Let Your Hair Down
"'The enchantress was so hard-hearted that she banished the poor girl to a wilderness,
where she had to live in a miserable, wretched state." - Rapunzel
The episode "Let Your Hair Down" unmistakably draws inspiration from the story of
Rapunzel. In the original tale, a witch shuts the young girl Rapunzel away in a tower in
the middle of the woods. When she visits Rapunzel, the witch stands beneath the tower
and calls out for Rapunzel to let down her hair. Rapunzel drops her long hair down to
the enchantress, who then climbs up the hair to Rapunzel's tower.
One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower.
Entranced by her voice, he searches for the girl and discovers the tower, but he is
unable to enter. He spies on the enchantress and learns how to enter, and he bids
Rapunzel to let her hair down. When she does, he climbs up and asks her to marry him.
Rapunzel agrees.
Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night and bring her
silk, which she will gradually weave into a ladder. In the Grimm edition of the tale,
Rapunzel foolishly gives the prince away by innocently saying that her dress is getting
tight around her belly, indicating pregnancy. In anger, the witch cuts short Rapunzel's
braided hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself. When the prince
calls that night, the enchantress lets the severed braids down to haul him up. When she
tells him in anger that he will never see Rapunzel again, he leaps from the tower in
despair and is blinded by the thorns below.
For months, the blinded prince wanders through the country. One day, as Rapunzel
sings while she fetches water, the prince hears Rapunzel's voice again, and they are
reunited. When they fall into each other's arms, her tears immediately restore his sight.
The prince leads her to his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.
In "Let Your Hair Down," there are clear parallels between young Holly and Rapunzel.
Both feature young girls held captive in the woods, but while Rapunzel was trapped by
the tower, Holly is held prisoner by her own feral nature. Not to mention, our
"Rapunzel" is a Blutbad and uses her long braid as a deadly weapon instead of a ladder.
