Disney fan theories

The freckle siblings...are actually siblings

-okay. This one is a little less likely than the first one, but still possible.

-when watching Tangled the Series, I had the idea that Varian and Rapunzel could actually be siblings

-I'm not the only one who's come up with this, and from what I've seen online, here are the major arguments that a lot of people agree on:

-Varian's hair stripe is the same colour as the moonstone, Rapunzel has the sundrop

-they're close enough in age that it could work

-they look somewhat alike, and both have freckles

-Varian isn't hurt by the decay incantation in season three, even though his gloves are destroyed. Cassandra's arm is badly hurt through her gloves when she tries to touch Rapunzel using the decay incantation in a similar circumstance

-Quirin, Varian's dad, is good friends with the king, and part of a group of knights that protect the moonstone

-Rapunzel looks like her mom (naturally brown hair, green eyes), Varian kind of looks like the king (dark hair, blue eyes)

-most people who seem to think this is true believe the king and queen give Varian to Quirin to raise, willingly, for whatever reason, either because of something to do with his moonstone powers, or because they want to protect him from Gothel

-however, while that could very well be true, I have a somewhat different idea:

-the king and queen might not actually know that Varian is their kid

-there's a big plot line in season 2 and 3 that Saporian wands of oblivium can erase major parts of someone's memory, like Rapunzel forgetting her friends, and, interestingly enough, the king and queen forgetting Rapunzel is their daughter, albeit temporarily

-magic and science don't restore the king and queen's memories, and it's left ambiguous about how much they actually remember

-the normal spell to return memories after the magic wand didn't work, leaving me to wonder if there's more memory magic at play

-the painting Quirin has of his wife and baby Varian is interesting, because the baby doesn't really look like Varian. The streak in his hair is hard to see, and doesn't appear to be the same colour. Normally, Varian's hair stripe is so blue it's practically glowing.

-Quirin also has bad blood with the king, as they're shown arguing in the flashback episode

-so, perhaps Quirin had an original wife and son that he lost somehow, and blames the king for

-I'm not counting any Varian and the Seven Kingdoms material in this; just going off of what's in Tangled the series

-this could explain a few things:

-people in the village don't seem to really understand, or even know Varian, with Cassandra thinking he's a wizard in episode one

-Varian also spends a lot of time inside reading and inventing, not really interacting with people

-if he's really a lost prince, maybe Quirin doesn't want Varian socializing much, in case someone recognizes him

-when Varian does want to go to the capital, Quirin doesn't really want to let him go

-then comes the best evidence for this theory

-Quirin doesn't let Varian into the throne room, even though, as Varian says, he can explain the black rocks better than his dad can. Quirin says that children aren't allowed in court, even though kids come and see Rapunzel in court sometimes. There are definitely children in the crowd that go see her in Queen for a Day.

-the reason given is that Quirin doesn't want Varian to know he's lying to the king, but Varian can obviously hear Quirin talking. A knight of the Brotherhood should be able to tell that his 14 year old son is eavesdropping, which makes the whole thing a bit weird.

-Queen Arianna also really has a soft spot for Varian throughout the series, trying to reason with him when he's making the wrong decisions, and then hiring him as the royal engineer in the series finale. Maybe, if he's really her son, some of her parental instinct is still there.

-King Frederick also doesn't really treat Varian that harshly after he kidnaps the queen and everything, despite what I've seen in some fanfictions. He promises to get Varian help, and seems to actually mean that. The only evidence Varian was ever in jail comes from Andrew, and the Saporian Separatist leader could very well be lying...

-the last piece of evidence is Nigel. Whether there's a conspiracy he's in on with Quirin, or whether he's aware the king and queen sent Varian to be raised by Quirin because of potential moonstone powers, Nigel seems to be in on whatever's going on

-when Varian shows up looking for help from Rapunzel, Nigel makes it clear that she isn't supposed to go with him, and kind of panics when they make physical contact

-for context, the Brotherhood thinks that if the moonstone and sundrop come in contact, they explode, and destroy everything in their path

-if Nigel is a former member of the Brotherhood (we never seen his hand to see if he has the tattoo; he clearly has bad blood with Quirin...) it would explain why he thinks Varian is 'dangerous'

-again, Varian having power from the moonstone makes sense if he's Rapunzel's brother

-Finally, Andrew, who wants to kill the royal family of Corona, tries to get rid of Varian after Varian mildly disagrees with his plan. It seems like a pretty big overreaction, especially when Varian could still be very useful to the Saporians. So, maybe it's personal?

-basically, watching the series, I think there's the possibility that Rapunzel and Varian could be siblings. There's a few reasons they could have been separated, but I think the fact that they both have magic is somewhat compelling.

(Extra: in defence of Nigel)

-I kinda want to point out that I don't think Nigel is as much of a bad guy as a lot of people seem to think he is. I love Varian, but people aren't necessarily evil for not agreeing with him, or pointing out when he's in the wrong. In that episode, Varian had his staff (that I'm pretty sure can explode); and is trying to get Rapunzel to follow him into this blizzard. Because Nigel says that's a bad idea, a lot of people don't like him, or think he has it out for Varian, and I don't think that's entirely fair. In season 3, both Nigel and Varian work for the royal couple, and Nigel doesn't have any kind of a problem with him. Just thought I'd throw that out there. If anything, Nigel and Varian probably get along fairly well in season 3, because I can't see Nigel building that dragon hunting trebuchet canon himself...