| She-Ra | |
|---|---|
| Masters of the Universe character | |
She-Ra, with her Sword of Protection[1][2] |
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| First appearance | The Secret of the Sword |
| Created by | Mattel |
| Portrayed by | Melendy Britt |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Adora |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | King Miro (grandfather) King Randor (father) Queen Marlena (mother) He-Man (twin brother) |
She-Ra is a fictional character and the heroine in the Filmation cartoon and series of toys produced by Mattel called She-Ra: Princess of Power.[3] She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of He-Man.[4] She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys.[5][6] Filmation writer Larry DiTillio named the character for Mattel (the original name was He-Ra) and created the backstory for the property.[7]
She-Ra is introduced in the animated movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora, an agent of the Evil Horde that rules the planet Etheria. She discovers that she is the long-lost sister of Prince Adam of Eternia, having been stolen by the Horde's leader, Hordak, as a baby. She is granted the Sword of Protection, which parallels He-Man's Sword of Power, gaining the power to transform into She-Ra, her secret identity.[8]
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King Randor and Queen Marlena from planet Eternia, had twins, a girl and a boy named Adora and Adam. At the time of the twins' birth, the Evil Horde, a group bent on dominating the entire universe, launch an invasion against Eternia and Castle Grayskull but were unsuccessful. Castle Grayskull is the center of mystical power on Eternia. Horde's leader, Hordak, with pupil Skeletor (the future nemesis of Prince Adam) plotted to kidnap the twins because of a prophecy. Hordak was able to kidnap Adora, but they were confronted before Adam could be taken. Hordak escaped, leaving Skeletor behind. To save himself, Skeletor revealed to Man-At-Arms that the Horde were based at Snake Mountain. Man-At-Arms went with the Sorceress to retrieve Adora. When confronted, Hordak ran through a portal into another dimension, which closed up before they could follow.
Adora was raised by a Horde servant called Shakra, who was able to provide Adora with some goodness during her early life. When Adora was old enough to begin serving the Horde, Hordak had Shadow Weaver put Adora under a spell so that she would follow the Horde and not question their ruling methods. Hordak saw great potential in Adora and made her the Force Captain of The Horde. Adora's uniform — which she continued to wear throughout the series, even after defecting to the Rebels — consisted of a red leotard with long white sleeves, matching boots and gauntlets, and a black belt.[9]
The Sorceress begins having strange dreams reminding her of the time when Adora was taken from the royal nursery. She awakes to find a sword floating above her bed. The Sword is similar to Prince Adam's sword that she had given to him years before. The sword seems to beckon to the Sorceress, so she rises from her bed and follows the sword through the passages of Castle Grayskull. The sword stops before a door which opens to reveal a previously unopened portal, the Sorceress knows the time has come and summons Adam and Cringer to the Castle. When Adam arrives at the Castle she explains that the time has come for the sword to be claimed by its rightful owner, with this Adam and Cringer walk through the portal into a lush green forest.
The planet they travel to is called Etheria. Adam and Cringer travel to the village of Thaymor. At the inn they stop for lunch, but Horde Troopers enter and cause trouble. Adam confronts them, Bow joins him and they beat the Troopers. Adam and Bow return to The Whispering Woods where Bow introduces him to the leader of The Great Rebellion, Glimmer. Later when Adam tells The Rebellion that they should fight The Horde, they head off to Bright Moon. The rebels begin their fight with The Horde, and appear to be near to defeat, until He-Man arrives. Adora flees and He-Man follows her. He confronts her in a room with the sword the Sorceress gave him. The sword begins to glow, and He-Man realizes that the sword is meant for her. He is then knocked out by a Horde laser, Adora picks up the sword and He-Man is taken to the Horde prison on Beast Island.
Adora visits He-Man in his prison cell then tells him that she feels drawn to the sword, as if it were made especially for her. He-Man confirms this, but tells her it is for a person who fights on the side of good. Adora responds by telling him that she serves The Horde, the rightful rulers of Etheria. He tells her she is wrong and to go and discover for herself the evil acts that are being carried out against the innocent people of Etheria. She tells him he is mistaken and she leaves the island with Spirit to prove him wrong. While riding through the villages of Etheria, Adora discovers that He-Man is correct and that The Horde rule with brutal tyranny. Meanwhile Kowl comes to rescue He-Man from his cell. Adora rides back to the Fright Zone, where she challenges Hordak and Shadow Weaver with the truth. She tells them she has seen for herself that The Horde are cruel rulers. Shadow Weaver discovers that the sword Adora is carrying is somehow weakening her own magic. She puts Adora into a slumber with her magic and takes the sword.
Adora awakens from her slumber without the memories of the previous day's events. Later that day, she and The Horde capture rebels and place them in a glass chamber which will drain their energy to power Hordak's new invention. He-Man sneaks into the Fright Zone disguised as a Horde Trooper. When he asks her if she now knew the truth about The Horde she arrests him and Hordak takes him to drain his energy. Adora expresses her dislike of this, but Shadow Weaver uses her magic once again. Later that night an echoing voice wakes Adora, once more she silently walks into the room where He-Man is being drained of his energy. She is drawn to the sword again. The face of a woman appears in the jewel embedded in the sword. The woman is the Sorceress. She reveals to Adora that she was kidnapped by The Horde when she was a baby and that she had a twin brother.
When it is revealed that He-Man is her twin brother she is amazed. The Sorceress tells her "For the honor of Grayskull", then her image vanishes from the stone. Adora lifts up the sword and repeats the Sorceress' last words, in a swirl of lights and magic she is transformed into She-Ra. She releases He-Man from the chamber and gives his sword back to him. With the sword in his possession again his energy is restored by the sword's magic. While He-Man battles the Troopers She-Ra jumps from a window and crashes into the Horde stables and lands atop Spirit. The magic that transformed Adora also changes Spirit into Swift Wind, a winged talking unicorn. They fly ahead to warn The Rebellion. He-Man fights Hordak and She-Ra comes to help. Both safe, She-Ra tells a stunned He-Man that she is his sister.
He-Man is amazed that he has a sister. She-Ra tells him about the woman she saw in the sword. He-Man realizes she means the Sorceress and uses She-Ra's sword to summon her. She appears to them and explains everything. She-Ra cries when she finds out what happened when she was taken from her true family, and she and He-Man hug. Adam and Adora return to the rebel camp and Bow thinks that Adam had captured the Horde captain. Adam informs him that Adora is his sister and she was being controlled by Shadow Weaver's evil spells. Adora announces that she would like to join the rebels in their fight against the Horde. Glimmer tells the twins that her mother, Queen Angella, is being held captive by Hunga, Queen of the Harpies, at Talon Mountain. Adam and Adora set off to free the Queen. When hidden from view they become He-Man and She-Ra. They liberate Angella and return to the camp. With the Queen safe, Adora feels she can now leave them and return to Eternia. She, Adam, Spirit and Cringer pass through the portal back to Eternia. Hordak sees them and follows. Adora and Adam arrive in Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress takes them to the Royal Palace. Randor and Marlena are delighted at the return of their daughter.
While the Royal family rejoice that their family is finally together again, Hordak and Skeletor attack and take Adora prisoner again. She tricks Beast Man and taking her sword transforms into She-Ra. She battles Webstor and Kobra Khan and defeats Skeletor. Later at the palace Adora tells her parents she must return to Etheria so that she can help free the planet from Horde oppression. They are saddened by this decision but understand that this is what Adora must do, with this the Sorceress transports Adora and Spirit back to Etheria. Adam follows, and the two discover the Kingdom of Brightmoon under attack. He-Man and She-Ra join the battle against the Evil Horde at Brightmoon. Upon temporary victory, She-Ra realizes that this is her true destiny. She must remain on Etheria to continue this fight. He-Man returns to Eternia, declaring "Farewell, She-Ra, Princess of Power".[10]
Adora, having been trained by the Horde her entire life, assumes leadership of the Great Rebellion. The epic battle to free Etheria from the grip of the Evil Horde rages on, spreading across the corners of the planet. Through this war, She-Ra calls upon her allies across the globe, using their special talents to battle against Horde creations. She is aided by Frosta, Castaspella, Mermista, and a host of other freedom fighters across the lands.
Whether or not She-Ra and her forces were ever successful in defeating the Horde was never revealed as the series was short-lived.
According to She-Ra's bio in the recent Masters of the Universe Classics toyline, Hordak eventually escaped to Eternia. She-Ra followed him there, along with several of her friends and allies, and they joined forces with the now renegade Masters of the Universe to help them fight against Hordak's new tyranny.[1]
Like her brother, He-Man, She-Ra is known for her incredible strength. She is addressed as "The Princess of Power" and on multiple occasions considered "The Most Powerful Woman in the Universe". Many times she has been shown to be able to lift not only full-grown men and robots, but also mountain-like rocks and buildings. She-Ra is often shown successfully attempting feats deemed impossible by other characters. Episodes of the original cartoon also depict her as being able to swim at a far faster rate than is humanly possible.
Whether there is a limit to the length of time she can remain in her heroic form before she reverts back to her original form of Adora is unknown, however there have been occasions in which she has been forcibly transformed back into Adora, implying that her powers do have limits to them.
Her physical prowess is not limited to strength, however, and she is also depicted as being extremely fast and acrobatic.
On the other hand, again, like He-Man, She-Ra as a character is largely non-violent and usually only resorts to combat as a last resort, often preferring to outsmart her adversaries; her most violent actions typically consist of body throws. As per broadcast standards of the period, in the Filmation cartoon, He-Man & She-Ra were not allowed to use their swords as offensive weapons, nor were they allowed to directly punch or kick anyone. She-Ra was only allowed to destroy robotic enemies, which were her primary foes.
Aside from her physical powers, She-Ra also demonstrated a series of other abilities which appear to be more nurturing in nature, as opposed to her brother's more aggressively-based powers, such as empathic understanding and mental communication with animals.
She-Ra's primary weapon is her Sword of Protection. This is similar to He-Man's Sword of Power. The sword gives her the ability to transform from Princess Adora into She-Ra and back via the powers of Castle Grayskull, by saying, "For the Honor of Grayskull... I am She-Ra!" However, when she was a member of the Horde, she used laser weapons. Her sword is apparently almost indestructible and able to deflect bolts of energy, both magical and technological, as well as to project beams of energy from the stone in its center. However, in one episode, the stone in She-Ra's sword becomes damaged, causing her to be unable to transform into She-Ra. Her brother He-Man's sword never suffered this weakness on-screen, which could mean that either both swords had a specific weak-point or that She-Ra's sword was inferior to He-Man's. The sword also had transmutation abilities--upon command, it would morph into whatever She-Ra required at the time (i.e. rope, chains, fire, shield, net, space helmet,boomerang, etc...) Originally She-Ra's headdress transformed into a mask, aiding in protecting her secret identity. However, in the cartoons, this was done away with, and instead She-Ra's voice and longer hair worked to distinguish her two identities.
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