Fandom: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Niana's parents lived in the Dark Kingdom - members of the Brotherhood. They stayed in the Dark Kingdom after the evacuation, unwilling to leave their king's side.

Six years later, Niana is born. Without a midwife, the birth doesn't go smoothly. The complications weaken her mom and she gets sick when Niana is 1, passing away not long after.

Her dad raises her, training her to take up the mantle as a member of the brotherhood. Adira comes to visit every once in a while, meeting them on the outskirts of the kingdom.

Unfortunately, when Niana is 14, there's an accident and her dad is killed. She takes her vows to become a part of the Brotherhood, but King Edmund puts her tattoo on the back of her right shoulder and sends her away.

She ends up in Corona where she's found by the Recorder of Histories - a royal historian tasked with documenting events of the kingdom as they happen to ensure an accurate account. He takes Niana in and makes her his apprentice. She studies to become the next Recorder of Histories.

Rapunzel comes to the library looking for information about ancient, potentially magical, places in Corona. Niana helps her find what she's looking for and, in the process, befriends the princess.

She has a ceremony to official name her as the next Recorder of Histories. She's finally allowed into the Recording Chamber where she finds the walls covered floor-to-ceiling with the volumes of the previous historians. Each book represents a lifetime of a Recorder - an era of the kingdom of Corona.

One night, someone breaks into the chamber and steals the volume written by the author from Demanitus' time. It contains extensive knowledge about the ancient inventor and the demon Zan Tiri.

Niana gets blamed and imprisoned. Rapunzel, Cassandra, and Eugene track down the real culprit, retrieve the book, and clear her name.

When Varian attacks the kingdom and kidnaps the queen, she helps Cassandra and Eugene distract him while Rapunzel and the king sneak inside.

During the fight, the black rocks destroy a portion of the wall and create a path leading into the wilderness beyond.

Rapunzel, Cass, Eugene, Niana, and some of the others venture out to find what the rocks are leading them to, though Niana has a pretty good idea where they're headed.

They meet Adira in Varderos. She saves Niana and the two recognize each other. Niana doesn't tell the others that she knows Adira, not ready to tell them about her past.

When they face Adira again, Cass tries to fight her, but Niana steps in, revealing that she knows Adira. This forces her to tell them that she knows they're going to the Dark Kingdom because she was born/raised there. The realization hurts the others trust in her, but Rapunzel still believes in her.

On the way to the Great Tree, Hector attacks the caravan. They escape to the tree and Adira leads them on the path through the branches. They find a chamber with incantations carved on the wall. One is the healing incantation that Rapunzel used to save Eugene. The other is different. Rapunzel recites it and her hair turns black and everything around her starts to wither... including her companions. They snap her out of it and hurry out of the chamber.

After setting up camp at the peak of their path, Hector catches up and attacks. He manages to overpower Adira as she protects Cass and the others. Niana steps in. Hector recognizes her family resemblance to Ormand and Lilith - her parents. Niana holds her own, but Hector is clearly stronger. Adira steps back in and Hector falls into the heart of the tree and, in desperation, releases the evil trapped there. Rapunzel uses the Decay Incantation to help them escape, much to Cassandra's displeasure.

In the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow, Niana notices some of the others acting strange. Not sure what's going on, she keeps quiet and investigates. Cassandra finds her snooping in her room. Niana tries to play it off, but Cass attacks her, her eyes turning red, and throws Niana into a mirror in the hallway. She watches a reflection of herself leave with the Mirror Cass and finds the others trapped in the mirror world as well. Rapunzel manages to get the mirror versions back in the mirror so they can escape.

They finally reach the Dark Kingdom and Niana freezes at the border, reliving her childhood and the loss of her parents. They reach a gondola to cross the chasm to the castle. Halfway across the pit, they're attacked by a man wearing a bear hood. Niana recognizes him as King Edmund and helps Eugene and Rapunzel hold him off. He loses his axe and grabs her by the arm, pulling her up to eye level. He recognizes her eyes and throws her off the gondola. Rapunzel catches her with her hair, but Eugene and the king fall off the gondola.

They reach the other side where Adira meets them and assures them that Eugene is fine. They make it to the gate where Eugene refuses to let them inside. They make their way under the castle to find a way in.

After fighting off the ghosts of the past Kings, Rapunzel, Cass, and Eugene go after the Moon Stone. Cassandra betrays them and escapes with the stone.

When they return to Corona, they find the King and Queen with no memory, being manipulated by Varian and a band of Saporians. Niana buys the others time to escape, but gets captured by Varian. He locks her in the dungeon and she tries to get through to him, but he shakes her off.

Rapunzel and the others defeat the Saporians and, with her parents' memories gone, she takes over as acting queen.

While Rapunzel adjusts to her new duty as queen and struggles with Cassandra's betrayal, Niana begins writing her volume of the Histories, beginning, not with her arrival in Corona, but everything she learned about the history of the Dark Kingdom. She knows that it may be rejected as the history of her homeland isn't firsthand knowledge, but she feels the need to do it anyway.

When Cassandra returns in the guise of a Lady in Waiting, the soldiers attack and Cass escapes. Hungry for power and revenge, she attacks Rapunzel and the people are forced to flee. They return with a plan to banish Zhan Tiri back to the realm she escaped from, but things go wrong when the brainwashed Brotherhood show up.

Varian's dad tries to tamper with the portal they built, but Varian planned for that and he's rendered unconscious.

Meanwhile, Niana follows Rapunzel as she looks for Casandra, wanting to be there in case the princess needs backup. The plan goes south when the Mind Trap takes effect and Niana attacks Rapunzel. The princess fights her off and blocks the exit so she can't follow them.

Instead, she tracks down Eugene and King Edmund to try and stop them from going after the Mind Trap.

Eugene manages to free the Brotherhood. Niana wakes up in the castle where Eugene had managed to restrain her. Freeing herself, she goes looking for Rapunzel to help fight Cassandra, but she's too late. Zhan Tiri gets both the sun drop and the moon stone and attacks Corona. The citizens fight back, but are greatly outmatched.

Rapunzel and Cassandra use a sliver of the moon stone to defeat Zhan Tiri.

Niana turns down the job as Recorder of Histories, offering another candidate to take her place. She travels back to the Dark Kingdom with King Edmund, Hector, and Adira to rebuild their home.

Yep... I watched Tangled the Series... and honestly... no shame. The songs and plot are way better than they have any right to be. Also, Varian is too pure for this world. 🥺