Hordak
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Hordak is a fictional character in the popular toy line Masters of the Universe. He is the leader of the Evil Horde, an army of savage warriors, most of whom wear a red bat symbol on their chests to convey their allegiance. He is the former mentor of Skeletor, the franchise's main villain. According to most story media, Skeletor betrayed Hordak and trapped him in another dimension before beginning his own conquest of the planet Eternia. Hordak then returned with a vengeance to take over Eternia for himself. This basic background is generally consistent across most story media although interpretations have varied strongly.
Hordak is recognizable by his grotesque, white face, with sharp, red eyes, his flat, snout-like nose, red vampire-like fangs and pointed, bat-like ears. He wears a collar of bones and black armor over his chest, emblazoned with the Horde bat symbol. His appearance resembles a vampire or bat-like creature, although in some media he appears more cyborg-like. According to the toy line's creator Roger Sweet, his face was modelled on an African witch doctor's mask.
Hordak is generally recognized as being the lead villain of the She-Ra cartoons, in which he is the archnemesis of She-Ra, He-Man's twin sister. In this series he rules the planet of Etheria with an army of Horde Troopers. It should be noted, however, that in a few episodes, he does make attempts and mentions of trying to conquer Eternia, giving his goals some similarity to his action figure/comic counterpart.
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[edit] Hordak in the Masters of the Universe toy line
Hordak and his Evil Horde were introduced into Mattel's Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985 to inject new blood into the line by introducing a new army of villains, as adversaries to both He-Man and Skeletor. Hordak was introduced in the mini-comic "Hordak: The Ruthless Leader's Revenge" packaged with his action figure, in which he returned from the dimension in which he was imprisoned to wreak vengeance on Skeletor while making his own attempts to destroy He-Man and conquer Castle Grayskull. His character was presented as a sorcerer who had now turned his attention mainly to science, and used a combination of magic and science, but mainly the latter, in his attempts on Eternia. He apparently was involved in lots of events in Eternia's past such the building of The Three Towers which was alluded to in some of the mini-comics that came packaged with the action figures.
[edit] Cartoon
[edit] She-Ra: Princess of Power
At the time the Horde action figures were released, Filmation's cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, commissioned by Mattel to promote the toys, was drawing to a close to make way for the new She-Ra: Princess of Power series, to promote Mattel's new Princess of Power toy line featuring He-Man's twin sister. In order to give exposure to the Horde figures, Filmation writer Larry DiTillio agreed with Mattel to make the Horde the lead villains of the She-Ra series. As well as promoting their action figures, this move would also attract more male viewers to watch the series, by making most of the villains male in a female-dominated cast. This gender balance would help enhance viewing figures by giving the show more even viewing figures between girls and boys. One difference in his appearance in the cartoon is he is blue skinned instead of gray like his toy counterpart.
Hordak's origin was therefore altered slightly from Mattel's initial story. Hordak made his animated debut in the 1985 animated movie, He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword, comprised of the first 5 episodes of the She-Ra cartoon series.
In the film and cartoon, Hordak holds a rank seemingly similar to a General in a vast cosmos spanning empire, that is ultimately ruled by Horde Prime. In The Secret of the Sword, it is revealed that He-Man's foe Skeletor was once Hordak's favourite pupil. When Prince Adam was an infant, the Evil Horde invaded Eternia with plans to conquer it. Though they failed in their mission, Hordak was able to capture Adam's twin sister Princess Adora. Hordak fled Eternia leaving the evil Skeletor behind. Adam grew up, never knowing that he had a sister. To spare Eternia pain, the The Sorceress magically erased everyone's memory of Adora's existence.
Years later He-Man is compelled to bring a magic sword to an unknown woman in another dimension. He-Man arrives in Etheria, a world that has been conquered by Hordak. Here he rules from a fortress called the Fright Zone. In the years that have passed, Princess Adora has been raised by Hordak, and has become a Force Captain in the Evil Horde. Soon He-Man discovers that she is his sister and that the magic sword is meant for her. After he presents her with the sword the memory of her true identity is restored, and she gains the ability to become She-Ra, Princess of Power. She-Ra and He-Man do battle against Hordak's forces. Hordak is disappointed to lose his grip over Adora, and is even more disappointed to have gained such a powerful new enemy. Hordak and nearly everyone else in Etheria are unaware of She-Ra's true identity.
During the course of the movie, Hordak follows Adora to Eternia and encounters his old pupil Skeletor. The two villains have a battle that ends in a stalemate, and decide to form an uneasy alliance against their common foes. They kidnap Adora, but Skeletor betrays Hordak and throws him through a portal back to Etheria. However Adora escapes from Skeletor and returns to Etheria with Adam. He-Man and She-Ra make a great blow against the Evil Horde’s hold on Etheria. Eventually He-Man must return to protect Eternia, but Adora stays in Etheria to help lead The Great Rebellion. It is this ongoing war between the Horde, and the Great Rebellion, that serves as the back drop for the entire She-Ra series.
In one episode of the She-Ra series, we see Hordak's former mentor, the wizard Norwyn, who apparently taught him his magical powers before Hordak abandoned them for the ways of science. It is also notable that Hordak appeared to possibly be a cyborg in this series rather than a fully organic being, as some fans interpreted his angular face to be metallic (although this is not a majority view) and his ability to turn into a rocket, and transform his arms into cannons, indicated he may have cybernetic implants. Although his utilisation of technology was undebatable, an equal or greater proportion of fans interpreted these transformations to have a magical component that worked in addition to (or perhaps even instead of) implants. This view is largely due to the fact that the transformations of parts or all of Hordak's body into myriad mechanical devices were extremely radical and always occurred instantaneously with a glowing energy effect rather than more mundane (and unambiguously technological) mechanical reconfigurations. Given the MOTU toy and cartoon universes' long history of fusing sorcery and science-fiction, a magic/tech combination is the most likely explanation for Hordak's powers in the She-Ra series.
[edit] Mike Young Productions animated series
In the new continuity of the 2002 Mike Young Productions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series, Hordak was a warlord from ancient Eternia, who opposed Castle Grayskull's original ruler, King Grayskull, with a massive army. The conflict ended when Hordak commanded his sorcerers (who some fans have dubbed "Shadow Weavers" in reference to the singular character from the She-Ra series) to draw Castle Grayskull into the dimension of Despondos. The spell failed with King Grayskull's intervention, only destroying the area around the castle and drawing Hordak and his army into the dark dimension instead. While trapped in Despondos, Hordak saved Keldor's life after he failed to assassinate the Eternian Elders (a council of wise men and women who served King Grayskull, and were transformed into immortal beings to rule Eternia after his death) and had acid splashed into his face. Hordak saved Keldor by magically removing the damaged flesh and allowing his bare skull to exist in a magical floating state above his shoulders. Having saved his life on the promise of a later price to be paid, Hordak renamed Keldor as Skeletor.
When, at a much later date Hordak called upon Skeletor to free him from Despondos, Skeletor initially seemed powerless to resist his mentor. However, Skeletor surprised the onlooking Evil-Lyn and He-Man by defiantly destroying Hordak's temple, thus hoping to seal his former master away forever.
Soon after Evil-Lyn attempted to free Hordak through different means with the help of Count Marzo, but after He-Man destroyed the Well of Darkness, Marzo absorbed the power of his amulet and fled. It was also revealed that Hordak was responsible for creating this series' Dark Hemisphere on Eternia by performing the Spell of Separation.
Hordak was intended to be released in the 2000s toy line, as well as being the main villain in the third season of the cartoon series. According to Ian Richter of Mattel, who initiated most of the storylines on the cartoon, Hordak was going to conquer Eternia on season 3 and serve as the main villain of the season before being finally overcome by Skeletor. However, the toy line and cartoon series were both cancelled after the show's second season, so the third season was never produced. His figure was produced however by NECA & The Four Horsemen in their MOTU "stacion figure" line.
[edit] Hordak In other media
While Hordak came to be generally recognized as She-Ra's main adversary, most story media outside of the cartoon focused more on Hordak as one of He-Man's arch enemies. He featured predominantly in the Star and Marvel comic series in the US as an enemy of He-Man, and also in the London Editions comics in the UK. London Editions also published a short-lived She-Ra comic series which also starred Hordak as the main villain, explaining that he divided his time between his rulership on Etheria and his attempts at conquering Eternia. The UK comics also stated that there were two Fright Zones that he operated from, one on Etheria and one on Eternia, the latter resembling Mattel's Fright Zone playset. The UK comics stated that he came from the world of Academica, apparently a world dominated by science and industry.
[edit] The relationship between Horde Prime and Hordak
Horde Prime is the only being with authority over Hordak as well as his Horde inspectors, for he is the intergalactic ruler of the Horde Empire, with control over all Horde regimes. He apparently hails from a world known as Horde World although his exact background has never been revealed. All that has ever been seen of Horde Prime is a gigantic skeletal robotic arm, which suggests he may be some sort of cyborg. He travels the universe in his ship, the Velvet Glove, keeping watch over the Horde's universal activities. It has been speculated, but never confirmed, that Horde Prime may be Hordak's brother.
The main reason for this comes from the episode "The Peril of Whispering Woods", the first She-Ra episode to allude to Horde Prime. In this episode we see Horde Prime's son, Prince Zed, who addresses Hordak as 'uncle'. This could suggest that Prime is Hordak's brother, but it is also possible that Zed only called him 'uncle' as a friendly term. How Prince Zed is Horde Prime's son still remains to be seen.
Two UK She-Ra annuals in the mid-1980s stated that Hordak was Prime's brother, but these operated within a canon independent of the cartoon and also got Horde Prime's name wrong, referring to him as 'Prime Horde'. The UK He-Man comics stated explicitly in one issue that Horde Prime was not Hordak's brother, but again these operated within an independent canon and drew Prime with a completely different appearance from the cartoon.
It has not yet been confirmed whether or not Filmation's writers conceived Prime as Hordak's brother.
[edit] Powers and abilities
In the Filmation series Hordak possess an array of powers. Unlike his treacherous former pupil Skeletor, who relies mostly on magic, the majority of Hordak’s powers are seemingly the product of science. He is capable of transforming himself in a variety of ways. For example, he can turn his arm into an energy cannon, become a massive tank, and even transport himself over great distances by becoming a rocket. However, it is also highly probable that magic still played a significant role in these transformations (see Filmation section above). It is possible that the Filmation creative team assigned these powers to Hordak to make him reminiscent of the Decepticon leader Megatron, or just Transformers in general, as Transformers would have been Mattel’s biggest competitor at the time.
However, the minicomics (as well as the Marvel Star comic books) depicted Hordak as using Magic to a great extent, more so than science. He is shown to be a powerful dark mage of equal or greater power to Skeletor and most likely has far greater knowledge.
As was the case with Skeletor and He-Man, Hordak received later action-figure iterations that sported new special features. As Hurricane Hordak, Hordak had the power to discharge violent whirlwinds via mechanical rotor-blades that replaced his right hand. As Buzz-saw Hordak, he could launch a deadly spinning buzz-saw like projectile from his chest. The accompanying minicomics explained the origins of both seemingly technological powers in clearly magical terms.
In the 2002 Mike Young Productions cartoon, Hordak briefly appears in flashbacks and in astral form via dimensional portals. He is depicted as a supremely powerful magic-user, seemingly of vastly greater power than Skeletor, and with no apparent reliance on technology whatsoever (other than his Horde Troopers, although it is unknown if these redesigned minions were still intended to be robots like the original versions).
[edit] Mantisaur
Mantisaur was Hordak's steed, making him the Horde equivalent to Battle Cat and Panthor. Mantisaur's first appearance was in the minicomic "Between a Rock and a Hard Place!", where he was able to speak and could control insects. Mantisaur also appeared in the Star MOTU comics and in the She-Ra TV series (although in the series, he was painted green instead of his normal red-and-black).
