Did SHE-RA Redeem Its Villains? Shadow Weaver, Hordak, & More | A Study in Character, Part 2 

Wonderful analysis, my friend. I'm still watching it now. Shadow Weaver - I wrote up a response when you linked this to my tumblr, but that was before I finished your video. I agree with your points entirely here. I would say however that Catra and Adora haven't necessarily "forgiven" her in any way, they are just moving on. Hordak - I think more needs to be said about his dynamic with Catra in season 4. I found it so interesting how he stomped her down, and when she started doing the same to him, he began to trust and respect her. But more also needs to be said about how he lashed out when he thought Entrapta betrayed him. He was no longer that cold echo of Prime - Hordak was CHOOSING to act evil this time, he was choosing to lash out and fight, from hurt and betrayal, but also as an attempt to connect to Entrapta again!!!! He so wanted to be fighting her robots, to face her on the battlefield, see her recordings, and maybe figure out why she would leave him. This makes him remarkably similar to Catra. Because Entrapta has always paralleled Adora, as early back as when she first switched sides and became Catra's rival for Hordak's favouritism, but Hordak goes from paralleling Shadow Weaver to Catra herself. So hurt and angry and acting like the evil bad guy because that's all he believes he can be. Entrapta coming into his life and caring about him made him feel like he didn't deserve their friendship, and when she "leaves" him, he immediately accepts Catra's lie, because he believes he can't be anything except a monster. It validates all those self doubts he had before. It's easy for him to trust Catra after that, because he is nothing without her, and she too has become something monstrous, due to what he did to her. Makes it all the more heartbreaking when he finds out that Catra was lying, he trusted the wrong person, and basically let Entrapta die, or - at the bare minimum - is letting her get rescued by his sworn enemy, because HE let her down!!! He should have stopped it from happening, should have trusted her, but fell so easily for Catra's lie and got so absorbed in his revenge plot that he basically betrayed her himself, and now She-Ra is making up for HIS mistakes! If he didn't already feel undeserving, he certainly does now - It makes him feel so devastated, worthless, and enraged!!!! And the only thing he can do is throw away all his ambitions for beating the Rebellion, and turn the gun on Catra. But I was still rooting for Catra during their fight. After all, he had the big laser arm cannon, she was at her lowest. And when she wins, unlike when she beat Shadow Weaver in season 1 with Hordak's approval and her friends by her side, it's not a moment of victory for her at all.... it's just so devastating. In beating down Hordak, she's just punching herself. Like she did when he was first heartbroken over Entrapta, like she did when she told him he didn't need her recordings, she screams at him words that she wants to scream at herself. She fully realises what she has become, and can't stand herself any more. All the more poignant when Glimmer comes into the room, and they're both alone together, and Prime zaps these three broken souls onto his ship. I really like Hordak's role in season 5. I like that we had Entrapta going on adventures with the Best Friend Squad, growing as a person and making so many friends, while Hordak had this parallel story of reflecting on his desires in Prime's ship. He had everything he'd been aiming for, he was by Prime's side and even perhaps his favourite, but.... to be this way, Hordak had to have everything about himself REMOVED. All of his pain, anguish, all of that humanity which drove him to very specific, non-Prime-inspired acts of villainy in season 4.... There was no room for Hordak in Prime's life, only the purest of his clones. When Hordak sees Catra and remembers her, he's really scared by the pain and anger that her presence brings up. He can't stand what he was before, all of his feelings. But.... they're still a part of him. And when he finds Entrapta's crystal, engraved with a message he doesn't even understand, instead of throwing it away, he keeps it close.... when he starts getting memory flashes, after his SECOND mindwipe, he doesn't tell Prime to erase them from him, he thinks about them and remembers her. And it's so painful for him because he can't go back to how things were, but at the same time, nostalgic too. When he finally meets her, he isn't ready to leave Prime, nor is he willing to capture her. He simply states, "What have you done to me?" Hordak cannot go back to how he was before he met Entrapta and experienced friendship, to how he was before that really emotional and painful time in his life. No matter how many times his mind is wiped, he is marked by the changes he experienced with their bond. And Hordak in the finale decides to embrace this. He is asked to erase this part of himself by shooting Entrapta, but after holding the gun to her face, he decides he WILL not do it. He will never let her down again. And he is PROUD to be Hordak, to be an individual, and he will eradicate PRime for trying to destroy everything that is unique in this universe. He returns Entrapta's gift of free will with his own self actualisation, and freedom for all. It's.... so, so sad watching Prime take him over. Both the instant redaction of his freedom in the final version, and the heartbreaking extended version where Prime holds Entrapta by the neck and screams at her, in Hordak's body, that they are most unworthy and unloved. It's feelings they have both struggled with for so long, and seeing them have their bright hope replaced with only Prime, being so close to each other at the end of the world, but still ripped apart and alone with Him as Etheria crumbles, it's true despair. And the moment Adora frees him, puts her hands to the side of his face, and he recalls the day he found a baby in a portal, taking her back to the Freight Zone in a strange moment of compassion.... how Adora gently holds his hands as he stands up... Entrapta's excitement as she realises he is free, and launches into a hug.... Adora smiling and turning back to return to Catra.... It's profound and beautiful. It's not a redemption arc in any traditional sense. Hordak was not fighting to make up for his past crimes. He was fighting for *himself* and for the person he *cared about* . He was fighting to be free to *MAKE* those choices about how to make things up, whether he wants to or not, what he will be moving forward. "Are we all, like, okay with this now?" - We don't know if the other characters will forgive him, but the audience is able to understand that Hordak deserves a chance to become better, to live in peace. Even if he is still a grouchy bastard, even if he shows little remorse, and has to work on rebuilding the damage he's done for the rest of his life, he deserves the chance to make those choices.

The number one thought that was running through my mind as I watched all those kids (I know they're all around 18, but look at them) go through the wringer, was "Where the hell are the adults?" and then "How are these the only adults on hand?" And I feel like that is a worldbuilding flaw. In wanting to create a kids' show with teens/young adults as protagonists, set in a war and in a fantasy-like setting with kingdoms and princesses, the creators left out the guiding structures around young people placed in leadership positions in real-world monarchies. Angella's flaw, which she acknowledges herself, is how passive she is. She doesn't really take action, leaving that to Glimmer and co, and her attempts to reign her daughter in don't really work because she doesn't offer a good alternative. But at least, she was a parent and adult figure who could provide guidance and care for the MCs. After her disappearance, there is no one to take up her role of positive parent figure or even mature non-abusive adviser. General Juliet and Casta don't provide any real support or advice, and there is no regency or prime minister even though Glimmer is clearly unprepared for this responsibility. It wasn't surprising for me to see Glimmer turn to Shadow Weaver, the only adult with actual agency, for help. Even on the Horde's side, Hordak's humanization comes at the cost of his narrative authority over the bad guys. His overthrow by Catra makes him lose his status as "the adult in charge" in the Horde, precisely because of that power-based mentality he instilled and inherited from Prime. So for most of Season 4, there are no adults in charge on either side, and because we as the audience know the kids fighting this war could very well end it by simply going to therapy and communicating, there are no more monolithic unreedeemable villains, and some good guys turn gray.

think the key is the etymology of "redemption". Originally it meant the payment made to free a slave. Then it also meant the forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Christ. Finally, the word means also the release of a burden, pain, or hardship, usually through an action. Outside of the religious realm, redemption is not about forgiveness, nor about deserving it or not; it is about getting rid of what made you suffer, obviously with compression and culminating with an action that demonstrates the release of that weight. Since this vision, Catra and Hordak have been redeemed, because they got rid of their respective burden, while Shadow Weaver hasn't. She was aware of that burden, but she didn't think she could get rid of it, so she sacrificed herself with a "you're welcome" instead of an "i'm sorry... for everything".

I can't walk with your take on Weaver. I think it's a mistake to think abusers can't care(in their minds) about those they abuse. They do but through the broken glass of abusive tactics. An abusive parent will 100% do something self sacrificing specifically to lord it over their child.

I think one of the most beautiful things about this show is that the redemption arcs are messy and realistic. They aren't linear because recovery and change is not linear. Catra stumbles and struggles but ultimately tries to change and grow and we see her change and grow despite the stumbling. Shadow Weaver never fully redeems herself and its unclear if she ever would, but she does change and become a better person than she had been before. And i think the thing about that too is that she isn't really doing it for glory at all. She didn't become an objectively good person and she still delves into her villany and manipulation, but she does still try to change. It's just slow and i think part of her sacrifice at the end was recognizing that it was kind of the end of the line for herself, but it isn't for them. She sees that the change and love that she can't quite have for herself can be nurtured by Catra and Adora and she wants them to do that. I think she also may have recognized that they couldn't really do that with her still hovering over them because she just couldn't quite push past her manipulative tendencies.

I've always thought that Hordak should have had one last moment at the end where he stood at the top and said "It's not over yet. I'm still the leader of the Horde, and hereby surrender to the princesses" where get ready for a fight before the reveal and everyone's like "Oh yeah, there is an entire army of enemy soldiers. Let's get on that." then cut to 10 years later.

I'd say to tread carefully when arguing that abusers care about their victims Of course they care about them to some degree. If they didn't, they wouldn't invest such toxic energy into controlling them. But, it begs the question, how do they care? That question can be taken two ways. One, how do they see the victim? As an object? An ego boost? A punching bag? Are they seen as human? Second, what do they do to show that care? If you love someone but they feel they have to watch what they say, do, have to prioritize not upsetting you above enjoying your company, then you need to reconsider how you express your love and if you even love them the way you think they do. There are different ways to show you care but, there are only a few appropriate and healthy ways to do so. I should not be taking emotional or physical hits from you because that "just how you show you care" If you belittle someone because you "just want to keep them safe" you are only hurting them There are many ways to show your feelings but, again, there are only a few appropriate ways to do so.

They never got redemption, nor did they want it. Redemption means that you recognize that you were wrong and make amends. Catra had to learn to create healthy relationships with people without going back to old habits because of Shadow Weaver’s abuse.

Shadow waver was never fully redeemed. She started as a villan but as the seasons progressed she became an anti-hero. Ok she sacrifices herself at the end, but I don't think that is enough to consider her redemption finished, she never finished it, and even if she would have been alive, I don't think she would have ever been fully redeemed

Shadow Weaver doesn't have a redemption arc or moment in She Ra. She died the way she lived. Twisting the knife she burried in the backs of the children she abused. It's not an act of growth, kindness, mercy, or redemption. Shadow Weaver goes to her grave smiling because she got to lord her superiority over Catra one last time. Her last thoughts were "That useless bitch will never live this down." Hordak doesn't earn redemption for all the horrible things he did from the moment Light Hope brought him to Etheria. He does just enough to earn the right to spend the rest of his life working towards real redemption. Realistically the main arguments against people claiming Catra and Hordak don't deserve redemption is that it's not about them. Adora and Entrapta saved the world. Adora ended a thousand year long galaxy spanning war. She deserves to live her life with her favorite anime catgirl waifu. And Entrapta... if it weren't for her three quarters of the population of Etheria would still have mind control chips in their necks. Entrapta deserves her reward/war spoils. People should be thankful Entrapta only wants Hordak and not literally all Horde tech after the war ends.

Underrated video

Just finished watching both videos and loved them tremendously. I am on a rewatch of She-Ra right now, just finished season 4 and really wanted to see someone put into words why I like Catra and Hordak so much. I love that you make the concept of redemption not just about if the character is deserving of it or not. The idea that redemption is a livelong continuous deliberate choice is beautiful and is also something I believe to be applicable to real life. Furthermore, your theory that the relationships the characters have to each other is what ultimately redeems them (and therefore makes Prime irredeemable) is something I never could have come up with myself, but your explanation makes complete sense. Thanks for the lovely content, I'm subbing and checking out your other stuff!

Most excellent take! Thank you!

Plot Twist: Shadow Weaver reincarnated into Finn

Someone should do a psychological analysis of Horde Prime himself. He truly believes that what he is doing is ultimately good for the universe and that has always been interesting to me.

I never noticed this about Shadow Weaver. Wow.

Late to the party I know, but I only just got around to binging this show and subsequently looking for interesting analysis-videos about it on RU-vid, so... here goes. I think there's an aspect of Shadow Weaver that is often overlooked, especially in relation to her 'Redemption Equals Death' finale. At least, I haven't found *any* analyses that even mention it. Namely, the fact that at the point when she makes that sacrifice, she is *already dying.* Remember how, after her escape from her cell in the Fright Zone, she's suddenly mortally ill, and have to rely on She-Ra's power to survive and be healed? It's never fully explained *why,* but reading between the lines and looking at some earlier comments and actions by and about her, the obvious conclusion is that the failed 'Spell of Attainment' that she went through with Micah have left her unable to use her *own power* - she can only safely use power that she's leeched from other sources, such as the Rune-Stones. Her escape is the first time in over a decade that she's been forced to fall back on the sorcerous power she possessed *before* the incident that left her in such a scarred and twisted state, and it literally tears her apart inside. What's more, being healed by She-Ra clearly doesn't correct the underlying issue - hence why she continues to merely *teach* magic, or draw on the power of others, such as Glimmer. The next time we see her use her own power, it's when Catra desperately tells her about Horde Prime's plan and pushes her to get them to Adora's location. She even says that she knows Shadow Weaver is still 'hiding power' and indirectly suggests that if she isn't going to use it *now,* with the stakes as high as they can possibly get, then *when?* And Shadow Weaver does as she's asked. She teleports the two of them halfway through the planet's mantle, catching up with Adora. You can even see how the effort weakens her - she has to lean on the wall, staggering, just from that one spell. It's happening again - if not corrected, the strain of drawing on her own power will cause her to die. When she rejects the temptation of the Heart, it is also with that in mind - the knowledge that she's already dying, and that the the destructive power of the Heart of Etheria won't change that. Indeed... without Adora, she has no hope of survival. Maybe that was the true moment of reflection for her - forcing her to face up to her own, parasitic existence, preying on others - be it magically or psychologically. Maybe it forced her to realize that she'll never actually hold the power she so desired - at best, she might wind up pulling the strings of someone who *does.* Not that it matters, in that moment, for she is essentially dead either way - and the moment she turns around and follows Adora back to save Catra, it must be with full knowledge of what it means - and a decision that if she must die, it will not be as a pathetic parasite clinging to a power she can never possess, nor as a moth foolishly flying into an all-consuming flame. So instead, she throws all that she's got left at the Guardian - and gives her former victims a final farewell. Facing death can bring clarity, it is said - and the moment Adora turned from her and ran, she *was* dead, left only to chose the method thereof. I don't suppose it really changed the final analysis. She still made a choice - to sacrifice herself for the people that she still loved, even if it was in a badly twisted and abusive way. That decision just happened at a different time - firstly, when she answers Catra's desperate plea and teleport them, knowing that it will risk her life, and second, in the moment Adora leave her alone at the Heart of Etheria, caught between the power she so hungers for, and her own cursed existence. Kind of makes me wish we got to *see* that moment fully, honestly...

Shadow Weaver never wanted to be redeemed period. Only to be understood by everyone especially when it came down to how to destroy the Horde. Her ambition to achieve power had mislead to a horrible mistake by disobedience her mentor, Norwyn at Mystacor by taking the evil cursive *Spell Of Obtainment*. The evil dark spell cursed her forever as it were slowly killing her with time. Knowing Adora possessed great power somehow, Weaver thought that she could cultivate/manipulate this child into doing her bidding by overthrowing Lord Hordak. Her child abuse upon Catra specifically were cause she were an distraction to Adora and young Catra knew Weaver were an evil woman. As for Hordak, Entrapta were his saving grace. He will never perhaps be forgiven to most the people of Etheria, but between Adora, Catra, Glimmer, and Entrapta are the only ones who see him as the vulnerable Horde clone. Horde Prime showed both Glimmer and Catra that Hordak didn't mean nothing to him but an defected clone. And yeah Hordak were a hurt, condemned clone to Prime but Entrapta saw a person not a Clone. Glimmer, wow a fall from grace indeed. She f* up by going behind Adora's back about Weaver. And with Weaver's and Light Hope's manipulation to power and activate the Heart Of Etheria. With Horde Prime's action, Glimmer realizes this isn't her to be evil but to do the right thing. Horde Prime never gave a damn to no one but himself. Adora/She-ra destroying him for good, saving both people of Etheria and her once Lord, enemy, and now allied Hordak from his abusive brother, Horde Prime.

Love your analysis still feel having DID or multiple personality disorder with us seeing Hordak, Wrong Hordak and Hordak Prime are the same entity scattered by personality or alters the same yet different souls, sperated into other vessels shared by eachother though he survived and was redeemed whilst the original personality Hordak Prime was killed leaving him as the dominant personality, dominate alter though they do not need diaries and have more than one vessel that shares the same collective network kind of like the brain. I feel he redeemed himself looking at it from this perspective he forgot things when entering the collective though when nearly killing entrapta woke up and took control of a vessel you could see him fighting the dominate alter at times too even when wrong hordak, sometimes I out of eight of us do not remember even days or just aspects, learned languages and other things for they are separated.

Honestly yes they did at least to the extent that could be expected. All the villains were just in cycles of wanting to prove their worth to others and by the end they had all broken out of those cycles though we never get any expansion beyond that due to the series ending but if it had continued I think they would be as redeemed as could be. Hordak just wanted to prove himself to Prime after being cast out for being imperfect but after befriending Entrapta he was able to let go of that need. True I don't think he'd ever be accepted on Etheria but since the gang wanted to leave and restore magic to the universe and Entrapta wanted to see the universe I feel they all would have left to do that and exile/banishment is the best outcome Hordak could hope to have. Shadow Weaver wanted to prove herself to the elders at Mystacor and protect it even if it meant tapping into dark arts, so noble goal but wrong road to take, and after not being able to do it she turned to the enemy for revenge. Over the course of season 4-5 she did seem to slowly change but could still be seen as her trying to manipulate her way to the top as well, but her sacrifice in the finale shows she truly did have a change of heart. She honestly reminds me of Anakin Skywalker someone who had a hard life (Shadow Weaver states her life before the horde was hard) and just wanted to protect people even if it meant turning to the Dark Side to do it and ended up suffering a tragic fate but found redemption in her final moments by sacrificing herself to save her "daughters". Catra just wanted to prove herself to Shadow Weaver and then Hordak and even though she had Adora constantly being in her shadow made her crave power and a chance to be the one on top, that and the feeling of being abandoned after Adora refused to return made her think she was the victim and it wasn't until she literally lost everything at the end of season 4 and had the truth laid out to her by Double Trouble did she finally realize she was wrong and she really just wanted to be with Adora after all. I think people tend to sympathize with her more since the story revolved around her so much more then Hordak or Shadow Weaver. And I think we can just skip Scorpia

You forgot the part where it's okay for Shadow Weaver to be redeem cause she's sooo hot

This analysis isnt bad considering I've been studying behavior science and knowing that a person that you see may have a background and values that are aborated to the point that they behave in a certain way that which you'd call evil or wrong. But if knowing that the environment, that which you interact with is abusive like a parent or what have you, can shape your behavior especially if that type of enviroment persists or up till you get a positive change in that environment. Like if you saw a person steal food from a store, they could have a background and enviroment of homelessness, poverty, no job, no money, and no way out of there given situation, would you allow it to continue or would you tell an authority figure about it? Mind you that you wouldnt know there situation and the most likely scenario is that you would report/label that person as a thief. The end scenario of that is likely that they would be in front of a judge and jury that may not know where the so called thief is coming from, his enviroment and the judge would either fine him or send him to jail due to missing background information which we do a lot, mind you it's not always like that depending on what is known at the time. If you made it to the end of my behavior science explanation, you did better than my friends and you should totally visit thevenusproject.com

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think shadow weaver sacrificed herself as one last form of manipulation. To me shadow weaver realized that adora didn’t need her, she needs catra because they love each other. I don’t think she redeemed herself, but I do think that she didn’t want to cause anymore harm, especially to adora and catra.

Castaspella sounds weird. In romanian spell is "vraja" witch is "vrăjitoare" and her name is "Vrăji", it sounds a little better 'cause there are some real names that are similar like "Vali" or "Veronica"

13:05 *purple-haired

8:16

Shadow Weaver and Hordak, not really. Catra, definitely.