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etheriankid · 2 months

Note

Hey, love your posts! They provided me with lots of good info for a future fanfic of mine! And I'm not just talking about Catradora... Anyway, I wonder what you would have to say about Entrapta, she's kind of my favorite character in the whole show

oh my gosh, yes! Entrapta really is the best… ...let's all talk about it

Decoding Entrapta's Arc

-a data driven analysis-

Firstly, thanks for reading my blog! I totally love Entrapta, too… I actually consider her to be the most likable person in SPOP. In her, we’re seeing someone being the best person she can be, always.

She's a sweetheart, and all along she's trying to do the right thing. She doesn't stray from her ideals, and that shows courage.

She’s a person who remains good to the people around her, despite their negativity, and she's the only person who is honestly trying to understand the real truths of Etheria and how the First Ones corrupted the planet. She's after answers to the important questions. Does that get messy along the way? Sure, but her motivations were always about the truth, and we can see her goodness in how she treats others.

Entrapta's inherent goodness is in contrast to those around her, who are caught up in their own trauma and ignorances and because of that behave badly and are playing out the corrupt plans the First Ones made for them all.

This is what the whole story of SPOP is about- historical traumas which they have all been manipulated into- Horde and Rebellion alike- in order to fail as the First Ones intend them to.

Both sides are wrong in how they act, everyone is hurtful including to each other in their alliances. The war continues like it does largely because of everyone's self involvement in their own trauma and emotions. Entrapta is unique in that she's mostly immune to this criticism- as the one person truly seeking answers. (Note: all -> hyperlinks <- are on tumblr)

Yes, the Horde plays their role as an enemy to a t (..and yet how did Hordak end up on Etheria-? a:The First Ones..), the Princesses are ignorant of their own role as part of this millennia old corruption, and they lash out towards others who are different, with prejudice. That they don't know their involvement in the First Ones conspiracy doesn't make their behavior right, even if the Horde bringing war upon them is so wrong. What's that war really about? Entrapta is in the middle of this mess, trying to figure out what the truth is. And her discoveries of those truths will save them all in the end…

So, this hurtfulness on all sides can be seen personally in Entrapta's arc, as a person who faces prejudice while trying her best to understand what's really true. From the beginning she knows something is wrong with what the First Ones did, it's her goal. In this way we can see her character arc as a weathervane of the plot over all- because the Princesses are wrong in how they treat her from the start. And they're wrong in how they treat the war as well.

Our sweetest Entrapta goes about her business of finding the real truths behind what's happened to Etheria throughout the story, and she does a stalwart job of it- all while being hurt by others prejudices and trauma guided actions. Yes, some of what she does is wrong, like participating in war, but she isn't being given other good options. She's doing what she feels is right and her best to stay dedicated to the truth- scientifically, but while also remaining the kind person she is.

How she gets hurt within the Horde- well, we all see that in Catra's betrayal, but the Princesses are hurtful, too. In fact, the Princesses have a casual kind of hurtfulness that’s totally frustrating to watch which comes from the privileged lives they lived, and they force that hurtfulness on each other all of the time, not just Entrapta. We’ll talk more about this later, but Entrapta gets the worst of it. Nevermind that SPOP cautiously hides this causal hurtfulness behind cute humor and excellent voice acting for the kids- the Princesses' hurtfulness is plain to see if we just look for it.

Much of our discussion will focus on this and the role of the First Ones historical betrayal in all of their actions, with Entrapta doing her best to uncover the real truths of it all. Without her doing that, the Princesses would have failed in the end, like they almost do at the end of s4, when the oldest of their real enemies- the First Ones- almost successfully use them all as a weapon. And, as they face their final true enemy, Horde Prime, they would have failed against him, too, if not for the knowledge Entrapta gains through scientific study. Both sides are caught up in the plans made for them, acting on their traumas. Entrapta works so hard to know the truth, and to use it to help, and we love her for that.

..And about above, they only avoid the weapon going off in s4 much because of Entrapta warning Adora in time, so we get to thank her yet again...

So without further ado, here's some major topics we’ll cover:

1:: How Entrapta is simply one of the nicest people, her friendly and easy going manner reflects her way of believing in the best in others-

2:: How Entrapta is a great scientist and by this very fact she's a great person, because the truth must guide them all-

3:: How the Princesses assuming Entrapta died is part of their prejudices and unwillingness to understand others who are different for them, and if not for those prejudices they may have realized that she survived-

4:: And, of course, a bit about how Entrapdak reveals Entrapta's best self, her ability to see the best in Hordak (and others) makes her one of the best people, in the end she sums up the meaning of Warriors🎶 best with her own words-

1:: So about Entrapta's positivity..

I mentioned that Entrapta is doing her best with the situations she's given, that’s true scientifically but it includes how she treats others. She's always bringing positivity, not pessimism, which is under appreciated. To sum it up, Entrapta’s philosophy towards others is to always believe in something better; she strives to see the best in them. Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but, how can we not love her for that?

This includes people who were constantly vilified, such as Catra, Scorpia and Hordak. And her jovial attitude is at times looked down on as misguided by others. Is that right? I don't think so…

This preconception to judge her unfairly is very apparent with the Princesses. They really do seem to treat her cheerfulness as if it's wrong, even part of her autistic oddness. In truth: she's funny, full of positivity and amicable to others at all times. The Princesses treat her like she's weird for it..

::So yeah, guess what- dealing with people can be confusing for anyone- autism isn't actually the story there. Her ability not to be judgey like others around her (unlike the Princesses who treat her as ‘too weird’) sets her apart. Entrapta wants others to be happy, she wants to get along, she welcomes others' differences even if she doesn't quite understand them. She, in actuality, works pretty well on a team. What's really happening with the Princesses is that by judging Entrapta they are falling short of HER level of goodness, and that shows their damage, not hers.

We’ll come back to the Princesses' harmful behaviors later, but they are absolutely there and what is happening is that they assume the worst about her. When in reality, Entrapta is an total badass.

It's also wrong to assume that Entrapta doesn't realize the people around her aren't as nice as she is. She later reflects to Hordak that 'she wasn't good enough for them’ and doesn't understand why it goes wrong, like it did in the Rebellion leaving her and then with Catra not talking to her anymore. It's confusing to her, what she doesn't realize is that they're acting out their own hurt by being mean to her. This is also when she charmingly swears to never give up trying. Most of all, as time goes by Entrapta shows us that she really does get it.

She keeps a positive beat at all points in the story, all as she goes about her business of finding out the real truths of what the First Ones did to Etheria. Even abandoned on Beast Island, she's able to make good use of her time to do this. And she doesn't hold a grudge.

Even against Catra, who we know hurts her so badly. Here's my favorite example of Entrapta ‘getting it’ all along:

Entrapta's ✨🧪amazing🔬✨ sense of humor is on full display as she humorously roasts Catra over her past harmfulness. We see that actually, she understood all along why Catra might feel threatened by her for that- but also that she wasn't considering acting on it before Catra brought it up. She's not spiteful. And, it tells us something really fun about her- that she doesn't always mean what she says as serious- she likes to kid around. ☺️ (i.e Entrapta sayings she's gonna dissect Adora in s1ep5 🙃)

So, she doesn't let Catra off easy at all for her past harmfulness. And, it's so fun to see her put the heat on Catra. She's also wise toward others, like she is with Hordak- she sees what's underneath and that Catra's apology is sincere. She's a kindhearted person, forgiving is not a hang up for her. I think she'll be friends with Catra; as she certainly knew when to humorously punk Catra's ass for what she did in the past.

So, there's really no good reason for why she gets hurt so much by others. Again, their damage, not hers.

::Also, I won't be dwelling on her autism too much- I'm not diagnosed with it so others can tell that story better- but, we can instead attribute much of Entrapta’s social struggles simply due to her lack of social experience. We don't need to look to her autism at all to understand their disconnects with her, we're seeing their damage because Entrapta is always sweet to others and which goes ignored. They're just not great people.

(For context, we know Entrapta was mostly raised away from people, by robots, so she doesn't understand their confusion with her.) Considering this, she does really well- we see her actually do a pretty good job of interacting with others on a team in s1. By the end of the series, it's quite clear Entrapta could understand where others were coming from all along- even if her processes of understanding it maybe looks different from what it does for less neurodivergent people.

So, that's what's going on from the beginning Entrapta shoulda been treated better- she was always a good person and trying to do her best with the situations given to her. And again, as a scientist- Entrapta is the only person asking the real questions about what's going on with the First Ones corruption of Etheria, something she does from the very start. Which is why we need to talk about what Entrapta's always so ecstatic about:

2:: SCIENCE DOESN'T LIE!!!

By searching for the answers to what the First Ones did to Etheria- how the planet was corrupted for the First Ones weapon- she's focused on the real issues. And science is the best way to do that, which is her skill. While the Horde and the Princesses fight each other mercilessly, she's concerned with the real plot, and their real enemy- the First Ones.

Everything in SPOP relates back to the original betrayal and the historical trauma of the First Ones- Something Entrapta is already beginning to grasp even before we're first introduced to her. Yet it takes until she joins the Horde for anyone to ask her about her research… Why is that-?

Long story short, the Princesses are way too self involved in their own hurt and the apparent unfairness of the Horde showing up out of nowhere and bringing war onto them. Yet that the Horde came from nowhere is a clue in itself, is it not? If Hordak isn't Etherian, how? (A: Light Hope is the only person capable of bringing him to Etheria- she brought him there to start the war). The Princesses totally miss this.

This doesn't make what the Horde is doing any less wrong, it just shows that the Princesses are ignorant of their own world. Is it ok for the Princesses to have spent the last millennia living in comfort, not addressing the real issues and unaware of what the First Ones turned them into?

It's not, and so SPOP is about historical trauma.

Everything is wrong on Etheria, not just the Horde. The Princesses are far too naive to face a full on evil enemy like the First Ones or Horde Prime.

.. You may be thinking of people who exclaim ‘well they couldn't have known what they didn't know’ but is that right?

No. To elaborate: NooOoOooo!! 🔬

We know they could have known better because Shadow Weaver knew all of this history, she studied it to get more power. For herself, at any cost. And if she could figure it out, they could have. The Princesses lived complacently for the last millennia.

In reality, Entrapta is basically trying to catch up to what Shadow Weaver knew from the beginning of the whole series::

Whereas Shadow Weaver never uses that knowledge for good, only looking to sacrifice Adora to release Etheria’s full sorcerous powers for herself, (read the meta of how SW is the real villain of SPOP above) Entrapta wants to help and provides actual guidance and understanding to the Princesses which they need to get free of the First Ones plot against them, and then to stop Horde Prime. She doesn't get enough recognition for that from the Princesses….

Some of her most massive achievements, which wouldn't have been possible without her study and experimentations, include:

-She's able to repair Darla and get the ship across space and back, which is no small feat,

-She's able to locate Glimmer and help rescue her and Catra,

-She frees everyone on Etheria from Prime's control.

- And many more

In this way, we can really get to understand how even some of her actions she's most vilified for are part of her seeking these truths and gaining the knowledge they will need to survive. Let's talk about a couple of them.

Why Entrapta’s search with science looks so messy: Hacking the Black Garnet

What Entrapta experimenting on the Black Garnet was really about was testing her theories of what's wrong with Etheria. She doesn't do it to hurt people (obviously) and yes it causes chaos. Yet that's a huge clue- why does a runestone used in such a way cause destruction? The Princesses miss the point.

Many other hints get dropped along the way, and they just keep missing them because of their blindness from anger over the war. You can also see Entrapta's hand in most of these other hints:

Why can Adora be corrupted by First Ones tech contacting the sword? If Horde Prime is waiting outside Despondos and can destroy them all, how and why did Etheria end up secluded from the universe?

… Where did the stars go ?

The Princesses' cluelessness is all to do about the naive way they existed for the last millennia, a historical trauma which is catching up to them in real time as our series begins. Entrapta is trying to catch up to the real truth by studying Etheria like she does- chaos and all.

...Can the Princesses really remain ignorant and just keep escalating a war over past grievances? Would defeating Hordak even stop the greater plot against them all? Not at all- most likely they would have just then reconnected the runestones and Light Hope would have blown up the planet before they even realized what she was doing. Entrapta’s study is vastly necessary, they need her help- everything is necessary learning for Entrapta.

Yeah, science tends to be messy, but when Catra asks her about her research, leading to them hacking the Black Garnet, Entrapta is testing her hypothesis- and she proves it true. Entrapta will take her gained knowledge from this and other endeavors to be the capable scientist they need her to be in s5 to stop Prime. They need to know these truths. Necessary learning.

So, even this act she's vilified for is misunderstood by the Princesses who miss the clues of how what occurs reveals their own corruption. Because of course they did.

Entrapta’s further actions such as building the portal machine are also related to finding the real truth. If Etheria is isolated, the outside universe would have answers. It's good Entrapta’s machine doesn't bring Horde Prime down on them all at that juncture, they're not ready- she also tries to stop it, only failing due to the traumatized state Catra is in that episode after Shadow Weaver shows up and nearly kills her.

I won't recap everything she does but let's talk about the one consistent criticism: Entrapta building bots.

...note: this is something the Princesses asked her to do yet she ends up doing for the Horde instead...

When in fact, are these bots the killing machines many assume them to be? No, Frosta herself reveals that they aren't. And this fact isn't about softening the show for a kids audience. SPOP isn't that story-

The Horde isn't genociding people, like some uneducated detractors suggest- because that's not what the story of SPOP is about (go watch ATLA… it depicts genocide and it's a children's show- also, the civilians in SPOP don't participate in the war). It's about historical traumas and how ALL of them are continuing violence in a way that amplifies those past evils. And, Entrapta’s work with Emily also proves something essential: that a robot can have a soul. Is that not worth exploring further?

Take such things into account regarding her actions such as hacking the Black Garnet. She's testing her theory by doing so, meanwhile the Princesses abandoned her, both physically, but also with their harsh emotional treatment of her, having never broached the topic of her research. They are angry and ignorant, just self involved with their own hurt over the war. And when they had her they acted like they only wanted Entrapta for her ability to make robots to defeat the Horde. A bit of irony, I guess…

Again, the Horde is beyond doubt wrong to bring war, but that doesn't change the fact that the Princesses are ignorant and have spent the last millennia playing into the trap the First Ones set for them. Entrapta's knowledge from experimentation helps guide them free from that.

In s4, it's Entrapta who ends up helping them avert disaster by warning Adora. Meanwhile, Glimmer is so consumed by her own hurt that she resorts to barbarism and using an evil super weapon. In s3 Adora had begun to understand the evil that the First Ones were making, but in s4 Glimmer hijacks any understanding Adora may have gained with her total focus on war. When asked to help save Entrapta and deal with the danger that threatens the planet, Glimmer is harmful and we can see her unfairness towards Entrapta, her false equivalences-

Glimmer is one of the top most guilty characters when it comes to prejudice towards Entrapta, and she's also totally prejudiced against the Horde in a way that always makes things worse.

It takes her own descent into evil for her to realize that her false equivalence of evil on all Horde may be wrong, which we see her reverse her understanding of in s5 while talking to Catra. In SPOP, everyone's trauma combines to make them nearly fail as the First Ones intended them to do. And Entrapta does her best to uncover these truths at all points in the story, she's never evil.

3:: Entrapta's emotional gains in the Horde and why the Princesses leaving her was a wrong assumption-

I think it's been said enough by others that the Horde allowing Entrapta to pursue science is fundamental. But in the Horde, Entrapta also learns about friendship and being valued.

Outside of the Horde, Entrapta faces prejudice, much because of her autism or otherwise, much like the people she meets in the Horde have. The way they treat her is different because of the backgrounds they have with having been falsely judged themselves.

In the Horde, Entrapta gains at least one true friend: Scorpia. And Catra values her: she sees how smart and capable Entrapta is right off the bat. She's not a friend, she's maybe even a terrible boss, but Catra shows Entrapta that she's valued for her hard work and unique skills. Catra also sees how others are prejudiced against Entrapta, like they were towards her.

And of course, Entrapta's relationship with Hordak is important as well. She helps him deal with his disability and their ship is adored. In short, Entrapta gains so much emotionally in the Horde.

Compare this to her time in the alliance, and we don't see much good. That the Princesses abandon her has everything to do with their inability to understand her and value her.

We're all mature fans here so let's not shy away from the difficult subject: the ableism Entrapta faces from the Princesses.

So, why Entrapta get left behind-

Once we begin to quantify how the Princesses have an ignorant approach to their world, and in how they treat Entrapta, we can see the underlying truth better.

Their behavior towards her is extremely hard to watch, and a sign of their own corrupted sense of niceness towards others who seem different: after living comfortable and privileged lives, they simply became accustomed to not accepting people who are different from their expectations. They're all caught up in their own emotional world. Entrapta’s neurodivergence is included in the harsh subconscious biases that they all have.

Again, this is a sign of how the Princesses are too immature to face a real enemy as powerful and dangerous as Prime, or even able to free themselves from the corruption the First Ones involved them in. After spending 4 seasons playing straight into the First Ones hands, Prime then descends upon them all suddenly, because of Glimmer's own mistake, when they've only just begun to see their own wrongness and to work together like is trumpeted in the theme song, Warriors🎶. They barely squeak out the win because of this slow march of learning to work together through butting heads, and that win comes much to do because of Entrapta's wise guidance...

They're also simply not nice to Entrapta…

That we're seeing ableism is what I am certain is precisely what's meant to be shown and discussed by ND Stevenson and CrewRa. It's hidden behind some layers of cute, but it's all there. Without these negative assumptions, the Princesses likely would have checked to see if Entrapta survived…

(Also, SPOP isn't a problematic series at all for showing this!! How can we discuss such an important subject if they shied away from showing it?? SPOP's writers showed courage and it's the wisest story I've ever seen..) ...back to the meta-

So yeah, her getting left behind is about their bias, but to breifly address the other thing- how did she survive? Keeping fancy details aside (my theory being saved for another time), she survives that moment <with ease> because of the fact that she's a MAD SCIENTIST. You think Entrapta hasn't had worse scares than a bit of fire?? (Clue: think about how she designs her everyday equipment, as a mad scientist, to prepare her for such situations..)

..So, back to ableism,

In s1, Perfuma putting Entrapta on a leash and then tying her up is ableist behavior. It's important to quantify this. She does it thinking Entrapta doesn't know what's going on, so she tries to take Entrapta's autonomy away. It's not necessary at all- Perfuma is bad at communication and is projecting her own fears of failure onto Entrapta, underestimating her abilities.

There's other unacceptable behaviors- Glimmer is dismissive towards Entrapta’s neurodivergence, Mermita’s constant negativity affects how Entrapta is viewed by the team as well. (If you're wondering where Adora fits in this- she ignores what's going on with others' bad behavior as part of her being consumed by her anxiety issue of failing to lead. >note: by being so blinded by anxiety, she's actually failing them in that exact way<.) But, in s1 Perfuma's actions are the worst, which is why that's what we're going to talk about.

We know how wrong Perfuma is simply because of the final outcome of the episode: after Entrapta goes ‘missing’, despite Perfuma's trying to control her, Entrapta returns triumphant, having befriended Emily and having rescued Sea Hawk- and in time to help them rescue Bow. Perfuma assumed Entrapta's excitement was inability to focus, that's only slightly true, but in truth Entrapta was mostly just multitasking. She's that much of a badass.

So, we can see how much the Princesses are underestimating Entrapta's abilities through Perfuma’s actions. And thus, it's not at all surprising that when Entrapta seemed to be in danger, they assumed the worst. The ableism, the assumption that Entrapta didn't ‘get it’, the not knowing how resourceful Entrapta is as a scientist, is why they give up on her when they shouldn't have.

... about the horde again...

In this way, it's pretty natural that she ends up with the Horde, as it is a much better situation for her in most ways- she's surrounded by people who have faced false judgements their whole lives like she has. The Princesses have so much prejudice, we can see that in how they treat Entrapta. Whatever else is wrong with the Horde, nobody is ableist towards Entrapta in the way the Princesses were.

In the Horde, Entrapta uses the access to science she has to study the real issues; she goes through hell when Catra ends up betraying her out of her traumas; she helps Adora avert the destruction of the planet at the end of s4... and yet in s5 she faces even MORE ableism from the Princesses.

When we see her in s5ep2, the Princesses say she's only interested in tech- which smells mightily of autistic ableism- essentially suggesting she's a robot. And then they blame her for everything- is that really fair?

No- it's frankly sad to watch how the Princesses spent the first 4 seasons walking straight into the trap the First Ones made for them. Also, their anger towards Entrapta comes after she's repaired Darla to fly across space so they can rescue Glimmer- have the Princesses thanked her for her unique contribution in this? Nope.

Whereas the ableism is hidden behind cute, funny sequences and excellent voice acting in s1, in s5 it's downright blatantly shown.

If Scorpia wasn't there to point out how Entrapta could help them, the Princesses would have continued in their negative, ableist views of Entrapta. Consider that- without Entrapta's one friend from the ‘evil’ Horde, the Princesses wouldn't have overcome their prejudice towards her, and so they wouldn't have even been able to save Glimmer. Hurray, Scorpia!! ❤️🖤🤍

We are once again being shown that they refuse to really try to understand Entrapta.

When Entrapta approaches the enemy base, she's doing her job and getting the data needed to find Glimmer. The Princesses force their expectation of how things should go onto Entrapta- and then blame her for ruining the mission. And yet, once Mermista finally sees that Entrapta absolutely knows the mission and is still trying to save Glimmer, she has no problem managing protection of Entrapta while she finishes getting the data..

Sure, Entrapta could been more stealthy, but their assumption that she doesn't understand what's happening was hurtful. They let their negativity consume them.

Also, we see Perfuma leash Entrapta again (briefly), and Mermista grabs Entrapta by the hair, leading to the Entrapta’s pained explanation that she 'gets it'. So, Mermista tries to remove Entrapta's autonomy- and physically hurts Entrapta with her anger. And then afterwards, Mermista can't give Entrapta a proper compliment- it comes combined with an insult when she tells her “Entrapta helped, too. You're still a wierdo, but you did good today. We've got your back, anytime."

Even if Mermista doesn't mean insult by choosing that word, she's still reinforcing the stereotype. Maybe she's using the word as a stand-in for her own past misunderstanding of Entrapta, it's still wrong. It shows her negative mindset that pervades her interactions with others. Entrapta, pure as she is, is overjoyed to get the acceptance that she's always wanted- she ignores the negativity. But, Mermista.. be better!!

A quick note, here, from the author: I *do* like Mermista and Perfuma, they're all best Princess in their ways- I'm just being real about how SPOP shows their negativity having consequences!! Thx, e.d. out ❤️

4:: Finally, let's talk about Entrapdak 🔬✨💞✨🧪

As said before, Entrapta has a pretty great way of getting past others' negativity to see the best in others, and her ability to do that with Hordak is the best example of it all.

In no time flat Entrapta bypasses Hordak's toxic negativity. She's like 'hey, let's not do that- let's be friends.' She believes in something better. Entrapta treats Hordak with the expectation that they should be friends, and she's not wrong to do it. Hordak isn't Prime, he can be better. He's still capable of being a conscientious feeling person, unlike his abuser who selfishly tried to destroy his sense of self. Her giving him a chance is what allows him to start finding that better person within himself.

And, as Hordak has faced ableism, like she has, Entrapta is the one to confront the ableism Hordak faced during his life head on and do something about it. (stating the obvious for posterity) She has empathy for him, nobody ever understands his pain better than she does. Even though they get separated half way through the series, her kindness sticks with him- helping him overcome his doubts and have a redemptive moment in s5.

Come s5, Entrapta still keeps fighting to get through to him, seeking to reestablish their friendship. That's everything to their success against Prime during the final moments before the Heart is activated. She really is unique in her determination to do better by others- nobody else in the series has as much steadfast goodness in the way they treat others as Entrapta does.

(...everyone else had to learn to believe in each other the hard way...)

In those final moments, as the universe faces destruction by Prime's hand, Entrapta best sums up in words the entire thesis of SPOP and our title theme song, 🎶Warriors🎶

“You can't control us! You don't know understand makes us strong, and that's why you'll never win!”

So much history goes into this moment, but Entrapta sums up what they've all been fighting for best. Nobody says it better- how love is strength. Not Catra in Corridors, not Adora in Save the Cat. She never gave up on Hordak, and he's about to show Prime why.

And that it's Entrapta that says it is no accident…

Entrapta gets it. She always did. They are stronger by love than Prime can ever defeat, if they just believe in each other.

And she's right to believe in Hordak, he won't do it, the love he has for Entrapta is too powerful for Prime to take from him. He's able to break free of the past hurtfulness that's controlled him.

Entrapta’s steadfast belief in Hordak saves them all- by casting down his abuser, Hordak interrupts Prime’s control of the Heart just long enough for Catra to show Adora her true feelings in the dream and to confess her love, setting up the kiss that saves the universe. (read the fun meta here) (short version here)

It's almost like Entrapta was best girl all along. I say that because she's so true to her heart that she deserves all of our love. (Sorry Scorpia, you're great, but, I stand firm!)

Final thoughts / Conclusion

In SPOP, we’re not supposed to accept the causal hurtfulness and prejudices the Princesses have. We can see how those make things worse in many ways, but directly in Entrapta’s arc. That's why s4 ends so chaotically- because they're all wrong. It's also why we see such reversals in Catra and Glimmer's arcs and things such as how Scorpia fits with the Princesses as if she always belonged. And it's why Entrapta struggles against prejudice even through s5. True wisdom cannot be gained while letting your emotions control you like the Princesses are doing.

That SPOP discussed such complex issues makes it one of the best stories ever written. I think it will have staying power and sets the bar for other stories..! (ND Stevenson told a great gay story, no doubt, but I mean it that the story is one of the best of all time, period!)

That causal hurtfulness, which is hidden behind cute animation and voice acting, is probably something we know in our own lives but grew accustomed to accepting- family members we love but hurt us or toxic societies we’re immersed in where we're told to accept as norms things that hurt people. I, for instance, can attest that I've seen it firsthand as I was totally abandoned by my parents to abuse because of their preconceived and hurtful notions of how safe and easy my life was supposed to be. ::Don't give in to base assumptions! The prejudice Entrapta deals with helps to teach us about how these biases make things worse. Also: in a lot of ways, Entrapta's dedication to science is also the best response to negative bias. Data doesn't lie, after all…

Entrapta's arc is meant for us to think deeper. War is a confusing subject. Lots of fans attribute SPOP's war to be something it's not- many wars are lead by murderous sociopaths. Other wars are about both sides acting on past grievances and inflicting trauma in a cycle that makes things worse. SPOP is this story. Like the unfair way the Princesses treat Entrapta, the way they deal with the war is wrong, too. And the Horde are repeating traumas as well- yet Hordak isn't a sociopath. His love for her shows that.

Entrapta's way of acting is the closest to a emotionally sound response to the war that there is in SPOP. In the absence of a better choice, Entrapta does what she knows best: Science, and friendship towards others. Catra, all the Princess alliance, are letting their worst emotions control their actions. Entrapta treats everyone well because that's how people should be treated. She wants to be friends- she wants to help people and be valued.

... yes... she also wants to geek out constantly, and holy cow do I get her. (I will act the same way when I'm excited about facts, space IS awesome. I will absolutely geek out over how lethal it is!!) Facts are cool. There's nothing wrong with her enthusiasm, it should be appreciated. The Princesses often take her comments in the worst way possible (such as when she's remarking how amazing Horde Prime's tech is- when it is amazing.!) Her wanting to know the secrets behind things is worth it, she's curious about everything, like we all should be.

Still, I think it's how she treats others that makes her best princess. That's why she tugs so much on our heartstrings- she doesn't just show us how she's best or good, her actions reveal the best in others, such as Hordak. Best girl Entrapta. She's also a total badass, and a genius (thanks, Bow- took 4 seasons too long for someone to say it) Do you agree? Feel free to let me know! 👍

And finally- autism aside, she's great. I'm sorry if I can't give more guidance about the subject, but, autistic people are fantastic people, period. The Princesses shoulda looked to work with her better, her sensitivity is not a barrier!! Id they had, the story may have been much kinder over all. (...But would that really be a realistic story-? probs not...) At some point, somebody has to have the courage to believe in others, Entrapta is that kind of person. We should all strive to be as excellent of a person as Entrapta is.

As always, if there's a detail of this meta (I got very meta again, sorry I can't help myself) you'd like clarified, ask me and I will gladly explain, with data, Entrapta style!! Please give THIS A 🧬🧪✨REBLOGG✨🧪🧬 and/or a like if you enjoyed it, and I hope you have a great one,

Etheria Dearie.

Author personal note:

Hey, thank you to my reader for asking me this one. Sorry it took so long, I hope I was able to speak conscientious about this subject 😔. To my readers: If it feels like I'm showing anger at ableism in my writing, ya caught me. I've been trying to correct my life to get away from abusive people and there's just no great way for someone partially disabled like I am to find good housing. Our entire society is set up to gatekeep such people from having that security, and I'm staring it right in the face now. So, I'm mad. p.s: thx for reading... anybody reblogg me? 😁❤️🙇

Here's a list of my meta's so far for new readers: https://etheriadearie.tumblr.com/post/647767378317492224/hey-i-just-found-your-blog-and-ive-gotta-say

#entrapta one of my favourite characters #she's really misunderstood #yet she's brilliant and amazing #entrapta is the only character that acts without prejudice #she has a lot more empathy that she's given credit for #i love her so much #she deserves everything #entrapta #shera #spop analysis

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etheriankid · 2 months

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Hello! Absolutely love your analyses! I'd spend breaks during work reading through a piece and I appreciate all the evidence (data as Entrapta would state) you use. I see many people boil Catradora down to being abusive (aimed at Catra) and it's just so hard to argue since there's so much depth to their relationship. What are your thoughts? How would you respond to someone stating so?

:: ... Reflections on the emotional healthiness of Catradora, on Adora's arc, and on SPOP as a morally complex story-

Hi, and thank you so much for this question, I know that some SPOP fans have this kind of reaction, and while I get why they feel bad, I strongly believe such a reaction was not the intended outcome. Which is my first point:

To anyone who feels this way, Hey!!! Noelle wouldn't hurt us like that, and even though we see hurtful behaviors shown in SPOP, this isn't part of suggesting that we forgive our abusers- Noelle wouldn't do that!!

SPOP is unique in that it explores trauma as seriously as it does… this show is so many different things: it's beautiful, it's fun, it's kid friendly, and it's really meaningful. I really, really believe that both Catra and Adora’s stories are meant to be a comfort to people who grew up in situations like theirs… (I, for one, find Catra’s story very comforting).

My second point is that Adora is as much a product of hurtful abuse as Catra is, and this includes that she has some very hurtful behaviors towards Catra, especially as we see the two of them together starting well before her defection. For example-

We all know Adora is a sweetheart, and for her to even behave in hurtful ways is so against her own best nature that it's a sign that she's not really being herself. It's also very wrong in terms of her ability to be She-ra, as Etheria chose her for her ability to love- she is deep down an incredibly loving and generous person, and love is her power. Yet, when we see her with Catra in ep1, she's acting hurtful instead. This- is where their relationship becomes so complex- because Catra really isn't being hurtful, and Adora has a history...

...And, this is a much bigger problem than just her relationship with Catra, because Adora is also hurtful towards everyone in her past life, she vilifies them and fights them- never once does she make an honest attempt to help her former friends- Adora simply makes an assumption that fighting them is a necessary hurt of her 'destiny'.

Yet... this 'destiny' is a lie, and we cannot ignore how Adora's arc from s1-4 ends with her barely avoiding destroying all of Etheria... furthermore, with Horde Prime finding them all as a consequence. Despite Adora's attempts at being a hero through s1-4, it ends with her having betrayed all of her former friends for a 'destiny' which was evil all along- Light Hope never meant to make her a hero, only to use her and the rest of the princesses as a weapon. This is because Adora had followed her 'duty' and therefore failed to be her greatest good as a hero of love.

Her decision of duty and all that goes wrong results because of how Adora believes in duty before all else, including and especially love. This false belief system, where she simply fights rather than looks to help her former friends, and acts hurtfully to enact this false 'destiny', is because of how Adora was hurt by her abuser. And it makes her actions wrong- she isn't valuing love, and, she is being controlled by others, some which are evil, some which are unfair- through her false belief in duty.

This concept of duty, which is so wrong, is what Adora's entire struggles are about- this includes her hero's arc. Her perceived need to serve a false 'duty' is the reason she justifies her hurtful behavior and neglects to help her former friends, it's the reason her s1-4 arc ends in disaster with her destiny being revealed to have been false, (and that she's been manipulated for evil), and, it's the reason she's so hurtful to Catra- betraying all of their love, while failing to make any true effort to understand Catra's feelings

We might not like Catra's reaction, or how terribly wrong the war is (... one which began before either of them was even born-), but Adora wrongly believes in putting her duty so far ahead of all else that she's failing to look deeper. Adora does break promises, and she does hurt people- she hurts everyone in her old life, not just Catra, with her hurtful and blind prioritization of duty ahead of love and all else- her belief makes her vulnerable to further manipulations. Her entire concept of duty before love makes her miss how she's hurting them, and, how she's wrong to do this... ... it results in so much pain. (-in fact, Adora ends up hurting EVERYONE with her stubborn belief in enacting a false destiny, as we'll discuss.) .

So, for the purposes of this question, we need to look at Adora's behavior, and how she's wrong to be so hurtful. Catra ends up very much more wrong- that's well documented- and which we all know- but, Adora is She-ra, Catra is not, and all of Adora's actions matter so much because she is at the center of all that happens as She-ra. And, she's got to learn to value love, going against the hurtful beliefs of 'duty' that her abuser ingrained into her psyche to control her. Even though Adora is trying to do her best, she falls short of what that actually is, and it's all because of her false belief that duty must define her. She is a hero of love, not a hero of duty or destiny- because destiny cannot power her, nor guide her. Love is what must guide Adora, because love is her real power... and as a hero of love, she cannot "leave anyone behind" who needed her help...

Through s1-4, by acting hurtful, Adora is essentially creating a false equivalency by equating evil upon all of her former friends, in a hurtful way which all but ensures further division and misunderstanding. She-ra is supposed to be a uniter, a healer- yet Adora is making no effort to do so. Adora is such a extensive product of abuse that she doesn't even see that she's doing so, and she has to wake up to this in order to become a hero of love...

:readmore:

Also, in part: their division happens because when Adora leaves Catra and everyone else in her former life behind she does so having not once fought for them (see Lonnie in the portal reality, below) - very much like how she didn't fight for her and Catra's love against their abuser. As She-ra, Adora needs to be strong enough to fight for ALL of them, rebellion and the vulnerable people in the horde who are trapped in its abusive system alike- yet, Adora doesn't do so- instead she takes a simplified view of morality, and through it, justifies abandoning her and Catra's love and fighting against instead of helping everyone in her old life. That Adora doesn't try to do better is already hurtful on its own. Adora's choice of such a hurtful path happens out of multiple complex factors, some deal with her history as a abuse survivor- but in reality, it's mostly because everyone else around Adora also is not being their best, either... ...more later

As for Catra- her choices, while very very bad, come out a reaction to Adora's history of hurtful behaviors- her inability to trust Adora is a trauma reaction, just like Adora's, yet, that reaction comes in response to Adora's continued hurtful behaviors: Catra is trying to be apart from someone who has constantly hurt her by naively following duty while showing no effort to understand how she's hurtful or to fight for their love. Adora did this within the horde by playing favorite to Shadow Weaver, and Catra feels that Adora must be misguided, just like she was before, for leaving her- instead fighting against her so willingly and vilifying her... lumping her in with their abuser as evil.

Catra was constantly abused, and watched on as Adora played favorite to that abuser while ignoring how Catra was treated. So, Adora was betraying Catra all along, and had no awareness of it- it shows that Adora has a blind spot- something which she struggles with throughout her hero's arc: such as Light Hope using her for evil. Catra felt as though she had already lost the friend she thought she had years ago, and then Adora's continued hurtful behavior following her defection, while making no effort to save their love, is what causes Catra to feel she must part ways with Adora. By Catra's reasoning, Adora must not really love her- why else would Adora be so ready to hurt her, when she made a promise to love her? Catra doesn't think Adora is actually being a 'good' person by leaving like she does- and Adora's hurtful divisive actions confirm Catra is right- by choosing divisiveness and a false destiny while devaluing their love, Adora is indeed falling short of being the hero of love which Etheria chose her to be...

So, we can see Catra's distrust and Adora's being used by Light Hope as parallel, because Catra is right that Adora is letting people manipulate her, just like she did within the horde- even if Catra is only basing this belief off of her gut feelings in s1. Adora ends up betraying her promises, and being used as a weapon by Light Hope, (and the rebellion, too) for the same reason: her belief in duty which blinds her to all else.

:: 🛑 There's also the matter of whether Adora and Catra are 'in a relationship' during the war. That's dubious- morality of the war aside, Adora divides their friendship for it, not Catra- so they aren't together anymore... And, as we'll discuss, Adora is coming up short of making the best decision by doing so. But, in regards to our question: what happens during the war between Catra and Adora should be considered separately, as apart from this time in their history, Catra was quite loving with Adora: both before, and then after, the war... and so it's important to not falsely equivalate Catra actions in this way- they are not 'together' (...again, morality of the war aside..) ....more later

We'll come back to Catra's motivations later, but here's the quick reference for the meantime- Catra doesn't do what she does out of wanting to hurt Adora, her love confession in s5 precludes that. And she also doesn't do it out of any great allegiance to the Horde- it's just all she knows, and she stays there because she's trying to live free of Adora- who is a constantly inadvertently hurtful person, as Adora had actually been betraying their love for many years. But: most importantly, Catra does what she does as part of her fight against their real abuser, whom Catra sees as the real evil in their lives. This starts as Catra taking down Shadow Weaver herself, and stays true within the meaning of her other actions through the rest of her arc as well. ...more later

All in all, this is part of how Noelle gave us a morally complex story with SPOP- it's not black and white like most stories we've seen (such as ATLA). The war, while terrible, has multiple sides to it, and with it moral grayness: The horde is wrong, yet isn't really made up of evil people. The rebellion is right to defend Etheria, but has a corrupted view of the horde where they summarily judge all horde as evil. That's an amoral belief, as we'll discuss, and it plays into Adora’s confusion over who she really must be, because their hurtful views block Adora's ability to be the hero of love she's meant to be.

... And, of course- the princesses are part of an evil super weapon, as naive enablers of a generational trauma so dark that it threatens them all... ...more later

Finally, the MAJOR PSA REGARDING ABUSIVENESS.. (and therefore this question)

Since we wish to discuss abusive relationships, we must recognize that there is indeed such a relationship at the forefront of SPOP, but it's not Catradora.

All of their bad behaviors- Catra’s isolationism and hurtfulness for self protection, and Adora’s hurtfulness in the name of false duty and vulnerability to naively trusting in false ideals set out for her by others, is because of how Shadow Weaver hurt them.

SPOP as a series is all about believing in love, (even in other character arcs aside from Catradora-) and it really is about both of their struggles with how their abuser hurt them, which they have to get past to embrace love. Their story is one about the how and why we ourselves sometimes struggle to accept love- many people struggle due to having been hurt like they were- and through them, Noelle tells us a story of our own lives. 💢(minor trauma warn to readers, altho, I promise nothing too dark in this post). It's the real truth of Catra and Adora’s arcs: that they both act out hurtfully due to how their abuser has hurt them, and as such, they both contribute to their division, not just Catra. And, they both go through long arcs of self realization and healing to be better from how they've been hurt, to be their best selves and so they can be together again.

This journey of self realization is what allows Adora to start being a real hero in s5, and accepting Adora's flaws in her actions before then is an important part of understanding her arc, because, as She-ra, everything Adora does matters- no matter how unfair what's done to her is, she's got to be her best, and she has to trust in love in order to win in the end...

That concludes the "short" explanation, but, since abusiveness is such an important issue, we'll cover some specifics it in greater detail. This- is Adora's hero's arc- her and Catra's love IS her hero's journey, because she's not trusting in love in how she acts through s1-4.

So, apologies for how long this will be, but we'll be covering the following subjects as part of this discussion-

1- how and why Adora improperly continues hurtful behavior that started within the horde after she finds the sword, which Catra reacts to, and how Catra wasn't hurtful before then,

2- how Adora could have used She-ra as a liberator to help her former friends, and how the rebellion also being corrupt is why she misses seeing it,

3- Adora's self realization of her truth of love, and how it allows her to step past false destiny and manipulations,

4- how Adora was being a false hero during seasons 1-4 as told through Horde Prime forcing her to fight chipped Catra to save her during Save the Cat,

5- Catra’s wrongness and why she believes she's totally alone against her abusers evils,

6- how the love we see in s5 was always the truth.

Back to the topic of Adora’s hurtfulness, as we see it in ep1, that goes so deeply against her better, loving nature... (part 1)

From the moment we see Adora and Catra together in ep1, it's obvious that their relationship has already become very unhealthy-

This is almost entirely unhealthy on Adora’s side, not Catra’s, as every time Adora speaks to Catra, she does so with a tone- she's rude to her, she's hypercritical of Catra's actions, she's incredibly judgemental, and she acts as if superior to her.

Yet, Adora had become the puppet of their abuser- Shadow Weaver, making the mistake of trying to fulfill the false expectation of being perfect as she was told to do. And in doing so, her naive trust in fulfilling that duty made her an unintentional enabler of her own abuse, as well as Catra's.

So, all of Adora's judgments out of supposed superiority come out as false: she's devoted to a woman who means only to destroy them, it shows that she really didn't know what was going on with Shadow Weaver's abuse.

In contrast, when we look at Catra’s behavior, it's clear she thinks Shadow Weaver is evil. And, in terms of how she interacts with Adora, it's obvious that Catra is actually still being a very loving and supportive friend to Adora- we only see any of her negativity emerge in response to Adora’s own hurtfulness. As things stand in ep1, Catra isn't abusive, if anything, it's the opposite (although I wouldn't use that term).

So, we can start to see that Adora has an entire history of deeply hurtful behaviors towards Catra- starting well before the moment Catra refuses to follow her, or before her decision to forsake their love go to war against her following “Promise”. There was no good reason for Adora’s hurtfulness- it was done in respect to a false duty made for her by their abuser.

This false belief of superiority is another way in which we can see that Adora was failing to see the true evil that was happening as she was playing the favorite- she blindly believed that being good, as measured by an ideal set out for her by their abuser, was her only way of solving her problems.

Yet, Adora always had a choice- her assumption shows a failure of reasoning, because fulfilling that duty as she was told to never would have resulted in anyone being safe- much like her trying to fulfill Light Hope's ‘destiny’. Shadow Weaver only made Adora think that as part of her plan to use and then destroy her.

Likewise, Adora always had a choice to intrinsically value her and Catra’s love over the corrupt duty forced on her by Shadow Weaver- she could have kept the faith in their love, with Catra. Instead, Adora became hurtful towards Catra...

Adora was a bad friend- and her being as such in the name of false duties is the same reason she ends up being used as part of Light Hope’s corrupt 'destiny'. Also, being a bad friend is a canon part of Adora's hero’s struggle, (spoiler warn, LotFP) as being a bad friend can also be seen in how Adora acts towards Glimmer in s4: (as Bow says in s4ep8: "...it's hard being friends sometimes... So why am I the only one who's willing to work at it?". (In LotFP, Scorpia outright calls Adora a bad friend, and rightly so..)

In regards to Adora’s failure in choice- she and Catra weren't children anymore, and standing up to Shadow Weaver was always a possibility. She could have refused to play along in a system where Catra was made to suffer while she was given praise. And, the real kicker is: judging by how easily Catra takes down Shadow Weaver without Adora’s help, it wouldn't have even been that hard.

This shows Adora really was guilty of blind devotion to Shadow Weaver, because Catra had been prepared to step free of that abuse, probably for years. So, when Adora leaves Catra, devaluing their love and instead vilifying and falsely accusing Catra of being evil like Shadow Weaver (which is an immensely hurtful thing to do after the years of torture Catra suffered), Catra decides to step free of her abusers control, while also stepping free of Adora’s continued hurtfulness.

So, we see that Adora has a dangerous level of blindness to the deeper evils that people mean to use her for, which we can see in other places throughout her arc, such as with Light Hope’s plans for her. She can't even see how she's been corrupted.

Catra, in contrast, shows us she knew all along about their abusers' true evil: she shows her awareness by her little rebellions against a corrupt system where she was constantly being hurt. Catra refused to stay weak, and prepared to protect herself from her abuser all along. Yet, all Adora ever did was act out towards Catra for refusing to conform like she did...

Let's jump forward to when Adora finds the sword, and we can apply Adora’s naive belief in enacting duty, while being hurtful in the name of it, to that decision as well:

Adora accepts the sword, and her new ‘destiny’, with blindness and devotion- believing it to be her ‘destiny’, she willingly accepts that it comes at the price of hurting Catra as well as everyone in her old life as part of fulfilling it.

This ‘destiny’, or duty, is actually nothing but a lie made to confuse Adora by Light Hope and the First Ones- it's just a manipulation to use Adora for their evil. Believing in her 'destiny', Adora then makes no real effort to understand the darker truth behind what is really being asked of her, instead trusting in that 'destiny' and betraying everyone in her old life with her hurtfulness, instead of helping them, in service to this ‘destiny’. (...more later)

Adora in effect swaps Shadow Weaver for Light Hope, (the rebellion also uses Adora as a weapon in a hurtful way, which we'll discuss), and in doing so Adora acts hurtful to someone she loves, she agrees to hurt and therefore fail a whole group of people who deserve better from her. Adora has no right to vilify them like she does, after all, she was one of them herself. Also, her vilification shows no concept of her own hurtfulness and previous role as an enabler in that system.

Sure, Adora could complain that it wasn't her fault because she was being unfairly manipulated, yet Adora continually shows that she is vulnerable to those very same manipulations, again and again, throughout s1-4. It's all to do with her false assumption of fulfilling duty at any cost.

... and it brings Adora’s entire supposed ‘moral awakening’ into question, because while she's right to stick up for the citizens of Thaymore, her entire hurtful and superior attitude towards Catra while she does it is false: it's just like how Adora was hurtful towards Catra as part of playing her role as the favorite of their abuser within the horde. She was blind to the real evil that was occurring.

She therefore has no business being so hurtful towards Catra throughout s1, even IF she didn't know about the continued tortuous abuse Catra suffered because of her. All that Adora’s supposed righteousness over her ‘destiny’ actually shows is that she’s blind to what is really happening- in the past, and then again when Light Hope uses her for evil.

Also, fun fact: Adora’s supposed 'holier than thou' newfound morality isn't even her own: we know she's vulnerable to accepting others' expectations- in this case she's accepting Glimmer’s hardline view that all people in the horde must be evil. Adora takes this closed minded viewpoint and uses it as she tries to enact her false destiny all the way through s1-4, never once making an effort to help her former friends.

All in all, Adora falls short of being a real hero by doing this. And, Adora really does take things too far in her stubborn pursuit of her destiny (LotFP spoiler warn). She's so willing to hurt Catra, and all of her former friends, and is so far removed from the hero of love we see in s5 by doing so. Catra is right that Adora isn't the friend she used to have- Shadow Weaver's abuse changed Adora into something hurtful instead. (In LotFP, Adora strait up attempts to terminate Catra’s life; ...in contrast, Catra only ever tries to capture Adora...)

Catra, meanwhile, has no reason to trust Adora when she tells her she's defecting because of Adora's past history as an enabler of her (their) abuse. If Adora could hurt her, while being devoted to her abuser, what reason does Adora give Catra to think that anything will be different with her sudden new devotion to the rebellion? The answer is none, and as Catra had to look out for herself to protect herself from abuse, she won't trust Adora. Meanwhile, Adora can't even make an effort to understand Catra's feelings of being hurt by her actions...

Also- at least Catra had a plan- which we know by how she takes down Shadow Weaver to be free of her continued abuse. Nor, also, does Catra just want to leave everyone in her old life, accepting the rebellions belief that people like her are only worthy of being vilified and condemned by the princesses- Adora's self righteous judgements just makes Catra think that Adora is being hurtful and naive. Adora, meanwhile, had no plan- and even after her 'destiny' is revealed, she's still playing into the hands of her abusers while trying to fulfill her 'destiny'. It doesn't matter if Adora doesn't mean to, she's still got to be better than letting corrupt people use her for evil. She needs to learn to not be so naive.

The best theory for the hurtful way Adora behaves- by being so hurtful while ignoring the deeper truths- is that Adora has a deeply engrained hurtful world-view due to how she was hurt by Shadow Weaver, towards her abusers purpose of using and sacrificing Adora. Because of how Adora was treated, she believes that duty always comes at a cost, and that it will be painful- it's a corrupted, painful way of seeing the world where she just assumes pain comes as part of her reality of being charged with duty.

This is false, it's just what her abusers (Light Hope, too) want her to believe, and waking up to how this corrupt concept of duty is used against her by her abusers is something that must happen for Adora to be able to move past it, so that she can start being a hero of love like she's meant to be. She cannot let naive concepts manipulate her into being hurtful, and cloud her from seeing her path of love. Adora in s1 sees none of this- she only sees her concept of duty which is wrong- she does get wiser throughout s1-4 which sets up for her heroic reveal in s5, when we her true She-ra form.

So, Adora's fighting Catra and all of her former friends, instead of looking to help or understand them, is a presumption that it is a necessary cost of her duty. Upholding her 'duty' was always painful for Adora, and so she thinks hurting her former friends is 'just how it has to be', because Shadow Weaver conditioned her to expect that duty would always feel painful. Her hurtful world view assumes evil on them all, while making no attempt to do better. That's not heroic- Adora is accepting enacting a lesser evil as part of 'duty', just like when Catra was allowed to suffer within the horde while she was given promotion. A real hero faces evil at it's source, by simply vilifying her former friends and breaking her promise to Catra, Adora is being no hero of love...

Which brings us to our next topic: why Adora fails everyone in her old life, and how she could have done better to help the people trapped within the horde’s abusive system. (Part 2)

Adora’s hurtful vilification of everyone in her old life, while never finding a way to help them, really is a failure to all of them. In particular, we can see how much Lonnie feels this way, much like Catra does-

Not finding any way to help them was always a failure of Adora as a hero, something which happens because of her trauma belief of 'duty' before all else, and how her new allies in the rebellion wrongly influence her to believe that all horde are evil. Their corrupted, hurtful views makes Adora miss an obvious possibility:

Adora could have used She-ra as a liberator, rather than as a conqueror.

I realize that may sound like hyperbole, but, there's plenty of evidence of how Adora fails her former friends, and even more about how the rebellion fails the people of the horde. ->see the following pics-

So, we need to talk about why Adora never tries to help her former friends, in order to open a path to freedom like she was offered because she was She-ra.

Even though the rebellion may have the moral high ground in this story, they still fall short of being their best with their derogatory views of the horde- it further divides themselves from what are essentially fellow native Etherians, it surrenders all further thought to what is essentially hate. One result of their flawed views is how we see its Glimmer that activates the super weapon: as she says “we’re the good guys, remember?”. Are they really being their best, though?

Glimmer and Angella have pain from the war, which gives them a corrupted view of the Horde where they summarily judge all Horde to be evil out of their pain. These are derogatory views which are based on their own personal feelings of injury, which leads to their views, as leaders, crossing over from needing to protect themselves, to enacting a unnecessarily hurtful exclusion of a group of vulnerable people who needed their help.

This isn't to say that their pain isn't real… it is, it just doesn't excuse an isolationist, closed minded view of their situation. Surrendering further thought out of emotional pain simply is never healthy, they take their feeling so far as up never show any understanding to any individuals within the horde, or to try to help them. As the leaders of free Etheria, this is a failure of their station as those leaders.

So enters our sweet Adora, who, while she does always mean well, is a lifelong product of abuse that makes her highly vulnerable to blindly going along with others' expectations of her. Afraid to fail her new allies, Adora accepts Glimmer and Angella’s ‘us versus them’ close minded view of the horde as evil as her own, she ignores her deeper knowledge of how this isn't true she has from her time as one of them. Because of it, Adora never considers how they deserve to be given the same chance to be better that she was granted because of her Princess powers.

In all of SPOP, Adora is the only person who is ever actually offered a chance to switch sides. This is a failure that happens because of the derogatory and closed minded views which predominate the rebellion's beliefs- it's no secret that they hate horde soldiers, and that no forgiveness is ever offered. It's prejudiced and amoral.

In SPOP, the Horde isn't evil in the black and white sense that most stories present their villains. They are a combination of bad, but also good: we can see that good in the stories of Catra, Scorpia, Lonnie, etc- even Hordak, the supposed leader of the evil Horde, shows he can be better and gets a redemption.

So, Adora’s intimate connections to people from her former life always demanded more understanding from her than just being crushed under She-ra’s golden boot. ... Not that anybody in the rebellion is actually interested in considering this possibility- and Adora is far too concerned at failing in her new duties as She-ra to stop and see it, and so challenge those views.

It was another missed chance to help people, rather than divide, that Adora misses seeing due to her traumas- her addition to their ranks should have been a chance to change the derogatory views of the rebellion for the better, to open a real path towards freedom for people within the horde who feel trapped by its abusive system, so they can find safety from it like she did when she switched sides.

It's a way in which she could have helped her former friends, and it might even have lead to resolving the war more peacefully- losing soldiers in such a way would have weakened the Horde, possibly even seen its collapse… also, Catra would have seen that Adora was no longer giving in to a blanket derogatory view of people like her... -> ->note, Adora's childhood best friend helms the Horde, and yet, Adora still cannot find common ground ? (This is because of Adora's own divisive and prejudiced behavior towards Catra. Also, Hordak is barely the leader of the Horde- as he hides in his lab and only emerges to makes snide comments.....)

Quick aside: yes, Adora does make a few weak offers of this in s1 to Catra, but always coming after Catra had been further abused because of Adora’s actions, and always with Adora acting in her superior way that shows no understanding of how she's hurtful. It makes Catra doubt Adora’s sincerity.

As it turns out, this derogatory view of the rebellion is a much larger failure: it fails the people of the horde, but very importantly, the way their hurtful views affects Adora equals a personal failure of them all to Adora.

What's really so terribly wrong with the rebellion's close minded views is that we never see any quarter offered to the horde: there's no opportunity for such people to be better- no choice given to them to step free of their abusive situation, and to prove they don't really stand for that. Not having that offer in place is an immoral act, and an abandonment of duty.

Glimmer and Angella’s presumption of evil upon all horde with no path to forgiveness in itself traps those very people in the system which forces them to act in evil ways. War is never an easy thing to solve- but presuming the enemy as evil shuts down all possible further understanding, and perpetuates the violence: as leaders of their world, Glimmer and Angella needed to do better.

And, their hurtful views are also a enormous personal failure to Adora, because it frightens Adora and leads to her continued self hurting-

Adora accepts the rebellion's close minded views that are forced on her, she throws herself into battle continuously trying to make up for her failure to be perfect. She's so afraid to fail them that she acts in compromised ways- such as looking to sacrifice herself, or hurtfully protecting her concept of 'destiny' at the cost of brutalizing her former friends in battle, never looking to help them.

It's a hurtful way to live, and Adora does it because she's so afraid to fail her new allies as a former child soldier from the Horde, and so, their views hurt her- Angella and Glimmer's views that being from the horde is synonymous with evil are a personal failure to Adora, particularly from Angella: as a mother, she could have helped Adora to understand her new role as She-ra, and to help Adora understand her trauma.

Instead, Angella judges Adora and treats her like she's evil unless she fights as she's told to... even though Adora, as an orphan, never had a choice in being from the horde. This is an emotionally hurtful failure to Adora as a friend, (Glimmer) and as a mother (Angella).

::This is also the beginning of a series of failures, one which ends with everyone being hurt, because of Adora’s betrayal of being a hero of love, in what could be considered a butterfly effect-

-> Adora takes the hurtful, close minded black and white view of morality of the rebellion, and applies it to her relationship with Catra- she ignores their intimate history and her promises, and implies that Catra must be evil like Shadow Weaver at multiple intervals following her defection. That is a failure of love, and of their lifetime of their intimate friendship with each other.

Catra had been hurt her whole life, she watched as Adora turned from her as a friend to be the enabler of their abuser. She's had enough of being hurt in this way, and Adora isn't even making an effort to understand why Catra feels so hurt by her actions. So, Catra wants to be free of Adora, who hurts her.

Catra fails Adora as a friend- ending the generosity of love we see her have in ep1-2, that she kept giving despite Adora being so hurtful towards her. Catra is done with Adora’s double standards, she agrees to fight the war against them all, since Adora so seemingly wants it as part of her new life and a 'destiny' which ends up being fake, anyways.

And so, the rebellion's close minded views creates Adora’s failure to Catra, Catra goes to war against them, and so, the one enemy they simply cannot defeat is created by their own close minded views that the forced on Adora...

The rebellion fails Adora -> Adora fails Catra (plus all of her former friends) -> and in reverse, Adora fails ALL of them -> rebellion alike, by failing to make the choice of love, of trying to make an effort to preserve her and Catra’s love, she turns Catra against them all with her lack of faith in their love, choosing to act hurtfully instead. It is a failure of being the hero of love that Etheria chose Adora to be...

A chain reaction that starts with Glimmer and Angella’s own hurtful views ends with EVERYONE being hurt- it amplifies the war, because, Adora is at the center of all that happens, and isn't being the hero she should be... you could ever say it causes a butterfly effect...

Still, Adora had a choice to be better.

Just like she had a choice to stand up to Shadow Weaver in the horde. Just like she had a choice to not turn on everyone in her old life, judging them in such hurtful ways, while never looking to help them. And, just like she had a choice to value her and Catra’s love, and through seeing how her actions hurt their love, seen that the duty she was so blindly devoting herself to was wrongly making her hurt people that deserved better from her.

Adora in s1 has so little emotional presence to be able to see her own hurtfulness- it's due to how she was hurt- that she places her concept of duty so far ahead of love that she can't even see the value of a lifelong relationship of love she had with Catra. Why would Catra think Adora cares about her, when she so casually betrays her, infers evil upon her, implies that Catra must be like their abuser ?

If, Adora was a more emotionally present person, she would have recognized that she needed to find a better way that didn't just brutalizing everyone from her previous life. And the rebellion itself doesn't help her, they just place their unfair expectations upon her. Her trauma makes it hard for her to see why love is important- she can hardly see the bond of love that she has with Catra... so, she doesn't choose love out of false belief in duty and fails to be the hero she's meant to be.. and everyone suffers for it.

In the end, Angella and Glimmer are not in themselves blameless for creating the situation they face with Catra’s determined war against them, because as leaders of the rebellion, they had been failing the vulnerable people in the horde all along.

As the saying goes, hurt people hurt other people. It's true in life and it's true in SPOP. Mostly people hurt each other because of trauma, and in SPOP everyone's trauma adds to the sadness of the war they fight for 4 seasons, horde and rebellion alike, not just Catra... or Adora. It's not the war they needed to fight, it never was, and as such they are all mostly caught unawares when their mistakes in this way results in Horde Prime finding them- ie- the true enemy they all should have been preparing to face...

... Which, it must be acknowledged, results from Glimmer's choice of trying to use a despicable super weapon to win a war- one in which her own bad attitude hurtfully influences Adora and therefore helped to amplify. Glimmer's act nearly destroys them all, while exposing their location to their true enemy all along...

Glimmer’s naive decision results in so much disaster that it really makes you wonder if the rebellion ever deserved to win the war with the way they conducted themselves...

I'd argue no…

Glimmer’s act, and how the princesses are caught so unaware of their true enemies- (ie, Horde Prime and the First Ones) shows them to be so naive that they likely would have inadvertently activated the Heart in time, and thus destroyed themselves, anyways.

They failed to be better, acting in way that added further trauma to the system. (..this is likely really a commentary on the chaos of war in general) And, the princesses really have NO excuse for being caught so unawares like they were- they don't know their own world's history- there's no real excuse for this. Especially when we see that it was indeed possible- Shadow Weaver uncovered much of it as part of her evil plans to attain more power. (Shoutout to Bow’s dads, who made a heroic effort to understand it, while starting from scratch- 🥰)

Add to this that Glimmer’s corrupted choice to activate the heart happens much as a consequence of her listening to, you guessed it, Shadow Weaver, and we have all the proof we need that the princesses don't understand their own “hubris”.

Long story short, everyone messes up the first 4 seasons, nobody is being their best- and so, Adora has to go to great lengths and great personal risk to herself to repair all of their previous mistakes during her s5 arc. She does this in a very beautiful way- she does it through the power of her love- *not* out of destiny, or duty, or even sacrifice. (Part 3)

Adora was always a hero of love, love IS her power, and she should have seen it sooner. Trauma is what blocked her.

A bit of sympathy for Adora:

Even though I'm talking about how she's wrong, Adora constantly found herself unfairly forced into bad situations by others' expectations put on her, some of which are evil, others are at the least unfair and corrupted by hurt. So, she ends up making some wrong choices… yet she's She-ra, she's still got to be better than that.

And Adora shows great courage in getting free of her trauma cycle to trust in the power of love instead of duty, like she was always supposed to do. How she gets past this trauma mentality is by simply learning to reconnect to her best self- and her deepest feelings of love and generosity that she was chosen to be a hero for by Etheria.

... Nevermind the First Ones-- Adora was still chosen by Etheria, as she was as a loving child, before Shadow Weaver ever managed to hurt her and make her into something else.

And, Adora finds this truth within herself with almost no help from anyone with her best interests at heart- Angella tries her best for ~3 minutes in the portal reality, to make up for her own hurtfulness towards Adora. (..Bow and Glimmer do help her some, but are very much involved in their own concerns..) Adora is a hero, but not by destiny… love is her truth.

Now... Adora’s burden as She-ra is indeed incredibly unfair on a personal level, yet as She-ra, she's still got to be able to make the right choices to be able fix the big problems she faces, and making those choices must be guided by love, not by destiny or duty.

So it doesn't matter that she's not responsible for the First Ones original evil, for which she was innocently born into- Adora simply won't quit trying to make it better, because that's who she is at heart. Trying to make things better is always a core motivation for Adora, even though she broke her promise of love to Catra. Love was always her guide, and her strength, that's why Etheria chose her, and in late s4 into s5, we see Adora begin listening to her truth of love.

So, Adora’s hurtfulness with Catra from s1-4 is just the most obvious symptom of how she's struggling with a trauma mindset that blocks her from being the true hero she's meant to be. This means that Adora and Catra's relationship issues and separation was always the real story of Adora's hero's arc, because Adora failed to look deeper and save their love because to her flawed concept of duty.

Being that hero requires not surrendering her reason to false judgements which require her to be hurtful to people who deserved her love and understanding, never mind if Catra makes everything worse with her own hurtful reactions. Adora always needed to be better than that, and being able to be so understanding of the moral complexity of their situation isn't easy, but, she learns to do it. Again, Catra isn't She-ra: Adora is.

::So, SPOP is one big story about people learning to not let their shitty attitudes control them, and of getting past them in order to become better people. Adora had a bad attitude in s1: it made everything worse, she turned on her former friends because of it. Catra’s attitude might be the worst of them all, but they all learn to be better- Glimmer, Angella, Mermista… the list goes on. Everyone needed to be better, and in s5 they are- it's what gives them the power to overcome Horde Prime together.

... Adora rescuing Catra is such an important part of her hero’s arc because of how she is a hero of love, but it's also important because she's making up for her previous mistakes of passing hurtful and false judgements unfairly upon her former friends... and against Catra. We also see Adora’s true powers emerge as she saves Catra, because she's trusting in love...

Speaking of Save the Cat… (part 4)

Still, if you're at all doubting that Adora struggles with being a false hero from s1-4, it's all well confirmed as Adora faces Horde Prime during Save the Cat in order to save Catra…

When Adora shows up to save Catra, and to save their love, Horde Prime pits chipped Catra against Adora, making her play out their entire history of hurting each other for false reasons in order for her to save Catra. This is meant to be a sly and forceful character assasination by Prime of Adora as a false hero, and as a bad friend. He wants Adora to feel weak, that her failures as a hero are so total, and her lack of love so hurtful, that it's much too late for her to fix her mistakes.

Because of his belief, he really isn't expecting Adora to succeed… yet, he doesn't know that Adora has found her truth of love…

He starts out by calling Adora a false hero, rubs it in that she's a First One, part of an evil empire that he easily defeated. And then, as she battles against chipped Catra, he tells her “you will destroy the ones you love in the process.”

This is supposed to be a scathing rebuke of Adora’s actions through s4. One where Adora, and the princesses at large, played into the hands of the First Ones manipulations, where she willingly hurt Catra in the name of her false destiny.

He reminds Adora of all of her failures, and how as a First One she's from an evil race of beings, she's totally at his mercy, just like the She-ra’s before her. He throws Catra at her, tauntingly, offering the chance for her to kill Catra, like she tried to do before in the service of Glimmer and Angella's corrupt expectations that she deliver them from the horde at any cost to herself.

Moments before Glimmer destroys the server, and Adora and Catra get their chance to talk, Prime rubs it in just how much Catra had to suffer for her sacrifice to protect Adora- “she was scared in the end, and she suffered”. A cruelty Catra shouldn't have had to suffer, but for Adora’s long standing history of betraying her for false duty.

Adora tells Catra she's not giving up on her, something she did through the first 4 seasons of SPOP with her blind righteousness towards Catra, never stopping to consider how she herself might have been wrong, instead stubbornly trying to enact her false destiny.

Prime compels Adora- it's too late, the damage is done, he's all but assured to win. She is behind enemy lines, and weak.. “then you are a fool, you cannot stop Horde Prime… he will reign triumphant… it is destiny”.

Her and Catra finally get to talk to each other when the server is destroyed, and as Catra reaches out, nearly taking Adora’s hand, wanting to go home again, he steals it away and taunts Adora one more time: “some creatures are destined only for destruction”- like it always was… Catra was meant to fail from the beginning, to die. And Adora was the tool of her abusers, she threw Catra aside as part of their evil plan to make her fail for their corrupt purposes. He sends Catra plummeting to her near death..

Clutching Catra’s dying body to her chest, Prime tells Adora “it did not have to be like this”. He's telling Adora that it never had to be like this, all of her betrayals of Catra, her struggles in vain against her false destiny, were done in a naive blindness that only ever made everything worse.

Everyone was made to suffer because of her naive belief in that 'destiny', she's failed, and if she's lucky, perhaps Prime might save Catra. By submitting to his will, maybe she can spare Catra her death... or if not... perhaps Adora can at least forget her mistakes like Catra has been made to do…

We all know what happens next. Adora is not the naive girl who played by the rules of her abusers, she's stronger within herself and knows she cannot abandon love. She's there for Catra- she's going to find a way to love her better, even if that's hard to do. As she says to Prime: "you miscalculated”.

And luckily for her, Catra, a true fighter for her own sacred life, surviving against a lifetime of death threats and near death experiences, is able to hang on just long for Adora to be able to save her from the brink of death..

None of this makes Catra’s actions during the war ok, but keep in mind that Catra shows great remorse for all of her mistakes. She's learned her lessons, too… and her remorse and then total confession of love hints that Catra never did what she did as part of wanting to hurt Adora..

Still… what really makes Catra fight against Adora like she does? After all… she had a choice, too, just like Adora did... (part 5)

Catra could have chosen to sympathize with Adora's views at the battle of Thaymore, after all, Adora was clearly right that what was happening to the civilians was wrong, yet Catra didn't.

As it so turns out, Catra isn't very impressed by some suffering of people who have lived their whole lives more privileged than she has, not when every day of her life had been a crime- surviving against abuse and torture with nowhere to run or anyone to turn to, Adora included.

Her life was that of an orphan, singled out for total destruction by their abuser, and as an orphan, the only way Catra knew for sure she could get free of that was through her own actions. She can't rely on anyone liking her or helping her because of innate magical powers like Adora does.

So, putting her life in the hands of the people who have only ever seen her as an enemy makes no sense, she's been hurt too many times before, including by Adora herself, to take Adora’s word for it.

But, she at least hoped that Adora would have chosen her out of love. Adora's willingness to abandon Catra so totally, and then continuing to behave so hurtfully in all of their further meetings, seems to tell another story.

All of Catra’s anger, and her worst actions through s4 can be summed up in one thing, of which never had to do with her wanting to hurt Adora:

Catra believes that she is totally alone in the world against her abuser, that nobody else properly sees Shadow Weaver's evil or will deal with it. And so it's up to her to do what must be done.

Everyone around her is an enabler in some way: Hordak didn't care to take a role in the Horde's everyday, only cared about results. Glimmer and the princesses become the worst kind of enablers of Shadow Weaver from s3 onward by taking her in, giving her total freedom in all but name. (And then there's the matter of Glimmer letting Shadow Weaver channel her power in s3ep4, which she uses to torture and nearly take Catra’s life yet again...)

But the saddest example is how she thinks Adora is a naive enabler who will never learn any better. Catra feels that way because of Adora's hurtful behaviors towards her, and how Adora couldn't even choose Catra out of love, instead vilifying her and hurting her as part of her false belief in duty.

She's wrong about this- Adora sees Shadow Weaver’s evil, too, she just doesn't know what to do about it. Adora had hoped that leaving her old life behind would free her from Shadow Weaver's corrupt influence over her, and yet... we see Adora struggle with how she was hurt right up until the end. Still, if she had just had one decent talk with Catra, it could have cleared up so much hurt between them so much sooner. (but they never did...)

Adora, as we see her in ep1, is a person that is so incredibly naive that Catra doesn't even need to feel that Adora ever intentionally enabled- Adora's blind devotion to Shadow Weaver's plan, followed by total willingness to abandon their fight against their abuser, while instead assuming evil upon Catra while hurtfully lumping Catra in with said abuser, means, as far as Catra could tell, that Adora was never going to choose to help her at all.

Adora’s behavior in the horde was so atrociously bad, that her continued hurtfulness after leaving seems to confirm Catra’s worst fears: that Adora really didn't care about her, and only cared about her duty.

If true, Adora having had no plan to help her would have made Adora's continued naive enabling of Shadow Weaver a clear and present danger to Catra's life. Was playing the favorite to their abuser really Adora's only plan? Would she have just continued to enable Shadow Weaver right up until she pulled off whatever betrayal she had for the two of them, killing Catra, or them both? It sure would seem so.

Add to this the fact that Adora just ends up having enabled a different evil manipulator as part of her deserting her, and Catra is done expecting anyone to ever help her with the realities of her abuser. If the princesses want to call her evil, while sheltering her abuser and further enabling Shadow Weaver’s evil, she won't feel bad if they all get hurt along the way. And Adora is naive, something Catra makes abundantly clear during their fights.

Catra does a lot of dangerous and hurtful things in the name of this belief. But, this is a trauma state Catra learns to wake up from, because she's lost just like Adora is, and her trauma mentality is destructive to everyone around her.

It leaves her with nothing… no moment of happiness, nobody to call her a friend, a life of absolute loneliness with nothing to live for except her drive to punish her abuser at any cost, with little to no chance of forgiveness for her violence. She learns every lesson the hard way- that no matter how much your abusers continued existence hurts you, there's simply some things you just do not do… you're no good to anyone if you surrender your heart to that kind of anger.

Catra does show deep remorse for all of her worst actions. And, she's lucky that Adora saves her. (even if she's a bit pissed at Adora for risking herself like that… 🥺😥)

But, in regards to whether she's abusive… in s5 we don't see that. Catra does act out a little bit while coming to terms with why Adora saved her- she didn't think she would ever get a second chance. From that moment onward we only see love and devotion from Catra, she doesn't want to live in her hurtful ways anymore, even if she still has no idea how to feel safe with her abuser running wild (Adora does see and her best to protect Catra from Shadow Weaver in s5). Catra can't keep living like she was, so living to help Adora makes much more sense.

My final appeal to people who have a hard time accepting Catradora… (part 6)

:: We should all strive to not let our personal hurt block us from appreciating people's situations, and understanding them. I know it may seem like I'm targeting Adora harshly, but that's why I went to such lengths to show how her issues play out in the narrative. Adora struggles to be her best self, like Catra does, and accepting this about her doesn't mean we need to love her any less than we already do!

Adora is absolutely precious, as is Catra… they never should have been hurt like they were- Adora as the ‘hero’ and Catra as singled out for destruction because of how she loved Adora.

They were always sweet girls, like the innocent and loving children we see them as in their earliest memories, before that day when Shadow Weaver hurt them so badly.

The beautiful love we see between them in s5 is what they always deserved- they should have been allowed to grow up with innocence and then fallen in love, but instead they got hurt because of the corrupt intentions of others.

They both spend the arc of the series trying to get past how they've been hurt, to get back to each other. And how they do that is by remembering the way they loved each other before Shadow Weaver was ever able to hurt them so much and drove them apart.

That, was always their truth, their love is good and pure like it is in those childhood memories. They were always supposed to love each other, and their division was a mistake that happens out of how Shadow Weaver and others have hurt them.

Both of them show tremendous courage in working hard to be able to step past how trauma controls them to be better, it's not just Catra who has to do this.

Adora does, too, because she's got to trust in love, not duty or destiny or sacrifice to be incredibly strong in the ways she needs to be to do the really scary things she has to do- such as stopping the Heart, and of solving a millennia old war that was never her fault, plus more. Love was always what makes Adora strong enough to do the very hard things which she has to do.

When Catra is given a second chance in s5, she sees that Adora is being hurt, and how nobody really helps her… they just expect her to do whatever has to be done. And that's wrong, because it’s unfair and it hurts her. Catra knows Adora has been hurt all of her life, she just didn't realize how much...

Catra may have been made to suffer because of Adora, but she survived that, and so she heals herself to be free of it as best she can in s5. And, Catra realizes she can help Adora, really really help her, to do the very hard things that are expected of her… Catra puts everything she has into helping Adora in s5. It's what Catra always thought she'd do, as the wiser child that knew how evil the world really was. She just got all mixed up inside, fearing that Adora would never really love her… and that was wrong of her.

Catra isn't really expecting redemption.. or even for Adora to return her feelings of romantic love back to her in the same way that she feels. She's a bit a of a pessimist, and has been left waiting her whole life to see someone show care and real love to her... But, all she has left is her love for Adora, and so she gives everything she has to her.

I think that's really courageous of her, and when she sees Adora is failing in the Heart chamber, she makes a dazzling series of romantic moves during the dream and the kiss- to show Adora that she's loved, that she's wanted, and that she's not alone. Brave, romantic moves which Catra didn't know for certain that Adora would reciprocate, but... she was still willing to do it, she loves her too much to let Adora fail, and die, while feeling so scared and alone. So, Catra does everything she can think of to let Adora know that she's loved. Catra deserves some credit for that.

We see that it works, as Adora has always loved her, too. Adora was just too blocked from expressing her love by her trauma. And Adora’s final test, as a hero of love, is quite simply to accept that she can be loved, not as a hero, but for who she is...

... I don't know what else to say to anyone who can't accept their love, or at least I won't here. I think it is the most beautiful love story I have ever seen.

In large part this is because it's not simplified. Catra and Adora’s love isn't just assumed to be kismet, they have to work hard to be together. They are both really bad communicators, and had to learn to talk to each other. This is true with most relationships, and in doing so they become truly loving partners to each other.

... So, it might have been nice if there had been enough time for Noelle to give us even one more kiss between them... but, I think Noelle wanted to tell us a very mature, grown up story about overcoming adversity to embrace love. And I think that's really commendable of them.

Sorry that took so long… Anyways, Catradora is the best ship, I don't make the rules! 😅🚢 ✨ I realize I won't be able to convince everyone, but that kiss was beautiful, was it not?? So, I hope my words aren't a total loss, and that maybe I can convince just a few people to feel like I do.

Love is power. 💞🏳️‍🌈☺️

:: Hi!! - I will gladly answer anyone's questions, and feel free to let me know what you thought of this. Thank you.

Also, if you've read this far, thank you for that- if you enjoyed it please consider giving it a ✨reblogg✨ or a like!! *humble thanks 🙇*

Peace and Love,

~EtheriaDearie 🕊

Some final notes:

Yes, I do realize these are fictional characters, but it's easier to talk about them this way- they are the nuanced creations of very creative people, meant for us to enjoy… in that way they might as well be real, because they have so much to teach us-

Got time to read something short (yes I mean it!!) that's mostly pictures? Check out this cool theory about Adora's dream it's real quick!! 💞🏳️‍🌈

-all hyperlinks are on tumblr. Here's a list of my other analyses-

LotFP = Legend of the Fire Princess. It's canon, important, a whole lot of fun, and worth checking out!! 10/10 😉

-note: I will not use the term 'toxic' because of how I feel the word carries cultural connotations which detract from discussion. However, discuss as you wish! I have no issue with the word or the concept, I just seek to be very clear in my meanings -

Finally, here's a link to a YouTube video of Adora saying Catra's name (fast forward to 0:40). You can really hear how her tone changes through time, in particular in s3 right before Catra pulls the switch, as Adora is coming to terms with her mistakes as She-ra. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f_WRT3D3n_I