Bow. Everyone's favorite archer and one of the most beloved characters in She Ra and the Princesses of Power and with good reason. He's a loyal, brave & dedicated soul who will go above and beyond for those he considers his friends and even total strangers. The writers of the show are to be commended for making him such a fully fleshed out character in spite of the fact that he really doesn't undergo any of the character growth seen with others such as Catra or Glimmer.

However i feel that a key piece of this is overlooked by the fandom. Bow is held up by large sections of the SPOP fandom as a pure hearted cinnamon roll who never has a negative thought about anyone or anything. I respectfully disagree. I believe that one of the most fascinating, jarring & criminally overlooked aspects of Bow are the moments that the warmth that does usually define his character is stripped away. In this essay i'll be examining when Bow isn't the warm loving person we all like to think of him as & why i have problems with these moments. I'll be dividing them by looking into how Bow interacts with certain other characters.

Wrong Hordak aka Kadroh

I'm getting this out of the way because it's a problem that goes beyond Bow. At his core Wrong Hordak is the product of an abusive suicidal death cult in which he was quite literally programmed to worship a being that regards him as livestock. When he is severed from the hive mind- by Bow's shock arrow incidentally- his reaction is one of existential panic and it's heartbreaking. This is someone who as far as he knows was just suddenly cut off from GOD and is terrified that his devotion won't be known.

And the show treats this as a JOKE. His break down is presented a comedy to the viewers and the other characters - with the possible exception of Entrapta - treat his subsequent trauma in following episodes as a inconvenience. Wrong Hordak is largely treated with kindness to be fair BUT it's only after he has to come to terms with the truth about Prime alone.

I want to stress that this is a problem withe shows overall handling of WH's trauma and not a just a case of Bow acting insensitively. But Bow doesn't treat WH any better so i thought it deserved mention. Moving onto more overt cases of Bow not acting with the warmth we all expect from him.

Kyle

Bow's interaction with Kyle during "No Princess Left Behind" can frankly & accurately be described as Bow a depressed, lonely boy to obtain information about Glimmer then immediately abandon him when his use is up. Lets examine their discussions.

{Kyle carries a tray up an elevator into a cell. Bow is inside.}

Kyle: Dinner rations, prisoner.

{He opens the slot and it closes on his arms.}

Kyle: Ow!

{Kyle drops the tray.}

Bow: Hey, what's your name?

Kyle: Me? You're talking to me?

Bow: Sure. Is that all right?

Kyle: Uh, I guess, but no one ever talks to me. I'm Kyle.

Bow: Hey, Kyle, I'm Bow. Can you do me a favor? Can you tell me where they're holding the princess?

Kyle: Princess?

Bow: She's my best friend. No one will let me talk to her or even tell me if she's okay.

Kyle: I'm sure she's fine. Maybe. Or she's not. I don't know.

Bow: Do you know where she is?

Kyle: No, that kind of information is classified. They wouldn't tell me.

Bow: You have to help me get a message to her.

Kyle: I, uh. I better be leaving now.

Bow: No, wait.

Kyle: I like your shirt!

Bow: Kyle!

Kyle tries to play the tough prison guard but is immediately exposed because the show writers can't allow him to be taken seriously. Bow then takes a brief moment to ask his name (which BLATANTLY surprises the boy) and the almost immediately starts pumping him for information. Now i can forgive this as Bow is understandably concerned about his best friend & the heir to his kingdoms throne. If anything Bow putting in so little effort in gaining Kyle's trust is a tactical error on his part. And yet this same lack of effort makes Kyle's next act even more surprising.

Kyle: Bow Bow!

Bow: Kyle?

Kyle: I'm supposed to be in the barracks. Lonnie made me cover her latrine duty.

Bow: What's going on?

Kyle: I found out where your friend is being kept. Shadow Weaver has her in the Black Garnet chamber.

Bow: Oh, that sounds bad.

Kyle: Yeah, it's pretty bad. But she's alive, at least. Shadow Weaver is planning to ransom her in exchange for Queen.

Bow: Why are you telling me this?

Kyle: I don't know. I guess, because your the first person who's ever listened to me.

Bow: I mean, I'm being held prisoner, so... I don't know that I have a choice, but sure!

Let me clear as i know how can. Kyle was under no obligation to come back with information. Bow put in zero effort to win Kyle's trust and YET Kyle's station in the Horde is so miserable that the basic courtesy of Bow asking the boys name is enough to get him to basically commit treason. And the truly sad part is Bow can't even maintain the low level of courtesy he established last time. listen to his delivery of that final line for yourself and tell me it's not dripping with sarcasm. And finally...

Kyle: No one's ever,ever asked for my help before. People here don't think i can do anything right.

Bow: Um-hm. That seems tough.

(clanging thudding in background)

Kyle: Why am I telling you this? I shouldn't even be here. I'm going to get into so much trouble if I get caught.

Bow: No! Wait, I mean (laughs) we're just talking. How much trouble could you get in for talking?

Kyle (scoffs): Oh, you'd be surprised. I get in trouble for everything around here.

Bow: That doesn't seem fair.

Kyle: I know! But then I thought how brave you are for wanting to save your friend. And maybe, if I helped you, you could be my friend too.

Bow: Uh, sure, friends, definitely. We can be friends. (chuckles nervously)

THAT is their final bit of dialog before Sea Hawk sends hurls Kyle off the ledge to his potential death. And Bow has no reaction beyond being happy to see his friends. The boy who, and i really need to stress this, committed treason to bring Bow the location of his BEST FRIEND and made her rescue possible is not even awarded a look back. I understand they're technically enemies but for such a otherwise worm-hearted character to act so...cold. It's just so jarring to me especially because they never speak to each other again.

Entrapta

I want to give Bow some credit here, Bow is the only character in the Alliance who is even remotely excited to enlist Entrapta's help. While Entrapta being courted by the Alliance is solely so she can build them weapons Bow, being a tech lover himself, is genuinely looking forward to meeting her. (This is contrasted by Glimmer's stated intent to use her recruitment to impress Angella & Adora, ever the audience stand-in, not even knowing who she is). Likewise Bow is clearly devastated by her apparent death and later reveal to be working for the Horde.

That said there's problems in his treatment of her as well. After she joins the Alliance he's not shown interacting worth her anymore then the other members. He is saddened by her apparent death yes but he also immediately shuts down Adora's suggestion to go back & rescue her as they had just done for Glimmer creating the appearance that Entrapta doesn't have the same value in his eyes. He also utterly fails to question why she's staying with the Horde after Catra reveals it to he & Glimmer, seemingly agreeing with the others that she abandoned them solely for tech. Furthermore why he does side with Adora in the argument with Glimmer about saving her from Beast Island (as a aside it infuriates me & many others that they even have to have an argument about this) His argument is framed entirely around how her knowledge of tech o=could be helpful, with exactly zero mention of her as his friend,

Then in the episode "Beast Island" he has the nerve to give her a speech about her struggles with friendship that places the entirety of the burden on her to "try harder" completely dismissing how hard she was trying in both the Alliance and The Horde. As if they- and more specifically he- is under no obligation to meet her halfway.

Bow is set up to be the only friend Entrapta has in the Alliance but when all is set & done treats her no better then the rest. This is part of a wider problem in the show of its treatment of its sole autistic character so, like the section about Wrong Hordak, it isn't fair to place this entirely on his shoulders. I can believe Bow does actually want to be her friend (which i can't say about everyone) I can even admit that he seems to try. He does not however succeed.

In conclusion. Bow is a great character in most instances. I don't even argue that he is indeed the sweetheart the fandom portrays him as most of the time. However as i hope i've made clear he has moments where he either fails to act with that same kindness (Wrong Hordak) or worse yet, he doesn't even try (Kyle). And honestly the worse part isn't that the fandom ignores these moments but that the show does as well. Because of the show did acknowledge them it would give Bow a chance at the growth he didn't really get in the show,