Gothel
(post in the comments how far in the were when you realized...)
A long long time ago in a kingdom faraway…
The King’s daughter ran to him from behind as he was leaving through the foyer. Reaching him, she tugged at his coattails to get his attention. He stopped and turned.
“Hello, little one. What are you doing here?” said the King now kneeling in front of his daughter.
She hugged him straightway without reply. Perceiving that something was wrong, the king said, “What troubles you, my daughter?”
“I do not want you to leave, Father,” said the princess with the side of her face buried in his belly.
He hugged her in return then pulled her away from him to see her face. She was on the verge of tears.
The King then said, “Do not cry, little one, I will return as I always do.”
The princess sniffled.
“Tears are for those who are gone and cannot return, but in two weeks’ time I will be holding you in my arms once more. Do you believe me, my daughter?”
The princess sniffled again and said, “Yes, Father, I believe you.”
The King stood to his feet with his daughter in his arms and said, “As you should: for a king always keeps his word. Now, where is your mother?”
“I believe she is in the garden at the moment. She is planting new flowers today. I am going to watch.”
“Oh! Is that so? Well, Mother could not plant flowers without her little Sunflower at her side, now could she?”
He puckered, shutting his eyes, as he leaned in exaggeratedly. She smiled before shutting her eyes and pecking him on the lips.
“I love you, Father,” she said happily.
“I love you too, Gothel.”
With a smile and outstretched arms, the princess then said, “I love you more.”
The King tapped her on the nose, smiled back, and replied, “I love you most.”
He then placed her back on the floor, picked up his bag, and started towards the doors. Gothel stood there and watched as her father strode away.
Feeling her worried eyes on him, he looked back and said, “Two weeks, Gothel. Do not worry.”
He waved. She did the same. Then out the door he went.
As the princess entered the royal garden, she discovered that the queen was already there waiting for her.
“Hello, Mother,” said a glum Gothel.
“Hello, Sunflower,” said the queen, kneeling by the bare flowerbed.
As the princess knelt down beside her, the queen looked down to her.
“Aww, don’t be sad, sweetheart, Father will return home soon.”
“I know… but I did not want him to go really bad this time,” the princess replied as she started to cry.
The queen took off one of her gardening gloves, wrapped her arm around her daughter, and said, “Why is that, Sunflower?”
“I do not know. I just do not feel good about Father leaving this time.”
“Aw, don’t worry, Gothel, he will return. Now, come, stop your crying and help me plant these new flowers. Wouldn’t you like that?”
With sadness in her voice, the princess nodded and replied, “Yes, Mother.” The queen wiped her daughter’s face and they began.
Three weeks later, late one evening as the queen and princess were in the royal garden together, one of the royal subjects came with an urgent message.
“My queen…”
“What is it, Côme?”
“I have… terrible news.”
The queen got up and went into the other room to keep the princess from hearing.
“Côme, what’s happened?”
“It’s King Corin, Madame… we have just received word that he never arrived at the conference. They believe him to have… perished… at sea.”
Unbeknownst to them, the princess had been standing in the doorway listening to their conversation and, upon hearing what may have become of her father, she burst into tears and ran to her room. The queen hurried after her, entered her room, and sat down on the bed near the princess crying into her pillow.
“It’ll be alright, Sunflower. It’ll be alright,” said the queen fighting back tears of her own.
“No, it will not, Mother! No, it will not! Father is gone and he is not coming back again!”
The princess was heartbroken. The queen searched for the right words, but nothing came to mind. The princess continued to cry for the loss of her father.
“Sunflower, please… please, don’t cry… your father loved you. You know that, right?”
“Yes… Mother… I know,” said the princess with stammering sadness.
“He wouldn’t want us to be sad over him. He would want us to continue to be happy,” said the queen gently rubbing Gothel’s head, neck, and back, attempting to soothe her.
Gothel then looked up from her pillow and said, “I know… but I cannot help it.”
As the princess’s face began to show her sadness again, the queen thought to sing. She wiped her daughter’s damp face, nestled her close into her lap, and held her tight.
Sunflower, live and grow
May your dreams be kind
Rise with boundless hope
Regain your peace of mind
Help heal those who hurt
Leave all tears behind
Don’t let go of love
Regain your peace of mind…
Your peace of mind.
The queen would sing her lullaby to Gothel every night to help her fall asleep for the pain of losing her father weighed heavily on her young heart.
But as time went on, little Princess Gothel grew into a confident young woman. Together, she and the Queen began guilds that created and maintained buildings to house and feed the widows and orphans of their land. The princess would even take over in her mother’s stead when the queen would go to speak with foreign dignitaries in faraway lands. The queen would even bring her along on occasion. The princess had been doing very well since her father passed. Then one day, on the eve of her twentieth year, all of that changed.
“Lady Gothel, come quickly!”
“Why? What is the matter?”
“Queen Gerda—she’s collapsed in the royal garden!”
The princess followed the servant to the garden. When they arrived, the queen was being carried off to her room. The princess followed from behind, terrified to get any closer. She waited outside the door as servant after servant came in and out of the room carrying bowls of hot water, towels, and medicines. All the strength and confidence that the queen had instilled in Gothel was swiftly swept away as the dire possibility entered her mind. She slid down the wall, curling up into a ball, and started to sway nervously. Tears came to her eyes as she grabbed her head in panic, beginning to weep. She felt helpless. And she was afraid.
Hours later, the door to the queen’s room opened. The servant Côme came out and went to the princess. The fear and panic hindered her ability to look up at him, so he knelt down to her. They looked at each other, Gothel only moving her eyes, and Côme’s face said all that Gothel never wanted to hear.
Early the next morning a royal decree was made from the balcony of the palace in front of the entire kingdom. “With the untimely passing of Queen Gerda, and the rightful heir to the throne being well of age, Princess Gothel will be coronated one week from today as our new ruler and Queen of Ambrose.” As the people began to applaud, the princess ran from the balcony and into the hall, beginning to cry.
One of her servants came to her and said, “Lady Gothel, please don’t cry. They have not forgotten the queen. They are simply happy for you.”
“It is not that…”
“Then what is it, Milady?”
“I am not ready for this. I cannot lead these people.”
“I know you feel overwhelmed, Milady, but… we will stand with you all the way, through anything. We’re here for you, Princess. We believe in you.”
Then, late that night, unable to stomach the burden of taking her mother’s place, Gothel packed a bag, mounted her horse, and fled the kingdom.
Scarred by her past and unwilling to allow her parents’ fate to become her own, Gothel wandered the world for years in search of a means to cheat death, for ways to achieve immortality. In her travels, she heard many strange tales. One such tale was of a group of women who could do just that, cheat death, but the path she would have to take would be a dark one. Gothel had to become a witch. She found the women: powerful, beautiful, and wicked. She spent decades practicing spells and incantations with the witches and she became very skilled, so skilled in fact that she lived to be ninety years old yet retained the appearance of someone in their forties, but it was not good enough. She outlived her mentors, the oldest and most skilled having lived four hundred and forty-three years, but Gothel could still feel time creeping up on her. She had to find something better, something more potent, more permanent. So again, Gothel fled.
She had heard of a group of people that stole the very youth of others to extend their own lives. She sought them out and finally found them. They taught her how to enchant daggers, enter peoples’ homes; and, with the daggers, drain the occupants of life adding it to their own instantly. Gothel remained with them for thirty years until all except her were killed by mobs of witch hunters. She was now one hundred and twenty years old and on the run once more.
As she fled, she grew tired, so she decided to stop and rest for the night at the next village she came to. She went around the village checking every inn for a room, but there was no room anywhere for the renown of the kingdom she was now in was great. But she was exhausted. She had been traveling for many days without sleep. At the same time, a young man was walking through the streets and he happened to notice Gothel standing outside of one of the inns, and her beauty caught his eye.
“Whoa, man…” He walked up to her and said, “Excuse me, Milady…”
The title startled Gothel and she turned around with a gasp and fright.
“Whoa! My apologies. I did not mean to startle you. My name is Juan Adonías and… it seems as if you require assistance.”
“A placed to rest would be nice.”
“Then I bid you stay in one of my family’s rooms.”
“You live with your family? Really?”
“Yes—well… I sort of have to.”
“And why is that?”
“Well, I’m kind of the Prince of Aurelio… the kingdom you are currently in.”
“Prince?” said Gothel partly in disbelief and partly in shock. “My sincerest apologies, your Majesty,” she said as quickly as she bowed.
The prince grinned awkwardly and said, “Please, get up. That is quite alright, you did not know.”
He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Once Gothel was standing upright, her and the prince’s eyes met. She saw his face lit by the low light of the village venders, and she thought him beautiful.
“My guard will tend to your horse for you. For now you may ride mine.”
“That’s… fine,” said Gothel smitten.
The prince helped her onto his horse. Making their way to the castle, the princess held the reigns in his hand as he walked alongside his horse.
“So… you do not look like you are from around here. Are you from out of town, Milady?”
She hesitated, “Yes, your Majesty.”
“Wonderful! Where are you from?”
“Uh… Ambrose.”
The prince stopped in his tracks. He turned around and looked up at Gothel.
“Ambrose?”
“Yes… why? Has something happened?”
“Milady… I am sorry to tell you this, but Ambrose was burned to the ground decades ago. It was reported that a plague had ravaged that kingdom. It fell almost overnight. There were no survivors.”
“What?” Gothel was without words.
“You are very fortunate to have left before it hit. Well… come to think of it, you could not be from Ambrose, unless…”
Suddenly, Gothel screamed a sorrowful scream. All the villagers that were out on the streets turned and looked at them as Gothel held her head and began to sway nervously, continuing to cry out for her people, for she had abandoned them in body but not in heart. The prince, taken aback by her screams, hesitantly took Gothel down from off of his horse, held her close, and began comforting her.
“It’s alright. You’re fine. You’re fine, Milady. You’re alright. Nothing’s going to hurt you here. Nothing at all. Everything’s going to be fine.”
The prince continued towards the castle with his arms around Gothel as she began to calm, plodding vacantly beside him down the dirt path.
Once inside the castle, the prince escorted Gothel to one of the guest rooms for foreign dignitaries.
“Are you alright, now, Milady?” he said as they went.
“Yes… I’m fine,” she said still somewhat staggered.
Now at the door to the room, opening the door with a hand, the prince said, “This is where you may rest your head for the night.”
They entered the room. The prince sat Gothel down on the bed then sat down beside her.
“Thank you, your Majesty,” she said, relieved to be off her feet.
“You are most welcome, Milady—Are you sure you are well? I can have one of my physicians take a look at you, if—”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I merely need rest.”
“Are you certain.” The prince’s concern for Gothel was great.
“Yes, kind Prince. I just need rest.”
“Very well. Goodnight, Milady,” said the prince.
“Goodnight, your Majesty,” said Gothel.
The prince left the room, closing the door behind him as he went. After getting into bed, Gothel lie there awake looking up at the ceiling. She then noticed a dome-shaped window above her and, through it, watched the night sky for a time. Finally, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath to calm herself, and began to sing.
Flower, live and grow
May your dreams be kind
Rise with boundless hope
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Leave all tears behind
Don’t let go of love
Bring back what once was mine…
What once was mine.
Thinking of her mother, Gothel shed one last tear before drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, Gothel awoke to a silver tray hanging next to her head. “Good morning, Milady,” said the servant.
“Good morning,” said Gothel calmly.
“I have brought you breakfast, compliments of his Majesty, Prince Juan.”
“It smells delicious. Thank you.”
The servant placed the tray over Gothel’s thighs and said, “You are most welcome, Milady.”
The servant then left the room. Gothel stretched, rubbed her head of wild morning-hair, and then dug in. She ate as if she had not eaten in weeks.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the frame of the door.
“Hello, Milady.”
Immediately recognizing the prince’s voice, Gothel gasped and began choking on her food. The prince ran over to her, moved the tray, and leaned her forward to help her cough. Bits of breakfast came flying out of her mouth on to the bed. As the intensity of Gothel’s coughing decreased, the prince began to smile and laugh.
Regaining her composure, Gothel glared at him and said, “That’s not funny.”
“My apologies… it is simply… the day has barely begun and it is not off to the best start, but I am still happy to begin it with you,” he said with a smile.
“What?” said Gothel surprised yet pleased by his words.
“I am not sure whether it is your beauty… or something more, but I would truly like to spend time with you, Milady.”
Gothel smiled.
“And, by the way, your bedhead looks amazing,” said the prince with a smile of his own.
Gothel laughed timidly as she touched her hair.
After looking at her for a while longer, the prince finally said, “What is your name, fair Lady?”
“…Gothel, your Majesty. My name is Gothel.”
“Madame Gothel… will you accompany me for a stroll,” said the prince bowed at the waist with one hand extended.
“Uh… right now?”
“Oh, uh—no! Of course I will let you get dressed first, but after that, would you like to accompany me?”
Gothel laughed and said, “Yes, I’d like that.”
“Good! Good,” the prince said excitedly, “I’ll be right outside the door: right in the hall.”
“Very well. I’ll be out shortly,” said Gothel with a wave as the prince left the room.
After she was ready, Gothel left the room, and there was the prince. He was standing there with a childlike grin on his face. He could not contain his happiness.
“Are you well, Prince?”
“Yes, Milady… I am simply glad to have the pleasure of your company.”
“We haven’t even started walking yet.”
“I—I know, but I just have a good feeling about this… about you.”
Gothel and the prince walked all the way to the back of the castle.
“I hope you like this,” said the prince as they approached the east-facing sun-soaked royal garden.
Upon seeing the garden, Gothel smiled. Then her eyes began to water. The prince did not expect the latter.
“What is the matter, Milady? You are not allergic are you?”
With tears in her eyes, she went over to him. Unsure of why she was coming toward him, the prince simply stood there in confusion.
“Is everything alright, Milady?”
Gothel placed her head on his chest and continued to weep.
The prince hugged her and said, “I am really not making the best first impression, am I?”
“No, your garden is beautiful. It’s just that,” Gothel sighed, “…it’s been a while since I’ve seen a garden like this.”
“You have an increasingly interesting past, Madame Gothel,” said the prince as he held her.
“I’ve been wanting to tell someone about it for a very long time,” she replied wiping her face with a hand.
He looked into her eyes as she lifted her head and said, “I would be honored if you’d share your story with me.”
“Would you, truly?”
“Yes, and even more so if you continued it with me.”
“Prince Juan… are you proposing?”
“Uh… well, if you would like, you can consider it a proposal to a proposal, if that makes it easier to accept,” he said with a nervous smile.
“I’ll tell you what… I’ll definitely think about it.”
“That is all I ask, fair Lady.”
Gothel smiled.
The prince nodded and then said, “Come, let us talk. I wish to know your story.”
The prince took Gothel to his favorite place to sit within the garden, a bench of marble, overlooking the sea. She began her story as the sun crept above the horizon.
“I had a truly loving father and mother once upon a time. They doted upon their only child greatly. I wanted for nothing. Then one day, when I was still very young… my father had to leave on business. I told him I didn’t want him to go. I had gotten this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt that something wasn’t right, I believed that something would happen to him if he left, but he left anyway, though; he promised me he would return. Later that year, my mother received word that he had never reached his destination. We assumed the worst, and he never returned.”
Gothel paused for a moment, fighting back tears as she relived the pain.
The prince took her by the hand, looked her in the eyes as she looked at him, and said, “Dear Gothel, that was the Lord Almighty.”
“What?”
“That feeling you had, it was the Lord Almighty Who gave it to you. I believe He was trying to warn your father through you.”
“I don’t believe in all that,” said Gothel.
“With all due respect, milady, God’s existence is not based upon your belief in Him.”
“Well, if God wanted to stop him, He should have just stopped him Himself!”
“I will not pretend to understand the mind or plan of God. I apologize for upsetting you, milady. Please, continue.”
Gothel sighed. Then she proceeded.
“My mother continued to raise me by herself, and she did a wonderful job… even though I knew she missed Father as well. She had even begun showing me how to take over the… family business. Until one day, she collapsed in the garden. I got there as she was being carried to her bed. I could not bring myself to go in to her. I waited outside for hours until someone finally came out to tell me that she died. I was alone… with nothing for me, so I left… my home and haven’t looked back since.”
The prince looked off into the sun as he thought on her words.
He then looked back at her and said, “Wow… you have led a most tragic life, Milady. My condolences for the loss of your parents.”
“Thank you.”
“So you said you had nothing left for you, but did you not leave your parents’ business behind?”
“I did.”
“What did they do?”
“…They were merchants.”
After a time, the sun had risen as they sat there on the marble bench at the back of the garden. And as they looked out over the sea, the prince looked over at Gothel.
After a moment of admiring and building up courage, he finally said, “Your beauty is magnified by the light of the rising sun, Milady.”
Flattered, she replied, “Thank you, kind Prince.”
The prince then picked the flower nearest him, a hauntingly beautiful flower of purple and white, and gave it to her.
“For you,” he said extending his hand.
“Thank you, they’re beautiful.” She smelled as she took them. “What are they called?”
To which the prince replied, “Rapunzel.”
Time went on and Gothel never left the Kingdom of Aurelio, and in a year’s time, she and Juan were wed.
“I, Juan, take you, Gothel, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life, until death do us part.”
“And I, Gothel, take you, Juan, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life, until death do us part.”
Years after they wed, Juan inherited the throne, due to the passing of his father, and Gothel became queen. Queen Gothel loved her husband and new life so much so that even though she had noticed she was aging, she did not care, and she and Juan grew old and grey and wrinkly together. They even had a child together along the way. But one day, King Juan became ill. And the illness took away the strength of his legs and he could not rise from his bed any longer. He had been bedridden for months.
One morning, Gothel had awaken from her sleep with a fright, waking Juan in the process.
He, already turned in her direction, opened his eyes, looked up at her and said, “Good morning, my lady.”
Taking solace in his voice, Gothel smiled, looked back at him, and said, “Good morning, my love.”
“What is the matter, my queen?”
Not wanting to worry him, Gothel replied, “Nothing, my king.”
Days later, feeling helpless and scared once again, Queen Gothel sat at her husband’s bedside grasping his hand tightly. After some time, King Juan finally opened his eyes.
“Hello, my queen,” he said weakly, knowing it was her without even looking.
“Hello, my king,” she said with sorrow.
“Hello, Papa,” said their daughter sadly.
“Hello, mija,” said Juan.
“Juan…” said Gothel brokenly.
The King looked back to her and said, “Do not cry for me, my lady… for I know what eternity holds for me.”
“Juan… I’m afraid.”
“Why, my queen?”
“Because I don’t.”
“You will be in heaven… with me. You believe in God, do you not?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know. You must have believed in Him—in His Son. I have shown you His love since the day I met you. You must be saved. You have to be.”
“How can I be? I’ve done so many terrible things, Juan. So many things: to you, to my people, to my kingdom, to complete strangers.”
“Rapunzel, give your mother and I a moment alone, please,” said Juan.
“Yes, my king.”
After their daughter left the room, Juan continued, “You have neither wronged me, my queen, nor your kingdom.”
“But I have. I have, Juan. I’ve been living a lie. I’ve been lying to you our entire life.”
“How, Gothel? Please, tell me how.”
“I was a citizen of Ambrose, my love. What’s more, I was its princess. And I fled my kingdom and my duty to the throne when my mother died. And greater still, I am not eighty years old as you believe me to be, I am closer to one hundred and eighty. I have killed people, my king. I have taken many innocent lives for the sake of immortality. I am not worthy of God’s forgiveness or of your love.”
After a moment the king said, “Well… you always did behave like royalty, even before we were wed… and as for your age… you always demonstrated wisdom beyond your years… well, what I thought was beyond your years.”
Gothel laughed. “How can you make jokes at a time like this?”
“Because, my queen, to die in the Lord… is to live forever with Him. I go to a place beyond man’s imaginings.”
“Will I go with you?”
“That, my dear, is up to you and you alone.”
“Juan, I’m afraid to die. Please don’t leave me! How can I go to heaven when I’ve done so many unforgivable things?”
“God forgives all who ask Him for forgiveness, even you, my queen.”
“But how? How could He forgive me? How could anyone forgive the things I’ve done?”
The king, sensing his end, sighed and said, “My single greatest regret… is that I never went into detail about my God with you. I love you, Gothel… I love you, my queen… but know that God loves you all the more… and is able and willing to forgive even those who think themselves unforgivable.”
The king then exhaled and was gone. Still clutching the lifeless hand of her husband’s body, Gothel began to cry out.
“Juan… Juan! JUAN! No! Please, Juan! Please, don’t leave me! I’m scared! I’m scared to die!”
Gothel wept sorely into the blanket that covered Juan’s body until she fell asleep. She had cried so hard that she exhausted herself. She later awoke to find her daughter crying on the other side of the bed. Gothel began to rise, slowly as to not make a sound. She was going to leave. She was going to run. Just as she was almost upright, her chair rubbed the floor roughly.
“Mother?” said the princess lifting her head.
Gothel then ran out of the room with great urgency.
“Mother? Mother, where are you going?” yelled the princess as she chased after the queen.
She followed her mother until finally losing her in the vast castle.
Once again, Gothel gathered all she could, mounted a horse, and left her kingdom behind. With fear in her heart and the uncertainty of eternity weighing heavy on her mind, she rode with all haste to a distant and unknown land. She remembered one last tale of immortality. One last way to circumvent death. A prophecy in fact, that a single drop of sunlight would fall from the heavens, healing the recipient of any ailment, even if what ailed you was mortality itself. By the light of her lantern Gothel searched frantically for where the sunlight was destined to fall. Suddenly, nearing the edge of a cliff, she looked up as the darkness of night was disturbed by a small yellow light, descending from the sky. Mesmerized by the sight of it, Gothel did not move, and the drop fell and sank into the ground. As she approached where the drop entered the earth, suddenly, a golden flower sprang up from the same place. She immediately thought to pluck it to use it in a potion, but then she realized that if the potion failed she would not get a second chance. She had to leave the plant intact, she could not alter it in any way. As she felt her life slipping away, her thoughts grew desperate. She could not think of what she needed to do. Her time was running out. Then, from out of her tangled thoughts, an idea stepped forth.
“An incantation,” she said to herself.
Still uncertain of what she would say, she took a deep breath, and then began to sing what she felt.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates’ design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine…
What once was mine.
She shed a tear as her thoughts went briefly to the love of her mother.
For the next three hundred and twenty years, whenever she showed signs of aging, Gothel would go back to the flower to sing her healing incantation causing her body and youth to be renewed, but in her isolation she grew more and more cold to the outside world. She had become addicted to the power of the flower. She had finally gained the immortality she so earnestly sought, but she had lost her hope and her humanity in the process. She was a captive of fear.
Then one day… the Queen of the Kingdom of Corona became very ill while she was with child.
But that… is another story.