So after the She-ra finale, I wanted to go back to some of the thoughts I had on Horde Prime.
One of the comparisons I made was to the Sci-Fi series Stargate SG-1, where I made the, now confirmed guess, that he used the clone bodies to perpetuate his life, jumping from one body to another when one was worn out, like the Asgard in SG-1. What didn’t happen in She-ra however, was there didn’t seem to be a deterioration of the clones with each successive cloning.
Another difference is the clones actually have personalities and even the one’s totally under his control have a sense of being.
Funnily enough this make’s him like the main villains of SG-1, the Goa’uld, who are a parasitic snake like alien species that take control of host bodies by burrowing into the back of the neck to attack to the brain stem, allow them to control the host body. This also grants them access to the knowledge and memories of host, which how they gained most of their technology, which highly advanced, they aren’t just parasites to physical body, but to idea’s they steal technology, and it’s also implied they also stole the identity of the gods of less advanced civilization, making them believe they were their gods
And here’s the big point of comparison, it’s how the Goa’uld and Horde prime both take on the persona of a god. The Goa’uld literally convince less advanced civilizations they are gods, some even believe their own hype, and while Horde Prime act more like a cult leader than a person impersonating a god, the vibe is the same however.
Both show the dangers of cults and extreme beliefs.
Noelle Stevenson alluded to this somewhere, in a tweet I think. That Horde Prime imagery was based off those modern mega churches, which take religion, something that’s supposed be enriching, and turn it into a source of personal power.
Now I consider myself a religious person, so what I picked up on right away is how clearly Horde Prime is meant to represent a cult leader more than anything else as opposed to what you might consider a more normal religion.
And I appreciate that fact the show had Horde Prime take this route as opposed to the more typical use of Nazi styled leader or Communist leader which have been more common villain types for a number of years. Both types of villains come down to the same thing at the core, a charismatic person get’s in power and warps the world of those they have power over them so they are the center of the universe there by centralizing their power.
You see this in real life, like in North Korea where the leader at the time has their image on everything.
Now it doesn’t matter what the person is using as the pretext for their position, religion, politics, science or military strength, they use they same tactic’s at the end of the day to isolate the population from all outside influences and make themselves to be the center of the universe to the people.
Avatar:The Last Airbender showed a bit of this, in more Nazi-esque way with Ozai, where the students at school recite their pledge of allegiance to a painting of Ozai. In this case patriotism and nationalism were the bases for his power.
Additionally, the Fire Lord’s Throne is wreathed in flame, obscuring him and making him look even more imposing. And we know that this type of Throne was made after the start of the war, because we saw in a flashback when Roku destroyed the old throne room it looked like a more standard throne room.
We see this sort of thing with Horde Prime, he does things to make himself appear more impressive and powerful to intimidate people, His modified appearance is a big one.
In SG-1, again the Goa’uld do the same thing. They can make their eye’s glow and give their host and unnaturally deep voice that booms and echos.
But it all comes to the same thing in the end. They all are egomaniacs who think, for their own various reasons, deserve the worship and devotion of those they see as beneath them.
Which make for exceptional villains. Some people like nuanced villains, I do as well, but sometimes you just want a bad guy you can unabashedly root for the hero’s to beat down.
What makes the three villains I’ve mentioned her so satisfying to watch get beaten, is they have all taken things that are meant to enrich a person’s life and make it better, and bastardized and can’t help but want them to go down.
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