Hordak not getting over it on Season 4
There are three scenes, three specific scenes belonging to season 4 which makes me think Hordak would have, eventually, give up his mission to conquer Etheria on a Heartbeat IF Entrapta was involved.
You know, I have read a lot of metas, very good metas and long posts about why Hordak needed Entrapta’s recordings on Season 4 to complete his weapon explaining that what he wanted was to heard her voice again, but the more I think about it, the more I belive he wanted it for more than just feed his hearbreak and longing.
He wanted clarification about why she betrayed him.
Hordak is not only a warrior, but a very good scientist, I can understand him trying to search for explanation over the most mundane things, and facing such emotional but at the same time very confusing episode in his life regarding a woman who he seen like his only and true friewnd, I am quite sure he would want to know what really happened, in fact he would want to seek *emphirical proof* behind Entrapta’s behaviours, and what would be better than to study her recordings?
Entrapta uses her recording for absolutely *everything*, it wouldn’t be weird, from the point of view of Hordak, to think that she recorded the process and steps to betray him. The thing is, as we all know, and Hordak also seen to feel (and confirm via Double Trouble), something is off about it, and the answers are in fact in front of him:
Why would Entrapta help him with such a powerful armor AND advanced weaponry IF she was gonna betray him?
The answers should be on the recordings, he would think.
Also, I would like to point out on the exact episode how Hordak, even after listening to Catra speech about “not needing anyone, not even a Princess”, he looks at the first one’s tech under the trash on his desk and realizes that is *Entrapta’s studies with this technology* what he needed all along.
Hordak has been years trying to conquer Etheria, in season 4 he is on an ongoing battle both external and internal, very personal, about which spteps to take next, but what I would like to point out in season 4 is the fact that Hordak’s fight for worthiness started to follow a very personal path regarding Entrapta, even more than proving himself to Prime.
The scene where Catra delivers her speech to him in Princess Scorpia episode, just after he realized he would never heard Entrapta’s voice again (and never get answers about her betrayal) is very much a proof that, no matter what others would tell him about his obsession with the Princess, he just wouldn’t give up, for good or bad:
Lest take a look at the speech:
And then, just seconds after Catra’s speech:
This scene for me has always been… strange, why putting two scenes that override each othe in the same episode with seconds of difference? until I realized that the crystal Hordak had found under all the trash on his desk is exactly the same kind of crystal his Armor has, the same type as the Luvd crystal, which now powers an armor created by Entrapta, a technology that he got to understand ONLY because of her:
(thanks @cruelfeline for your incredible meta about Entrapta’s innovations)
This scene above is the partial answer that he was looking for regarding his weaponry (but not Entrapta’s betrayal), we even saw him stufying it on Flutterina and again thinking about her. He now knows he can complete his weapon because of Entrapta’s innovations and technology left behind, he is now gonna be capable of proving his worth… because of her.
This dismisses Catra’s speech, which actually reflects her frustration at needing to prove herself in front of Adora but her complete obsession about not needing anyone is a conflict that we don’t get to see on Hordak, and that is a big difference between them; Hordak feels no discomfort in needing Entrapta.
This is an important fact which differentiates both characters; While Catra hates and despises Adora’s intentions and beliefs about the war and hates deeply needing her, Hordak admires Entrapta’s intelligence and abilities even when believing her an enemy, that admiration never disappeared, rendering Catra’s attempts useless when trying to make him believe that he doesn’t need her anymore to win the war.
This fact is proven exactly in the Boy’s Night Out episode, when thinking that Hordak would stop mentioning Entrapta and focus on winning the War and seeking Prime’s approval, he follows a path which is completely opposite to what Catra yelled about to him two episodes prior:
Double Trouble: I was looking forward to meeting this Entrapta character before I left Bright Moon. But, of course, as you know, she wasn’t there.
Hordak: What did you say?
Even before knowing she hasn’t betrayed him, even after speding months believing her an enemy, he still can’t help but worry about her wellbeing.
What had happened to her? why isn’t she with the Princesses? hdn’t she told him before they left her behind, that she was a failure and no one undertood her? But if she had been cast aside again by them, why didn’t she came back to him? If she hasn’t been seen on Bright Moon nor the Battlefield… where is she?!
I can truly savious the ansxiety building up on Hordak’s chets.
If he really wasn’t interested in her whereabouts, if he really wanted to fight her on the battlefield instead of just checking she was fine, and if he really did not longer need her companionship and assistance, he wouldn’t have questioned DT about what did that mean. Besides, if his interest and also feelings towards her weren’t so deep, he wouldn’t have broken his rule of silence and coldness in front of Double Trouble, mainly because he straight up showed his main weakness; her.
I want to point out something specific about character development in Hordak; during the first two seasons, we saw Hordak being a general, a leader of a very powerful army, we see him as this mysterious but indolent, brutal, fierce figure, before his cadets and his force captains. He demands respect, responsibility and also loyalty, but nothing more.
At no point during the four seasons did we see him concerned about the welfare or whereabouts of any of his subordinates, ever.
That is in fact a basic Horde’s rule, right? nothing matters but conquering Etheria, showing weakness of any sort is forbidden.
This was the moment that made me realize Hordak’s lower point hadn’t been related to everyone else’s plotline; his lower point, the one I am sure tortured him to the point of seeking a second mindwipe at the hands of Prime in season 5, wasn’t the moment he realized he had been fooled by Catra, wasn’t even when he was destroying Salineas (is very much a neat scene for him and he actually enjoyed it), but this scene:
“Who do you think let the Princesses in?”
The very moment he chose to believe a lie instead of believing on Entrapta’s promise and also most importantly; her honesty and friendship. And the fact he just straight up believed it, after having snapped at her on a moment of frustration, adding the fact he actually didn’t seek more answers regarding Entrapta’s betrayal, and lived through it until Double Trouble told him the horrible truth.
There is a mental processing happening on Hordak’s mind when he realizes he had been manipulated that whole time:
1) Entrapta had been on Beast Island while he had been blasting around about her betraying him, and now Entrapta is dead.
2) All was a manipulation from his most loyal Force Captain, someone he had trusted for months. He had been believing it all this time and she was laughing at his face, and now Entrapta is dead.
3) If nothing had happened, if Catra hasn’t come back from the Crinsom Waste with the Sword, maybe Entrapta’s words would have ended up being true and they would have spent all that time together, after all, what she told him, about imperfections being beautiful, about him being worthy of something, had been true. They could have been more than just friends, it would have happened, but now Entrapta was dead.
And then, nothing mattered any longer.
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