SHE-RA - 1985

The Crown of Knowledge

The Crown of Knowledge title card
S01E23

Official Synopsis

The Crown of Knowledge synopsis still

At the Thaymor harvest festival, Bow entertains the crowd with the story of King Jared and his Crown of Knowledge, and Kowl says it lies in the kingdom of Dark Edge. Marcus, a baker's son who wants the crown to win respect, takes Kowl in a sack to lead him there while Imp, disguised as a bush, listens and reports to Hordak. Hordak decides to let the boy win the crown and take it from him. Marcus answers a riddle at King Jared's castle, but Shadow Weaver puts Swift Wind and Arrow to sleep and supplies a cape that lets Hordak steer Marcus, with a gem that lets the villains see. She-Ra answers her own riddle and enters with Bow and Marcus's father. In the crown's chamber the crown rejects Hordak, tests She-Ra's greatest fear, and she saves Marcus from a fall. Marcus decides to stay a baker, She-Ra declines to wear the crown because it belongs to all Etheria, and she is given a small crown as a keepsake.

Watch the Full Episode

The Crown of Knowledge Official upload, Masters of the Universe channel

Morals by Spoken by Loo-Kee at the episode's close, original Filmation broadcast

Loo-Kee: "Hi, it's me again, Loo-Kee. Did you find where I was hiding today? If not, take another look. Here I am. A search for the Crown of Knowledge. Wow, what an exciting adventure. A search for knowledge can be an exciting adventure in your life too. You can begin your search in the books you choose to read. Searching to learn new things is one of life's greatest adventures."

Memorable Quotes

Marcus: "Nobody respects the baker's son."

The Crown of Knowledge: "No, you seek power, power without responsibility, strength not won by your effort."

She-Ra: "Well, the only real failure is not to try."

Marcus: "Being a hero is too dangerous."

heman.org Episode Review

What will a boy do to be taken seriously? The Crown of Knowledge is a quest story whose prize turns out to be a refusal, and the refusal lands three times: on Marcus, on Hordak, and in the last act on She-Ra herself.

Marcus is the baker's son at the Thaymor harvest festival, where Bow is working the crowd with the legend of King Jared, the young prince who listened to the Whispering Woods and left behind a crown that gives its wearer absolute wisdom. Kowl, who says he has studied the story closely, places the crown in Dark Edge. Marcus hears all of it, and his reason for wanting it comes out later, in a conversation with the hostage he has stuffed in a bag: "Nobody respects the baker's son." Imp, who has been watching the festival disguised as a bush, goes to Hordak with the news. The daydream is now a race.

The middle runs on Kowl. Marcus ties him to a string and drags him toward Dark Edge, Kowl complains the whole way, and when Marcus frees him he stays anyway, out of curiosity. That is a better kidnapping than the genre usually manages, because the captive has as much say in how it ends as the captor. The riddles on the castle doors are small and fair. The first asks what you can hold but never touch, and the advice Marcus gets while he panics, to take a deep breath, is the answer. She-Ra, who has to get in because Shadow Weaver's sleeping shadow has knocked out Swift Wind and Arrow, gets her own door and a riddle about how long legs should be.

The crown's chamber is the scene to remember. Marcus arrives wearing a cape he found in a corridor, with a gem that shows Hordak's face, and the crown asks what he seeks. "Wisdom," he says, and it tells him he wants "power without responsibility." Hordak speaks through the gem, claims Etheria and tells the crown it is his, and the crown refuses him in a short speech about being a spirit of freedom. Shadow Weaver's magic drops Marcus toward a chasm, and the episode turns the test on She-Ra. Asked what she really fears, she answers, "Failing, because so many depend on me," and then, "the only real failure is not to try." It is the one line in the episode that sounds like it was written for her and not for the plot.

The weakness is Marcus's own test. Before he reaches the chamber he runs from a glow bug and lets a cape pull him toward a door. The crown tells him he has yet to face his greatest fear, and what follows is a dangle from a ledge. His fear is never named, and the one asked about out loud is She-Ra's. By the time he says "Being a hero is too dangerous" and settles for baking beside his father, the story has told us he found wisdom without letting us watch him use it. A beat in which Marcus, not She-Ra, was the one asked what frightened him would have done what the crown's speech only promises.

The crown then offers itself to She-Ra, she declines because it belongs to all of Etheria's people, and she is given a small crown to keep. Loo-Kee closes on reading. It is a gentle quest with a good captive bird at its centre, and it makes a thin villain of Hordak, whose cape and gem plan gets nowhere past one speech from the crown.

Notes of Interest

  1. Continuity: Bow's legend names the Whispering Woods as where young Jared learned his secrets, and Kowl places the crown in the kingdom of Dark Edge.
  2. Continuity: Imp spies at the festival and reports to Hordak, as he does again in The Mines of Mondor, where he spies on the rebels in a forest and says he will tell Hordak.
  3. Continuity: The crown tells Hordak to go "back to your Fright Zone," and a mirror cannot see inside King Jared's castle, so Shadow Weaver supplies a cape and gem to see through.

Cast Appearances

Full roster →
Princess Adora
Good

Princess Adora
She-Ra
Good

She-Ra
Bow
Good

Bow
Kowl
Good

Kowl
Spirit (Adora's pre-transformation horse)
Good

Spirit (Adora's pre-transformation horse)
Swift Wind
Good

Swift Wind
Hordak
Evil

Hordak
Shadow Weaver
Evil

Shadow Weaver
Imp
Evil

Imp
Loo-Kee
Good

Loo-Kee

Episode screenshots

Imp hangs upside down from a blue branch with his wings folded.
Imp hangs upside down from a blue branch with his wings folded.
Imp hides as a shaggy blue bush on a green meadow under blue trees.
Spirit stands at a gap in the blue trees above the festival tents, Adora behind her neck.
Spirit stands at a gap in the blue trees above the festival tents, Adora behind her neck.
Adora and Bow stand between Spirit and Arrow as Kowl flies above them.
Adora and Bow stand between Spirit and Arrow as Kowl flies above them.
Adora and Bow talk beside a bread cart while Kowl perches in the tree above.
Adora and Bow talk beside a bread cart while Kowl perches in the tree above.
Bow smiles with a confident look.
Imp crouches beside the wheel of a green cart.
Adora stands with Spirit and Arrow on the path.
Adora stands with Spirit and Arrow on the path.
Bow sits on a fence rail with Kowl perched on the post above him.
Bow tells a story to two children while a boy and a baker stand by a cart.
Two children sit on the ground in front of Bow on the fence while Kowl perches above.
Adora stands beside Spirit with a worried look.
Imp peers over the edge of a water trough with a scowl.
Bow sits looking ahead as Kowl perches on a fence post.
Bow tells a story to two children as Kowl perches on the post above.
Spirit looks ahead with a wide, worried eye.
Bow glances aside as Kowl perches on the fence post.
Bow looks up with a stern face.
Bow draws his bow with an arrow aimed.
An arrow points across a village market toward a green tent, held by Bow's hand and bow.
Adora sits on Spirit beside a water trough and an arrow lodged in a tree.
A boy with black hair smiles beside a baker holding a loaf by his bread cart.
A boy with black hair smiles beside a baker holding a loaf by his bread cart.
Bow smiles across at Kowl.
The boy Marcus looks aside while Kowl perches on a fence post beside him.
The boy Marcus looks aside while Kowl perches on a fence post beside him.
Marcus speaks as a faint ghostly overlay fades across his face.
Marcus speaks as a faint ghostly overlay fades across his face.
Marcus talks with his mouth open.
Adora, Marcus, Kowl, Bow and two children gather by the fence with Spirit.
Kowl sits with his arms crossed and a sour expression.
Marcus, Kowl and Bow look at one another around the fence post.
A brick fortress sits on a rocky cliff under dark storm clouds.
Marcus smiles faintly as he looks ahead.
A Kulwat stands in a wooden pen.
The Kulwat snorts in its pen beside a fence post.
Marcus climbs a fence as Bow holds two children and Kowl perches above.
The Kulwat charges along the pen fence with its horns lowered.
The Kulwat rears up on its hind legs beside the pen fence.
Marcus clutches a yellow sack to his chest and speaks.
The Kulwat skids along the path past a tree.
Adora raises her sword in a burst of golden sparks.
She-Ra stands inside a burst of golden light with her sword raised.
She-Ra stands inside a burst of golden light with her sword raised.
A faint She-Ra silhouette with a raised arm fades into pale yellow light.
A faint She-Ra silhouette with a raised arm fades into pale yellow light.
She-Ra leaps forward with a determined scowl.
She-Ra rides the Kulwat's back and leans forward.
Bow sits on the fence with a child beside the Kulwat's horns.
Bow smiles with a confident look.
She-Ra and Bow walk past a water trough with the baker at the left edge.
She-Ra and Bow talk with the baker beside the trough.
The baker stands at the left edge while Bow smiles.
Bow smiles at She-Ra, whose profile fills the left side.
She-Ra looks at Bow with a concerned face.
The baker, She-Ra and Bow stand beside a water trough.
Blue leaves and pink bushes stand against a pale cloudy sky.
Marcus looks down while Kowl folds his arms and shuts his eyes beside him.
Marcus walks with his eyes closed, holding a string tied to Kowl.
Marcus walks with his eyes closed as Kowl flies at the end of a string.
Kowl flies with his rainbow wings spread.
A blue path winds past trees with red berries.
A black spider-legged Horde structure stands under a burning orange sky.
Hordak looks to the side with one red eye.
Hordak looks to the side with one red eye.
Shadow Weaver looks aside in her hood against an orange sky.
Shadow Weaver looks aside in her hood against an orange sky.
Hordak frowns in profile at the left edge.
Hordak and Shadow Weaver sit far off at the top of a long Horde staircase.
Marcus stands before a cracked stone door while Kowl hovers beside it.
Marcus raises a finger and scolds as wind swirls around Kowl.
Marcus braces against a gust of wind while Kowl hovers.
Marcus faces Kowl and a carved stone door as wind swirls.
Marcus looks up at Kowl, who hovers by the cracked stone wall.
Marcus smiles at Kowl as he hovers nearby.
Hordak sits on his throne and glares.
Shadow Weaver raises both hands as her hood glows red.
Two horses slump in dark mist before the stone entrance of King Jared's castle.
She-Ra walks up to the carved stone door.
Bow and the baker stand beside a horse behind She-Ra's head.
Bow, the baker and She-Ra stand before a cracked stone wall.
Shadow Weaver stands beside Hordak as he sits on his throne.
Hordak sits on his throne with a clenched fist as Shadow Weaver stands at the left.
Shadow Weaver holds a folded green cape in her clawed hands.
Hordak sits on his throne and looks aside.
She-Ra stands in a brick chamber with her eyes shut.
Kowl hovers in a torch-lit stone corridor as Marcus stands below.
Marcus looks up in alarm at Kowl beside a flaming torch.
Small orange specks drift across a dark blue brick wall.
Marcus pulls a green cape over Kowl.
Marcus, wearing the green cape, stands in a corridor with two doors while Kowl hovers.
Marcus looks worried in the green cape with an amber gem as Kowl stands beside him.
Marcus lifts the green cape to show a gem with Hordak's face inside.
A dark tower rises over blue bushes as a streak of white light flashes.
The back of She-Ra's head stands beside a purple door with a ring handle.
The baker thrashes in splashing water with his hat still on.
Bow wades through splashing water in the flooded chamber.
She-Ra looks over her shoulder with a worried face.
She-Ra crouches beside a barred window in the floor.
The baker and Bow watch She-Ra appear through a square opening in the floor.
Kowl flies against a purple stone wall with his hands folded.
Marcus climbs a flight of stone stairs in the green cape.
Wind swirls across a purple stone wall as Kowl's wing shows at the edge.
Marcus staggers across a tiled floor in the wind.
Marcus crawls along the tiled floor against the wind.
Marcus crouches on the floor as strong wind whips around him.
Marcus sits on the floor in his green cape looking ahead.
Marcus hangs from a ledge and reaches up with one arm.
Marcus peers up out of a cracked hole in the floor.
She-Ra, the baker and Bow look on with worried faces.
The Crown of Knowledge glows on a blue stone pedestal.
Marcus's hands hold the cape gem that shows Hordak's face.
Marcus falls into a chasm past small stone pillars beside the Crown of Knowledge.
Marcus hangs from the ledge and reaches up with one hand.
Red sparks burst across the dark edge of a rock.
Marcus stands on a tall stone pillar as She-Ra and others watch from a ledge.
She-Ra looks worried with her face close to the frame.
She-Ra steps out through a doorway as the baker stands at the right edge.
She-Ra kneels and hugs Marcus while Bow and the baker stand far off.
She-Ra holds Marcus close as the baker and Bow watch.
She-Ra holds Marcus close while Kowl flies above the baker and Bow.
She-Ra looks sternly at Marcus, who smiles up at her.
Marcus hugs the baker as Bow watches and Kowl hovers.
The Crown of Knowledge glows on its blue stone pedestal.
She-Ra looks to the side with her mouth slightly open.
She-Ra, Marcus, the baker, Bow and Kowl stand together beside a small glowing crown.

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