Archetypes in Tangled

The Hero: Rapunzel

Rapunzel was kidnapped as a baby and is being kept in a tower by Mother Gothel, she dreams of
leaving the tower to see the floating lanterns, but is being kept by the fear of the monsters and
people that mother Gothel has told her about.

The Mentor + The Herald: Flynn Ryder
Flynn steals a crown from the royal palace and ends up hiding in Rapunzels tower. He becomes the
herald when Rapunzel strikes a deal for a trade, he takes her to see the lanterns and get her back
safely to the tower in exchange she will return his satchel with the crown in it, this is her call for
adventure. He then becomes her mentor when he starts to help her through all the new experiences
she has outside the tower.

The Threshold Guardian: The Tower
The threshold guardian would be the tower because in order for Rapunzel to cross the threshold and
go to see the lanterns she must be able to get out of the tower. She manages to do this by using her
hair as rope and climbs down from the window.

The Shadow + The shapeshifter: Mother Gothel
Mother Gothel was the one take kidnapped Rapunzel as a baby for the magical healing element of
her golden hair. She brought as her own and doesnt want her to leave the tower because she
doesnt want to lose the magical hair. She is the shadow of the story because of the kidnapping and
entrapment of Rapunzel, she also does whatever it take to get Flynn away from Rapunzel later in the
film. But in the eyes of Rapunzel she is considering caring up until the very end when Rapunzel
realises shes the missing princess and Gothel only cared for the hair and not her, which makes
Gothel the Shape shifter as well.

The Trickster: Maximus
The super cop horse starts off by trying to find Flynn because of the stolen crown, but he eventually
becomes one of the allies, but until that point he distracts the hero from the adventure, but injects
humour into the film throughout by him and Flynn acting like children towards each other.


Allies: Flynn, Pascal, Maximus
Pascal the chameleon is Rapunzels sidekick, being by her side throughout the entire film, Flynn
Ryder help Rapunzel and becomes a romantic interest and finally Maximus the guards horse, gives a
helping hand every now and then.