Lio-O atointments: did he deserve to be the Lord of the ThunderCats?

Cartoons ThunderCats (1985)
1

This was somehting that always bothered me.

Don’t get me wrong; I really liked the idea of the atoinments and enjoyed those episodes as they let us know a little more of the other TCs, but as I see it, Lion-O kind of got a lot of help from the others themselves, and the episodes’ resolutions were kind of ridicule.

Lion-O’s Anointment First Day: Trial of Strength: here, Lion-O had to do a big way up to a mountain to fight Panthro. What was the reason of that? Wouldn’t it have been easier and faster if the TCs built up a ring and have them (Lio-O and Panthro) to fight a 3-rounds match? Also, he only bit Panthro because a rock injured his shoulder, otherwise he would have had no chance… and Panthro said it didn’t matter because Lion-O won fair and square. I don’t think so. The idea was to be stronger than the strongest noble TC in his best condition.

Lion-O’s Anointment Second Day: Trial of Speed: again, Lion-O and Cheetara had to make their way to some point, and just then run a race… wouldn’t it have been easier for them just to run 10 miles to a goal, and see which one got there first? Also, Lion-O got help with those mutants. Oh, and Cheetara only able to keep her speed for 4 kms? That was ridicule… besides, in that distance she should have advantaged Lion-o too much for him to reach her.

Lion-O’s Anointment Third Day: Trial of Cunning: maybe the one that Lion-O deserved the victory the most as he won it fair and square. I have nothing to say about this one (except maybe that was running against a couple of kids lol).

Lion-O’s Anointment Fourth Day: Trial of Mind Power: here (along with the trial of strength) is where I think Lion-O shouldn’t have won. It was absurd that the goal was to reach some ruins… it should have only been that Lion-O confronted and resisted Tygra’s illusions. And here again, Lion-O got lots of help: first from Snowman and Snowmeow, and then from Tygra himself, twice: Tygra created an illusion against the mutants, and then he realized he shouldn’t be helping Lion-O. But the biggest help I think Lion-O got from Tygra was when Tygra warned him that by the end of the day, Lion-O would be confronting his biggest fear… that gave Lion-O a clue. I’m pretty sure hadn’t Tygra told him that, the vision of Thundera being destroyed would have been so devastating that Lion-O wouldn’t have resisted it. It was because Tygra warned him that Lion-O was able to remember that and realize it was all a mere illusion.

Also, he didn’t have an atointment against Lynx-O, Pumyra and Bengali. I think he should have, even when they were invested as TCs when he already was the Lord of the TCs, as he needed to defeat every TC in their camp of expertise (another sign that writers didn’t have a special ability in mind for the new ones… excepting Pumyra’s medicinal skills, maybe Lion-O should have defeated her in that, and be a better blacksmith than Bengali, and going throught a dark cave against Lynx-O, I don’t know).

So that is. I might be being too hard on Lion-O, but at the end of the day, I don’t think he deserved the title of Lord of the TCs. What do you think?

2

Well hmm…I mean it wasn’t really Lion-O’s fault, as you say the trials themselves were kind of all over the place, lol.

I love the Trial episodes, but I do think it would have made more sense to do them slightly earlier in the first season. I mean you see the Thundercats constantly worried about whether Lion-O will win. Why? I mean he’s already saved them and defeated Mumm-Ra on several occasions! Why are they so worried that he’ll let them down now? :eek:

3

That’s a point. Of course, the trials couldn’t have been earlier because Lion-O needed to turn into adulthood first, so some eps were needed before that.

As I see it, they wanted and needed Lion-O to win (even when, as you very well pointed put, he had saved them many times in the past) and somehow, unconsciously, allowed him to. They helped him too much when they shouldn’t, adn always found a justified reason for doing so, that’s what psychoanalysis calls rationalization.

4

Funny, the trials actually made me respect Lion-O more as I watched them earlier this week. Also the one that bothered me the most was the one you had no problems with, in the trial of cunning he got help from those blind creature things, they actually help him get up from the crack. They clearly helped him.

Anyways they did say the trials should have no interference but I kinda see the trials as he can’t get help but they were done outside so anything random that happened was fair game since those things can happen in real life at any moment,. Thats the way I justify it at least. Also I kinda think that Lion-O didn’t beating the other thundercats without any disruptions it would have made the other thundercats look weak and at least in this way you can argue he didn’t beat them outright.

One question though, after the Trial of Evil the Thundercats think Mumm-Ra is dead, what episode continuity wise would happen after this one? The other episodes I’ve seen that take place after in the episode guides the Thundercats don’t act shocked at Mumm-Ra being alive. Also I know Mumm-Ra is evil but he wasn’t doing anything evil at the time and Lion-O breaks in into his home to kill him? whats up with that? not very honorable for him to do who always talks about the Thunderrian way of honor/justice and whatever.

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Well I’m sure you could try and argue in a court of law that it was foreseeable that Mumm-Ra would eventually do something evil, lol.

6

I think the trials make for a good first season finale.

I’d argue that while the trials test one of his skills on the surface, they were really tests to see how well Lion-O could use all his skills as a whole to complete the trials.

For example, there is no way Lion-O could have beat Cheetara in a straight foot race based on speed, but it wasn’t just about speed; it was also about endurance, and it was to see if Lion-O would take the more dangerous shortcut to beat Cheetara. The other Thundercats were hoping he would be smart and take that shortcut, otherwise he would have lost. He had to use some cunning along with courage as well.

For Panthro’s trial, part of it may have been to see if Lion-O had the willpower to make it up the mountain as well as have enough strength left to put up a fight in the first place. As for Tygra’s, Lion-O did learn to see past the illusions and overcome his fears, so he does deserve that one.

The three new thundercats weren’t nobles, so I really don’t think they would have needed to put him through more.

So basically, the trials can be seen as testing Lion-O to combine his skills in order to overcome someone who only relies on one very powerful skill. It’s not about being stronger than the strong man or faster than the speed demon, but how being well rounded can be an advantage.

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This actually is a characteristic of a real cheetah in that, they can run extremely fast, but only for short distances. They are built for short quick bursts of speed, not long runs. The longer run distance was probably chosen so as to give Lion-O a realistic chance

This one’s easy. Not only did those characters not exist on the show yet, but they weren’t nobles as someone above pointed out. They actually had to be anointed Thundercats by Lion-O at the end of Thundercats Ho! I don’t think he would have been able to do so if he wasn’t himself already Lord of the Thundercats, and his ultimate proof of that was through the trials. If he’s anointing them as Thundercats due to his lordship, would it make sense that he would have to turn around and then face them? Remember he didn’t anoint Cheetara, Panthro, or Tygra. So far as I’m aware that was never explained, but that was likely done by Claudus or Jaga, someone who was already lord of the Thundercats and who wouldn’t need to prove it.

8

I always felt like the Trial of Strength should have been renamed the Trial of Map-Reading. Let’s see… I’m supposed to follow the beach… to the right… past the… Vortex? Poor Lion-O.

Also, I still don’t buy that the other ThunderCats would have knowingly directed Lion-O to Acid Lake. If that piece of fruit hadn’t hit him, he would have been seriously dead. Unless they labelled it appropriately and he just misread the map, or really was just too impatient to go around it.

But for me the Trials were never actually about what they said they were about. Strength is about ingenuity, Speed is about motivation, Cunning is about patience and loyalty, Mind Power is about fear, and Evil… Evil is about bad animation and death wishes.

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Personally, I don’t think just a week’s worth of a few tests is enough to make one a lord. To me it would take years of proving one worthy. That’s just my opinion. If anything, these anointment trials felt rushed.

10

Don’t forget guys that one of the morals around all 5 episodes was that it was their ‘tradition’ and tradition is very important. So regardless of if he’d already defeated Mumm-Ra loads of times n saved the other Tcats, he needed to be ‘officially’ annointed for that reason. This also kinda means that he proved himself worthy long before the trials lynxana.

They did a good job I think of making sure we knew he wasn’t ACUALLY stronger than Panthro, faster than chetara, more cunning than the kids or more mind powerful/intelligent than Tygra…just that with his other qualities he could overcome their strengths and beat them in the trials.