cruelfeline: I have seen very mixed reactions to Prime’s immediate takeover of Hordak after th
cruelfeline: I have seen very mixed reactions to Prime’s immediate takeover of Hordak after the latter takes back his name and tosses him to his supposed death.Many people don’t seem to mind it. Some appear to feel that it somehow lessens Hordak’s empowering moment, the fact that he doesn’t get to be the one to completely kill Prime. Or the fact that he gets taken over so quickly.I… actually really like it? I mean, I obviously don’t love the fact that our dear spacebat was violated in such a vulgar fashion, but at the same time, I feel like the fact that it happened drives home a couple of crucial points.First, it confirms that, yes: Prime is incredibly dangerous. Prime cannot be killed in as simple a fashion as a shot to the back. Prime cannot be eliminated by a single act of willful bravery. I mean, if that was possible, then one would have to believe that, in his thousands of years of existence, no one ever thought to just… blast him. Which I would have a very hard time believing.Making him so apparently indestructible, even when Hordak gives it his all, also works to highlight how dire the plight of Hordak, the clones, and everyone in opposition to him truly is. It confirms that this is a creature that presents the most severe danger to everyone around him, no matter how individually capable they are. Think back to Save the Cat, as well: Catra does her absolute best to fight him, and she has such a strong will… yet he still nearly (or actually, depending on how you headcanon this episode) kills her. Hordak’s possession serves as a sort of call-back to this and confirms that Prime cannot be fully defeated by a single person.Rather, what is truly emphasized is that Prime has to be killed by the power held in the connections between people. Hordak and Entrapta’s connection begins the job, freeing Hordak and allowing him to destroy Prime’s physical body. While Hordak gets possessed, this act still forces Prime down to Etheria’s surface, where he is vulnerable to the planet’s magic. Catra and Adora’s connection allows Adora to fully access the powers of She-Ra, which in and of themselves represent what is essentially the magic of love stored within the Heart of Etheria.All of the connections the Alliance members have with one another, even when they’re on their last legs, give them the strength to buy Adora time to access the Heart.And finally, once Prime is purged and burned out of existence, we catch a glimpse of that last connection, that most minute, unexpected one that started us on this path to victory: the one between Adora and Hordak.The point of all of this is that, ultimately, the way Prime dies supports the principle themes of the story. Everyone contributes. Everyone fights back against a small part of him. Everyone draws on their love for their friends, or their partners, and uses that to chip away at the strength and defenses that Prime possesses, until finally, She-Ra, the embodiment of Etheria’s magic, focuses all of that love to destroy him for good. Everyone contributes… but no one succeeds alone. It takes everyone.It’s so much more thematically consistent than a simple shot to the back, or any other sort of one-on-one fight. It echoes all of the love these characters have for one another, and it makes Prime’s death, and Etheria’s revival, all the more meaningful. -- source link