#‘Modern’ || Adora: Verse

[unityrain24]

ok people here's my essay. (also note that this was for my english class so it is written in a different style than i usually would. it had to be all formal and grammatically correct and such)

2212 words, analytical essay

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: A Queer Allegory for Religious Trauma

ND Stevenson’s She-Ra and The Princesses of Power is an animated Netflix original series rebooting the classic 80s show Shera: Princess of Power. This time, however, the show is chalk-full of diversity, varied body types, queer representation, pleasing colour palettes, and a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers lesbian romance. The first four seasons follow Adora (aka She-Ra) and the princesses of Etheria’s fight against the Evil Horde, using their magic to try bringing peace and justice to the planet. A portal is opened at the end of the fourth season, however, bringing the planet of Etheria out of the isolated dimension of Despondos. No longer separated from the rest of the universe, Horde Prime arrives at Etheria- not only bringing higher stakes than any season preceding it, but an entirely new layer of symbolism to the series. The final season was a clear allegory for religious trauma, an especially relevant topic for the show’s majorly queer audience.

When his armada arrives at Etheria, Horde Prime sends his army of clones and robots down to take the planet by force. Unlike the Evil Horde that had been trying to take the planet before Prime’s arrival, who were disorganized, messy, and industrial, everything under Prime is sleek, elegant, efficient, and most importantly: white. Horde Prime’s ships are white, Horde Prime’s robots are white. Horde Prime’s skin is white, his hair is white, his clothes are white, as are all his clones. Pure, unblemished white, with only sparing accents of grey or green.

In colour theory, white has a few meanings. The colour can represent purity, cleanliness, innocence, and even righteousness. This colour theory is heavily incorporated into biblical verses, metaphors, and artwork (and some might even argue that our modern idea of white comes from the Bible). In art, God and angels are almost always depicted wearing white, as is Jesus in his resurrection. Halos of white or light yellow are shown adorning holy figures' heads. Several bible verses use white robes or other white objects as a metaphor of the wearer’s purity. White is still used in several Christian rituals/customs today, such as weddings, baptisms, and more. White is one of (if not the) most important colour in Christian lore. Even in instances where pure white isn’t used, there is a clear correlation between light versus dark and good versus evil. 

White has more than one meaning, however- on the opposite side of the coin, white can also represent coldness, blankness, emptiness, and loneliness. The most interesting thing about the show’s use of white is that it encapsulates both facets of its representation. Horde Prime uses white to represent his purity and perfection, but to the people of the colourful, messy world Etheria, this is a cold, eerie colour. As are Horde Prime’s ideals. His perfection and purity is synonymous to coldness. The white represents both- not only simultaneously, but as the same thing.

Horde Prime’s empire being entirely white is no coincidence- neither in-story by Prime, nor in real life by the writers. Horde prime uses white to represent everything he stands for, and the writers use white to represent everything Christianity stands for.

Horde Prime is a being that has lived an amount of lifetimes beyond comprehension- every time his body starts to grow old and fail, he selects a new clone of his to insert his memory and very essence into. So even though he has a new body, he is still him. And the reason for this? To fulfill his self imposed purpose of bringing peace and perfection to the universe. To thousands of planets he has been, one at a time, to reach this. Horde Prime believes there is only one right way to do things, and that humanity cannot be trusted to govern themselves.

Every planet he takes goes the same: he arrives with his ships, and slowly implants chips into the neck of each and every being on a planet. These chips take away the autonomy of the host, and they are left blank. No personality, no choices, no person. All their actions are perfectly automated and controlled by a hive mind, and Horde Prime can take specific control of and see through the eyes of any individual at any given time. With Horde Prime in control, there is no war, no famine, no pain. There is only peace, perfection, and purity. And anyone who does not conform, does not accept his gracious rule, are dealt with accordingly. Entire planets have been left desolate and barren, entire peoples subjected to genocide for not accepting Horde Prime. All dead in the name of peace.

These ideals upheld by Horde Prime are strikingly similar to Christianity. Perfection and purity are two of the main ideals of Christianity, in hand with righteousness. Christians strive to “be like Jesus,” to be their idea of a good person, to be loyal to their religion, and to make it into Heaven. Several rituals to “repent” exist when they feel they have not upheld these standards correctly- including prayer, confessionals, sacrament, and baptism. Even though true perfection, purity, and righteousness are typically seen as unattainable to everyone but the Godhead, it is common belief that constant trying will at least get you as close to it as possible. Conformity is another key aspect of Christianity, though it is not advertised, and to the exact extent it is upheld depends on the sect. In general, though, Christianity pressures every one of its followers (and even those who aren’t) to behave a certain way, to think a certain way, and to only associate with others among themselves.

Horde Prime’s way of upholding these ideals isn’t dissimilar to Christianity’s either. Much like Horde Prime’s Galactic Empire, Christianity has had a long history of forced assimilation. From the Spanish conquistadors to the pilgrims and other colonial settlers of North America, death and pain has come in the wake of the spread of Christianity for hundreds of years, amongst various sects of the religion. Native peoples have been murdered for their loyalty to their “savage” non-Christian ways, land has been stolen, and indigenous religions and other important cultural traditions have been changed past recognition or completely erased, all in the name of “saving,” all in the name of “love,” all in the name of “what’s right,” all in the name of God. Christianity is the only right way, Horde Prime is the only right way.

Its likeness to Christianization isn’t the only resemblance Horde Prime’s ways share with Christianity, however. When Horde Prime arrives at Etheria, three people are brought aboard his ship- Queen Glimmer, one of the Etherian rebels that had been fighting against the Evil Horde (and now the Galactic Empire), Catra, a high-ranking member of the Evil Horde that had been taking over Etheria before the Galactic Empire arrived (but is in love with Adora, who is one of the rebels), and Hordak, the leader of the Evil Horde. Hordak was a clone of Horde Prime’s that had been stranded on Etheria, which was in an isolated dimension. He spent his time in isolation trying to take the planet so that if he was ever reunited with Horde Prime, he would be seen as “worthy”. Horde Prime, however, is displeased by Hordak’s actions- claiming that Hordak was trying to take the planet for selfish reasons rather than for Horde Prime, and for giving himself a name. As such, Hordak must be “purified.”

In this purification process, Hordak’s mind is wiped, and he begs for forgiveness and to complete the process. He is then dressed in white and walks into a circular pool with liquid that reaches his waist. The liquid is electrified for several moments, and his screams can be heard, and then it stops. He is left blank, and Horde Prime and the other clones watching praise him for being the purest among them. Later, Catra is subjected to the same process against her will, and is now a mindless servant of Horde Prime as well. This process is almost identical to the Christian concept of Baptism. While exactly how baptism is carried out varies between sects (full submersion under water versus just a sprinkling, infant versus child, etc), the purpose remains the same- to purify past sins.

A more abstract similarity between Horde Prime’s empire and Christianity is the use of titles. Prime’s clones refer to each other as “brother” (and to Catra as “sister,” once she has been “purified”), and Horde Prime as “big brother.” Not all sects of Christianity use such titles to refer to each other, but some do; notably Catholic nuns or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). But even those sects who do not refer to each other as brother and sister often view Jesus as their “older brother” and God as their “heavenly father.” 

Horde Prime himself has many more titles than simply “brother” or Emperor of the Galactic Horde, however. Other titles given to him include Ruler of the Known Universe, Regent of the Seven Skies, He Who Brings the Day and the Night, Revered one of the Shining galaxies, and Promised one of a Thousand Suns. In Christianity, Jesus also is referred to by many names. The Saviour, the Redeemer, the Son of God, the Son of Man, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, and several more. In addition to titles, some of the phrases in general used by Christians and the Galactic Empire are common. Both use the word “rejoice” when telling of their faith. Amongst Christians, “glory to God in the highest” and “[God] is the same yesterday, today, and forever” are not uncommon phrases. “Glory be to Horde Prime” is a common phrase expressed by the clones, and even more so, the infamous mantra “Horde Prime sees all, Horde Prime knows all” repeated so many times throughout the season.

The titles used for each other perpetuate a feeling of conformity and a feeling of “otherness” concerning those who do not conform. The titles used for their leaders perpetuate subservience, power imbalances, respect, and devotion. The phrases used in relation to their leaders perpetuate devotion and omnipotence. These are true of both Horde Prime’s Galactic Empire and Christianity.

Horde Prime was a genuinely disturbing villain who represented every painful thing Christianity is made of- toxic perfectionism and purity, conformity, obedience, control, and omnipotence. Loss of expression and individuality. The fear of being constantly watched. These are things that anyone with religious trauma may deal with, but it’s especially true of queer people. Queer people have had a long history of oppression at the hand of Christianity (and colonialism in general). From outright murder to conversion therapy and other abuses, from abandonment to dismissal, Christianity has perpetuated all of it for centuries. And it’s still something that happens today.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has a majorly queer audience, due to both the creative process of the show and the representation within the series itself. Not only is the creator of the series (ND Stevenson) queer, but so was practically every character- whether they were a main character, side character, or background character with only a few seconds of screen time. One of the main plots of the show is the complicated lesbian romance between Adora and Catra. As such, the series attracted a good number of queer fans, and religious trauma (or at the very least, religious fear) is a topic that hits uncomfortably close for many.

Other pieces of media that incorporate religious imagery have a tendency to be unclear about how it is framed. Is the imagery shown to be wrong and the victim is right and prevails? Is the imagery shown to be right, and the pained victim in terrified denial? Is the imagery shown to be truly wrong but inevitably triumphant anyways, no matter what the victim tries? It is so muddy in so many pieces of media. The important thing about the fifth season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was how it was framed. Perhaps it was because it was a kids show, or perhaps it was the queer creators’ spirit and defiance, but the series was clear in their framing of Horde Prime. The perfect white make the audience uneasy. Horde Prime’s retelling of his victories fill the audience with dread and then hollowness. The “baptisms” of Hordak and Catra are disturbing. Every aspect of Horde Prime and everything he stood for was presented as wrong. Without any doubt.

 And even more importantly, the people of Etheria were able to prevail. She-Ra and the other princesses were able to defeat Horde Prime and his empire, and free those forced into subservience by his chips. Catra (and Hordak) were saved. The ships were destroyed. The people of Etheria were allowed to be free and express themselves and be people. This message was something very important to the queer audience. Not only was the fifth season an expression of queer pain, but an expression of queer hope. Neither thing should be ignored. Pain is valid. Hope is needed. To be healthy, both need to be recognized. To have a series that expressed both, and in such a queer way, was extremely important to so many people.

#long post #unityrain.txt #tw christianity #religious trauma #christian religious trauma #ex mormon #shera #she-ra #she ra #spop #shera spop #she ra spop #she ra and the princesses of power #she-ra and the princesses of power #shera and the princesses of power #meta #analysis #analytical essay #horde prime #the galactic empire #hordak #spop meta

[princesssolaria]

Modern verse Adora gets really into Ella Enchanted (the novel) as another attempt at coping. 

#Headcanon

[meg-noel-art]

Modern AU Luna ✨⭐🌌🌕

#hello? #i cry #she's precious #spop #she ra #picrew #glimmadora #fankid #oc #luna #modern au #maybe the nsa verse #yes #glimmer #adora #this picrew i so pretty #it's wild

[darlinrogue]

Skinny Guy

Starter for @sailorrmood w/ Adora 

A decade before Adora took residence in the off-campus student housing, someone installed a basketball hoop in the parking lot. An old, dinky, rusted metal goal post. The paint had peeled off the backboard long before her time, leaving nothing but the dull grey impression of ancient markings. Most nights the guys who lived in the apartments played impromptu games or HORSE to wind-down. Usually involving copious amounts of alcohol. Sometimes, if Adora finished her homework and she wasn’t wiped from practice, she joined them. And cleaned the floor with their sorry butts. However, while everyone else crammed for finals and wrote last minute essays, Adora did that months ago. Except for a guy smoking --against the rules-- on a second story balcony, she was alone to practice her free-throws this evening. 

The basketball struck pavement, rebounded to her waiting hand, and ricocheted to terra firma beneath the sway of gravity. Adora captured the ball, brought it to her chest, and threw for the hoop. A ‘thonk’ off the back board and a satisfying ‘shwip’ through the net, scored her a point. The ball bounced-off the pavement at an obtuse angle and made a break for it. The student council insisted the parking lot was level, but either all their balls had an intractable urge to commit suicide in traffic or there was a downwards slant leading to the road. Proof to the later conclusion as the ball rolled-out to the road. Adora watched as her basketball bravely traversed the --luckily quiet street-- to the opposite side-walk. Then skitter along in the gutter. She waited for a car to pass, looked both ways, and jogged across.

“Hey!” Adora called, stepping-up on the opposite curb. The noble basketball, so close to freedom, wavered by the heels of an oncoming pedestrian. Adora gestured at it and then lifted her hand, “Can you pass it?”

#‘The Princess of Power’ || Adora: IC #‘Modern’ || Adora: Verse #sailormood #adora escaped from her Bonkers Crazy Adopted Family who Are Highkey a Cult by going to college and playing basketball #Adora is a jock but she gets incredibly high grades because she's also a perfectionist who gets upset if she has a test grade lower than 95 #no specific setting just vaguely urban #also no icons because i don't have a fc for adora

[grcyskull]

;; continued from here | @catraps

         A smile formed over her lips as she looked behind her toward the door of their dorm. She knew everyone, would change shifts soon and they needed to leave NOW if they weren’t going to get caught. Her grip was firm on her friend's hand as she led the way through the door and out into the corridor.

         With nothing more than a bag with personal items and food she had been sneaking into her room for days, she made sure that she had enough for both of them. It was no telling how long it would be before they found a place to stay, eat, and get some sort of work to keep ends meet. She definitely didn't want them to starve to death on the road at any point.

         Her heart was pounding in her chest, her grip tightening on Catra's as she looked up and down each hall to make sure no one was watching. She slipped to the staircase and practically sprinted down them, careful to miss the ones that squeaked on her way down. Her eyes once again dart around to make sure no one was around before sprinting for the door.

         Once outside, a large smile formed. They were almost free!

        ❝ Okay Catra, time for you to get the gate. ❞

#catraps #;adora - MODERN #[ I have yet to update this verse yet

[trickemperor]

adora tags. replacing ralsei.

#☲ ⇀ ADORA // aes // weapons #☲ ⇀ ADORA // aes // clothing #☲ ⇀ ADORA // aes // of and about #☲ ⇀ ADORA // aes // personal #☶ ⇀ ADORA // in char // thread #☶ ⇀ ADORA // in char // dash commentary #☶ ⇀ ADORA // in char // dash games #☶ ⇀ ADORA // in char // in character #☷ ⇀ ADORA // visage // face claim #☷ ⇀ ADORA // visage // animation #☵ ⇀ ADORA // about // headcanons #☵ ⇀ ADORA // about // thoughts #☵ ⇀ ADORA // about // isms #☵ ⇀ ADORA // about // culture / background #☱ ⇀ ADORA // verse // princess of power / main #☱ ⇀ ADORA // verse // horde soldier #☱ ⇀ ADORA // verse // wandering princess #☱ ⇀ ADORA // verse // modern / other

[driluth]

some catradora fics that i love (under the cut)

adorassaviorcomplex (rosesandcinnamon):

come home to my heart, post season five

auberigine:

this grave’s the second-marriage bed, locked tomb au

want me down to the marrow, catra seeks a universe where adora stays

where the spirit meets the bones, aftermath of save the cat

ehj:

the things underneath the fire, catra character study

emollience:

the ghost of you, canon divergence au where adora stays with light hope in season one

loneliness is how little you want me, canon divergence au where adora drops catra off at the nearest planet in season five

no defense (no preservation), canon divergence in season 3

sandbox love never dies, jennifer’s body au

what it means to survive, breath of the wild au

feralcatras:

i always thought we’d have another life, celeb au (rockstar catra, princess adora)

say it back, canon divergent 5+1

forsythiarising, fuhadeza:

the thing about forever, catradora wedding time loop au

fuhadeza:

framed with silence, a pacific rim au

gayxiaolong:

how much would love make you whole?, post canon fic

igneousbitch: 

torch song, greek mythology au (achilles adora, patroclus catra)

lesbianxcatra:

at least i got you in my head, canon compliant yearning

the harder i swim, the faster i sink, a season five catra character study

maguk:

a collection of modern au one-shots

ode to a conversation, catradora rival sorority au

noble heart, prince catra au

peacefall, a post-heart conversation

stillness in woe, adventure time au

mondkind: 

even if it burns, midas au 

matters of the heart, pride and prejudice au

nuttyshake: 

a rumor, a legend, a mystery, anastasia au

be the thing that buries me, sci-fi soulmate series

centrum permanebit, a future fic

the golden room, a the good place au where adora is an architect 

how you besiege me (and feed me), a future fic involving halfmoon and eternia

overnights:

all this and heaven too, canon divergent au where adora dies in the heart, catra goes to the underworld to rescue her

sevensevan:

come build your home in me, modern au, sequel to the roots that sleep

themoonsneverseenmebefore:

a little bit like fate, modern meetcute

the verse and the chorus, former child stars au

timtamtawney:

things that matter more than winning, this is how you lose the time war au

soul_of_spades:

across the stars (i’ll always find you), star wars au 

the black cat, superhero au

my heart is with you hiding, post apocalyptic au

sabotage, modern/among us au

tie-breaker, post canon sparring au

strangehunger:

don’t wake me, i’m not dreaming, deleted scene from at the end we’ll start again

xandrillia:

defiance, save the cat from catra’s perspective

desolation, bw/rr inspired/canon divergent fight

in the name of being honest, missing canon scene on darla

something new, canon compliant, catra, adora, and music

#she ra #catradora #catradora fic #fics #!!!!!!!!!!! #as i said on twitter i'm prioritizing fics with less than 500 kudos bc ao3 makes them harder to find #and these are all amazing so please go and leave kudos and comments!! #i will have more fics to add once i get through my TBR but for now please go and check these out

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Content note for discussions of eternal damnation, and all sorts of other shit that will trigger a lot of folks with religious trauma.

Before I get started I might as well explain where I’m coming from - unlike a lot of She-Ra fans, and a lot of queer people, I don’t have much religious trauma, or any, maybe (okay there were a number of years I was convinced I was going to hell, but that happens to everyone, right?). I was raised a liberal Christian by liberal Christian parents in the Episcopal Church, where most of my memories are overwhelmingly positive. Fuck, growing up in the 90’s, Chuch was probably the only place outside my home I didn’t have homophobia spewed at me. Because it was the 90’s and it was a fucking hellscape of bigotry where 5 year olds knew enough to taunt each other with homophobic slurs and the adults didn’t know enough to realize how fucked up that was. Anyway. This is my experience, but it is an atypical one, and I know it. Quite frankly I know that my experience of Christianity has very little at all to do with what most people experienced, or what people generally mean when they talk about Christianity as a cultural force in America today. So if you were raised Christian and you don’t recognize your theology here, congrats, neither do I, but these ideas and cultural forces are huge and powerful and dominant. And it’s this dominant Christian narrative that I’m referring to in this post. As well as, you know, a children’s cartoon about lesbian rainbow princesses. So here it goes. This is going to get batshit.

"All events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God." - John Calvin

“We’re all just a bunch of wooly guys” - Noelle Stevenson

This is a post triggered by a single scene, and a single line. It’s one of the most fucked-up scenes in She-Ra, toward the end of Save the Cat. Catra, turned into a puppet by Prime, struggles with her chip, desperately trying to gain control of herself, so lost and scared and vulnerable that she flings aside her own death wish and her pride and tearfully begs Adora to rescue her. Adora reaches out , about to grab her, and then Prime takes control back, pronounces ‘disappointing’ and activates the kill switch that pitches Catra off the platform and to her death (and seriously, she dies here, guys - also Adora breaks both her legs in the fall). But before he does, he dismisses Catra with one of his most chilling lines. “Some creatures are meant only for destruction.”

And that’s when everyone watching probably had their heart broken a little bit, but some of the viewers raised in or around Christianity watching the same scene probably whispered ‘holy shit’ to themselves. Because Prime’s line - which works as a chilling and callous dismissal of Catra - is also an allusion to a passage from the Bible. In fact, it’s from one of the most fucked up passages in a book with more than its share of fucked up passages. It’s from Romans 9:22, and I’m going to quote several previous verses to give the context of the passage (if not the entire Epistle, which is more about who needs to abide by Jewish dietary restrictions but was used to construct a systematic theology in the centuries afterwards because people decided it was Eternal Truth).

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

The context of the allusion supports the context in the show. Prime is dismissing Catra - serial betrayer, liar, failed conqueror, former bloody-handed warlord - as worthless, as having always been worthless and fit only to be destroyed. He is speaking from a divine and authoritative perspective (because he really does think he’s God, more of this in my TL/DR Horde Prime thing). Prime is echoing not only his own haughty dismissal of Catra, and Shadow Weaver’s view of her, but also perhaps the viewer’s harshest assessment of her, and her own worst fears about herself. Catra was bad from the start, doomed to destroy and to be destroyed. A malformed pot, cracked in firing, destined to be shattered against a wall and have her shards classified by some future archaeologist 2,000 years later. And all that’s bad enough.

But the full historical and theological context of this passage shows the real depth of Noelle Stevenson’s passion and thought and care when writing this show. Noelle was raised in Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christianity. To my knowledge, he has never specified what sect or denomination, but in interviews and her memoir Noelle has shown a particular concern for questions that this passage raises, and a particular loathing for the strains of Protestant theology that take this passage and run with it - that is to say, Calvinism. So while I’m not sure if Noelle was raised as a conservative, Calvinist Presbyterian, his preoccupation with these questions mean that it’s time to talk about Calvinism.

It would be unfair, perhaps, to say that Calvinism is a systematic theology built entirely upon the Epistles of Romans and Galatians, but only -just- (and here my Catholic readers in particular will chuckle to themselves and lovingly stroke their favorite passage of the Epistle of James). The core of Calvinist Doctrine is often expressed by the very Dutch acronym TULIP:

Total Depravity - people are wholly evil, and incapable of good action or even willing good thoughts or deeds

Unconditional Election - God chooses some people to save because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, not because they did anything to deserve, trigger or accept it

Limited Atonement - Jesus died only to save the people God chose to save, not the rest of us bastards

Irresistible Grace - God chooses some people to be saved - if you didn’t want to be saved, too bad, God said so.

Perseverance of the Saints - People often forget this one and assume it’s ‘predestination’ but it’s actually this - basically, once saved by God, always saved, and if it looks like someone falls out of grace, they were never saved to begin with. Well that’s all sealed up tight I guess.

Reading through these, predestination isn’t a single doctrine in Calvinism but the entire theological underpinnings of it together with humanity’s utter powerlessness before sin. Basically God has all agency, humanity has none. Calvinism (and a lot of early modern Protestantism) is obsessed with questions of how God saves people (grace alone, AKA Sola Fides) and who God saves (the people god elects and only the people God elects, and fuck everyone else).

It’s apparent that Noelle was really taken by these questions, and repelled by the answers he heard. He’s alluded to having a tattoo refuting the Gospel passage about Sheep and Goats being sorted at the end times, affirming instead that ‘we’re all just a bunch of wooly guys’ (you can see this goat tattoo in some of his self-portraits in comics, etc). He’s also mentioned that rejecting and subverting destiny is a huge part of everything he writes as a particular rejection of the idea that some individual people are 'chosen' by God or that God has a plan for any of us. You can see that -so clearly- in Adora’s arc, where Adora embraces and then rejects destiny time and again and finally learns to live life for herself.

But for Catra, we’re much more concerned about the most negative aspect of this - the idea that some people are vessels meant for destruction. And that’s something else that Noelle is preoccupied with. In her memoir in the section about leaving the church and becoming a humanistic atheist, there is a drawing of a pot and the question ‘Am I a vessel prepared for destruction?’ Obviously this was on Noelle’s mind (And this is before he came out to himself as queer!).

To look at how this question plays out in Catra’s entire arc, let’s first talk about how ideas of damnation and salvation actually play out in society. And for that I’m going to plug one of my favorite books, Gin Lun’s Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction (if you can tell by now, I am a fucking blast at parties). Lun tells the long and very interesting story about, how ideas of hell and who went there changed during the Early American Republic. One of the interesting developments that she talks about is how while at first people who were repelled by Calvinism started moving toward a doctrine of universal salvation (no on goes to hell, at least not forever*), eventually they decided that hell was fine as long as only the right kind of people went there. Mostly The Other - non-Christian foreigners, Catholics, Atheists, people who were sinners in ways that were not just bad but weird and violated Victorian ideas of respectability. Really, Hell became a way of othering people, and arguably that’s how it survives today, especially as a way to other queer people (but expanding this is slated for my Montero rant). Now while a lot of people were consciously rejecting Calvinist predestination, they were still drawing the distinction between the Elect (good, saved, worthwhile) and the everyone else (bad, damned, worthless). I would argue that secularized ideas of this survive to this day even among non-Christian spaces in our society - we like to draw lines between those who Elect, and those who aren’t.

And that’s what brings us back to Catra. Because Catra’s entire arc is a refutation of the idea that some people are worthless and irredeemable, either by nature, nurture or their own actions. Catra’s actions strain the conventions of who is sympathetic in a Kid’s cartoon - I’ve half joked that she’s Walter White as a cat girl, and it’s only half a joke. She’s cruel, self-deluded, she spends 4 seasons refusing to take responsibility for anything she does and until Season 5 she just about always chooses the thing that does the most damage to herself and others. As I mentioned in my Catra rant, the show goes out of its way to demonstrate that Catra is morally culpable in every step of her descent into evil (except maybe her break with reality just before she pulls the lever). The way that Catra personally betrays everyone around her, the way she strips herself of all of her better qualities and most of what makes her human, hell even her costume changes would signal in any other show that she’s irredeemable.

It’s tempting to see this as Noelle’s version of being edgy - pushing the boundaries of what a sympathetic character is, throwing out antiheroics in favor of just making the villain a protagonist. Noelle isn’t quite Alex ‘I am in the business of traumatizing children’ Hirsch, who seems to have viewed his job as pushing the bounds of what you could show on the Disney Channel (I saw Gravity Falls as an adult and a bunch of that shit lives rent free in my nightmares forever), but Noelle has his own dark side, mostly thematically. The show’s willingness to deal with abuse, and messed up religious themes, and volatile, passionate, not particularly healthy relationships feels pretty daring. I’m not joking when I gleefully recommend this show to friends as ‘a couple from a Mountain Goats Song fights for four seasons in a cartoon intended for 9 year olds’. Noelle is in his own way pushing the boundaries of what a kids show can do. If you read Noelle’s other works like Nimona, you see an argument for Noelle being at least a bit edgy. Nimona is also angry, gleefully destructive, violent and spiteful - not unlike Catra. Given that it was a 2010s webcomic and not a kids show, Nimona is a good deal worse than Catra in some ways - Catra doesn’t kill people on screen, while Nimona laughs about it (that was just like, a webcomic thing - one of the fan favorite characters in my personal favorite, Narbonic, was a fucking sociopath, and the heroes were all amoral mad scientists, except for the superintelligent gerbil**). But unlike Nimona, whose fate is left open ended, Catra is redeemed.

And that is weird. We’ve had redemption arcs, but generally not of characters with -so- much vile stuff in their history. Going back to the comparison between her and Azula, many other shows, like Avatar, would have made Catra a semi-sympathetic villain who has a sob-story in their origin but who is beyond redemption, and in so doing would articulate a kind of psychologized Calvinism where some people are too traumatized to ever be fully and truly human. I’d argue this is the problem with Azula as a character - she’s a fun villain, but she doesn’t have moral agency, and the ultimate message of her arc - that she’s a broken person destined only to hurt people - is actually pretty fucked up. And that’s the origin story of so many serial killers and psycopaths that populate so many TV shows and movies. Beyond ‘hurt people hurt people’ they have nothing to teach us except perhaps that trauma makes you a monster and that the only possible response to people doing bad things is to cut them out of your life and out of our society (and that’s why we have prisons, right?)

And so Catra’s redemption and the depths from which she claws herself back goes back to Noelle’s desire to prove that no person is a vessel ‘fitted for destruction.’ Catra goes about as far down the path of evil as we’ve ever seen a protagonist in a kids show go, and she still has the capacity for good. Importantly, she is not subject to total depravity - she is capable of a good act, if only one at first. Catra is the one who begins her own redemption (unlike in Calvinism, where grace is unearned and even unwelcomed) - because she wants something better than what she has, even if its too late, because she realizes that she never wanted any of this anyway, because she wants to do one good thing once in her life even if it kills her.

The very extremity of Catra’s descent into villainy serves to underline the point that Noelle is trying to make - that no one can be written off completely, that everyone is capable of change, and that no human being is garbage, no matter how twisted they’ve become. Meanwhile her ability to set her own redemption in motion is a powerful statement of human agency, and healing, and a refutation of Calvinism’s idea that we are powerless before sin or pop cultural tropes about us being powerful before the traumas of our upbringing. Catra’s arc, then, is a kind of anti-Calvinist theological statement - about the nature of people and the nature of goodness.

Now, there is a darker side to this that Noelle has only hinted at, but which is suggested by other characters on the show. Because while Catra’s redemption shows that people are capable of change, even when they’ve done horrible things, been fucked up and fucked themselves up, it also illustrates the things people do to themselves that make change hard. As I mentioned in my Catra rant, two of the most sinister parts of her descent into villainy are her self-dehumanization (crushing her own compassion and desire to do good) and her rewriting of her own history in her speech and memory to make her own actions seem justified (which we see with her insistence that Adora left her, eliding Adora’s offers to have Catra join her, or her even more clearly false insistence that Entrapta had betrayed them). In Catra, these processes keep her going down the path of evil, and allow her to nearly destroy herself and everyone else. But we can see the same processes at work in two much darker figures - Shadow Weaver and Horde Prime. These are both rants for another day, but the completeness of Shadow Weaver’s narcissistic self-justification and cultivated callousness and the even more complete narcissism of Prime’s god complex cut both characters off from everyone around them. Perhaps, in a theoretical sense, they are still redeemable, but for narrative purposes they might as well be damned.

This willingness to show a case where someone -isn’t- redeemed actually serves to make Catra’s redemption more believable, especially since Noelle and the writers draw the distinction between how Catra and SW/Prime can relate to reality and other people, not how broken they are by their trauma (unlike Zuko and Azula, who are differentiated by How Fucked Uolp They Are). Redemption is there, it’s an option, we can always do what is right, but someone people will choose not to, in part because doing the right thing involves opening ourselves to the world and others, and thus being vulnerable. Noelle mentions this offhandedly in an interview after Season 1 with the She-Ra Progressive of Power podcast - “I sometimes think that shades of grey, sympathetic villains are part of the escapist fantasy of shows like this.” Because in the real world, some people are just bastards, a point that was particularly clear in 2017. Prime and Shadow Weaver admit this reality, while Catra makes a philosophical point that even the bastards can change their ways (at least in theory).

*An idea first proposed in the second century by Origen, who’s a trip and a fucking half by himself, and an idea that becomes the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, which protestants vehemently denied!

**Speaking of favorite Noelle tropes

#she ra horde prime #she ra #she ra catra #she ra spoilers #redemption arcs #toxic religion

[n7punk]

across all your fics/one shots is there a particular version of either adora or catra that you "relate" to most? like one that almost felt the closest/easiest/most familiar for you to write? hope that's not too personal, i'm just amazed by the variety of ways you characterize them while still making them unique to the story

hmmm i feel like these are different answers honestly. i kinda dont want to say which one is the most "relatable" for me, but i dont know if it was the easiest one to write either. then again, the relatable fic flowed super quickly for me, but there have been a few fics where it was really easy to immediately get in their heads in that verse and others where i really struggled with it. in general tho, modern aus close to our world are the easiest to write (strange disease, the greys, isohm, knifepoint, etc were more difficult to write)

#ask #anon #its otos lmao #modern au about being in love with your best friend? what lesbian hasnt been there #and there weren't any particularly fantastical elements (like the rich setting of slas or asgne or magical parts) that distanced it for me #i would say 3m2 but. no kids lmao so thats a distancing element there #toht actually had a lot of my own college experience in it too tho #hm. so the more modern aus is my answer i guess

[athetos]

not to be basic but glimmer?

@goblinkind asked for glimmer too! I was hoping people would ask for her 👀

Some songs definitely on her iPod: I have wretched taste in music. But: “rebel girl” by bikini kill, “nobody” by mitski, “oh no!” By marina and the Diamonds (that’s on noelle’s official playlist for her... she’s canonically a marina wlw) and “I wanna get better” by the bleachers

The one place they end up falling asleep where they’re not supposed to: I think since glimmer has the ability to teleport, when she gets super exhausted she can just make it back to her bed. That said i am going to project my narcolepsy on her and I think she would definitely fall asleep at her desk in the middle of doing Important Queen Business

The game they’d destroy everyone at: I joked about this a bit with @freezingmyblitzballs and @softpastel-lesbian and I believe we decided she absolutely kicks ass at Mario kart. Her only competition would be like, maybe mermista. Adora always come in the last 3 spots but she’s just having a good time. Glimmer would get super competitive about it too. I want to write a fic about this now shit.

The emoticon they’d use most: I think she’d respond to a lot of messages with “no ❤️” if she didn’t agree / want to do anything. Wait that’s an emoji not an emoticon. Um... no wait she’d use this emoji 😇 all the time especially when she was definitely doing something illegal and everyone knows she’s not innocent.

What they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep: grumpy but in a very cute way. She would push herself too hard especially with Important Queen Duties and she would be warm and snuggly though 🥺

Their preferred hot beverage on cold nights / mornings: I think she’d be a big tea drinker. All kinds, really. Green tea or mint tea the big ones. Mint tea is awesome actually. I also think she’d indulge in hot chocolate every once in a while, or have like. Unicorn Frappuccino’s from Starbucks. Wait those are frozen. Oh well.

How they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump: glimmer would be the person who says “time to treat myself” whenever she has a moderately bad day, which, same. I think she’d wear her comfiest, favorite clothes and relax with a nice hobby and delicious food. I honestly think she’d love like, fantasy romance novels secretly.

What they wanted to be when they grew up: in canon-verse, I would just say queen, which of course when she finally DOES become queen, she’s not resdy at all, hehe 💔 in a modern setting, I could see her wanting to have been a musician even though she knows 3 chords on guitar, or like an astronaut.

Favorite kind of weather: spring mornings where it’s not hot but it’s not too chilly just perfect sweater weather, the sun is out, maybe some clouds, no rain.

Thoughts on singing voice? Karen Fukuhara has an awesome voice, I could see her being able to hit higher notes while also being able to deepen her voice and it being like 😳 I think like, a pop punk au glimmer is so good. Wait didn’t somebody write that... a certain somebody...? 🤔

How/what they like to draw/doodle? WINGS. And lots of hearts. Swords and axes. Her notebooks would be full of doodles cuz it’s the only way she can pay attention in class.

Thank you both!!!

#she ra #glimmer #ash talks about she ra #she ra hc #spop #ash answers your burning questions

[this-writer-d]

Chapters: 4/5 Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra) Characters: Catra (She-Ra), Adora (She-Ra), Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow (She-Ra), Scorpia (She-Ra), Entrapta (She-Ra), Razz (She-Ra), Double Trouble (She-Ra), Peekablue (She-Ra), Lonnie (She-Ra), Adam Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Angst, Omega Verse, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha Adora (She-Ra), Omega Catra (She-Ra), Flashbacks, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Minor Character Death, Beach House, plot heavy, Kinda a human au, but you can visualise it either way, Friends to Lovers, Reconciliation, Modernised and toned down omegaverse, Grief/Mourning, Sharing a Bed Summary:

A scrapbook of memories and this is the one that sits on the very first page, but she knows she knew Catra long before that too, and they’d fallen together again every summer like the rest of the year didn't even exist.

It was a mystery to Adora, still, as to why everything had so violently torn apart that last July after they'd presented. She’d been expecting a little anger, resentment maybe, but she hadn’t prepared herself for four years of cold, absent silence.

She accepts it was her fault.

She wishes she knew why.

This fic is SO fucking good I recommend it so hard. Read it, give a kudos and drop some comments!! 

#catradora #spop #catra x adora

[princesssolaria]

Whenever there’s a non serious bleed, like a papercut, or something, Adora loves freaking out other kids/adults/nobles with it. just gleefully giving them a handshake and then oops I’m bleeding.... hehe. In modern verse she’s spent her fair share of time on the Naughty Chair because of it.

in her other, princess-y verses she tends to have to deal with a lot a freakouts, and people fussing. She understands how serious her condition can be (a lot less treatable back then) and she hates to worry those who care about her so she doesn’t do it as often. Only on those who’ve especially irked her at the moment. 

#Headcanon #hemophilia tw #talk of blood tw

[galacticcoyote]

my good intentions get bad (spop, adora/catra)

my good intentions get bad:  It all starts because of Tumblr.

Catra comes back early from another failure of a date. Her fifth in the last month, but who’s counting? (She is. She’s got a whole bujo layout devoted to the fail dates, so she doesn’t fall for their sweet talk a second time. She’s already gone through one red Sharpie Pen.)

She’s back earlier than she should be, and so maybe that’s why her roommate’s laptop is open with no sight of Adora hunched over it. The usually crisp white sheets on Adora’s bed are rumpled, her laptop left hanging off the edge of the mattress, a familiar blue background snatching Catra’s attention. The shower sounds from the ensuite they share with the room next door, the screensaver isn’t protecting Adora’s privacy, so—Catra snoops.

(Read the rest on AO3) 

my good intentions get bad is mature, but this fic does not contain sex. it is the first in what will be a series of connected fix set in a modern verse where Catra and Adora explore non-sexual and sexual kink. 

#catradora #spop #spop fanfic #she-ra #she ra #shera #femslash #my fic #dexstarrfic #top catra

[roseguidedarc]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost, don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.   lilian  “lily”  adora marsh

 NICKNAME.   “stardust” by her father , “dora” by her parents from her middle name ,  “lil” by bellamy

GENDER.   cis female

HEIGHT.  5′3″ 

AGE.   16 , pre-series.  22-28 ,  depending on plotline. 

ZODIAC.   scorpio. 

SPOKEN LANGUAGES.   english, trigedasleng , learning.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.  light brown 

EYE COLOR.   green

SKIN TONE.   pale , but with warm undertones.

BODY TYPE.  on the slim side , thicker in the thighs. hourglass.

VOICE.  medium toned , soft in most situations but can be more rough when needed. voice gets higher when she has something to hide , is in pain , or is trying not to be upset.

DOMINANT HAND.   right 

SCARS.  her body is littered with numerous scars from the procedures done to her in the lab. they vary in size , color , && how long they’ve been healed.  some internal scars from procedures && testing.   one distinctive scar not covered with cloths can be seen on her cheek , it’s a scar that starts near the water line of her eye && goes downward until almost the middle of the cheek on the right side.

TATTOOS.   none. 

BIRTHMARKS.  a medium sized birthmark near her left clavicle . 

MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).    cheek scar , kind eyes.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.   lily was born on the ark , in space.

HOMETOWN.   space. 

SIBLINGS.   none

PARENTS.   emilia marsh  ( mother , deceased )   ,  jonathan marsh  ( father , deceased ) 

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.   was studying to work in medical.  became a lab experiment for the effect of radiation && other things in the secret lab on the ark.   does whatever is asked of her on the ground.

CURRENT RESIDENCE.  verse despendent. anywhere from space, to earth, to sanctum. 

CLOSE FRIENDS.  clarke griffin, octavia blake , raven reyes , monty green , emori , bellamy blake

RELATIONSHIP STATUS.  verse dependent. most known relationships include bellamy blake  ( pre-series , plotting dependent afterward ) 

FINANCIAL STATUS.    verse dependent. t100 verse : n/a / modern verse: stable. 

DRIVER’S LICENSE.   verse dependent. t100 verse : no, but is able to operate a vehicle. / modern verse : yes.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.  pansexual , demi-romantic.  

PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.   submissive | dominant | switch 

PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch 

LIBIDO.  medium to high

TURN ON’S.    someone who’s willing to stand up for others / speak up , kindness , someone who’s strong  ( not limited to physically , more so strong willed ) , someone being able to speak their emotions , esp. if it pretains to her .  more tba. 

TURN OFF’S.   disloyalty , liars.

LOVE LANGUAGE.     physical touch , acts of service. 

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.   devoted, loyal , passionate.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.   this is me trying   -   taylor swift 

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.  reading ,  learning something new , helping others , drawing , being productive. 

MENTAL ILLNESSES.    suffers from ptsd, nightmares , anxiety

PHYSICAL ILLNESSES.    sleep paralysis , her right leg from the upper thigh downward has nerve damage from one of the procedures done to her in the lab && is immobile--lily wears a brace in order to walk.

PHOBIAS.  losing those she cares about most , trypanophobia  ( fear of needles or procedures involving them )  ,   iatrophobia  ( fear of doctors ) . 

SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.  between a 7 or 8 .

tagged by :   stolen from @hisagony​

tagging : @hlliday​ , @hauntyng​ , @peacemakr​ , @headsaves​ , @inuyaksha​ , &&  you. !!

#i'm having me time. get out! : out of character #headcanon: lily marsh #long post //

[catchromia]

im thinking of modern verse catra and her getting the nickname catra unwillingly and just

sb : so catherine  adora : we call her catra sb : ?? catra : adora shut up sb : how did you get the name catra ? catra : .............. there was an incident adora : she was obsessed with cats when we were kids and one day they found her sleeping in the alley with a few of them

#ooc. #catra vc : she wont let me live it down

[favvnsongs]

What is trof??

oof trof is my modern catradora au. I dont know exactly what the verse is about or how everything plays out other than aaaaaaangst but yknow.... I'm working on it.

and like yeah PLOT stuff happens but also like.

- perfuma and catra are bestfriends 5ever and it's really adorable.

- melog has his own Instagram

- swiftwind is a rescued windhound that adora acquires through hijinks and he is the biggest diva and also has the zoomies 500% of the time and the apartment that she and glimmer share is way too fucking small.

- glimmer is the embodiment of be gay! do crimes!

this of course stresses her very waspish well to do mother out because let's be real I def see modern day Angella as pretty like. Obviously a centrist.

- the first time that catra and adora see each other after The Falling Out, catra nearly kicks adora in the throat and has to be bodily restrained.

adora does not take this well. she thought they were, "fine(tm)"

- adora has a lot more Unpacking to do over how really really shitty of a parental figure SW was? and not like "more" unpacking but more so catra just got a head start and kinda just, did nothing BUT unpack for a good long awhile meanwhile like every 3 weeks adora is like "alright am I done yet?"

- melog is also bigger than swiftwind. catra thinks this is fucking hilarious. catra likes adora's dog long before catra ever admits to liking adora.

there's, a whole bunch of other shit too I mean. it's a big au it's shaping up like. but the MOST important part-

is that melog has his own Insta

#day number one ( in the rest of forever )