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etheriadearie · 10 months

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Hi! First of all, love your blog!! I have a question that I would love to hear your thoughts on - I love your analysis of catra and think so much of it is spot on. I love hearing about how much of her actions have come from a place of love for adora.. I was wondering what about the scene where she cuts adora off the cliff to presumably fall to her death? was she really in that moment ok with killing her? what do you think about Moments like that where we see the physical harm she is willing

Catra's long walk through darkness to being the light of Adora's life-

This is such an important moment so thanks for bringing it up. To put things simply, Catra believes she’s not killing Adora. In fact, I'm certain she KNOWS she isn't. How am I sure? Because what we’re seeing play out is something deeper, that is, in fact, magic... (meta to come, but first…)

Pictured: four times Catra encounters Etheria's magic- (Promise/Promise/Portal/Heart Part2)

Promise is the most important episode of SPOP prior to s5, it really has no equal. The fractured history of their relationship before we meet them in ep1 is revealed, and as such, the reasons Catra feels she must be apart- all while there are actually three forces acting upon both Catra and Adora. I hear about two of them, but what's the third?

I'd encourage anyone reading this meta to carefully listen as Catra makes Adora fall. Because what we're hearing is important. (feel free to do so now or later)

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🎶🎵 Do you hear it? 🎶🎵 Why does the music rise and then gloriously crescendo as Catra says her final goodbye?

The music rising here makes this an 🎶undeniably🎶 positive moment for Catra. This is -their- song, Promise, and it crescendos as Catra leaves Adora. So what's the deal?

Well, in short, it means that Catra leaving Adora is the right thing. How can that be. Well, Adora's willingness to sacrifice herself, and others, who she loves, to fulfill duty is wrong. Adora isn't becoming a hero like the Princesses and Light Hope tell her she is, she's walking into a millennia old trap. Catra has seen this behavior before, and Adora’s not choosing the strong path of a hero of love.

Adora’s false belief in duty means that she goes from fulfilling one manipulator's every wish, Shadow Weaver, to another when she gets the sword- the First Ones. And Catra knows in her gut that Adora is wrong, like she has been before. So, Catra -must- refuse to enable her any longer. In doing so, Catra is rightly asserting her own personal worth.

The narrative arc goes on to show us that in s1-4 Adora not a hero, and the reasons Catra is rejecting her during Promise are exactly why she's not on the true path of She-ra: By rejecting love, Adora cannot be a hero, she instead enacts a false form of false justice thats based in naive belief and others prejudices. This is why Catra wanted to go, because she’s seen it all before- where Adora rationalizes others' pain as part of her false duty, letting her anxious need to satisfy others control her.

Yes, the war is terrible, and Catra is directly involved in its cruelty. We should absolutely fault her for that. I'll of course talk about Adora's violence being similar, but Catra indeed rationalizes violence as necessary in a terribly biased way. Like many of you, I found her s4 portrayal hard to stomach and I didn't know if she could come back from who she seemed to have become. It took Nate Stevenson’s genius s5 for me to realize he had done something amazing with her and Adora’s arcs. Yet, in the subtext of the plot it's obvious that Catra shouldn't go with Adora, as well as that the war that they fight in s1-4 isn't quite what it seems... (more later)

In the most basic way possible, Catra would not want to go along with Adora considering her false behavior, but this is a decision reinforced by the power of magic, which we’ll discuss. Catra’s choices are rooted in survival always, (not in wanting power or proving herself, nuhuh) and the way Adora treated her was abandonment which encouraged the violence she was up against from their abuser. It's not surprising Catra would want to go her own way, and so the only way she sees for herself to survive is within the Horde. It's about survival, simply that.

And Adora, meanwhile, can't have her cake (trying to enact a false form of She-ra justice) and eat it too (have Catra’s love.) She feels loneliness where Catra used to be because of her own falseness that she’s acting out due to her traumas. Going on emotions alone there are good reasons for their separation, and both are wrong, but there's also a magical force here that's leading them both up to the true crescendo of Promise when Catra confesses her love…

But I digress, let's discuss the meaning of Promise, and the hidden magic behind what happens.

The 3 forces: two good, one "evil"

The first of the three forces acting on Catra and Adora in Promise is plain to see: the love which they have for each other, which ought to mean that they can heal their divide. But, as we know, their love is too fractured at this point to do so.

The next is our 'evil' force- Light Hope, who most people assume is controlling what they see in the Crystal Castle to manipulate and divide them towards the ends of enacting the First Ones plan of destroying Etheria. But, does this explanation really make sense, or does it lack something?

Why would Nate Stevenson have the music soar as Catra walks away from Adora if that were the case? Promise being so gloriously played as she does this makes this a positive moment for Catra, although melancholy, and not the moment of Light Hope's triumph in her dark plot. We don't hear this song played so gloriously again until s5 when Catra confesses her love, when the music reaches its true crescendo. Maybe the music here means that Catra mustn't go with Adora, for Adora’s own sake-?

This is what I mean by a third, mysterious and -magical- force, that's also acting on them, which is on the side of good, but is seeing the long game and trying to avert the larger disaster we see at the end of s4 when the weapon is activated- the evil First Ones plot nearly coming to fruition and destroying them all. This force gives Catra a push towards separating from Adora during Promise, where it is letting history play out so that Adora's falseness as its hero is exposed. This force is deep planetary magic...

The rising of the music is a hint its presence, but the direct evidence of it is seen during strange happenstances in Promise, which we’ll discuss, as well as further occurrences later on in the series. What this force is trying to accomplish is the halting of that evil plot, as that is paramount, and is working towards Adora developing into the hero of love she's supposed to be. Adora needs to have the strength of self to reject false manipulations and burdens, in order to defeat their true enemies all along- the First Ones and Horde Prime.

And, for Adora to confront her own wrong baises, Catra cannot enable her false rationalizations any more. So, the magic is acting on Catra, helping her to decide to go. It's not just her anger at Adora's rationalizing away her pain that's guiding Catra's decision to let Adora struggle alone as a false hero, the magic tells her that she's right. If Adora can't see how she's wrong, like how she didn't know Shadow Weaver continued to torture Catra, then being apart is what’s right for Catra and also what will enable Adora to come to terms with her own weaknesses. All of which needs to happen for Adora to realize the path of the hero of love, and for them to come back together in the end and win with the power of love.

This force guiding Catra is the deep magic of Etheria, the magic of love.

Razz describes magic as a source of beauty and of good, which cannot be controlled, it just is.

It is love, as well as the beautiful diversity of life, it is its own innate force- and love is more powerful than anything in the universe. Loving is perhaps the greatest thing we can do during our lives…

And, as we first see Catradora in episode 1, there's hardly any love, especially from Adora back to Catra. After all, Adora rationalized and enabled their abusers actions. Catra, in contrast, was still doing her best to love Adora as of ep1, to wake her from her anxious need to satisfy Shadow Weaver, to bring her back to love. But she had no way to reach her, because Adora had stopped listening to her long ago...

During Promise, Etheria's magic sees that Catradora is but a whisper of its potential, and it needs both of them to be strong by love. Adora may go on to learn to be a hero of love the hard way, making many mistakes with grave consequences, but Catra’s journey alone and the dark consequences of her actions will give her the wisdom she needs to be strong enough to be with Adora, who is the focus of over a millennia's of violence and deception. It's Catra who knows to double down on love, and by doing so is able to unlock Adora’s power of love that lets them win in the end.

But I digress- what does the guidance of this mysterious force look like, and what are its intentions?

The first uncanny moment of its intervention can be seen when Adora beings to fall and Catra catches her:

The way the plot has Catra so casually in position to catch Adora feels unnatural. That's because, as we’re watching this scene, Catra is in no position to save Adora, having distanced herself from Adora because she was pestering Catra about why she returned the sword, aggravating her.

Catra so illogically being out of place to save her here is a hint that there's something else going on. It's as if Catra knew Adora would fall before it happens…

This is what I mean by guiding force, because I believe this is exactly what we're seeing- where it's Etheria’s magic guiding this moment, not Light Hope. It sets a trust fall moment for them. And we can see how Adora doesn't get it:

We know in canon that Catra always loved Adora (also, Catra's tail flirt at the end ☺️), but the prejudiced viewpoint Adora shares here shows just how little she gets it. Like how she didn't know Catra continued to be tortured by Shadow Weaver, like how she didn't know the Horde was evil before Glimmer berates and guilts her over it, yet Catra did. Adora is far too focused on duty and satisfying others unfair expectations to see the truth, it was true before she switched sides and it's true afterwards, and that’s how she's not on the true path of She-ra.

We're also seeing the thesis moment of Promise here, because the rest of the episode plays out to show us just how wrong Adora is. We see the memory of Catra being tortured and then treated with death threats by their abuser, how Adora came up short in standing up to Shadow Weaver, and then how she went on to break the promise she made to Catra in order to satisfy their abusers expectations. Adora has a naive belief in duty due to her trauma that's being exposed and which prevents her from being the true She-ra.

During this moment of Catra catching Adora it's not so much that Adora misstepped, than that the magic changed the ground to make sure Adora would start to fall- setting up the trust fall, of which Catra is given privileged knowledge is about to happen, that exposes Adora’s false mentality for us to see.

::I suspect Catra likely feels this coming like hearing a whisper in the back of her mind. It is the first of many guidances from the magic... how it happens doesn't really matter, as we see further evidence of interventions on their behalves later in the series. But in Promise, she will act on this whisper, which confirms to her that her feeling that Adora is misguided are justified, like she has seen Adora be before. Since Adora had closed herself off emotionally to any guidance Catra tries to give her at this point in the series, Catra will choose to go alone instead.

So, there really is no way Catra would be with Adora at this point in the series; hoping she’d be with her with Adora’s falseness as a friend is hoping for something that was simply not there. Catra, as the person who Adora stopped valuing with love, will (unconsciously) play the part of Adora’s foil in s1-4 that's needed to expose the weakness that makes her no hero of love. This is where Catra's needed, and Etheria knows Adora’s failure to trust in love will lead to her failing as Etheria's hero, something that must be corrected if the cycle of violence is to ever actually stop- as she goes on to do at the end of s5. It's guidance is a nudge in the direction of Catra leaving so Adora will learn how she's a false hero.

Adora really does have a problem with letting others misguide her, Light Hope of course but also Glimmer, who forces false burdens on her unthinkingly. Adora must instead choose love over false duty and burdens, because love is what can guide her hero's journey and will make her strong enough to overcome the really difficult things that history is asking of her. Catra will help her do this gladly in s5, but don't make the mistake of assuming Adora in s1 was capable of accepting Catra's love and advice, she’s blocked it off from herself with her anxious trauma guided beliefs. In truth, Adora needed to change for the better just as much as Catra did.

Now, I realize that this theory may be hard to accept, because it means Etheria stans the war, if only a bit. But, with how much is wrong with the war, such as the prejudices the Princesses show while further being ignorant of how they're part of a First Ones weapon, there are no easy solutions to fixing this. Etheria needs them all to be stronger, but to be strong they must choose that strength for themselves- the strength of love, it cannot tell them what to do. Doing that produces no real strength.

They must learn- the hard way: Catra and Adora must choose to value love by their own will, but that doesn't mean Etheria isn't going to remain idle when so many seek to manipulate and destroy them, especially such as with Adora, who is the focus of Light Hope and the First Ones plots.

It's acting on them both here, but as it just so happens, there's another time the magic guides Catra during Promise-

The next time we see Etheria guiding Catra is as she watches Adora make the promise to her child self that was broken, and then Catra's child self stops to look back at Catra, her eyes full of meaning:

Catra's child self's actions here isn't a memory, it's an addition, one added by Etheria as it tries to communicate to Catra the gravity of Adora’s misguided behavior. I really can't accept the idea that Light Hope produced this moment, because she's not some perfect abuser. There is way too much nuanced emotion occurring.

Etheria’s magic, on the other hand, is a living thing- even if not human, it intimately understands love as a powerful force that exists in nature, and it's telling Catra to not enable Adora's false heroes path any longer. Not when she values love so little as to give in to prejudice and allow others ignorant and/or self centered narratives to guide her.

Their real enemies- the First Ones and Horde Prime, will be able to exploit Adora’s fragile guilt complex against her- by accepting the sword, she stepped into their trap. Because of that, in s1-4 a thousand years of manipulations are right on track to give the First Ones what they want- destroying Etheria, something that can only be stopped once and for all if Adora accepts her true self, her loving heart that makes her the hero of love. And Catra, while the Horde IS wrong, is providing the proving grounds needed for Adora to develop her own hero's way by allowing a false conflict to continue.

Adora remains misguided all the way until s4, when she starts to trust her own feelings, laying the groundwork for being the true She-ra we see in s5. It really does take her this long to do this, she really turns the corner on it for the better when she voices total rejection of the First Ones control in s4 as she smashes the sword, instead speaking her own mantra based on love. And, this rejection of the roles made for her by others happens in large part because of Catra’s unwillingness to accept Adora as someone who enacts naive and false justice. Even if it's hard to watch, Catra refusing to enable Adora was correct.

::As Catra's child self looks at her, magic is trying to tell Catra that following Adora now would mean nothing would ever actually get better, and that her behavior will result in further disaster. Catra decides then that following Adora would be the wrong thing to do...

::So no: Catra isn't trying to kill Adora at all, or even at any point in the series. We can take her words at the Battle of Brightmoon, that she knew Adora wouldn't die, to heart. Not that it's also easy to see how she knows that they are inside a simulation, and that on some level none of it is real, and that she therefore knows Adora is not in real danger if she falls.

But, Catra can feel that something else is trying to tell her that Adora is wrong, confirming her suspicions that Adora is on a false path once again. This force is Etheria’s magic, and it will guide her yet again...

That's the short answer, but we should talk about the other evidence of Etheria’s guidance and it's implications. Next up in our journey: the Portal episodes.

Later Evidence of Catra's connection to Etheria’s magic

Etheria’s next guidance happens during the Portal event, when all hope seems lost and Etheria is vanishing towards non-existence. The veil that separates magic and reality thins, and because of it, we get Corrupted Catra, returned from death instead infused with knowledge gifted by Etheria’s magic about She-ra’s of past to teach Adora that she is playing into the First Ones trap, read the full meta here if confused, or here's a handy summary:

As the world is collapsing into nonexistence, Etheria’s magic takes this opportunity to give Catra all of the knowledge she could ever desire that Adora and the Princesses are on a false path that’s naive, ignorant, and will lead to the fruition of the evil plans made for them by the First Ones, as well as giving Catra the whole history behind She-ra and the wrongness that’s allowed this to come to pass.

In s4 Catra at first takes this given knowledge to mean she must pursue renewed war against the Princesses, as well as against her abuser, >whom they are harboring<, before realizing her knowledge of the history of events leading to this wrongness means she’s in a unique position to help Adora overcome it all during s5- for the sake of love and survival. Probably a discussion for another time, so I digress.

The final major whisper happens in s5 while Adora is dying in the Heart chamber. As she is slipping towards death having given in to despair, Catra is able to save her by sharing the dream with her with Etheria’s help: it links their consciousnesses together. Read the full meta above if confused, or quickly here:

This isn't a random vision Adora has, they both see it and it's the personification of Catra’s love brought to life with some help from Etheria’s magic, to show Adora what she has to live for. It's magic, and yeah it's tapping into Adora's own repressed feelings as well as Catra's, and it can do so because while the Heart may be a machine, the magic inside it isn't- it has its own living consciousness and it understands what their love means. Etheria itself powers this moment, it is their biggest shipper- it helps them win in the end!

To conclude; each time it has an opportunity to act, like it does during Promise (because they are inside a simulation), the magic of love does so to help and guide Catra. And, by association, Adora. It's with Catra’s guidance that Adora is strong enough to absorb the Heart and win, as Catra is the one who brings Adora back to the power of love. Catradora love is so powerful that it can save the universe, but by theory, it doesn't happen without a little help from the wisdom of Etheria magic- and its innate knowledge of the power of love.

This masterful level of narrative arc is something I'm certain Nate Stevenson is capable of. And so, Adora and Catra aren't apart to make the plot work, it's a necessary part of Etheria’s magic guiding them towards the power of love, and helping them towards correcting the systematic wrongs of their world once and for all. While that equals Catra being on the wrong side of history, her resistance is part of proving to Adora how she is wrong as a hero. It was necessary.

But aside from that, let's talk about how Catra uses violence, since this AMA directly brings it up-

SPOP is a great show where there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Because of that, I think people tend to make up assumptions to fill in gaps they can't yet figure out. It's only natural, but one way I feel a lot of SPOP fans go wrong is when they suggest that Catra enjoys and seeks violence.

That's not really true- the data doesn't back it up. For example, Catra always holds back from killing. It's true in every fight, it's true like a dozen times over while she has Adora captured and at her mercy, but let's talk about the one time Catra had every reason to feel justified in killing.

This would be in s4 when Hordak comes after her. There's no doubt Hordak has deadly intent, to maim or to kill her, so it makes total sense that Catra would justify killing out of self defense. But instead, she goes to elaborate lengths to make Hordak land the final blow upon himself.

Catra sets him up to be done in by his own anger- he damages the forge equipment which crushes him while trying to kill her. So, even at the point of extreme personal peril, while Catra knocks him into the path of the falling equipment, she's making sure her own hands are clean. She really abhors killing- and she's fighting in control, always.

Therefore, any time we assume Catra is trying to kill is suspect of our own prejudices. She chooses not to, that's a line she chooses not to cross. I can say personally as someone that had to win fights brutally to protect my life and sanity, that I did have pride in winning those fights. That's what you're seeing on Catra's face. But, I can also tell you that everything about actual fighting disgusted me, and Catra is the same.

Catra grew up in a system where the violence was always going to come for her, fighting back was necessary and right. I can't empathize enough how being in such a position changes your outlook on life, and if you didn't experience her situation, you might not understand her. And yes indeed, as time goes on, Catra’s reliance on fighting does run out of control, so much so that it leads to her losing conscious control over it, such as shocking Entrapta and opening the Portal. But to that, let me say, in how Catra felt threatened by her abuser at that moment, it's surprising she didn't snap *sooner*- everyone has a breaking point, and after careful watching, I'm certain Catra considers that moment her greatest failure.

But hey, what fun is a meta without comparing her to her counterpart? What we actually see is that when put under pressure, Adora loses all control over her emotions and lashes out. This is in addition to how she’s self destructive, as we all know.

Adora does, in canon, almost kill Catra multiple times. I'm not even going to discuss Legend of the Fire Princess, you can read a discussion here. Instead, let's look at the Battle of Brightmoon.

How is it so easy for Catra to make Adora lose all control?

In part this difference in fighting with control comes from how Catra grew up under mortal danger from their abuser, she learned to be prepared to defend herself, either physically, or mentally against torture. She became hyper vigilant, and learned where the line between life and death stands, as well as her own breaking points. She learned how to act so she could hide her emotions, she sees bad things coming from miles away, and she prepares for them. When she leaves Adora in Promise, she can tell Adora is being manipulated yet again, reason enough to not follow her.

Adora, in contrast, was the target of the manipulations and the teacher's pet, and as such was supposed to win every contest, so she was treated that way by her teammates. At the moment she finds the sword, Adora is a person who’s never actually been in a fight, she doesn't know how to control her fear or her anger. Everything she's done was a training exercise. So, her emotions run out of control all the time.

All Catra had to do to make her snap was play on her guilt complex and fear of failing, something Shadow Weaver instilled in her to make her die for sacrifice, yet Catra can't stop herself from seeing Adora as being weak for giving in to it. It is indeed a weakness, and meanwhile, when Adora left she passed total judgment against everyone in her old life on the word of a manipulative computer program. She fails to try to understand them and goes on to try to win the war against them through extreme violence alone, she does this not out of some great moral clarity- she does it mostly out of guilt over how Glimmer and Angella make her feel bad about it- yet Glimmer is one the most flawed and prejudiced characters we see.

Adora is failing that critical test, and her behavior mirrors a lot of irl behavior we see in people who claim and want to be good but end up hurting others because of their naive understanding of what good actually is. Also, remember that Catra does come full circle in s5 to see how Adora was hurt in order to be controlled by guilt, and helps her get past it. She's the one person who can really get through to Adora on this matter. Catra is the only person who ever really tries to put the brakes on Adora’s need to anxiously satisfy others, not going along with her was part of this, and in s5 she insists that Adora stops doing it yet again.

Catra continues to object to Adora's misguided choices in s5, and she deserves praise for this, even if in the past she refused to go with Adora and fought the war instead. Adora’s behavior has to stop sometime, yes she laid the groundwork for it in s4 such as developing her mantra and smashing the sword, but we see how she's still not past what her abuser did to her in her decisions in s5. It'll take Catra's help to break past this, which we'll discuss more below.

So when it comes to violence we're supposed to consider this dichotomy: of Adora's unstable mentality and Catra's careful application of force. Nate is playing our presumptions against us by doing so, and asking us to look deeper. Because, when we investigate violence, we see it's actually Catra who can meter her violence to the situation, and it's Adora who's violence runs out of control. Catra uses violence precisely, usually as a tool for survival, she doesn't enjoy it. These are fights that were always going to come for her and she's not running from them. During s1-4, Catra is very deliberate with her choices, you can't really say the same about Adora.

Final thoughts: Catra's understanding of survival is what's most important to saving Adora's life-

Ultimately, Catra's arc is about love and not this magic, of course. And in this a big part of her arc is about convincing Adora not to die- Catra, who refused to die all along, must be strong enough to help Adora survive- by showing her how the choice of living is stronger than sacrificing to fulfill her (false) burdens.

We watch along as Catra goes through trauma and learns to faces it head on, she comes to terms with in a way that Adora couldn't... as the focus of a millennia long scheme meant to make her fail. Catra's relationship with trauma, and her experiences of nearly letting herself get killed because of those traumas, allows her to be a guide for Adora in s5 and her help is what powers Adora's final transformation.

This is something the magic helps her to do- because what it's doing is giving her the truth behind it all, so that she can be free to choose love. 😎 Yet, her s1 choice to survive, and to be apart from Adora who endangers her, is not the wrong choice, because, in fact, surviving will be Catra's most important lesson to Adora while she saves her.

Which is to say that we ought to recognize Catra's choosing survival, as opposed to Adora's acceptance of martyrdom, as a form of strength, even if she's working for the wrong side. A lot of what Catra does is inarguably wrong but she's also right about a lot- she's right that Adora betrays love and can seemingly rationalize any act in the name of corrupted duty, Catra barely survives Adora trying to literally kill her multiple times- and no, Catra doesn't ever try to kill her in return.

And Adora chose to rationalize it all in the name of She-ra not out of some great moral calling, but out of an anxious need to satifify others which their abuser instilled in her in order to control her. Catra knows all this and is right to assert that Adora's attempts at being She-ra in s1-4 won't 'fix' anything... and that she'd just continue to get hurt if she went with Adora. So, Catra puts being with Adora on pause and does what she feels she must do to persist- before rejoining Adora in s5 once their most dangerous enemy discovers them all, and helps Adora to chose survival, too.

Adora's view point, in short, is self defeating and pretty nihilistic, whereas Catra's really isn't- she is trying to live when everyone else, Adora included, seems to want her dead.

You cannot really be selfish in demanding to live- life is sacred, and Catra has respect for her sacred right to live that we all have. If people tell you to die for the narrative, as Adora tries to do, what's right is to reject it. Catra is the one who tells Adora not to die because she understands this fundamental truth. Catra shows that sometimes violently rejecting other people's control, if they're trying to kill you, is what's right. And yes, she does take it too far in s1-4, but it's all part of the story of how she surivies long enough to get past her trauma in order to be able to help Adora in s5.

Her understanding of survival is so important to share with Adora because that's where she's strongest yet Adora is weakest... It's also true that Catra understands love much better than Adora, we see that in her love confession, but her telling Adora she's got her love to live for isn't all she does to save her. She also instructs Adora on the wisdom of what it means to fight while respecting your own right to live. Catra, who was told by Shadow Weaver that her life had no value and should just give up and die, knows very well what it means to fight while never giving up.

Catra's words "you've never given up on anything, not even on me" are so important because she's telling Adora not to die like her enemies want her to do, while simultaneously paying respect to Adora's newfound heroic path, telling Adora that she believes in the hero Adora's trying to be. In this moment, Catra knows Adora must chose her right to live, that which is her sacred right, or they are all doomed, and that Adora isn't seeing that choice as the fundamental right that it is. She knows Adora is expecting to sacrifice herself, which she's doing out of guilt.

Catra's words instead help to show Adora how not giving up fundamental right to life is the right choice- she starts by acknowledging how Adora is fighting for the right reasons- such as her mentioning that Adora never gave up on her and returned to save her from Horde Prime- a decision shows that Adora is a true hero. A true hero does not rationalize away someone's death as necessary when they know the person about to die has goodness in them, Adora saw that truth behind Catra's actions, so her rescuing Catra was right. It was a breakthrough moment for Adora, nevermind that she needed to save Catra for the sake of the love they had for each other before Shadow Weaver tried to break each of them...

But, if you know you're fighting for the right reasons, then you must insist on living to prove it through your actions- you can't die to noble sacrifice. Because operating under that belief is a form of weakness. Adora's constantly doing this means she's inherently weak, and all while the world that Adora wants, one that's right and just, can come true- but only if Adora chooses to survive in order to prove it. She has to continue being She-ra. Survival is necessary, because without it there can be no better tomorrows. It's not wrong to want to survive.

So with these words Catra is telling Adora to survive- Catra survived many close calls with death leading up to this moment so that she can tell Adora how to not to give up and die. Through her experience of surviving, Catra finds a way to save Adora from her own self defeating beliefs.

Catra in s5 is a person who's prepared to be her better self- she's processed her trauma to get past it, and is seeing that survival cannot be the only answer to living, you've also got to have something to live for. And that's loving Adora. So after all of that, Catra is not going to let Adora fail, falling to the self destructive habits their abuser instilled in her, and instead shows Adora the way past it all. As the person in the relationship that who's processed her trauma. You have worth. We all have worth! And believing that isn't selfish.

So, it had to be both things, not just Catra telling Adora she's in love with her and she's got that to live for. Adora also has to choose to survive.

So there was no simple answer because of the depth of the problems facing Etheria. They are being lead by princesses who are naive, self involved and ignorant- something Adora blindly devotes herself to. Catra refusing to go along with Adora is a big part of her getting past that misguided framework to be a real hero who can save the universe and stop the cycles of violence for good. And ,if Catra had gone with her? It almost certainly would have resulted in the destruction of Etheria when Light Hope manipulated Adora into activating the heart while having no idea of the consequences. No simple answers- because the princesses are not right in their ways, never mind that the Horde brang war upon them.

The strength of Catra's belief in choosing survival is what leads her to being able to guide Adora past her self destructive nature to save the universe.

When Catra kisses her thus imbuing her with he power of love, we see Adora transformed into someone fundamentally stronger, she's the embodiment of goddess lesbian power that we love. Why Adora becomes so much more powerful is because she is now fighting with an understanding of both parts of what it means to fight from a true position of strength:

To fight while insisting on your sacred right to live,

And to fight with something to live for and the belief that your morals are good and must go forward. Only when you do both can you be your most powerful- you have to have enough respect for yourself to believe you deserve to live!

Adora understood the second point to a degree, but not the first. She was never going to be a complete hero without Catra showing her how to value herself. Now knowing both lessons, Adora is a stronger She-ra than any before her- and is one that can stop the cycle of violence for good.

Catra's story as a message to people like us who survived-

In s5, what we're seeing is a fully emotionally realized Catra, a person who has matured and surpassed her traumas and has gained the wisdom and clarity needed to save Adora, by sharing these hard learned lessons with her. And, we only get to see a fully realized Adora after Catra shares these truths with her- an Adora who can finally step past the trauma thinking their abuser instilled in her.

S5 Catra proves to us that she's this person over and over, she's reclaimed that she must trust in love, yet I still see people doubt her. People sometimes say Catra's transformation in s5 was rushed, but it really wasn't- if you consider how after Etheria's magic showed her the dark truth behind it all, then Catra was in a position to choose the better path- after going through the worst and seeing the truth for what it is. This is her therapy- it's the truth that she's shown by Etheria that gives her the choice to see past her trauma.

Catra's story is a tribute to knowing that if you're in a dark place where you've been hurt like Catra was- know that not giving up is what's right, know that you have a scared right to live, and that your abusers are wrong. Keep fighting, keep believing. Sometimes that fighting will get ugly. But, this attitude she shares with Adora, of never giving up, it allows her to be the all powerful lesbian goddess we love her as. Nate is telling us to not give up- through Catra's story and further showing us how this wise and mature Catra has the strength to help Adora past her trauma as well. He's also telling us to not give up on love. It's one of the most brilliant narrative arcs of all time!

Trust in Catra! Trust in your sacred right to living! Huzzah!

But we're not done explaining Catra's actions, are we? Let's talk about the wrongness of war she's leading on Etheria...

Yes, war is always wrong, but here's what I meant earlier when I said the war on Etheria isn't quite what we expect-

It is, I believe, the canonical truth that Catra did not preside over a army that was committing genocide- one of the most common criticisms of SPOP. But, how is it possible this story is different from the other war stories we're been constantly fed (such as ATLA)? Simply put: it's because Hordak's army had no need to commit genocide.

Do you really think Nate would wants us to skip over this catching point? No, instead Nate decided to cleverly sidestep this issue.

In SPOP, there's never any direct evidence of Hordak's army doing as such, yet we're shown in all explicitness that Horde Prime and the First Ones ARE genocidal. Who were the real enemies all along. That's important. Why Hordak's army doesn't gun down civilians is because the villagers in SPOP never fight in the war, they never ever raise arms against him. It's the Princesses who fight, and furthermore this is reinforced when we see that most of the anger the villagers voice is directed towards the Princesses, not the Horde.

Genocide is mostly motivated out of two factors- one: hatred and racism- let's just say that simply doesn't exist on Etheria. But the second reason is to remove the others side ability to fight back- if everyone's dead, there can be no uprisings. But, the villagers never fight. So, Hordak's army had no need of shoot-to-kill orders.

Contrast this to Horde Prime and the First Ones explicit genocidal intentions, add in the villagers anger not being directed at the Horde but instead at the Princesses for abandoning them to war, and you've got the full story behind how the war was being fought.

Assuming Hordak's army was gunning down civilians is instead a presumption carried over from other stories, but Nate set us up to expect that then subverted the expectation by showing no such thing- and by showing the real enemies explicit genocidal thinking, was asking us to look deeper. SPOP is a show which subverts our presumptions at every turn in order to make a better story. This certainly doesn't absolve Catra of being wrong, but I think we should understand that she's wasn't directing a genocide- I don't think she was capable of doing that.

Catra actions are in no way perfect and we're not supposed to think they are, but I really think Nate intentionally did this so that this catching point would not detract from the overall narrative:

Which is to say that the way Adora tries to be She-ra in s1-4 was never going to 'fix' anything, she's a proof of the flawed heroes stories we saw too often growing up. Victory would be miraculous and not explained, always dues ex machina, and unsatisfying. In SPOP, Adora goes through actual character growth to become the person who can change the world, and she doesn't do it alone. Catra's love is what shows her the way to be better, and it's not easily earned or miraculously given- they struggle to understand and accept each other. And that makes for a much more satisfying conclusion, with a kiss that's so believable that I don't expect to see a more meaningful kiss in media for the rest of my life. Thank you, Nate.

Thanks for reading. I hope I did an ok job discussing a very sensitive topic. This has been the hardest thing I've ever written.

::psps: this isn't the tell all for this theory, it could probably use its own discussion post so let me know your questions.

If you enjoyed it, let me know with a like and please pass it along with a reblogg if you can! We writers really appreciate them most of all because of how tumblr works! Thanks a ton.

Thanks again,

-EtheriaDearie

PS:S: Happy Pride and Nimona release tomorrow!! Yay!! 🏳️‍🌈🥳

#she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #catradora #she ra meta #catra #wlw

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sokkastyles · 1 year

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The Azula stans are going to be fucking unbearable when the "Azula in the Spirit Temple" comic comes out, since it hints at her redemption which automatically means she never did anything wrong. I don't consider the comics canon because they are so bad and OOC, but the stans will be rubbing it in everyone's face forever. They aren't going to do it well, considering it took Zuko 3 seasons to change and all Azula gets is a comic series to deal with her far worse crimes. One of the Azula stans, the one you were arguing with on that long ass post also says they are involved with it or something like that, so idk what sorta writing this comic is going to have. Probably gonna have Zuko abusing Azula or whatever, since they seem very happy in their last reblog of that post lol. I almost hope she doesn't change just to spite the stans. If they make Ursa, Iroh and Zuko out to be bad people I will be done.

I actually would like to see an Azula redemption, and part of me does want to see what the writers come up with because I do think that connecting Azula to the spirit world is the way to go there, but I agree that it won't be done well. I foresee a few different scenarios happening:

Azula gets a redemption but it's not good enough for these stans because it's an ACTUAL redemption where Azula has to actually face and admit her crimes and stop behaving abusively, and her stans don't want that and will claim it's not a REAL redemption. I mean, the series has been hinting at it for a while and the stans are still up in arms about how the writers hate her and want nothing but to abuse her. "The Search" does a lot to make her a sympathetic villain but her stans act like Gene Yang is the devil for it. It's still not good writing but it's obvious that the writers want her to be sympathetic to the reader.

The writers try to cater to Azula's fanbase and do a half-assed redemption, which may or may not be accepted. I mean, witness the pushback in recent years to the likes of Kylo Ren or Catra because their redemptions didn't have near the thought put into them that Zuko's did. Either the stans will eat it up or they'll use it to fuel their vendetta because what Azula gets won't be as good as what Zuko got and they will HATE that.

The problem is that bad redemption arcs, if not done carefully, run the risk of running into the same kind of victim blaming that these stans spout on a constant basis. Even if the writing doesn't make Zuko/Iroh out to be bad, there's the inherent implication, that already exists because we see it already in the discourse, that they're horrible for not sacrificing themselves for Azula and putting up with her constant abuse. What Ehasz described, the scenario where Zuko serves as Azula's long-suffering Iroh, is a nice thought, but it carries the implication that this is the virtuous way for an abuse victim to respond to their abuse. I find it hard to believe that Ehasz would even write that, no matter what statements he makes on twitter fifteen years after he had any involvement with the show, because when he was actually writing the show, even redeemed Zuko never became a doormat who only lives for Aang and the others. See also the constant discourse about how he's horrible for disagreeing with Aang or getting mad at Sokka for poking him with a stick.

See also the amount of crap that Zuko puts up with from Azula in the Search, but you know how the discourse around that goes. It's not enough because these stans WANT to see her as the ultimate victim, so any kindness offered to Azula can be twisted into actually another way that she's a victim.

I very much doubt that that person is involved at all with the comic. I've also seen them claim that they voiced Azula in some promotional materials, which I also doubt. They seem like the kind of person who naturally vacillates towards characters like Azula because they fuel their sense of grandiosity and victimization. I wouldn't believe anything they say. I'm still not sure they're not a troll trying to parody Azula stan accounts.

#azula #zuko #atla comics #the discourse

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dontbotherwiththepronunciation · 7 months

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I'm following the shipping anthropology like it's my paid job ofc but was there anything interesting about gen preferences ? Iirc exacty if there was a question about it/what it was like but I'm curious if anyone shared

Sorry for the last response! I went over the answers many times already and one of my regrets is not digging deeper into general non-romantic dynamic preferences so I am sorry I will have to disappoint you when it comes to it since I was too short-sighted. Here are the stats for Greyjoy dynamics, some comments on Robb and Theon as friends and a few general comments on possible friendships. Character studies type of gen fanwork sadly wasn't mentioned.

Extremely surprised by Theon & Euron being more interesting than Theon & Balon to the common fandom.

Many throbb people and also less Theon-centric people who answered the survey also spoke of Theon and Robb as friends or friends to lovers which I found interesting because this wasn't the case with other ships that are are based on somewhat positive interactions/emotions, like show! theonsa or theyne (who I don't consider his friends either).

i picked theon/robb mostly because that's been his healthiest relationship during his life but i generally don't engage with shipping content besides occasionally seeing fan art. i enjoy the dynamic of childhood friends turned lovers as well as like maybe them bonding over their mistakes in the afterlife. i like to think robb would forgive theon eventually, he doesn't seem the type to give up on his loved ones. -

Very close tie between Theonsa and Throbb for me. I enjoy a dark twist on the childhood friends trope, I like the potential for exploring Theons trauma from being a hostage vs his genuine love for Robb and Sansa

I don't feel strongly about it, I don't think Theon and Robb would ever say or do anything explicitly romantic/sexual "in canon", but I get that it can be fun to explore it. I like to explore how their friendship developed, how they grew so close, and the crushing guilt, regret and trauma of the betrayal

I live for TheonxRobb fics but mostly the ones about the war time, the angst about betraying Robb or his family, reactions to the red wedding, angsty flashbacks to their childhood and so on. it's the childhood friends to lovers to enemies to tragedy that does it for me. but when I'm in mood I can get super into fluffy fics of the two, since Robb isnt really a pov character there's much more leeway for the writer, I can read I fic about them and not be bothered if Robb is ooc (hard to be out of character when you are not much of a character lol) because I'm not familiar with inner thoughts and all that, theres more freedom for imagination.

I find Theon/Robb interesting because the themes of friendship/brotherhood/betrayal are really interesting to me. Theon's guilt, mania, depression and his complex relationship to the Starks are best shown through the Throbb (ew name lol) dynamic. I also think it's hilarious. Mordern AU throbb is insane..

I wish he was in AGOT a little more! Like I don't think we get a full conversation between Theon and Robb besides when Robb yells at Theon, which sucks because they are basically best friends.

I feel like Robb was Theon's only friend in Winterfell for a long time. Like he was the only person the idiot could sorta trust

Catra from she ra! Redemption and identity and sexy bad boy stuff again. Childhood friends to lovers. Enemy/rival of the childhood friend/lover. Most of the characters in Yellowjackets. (Jackie is Robb).

I just ignore things that bug me. I don't like calling him reek. I don't think he was "right to betray the Starks" or that he didn't betray them. I think he did betray them despite being a ward, or at the very least he betrayed robb who was his friend. Theon says as much, what he did was wrong and it supposed to be wrong.

Others

let him have other friends in modern aus, the whole botley family is right here.

Back to the iron islands support group thing we came up with. I would really love it if Wex, Falia, Jeyne & Theon would become friends (and maybe it develops into something else with one of them, maybe it doesn't). Not found family, he has a family, but friends! Good friends who treat him right and don't look down on him. He had friends in Winterfell and he had friends in the Iron Islands! He is not unloveable or unloved but life has made it very difficult for him to keep those friendships or for those friendships to even be healthy and these three people have gone through similar situations in their life and could find some happiness and carelessness in each others company.

I need to know who his dead or grown into strangers friends were. Was Botley one of them? Was that the reason he looked down on him and Qarl later on? Was Baelor one of them? grrm why add that extremely relatable line and not expand on it?!? You know me, I know you. Killing ourselves over this.

#hell-heron #speaking #theon survey #again sorry. I should have been more thoughtful.

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scottpetersen · 8 months

Text

Compare/Contrast of Princess Entrapta And Marcy Wu

Ok. Here I’ll be doing a compare/contrast between Princess Entrapta from the She Ra And The Princesses Of Power TV series and Marcy Wu from the Amphibia TV series. It occurred to me that these 2 have quite a bit in common but are also a bit different. Also, Spoiler Alert for the She Ra And The Princesses Of Power TV series, the Amphibia TV series and Marcy Wu’s Journal. With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Both of them are very smart people who are very enthusiastic when it comes to learning more. As shown in the episode ‘Light Hope’, Entrapta was very excited after seeing the readings she got from a First Ones Data Crystal and she was also just as if not even more excited to experiment on The Black Garnet since those readings on that First Ones Data Crystal allowed her to figure out that the Runestones, including The Black Garnet, are directly connected to each other and Etheria’s power grid in a delicate balance meaning that Runestones like The Black Garnet are the best access point to “hack the planet”. And as shown in Entry 38 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy was very curious about the architecture in the strange ruins she and her squad found and sketched an old inscription she found there in order to get some answers later since she really wanted to “dig into the lore of this world”. The difference between them here is how this effects their general focus. As shown in the episode ‘No Princess Left Behind’, Entrapta was pretty easily distracted by the Fright Zone’s machinery to the point that she had a really hard time focusing on the mission at hand which is a weakness she later overcame in the episode ‘Launch’ where Entrapta got herself to focus on the mission despite being briefly tempted by the technology that might be in the Galactic Horde’s spire. And as shown in Entry 38 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, while Marcy was very intrigued by the architecture of the strange ruins, she was still always able to stay focused on the mission and wait until the mission was complete before thinking any more about the architecture of those strange ruins.

Both of them met people who turned out to be evil tyrants who they went on to consider friends. As shown in the episode ‘Huntara’, Entrapta befriended Hordak, who was, at the time, an evil dictator who was out to conquer Etheria. And as shown in Entry 18 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy befriended King Andrias who was, as revealed in the episode ‘True Colors’, secretly planning Amphibia and then Earth. Furthermore, both of those evil tyrants did what they did because they wanted to win the approval of an even more malevolent person that they wanted to stand beside. As stated in the episode ‘Huntara’, Hordak wanted to win the approval of Horde Prime. And as shown in the episode ‘The Core & The King’, Andrias wanted to win the approval of his father. The difference between them there, though, is how much Entrapta and Marcy respectively knew about Hordak’s and Andrias’s plans. As also shown in the episode ‘Huntara’, Hordak actually told Entrapta about his plans to conquer in order to win the approval of Horde Prime. And as shown in Entry 83 as well as the prior entries Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy never seemed to know about Andrias’s to conquer Amphibia and Earth.

Both of them really wanted to open portals to other dimension(s) but their endeavors went horribly wrong thanks to being betrayed by someone they thought they could trust. As shown in the episode ‘Moment Of Truth’, Entrapta wanted to open back to the dimension Hordak came from and later realized that the portal would become far too dangerous if it were to be opened but was betrayed and stopped by Catra when she tried to go warn Hordak thus almost resulting in all of Etheria getting destroyed by the portal in the episode ‘The Portal’. And as shown in Entry 63 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy wanted to use the Calamity Box’s power to open portals to other dimensions but, as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, Andrias both literally and figuratively stabbed her in the back and took the Calamity Box for himself as part of his plans to conquer Amphibia and Earth. The difference between them here, though, is why they wanted to open a portal in the first place. As shown in the episode ‘Signals’, Entrapta wanted to help Hordak make a portal because she had never seen an actual portal before and was thus very excited to help make one. And as also shown in Entry 63 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy wanted to use the Calamity Box’s power to open portals to other dimensions in order to have more and more adventures with her friends Anne and Sasha and also because, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, Marcy wanted Anne and Sasha to listen to her and follow her lead and also because, as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, Marcy was being forced by her father to move across the country away from Anne and Sasha but Marcy didn’t want to go through with it.

Both of them had a difficult relationship with people around them due to the fact that they didn’t consider how their actions affect other people at first. As shown in the episode ‘Launch’, Entrapta had a difficult relationship with most of the other princesses in the Princess Alliance because they believed that Entrapta only cared about tech since she almost botching their mission to get to the Galactic Horde’s spire to pinpoint the location of Horde Prime’s flagship due to being too distracted by the tech around her and also because they were still mad at her for helping the Horde almost destroy entire kingdoms. And as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, Marcy began to have a difficult relationship with Anne and Sasha because of the fact that she got them stranded in Amphibia in the first place. The difference between them there is why they made these mistakes that caused their relationships with the people around them to take a turn for the worse. As stated in the episode ‘Launch’, the reason why Entrapta made these mistakes is because, as Entrapta herself put it: “I’m not good at people. But I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up too.” And as shown in the episode ‘All In’, one of the reasons why Marcy made these mistakes is because she wanted Anne and Sasha to listen to her and follow her lead. Another similarity between them here, though, is that both Entrapta and Marcy made amends for the damage their mistakes caused. As also shown in the episode ‘Launch’, Entrapta learned to stay focused in order to help other people which allowed to focus enough to triangulate the location of Horde Prime’s flagship and, as shown in the episode ‘Heart Part 2’, Entrapta went on to create a device that sabotaged Horde Prime’s mind control chips. And as also shown in the episode ‘All In’, Marcy learned that it’s wrong to try to control her friends and, as shown in the episode ‘The Hardest Thing’, she went on to help Anne and Sasha defeat The Core.

Well, that’s all for this post.

See you all next time.

#she ra and the princesses of power #princess entrapta #entrapta #disney #amphibia #marcy wu’s journal #marcy wu #spoilers

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magicalgirlagency · 2 years

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Since you've explained why you don't ship KyoSaya, I think you should explain why you don't like MadoHomu as well, to even the odds.

For better context, here's the old ask where I explain why I don't ship KyouSaya.

My pet peeve with MadoHomu is that 99% of the fandom isn't creeped out by it, specially after The Rebellion Story. There's a huge lack of nuance, and it's worrisome IMO.

Like, a majority of people have this black-and-white view of gay people; they think that by being a marginalized minority, any sort of morally reprehensible behaviour that they display is justified. Many people have this romanticized view of gay people in media, and sees them as pure, innocent and sinless saints that cannot do anything wrong, and if they do wrong, it's because the others had it coming and have only themsleves to blame.

And it's not just gay people; any other minority has been flanderized by the media at some point in their lives.

It's basically the same issue that I have with RosePearl (Steven Universe) and Catradora (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power).

May I remind you that these two are MASTER AND SLAVE, and I think I don't need to explain how fucked up this is.

Dude, there's a whole entire blog that documents Catra's abusive behavior towards Adora, and that alone should say something: @anti-catradora-receipts

These ships are all kinds of manipulative and abusive, but both the fandom and the staff don't see it; everything is shamelessly romanticized and seen as beautiful, like a "Love Conquers All" kinda thing. And in Madoka Magica, this is no exception.

Homura has rewritten the universe just so she could be with Madoka, and she actively manipulates everyone's memories just so her personal utopia can remain intact.

"But, wait!", I hear you all cry, "Mami, Nagisa, Kyouko and Sayaka can all live normal lives and be happy, and Kyuubey is paying for their crimes! Isn't that great? Shouldn't we be happy for them?"

Yes and no. Yes, because we get to see Kyuubey suffer; Incubator abuse is always welcome on this here blog. No, because Homura thinks of the other girls (minus Madoka, of course) as afterthoughts as heavily implied in her confront with Sayaka: "All I took was a tiny piece of it [The Law of Cycles]. Just the records of the person that Madoka was before she ceased to exist. Somehow, all of you wound up being pulled in as well. And it seems you can't return to wherever you were before."

And after that, she messes with Sayaka's memories a bit more, so she can't do anything about it, and says this: "We should pretend to be friendly in daily life. If you're confrontational all the time, even she [Madoka] may dislike you."

And speaking of Madoka, it's weird how she is titular character of the original series, and yet no one considers how she feels about Homura's decision. And if you want my honest opinion, I don't think she actually asked for any of this, as she has tried to alert Homura: "Homura-chan, don't! You'll rip me apart!"

To be honest, I don't think Homura sees Madoka as an equal, which it should be the standard for any relationship, romantic and/or otherwise. She created this whole fantasy where Madoka is the weak and helpless damsel in distress that constantly needs protection and saving.

There are even hints of uneasiness and hesitance in Madoka's voice in the second new world, specially when Homura asks her if she considers order important: "Well, I... um... I-I do treasure it. I guess I do think it's kind of bad to break rules becuase you feel like it."

If Madoka REALLY wanted to become mortal again, she wouldn't be so hesitant about it. I mean, she didn't hesitated when she wished for Witch metamorphosis to be erradicated (even though I strongly disapprove of the original ending).

And before I forget, the scenes of Homura's descent into madness had to be redone a second time, because Chiwa Saito's first takes were bordeline yandere. Coincidence? I think not.

"But how can you say it's all romanticized? The whole scene was indeed portrayed to be unsettling!", that is correct, however, the magazine scans and posters see no trouble with the ship:

Why does Madoka seems so helpless? And why does Homura looks so perverse? And why are these two 14yos so heavily sexualized in these? And why is no one freaked out by this?!

And also, I detect a teeny-tiny bit of queerbait in this ship, because during the NitroPlus Q&A panel in Animanga 2013, when Gen Urobuchi was asked if Homura was in love with Madoka, his answer was: "Probably." Noralities' video essay on Magical Girls and queerness touches upon this discrepancy under the Queerbaiting section.

The Rebellion Story had one job, and one job only: To provide fanservice, to please that other half of the audience that thought the original fates of the heroines were cruel and unfair, only for the plot-twist in the end to trample on it. Hell, MadoMagi wasn't supposed to have a third movie; Magia Quartet only came up with it just so SHAFT could keep on milking the cow.

Here's the thing, if you want to see gay relationships being more represented in media, you got to understand that they can be just as messy and complicated as straight relationships are, and they must be acknowledged with the seriousness and urgency that they deserve. Not every relationship is going to be a healthy one.

You know what I want to see in the fourth movie? I want to see Madoka be ANGRY at Homura, I want to see the Cinnamon Roll LASH OUT and TAKE NO PRISONERS. I want to see Homura being called out and her selfishness and I want to see them FIGHT. If this is the path we're taking, then fucking take it seriously, don't sugarcoat that shit.

But Urobuchi is returning for this movie as its writer, so it's best to not create expectations for it. When Urobutcher is at work, we all lose!

(It makes me wonder, though... are there any fanfics where Madoka and Homura fight? Because I'm really interested in reading some of them, since I don't have any high hopes for the movie...)

And last, but not least: Before anyone says that I hate Homura, I just wanna say that this is a lie. I don't hate her, I hate how the stans constantly claim that she hasn't done anything wrong. She DID. She did everything wrong, and then some!

Being gay and/or traumatized is NOT an excuse to do whatever you like. Consequences exist, and anyone, reguardless of origin, orientation/identity, moral alignment and etc., CAN, WILL and SHOULD face them.

We all have suffered and grieved at some point in our lives, and Little Miss "Existence Known As "Evil"" ain’t special. We don't call it a "Karmic Destiny" for nothing.

You're free to like villainous characters, just don't go coddling them like babies, as they are fully capable and aware of their cruelty, and will keep on testing how far they'll go.

Have some nuance. Please, that's all I ask.

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melishade · 1 year

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Hiya fellow TF enjoyer! I saw that ask game sooooo...

16, 25, 30 , 35 you can choose any of 'em!

Yay! From the 35 questions for fanfic writers

16. I am a sucker for the hurt/comfort trope. Maybe because of my own personal hang ups and traumas, I just like the idea of someone helping another when they are in pain and being by their side. It's not a fix all, but it's the start of just getting better and having support and not being ridiculed for having emotions or feeling pain.

This is starting to get a little too personal. MOVING ON!

25. I mean, this question I'm technically already addressing in my fanfic with the unpublished chapters I have on the shelf, such as the Hizuru chapter. But there are some other items, like what if the Survey Corps ended up in TFP instead. It probably wouldn't be as much fun. The Decepticons would try to kidnap Eren, obviously. Levi has it out for Megatron. Hanji just dies from shock. TFP Kids and 104th just get along swimmingly. Fowler has too much paper work. Although the Scouts would not be as close to Optimus as they are in AOP.

Although I do have this headcanon that Hanji and Shockwave don't get along because she takes one look at Shockwave and says "For a guy who managed to fuck with god and create the most adorable lizard ever (referring to Predaking), not building yourself a new arm and face just seems...illogical."

Shockwave wants to kill her after that comment because he refuses to acknowledge her logic.

30. Tooth-rotting fluff vs merciless angst? I think you fail to understand how well these two can work in tandem. Because the Fluff is the stuff that you want to add and see that isn't shown in the show. Like I write certain fluff moments like the Survey Corps and Optimus dancing and Optimus showing the bioluminescence to them because it's character building. It makes them happy. They have this moment of peace in the chaos of their lives.

This makes the merciless angst all the more heartbreaking because as you reflect on the moments of peace and happiness, the angst solidifies the fact that those moments will never be the same. You can never get them back. They are gone.

35. What can I ramble about without spoiling too much?... *Snaps fingers* Got it.

Megatron's characterization in AOP is...challenging. Back in 2013 when I first started the story, I wanted to add Megatron for a while but I just wasn't sure how it was going to work or even if it would be popular. The poll that I did on fanfiction.net in chapter 4 all those years ago was really to see how popular Megatron was going to be. Although, Grimlock was an unexpected lead at the time. I think he was first.

But I wanted to take the challenge, not just because Megatron dipping in the series finale left a lot to be desired, but also because I'm sick of the way redemptions arcs are going. I can go on for days about the writing in regards to Catra, Hordak, whatever was going on in MLP.

*Glares at Steven Universe* the Diamonds.

Redemption requires people actively growing and becoming better people. Not continuously defaulting to toxic behavior even after they've been completely accepted into the fold. It's not about getting a slap on the wrist for war crimes that violate the fucking Geneva Convention and beyond. It's about recognizing the consequences of your actions and trying to fix it the best way you can, even though there is a high possibility your victims will never forgive you and they have every right not to. And even if you are pursuing forgiveness, it cannot be just to make yourself feel better, because forgiveness requires the other to let go of their pain and release. Grow to become better, change for the better, no matter how long it takes, because wallowing in your sin and self-pity will only get you so far.

There's only so much that I can do with Megatron considering his heavy war crimes, but I do hope that what I've written with the 16 chapters I have left, is enough for Megatron's character development into a better person. I do use redemption lightly for his scenario because even if he does become a better person, 'redemption' for his crimes is nearly impossible. It can really only be paid for with his life. As to what will be Megatron's fate by the end of the story? You'll find out when I finish writing the last few chapters.

#asks #send me asks #fanfic asks #attack on prime #transformers prime #ao3 #fanfic #megatron #optimus prime #survey corps #fanfic writers

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vickysaurus · 3 years

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“What are you waiting for? You gonna play me a song on that thing?“

#she-ra rewatch #catradora #catra #she-ra #spop #she-ra and the princesses of power #wow catra #or wow light hope anyway #hmmm #considering how well she seems to get catra's personality #flirtation and all #i wonder if she showed catra memories specifically intended to turn her away from adora

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the-entire-cast-needs-therapy · 3 years

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Mermista Headcanons

• Those gold, Wonder-Woman-style wrist cuffs she usually wears? She just found them in the armory when she was a teen and was like, mine now.

• Often her snark is genuine, but she also uses feigned apathy or frustration to cover up messier emotions like anxiety or sadness.

• She's in a band. Lead singer, duh. The band never officially broke up, but they kind of had to put things on hold when Mermista took over the kingdom. Speaking of which...

• Mermista is pissed at her dad for retiring in the middle of a war. Like, unholy degree of rage that would motivate her to hit him with a tsunami if she could find the bastard. She had panic attacks about this. She had nightmares where something terrible happened to Salineas and she couldn't stop it. She promised herself she'd never let those nightmares come true. No matter how bad things are, she's going to make something out of what her father left behind.

• Her dad was a decent king, but a neglectful father at best and abusive at worst. He was barely around, and when he was around, he was criticizing everything she did or showed an interest in. This is part of why Mermista is so stubbornly independent- she knew her dad wouldn't be there to support her when she needed it, so she pretended she didn't need him, or anyone.

• But the thing is, however much she resents her dad and tells herself she doesn't need him or his approval, she wants it. Badly. But she knows she'll never get that approval, so instead of trying to be perfect, she acts out in the hopes that she can become a problem her father can't ignore.

• All of this is a long-form way of saying that she was rebellious as all hell. She's still got a bit of a goth thing going on with the black nail polish, and she's still standoffish, but she used to be way worse.

• Mermista met Sea Hawk through a bar fight that got unbelievably out of hand. She almost drowned him in rum.

• Mermista is pretty determined to push Sea Hawk away before she becomes dependent on him for emotional support, both because of her trust issues and because Sea Hawk does not seem to be the most reliable sort, considering he burns the private property of his friends on a whim.

• Despite her best efforts, she's very attached to both Sea Hawk and the other princesses. She may not always understand Entrapta's enthusiasm about robotics or Perfuma's mindfulness addiction, but she can and will fuck someone up for them. With no hesitation.

• She, along with the entire rebellion, is THIS close to trying to adopt Frosta. She KNOWS what it's like to have leadership sprung on you before you're ready, so even though she knows Frosta is more focused on Glimmer, she would gladly take up the title of older sister if given the chance.

• While she quickly slid into the bathtub depression we saw onscreen, she had a full-on mental breakdown after the fall of Salineas. Crying, screaming, making massive waves and slamming them into the walls of the cavern she hid in to do this, the works.

• Because this is what she was afraid of. She fucked up, and her kingdom suffered the loss. She failed.

• Post-series, she's pissed at Catra, but things get better. Catra apologizes and helps rebuild, and well, it'd be kind of counter-productive to drown one of your new assets. They even sort of become friends, since Catra is in Salineas so often helping with the reconstruction and they have surprisingly compatible personalities. Learning about the near-constant suffering parade Catra was going through also helped, even though (as Catra acknowledges) a lot of it was self-inflicted.

• Something similar happens with Hordak, but it's a bit... Messier. The way she sees it, Hordak had more than enough time away from Prime to stop and unlearn his programming- she just does not believe he never had the chance. Being chipped gave her some perspective, but seeing how quickly Wrong Hordak adjusted was a massive step back in the "sympathizing with Hordak" thing. It took several talks to get it through her head that Wrong Hordak got lucky.

• Eventually though, she came around somewhat. She and Hordak aren't exactly friends, but they can hold a civil conversation.

• She got "fuck Prime" t-shirts from the same guy who used to produce her band's concert tees. She gets one for everyone. Yes, everyone. Even Frosta. Despite (and slightly fueled by) Perfuma's protests.

• She gets her old band back together after the war and a few Rebellion members join, including Wrong Hordak (who is going through hobbies at frightening speeds in an attempt to figure out who he is) and Scorpia (who, while pure, is surprisingly good at angsty music).

#mermista #sea hawk #perfuma #catra #hordak #frosta #scorpia #wrong hordak #entrapta #seamista #she ra #spop

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 4 months

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tumblr was being buggy today and this ask got deleted but i do have screencap of it, so i'm gonna answer it here.

hi! first off, thank you and i appreciate you being so civil about this.

i understand what you mean. i wasn't raised in a religious cult so i may not know the nuances of that experience but my problem does not lie solely with catra's toxic behaviour in s1-4. what i dislike is her redemption arc.

if you've read some of my previous posts, you might know that i was never against catra having a redemption arc. i don't think she's irredeemable. i do sympathize with her and i think it would be a powerful message if she really was able to become a kind and compassionate person, after all the hurt that she went through.

i just have a problem with how rushed and frankly unrealistic her redemption was. i wanted to see a drawn out redemption arc where catra makes amends for everything she has done, and earn the trust and forgiveness of the other characters. but instead of doing that, the creators decided that it was easier to have the other characters forgive her unprompted and to have catra act basically the same as she always did.

also, while catra was raised in a cult-like environment, what i find interesting is that the horde has almost no effect on her. catra was definitely very traumatized by shadow weaver's abuse, but there was nothing even close to religious trauma.

she knew from the beginning that the horde was evil, she wasn't taken in by the lies like adora was. i feel like the religious trauma reference falls apart there because catra was working for the horde in her own interest, not because she was forced or manipulated into doing so.

i have mentioned shadow weaver in my blog as well, i just don't go into detail about her abuse because i think the show was pretty straightforward and countless other people have done deep dives on it. shadow weaver was meant to be an unlikeable character anyway, we weren't supposed to sympathize with her or relate to her.

you said that catra was trying so hard to redeem herself. i would like to hear a clarification on that because as far as i can see, she wasn't trying at all. she went back to lashing out at adora, calling her names and guilt tripping her as soon as she was rescued from horde prime. not even a thank you. she doesn't address angella's death at all and glimmer seems to have completely forgotten about it. she still makes unsavory jokes about the princesses after she spend four seasons colonizing and destroying their kingdoms. her apology to entrapta and scorpia was half-assed, to say the least.

catra wasn't trying hard. the other characters just magically forgave her for all her war crimes because that's what the writers wanted. and she definitely did not deserve to get into a relationship with the person who she had been relentlessly abusing, both physically and emotionally, and trying to murder.

i get that a lot of people relate to catra and i'm not saying that anyone who relates to her is automatically toxic. even i relate to certain parts of her. but that doesn't mean she's a good character.

you said it takes time to unlearn toxic behaviours and i completely agree. (also i wouldn't consider 21 “a kid”. she's young, sure, but she's still an adult.) but if the writers cared about that, they would have redeemed catra earlier. they had five seasons to work with, most shows don't get that liberty. avatar the last airbender gave zuko an incredible redemption arc in just three seasons, the owl house wrote a believable redemption for hunter and amity in just one season each, infinity train wrote a good redemption arc for grace in only ten episodes! you can't use the “there was no time” excuse.

you have to keep in mind that a lot of people who hate catra and her arc are also people who relate to her. a lot of my mutuals relate to catra and her struggles, and that's exactly why they hoped for a better redemption arc. they wanted to see her work on her mistakes, face the consequences of her actions and change realistically. they didn't want to see her just get forgiven out of the blue. imagine if that's how we treated war criminals in real life.

if i was like catra and i heavily related to her, i wouldn't want to see her never face the consequences of her actions and be coddled. i wouldn't want that for myself either. if i made some serious mistakes (especially to the extent that catra had), i would be prepared to face the consequences of my actions and i wouldn't expect anyone to forgive me.

anyway, sorry about the long post but i hope this gives you an idea of why i have a problem with catra and spop as a whole.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop #spop criticism #spop discourse #she ra #anti catra #anti catradora #anti spop #anti c//a #antic//a #anticatra #anticatradora #tw abuse #tw religious trauma #tw religious guilt #tw cult

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sometipsygnostalgic · 2 years

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Every time someone says "the writers are ableists for how Perfuma acted" I'm like

Okay, so, if we're talking about this, I need to show you something.

I read this incredible fanfiction last night called "Six Limitations of the Truth Spell".

It was about Catra testifying under Truth Spell, in Entrapta's trial, about the things Entrapta did when with the Horde, and being asked a question by the Princesses - "Did she show any empathy for her friends when she hurt them while working for the Horde?"

Catra knows this is a trap, and is pissed off because Scorpia's trial never had that question, but she's unable to answer it. She explains, it's because she doesn't believe the Princesses were ever Entrapta's friends. So no, she never hurt her friends. The Princesses are hurt and confused that Entrapta never considered them her friends. So, Catra elaborates on why. She exposes that, even though she used this for her own gain, both she and Entrapta thought the princesses never considered her one of their own, and left her to die.

The resulting conflict causes everything to go to shit, a lot of ableism and bias exposed, as well as Catra admitting the extent of her own manipulations in an attempt to fall on her sword, while poor Entrapta has to silently watch this take place two feet away.

It's got a very negative interpretation of Perfuma and Mermista, though it doesn't have to diverge much from canon - the only thing that you have to ignore for this fic to make sense is the group hug everyone did at the end of "Launch", which was Entrapta's moment of acceptance into the Rebellion. I don't think they would have had such a negative view of her after that point, but before then? Yes. Yes they would. This fic would've been pretty much 100% accurate to their perception of her.

That's why it's somewhat heartbreaking, yknow?

I feel like more time deserved to be spent on these relationships. I truly think Mermista's a cool girl for decking it after Entrapta and saving her from robot fire even though she hated her, but I think it's fair if people critique the show because the princesses just.... judged her for her autistic characteristics, not her actions. Like they were pissed off because she gets excited, doesn't behave appropriately, and gets herself in danger with her chronic inability to pay attention... which is exclusively because she's disabled! Yes, they were mad cos she betrayed and hurt them, but... too much focus was on her quirkiness pissing them off, so I see why people are hurt by this. And what's more painful is Scorpia herself questions Entrapta's empathy for others because the other princesses are. So, yeah, it seems massively disproportionate compared to how other characters got handled????

But at the same time, "Launch" is... well, it's a tale written by an autistic guy about what it's like from both points of view. What it's like to engage with someone who you're really upset at because they don't APPEAR to care about you, versus what it's like being the autistic person everyone is mad at because you had no idea you were hurting them, because everyone has to be so vague and assumptive with how they engage, and how Entrapta just absorbs all of this as her fault, when it's a mutual failure of communication. The Princesses realise this at the end, and tell her theyre going to stand by her for who she is.

#she ra #ableism #entrapta #catra #read that fic its such a good catra entrapta fic

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princessofgayskull · 3 years

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Hi sunflower, what's your thoughts on T Swift's Betty being a catradora song???

Me, taking a break from spop to focus on my mental health and setting better boundaries:

Me, reading this ask:

This ask woke me up from like a deep, sleeping beauty type slumber, not joking. I don’t get asked to talk about Taylor Swift often, despite being a fan of hers since I was nine years old (I’m 22 now *wink*) and we are about to find out why. But I pride myself on taking any fiction piece of media I interact with and connecting it somehow to Taylor Swift. I can do so to varying degrees of success (usually depends on the ships and romance of the world) but there are so many songs of Taylor’s that have just fit Catradora so well for me, both in and out of canon.

Some of my favorite examples: out of the woods (AND IT KEPT ME UP AT NIGHT WHEN NOELLE SAID THIS WAS HER TAYLOR SWIFT SONG FOR CATRADORA LIKE GAH CASUAL TS LISTENERS WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND) bad blood, lwymd, don’t blame, dancing with our hands tied, the archer, breathe, you’re not sorry, the way I loved you, forever & always, should’ve said no, safe & sound- I could go on.

But I won’t because I wanna stay on topic and talk about betty. Now I have a number of songs from the folklore/evermore series that are for me catradora songs (we’ll get to that in a minute) but this one is… challenging. Because I could be like “yes, because [insert casual reason here]” or “no, because [insert casual reason here]” but I can’t because Taylor feeds her children well and there’s several aspects of this song I feel like should be considered.

This biggest one to be considered, for me, is the love triangle aspect. Folklore features at length the betty/james/Augustine love triangle, each of them having one main song on the album from their POV. Betty's is cardigan, augustine’s is august, and james’ is betty. (also I’m going to throw out the gender component for a second; I know taylor says that Betty is about a guy’s apology and I totally vibe with her reasons why she wanted to write a song about a boy apologizing BECAUSE HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE?) The love triangle makes the application of Catradora iffy at best. Because it’s like, who would be who? I am going to go out on a limb and assume that you’re seeing Catra as James? I think that personality wise, Adora as Betty and Catra as James is not a stone’s throw away from fitting actually really well. Adora’s canon journey is one of coming to realize “I know what I want and I know that it’s okay to want it” and a big part of Catra’s arc is her being like “Well shit… there goes my plans. Kind of feeling like a dumbass rn” especially in s4/s5.

(That s4/s5 distinction is important; I’ll show why in a second)

But for me, there’s no augustine. Or one that’s obvious anyway. I never imagined that either Catra or Adora dated or even had any inclinations with anyone else during the five season run- that’s just my personal opinion, people are completely welcome to feel free to disagree. I don’t think Catra acted even out of distraction with Scorpia or DT, and I think Adora was so focused on being She Ra that when she wasn’t thinking about failing/abandoning Catra when she alloted time to do so, she was thinking about the crushing weight of her responsibilities. So you know, not that much time to get back out there. So I rule out what causes James to apologize in the first place- cheating.

Side note about James cheating- I’m pretty sure Taylor confirmed this, in the long pond studio sessions doc, when she’s telling Jack Antonoff (MY BOY JACK) and Aaron Dessner ( GRAMMY AWARD WINNING KING) that James “was a fool!” And James did sleep with Augustine as confirmed in august, but cardigan makes it seem like he was definitely dating Betty before the summer. Maybe Taylor took inspiration from friends and they “were on break.” I also believe that the kiss in the Heart is the first kiss, that Catra and Adora were never ‘together’ together before Adora found the sword and defected (again, that’s just an opinion, but Adora just looks so wonderfully gobsmacked), so…

We can rule out cheating, and I think we can accomplish this and still reserve the essential meaning of the song of “I did something wrong, I see that now, I apologize for doing it, and I still love you” by widening the lens of what the “did something wrong” was (or “did something bad” you know *wink*). In that wider lens really you could fit either Catra or Adora into the song, but I’m still going to assume Catra is the James in this scenario based on how much of her redemption arc is formed around her refusal to say sorry and then eventually doing so. Of course there is no standing your porchlight but rather standing while wrestling a bunch of murderous clones…. Hmm….

But there are some stupid friends! I wholeheartedly believe Catra is James because of the dissing of Betty’s friends. That’s what Catra does to Bow, Glimmer and the rebellion et al., for most of the show and by the end of s4 she has no friends for Adora to even mock (terrible and cruel of me, I know, but it’s true). Also I know people are like “he called her friends stupid and then expected betty to take him back?” but I scream sing the line “WILL YOU KISS ME ON THE PORCH IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR STUPID FRIENDS?” every time. It brings me serotonin.

Along those lines we can ask “Who’s Inez?” in this situation. When I think gossip no one from the show really comes to mind, well, expect for Double Trouble. But Double Trouble doesn’t ever speak to Adora about Catra. This happens vice-versa, and in Betty, James reveals that Inez told Betty he cheated on her.

I want to say something controversial… Glimmer comes to mind when I think “who’s the Inez?” And this is based off of two things: 1) Inez’s closeness to Betty, and 2) Inez drags James out to dry, rightfully so. And when I think of that I think of Glimmer screaming “Do one good thing in your life!” directly in Catra’s face. James gives Inez a bad wrap in Betty. Not cool James.

Of course there’s the pivotal, “would you tell me to go fuck myself?/ or lead me to the garden?” To me this a fun way of showing there’s vulnerability to what James is doing, so automatically I’m led to is the scene where Catra asks Adora to stay, or each time in s5 when Catra risks, basically an identity crisis to let Adora in how she really feels, but there’s always the potential that Adora could spurn her by not returning her feelings or rejecting her outright.

I think the best argument that can be made for “is betty a catradora song” can really be encapsulated by the lyric(s): “the worst thing that I ever did is what I did to you” and “the only thing I wanna do is make it up to you.” That is what about the song SCREAMS Catra to me. And yeah, it could be argued that Adora hurt Catra pretty brutally (Shadow Weaver makes that point EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO RIGHT TO) that she messed up by abandoning Catra- but Adora feels guilt for... literally breathing. Adora is the quintessential embodiment of “pick your battles, no that’s too many battles, put some back,” but Catra picked one battle first and foremost (yes, she had a few others but this was the one) and that was Adora. Everything that motivated her was surrounded around a narrative of surpassing Adora for a multitude of reasons, and because of that she pretty much hurts Adora every chance she gets after Promise. Adora is really Catra’s first casualty, it makes sense that she has to be her first apology. And I think that after being vibed checked back to back by DT and Glimmer and realizing “oh hey fuck, I’m still in love with her” and then almost dying just to not die because Adora saves her, I think much of Catra’s motivation shifts to “how to do I get Adora to want to stay?”

That’s my logic for how Betty could be a catradora song in canon. Now not all of my Taylor associations are with canon catradora, many of them do belong to uws catradora, because it’s a lot easier to apply the more modern details of Taylor’s songs to a modern au. The song Breathe is big that way. (it’s in Upper West Side, it’s the song Adora listens to and cries to after that first ride, I just never mentioned that it was taylor because my conditioned reaction to bringing up taylor is to have my head bit off with someone’s semi incorrect and slightly sexist opinion that I never, ever ask for) And this ask got me thinking about what it would look like if I applied not Catradora to Betty, but Betty to Catradora. What would it look like if Catra skateboarded and wore black lipstick, Adora wore a cardigan and they had homeroom together until Catra really messed up? What would it look like if they were seventeen when they admitted their feelings for each other instead of 21? What would it look like if they spent a summer fighting but dreaming of each other? What would their love story look like if Catra and Adora were in that town where Taylor envisioned this “same event that affected three people in different ways?”

I think it’d look something like this.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31141973/chapters/76952048

what do you guys think?

quick but INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT thank you to @gimme-tea-bitch for helping me with this, being my beta, and listening to me talk about folklore/evermore.

#I am literally SHAKING as I post this you guys have no idea #like vibrating through a wall shaking #i've been working on this for like the past two months #and I know everyone wants cruel summer but my goblin brain is like #AHHHHHHHH WRITE A FOLKLORIAN AU FOR CATRA AND ADORA YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO #IT'S 23K WORDS NO ONE WILL NOTICE #this was supposed to go up with two parts but tbh with you guys i have high key been feeling when jenny slate said #'i don't get the love until something beautiful goes out'#please be gentle with me

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meanautisticenbian · 3 years

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Lilith Clawthorne has Borderline Personality Disorder: an essay

Content warnings: mentions of abuse, cults, and self harm

I don't have much of an intro but I need to get some things out of the way.

First off, this is an essay that I made mostly for fun and because I feel like more people need to hear about this. I am not excusing Lilith's actions in any way, though hopefully this may explain some of them.

Secondly, as you might know I have BPD myself. I'm self diagnosed yes, but I still have enough symptoms. I see a lot of myself in Lilith, as well as several traits, and I hope that this essay will be informative.

With all that being said, let's get into the analysis starting with the symptoms that are only hinted at. One of the hallmarks of Borderline Personality Disorder is an intense fear of abandonment, which Lilith seems to display disgusted as her desire to cure Eda's curse. If it's not clear enough, Eda's really the only thing Lilith cares about, which makes sense since she's clearly the only thing she has. We know that she isn't super close to Amity, despite what fans want to believe, we don't know if she's formed any positive relationships with anyone in the Emperor's Coven and it would say a lot of she didn't. With all that in mind, she is clearly very close to Eda and whenever she tries to get away from her, Lilith is always either pissed off or saddened. Sure, this could just be because she wants to heal Eda's curse and is most likely being punished by Belos, and that's why this is listed as something that's hinted at. Then again, Catra from She Ra is BPD coded as well and she mostly wanted to bring Adora back to the Horde because Shadow Weaver wanted her and was an abusive piece of shit, but it was pretty obvious that she also just wanted her crush and only friend back, so I don't see how this can't be applied to Lilith as well.

Lilith seems to have a black–and–white view on the people around her and maybe even herself. Whenever Eda escapes her, she suddenly flips from being loving and caring to her and really acting like she cares about her to treating her like she just pissed on her waffles. Her way of viewing other people (mostly Eda) is another symptom of BPD, being a black–and–white view on everything and rapid changes in self image and views of everyone else. One moment she views Eda as a beautiful and loving sister, the next she's just an old woman slowing her down. One moment Belos is a trustworthy leader, next he's a monstrous tyrant. One moment Luz is an annoying child she can use as bait, next she's her only hope in saving Eda.

She seems to harbor some of these feelings to herself as well. One moment she acts like she's fully aware of the baddie she is, and next she seems to hate herself. Another valid explanation is that this could also be viewed as her hiding her insecurities since she is clearly one to hold back those emotions and she only ever seems to let Eda see this side of her (save for Luz in the season 1 finale) but this is still a common BPD trait that seems to fit her so it would make sense.

Now let's move on to the more explicit symptoms. If it's not obvious enough, Lilith has some major anger issues. She was ready to kill Eda after she did as much as annoy her in Covention and tell her how worthless her life is after she (actually Luz) escapes her in Once Upon a Swamp. It was certainly reasonable for her to be upset about Luz accidentally blowing up the side of a building, but she had a worse outburst over her sister rhyming.

Now we move on to what I think is her most obvious trait: her impulsiveness. Like I said before, Lilith tends to have sudden violent outbursts and act without thinking. It doesn't excuse anything she's done but it certainly does explain a LOT.

It could be a possible explanation for why her first instinct was to use Luz as a human shield while she was fighting Eda and threw Luz off a cliff in order to get Eda to use all her magic instead of making a new bubble for Luz or doing literally anything that WOULDN'T harm Luz. This could maybe (key word) also provide an explanation for why she cursed Eda instead of going and talking to her (assuming she didn't), but her disorder seems to stem more from trauma than it does genetics, both of which are ways BPD can manifest.

Mood swings are another symptom she definitely has, but that can easily be paired with the point about her changes in self image and how she views others, as well as the points about her anger and impulsivity, so I won't go into detail about that.

Depression, guilt, and ongoing feelings of emptiness are obvious traits that don't need much explaining.

The last major trait wanna bring up is self harm and self destructive and suicidal behavior. I couldn't really find any point in which she showed any suicidal tendencies or urges to hurt herself and it is most likely that she won't be showing those traits at any point in the future, though I do believe it is possible that the show may depict self destructive behaviors in her. Obviously, she wouldn't be shown cutting or burning herself, but maybe it could be displayed in a more PG fashion such as her not taking proper care of herself or having risky behaviors.

There are nine main traits of BPD and one needs to have at least five of them to get a diagnosis. Lilith seems to exhibit six and possibly seven of these traits. I could end it here by saying that Lilith definitely has BPD and needs a hug, but we're not done yet.

Despite what most people might say about borderline people and how we're depicted, we're more likely to be victims of abuse than we are abusers. Most of the time the trauma from the abuse is the cause of the disorder, for those who don't inherit it. Many people with the disorder have claimed to have been physically, sexually, psychologically or emotionally abused or neglected during their lifetime. We don't know the exact details of Lilith's time in the coven or what it was like for her, all we know is that it was basically a cult and she definitely experienced some form of abuse. We know that emotional and psychological abuse were definitely present in her and Belos's relationship, and there is definitely a possibility that there was some physical abuse as well. As for neglect, there isn't really anything that can support the claim even if it seems plausible, and logically speaking, she most likely wasn't sexually abused simply just because this is a family show, so unless Disney is ok with Dana going THERE, that one's a little too far out of the realm of possibility.

So, where does that leave us? Well if I'm being honest, she definitely seems to have a case of untreated and probably undiagnosed BPD caused by a series of traumatic events. And the thing is, she's only in 6/19 episodes in the series so far, and we've probably only really seen the tip of the iceberg. She could have a lot more going on with her that we will definitely see in season 2, I highly doubt she won't.

Lilith is definitely BPD coded, and whether the rep is intentional or not, it's still something I can consider good rep. It's super rare that you find borderline characters in the media that are not abusers, manipulators, or terrible, irredeemable people in general. Lilith is not a bad person whatsoever, and even if she's not much of a good person either, she's not irredeemable. She certainly has a long way to go, but with proper guidance and psychological help, she will get there eventually.

I would like to finish this off by saying I'm not trying to excuse or condone her actions, I am simply addressing how it's possible for her to be borderline, based on what screen time she has and my own experiences. I just want to express my appreciation for what rep we have, as well as analyzing her character a bit.

Thank you all for reading

- Sunny

#the owl house #toh #lilith clawthorne #toh lilith #lilith #emperor belos #edalyn clawthorne #eda clawthorne #toh eda #toh luz #luz noceda #tagging them just because they're mentioned and important #cult mention #bpd #Borderline Personality Disorder

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etheriadearie · 3 years

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I'm still reading you latest awesome essay but I wanna point out before I forget in the process: Shadow Weaver as you said used Adora as a puppet against Catra, and then almost immediately Light Hope does the same by using fighting simulations that are designed to make She-Ra comfortable into killing Catra and "letting go"

:: Adora and the darkness within-

Hey! Thanks so much for the kind review! And thanks for bringing this up, because you're exactly right. It not so cute like it seems- (Adora becomes completely useless in s2ep1 the second Catra shows up ☺️- turning her sword into a coffee mug and then a flute!? lol!!). That said, the meaning behind Adora's training is indeed something that's actually very scary to watch...

But it couldn't possibly be like that, right? After all, Adora wouldn't really do it, because when she puts her sword to Catra's throat in White Out, Catra then flirtatiously teases her...

.. Sadly, that's not the end of this, Adora does internalize to this brutal conditioning after all. (spoiler warn ⚠️) Adora thinks of herself as a solider, and does continue drilling hard on the idea of killing Catra. And, she almost does so- if you don't know to what I'm referring, it has to do with the one other 100% canon SPOP source material- I'll cover it below in the spoiler section.

Just... know that Adora really does internalize this concept-that she must kill her best friend as part of her 'destiny' (more later.)

It's this belief in 'destiny' by which Light Hope is still able to continue to manipulate Adora, even after she refuses to leave her friends behind, to "let go". Destiny is a concept that's so important to Adora's perception of self value that Light Hope uses it against her, towards the goal of her evil purposes, and of getting Adora to "let go." If Light Hope can get Adora to kill Catra, that's a whole lot of 'letting go' all at once. It would have broken Adora, she never would have recovered. It's so terrifying.

Where does this belief that Adora must do anything to fulfill 'destiny' come from, why is she so concerned with it that she stops thinking any further? Why must it be Adora's burden to do this horrible thing ?

For instance, we know Adora does show wisdom by refusing to leave her friends behind- she's not willing to give in to Light Hope's idea that she should seclude herself in the woods. Adora knows that something isn't right with Light Hope. And yet, isn't Catra also Adora's friend- one which she hurtfully turned against to enact a false destiny, much like how she played favorite to their abuser in the Horde, and whom Adora is now plotting to kill ?

What's really going on is something that's very ugly- despite the cute overtones to lighten the mood. Light Hope is using Adora's sense of duty against her to get her to potentially do something that's very hurtful to herself, and to the person who loves her most. What's so wrong with Adora's 'destiny', that she's got to kill someone she loves? How can that be right, is the only answer for this that war is terrible, or is the war on Etheria even what we think it is, or is it something different? And, is Adora killing Catra for it the right choice ?

Why- that's the big question. Why is it Adora's, or She-ra's, job to save the Princesses from the Horde? Why does Angella feel the need to make this Adora's burden? Could the Rebellion really not have done it themselves, or did they just give up out of grief? As Catra says in s5ep9: "Why does it have to be Adora?"

Like Catra says in s5- this is exactly right: all throughout SPOP, nothing about Adora's situation is right, or fair... it never was. Everyone is just forcing their burdens on her... and she ends up a desperately anxious person because of it.

And it's all a lie, a set up to make Adora fail- just like Mara did.

Like Mara, Adora was "never meant to succeed. They made a plan for" (..her) -it's history, all over again, and everything Adora thinks she's doing for 'destiny' and to end the war is part of this lie. That includes the 'destiny' as Angella describes it for her: it's just another likely set up: "I know the legend of warrior of the one the First Ones called She-ra, they said she would return to us in the hour of our greatest need to bring balance to Etheria". How, exactly ? By winning the war at any cost ?

This is also almost certainly a myth started by the First Ones to prepare the next She-ra for failure, as part of their plan to use the weapon. A deception purposefully implanted within cultural beliefs, meant to further enable their betrayals- Light Hope and the First Ones never had any intention of bringing balance to Etheria, they only wish to use the weapon. And again, why is it Adora's job to save the rebellion from the Horde???

Angella and the rebellion gave up on that all on their own, back when Adora was just a small child. Also... keep in mind that Shadow Weaver was allowed to run to the horde, where there was no accountability for her crimes and where she had complete control over little Adora and Catra, which she used to abuse the heck out of them. Considering how the Princesses gave up trying to fight the Horde when Adora was but a small, defenseless child, why is this war supposedly Adora's burden?? There's nothing fair about it.

We see Adora's legitimate feelings of pain, anger, desperation, and sorrow from how she's been forced into her position- everyone is hurting her with their burdens. It puts Adora in a constant state of anxiety, and her feelings of frustration and anger at this is well deserved.

And yet... what's so interesting about Adora's situation is that her anger towards Catra is perhaps the least deserved: even though Catra is fighting against her in a war which is wrong. Adora might feel mad at Catra for refusing to follow her as she enacts her beliefs in this false 'destiny', and Catra instead makes doing so harder for Adora by fighting back against her, and yet, Adora's not even doing the right thing in the first place as her entire destiny is a lie to use her as a weapon. Catra simply refuses to just accept her friend as this person who just turns on people who mean something to her, supposing evil upon them all while making no effort to understand them any deeper. Adora really is doing the wrong thing by enabling Light Hope's evil... and she can't even see it...

Well... in short, what Angella told Adora about her 'destiny' seemed to make sense- and so she went with it. It's not so much that Adora is naive as that they all are- Angella is naively playing into the First Ones deceptions, too. Adora is supposedly there to "bring balance" through 'destiny' by saving them from the Horde. So, for 'destiny', she assumes that she must be willing to do whatever she has to win that war- she has to hurt Catra...

Deception, and more deception- what even is the war on Etheria ? Where does Hordak even come from, other than Light Hope purposely crashing him on Etheria to set a conflict? It's a cruel war that likely started with the First Ones purposely bringing Hordak to Etheria, and it's not Adora's fault that the rebellion couldn't deal with Hordak- she was a small child when the rebellion fell apart. And, Adora's agreeing to win this war at any cost is a bridge too far... if she were to kill Catra, the damage to her own psyche... it would be beyond comprehension. When we see her talking to Light Hope in s2ep1, we finally get to see how Adora is all kinds of hurt by Catra's refusal of her, she's all broken up inside: "she's in my head". Catra wasn't supposed to be Adora's enemy: Adora couldn't realize this, and she made her one by essentially giving in to the prejudiced views of the rebellion.

Long story short, the war isn't quite what we think it is. Instead- who, really, are She-ra's greatest enemies? Next to Horde Prime and the First Ones, Hordak hardly even measures...

Adora's biggest enemy, as She-ra, is, in fact, the First Ones: and we know that because of Mara. We know Horde Prime must have existed as a threat in Mara's time, yet Mara considered her own people, and the weapon which they created, to be so much greater an enemy that she gave up everything to stop them. And just like Mara, what the First Ones want to do to Adora is so evil it outweighs anything having to do with the war on Etheria- the entire planet is at stake if Adora doesn't wake up to the reality of how the First Ones intend to use her for their evil...

What the First Ones did was always the original betrayal..

... this original betrayal is the reason for everything to do with Adora's situation- it's why she becomes She-ra, but also why she does ends up in Shadow Weaver's care, who wanted to use Adora's power for her own benefit and abused her because of it. It's all to do with the original betrayal of the First Ones by bringing her to Etheria to be part of their weapon...

But, Adora is a soldier, she's been trained to expect violence as a necessity of solving problems her entire life, and so she has a really hard time realizing that the entire concept of this belief is wrong and that she's being manipulated. Light Hope uses her belief in 'destiny' and false belief in duty before all else, including love, to control her- as a soldier, Adora does what she told (within reason) because what Light Hope tells her is what she expects to hear. Light Hope tells her that killing Catra will help end this war and fulfill her 'destiny', so she drills the moment of killing Catra to do it. But what hurtful act is too much, what price is too high, what cost to her own morality is too dark? How terrifying it would be for Adora if she actually did kill Catra...

So, here's the warn for LotFP spoilers 🚨🚨 -more good discussion is yet to come- and I promise not to spoil anything more than necessary for you folks-

💞🏳️‍🌈🌹

(..If you really don't want spoilers, now's your chance)

So... Adora does actually make the decision to try to kill Catra.

In LotFP, it's obvious that Adora had continued drilling the idea of killing Catra, over and over, with Light Hope following White Out. Because- like in White Out- Adora gets a chance to hit Catra- and this time she doesn't hesitate.

Adora consciously attempts to kill Catra. Keep in mind that Adora still had no idea how to heal at that point. Why does Adora try to do that, and what makes her believe she has to do it?

(*p.s- I won't go over how LotFP happens after s2ep5, but if you've been wondering when it took place- yup)

The rebellion may talk a cute game around being more 'humane' with war... but, that's mostly Bow. When it comes to it, both Glimmer and Adora at times choose actions that cross the line into the downright sinister to end the war- no act is too dark for them. Adora comes terrifyingly close to killing Catra because of it...

Luckily for Catra, in the moment of Adora's brutal confusion over her being conditioned to take Catra's life, Catra finally has someone in her life that will take care of her, and Scorpia steps in to protect Catra.

Scorpia then rightly tells Adora off for her continued, out of control, bloodlust towards Catra, willing to murder her friend for what turns out to be an evil destiny, anyways. Catra was never planning to take things that far- she only tries to bring Adora low, or capture her... and to force Adora to confront how naive she is. Why should Adora bear such a burden of the war, at such potential emotional cost to herself and to Catra's life?

The result is that Adora ends up suitably chastised for her actions in LotFP, and you can start to see a change in her behavior following it in s3ep3-ep6: she's realized she can't just kill Catra. She also begins to realize that Light Hope has been manipulating her, and that she's been living a lie.

Unfortunately, Adora's actions before this realization comes at a cost: SPOP is very clear about consequences: it leaves Catra desperately afraid after seeing the love of her life constantly trying to kill her. Each time Adora sees Catra following Promise, 3 times in total, she ends up trying to kill her- unwittingly during the Battle of Brightmoon, possessed during White Out, and then as a conscious decision in LotFP. Is that acceptable behavior ?

This cruel behavior Adora so hurtfully has towards Catra for false destiny sets up Catra's biggest mistake and her following mental break down:

Catra desperately looks elsewhere for any kind of support- the person she loves wants to kill her... and Hordak is being hurtful and threatening her. So, Catra decides to try to get Shadow Weaver to help her. After all, why not- nobody can be THAT evil, right??? She must have SOME humanity...

That's a mistake, as Shadow Weaver is all bad, and all that Catra gets for trusting her is more horrible emotional wounds and so much more damage that by the time Adora sees Catra in s3ep3, she's one bad hit from totally losing her mind. And the hit comes... and she does... and Adora simply cannot reach Catra through her grief and her anger.

Even though Adora changes her behavior towards Catra in s3ep3-ep6- showing deference for her past mistakes, love for Catra, humility, Catra is too far gone to hear it- she only sees protecting herself from further harm at any cost- that includes pulling the switch and winning the war. It was how she was going to finally be safe...

Everything proceeds to fall apart, so much chaos ensues. One thing that's so scary about Adora's behavior is that it shows she was fighting while having no idea where her line was: what action was too much, too sinister, in service of her 'destiny'? She didn't really understand her own feelings, her own darkness.... and if Adora had taken Catra's life... it's real scary to think about. Fighting without knowing your own moral beliefs and convictions is always scary, it was scary to see for both Adora and Catra.

And so, by the time Portal happens... there's not much Adora can do for Catra. She's too hurt to hear Adora's pleas of love. All she can really do is ask Catra to be better, to heal herself. As Adora says:

"You made your choice, now live with it!*

*WOMP*

She's right, Catra can't live with herself- she's been corrupted by her grief and her fear- and in s4 we see as Catra's anger begins to break down into something else.

Catra is stuck in a downward spiral, and at least Adora is always trying to be better, even if she didn't know what that really is. Can we say the same about Catra? No not really.

One last appreciation-

Scorpia is a good, smart, interpersonal person, she realizes Catra's needs, she protects her like no one else ever has, including Adora. Yeah, Catra doesn't really deserve her, (also- Scorpia was always Catra's best source of healthy emotional support, something Catra should have worked harder at accepting), but it's really good for people like Catra to see someone show care for them, besides. And, Scorpia also stops Adora from doing something she herself never would have recovered from.

Hooray for Scorpia! Hooray!! Without her, no kiss, no saving the universe. Hooray!! for Scorpia!! She's the best- 🖤♥️🤍

Happy 1 year anniversary to Catradora kiss!! 🎉🏳️‍🌈 💞🎉🥰

Everything in SPOP is always a team effort. Scorpia deserves Adora's gratitude, after all, Scorpia saved Catra from Adora's own hurtful confusion. How scary it is that Adora came so close to taking the life of her future lover... 😥

Thanks as always for a like or a ✨✨✨rebloggg✨✨✨ and let me know if you have questions or concerns! I will gladly answer them-

With Love,

~EtheriaDearie

::Here's a link to the original post to which this refers- all links are on tumblr

🥰 Got time for one more fast and fun read about Catradora love to help the author out? Check on this quick read-💞🏳️‍🌈

LotFP = Legend of the Fire Princess

Here's the total list of more reading if you'd like to read more 🙂 -

#she ra #spop #catradora #she ra meta #she ra and the princesses of power #scorpia #my writing #shadow weaver #she ra spoilers #adora #Catra

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a-dauntless-daffodil · 3 years

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angella trying to be intimidating and terrifying to adora in ep 4 but accidentally blowing adora’s whole world right open by throwing a wrecking ball into the years of traumatizing power dynamics that shadow weaver had ingrained in her by telling adora she can earn a place here NOT by obeying angella NOT by appeasing her or staying on her good side, but by NOT DISSAPOINTING GLIMMER, THE FRIEND ADORA SO VERY MUCH WANTS TO PROTECT AND HELP

and then angella backs up that idea the very next morning by Actually Listening When Adora Stands Up For Glimmer?

Adora Standing Up TO ANGELLA right after oops sitting in her dead husband’s chair, telling angella hey maybe glimmer’s idea is actually not a bad one maybe you shouldn’t shut her down 100% like that

and angella’s like. Well. Sigh. I DID warn you not to disappoint glimmer, which is a sore thing to remember when I am currently the reason glimmer is looking so disappointed. So. As long as you can keep her safe-

like holy sh*t this never happened in the fright zone

adora’s terrified attempts to speak to shadow weaver for catra were just used by shadow weaver to threaten catra more, destroy catra’s sense of agency by telling adora to control her better

(like she was adora’s PET a thing adora gets to keep around as long as she’s GOOD)

or scaring the f*%# out of both of them with a reminder of how disposable she feels catra is

literally the only way adora ever felt she had to keep catra kinda safe (and not get separated, or risk being put in the same terrible boat as her) was by keeping shadow weaver in a good mood and distracted. actually openly fighting for her best friend wasn’t allowed. at all

and that f@#kery made it so catra couldn’t even accept the few times adora was openly worried for her (childhood sparing match flashback) because she HAS to fight for herself, ruthlessly, constantly, and especially in public when other people were watching, even when it meant fighting against her only friend. catra has to. no one else will

worse, her own friend says even she shouldn’t fight for herself, scared that only makes it worse for her

(it doesn’t bc shadow weaver would do it anyway)

shadow weaver made every bad thing that was done to them their own fault and then wouldn't even let them lean on each other, oh no, she has to poison that too, adora can't be the friend she wants to be without hurting catra and catra can't rely on the only friend she has. her one friendship in the entire horde, and she's adora's responsibility, not her own person, because shadow weaver says so

what shadow weaver says happens is their entire life for so long. adora wants to be with her friend. will break rules to make catra happy and show her she cares. but no matter how good she tries to be, in the end it didn't matter, shadow weaver was going to isolate her too- make her force captain and take her away from all her friends. catra included.

and saying no to that? that would have disappointed shadow weaver. made her angry. been turned and twisted around, probably, to be catra's fault somehow, for 'dragging adora down' or 'holding her back'

so again, the only way to even try protecting her friend... was to not

adora comes from all this mess

then suddenly, the new person in power is telling adora to fight for her new friend? not only that she can, but she SHOULD?

angella doesn’t get mad at adora for doing it?? it actually WORKS????

shadow weaver pretended to care about adora and used that to control her, make her scared of openly siding with catra

angella told her flat out she doesn’t like or trust her, and challenged adora to be the person she claimed to be, by being there for glimmer.

and then angella Kept To Her Word

can you imagine. the revelation. the relief

the terror of adora standing up that first time, not sure how this would go, remembering all the other times she'd tried something like this and how it always went bad-

and then the confidence she has by the s1 end, straight out folding her arms and GLARING at angella when it looks like the immortal queen MIGHT be disapproving of glimmer’s secret weapon’s stash?

glimmer and bow are cringing in that moment, bracing themselves or trying to smooth things over

but in the background, adora’s look is just pure defiance

like yeah glimmer has a heck ton of weapons hidden away in her room. they're for fighting the horde. fighting the horde makes her happy. who the heck is angella, glimmer’s mom and queen of brightmoon, to dare make glimmer feel nervous about something that makes her happy???

if angella had tried fighting glimmer about it then, adora would have thrown hands. you cannot convince me otherwise

and honestly, considering the childhood adora came from, that’s heartwarming af

she trusts angella

not to always do the right thing or support her daughter the way adora feels glimmer deserves, but to care for glimmer, to want her to be happy, to want to be sure that SOMEONE always stands up for her daughter, even if it means going against angella herself

adora learns she can expect angella to be a decent person, basically, and that angella will hold herself to the same standards she puts on others

she tells adora not to disappoint glimmer. when adora pushes back, in ep4, points out sideways that angella’s the one doing it now, angella accepts that. she gives in. she changes her decision

glimmer wants to go recruiting princesses and fighting the horde? No.

adora offers to keep glimmer safe on the mission, reminding angella that that’s why she’s here, that’s why glimmer brought her to the rebellion, that’s what angella decided to trust her daughter on- THAT’S what glimmer is asking from her mom. a little trust? that’s what’s the disappointment here, glimmer being pushed aside again, right after it seemed like angella was finally starting to even slightly respect her as a leader

and…. fine. FINE, they can go

as long as they're careful and glimmer doesn't find a way to fight the horde anyway (sure jan), then glimmer can have her mission

angella doesn’t want to be a disappointment to glimmer either

after the whole thing with Micah, she already feels like one

she’s just scared. no way she’d survive losing glimmer too. but she said she’d give adora a chance for glimmer’s sake, and that means trusting adora with glimmer’s safety, trusting glimmer’s trust in this ex-horde soldier, which is the same as trusting glimmer with the fate ofthe ENTIRE rebellion

and angella does

she's scared-

(if adora had been a spy and taken glimmer hostage, we know exactly how fast angella would have surrendered, even just on the faintest hope of saving her daughter. even at the cost of the war against the horde)

(if glimmer had died on a mission that angella authorized, if she lost her the same way she’d already lost micah…)

-she’s scared and she’s been coping with her fear and loss by being cautious

(sending glimmer to elberon where no horde was supposed to attack)

(ordering a retreat the moment the horde attacked there anyway)

but she chooses to take this risk anyway

she loves her daughter very, VERY, very much. enough to start letting glimmer be her own person even if that means watching her chose to put herself in danger. enough to begin changing herself, for glimmer's sake

(end of s1 glimmer has no magic and is GLITCHING and when she decides to go after adora anyway, angella doesn't try stopping her. she encourages her. right after getting her back from the horde, almost losing her, she lets glimmer go)

(episode 1 angella would not have done that)

it’s not easy or instantaneous (still grounds glimmer when she gets too close to nearly dying)

but angella made that choice and tries to stick to it

that's something shadow weaver never did

and it's why adora can trust angella, be confident enough in that to stand up to her on glimmer’s behalf. angella was intimidating and distrustful and outright hostile at first, BUT, she was also fair

she respects her daughter, as a person, even if she isn't always good at showing it. even if her fear for glimmer made her overprotective and dismissive

She didn't ask Adora to help control Glimmer. She told Adora to prove Glimmer right

And she held to that. Even when it went against her own plans, she didn't punish Adora for going against her. She didn't blame Glimmer for 'failing to control' the horde solider who's supposed to be her responsibility

She just... didn't use her power to hurt them, when she had the chance to

The first authority figure in Adora's life to clear that low bar. And Angella did it, without even trying

Because she loves her daughter

I....flarblegarble…. I. Love. Season. One

#spop #adora #queen angella #glimmer #shadow weaver #.#they make me FEEL #things

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galemalio · 4 years

Text

3 Examples of Racial Bias in Animation Storytelling

It’s not hard to grasp that a white person, while not explicitly or consciously racist in the sense we might usually imagine, is still inherently racially biased because they benefit from and grow up used to white supremacy.” - Scottishwobbly, Tumblr

This is nothing new. This is something POC (People of Color) have been talking about in separate fandoms. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged by those unaware.

This article is not made to say that some of the animations that I will use as examples are bad. But in the hopes that we, as consumers and creators, will do better in the future in handling characters that are POC.

Most often, racial bias in storytelling is when the narrative treats white or light skin toned characters better than darker skin toned characters. The darker skin toned characters are often POC-coded or actual POC.

White creators often do not notice their racial bias in their storytelling as they benefit from and grow up with white privileges and white supremacy. This can also apply to light-skinned POC who have light skin priviliges.

Some of us don’t often see it but real people who relate to the characters of color do. Especially when it reflects from their experiences with racial bias, microaggressions, colorism and flat out racism.

So when they speak up, it’s important to listen to them to unlearn the racial bias we may have in ourselves.

I will be emphasizing “the narrative” for I am criticizing how the story treats its dark-skinned characters and not because I am criticizing the characters themselves.

This article is critiqued by @visibilityofcolor as a sensitivity reader once and then additions were made before publishing. If you’re looking for a Black sensitivity reader, you can contact her.

This article is a 14-minute read at average speed so buckle up. Unless you want to skip to your show mentioned below. External Tumblr Resources will be put in the reblog.

Here are three examples that I was made aware of.

Example #1: The Narrative Treats the Light-Skinned Character at the Expense of the Dark-Skinned Character

Steven Universe was one of the animations that pushed lgbt+ representation in cartoon media. However, there are narratives here and there that showed racial bias.

SU creator Rebecca Sugar was raised with "Jewish sensibilities" and both siblings observe the lighting of Hanukkah candles with their parents through Skype.[1] Rebecca Sugar also talked about being non-binary.[2]

But as a white person, she (and the rest of the SU crew) is not aware of the inherently biased values from growing up and benefiting from white privilege.

One example is the human zoo. There are people that have spoken up about this such as @jellyfax of Tumblr who pointed out that the Crewniverse mishandled a loaded topic and reinforced a white colonist propaganda where the captive humans of mostly black/brown people are naive, docile and childlike in order to subjugate the people that they colonized. .

What I’m here is how a character of color from the main cast is more obligated to the lighter-skinned character.

In the episode, Friend Ship, one fan had spoken out about how Garnet, who had been validly angry at Pearl, was compelled by a dangerous situation to forgive Pearl. Garnet is a Black-coded character. While Pearl is a light-skinned character.

Garnet was mad at Pearl for tricking her into always fusing with her. Then they were trapped in a chamber that was going to crush them. In this situation, they have to fuse in order to save themselves but Garnet refuses to because she was still angry at her.

In the end, they were forced to talk it out, for Garnet to understand Pearl’s reason for wanting to fuse with her and everything worked out well.

The narrative focused so much on Pearl’s self-worth issues at the expense of Garnet’s right to be angry.

Yes, it showed that Pearl is trying her best to make up for it but Garnet should have been allowed to work at her own anger at her own pace instead of being obligated to consider Pearl’s feelings over her own.

I wouldn’t have noticed it until someone had mentioned it. Because it was never my experience.

But it’s there, continuing the message that it’s okay to put the emotional labor on Black people and disregard their own feelings for the sake of the non-Black people who have hurt them -particularly light-skinned women.

White Fragility and Being Silenced White Woman Tears

Again, racial bias in animation storytelling is often not intentional because white creators do not experience it due to white privilege.

Without meaning to, that scene alone shows Garnet as the Angry Black woman trope that is ungrateful and rude to Pearl who then ends up in tears. Without meaning to, Pearl with her light skin, became the tearful white girl trope that had to be sympathized over.

The Angry Black Woman trope is a combination of the worst negative stereotypes of a Black woman: overly aggressive, domineering, emasculating, loud, disagreeable and uppity.[13]

The Tearful white girl trope comes from the combination of the stereotypes of white women being morally upstanding and delicate and therefore should be protected.[13]

Which, unfortunately, many white women have taken advantage of.

These two tropes are harmful to WOC (Women of Color) because they experience the "weary weaponizing of white women's tears". This tactic employed by many white women incites sympathy and avoids accountability for their actions, turning the tables to their accuser and forcing their accuser to understand them instead.

(Image by Виктория Бородинова from Pixabay)

In "Weapon of lass destruction: The tears of a white woman", Author Shay described that white tears turns a white woman into the priority of whatever space she's in. "It doesn't matter if you're right, once her tears are activated, you cease to exist." [11]

White woman tears have gotten Black people beaten and lynched such as Emmett Till. Carolyn Bryant who had accused 14 year old Emmett Till of sexually harassing her in 1955, admitted she lied about those claims years later in 2007.[15]

In Awesomely Luvvie's "About the Weary Weaponizing of White Women Tears", she states that the innocent white woman is a caricature many subconsciously embrace because it hides them from consequences. [10]

In The Guardian’s article, "How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Colour", Ruby Hamad shares her experience:

"Often, when I have attempted to speak to or confront a white woman about something she has said or done that has impacted me adversely, I am met with tearful denials and indignant accusations that I am hurting her. My confidence diminished and second-guessing myself, I either flare up in frustration at not being heard (which only seems to prove her point) or I back down immediately, apologising and consoling the very person causing me harm."[4]

This is not to say that all crying white women are insincere. But as activist Rachel Cargle said:

“I refuse to listen to white women cry about something. When women have come up to me crying, I say, ‘Let me know when you feel a little better, then maybe we can talk.’”[3]

One of the most quoted words in “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.” is this:

“It is white people’s responsibility to be less fragile; people of color don’t need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible.”[3]

When white women cry in defense, instead of taking accountability, People of Color are then gaslighted into thinking they’re the bad guy. This is emotional abuse and a manipulation tactic.

People of Color shouldn’t have to bend backwards to accommodate discomfited white or light-skinned people who have hurt them.

How She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (SPOP) Did It Right

Despite SPOP having good lgbtq+ representations, there are other biases in the show. Such as Mara, a WOC whose only purpose was to sacrifice herself for the white protagonist. There was also the insensitive joke in their stream regarding Bow’s sibling that perpetuated an Anti-Black stereotype which Noelle Stevenson has apologized for.[14]

But the scene I have encountered where the Black character was validly angry and his feelings were treated well by the narrative, came from SPOP.

Bow, a black character, was validly angry at Glimmer, a lighter skinned character. Glimmer made a lot of bad decisions, one of them was using Adora and their friends as bait, without their knowledge, to lure out and capture Catra.

Glimmer tearfully apologized in Season 5, Episode 4. Adora readily forgave her. But Bow didn't.

They faced dangers along the way but the story didn't put them in a dangerous situation where Bow has to forgive Glimmer in order to get out of it.

This was Glimmer's words of apology:

"Look, I know you're still mad at me. Maybe you'll be mad at me for a really long time. I deserved it. And maybe... maybe we'll never be friends like we used to be. But I'm not going to stop trying to make it better. I made a mistake with the heart of Etheria. I should've listened to you and I'm sorry. You get to be mad. For as long as you need to be. But I'm not going anywhere. And when you're ready, I'll be here."

In short, Bow was allowed to take the time to be mad and not just get over it for someone else’s sake. The story validates his feelings and he was allowed to take his own pace. That is emotional respect the story gave to him.

Example #2: The Narrative Gives Better Endings or Portrayals to Colonizers than Their Victims

Avatar: The Last Airbender has handled dark themes well such as genocide, war, PTSD, disability and redemption with great worldbuilding.

However, I never noticed the racial bias in ATLA until people spoke up of the double standards in ATLA’s treatment of light-skinned colonizers compared to their dark-skinned victims-turned-villains.

The characters in question -Iroh, Azula, Jet and Hama- are all flawed and well-rounded in a believable way. But how the narrative treats them is unequal.

General Iroh is an ex-colonizer who gets to redeem himself and not answer for his past war crimes, living a peaceful life as a tea shop owner. The only reason Iroh changed was when he was personally affected by the negativity of their military subjugation -his son’s death. It wasn’t the harm of the Fire nation ravaging Earth kingdom villages or cities and affecting millions of people that opened his eyes.

Azula, the tyrannical daughter, had closure of her mother's rejection when she was a child and was able to escape imprisonment.

Jet and Hama, victims of colonization who have done bad things, did not get similar conclusions to their stories OR compensation for what they have gone through from the Fire Nation's colonization.

Jet was given a second chance but was arrested for trying to expose Zuko and Iroh being firebenders -firebenders who were their enemies for conquering their villages. Then he died from the injuries of the person who had brainwashed and mind-controlled him.

Hama was imprisoned for life.

Compared to the sins of the light-skinned colonizers, the narrative didn’t give Jet and Hama the development where they could heal from their trauma, receive compensation for what happened to them and really have a chance in life.

The dark-skinned victims of colonization just became a lesson to the viewers how they shouldn’t hold grudges for being colonized. The end. They have received consequences for their actions but there is no continuation to their stories after that.

It almost seems like the narrative is saying that because they have harmed colonizers who have no part in their trauma (and in Jet’s case, some Earth kingdom villagers), they are therefore unworthy to be given an actual chance in life.

While Azula and Iroh, who have actively participated in conquering, colonizing and attacking the Earth Kingdom itself, were.

Someone once said that if indigenous people have control over Hama’s story, it would have been done differently. But the ATLA crew are white, non-indigenous people who prioritized redeeming colonizers instead.

The narrative has also affected how the ATLA fandom thinks. If most fans are asked who they would want to be redeemed, the popular option would be Azula over Jet or Hama.

Once again, I don’t think the ATLA crew noticed it due to their racial bias. But still, the harm is done and the racially biased message is continued:

The colonizers and their descendants don’t have to make amends for the colonizers’ crimes. Or if they do, only lightly since it’s in the past (no matter how recent that past is).

The colonized who rebel will tend to hurt innocent people and then get a grisly end for getting in way over their heads.

I would venture as far as to say that the narrative may have the added subconscious desire to quiet their white anxiety on the vengeance of the colonized. As I have learned when writing about Vodou stereotypes and how they have stemmed from the history of white anxiety of Black vengeance, of Black fetishization and of dissolution of the white race through intermarriages.

In @visibilityofcolor’s blog, someone asked:

“So I saw some of the really heated debates on here and on twitter about how if Iroh and Azula can be portrayed sympathetically despite their actions then characters like Jet and Hama should've been given a chance too. Do you think that the writers understood the implications of only redeeming characters from the colonizer/fascist nation but not giving the characters who suffered because of their fascism a second chance too?”

To which VisibilityOfColor replied:

“No, because at the end of the day, the writers are white. When it comes to stuff like this, it’s no surprise when we see white writers redeem problematic characters before they actually redeem victims of those racist problematic characters. For instance, Dave Filioni, who worked on both avatar and star wars rebels, did the same thing when redeeming agent kallus who was an soldiers in the imperial army and took credit for a genocide. where as victims of the empire were still painted in negative lights. i really don’t think they understand.

They have this ‘be the better person’ view on things, which is what a lot of white people tend to emulate when it comes to people of color standing up to their oppressors. and unfortunately, these are ideas passed on to children, esp minorities. that they should forgive people and communities who hurt them and ‘be the better person’. this is why white ppl don’t need to write narratives for people of color.”

Example #3: The Narrative Favors the Light Skinned Character Than Dark Skinned Character in Similar Situations

I would like to reiterate that racial bias in storytelling is often not intentional. I am not saying the creators and the people who support them are bad people. No.

However, I encourage that once a racial bias is made known in our work, it is our responsibility to change them to stop the perpetuation of its harmful message.

Hazbin Hotel is a popular cartoon with whimsical designs and its concept opens the conversation about redemption. The creator, Vivziepop may not have noticed the racial bias in her cartoon as a white Latina [5] that grew up with and benefits from white privileges, along with the Hazbin crew.

In the Youtbe video, "Hazbin Hotel - How Art took over Writing", Staxlotl states:

“I understand that there was a lot of time and effort put into this pilot, almost three years worth of effort. But I think most of that time was spent into the art and visuals when it should’ve gone into polishing the writing in the characters.”[6]

Once again, I’m not here to critique the characters but how the narrative treats its dark-skinned characters.

The story treats Charlie, the white-skinned, “Disney-esque” protagonist princess differently from how it treats Vaggie, the dark-skinned, more outspoken and protective Latina girlfriend of Charlie who supports the princess’ cause.

In its pilot episode, both girls experience humiliation. While Charlie is portrayed by the story as someone the viewers have to feel sorry for...

...Vaggie is portrayed in her humiliation as the butt of the joke for the viewers.

While they both didn’t like what Angel Dust did, Charlie was sympathized over in the narrative as a moment...

...while Vaggie’s angry but valid callouts were dismissed and ignored as part of the comedy.

While Charlie was someone that needs to be protected in the narrative...

...Vaggie is left to fend for herself.

Again, I don’t think the creators noticed the racial bias of their cartoon. However, this racial bias is reflected in the harmful perceptions that dark-skinned women, particularly Black women and Black girls, are more mature, tougher and need less protection at a young age.[7]

This adultification bias perceives them as challenging authority when they express strong or contrary views and are then given harsher discipline than white girls who misbehave.[8] And this continues when they grow up.

In a 2017 study, Black women and girls aged 12-60 years old confirmed they are treated harsher by their white peers and are accused of being aggressive when they would defend themselves or explain their point of view to authority figures.[8]

This bias also coincides with the Spicy Latina trope of a brown-skinned, hot-blooded, quick-tempered and passionate woman.

Everyday Feminism described this trope as "Although objects of desire for many, the spicy Latina may have too much personality to handle. So much so that she is often viewed as domineering or emasculating." [16]

Sounds familiar? (Look at Angry Black Woman trope above.)

Why is it that a light-skinned character, Charlie, is allowed to be vulnerable and be sympathized while the dark-skinned Latina character, Vaggie, is mocked, dismissed and expected to tough it out?

Severina Ware had to remind the world in her article that relates to the bias against dark skinned characters:

“Black women are not offered the protection and gentleness of our white counterparts. We are not given permission to be soft and delicate. We are required to exhibit strength and fortitude not only because our lives depend on it, but because so many others depend on us. Black women should not be charged with the responsibility of saving everyone when nobody is here to save us.”[12]

As @cullenvhenan of Tumblr has said in her post:

“if you're a white creator and your brown/black characters are always sassy, reckless, aggressive or cold and your white characters are always soft, demure, shy and introverted you should think about maybe why you did that”

(Image above from Iowa Law Reviews’ “Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black Woman”)

Detecting Your Own Racial Bias

It would be hard. No matter how much you edit and create, you may miss it because it was never your experience.

So how do we prevent our racial bias from creeping into our creations?

Listen to POC and their feedback.

As @charishjb from Instagram has shared, here is one of the things that we can do (tumblr link here) [9]:

Consider POC voices. Listen to their experiences. Hire sensitivity POC readers. Put multiple POC voices in positions of leadership in creative projects.

Then we can stop the racial bias that perpetuates again and again in the media. I hope for that future.

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