when adora defended catra from shadow weaver, it was pretty low-risk for her. that’s not to say that it wasn’t noble and that she didn’t care for catra as much, but she didn’t defend catra from such a precarious position. her fondness towards catra never led to serious repercussions for her; shadow weaver basically treated the situation as if her golden child had an annoying pet whom she needed to tolerate.
when catra defended adora from the entire horde, it was very high-risk. the consequences for this omission could have been much more severe than they were, and she knew that. catra has been shown time and time again to be so scared. it’s an emotion that adora experienced too, but not nearly to the same degree.
at this point, catra interprets adora’s selfless compassion as a betrayal. she can’t fathom why adora would want to protect all people, instead of just catra. what she needs to eventually understand is that, while she couldn’t afford to care about anyone but herself and adora before, she has an opportunity to protect other people too. right now, she chooses to hurt other people instead.
regardless, even though catra felt abandoned by adora in this moment, she still tried to protect her. it’s what they do for each other. it’s instinct.
whatever you do, don’t imagine entrapta following scorpia and catra to perfuma’s kingdom. don’t imagine the repressed hurt and disappointment boiling in her veins. don’t imagine her going absolutely ballistic on perfuma’s kingdom, not realizing she’d been so affected by their abandonment of her.
do not imagine entrapta finding the statue erected in her honor. do not imagine entrapta whipping around to see she ra facing catra, hearing catra taunt her about leaving behind such a reliable resource—dehumanizing her, reducing her to her gadgets.
do not imagine entrapta’s eyes watering, realizing she’s been manipulated. do not imagine entrapta taking out her voice recorder, holding it up to her face, and saying shakily, “fright zone log, hour __ . experiment failure. i’ve made a grave mistake.”
this really highlights that catra has no genuine ideological tie to the horde. for her, she’s never had the choice of being Good, and she’s always known that everything they were told were lies.
the horde, specifically shadow weaver, tortured her, physically and verbally. she was under no delusion that they were good people who were trying to save eternia. good people don’t torture children for any minor misstep. good people don’t tell kids that they’re worthless. good people aren’t like that.
catra can do right by adora, and catra can trust that adora will do right by her, but that’s where it ends, and that’s what kept her going.
it has nothing to do with genuine allegiances; it was all about survival.
now she needs to learn that everyone else that the horde victimizes is just trying to survive too, and playing a role in that won’t keep her safe or happy in the long run.
mustloveshera 