Relationship Analysis: Adam x Teela Can Only be Done in Revelation/Revolution
Now, to make one thing clear: I do like Teela as a character. She opens up a lot of storytelling potential, and keeps the secondary aspects of magic and guardianship in the He-Man franchise relevant as a result of her status as the Sorceress' daughter, in addition to what that entails.
However, as a romantic partner for Adam, she is a walking red flag in about 90-99% of the various continuities. Teela's actually at her best for Adam in Revelation/Revolution because it takes the necessary steps of knocking her off her high horse, letting her witch about how out of her depth and lied to she was without Adam getting the full tsunami effect of her wrath, and then letting her take him to task for what she can hold him responsible for before allowing her to mellow out and mature from her childish arrogance that she carried into adulthood. Following this, the culmination of their romance works in how the ensuing plotlines removed certain obstacles to their relationship in the show, which works if you want Teela to be endgame for Adam in addition to ascending to the role of Sorceress of Castle Grayskull.
Otherwise, it's just a disaster waiting to happen.
If you're interested, allow me to explain thusly.
The Issue of Double Standards
You recall Adam's long-lost twin sister Adora, yes? In the original show, she had two main male allies: Bow and Sea Hawk. Bow, being a nice guy, a devoted hero, and eager for any advantage over the Evil Horde, is smitten with She-Ra upon her appearance to aid the Great Rebellion. Now he does appreciate Adora as a friend and leader, but between the hardships the Rebellion's faced and his own personal flaw of superficiality, he prefers She-Ra. Adora, not reciprocating but also unwilling to hurt Bow's feelings, pretends to not notice his crush on She-Ra, which also doubles as a means of preserving him some disappointment/embarrassment in not winning She-Ra's hand until Bow's gotten over his infatuation.
Then there's Sea Hawk, a noble pirate in the same vein as Han Solo. He and Adora are initially at loggerheads before she awakens his latent heroism and inspires him to turn from aiding the Horde to battling them. Unlike Bow, he views She-Ra as a coworker with whom he'll share jokes and battles with like any fellow sailor/warrior on the field. Adora, though, he sees for her virtues and good heart that makes her so willing to fight for the innocent against the Horde. He loves Adora, and makes it clear to her that She-Ra comes second to her, and he'll gladly ask Adora out to a date over She-Ra. Because of this love for the real woman underneath the alter ego, Sea Hawk will take learning the truth of She-Ra's identity much better than Bow will, and while they might have a bit of awkwardness and confusion over Adora keeping this secret from him for so long, Sea Hawk will soon enough accept her reasons for it and not make a fuss about it.
This is the type of romance we want in an action/hero show with a female lead. We want her to get the man who sees her for who she is, and not the more overtly heroic identity she puts on. We want her to be able to reveal to this man the truth of her identity and for him to be able to take it well enough that he will only make a few jokes about the former secrecy to tease her lovingly and without spite behind the words.
This is why we root for Adora and Sea Hawk.
So why don't we root for Adam to find a woman who will see him like Sea Hawk sees Adora?
The problem with Teela is that she is proud, and a superficial woman similar to Bow, but worse. Having been seemingly abandoned as a baby with not even a father to claim her, Teela sought purpose by enlisting in the Royal Guard in order to make a name for herself. She was found with nothing to her but her name, and does not know who her parents were/are. To fill this hole in her spirit, she works endlessly to prove to herself and the world that it doesn't matter that she "came from nothing", because she'll forge her own name that will be echoed for years to come in order to drown out all the doubts, fears, and insecurities she faced as a child and which still plague her.
Because of these personal struggles, Teela holds herself and anyone who isn't her adopted father Duncan/Man-At-Arms to staggeringly high standards. While this was relatively downplayed in the original '80s He-Man cartoon, I do recall Teela - a proud warrior and Captain of the Royal Guard, a rank you know she worked her hide off to earn - being consistently annoyed with Adam whenever he made an excuse to not accompany the Masters against the forces of evil. While the audience knows Adam does this to become He-Man, all Teela sees is a disappointment of a prince, not helped by her readiness to gush over He-Man at a moment's notice.
This is especially prevalent in the 2002 series, but as a sixteen year old, Teela is twice as abrasive. Grateful as I am that Teela and Adam act more like siblings in this series, Teela's sympathy toward and friendship with Adam (which is already a rocky dynamic) all but goes up in flames when he runs off to become He-Man for the first time in order to rescue his father. While the audience sees why she's angry with him, it becomes difficult to enjoy her when Teela proceeds to take numerous opportunities to verbally abuse and mock Adam for his perceived cowardice. Where Revelation/Revolution presents us with Teela's perspective so that we can more easily understand her and her progression of character, the 2002 He-Man series is specifically written in a way where we journey alongside Adam in his own story, thus making it incredibly hard to forgive Teela's abrasion towards Adam and borderline infatuation with He-Man (this is not made easier by how she praises He-Man to the skies while hounding Adam for his "flaws"...which itself is passively encouraged by King Randor effectively giving her permission to diss Adam, furthered by his own verbal abuse of Adam in the show. Neither of these characterizations of Teela and Randor are exclusive to the 2002 series, by the way: it's a constant across the timelines, and thus serves as two different warning signs.)
Because of this, it becomes clear to the viewers that Teela is more affectionate toward He-Man than she is to Prince Adam. This is intrinsically unfair to Adam, who has to take her abuse all but lying down lest he let out the secret and risk the knowledge getting out to everyone and endangering them all (this isn't to say that Teela would intentionally let the secret out, but with her hot temper and martial pride, it would be impossible to not overhear her yelling at Adam about the situation.) By extension, Adam is consistently letting himself get hurt by this woman for her safety and that of countless others. It is utterly unfair to have him end up marrying Teela after all of this, as he doesn't owe her anything but an apology for the secrecy if/when the truth comes out.
Meanwhile, Teela owes him a ton of apologies. And not a one of them should ever come in the form of marriage just because he let her rant and rave against him for years, because if you wouldn't want a woman to marry a man who threw snits at her while she took them without a word of complaint like Adam does with Teela, you'd be a horrible hypocrite and wholly unreliable.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the problems littering any potential romance between them.
Trapped by Destiny
While Adam and Teela walk different paths that parallel each other, they do not intersect for various reasons.
As the daughter of the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, Teela is fated to take her mother's place as the Castle's stewardess. As such, she will never be able to leave Grayskull for more than a few short periods of time, and even then, those "vacations" are limited to her mental and emotional needs of release from isolation in what amounts to a holy temple filled to the brim with holy nukes. Now, while putting Teela in charge of Grayskull's safety would be an excellent means of humbling her for the better, it still makes it impossible for her to attempt courting Adam.
Because Adam, whether as king or He-Man, needs to constantly see to the needs of the people of Eternia and protect them, while Teela's duty lies solely in guarding Grayskull against any threat that manages to get past him. You also wouldn't be able to solve this by having Adam move into Grayskull because one, he'd still have to leave to settle disputes and battles (which would both worsen Teela's isolation struggles and make her itch to be on the frontline with him to the point of making a stupid decision), and two, conceiving royal heirs in essentially a magic pagan temple that houses various magical weapons would not be smart, nor would it end in Adam and Teela free of consequences for performing the deed in such a place even if they were married.
Just look up the punishments Athena and even Artemis dealt to couples who did so in their temples in the myths, and you'll understand what I mean.
Revelation/Revolution side-stepped these issues not just by allowing Teela to find a loophole in the rules of becoming Sorceress that grants her leave of Grayskull anytime she pleases, but also by having Adam dissolve the monarchy and remain He-Man full time and thereby reduce his responsibilities to about a hundred different daily tasks. This only works if you want to satisfy the majority of the audience who were left hanging on a ship tease for forty years, and even then, Kevin Smith narrowly achieved in making Adam x Teela work in such a way as to be believable and enjoyable.
Because if you don't play it like he did, Adam x Teela is going to end in bloodshed and tears due to feelings of neglect, uselessness, and a lack of presence that will result in stupid choices that will endanger all of Eternia.
Conclusion
Adam deserves and needs a woman who understands what he's always sacrificing, what he allows others to say and think of him, and who will support him regardless of the appearance he puts on. A woman who won't bat an eye at the confused stares she gets for faithfully hanging around the "idiot prince", who can stand up for him when he can't, and who will gently hold him when he needs a hug after a long, horrible day.
And Teela? If you want her to find love, you need to give her a Kid Flash to her Artemis Crock: a man who won't take her scathing comments and arrogance without giving her a taste of her own medicine. A man who won't leave her/leave her alone, and who won't give her an inch of ground until they both start unwinding, maturing, and feeling safe in making themselves vulnerable to each other. That's the man she deserves and needs.
Otherwise, the only real option is making her take a vow of celibacy. There's really no in-between option for Teela.
That's my thoughts on the matter, folks. I hope I made this clear, and why I believe that Adam x Teela only works in one scenario. If you agree, I'm grateful to have met someone who does. And if you don't? Well, I hope you at least had an enjoyable time.
