why catra pulled the lever in s3: a thread

catra did not pull the lever because she was in love with adora or solely to harm her. she did pull it to spite adora but that was NOT the isolated reason

factor 1: for starters, the fact that the portal would destroy time and space was a THEORY. catra had been told (at the peak of her meltdown no less) that the portal would collapse (entraptas word choice). there was no solid evidence that proved the catastrophic consequences

of the portal, all catra knew was that she was backed into a corner and activating the portal was how she’d get out.

factor 2: hordak had exiled catra and told her she was worthless to him. she was so depserate to prove to both him and SW that she was competent and worthy that she went to the extreme lengths that she did. dont forget just 2 episodes earlier she was being basically

sentenced to death, i cant emphasize enough just how badly she needed to prove herself to her superiors in season 3

factor 3: shadow weaver. <3 imagine being manipulated into thinking your mother figure who’s openly despised you from the time you could walk really does love you only for her to trick you, abandon you, and earn you a death sentence (“do you know what happened to me after-

-you left? do you even care?”). that would be a tipping point for me too <3 the fight scene between catra and glimmer/SW is where we Really start to see catra lose it along with the scene back in the crimson waste where adora admits SW is in bright moon.

im probably forgetting something tbh but it’s important to note that all these reasons don’t make her actions acceptable! im not saying that! what she did was wrong and terrible but she KNOWS that now and she’s not in that same headspace anymore so she’s sorry for it <3