Origin
Princess Adora, along with her twin brother Prince Adam, was born to King Randor and Queen Marlena on the planet Eternia. The planet was attacked shortly afterwards by the forces of Hordak who sought revenge on the King and Queen for resisting the Hordes attempts at galactic control. Hordak sought to kidnap their children, but only managed to capture Adora as Man-At-Arms got to Adam first. Hordak then escaped, with the Princess, through an inter-dimensional portal that lead to the planet Etheria.
The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull used her magic to cleanse the memories of Eternians so that only certain members of the Royal Family knew of what happened to the Princess, and the rest of the world’s population could be spared the grief surrounding her loss. On Etheria, Adora was raised by Chakra, who provided for the young men and women that would grow up to serve Hordak.
As Adora grew older she gained more and more special attention within Hordak’s forces, and even attained the rank of Force Captain. One day, Adora was confronted by He-Man who, unknown to her, had traveled to Etheria through a portal created by the Sorceress at Castle Grayskull on Eternia. He was stunned and captured by Adora, which allowed her magical sword to come into her possession. The Sorceress was then able to communicate to Adora through the sword and reveal everything to her about her true identity. Adora then transformed into She-Ra for the first time, and rescued her brother.
As the Princess of Power and defender of the Crystal Castle, She-Ra stands as the best defense against the Evil Horde on Etheria. And as Adora she leads “The Great Rebellion” against the mighty Horde on Etheria. With the words “For the honor of Grayskull…I am She-Ra!”, Princess Adora transforms into the powerful Etherian rebel hero every time her help is needed. Carried on her friend and stead, Swift Wind, she became a powerful symbol of freedom for all on her adopted world.
Creation
In the 1970s a specific genre became popular, combining both fantasy and science fiction. Capitalizing on this trend were the makers of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Originally designed simply as a toy line, the characters became popular enough that they spread to various others forms of media (comics, animated television shows, movies.) The popularity was at such a level that it was decided to launch an entirely new set of characters, though tentatively designed for a female audience. This became the adventures of She-Ra and her colleagues. Although the characters did enjoy a degree of popularity, it was more as a result of the continued presence of the previous line. Thus while He-Man (who was depicted as She-Ra’s sister) continued to enjoy profitable sales, She-Ra struggled to find an audience outside of her own animates television series. In comparison therefore, He-Man had a relatively strong publication history while She-Ra’s was more limited, which was reflected in her small number of comic book appearances.
Character Evolution
The character never achieved the same popularity as her fictional brother and likely for good reason. The stories of She-Ra, when they were not directly incorporated into those of He-Man were a pastiche of both romance style adventures and the typical fantasy/science fiction elements. The character struggled to escape from this portrayal as it formed an aspect of her identity, but as she appeared in comics it was in a more serious role. Her strongest relationship as in the He-Man stories is with her group of followers, yet as opposed to the He-Man universe where the forces of good prevail, on She-Ra’s home planet the forces of evil are the ones in power. She maintains flirting romantic relationships with Bow, an Etherian noble and with Sea Hawk, a sea pirate.
Major Story Arcs
Although she enjoyed some ongoing stories in her animated television show, the character’s appearances in comics was only for a story arc at a time or as a cameo. Thus her involvement in story arcs in the He-Man universe was limited, considering that these story arcs themselves contained little continuity.
Powers
As She-Ra she possesses incredible strength. 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 easily. While in the Filmation episode “Swifty’s Baby” she kicks an Etherian moons out-of-orbit with ease. She also possesses super speed, agility and endurance. She is described as “the most powerful woman in the universe” by both Etherians and the Horde. Her magic sword can shoot energy blasts and transform into virtually any weapon or object potentially allowing any opponent or problem to be overcome.
She is skilled in hand-to-hand combat and strategy having been trained by the Horde since childhood and also has a far keener sense of hearing than normal, the ability to heal others through touch, and a form of telepathy that enables her to communicate with animals and the Sorceress on Castle Grayskull on Eternia. In addition, She-Ra may fly when sat atop of her horse, Swift Wind or through transformation of her sword into a flying object.
When flying She-Ra is capable of traveling back in time. In using her powers She-Ra will use her intelligence as well as her raw power to overcome opponents or problems. The exact limits on She-Ra’s powers are currently unknown. Princess Adora is granted all of these magical powers from Castle Grayskull whenever she uses her mystical Sword of Protection to transform into She-Ra, akin to He-Man’s Sword of Power.
DC Comics
In the series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, released by DC Comics in 2012, She-Ra’s origin is changed, just as in the animated series, she was kidnapped by Hordak, however, he changes Adora’s name to Despara and she wears a mask inspired by Hordak.
The story shows Teela and Adora as childhood friends.
Other Media
As compared to comics, She-Ra was a much more popular character in other forms of media, specifically in her animated television series and her toy line.
Following the success of the He-Man animated series, between 1985 and 1986 Filmation created a spinoff series following the adventures of He-Man’s long-lost twin sister and her transformation into She-Ra. The series ran for two seasons, although the second was cancelled before its run was over.
In 2018, Netflix released the reboot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the series ran for 5 seasons and 52 episodes and ended in 2020.