I love to think that everything that happened with the release of the lanterns on Rapunzel’s eighteenth birthday – all that love and hope and compassion – happened every time she watched from the tower, too. 

King and Queen sketches by Jin Kim.

The first hug in eighteen years.

My best attempt to place the fashions in “Tangled” into certain eras. I did the same for the Palace Guards a while ago. Special thanks to The Story of a Seamstress for her help!

The comparison of this concept art with the final film version illustrates this quote about how Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard changed the tone of “Tangled” when they came on board:

We went from a Rembrandt-meets-Ridley-Scott vision to something more like ‘Cinderella’ – bright, cheerful, saturated, even in its darker story moments. More indicative of a traditional Disney feel. It’s just lighter. In all senses of the word, lighter.  –DAN COOPER, CO-ART DIRECTOR

I can completely see the “Ridley Scott” comment in the left concept art. There’s something brooding and almost menacing in it – like a Renaissance “Blade Runner.” In some ways, I expect (and hope) that “Brave” will stick a toe into this territory. 

I’ve always thought of these two scenes as mirrors of each other – the Queen alone and desperate in an upper room of the castle, just like the “prince” (Beast). But in one, the villagers are going out across the bridge with torches to try to save the Queen. While in the other, the villagers are coming in across the bridge with torches to try to kill the Beast.

Rapunzel is her mother’s daughter.