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Balance App
CATRA: Hey Adora~~~. | |
| APP HMD PATH Ru |
Character name: Catra
Age: No official age but an Interview with the creators puts Adora at 17 or 18 and so Catra is presumably around that age as well.
Canon: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Canon point: End of s2
History: Wiki link
Three key adjectives: Insecure, sassy, ambitious
Influential Events:
Growing up in the Horde
Catra was orphaned as an infant and raised by Shadow Weaver to be a warrior for the Horde, an evil army intending to take over the entire planet of Etheria. There she meets Adora, another young orphan, and the two of them become close friends. However, as much as Catra tries and excels at her training, she always ends up second best to Adora.
This is solidified in an incident where they both come across Shadow Weaver, their pseudo-adoptive mother, in a private moment of weakness, despite both of them being there, Catra is the one Shadow Weaver calls out and threatens with punishment, only stopping with Adora begs her to. Catra is comforted by Adora, but deep down feels as though Adora never stands up for her enough and wants all the glory for herself. And despite Shadow Weaver’s cruelty and her own resent of her, Catra secretly wants approval from her as well.
Adora Defects
As they grow up, Catra considers Adora her best friend, but struggles with feelings of resentment and inferiority, which she masks by claiming that she doesn’t care about advancing in the Horde when Adora receives all the praise. Then Adora defects from the Horde after meeting a Princess and is revealed to be the new legendary warrior, She-Ra. Catra embarks on a mission with the sole intention of getting her back and is shocked when Adora acts like the Horde being evil was a revelation. Catra had always known the Horde was evil but stayed because she saw herself and Adora being together as the most important thing and now feels like Adora is abandoning her for the new people she met.
However, Catra is able to fill the gap in the Horde that Adora left to become a Force Captain. She uses her intimate knowledge of Adora to effectively counter her and gains the praise of Lord Hordak, who subsequently becomes harsh to Shadow Weaver much to Catra’s pleasure. Catra proves herself to be fairly skilled at strategy and is able effectively manipulate Adora and her friends during their many encounters. Despite always acting like she didn't care about rising in ranks, the truth is that she very much cared, but always felt like she could never surpass Adora, especially since Shadow Weaver always favored her. This is her one shot to finally grab at some power and status.
The Morning after Princess Prom
Despite Catra’s pleasure at rising in rank in the Horde, she still appears to hold some affection for Adora. When she pulls off an incredible plan and manages to capture Adora’s two friends, Glimmer and Bow to make Adora give herself back to the Horde, she is also pleased that Adora’s memories will be erased and hopes that she can have her friend back.
However, her affection for Adora starts to become eclipsed by her desire to be recognized and appreciated. When she learns that Shadow Weaver is planning on replacing her with Adora once the plan is complete, Catra ends up setting Adora free. She is furious that no matter what she does, it will never be good enough for Shadow Weaver. She ends up choosing her accomplishments and claims that she doesn't want Adora back anymore. However, Catra seems to wish that is how she felt more than she actually believes it and is actually struggling between wanting Adora back and maintaining her status.
The Citadel
In her pursuit of Adora and She-ra, Catra follows Adora into a citadel created by the First Ones, ancient beings who used to live on the planet of Etheria and first created She-Ra. There she and Adora stumble through various flashbacks and memories of their past together, highlighting Catra’s resentment and frustration.
One memory shows a very young Adora comforting a crying Catra and promising her “nothing bad can happen as long as we have each other” to which both the memory Catra and the present Catra ask “promise?”. It’s clear that Adora’s defection cut Catra deep to her core and shattered her view of the world. She believed that even though she suffered and things weren’t fair, that Adora would always be there for her and so saw her defection as personal abandonment. The memory turns Catra’s sorrow into fury.
She gets the upper hand on Adora and watches her dangle off the side of a cliff and tells her that she now believes that Adora had always wanted to make her think they needed each other, that she (Catra) was weak, and that Adora purposefully held her back. However, now that Adora is gone, Catra has proven herself to be strong. Catra admits that if Adora had never left, she'd have never been given this chance to gain status.
Symbolically cutting the bond between them as she severs the fabric that Adora grips to, Catra turns and leaves her dangling from the edge of a cliff. She finally embraces the only chance that she thinks she has to become great and turns heartache into bitter resentment as a way to move on from the loss of the person she cared for most. However, when a new recruit refers to Catra as her “best friend”, Catra flinches and quickly exits the room, clearly not as over Adora as she wishes she could be.
Old Feelings Die Hard
Catra continues to wage war on Bright Moon and the Princesses led by Adora as She-ra, however she struggles to counter the power of the Princesses working together, putting her on Hordak’s bad side. Meanwhile, another member of her team Entrapta, manages to gain Hordak’s favor with her technological skills. Catra becomes fearful that she’ll be discarded and replaced by Entrapta, just as she was to Shadow Weaver.
Eventually, Hordak demands that she take Shadow Weaver to the Island of Beasts, a sure death sentence. Catra hesitates. Despite all of the cruelty, Shadow Weaver was the closest thing she ever had to a parent and she still feels a desire to impress her. Shadow Weaver even shows her a small bit of affection and admits that she was hard on Catra because Catra reminded her of herself and that nothing ever comes easy for either of them.
Catra’s latent desperation for Shadow Weaver’s affection makes her agree to help Shadow Weaver out, despite not knowing that her intentions are. In the end, Shadow Weaver betrays Catra and escapes causing Catra to break down in tears upon realizing she had been deceived. Clearly, Catra is capable of manipulating others on their insecurities but is also easily manipulated herself in the same way. Despite her fury at both Shadow Weaver and Adora, Catra still desires their attention and acknowledgement because she'd been so deprived of it her whole life. Hordak learns of her betrayal and the season ends with Catra facing punishment and furious at herself for still having emotional ties to people that always end up hurting her.
Samples: TDM thread!
Chosen path: Rogue
5 Abilities:
-Silver Tongue
-Impostor
-Cat Burglar
-Evasion
-Steal
Why this path?:I think it simply fits her personality. It’s all about being quick and dexterous which she is and is rather scrappy and not very flashy. Also it doesn’t use too much magic which I don’t think she’d like very much because that’s Princess stuff!
blurb code by photosynthesis