Mother Gothel

This old woman has used the magic power of the Helios Flower to keep herself young for centuries, and is still using its power through Rapunzel's hair. She'll go through any methods to keep herself young, even allying herself with the Horned King to use the Heartless as her tower guardians.

Role in Reconnect
As an elderly woman near the end of her life, Gothel is the single witness of a drop of pure sunlight falling to the ground, creating a magical flower with healing abilities. When Gothel sings to the flower and strokes its petals, she becomes younger and beautiful. She is determined to keep this secret from the rest of the world and hides the flower to keep herself beautiful and young forever. Hundreds of years pass, and in that time a nearby kingdom prospers. Sadly, the young queen falls deathly ill while pregnant, and the entire kingdom searches for a cure. A guard manages to find the flower and Gothel is powerless to stop him. After drinking a broth made from the flower, the queen is cured and the flower's abilities are given to her unborn child, a girl named Rapunzel.

In the dead of night, Gothel, breaks into the little princess's room and uses Rapunzel's long golden hair to replenish herself. When she tries to cut some of the hair for herself, however, it turns brown and the healing powers are destroyed. The king and queen awaken as Gothel kidnaps the little princess. She isolates her in a hidden tower far away from the rest of the world, and raises her as her own daughter. Gothel refuses to let Rapunzel go outside, telling her the world is a dangerous place where people would try to hurt her and use her gift for themselves. Rapunzel, however, sees some special floating lights every year on her birthday (really floating lanterns the king and queen set free to remember their lost daughter) and yearns to find out what they are. Meanwhile, Young Xehanort, using a timewarp to travel to the past, contacts Gothel, and offers her a propostion: join an alliance with many other dark-hearted individuals, and she will be able to obtain a piece of Kingdom Hearts for her to remain eternally young forever. Gothel, not knowing what to think of this deal, says that she'll think about it. Young Xehanort replied that she has 18 years to come up with her decision, or else her world, and her with it, will fall to darkness if she refuses.

Eighteen years later, Mother Gothel is still as manipulative and over-protective as ever. She constantly uses subtle jabs, over-the-top guilt trips, and refrains of "Mother Knows Best" to keep Rapunzel from leaving the tower. When Rapunzel pushes her with requests to leave the tower and see the lights she finally snaps and screams at her "You are not leaving this tower, EVER!!" when Rapunzel was really trying to tell her how she managed to capture Flynn Rider and was currently hiding him in the closet. Rapunzel promises to never ask about the lights again if Gothel will bring her back a special birthday present, a paint for her room made from white seashells, which will require a three-day journey. Confident that Rapunzel is safe, she agrees. While on her way, Gothel comes across Maximus, who is now without a rider and still searching for Flynn. Realizing what a riderless horse could mean the discovery of Rapunzel, Gothel hurries back to the tower and calls for Rapunzel to let down her hair. Desperate when she hears no reply, Gothel reopens a previously sealed entrance to the tower and enters the room. She is terrified to find no one there, but discovers Flynn's satchel with the stolen tiara and a wanted poster. Thinking he kidnapped Rapunzel, Gothel steals a dagger and begins his search for him. It is here where Young Xehanort returns to catch up on the deal he made with Gothel, asking her if she made up her mind. Gothel, angry at losing Rapunzel to the thief, agrees to the deal, and is rewarded with control over the Heartless, beginning her search once more with renewed resolve. When she comes across the Snuggly Duckling tavern, however, she overhears Rapunzel singing how happy she is now that she is has left the tower. She spies Rapunzel and Flynn escaping through a hidden tunnel when the royal guards arrive and flirts with (then quickly threatens) Shorty the pub thug to find out where it leads.

Gothel soon comes across the Stabbington Brothers, who are out to get back at Flynn for betraying them. Using this to her advantage, Gothel gives them the crown but tells them she can offer them an even greater treasure, along with revenge on Flynn. That night she talks to Rapunzel while Flynn is out getting firewood and tries to get her to return to the tower with her. Rapunzel refuses, wanting to continue her journey and admitting she has some feelings for Flynn. Gothel insists the only reason why Flynn is with her is to get the crown, which she thrusts into Rapunzel's hands and orders her to give it to him as a test before vanishing. Gothel's plan is put into action while Flynn and Rapunzel are watching the lanterns the next evening. Rapunzel gives Flynn his satchel to show that she trusts him. But before they kiss, Flynn spies the Stabbington Brothers on the opposite shore and tells Rapunzel to wait as he goes to talk to them. Flynn tries to apologize and return the crown to them, but they reveal that they now know about Rapunzel's gift. The brothers find Rapunzel and tell her Flynn left with the crown and told them about her healing powers. Rapunzel refuses to believe them until they point out Flynn sailing away on a boat, ignoring Rapunzel's screams. Before the brothers can kidnap Rapunzel, Gothel betrays them so it appears she's rescuing her. She leads the heartbroken Rapunzel home and Flynn, who was knocked out and tied to the mast of the boat, is caught by the guards, who prepare to hang him the next morning. At home, Gothel reminds Rapunzel that the world is intolerant of joy and happiness and will destroy any ray of sunshine it finds. After she goes to fix dinner, Rapunzel realizes that she is the princess who was stolen years ago from her home and confronts Gothel with the revelation, standing up to her for the first time. Gothel tries to calm Rapunzel by saying she only wanted to protect her but angers Rapunzel further when she informs her on Flynn's sentence to be hung. Rapunzel insists she will never let her use her hair again, inciting Gothel's rage and causing her to emit darkness from her as Heartless begin to surround Rapunzel. When Flynn escapes on Maximus and returns to the tower, he climbs up Rapunzel's hair only to find her chained and gagged. Gothel fatally stabs him from behind and prepares to take Rapunzel to a new hiding place, but Rapunzel fights back with all her might much to Gothel's protests. Rapunzel promises Gothel that she will go with her quietly and never resist her again if she is allowed to heal Flynn. Gothel agrees to this, but underestimates the thief's affection for Rapunzel. Choosing death over allowing Rapunzel to be trapped forever, he cuts off all her hair with a shard of glass before she can heal him. The healing power is gone forever, and a horrified Gothel watches as her true age begins to catch up on her. As she writhes around in panic and tries to hide her aging beneath her cloak, Pascal pulls the length of the cut hair and she trips over it, falling out of the tower window. When she hits the ground, only her cloak remains.

In the second visit to Peninsula of the Golden Sun, Young Xehanort revives Mother Gothel from the darkness to give her a second chance in capturing Rapunzel, who by now is revealed to be one of the Princesses of Heart. During the wedding between Rapunzel and Flynn, Gothel arrives to capture the princess and kill Flynn once and for all as part of her vengeance. Sora thus engages Gothel in battle, but she is now aided by a Heartless made up of the darkness in Gothel's heart as well as the cut hair of Rapunzel. Gothel uses the Heartless to heal herself once in a while, while she attacks the Keybearer with her knife. However, she is no match for the power of the Keyblade, and she once more dissolves into dust and darkness, lost to the realm of shadows forever.