it must have been so painful for catra to see adora leave the horde in a heartbeat when she saw them attack innocent etherians but not even notice they were abusing her best friend for years
Am I being trolled? IDK, but I’ll bite, because it’s an opportunity to really examine this from Adora's perspective, which has a history of being underrepresented in the fandom, especially for things that happened in s1.
What you describe here was very much Catra’s perception of the situation, and absolutely, it was something that was painful for her, and a lot of people have already written beautifully about it, so I’m not going to retread that ground here. But the way you constructed your statement gives me the impression you aren’t just describing how Catra perceived the situation, but rather that you agree it’s the objective truth. And if that’s the case, you’re doing Adora a real disfavor.
First, I wouldn’t exactly say Adora left the Horde in a heartbeat. Doubts were starting to build while she was captured by Glimmer and Bow, and when she realized the attack on Thaymor wasn't an accident, it was the final piece of the puzzle. Still, that doesn't mean Catra didn’t feature in her thinking when she decided to leave. Catra was literally in front of her when she made her decision, and Catra’s seeming indifference towards the villagers was part of what pushed Adora away. I get into the Thaymor situation in way more depth here.
Second, Adora didn't ignore Catra's abuse and mistreatment. Catra had an understandably resentment-poisoned perception of the events of their childhood, but what we, the audience, objectively saw on the screen was Adora trying to leverage her position as Shadow Weaver's favorite to defuse explosive situations between Catra and Shadow Weaver, including by literally placing her body between them.
Adora physically protected Catra as best as she could. She defended Catra when Shadow Weaver talked badly about her and tried to get Shadow Weaver to recognize Catra’s talent. She comforted Catra when Catra was obviously sad or scared or angry, even when Catra lashed out. She stood with Catra against bullies, even if Catra was the one that instigated a fight. She acknowledged Catra’s skill and gave her positive reinforcement when authority figures ignored her. She had Catra's back, full stop.
But Adora had to walk a fine line in challenging Shadow Weaver, because if she fought back too much, Shadow Weaver might hurt Catra and Adora worse. We cannot undermine the fact that, Shadow Weaver's favor or not, Adora was ultimately in the same situation as Catra. She was an abused kid that was scared and absolutely powerless in a situation where an authority figure was taking advantage of her and hurting her. That Adora even tried to stop Catra's abuse in the face of her own fear of Shadow Weaver was really, really brave.
But it does make sense why Catra felt like Adora failed at protecting her. Catra was focused on just surviving through the abuse, and she couldn’t perceive that Adora was in a dire situation too, because Catra perceived abuse through the lens of her own experience, and that wasn’t what was happening to Adora. Adora appeared to be the protected favorite, so it seemed to Catra like Adora could’ve done more and chose not to.
But we, the objective audience, are supposed to know better than that. It was never Adora's responsibility to stop Catra's abuse, and she never should have been made to feel like it was. That is an absolutely unfair expectation to put on any child, let alone on a child that was also being abused. Period. Catra understood that by the end of show, so all of us in the fandom should be able to as well.
Third, it should come as no surprise that innocent and defenseless civilians getting attacked is what really motivated Adora to see the Horde’s true colors. Adora was indoctrinated by the Horde and knew nothing else. She was raised and trained as a solider, and she was told it was her duty to protect Etherians from the evil princesses. She couldn't conceptualize what was happening to her and Catra as abuse, because it seemed like preparation for their life as soldiers. But she damn well knew the supposed good guys attacking a peaceful village of unarmed civilians was wrong.
Her inability to fully recognize her and Catra's abuse for the bad thing it was wasn't some character flaw. It was the result of growing up in a strictly controlled, isolated environment that fed her a steady diet of propaganda and instilled in her a sense of duty to the greater good above all else, including her own life. Her personal suffering did not matter, because it was in service to an important cause.
Violence was also completely normalized in the Horde, and it was basically the only emotional outlet cadets learned. Are you mad? Punch things. Are you sad? Punch things. Are you ill-equipped in identifying the emotions you’re feeling? Punch things! So nobody was raising an eyebrow at the concept of superior officers berating, threatening, and physically harming cadets. That just seemed to be par for the course.
Though in reality, the worst of the abuses came from one person. But that just meant Adora could rationalize Shadow Weaver as one commanding officer taking things too far. Shadow Weaver’s personal actions didn't have to be representational of the Horde's overall mission. It didn’t mean the Horde itself or what they were fighting for was bad, it just meant Shadow Weaver was a cruel taskmaster Adora and Catra had to put up with and appease until they could get out from under her thumb and into the field to fight for good.
To summarize this point, Adora was witnessing Catra’s mistreatment (and experiencing her own mistreatment) in the confines of an inherently exploitative system that she had been brainwashed to think was righteous. She not only lacked a frame of reference to conceptualize the abuse, she was also taught this mistreatment was to make them better soldiers. So whatever bad things they suffered, she could tell herself it was manageable because it was all part of a bigger plan to make the world a better place.
But seeing the Horde attack a village of civilians went against all of that. It was something she could conceptualize as fully wrong, and it showed her that the Horde wasn’t actually trying to do good like she'd always been taught. Presented with that evidence, she had to leave. It was only once she was outside the Horde’s system and was exposed to other ways of life that Adora could really start recognizing and coming to terms with just how badly she and Catra were treated.
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