Cassandra

Cassandra is a major character introduced in Tangled: Before Ever After and its follow-up series. She is the biological daughter of Mother Gothel who was abandoned as a child when Gothel kidnapped Princess Rapunzel and hid away from the world. She was taken in by the Captain of the Guards thereafter, and raised in Corona as a handmaiden. Upon Rapunzel’s return to the kingdom, Cassandra was enlisted as the princess’s lady-in-waiting. Despite being polar opposites and occasional rivals, Cassandra and Rapunzel developed a close friendship—one that would inspire Cassandra to pursue a bright future despite her troubled background.

Background
As revealed in "Rapunzel's Return", Cassandra is the biological daughter of Mother Gothel, though she was severely neglected and was often left to fend for herself in their cottage while Gothel went about her daily business. On the night of Rapunzel's kidnapping, Gothel's initial plan was to seek refuge at her cottage, but upon arriving, she found that it was overrun by guardsmen on the hunt for the lost princess. To evade arrest, Gothel cut the bridge connecting her cottage to the mainland and fled the scene, abandoning Cassandra. With her mother gone, the Captain of the Guards decided to adopt Cassandra and raise her as his own in the palace of Corona. In the years that followed, Cassandra repressed her memories of Gothel and grew to be intelligent, mature, and an extremely skilled fighter. Taking after her father, she developed a dream to join the royal guard, though she instead served as a lady-in-waiting.

Development
Cassandra was initially written and created by Chris Sonnenburg who also finalized her design along with Shane Prigmore. During the early development of Tangled: The Series, the concept of Cassandra came early as Chris needed to answer the question "What is it that Rapunzel NEEDS in her life?" He looked on further than his household and his two daughters. Not only their tight relationship but their many close female friendships as well. During research for the show, Chris stumbled upon an early sketch of Rapunzel's mother who at that point in the initial development of the movie was a warrior "Joan of Arc" type. Drawn to this image, Chris knew then she would play an important part in Rapunzel's story in some way. Early concept art suggested that Cassandra would have been more of a Robin Hood-esque figure; complete with bow and arrow.

Personality
Cassandra is described as being "tough-as-nails", a fitting description for someone who wishes to join the royal guard. She is snarky, sarcastic and has a somewhat dry sense of humor. She is also very intelligent, often subtly insulting Eugene in clever ways that go over his head. Despite this, she is extremely supportive and protective toward Rapunzel, her polar opposite—so much so, that she openly holds animosity for Eugene, believing him to be a selfish freeloader and undeserving of Rapunzel's love and friendship. In the series, however, their relationship gradually becomes less hostile, and slightly more playful as the two spend more time together. In "Fitzherbert P.I.", Cassandra genuinely admired Eugene's determination to become a royal guard, and actively assisted him in proving his worth to her father. It was later shown that Eugene's quirkiness had started to warm up to Cassandra, who found amusement in his excitement to school the guards as head of a training class.

Aside from her no-nonsense persona, Cassandra is also a free-spirit, not unlike Rapunzel. Though she has a more cynical way of going about life, Cassandra also finds joy in adventure, living life to the fullest, and experiencing new things. This is most notably seen during "Wind in My Hair", where Cassandra is seen enjoying herself almost as much as Rapunzel.

Although loyal to King Frederic and Queen Arianna, Cassandra is willing to break their rules (and risk her job) for the sake of Rapunzel's happiness and to accomplish her own dreams; this is seen when Cassandra offered to take Rapunzel beyond the kingdom's wall to explore some of the outside world and escape the pressures of royalty. Doing so required much stealth and cunning, traits Cassandra revealed herself to have abundantly that night.

In "Challenge of the Brave", it is revealed that Cassandra has some insecurities about how she is seen just as a girl/handmaiden instead of the strong, skilled, and capable warrior who deserves as much respect as anyone in the royal guard. These insecurities, and the desire to prove herself can sometimes drive Cassandra to act selfishly, even to those she cares about. Once she realizes her mistakes, however, Cassandra is mature enough to own up to her faults and make amends as best she can. Cassandra's cynical nature gives her trust issues. Examples are that she doesn't forgive people easily, she doesn't like sharing her feelings, keeps secrets to herself, or she won't accept help. This is one of the reasons she has a rivalry with Eugene because he was a thief in the past and she thinks he's ignorant enough to not address other people's feelings (even though it's not his fault he can't tell).

In "Not in the Mood", her personality develops a bit. She likes to show no mercy toward not just Eugene, but other suspicious looking people. She later realizes she should be more compassionate. For starters, she made friends with a man who was large and scary, but friendly.

She still has a firm belief that strangers can’t be trusted, especially when they lurk in the shadows. She jumps to conclusions about people’s actions rather quickly. If she doesn’t like someone, she’ll fight them. She even fights just for the fun of it, not in the mood for being nice.

Throughout Season 2, Cassandra's insecurity and desire to rise above everyone's view of her grew to a point where she became bitter to Rapunzel for always upstaging her at everything; a growing crack in their relationship that only gotten worse when she discovered her backstory in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow and that her mother chose Rapunzel over her, which soon motives her to betray Rapunzel and take the Moonstone for herself. She then ran away with the opal opting to use its powers to make her destiny apart from Rapunzel and her former friends.

As depicted in the episode "Cassandra's Revenge", she has become increasingly ruthless and often resorts to violence. However, there are some lines she is still not willing to cross, such as sparing Varian's life, who has been in the same position as her. However, she tells him they are not as similar as he says, and rejects his pleas for her to stop.

On quite a few occasions, Cassandra displays hypocrisy and self-righteousness. She blames Rapunzel for Gothel abandoning her, even though Rapunzel was an infant at the time, was taken away from her loving parents, and had suffered under Gothel's abuse, something Cassandra was ironically fortunate to be spared from. Additionally, even though she dislikes Eugene for being a former criminal and views him as nothing but self-centered, she herself goes as far as to threaten Corona if Rapunzel does not comply with her demands, and has hurt people who have not severely wronged her, attempting to crush Eugene to get Rapunzel to fight her, enabling Zhan Tiri's threats against Calliope, using mind control on the members of the Brotherhood in hopes of igniting a war, and forcefully taking over Corona with her black rocks. She also claims she is not a villain or a bad person, in spite of the aforementioned misdeeds.

However, in "A Tale of Two Sisters", Cassandra being stuck with Rapunzel under Gothel's old cottage gradually causes her to become protective and warm-hearted towards her once more. They even reminisce and bond over the old times, only for a misunderstanding caused by Zhan Tiri to revert Cassandra to her bitter and vengeful self, prompting her to leave Rapunzel to die in the mines (only momentarily hesitating) and not come back for her, with Rapunzel only surviving due to being rescued by Pascal.

In "Once a Handmaiden...", after realizing that Zhan Tiri tricked her, Cassandra becomes remorseful over her actions and seeks to make amends with Rapunzel. However, she expresses fear that Rapunzel won't forgive her, and comes back to Corona disguised as Faith. Unfortunately, after Zhan Tiri manipulates her again, Cassandra comes to believe Rapunzel intends to destroy her, causing her to turn her back on her once more and revert to her vindictive self. She is also unwilling to take responsibility for her actions, instead placing the blame on Rapunzel and Zhan Tiri, even though she still did them willingly.

In “Plus Est En Vous”, Cassandra's rage and anger has made her become completely malevolent, and any remembrance of Rapunzel’s “betrayal” causes her to destroy things in a rage. She also no longer trusts Zhan Tiri, possibly blaming her for most of the events that transpired. As she and Rapunzel fight, Cassandra sadistically mocks her and reminds her of how she’s always felt second best. Cassandra seems to hold some fondness left for Rapunzel by sparing a jar made by her Aunt Willow, which she holds dearly. However, this fondness wasn't enough for Cassandra to spare her entirely and just as she was about to eliminate Rapunzel, Zhan Tiri took both the Moonstone and SunDrop from them, reducing Rapunzel's hair back to its natural color and Cassandra back to her old self. While imprisoned, Cassandra breaks down in tears and finally apologizes to Rapunzel, revealing that she had let her rage cloud her mind and prevented her from seeing what she really needed. She also reveals that all she wanted to find her own destiny and set out a path for herself, but let her insecurities blind her from those needs. The two then make amends and Rapunzel says that there is more in Cassandra, more than she ever knew, which installs a new confidence in Cassandra. Once they break out of the prison and defeat Zhan Tiri, Cass was gravely injured in the scuffle and apparently died, but was revived by Rapunzel by using the Moonstone and SunDrop. She later leaves Corona after tearfully bidding farewell to Rapunzel, acknowledging themselves as best friends, and sets out to travel the world and find her destiny.

Physical appearance
Cassandra is a pale-skinned young woman with dark pink lips, hazel eyes and black bob-cut layered hair with gray highlights.

Her signature outfit is a grayish-brown shirt, black leather gloves, a dark brown belt with a purse and a dagger on it, dark brown-and-red striped leggings and brown boots.

When performing her duties as Rapunzel's handmaiden, Cassandra dresses in a blue and white dress, with a white headdress.

Since attempting to touch Rapunzel while she was reciting the Moonstone incantation, Cassandra's right hand and wrist were turned pitch black. To cover for her injuries, Cassandra donned a knight's armor and a purple cape.

When she is corrupted by the Moonstone opal, her hair and eyes turn turquoise and her clothes turn black and dark blue with spikes similar to the Black Rocks. The Moonstone opal itself becomes embedded in her chest. Overtime, Cassandra's skin tone becomes paler.

After the Moonstone was stolen from her body, her original tones returned and her armor became plain. She later sported a green tunic similar looking to her season 1 outfit and cape, along with her Cassandrium Necklace Varian gave her since "Great Expotations".

Abilities
Cassandra possess skills in horseback ridding, fencing, archery, athletics, and other skills in combat; which she had learned for being the daughter of the Captain of the Guards. She is also shown to be very clever when she understood Rapunzel's clues, had helped Varian with his project and spotting the mistakes in letters from a suspicious character. As well as possessing skills in acting, as she had tricked a Separatist of Saporia member into thinking that she has feelings for him, so he would come to Corona and she could uncover his true intentions. Cassandra also has skills in sewing, cleaning and others skills that are needed for her handmaiden duties.

After bonding with the Moonstone's power, she, most likely, receives the life-draining power that it possesses, as evidenced by its energy coursing through her hair. She now has control over the Black Rocks which was first seen when she creates some to escape the Dark Kingdom, and in time she has mastered her powers to the point she was able to build her tower out of the Black Rocks.

Due to her connection to the Black Rocks, they respond to her emotions, as seen when she was afraid of the idea of destroying Rapunzel, the rocks turned red and gained the ability to show people their worst fears until becoming paralyzed with fright if they stare to them too long.

After being reduced back to her normal state, Cassandra has lost all of her newfound powers, rendering her as once again a normal woman.

Tangled: Before Ever After
Cassandra is first seen waiting for Rapunzel's return from a ride with Eugene at Corona's village gates. From there, Cassandra takes Rapunzel to attend to the various duties of a princess, specifically in preparation for her upcoming coronation ceremony to officially crown her as heir to the throne. Rapunzel laments her feelings of stress of the pressures of royalty overwhelm her. Cassandra believes the princess should take a break regardless of what her father wishes, but Rapunzel refuses to do so. Later at a dinner event, Cassandra sits with Pascal, while Rapunzel sits with her parents, and Eugene sits at the children's table (an arrangement made by Cassandra, who was in charge of seating). Eugene takes the time to propose to Rapunzel, but due to her fears of being bound to life in the castle, Rapunzel rejects and leaves. Seeing the princess upset angers Cassandra, who glares at Eugene.

That night, Rapunzel agrees to relieve her built-up tension by following Cassandra beyond Corona's border wall to explore the outside world for the night. Cassandra gears up for the adventure, providing Rapunzel with a hooded cloak and the two sneak their way out through a hidden passageway. They journey through the night forest, until Cassandra takes Rapunzel to a specific spot where the golden flower that saved Queen Arianna and the yet-to-be-born Rapunzel was grown. Suddenly, a blast of magic hits the two that causes Rapunzel's magic, golden hair to return.

The two return to the castle where Cassandra tries desperately to cut the hair. Like the rocks, it's unbreakable. When Eugene arrives, an anxious Cassandra urges Rapunzel not to tell him about the hair, fearing he'll tell the king and queen, which would cost Cassandra her job. He discovers regardless, but the three agree to keep it a secret from everyone else, including Rapunzel's parents. What Eugene still doesn't know, however, is how the hair came to be again. Cassandra refuses to tell him, and when confronted about her behavior towards him, Eugene discovers that his unintentional selfishness in regards to Rapunzel is partially to blame.

At Rapunzel's coronation, the hair is kept hidden beneath a wig, only to be revealed when she needs to utilize it as a weapon to fight off a band of thieves. While Rapunzel and Eugene fight off the goons, Cassandra takes on their leader Lady Caine. Caine is defeated and arrested for her crimes, though Rapunzel is reprimanded by King Frederic for the hair but Cassandra's part in restoring it was left out by Rapunzel.

Season one
In the premiere episode, "What the Hair?!", a week has passed since the return of Rapunzel's hair, and Cassandra is dead set on ensuring her involvement remains a secret. Rapunzel feels increasingly guilty over keeping Eugene in the dark, but Cassandra reminds her that if the secret is revealed, she would lose her job and be sent to a convent as punishment. After Cassandra subsequently proves Eugene's inability to keep a secret, Rapunzel agrees, though not without apprehension. By the end of the day, Rapunzel finally reveals the truth to Eugene, though he promises to keep it between them for Cassandra's sake.

Meanwhile, Cassandra deals with issues of her own, particularly pertaining to her goal of becoming a guard, which proves to be difficult due to both her father's overprotective nature and the reception she receives from the public (who evidently viewed Cassandra as a mere servant girl, incapable of anything more). In "Challenge of the Brave", Cassandra enters a challenge that tests the strength of its competitors to determine who is the mightiest warrior in all the seven kingdoms. She is shown as increasingly strong and capable, even sacrificing her win in the end to save Rapunzel and single handedly take down the last competitor. Though technically she loses in the end to Rapunzel, she nevertheless earns praise for her strength and exceptional fighting skills. Later in "Great Expotations", the guard is low on staff due to the kingdom's science fair, forcing the Captain to entrust Cassandra with filling in for the day, on the condition that she finishes her chores first. Varian asks Cassandra to act as his assistant during his presentation, and she agrees in exchange for having Varian handle her chores. This allows her to take on guard duty, but after being assigned to guard the esteemed Dr. St. Croix, Cassandra abandons Varian during his presentation. As a result of not having a reliable assistant, Varian is disqualified. Cassandra apologizes for her selfish behavior and offers her help when the experiments of the fair nearly destroy the castle. Proud of her actions, the Captain offers Cassandra another assignment as part of the guard, though she denies in favor of helping Varian clean up the mess.

Despite things ending on good terms, Cassandra was not satisfied with her performance at the science fair. In "Under Raps", Cassandra discovered — what she believed to be — a potential villain with interest in an ancient journal that originally belonged to one of Corona's previous kings. Cassandra sees this as an opportunity to prove her competence to her father and invites the mysterious foreigner (named Andrew), to see the journal while it is open to the public. By manipulating him into believing she was in love with him, Cassandra discovers that Andrew is part of a seperatists organization bent on destroying Corona. With some help from Rapunzel and Eugene, Cassandra manages to defeat Andrew and save the book. She is hailed as a hero for her efforts, receives a Medal of Honor, and becomes the talk of the kingdom, as a result.

By the time of "Secret of the Sun Drop", King Frederic has discovered that Cassandra was the one that leads Rapunzel over Corona's border wall and orders for her to be sent to a convent as punishment. Regretfully and with a heavy heart, the Captain abides by the king's decision, disappointing his daughter immensely. Before she can leave, however, the castle is attacked by a feral monstrosity sent by a now-villainous Varian. The Captain is injured during the attack, prompting Cassandra to take command of the guards in his place. Cassandra's bravery and competence earn her stay in the castle. Unfortunately, Queen Arianna had been kidnapped during the siege, prompting the King to issue an assault upon Varian. With the Captain wounded, Cassandra is chosen to assume his position and lead the assault, which she does confidently, with Eugene, Maximus, and Lance by her side.

Toward the end of the episode, Rapunzel defeats Varian and reconciles with her father. The rocks, meanwhile, form a path leading somewhere beyond Corona's walls, prompting Rapunzel to follow its trail.

Season two
Cassandra joins Rapunzel on her journey—as does Eugene, Lance, Hook Foot, and Shorty, much to Cassandra's chagrin. According to "Beyond the Corona Walls", Cassandra made a promise to King Frederic that she'll keep Rapunzel safe on their journey, and keeps to her promise with her usual protective and callous nature. She also eventually meets her match with Adira, an eccentric, yet skilled warrior that introduces herself as a guide for Rapunzel and her allies, whom Cassandra quickly starts to dislike.

In "Rapunzel and the Great Tree", Cassandra, Rapunzel and their friends stumble across the Great Tree. Upon getting inside of it, Adira reveals to the company that the tree once was a stronghold of the powerful dark sorcerer Zhan Tiri, thus making Cassandra even more suspicious about her. When she tries to tell Rapunzel to leave Adira, the princess refuses and tells Cassandra that she'll sometimes make decisions they won't always agree on, what makes the latter feel like she's waiting on the wings of Rapunzel and her friends.

When the sinister warrior Hector attacks the company, Cassandra fights back and ultimately pushes him off the ledge. However, Hector comes back, possessed by the Heart of Zhan Tiri's tree. Despite Cassandra's protests, Rapunzel decides to use the reverse incantation, that she found before the attack, to destroy the vines holding Hector. At that moment Cassandra notices a magic spear and tries to convince Rapunzel to let her use it against the tree, but the incantation's power proves itself to be way too uncontrollable for the princess to stop using it. In attempt to stop her, Cassandra touches Rapunzel's arm, but the incantation's destructive power severely burns her right arm, turning it pitch black. When everyone escaped from the falling tree, Cassandra finds a suit of armor and puts it on to protect her body from further pain. In the time following these events, Cassandra remains bitter, blaming Rapunzel for the events that transpired. Rapunzel tries to communicate with Cassandra about the tension between them, but the reserved Cassandra is hesitant to do so.

In "Mirror, Mirror", a powerful storm forces the group to take shelter in a peculiar inn hosted by a man named Matthews. During their time there, Cassandra comes across a room that sucks her inside. When she escapes, the house has been destroyed though Rapunzel and her friends are all safe. Rapunzel questions Cassandra on her absence, but she is quick to brush off any suspicion. Later, Rapunzel and Eugene are able to uncover the final piece of a scroll detailing Rapunzel's connection to the rocks with the help of Lord Demanitus. Before his departure, Demanitus warns Eugene that someone will betray Rapunzel before their journey comes to an end. Though Eugene has come to love Cassandra like an "annoying sister", he believes her to be the most likely candidate and warns Rapunzel about the matter in "Destinies Collide". Rapunzel believes Demanitus was wrong and continues forth to the Dark Kingdom, where she is destined to connect with the source of the black rocks (a life-killing opal) and restore balance to the world. Inside the Dark Kingdom's castle, Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra approach the opal together. Before Rapunzel can touch it and fulfill her destiny, Cassandra grabs it, instead, declares that she's fulfilling her destiny and merges the opal with her body—magically altering her body, eyes and hair. Once the alteration is over, Cassandra sinisterly tells Rapunzel that she should have been careful who she trusted.

Season Three
In the prologue of "Rapunzel's Return", it shows what Cassandra had seen in the mysterious room she walked into at The House of Yesterday's Tomorrow during "Rapunzeltopia". As she sees her younger self with her mother, who turns out to be Gothel, on the night that Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel, however, she and her child self watch in dismay as Gothel takes down the bridge to their house before she leaves Cassandra all on her own while taking Rapunzel with her. Being reminded of her past had caused Cassandra to cry to herself as the vision convinced her that she would always be overshadowed by Rapunzel, which would ultimately lead her to double-cross her in the Dark Kingdom.

She declares that Rapunzel's destiny belongs to her as Rapunzel asks her to let her help before she is ultimately confronted by Adira, easily repelling her, stealing her Shadow Blade, and fleeing the Moonstone Opal's chamber, with the Black Rocks covering her escape. Rapunzel chases after her in an attempt to convince her to come back, but Cassandra refuses to listen to reason and uses her stolen Shadow Blade to slice away the bridge of Black Rocks she created to make her getaway, leaving Rapunzel heartbroken over the thought that her best friend is now her newest enemy.

In "Be Very Afraid", Cassandra's fear towards the idea of destroying Rapunzel causes the Black rocks to turn into red rocks. Causing them to grow in Corona and reveal the citizens' worst fears, when Rapunzel touches one of the rocks at the same time as Cassandra they can sense each other. Rapunzel can tell that Cassandra is still good inside. Later Rapunzel reveals to a reformed Varian her biggest fear is losing Cassandra as a friend forever (along with the kingdom in ruins). At the end of the episode, she tells Eugene that there is still a chance to save her.

In "Islands Apart", it's revealed that she had fought with her adoptive father, the Captain of the Guards, and called him out for keeping her mother's identity a secret. She left him feeling guilty for his actions and he went to live on Terapi Island with a fake four-year-old Cassandra, which he wished for out of guilt. But the wish came at the price of having its magic turn against him by creating an army of Cassandras who attack Rapunzel and Eugene, who found him at the island. But, fortunately, Rapunzel convinced him to take back the wish and to not give up on the real Cassandra. Meanwhile, the real Cassandra and the Enchanted Girl went to the Great Tree to look for the incantation scrolls to help her learn how to harness the powers of both the Sun Drop and the Moonstone, only to find them destroyed. But when the Enchanted Girl mentions Demanitus' scroll as the other way to do it, Cassandra realizes that they have to return to Corona.

In "Cassandra's Revenge", Cassandra comes back to Corona and crashes Eugene's birthday party. Cassandra demands Rapunzel to give up the scroll and goes to find it in Varian's new lab. She even kidnaps Varian because he remembers the scroll and takes him to the site of Rapunzel's Tower, where she creates her own tower out of the black rocks. Knowing that the path of destruction and rage won't get her anywhere, Varian tries to urge Cassandra to stop what she is doing, but she refuses to listen to him and ultimately traps Varian in a cage, pushing it away at the edge of her tower.

Cassandra soon finds Pascal as he tries to sneak into her tower without being seen, but Rapunzel finds her with the question of whether Pascal is alright, and Cassandra gives him back. Rapunzel says she doesn't want to fight Cassandra since they're supposed to be friends, but Cassandra forces her to fight since she loves Eugene. During the battle, Rapunzel unleashes the incantation of the Sundrop's full power, which destroys Cassandra's tower. In the wake of the battle, Cassandra realizes that the Moonstone has been chipped, and then sees the Enchanted Girl has regained her normal form.

In "Race to the Spire", after rebuilding her fortress, Cassandra and Zhan Tiri headed over to the spire to get an item from Calliope. Although they got the item but failed to get the key due to Calliope sending it to Rapunzel, Cassandra and Zhan Tiri formed a plan to get the key from her. However, when Rapunzel realizes the ruse, Cassandra revealed herself. When the item was revealed to be the Mind-Trap stone, Cassandra and Zhan Tiri were able to get it when Rapunzel chose Calliope's safety as they took advantage of her compassion. After returning to her fortress, Cassandra used the Mind-Trap stone to control everyone loyal to the Dark Kingdom.

In "A Tale of Two Sisters", hearing rumors through Zhan Tiri about Gothel's ghost haunting her old cottage, Cassandra investigates her childhood home and saw Rapunzel there as well. While fighting, Cassandra and Rapunzel ended up in a mine when the cottage accidentally fell over. After working together to deal with the cave animals, Cassandra and Rapunzel notice Mother Gothel's old magic mirrors that she used to record herself. Seeing this, Cassandra begins to question her mother's love for her. However, after escaping from being burned to death, Cassandra notices one of her mother's mirrors in Rapunzel's bag, which was put there by Zhan Tiri in her attempts to keep their friendship broken. Believing her former friend lied to her when she sees the memory of being given the music box from her mother as a show of her love, Cassandra left Rapunzel to die in the mines. Just as she leaves, Cassandra ended up feeling guilty when Rapunzel pleaded for help but shook it off and continued to walk away. Cassandra returned to her fortress, unaware that Zhan Tiri stole a piece of her mother's mirror that shows that she only saw her as a pest and threw it out to prevent her from making amends with Rapunzel.

In "Once a Handmaiden...", Cassandra was outside her fortress where she notices something shining. Realizing its the missing piece from her mother's mirror, Cassandra puts the piece in the mirror then discovers that Rapunzel didn't lie about Mother Gothel not loving either of them when she sees that her mother only saw her as a pest. Cassandra confronts Zhan Tiri after realizing that she tricked her into turning against the first friend she ever had. During the confrontation, Cassandra finds out who her mentor really is and leaves her fortress ashamed for her actions. After reuniting with Owl, Cassandra decides to sneak into Corona by using the magic cloak she stole from the Spire to impersonate Rapunzel's new handmaiden Faith to make things right with Rapunzel. During the festival at Corona, Cassandra was confronted by Zhan Tiri, who becomes more determined to make sure she doesn't reconcile with the Princess and to put her plan into action, as she tells her about Rapunzel authorizing a weapon that could be used against her, unaware that she did it out of protecting the kingdom and would only use it as a last resort. Despite being scared that Rapunzel wouldn't forgive her and not entirely convinced of Zhan Tiri's claim of the weapon she was talking about, Cassandra meets up with the Princess in her cloak disguise. However, Cassandra was revealed when Zhan Tiri, who made sure she wasn't seen by the two girls, removes the cloak in front of Rapunzel. Due to everyone seeing her as a threat, Cassandra couldn't explain to Rapunzel her reasons for coming into Corona. Rapunzel pleads with her that it isn't too late to make things right. However, Cassandra believes that Rapunzel now sees her as a threat like everyone else when Zhan Tiri fires the weapon Varian was holding in order to trick her into taking over Corona for her. After driving everyone out of the kingdom, Cassandra sits alone in the throne room, unaware that she helped Zhan Tiri put her plans into motion.

In the series finale "Plus Est En Vous", following her hostile takeover of Corona, Cassandra pays her former room in the castle a visit. Filled with rage, she proceeds to destroy everything that reminds her of Rapunzel and her old life as a handmaiden. As the solar eclipse draws near (which goes as far as to weaken Rapunzel's power), Zhan Tiri tries to convince Cassandra to defeat Rapunzel and claim the Sundrop. Though Cassandra agrees to do so, she reveals that she no longer trusts Zhan Tiri due to all of the times the demon has manipulated her, and imprisons her in a cage made of black rocks.

Once the people of Corona have infiltrated the castle, Cassandra personally confronts Rapunzel and Pascal in the castle halls. Still refusing to give up on her former friend, Rapunzel tries to get through to Cassandra by getting her to question her motives and supposed destiny, but Cass rebuffs it and attempts to kill her. The two engage in mortal combat, with Cassandra weaponizing vases and the black rocks against the princess. Just when it seems like Rapunzel has the upper hand, Cassandra turns her power into a weakness, and transports her to her room.

There, once the eclipse has finally come, Cassandra depowers Rapunzel and nearly obtains the Sundrop, only for Zhan Tiri (who escaped the cage using one of Varian's vials) to jump in and grab both the Sundrop and Moonstone. This causes Cassandra to lose her power as well, and she and Rapunzel watch Zhan Tiri transform into a huge demonic creature. Intent on destroying Corona, Zhan Tiri mocks Cassandra for being failed by her ego, like her mother was, and traps her and Rapunzel in a cage made of Sun rocks.

Imprisoned together, Cassandra finally regrets her actions in front of Rapunzel and apologizes to her. Rapunzel also tells the phrase "Plus est en vous" to Cassandra in order to help her regain her confidence. Afterwards, the two of them team up once more and are able to make the Sundrop and Moonstone collide, destroying Zhan Tiri. However, Cassandra dies in the resulting shockwave, that is until Rapunzel uses the Healing Incantation to revive her and everyone else, before sending the Sundrop and the Moonstone back to space. With peace restored, Cassandra embraces Rapunzel and Eugene.

After reconciling with her adoptive father and gaining a new green outfit, Cassandra bids farewell to Rapunzel and leaves Corona with Owl and Fidella, free to find her true destiny and to no longer be waiting in the wings.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Cassandra's will to protect Rapunzel at all costs is also quite damaging, specifically with the relationship Rapunzel shares with Eugene. Because of Cassandra's distrust toward Eugene, the former actively advises Rapunzel to keep secrets from him, which in turn cripples the amount of trust shared between the two; though Cassandra blames Eugene for failing to address Rapunzel's struggles, he can't do so if Rapunzel refuses to be honest with him. Though Rapunzel is at fault for choosing to keep secrets, Cassandra is also at fault for encouraging the princess' will to do so. This was addressed in "What the Hair?!".


 * Ironically, after her betrayal, Cassandra reveals to Rapunzel that she is the untrustworthy one


 * Cassandra is one of twelve characters in the series who has not appeared in the film, Tangled.
 * The name Cassandra means "praise of men" in Greek, which is slightly ironic since Cass shows distrust towards most men and Cassandra is a female warrior, which shows that she is not the one to be underestimated.
 * Cassandra's name serves a methaphor for one's failure to "get through" to the people and avert disaster. Such methaphor fits her perfectly, as Cassandra was always telling Rapunzel's gang about the possible dangers but they didn't listen to her, only for her to be proven right when it's too late. Examples of this are prominent in "Freebird", "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" and "Mirror, Mirror".
 * However, in "Cassandra v. Eugene" and "Plus Est En Vous", Cassandra herself ironically is put in a position where she doesn't believe others, despite them stating what is true.
 * In "Rapunzel's Enemy" and "Fitzherbert P.I.", it is shown that Cassandra respects Corona's history a great deal, and considers it an esteemed honor to uphold the kingdom's traditions.
 * According to "Great Expotations", Cassandra has been training to join the guard since she was six.
 * In "Keeper of the Spire", she is revealed to be four years older than Rapunzel.
 * Cassandra is the second of Rapunzel's allies to turn against her, the first being Varian (they both managed to redeem themselves).
 * Cass' betrayal could be hinted early in the Season 1, Episode 4 "Challenge of the Brave", when she showed great discontent at being overshined by Rapunzel, who won favors of the crowd by simpy being princess, casting all of Cass' achivements in the shadow.
 * During the episode "Islands Apart", Cassandra's skin seems to be getting very pale. It's been suspected by fans that the Moonstone is slowly consuming and possibly killing her and due to the fact the Moon itself is pale.
 * Cassandra is the first character shown to die onscreen in the series, but is fortunately brought back to life by Rapunzel with the ultimate power.
 * In "Plus Est En Vous", Zhan Tiri compares Cassandra to her mother Gothel, specifically their egos. While Cassandra inherited much of her physical appearance from Gothel, Gothel is purely cold-hearted, abusive, and only cares about herself, whereas Cassandra is loyal, protective, and insecure about who best to side with. She even uses Gothel's "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy!" line in "Once a Handmaiden...".
 * In "Once a Handmaiden...", Varian intends to use Project Obsidian to destroy Cassandra's self-esteem. This foreshadows the events of "Plus Est En Vous", where Cassandra does indeed lose her self-esteem after being betrayed and imprisoned by Zhan Tiri, before Rapunzel manages to convince her that there is more in her.
 * In spite of having become a wanted criminal, Cassandra was not arrested for her crimes, likely due to having redeemed herself and saved Corona from Zhan Tiri with Rapunzel.
 * Despite claiming she and Varian aren't the same, she shares similarities with Varian as both lost their parents (Cassandra lost her mother after she kidnapped Rapunzel and Varian lost his father as he got trapped inside the amber) and used to be Rapunzel's allies, but they turned against her due to their misguided desire for vengeance against her (Cassandra wanting to get revenge on Rapunzel for being chosen by Gothel over her, believing that Gothel truly loved her, while Varian wanted to get revenge on Rapunzel for what he believed to be a flat-out refusal to help him free his father Quirin), not to mention they're unaware that Zhan Tiri manipulated them both. Both also join forces with villains (Zhan Tiri for Cassandra and the Separatists of Saporia for Varian), only for them to be betrayed by their respective villainous allies. However, while Varian wanted to free his loved ones from imprisonment, Cassandra's motivations were merely for her own benefits. Fortunately, both of them felt remorse over their actions and managed to redeem themselves by making amends with Rapunzel as their antagonistic role was only temporary. Additionally, a few of Cassandra's actions towards Rapunzel, Corona and the people that the princess cares about were somewhat similar to the ones that Varian had done in "Secret of the Sun Drop".
 * In the same episode, both Cassandra and Varian fall off Cassandra's Stronghold. However, Varian fell into the arms of Lance, whereas Cassandra had to save herself using her powers. This reflects how Varian turning back to the side of good has caused him to be surrounded by friends once more, but Cassandra's path of hatred and darkness has left her with no one but herself.