Search for the Past

At the market, Orko is forced to buy a stack of fruit after causing an accident. Man-At-Arms notices a bracelet bearing the crest of King Miro. According to the Peddler, it was found in the Swamps of Enchantment. King Randor is equally amazed by the bracelet, which could mean his long lost father is still alive. He wants to leave in a Wind Raider immediately, but Duncan convinces him to allow him to accomany him on the search for Miro.

In Orko's bedroom, Prince Adam is trying out some of Orko's fruit when Queen Marlena arrives. She has found the bracelet with Miro's crest. Adam and Marlena explain to Orko that King Miro disappeared before the Trollan first came to Eternia and together they deduce that Randor and Duncan have gone to the Swamps of Enchantment instead of Gammelon, as they had claimed. Marlena encourages Adam to go after them.

Duncan and Randor are in a small boat, floating down a swampy river. Man-At-Arms suspect that if Miro still lives, so much his old enemy, the Enchantress. He then makes a connection with the tales of the Prisoner of Lost Mountain. Stories tell of a mountain peak floating above the edge of these swamps. They realize that King Miro may in fact be the prisoner. They are unaware that the Enchantress is using her magic to spy at them through the eye of an owl. She conjures up a spell that creates a whirlwind out of water. Duncan is thrown out of the boat while Randor and the vehicle are lifted up into the sky.

When Randor awakes, he finds himself in Castle Fear, facing the Enchantress and her toady servant, Drude. The King demands to know what she has done with his father, but she orders two Sludge Creatures to take to the dungeons. Adam and Cringer are flying a Wind Raider and use a tracer to locate Man-At-Arms. Adam sets the Raider to land by itself while they eject, using parachutes. Once on the ground, Adam transforms himself into He-Man and Cringer into Battle Cat. Man-At-Arms finds them before they find him and explains what happened to the King. They soon find Lost Mountain, floating in the sky.

They rig a pair of trees to catapult He-Man onto the floating mountain, but Duncan and Battle Cat cannot join him. Drude informs the Enchantress that someone is coming up the mountain. When she recognizes He-Man, Drude realizes trouble is on the way while Randor overhears and is pleased. He-Man comes upon a stone hovel on a small mountain peak where King Miro is forced to reside. Learning his son has been captured by the Enchantress, Miro shows He-Man that Castle Fear is located in the swamps below. They find themselves being stalked by the Lurker, which had been released by the Enchantress. A freeze ray from the Lurker's mouth traps Miro in a block of ice. He-Man faces the creature, but it manages to freeze both of He-Man's legs, immobilizing him. He-Man throws his sword at a large snowball, which sets it in motion and knocks the Lurker off the floating mountain and into the swamp below.

After freeing King Miro from the ice, they use a sheet as a parachute and safely jump down from Lost Mountain into the swamp. Miro is reunited with Duncan and realizes that many years have passed during his captivity. As they draw near Castle Fear, the Enchantress releases two Sludge Creatures, but they are no match for He-Man. From a high window, the Enchantress fires an energy blast from her finger at He-Man, which he deflects with his sword. She then seals the castle doors magically, but He-Man mounts Battle Cat and they barge right in.

Afraid of being hurt by the heroic warriors. Drude frees King Randor from his cell. The Enchantress uses energy rings to bind both Drude and Randor, then uses her magic to make Drude large and powerful. When He-Man, Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms and Miro enter, Drude is able to pick them all up in one hand. Miro and Randor manage to persuade Drude to turn against the Enchantress, saying she will turn him back into his original form as soon as he is no longer usefull to her. Drude puts down the heroes and picks up the Enchantress, vowing to make her serve him instead. He-Man convinces Drude that he will be no better than the Enchantress if he treats her badly. Drude says that instead of being cruel to her, he will teach her good manners and carries her off.

Randor and Miro are reunited at last. Man-At-Arms tells He-Man that Miro should meet his grandson. He-Man slips away arnd returns as Adam to be introduced to his grandfather. Back in the Royal Palace, Miro tells Randor and Marlena that he wants to spend some time discovering what has become of Eternia before he settles down in Eternos. Randor presents his father with the bracelet that started the quest, and Miro recognizes it as his lucky bracelet.

**Orko:** "Well, you know what I liked best in today's story? Well, there were three things. The first was when the evil Enchantress found out you can't do bad things without being punished for them. The second thing was when King Randor found his father. But what I liked best of all was Adam and his grandfather getting together. You know, grandfathers and grandmothers are very special people and they give their grandchildren a very special kind of love. So if you're lucky enough to have a grandmother or a grandfather, or maybe even both, well, you're really specially lucky!"

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Peddler

Alan Oppenheimer as Man-At-Arms, Battle Cat/Cringer and Drude

Linda Gary as the Enchantress and Queen Marlena

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, King Randor and King Miro

"Your Highness, have you heard the tales of the prisoner of Lost Mountain?"

― Man-At-Arms

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved may 21, 1984 and final script revision took place September 17, 1984. It was previously hinted in the episode The Rainbow Warrior that Queen Marlena knows Adam is He-Man. It is hinted again in this episode when, worried about Man-At-Arms and her husband, she asks Adam to go after them. King Miro's story continues in She-Ra: Princess of Power, in the episode King Miro's Journey.
2. The Enchantress, Drude and the Lurker were designed by character artist Charles Zembillas, who also designed the Bibbit characters for this story, but they went unused until the She-Ra: Princess of Power episodes The Bibbet Story and Swifty's Baby. This story was released on VHS in the UK together with Revenge is Never Sweet and One for All.
3. Continuity: The interior backgrounds of Castle Fear were used earlier as those of Spydra's castle in The Return of Orko's Uncle and will be seen again inside Castle Landros in Bargain with Evil. The animation of He-Man leaping and grabbing onto a ledge will be used again in Visitors from Earth. Many of the creatures that appear in this story will be seen again as the Wizard of the Tree's magical creations in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode The Reluctant Wizard. The design of the Sludge Creatures would later be re-purposed for the one-shot villain Ore Captain Sludge Man in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode Day of the Flowers.
4. Animation errors and goofs: In the opening scene, when Orko picks a fruit, the scene changes but part of the fruits in the background remain in the exact same position. When the Peddler is first seen in a wide shot at his market stall, he is wearing a dark blue tunic with light blue stripes, but in a closer shot, the shirt is light blue with dark blue stripes. He-Man throws his sword several yards away at the giant snowball to fight off the Lurker. When he rescues Miro shortly after, the sword suddenly reappears in his scabbard with him having no opportunity to retrieve it.

Source: heman.fandom.com (Wiki Grayskull, CC BY-SA 3.0). Catalogue and trivia compiled for heman.org.