Adora Indepth Analysis
The first part of this series will focus on Adora. As a heads-up, this character analysis will make use of her star sign, decante sign, and minor arcana tarot.
For those unfamiliar with the decans, a long ass time ago some people decided that each of the signs needed to be split into increments of 10 degrees, thus each sign has three decans. This is supposed to explain why a sign born on one date is different from the same sign born on a different date.
This analysis will also take a brief look at Adora and Catra’s relationship from Adora’s point of view.
Now onto the show.
Zodiac Sun Sign
Adora’s birthday is on January 19th which lands her in a unique position within the zodiac. She is on the cusp between Capricorn and Aquarius which as we will soon learn could explain a lot about her.
Each sign corresponds to an element. Capricorn is earth while Aquarius is air. The elements also have their opposites. Fire vs Water, and Earth vs Air. Adora quite literally falls on a warring cusp. On the one hand she has the stability of the earthen Capricorn. On the other hand she is caught up in the instability that is the airy Aquarius.
According to numerous astrology sites, the Capricorn and Aquarius cusp is known as the cusp of mystery. I prefer to call it the cusp of temperance or the cusp of opposing forces. Earth opposes air. Capricorn’s ruling planet Saturn is all about responsibility, structure, limitations, discipline and obligations amongst other such things. Aquarius’s ruling planet Uranus is all about eccentricity, rebellion, etc etc.
When we first meet Adora she is a Horde soldier living in the fright zone. Her life is stable. Everyday she does what is required of her and much like the goat that represents the sign Adora finds herself climbing the ranks of the Horde soldiers. She even tells Catra at one point that she had been working hard to become force captain.
Indeed Adora displays a lot of Capricorn traits. She is law abiding, even if the law she used to follow was that of the Horde. She is also somewhat ambitious, though I’d argue not as ambitious as Catra. She also shows discipline, but perhaps most important of all she shows responsibility.
I am now going to sidetrack by saying that when it comes to the relationship between Catra and Adora, there are probably hundreds of analysis that talk about the relationship from Catra’s point of view.
For this I’ll be looking at it from Adora’s point of view.
Despite her law-abiding nature, Adora isn’t stupid and she isn’t cold-hearted. What was it that really made her join the rebellion? It was while she was with that one village of peaceful citizens. It was when the Horde attacked the village. When it dawned on her that this was the village that had been targeted for attack that’s when things changed even more for Adora.
All of her life she had been taught that the rebellion was full of evil princesses, ruled by an evil queen. She’d been taught that the rebellion wanted to throw Etheria into a state of chaos. She had been taught that the Horde were going to be the saviors of Etheria. Then she sees first hand the Horde attack a village of citizens that have probably never seen war in their lives.
She sees her home destroy the lives of innocents, and with that she simply cannot go back. Her biggest Aquarian trait, rebellion, comes into play. She rebels against the Horde. Her rebellion however is not caused by any sort of selfish desire but a desire to protect the greater good.
One thing to consider is that Adora was not eager to just leave Catra. She wanted Catra to join her, not because she needed someone to be second best but because I think she truly did, and still does love her. When all is said and done however, Adora now had a responsibility to a larger group of people and simply could not go back to fighting for a regime that attacked innocent civilians.
Decan
Moving on, let’s take a look at her decan sign. For simplicity I’ll only be looking at the one for Capricorn. Adora falls under the last decan of Capricorn, that is 21 - 30 degrees Capricorn.
This decan is ruled by Capricorn’s planet Saturn, but is also co-ruled by the planet Mercury the ruling planet of Gemini, and Virgo. In Adora’s case, she would be a Capricorn-Virgo.
In the case of the decans, the co-ruling planets seem to help the ruling planet.
In Adora’s case being co-ruled by Mercury means that she’s not as stagnant as a first decan Capricorn would be. While it is true that she shows discipline and responsibility, she is also quite capable of making new friends. The first season also shows us that she is a great communicator. She was able to talk to the other princesses and persuade them to join the rebellion.
Destiny Card
Finally onto her minor arcana tarot, or as some might say, her destiny card. For the sake of this series I’ll be using the Thoth version of the Tarot.
Adora’s destiny card is the 4 of Disks/Pentacles aka the Lord of Power or Lord of Material Power.
Simply put, at the time of Season 1′s finale, Adora finds herself secure within the rebellion. She has plenty of friends and a family that truly loves her. It could also be argued that she now has more material gain than she ever had at the Horde. For example she won’t need to worry about going hungry.
On the down side however, Adora cannot stay attached to her current attachments and security. There is also the fact that despite gaining quite a lot, she also lost Catra. I dare say that this loss is going to continue eating away at her come season 2.
So tl;dr version.
Adora is a Capricorn/Aquarius cusp She is responsible, disciplined, ambitious, and rebellious Her rebel nature comes from a place of responsibility. She loved/loves Catra but could not put the needs of one person over the needs of many. Adora lands on the third decan of Capricorn, Capricorn-Virgo, ruled by Saturn and co-ruled by Mercury. She is a great communicator and able to adapt easily. Adora’s destiny card is the 4 of Disks/Pentacles “Lord of Power” “Lord of Material Power”At the moment she is stable in what she has but must be careful not to let herself get too stagnated.She will also still suffer from losing Catra as a friend.