SHE-RA - 1985

The Unicorn King

The Unicorn King title card
S01E36

Official Synopsis

The Unicorn King synopsis still

Hordak, sailing the Growling Sea in his new boat the Sea Fright, discovers Unicorn Island and sends Mantenna with capture bots to take the unicorns as slaves. Swift Wind senses danger, and Light Hope tells She-Ra to win the trust of the Unicorn King, who will not believe a human. She-Ra frees the captured unicorns, then tries to persuade the king, whose friend Bright Wing was captured by a human and can no longer fly, and who would rather leave the island than fight. She heals the wings without asking for anything, and the king agrees to trust her. Hordak raises a force field around the island, but She-Ra swims under it, and the king carries her to the generator, where she jumps off above it and he catches her as it blows. The Sea Fright goes down, and Hordak and Mantenna end up adrift in a small boat that fills with water.

Watch the Full Episode

The Unicorn King Official upload, Masters of the Universe channel

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

Loo-Kee: "Hi, this is Loo-Kee. Did you find me today? Take a look now. Find me yet? I'm right here! Today's story was about cooperation. That means helping each other get something done, like when you help do things around the house. Many jobs can be made easier when we work together, when we cooperate with one another. Bye, now. Hope you find me next time."

Memorable Quotes

She-Ra: "Don't count your unicorns before they're captured."

Swift Wind: "Me? I'm not a slave to anybody."

She-Ra: "Because I hate to see anything in pain."

She-Ra: "Let's just say it was a matter of trust."

heman.org Episode Review

What does She-Ra have to give up before the Unicorn King will let her ride him? The answer the episode wants to give is nothing, and it takes most of the half hour to arrange. Hordak opens it in the Sea Fright, his new boat in the Growling Sea, hunting for something to rule, and Mantenna finds an island with a unicorn on it. Hordak had always thought Unicorn Island was only a story. His plan for it now is to make it a Horde base and the unicorns slaves. Pressed by Mantenna for a plan, Hordak hesitates and then produces one, and the real obstacle turns out to be on the beach.

The scene that carries the idea is the first meeting. The king arrives, asks why Swift Wind has brought a human to the island, and refuses to take She-Ra's word on Hordak: how can he believe a human, and "the unicorn slave of a human"? Swift Wind answers that he is "not a slave to anybody", and She-Ra says he is her friend, but the king has his own evidence. A unicorn named Bright Wing was once captured by a human who used magic to stop the escape, and the wings are ruined. The king's rule for himself arrives in one line: "Humans will never force me to carry them." That one line sets the question for the rest of the episode. The Hordak plot has nothing as good.

Here is what the episode is about: trust is bought by asking for nothing, and then spent on something that looks reckless. She-Ra asks to try to help Bright Wing, the king leaves it to Bright Wing, and the wings work again. When the king assumes she will want payment she says she hates "to see anything in pain", and when he asks again what she wants, she answers with two words, "Your trust". The speed of the exchange helps. The king has been burned once, and the writer has the sense to let the healing, the question and the answer sit in a single minute of screen time rather than build a speech around them.

The payoff comes in the force-field sequence. Hordak's generator is spinning and the king offers She-Ra a ride. He had said no human would make him carry one; now it is his own choice. She tells him to fly over the generator, jumps off, and trusts him to catch her. He does, and when he asks what made her so sure, she tells him it was "a matter of trust". It is the one beat in the episode where the idea is staged rather than stated: the human who asked for trust is now the one extending it, mid-air, with nothing under her.

The weakness is the force field itself. Hordak's whole plan rests on a barrier that is sealed to She-Ra and the unicorns, and Mantenna's job is to get chased while it goes up. Yet She-Ra decides within a few lines that if she cannot go through it she can go under it, and she swims. A field with a hole at the waterline looks careless on an island surrounded by sea, and the script never mentions why Hordak's field stops where it does.

Loo-Kee files the episode under cooperation and chores, which fits the king and She-Ra taking on the generator together and misses the more interesting point about a creature who has to decide to believe someone. The Sea Fright sinks, and Hordak ends in a bat-marked capsule on open water, a comic coda to a story that spent its best minutes on a beach.

Notes of Interest

  1. Continuity: Light Hope receives She-Ra and Swift Wind at the Crystal Castle, the setting of The Crystal Castle.
  2. Continuity: Hordak says he named his new boat the Sea Fright, and by the end it has been sunk.
  3. Continuity: Near the end She-Ra tells Swift Wind it is time to get back to the Whispering Woods, the setting of The Peril of Whispering Woods.

Cast Appearances

Full roster →
Princess Adora
Good

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

Spirit (Adora's pre-transformation horse)
She-Ra
Good

She-Ra
Swift Wind
Good

Swift Wind
Light Hope
Good

Light Hope
Loo-Kee
Good

Loo-Kee
Hordak
Evil

Hordak
Mantenna
Evil

Mantenna

Episode screenshots

A periscope-like viewer rises from the sea beneath a hazy green sky.
A periscope-like viewer rises from the sea beneath a hazy green sky.
Mantenna holds a viewer to his face while Hordak sits on his throne behind him.
Mantenna holds a viewer to his face while Hordak sits on his throne behind him.
Hordak sits on his throne with a grim, open-mouthed expression.
Hordak sits on his throne with a grim, open-mouthed expression.
Hordak sits on his throne, glaring with his mouth closed.
Hordak sits on his throne, glaring with his mouth closed.
Mantenna and Hordak stand at a screen showing a jagged white wave line.
Mantenna stares wide-eyed over the ship's control panel.
Mantenna stares wide-eyed over the ship's control panel.
Hordak snarls, baring his fangs.
Hordak glares from his throne with a cold stare.
Hordak stands with his hands at his sides in front of a red door.
Mantenna grins nervously at the control panel.
Mantenna stares in alarm, his eyes wide, at the controls.
A tiny figure sits among blue swirling trees at the edge of a green meadow.
A tiny figure sits among blue swirling trees at the edge of a green meadow.
Adora stands in the meadow with Spirit's orange tail at the left.
Adora stands in the meadow with Spirit's orange tail at the left.
Adora stands in the meadow beside the white horse Spirit.
Adora stands in the meadow beside the white horse Spirit.
Adora raises the Sword of Protection as golden sparks fly from the blade.
She-Ra rises with her arm raised inside a burst of golden light.
She-Ra rises with her arm raised inside a burst of golden light.
A glowing white unicorn shape fades into a burst of sparkling light.
A glowing white unicorn shape fades into a burst of sparkling light.
She-Ra runs toward Swift Wind, who stands with his blue wings folded.
She-Ra runs toward Swift Wind, who stands with his blue wings folded.
Swift Wind lowers his head, his pink mask filling the frame.
Swift Wind lowers his head, his pink mask filling the frame.
She-Ra sits on Swift Wind and looks ahead.
She-Ra rides Swift Wind at a trot across the meadow.
Two golden horn tips rise into a cloudy sky.
She-Ra and Swift Wind stand in a dark blue chamber of crystal.
A streak of pink and white light slants across blue crystal walls.
She-Ra looks upward with a worried face beside Swift Wind's lowered head.
A red burst flashes over the sea as capture bots fly toward a distant island.
A brown unicorn with pink wings flies through a cloudy sky.
Hordak watches a red burst on the ship's viewscreen from behind.
Mantenna grips a bat-topped remote in the cockpit of his flyer.
Mantenna looks up in the cockpit with a startled face.
She-Ra rides Swift Wind as he rears in the air with his wings spread.
Mantenna peers out of the glass cockpit of his flyer.
A dark capture bot with red eyes and sharp teeth flies through the clouds.
She-Ra crouches low on Swift Wind as they fly.
A capture bot flies across the sky, glowing red eyes turned back.
She-Ra holds her sword low as Swift Wind flies with wings flared.
She-Ra raises the Sword of Protection high while riding Swift Wind in flight.
Hordak's ship, the Sea Fright, glides through green water.
Hordak stands with his fists on his hips as Mantenna backs away from two capture bots.
Hordak scowls with his red eyes narrowed.
Mantenna cowers in a ship corridor with a capture bot hovering behind him.
She-Ra and Swift Wind stand small on a beach by blue weeping trees.
She-Ra looks to the side next to Swift Wind's lowered head.
She-Ra stands on the beach beside Swift Wind.
A brown unicorn with a blue helmet walks onto the beach as She-Ra and Swift Wind watch.
The Unicorn King stands with a cream unicorn who rests her head on his neck.
The Unicorn King looks ahead, his blue helmet and horn raised.
The Unicorn King turns his head with his blue helmet and spiral horn.
The Unicorn King and a cream unicorn stand on the beach facing She-Ra and Swift Wind.
Mantenna stares with wide yellow eyes in a Horde ship doorway.
Hordak sits on his throne, smiling coldly.
Mantenna stands before Hordak, who sits on his throne.
The Unicorn King and a cream unicorn face She-Ra and Swift Wind across the beach.
She-Ra looks sideways next to Swift Wind's lowered head.
The Unicorn King frowns with his head lowered.
She-Ra looks ahead with a hopeful face.
The Unicorn King and a cream unicorn stand together under blue trees.
Bright Wing rears up with spread wings as She-Ra stands beside the Unicorn King.
Bright Wing flies through a cloudy sky with her golden wings spread.
She-Ra looks up with a stern face as the Unicorn King stands behind her.
She-Ra's long blonde hair fills the frame.
She-Ra looks to the right with parted lips beside blue trees.
The Unicorn King sticks out his tongue in his blue helmet.
She-Ra crouches on the riverbank as a thin red beam streaks overhead.
She-Ra looks to the side with a concerned face against dark branches.
Hordak watches a rocky island across the water from the ship's viewscreen.
Calm blue sea stretches under a cloudy sky.
The Unicorn King speaks as Bright Wing stands behind him.
The force field generator spins, a pink beam flashing at its center.
She-Ra rides Swift Wind through the sky with blue wings spread.
She-Ra raises her sword as she rides Swift Wind.
She-Ra points her sword ahead as Swift Wind flies with wings wide.
She-Ra looks to the side with a worried face against a cloudy sky.
She-Ra frowns with her hair blowing in the wind.
Hordak's ship lands on the island shore beside the water.
Hordak watches captured unicorns through the viewscreen.
She-Ra holds Swift Wind's mane while he flies.
Swift Wind's orange tail and blue wing slip into the corner of a cloudy sky.
Swift Wind lowers his head, his pink mask and horn in view.
Swift Wind curves his neck down against the sky.
Hordak sits in his throne in a dim ship chamber.
A grey metal hatch sits on the hull of Hordak's ship.
A sword stands upright in the sand among scattered pebbles on the shore.
Hordak stands on the island shore with his arms at his sides.
She-Ra holds a winged shield as a red blast bursts against it.
Hordak scowls on the shore, his red eyes narrowed.
She-Ra looks to the left, a small island behind her.
She-Ra looks ahead with a calm face, a rocky island behind her.
The Unicorn King stands in the foreground on the island shore.
She-Ra rides the Unicorn King along the island shore.
A row of colored buttons sits on a purple control console.
She-Ra raises her sword as the Unicorn King rears with his white wings spread.
She-Ra holds her sword high as a pink beam streaks past the Unicorn King's wing.
She-Ra rides the winged Unicorn King toward a hovering Horde saucer firing a pink beam.
She-Ra clings to the Unicorn King's neck as wind whips past them.
She-Ra slides off the Unicorn King's back, hair streaming, as wind swirls around.
She-Ra rides the Unicorn King, who turns his head back toward her.
Mantenna scrambles on all fours across the metal hull of a ship.
Mantenna's blue legs and purple cape fill the frame as he rushes through a corridor.
She-Ra looks to the side with a determined face.
Hordak stumbles down a corridor as a jet of water gushes and Mantenna crawls below.
Hordak snarls as water sprays beside him.
Bubbles rise from the Sea Fright as it sinks through dark green water.
She-Ra smiles as she speaks, looking to the left.
The Unicorn King looks forward with a gentle face among purple foliage.
She-Ra smiles with a calm look.
She-Ra waves from Swift Wind as he rears on the beach.
Mantenna and Hordak sit in a small boat on the open sea.
Hordak glares with narrowed red eyes against a green sky.
Hordak scowls with his lips curled back over his fangs.
Hordak floats on the sea inside a bat-marked capsule, only his head showing.

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