Gosh. Right in the Hordak tag where everyone who loves the character can see, eh?
Well, at least it gives me fodder! Thank you for your service c:
Now, there's not a whole lot here (OP was blessedly brief), but there's enough to foster an interesting discussion of some aspects of Hordak's character. So let's do so!
I literally cannot stand the idea of Hordak just roaming free in Etheria after season 5 like. Can we not have this horrible person who terrorized a planet for decades and raised an army of child soldiers just...hanging out?
This concept has always and will always be so bizarre to me. So many Hordak antis seem to be under this weird impression that, post-canon, Hordak is just going to be... I dunno... chilling? Doing whatever? Facing no repercussions and no consequences and just... scott-free.
If Hordak decides to stay on Etheria, then there's just going to be everything to deal with. The Etherians that fear and hate him. The Princesses who do likewise. Catra, whom he has this terribly fraught relationship with. All of his brothers, who aren't likely to react well to him given the fact that he killed Prime - not to mention the whole "defect" situation.
This idea that he's going to just be roaming free, not a care in the world, is ludicrous.
And y'know, Etherians and other clones aside: there's still himself to deal with. There's his new-found freedom - true freedom, out from under Prime's shadow - and what, exactly, he's supposed to do with it. There's coming to terms with the pointlessness of the last few decades: the fact that he spent years and years sowing destruction and pain in an attempt to win love from a loveless slavemaster. The shame of it. The wasted time and energy and just... wellbeing. There's dealing with his chronic illness; Hordak still has to learn to, if not love himself, at least accept himself with all physical issues involved. He needs to learn true self-care.
There's coming to terms with how he was manipulated time and again: by Prime, by Catra.
There's navigating his relationship with Entrapta, something clearly new to both of them, while dealing with the horrific trauma of what he suffered at Prime's hands.
There's just... there's so much. The show ends on a high note, but its end is truly just a beginning for so many characters, Hordak especially. And that beginning kicks off a whole slew of difficult emotions and relationships and severe trauma that must be worked through.
Hordak isn't going to be "hanging out." He's going to be going through the sort of physical, mental, and emotional recovery that is nigh unimaginable. He is going to be dealing with political and personal hardships that are a trauma in and of themselves.
He is going to need so many blankets.
Oh! And as a brief aside:
"Hordak" did not terrorize a planet and raise child soldiers (a debatable term, but I'll let it slide today). The Etherian Horde did.
Y'know. The Etherian Horde made of native Etherians. Not brainwashed. Not chipped. Not indoctrinated into some sinister cult-religion. All with free will intact. Many with their own agendas and plots and schemes that went directly against Hordak's own desires.
Let's not pretend like the Etherian War was Hordak vs. the Free Peoples of Etheria, or whatever.
It was the Etherian Horde Made Up of Etherians Angry About Something vs. Princess Etherians and Their Buddies, guest-starring A Lost, Sickly, Tragically Devout Clone Desperately in Need of a Hug.
And before you bring up Catra, 1. She was only in power for 3 years and more importantly
Y'know, I always tell myself I'm not going to go into Catra's negatives on these posts, but here we are. OP had to open the door.
So. Catra was only in power for three years, yeah? Isn't it interesting how they're the three most destructive years of the war? Like, things have been at essentially a standstill; the Etherian Horde and the various kingdoms have been holding the status quo for years. Then Catra comes along and all hell breaks loose.
Suddenly the Horde is doing severe damage to the Alliance. Salineas falls.
And hey, things are getting worse within the Horde, too! Teams are being stripped down to skeleton crews, resulting in the exhaustion and injury of Horde soldiers at the hands of the Princesses. Squads are worked to the bone: we see the effects firsthand through the Horde Trio. Said Horde Trio, by the by, leaves the Horde. They look at their new lives under Catra and judge them worse than what they were under Hordak. And they skedaddle. Y'know: these apparently "brainwashed" child soldiers just up and decide that Catra is a shit boss and leave for greener pastures. That is a thing that happens.
2. She sacrificed her life for Adora, and then literally saved the universe with her.
This can handily be negated by pointing out that, a season prior, Catra effectively destroyed the entire world and necessitated the sacrifice of Angella to save it. Murdered everyone on Etheria via portal to... *looks at notes* ...ensure that Adora did not win. Y'know. This moment:
So. Sure. She helped save the world. Only after causing the death of Glimmer's mother out of what was more-or-less spite.
1(save the world) - 1(destroy the world out of spite) = 0
Hordak meanwhile said “fuck you prime you meanie :(“ and accomplished absolutely nothing.
It is mystifying to me how people don't understand the enormity of what Hordak did.
For one thing, the practical aspect of it: Hordak (a) killed Prime's main host body AKA the body that could possess other bodies and sashay through the hivemind, and he (b) brought Prime down to Etheria where Adora could end him.
What do y'all think would have happened if Prime's vessel hadn't been killed?
He'd have had no reason to go down to Etheria's surface because he'd have been able to continue manipulating the Heart from the Velvet Glove.
Killing Prime's body forced him to the surface where he was vulnerable to She-Ra. Without that all-important step, the battle very well could have gone very differently. Without that step, Horde Prime could have simply escaped, perpetuating the cycle.
But let's put the practicality of it aside because, while it is important, it's not what I find most meaningful.
What is meaningful is what this meant for Hordak.
I mean... golly gosh, do people still not understand what Prime was to Hordak? To all of the clones? It's been, what, almost two years since the finale?
Prime wasn't their military commander. He wasn't their king or emperor or whatever.
He was their god. Their horrifically abusive god.
He made them. He could read and control them on a whim. He used their life force and their bodies as his own. He could erase their very minds, alter their memories, reprogram them any which-way. Whenever he wanted. However he wanted. And they could not stop him.
and it accomplished absolutely nothing.
Ignorant falsehood aside, does OP not understand the significance of this? Hordak, finally come back to himself, finally ready to make his first real choice and claim his own independent life, can do nothing while Prime possesses him.
That is how powerful Prime was. That is how helpless, how hopelessly powerless, the clones were to him.
And Hordak stood against that!
He knew what Prime could do to him. He knew the sort of power Prime possessed. He knew that Prime could kill him with nary a thought, and yet he stood for himself and for Entrapta anyway.
The level of bravery and love and just... incredible personal strength that this took is outstanding!
What Hordak did was look into the eyes of god and say "not today." Even knowing that it was likely futile. Even knowing that god could snap his fingers and end him. Hordak did that because he loved Entrapta and valued her life and his own personhood more than he feared and loved Prime.
Anyway. Am I done? I think I'm done.
The point is: no one has to like Hordak. Just like no one has to like Catra. Or *shudder* Sea Hawk. But the absurd simplification and dismissal of a wonderful arc and an incredibly complex character (especially for being, what, tertiary?) does the story a disservice. And dismisses fans who resonate with the themes of personhood, self-loathing, abuse, disability, and religious trauma being explored.
Though, ultimately, if y'all don't care about all of that, it's fine; just keep it out of the charming Hordak tag. Unless you want more long ramblings like these c:
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