Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion: Hordak!

HORDAK

Real Name: Hec-Tor Kurâ„¢

Second born heir to the Horde Empire, Hec-Tor Kurâ„¢ arrived on the planet Eternia while battling the cosmic warrior He-Roâ„¢. Taking the name Hordakâ„¢, he raised an army and challenged the Snake Menâ„¢ for rule over the planet. Although he defeated King Hssssâ„¢, Grayskull, leader of the free people of Eternia succeeded in banishing him to the dimension of Despondosâ„¢. It was here that centuries later Hordakâ„¢ contacted a young alchemist named Keldorâ„¢ and began teaching him the ways of the dark arts in exchange for freedom from his extra dimensional prison.

Portrait art source: “The Power of the Evil Horde” (art by Bruce Timm)

He-Man was unquestionably the hero of Masters of the Universe. He was never challenged for that role, although Mattel came close to doing so in 1987 with He-Ro in the Powers of Grayskull toyline; however, most of the line never made it to toy stores, including He-Ro himself, and so He-Man remained unchallenged (She-Ra ruled her own franchise, and was more of a counterpart to than a replacement for He-Man).

However, while Skeletor remains the most iconic MOTU villain, he had to contend with not one, but two other big bads: Hordak and King Hiss. Thanks to a great character design and his position as the primary antagonist of the She-Ra cartoon, Hordak is nearly as popular as Skeletor himself.

On the other hand, his name is Hec-Tor Kur–which, judging from the poll at left, is the least popular “real name” of them all.

Why “Hec-Tor”? In Greek mythology, Hector is one of the major characters in The Iliad, a rival of Achilles, though he’s not at all a villain–quite the opposite. In any event, I don’t think that’s being referenced here.

As I see it, there are two major problems with Hordak’s “real name.” First, it’s unnecessary. I can understand why you’d want to give Beast Man and Mer-Man other names–“beast man” and “mer-man” are generic terms. But Hordak works perfectly fine as a pronoun. Second, a familiar Western name like “Hector” is weird and inappropriate for a character who’s essentially an extradimensional alien monster. (At least for us Westerners. For all I know, a Russian fan might find Hordak really familiar and “Hector” weird and alien.)

There’s one aspect of the real name that might pay off. We know Zodac was an Elder, and his last name is Zur. Hordak’s is “Kur.” This makes me wonder if all Elders have some sort of “-ur” in their name, and if so, perhaps Hordak (and/or Horde Supreme) is a rogue, evil Elder. I find that idea intriguing, although given the pre-existence of the Horde and the fact that Hordak is “heir” to it, added to the fact that he “arrived” on Eternia, it seems unlikely–unless the Eternian Elders are of otherworldly origin, or there are Councils of Elders throughout the universe (perhaps ordained by the Overlords of the Timeless Dimension).

But enough about the real name. In the bio, we learn that Hordak is the second-born heir to the Horde Empire, foreshadowing the appearance of Horde Supreme in a later bio. We don’t know how Hordak arrived on Eternia, and that’s a story I rather hope we will learn, since I don’t know if it’s been told in any MOTU incarnation. The traditional war between Hordak and the Snake Men in the “Preternia” era is mentioned.

As I recall, in the original minicomics it was He-Ro who defeated King Hiss and the Snake Men, while in the Millennium cartoon it was King Grayskull, the Elders and Zodak, In the MOTUC canon, apparently Hordak was the primary architect of their defeat. Hopefully we’ll find out more about this later, perhaps with King Hiss’s bio.

The rest of the bio follows the Millennium cartoon: Hordak was then banished to Despondos by King Grayskull and centuries later, contacted Keldor. It refers to Despondos as an “extra-dimensional prison,” although we now know that Etheria is in that dimension (more on that later) and that Hordak was presumably quite active there. It also suggests that Hordak was cut off from the major part of the Horde for five hundred years, although apparently both Hordak and Horde Supreme survived quite ably for all that time.

Except for the real name, I like this bio. I’d like to know more about Hordak’s activities before and immediately after his arrival on Eternia, which is a place where, say, a new comic could fill in some of the blanks.

Next time: Man-At-Arms!