Bow

— Bow encouraging the three confectioners at Entrapta's castle to be brave

* Current
* Future

**Bow** is one of the central characters of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and a leader of the Rebellion. A companion of the Princess Alliance, he is their "tech master," using pieces of technology (such as a tracker pad) and skilled in adapting and constructing devices. In combat, he is a master archer, continually inventing and building his own "trick arrows." During the final battle against Horde Prime, he entered a romantic relationship with Queen Glimmer.

## Description

Bow is an archer, hero, and a self-taught tech-master in the Rebellion, and one of Adora’s best friends. During the final battle against Horde Prime, he became the boyfriend of his childhood best friend, Queen Glimmer.

In Season Two, it is confirmed that Bow grew up in the Whispering Woods with his two dads, George and Lance, along with his twelve older siblings. The residence of Bow's family is a giant library where they all studied the history of Etheria while collecting artifacts. The work of Bow's fathers centers around studying First Ones' tech and writings. Bow appears to be in his late teens (around the age of seventeen to eighteen years old) at the beginning of the series and twenty to twenty-one years old by the end of it as, according to Stevenson, three years passed since Season One.

## Appearance

His physique can be described as broad-shouldered for his age, of average height, and fairly muscular from years of mastering archery. He has a darker complexion, curly dark brown hair in an Afro buzz hairstyle, and black eyes. He wears a silver armor under a small golden cuirass (a form of armor that includes the breastplate and the back piece) embellished with a red heart which exposes his midriff. On his left arm, he wears a golden spaulder (a metal sleeve) perched atop his shoulder, which is attached to the cuirass, as well as a golden forearm guard.

His quiver of arrows is attached to his back, which is both brown and gold. He wears blue pants, with a brown belt, and matching golden buckle. He is also shown to wear long light pink dress socks which are most likely mid length or otc. His boots are nearly knee-high but designed into a 'V' shape at the front and on the sole of the boots is a heart, so that he leaves a heart imprint wherever he walks. At the tail of the heart above the laces of his boots are two stitches leading to the toe. The heels are golden, along with the soles and the toes.

In Adora's vision of the future, Bow has grown taller, has stubble of facial hair, and a bun. He wears a long light blue cape with a heart-shaped pendant and white and gold tuxedo with his midriff still exposed.

## Personality

Bow has shown himself to be a very kind, friendly, cheerful, optimistic, and intellectual person. He serves as the voice of reason among his friends; constantly warning them of consequences and trying to keep them leveled. He is the first to give Adora a chance to join the Rebellion, perhaps indicating a very trusting nature. Bow is often in awe with the world around him and has shown to fight to protect it and his friends. He is also somewhat easily impressed by other people, especially the princesses. Bow also serves as one of the tech geniuses of the group, along with Entrapta, using his brain rather than raw force to solve a problem. His voice easily cracks when he is excited. Bow is very loyal and willing to "work" at friendships.

## Powers and abilities

### Abilities

* **Archery proficiency**: Bow is incredibly skilled in archery, being his primary form of combat. In real life his techniques would not work, but in series he is a talented archer.
* **Technology proficiency**: Bow is very skilled with many forms of technology, including inventing his own gadgets, such as his tablet device and his trick arrows. He mentions in "System Failure" that he is a member of the Etherian Makers Community, because he likes to dabble in gadgetry. However, his skills pale in comparison to Hordak and Entrapta's.
* **Hand-to-hand combat**: Bow has also proven to be good in close-combat, having to be able to defeat a Horde soldier during the battle of Bright Moon and hold his own against Catra during the Horde's attack on the village of Thaymor.
* **Musician**: Bow is able to play the violin, as seen during his sea shanty with Sea Hawk. He later displayed these skills in Season Five, upon playing an instrument that looked similar to a mandolin, though stated that he was, "still learning."
* **Historian**: Bow was trained as a historian and studied all aspects of Etheria's past, collected First Ones' tech and writings with his dads who encouraged him to become a pacifist historian.
* **Conflict resolution**: throughout the series Bow steps in when there is interpersonal conflict. He uses "I statements" and "speak to your feelings, don't attack the person" techniques to open dialogue and resolve issues.
* **Budding Magician:** During the series, Bow is shown to perform card tricks both for distractions and for entertainment.

## Equipment

* **Bow**: His main arsenal is, indeed, the traditional composite bow, which he carries with him almost constantly. His bow has horse heads like decoration on tips of limbs where tendon goes. In real life it is most similar to Mongolian composite bow.
* **Arrows**: As ammunition for his bow, and, in addition to common arrows, Bow wields arrows with a variety of capabilities.
	+ - **Net arrows**: Theses arrows conceal a net within them, which are able to capture and pin down enemies (contains a net bigger than arrow).
		- **Sonic arrows**: This arrow is able to send out sound waves for others to follow.
		- **Rope arrows**: When fired, it sends out a lassoed-rope.
		- **Stun arrows**: This arrow presumably stuns the enemy.
		- **Sticky arrows**: Shoots out a green slime-like sticky material to slow an enemy.
		- **Water Arrow**: Can be used like a water gun (have stored more water than the size of the arrow). When it is empty can be shot like a normal arrow.
		- **Explosive arrow:** Only used once, to stop Hordak from killing Glimmer with a piece of debris after his fight with Catra
		- **Zip line arrow:** Used only once, to get to Glimmer after Hordak tried to kill her when the Heart of Etheria activated.
		- **Magnifying Glass Arrow:** In Shot in the Dark, Bow reveals an arrow that becomes a magnifying glass. Catra mocks him for this, as it is possibly a meta-jab at similar characters like Marvel's Hawkeye and DC's Green Arrow, as the arrows they use always seem to have whatever power is needed at the moment.
* **Tracker pad**: Bow carries this tracker pad with him wherever he goes, allowing him to track down First Ones' tech. It has been shown to not work in the Crimson Waste.
* **Emergency flare**: Like a flare gun, it allows him to send a distress signal or to create light in dark places.

## Relationships

### The Rebellion

Since the beginning of the series, Bow has been a strong member of The Rebellion. As the best friend of Queen Glimmer, he is often lending a helping hand in battles and taking out enemies to keep the other members out of harm's way. He has shown to be not only an active member but an eloquent leader of the Rebellion, as in “System Failure” he manages to power the Baker, Soda Pop and Busgirl to be confident enough to join the Rebellion.

### The Princess Alliance

While Bow is not a princess himself, he still fights alongside all the other members of the Princess Alliance. He is one of the non-princesses in the alliance, two other prominent members being Sea Hawk and Swift Wind. He helped reform the Princess Alliance along with Glimmer and Adora.

### Adora

When Bow met Adora, he was with Glimmer, who noticed that she was a Horde soldier. The two attempted to stop her from reaching the Sword of Protection. Soon afterward, they capture Adora before a monster attacks them not long after. Adora ends up taking the sword and transforming into She-Ra for the first time, described by Bow as a scary woman with a cape. He believes that this counterpart may be useful and states this after Adora has reverted to her normal form. When Adora joins the Rebellion, Bow and Glimmer face new adventures with her. As he and Glimmer bond with Adora, she becomes their new best friend, and Bow dubs the three of them the "Best Friends Squad".

Bow interceded when Adora and Glimmer quarreled over tactics and used his interpersonal skills to get the two closer to resolving their conflict. He remains a loyal friend to Adora and backed her plan to defy Glimmer's orders. Together, with Swift Wind, they flew to Beast Island and rescued Entrapta.

### Queen Glimmer

— Bow, to Glimmer

Glimmer is Bow's best friend. In the first episode, Bow invited her to go into the Whispering Woods to find a piece of First Ones' tech, later found to be the Sword of Protection, she was teleporting on the roofs to find Bow's lost arrows when he was just learning how to shoot, they meet and capture their soon to be friend, Adora. Glimmer and Bow are almost always seen together, even during most missions. Bow starts hanging out with Perfuma at the Princess Prom and Glimmer shows great distress toward Bow for being Perfuma's plus one rather than hers. After the Prom Bow tells Glimmer that spending time with new friends does not mean there is no time for old friends, instead their circle of friendship has grown more inclusive, not less. This shows Bow's ability to make sure that everyone is included in the Rebellion. Glimmer, along with Adora, makes up Bow's "Best Friend Squad".

He has been the one to criticize Glimmer's more destructive tendencies. He has had to remind Glimmer on multiple occasions that, "We're the good guys!". This has happened when Glimmer wanted to make Catra a hostage, and also when Glimmer threatened to torture a Horde Soldier. Bow interceded when Glimmer and Adora quarreled over tactics and used his interpersonal skills to get the two closer to resolving their conflict. He remains a loyal friend to Glimmer even when they reached a disagreement over rescuing Entrapta from Beast Island. Together, with Swift Wind and Adora, he flew to Beast Island to rescue Entrapta, even though the Queen specifically ordered them not to.

— Glimmer, to Bow

When Glimmer was abducted by Prime he and the team worked together to rescue her. Glimmer apologized to Bow for not listening to him when he advised against using the Heart of Etheria and he reluctantly forgave her. As they worked together to defeat Prime their friendship grew and became much more; at the season finale for Season Five, they confessed their love to each other and the pair began a romantic relationship. At the end of the series the pair, along with Catra and Adora, decided to set out and return the magic to Etheria.

### Queen Angella

Angella served as another parental figure to Bow and thought highly of him. Their personalities did not clash due to both of them being responsible and level headed people. She is shown to appreciate Bow's company, only asking him to leave her presence while disciplining Glimmer. In "Razz", Angella remarks fondly to Glimmer that she likes Bow. She has also trusted his judgement and relied on him to carry out several missions during the show.

### Catra

Catra and Bow had no real interaction prior to Season Five except as enemies, but even then it was still rather impersonal. Even so, he supports Adora's desire to rescue her from Horde Prime. After some time he warms up to her and eventually considers her a friend. He sometimes irritates her about how cute she can be, but she still trusts him. During the final battle against Horde Prime he officially welcomes her into the Best Friends Squad.

### Perfuma

Perfuma asked **Bow** if he was go with her to the Princess Prom during their battle against the Horde near Plumeria. He accepted, and they attended together as friends. This caused some temporary problems with his friendship with Glimmer. But, in his usual fashion, he explained that he will always be friends with Glimmer, and that having more friends does not mean leaving your best and oldest friend behind. They worked together on multiple occasions to rid the Whispering Woods of robots, rescuing Adora from the Fright Zone and eventually defeating Horde Prime.

### Kyle

Bow and Kyle had a short chat during the Princess Alliance's rescue mission to save him and Glimmer from the Fright Zone. Bow was nice to Kyle, despite being a prisoner, and had to listen to him complain about not being taken seriously by any of the members of the Horde. They were on the cusp of calling one another friends until Sea Hawk charged in and threw Kyle into a group of Horde soldiers.

### Sea Hawk

Bow has been incredibly awestruck by Sea Hawk since they recruited him to go on a mission across the sea. Bow impressed Sea Hawk by tying a knot on the ship to keep the boat sailing smoothly, and was infatuated when Sea Hawk praised him for his "beginner's luck", as Sea Hawk put it. He and Sea Hawk sing a song together about being great friends. Sea Hawk also saved Bow's life during the battle at Salineas sea-gate. It is implied that Bow had a crush on him in the first episode they meet, and this was even more implied after ND Stevenson confirmed that Bow was indeed, bisexual at a BLM livestream.

They traveled to the Northern Reach with the team to find out what the Horde was doing there. Later Bow, Sea Hawk and Swift Wind went on an ill-advised Boys' Night Out, in which they need to be rescued from one of Sea Hawk's former comrades, and later the Horde. They worked together, after Bow returned from space, to repel Prime from Etheria.

### Mermista

Bow was one of the heroes to liberate Salineas from a Horde attack led by Catra and Scorpia. Together they managed to blast away a belittling Catra from interrupting Adora's focus on repairing The Sea Gate. They worked together multiple times: invading The Horde, fighting bots, rescuing the inhabitants of Salineas and rooting out a spy.

### Entrapta

Bow and Entrapta bonded over their shared interest in tech. He was dismayed when Entrapta was thought to have died, and dejected when he found out she sided with the Horde.

During their trip to save Entrapta on Beast Island, Entrapta begins to succumb to the signal emitted from the centre of the island. Bow attempts to reassure Entrapta and free her from the grasp of the island's signal. Entrapta, still phased by the signal, speaks of how being a good friend was too hard, and that no one understands her. Bow reminds her that they won't leave her behind again, and that they care. Even after her betrayal he was willing to go to Beast Island and rescue her, welcoming her back to The Rebellion with open arms.

Entrapta planned the rescue of Glimmer and patched up Darla to make her space-worthy. They rescued both Glimmer and Catra before meeting the Star Siblings. Subsequently, the group returned to Etheria. Once home they combined their smarts to defeat Horde Prime.

### Spinnerella and Netossa

— Bow, about Spinnerella and Netossa, in "Flowers for She-Ra"

Spinnerella and Netossa were members of the original Rebellion and the only members who stayed when everyone else left. Bow has met them at meetings for the Rebellion.

### Family

Bow lived in the Whispering Woods with his dads and twelve siblings, and hid the fact that he became a warrior of the Rebellion from his entire family, all of whom believed that Bow had joined an "Academy of Historic Enterprises" boarding school somewhere on Etheria. George and Lance eventually learn the truth in Reunion, and let him know that they indefinitely support him, but it is unclear whether or not this knowledge of Bow's true activities and role in the Rebellion is ever disseminated among any of his siblings.

After Horde Prime invaded Etheria, Bow and Glimmer meet up with George and Lance after finding a note stuck on a wall in Library. They were hiding in a First Ones’ ruin and had discovered information about the fail-safe for the Heart of Etheria and the Rebel Squadron "Grayskull". This information aided the Princess Alliance in the defeat of Horde Prime.

### Shadow Weaver

Bow had an antagonistic relationship with the sorceress all throughout the show. Even though they were technically allies since season three when Shadow Weaver took Bow and company to the Fright Zone and rescued Adora, he never fully trusted her, making suspicious glances and almost defensive stances whenever she was present.

## Plot

### Past

From an early age, Bow's parents decided that when they retired, Bow would take up ownership and responsibility of the library they owned in the Whispering Woods, as he was their youngest of thirteen children. They had forbidden their family from taking part in the Rebellion, as they'd seen the toll the war had taken on the world, and how futile it was to try and stop it. Bow, wanting nothing more than adventure and to help end the conflicts, having mastered archery, fake-enrolled in a boarding school and joined the Rebellion without his parents' approval or knowledge. He returned home every so often on a fake break, pretending that he was still attending “The Academy of Historic Enterprises”, fearing his parents' reactions should they discover his secret rebel status, and how it would effect them to know that he wouldn’t want to inherit the Library as they had intended.

In the past, Bow has told George and Lance that Glimmer is a Physics major, Adora is an Art major, none of them are princesses with powers and they all met Freshman year.

### Season One

Bow supported Glimmer in her quest to find First Ones' technology until they encountered Adora, and although he was initially hostile to her as a Horde soldier, he quickly warmed to her after she saved them from a massive bug by transforming into She-Ra. Adora slowly became integrated into their little group, prompting Bow to dub the three of them the "Best Friends Squad".

After encouraging Plumerian citizens to help heal their land and join the Rebellion, they targeted Salineas as the next kingdom to recruit. Bow quickly took a liking to Sea Hawk after he agreed to sail them into Salineas, and together they helped Adora defend the Salineas Sea Gate from the Horde. The Squad moved on to Dryl, where Bow inspired regular kitchen staff to defeat the crazed robots there while Adora was incapacitated. They continued on to Mystacor, where Adora is plagued by visions of shadows and Shadow Weaver, and Bow, along with Glimmer, tried to assist Adora in relaxing, thinking that her seeing things was due to stress. When Shadow Weaver knocked everyone unconscious and began to remove the protective barrier from Mystacor, Adora managed to defeat her, and Bow realized he was wrong to doubt his friend.

Later, Bow attended the Princess Prom with Perfuma, but Glimmer was distraught because they typically did things similar to that together. Bow brushed Glimmer off, frustrated by her possessiveness, but, not soon after, he and Glimmer were captured by Catra and taken to the Fright Zone. Bow was freed and returned home with a cursed Glimmer, over which he felt immense guilt, as he believed they would not have been captured had he not gone with Perfuma. Bow then participated in the battle to defend Bright Moon from the Horde after rescuing an unconscious Adora from the Crystal Castle

### Season Two

In "White Out", Bow and the heroes travelled to the north of Etheria. There, they battled drill bots, Catra, Scorpia and even Entrapta while trying to capture First Ones tech.

In "Reunion", it was revealed that Bow has two fathers, named George and Lance, who were ordinary historians and unaware of his life in Bright Moon, believing he was attending a fake school, the Academy of Historic Enterprises.

### Season Three

Having discovered a message from Mara, the Squad pursued Bow's findings in the Crimson Waste, which Bow questioned, due to the many hazards found there. They eventually reached the center and found Mara's ship, and, after watching a recording of Mara, Bow was paralyzed by several darts. Huntara carries him back to Bright Moon, but Adora was captured.

In Bright Moon, Glimmer and Bow attempted to get Angella to act, but she was too conservative, and so Bow reluctantly went along with Glimmer's plan to use Shadow Weaver's magic-enhancing abilities to help free Adora. Glimmer and Shadow Weaver teleported themselves, Bow, Mermista, Perfuma, and Frosta to the Fright Zone, where they sought to confront Hordak. The Princesses peeled off to hold various soldiers they met en route, leaving only Shadow Weaver and Glimmer to accompany him when they encountered Catra. Catra managed to incapacitate Bow, but Shadow Weaver made short work of her, and they pressed on to Hordak's sanctum. There, Catra opened a portal until Adora was able to close it and restore space-time, at which point Bow teleported back with the group to Bright Moon.

### Season Four

During Glimmer's coronation, Bow worked with Adora to keep Glimmer's mind off of Angella's death, while poorly handling the details of the Quest of Queens. He lost and eventually recovered the necessary lantern for the quest, and neglected to mention the Bright Moon guardian guarding the receptacle for it. Even so, he and Adora managed to distract it long enough for Glimmer to place the lantern and become queen.

Glimmer then dispatched him, Adora, Huntara, and Perfuma to the Crimson Waste to recover Mara's Ship. Bow supported Perfuma in her self-doubt about her power over cacti, and lied to Glimmer repeatedly about the status of their mission so as not to worry her. Eventually, when everyone got pinned down, Bow revealed their situation to Glimmer and used a tracking device to locate Mara's Ship, assisting in its recovery.

After later helping Adora to save Elberon, Bow celebrated with the townspeople. When another bot arrived and drew Adora away, Bow remained behind and defended the town from an ambush, allowing several to escape, while he and the leaders were captured. In captivity, he used a disruptive device attached to a makeshift arrow to disable the force field holding them in place. He then took Flutterina's advice and used another arrow to activate a cannon, disrupting the bots holding She-Ra captive so that she could also escape.

Shortly after taking Flutterina into the Rebellion, Bow found himself in repeated ambushes, narrowly managing to escape each time. Eventually a new kind of bot arrived on yet another ambush, digging itself into the ground and exploding in a titanic concussion while Bow was examining it. The blast, which levelled an entire swathe of forest and knocked out She-Ra even from within Netossa's protective net, somehow did not kill Bow even though he was unprotected and standing right in front of it. He survived long enough for She-Ra to heal him, and then remained in recovery until he learnt that Glimmer used Adora as bait to attack Catra, for which he criticized Glimmer.

After recovering, Bow and Adora took it upon themselves to guard Glimmer during every battle, enraging her. During an assault on yet another lightly held Horde outpost, Bow talked Adora and Glimmer down and soothed tensions. However, Flutterina prompted Glimmer to assault another Horde soldier, leading her to threaten him with magical torture for information, which greatly concerned Bow.

When the Princess Alliance began to suspect a traitor, Bow immediately fell under the delusion that it was actually an alter ego of himself who betrayed them, and began to beg others to imprison him, aggravating people until they eventually discovered the true culprit: Double Trouble, cleverly impersonating a young girl who had come to be known as Flutterina. They then discover that Salineas had fallen, followed by a series of coastal annexations by the Horde, so Bow tried and failed to boost morale by focusing on their strategic strengths.

Despondent, Bow agreed to Sea Hawk's offer of a "Boys' Night Out", where he was shocked to realize that Sea Hawk had actually arranged for them to be kidnapped in a harebrained attempt to get the princesses to close ranks. Bow awakened at sea in custody of Admiral Scurvy, a different kidnapper than Sea Hawk had hired. After being ransomed to the Horde with no help in sight, Bow began to believe Scurvy's words that his friends had not even noticed his absence, and lamented that he was the only one willing to make their friendship work. This was until Glimmer teleported onto the boat and freed him. Afterwards, Adora and Glimmer refused to even be near each other, despite Bow trying to bring them together as usual.

Later, Adora had him work on repairing Mara's Ship for flight, at which he succeeded, and witnessed Mara's last message to Adora from the cockpit regarding the Heart of Etheria being unstable. Alarmed, he went with Adora to Bright Moon to convince the other princesses to work together to disable it, arguing to rescue Entrapta to help do so. However, Glimmer insisted on using it as a power source in the war instead, and appealed to Bow against Adora, but he sided with Adora and spurned Glimmer as being in the wrong. When Glimmer ordered him to remain in the castle in response, he disobeyed and fled with Adora, escaping in Mara's ship.

Arriving on Beast Island, Bow constantly second guessed his decision to disobey Glimmer. After rescuing King Micah, Bow and company end up being ambushed by pookas, and Bow succumbed to the signal on the island, until eventually Adora transformed into She-Ra, freeing him. Later, they ran into Entrapta in the island interior.

Riding in her robot to the center of the island, Entrapta revealed to everyone how the Heart of Etheria functioned, and Bow pointed out that it would not be active so long as Scorpia is not connected to the Black Garnet. Everyone then rushed back to Bright Moon, Bow helping to free Entrapta from the signal en route, but they arrived just as Glimmer teleported away with Scorpia. Adora then dispatched Bow to go with Entrapta and Swift Wind to find Glimmer, but Swift Wind lost his ability to fly as the Heart of Etheria activated and Etheria was pulled out of Despondos, restoring the stars, to Bow's amazement.

Bow managed to make it most of the way to the Fright Zone on foot, and even accomplished to save Glimmer from Hordak by shooting him from a distance, but Glimmer and Catra were beamed up to Horde Prime's ship just before he arrived where she had been lying. He then met up with Adora afterward, who was now powerless, but they vowed to get Glimmer back even so.

### Season Five

Bow, along with the Princesses, evacuated refugees to a hidden rebel base, but still worried over Adora’s constant feeling of invincibility. After she suggested they try to get information as to where Glimmer was being held, he helped capture a clone and question him with little success. Bow and the others returned to their base when they found out it was under attack, and participated in the defense of the base. Unfortunately, because their location had been revealed, the Rebellion was forced to seek shelter in the deepest part of the Whispering Woods on Adora's orders, Bow assisting.

While Adora struggled without the Sword of Protection, Bow took charge and demanded that everyone leave Adora alone to sleep, which she did, reluctantly. Later, the Princess Alliance brought hurried news that Horde Prime was about to deploy new drones, and that they would be unable to leave if they stayed any longer. With the Horde bearing down, Micah used magic to disguise himself as She-Ra and draw the bots away from Mara's ship, letting **Bow**, Adora and Entrapta leave in Darla.

Up in space, Bow was driven to almost-insanity by Entrapta's constant tinkering with the ship and Adora's constant battle training, and is pushed even further by a malfunction that caused the ship shut down. Entrapta reveals that she named the ship Darla and went to fix the problem, with Bow chasing after her frantically. On Darla, Mara's ship, Entrapta performs a spacewalk and fixes the ship from the outside, which completely freaks out Bow and Adora.

After a long while of travelling through space, Catra contacted Adora and told her that she was going to teleport Glimmer, demanding that Adora not enter Prime's ship and leave her behind, before beaming the Queen off Prime's ship. Entrapta piloted Darla to Glimmer's coordinates while Adora and Bow perform a spacewalk-rescue of the Queen, who was shielded from space with some sort of force field.

After landing on the alien planet that had the needed crystals to fuel Darla, the team learnt that it was a victim of Prime's army after finding one of his spires there. Furious, Bow lashes out at Glimmer for activating the Heart of Etheria. The ground collapsed under Adora and she fell into a crystalline cavern replete with blue crystals. The Star Siblings then attacked Adora without warning but they finally figured out that they were all on the same side and stopped hitting each other. Starla shared her food with Adora and introduced her sister, Tallstar, her brother, Jewelstar and her owl, Glory. The Siblings revealed that they are after the same thulite crystals that Adora is looking for but the constant earthquakes have blocked the way. When Bow, Glimmer and Entrapta joined up the whole gang pressed on to get the thulite. Everyone worked together, learned to trust a bit more and got the thulite. Then, Glimmer apologized to Bow, showing how to say sorry to someone you've wronged. She owned her mistakes, accepted the consequences of her mistakes, promised to keep working at their friendship and gave Bow all the time he needed to forgive her. Adora then asked to go back and save the cat; Bow and Glimmer agreed to save Catra "Best Friends Squad Style".

Adora piloted Darla, Mara's ship, to Prime's space station with Glimmer, Bow and Entrapta hidden outside the ship in space suits. She surrendered herself for capture upon touchdown. While the clones took Adora to Prime the other three split up, communicating with radio enabled earpieces. In a random clone room Bow dispatched two clones, Entrapta found who she thought was Hordak and gave him the Data Crystal; he attacked her but Bow knocked him out and disconnected him from the computer system. The Wrong Hordak then lost his connection to the hive mind and he freaked out. Bow and Entrapta brought Wrong Hordak along because he could lead them to the server room and open the door. Bow, Wrong Hordak and Entrapta entered the server room where they were overwhelmed by clones. It was taking too long to hack the server so Glimmer, who found her way to her friends, stabbed the computer with a lance, shutting it down. Entrapta summoned Darla, after Bow gave her permission to tinker with Darla as much as she wanted. Then, she and the others were surrounded by more clones. She-Ra showed up with an unconscious Catra. They boarded Darla and escaped.

When **Bow** asked how Adora summoned She-Ra, Adora answered that she didn't really know, but that she had been there all along, waiting to come out. While traveling at 30% speed due to the damage to the ship, three of Prime's space bots detected Darla and began to peruse. Darla is detected by Prime's bot ships, and Entrapta said that the safest thing to do was fly through a nearby asteroid field. Adora gave the go-ahead and Bow reluctantly piloted the ship using a previously unseen user interface. He managed to not destroy the ship in the asteroid field and celebrates with Glimmer when She-Ra saved the day. He also made room for Catra at dinner, welcoming her to the group.

When Darla's crew was a day from Etheria, Glimmer, Bow and Catra messed with Adora as she tried to summon She-Ra. Entrapta contacted the rebels and Perfuma responded, warning them of that Horde Prime had put up a blockade of Horde ships around the planet and told them that the rebellion was dealt a heavy blow.

When the crew boarded Darla and began approach Etheria, they saw the massive blockade. Bow asked Catra if Prime had a weakness, Wrong Hordak responded by saying, "You are correct, Brother. We do not discuss Horde Prime's weakness." This led to Wrong Hordak mentioning Krytis, which he insisted did not exist. Catra remembered the mention of that planet from her time being chipped. After Darla confirmed the planet's existence and location, Adora ordered the crew to investigate.

    Once on the planet, the crew disembarked with everyone in space suits except for Wrong Hordak.

They entered a spire abandoned by Prime. When Entrapta found a clone recharging chamber, she plugged Wrong Hordak in, without asking his permission. She declared the atmosphere safe and removed her helmet, as did the rest. She detected a life form and everyone barged into the rickety spire to contact an unknown person in the vague hope that they could help defeat Prime. Catra, Bow, Glimmer and Adora began searching the abandoned spire, growing more and more wary as the pressed on. While arguing with Bow, Catra put her hand through a wall, activating the internal defenses. After escaping spikes that shot out of the walls, Entrapta told them the being they were looking for was close by. After this, the native of the planet revealed themselves. Everyone freaked out and Catra tackled the stranger, falling through the floor with them. Bow, Glimmer and Adora are trapped by the defense systems upon rushinh to save Catra. Glimmer found that the spikes are illusions and dispensed them using her magic. Using a location spell, she joined Catra to find that the stranger, who had taken a cat form, responds to emotions. The stranger begins talking to Catra and tells her that its name is Melog.

Melog told Catra that the First Ones stole the planets magic, leaving them helpless before Prime, who destroyed the planet. While Prime did destroy the planet, he could not conquer it. Krytis's magic confused him, and so he fled, covering up his failure. Melog agreed to join Adora and the crew, travel to Etheria, and defeat Prime. As Darla and crew approached Etheria and the blockade, Melog used its magic to render the ship invisible. They successfully ran the blockade undetected.

Glimmer and crew return to Etheria and finds the rebel base in ruins. They decided to gather intel and so Glimmer teleports everyone to Erelandia, which they found was guarded by bots and clones. Entrapta, **Bow**, Glimmer, Catra, and Adora followed Wrong Hordak into the village in disguise. The heroes attempted to question the village folk but such locals were too scared to answer questions, except for one shopkeeper who told the heroes that the Rebellion has joined the Horde and that Princesses attacked the town. Just then, Spinnerella landed in the village and attacked the heroes. After trading blows and pleas to stop the attack, Netossa joined and began defending the town from Spinnerella. Rather than risking hurting their chipped friend, Glimmer teleported everyone away from the fight. She then explained the amount of damage done, hence all the Princesses and friends who came to be under Prime's control. They returned to Erelandia, and used Wrong Hordak to draw out two clones defeating them. Then, they began an assault on the enemies inside the village. She-Ra and Netossa attacked Spinnerella while the rest handled the bots. With the Horde purged from the village, the citizens pledged themselves to the Rebellion. Netossa led everyone to the hideout, and there was a joyous reunion. Upon hearing this, Frosta saw Catra and came at her her with an ice-haymaker before being told that she had switched sides. Adora vowed to free all their friends and defeat Prime.

Glimmer and Bow agreed to check up on his dads, as Bow had been really worried about them. Glimmer and Bow teleported to the Library, which was trashed and abandoned. Glimmer found a note left by Lance and George, telling Bow where they went to hide. Glimmer transported herself and Bow to the ruins where they were hiding. Within some First Ones ruins George and Lance discovered writings about an ancient rebellion against the First Ones, the Friends of Mara. They found a recording left by Serenia, one of Mara's fellow rebels, that explained about the fail-safe for the Heart of Etheria, which could destroy the Heart. It became known that the fail-safe was at the Arxia outpost. While learning this, Catra called Bow on a communications pad from within the Fright Zone as she was being drowned by Mermista. Glimmer left to save Catra, then returned for Bow. Bow and Glimmer told the crew about the fail-safe, while Shadow Weaver and Castaspella revealed that Arxia is Mystacor.

Glimmer teleported Shadow Weaver, Catra, Bow, Adora, Castaspella and Melog to Mystacor where they snuck inside, using Melog's stealth. When they reached the Luminarium, Catra broke stealth mode, alerting the sorcerers to their presence. Consequently, a brief fight ensued with one sorcerer. Upon reaching the fail-safe, which was inside a giant crystal tower, Shadow Weaver instructed Adora to open it with the password "Friends of Mara". The instructions inside read "Someone needs to go inside and accept the fail-safe," which meant that someone had to take the fail-safe and carry it bodily into the Heart. Since She-Ra was the sole one who could absorb the full power of the Heart, only she could go, despite Catra and everyone else's protestations. Knowing that she may not survive, she decided her sacrifice would be better than Prime getting access to the Heart. However, Micah showed up with two other chipped sorcerers and a fight erupted.

Using the fight as a distraction, Adora entered and accepted the fail-safe. Micah used dark magic to entrap the heroes and tried to interrupt Adora's accepting of the fail-safe. Glimmer was visibly distressed at seeing her father under Prime's influence, but did launch several unsuccessful attacks on him. Seeing her friends in a futile circumstance, Adora summoned She-Ra and accepted the fail-safe. She bound Micah and the two sorcerers under Prime's influence, and in doing so allowed everyone to flee to Mystacor for their secret base.

## Quotes

"Best friends squad!"

"You may all have magical powers and alien pets, but what we need is the team's resident regular guy."

"I don't wanna be a historian. I've never wanted to be a historian. I'm not a shy bookworm. I'm not a genius like you two. I make things. I'm a soldier. This is who I am. And I can't lie about it anymore, even though I know I'm breaking your hearts."-"Reunion"

"I'm a master archer who's out of arrows. But that never stopped me either. You each have a skill that only YOU can do, even if it doesn't from some magical jewel."-"System Failure"

"Do you think Glimmer will still be upset when we get back? We did sort of, kind of, completely disobey direct orders"-"Beast Island (episode)"

"You've got Bow, tech master and premier member of the Etherian Maker Community."-"Signals"

## Trivia

* Also known in Spain as "Arco," the literal meaning of his name in Spanish.
* He is confirmed to be bisexual.
* Since the beginning of the show, it was confirmed by Karen Fukuhara that Bow was raised by two fathers and has no mother. His parents, George and Lance, are later seen in "Reunion", and they also show up for Glimmer's coronation and later help out the Rebellion in season five.
* **Bow**'s astrological sign is Virgo, also known as 'the virgin' or 'the maiden'.
* In Adora's future, Bow and Glimmer are each wearing one of Queen Angella's old earrings. Bow has the left one, whilst Glimmer has the right one. This is a nod to them supposedly being married, as according to Mickey Quinn, it is a custom on Etheria for married couples to have matching colour schemes and/or share items of clothing.
* Bow’s voice actor, Marcus Scribner, was only 16 when he was cast as Bow. For much of the show, he deliberately used a higher pitched voice to make Bow sound younger, but during Bow’s speech to Etheria in “Heart Part 2” Scribner used his natural voice to show Bow’s maturity.
* ND Stevenson created a playlist called"Bow" on Spotify, along with a few other of the main characters. These playlists seem to have songs that Stevenson identifies with the characters, or about their feelings throughout the show.
* ND Stevenson said he was fond of the theory of Bow being trans, but it is not something that he feels like he can verify or confirm, because "I don't want to be adding to things after the fact – you know, pulling a JK Rowling, essentially."; therefore the theory remains non-canon.
* During a planning session in the episode, "Roll With It", Bow's version of the characters showed himself and Catra in a way referencing the old show.
* His music skill is also a reference to the old show.
* Yet another reference, his dad George has an appearance referencing the 1985 design of Bow.

## References

1. ↑ Mermista is the Coolest (Princess Rebel Recruitment Shorts)
2. ↑ The Sea Gate
3. ↑ The Sea Gate
4. ↑ https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a32653364/she-ra-noelle-stevenson-theory-bow-trans/