Fridge / She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Fridge pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

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Fridge Brilliance

• Catra’s hairstyle evokes the image of a lion’s mane. Except that in real life, only male lions have manes. She’s a tomboy!
• Early on, Catra is surprised that Adora believed the Horde propaganda and didn't already know they were hurting innocents. This comes directly from how Shadow Weaver raised them. Adora primarily endured psychological abuse (some of which was disguised as positive reinforcement), while Catra experienced violent physical abuse. In other words, Catra already knew the Horde hurt defenseless people because she was one of them. This adds to Catra's feelings of betrayal and heartbreak — why is it that Adora cares about people in need now when she never did anything substantial to help her?
• Glimmer's voice actress has described Bow and Glimmer's relationship as Like Brother and Sister. Glimmer is the Princess of Bright Moon and leader of the Princess Alliance, a veritable Amazon Brigade. Bow is a skilled archer associated with a sunny yellow-gold and often serves as The Smart Guy. This brings to mind the sibling sun and moon gods of Classical Mythology: Artemis, moon goddess and leader of the all-female hunt; and Apollo, the god of the sun, archery, and wisdom.
• Bow's knowledge of knots in the Sea Gate episode may relate to his archery skill since he had to learn about fletching and bow-making, both of which involved the usage of ropes for tying arrow's feathers and bowstrings respectively.
• Double Trouble being non-binary makes perfect sense if you think about it. Constantly disguising themselves as men and women means constantly shifting physical gender.
• Adora not really bothering with the Secret Identity thing makes sense if you take the Adapted Out elements of He-Man into consideration and how Adam was the one that both gave her the Sword of Protection and introduced her to the rebellion in "Secret of the Sword" movie; Adora was following Adam's example as He-Man in the original series (and by keeping her own identity secret she was protecting Adam's as well) while in the reboot Bow and Glimmer take Adam's role as they already know that Adora is She-Ra and act as character witnesses for her defection; Adam was the one who vouched for Adora's Heel–Face Turn in SOTS, Bow even initially thinking that Adam captured "Force Captain" Adora before he explained otherwise. Without her brother's secret identity to protect, Bow and Glimmer knowing from the get-go and already being labeled a traitor to the Horde, Adora doesn't really have any reason to bother with a secret identity, especially after her attempt with Perfuma's people pretty much tanked.
• While Bow and Adora were shocked at the fact Swift Wind can talk, Glimmer is shocked that Swift Wind has wings. It makes sense because Glimmer's wings are too tiny in comparison to her mother's.
• Notice how Glimmer is the most zaftig of the princesses? It makes sense, considering one of her powers is teleportation. No need to exercise when you can just teleport everywhere. Same with Spinnerella, whose wind powers allow her to fly.
• In a cross between Fridge Brilliance and Heartwarming in Hindsight, Bow's Imagine Spot in "Roll With It" includes his giving himself the mustache his '80s incarnation sported. Out of universe, it's a Production Throwback. In-universe, come "Reunion", we can see that he gave himself his dad's mustache.
• Mermista, who runs a seaside Kingdom and has hydrokinetic abilities, has a dry personality.
• In Once Upon a Time in the Waste, Scorpia enthuses about how comfortable she is in the Crimson Waste, noting specifically that the dry weather is great for her exoskeleton. In the 80s show, the Crimson Waste was Scorpia's homeland, and since this version of the character was raised in the Fright Zone, this may be her first time in her ancestral lands. No wonder it feels so right.
• Snake jacket:
  • The jacket that Catra appropriates in the Wastes bears the prominent symbol of a snake eating its own tail. It's a fitting sigil for someone as thoroughly self-destructive as her.
  • At the same time, it hints at a potential redemption arc for her, since the traditional meaning of the ouroboros is rebirth.
  • Less optimistically, the ouroboros symbolize Eternity. Could also be a jab at Tung Lashor, who's reign over the gang was short-lived.
  • The ouroboros is also a symbol of cycles, and Catra is trapped in the cycle of abuse.
• Horde Prime's name makes even more sense than in his previous incarnation since he's the original being Hordak and his "brothers" were cloned from in this continuity.
• Likewise, Imp's name takes a new meaning after the reveal of Hordak attempting to clone himself to ensure the Horde's takeover long after his death along with the implication that Imp is a failed clone. After all, what do you call a creation that isn't 100% completed? Imperfect.
• Hordak's appearance:
  • Hordak's physical appearance is a perfect visual metaphor for his personality. He projects power and might by wearing armor that makes him appear muscular, but underneath the armor, he's sickly. Hordak wants others to see him as a powerful conqueror, but beneath his public image, he's weak and dysfunctional.
  • Similarly, Horde Prime's appearance is a perfect visual metaphor for his personality. His clothing and hair are white, pristine, and futuristic, capturing the perfection that he believes he embodies. His clothing is also colorless, symbolizing how he tolerates no diversity of thought or appearance among his ranks. His chest is completely exposed, suggesting that he's vain. Finally, he has multiple eyes gazing in different directions, symbolizing his ability to see into the minds of his clones, and through them see the larger world.
• Catra has a chance to leave the Horde and rule the Crimson Wastes. But her need for approval makes her return to her subordinate position under Hordak. Hordak currently rules his isolated faction of the Horde. But given the chance, his need for approval would have him return to a subordinate position under Horde Prime. As above, so below.
• At the end of Season 4, Hordak attacks Catra after learning that she betrayed him by exiling Entrapta to Beast Island. Later, Horde Prime psychically attacks Hordak for supposedly betraying him by loving Entrapta and acting autonomously. Both Catra and Hordak failed to secure the affirmation they craved in the end. As above, so below.
• Green is the defining color of the Fright Zone, which has green walls and electronics that give off green light. In Hordak's flashback, green is the color of Horde Prime, in contrast to Hordak's red. This may symbolize how Horde Prime's influence and Hordak's longing for Horde Prime's respect hangs over Hordak's projects on Etheria.
• Catra has spent three seasons becoming more like Shadow Weaver. Then, toward the end of "Remember", she becomes temporarily corrupted by the portal... and the jagged edge of the corruption, running down much of her face, visually echoes the crack Catra herself put in Shadow Weaver's mask.
• Imp carries out wicked actions (spying and ratting out other Horde members, which usually leads to their torture) to gain Hordak's approval. Imp looks positively blissful whenever Hordak pets him after doing a good job. He's much like Hordak in that respect, as Hordak is carrying out wicked actions (conquest and tyranny) to win the approval of his progenitor, Horde Prime. Like "father", like "son/clone".
• In Season 1, with regard to Catra, Hordak tells Shadow Weaver, "If you have failed to condition her properly, you have no one but yourself to blame." In Season 4, Horde Prime decides to subject Hordak to "reconditioning". Hordak thinks of Horde soldier training as "conditioning" rather than "raising" because he was not raised, but conditioned as a mass-produced clone.
• Characters on Horde Prime's ship:
  • At the end of Season 4, three characters are trapped onboard Horde Prime's ship: Glimmer (who activated the Heart of Etheria and unwittingly brought the planetary weapon out of Despondos and drew Horde Prime's attention), Hordak (who created the Etherian Horde, conquered much of Etheria, and who created the portal used to contact Horde Prime), and Catra (who almost erased all of Etheria's inhabitants by activating the portal, and who participated in the conquest of Etheria). All three characters damaged the world in some way, and now they're together onboard a ship with a man who wants to damage the universe. The three people who ruined the world may well work together to save it in Season 5.
  • The same three characters have all been stripped of their mightiest assets. Glimmer is far from her kingdom, far from her friends, and unable to use her magic. Catra and Hordak do not have the Etherian Horde (or what's left of it) to help them. Hordak has no technology with him, the First One's crystal is absent from his cybernetic armor, he's demoralized after learning the truth about Entrapta, and his brilliant mind was subjected to a mind-wipe. The confidence of all three characters once had is probably gone. Glimmer and Catra are likely demoralized after the seismic events of "Destiny, Part 2". All three will have to figure out who they are and what they can do without their titles, tools, allies, reputations, and egos.
• Catra's journey very much parallels Hordak's, with her rising to become his top general, being sent to her death, then rejecting the chance for freedom to continue a futile quest for approval. It's even implied that like Catra, Hordak doesn't truly want Horde supremacy, but affirmation and love. Horde Prime even cups Hordak's face the same way that Shadow Weaver has done when manipulating Catra, Adora, and Glimmer, showing that Hordak too is a victim of the cycle of abuse.
• Back in Season 1 Catra says that, if you want to goad Adora into exposing herself to danger, you have to go for the heart, and the next episode she successfully captures Glimmer and Bow, knowing Adora will go rescue them. Prime, in Season 5, does the exact same thing by using Catra as bait.
• Someone on Tumblr noted that Hordak tends to address people by their title — "Force Captain" and the like — unless he's genuinely praising them, or has developed a fondness for them (Entrapta, Catra in parts of Season 4). Given that he's a clone, and his "original" detests him for having independence and free will, of course he'd see using someone's given name as a big deal. Having your own name is a universal symbol of being an individual!
• The Horde practicing Equal-Opportunity Evil makes more sense when we learn that Hordak is a clone who was mistreated and cast out for being "defective." He's now desperate to prove himself to his superior and show that he can stand on his own merits, defective or not. With that in mind, it makes sense that he'd give everyone, no matter their species, gender, or origin, the same chance to make themselves useful and prove themselves loyal.
• In retrospect, it was best that the protagonists rescued Entrapta from Beast Island rather than Hordak. First, the rescue gave Entrapta the opportunity to reconcile with her old friends, thereby tying up a loose end from Season 1. Second, the island would have made quick work of Hordak due to his deep-seated pain and insecurities.
• When Hordak engages in combat, he usually does so at a distance from his target, either firing on his target with an Arm Cannon or hurling an object at them. This tactic will come in very handy if and when he fights Horde Prime in Season 5, since fighting his progenitor at close range would put him in danger of another mind-wipe.
  • Yes and no. In "Heart, Part 2", Hordak fires his arm cannon at Horde Prime from a distance, then lifts up Horde Prime by the face with his hand and drops him off a platform.
• Despite his high intelligence, Hordak is not skilled at detecting lies, a weakness that Catra exploits. This weakness makes sense after "Destiny, Part 2" revealed that Horde Prime can read the minds of his clones. Hordak never learned how to lie, and thus identify lies from others, because he never could lie to Horde Prime. This revelation may also explain why Hordak reacts so furiously at being lied to. If he was never allowed to lie, why should anyone else be able to?
• Crossing over with Fridge Horror: With what we learn about Light Hope in Season 4, "Promise" becomes a lot more significant. Why did it pick the memories that would hurt Catra the most? Because Light Hope, or at least her Heart of Etheria programming, is deliberately trying to set Adora and Catra against each other, just like Shadow Weaver did. That way, Adora has one fewer personal connection standing between her and doing what Light Hope wants...
• The fact that all of Bright Moon is scrambling during the coronation makes perfect sense. Not only was the loss of Angella unexpected, but she was immortal. It's quite likely been a very long time since anyone had to worry about the coronation ceremony.
• Shadow Weaver's garden is a metaphor for how she trains people. She guides them, helps them grow... but ultimately, the garden exists at the pleasure of the gardener. She's also often seen trimming and pruning, cutting away anything that's not useful to her, just like how she treats people.
• Wrong Hordak deconstructed his belief system, rejected Horde Prime, and became a kind and helpful man due to the influence of a few supportive people. It stands to reason that Hordak did not meet any supportive people when he crashed on Etheria. If he had, his personality would have taken a completely different shape, and the Etherian Horde might never have come into being.
• Double Trouble working as both the host and the pianist at a club makes sense since it means they're in the spotlight most of the time and thus have the audience's attention for a good while, garnering lots applause and praise, which is something they're known to crave. It also likely means they get paid as two separate people which, knowing just how much Double Trouble cares about the bottom line, is perfectly in character.
• Catra is easily able to use Horde Prime's incredibly advanced technology, even operating a teleporter with ease. How? She grew up with Hordak's technology, so she's familiar with the systems.
• Horde Prime has ruled the entire known galaxy with an iron fist for a thousand years, so it can seem strange that he suddenly grabs the Villain Ball so She-Ra and her friends can beat him... until we remember that Horde Prime is a narcissistic Orwellian editor who covers up any mistakes in his reign. Defective clone? Cast out. Failed to conquer a magic-filled planet? Pretend the planet never existed. Defective clone "failed" to conquer Etheria? His first instinct was to wipe out Etheria so that this "embarrassment" wouldn't go public. Since he hides mistakes instead of confronting them and it's served him well for centuries, it's no wonder he doesn't learn from them and lets this Pride and Evil Cannot Comprehend Good tendencies to get the best of him when dealing with Etheria, which allows him to be blindsided by magic and The Power of Love.
• Hordak served Horde Prime for years and knows that his master has the power to body surf. When Hordak kills Horde Prime's physical body in "Heart, Part 2", he knows that he's putting himself in danger of possession, but he takes the risk anyway to protect Entrapta.
• The Reveal that Light Hope was actually the one to bring Adora to Etheria via a portal also helps explain how Hordak was brought to Etheria: The portal he came through was most likely Light Hope trying to grab a First One, but wound up bringing Hordak through by accident.
• It should be noted that Adora's new appearance as She-Ra in Season 5 mixes in elements of her friends' outfits; her winged boots are reminiscent of Glimmer's, her bodily outfit has a heart symbol on it like Bow's and even has a similar color scheme, and her new helm resembles her love interest Catra's. Aside from this, however, her new form also resembles Mara's. From Seasons 1 to halfway through Season 4, Adora feared that she would fail to do the right thing, and fail to save Etheria from destruction. Then upon finding out the truth about Mara, and that she actually succeeded in saving Etheria, Adora gained a newfound respect for her upon finding out her true heroism and began seeking out to follow Mara's example. Thus, her new form takes on Mara's. Unfortunately, this also came with a firmer desire to sacrifice her life for the greater good, just as Mara did.
  • The placement of each piece brings to mind exactly the type of love Adora has received from them. Glimmer, despite an initial distrust in Adora, has always believed in her abilities: she's represented by the boots since she gave her a home and a new ground to stand on when all Adora had believed up to that point turned out to be a lie. Bow has always shown impossible care towards Adora's well being and is the unwavering emotional center of the team: he's The Heart, and is rightfully represented by that exact shape in the middle of her chest. And Catra, the girl Adora has always, unconditionally loved, who was Adora's rock during their childhood, who Adora never managed to stop thinking about despite being told time and time again to let go of, is the crowning jewel of it all: She-Ra's new tiara resembles her lost mask. Finally, the new outfit resembles Maria's a lot because Adora thinks of her as a hero and is inspired by her courage and sacrifice.
• Shadow Weaver was so hands-on in micromanaging the Horde that when Catra ignores the paperwork, basic functions like supplying the soldiers with armor grinds to a halt even though the Horde has everything it needs to furnish those troops. Just a gag about bureaucratic inefficiency, right? Except this is Shadow Weaver, who also wants to secure her own position. Thus, she coup-proofs the Horde and works to make herself indispensable beyond just harnessing the power of the Black Garnet, with two benefits:
  • First, by stripping Force Captains and other such officers of the authority to do things themselves like refitting their troops, Shadow Weaver controls their ability to function. Without her, their missions will fail, and knowing this Shadow Weaver can set things up so they take the fall with Hordak if it even escalates to him. This makes it a very easy way to corral overly ambitious officers who might be a threat to her or to entice loyalty from subordinates by making them rely on her.
  • Second, it also gives her an insurance policy if she is usurped: if her successor either does not care for or is unable to handle this amount of paperwork, it goes off in their face with them taking the blame with Hordak, or it gives Shadow Weaver influence to recover from by making their replacement come to her. Catra triggered both elements of the booby trap.
• Shadow Weaver's animosity toward Catra can seem extremely unreasonable at times, particularly during the first half of Season 1 when Catra showed a genuine eagerness to do well as a Force Captain. We see Catra plan and execute an effective and successful infiltration/raid mission on the Princess Prom, capturing both Bow and Glimmer, taking the Sword of Protection all while playing Adora like a fiddle, all by herself. Yet despite this success, Shadow Weaver offers her no praise and is quick to demote Catra from her rank once she had Adora back. Why does Shadow Weaver insistently refuse to see the potential in Catra even after she showed such initiative? Because initiative is NOT what Shadow Weaver wants in her students. She wants subservience, she wants her students to be dependent on her for success and guidance so that she may control them. Their success must be attributed to Shadow Weaver's teachings. So Catra excelling by her own merits just makes her even more infuriating in Shadow Weaver's eyes as it proves that Catra does not really need her.
• It's possible that Light Hope could not reach Adora while she was growing up in the Horde because Light Hope used all of her energy to open the portal that brought Adora to Etheria in the first place, and had to spend the next several years recovering.
• Beast Island preys on every character's deepest fear. Adora's is that she's not good enough, Bow's is that he's been a bad friend, Swift Wind's relates to his ability to hear a noise no one else can hear, and Entrapta's is that she's bad at friendship. All of these come into fuller focus when they're on the island, but Micah seems far less resigned to whatever his fear is, having adapted to the island. The truth is, he's in denial. His biggest fear is that the world has moved on without him. He assumes that Glimmer is still a little girl, and the thing that makes him succumb to the island's vines is the discovery that Angella has sacrificed herself.
• Those who listen to the show's soundtrack album will likely notice that a lot of characters have Leitmotifs. Horde Prime's leitmotif is the same note repeated, which reflects his desire for homogeneity. Hordak's leitmotif sounds almost like a defective version of Prime's, much like how Hordak is a defective clone.
• When in the alternate portal reality, Adora and Scorpia are the only ones who notice that something is wrong because they're the only ones who still see the good in Catra, and neither of them want to believe she could go this far.
• Scorpia is proud of giving great hugs because she has super-strength and is covered in spikes; ergo, hugging is something she had to practice until she could do it without hurting people.
• In No Princess Left Behind, Mermista's degree of displeasure over her assignment (infiltration via the sewers) seems even less petty when one considers the odds that a mermaid would breathe both air and water. Her ability to hold her breath is likely underdeveloped at best, and her reflex to do so when immersed nonexistent. In short, she did not merely have to smell Fright Zone Sewage but was probably breathing it.
  • Unless breathing works diffrently for you than it does normal people, this is the same as how smelling works.
    • Fumes drifting into your sinuses as one breaths as shallowly as one can manage are bad. Inhaling the hopefully-not-too-toxic sewer water itself? Continually? Rather worse.
• A lot of people may think Entrapta doesn’t embody friendship very well, but the fact that Entrapta’s been confirmed to be autistic by Word of God puts a new spin on it. A lot of autistic people have a tendency to hyper focus on special interests, and Entrapta’s interest - robotics and inventing - has gone so far that she considers robots to be just as real as her human friends. So, when she notices the princesses leaving Emily behind and rushes to get it, she’s not just trying to get back her invention; Emily matters just as much to her as her human friends do, so she couldn’t just ditch it.
  • In a sense, this also means Entrapta demonstrates her own form of friendship by sharing her interests with others, which is why she talks so much about her own interests. A lot of autistic individuals have some difficulty putting themselves in someone else’s shoes, so Entrapta might assume that others are just as interested in science as her.
  • This is supported by season 5. Entrapta helps the Rebellion by tracking Glimmer with tech, but because she was paying too much attention to the signal, she nearly endangered everyone, and they think she doesn't care about them. She runs away to the signal, revealing she really is worried about Glimmer, and they accept her. Entrapta spends the rest of the season as a key player, making personalised suits for the Best Friend Squad, and most significantly, helping TWO clones turn against Horde Prime. She cements her role as The Heart by giving Prime a "Fuck You" speech, saying "You don't understand what makes us strong, and that's why you'll never win!". Bow completes her server hacking and Hordak throws Prime off the deck to protect their friendship, nearly making Entrapta responsible for his downfall without having to move from his floor.
• Entrapta's mask in general is utilized brilliantly; Her original mask looks like a scary robot, and it makes her look intimidating and evil, but then you realise she uses it to compartmentalize her negative feelings, not liking to let others see her unhappy. She hasn't got the more successful defence mechanisms of other characters, so this is her only protection. This becomes increasingly obvious further along the show, and reaches a breaking point on Beast Island when she's no longer able to mask how she feels. From that point on, Entrapta covers her face far less, being more openly vulnerable.
  • The mask, aside from adding to the "villain coding", is an obvious connection to autistic masking, made clearer once you realise Entrapta was raised by robots. Of course she doesn't "fit in" with the other Etherians when wearing a mask, but she looks just like one of her robots. Entrapta likely sees herself as a robot or wishes she was one, finding them easier to relate to.
  • The second Beast Island mask has some symbolism. There is a crack in the right eye, making it broken and imperfect, also representing what she went through. It is still scary, but more organic and bug-like instead of robotic. The eyes are blue instead of the scary magenta from before. It no longer covers her ears. Entrapta pulls it down way less in season 5, only when welding instead of as a security blanket.
• It might seem odd that Hordak not only took in Adora as a baby, but still remembers that incident years later. But remember his own backstory as a discarded clone of Hordak Prime; to him, the sight of a seemingly-abandoned baby would naturally have a heavy impact.

Fridge Horror

• The Whispering Woods shifting landscape can be interpreted as an Eldritch Location. The idea is that the characters getting lost there is scarier than what it was portrayed as, as it would be possible to get lost there forever, since the woods can make you walk in circles without realizing.
• Catra is very adept at manipulating Entrapta with half-truths and the occasional lie until Entrapta is pretty much eating out of her hand. Where could she have learned this from? Shadow Weaver, of course, who did the same thing to Adora, making it painfully clear that Catra really was the better student after all.
• She-Ra accidentally turns a lizard into some sort of technicolor critter like Swift Wind. Presumably it will develop sapience too, but probably won't be able to find company with She-Ra. Hopefully it'll be able to befriend someone with its newfound intellect.
• In "No Princess Left Behind", Kyle betrays the Horde by giving Bow valuable information, information that he's implied to have gotten by spying. Considering how incompetent Kyle is portrayed as being, it's likely only a matter of time before somebody finds out and, seeing how the Horde is, well, the Horde, there's no way of knowing just what they'll do to him when they find out.
  • Fortunately, no harm has come to Kyle from his superiors as of the end of Season 4, when he leaves the Horde with Lonnie and Rogelio.
• Mermista admits that Salineas is short on staff after the main characters notice that her herald is also her butler. Later, Mermista mentions that her kingdom has been fighting off Horde assaults. Salineas might be low on people because countless numbers of its citizens were either killed or driven away by Horde attacks.
• Mermista also feels uncomfortable being represented by lipstick in "No Princess Left Behind". Common ingredients in some lipstick include Spermaceti (sperm whale blubber) & Pearlescence (which contain fish scales). She certainly has her reasons for feeling disturbed.
• In "No Princess Left Behind", Shadow Weaver attempts to use the Black Garnet to steal Adora's memory of her time with the Rebellion. This in an of itself opens up a lot of fridge horror about Shadow Weaver being able to brainwash pretty much anyone she can get her hands on, but a deeper question is hidden in her threat. She's demonstrated the ability to read the First One Language, but she doesn't know what the First Ones are, which could mean that Shadow Weaver stole memories of Adora's past, but not her abilities. Moreover, Adora isn't exactly the sharpest sword in the armory: is she brain damaged from what Shadow Weaver has done? And then there is another question: has Adora ever worked out that the Horde was evil, only to have Shadow Weaver steal that memory from her?
• In the Secret of the Sword movie, Shadow Weaver basically did this to Adora after she left the Fright Zone and saw what the Horde was really doing to Etheria. Worse to consider: would Catra have been aware of this? There's a slight delay before her "duh!" moment where Adora tells her that she realizes that the Horde is evil; was Catra really stunned at Adora's obliviousness, or was she thinking that "Adora's mindwiped again, better play the surprised friend again and bring her back to Shadow Weaver." It's not hard to see Catra taking some sadistic glee in "perfect" Adora having to be rebooted when she can't deal with reality.
• We've seen how badly Hordak reacted to Catra's lies in "Reunion", what would happen if he found out that Entrapta didn't actually betray him, and that Catra didn't just lie about that to him, but also banished her to Beast Island? Catra better hope Scorpia can get her out of this mess if Hordak finds out.
  • Hordak finds out from Double Trouble and immediately goes on unhinged rampage with his laser cannon.
• Beast Island is a land of nightmare horrors which is seen as giving its tenants "a fate worse than death"; as well as there being a large number of deadly monsters, there is also a signal which makes its tenants lose the Will to Live - they will give up and stop moving, letting the island absorb them in a slow, horrific death. It is unknown how long Hordak had been using the Island, however, it is implied by Micah that many people have gone in to the centre and never come out. How many soldiers has Hordak killed this way?
  • Micah was assumed dead and left on the Island, hoping for up to 15 years that people would eventually realise where he was and rescue him. He had to fight for his survival, resisting the signal for the whole time, and when Bow and Adora find him, he's so disoriented that he doesn't realise that so much time has passed.
  • Entrapta at first appears to be immune to the signal, playing on the expectation that her aloofness and tech interest makes her resistant. However, she says "the signal is better on the inside", and by the end of the episode, she doesn't just succumb to it - she actively fights against Adora's attempts to save her, saying that she was confused by everything that happened and isn't suited for friendship, and everyone leaves her behind. It is very shocking when she turns around and her pink eyes are clouded, and you realise she heard the signal the entire time, and caved to it after the prospect of rescue appeared - she would rather stay and die than be abandoned again.
  • It's extremely probable that Scorpia's parents were sent to die this way.

• Where did the princesses' parents go? It's easy to assume all the other parents have since died fighting the Horde, but nobody ever remarks about being reluctant to fight due to losing a parent who had tried and failed. The only confirmed loss to the Horde is Glimmer's dad, upon which it fell apart. The only other parent we know of is Mermista's dad, who flat-out retired and left her to deal with Salineas's problems. Did the other princesses' parents retire? The biggest eyebrow-raiser is Frosta, who took the throne at age 8 and spends much of the series with the other princesses on the front lines. No mention of her parents, or a family, or even a regent running the Kingdom of Snows, despite it being the largest one on the planet.
  • It's possible most of them have family that simply don't want to show up. However, while Entrapta's not a child, there IS a photo of her as a child with robotic stand-ins for parents that she appears to have built herself. It's extremely likely she raised herself from a young age with no human caretakers, the young cooks simply being hired help, and that explains her complete disconnect from other people at the start of the show, as well as her lack of self preservation - Entrapta is barely cogniscant that she's not a robot.
• Hordak is not the best of arbiter of what Etherians can survive, as he was shown to be wrong about the Crimson Waste being an uninhabitable death sentence. He also believes Beast Island is unsurvivable, so there's a good chance that he shed tears because he believed Entrapta was dead.
• It's jarring how easily abuse victims settle into resigned normalcy with their abusers in the story. Even though Hordak tortures Catra with the atmospheric modification device twice, she works alongside him in late Season 3 and Season 4. Even though Catra dominates Hordak by ripping the First Ones crystal out of his armor at the beginning of Season 4, he works alongside her through the season, seemingly without holding a grudge. Even though Shadow Weaver kept Glimmer captive and temporarily disabled her powers in Season 1, Glimmer seeks her counsel and learns magic from her in Season 4. All these character dynamics remind viewers how abusers can seem less destructive to their victims because they aren't abusing 24/7, and how frighteningly easy it is to settle into a relationship with an abusive person.
• The Horde should be condemned for using child soldiers, but so should the Rebellion. Adora, Bow, and Glimmer are all in their mid to late teens at the start of the series. Frosta is only eleven when she joins the Rebellion as a warrior. The protagonists accept Flutterina as a Rebellion member without question. While the Horde provides training and equipment to its soldiers and doesn't send them out into the field until their mid to late teens, the Rebellion isn't shown training or equipping its fighters en masse and has no problem with sending unprepared children and teenagers into the field.
• Whatever Catra thinks she's going to accomplish serving Horde Prime is going to backfire horribly. Horde Prime took all of Hordak's thoughts and memories into himself, which of course will include his history with Catra. If he goes through that, he will know of Catra's moments of insubordination and disloyalty and he'd easily conclude Catra is untrustworthy.
  • This is exactly what happens in Season 5. Horde Prime learns about Catra's insubordination and lies from Hordak's memories, and undermines her every effort to manipulate him. When he no longer needs her, he brainwashes her and uses her as a psychological warfare tactic against Adora.
• Horde Prime would not have been amused by Imp's existence. Word of Saint Paul is that Imp is the result of Hordak splicing his DNA with that of a bat-like Etherian creature while trying to clone a viable body for himself. First, Imp is living proof that Hordak was exercising free will and practicing cloning like his master, which Horde Prime would see as an affront. Second, Horde Prime would have been furious that Hordak tainted his genetic line with that of an Etherian animal.
• Hordak was still present in his body after Horde Prime hijacked him and was subsequently exorcised by She-Ra. Horde Prime has been appropriating his clones' bodies as vessels for centuries, meaning that hundreds of clones were possessed by their master, all conscious in their bodies while he piloted them.
• In Season 5, Wrong Hordak explains that Galactic Horde clones consume a green "amniotic fluid" for their nourishment. Later, viewers see that Horde Prime lengthens the life of his host body by absorbing clone life force, which takes the form of a green liquid. What if amniotic fluid and clone life force are the same thing? If so, where does the Galactic Horde get enough amniotic fluid/life force to feed a large army of clones? Do they harvest it from old, sick, or injured clones? Are certain clones manufactured just so they can be drained of their life force?
• Light Hope opened the portal to bring Adora, a First One, to Etheria. Where would there be First Ones? A surviving enclave. Hordak was sent to the front lines to die, at which point he stumbled through the portal. The front lines of what? Horde Prime invading this First Ones enclave! Horde Prime invaded and wiped out Adora's home and family.
  • Makes you wonder how many times did Light Hope attempt to bring a First One to Etheria? Hordak seems to have already been on Etheria for awhile when Adora arrived as a baby so it seems unlikely that it was the same portal for both of them. Has Light Hope been repeatedly opening portals in the hopes of getting a First One brought to Etheria?
• Catra has never been a fan of water, but in Season 5 she outright freaks out whenever she comes in contact with it. This is after she was rescued from Horde Prime, who tortured and brainwashed her by submerging her into a baptismal font and electrocuting her.
• Hordak in early seasons isn't a fan of being touched except by Imp or Entrapta and clearly even prefers combat at long range whenever possible. It takes one a bit to realize why, but then we meet Horde Prime, who has No Sense of Personal Space and makes a lot of very uncomfortable touches toward Hordak and his clones. Hordak prefers not to be touched because, whether he'd admit it or not, he's traumatized by Horde Prime.
• With Horde Prime finally vanquished, the Hive Mind is no more, but given the large scope of the Galactic Horde Empire, that means the universe is now littered with trillions of mindless clones.
  • This has plenty of far reaching implications; now, there are swathes of clones disconnected from the Hive Mind they've been stuck in for their entire lives. Many may be able to recover in the same vein as Wrong Hordak, where they make friends with the Etherians and develop a healthy support system, but it's also highly likely that many won't know where to even start. How difficult is it to start from scratch when you literally have nothing, not even your own thoughts?
  • Even worse, they may go the Hordak route and become reclusive, antisocial, or even violent to the point of causing another war. Of course, this could be mitigated by She-Ra's interference, but it's still a posibility.
• Horde Prime basically took over the universe all by himself. Granted, he had his clones and his robots, but you gotta give it to the man that he has drive.
• Mara's actions to disable the Heart of Etheria probably caused the First Ones to loose the war against Horde Prime. No wonder Light Hope sees her as a traitor.
• In Season 1, Light Hope shows Adora several elemental princesses...but later on Light Hope shows Glimmer that there are only five (remaining) elemental princesses. Why the difference? Remember that toward the end of season 1, Entrapta told Catra that breaking some runestones would power up others - and during season 4, the Horde has been on a rampage. Perhaps the Horde managed to destroy several runestones, maybe killing their princesses in the act. (This calls into question how Mermista's runestone was not destroyed when the Sea Gate was wrecked and captured, but she might have relocated it for safekeeping.)
• Assuming an origin for Adora analogous to the Filmation series, then her abduction becomes that much more horrifying from the Eternian perspective. In the Filmation series, Randor and Marlena at least knew who took her. In this universe, from their perspective she just up an fell into a hole in reality one day and literally dropped off the face of the universe. And given this series more realistic treatment of such matters, its unlikely the Sorceress used a spell to wipe their memory in this universe either.

Fridge Logic

On the headscratchers page.

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