When watching Disney’s Tangled, it’s pretty easy to see the light. It’s obviously one of Disney’s modern masterpieces and an excellent addition to their rogues gallery of animated films. It’s got lovable characters, catchy music, and an unfurling plot filled with wonder, magic, and lots of hair! However, in addition to all of that hair are lots of plot holes.

When the threads are untangled, it’s easy to see that not much beneath the film’s surface actually makes sense. It's not just because it’s about magical glowing hair with healing properties. From Rapunzel’s kidnapper being oddly indulgent when it comes to niche extra curriculars, to disappearing satchels, to shockingly bad deductive skills, to a tower that has no reason to exist in the first place, to, well, yes the hair doesn’t make much sense either – a closer look at Tangled reveals a messy knot of questions.

It might be hard to believe that there could be over 25 blatant plot holes in Tangled. After all, it’s a perfect movie, and way better than Frozen. Rapunzel and Eugene are OTP material, and the music by the legendary Alan Menken is truly great. It stars the untouchable Mandy Moore! But even the most beautiful heads of hair have their split ends, Tangled is no exception. We might not want to admit that such a beloved film has its flaws (26 of them, to be exact). But we’re about to dive in and expose them. We apologize in advance for this.

Here are 26 Plot Holes, Unsolved Mysteries, and Hanging Threads in Disney's Tangled. 

26 Mother Gothel's Impossible Knowledge

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Let’s start at the beginning. The inciting action that triggers the events of the film is Mother Gothel discovering the magical properties of a golden flower touched by drops of sunlight. Using the flower, she can essentially live forever. In order to do so, she sings a song with a specific melody and lyrics. But, how does Mother Gothel know what to sing in order to activate the flower’s magic?

We’re guessing she couldn’t look up “Magical Healing Song lyrics” on Genius.

There’s no suggestion throughout the rest of the film that Mother Gothel possesses magical ability herself, or has access to a spellbook that would include the melodic incantation. So, did Mother Gothel just make hundreds of attempts until she finally landed on “Flower, gleam, and glow?”

Furthermore, it seems knowledge exists throughout the kingdom regarding the flower’s healing properties. The royal family’s soldiers eventually unearth the flower to create a medicine that would save the queen’s life. The healing song, thus, seems to be the exclusive intellectual property of Mother Gothel. How did she know what to sing? Was it common knowledge hundreds of years before the events of the film? If so, why didn’t more people utilize the flower’s power? It’s an unsolved mystery and Tangled provides no answers.

25 Mother Gothel Trapping Herself, Too

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Once the Queen ingests the magical flower, its power transfers to the baby in her womb. Rapunzel or, more specifically, Rapunzel’s hair. So, Mother Gothel kidnaps the princess and whisks her off to a tall hidden tower. She raises Rapunzel as her own daughter, maintaining her youth by singing to Rapunzel’s magical hair. Rapunzel is forbidden from ever leaving the tower, but Mother Gothel does so out of necessity. Mother Gothel climbs down Rapunzel’s dozens of feet worth of hair safely to the ground, so she may find food for them, as well as books, hair brushes, art supplies, and other necessities.

OK, there’s a lot to unpack here. Did you catch some of the plot holes and major questions we’ll be looking at for the next several numbers? First, an easy one. Rapunzel’s hair didn’t grow all at once, since she’s shown with short hair as a baby. If Mother Gothel never utilized the hidden entrance to the tower (to ensure Rapunzel was unaware of its existence) and exclusively came and went by climbing Rapunzel’s hair, how did Mother Gothel leave the tower before Rapunzel's hair was long enough to reach the ground? They couldn’t possibly have survived without food long enough to wait several years for the hair to grow close to a hundred feet! Could they sing a song to remove their hunger?

24 Rapunzel's Real Name

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OK, let’s back up a bit. What is Rapunzel’s real name? In the original Grimm’s fairytale, Mother Gothel names Rapunzel after some rapunzel she finds in her garden, which is a kind of green root vegetable.

Does Rapunzel keep this name even after she is reunited with her true parents? Surely she wouldn’t keep the name given to her by the woman who kidnapped her, locked her in a tower, and used her for her hair’s magic powers? Even if Mother Gothel did weirdly support all of Rapunzel’s numerous hobbies, the name would still be a traumatizing reminder of her former life. She wouldn't want to keep it after resettling in the castle.

Maybe her parents liked the name Rapunzel. Maybe they think it's catchy. 

However, we know that Rapunzel continues in the sequel short Tangled Ever After, as well as in the spin off tv-series on Disney channel. Both of which take place after the original film. It’s weirdly inconsistent, especially when Rapunzel insists on Eugene abandoning his self-styled “Flynn Rider” in favor of his birth name. Wouldn’t Rapunzel want to do the same for herself? Why would she keep the name that has always been a lie? What is the true name of Corona’s Princess? It would seem we’ll never know.

23 Who Built The Tower, When, And Why

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Where did this tower that conveniently satisfies all of Mother Gothel’s child-abducting needs come from? Did she live there already? If so, why would she intentionally live somewhere that requires you to climb a hundred feet worth of stairs every time you come home? It doesn’t really make sense for the tower to have existed before Mother Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel, as it seems perfectly suited for hiding her and serves no other purpose. But if Mother Gothel had it built specifically to hide Rapunzel, where did they live before its completion? The Kingdom would have been teeming with search parties looking for the Lost Princess.

Since Mother Gothel presumably didn’t build the tower herself, who did? Did she have a team of skilled builders to construct the skyscraper? If she did, why wouldn’t any of them notify the royal family of a sketchy tower hidden relatively close by, with no point of entry or exit besides a hidden door? It shouldn’t be that hard to at least suspect the creepy woman who wanted a hidden, inescapable tower built as fast as possible,  when everyone’s freaking out about the kidnapped Princess. But, these are all questions that Tangled never asked and never answered.

22 Why Would Mother Gothel Stay So Close To The Kingdom?

For that matter, why wouldn’t Mother Gothel hide Rapunzel somewhere much farther away from the kingdom? She kidnapped the literal sole heir to the throne and chose to hide with her less than a day’s walk away. A day’s walk, that Rapunzel completes throughout the film while barefoot. Besides the whole possibly-constructed-a-skyscraper thing.

Mother Gothel really put minimum effort in for this one.

It’s especially ridiculous when you think about the fact that she could have walked hundreds of miles and used Rapunzel to heal the blisters on her feet. Or, possibly used Rapunzel's hair to satisfy hunger and fatigue (the possibility of this was an unanswered question we had earlier). She could have gotten so much farther without fear of harm or injury. Instead, she chooses to stay on the outskirts of the kingdom. They’ll forget about a measly missing heiress eventually, right?

Nevermind the fact that the kingdom clearly never moves on, as every year on her birthday they release lanterns. Which Rapunzel takes part in when she ventures to Corona herself in the film. It doesn’t make sense that Mother Gothel felt safe so close to the kingdom. Eventually, someone would come stumbling into their hiding place. After all, it’s the opposite of discreet.

21 Someone Would Have Found Them Eventually

Now that we mention it, it makes no sense that no one found the tower in the 18 years that take place before the events of the film. With a King and Queen relentlessly dedicated to tracking down their daughter, they should have, eventually, been successful. After all, the tower isn’t exactly in a remote of a location. We see in the film that it’s a short walk away from a popular pub which attracts all sorts of ruffians who are no stranger to the off beaten path.

Even more, the tower isn’t that hidden in the first place. You just have to move some vines and go through a short tunnel. Flynn Rider himself comes upon it completely by accident. Is he really the first in 18 years to find the tower?

If he isn’t, more questions arise. Did Mother Gothel quickly dispose of those who found it? But how would she do that without Rapunzel noticing?

Regardless, it doesn’t make sense. Mother Gothel couldn't possibly subdue everyone who discovered the tower over the years. For one, most of them probably wouldn’t react by climbing the tower. They’d probably immediately turn around and notify the King and Queen.

20 Rapunzel's Hair Isn't Magic In That Way

OK, so this one’s kind of petty; Rapuzel’s hair is like a hundred feet long. Despite its length, it’s beautiful, golden, shiny, and neat. In the song “When Does My Life Begin,” we learn that Rapunzel spends a lot of her time brushing and brushing and brushing and brushing it.

But, how does she wash it?

While we’re at it, does the tower have any kind of plumbing or running water? Does she make her own soap, since she’s so crafty? We’ll not even get into the questions about bathroom usage.

Even going beyond the confines of the tower, Rapunzel spends the film dragging her hair through dirt, mud, twigs, gravel, and sticky pub floors. How does nothing get stuck in it? By the end of the film, her hair should be absolutely filthy. It should be covered in muck, filled with lice, and as tangled as the movie’s name. Yet, her hair remains as perfectly pristine as if it were magic.

Well, OK, it is magic. But not in that way! The hair may be able to heal cuts and reverse the effects of the body’s natural aging process, but no one ever said anything about twig-removal or a self-cleaning function.

19 Can Rapunzel Use Her Hair On Herself?

While we’re talking about the hair, would Rapunzel be able to use the powers of her magic hair on herself? If she got cut, would she be able to wrap her own hair around it, sing “Flower, Gleam, and Glow,” and heal the cut? If she can do that, would she be able to use her hair in the same way as Mother Gothel and reverse aging? If she were able to, another host of questions arise.

Why wouldn’t Mother Gothel use the magic of Rapunzel’s hair on Rapunzel herself, both to preserve the magic forever, and to make sure that Rapunzel stays young and naïve forever? Why would she allow Rapunzel to grow to the age of a teenager who longs for freedom, who questions authority, and who, eventually, will undoubtedly escape? A toddler is fully dependent and easily manipulated, so it doesn’t make sense for Mother Gothel to relinquish that level of control.

Additionally, by keeping Rapunzel a young child, she could avoid suspicion from anyone who happens upon the tower in the future. After several years pass, Rapunzel would no longer match the age of the Princess everyone is searching for, providing an effective cover if the pair were ever detected.

18 Mother Gothel's Inability To Properly Manipulate

With that said, Mother Gothel proved to be a terrible manipulator. Everything Rapunzel knew and understood about the world was under Mother Gothel’s control. She could have told Rapunzel anything. We see glimpses of this during Mother Gothel’s song “Mother Knows Best,” where she warns Rapunzel about the dangers of the world, including men with pointy teeth. However, the most vital cover up revolved around the lanterns, and Mother Gothel barely tried to stifle Rapunzel's curiosity. Although they inspire intense wonder within Rapunzel, Mother Gothel vaguely explains that they’re “the stars,” though Rapunzel knows what stars are (presumably, because Mother Gothel explained the real ones to her, too) and that there’s no way the lanterns are also stars.

Come on Gothel, get your game face on.

It doesn’t make sense that Mother Gothel didn’t just make something up. She could have said anything to explain them, like: "They’re the souls of children every time one passes on. It’s dangerous out there!”  That way, Rapunzel would stop wondering what they are, as well as appreciate the sanctuary that Mother Gothel provides even more. However, because the plot depends so heavily on Rapunzel dreaming about the lanterns, the film forces Mother Gothel to really drop the ball here.

17 Mother Gothel Told Rapunzel Her Real Birthday, For Some Reason

For that matter, why does Rapunzel know what day her birthday is? It doesn’t even make sense for her to know the concept of a birthday. Why would Mother Gothel explain things like the passage of time, birth, and the traditional celebration of the calendar day you were born? To Mother Gothel, Rapunzel is a device to use for eternal life. She shouldn’t take the time to explain all these realities to a child who wouldn’t know the difference.

Even if she did explain all these things – maybe she was bored or something – why would Mother Gothel tell Rapunzel what her real birthday is? Actually, why would Mother Gothel even know Rapunzel’s real birthday, given that she probably didn’t pay that much attention to what was happening in the kingdom before she had to steal the princess?

Mother Gothel had to have known about the annual lanterns before Rapunzel reached a mature enough age to understand the concept of a birthday. After all, they would have been launched a few times by that point already and Mother Gothel probably would have heard about their significance during one of her trips into town. Rapunzel understanding there’s connection between the lanterns and her birthday is a huge, pivotal plot point. But it’s one that makes no sense.

16 Mother Gothel's Feelings Toward Rapunzel

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In the film, Mother Gothel is solely a villain. The film doesn’t treat her as having complexities beyond that, particularly when her true colors are revealed toward the film’s conclusion. However, you have to wonder, given the relative stability of Rapunzel’s psychology and the quality of her life besides the whole locked-in-a-tower thing, did Mother Gothel actually love Rapunzel?

In “When Will My Life Begin?” Rapunzel lists a litany of hobbies she has that allow her to pass the time. All of these things could only be supplied by Mother Gothel herself. She buys Rapunzel at least three books – meaning she taught her to read, too. She provides Rapunzel with a guitar, vivid paints, a wide assortment of crafting supplies, fabric to sew dresses, and more. With all these numerous hobbies that Rapunzel not only possesses, but excels at, even, is the implication that Mother Gothel must have taught Rapunzel these skills in the first place.

Mother Gothel just wanted Rapunzel to be a well-rounded young women. Even if she keeps her locked in a tower.

So, how could Rapunzel grow up locked in a tower, kidnapped by a woman who doesn’t really love her, but live the happiest, most fulfilling life possible? How could Mother Gothel choose to spend so much time ensuring Rapunzel grows up into a well adjusted adult, but feel nothing for her? Unfortunately, the film does not devote time to address any complexity within Gothel’s character, leaving a rather large, unfillable hole in the story’s structure.

15 What Does Mother Gothel Do All Day?

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Given that we’ve established Mother Gothel is a gaping hole in the story already, let’s really drive the point home. What exactly does Mother Gothel do with her eternal life? Shouldn’t she be just as bored as Rapunzel?

Even though Rapunzel’s the one locked in a tower, we learn that she has a large number of fulfilling hobbies, passions, and talents. When it comes to Mother Gothel, we have no idea what she could possibly be doing to fill the time. Before the film even takes place, she’d been utilizing the magic of the flower for hundreds of years.

Does she go to work? Does she pursue love interests? What’s the point of staying young and beautiful forever if she doesn’t actually do anything? If she is out there living her life to the fullest, wouldn’t people eventually notice that she doesn’t age? When it comes to Mother Gothel, whose actions create the entire story, there are only unanswerable questions. As a character, she doesn’t make sense. By extension, the plot of the film doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately for Tangled, this is one problem you can’t fix by wrapping your hair around it and singing “Flower, Gleam, and Glow.”

14 How Did Mother Gothel Even Steal Rapunzel?

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This is the last point questioning the very foundation of the plot.

How did Mother Gothel manage to steal Rapunzel in the first place? She had to have broken into the castle, gotten past armed guards, kidnapped Rapunzel, suppressed her crying, and fled the scene without anyone seeing her. During all that, baby Rapunzel had to have stayed silent.

Not only would Mother Gothel had to have been a Mission Impossible level agent, but she wasn’t even at her prime health. She kidnaps Rapunzel during a time when she was hoping to utilize the flower’s magic. So, she’s actually relatively worn down at this time. Even if she spent those hundreds of years learning top notch spy craft, she would have been too weak to fully utilize her skills.

Who needs Ethan Hunt or James Bond, when you can have Mother Gothel. 

Even if she managed to stealthily leave the castle, she had to have escaped the kingdom itself without anyone noticing her. That’s a long time for a baby to go without crying. Furthermore, we’re still not sure where they fled to, as we don’t know when the tower was built or by whom. Essentially, everything revolving around the film’s basic premise is a plot hole in the shape of giant question mark.

13 Flynn's Unfortunate Lack Of Deductive Reasoning

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OK, let’s finally skip to some stuff that happens after the title song.

The master thief Flynn Rider steals Rapunzel’s crown, escapes the palace guard, and stumbles upon Rapunzel’s tower in the process. He decides to climb it, apparently trusting the window at the top is open or at least unlocked. Then, he encounters an eighteen-year-old blonde girl with supernaturally long hair and pretty much the same face as the Queen. Why does it not occur to Flynn that he just found the Lost Princess?

It’s really not that much of a logical conclusion. He finds a girl who matches the age of the missing Princess, in a remote location with no apparent means of entrance or exit. She has very, very long hair -- so long that something unusual is definitely happening here. Not only that, but she’s strikingly beautiful in a way that only fabled royalty ever is. Why wouldn’t he at least suspect her true identity?

It’s true that Flynn has a lot going on. He’s an orphan who steals to get by. He probably doesn’t give that much thought to the royal family. However, he is definitely aware of the missing princess, because he explains to Rapunzel that that’s what the lanterns are for (Why she doesn’t think, “Oh, that could be me?” is whole ‘nother thing we won't even get into).

12 Frying Pans And Brain Damage

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Throughout the film, characters use a cast-iron pans to smash each other on the head and knock each other out. Most prominently, Rapunzel uses this particular form of self defense on her eventual love-interest when he first breaks into her tower. She fears he’s one of the pointy-toothed man-beasts Mother Gothel had warned her about.

Not only does Rapunzel strike Flynn hard enough with a frying pan to knock him out, but he’s out cold long enough for her to drag him into a closet. Then, when he awakens, she knocks him out again. Again, he’s unconscious long enough for her to tie him to a chair.

Flynn Rider has a really strong noggin. He could be Shazam. Wink, wink. 

Though there’s no serious repercussions for this in the film, the reality is that researchers conclude “A blow to the head that knocks a person unconscious can result in widespread loss of brain tissue.”

When someone is unconscious due to head trauma, brain tissue deteriorates, and the longer they’re out, the more tissue they lose. This can have a significant effect on a person’s behavior afterwards. Given Flynn suffered repeated blows to the head, and that he fell unconscious numerous times, it’s unlikely Flynn could not have experienced some permanent brain damage as a result of Rapunzel’s actions.

11 Rapunzel Sliding Down Her Own Hair

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It’s classic. People climb Rapunzel’s hair to get up into the tower. That’s something about the story that no one can change, as it’s the most iconic aspect of Rapunzel's story. However, when Rapunzel finally leaves the tower with Flynn, how does she slide down her own hair?

The film takes the time to establish a pulley system Rapunzel utilizes to stabilize herself when she’s pulling someone else up, as well as to prevent pain. However, in order for Rapunzel to use this system when she sliding down her own hair, she would need to have hair twice the length of the tower. Essentially, her hair would come up through the pulley as she goes down. So, unless she had enough extra hair, she would run out halfway through her descent, and free fall the rest of the way.

However, establishing shots repeatedly draw parallels between her hair and the length of the tower. There’s nothing that suggests she has twice the amount of the tower’s height. And, comparing the height of the tower with the height of the characters, the idea that she would have double that amount is ludicrous on its own, particularly since she can cram it all into local pubs, swim through underwater caves with it, and tie it all into a five-foot braid (more on this next).

10 Five-Foot Braid? Really?

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Even if we entertain the notion that all of Rapunzel’s hair can be neatly braided into a more manageable five feet, how does Rapunzel hold her head up?

She would definitely fall back from the immense weight of the braid. 

Not only is she able to support the additional weight using her own strength, but she can frolic through the streets with it, dance with children, and gaze, transfixed, at a mural of the lost princess without once wondering, “Hey, maybe it’s me, the girl who was locked in a tower since around the time the princess went missing?”

The thing about the impossible five-foot braid is that it’s necessary to set up the last act. Without the braid, Rapunzel couldn’t possibly get in the rowboat that she rides with Flynn during “I See the Light.” After all, would hair double the length of a tower fit in a dingy rowboat? Probably not. Thus, the braid is a necessary contrivance to continue the plot. It makes absolutely no sense, but the film requires it if it wants to sail into the last act of the film. Thus, though it looks fabulous, it’s a plot hole.

9 Rapunzel Shouldn't Know How To Swim

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Backing up a bit, in the scene where Rapunzel and Flynn evade the palace guards’ capture (they ask no questions regarding the blonde with miles of hair who’s about the same age as the missing princess), the two heroes find themselves trapped in a cave steadily filling with water. Using the light of Rapunzel’s magical hair, they find an opening toward the bottom, which they then swim through to safety. But, how does Rapunzel know how to swim?

We can maybe justify her knowing how to read; Mother Gothel might have taught her just so she’ll stay quiet and read books. We can understand why Rapunzel knows how to play guitar; plenty of people teach themselves. We can even, on some level, accept that Rapunzel knows how to make candles.

But there’s no way Rapunzel would know how to swim, because she has never even been outside. Yet, without hesitation, she’s able to dive beneath the surface of the water, quickly swim with accuracy toward the opening, swim through it, return to the surface, and swim to the shore. While there’s a lot that magic hair can do for you, inexplicable swimming ability just isn’t one of those things.

8 Rapunzel Shouldn't Know What A Horse Is, Or How To Tame One

Furthermore, given Rapunzel has never been outside before, how is she able to tame Maximus the horse so confidently? Unless on of the books Mother Gother provided her was Black Beauty, Rapunzel shouldn't even know what a horse is, let alone how to properly soothe it from aggression.

It’s especially odd that Rapunzel tames Maximus by treating it like a dog, since she shouldn’t know what a dog is either. Unless the other book Mother Gothel brought home was Where the Red Fern Grows. Yet, not only can Rapunzel ease Maximus’s anxiety, she earns the trust and devotion of an invaluable ally in the process. It’s a marvelous feat for someone who has interacted with about five living things total in her whole life up to this point.

Why have a normal horse, when you can have one with a sword!

What’s even more incredible is that Rapunzel is able to do all of this without the slightest fear. Maybe it's the Disney Princess trope, where animals and princess have a sacred bond. Even if they've never had any sort of interaction with them. But that isn't a fool proof reason. Plus, Maximus was wielding a sword while he fought with Flynn, earlier in the film! Talk about scary! Why would she want to interact with a horse like that!

7 The Mysterious Vanishing Satchel

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Somehow, and this is another plothole that we’re not even going to focus on, Mother Gothel tracks down Rapunzel and Flynn while they’re camping in the woods. Rather than take Rapunzel then, Mother Gothel decides to really break the girls spirit by crushing her dreams, and telling her that Flynn is only using her to get the princess’s crown back. Mother Gothel gives Rapunzel the crown, still concealed in Flynn’s satchel, and tells her to give it back to Flynn so he may demonstrate his lack of loyalty once and for all.

Rapunzel takes the satchel and hides it… somewhere in her tight-fitting frock? OK, maybe she hid it in the horse’s saddle, somehow, you might say.

Rapunzel finally reveals that she has the satchel during the “I See the Light” sequence, when the two are alone on a small paddleboat. After admitting their love for each other, she reaches down to pull it from somewhere vaguely off camera. That means she had to have taken the satchel onto the boat without detection. Where would she have hidden it? She can’t hide anything that large in her dress without making an obvious lump. She can’t even hide it in her hair, since it’s all tied up in a five-foot braid. Maybe there's a secret portal in her hair? Who knows.