Teela's Biography

Teela is a fictional character from the toy series Masters of the Universe, currently functioning as Captain of the Royal Guard at the palace of Eternos. As part of her job, Teela is responsible for training and protecting her best friend, Adam, prince of Eternia, who she is unaware is also He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. Teela usually assists He-Man in his battles against the Evil Warriors or the Evil Horde.

Teela is one of the first characters featured in the Masters of the Universe toyline, although her figure was not released until the second half of the first wave. Writer Donald F. Glut named her after Gunga Ram's elephant from the Andy's Gang television show. Teela is presented in the earliest material as the warrior-goddess, an able female fighter roaming in deserted landscapes of Eternia on her unicorn. Teela currently has short reddish-brown hair, held in place by a headband she rarely takes off; however, in a great deal of the early released material, including the early minicomics, she is shown as a long-haired blonde, wearing her hair in a ponytail.

The figure of the warrior-goddess confused many collectors, as without the accompanying cobra armor it looks like the regular Teela, but when wearing the armor it resembles a revised version of the original green-skinned Sorceress called The Goddess (who would soon more commonly become known as the Sorceress of Grayskull). Nevertheless, the resemblence is not perfect, since the Goddess clearly does not wear a headband underneath the armor. The second wave minicomic The Tale of Teela! explains that twenty years before, Skeletor captured the Goddess and made a clone of her using an ancient artifact, who grew up to be Teela. In the following material, and in the Filmation cartoon series, Teela - the Captain of the Royal Guard, and Teela-Na, the Sorceress (as she was by now known) are two separate characters. The Sorceress now has a falcon theme to distinguish her from Teela's cobra motif, and Teela's warrior-goddess archetype was toned down in favor of a more accessible personality.

In the Filmation cartoon series, Teela is the daughter of the Teela-Na, the Sorceress (which was likely inspired from the earlier 'clone' scenario, although there is no direct connection), though she does not know this. When Teela was an infant, the Sorceress gave her to Man-At-Arms because the she felt that it would be too dangerous to have her child living at Castle Grayskull, seeing as it is constantly under attack by enemies such as the evil forces of Skeletor. In one episode ("Teela's Quest", the second broadcast episode), Teela sets out to discover the truth about her mother from Eternia's Oracle of the Crystal Sea, and actually does discover that she is the daughter of the Sorceress, but a very emotionally-distraught Sorceress erases the revelation from Teela's memory for her own protection, even though the Sorceress desperately wished she could tell Teela the truth. Teela's true father is never revealed, although Man-At-Arms says he was one of Eternia's greatest men. In the Filmation series and post-second wave minicomics, Teela was adopted by Man-At-Arms, who raises her into a fearless warrior devoted to her sovereign, King Randor, and the protector of his kingdom, Eternia.

Despite her excellent fighting skills and generally being sensible and level-headed, Teela has a reckless streak not unlike that of a wild tomboy (a far cry from her mother's soft spoken temperament); in the Filmation series, her recklessness and quick temper in situations that she does not agree with often lead to poor judgment, which results in dangerous situations and Teela getting captured quite often. Not realizing his duel identity as He-Man and the duties that go with it, she often reprimands her friend Adam for being lazy and cowardly and not attentive to his training, while having a crush on his alter ego, He-Man.

As with the majority of the Filmation versions of characters who do not appear with their action figure weapons, Teela does not appear with her cobra staff. She occasionally appears with a shield and a sword.

In the UK Ladybird Masters of the Universe storybook series, particularly in 'A Trap For He-Man', Teela's cobra staff gives her some telepathic ability and allows her to communicate with a few wild creatures. This ability does not appear in any other media.

The basic outline of her character remains the same in the 2002 series, but is taken to a greater extreme due to a difference in censors and restrictions. She still teases or reprimands Adam for his apparent lack of courage and gumption while harboring an unspoken and unconsummated crush on his alter-ego, He-Man, and is still a very durable fighter in her own right. However, Teela appears to be much younger and leaner in the 2002 series than she was in the 1980s series, and sports a combat armor costume loosely resembling that of Xena: Warrior Princess. She also wears her hair in a long ponytail, as opposed to the 1980s figure and cartoon character who wear their hair up (although the early minicomics and such material do feature it in a ponytail). Although the Filmation version of Teela has a short temper when she is in situations she is angered by, the new version of Teela is portrayed as brasher and slightly more aggressive. In the episode Out of the Past, Teela says that she is 16 years old (her age in the original series is never actually specified, although in the second season episode "The Great Books Mystery", Adam celebrates his 19th birthday, and it is generally indicated throughout the series that Teela is around the same age as him). She also briefly displays limited telepathic powers after a blood transfusion from her mother the Sorceress (the power fades as the Sorceress's blood fades away within Teela's blood). As with the previous versions of the story, Teela was adopted by Man-At-Arms (or rather she was entrusted to him by her mother the Sorceress) because her true father, an Eternian soldier who had amnesia, and whom the Sorceress nursed back to health, had disappeared, having presumably died in battle. There are hints, however, that Duncan (Man-At-Arms) may have actually be her biological father, or that Duncan's brother, Fisto, a former soldier suffering from amnesia, is Teela's biological father. It was intended that Teela would learn the truth of her heritage in the third season, but the series was discontinued before it could be resolved.