Work Text
Adora and Catra both grew up with Shadow Weaver as their guardian. She was emotional and psychologically abusive to both characters and physically abusive to Catra. Their individual reactions to trauma are an interesting representation of abuse survivors.
It’s separated into some admittedly vague cluster of
symptoms of C-PTSD. Which I believe both of them have, and some BPD aspects when looking at Catra.
Attachment/Relationships:
Adora:
Adora’s relationship with Catra was clearly an intense one where they were the strongest force in each other’s lives, everything in
The Sword part 1&2
along with
Promise
really show how in the Horde they did everything together and were the only strong emotional connections Adora had. Adora quickly becomes extremely attached to Glimmer and Bow, I think she wants to fill the place that Catra left. She fears they don’t really want her there (Razz) but becomes emotionally dependent on them rather quickly. Adora was well liked within the Horde but all of this was always filtered by the manipulation. Shadow Weaver is the closest she had to a mother. Glimmer points this out in
The Shadows of Mystara
referring to her as doing “mom stuff”. Adora’s relationship with Shadow Weaver was an important guiding attachment in childhood. That attachment was disordered and I think for Adora this made her an extreme people pleaser as affection from Shadow Weaver and the other cadets was only ‘earned’ never freely given. The love of her new friends not being contingent on her being the best was surprising but helpful overall we see this in
Flowers for She Ra
when she is trying to accept she doesn’t have to be the hero others have built her up to be. The idea that Glimmer doesn’t want perfection is really powerful vs her upbringing demanding she has to be perfect all the time or lose love and be responsible for the abuse of Catra.
Catra:
Catra was never given any affection by anyone besides Adora growing up. She relied on this support even when it made her feel second best. Needing the comfort of it being Catra & Adora vs the world. The Promise
we see Adora gave her that nothing bad would ever happen to her when Adora was there was the one reliable thing she had, besides manipulation growing up (Promise). Adora fundamentally betrays this promise by wanting to fight without and against her. Not only that but Adora didn’t start to see the Horde as dangerous till strangers were hurt (The Sword Part 2), Adora never hated the Horde for controlling their lives, or even more for psychologically and physically abusing them. Shadow Weaver’s torture of Catra didn’t change Adora’s mind damage to random people did. We see how confused and hurt this made Catra in her rant about the princesses in
Princess Prom. Catra goes through periods of dependency and love for Adora to periods of hating her like in
The Sea Gate. She protects Adora like not giving her up as She Ra and latter letting
her go (No Princess Left Behind). Catra eventually lands on hating Adora, letting her be the enemy when she is faced with the degree of betrayal Adora had made her feel (Promise).Catra tires more than once to show compassion for Shadow Weaver in the early episodes. The connection of a maternal bond even when abusive is strong and even a small amount of affection is bound to happen. In
No Princess Left Behind
she even seems to be searching for Shadow Weaver’s approval and Hordak’s, something she has never gotten. Breaking the maternal bond in
Light Hope
is an abandonment of this last deep attachment rejecting the need for the approval and compassion she never got.After this Catra also rejects Scorpia’s offers of friendship making a more business-like relationship with her and Entrapta. After losing the one even semi-healthy relationship she had, and the only one based on any kind of love she appears hesitant to let others back in and creates an all business goal. Even if the personal vendetta against Adora (The Battle of Brightmoon) shows she is still fixated on that lost connection.
Conditioning:
Adora:
We see a large number of Adora’s behaviours are influenced by her trauma from her childhood in the Horde. This is especially salient in the way her behaviour contrasts heavily with Glimmer and Bow’s. Adora says that in the Horde they only calmed down by hitting things, a way to ingrain violence into all their actions (The Shadows of Mystara).
In
Princess Prom
when faced with a situation she doesn’t understand she resorts to what were drilled into her head. She goes back to recon, plan an attack, training for it. Adora is also the only one who never gets into the party, focusing on her mission. In
No Princess Left Behind
she easily slips back into the way of soldier mindset and this contrasts so heavily with the others who want to help but are undisciplined in their actions. In
The Beacon when faced with a loss she feels responsible for her first instinct is that she didn’t fight well enough, even calling the Horde right for how they raised her.
Catra:
Catra for the majority of the series shows conditioned submission to Shadow Weaver in actions even though she back talks. This makes perfect sense considering we see in
Promise
that when she acts out by going into Shadow Weaver physically assaults her. Shadow Weaver used her magic to abuse Catra starting at an extremely young age. In
The Sword part 1, we see Shadow Weaver still physically abusers her along with the psychological abuse up until the current time. She lets her say terrible things without fighting back, listens to her even when Hordak has already told them to do something else (The Sea Gate). It isn’t really till the end of in the Shadows of Mystacor
we see Catra really move against this programming after seeing Shadow Weaver fail.Catra is unused to any affection that doesn’t come from Adora, we see this when Scorpia tries to be nice to her not wanting to get too close, only letting her in because she can’t survive alone. When physical affection is offered by Scorpia, Catra freaks out (
The Sea Gate, In the Shadows of Mystacor, The Beacon & Promise) this makes sense as she experienced physical abuse from Shadow Weaver and lack of connection to the other Cadets therefore never having had a large amount of kind physical touch. When she meets Entrapta she doesn’t even make the overtures of friendship she did with Scorpia the relationship comes off as highly transactional from Catra’s perspective using emotional manipulation to reach her goal (The Beacon). Besides Adora growing up that was the only kind she got. And the only kind she saw including what Adora got from the people in charge came in a controlling and manipulative way that Catra recognized.Hyperarousal:
Adora:
With Adora, we see this play a part in the begging of
The Shadows of Mystara
even before she is clearly affected by the shadows she is on edge. Along these lines, I think the nightmares at the start of that episode was genuine and not caused by the shadows yet, partially because at the end of this episode we see Adora wake from her sleep and look for Glimmer.
In
Princess Prom
even before Catra comes we see her uncomfortable and on edge, she worries about being without a weapon fearing attack. While it is accurate her inability to believe it could go peacefully also shows Hypervigilance. In
No Princess Left Behind
she struggles to work with the other princesses as she is on edge and has a plan and the others aren’t used to having to function at that level of 360-degree focus. Adora’s startle response is higher she reacts more to surprises which are extra visible when putting her next to Bow and Glimmer.
Catra:
In
The Sword part 1, we see Catra was already awake when Adora snuck out, my guess is she was awoken by Adora jerking when she had nightmares. In
Light Hope
she comments on how Shadow Weaver’s physical abuse made her able to dodge attacks and get away easy, a function of hypervigilance is being more aware of possible attacks. There is only one scene we see her easily startled when she wants to show off being Force Capitan, throughout most of the show she tends to be on edge and aware. Another example is Catra being able to hold her own with Adora/She-Ra (Sea Gate, Princess Prom, The Battle of Bright Moon).
Identity Issues:Catra and Adora both suffered from a warped sense of self due to childhood trauma. They grew up in a culture of jobs and ranks that define people, mind control, violence and trauma. Their own parental figure was a key role in this and incredibly abusive. This left them both with a loss of personal identity.Adora:
Adora formed her self perception and identity around being the best and a leader and being responsible for others (The Sword pt 1 & Promise). Adora had to be as perfect as possible, to receive any form of affection and to live up to the goal of being Force Captain (The Sword part 1&2).
This perfection also had to be maintained to protect Catra from the worst abuse even if she never could have stopped it as it wasn’t her fault. In the flashback sequences in
Promise, we see that Shadow Weaver explicitly put Adora in charge of Catra planting the responsibility for others success and their suffering in her head. Adora was the best Cadet, Shadow Weaver’s golden kid, the one promised to be Force Capitan, the leader, Catra’s protector and the perfect soldier. A lot of this identity was wholly or partially externally placed on her. When she chooses to not be that anymore Adora is left at a complete loss. She then works to actively seeks out someone to tell her what to do and how she is meant to be (Razz). It’s a huge struggle to decide those things for herself since she never had that option before. (The Sword Part
1/2, Razz, Promise, & Light Hope).The whole reason Adora goes back for the sword in the first place is in search of an identity, wanting to know where she came from (The Sword Part 1). In
Razz
she just talks to the first person begging to be told what to do and spends most of the season searching for answers up until
Light Hope. She also over-attaches to She Ra, she wants to be her so bad, the mythical version she was told about (System Failure, Razz, & No Princess Left Behind). In
Flowers For She Ra, we see Adora using She Ra as a mask, she worries no one will like or trust Adora her as who she really is. When she is She Ra, she would be accepted and not have others or herself deal with trying to figure out who she is. Adora works hard to make Queen Angella proud of her by being She Ra instead of trying to become close to her as Adoa first, knowing she has reservations of her past in The Horde (Razz, Flowers for She Ra, The Sea Gate, & No Princess Left Behind). Adora falls apart when they lose Entrapta, that breaks her new identity of saviour which she needs to rely on being to function in her new life with any kind of sense of self (The Bacon, Light Hope, & The Battle of Bright Moon).
Catra:
Catra’s whole life was spent being told she was lesser than everybody else, the other Cadets but mostly to Adora. Shadow Weaver always treated her as a failure blaming anything that went wrong on her. Everyone defined her in conjunction with Adora not as who she could be on her own merits. Adora had to take care of her, she was protected from the other Cadets by Adora (The Sea Gate). In
Promise
we see from her childhood she was always getting into trouble, and facing abuse for her mistakes even as a little kid. Adora was always there though trying to protect her and offering friendship. Catra was willing to let Adora be in the limelight because she loved her because Adora was taking care of her. We see in
Promise
that when Catra was hurt she went to Adora who backed her up. Adora promised they could survive anything together so she never fought to not be second best (Promise). Leaning to define herself not as a part of a pair was hard because everyone she had known before constantly put her down. When trying to throw off this view of herself she decides to become everything she could be putting her own skill on full display and turning fully into The Horde no matter her hatred of the system. If she was had to become everything they made her be, then she would be the most powerful version she could be. Catra will not second best to Adora or Shadow Weaver’s puppet anymore she was upgraded to only second best to Hordak (Princess Prom, No Princess Left Behind, The Beacon, Promise & The Battle of Bright Moon).Various other Symptoms:
Adora:
Assuming the life she led was normal/being surprised by the way the others who grew up without abuse and The Hord lifestyle
in general (The Sword Part ½, In The Shadow of Mystacor, & Princess Prom).
A common reaction of long-term child abuse survivors in general and congruent with the idea of a wounded inner child
Clearly deals with nightmares and difficulty sleeping. (Razz & In The Shadow of Mystacor)
Consistently acting anxious and restless
Guilt (No Princess Left Behind, The Beacon, Light Hope, Promise, & The Battle of Bright Moon)
Idolization to complete hatred of her abuser (The Sword part 1 & In The Shadow of Mystacor)
Impulsivity/poor judgment of the danger of situation (The Sword Part ½, System Failure)
Preoccupation with defeating The Horde it more so than the others
(Flowers For She Ra, Princess Prom, & No Princess Left Behind)
An obsessive need to be perfect (The Sword pt1,
Flowers for She-Ra, Razz,
Light Hope)
Catra:
Catra switches between Strong and highly reactive emotions to muted emotions covered in a mask of control. Noticeable in the way Catra interacts with Adora in
The Sea Gate
VS
Princess Prom.
Distorted views of Shadow Weaver searching for approval and seeing her as not someone she can fight and then hating her.
In The Sword part 1, we see she wants to be chosen to fight and seeks attention. In
The Sword part 2, she is still scared of the abuse but refers to her accurately as a “terrible person” who manipulates them.
Then her hatred becomes stronger seeing her as completely awful fixating on this pain.
Fixated on revenge against Shadow Weaver and Adora. (Princess Prom,
No Princess Left Behind,
The Beacon,
Promise,
Light Hope, & The Battle of Bright Moon)
Irritability and restlessness (The Sword part ½ & The Sea Gate)
Lack of sense of meaning or belief system. We see in
The Sword Part 2
she had no connection to the ideological system of The Horde. Even when she does work to have power in The Horde is its protective and revenge based.
Outbursts of destructive behaviour (Razz & The Sea Gate)
Self Imposed isolation & Mistrust of other people visible with Scorpia and Entrapta. Visible when Entrapta and Scorpia attempt to bond and she rejects the affection (The Beacon, & Promise)
Feels separated from those around her (The Sword Part 1, Razz,
The Sea Gate,
In the Shadows of Mystacor,
Princess Prom, The Beacon, Promise,
The Battle of Bright Moon)
Struggles with Anger and rage
Confrontation of the Abuser:
Adora:
Adora, we see her reject the manipulation that Shadow Weaver had on her in the final part of In
The Shadows of Mystacor. She states verbally her own autonomy, affirms that the pain is not her fault and her right to be whom she wants to be. She stated she is not what Shadow Weaver told her to be, she is more and stronger. She also physically fight Shadow Weaver off and protects her new life. Via the visual queues in this scene, we see Adora use the light magic to combat the shadows used to control her. To do this she uses the She-Ra shield an artefact of her new life and an object of defence and not offence. This visual metaphor shows Adora choosing and protecting the light and that she can now push off the manipulation. This is a rejection of not only her abuser but the life she was taught to want. She is choosing a new healthier life. This is solidified in after the confrontation she allows her friends to support her. Adora is not over her abuse in one scene, this is still a key moment in her story and recovery.Catra:
With Catra we have a similar scene in
Light Hope. Catra rejects Shadow Waver’s control on her, stating she isn’t worthless as Shadow Weaver told her she was. Catra, however, affirms that Shadow Weaver made her the way she is. Catra decides to become the best version of what she was told to be, she isn’t choosing a new way of life but a stronger version of the one she was forced into. Now with her own army, and falling into favour with Hordak she is given the backing to assert her own power. Catra tells Shadow Weaver she built Catra in a way that she could and would inevitably beat Shadow Weaver. The physical abuse gave her the skill to win a fight, and the emotional abuse built her to have the drive to usurp Shadow Weaver’s power. In the scene, Catra starts on the defensive at first but switch to offensive attacks. Breaking the stone connecting Shadow Weaver to her power for the first time looking down on Shadow Weaver. Breaking the stone she severs the powers used to hurt Catra since her childhood, pushing back Shadow Weaver’s shadows. Then after this, she uses her new support to use the shadows and bring the rune stone in her control. Fulfilling the goal of her own power, but not rejecting the conditioning she went through.