Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power features some of the most nuanced characters and complicated relationships in animation today. The show follows Adora, an ex-Horde soldier trying to save the world and duking it out with her frenemy, Catra.
While they started out the show as best friends, they quickly disintegrate into sworn enemies when Adora joins the Princess Alliance as the powerful She-Ra and Catra claws her way to the top of the Horde. Here are 10 reasons why Adora and Catra aren’t real friends (anymore).
10 Catra Only Thinks Of Herself
In episode one, when they’re still supposed to be friends, Catra doesn’t celebrate Adora’s promotion to Force Captain in the Horde. Adora had hoped Catra would be happy for her. Instead, Catra makes it all about what she can’t get as opposed to what Adora rightfully earned. This thread ties the rest of the series together.
Even after Adora breaks into the Horde to rescue the Best Friend Squad in season one, Catra only lets Adora go because Shadow Weaver planned to cast Catra aside with her prized soldier back home. It wasn’t a friendly decision to free Adora; it was another act of self-preservation.
9 Adora Doesn’t Include Catra
The first chance she gets, Adora leaves Catra out of her return to the Whispering Woods in episode one. And when she becomes She-Ra, the strongest being in the universe, she leaves Catra out of her new mission, too. It hurts Catra to be left behind; this is the root of her fury.
A couple of episodes later, Catra disowns Adora in front of Shadow Weaver, complaining about Adora leaving them all behind. And when it comes time for the portal to create a broken, alternate timeline in season three—when the hurt has become a driving force for her villainous behavior—Catra says she would never go with Adora after all.
8 Catra Is Bent On Destroying Adora
Their cat-and-mouse relationship makes for one of the best dynamics on TV, but it’s not grounds for a solid friendship. In fact, Catra’s plans become more aggressive as the show goes on: she gleefully kidnaps Glimmer and Bow to hurt Adora in season one. She’s all too happy to capture Adora in the Crimson Waste arc, celebrating her victory without any pity. And she wants to beat Adora above all else.
In an especially dramatic moment during the two-part season three finale, Catra even admits she’d rather let the world end than let Adora win. While nothing truly satisfies Catra, there is nothing that motivates her more than bringing down Adora to make her pay for their broken friendship.
7 Adora Thinks Catra Is Mean
“Floppy” Adora can’t hold back her inner thoughts when, in season two, an infection spreads through First Ones tech—her sword included—that sickens her in turn. “Catra…she’s mean,” Adora whines to Scorpia, who defends Catra by claiming instead she’s misunderstood. But with her true thoughts uninhibited, Adora is simply saying what has been on her mind.
Catra’s barbs are as razor-sharp as her claws. She taunts her former friend ruthlessly—baiting her, teasing her. But she’s not mean only to Adora. When Catra begins pushing everyone away, her cruelty stands front and center. She belittles those around her to make it seem like she doesn’t need them. But to her, being mean isn’t necessarily a strength—it’s a defense mechanism.
6 Catra Is Jealous of Adora
This one is no secret. With the way Shadow Weaver fawns all over Adora, who wouldn’t envy Adora in Catra’s shoes? Catra constantly fights against this jealousy as she supplants Adora as Force Captain and ascends the Horde ladder to become a leader.
Not only that, but Catra is also jealous of Adora’s new friends. She rails against them when Adora first meets the Princess Alliance, wanting to be Adora’s best friend. But that isn’t true friendship—that is toxic and unhealthy. Their relationship only unravels further from there.
5 They Have A Complicated History
Even when they were friends, it wasn’t always easy. In a standout season one episode, Adora and Catra are trapped together. They explore projections of their past and go their separate ways based on the hurt feelings that developed as children.
It’s clear by the end of the episode just how far they’ve fallen. They miss each other, but things aren’t the same after this episode. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power provides a layered look at the many phases a friendship takes on, including the break-up stage many young friends inevitably encounter.
4 Adora Doesn’t Think Highly of Catra
In a rage, Catra accuses Adora of simply needing a sidekick, and she’s not wrong. Adora always played the hero, even as kids. In the same episode, Adora is quick to accuse Catra of playing a cruel Horde trick on her, sure she’s being deceived by Shadow Weaver instead of simply trusting Catra, like she would if they were friends.
When Adora is being held captive by the Horde in season three, Adora addresses their past friendship in a conversation with Entrapa, claiming Catra’s always made bad decisions. Catra will do anything to get what she wants, an exasperated Adora says. Of course, Catra never gives her good reason to believe otherwise, but clearly Adora has held these assumptions of Catra a long time.
3 Catra Doubts Who Adora Really Is
When looking into Catra’s mind, it seems she has always harbored hurt feelings about how Adora treats her. Mistakenly or not, Catra believes Adora wants to hold her back, to make her feel weak, to feel second-best. She doubts Adora’s best interests.
Even when they were friends, Catra did not understand Adora’s true nature. In the alternate timeline established by the portal, Catra believes Adora wants to rule the world with her while Adora—with her memories split between her old and new selves—is having doubts. The Adora that Catra knew and grew up with has grown apart from her, a common occurrence in many teenaged friendships.
2 Adora and Glimmer Are Actually Friends
Adora shows viewers what real friendship looks like in her bond with Glimmer. Whereas Catra and Adora go from friends to enemies, Adora and Glimmer start on opposite sides of the war and quickly become best friends. With Glimmer, Adora is supportive, encouraging, and loving. And it’s completely mutual. Even in season four, when Adora and Glimmer face their first real complications as friends, their relationship remains starkly different from Adora and Catra.
In this arc, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power explores the challenges of women in leadership, a beautifully nuanced look at the fallout of friendships that can accompany such as ascent. But we know Glimmer and Adora will eventually reunite because the Princess Alliance wins in the end (not a spoiler, just the theme song!), whereas we can’t fully believe Adora and Catra will find the same kind of common ground.
1 Catra Needs to Work On Herself First
Season four takes a deep, dark dive into Catra’s psyche—and she’s struggling. Catra isn’t yet capable of healthy relationships while she battles her inner turmoil. Throughout the series, Scorpia tried her best to be a friend to Catra. At times, she was Catra’s only friend, but Catra repays her by cutting Scorpia out of her life, too.
In one of the series’ most powerful moments, the scene-stealing Double Trouble delivers a raw monologue, calling out Catra for who she truly is: a wounded warrior who pushes everyone away. How could Catra and Adora truly be friends when Catra can’t maintain a single friendship? First, she needs to grasp what it means to be in someone’s life and treat others well in order to be a real friend to anyone, let alone Adora.
