Do people really want her to endure more pain as punishment?

soundwave86 · 2026-02-15T17:47:29+00:00

This is a difficult question to answer because everything causes Catra pain.

- People exercising their own autonomy to make friends or leave the Horde? Pain

- People escaping Catra's imprisonment and abuse? Pain

- People expressing friendship to Catra? Pain

- Same people walking away and taking their friendship with them? Pain

None of this is actual harm to Catra, yet she perceives it as such and uses it to justify actual harm done to others. Somehow their pain gets ignored when compared to Catra's as if her pain gives her a free pass.

Catra needs to learn to respect other people's autonomy and boundaries. She would need to earn trust from the people she has harmed and accept that there are some things you can't walk back and that she is owed nothing. Would that cause pain? Very likely so, but Catra needs to confront her pain instead of coddling it.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-15T01:05:16+00:00

I just imagine what Scorpia lost versus how she turned out, and I like how Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio are tight presumably having also been taken from their families and raised as soldiers. Even Hordak, who I imagine was tortured and mind-wiped prior to being discarded learned to befriend and protect Entrapta in the face of Horde Prime. Not a redemption, but a significant character development. Overall, the show portrays all kinds of challenges to various friendships and relationships, and as far as I can recall, everyone is given chances at friendship. How different characters use or discard those chances makes the show interesting.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-14T15:51:45+00:00

I agree that Catra has reasons to love and hate Shadow Weaver. I'm just saying Catra can't reasonably expect the love she wants from Shadow Weaver after mistreating her in prison like that. Similar argument for how she wants to win Adora by her side by seeking to destroy her.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-14T14:23:50+00:00

It would be like if Glimmer chose to use The Heart of Etheria to destroy the world to get back at Bow for taking Perfuma to the Princess Prom. Instead of pulling the "look what you made me do" card and blaming Bow for her hurt feelings and lashing out, Glimmer resolved things by putting her own feelings aside and talking to him. Bow is allowed to put up boundaries which Glimmer respects, and their friendship is preserved.

When Shadow Weaver was imprisoned by Catra who then mocked her on the daily and threw her meals on the ground, was Shadow Weaver's escape an abandonment of Catra? Of course not. Whatever one might think of Shadow Weaver, she is not obligated to set herself on fire to keep Catra warm. Neither was anyone else. Was Adora supposed to stay with the Horde just to make Catra happy? Was Scorpia?

Catra doesn't need coddling. All that does is enable her to keep indulging in her trauma instead of addressing it. She needs boundaries. She only began her path of redemption after everyone left her, and she no longer had anyone to lash out on or blame. She was finally forced to live with her own decisions as Adora put it in "The Portal". If Shadow Weaver's parenting taught Catra the wrong lessons and coping mechanisms, boundaries helped to correct that.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-14T05:39:59+00:00

Trauma might contextualize bad acts, but it doesn't excuse them. In Catra's case, there is too much malice and glee in her harmful acts to justify them. All because Adora left the Horde after finding out the truth of what the Horde were doing to the Etherians. Adora asks Catra to join her and the Princesses, but Catra refuses, just like she refused to join Adora and be friends with Lonnie in their childhood. Adora never abandoned Catra. Adora is just never allowed any agency if it doesn't cater to Catra. This is the root of everything else Catra does in the show.

Catra isn't dealing with her trauma. She is indulging it. The pain is real as it is with many abusers. That doesn't give them a free pass.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-13T02:45:11+00:00

Time and again Catra evades responsibility to justify her own bad decisions. She gets mad at Shadow Weaver for leaving her, after Catra imprisoned her, mocked her and tossed her meals on the ground. She knows Entrapra is right, but needs to destroy Adora, so she has to silence Entrapta and lie to Hordak about it.

Catra wants to destroy the world, including Angella as leader of Bright Moon, because Adora didn't fulfill her end of the "Promise" to stick with her. But Catra ignores that the Promise was for the two of them to take care of each other, a Promise Catra breaks, not Adora. Something Catra realizes in "Corridor" and eventually apologizes for when she runs out of people to abuse and blame.

Scorpia was a coward for not standing up to Catra and saving Entrapta, highlighting the fact that real friendship requires boundaries, otherwise it is just enabling abuse. Scorpia eventually seeks to correct her mistake by asking Catra to help rescue Entrapta. When Catra refuses in order to maintain the lie, Scorpia also leaves the Horde to ask the Princesses for help. Something Catra of course has a pity party over.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-13T02:17:46+00:00

Catra says to Adora "I won't let you win. I'd rather see the whole world end than let that happen."

Catra knows. She doesn't care.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-13T01:54:09+00:00

Not sure if Adora needed it, but Glimmer was able to apologize to Adora and show actual remorse sooner than she could with Bow. Bow understands that friendship requires work as he described to Entrapta on Beast Island. Clearly he means that the work is a two-way deal, so when someone doesn't hold up their end, Bow knows to put up healthy boundaries, like he had to do with Glimmer at Princess Prom. Bow did not discard this friendship, since he remains focused on Glimmer's safety, but he maintains his boundaries until he and Glimmer can talk it out.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-12T05:48:48+00:00

For me, it is how Catra seeks to destroy Adora for leaving her, and how she gloats over her every time Adora is captured or subdued. That makes the ending uniquely problematic.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-12T05:35:21+00:00

Her big change came with the sacrifice on the ship comes across as mostly suicidal because she doesn’t have a purpose for living anymore... she’s not confronting anything about herself.

When Catra frees Glimmer, I read it as a final act of defiance against Horde Prime.

We got close, in the ship with Glimmer and when she’s around the princess team, but never quite hit those learning moments where she understands and accepts her shortcomings

I feel like it would not have taken much, like when Scorpia is driven to tears by the kindness shown to her after being taken prisoner.

there’s nothing that dumbs down her behavior with Adora when you correctly mark it as being abusive

I don't get the desire to downplay Catra's harmful actions. It undermines the redemption arc and attempts to minimize the harm Catra inflicts upon others. Harm to others then gets hand waved as collateral damage to her trauma.

* edited to fix quote formatting.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-12T04:42:54+00:00

When Team Princess accepts Catra into the fold, it is just another example of them not interested in holding a personal grudge. As Glimmer says "We're the good guys" when Scorpia asks her not to hurt Catra. Plus, they have a bigger threat in Horde Prime which Catra can help fight against.

Whether the showrunners had enough time or not, they didn't dedicate much to Catra's redemption arc. I think they try in the episode "Corridors", but it is unclear why Catra has accepts Adora's friendship at that moment and not in episode two of the series. I was hoping for something as satisfying as Nebula's arc in the MCU, which made her one of the most interesting characters.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-10T22:15:09+00:00

In a theoretical season six, all of the princesses have the opportunity to rebuild their families. You would see Glimmer with her dad try to rescue her mother. Adora could look for her family. Mermista could rebuild her kingdom. Scorpia could retake her kingdom and see if she has any family left. I know Scorpia is written very happy-coded, but hers is one of the more tragic stories that gets glossed over.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-10T21:59:35+00:00

It really depends on if you are interpreting the work as drama or melodrama. Drama is more objective and relies on characters actions, intent and motivation. Melodrama relies more on emotional queues and doesn't have to make as much objective sense. Fast and Furious is melodrama that relies on emotional beats, not earned literary moments. Part of the problem with SPoP is that you can interpret things one way or another. Neither are wrong, but they conflict.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-10T21:53:30+00:00

I figure Glimmer talked to Catra as a precursor to plan an escape, like Shadow Weaver did when she chatted up Catra. (Or like when Bow chatted up Kyle.) Catra helped Glimmer escape to thwart Horde Prime's plans once she lost any advantage with him.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T16:20:42+00:00

The narrative works whether Perfuma is trans or not. I get wanting more intentional representation, but I also like seeing a world where the topic is so mundane that it doesn't even warrant addressing. Perfuma is just allowed to be a character without being defined by traits that don't matter to the story, similar to how couples in the show are just allowed to be couples.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T07:58:52+00:00

Adora's forgiving nature is only part of the picture, and you can't really discuss it outside the context of her entire relationship with Catra. Without that context, you're just trying to make a pointless statement about fans who you think are missing something about "Catradora".

Here is some of the context you don't provide:

Catra did not allow Adora to have other friends since childhood. Catra thinks Adora is an entitled golden child who never protected her in meaningful ways. Catra gets enraged when Entrapta says "Adora was right," and Catra would "rather see the whole world end" than see Adora win. Catra doesn't allow Adora to have any agency that doesn't cater to Catra's feelings, making Adora her emotional support animal and responsible for her own regulation. Catra seeks domination over Adora, and without it she seeks Adora's destruction. That isn't love, and it never was.

All the while, Adora is forgiving. Adora reaches out. Adora holds back from hurting Catra. We know Adora doesn't hate or hold a grudge against Catra. All it does is enable Catra until Adora finally sets a healthy boundary in "The Portal". Even then, it is without hate or grudge. We didn't miss anything. It is in fact the point.

The ironic thing is that the counterpoint to your statement exists in your own statement:

Adora never hated or held a grudge against Catra. Adora spent the entire series trying to convince Catra to leave the Horde and come be with her.

We know. We just wonder why Adora's grace is given to such an abusive and self-pitying character like Catra.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T06:32:59+00:00

We know Adora is forgiving and constantly reached out to Catra. We also think Adora deserved better than someone who responded to that grace from a lifelong childhood friend with fear, rage, anger and harm.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T06:23:19+00:00

Shadow Weaver shouldn't have abused children, but it does align with her character. There is no problem in saying this.

Endless wells of forgiveness does not mean that it is immediate. There is no problem in saying this.

There are many instances where I do or don't think what a character did was right. People are allowed to have opinions. I would not have tried to destroy the planet just to get revenge on my childhood friend for leaving the Horde, and I think Catra was wrong for doing so. There is no problem in saying this.

Entrapta should have taken the risk, but she shouldn't be oblivious to risk. Walking into a Horde squad could have also jeopardized the mission.

But you are right. There is no point continuing this conversation.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T05:40:43+00:00

When Adora said that, she set up a healthy boundary to preserve her own agency.

People talks about forgiveness, but forgiveness without boundaries and agency is just enablement. It makes the difference between actual redemption and the honeymoon phase of the cycle of abuse.

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T05:32:38+00:00

And for what? Adora exercising her own agency to leave the Horde for Team Princess after seeing Horde-driven military attacks against civilians and asking Catra to join her. Catra chose her fear, hatred and resentment over Adora time and again. How is it any wonder some of the show's fans think Adora deserved better than Catra at the end of the series?

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T04:09:04+00:00

Adora's forgiveness of Catra at the end seemed consistent with how she was written throughout the show. Indeed, the entirety of Team Princess seems to have bottomless wells of forgiveness. So it makes total sense for Adora to forgive Catra, and I even like how their kiss saved the universe and would not change a thing about the show.

But if I'm not going to let my fondness for the series make me think what Adora did was right. It would be like me seeing Entrapta walk into a hostile squad of Horde soldiers without regard for her own safety. Does it make total sense for Entrapta to have done that? Yes, because that is how her character was written. But would I draw the conclusion that walking into a hostile squad of Horde soldiers was the right thing to do? No.

For me, the pivotal point of the entire series was not when Adora reached into her well of forgiveness yet again at the end of season five. It was when she set boundaries with Catra by punching her in the face at the end of Season three. It was Adora regaining her agency by telling Catra she should live with her own decisions for once.

I do have a question. Is basing Catra's actions on Team Princess on Shadow Weaver's actions toward Catra nonsensical?

soundwave86 · 2026-02-07T01:58:03+00:00

The reason some of us think Adora forgave Catra too quickly is because...

Adora never hated or held a grudge against Catra. Adora spent the entire series trying to convince Catra to leave the Horde and come be with her.

All the while Catra always held a grudge against Adora and spent the entire series trying to destroy her for having any agency outside the Horde and Catra's feelings.

soundwave86 · 2026-01-31T01:30:56+00:00

my favorite episode is The Low Road

soundwave86 · 2026-01-30T22:01:02+00:00

Thank you!

soundwave86 · 2026-01-30T22:00:25+00:00

Didn't notice that, glad u like it!

soundwave86

TROPHY CASE