i’ve talked a lot about catra being the scapegoat, but now i want to talk about adora being the golden child. it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, that’s for sure.

when adora was a child, shadow weaver told her that she was responsible for catra’s behavior, and by extension, her punishments. no, adora wouldn’t be punished for it, but catra would, and that was probably worse. this likely instilled the idea that, if catra got hurt because she “misbehaved” (read: did normal kid things), then it was actually adora’s fault–not catra’s (which it isn’t) nor shadow weaver’s (which it is). if catra suffered, then it was because adora wasn’t trying hard enough–to distract shadow weaver with her own accomplishments or convince catra to stay in line or whatever.

catra completely misinterpreted this, assuming that adora enjoyed this favoritism. is this the reaction of someone who enjoys being the golden child, or is this the reaction of someone who’s terrified?

a lot of people have assumed that adora’s behavior is arrogant, but i think it’s actually just…what she’s been told and taught–

–that she’s important, but not necessarily useful unless she’s doing everything the “right” way. sometimes, being important isn’t actually very comforting; it just gives you more power to make mistakes and let people down.

shadow weaver gave adora the illusion of control over more than her own behavior, and when that illusion crumbled, adora was left with…herself, and a sword. it’s no wonder that she clung to the sword as a source of validation and importance, a way for her to actually help people.

this also explains why she feels such strong guilt for anything bad that happens around her, which light hope recognizes and exploits. all adora wants to do is protect her friends (and, y’know, etheria–no pressure though), but what if she only hurts them? she’s convinced that she does have the power to save everyone, that she is important enough to do everything, and yet, she fails, again and again. even when she has the physical power to throw things around, she can’t heal plumeria’s tree or glimmer’s abilities, because she’s just not good enough.

being the golden child, being told that you’re special and amazing and perfect…a lot of people buckle under that pressure and end up paralyzed by fear that they can’t truly accomplish anything.

luckily, adora has found friends who truly do not blame her for not being able to save everyone, and she finds the strength to get up again and try.

shes a smart girl tho?? I don’t understand how she wouldnt have thought that oh maybe when that bright light went off they thought I was dead like?? imo it was unnecessary for her to go darkside. she knows what the horde is capable off… she lived through it! even if they weren’t say constsntly attacking her she is still a princess?? and she joined the princess alliance which means that she thought the horde was evil and in this essay I will

yeah i’m not sure how she didn’t realize they’d assume she was dead, unless she was just…super fixated on emily.

i doubt she really knows what the horde is capable of. in fact, i doubt the horde touched dryl, except maybe when she was super little and they killed her parents or something. also, she didn’t really understand the significance of the princess alliance when adora brought it up after she was chatting with catra.

i think that entrapta’s major issue is that she has intense tunnel vision. she only pays attention to what’s immediately relevant, outside of her special interest of tech. she’s not thinking about what the horde is doing–she’s thinking, “wow, catra and scorpia appreciate me! i feel like i belong here!” and “oh my god all this first ones tech!!! MY THEORIES!!!!!! those natural disasters, that makes so much sense!!!!!! i need to make a new model!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

if she’d seen adora and glimmer and bow suffer because of what she’d done, i think she’d try to immediately fix it. otherwise? she’s not thinking about it.

i mean, i agree that it’s ridiculous, but i think it’s exaggerated for the sake of moving the plot along.

horrible (read: great) idea if that theory is true–what if catra finds out that shadow weaver has been erasing adora’s memories around the same time that entrapta finds out that her friends had thought she was dead?

OKAY BUT LIKE

IF THAT THEORY IS TRUE

HOW IS CATRA GOING TO REACT TO THIS REVELATION?

this whole time, she’s felt like adora abandoned her, on the presumption that, y’know, adora remembers everything.

isn’t it interesting how the “i promise” memory was only seen when catra was alone? almost as if…adora doesn’t have that memory.

basically, how would catra process that a) adora didn’t break the promise because her memory of it had been erased; b) adora only failed to recognize the true extent of the horde’s evil despite what they did to catra because shadow weaver fucked with her head to make sure she’d stay in line?

it’s something that i’ve seen a lot of people criticize adora for–that she somehow only realized the horde was Bad, not when they hurt her best friend, but when they hurt a bunch of strangers. i understand the criticism, even though i think we need to account for adora also being abused, albeit in a different way. adora isn’t perfect.

but god, what if that doesn’t even actually apply to adora?

and it would make so much sense, because of course shadow weaver would want to make sure her golden child stayed in line.

I find Catra’s relationship with Entrapta to be rather complex because Catra does seem to believe Entrapta was left behind and does empathize with her on that point. Still Catra is using in Entrapta but it seems like that is how all Horde relationships work. Adora herself had a hard time understanding friendship for friendship’s sake with Bow and Glimmer. Kids in the Horde are raised to see each other as assets first and foremost.

It’s likely that Catra thinks Scorpia and Entrapta are just using her as well and the relationship is a mutual, I find magic crystal tech for you and get you robots to play with/you make use those things to make weapons for me kind of thing. What will be interesting to see how Catra reacts to Entrapta either becoming a liability or wanting to become friends.

yep! i think that catra genuinely empathizes with both scorpia and entrapta’s feelings of being left behind. although she’s using that to convince them to do what she wants, the underlying connection is sincere. she knows exactly what to say because she feels the same way.

even with adora, their relationship was a mutual promise to protect each other. you protect me, i protect you. they were assets to each other, on top of just being fond of each other.

i think that catra will warm up to entrapta, just as she did to scorpia. she might not openly acknowledge that they’re all friends, but she’ll act in accordance to that. trusting them absolutely, looking out for them in her own way, confiding in them, etc.

but you actually bring up a very interesting idea–what if hordak decides that entrapta is too chaotic, too much of a liability, too risky? what if hordak orders his second-in-command, force captain catra, to either leave entrapta behind or lock her up for real?

if catra reaches a point at which she’ll be the one to have the power to be the one who leaves someone else behind and betray them, how will she react? will she remember how awful she felt, and how much she cares about entrapta, and refuse, or will she give in for the sake of power?

ok but like,,,,,,,,, entrapta could’ve left the fright zone at any point during those 45 hours,,,,,,,,,,,, like she didn’t cry because she was scared or anything. she literally only cried because she was sad that her friends didn’t think she was worth coming back for. like, fuck.

perfuma: every time i looked at the garden, i wished i’d had more time to understand you. to know you.

entrapta: i…i’ve been told i’m not easy to understand.

perfuma: well, i’d like to try now, if you’ll let me.

entrapta: oh. that would be…an interesting experiment.

emily: -chirps encouragingly-

perfuma, crying loudly: omg ur alive!!!
entrapta, staring at the little garden memorial: you thought i was dead??
perfuma: you were sealed into a room that was immediately engulfed in flames, so, yes
entrapta:
entrapta: you know what that’s fair

Same way the princesses were also using her for her tech. I’m not saying the way Catra treats Entrapta is a genuine friendship, being less bad isn’t being good, but I find it more genuine than what we were shown of her with the other princesses, that saw her as a weirdo and wanted her skills, so started to call her a friend and didn’t bother checking if she could be a prisoner before declaring her death. We can agree to disagree, of course, but I think she’s a better rs with Catra and Scorpia.

i mean…they thought she was literally incinerated (the room she was in became engulfed in flames), and they were horrified, and they cried over it, and they decided to break up the princess alliance because of it, and perfuma felt so horrible that she created a memorial for her. i don’t think it’s fair to dismiss their feelings on the basis that they didn’t look for what they were convinced would be a burnt corpse. recovering her body at the risk of losing more people was just not worth it.

i think entrapta will fit in better with the super pal trio, because she has a lot more in common with them and scorpia already adores her, but i don’t think the other princesses were horrible for not clicking with entrapta. we’re just going to need to agree to disagree on this one.

entrapta didn’t get mad at scorpia for repeating herself or fixating on one topic (in her case, catra). she simply verified that scorpia had told her this before and then let her continue talking about it. i think this is particularly interesting because entrapta has probably been told to shut up countless times because she wouldn’t stop talking about her special interest: technology.

case in point: