Mara

Character
Name:	Mara
Occupation:	Previous She-Ra
Relationships:	Mara/Light Hope
Fandom:	The New Adventures of He-Man, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Other:	[1]
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Mara is a character in the animated television series, The New Adventures of He-Man and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which are part of the Masters of the Universe franchise.

Canon

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)

Character Synopsis

Spoiler Warning: This article or section contains spoilers about core plot points in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Mara is the previous She-Ra of Etheria, immediately prior to Adora. No other people who have previously held the mantle are named during the show. She makes very few direct appearances in the show, in flashbacks or otherwise.

In Season One, the audience is presented with two distinct narratives regarding Mara: One given by Madame Razz, who knew Mara as a friend, and maintans that she saved the world, and another from Light Hope, the AI tasked with training and watching over She-Ra, who maintains that Mara "became compromised" (with a flashback implying that she went insane), betraying her superiors and fellow First Ones, causing immense damage to the infrastructure the First Ones had built throughout the planet, and stranding Etheria in the dimension of Despondos.

That tension informs a significant part of Adora's conflict over her performance as She-Ra; she carries an enormous amount of anxiety and shame, and some of that gets channeled into anxiety and shame over what she perceives to be Mara's failure as the champion of Etheria. A major part of the show's arc is the unveiling of which of these narratives is more accurate, and why.

Appearances

• S01E12, "Light Hope"
• S03E03, “Once Upon a Time in the Waste”
• S03E06, “The Portal”
• S04E05, “Protocol”
• S04E09, “Hero”
• S04E12, “Destiny Part I”
• S04E13, “Destiny Part II”
• S05E12, “Heart Part I”

Princesses of Power Fandom

Shipping

Mara does not have any canonical love interests in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. However, there is general agreement in the F/F-oriented segments of the fandom that there is heavy subtext around her and Light Hope, which creator ND Stevenson confirmed in a tweet. [2]

It is not Word of God whether or not those feelings were ever confessed or they were in a relationship, only that they were "a little in love". Nonetheless, the ship is now Word of God.

There is also some shipping of Mara with another member of her rebellion, Serenia, but that is even less widespread than Mara/Light Hope. This is likely due to the fact that Serenia's only canon appearance is in a pre-recorded message discovered by Bow's dads in Season 5. (needs source)

Common Pairings

• Mara/Light Hope
• Mara/Serenia

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Meta

• Mara, Part One: Canon Mentions and Appearances by Dire_Quail - A nineteen chapter work on AO3 transcribing all canon mentions and appearances of Mara in SPOP, created as a Fanwork Research & Reference guide intended to serve as a springboard for other meta. Followed up by Mara, Part Two: Endings by the same author to support a theory about Mara being trapped in the portal.

References

• https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Mara
• https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Mara_(She-Ra_and_the_Princesses_of_Power)
• https://shera-progressive-of-power.simplecast.com/episodes/flashback-week-save-our-city-new-adventures-of-he-man-the-original-mara
• "The Exit Interviews, Part 1 feat. Jen Bennett, Josie Campbell, Phil Lomboy, ND Stevenson, Sharon Sun, and M. Willis by She-Ra: Progressive of Power (podcast)".
• https://www.twitch.tv/videos/722579458
• https://twitter.com/Gingerhazing/status/1295427831195828224