She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch 1.12, "Light Hope"

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Matters move towards a climax in the first season's penultimate episode.

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1.12, "Light Hope"

Written by Noelle Stevenson, Josie Campbell, Katherine Nolfi, and Laura Sreebny
Directed by Lianne Hughes

Synopsis

Not the best way to get to know someone.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Adora falls. As she does, she converses with holographic representations of Light Hope and of her own memories. She suddenly finds herself standing--and conversing with Light Hope, who is a hologram. Light Hope presents some background knowledge and attempts to accommodate herself to Adora, to little effect.

Mr. Ed, he ain't.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

In Bright Moon, Glimmer frets to Bow about Adora's ongoing absence. He tries to comfort her, to little avail, before Adora's horse, Swift Wind, introduces himself. There is some confusion from Glimmer and Bow about the horse's ability to talk; after it subsides, Swift Wind explicates his situation and summons Glimmer and Bow to help Adora. Bow cautions against trying to evade Angella, who arrives unexpectedly and speeds the trio on their way.

In the Fright Zone, Entrapta reports to Catra regarding her findings and her work. The initial report is not illuminating; the follow-up is stilted before revealing that Etheria is deeply affected by earlier manipulation.

Meanwhile, Adora presses Light Hope for information. Elementary exposition is forthcoming, revealing a long line of work on the planet. Entrapta discusses some of that work with Catra; the now-vanished First Ones integrated their technology into the magic present in Etheria, penetrating into the planet's core. Adora is supposed to "bring balance to Etheria," manipulating the rune-stones and their connected princesses to maintain the planet--or to "hack the planet," in Entrapta's words. Scorpia reveals that the Horde is in possession of one such, her own family's, given to Hordak upon his arrival. Shadow Weaver is noted as a problem, and Catra moves to address it as a report of events reaches Hordak.

Adora continues to press for information, specifically what she can do to help Glimmer. Light Hope offers training that will not be helpful in the short term, and Light Hope pushes for a withdrawal from her personal relationships. Light Hope cites Mara, a previous She-Ra, as a failure and urges Adora to take up where Mara faltered and to renounce personal connections.

This is not a face that invites disobedience.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Entrapta, Scorpia, and Catra work on the Horde's rune-stone, only to be interrupted by an angry Shadow Weaver. She is interrupted in turn by a message from Hordak commending their work. She does not take the news well, and a fracas ensues. Catra emerges victorious, and Shadow Weaver is imprisoned. Entrapta resumes work, and Etheria begins to reflect her efforts

Glimmer and Bow proceed to find Adora. Swift Wind relates more about himself along the way. They encounter the effects of the Horde's manipulations along the way, and Swift Wind reacts strongly to it. The weather begins to shift dramatically at what Entrapta calls "interesting," and the trio reach Adora's location. They reach her with some difficulty and retrieve her from the trance in which she confers with Light Hope. Swift Wind brings her out of it, and the four proceed back to Bright Moon, noting the perils building around them--while Catra notes the potential for conquest.

Discussion

The revelation that Scorpia is a princess came a few episodes previously, so it is not a surprise. That she had access to a rune-stone, however, is; Entrapta is also a princess but is not attributed such a stone, so the status does not necessarily entail access to Etherian magic. Watching the episode from the perspective of having watched future seasons of it (through Season 4 as of this writing), it is a thing that becomes more important later on--as might well be expected.

The iteration of Scorpia's background does suggest a medieval parallel, interestingly--that of Hengist and Horsa to the Britons. As accounts typically have it, notably in certain texts of the Chronicle* and in Nennius, the British king, Vortigern, invited Hengist and Horsa and the peoples they led into Britain to help in the fight against the Picts. Seeing how matters stood, Hengist and Horsa turned on Vortigern, taking the lands he had ruled. From the description Scorpia gives, something similar happened with the Horde and her people; her people welcomed the Horde, but were soon made subject to it. Of course, such an account must be viewed with some skepticism; it scans as very much in the colonialist model that often gets trotted out in the United States around this time of year, that people were welcomed in and came to rule rather than arriving and setting out to conquer by book or by bullet or both. And the possible antecedents are themselves written with particular agendas in mind; they are hardly neutral accounts. But the parallel remains interesting.

*Given the problems in the common name of the text in question, particularly those referencing a later-imposed concept of ethnic identity that has been used to prop up racist ideologies and is being used contemporaneously to this writing to support white supremacist and fascist ideologies and rhetorics, I truncate the name here. I know that I am not always as aware of the overtones of my words as I perhaps ought to be, but when I know that my use of a particular term--largely inaccurate and seldom attested in the time among the people to whom it applies--reinforces the work of racist asshats, I do try to avoid it.

Please note that there will not be an update next Thursday, 28 November 2019. I'll be away visiting family. The She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Rewatch series will resume on 5 December 2019; please come back and join us then!