The Cycle of Abuse
As Shown in She-Ra: The Princess of Power (2018)
“I think almost anyone is capable of doing things that are evil or hurtful or harmful.” — Noelle Stevenson, Creator of She-Ra (2018)
In 2018, She-Ra: The Princess of Power got a reboot on Netflix. The popular 80s spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is about He-Man’s twin sister She-Ra, or Princess Adora, leading a great rebellion on Etheria. The 2018 reboot, which recently wrapped up in May of 2020, follows Adora just as the original did but it changes a lot of things that make it not only a fun kids show with great representation and plot, but also really interesting to any viewer. One of the more serious topics that Netflix’s She-Ra takes on is trauma and abuse, the effect that that has on the individual, and how they recover from it, if they do. Every character in the reboot has their share of PTSD but the two main characters, Catra and Adora, are foils to each other and complement each other very well, especially when it comes to how they attain and react to their trauma.
The show begins with Catra and Adora working for the Horde which is basically the “evil side” of the war. Adora is blissfully unaware of the reality that she lives in and she and Catra are best friends. They stick together no matter what, they are each other’s rock. The Horde is a very abusive place, they’re trained as soldiers from when they’re children, they don’t eat real food, and they are weapons first and people second. Shadow Weaver poses as a mother figure to the two main characters. She abuses both Catra and Adora but in very different ways, ways that make it worse for both of them. With Adora, she praises her and builds up her ego and in the same breath, she’ll put Catra down. Often she would do so in front of the Adora to set an example and drive a wedge between the two. You can see an example of this during one of the flashbacks in the episode “Promise”:
Insolent child. I’d come to expect such disgraceful behavior from you. But I will not allow you to drag Adora down as well. You have never been anything more than a nuisance to me. I’ve kept you around for this long because Adora was fond of you. But if you ever do anything to jeopardize her future, I will dispose of you myself. Do you understand? (S1E11: Promise)
This is the environment that Catra and Adora were brought up in and this is who posed as their parental figure. While Adora came to have issues with imposter syndrome and having a hero complex, Catra was left broken with the assumption and expectation for herself that she had to be the worst.
Despite the abuse they suffered Catra and Adora stuck together, they were the only reason the other could survive where they lived. Season 1 begins with a 2-part episode in which Adora discovers her powers and the ability to turn into She-Ra. Before this, she was raised with the idea that the rebellion and the princesses were awful and monstrous, and when she finds out she’s one of them this begins her road to recovery, while Catra, on the other hand, starts her descent downhill. In the second episode, The Sword Part 2, Adora finally experiences life outside the Horde. She gets to eat real food and have fun for the first time without the overbearing presence of Shadow Weaver or the environment around her. The real conflict of the show starts when Catra comes to rescue her from her supposed kidnappers. After seeing the real world and the impact that the Horde has on it, Adora decides to switch sides and she tries to get Catra to come with her, “I’m saying this is wrong. They’ve been lying to us, manipulating us. Hordak, Shadow Weaver, all of them.” (S1E2 The Sword Part 2). To which Catra replies, “Duh! Did you just figure that out?” (S1E2 The Sword Part 2).
Adora is completely stunned by this, she doesn’t know why Catra would put up with that kind of abuse knowingly. But Catra does it because they’re together, “Because. It doesn’t matter what they do. The two of us look out for each other,” (S1E2 The Sword Part 2) Catra says. When Adora decides to leave the Horde entirely Catra takes it as a personal offense.
“Are you kidding? you’ve known these people for, what, a couple of hours? And now you’re going to throw everything away for them? What happened to you?” (S1E2 The Sword Part 2) When she says now you’re going to throw everything away from them she’s not talking about “everything” she’s talking about herself. She’s basically saying “You’ve known these people for a couple of hours and I’m your best friend, we hold on to each other. And you’re just going to leave?”
This is the separation of two of them that drives the main conflict for most of the series. When Adora reveals that she can turn into She-Ra, Catra feels betrayed and left behind. But without anyone to help her, without any friends left, she doesn’t have anyone who can help her through these feelings and they just end up getting worse. Meanwhile Adora blossoms in Bright Moon, she makes friends left and right, and through it all, she has the support of Glimmer and Bow.
The rest of season 1 is the slow detachment between Catra and Adora. It’s the two of them giving up on the other joining their side and accepting that they’re enemies now. This is also very well demonstrated in episode 11, Promise. Adora and Catra get stuck together in a First Ones ruin and their surroundings turn against them, using its magic to project their memories in front of them. This episode gives you a closer look into Catra and Adora’s childhood, and it’s the breaking point between the two of them. Throughout the episode, Catra irrationally justifies that the downfalls of her childhood had to do with Adora and that it was her fault that she suffered so much.
Catra: You always need to play the hero, don’t you?
Adora: I was only trying to protect you.
Catra: You never protected me. Not in any way that would put you on Shadow Weaver’s bad side. Admit it. You loved being her favorite.
Adora: That’s not true!
Catra: Oh, yeah? When you left, who do you think took the fall for you? Who was protecting me then?
Adora: You don’t have to let Shadow Weaver treat you like that anymore. You can leave just like I did.
Catra: Oh, because I need to follow you everywhere you go?
Adora: I didn’t mean it that way.
Catra: I don’t want to leave. What don’t you understand about that? I’m not afraid of Shadow Weaver anymore and I would be a better Force Captain then you would have ever been.”
Adora: You always said you didn’t care about things like that.
Catra: Well I was lying! Obviously!
Adora: Catra, just wait!
Catra: Why do you think I gave the sword back to you in the Fright Zone? I didn’t want you to come back, Adora! (S1E11: Promise)
Catra convinces herself that Adora has been holding her back the entire time and that she never needed her in the first place. At the end of the episode Adora hangs off a metaphorical and literal cliff and Catra lets her fall.
Catra: Hey, Adora.
Adora: Catra, help me. Please.
Catra: This thing won’t work for me if I tried, would it? It only works for you. Then again, you’re special. That’s what Shadow Weaver always said.
Adora: Catra, what are you doing?
Catra: You know, it all makes sense now. You’ve always been the one holding me back. You wanted me to think I needed you. You wanted me to feel weak. Every hero needs a sidekick, right?
Adora: Catra, no, that’s not how it was!
Catra: The sad thing is, I spent all this time hoping you’d come back to the Horde, when really, you leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m so much stronger than anyone ever thought. I wonder what I could have been if I had gotten rid of you sooner.
Adora: I’m sorry. I never meant to make you feel like you were second-best. Please don’t do this!
Catra: Bye, Adora. I really am going to miss you. (S1E11: Promise)
While Catra does literally let Adora fall to her supposed death it is also used as the symbolic end of what they once had when they were kids, with not only Catra letting Adora fall, but Adora letting go. The breaking point for Catra is placed very obviously and intentionally in the last flashback of the episode as Catra watches over the projection of her younger self.
Adora: Catra? Catra it’s okay it’s just me. It doesn’t matter what they do to us. You know? You look out for me and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.
Young and old Catra together: You promise?
Adora: I promise (S1E11: Promise)
In the second season, Catra has claimed the title of not only Force Captain (which is what Adora would have been) but also she has taken the spot of Shadow Weaver in the Horde. Shadow Weaver has been imprisoned and Catra comes to her cell throughout the season to gloat and prove her worth to someone who looked down on her during her whole life. Shadow Weaver continued to manipulate and abuse Catra, even in prison. Using each time that Catra came to her as an opportunity to do so. In episode 6, Light Spinner, the show explores Shadow Weaver’s origins and the relationship between her and Catra. In this episode, Catra is forced to send Shadow Weaver to Beast Island, which is basically a death sentence, if she can’t get any useful information out of her. Catra struggles with this even though Shadow Weaver is one of the main reasons she feels so broken inside. She still cares for her because she took care of Catra in the only way that she knows she can be taken care of. Her conflict with sending Shadow Weaver away is very well demonstrated in a scene with Scorpia. After Adora left Scorpia made it her job to be Catra’s best friend no matter how much she rejected her. When Scorpia confronts Catra about what’s bothering her she says what everyone thinks.
Scorpia: Why do you really want to keep her around? She’s never been very nice to you. I kind of thought you hated her.
Catra: You — You wouldn’t understand… (S2E6 Light Spinner)
Scorpia is completely justified in thinking this but not understanding how the cycle of abuse works. Most people can’t just leave their abuser; part of the reason that their abusers have so much power is because they have a relationship of some sort. This could be anything: familial, romantic, or platonic. It’s hard to leave someone that you care about even if they’re bad for you, it’s especially hard to send them to their death.
Catra visits Shadow Weaver’s cell several times throughout the episode and they end up having a heart-to-heart about why Shadow Weaver was so horrible to Catra. Just as Catra’s about to leave, they agree that Shadow Weaver will try to stay by Catra’s side and she makes the request that Catra give her the Sorcerers’ Guild badge from her past. Catra finally feels validated by someone that she desperately wanted to see her, So when Shadow Weaver betrays her yet again by using the Sorcerers’ Guild badge to transport herself to Bright Moon and the Rebellion, Catra has once again been abandoned and left behind. But this time she was used, used by someone she thought finally accepted her. When the leader of the Horde, Hordak, finds out that Shadow Weaver has escaped he sends Catra on a suicide mission to the Crimson Waste.
Season 3 is the beginning of the end for Catra. Of course, she was already struggling in seasons 1 & 2 but in three it hits her harder than it has before and it only gets worse from there. When she’s in the Crimson Waste, which is a supposedly deserted desert, she manages to take over every gang in the area in a day. Within 24 hours she is running the whole desert like a 1920s mob boss. At this point Catra is fully apathetic, she just doesn’t care and it’s made very clear from the moment she walks on screen.
“So, here’s the thing. I’ve done this. The whole “threatening people” bit, the intimidation. I’ve been there. And I just don’t care anymore. Some people have a bad day. I’ve had a bad life. If I want something, it’s taken from me. If I win a fight, I lose the war. Threats only work on someone who has something to lose. But me? I’ve already lost it all.” (S3E3 Once Upon a Time in the Waste)
She and Scorpia have the first good day that she’s had since Adora left. This all comes crashing down of course. After Catra takes over every gang in the area and acquires an army of henchmen she goes after Adora, who is in the Waste as well. She finally succeeds in bringing Adora down, for a moment, at least. When Adora is tied up, Catra visits her to gloat and Adora lets it slip that Shadow Weaver escaped to the rebellion. This is yet another breaking point for Catra. She’s finally on the top of the world, she feels like she’s accomplished something, and when Adora sweeps in with the news about Shadow Weaver, Catra is filled with hatred and anger. Unlike all the other times that she’s had a moment of no return, there were no feelings before this one, she was completely apathetic. The only thing she had was the drive to win, or more accurately, the drive for Adora to lose. “Shadow Weaver left me for you. All of this happened because of you.” (S3E3 Once Upon a Time in the Waste)
Catra doesn’t have anything to hold onto in her life anymore and the drive to destroy is the only thing keeping her going. “We are going back. We are going to open a portal. And we are going to crush them all.” (S3E3 Once Upon a Time in the Waste)
Catra becomes obsessed with the idea of “winning” even if it means the whole world burns.
Adora: Catra, look at what’s happening! You’re going to destroy everything!
Catra: I don’t care! I won’t let you win. I’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.” (S3E5 Remember)
When she brings Adora back to the Horde she plans on opening a portal that will essentially destroy everything. She withdraws from the only people who even had a semblance of friendship with her, Entrapta and Scorpia. She doesn’t care anymore and she just has the single-minded goal of winning, no matter what that entails.
When the Rebellion goes to the Fright Zone to try and stop the portal, Shadow Weaver helps them get in. Throughout the next three or so episodes Catra continuously blames her own faults and bad choices on others. For instance when she sees Shadow Weaver for the first time since season 2 she says:
So, what? You’re on the side of good now? You made me this way, and you get to be the good guy? Do you know what happened to me after you escaped? Do you even care? You couldn’t wait to get away from here, from me. But you came back for Adora. (S3E4 Moment of Truth)
Inside the alternate dimension, she verbally rips into Adora:
Let’s be honest, all of this is your fault. If you hadn’t gotten captured, your sword wouldn’t have opened the portal. If you hadn’t gotten the sword and been the world’s worst She-Ra none of this would have happened. Admit it, Adora. The world would still be standing if you had never come [here] in the first place. You made me this. You took everything from me! You broke the world and it is all your fault. (S3E6 The Portal)
In both quotes, she directly accuses others of making her the way she is. At the end of season 3 we see Catra at the worst she’s been in the series so far. Right before the portal opens, Entrapta discovers that Adora was right, this portal will rip the fabric of reality apart. Entrapta tries to stop Catra from opening the portal but she miscalculates when she says that “Adora was right”. Of course, this hits very close to home for Catra:
Adora is right? Adora gets everything she wants. But not this time. This time, I’m going to win. I don’t care what it takes. We are opening that portal now. (S3E4 Moment of Truth)
Catra uses a weapon on one of her only friends left and knocks Entrapta out. In the moment, Catra decides to send her to Beast Island. When Scorpia is rightfully shocked by this, Catra asks her, “You wanna be next?” (S3E4 Moment of Truth). When she’s asked by Hordak where Entrapta is, she lies and says that Entrapta betrayed them, driving Hordak into a fury.
Catra is the one who pulls the lever to initiate the portal. She knew it would happen and she chose to end the world. Not only that, but she smiled while she did it.
Inside this alternate reality caused by the portal, we see a glimpse of what Catra was like before Adora left, but not in a flashback. In this brief moment, we get the signal that Catra still cares somewhere deep down underneath layers and layers of trauma and feelings of helplessness. When Adora tells her that nothing is real, that the world is ending, Catra says, “Why can’t you just stay? We have everything we ever wanted.” (S3E5 Remember) This brief light of hope flickers out almost immediately, but it was there.
When Adora inevitably fixes what Catra broke, the look shared between them shows that Adora has finally given up on Catra. And Catra, who thought herself to be Adora’s enemy for a long time at this point, is upset by this. Almost like some of her lashing out was a cry for help, specifically to Adora, who always held hope for her. Seeing that hope gone sent her even further down the hole she had made herself.
Season 4 is Catra at her worst. She struggles this season. At the beginning of season 4, she takes control of the Horde. She blackmails Hordak into becoming her partner, the two of them ruthlessly conquer large parts of Etheria and imprison them. Throughout this season Catra gets meaner. That’s not to say that Catra wasn’t mean before, just now it’s not under the pretense of play fighting or sarcasm, it’s just intended to make people feel bad and put her in power. In this season Double Trouble joins the Horde. They are a shapeshifter who goes undercover for Catra in the Rebellion as Flutterina to gain intel and create a ruckus. While Catra starts to pull away from Scorpia she gets closer to Double Trouble. Double Trouble is very clearly in it for the money, they view this as just a job, not a friendship. For them, they don’t pick a side based on values or grudges, they pick whichever one is winning.
When Catra tells Scorpia to retrieve all of Entrapta’s recordings about her findings in research, Scorpia can’t give the recordings to Catra, so she lies and says that she extracted them but damaged them in the process. This leads Catra into a flurry of rage:
Catra: I asked you to do one thing. One simple thing and you completely ruined it! But of course you ruined it. Yeah. You’re Scorpia. That’s just what you do. You couldn’t handle Emily, you never know when to shut up. The only thing you’ve ever done is get in my way! What did I expect? I mean, how can you possibly be this useless?… What?
Scorpia: You’re a bad friend. (S4E6 Princess Scorpia)
Scorpia finally reaches her breaking point with Catra as a friend. She decides to leave and join the rebellion in hopes of saving Entrapta from Beasts Island. Even though this was the right thing for Scorpia to do for herself it did pile onto the people that had left Catra, even if she did deserve it. This drives Catra even more off the edge. In the episode Boys’ Night Out there is a subplot that makes up about five minutes of the entire episode of Catra trying to get a hold of Scorpia through her communicator. Every time she’s met with static and the more it happens the more paranoid she gets that someone else has left her. By the end of the episode, you see Catra go into Scorpia’s room shouting her name only to be met with a note on the bed.
This gets even worse when Double Trouble is captured by the Rebellion after being found out as a double agent. Catra believes that Double Trouble has left her too and that she’s fully alone. This is when things get markedly worse. Catra shuts herself in a surveillance room and commands her armies from there. She forces her soldiers to work non-stop, as seen in episode 10:
“Oh, I’m sorry, are you tired? We’re all tired, but we’re not going to rest until we have all of Etheria under our control. Everything is finally coming together. We’re winning. So, get back out there.” (S4E10 Fractures)
She doesn’t sleep, she becomes paranoid that people are laughing at her, even cornering Lonnie and saying, “Don’t pretend like you don’t know! Are they laughing at me?” (S4E10 Fractures) She struggles with reaching out to others for help. When she almost opens up to the people that she trained with as a child, the people that she grew up with ends up snapping at them instead and trying to attack. When Kyle rightfully says, “We used to be your friends why are you treating us like this?” (S4E12 Destiny Part 1) it leaves her dumbfounded. Double Trouble makes a reappearance, which Catra is very grateful for, having believed that they left her. Double Trouble tells her that now is the time to take the final strike against the Rebellion. She trusts their word and sends out their armies.
Double Trouble is not a very stable support for Catra. They want to be on the winning side and by this point, that’s not the Horde. Double Trouble ends up betraying Catra by telling Hordak what she did to Entrapta. This leads to a battle between Catra and Hordak, where once again Catra states that she doesn’t need anyone, that she’s better off on her own. “I didn’t need Entrapta. I didn’t need Adora, or Scorpia. And I don’t need you!” (S4E13 Destiny Part 2) She wins the fight against Hordak but unfortunately, too late, the Big Villain of the show has finally arrived, Horde Prime.
As Catra sits in her wake of destruction Double Trouble comes back to get in one last word.
Double Trouble (as Adora): Hey, Catra.
Catra: No. You can’t do this. You can’t come in and take this from me now.
Double Trouble (as Adora): Whoa, I knew this would get a rise out of you, but, still, you really are obsessed, aren’t you, Kitten?
Double Trouble (as self): You know it took me a while, but I finally figured out your character.
Double Trouble (as Catra): You try so hard to play the big, bad villain, but your heart’s never been in it, has it?
Catra: What — ? What are you? Stop. Stop it.
Double Trouble (as Catra): People have hurt you, haven’t they?
Double Trouble (as Shadow Weaver): They didn’t believe in you.
Double Trouble (as Hordak): They didn’t trust you.
Double Trouble (as Adora): Didn’t need you. Left you.
Double Trouble (as self): But did you ever stop to think maybe they’re not the problem?
Double Trouble (as Scorpia): It’s you. You drive them away, Wildcat.
Catra: Why are you doing this?
Double Trouble (as self): It’s for your own good, darling.” (S4E13 Destiny Part 2)
This serves as a very rude awakening to Catra. Not quite enough for her to completely change everything about herself but enough to get the ball rolling. When Catra is later found by Glimmer not only physically wrecked but emotionally as well, she yet again shows bad apathy towards her own life that she did at the beginning of season 3.
“Glimmer: Your troops are gone. You’re all alone. You’ve lost.
Catra: What are you waiting for? Do it.” (S4E13 Destiny Part 2)
Catra has finally reached the end of her rope. After years of being obsessed with the idea of winning, not for value or meaning, just to win she admits, “I thought winning would be different. At least more… I don’t know. Fun?” (S4E8 Boys’ Night Out) And just as Adora said all the way back in season 1, Catra is not a bad person, she’s a person who’s hurting. And no, that doesn’t excuse her actions but it does give her a reason to be forgiven. This shows that she’s finally at her lowest point the only way she can go from here is up.
Season 5, the final season of this show, finally gives Catra the redemption that she deserves. Season 5’s antagonist, Horde Prime, has resolved to take over all of Etheria and wipe out everything using a very powerful weapon that only the princesses can activate. Luckily for him, he already has Glimmer imprisoned on his ship. While on the ship, Glimmer and Horde Prime give Catra the last few pushes she needs to redeem herself. Prime points out her feelings about and for Adora. Of course, Catra immediately denies this, but Prime has a point: Adora is special to her that’s why she felt the need to beat her and make her lose for so long.
Catra: These princesses are so predictable with their feelings.
Horde Prime: As were you.
Catra: What?
Horde Prime: Elevated heart rate, dilated pupils. Adora means something to you.
Catra: No. She doesn’t. She chose her side, I chose mine. She means nothing to me.” (S5E1 Horde Prime)
After the season 4 finale, and now being stuck on Horde Prime’s ship, Catra has no one to turn to, she is truly alone. In this moment of weakness, she starts visiting Glimmer who is held hostage on the ship. She and Glimmer have a tentative sort of banter between them. When Catra asks what Glimmer would be doing if she were on Etheria right now she gives a response full of joy, magic, and friends, but when the same question is turned on Catra she’s forced to consider that there is nothing like that for her anymore.
Glimmer: What would you be doing if you were back on Etheria?
Catra: I’d — uh, nothing. There’s nothing for me on Etheria. (S5E3 Corridors)
When word reaches Prime that Adora has come to save Glimmer, Catra is caught between the instinct to protect Adora and the learned response to hurt her. In the end, it’s Glimmer who tips her over the edge saying, “Please, Catra! Do one good thing in your life.” (S5E3 Corridors) Not a lot of people want to be a bad person and Catra was acting that way because she thought it would help her protect herself but as she learned it did the exact opposite. She decides to help Glimmer escape. She wants to do that one good thing in her life. She wants to ease her mind before she’s taken to Prime, who will most probably kill her. She wants one of the last things she does to be saving Adora.
To do this Catra leaves herself behind. She believes that her life has no value, she says “Me? All I do is hurt people. There’s no one left in the entire universe who cares about me.” (S5E3 Corridors)
She contacts Adora telling her where to pick up Glimmer and not to come to Prime no matter what. She finally says sorry for the first time in the show, and maybe even in her life. Once Glimmer is gone Prime brainwashes Catra by placing a chip on her neck linking her to the hive mind.
Hearing Catra say sorry gave Adora hope again and she goes back to save her despite being told not to do that by the person in question. When Adora gets there she discovers what Prime has done and tries to get Catra to resist the mind control. This version of Catra isn’t just a mindless soldier, she is a version of Catra who is inhumanly complete and in control and loyal to Horde Prime. Brainwashed Catra attempts to kneecap Adora, not only physically, but mentally as well, using Catra’s memories against Adora.
Adora: Snap out of it, Catra! I don’t want to hurt you.
Catra: But you have already hurt me. (S5E5 Save the Cat)
When the chip finally starts malfunctioning Catra starts to shine through more and more, the first thing she says being,
Catra: Why did you come back? We both know I don’t matter.
Adora: You matter to me. (S5E5 Save the Cat)
When it looks like she’s just about to pull through, it goes back to the idea of a promise. Just like when they were kids and they promised to stay together and protect each other, Adora promises to take her home.
Adora: Come on, Catra! You’ve never listened to anyone in your life. Are you really going to start now?
Catra: You’re such an idiot.
Adora: Yeah. I know. I’m going to take you home.
Catra: Promise?
Adora: I promise. (S5E5 Save the Cat)
Seeing this, Horde Prime kills Catra. He uses the chip on her neck to electrocute her and kill her. She screams in agony and falls off the side of the platform to her apparent death. Distraught, Adora summons She-Ra without her sword and proceeds to make her way to her ship, taking out any enemies in her way, carrying Catra’s body with her. When they make it back to the ship and are a safe distance away from Prime, She-Ra uses her powers to bring Catra back to life. When Catra coughs and sputters and takes her first couple breaths Adora hugs her, and much to every single person’s relief Catra hugs her back.
Unfortunately recovering from years and years of trauma and being enemies doesn’t happen in a couple of hours. Catra continues to struggle throughout the rest of season 5 but now she’s trying to make an effort to be better. In the episode Taking Control, Catra is still very much in the habit of shutting people out and hiding from her mistakes. She asks Adora to drop her off at the nearest planet and again she assumed that her life has no value, she says:
Catra: What do you care? I know you all hate me!
Adora: I never hated you! (S5E6 Taking Control)
Over the course of this episode she learns that she can’t just do one thing and become a better person, she has to actively try. When Adora is about to walk away from her she reaches out for the first time since the first season and asks her to stay.
Catra joins the Rebellion and she finally feels better. She’s back with the person she cares about the most and she’s finally making amends. It feels good to do good things, just like how it feels good to eat healthy things, even though they’re not the best snack your body feels a lot better afterward. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last very long as Shadow Weaver makes it back into the picture. Shadow Weaver says that she’s found a way to save everyone and defeat Prime and Adora wants to go with her, believing that it is the only option. Her insecurities surrounding Adora and Shadow Weaver’s relationship come back full force but thankfully Catra had been making progress beforehand. She and Adora are able to talk it out for the first time, saying:
Catra: Seems like you and Shadow Weaver have it handled. After everything she’s done to us, you’re really going to follow her?
Adora: I don’t like it either, but this is the only plan we have. The Failsafe could finally save Etheria. Shadow Weaver hurt us. I haven’t forgotten that. But Prime is hurting so many more people. I need to stop him, Catra.
Catra: I know, I know. You have to go save the world. Spare me the speech.
Adora: Hey, she can’t do anything to us anymore. Please, come. We — I could really use your help. (S5E11 Failsafe)
The only way to defeat Horde Prime is for Adora to sacrifice herself to stop the Heart of Etheria. Having just gotten Adora back in her life Catra does not want to see her go at all. She decides to leave in the night without saying goodbye but Adora finds her:
Catra: Then do it. That’s what you want. That’s what you’ll always choose. I don’t have to stay and watch it happen.
Adora: Catra, please, stay. I need you.
Catra: No, you don’t. You never have. (S5E11 Failsafe)
In the end, Adora is unable to convince Catra to stay and she leaves once again. Melog, Catra’s familiar introduced this season, tries to make her go back as well but Catra says, “You saw what happened! Adora chose Shadow Weaver, okay? Not me! Adora doesn’t want me! Not like I want her.” (S5E12 Heart Part 1) Not only does this perspective reflect her trauma surrounding Shadow Weaver, but in this quote, Catra is directly acknowledging her feelings for Adora. Throughout the show, she said on many occasions “This is not because I like you” which was a lie to protect herself from the idea of liking, maybe even loving, someone else. She was afraid it was a weakness then and that has not changed. Her admitting this, even if it’s just to a huge cat, is a huge step in the right direction for Catra.
When Catra comes across important intel that could save Adora’s life, and even the world, she runs back to the camp only to find Shadow Weaver.
Shadow Weaver: She’s gone to the Heart of Etheria to free the magic and become the hero she was born to be. If you are still so selfish as to try and stop —
Catra: Enough! This isn’t about you and your messed-up power trip anymore. (S5E12 Heart Part 1)
Shadow Weaver starts to do what she’s always done to Catra, which is to look down on her and compare her to Adora. But this time is different, because this time Catra interrupts her. Instead of being manipulated, she got what she needed nothing more, nothing less. Shadow Weaver transports the two of them to the Heart of Etheria to find Adora. When they get there Glimmer and Bow are waiting. Catra offers to stay saying, “I’ll stay. I’ll find her. I can’t lose her again, okay? I promised her a long time ago that I’d look out for her. It’s time I made good on that.” (S5E12 Heart Part 1)
Catra and Shadow Weaver find Adora who is being attacked by a monster. She is infected with Horde Prime’s virus and cannot turn into She-Ra. Shadow Weaver sacrifices herself so that Catra and Adora can get to the Heart. She goes out doing what she does best, being manipulative (specifically to Catra).
Shadow Weaver: Please, Catra. You need to make sure Adora reaches the Heart. The magic must be set free.
Catra: Stop it! It’s going to kill you!
Shadow Weaver: It’s too late for me. But you, this is only the beginning for you. I am so proud of you Catra. You’re welcome. (S5E13 Heart Part 2)
When they get to the Heart, Adora realizes that she won’t survive the process of destroying it because she cannot turn into She-Ra. She asks Catra to leave but this time Catra stays. She says, “No. No. I’m not leaving. Whatever happens, I am staying with you.” (S5E13 Heart Part 2) Which is a far cry from Catra’s season 1 “Bye, Adora. I really am going to miss you.”
Not only does she refuse to leave but she’s the reason that Adora survives the process of destroying the heart and brings the magic back to Etheria. She even confesses her love to Adora, the person who she believed was her own weakness. And with that admission, Adora is finally able to turn into She-Ra again because she feels the same way. She-Ra is not just a being of pure magic she’s also a being of love and light and that’s what Catra is to her. When Catra says:
“You can’t give up. You have never given up on anything in your life. Not even on me. So, don’t you dare start now. I’ve got you. I’m not letting go. Don’t you get it? I love you. I always have. So, please, just this once… stay.” (S5E13 Heart Part 2)
Catra saves the world by taking one of the first huge steps in overcoming and coping with her trauma. She’s a far ways away from being as happy as she can be but she’s getting better. She apologizes to Entrapta and Scorpia and she does so without changing who she is fundamentally. She’s still Catra, she’s just Catra who hurts a little bit less inside. Catra’s last line in the whole show reflects her growth so much. She goes from “I didn’t want you to come back, Adora!” (S1E11: Promise) to “Of course I’m going with you, dummy.” (S5E13 Heart Part 2). Catra suffered for a long time but she’s finally on the road to getting better.
“I love the female characters in ‘She-Ra.’ There isn’t another show quite like it.” — Noelle Stevenson
