Sword of Protection/Sorceress Theory

[bamf1980]

Ok, so I was reviewing the bios that we have so far, trying to puzzle out the secret of the swords (pun intended), when something struck me as odd.

The Sorceress, realizing that Adam and Adora were to be the twins of prophecy, cloned the Sword of He. Toyguru has already stated that a future bio (not the Sorceress's ) will clarify that the Sword of He was whole at this juncture. And yet, Adam is later forced to use the techno sword in his quest to unite the two halves of the power sword.

Now, I am in the camp that fervently believes that it is not Mattel's intention to degrade, diminish, devolve, or debase She-Ra's role in the mythology. If that was the intention, surely they would not have gone to the trouble of giving us the FILMation accurate Adora and She-Ra of our childhood dreams.

So, this poses a few interesting questions.

1. If the Sword of He was whole when it was cloned but had to be split apart again for the safety of Grayskull/the universe, why didn't the Sword of Protection also have to be split?

2. What purpose does the stone in the Sword of Protection serve?

3. Why does She-Ra have a skill set so similar to, yet strikingly different than, that of her twin brother?

4. And the decades-old question...Why does He-Man call upon the power of Grayskull, yet She-Ra calls upon the honor of Grayskull?

My Theory: The answer to all four questions is...The Sorceress.

My theory is that The Sorceress was crippled with guilt over Adora's abduction. How could she foretell the coming of the twins of power, and NOT predict this terrible tragedy?

The Sword of He had recently been united so that its power could properly be dispersed amongst the twins. Now, only one bearer remained. Adam would grow to inherit the sum total of Grayskull's power. And yet...The Sorceress had her doubts. The sword would need to be split one final time, but before that was to be done, The Sorceress set about an important task.

The Sorceress created a perfect clone of the Sword of He, and imbued that sword with a LARGE portion of her own power, encased in the beautiful blue stone in the center of the sword.

This stone protected the sword, and perhaps even hid the knowledge of its existence, from the forces of evil. So long as the sword remained inside the castle walls, no evil would be able to wield its power. This spell came at a cost, however. The Sorceress was greatly weakened by this powerful magic. Maintaining her spell of protection would forever require a vast amount of her power and concentration. She would never again be able to leave the sanctuary of the castle walls. Were she to leave, she would surely fall. And with her, the secrets of the universe.

Years pass, and eventually Adam unites the two halves of The Sword of He and calls upon the power of (King) Grayskull, for it is his energy that courses through the sword.

More time passes. "The Secret of the Sword" plays out as best it can in our MOTUC world.

Adora raises her sword and calls upon the honor of (Castle) Grayskull. ie The Sorceress. It was her honorable sacrifice that made Adora's redemption and the fulfillment of the prophecy possible. Adora's transformation frees her from the Horde's spell, and frees The Sorceress from the bonds of her exile within the Castle walls. She is free to focus her energies again.

But her power still resides within the sword. The Sorceress is a shapeshifter. She can communicate as a human and as an animal. This gift of communication across species is shared with She-Ra. Her transformative abilities are shared with the sword itself. The Sword of Protection is the product of two very different types of magic. She-Ra gets her brute strength from King Grayskull, and her magical abilities from The Sorceress.


I know it's not a complete story, and there are surely holes in it...but whaddaya want from me? It's after midnight!

Thoughts?

[Darkspecter]

I like your story. It further proves how tragic the life of the Sorceress is. Protecting Castle Grayskull to save the UNIVERSE, giving everything of herself...including giving up her only daughter, unable to even tell her who she really is until the time is right!

As for your questions:

1. Very good point, and I don't think it's one that will get answered. Because, this is an exact clone...with a stone in the middle having the same powers and thensome = more powerful = more dangerous, no?

2. I can't remember if this was in a bio or something we were just told by TG or in a Q&A answer, but the stone was required to "stabalize" the sword after it was cloned (so they can't keep cloning the sword. lol). Everyone thinks the stone is from He-Ro's staff, but TG said no. He could just be trying to keep it secret.

3. Filmation wanted her to be as powerful as He-Man, but also gave her more "feminine" powers. Women are usually more in touch with themselves and those around them, so she can talk to the animals, etc. He-Man can "feel" that animals and creatures want to help. So, he MAY have the same powers but because he's not as in-touch/sensitive. He needs training.

4. Filmation, again. It's in the PoP documentaries on the DVDs. I haven't watched the docs since I first got them, but if I recall correctly, she was going to say the same thing but the changed it to honour at the 11th hour. They thought it was more graceful or something, PLUS she is fighting to redeem herself after years of aiding the evil which overtook her world. So, she's protecting her honour. Something about her protecting the honour of ALL women too.

[Larry Waters]

Good stuff bamf, I dig a lot of that...it would make a good story!

Here's the thing..if Mattel had actually planned this thing out, the bios would be MUCH more coherent and not seemed as rushed and we wouldn't have to be speculating THIS much with so many of the characters already released.

That said, your post is still a great read.

[Power Sword]

Hey bamf1980, for an after midnight tale, that was rad.

I could totally visualize it all taking place as I was reading it.
Even though it's not MOTUC cannon, your story shows what life just might be like for the Sorceress with the hardships she might face, the loneliness she must feel being so confined & the sacrifices she must make for her duty.

I love the Sorceress.

Good job pal.

[The.Idea.of.Evil]

I've always been of the mindset that the original Sword of He was split sometime long before Adam and Adora were born and when the Sorceress came to discover Marleenas pregnancy she somehow foresaw them to be the twins of prophecy. Foolishly she hurriedly reunited the sword BUT she reunited it too early before they were still even born.

In some way either the Sorceress herself or the counsil of (an)others there was fear that the two twins would fight for the single power of the single Sword of He someday. So the decision was made to clone it, giving both equal power so as not to cause a civil war. But then Adora was kidnapped and still having the fear of one twin being more powerfull than the other, the original Sword of He was split again with the cloned sword stored away until the twins would be united.

Then all the shenanigans of Keldor/Skeletor obtaining one half and Adams use of MMAs Techno Sword to tap into the He-Man power to fight him off all happens until Adora finally escapes/frees herself from Hordaks control and both swords finalyl being presented to the twins in their entirety.


Of course, it's only my theory and I'm pretty sure I've thought about it a lot more than whoevers tossing off their own ideas for the bios at their leisure at Mattel.

[Reboot]

I haven't watched the docs since I first got them, but if I recall correctly, she was going to say the same thing but the changed it to honour at the 11th hour. They thought it was more graceful or something

Actually, it was going to be "By the Grace of Grayskull" (shades of Mary Marvel, who originally had Beauty & Grace instead of Power & Stamina in her powerset). I definitely prefer "For the Honour..." (which has no gender connotations) to that.

[bamf1980]

Thanks guys!

I realize that Filmation may or may not have addressed a lot of this, but I'm just trying to look at the bios and figure out where they're going with all of this. Unfortunately, all the Filmation gospel in the world won't amount for much unless they get the rights.

[Telkan2]

That's a great theory, bamf1980, and as you said the Filmation stuff (though I love it) can only hold so much weight in the MOTUC universe until they get the rights. That being said, I think the notion of She-Ra's telepahtic and transformative powers coming from the Sorceress is also a lot more interesting from a storytelling point-of-view than just chalking them up to her being a woman as the documentaries suggested.

I sincerely hope that the Sorceress is one of the figures revealed this summer, not only because she's my favorite character but because her bio will, hopefully, clear this up quite a bit...

[Kevenn]

I love the idea of tying the reason why Sorceress can only leave Grayskull as a falcon to the Adora's sword. NICE JOB!

[SLO-MAN]

She-Ra gets her brute strength from King Grayskull, and her magical abilities from The Sorceress.

Nice theory, BUT I don't agree with this little part. Either she has one or the other.
She can't have both. It only makes her a Mary-Sue.

Mattel was right to limit She-Ra's abilities in her bio.

[Stella_Steve]

I like your story a lot!


I have always LOVED the idea of the Stone being from Etheria tho, I think if Sorceress knew they where the twins of power, she also knew that She-ra would be the champion of the sister planet, Etheria. She knew she would need additional magic powers in order to fulfill her destiny on Etheria. (Because that war needed to be won with honnor and without violence to proove a point, that war and violence where the ruination of that Planet, and it couldn't be restored by the same means it was taken by)

I think Your story behind the stone is correct, but I think insted of the Sorceress it was Light Hope. He became a prisoner of Crystal Castle after putting all of his power and knowlage of Etheria, the magical planet into the stone of protection. Thus, she-ra's connection to Light Hope and being the heir to the powers of Crystal Castle.

I'm sure he, and Sorceress had some kind of connection. They are both magical beings who protected the secrets of their respected planets before the champions came to be.

[phantom1592]

I like the idea that Sorceress is weakened... It also makes sense based on filmation too...

Sorceress is SUPPOSED to be this all powerful guardian. When she leaves grayskull she gets weakened... but when she's IN GRAYSKULL... she's supposed to RULE...

However EVERY time she gets attacked inside or OUT she ends up calling for He-man and fainting

Always made me mad... He-man should be used to keep them OUTSIDE... once they get IN she could take care of them....


I like the idea that she really DOESN"T have the power that everyone THINKS she does... and needs He-man more and more...

[Darkspecter]

She can't have both. It only makes her a Mary-Sue.

Okay, I'll bite. I've seen you use Mary-Sue in almost all your posts regarding She-Ra. What does this mean exactly?

I've only heard the use of "Mary" or "Nancy" to insult men. Never heard of this Mary-Sue though.

[Kevenn]

It's a fan-fic writing term:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue

[phantom1592]

AHHH Ya beat me

[SLO-MAN]

Kevenn is right. It's a fan-fiction term. But it's used for canonical characters as well.
To me She-Ra represents that, as she had no flaws, powers for every occasion, and there was absolutely no danger to herself or her friends since she could heal any damage.

Now granted, He-Man was the same way in Filmation, uber-powerful, no danger, no flaws...
Fortunately for He-Man, he was redefined with MYP, to become a better, more believable character. So even in something like classics, the He-Man in my mind is very much the MYP He-Man, even if he looks a bit different in design.

She-Ra unfortunately is still stuck in that Filmation mold. She needs to be updated and reinterpreted, just like He-Man was, to become an effective character.

[Uki]

She-Ra is not, has never been, a Mary Sue. She's just awesome.

[Darkspecter]

Thanks for the help with Mary-Sue, guys.

She-Ra is not, has never been, a Mary Sue. She's just awesome.

Exactly.

The thing is, She-Ra DOES have a major "flaw." If the stone in She-Ra's sword cracks, so loses ALL her powers and returns to Adora, her secret identity...and cannot re-transform into She-Ra! That's WORSE than Superman's kryptonite.

Also, she needs the help of her brother, He-Man on multiple occasions.

Sure She-Ra can read animal's minds, heal, change her sword into anything she can think of AND has super strength...but she can lose it all in a second. Also, she's earning redemption for all the evils she unknowingly aided and trying to free an entire planet from slavery, torture and worse. She HAS to be strong. If she's not...all is lost.

[SAMURAI36]

Kevenn is right. It's a fan-fiction term. But it's used for canonical characters as well.
To me She-Ra represents that, as she had no flaws, powers for every occasion, and there was absolutely no danger to herself or her friends since she could heal any damage.

Now granted, He-Man was the same way in Filmation, uber-powerful, no danger, no flaws...
Fortunately for He-Man, he was redefined with MYP, to become a better, more believable character. So even in something like classics, the He-Man in my mind is very much the MYP He-Man, even if he looks a bit different in design.

She-Ra unfortunately is still stuck in that Filmation mold. She needs to be updated and reinterpreted, just like He-Man was, to become an effective character.

I agree totally. This is exactly why Filmation jaded my view of these characters. And it's also why I loved what 200X did for these characters as well.

She-Ra does need to get toned down, and I think Mattel were trying their best to do that with her new MOTUC bio.

Thanks for the help with Mary-Sue, guys.



Exactly.

The thing is, She-Ra DOES have a major "flaw." If the stone in She-Ra's sword cracks, so loses ALL her powers and returns to Adora, her secret identity...and cannot re-transform into She-Ra! That's WORSE than Superman's kryptonite.

LOL, that sounds like the Eye of Thundera.

The problem with this is:

A) It's not really an exploitable weakness. Nobody really knows that the secret behind the Grayskull twin's power lies in their swords. Therefore, breaking their swords would be no different in effect, than merely taking their swords. It's never been done, in all the time that these characters have been around.

B) Filmation She-Ra didn't have any competent villains, which were going to be smart or powerful enough to even attempt to exploit this weakness, even if they did know about it.

Therefore, it might as well not even be a weakness at all. It sounds more deus ex machina, than anything.

Further, it's not just the character that's flawed, but also the villains that she fights. Clearly 200X Hordak was much more formidable than his 80's counterpart.

Also, she needs the help of her brother, He-Man on multiple occasions.

Those occasions came off more like Filmation/Mattel trying to maintain the tie between the siblings, than actually needing her brother. Either way though, it cheapens the value of the character, especially as a woman, having to call upon "big brother" (never mind he lives a whole planet away), instead of standing on her own, with her "Eye of Thundera" sword, and Wonder Woman like powers.

This was especially problematic, when He-Man didn't have half of his sister's skillset, and had gotten along fine for years, even after he discovered his sister.

Sure She-Ra can read animal's minds, heal, change her sword into anything she can think of AND has super strength...but she can lose it all in a second.

It wouldn't serve the overall story to have such a deus ex weakness, that was never gonna get exploited. It just sounds good on paper. What would the writers have done, if they ever thought to take the character down that road? How would they have written themselves out of the corner that they clearly wrote themselves into? With simply another deus ex....

I can see them taking the sword back to the Sorceress, or Light Hope, or whomever, and getting them to repair it, and then BAM!! That's no longer a weakness.

If I remember correctly, that's basically what happened to Lion-O's sword when the Eye was damaged. Jaga or somebody else fixed it, and that "weakness" was never explored again.

Also, she's earning redemption for all the evils she unknowingly aided and trying to free an entire planet from slavery, torture and worse. She HAS to be strong. If she's not...all is lost.

Again, the flaws of She-Ra and even He-Man aren't just in their power set. It's also in their personas.

That's what I was trying to convey in our discussion from a while back, in terms of how they would approach things.

As Slo-Man mentioned, He-Man got a lot of "tweaking" to him, from 200X, but She-Ra hasn't benefitted from that as of yet. She has no personality flaws whatsoever.

You spend the first 16 years of your life raised under the duplicitous hand of evil, you find out you've been lied to all this time, and you don't have a single personality flaw? C'mon.

She-Ra is far too "Wun-Dar" Bread for my tastes.

In my personal MOTU canon, She-Ra is alot more aggressive than she's ever been portrayed. She fights and acts like the Valkyrie that she dresses the part of, and she's more Amazonian than her brother is.

And, it plays out in the story, that this is a bone of contention between her and her brother, and even Man-At-Arms.

[urbanmyth]

From Toy Guru's discussion of the hypothetical third and fourth seasons of the MYP cartoon, it sounds like Adam discovering Adora, her becoming She-Ra, the Horde overtaking Eternia and Skeletor defeating Hordak all happen in season three. This would basically eliminate most of She-Ra's story from Filmation or a least greatly shorten her adventures on Etheria. I would have liked to have seen something along the lines of Adora becoming She-Ra and fighting with the Great Rebellion for a few years before He-Man discovers Etheria and Adora. Basically have the whole She-Ra cartoon take place before He-Man found her. Once he finds her, Hordak discovers how to get back to Eternia and leaves Etheria. He-man, She-Ra and friends all follow Hordak back to Eternia to stop him. I think you'd only have to replace Adam and the Sorceress in Secret of the Sword with Light Hope and maybe Madame Razz.

And following along those lines, maybe tie Light Hope back to Eternia (like the 200x comic series seems to have done). He was an elder or someone of great power who foresaw the separation of the Twins of Power and sent himself to Despondos to keep an eye on Hordak and try to trap the Horde there. Before Light Hope left Eternia, he had the Sorceress of his time clone the Sword of He and took that along with the great stone (or whatever you want to name it) that became the door of Crystal Castle. The Sorceress also implanted a piece of this stone into the cloned sword giving it additional or altered powers.

Light Hope landed on Etheria within Despondos, a planet Hordak would not discovers for many years. Light Hope used this time before Hordak arrived to bring peace and light (or Light and Hope) to this small part of the dark dimension of Despondos. He built the Crystal Castle high above the planet and like the elders in the first MYP episode, eventually turned from human form to pure light and energy.

Once Hordak arrived on Etheria, Light Hope knew he was not powerful enough to stop him so he hid the Crystal Castle in the clouds. There he waited for the prophesized twin to arrive and secretly continued feeding part of his power to help Bright Moon. At some point he used Madame Razz to make contact with Force Captain Adora while she is patroling with Horde troops. Madame Razz is a Trollan who arrived on Etheria around the same time as Light Hope with instructions to guide the Twin when she arrives. Madame seeks out Adora on several occasions, implanting doubt in her mind about Hordak's intentions (similar to what Adam did in Secret of the Sword). Adora ventures off to decide for herself and is mysteriously led to Crystal Castle. There Light Hope presents her with the Sword of Protection and tells her she is destined to save the universe from Hordak (he doesn't tell her about her Eternian origins, that is saved for her meeting with Adam years later). This happens arround the same time that Adam finds the Sword of Power back on Eternia.

Then basically, the She-Ra Filmation series runs it's course, then the Sorceress discovers a doorway to Despondos and sends Adam to meet Adora. Hordak exploits this doorway and everyone ends up on Eternia again. (I'd probably also have Light Hope transport the Crystal Castle to Eternia somehow becoming, merging with or at least raising Central Tower but that's a tangent for another day.)

[bamf1980]

From Toy Guru's discussion of the hypothetical third and fourth seasons of the MYP cartoon, it sounds like Adam discovering Adora, her becoming She-Ra, the Horde overtaking Eternia and Skeletor defeating Hordak all happen in season three. This would basically eliminate most of She-Ra's story from Filmation or a least greatly shorten her adventures on Etheria. I would have liked to have seen something along the lines of Adora becoming She-Ra and fighting with the Great Rebellion for a few years before He-Man discovers Etheria and Adora. Basically have the whole She-Ra cartoon take place before He-Man found her. Once he finds her, Hordak discovers how to get back to Eternia and leaves Etheria. He-man, She-Ra and friends all follow Hordak back to Eternia to stop him. I think you'd only have to replace Adam and the Sorceress in Secret of the Sword with Light Hope and maybe Madame Razz.

And following along those lines, maybe tie Light Hope back to Eternia (like the 200x comic series seems to have done). He was an elder or someone of great power who foresaw the separation of the Twins of Power and sent himself to Despondos to keep an eye on Hordak and try to trap the Horde there. Before Light Hope left Eternia, he had the Sorceress of his time clone the Sword of He and took that along with the great stone (or whatever you want to name it) that became the door of Crystal Castle. The Sorceress also implanted a piece of this stone into the cloned sword giving it additional or altered powers.

Light Hope landed on Etheria within Despondos, a planet Hordak would not discovers for many years. Light Hope used this time before Hordak arrived to bring peace and light (or Light and Hope) to this small part of the dark dimension of Despondos. He built the Crystal Castle high above the planet and like the elders in the first MYP episode, eventually turned from human form to pure light and energy.

Once Hordak arrived on Etheria, Light Hope knew he was not powerful enough to stop him so he hid the Crystal Castle in the clouds. There he waited for the prophesized twin to arrive and secretly continued feeding part of his power to help Bright Moon. At some point he used Madame Razz to make contact with Force Captain Adora while she is patroling with Horde troops. Madame Razz is a Trollan who arrived on Etheria around the same time as Light Hope with instructions to guide the Twin when she arrives. Madame seeks out Adora on several occasions, implanting doubt in her mind about Hordak's intentions (similar to what Adam did in Secret of the Sword). Adora ventures off to decide for herself and is mysteriously led to Crystal Castle. There Light Hope presents her with the Sword of Protection and tells her she is destined to save the universe from Hordak (he doesn't tell her about her Eternian origins, that is saved for her meeting with Adam years later). This happens arround the same time that Adam finds the Sword of Power back on Eternia.

Then basically, the She-Ra Filmation series runs it's course, then the Sorceress discovers a doorway to Despondos and sends Adam to meet Adora. Hordak exploits this doorway and everyone ends up on Eternia again. (I'd probably also have Light Hope transport the Crystal Castle to Eternia somehow becoming, merging with or at least raising Central Tower but that's a tangent for another day.)

That's certainly a complex tale you're weaving. It has potential but there are a couple of things we should note:


1) Madame Razz's inclusion of course implies Filmation access. I love me some Razz, but right now we are working within the confines of the MYP and mini comics universe. In "The Story of She-Ra" Mini comic, we are introduced to Adora in much the same way that we meet her in "The Secret of the Sword," albeit abbreviated and excluding certain key characters (Razz among them).

2) By removing He-Man and Sorceress from She-Ra's origin, you loose a lot of the angst/drama/nostalgia/sheer awesomeness of their first team-up. Additionally, if you want to have it the MYP way, that's cool, but shoe horning the original POP series into the mix gets convoluted. Also, are you suggesting that the Filmation MOTU series happened as well, or just the MYP episodes?

[Jon-O]

One thing to note, in the original She-Ra mini comic, Adora is already She-Ra when He-Man finds her...

They might have gone in that direction had the show continued, or for all we know, they might have introduced her, then flashed forward a few years, allowing plenty of time for Etherian adventures to have occurred. We may never know...

[bamf1980]

One thing to note, in the original She-Ra mini comic, Adora is already She-Ra when He-Man finds her...

They might have gone in that direction had the show continued, or for all we know, they might have introduced her, then flashed forward a few years, allowing plenty of time for Etherian adventures to have occurred. We may never know...

Oops! I just reread it, and you're right!

It does, however, appear as though her first transformation into She-Ra occurred right after the Sorceress's dream, and only minutes before meeting her brother. For whatever that's worth.

[phantom1592]

OR...

Time flows differently in despondos. Adam finds her, get her the sword, and leaves...

Months pass, though for the great rebellion it could seem like YEARS...


For that matter in a concentrated war effort, how long do you think it would have taken for the PoP cartoon to have taken place? It only ran for a year or so OUR time... and unlike He-man. I don't think Months passed between every episode.

I'll admit I'm not really a fan of cutting Adam/He-man out of the origin story...

[urbanmyth]

OR...


I'll admit I'm not really a fan of cutting Adam/He-man out of the origin story...

I kind of agree but I see it as a necessary evil similar to how Adam has been cut out of the He-Man origins with the addition of He-Ro, Grayskull, Won-Dar, etc. Plus it makes She-Ra a stronger character on her own.