From the Dark Side: Stories as told by Disney Villains

Rapunzel: Mother Gothel

"I had a family once, a long time ago. This daughter whom I birthed was the greatest gift to all the Earth. I didn't want to give her up. It was a mistake, I know. In my youth I wasn't very wise. I was only eighteen when she was brought into the world. Still, I loved her desperately. Little Alice was perfect and so was her father. We were both homeschooled and had various jobs around town whenever we weren't studying. Then one night, he left. He took Alice with him and left a note telling me that he knew this was for the best. I never understood how it was for the best."

"I am so sorry, Rwanda," said Ursula, taking my hand.

I smiled at her but continued my story.

"I had no one. No husband. No daughter. So, for years, I tried to find someone I could love and take care of. Every time I got caught and had to give the baby up, even going to jail for child abduction. Then, I heard about little Rapunzel," I said.

"The golden hair. The bright green eyes. I saw the 'MISSING' flyers. But, I understand why you did what you did," commented The Shadow Man.

"I knew it was wrong, but I had a baby addiction. I needed a daughter. No one wanted to be with me after they knew what I'd done, so I invested in the tower where I hid Rapunzel for years. So didn't mind not going to school, but I did sometimes wish she could have friends," I said.

"Didn't she meet someone? Like that runaway guy?" asked Ursula.

I nodded. "His name was Flynn Rider. Most wanted man in the kingdom. I didn't want my daughter to fall for him. But, she did. She learned her true identity and that's when I knew I'd lost her."

Everyone agreed that it must've been tough for her to find out about her true self.

"I told her I wanted to tell her years in the past, but if I told her why I kept her locked in this tower for so long she'd never believe me. Selfish reasons, I told myself. She deserved to go back to her family."

"Yet you're still left with no one," added Scar.

"Misery is as misery does." I concluded with a sad glance around the room.