Once Upon A Time: Emma Booth’s Season 7 Villain Gothel Explained

Who was Once Upon A Time’s season 7 villain Gothel? Played by Australian actress Emma Booth, Gothel was one of the main antagonists in the seventh and final season of Once Upon A Time which featured a soft reboot and moved the action from Storybrooke, Maine to Seattle suburb Hyperion Heights. The character is based on the villainous Mother Gothel from Disney’s 2010 animation Tangled who is in turn inspired by Dame Gothel from Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel.

Gothel’s story in Once Upon A Time begins thousands of years ago in the Land Without Magic when it was still a magical realm, way before the first curse was cast. Gothel was part of a family of tree nymphs that supplied the land’s magic but after a run-in with some dastardly humans, the nymphs were murdered and their home destroyed which left the land devoid of magic. In revenge, Gothel wiped out humanity and vowed to do the same again when mankind inevitably returned before departing for the New Enchanted Forest.

While in the New Enchanted Forest, Gothel trapped Rapunzel in her tower. After six years in the tower, Rapunzel escaped but came back to Gothel after her daughter Anastasia was on the verge of death hoping she could save her. In the process, Rapunzel managed to trap Once Upon A Time’s Gothel in her own tower where she would later encounter Captain Hook. After seducing Hook and using magic to accelerate her pregnancy, Gothel gave birth to a baby girl which was all part of her evil plan to create somebody from her bloodline who she could leave in the tower in her place. Hook went on to name the baby Alice and vowed to look after her.

Her time in the New Enchanted Forest also saw Gothel set up her own coven and ally herself with Rapunzel’s other daughter Drizella. Together Gothel and Drizella forced Regina to cast the curse that swept everybody away to Hyperion Heights in Once Upon A Time. While in Hyperion Heights, Gothel’s alter identity was Eloise Gardener, a missing woman who it turned out was being held hostage by Victoria Belfrey (AKA Rapunzel). Gothel/Eloise set about reforming her coven so she could once again wipe out humanity, eventually recruiting her daughter Alice (Tilly in Hyperion Heights) to enact her plan.

However, in typical Once Upon A Time fashion, good prevailed over evil in the end. Alice/Tilly used her own powerful magic to defeat her mother and turned her into a tree, thus bring Gothel’s reign of terror to an end.