Understanding Catra (She-Ra Season 1)
Below is a write up I did re-examining the events of She-Ra season one focusing on Catra’s perspective in her relationship with Adora. The two start the season best of friends and by the end of it they are enemies. This is a mental exercise I conducted so I could best understand Catra for my project: creating a season six. I personally found myself often confused and struggling to understand Catra’s motivations throughout the series while watching and upon reflection. This analysis takes a look back through every major thing that happens to Catra in season one, while trying to maintain a favourable perspective towards her. I have shared this because writing it made me gain an appreciation for the character I never would have had without doing all the mental work of trying to understand her motivations, and explain them through writing. I hope it can do the same for you. Enjoy.
We are biased to a certain interpretation of the events at the beginning of the story for a few reasons:
We enter with a neutral perspective. Everyone in the show has preconceived notions about the Horde and Princesses, the audience does not.
Our story starts with the day Adora leaves, Catra’s story has years of background before that.
The show is primarily through Adora’s perspective.
In the beginning, Adora is completely sold on the Horde. She does not show any doubts, concerns, or desires outside of becoming Force Captain and fighting against the Princesses with Catra.
Adora falls off the skiff and sees the vision of the sword in the woods. Catra finds her, knocked out in a bush. To Catra, that vision never happens. She just assumes Adora has suffered some kind of head injury. And her reaction to that is:
“Shadow Weaver is going to kill me”
Adora tells Catra about the sword in the woods and seems convinced of it, but she doesn’t tell her of the other details. The images, a hero needing to “save” Etheria, Light Hope (Adora doesn’t know who she is at the time) saying her name. Catra not believing Adora makes sense. She never sees the sword in the woods, and Adora fell really far.
The next interaction we get of them is Adora leaving to go back in the woods. She does not tell Catra she plans to leave, and when Catra confronts her, she tells her to stay behind. This is the last time they see each other until the second half of episode 2.
When Adora explains she saw something, Catra is willing to go with her. But Adora tells her to stay, explaining that she doesn’t want Catra to get in trouble on her behalf. This is a product of Shadow Weaver’s manipulation. Adora puts everything on herself because she has been conditioned that her mistakes hurt others, as we see in the memory from “Promise” where Catra is abused because Adora wanted to go inside the crystal room.
Catra, because of the abuse from Shadow Weaver, is extremely emotionally dependent on Adora and wants to go everywhere with her. Adora leaving triggers her fear of abandonment.
The next time we see Catra, SW is asking where Adora is. Catra says she doesn’t know. This isn’t true, she believes she is in the woods. She is lying because Adora asked her to cover for her. Shadow Weaver responds:
“You two are close. She would never depart without telling you”
“Then I guess she let us both down”.
This is crucial because technically Catra is not lying. You can tell in her facial expression, she is hurt that Adora was planning on leaving without telling her. Catra found out, but that was because she followed Adora.
When Shadow Weaver tells Catra to get her, Catra says no. SW then proceeds to use some kind of magic on Catra. Her facial expression shows the fear and (most likely) PTSD from physical abuse she has suffered. SW threatens her.
Why does Catra say no to finding Adora?
Catra cares about Adora more than anything, and it seems like returning her to the Horde would be her top priority. Adora did ask Catra to “cover for her”, but I think Catra would value her safety over that wish. I think maybe it is because Catra is upset that Adora left without her and she is lashing out.
When Catra finds Adora, she is excited (you can even hear the purr but I am not 100% sure if this is from finding Adora or driving the tank). She has joy in her voice and immediately jumps on her so we know she is excited to see her.
Adora says what the Horde is doing is wrong, and does not want to go back. She says that Hordak and Shadow Weaver are manipulating them. Catra responds by saying: that is obvious.
Their disagreement stems from a fundamental difference in their core identities and how they were raised. Adora is centered by a strong moral foundation. She eats up the lies by Shadow Weaver and the Horde because having virtue is what matters to her.
Adora justifies in her head the abuse she sees with Catra by blaming herself. Catra also has a tendency to lash out and be insubordinate, so she assumes that is another reason for her treatment instead of the abuse being the cause of Catra’s behavior.
On the other hand, Catra is abused emotionally (and seemingly physically) by Shadow Weaver. We do not know if this abuse extended to the people around her as well. It is clear she does not have a great relationship with her peers though. But Catra’s foundation is Adora. The people around her treat her awfully but she sticks around anyway because of Adora. She is given the same information, but does not believe it as whole-heartedly as Adora does because it doesn’t matter as much to her. She is more aware of the manipulation and is more skeptical of it because she had a much more direct relationship with it. Adora was abused and manipulated by Shadow Weaver and Catra acknowledges that, but they were manipulated differently.
So when they are facing each other in the wreckage of the civilian town, they fundamentally do not understand each other. Adora cannot understand that Catra does not have the same moral framework she does, and Catra cannot understand why that is important to Adora when they have been surrounded by bad people their entire lives.
Neither of them are wrong. They just both sit in misunderstanding.
This is the reason Adora’s appeal does not work. Adora is appealing to Catra to come with her, appealing to her morality, because what the Horde is doing is wrong. But Catra already thought what the Horde is doing is wrong, so nothing has changed for her.
But she realizes Adora has already decided she is not returning. A decision she made, without Catra. From a moral standpoint, Adora is making the right decision. But from a relationship standpoint, she is not. Adora is deciding to uproot both of their lives because of her “identity crisis”. Catra has no knowledge of She-Ra, the sword, or what was said to make Adora think what she was thinking. It was a decision, from Catra’s perspective, solely formed from information Adora heard from her captors. This triggers Catra’s deep rooted jealousy from her fear of abandonment.
Despite this, Catra still has not given up on returning Adora. She zaps her “a lot stronger than I thought”. When Adora asks why, she explains that it is “because you left me and Shadow Weaver will have my head”. Adora sees Catra’s actions plainly, she is now using violence against her to make her come back. This reinforces her moral compass that the Horde is wrong, and Catra is just an extension of that.
What drives Catra to run away?
The next time Catra sees Adora, she is She-Ra. Based on the look on her face, her dialogue in the next episode, and the fact Adora told her about the sword, Catra knows that She-Ra = Adora. Her reaction to seeing Adora as She-Ra is to run away.
I think the reason she does this is because seeing Adora as She-Ra makes her realize this whole situation is more serious than she originally thought. Catra asks her if she had brain damage in episode 1, and chalks it up to an identity crisis before this moment. However, seeing Adora be a literal princess changes a lot. It confirms what Adora said she saw in the woods, and losing Adora becomes a real possibility.
“Razz” is the episode where Catra really starts to doubt her foundation like Adora did in the first two episodes. If you remember, her foundation is Adora and that starts to unravel. Lonnie and the others add to her sense of abandonment:
“Adora’s not here to protect you anymore”
This line serves to twist the knife in the fresh wound Catra now has. Adora promised to stay together, and now she was actively choosing to be away from her. It amplifies her insecurities and feelings of betrayal. We see this continued with her conversation with Shadow Weaver:
“If Adora wanted to come home, she’d be here, right now. Adora’s GONE. SHE DEFECTED. And I’m starting to think she had the right idea. So maybe it’s YOU who should be showing a little more respect to ME.”
It shows the tear in their relationship. Catra has to now speak out loud the reality that Adora abandoned her. Although their relationship may be strained, at this point Catra still cares a lot about Adora. Her remark that she ‘may have had the right idea’ is not just to anger Shadow Weaver but shows she is tempted to leave. The Horde never gave her anything good anyway, and it became even worse since Adora left.
Underscoring everything is Catra’s guilt. She acts cold-hearted throughout a majority of the series, but we see in season 5 this is just a coping mechanism to hide from her own shame. Catra no doubt feels an immense amount of guilt from Adora leaving. Catra’s guilt is rooted in Shadow Weaver’s abuse. As a child, Catra believed that she had to be doing something wrong to warrant the abuse she received. Deep down, she believes Shadow Weaver is justified in her treatment of her, and is desperate to prove her wrong. Because of this internally Catra blames herself for Adora leaving. Shadow Weaver reinforces all of this is “Flowers for She-Ra” when she asks:
“What happened to Adora? What did YOU do?”
At the end of episode 3, Hordak gives Catra a promotion to force captain. Because of the abuse, Catra is extremely responsive to any kind of positive reinforcement. All of the pain she felt in the episode was caused by Adora and the one piece of joy was because she left. This plants the seeds of doubt that Adora is what matters most to her.
Despite this, she hasn’t given up on Adora.
“It’s just a phase. She’s confused. I’ll bring her back in I swear” - “Flowers for She-Ra”.
The seeds of doubt are planted but haven’t begun to take shape yet. The first instance we see where they do is in “The Sea Gate”. This is their 1st in person interaction since episode 2. Adora continues to double down, but more importantly is what Catra sees as she’s being dragged away: Adora laughing with her new friends.
We know Catra has at least some history being controlling over Adora with her flashback in “Corridors”. Seeing Adora laugh with her friends continues to amplify the feeling of abandonment. And it is painful to see Adora so happy without her.
We see the results of this directly in “Princess Prom” where Catra decides to go after Adora’s friends. Not only is it a surefire way to get Adora back into the Fright Zone, it's a way to get some revenge on the two people that she thinks took Adora away from her. Despite the malice of a plan like this, Catra still cares about Adora and in “No Princess Left Behind” she gives her the sword so she can escape.
“Promise” is arguably the most important episode in their arc, with it and “Save the Cat” being a two horse race for that title. The episode gains a whole new meaning through a rewatch, as you gain the context needed to properly understand the episode. The motif of the two ‘living through memories’ is actually just an elaborate attempt by Light Hope to make Adora “let go” of Catra.
They both enter inside the First Ones Beacon, and become trapped behind some rubble. Catra doesn’t want to go with Adora, but they are literally forced to be together, as there is no other way to go.
Then, their memories start to be projected. We see one of Catra getting herself in trouble, and Adora sticking up for her as they run out holding hands.
It’s clear that Catra’s act of kindness giving the sword back opened Adora back up to the idea they could still be friends.
Catra’s response to these advances is predictable. Because she is still hurt from Adora’s decision to leave, she is cold and tries to keep herself from allowing Adora back into her heart. The first meaningful conversation they have is about Catra giving the sword back. Adora doesn’t understand why she would do that. Catra’s explanation is that she didn’t want Shadow Weaver to erase Adora’s memory.
But after this we receive some hints this isn’t the real reason. Catra begins to open up in her own “Catra way”. She brushes her tail against Adora’s hand as she walks away, and then reciprocates Adora’s vulnerability:
“It wasn’t all bad growing up in the Fright Zone, was it? I mean, you still have some good memories right?”
Catra lets Adora in on her main insecurity. She felt like when Adora abandoned the Horde, it was because of her. That’s why she asks this question, trying to get comfort and clarity on why Adora left. Adora gives this comfort, and noticing Catra’s gestures of good will, tells her that she misses her too. Catra of course denies this, but there is no doubt both of them see and appreciate the others' attempts.
There is another memory of them training, where Adora ends up winning and getting a lot of praise even though Catra would have won if Adora didn’t have help from Lonnie. Adora then comes in and shows concern, asking if she was hurt, and then telling her she did a great job. Unlike the 1st memory, this one splits Catra and Adora up, as Adora goes off with the other members of the group when Catra declines her invitation to ‘cool off’. Catra then goes on her own to the lockers. We see this is a painful memory for Catra, as she cries in the mirror.
This memory showcases Catra’s jealousy. First in Adora getting all the credit for everything, and second in her having fun with other people. We see this memory made her take a step back from her vulnerability, as after Adora goes in to try and save Catra from a robot, she knocks away her hand and says:
“Can you stop telling me what to do?”
Adora remains persistent, and gives a heartfelt monologue:
“I’m sorry for leaving. I couldn’t go back to the Fright Zone - not after I saw what the Horde was really doing. I never wanted to leave you. You could come with me! You-you could join the rebellion! I know you’re not a bad person Catra, you don’t belong with the Horde.”
I expect Catra was pretty shocked by Adora saying this. In “Princess Prom” she did a pretty horrible thing in kidnapping Glimmer and Bow, and that resulted in Adora almost getting her memory erased and Glimmer becoming cursed. Adora not only tells Catra she did not leave because of her, but shows it in this plea, still trying to convince Catra to come with her despite what she has done.
Remember, Catra’s core foundational thing motivating her in the beginning is for the two of them to stay together. Although a lot has changed, and Adora hurt her when she left all the way back in episode two, Catra still has that desire to be with her.
Looking back on that question Adora asked earlier, ‘why did you save me?’ We know after season five the answer to that is because Catra loved her and “I always have”. While Catra is mad at Adora, I believe she was really considering leaving the Horde.
But that is when Light Hope shows them a memory to set Catra off. A time where Adora suggested going into the crystal room, and Catra received all the punishment. Adora attempted to step in and explain to Shadow Weaver it was her idea too, but the damage had already been done.
This causes Catra and Adora to get into an argument. A lot is said, but I would boil it down to the fact Catra feels like Adora has been selfish. She is the hero and protects Catra only when it is convenient. She didn’t do it if it meant getting on Shadow Weaver’s bad side, and she didn’t do it when she left the Horde. Catra feels like Adora’s decisions are motivated by her hero complex, without any care for her.
“Why do you think I gave the sword back to you in the Fright Zone? I didn’t want you to come back, Adora.”
Catra throughout her life in the Fright Zone became accustomed to being second fiddle. The memory showed before, her crying in the mirror, is because she felt trapped in Adora’s shadow. She interprets Adora’s real motivations to be to keep Catra down in order to propel herself up.
This is why I think the common interpretation of “the promise” and Catra’s actions after is wrong.
When Catra sees the memory of the promise, she looks at it under a new light. She sees it as parasitic. Adora promised because it was beneficial to her. Catra was tricked into becoming Adora’s stepping stone.
“Ah, 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?...The sad thing is, I've 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 do not agree with Catra’s revelation, but I understand how she got there. Catra is a victim. She is a victim of trauma, abuse, and manipulation. A victim of years of built up anger and resentment. A victim whose past caused them to hate and disregard the only person who ever cared for them. The reason Catra becomes such a villain after this moment is because her core foundation was broken. She convinced herself that Adora did not actually care for her. It takes a deeply twisted and skewed version of reality to believe that, but that is the reality Catra lived in thanks to her environment. She misplaced all her feelings of anger and resentment into Adora rather than the real perpetrators. This sent her down a dark road that fueled all her evil decisions she made in seasons two, three, and four.
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