Loooong Shadow Weaver post ahead, sorry, had to get this out:

For Shadow Weaver this is HER sacrifice, not Adora’s, she’s sacrificing her best project, her time invested on Adora, her hidden card. She thinks that Adora is hers, not her daughter, mind you, her posession, and Adora should bend to her will. Because, in her mind, Shadow Weaver is still a hero: She is still the one who is saving the world with her sacrifices and “suffering”, and the only one who knows best.

The only one who can stop Adora is Catra, and Shadow Weaver knows how to manipulate the cat girl so Catra is so hurt that she’ll run away. She knows all of Catra’s weak points, downright to WHAT WORDS to use when she knows Catra is near so she’ll react to them. How could Shadow Weaver not know them? She spent years of her life putting those insecurities in these kids, molding them with her manipulation and instilling weaknesses that only she’d know how to trigger. She trained them so she could use them, or defeat them as she saw fit.

There’s something she wasn’t expecting, though, for Adora, of all people, to confront her:

A good question here is: What does Shadow Weaver fear more: Adora’s determination (that she knows is unbreakable, she made sure of that) or the hatred of her most beloved project? If Adora survives, Shadow Weaver can be certain of She ra making sure that whatever chance she ever gets of getting power will be destroyed, if Adora dies, Shadow Weaver would have lost her best project and now that Adora has turned against her, the sorceress knows that she won’t ever be welcomed anywhere.

Catra confronts the woman too, taking her by aback once more:

Adora: The one supossed to respect her and her ticket to freedom (even if Adora died, Shadow Weaver was going to be a hero for helping Adora make the right choice) is gone and now it is known that Adora has lost all care for the sorceress, it is known that she separated Adora and Catra. Shadow Weaver has no more protection in that part.

Catra: The one supposed to fear her yet yearn for her acceptance is done with her, and Shadow Weaver knows that Catra is ruthless when it comes to Adora’s wellbeing, anything that happens next will be pinned on her and she knows that Catra can and will destroy her if Adora dies. Even if Adora saves the world, Shadow Weaver knows she’d be killed or at least exiled.

She has no option but to do as she’s told.

When they reunite with Adora, Shadow Weaver is tempted by the Heart of Etheria…

She reaches to it, Adora is too weak to notice or stop her, this is her chance, but the two disasters of this series react to one another again and her plan is foiled.

The next is maybe the only moment of self-awareness that Shadow Weaver has had in all her life, so far she has refused to apologize for anything or take any responsability for her actions as she considers them to have been paid in full.

She has nothing left now, her two charges/projects are no longer under her control, but also: The woman seems to finally acknowledge that she can’t change, she doesn’t want to change and even if it ends the universe, she’ll keep trying to get power, no matter the cost.

She has no future, even if Catra and Adora win, how long until they have to destroy her for trying to reach for power once more?

She realizes it’s too late already, any outcome would end in her failing.

Shadow Weaver’s last words were:

This is where we can theorize that, for once in her life, she knew that she was beyond any kind of redemption and decided to do one good thing in her life..

Or, the other theory could be that she knew that this was the end for her, after this there was nothing else but her own hunger for power and the resentment of the world, and she decided to die as the hero that she always thought herself to be (hence the “You’re welcome”) instead of trying to survive only to see her own slow downfall. She didn’t want a redemption, she had never wanted a redemption, but the sorceress DID want to be remembered, she wanted to die proudly and on her own terms.

Taking her last words into consideration, I’d lean for the second option.

I think we can agree that the “You’re welcome” comes from her believing that she was worthy of gratefulness, that she was more important than anyone else and her sacrifice was to be mourned. 

What prompted this sacrifice, though, is still up for debate, I still say that she did so to become someone who would never be forgotten, a hero of the Rebellion that otherwise she’d never get to be.

IMC RYING!??! 

THIS IS ABOUT MY CULTURE AND I LOVE IT BEING SHARED BECAUSE NOT MAMNY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT US. <3333