The 1857 Grimm fairytale Rapunzel has known many an adaptation. The most famous versions would probably include Steven Sondheim’s highly acclaimed Into The Woods musical, the Barbie Rapunzel film, and most recently Disney’s CGI animated film, Tangled. All of these iterations of the classic story stick fairly close to the original’s simple plot: a princess with absurdly long flowing hair has been taken from her parents by a witch and is locked away in a tower until she finally escapes with the help of a prince. This is the key premise of Rapunzel, but every version of course makes some changes to refresh the story. Some changes in 2010’s Tangled specifically, have some Dragon Ball fans wondering about the origin of the long golden-haired princess.
Akira Toriyama’s widely successful Dragon Ball franchise introduced the world to a fictional species called Saiyans. They first appear in Dragon Ball Z, when the main character of the series, Goku, meets his long-lost brother Raditz and viewers are made privy to Goku’s origins. Turns out he’s part of an alien race, known for their animalistic and ape-like tendencies. They’re typically named after vegetables, and there are also legends of a Super Saiyan who has ultimate power. The legendary Super Saiyan is actually revealed to not be a special race of Saiyan, but a transformation that anyone with Saiyan DNA is eligible to achieve. With what fans know of Saiyans, and Super Saiyans, social media users have created some really interesting theories speculating that the version of Rapunzel in Disney’s Tangled could be part of the Saiyan race.
There are three main connections people have made to contribute to this theory, and an image outlining them was publicized by Reddit user 1chapelcredit, but many social media users have posted many other things about it including fan art. The first and most obvious connection is Rapunzel’s glowing blonde hair. In the film, Rapunzel’s famous hair has healing powers and glows when it’s activated. In the Dragon Ball universe, the Super Saiyan transformation causes whoever is using it to also have glowing blonde hair. While it doesn’t specifically give the user healing powers like it does Rapunzel, it does amplify the user’s strength and power. It’s also the most notable indication that a character has gotten to the Super Saiyan level.
The second indicator that Rapunzel’s origin might be more than it seems, is her skill level when it comes to fighting. One would think that a character who has been locked in a tower for her entire life and not interacted with any other people would be pretty weak when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. The film and the Tangled television series tell a different story. Rapunzel is shown to have quite a lot of strength, as well as some smart fighting skills. In her first interaction with eventual love interest Flynn Rider, for example, she knocks him out with a frying pan and ties him up in a chair, which wouldn’t be a super easy feat. Fans of Dragon Ball will, of course, know after it’s revealed in Dragon Ball Z, that the Saiyan race is said to have ape origins and in turn very animalistic tendencies. They are also known to be great and strong natural fighters, a trait that Rapunzel seems to have as well.
The final and funniest, and also definitely most random connection is that Rapunzel is actually named after a vegetable. This technically isn’t canon to Tangled but it is relevant to the original story, and it’s just too good of a connection to not mention. In the original story, Rapunzel is taken by the witch because her mother is craving lettuce from the witch’s garden so badly that they resort to stealing it, and they’re caught. But what’s funny is that the type of lettuce is actually known as lamb’s lettuce, or Rapunzel lettuce. So she is essentially named after the plant that her mother craved. Saiyans are also named after vegetables. Goku’s real name is Kakarot, a pun on “carrot.” Another main character Saiyan in the series is Vegeta, a pun on the actual word “vegetable”, and there are other Saiyans in the franchise with pretty obvious veggie connections like Kale, Cabba, Caulifla, and Paragus.
While this theory has produced some great ideas and fan art, it’s of course not confirmed even slightly and most of these connections can be explained away. For example, it’s pretty clear in Tangled that Rapunzel’s hair is powers because her mother ingested a flower that contained a drop of sunshine while she was pregnant. Her fighting skills are likely also just a creative choice to portray a strong female princess. The vegetable name is pure coincidence, but also very funny and adds a great element to the theory. Even though it’s pretty baseless and frivolous, it’s a lot of fun to think about. In times like these, “fun to think about” is a good enough reason to indulge in it just a little bit, and hopefully bring on a smile.
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