Written by Early on in the first episode titled “Even for Kings” of the 2024 Netflix Animated series “Masters of the Universe: Revolution“, King Randor fell ill to a mysterious illness.
The royal doctor Mendor explained to Randor’s family and closest friends that the great King was suffering from a kind of organ failure he had never seen before and there was no way to save him.
“It’s kind of an organ failure I’ve never encountered before Adam. And we can’t still find the cure.”
Of course, we all know what happens next. King Randor passes away, leaving the monarchy without a King, just in time for King Randor’s half-brother Keldor to show up and prove his mettle that he would be a suitable King.
COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.
Soon enough we learned that Keldor’s appearance was not coincidental, but part of a Horde scheme to take over not just the throne of Eternos, but Eternia itself.
“And now each piece is in its place. Pawns. Knights. Queen… and King.”
THE KELDOR DECEPTION
Motherboard called the diabolical plan “The Keldor Deception“, where Skeletor in his Gar disguise would work his way to be accepted by the people of Eternos and eventually be crowned King resulting in He-Man unwittingly falling under the Horde’s control. Motherboard called the crowning of Keldor “stage three”.
“The Keldor Deception has advanced to Stage Three, my lord. In his Gar disguise, Skeletor has been crowned King of Eternos.”
So what of the previous stages, stage one and stage two of the “Keldor Deception”? While left nondescript in the narrative, this whole diabolical plan enacted by Hordak only works if King Randor dies.
So was King Randor’s death from a mysterious, incurable illness a coincidence, a lucky break for Hordak? Doubtful. Unless the Evil Horde has a spy high up within the monarchy, the time between King Randor’s death and Prince Adam’s coronation (when Keldor showed up) was hardly adequate to concoct and inact the elaborate “Keldor Deception” plan and all its stages.
“Do we have to do the coronation so soon? Dad’s been gone a day.”
No, it is more probable that the poisoning of King Randor with this mysterious, incurable illness was actually Stage One of the diabolical plan (or at least its first step.) It was likely murder!
So who did this devious deed? Who poisoned King Randor? We don’t know… but perhaps we should look no further than Mendor.
You arguably cannot get better access to King Randor’s body, nor in a better position to administer “medicine” (poison) to, than Randor’s personal physician Mendor… a character with a brief history in MOTU lore… yet one filled with misdirection.
With fleeting DC comic appearances that resulted in a culmination of notorious, possessed intent, Mendor was a character designed for deception. He was an inconspicuous infiltrator-within-the-ranks character intended to surprise comic readers when King Hiss revealed he was once within Mendor’s body. King Hiss had embodied him.
Of course, while the Masters of the Universe DC comics is a different continuity than Masters of the Universe: Revelation & Revolution, much of the alterations made to previous lore made in those two Netflix animated shows often still stayed faithful to its roots. So we suspect this “apple” named Mendor…. either embodied by King Hiss or just under the control of the Horde… doesn’t fall far from its historic MOTU tree.
WE’RE KEEPING OUR EYE ON YOU MENDOR!
In the end, Mendor or not, we do believe King Randor was murdered. Will the truth of all this be revealed in the next installment? Let’s hope the creaters of “Masters of the Universe: Revelation & Revolution” will have the ability to finish their trilogy.
We’ll see you next time.
I hadn’t consider Randor was murdered. Good stuff.
Sounds logical. Although I doubt the Snake Men would work with the Horde; they probably would do all they can to be assumed a dead empire especially in the eyes of another big empire like the Horde. But then, assuming Mendor is not who he seems to be, he might be a spy sent to infiltrate the horde by doing spy work for them.
It would be quite interesting if killing Randor was the way they inserted King Hiss. Adam’s discovery would immediately set up an amazing vengeance plot.
It was Queen Marlena in the throne room with the lead pipe.
Will we get Mendor as a Masterverse figure? I don’t believe he was even made for the Classics line.
On another note, based on his appearance, maybe Mendor is really Isaac from the Castlevania animated series. Won’t be the first time MOTU did crossovers.
I sometimes wonder if he wasn’t murdered but sacrificed himself when he hugged Savage He-Man and got him to turn back into Adam.. That or the power was too much for him as he was close.
@thedoctor That is quite a creative idea. I like it. We must pray that Adam never finds out. We learned in the Problem with Power episode that he could never cope with that level of guilt.
@longtooth If they go this route maybe Adam does find out but Randor’s spirit comes back again and we get a closure that he chose this to allow Adam to come back to his true form. Also this is why he never mentions Adora when he is dying the guilt of not getting his daughter back and them keeping that secret from Adam was why he chose to do what he did and give himself up to save at least one of his children.
You know there was a great Incredible Hulk storyline where I believe Bruce and Betty were married and finally happy, and then Betty got sick and they realized Betty was dying of gamma radiation poisoning (from being so near to Bruce all the time). After Betty died, the guilt that Bruce felt was traumatic. There was a later plot twist, but it all provided an excellent framework for a real compelling story… and I think your idea of that hug ultimately costing Randor’s life could too… at least for a comic! 🙂
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@admin AJ I remember that plot well. I am a huge comic guy myself and have a large collection. I also have another theory as to why others could access the power of Grayskull but not be full He-Man. He-Man is the true and really first champion of Grayskull. When he returned the power from being Savage He-Man the power flowed backwards through time granting a portion of the power to each of the champions. This ties in with more of know that Adam in this canon can share the power with others than Cringer.