#writing errors

however, there are two main problems i have with his character (some of which i've already talked about but i want to go into more detail):

1. hordak was not an effective villain. heck, he was barely a villain at all.

you cannot tell me that hordak was the main villain of the first four seasons when the majority of his screentime was spent with him either lurking in his sanctum or canoodling with entrapta.. in his sanctum.

at first i thought that hordak was going to be this looming presence that had control over everything and puppeted everyone's every move, and was this evil masterpiece who orchestrated everything behind the scenes but.. nah. turns out he's just an incompetent manchild who needs a literal teenager with no battle experience to plan everything out for him. how did he conquer half of etheria before that? who knows? not important.

hordak also has no meaningful relationship with adora, the hero. there were actually a lot of parallels that could be drawn from hordak and adora both being raised by abusers who valued perfection over everything else. granted, in that aspect, hordak is more like catra but there isn't even that many parallels with him and catra. there are, in fact, more parallels with catra and shadow weaver or catra and horde prime.

and okay, not every hero and villain needs a deep intertwined relationship or complex narrative parallels. but at least give us something? a proper interaction?? the show even acknowledges the fact that hordak and adora have absolutely no connection with each other, when adora asks him why he kidnapped her and he basically replies with "lol who are you again". and then he just randomly remembers her at the end of the finale and it’s supposed to be this touching, emotional scene except you feel nothing because these characters literally never interacted, what are we looking at?

adora is supposed to be fighting the horde, but it seemed like she was just fighting catra most of the time. as the hero who opposes etheria's oppressors, shouldn't adora mainly be targeting hordak, the person who started it all? and shouldn't hordak, as the leader of the horde, be more concerned about the rebellion having an actual god on their side? i guess it doesn't really matter if said god can be easily defeated by a inexperienced catgirl

it just feels like hordak didn't have to be a villain at all. we only know he does horrifying things, because the narrative says that he does. oh, and he tortures catra once and sends her to crimson waste, so i guess that qualifies as being a villain.

the point of a villain is to drive the central conflict of the story. to oppose the hero and to pose an actual threat to the status quo. any character who doesn't do this is merely an antagonist. in hordak's case, i don't even know if he counts as an antagonist. he's like that one edgy antihero with a dark past where he murdered countless people but it doesn't really matter in present time. it’s just there to add flavor and to enhance his tragic past, because war is obviously a fictional fantasy trope and totally not something that has happened in real life. /s

2. like many other characters in this show, hordak's character almost completely revolves around his love interest.

yes, entrapta taking care of hordak and boosting his self-esteem is endearing. yes, hordak breaking his defenses and being vulnerable around entrapta is very sweet. but apart from entrapta, the only characters who have any kind of effect on hordak is horde prime and catra. and.. i guess, imp? but again, imp is mostly just a stand-in for the cute animal sidekick.

i know that hordak was supposed to be a recluse but it's impossible to believe that this kind of person was able to start an army and feed them with false propaganda. again, if you read my post about cults and their methods of indoctrination, you would know that cult leaders are often very charismatic and friendly people. and i know the horde isn't exactly a cult but we are supposed to believe that at least some of the cadets raised there genuinely believed that they were on the side of good, when their leader was a mysterious shut-in who basically didn't do anything substantial and their mentor/superior officer was just actively radiating Evil Vibes™.

i just wish they did more with hordak’s character and actually made him interact with some of the other characters. he doesn’t even interact with shadow weaver that much, and she was his second-in-command. even if it’s not direct interactions, it would have been interesting to see the characters mention hordak more, especially the ex-horde soldiers. apart from the general “oh no he’s evil and wants to kill everyone”, that is.

like we see people talking about shadow weaver. we see adora open up about her relationship with shadow weaver and ponder about whether there’s some good left in the woman who raised her. we see glimmer talking about how powerful shadow weaver is and how she could help the rebellion. we see catra complaining about how shadow weaver treated her in comparison to adora. we see angella talk about how shadow weaver shouldn’t be trusted.

when you think about it, shadow weaver was much more of a looming menacing presence in spop, despite not even being a villain, let alone the main villain.

even when she was on the good side and helping the princesses, there was always a ceaseless feeling of unease and fear, because we’ve seen what she’s capable of. we weren’t just told that “shadow weaver is sooo abusive, she’s bad!” we see how she treats adora and catra, we see how she manipulates situations and people for her own benefit, we see how she slowly starts to get into glimmer’s head. the show actually does a good job with shadow weaver, and i have to give credit where credit is due. shadow weaver was genuinely a well-written character.

hordak is just.. there, most of the time. he acts evil enough to be considered as one of the villains but he’s not actually a villain if you consider it for more than five seconds. he doesn’t really do anything for the bulk of the narrative, he has one kinda cool scene where he stands up to his abuser and then he just peaces out with entrapta.

I can understand that as a fan you want to support your driver but they need to learn the difference between supporting and dickridding. Blaming the car or stragey when he was clearly under performing for his amount of exprince. The whole "noise and distraction" shit.

The whole for the last couple races Daniel has outperformed Yuki narrative where they leave out the fact that people kept crashing into yuki. Like please watch the race.

Also plus the whole spreading hate towards Liam/checo and the team is so uneacressory. Just look at any comments on any of their instrgrams and you'll see. Them threatening to unfollow and block visacashapp is so stupid aswell. Like the team wants points not followers on social media accounts.

His fans go on about how they are going to have no sponsors or fans because they got rid of daniel.

Well going on about how Checo only has a seat because how much sponsors and fans he has. When if you look at Daniel it's the exact same.

Honestly there is so much more.

It was "7:00 or 7:30"

In writing, there's this idea that in order for a story to be meaningful, sacrifice needs to carry weight with it. This can be because of the lead-up making it hit harder. This can be because of the irreversability. But losses of any kind should be treated with dignity, with consideration, with pause where it can be afforded- and if not, pause should be taken later.

Tales of Arcadia traditionally does this either Really Well or just Well.

In Trollhunters:

-Draal sacrifices himself as a culmination of his arc of becoming Jim's friend, equal, protector, and confidante. It's incredibly well planned out. You can feel Gunmar's control looming over Draal's head when they're in Merlin's tomb, can feel the uncertainty of the moment, and Draal's death is simultaneously heart-wrenching and, for him, a release- a parallel to his father's death, accepting his fate and plunging in almost the exact same way.

-Vendel's death is shortly preceded by his clear acceptance of Jim as the Trollhunter and his determination to fight for him. It's a moment that makes it immensely obvious how much Vendel has been changed by Jim's genuinely good nature. And in death, he warns them and stands up for them one last time, making the moment even more bittersweet, as tinged as it is by the horror of Usurna.

-Angor Rot has the classic death-redemption, but he's not treated as weak. It's a genuine, earned, heroic moment. And the bitter sting of Morgana not going down with him turns the audience on her even more.

In 3Below:

-Krel connecting with Buster in Season 2 only for Buster to be ruthlessly felled by Morando adds a depth of hatred for him immensely effectively. It's a Kill the Dog moment done horribly, painfully right.

-The second loss of the parents cements Aja and Krel's sacrifice. The parents surviving would be a death for the sake of family, for the sake of Aja and Krel being able to cling to their childhoods another moment, even as they lay down their lives for everyone else. The parents dying is the more intelligent move monarchy-wise- preserving the heirs, and story-wise it forces both Aja and Krel to face the reality that they were never kids, but royals. That is the sacrifice they make- not dying, but living the way their planet needs them to.

In Wizards:

-They had us connecting to Douxie so hard in the span of like 9 episodes that all of us cried over Merlin for a second just because of how it affected Douxie. This is probably the best written death in the series, just because of the fact that the mourning is the most indirect and just as effective.

-Morgana sacrificing herself to stop the Green Knight after realizing she's irreparably damaged her own cause just. yeah

But in Rise of the Titans, the deaths feel rushed. Obligatory. Instead of cutting your soul they're just sucker-punching you. They're trying to force the stakes up, but they do so very poorly.

And worst of all, the ending takes away the significance of every sacrifice in the entire series. The writers threw in so many unnecessary stakes-raiser deaths that they couldn't fix their own timeline and had to go and try to ruin the weight of the trilogy.

And that's just not okay. That's mocking the emotional investment the audience put into the trilogy.

Me: You need to put it normally.

Also me: Why?

Me: There will be consequences.

Me again: *Puts it in parentheses*

I’ve never talked much about this arc, and I’d keep it as short as I humanly can, as well; but this arc exhibits some brilliant writing if it’s seen from a very peculiar angle, especially of World Wars between Empires. A lot of imagery is what Japan endured (the destruction of the islands by the budding Jūbi is akin to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and Obito’s decision to end the entire alliance to end the nature of Empire, as well, to make it history and begin a new chapter that opens up into lasting peace (again, a clash between forces that are similar to Empires); however, Kishimoto presented something interesting that’s always fascinated me: the Uchiha are presented as Japan and foreigners; they’re the “us” in Konoha and the “other” in Konoha; they’re the antagonists and the heroes; the good, the bad, and the in-between; and the ones who’re cursed by the brothers and in turn curse the Empires but are also the ones who’re its greatest liberators. They’re the true antagonists (the ones who oppose) as they’re internally, externally, and thematically antagonistic; and they’re also the heroes, the ones who bring forth winds of change, and the ones that evolve, physically, spiritually, and emotionally—Sharingan is a perfect personification of all that. The Clan is a character itself as the enigma it illustrates is paradoxical; and how many characters have you come across that are so expansive in the manner in which they tackle a plethora of socio-cultural, religious, and political doctrines? I can assure you, not many.