Varian

"Magic?! I do not work with magic! I mean, technically it's not magic, it's alchemy. But yeah, don't sweat it."

- Varian explaining his profession

"They... Will... '''Pay."

- Varian swearing revenge.

"Sorry... Princess. But I know firsthand how well you keep promises."

- Varian expressing his hatred to Repunzel.

Varian is a young, but brilliant, yet often clumsy alchemist and recurring character in the Tangled series. He started out as an ally to Princess Rapunzel and her friends, but after a tragic accident involving his father and Rapunzel's inability to help him, he becomes the vengeance-seeking main antagonist of the second-half of the season.

He is voiced by Broadway singer Jeremy Jordan

Personality
A young but brilliant-minded scientist, alchemist, and inventor, Varian started out with a youthful idealistic view that sought to be of help to others through his work as an alchemist. But he was often at odds with his father and his wishes to make his father proud made him insecure and awkward, especially around other people.

He is irritated by people calling his work magic when he insists it is science, and he has a progressive mind, wanting to help his village when it is under siege by mysterious spikes of unbreakable rock despite his father's wishes to pretend the problem doesn't exist.

When one of his experiments in finding a solution goes horribly wrong that it entraps his father in unbreakable amber, Varian is overwhelmed with guilt and went to the only person he hoped could help, Princess Rapunzel. but due to a crisis going on, Rapunzel reluctantly turned Varian away, causing him to lose all faith in her and the royal family of Corona, vowing to make them pay.

He became bitter, spiteful, and manipulative, setting up a large-scale problem and tricking Rapunzel into helping him acquire the dried remains of the Sundrop Flower and hatefully telling her off for breaking her promise to help him should he ever come to her and turning him away from a moment of real need.

Varian threw away his moral compass when he came to the conclusion he needed Rapunzel, not the flower, to free his father. He sent an automaton to attack her, which caused her father, King Frederic, to confine Rapunzel to a tower, and then willfully mutated his pet raccoon to attack the castle guard, distracting everybody while Varian kidnapped Rapunzel's mother, Queen Arianna. He showed himself to be remorseless to Arianna, spurning her sympathies and attempts to convince him not to go down this path. However, he does admit to her that he is aware of the path he's taken, but feels he has gone too far to turn back. He's also proven incapable of taking responsibility for his actions because despite what happening to his father being his own fault he instead blames Rapunzel and the entire kingdom.

Varian also proved to have excellent foresight, as he accurately predicted Rapunzel and Frederic would try to sneak up on him while their friends kept Varian's automatons occupied, and he went as far as to threaten Arianna by spilling the same amber mixture that imprisoned his father to do the same to the queen, in order to force Rapunzel to comply with his demands.

When he realized Rapunzel's unbreakable hair could not free his father, Varian suffered an emotional breakdown and threatened that if he could not have a happy ending then neither would Rapunzel. He became murderous, virtually psychotic, and even after he was foiled and arrested, he seethed with a promise to his father he would make him proud.

Frederic promised Rapunzel he would make sure Varian gets the help he needs and that he would do everything he could to free the boy's father.

Trivia

 * Varian is the youngest Disney villain in the entire Disney franchise at the age of 14.