Disney Villains: Varian –

Tangled the Series

By Hannah
Varian
• Varian, also known as The
Alchemist or The Wizard of Old
Corona, is a major character in
Tangled: The Series. He plays the
role of a supporting protagonist in
the first half of the first season but
is later revealed to be the main
antagonist for the second half of
the season. He was also supposed
to be the main character of his
own spin-off series, Varian and
the Seven Kingdoms, that was
proposed but later rejected by
Disney.
• Although he is only a young teenager,
Varian is extremely smart, cunning, and
cruel, willing to do whatever it takes to
achieve his goal. Throughout his villain
arc, he was always two steps ahead of
the heroes to the point where they
continuously fell into his traps. He came
extremely close to winning, only
defeated last minute by the combination
of Rapunzel’s magic and the destructive
force of the Black Rocks that had been
plaguing the kingdom.
 Background/Origin
Story
• Rapunzel, Cassandra, and Eugene head to meet Varian, a rumoured powerful
wizard from a small village on Corona's outskirts, in search of information
about the return of Rapunzel's magical hair. Varian is revealed to be a
youthful, naïve, and clumsy alchemist when they arrive. Although he
recognises the presence of magic, he prefers to handle problems
scientifically and attempts to design things that would benefit his town and
make his father proud. He instantly makes friends with the visiting group.
Rapunzel and Cassandra run across Varian again a few weeks later, and he
shows them an area of unbreakable black rocks that had unexpectedly
appeared near his town and were spreading. Rapunzel discovers that she has
a link to these rocks and begs Varian to keep it a secret. She offers to assist
him in resolving the situation. Despite his father's repeated warnings to stay
away from the Rocks, Varian continues to attempt to discover a solution to
get rid of them as the problem worsens. The Rocks gradually overrun his
village, destroying everything in their path. Varian travels to the castle with
his father, Quirin, to alert the King of the problem. Varian observes his father
confronting the King from the corridor, but his father lies and claims that
everything is fine. Varian, distressed, informs Rapunzel that things are
becoming worse. She offers to help him after her parents return from their
holiday. Varian comes home and continues to work on a solution. Rapunzel is
named Queen for a day while her parents are away, but a deadly blizzard
begins to form. A powerful demon unleashed a magical blizzard to assault
Corona at their weakest moment. The kingdom is sent into a state of
• As the blizzard worsens, Quirin storms into Varian's lab and
discovers his experiments, causing Varian to spill his formula
over the Rock's and the two start to argue. Quirin claims that
the rocks are dangerous and should not be messed with.
Varian begs Quirin to tell him everything he knows about the
Rocks, but Quirin notices the formula Varian had spilt
crystallizing and pushes Varian out of the way. His father
becomes caught in the spreading crystals, which begin encase
him. Varian begins to panic, rushing out into the blizzard and
towards the castle for assistance. Rapunzel refuses, claiming
that the kingdom must be evacuated due to the state of
emergency. Varian pleads in desperation, screaming that she
promised to help, but the guards grab him and haul him away,
throwing him back out into the raging blizzard. When he
returns home, he discovers his father entirely encased and
breaks down in tears In a rage, he swears that anybody
that stands in the way of his father's rescue will pay. The
blizzard eventually clears, but no one arrives to aid Varian.
Soon after, his village is evacuated due to the danger of the
Rocks, and he is left alone, orphaned by the loss of his father.
Months pass without his friends attempting to reach him. His
mental and physical condition deteriorates gradually until he
basically goes insane. Varian is shunned and driven into
hiding after rumours spread that he attacked the Princess.
Varian discovers a fragment of a scroll that belonged to his
father. This scroll contained a part of the truth about the
Rocks and Rapunzel's magic. When the King learns that Varian
has the scroll, he sends his soldiers after him, hoping to keep
Allies and Enemies Enemies:
- Rapunzel
Allies: - Pascal
- Separatists of Saporia - Eugene
- Andrew (Leader of the Separatists) - Maximus
- Ruddiger (Pet raccoon) - Cassandra
- Captain of the Guards
- Royal Guards
- King Frederic
- Queen Arianna
- Citizens of Corona
- Zhan Tiri
 Skills, powers
and abilities
• Throughout the show, Varian is shown to be
extremely intelligent and is skilled at both
alchemy and engineering, creating various
inventions and even creating his own element.
After simply viewing a machine he was able to
copy and reconstruct it, building an entire army
of automatons to work at his command. This
also shows that he has a very good memory. He
managed to take just one drop of a mood
potion, replicate and modify it into a truth
potion and lace cookies with it, to give to
everyone within the castle. He proves that he
always thinks ahead and is skilled in
manipulation. Convincing Rapunzel that he was
on her side to get what he wanted before
turning on her.
 Crimes/Villainous behaviour•• High treason
Insurrection (a violent uprising against an
• Blackmail and manipulation authority or government)
• Theft • Kidnapping the queen
• Terrorism
• Aiding and abetting
• Enslavement
• Sabotage • Torture
• Conspiracy • Attempted homicide
• Destruction • Attempted regicide
• Extortion (the practice of obtaining through
force or threats)
• Animal Cruelty (Mutating his pet raccoon)
• Drugging people
• Assault and battery
• Usurpation (to seize and hold, as office, place,
or powers, in possession by force or without
right – overthrowing the kingdom)
 Consequences
• After being defeated by Rapunzel, Varian is chained up and sent to prison with
Ruddiger. Not much is known about what happened to him while in prison or
what other punishments he received but he was imprisoned for around a year
before he broke out and took over the kingdom with the Separatists of
Saporia. It is stated that Andrew, the leader of the Separatists, was his
cellmate.
• Varian’s mental state came around after he escaped prison. He realises that he
made a huge mistake and attempts to make everyone forget what he did so
he could start over, thinking that no one would forgive him any other way. But
after finding out the Separatists were planning on using his memory formula
to blow up the kingdom, he returns to Rapunzel’s side to stop them. He offers
to sacrifice himself to destroy the airship and memory formula but Rapunzel
refuses, knowing he wouldn’t survive and that she would be the only one that
would be able to destroy it and still live.
• He states multiple times that he never wanted to harm anyone but became
desperate and saw villainy as the only possible direction to take. He admits
that he was scared and wasn’t in the right mental state. He deeply regrets
everything he did and tries to do whatever he can to make up for his mistakes
and make the Kingdom trust him again. He even helps save the Kingdom
multiple times after his redemption.