people who live there is also not a priority. He even says it:

“Do you honestly expect me to be concerned about the welfare of Corona?”

His willingness to help and fix his mistakes all became focused on Quirin once he decided on a path of revenge, and with nothing tying him down to the people anymore, they were now at his disposal.

He’s seen the damage he can do, and in a different light, he was winning that entire time. All it took was simply switching his mindset to:

“All I’ve been good at is hurting others, so why not use that to my advantage?”

With his vendetta against Corona under his belt, he’s automatically one of the biggest threats of the kingdom (or at least his village) because technically he already was on accident.

In a way, he sped up his own “development” in his skills, simply by twisting his own motives. It was basically just cheating the system. His inventions were already hurting people, but now that he wants them to hurt people, he’s finally winning.

His initial problem with himself became his “solution.” He changed his weakness into his strength.

I’ve seen the question around the fandom “why is Varian so good on the side of evil, but seems to mess up the minute he gets redeemed?”

Or more like the very second-

(I love you bud, but why did you even have a bath bomb on you???)

But I digress-

I believe the reason Varian was so “smart” when he was on the opposite side, is because he could let his “mistakes” run wild since, well, they weren’t mistakes anymore!

He could hurt all the people he wanted and feel accomplished because that’s what he designed his inventions (and genetically engineered monster raccoons) to do!

Redemption

So what does this mean for his turn around? His jump back onto the side of good?

Well, his “redemption” truly started when the compassion he felt before started to return. He saw all the destruction he’d caused in the same light as he did before the amber. He realized he hurt people which was what he didn’t want to do initially before the storm.

And he feels really bad about it because that’s not who he is. He doesn’t want to be known as someone who harms people, even though he initially let himself fall into that stereotype. He wanted to be a change. A defining factor for helping others and improving the world around him, and instead he had done the exact opposite.

During his time with Saporians, his compassion became his weakness.

The Quirinian was the last straw. He had been known for destruction all of his life, either purposeful or accidental, and it was going to change right then.

By opening himself up to others and once again caring about giving Corona a brighter future, he flips it around once again, and those destructive “weaknesses” come back. How does he deal with this? Well it certainly takes some trial and error, but eventually he finds more healthy ways to solve this problem by being more careful and conscious about what he’s doing, and enlisting the help of others instead of going it alone (even though those “others” might press certain buttons and meddle with things they shouldn’t...I’m looking at you Lance-)

Conclusion

Being the villain may have been easiest for Varian considering his situation and given set of skills, but it wasn’t beneficial or lasting.

His true strength lies in his compassion, not his destruction. And through this he’s able to accomplish so many things for Corona. His Season 1 mishaps still occur from time to time, but in the end it’s worth it because he finally was able to do something to help.

Destroying the red rocks, helping stop Cass and Zhan Tiri, and accomplishing his goal of the hot water machines were his crowning moments of achievement because he worked through his mistakes even though it was tough. He also had people in his life to pick him back up and encourage him when something went wrong.

Even though he basically had to start all over again, this time he was stronger than ever before with his friends by his side. (See what I did there? No that was not planned...😂)

So instead of the cycle before the storm, it becomes-

He wants to help, people reassure him, it’s either successful or a failure, but he has friends backing him up either way.

He took hold of his weaknesses in a positive light with the assistance of others, and ended up in a position to help the entire kingdom through his talents.

(And he didn’t need to “cheat” the system this time. He earned his title through sheer determination and drive.)