9:40 Side note here: To me, it’s actually more because of Shadow Weaver, due to her leaving Catra for dead after she tried to help her & going to Adora to save her own skin (even though Catra thought this was once more out of favouritism) So Adora is involved but it was Shadow Weaver’s actions that ultimately pushed Catra to throw her chance at happiness away & release the portal (a whole LOT of Catra’s poor choices were motivated by Shadow Weaver to be honest 😓)
Listening back to that I do agree that it sounds like I'm just talking about Adora 😅 I feel like her actions are mainly determined by what both Adora and Shadow Weaver, and I agree that ESPECIALLY that is the case with Shadow Weaver leaving to go find Adora. That hurt to watch.
10:19 Facts! 😌 Catra actually shows nuggets of her empathic nature throughout the show, not just in the final season. During ‘Princess Prom’ where while she does formulate a plan to defeat Adora & the Princesses at their All Princess Ball, she still feels genuine empathy for Scorpia & makes her feel better & when convincing Entrapta to switch sides, she still feels bad for the fact she was left behind like she was. Hell, she even tries to comfort Shadow Weaver in a couple eps of the first season alone!
Yess her character is so complex and I really feel like she was always a good person at heart, she was just too scared of getting hurt to truly let other people in.
11:36 And I think the reason Catra is finally letting herself worry about Adora here is that Double Trouble’s words are still weighing on her about what she really wants & on Prime’s ship where she literally doesn’t have much to do except contemplate & reflect, her true wants & needs are finally brought to the forefront at her lowest point.
Counterpoint: while motivated villains with complex relationships can be super interesting, sometimes flat, uncomplicated villains can be incredibly fun. They can be evil while enjoying it, thus letting the audience also enjoy it. Staying within Shera, a great example would be DoubleTrouble. Their self serving charisma and lack of true allegiance makes them an incredibly interesting contrast to all the other complex characters. They're sure in their multiplicity of identities and cause chaos because it's enjoyable.
@@Nutmeg- oh you mean THAT masters of the universe! I thought you meant the Twilight fanfic that progressed into the fifty shades franchise, that's why I was so shocked.
As someone that recently warmed up to catra character this is a nice video and honestly as a villain catra is always a nice step to use as inspiration for writing villains.
Yess that’s a great idea! I’ve been wanting to reread those books and what with the new movie coming out and all. I’ll definitely try to do one sometime in the future 👏
What I love most about Hordak is that (and this is probably just my personal opinion) the show didn’t just show one state of him. We basically got three faces of the same person. And it was enhanced by the talent of their voice actor, Keston John. Like you can tell that they all share certain aspects while also differing so much from each other. *Hordak* - someone who thought his frail body made him weak and useless to his lord/master/father. But when he finds the courage to forge genuine connections with others, that made him weak (in the eyes of Horde Prime) *Wrong Hordak* - there’s not much to say about him because, for most of the show, he was basically a blank slate who got to experience new emotions in a way that Hordak and the rest of his brothers couldn’t. There wasn’t any baggage of wanting to prove something to anybody. He was just a great big ball of curiosity and positivity. *Horde Prime* - I love how the three main Hordaks are basically three different points in a person’s life. WH is someone who has the energy of someone who’s just experiencing life. OG Hordak is someone who has seen the hardships of life and is struggling to survive in it. Meanwhile, Prime is someone who has become so desensitized everything. He feels like he’s seen everything and done everything. He takes all the things Hordak and Wrong Hordak cherish for granted. Life and death are meaningless (I can just switch to a new body if one dies on me).
@@WritingWithAsh I tend to focus more on villains and analyze the heck out of them. I’m also a huge lover of character types where there are multiple different characters who (in whatever way) are so connected to each other that they’re basically the same person or different aspects of a person. That’s why I love stories that involve clones or reincarnations because it’s always fun seeing how each one will differ from the others.
@@Zekrel Yess 👏 I'm a total villain fan, which is why so many of my videos tend to be about them 😆 Are you a Star Wars fan by any chance? The Clone Wars animated show (and The Bad Batch spinoff) really explore the clone characters and how they each have their own identity.
@@WritingWithAsh Yeah I’m a bit of Star Wars fan. I’ve seen all the movies and I watched both the Clone Wars and Rebels. I was surprised how much they made me care about the clones. I cried when that horrible stuff happened to Fives. Not to mention order 66
@@Zekrel I'm a huge Star Wars fan and Clone Wars and Rebels are probably my favorites too! Outside of The Bad Batch (video about that coming out today, actually 👏) I care so much about the clones 🥲
I had it on while I was doing something else, and after awhile it just tunred into "POV: you're on a walk through autumn leaves, while the person you're with talks about she-ra"
12:19 I loved your point about Catra’s redemption arc. Redemption arcs are a double edged sword, and She Ra writers definitely got that part right. But I really wish they’d started her arc sooner. Her redemption arc felt rushed and it felt like the other characters, especially Bow and Glimmer, accepted her as good guy waaayyyy too fast.
I can agree with that. I love her arc so much, but I do think that her change of heart was a little quick. My personal favorite example of a villain being accepted into the hero's group is Zuko from ATLA. I think that his struggles to be accepted into the group are done really well 👌
I know what it's like to think a plotline is a little rushed. I think about season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. In the middle of the season, the character Cozy Glow is introduced, a filly pegasus. And in the season finale, School Raze, she's revealed to be the big bad.
This video FINALLY taught me to understand Shadow Weaver. I could never figure out her motivations, her angle... and I'm only just now realizing that that's the point. She's supposed to be ambiguous, to leave the audience questioning... because she leaves Adora and Catra questioning. Because abusive parents leave their kids with those questions. Awesome video! You've given me some great ideas for writing my protagonists. That tells you something about my protagonists.
Yay I’m so glad you liked it! Honestly, making this video gave me such a greater appreciation for Shadow Weaver. Ooo it tells me I’m gonna like your protagonists 👀
@@WritingWithAsh What's all this silly stuff about how protagonists always have to do the right thing? And- what was that you said? They have to be "good people" and have "morals"? Hah! Good one- but it's not like those are real options if you want to make a difference. And y'know why "pro" is in the name? Stands for "proactive". And to make them relatable, they should be socially awkward, and unaware of others, and- screw that! Let's make 'em as manipulative as Shadow Weaver! There's a difference between "protagonist" and "hero", is what I'm getting at here.
I completely agree with you that writers can learn a lot from SPOP about writing villains. However, the section about Catra is not as helpful as it could be, because it portrays Catra as far more villainous than she really was. For example, her relationship with Entrapta is summarized as "manipulates and then betrays", which is very misleading. Entrapta was the one person after Adora who Catra most obviously liked and tried to be friends with, and Entrapta was the one who betrayed Catra. She and Hordak sent Catra on a suicide mission to the Crimson Waste. Hordak openly intended to kill Catra and even gleefully cackled about it, but that didn't stop Entrapta from remaining his adoring "lab partner" aka (girl)friend. While Catra was fighting for her life in the Crimson Waste, Entrapta was telling Hordak how his imperfections are beautiful! Entrapta decided that her budding relationship with Hordak was more important than Catra's life. I think this was a ghastly betrayal of Catra's friendship, and it’s completely understandable that Catra was highly pissed off with Entrapta.
I honestly didn’t really think about it that way, but I appreciate you pointing it out!! That does add another layer. I do agree that I could have delved a bit more into Catra’s heroic side, and might do a video just about her in the future. She’s complex enough to warrant it!
@@WritingWithAsh A video about Catra's heroic side? That would be fantastic! Most videos about SPOP here on TH-cam are frustratingly simplistic - and completely wrong. They portray Catra as a mentally ill failure instead of the clever and hard-working Force Captain that she was. They portray Adora as a saintly saviour instead of how the showrunner herself described Adora: “A Slytherin (trying to be a Gryffindor)”, who is “very strong but very flawed”, who made big mistakes, and for whom her relationship with Catra was not as important as for Catra. A video about Adora's Slytherin side would also be very interesting! The writers wanted to teach kids that a hero is not someone who is perfect (and therefore unattainable by real people), but rather someone who learns from their mistakes and doesn't give up. "What Writers can learn from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power about Writing better HEROES".
Entrapta never betrayed Catra. She actually stopped Hordak from either sending her to Beast Island or straight up executing her. Her entire motivation was to save Catra's life.
@@tomnorton4277 ... by sending her on a suicide mission? Your comment is a sweet headcanon, but it is unfortunately not based on any canonical evidence in the show. In the show, Entrapta's main motivations were 1) getting more tech, and 2) her relationship with Hordak. Catra's life was not high on the list.
I made my own She-Ra essay that took about a year and a half, and I avoided seeing a lot of other essays because I wanted to make sure I would be writing and making my own thoughts because I didn't want to risk getting all my talking points from other videos. Now being able to see essays I missed out on, and essays being uploaded, I think your essay and several others is encouraging me to do another essay on simply Catra's arc and how people reacted to her character alone. I agree a lot with this video, along with Princess Weekes's and Five by Five Takes analyses. Catra being the way she is in the show and still being able to find redemption is what makes her so compelling. I don't want the version of the character who "deserved redemption" according to people who wanted her either banished or killed. I think it would have watered her down and taught a worse message that abusive victims only "deserve" forgiveness if they display their trauma in a pleasant way. The crew had the guts to show us a character that reacted to their abuse in a way that's more true to reality than what a lot of people want to accept, and they said: "You can still break that cycle and find your own happy ending."
Thanks, you’re too nice 😊 And yes, you definitely got to watch it!! The show is so good. The villains alone are enough of warrant a watch, but I honestly love all the characters.
I will say, the one thing I wish we’d gotten that we didn’t, was a longer final season (such as 26 ep) for not just Catra’s transformation but for Adora’s growth as a better friend. Seeing her improve her own flaws, like her growing emotional awareness of Catra was great & one of the most fascinating aspects of Adora’s character but it was sadly pushed to the background nearly entirely when it should’ve gotten equal screen time with Catra’s growth, as the show’s core IS about them finding each other again & being better for both themselves & one another 🤝💞 Most of what we got was phenomenal but 13 eps simply wasn’t enough time to truly push the reconciliation part of their arc as far as it could’ve gone 😔
I agree with that. My only problem with Catra’s character arc was how quickly she was redeemed, I personally like when it takes a long time and you can really see the slow evolution. Something I feel like Avatar did really well with Zuko.
I loved this show's villains SO MUCH. And Catra finally helped me truly understand what abuse victims go through, and why some even become abusers themselves, because in every other midia I saw, they made the victims a bit too healthy (yes, that includes Zuko). I REALLY want a sequel movie to the show.
@@WritingWithAsh you know something funny ? Even without an abusive background, I still managed to understand so much of what she was saying and doing, simply because they were things I studied in History or heard of being done in businesses, and what not. Her relatability/realism is just so well done.
Thank you! As an abuse victim, it drives me crazy when people misunderstand that aspect of her character. It's not to excuse what she's done, but it's a realistic, and in my personal opinion, a relatable and helpful image of what abuse can do to a person. Adora was the hero because she broke out of that cycle and environment, and Catra could only follow suit and stop being the villain when she realized that too.
There's one last big villain of this show not mentioned here, and I can see why. They're certainly quite different from all the others. But I'd be interested in your take on him. What do you think of Horde Prime? He's pretty much the sole purely evil character in the series. His motivation and personality are quite defined, but his backstory? Complete mystery. So, what are your opinions on the Emperor of the Galactic Horde?
Yess he’s such an interesting character. I think that he’s a great villain and the way he shaped Hordak as a character is very similar to how Shadow Weaver shaped Catra, which I think is interesting. I think to really dig into his character I’d have to go back and revisit some elements of the shows tbh
@@WritingWithAsh Well, I've thought a lot about SPOP over the last year or so (since I came to it VERY late), and I think that Prime is a real problem, in a way - he's severely underwritten. By that I mean, there's really "not a lot of there, there." I think the more you look, the less you'll find. In my opinion, he really is merely the big, bad guy (Morgoth, Sauron the Great) with a few quirks put in to make the character a little bit interesting. And maybe that's a good thing, from an overall series perspective - giving a whole bunch of "back story" to Prime would just have distracted from the real stories here, which is all about the emotional growth (and healing) of the principals.
@@petercoo9177 I can get that! I'm currently working on a character analysis video for next week and a big part of what Im talking about is how characters can act as catalysts for other characters; forcing them to adapt and ultimately acting as a tool for us viewers to see other sides of characters. Reading your comment, I feel like that's sort of the role Horde Prime plays. He pushes Catra to realize she doesn't want to be a villain anymore, he manipulates Hordak into losing his feelings of self-worth. At the end of the day, he's there to affect the other characters more than he is to be a character in his own right. So while he's not as detailed as the other characters, he works as a very good plot device. Imo, at least.
If anyone wants it, I made a backstory for horde prime: So his name was Anillis Kur (80’s refrence) and he was a scientist of his planet. He had a son named Hec-tor Kur (another 80’s refrence) who was a soldier, and also brothers, whom he was close to. One day, the first ones came to the planet. The planet’s leaders tried to make peace with them but they got fooled and the first ones, being the conquerors they are, completely destroyed the planet and Hec-tor was one of the first to defend against them, and he died. Anillis was the only one who survived, but after getting through the grief and rising from the ashes, he decided to clone his entire species, and especially his son and brothers. He tried to clone his son first, he uploads his memories into a new body, and thus, Hordak was born. Then Prime set out to destroy the first ones empire and made the clones into and army and made his son the top general. During his conquest, he met Mara, he was going to destroy her and the first ones who’d settled on Etheria, but he grew to like her, and they became friends (and he started to like her as more than a friend). But once Mara found out the truth about him, he turned against him, then he reveals his backstory to her about how the first ones destroyed his planet, and now, knowing the truth about the first ones, Mara sets off to rebel against her leaders. But Prime, feeling betrayed, he feels that no one will have to go through any of whatever stuff he went through if he either “brought peace” (aka destroying the entire universe). So he sets off to destroy everyone, and then, he finds out about the defect in his son’s cloning. He tried desperately to save him, but nothing worked, then he thought if he just sacrificed all his emotion, he wouldn’t get hurt again. And then he developed his “everything must be perfect mentality”, then he erases most of his son’s memories, sends hordak to die, and spop happens, so… yeah, that’s basically it, what do you think? Sry it’s so long lol, I tried my best to make it as short as possible, but you know, a lot of backstory, so… yeah…
@@SannidhiDeshpande It's a pretty good backstory, but I wouldn't really ever consider Horde Prime someone worthy of sympathy. I think it's more likely that he's just someone who was never told "no" and had the power to back it up, just like most RL cult leaders.
I REALLY want someone to make a video comparing Catra and Adoras dynamic to Bakugo and Izuku! There are other characters in the show that are similar too (Scorpia and Kirishima, Glimmer and Ochako, etc)
These are oversimplifications and I'll understand if people don't agree. I see both Catra and Hordac as victims of abusive relationships, including their desire to please their abusers. It wasn't until Catra began talking with Glimmer that she began to imaging a life in a nurturing environment, and even when she had the chance, she was reluctant to enter it until Adora was in danger. When Hardac was freed from Hord Prime, he was just dazed. I see in Shadow Weaver someone who was always motivated to protect Etheria, and saw any atrocities committed to achieve those ends as acceptable. In the end, she succeeded which was why she was willing to sacrifice herself for Adora and Catra: she had made them into warriors who would be able to defend Etheria as well if not better than she could.
Yess 👏 I looking back I liked how Hordak and Catra felt like different stages of the same person’s life. I’m so happy they were able to break the cycle.
I'd say it has some great villains and character arcs. Though personally, I prefer Gravity Falls Bill Cipher and characters such as Soos, or bassically anyone but Wendy for arcs. Along with Avatar as perfect at almost anything.
Avatar is sooo good. Zuko is one of the best villain redemption arcs out there 👏 And I love Gravity Falls! One of my favorite shows of all time, Bill is iconic.
@@eren34558 I'm gonna have to watch it first 😅But I do keep hearing about it and am meaning to give it a try! And after I do I would definitely do a video on it 👏
@@WritingWithAsh The strong muscular blonde girl and the Cat girl have kissed in this show too. However there's still one season left which means that the show will be Exploring a lesbian relationship together.
I loved this show. Until Season 5 character assassinated Adora and Glimmer to prop up Catra and wasted Hordak by replacing him with the completely pointless Wrong Hordak.
@@lastunicorn846 Adora was DONE with Catra. She made that very clear at the end of Season 3 and throughout Season 4. "One good thing in her life" could have very easily been one of Catra's manipulations to get Adora to feel indebted to her. Adora's smart enough to know that after all the times Catra pulled that kind of shit before. Adora would have ONLY saved Catra out of obligation. After that, she would have wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. She spent years of her life breaking out of that abusive relationship so she would have treated Catra with the same suspicion that she treated Shadow Weaver. Glimmer would never have been friends with the bitch who as good as killed Angella. Her mother was as good as dead and Glimmer not only never even brought it up but was getting chummy with Angella's killer. At best, she would have given Catra a grumpy thank you for saving her, then want nothing to do with her after that. That's how Adora and Glimmer were character assassinated. They regressed back into being "innocent, naive, ridiculously easy to manipulate" instead of the hardened badasses who took none of Catra's shit that they were in Season 4.
I do think that Catradora is toxic in the beginning, but by the end of the show Catra is trying actively to change. And I mean… Hordak is a difficult situation that could only really exist in a show or a book.
@@WritingWithAsh just saying that it doesn’t seem to justify their actions. Look at joker and Harley Quinn, the twilight series, beauty and the beast. Everyone goes in saying it is toxic, but catradora isn’t? She destroyed world and cost glimmer her mom, blamed adora and even helped horde prime. Is there favoritism in this ship? Also hordak caused all this. He could have done better, but still decided to kill people. It’s weird and I don’t like it all much
@@WritingWithAsh, She-Ra exists because of Masters of the Universe being popular with girls in the early 80s. It even outsold Barbie. Also, Hordak was sold under the Masters of the Universe line back then. The term Grayskull in the ‘By the honor of Grayskull’ chant refers to Adam’s and Adora’s ancestor King Grayskull, who ruled Eternia from Castle Grayskull.
![Tigerstar's (Genetically Realistic) Family Tree [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MhEPtkqizfM/mqdefault.jpg)
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
9:40 Side note here: To me, it’s actually more because of Shadow Weaver, due to her leaving Catra for dead after she tried to help her & going to Adora to save her own skin (even though Catra thought this was once more out of favouritism)
So Adora is involved but it was Shadow Weaver’s actions that ultimately pushed Catra to throw her chance at happiness away & release the portal (a whole LOT of Catra’s poor choices were motivated by Shadow Weaver to be honest 😓)
Listening back to that I do agree that it sounds like I'm just talking about Adora 😅
I feel like her actions are mainly determined by what both Adora and Shadow Weaver, and I agree that ESPECIALLY that is the case with Shadow Weaver leaving to go find Adora. That hurt to watch.
10:19 Facts! 😌
Catra actually shows nuggets of her empathic nature throughout the show, not just in the final season.
During ‘Princess Prom’ where while she does formulate a plan to defeat Adora & the Princesses at their All Princess Ball, she still feels genuine empathy for Scorpia & makes her feel better & when convincing Entrapta to switch sides, she still feels bad for the fact she was left behind like she was. Hell, she even tries to comfort Shadow Weaver in a couple eps of the first season alone!
Yess her character is so complex and I really feel like she was always a good person at heart, she was just too scared of getting hurt to truly let other people in.
11:36 And I think the reason Catra is finally letting herself worry about Adora here is that Double Trouble’s words are still weighing on her about what she really wants & on Prime’s ship where she literally doesn’t have much to do except contemplate & reflect, her true wants & needs are finally brought to the forefront at her lowest point.
Yess 👏
And can I just say how much I love Double Trouble 🤩
Counterpoint: while motivated villains with complex relationships can be super interesting, sometimes flat, uncomplicated villains can be incredibly fun. They can be evil while enjoying it, thus letting the audience also enjoy it. Staying within Shera, a great example would be DoubleTrouble. Their self serving charisma and lack of true allegiance makes them an incredibly interesting contrast to all the other complex characters. They're sure in their multiplicity of identities and cause chaos because it's enjoyable.
That’s a good point! I think both kinds of villains server purposes and can be executed really well for the benefit of a story.
She-Ra still stands as one of the best shows on Netflix, and probably the best thing to ever come out of the Masters of the Universe franchise 😊
Yess I love it so much 🤩
WHAT-
what does shera have to do with masters of the universe???
Damn, you've never seen a decent show if you view this as the best.
@@chia.rae.. Only that the actual SheRa is HeMan's twin sister and that these franchises are deeply connected.
@@Nutmeg- oh you mean THAT masters of the universe! I thought you meant the Twilight fanfic that progressed into the fifty shades franchise, that's why I was so shocked.
As someone that recently warmed up to catra character this is a nice video and honestly as a villain catra is always a nice step to use as inspiration for writing villains.
Thanks! I love her character so much 👏
18:32 “A villain can remain completely evil & still evolve.”
Lol I’d love your take on Coriolanus Snow from the Hunger Games series!
Yess that’s a great idea! I’ve been wanting to reread those books and what with the new movie coming out and all. I’ll definitely try to do one sometime in the future 👏
What I love most about Hordak is that (and this is probably just my personal opinion) the show didn’t just show one state of him. We basically got three faces of the same person. And it was enhanced by the talent of their voice actor, Keston John. Like you can tell that they all share certain aspects while also differing so much from each other.
*Hordak* - someone who thought his frail body made him weak and useless to his lord/master/father. But when he finds the courage to forge genuine connections with others, that made him weak (in the eyes of Horde Prime)
*Wrong Hordak* - there’s not much to say about him because, for most of the show, he was basically a blank slate who got to experience new emotions in a way that Hordak and the rest of his brothers couldn’t. There wasn’t any baggage of wanting to prove something to anybody. He was just a great big ball of curiosity and positivity.
*Horde Prime* - I love how the three main Hordaks are basically three different points in a person’s life. WH is someone who has the energy of someone who’s just experiencing life. OG Hordak is someone who has seen the hardships of life and is struggling to survive in it. Meanwhile, Prime is someone who has become so desensitized everything. He feels like he’s seen everything and done everything. He takes all the things Hordak and Wrong Hordak cherish for granted. Life and death are meaningless (I can just switch to a new body if one dies on me).
Yess this is so true 👏 his character is such an interesting one and didn’t even think of it this way, but this is such a cool analysis 🤩
@@WritingWithAsh
I tend to focus more on villains and analyze the heck out of them. I’m also a huge lover of character types where there are multiple different characters who (in whatever way) are so connected to each other that they’re basically the same person or different aspects of a person. That’s why I love stories that involve clones or reincarnations because it’s always fun seeing how each one will differ from the others.
@@Zekrel Yess 👏 I'm a total villain fan, which is why so many of my videos tend to be about them 😆
Are you a Star Wars fan by any chance? The Clone Wars animated show (and The Bad Batch spinoff) really explore the clone characters and how they each have their own identity.
@@WritingWithAsh
Yeah I’m a bit of Star Wars fan. I’ve seen all the movies and I watched both the Clone Wars and Rebels. I was surprised how much they made me care about the clones. I cried when that horrible stuff happened to Fives. Not to mention order 66
@@Zekrel I'm a huge Star Wars fan and Clone Wars and Rebels are probably my favorites too! Outside of The Bad Batch (video about that coming out today, actually 👏)
I care so much about the clones 🥲
For advice: If you're gonna go with the clip on mic, don't wear your jacket, there's a LOT of rustling over your dialogue. Nice video tho!
Yeah I realized that in post production but it was already too late 😅 sorry about that! But thank you 😊
I had it on while I was doing something else, and after awhile it just tunred into "POV: you're on a walk through autumn leaves, while the person you're with talks about she-ra"
@@jadegecko LOL at least I made it atmospheric 😂
I'll be honest I gave up after 2 minutes due to the sound quality...
@@WritingWithAshur cool tho
12:19 I loved your point about Catra’s redemption arc. Redemption arcs are a double edged sword, and She Ra writers definitely got that part right.
But I really wish they’d started her arc sooner. Her redemption arc felt rushed and it felt like the other characters, especially Bow and Glimmer, accepted her as good guy waaayyyy too fast.
I can agree with that. I love her arc so much, but I do think that her change of heart was a little quick. My personal favorite example of a villain being accepted into the hero's group is Zuko from ATLA. I think that his struggles to be accepted into the group are done really well 👌
I know what it's like to think a plotline is a little rushed.
I think about season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
In the middle of the season, the character Cozy Glow is introduced, a filly pegasus.
And in the season finale, School Raze, she's revealed to be the big bad.
This video FINALLY taught me to understand Shadow Weaver. I could never figure out her motivations, her angle... and I'm only just now realizing that that's the point. She's supposed to be ambiguous, to leave the audience questioning... because she leaves Adora and Catra questioning. Because abusive parents leave their kids with those questions.
Awesome video! You've given me some great ideas for writing my protagonists.
That tells you something about my protagonists.
Yay I’m so glad you liked it! Honestly, making this video gave me such a greater appreciation for Shadow Weaver.
Ooo it tells me I’m gonna like your protagonists 👀
@@WritingWithAsh What's all this silly stuff about how protagonists always have to do the right thing? And- what was that you said? They have to be "good people" and have "morals"? Hah! Good one- but it's not like those are real options if you want to make a difference. And y'know why "pro" is in the name? Stands for "proactive". And to make them relatable, they should be socially awkward, and unaware of others, and- screw that! Let's make 'em as manipulative as Shadow Weaver!
There's a difference between "protagonist" and "hero", is what I'm getting at here.
@@HenryGray-sy4pu I want to read this book 😂
@@WritingWithAsh Glad to hear it.
I completely agree with you that writers can learn a lot from SPOP about writing villains. However, the section about Catra is not as helpful as it could be, because it portrays Catra as far more villainous than she really was.
For example, her relationship with Entrapta is summarized as "manipulates and then betrays", which is very misleading. Entrapta was the one person after Adora who Catra most obviously liked and tried to be friends with, and Entrapta was the one who betrayed Catra. She and Hordak sent Catra on a suicide mission to the Crimson Waste. Hordak openly intended to kill Catra and even gleefully cackled about it, but that didn't stop Entrapta from remaining his adoring "lab partner" aka (girl)friend. While Catra was fighting for her life in the Crimson Waste, Entrapta was telling Hordak how his imperfections are beautiful! Entrapta decided that her budding relationship with Hordak was more important than Catra's life. I think this was a ghastly betrayal of Catra's friendship, and it’s completely understandable that Catra was highly pissed off with Entrapta.
I honestly didn’t really think about it that way, but I appreciate you pointing it out!! That does add another layer.
I do agree that I could have delved a bit more into Catra’s heroic side, and might do a video just about her in the future. She’s complex enough to warrant it!
@@WritingWithAsh A video about Catra's heroic side? That would be fantastic!
Most videos about SPOP here on TH-cam are frustratingly simplistic - and completely wrong. They portray Catra as a mentally ill failure instead of the clever and hard-working Force Captain that she was. They portray Adora as a saintly saviour instead of how the showrunner herself described Adora: “A Slytherin (trying to be a Gryffindor)”, who is “very strong but very flawed”, who made big mistakes, and for whom her relationship with Catra was not as important as for Catra.
A video about Adora's Slytherin side would also be very interesting! The writers wanted to teach kids that a hero is not someone who is perfect (and therefore unattainable by real people), but rather someone who learns from their mistakes and doesn't give up. "What Writers can learn from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power about Writing better HEROES".
@@lastunicorn846 Yesss this is an amazing idea!! And so well put🤯
Entrapta never betrayed Catra. She actually stopped Hordak from either sending her to Beast Island or straight up executing her. Her entire motivation was to save Catra's life.
@@tomnorton4277 ... by sending her on a suicide mission? Your comment is a sweet headcanon, but it is unfortunately not based on any canonical evidence in the show. In the show, Entrapta's main motivations were 1) getting more tech, and 2) her relationship with Hordak. Catra's life was not high on the list.
I made my own She-Ra essay that took about a year and a half, and I avoided seeing a lot of other essays because I wanted to make sure I would be writing and making my own thoughts because I didn't want to risk getting all my talking points from other videos. Now being able to see essays I missed out on, and essays being uploaded, I think your essay and several others is encouraging me to do another essay on simply Catra's arc and how people reacted to her character alone. I agree a lot with this video, along with Princess Weekes's and Five by Five Takes analyses. Catra being the way she is in the show and still being able to find redemption is what makes her so compelling. I don't want the version of the character who "deserved redemption" according to people who wanted her either banished or killed. I think it would have watered her down and taught a worse message that abusive victims only "deserve" forgiveness if they display their trauma in a pleasant way. The crew had the guts to show us a character that reacted to their abuse in a way that's more true to reality than what a lot of people want to accept, and they said: "You can still break that cycle and find your own happy ending."
Yess this is so true! You should totally make a Catra arc essay, that would be so interesting! (She’s my personal fav).
I still need to watch She-Ra, but I'm sure it's a great video!
Thanks, you’re too nice 😊
And yes, you definitely got to watch it!! The show is so good. The villains alone are enough of warrant a watch, but I honestly love all the characters.
I will say, the one thing I wish we’d gotten that we didn’t, was a longer final season (such as 26 ep) for not just Catra’s transformation but for Adora’s growth as a better friend. Seeing her improve her own flaws, like her growing emotional awareness of Catra was great & one of the most fascinating aspects of Adora’s character but it was sadly pushed to the background nearly entirely when it should’ve gotten equal screen time with Catra’s growth, as the show’s core IS about them finding each other again & being better for both themselves & one another 🤝💞
Most of what we got was phenomenal but 13 eps simply wasn’t enough time to truly push the reconciliation part of their arc as far as it could’ve gone 😔
I agree with that. My only problem with Catra’s character arc was how quickly she was redeemed, I personally like when it takes a long time and you can really see the slow evolution. Something I feel like Avatar did really well with Zuko.
Adora was the victim in thst relationship. Catra mentally and physicslly abused Adora since childhood and you are blaming Adora?
I loved this show's villains SO MUCH. And Catra finally helped me truly understand what abuse victims go through, and why some even become abusers themselves, because in every other midia I saw, they made the victims a bit too healthy (yes, that includes Zuko).
I REALLY want a sequel movie to the show.
Yess Catra's arc is so sad when you really think about it 😢
I do love Zuko though. He and Catra are probably my favorite villain character arcs.
@@WritingWithAsh you know something funny ? Even without an abusive background, I still managed to understand so much of what she was saying and doing, simply because they were things I studied in History or heard of being done in businesses, and what not. Her relatability/realism is just so well done.
Thank you! As an abuse victim, it drives me crazy when people misunderstand that aspect of her character. It's not to excuse what she's done, but it's a realistic, and in my personal opinion, a relatable and helpful image of what abuse can do to a person. Adora was the hero because she broke out of that cycle and environment, and Catra could only follow suit and stop being the villain when she realized that too.
@@misfits9294 I'm glad I helped you a little.
damnit now I wanna rewatch she-ra again!!!😭😭😭
Yess you should!! 👏 honestly making this video made me feel the same way 😆
Catra, my favourite character from She-ra and the princes of power is a good villan.
I will write a villan like her or Simone another from this sad show for my orginall story.
Ooo good luck with your project! And yess Catra is my favorite too.
This is an amazing breakdown
Thank you so much!
I'm just five seconds in and already I'm like 'that is the most SPOP outfit imaginable'
Yess thanks 🤣 I don’t know if anyone else noticed but I tried to copy Catra a bit 😆
@@WritingWithAshi noticed! Though with your hair, it also resembles Glimmer's fantasy self during that dnd episode
@@TheCanderemy Ayy 👏 I didn't even think about the Glimmer resemblance 😂
This was a really good analysis! Thanks for this :)
Thanks so much! 😄
There's one last big villain of this show not mentioned here, and I can see why. They're certainly quite different from all the others. But I'd be interested in your take on him. What do you think of Horde Prime? He's pretty much the sole purely evil character in the series. His motivation and personality are quite defined, but his backstory? Complete mystery. So, what are your opinions on the Emperor of the Galactic Horde?
Yess he’s such an interesting character. I think that he’s a great villain and the way he shaped Hordak as a character is very similar to how Shadow Weaver shaped Catra, which I think is interesting.
I think to really dig into his character I’d have to go back and revisit some elements of the shows tbh
@@WritingWithAsh Well, I've thought a lot about SPOP over the last year or so (since I came to it VERY late), and I think that Prime is a real problem, in a way - he's severely underwritten. By that I mean, there's really "not a lot of there, there." I think the more you look, the less you'll find. In my opinion, he really is merely the big, bad guy (Morgoth, Sauron the Great) with a few quirks put in to make the character a little bit interesting.
And maybe that's a good thing, from an overall series perspective - giving a whole bunch of "back story" to Prime would just have distracted from the real stories here, which is all about the emotional growth (and healing) of the principals.
@@petercoo9177 I can get that! I'm currently working on a character analysis video for next week and a big part of what Im talking about is how characters can act as catalysts for other characters; forcing them to adapt and ultimately acting as a tool for us viewers to see other sides of characters.
Reading your comment, I feel like that's sort of the role Horde Prime plays. He pushes Catra to realize she doesn't want to be a villain anymore, he manipulates Hordak into losing his feelings of self-worth. At the end of the day, he's there to affect the other characters more than he is to be a character in his own right.
So while he's not as detailed as the other characters, he works as a very good plot device. Imo, at least.
If anyone wants it, I made a backstory for horde prime: So his name was Anillis Kur (80’s refrence) and he was a scientist of his planet. He had a son named Hec-tor Kur (another 80’s refrence) who was a soldier, and also brothers, whom he was close to. One day, the first ones came to the planet. The planet’s leaders tried to make peace with them but they got fooled and the first ones, being the conquerors they are, completely destroyed the planet and Hec-tor was one of the first to defend against them, and he died. Anillis was the only one who survived, but after getting through the grief and rising from the ashes, he decided to clone his entire species, and especially his son and brothers. He tried to clone his son first, he uploads his memories into a new body, and thus, Hordak was born. Then Prime set out to destroy the first ones empire and made the clones into and army and made his son the top general. During his conquest, he met Mara, he was going to destroy her and the first ones who’d settled on Etheria, but he grew to like her, and they became friends (and he started to like her as more than a friend). But once Mara found out the truth about him, he turned against him, then he reveals his backstory to her about how the first ones destroyed his planet, and now, knowing the truth about the first ones, Mara sets off to rebel against her leaders. But Prime, feeling betrayed, he feels that no one will have to go through any of whatever stuff he went through if he either “brought peace” (aka destroying the entire universe). So he sets off to destroy everyone, and then, he finds out about the defect in his son’s cloning. He tried desperately to save him, but nothing worked, then he thought if he just sacrificed all his emotion, he wouldn’t get hurt again. And then he developed his “everything must be perfect mentality”, then he erases most of his son’s memories, sends hordak to die, and spop happens, so… yeah, that’s basically it, what do you think? Sry it’s so long lol, I tried my best to make it as short as possible, but you know, a lot of backstory, so… yeah…
@@SannidhiDeshpande It's a pretty good backstory, but I wouldn't really ever consider Horde Prime someone worthy of sympathy. I think it's more likely that he's just someone who was never told "no" and had the power to back it up, just like most RL cult leaders.
Catra is easily my second favorite female villain I ever saw.
She’s such a complicated character! 👏
@@WritingWithAsh Yeach and I actually could relate to her. As character she is perfect because she has everything a good written character needs.
I REALLY want someone to make a video comparing Catra and Adoras dynamic to Bakugo and Izuku! There are other characters in the show that are similar too (Scorpia and Kirishima, Glimmer and Ochako, etc)
Oh what show/book are they from? I haven’t seen that yet.
These are oversimplifications and I'll understand if people don't agree.
I see both Catra and Hordac as victims of abusive relationships, including their desire to please their abusers. It wasn't until Catra began talking with Glimmer that she began to imaging a life in a nurturing environment, and even when she had the chance, she was reluctant to enter it until Adora was in danger. When Hardac was freed from Hord Prime, he was just dazed.
I see in Shadow Weaver someone who was always motivated to protect Etheria, and saw any atrocities committed to achieve those ends as acceptable. In the end, she succeeded which was why she was willing to sacrifice herself for Adora and Catra: she had made them into warriors who would be able to defend Etheria as well if not better than she could.
Yess 👏 I looking back I liked how Hordak and Catra felt like different stages of the same person’s life. I’m so happy they were able to break the cycle.
"the first time I first watched the show [...] I was also like 12" Jaysus that makes me feel old lmao, I feel like She-PoP came out like two years ago
😂 😂
Now you’re making me want to figure out exactly how old I was cause it feels like a lifetime ago but it couldn’t have been that long!
I'd say it has some great villains and character arcs.
Though personally, I prefer Gravity Falls Bill Cipher and characters such as Soos, or bassically anyone but Wendy for arcs. Along with Avatar as perfect at almost anything.
Avatar is sooo good. Zuko is one of the best villain redemption arcs out there 👏
And I love Gravity Falls! One of my favorite shows of all time, Bill is iconic.
So real
Brb, gonna share to R/Princessesofpower because this is nice. You never see youtubers showing this respect for RWBY
Thank you!! 😄
@@WritingWithAsh By chance would you ever be interested in sharing your thoughts on the show rwby itself?
@@eren34558 I'm gonna have to watch it first 😅But I do keep hearing about it and am meaning to give it a try! And after I do I would definitely do a video on it 👏
@@WritingWithAsh The strong muscular blonde girl and the Cat girl have kissed in this show too.
However there's still one season left which means that the show will be Exploring a lesbian relationship together.
Great essay!!!
Thank you!! 😊
First vid i watched
Welcome!!
Honestly, Hordak gets not nearly enough credit as a character
He really doesn’t, he’s such a good one!
Catra made me a lesbian.
😂
I loved this show. Until Season 5 character assassinated Adora and Glimmer to prop up Catra and wasted Hordak by replacing him with the completely pointless Wrong Hordak.
How did S5 character assassinate Adora and Glimmer?
@@lastunicorn846 Adora was DONE with Catra. She made that very clear at the end of Season 3 and throughout Season 4. "One good thing in her life" could have very easily been one of Catra's manipulations to get Adora to feel indebted to her. Adora's smart enough to know that after all the times Catra pulled that kind of shit before.
Adora would have ONLY saved Catra out of obligation. After that, she would have wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. She spent years of her life breaking out of that abusive relationship so she would have treated Catra with the same suspicion that she treated Shadow Weaver.
Glimmer would never have been friends with the bitch who as good as killed Angella. Her mother was as good as dead and Glimmer not only never even brought it up but was getting chummy with Angella's killer. At best, she would have given Catra a grumpy thank you for saving her, then want nothing to do with her after that.
That's how Adora and Glimmer were character assassinated. They regressed back into being "innocent, naive, ridiculously easy to manipulate" instead of the hardened badasses who took none of Catra's shit that they were in Season 4.
What? I think Glimmer and Adora reacted very in character, considering the circumstances
Yea, I do feel like glimmer got sidelined, but how were adora and hordak pushed aside? Also, don’t insult wrong hordak! He’s my baby!
Objectively wrong
Isn’t catradora toxic? And hordak has committed genocide like more than once. Just wondering how everyone looks the other way on those scenarios.
I do think that Catradora is toxic in the beginning, but by the end of the show Catra is trying actively to change.
And I mean… Hordak is a difficult situation that could only really exist in a show or a book.
@@WritingWithAsh just saying that it doesn’t seem to justify their actions. Look at joker and Harley Quinn, the twilight series, beauty and the beast. Everyone goes in saying it is toxic, but catradora isn’t? She destroyed world and cost glimmer her mom, blamed adora and even helped horde prime. Is there favoritism in this ship? Also hordak caused all this. He could have done better, but still decided to kill people. It’s weird and I don’t like it all much
My problem with the She-Ra reboot was the lack of her brother, He-man AKA Prince Adam or any character from Masters of the Universe.
Maybe they’ll get their own spin-off 🤔 idrk their characters tbh cause I’ve only seen the reboot, not the original.
@@WritingWithAsh, She-Ra exists because of Masters of the Universe being popular with girls in the early 80s. It even outsold Barbie. Also, Hordak was sold under the Masters of the Universe line back then. The term Grayskull in the ‘By the honor of Grayskull’ chant refers to Adam’s and Adora’s ancestor King Grayskull, who ruled Eternia from Castle Grayskull.
@@brandonbaggaley2317 Ohhh I didn't know any of that LOL 😂 😅
They couldn't have them because of legal reasons.