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For the first iteration, see Rapunzel's tower. |
Gothel's Tower is a New Enchanted Forest location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the sixth episode of the seventh season.
Gothel's tower is based on Rapunzel's tower from the fairytale "Rapunzel," and Rapunzel's tower from the Disney film Tangled.
History
After making a deal with Rapunzel, who wants to save her family from illness and starvation, Gothel traps her in the tower. Rapunzel, only finding out after her imprisonment that her freedom is the cost for her family's happiness, makes a futile attempt to shout out the tower window for her husband Marcus and her daughters. After six years of being locked up, Rapunzel's hair has grown very long and she keeps it braided while also making tally marks on a stone to track the passing days. One night, she spots floating lanterns in the night sky and decides to escape by cutting her braid and using it as an anchor to climb out down the tower wall. Later on, a desperate Rapunzel asks Gothel to heal her elder daughter, Anastasia, who is hovering between life and death. Gothel preserves the body but reveals she intends to keep Anastasia in the tower, as Rapunzel already failed to be pure-hearted enough to become the Guardian, however, she believes perhaps someone else in Rapunzel's bloodline will suffice. However, Rapunzel manages to turn the tables on her as she stole the magic that Gothel once used to imprison her and then uses it to put Gothel in the tower. This leaves Gothel incapacitated; unable to leave the tower unless she can obtain someone of her own bloodline to leave behind in her place. ("One Little Tear")
Later, by ship, Hook and his crewmate Smee travel to the tower in search of a rare flower, which Hook needs to kill Rumplestiltskin. While Smee waits outside, Hook scales the tower alone and enters through the window. He meets Rapunzel, who is actually Gothel in disguise, and she spins him a fabricated tale about how a witch trapped her in the tower using the flower. After Rapunzel informs him of a garden where the flower can be found, Hook promises to return for her once he has gotten it. With Smee, Hook goes to the garden and follows Rapunzel's advice by singing a tale of a drunken sailor, triggering a giant garden gnome into attacking them, however, Hook manages to locate the flower by singing his mother's lullaby. After the gnome's destruction, Smee returns to wait on the ship while Hook climbs up the tower again and gives Rapunzel the flower. Using her womanly wiles, Rapunzel then seduces Hook and spends a night of passion with him. The morning after, Hook is shocked to hear a baby's cry in the tower, with Rapunzel revealing the child is his. She then takes off her disguise, showing herself to be Gothel, and explains how the flower sped up her pregnancy once she conceived the child and her reasons for needing someone of her own bloodline. Hook frowns upon her decision to abandon the infant girl, and after he refuses to go with her, Gothel departs from the tower on her own. Afterwards, Hook leaves the tower temporarily to return to the Wish Realm to fulfill his bargain with the Evil Queen and then comes back to raise his child, whom he names after his mother Alice. ("Eloise Gardener")
As Alice grows up in the tower, Hook frequently keeps her company by playing chess with her and admiring her paintings. As Alice begins to have dreams of Gothel returning for her, Hook decides to return to his home in the Enchanted Forest to ask Rumplestiltskin for help, despite knowing that he may fall to the temptation of returning to his life as a pirate, while Alice waits for him in the tower. When Hook finally does return, he has Maui's Fish Hook, which can free Alice, but when they attempt to embrace, Hook is knocked back and Gothel appears, revealing to Alice that Hook did, indeed, fall back to his old ways while he was gone and due to this, she was able to poison him with the Curse of the Poisoned Heart. She teleports Hook away and takes the Fish Hook as Alice cries in vain for him to help her. ("Knightfall")
Alice celebrates her 17th birthday alone, besides the company of a hat and various toys which she holds a tea party with. She lights a candle on a cupcake and wishes to be free and not alone as she blows it out, but nothing happens at first, causing her to forlornly say to her hat friend that perhaps her wish will come true next year. However, unbeknownst to her, her wish magically conjures a troll, which approaches the tower and rips its roof off. Alice is afraid at first, but realizes the troll means her no harm and climbs into its hand, finally free from the tower. ("The Girl in the Tower")
Years later, Rapunzel’s younger daughter Drizella desires magic so she can be free of her mother. She goes to the tower, which is now in ruins, to sift through discarded magical items and happens to open a box which releases a giant flytrap. Regina witnesses this and manages to save her in time before she is eaten alive. After hearing Drizella's reasons for wanting magic, Regina decides to train her in witchcraft. Outside the tower, Drizella tries her hand at lifting a large stone but cannot hold it for more than a few seconds. Regina gives her a boost by purposely breaking off a debris from the tower, and as it begins falling down, Drizella manages to pulverize it into pieces. Following the successful lesson, they are interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Gold, who persuades Regina that Drizella's mother may be allowing her to learn magic for a sinister reason. Regina and Drizella then spy on Rapunzel through a mirror, where they discover the woman wanted Drizella's heart to be full of belief so she can sacrifice it to revive Anastasia. Heartbroken that she will never obtain her mother's love or be free of her, Drizella begs Regina to help kill her. Regina refuses, not wanting her heart to become dark, but a hardened Drizella makes up her mind to get someone else to do it instead. ("Wake Up Call")
While still on a quest to find Alice, Hook asks Regina about what she saw at the tower and is saddened to learn that it is in shambles, but then Alice unexpectedly shows up to reunite with him. ("Pretty in Blue")
When the troll that once freed Alice goes on a rampage on her birthday years later, it begins to smash the already destroyed tower further. However, it is stopped when Alice assures it that she is no longer alone and it doesn't need to worry about her, turning it to stone. ("The Girl in the Tower")Trivia
Disney
- A Winnie-the-Pooh plushie is sitting on a shelf next to young Alice's bed;[2] a reference to the 2011 Disney film Winnie the Pooh. ("Knightfall")
Props Notes
- The black chess rook that Wish Hook got from Alice is a subtle foreshadowing of her backstory: A rook is shaped like a castle tower. ("A Pirate's Life")
- Fittingly enough, when playing chess with Tilly, his daughter's Seattle counterpart, in the Hyperion Heights Hospital, Rogers places the black rook next to the white knight.[3] As shown in "A Pirate's Life" and "Pretty in Blue" in blue, the chess piece that Alice got from Wish Hook is a white knight. ("Beauty")
- The golden flower petal that Gothel left for Wish Hook is lying on the table next to him when he is holding his newborn daughter.[4] ("Eloise Gardener")
- During Alice's tea party, a rabbit plushie is sitting by the table,[5] a reference to the White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She also picks up a top hat and refers to it as "Mr. Hatter," a reference to the Hatter from the story. ("The Girl in the Tower")
- After she escapes, Alice has the same rabbit plushie in her cottage[6] and refers to it as "Mr. Rabbit." ("The Guardian")
Set Dressing
- Two decorative boxes that were sitting on the coffee table in Regina's living room in "Bleeding Through"[7] and "The Savior"[8] (one of them can also be seen on a side table in "Murder Most Foul")[9] are used to decorate Gothel's living room. One is sitting on a shelf,[10] while the other one is sitting on the bedside table.[11] A few years later, one of them is sitting on a shelf next to young Alice's bed in "Knightfall."[12] One of them can also be seen in adult Alice's cottage in "The Guardian."[6] ("Eloise Gardener")
- Alice's tea set[13] is a Toysmith Deluxe Ceramic Tea Set with Basket.[14] After she escapes, Alice has the same tea set in her cottage.[6] ("The Girl in the Tower," "The Guardian")
Filming Locations
- The interior of the tower was filmed on a television set at The Bridge Studios.[16] A redressed version of the set was later used for Wish Rumplestiltskin's basement in "Homecoming" and "Leaving Storybrooke."[17]
- The basement set[18] previously doubled as the Royal Castle's wine cellar in "A Bitter Draught."[19] This can easily be seen from the identical chandelier, the shape of the walls and the door.
- A redressed version of the basement also doubles as Dr. Jekyll's laboratory in Mr. Hyde's hospital in "Only You."[20]
- Moreover, the hospital scenes with the cage in "Only You" were shot on the same set as the scenes in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory. The cage was removable, and the set was redressed as the laboratory. Some of the walls were removed, and windows put in.[21]
Goofs
- In the episode "Wake Up Call," the tower looks completely destroyed. However, in "The Girl in the Tower," it looks partially destroyed, even though the episode takes place after "Wake Up Call." It should have been the other way around, with the tower being partially destroyed in "Wake Up Call," and completely in "The Girl in the Tower."
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Appears | Mentioned | Appears | Absent | Absent |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Absent | Appears | Appears | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears |
| Other Appearances | ||||||||||
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