The Defection

In the Palace courtyard, Orko is demonstrating some magic tricks which actually go correctly. Adam and Man-At-Arms tell Orko he’s gotten much better, but Orko disagrees and states that people don't change. In his mind, good people always remain good and evil ones remain evil.

Meanwhile, in the Isle of Tears, a sorceress called Sibyline is tells the evil Gorgon that used to be a good sorceress, but he has made her into a bad one, and she wishes she was good again. Gorgon doesn’t take kindly to this and throws Sibyline in the dungeon, where she joins King Danton, who she had previously helped Gorgon to overthrow. Sibyline has enough magic to teleport herself to freedom, and tells Danton she will seek help from King Randorand He-Man.

Sibyline sends a message to King Randor and is invited to the Palace. Randor agrees to help free King Danton. Meanwhile, Gorgon has formed an alliance with Evil-Lyn. Seeking to cast doubt on Sibyline's intentions, they cause a Dragosaur to escape from the Royal Zoo and attack King Randor and Queen Marlena in the courtyard. Sibyline uses her magic powers to safe the King and Queen, but Orko still doesn't trust Sibyline and suspects it was her who freed the Dragosaur in the first place.

Adam and Man-at-Arms decide that this situation warrants a visit to Castle Grayskull. The Sorceress suggests that Sibyline must be given a chance to demonstrate that she genuinely has changed her ways from evil to good. She is certain that Sibyline is now an enemy of Gorgon and will be able to help defeat him. On their way back to Eternos, Adam and Duncan are caught in stormy weather. The rivers overflow, and Orko finds himself being swept away in the water. Adam transforms into He-Man to rescue the Trollan magician. Man-At-Arms throws them a grappling hook and helps to pull them out of the stream. When the weather clears up, the storm disappears as quickly as it began. Orko is convinced it must have been caused by Sibyline's magic.

Back at the palace, Orko pleads his case to the King, who counters that Orko has no proof. Sibyline enters and adds that she thinks the magic spells originated in the Isle of Tears. Randor orders the Heroic Warriors to travel to the Isle of Tears with Sibyline and defeat Gorgon so that Danton can be restored as ruler. He-Man, Battle Cat, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Orko and Sibyline travel to the Isle of Tears by Wind Raider, where Gorgon and Evil-Lyn are waiting to have them walk into their trap.

Sibyline takes the Heroic Warriors to her secret workshop, only to find all of her machinary destroyed. She leads them to the dungeon, where they find Danton alone in his cell. He-Man pulls the fortified door off it's hinges and they enter the cell to greet Danton. But then an even heavier door slides down and traps them inside. Gorgon uses an intercom to welcome Sibyline home and claim she was in on the plan to capture the heroes. Man-At-Arms thinks that Orko was right after all, but He-Man wants to hear Sibyline's side of the story. She tells them Gorgon is lying and that she still wants to free King Danton. Gorgon then reveals he doesn't need her any more now that Evil-Lyn has taken her place, and Sibyline immediately understands who was behind all the magic disturbances that plagued them before.

He-Man believes Sibyline is telling the truth and proves that even a door made of two feet of solid steel is no match for his might. With one punch, he knocks the door away and clears the way for the heroes out of the dungeon. Gorgon orders his guards to stop them, but they are no match for the Eternian warriors. Orko and Sibyline even take turns saving each other from the grasping guards. Evil-Lyn fortifies the door to Gorgon's throne room so that nobody can come in, but Sibyline takes He-Man around the back where he punches a hole through the wall. Gorgon pushes a button on his throne causing it to retract into the wall. He-Man goes after him while Sibyline confronts Evil-Lyn.

Gorgon tries to escape in a submarine, but He-Man uses a grappling hook to pull the vehicle out of the water. Sibyline is no longer afraid of Evil-Lyn now that she has the strength of the truth behind her. When He-Man and Danton return to the throne room, having captured Gorgon, Evil-Lyn uses her magic to escape.

Soon King Danton is restored to his throne and pardons all of Sibyline's past misdeeds. She hopes she can count Orko as one of her new friends and he gladly agrees. Back at the Royal Palace, Orko now claims that he always felt that people were able change their ways.

**Teela:** "As you saw in today's story, people can change." **He-Man:** "Right, Teela. Sibyline had always been an evil sorceress. But she was able to change her ways for the better. Maybe there's something about yourself that you don't like, a bad habit maybe." **Teela:** "It's easy to say, 'I can't change'. But the truth is, you can change almost any behavior if you really want to." **He-Man:** "And the first step is saying to yourself 'I can'."

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and King Danton

Alan Oppenheimer as Man-At-Arms and Gorgon

Linda Gary as Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress, Sibyline and Queen Marlena

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

"I hate to tell a prince he's wrong, but Adam, you couldn't be wronger! People are what they are. The good stay good, and the evil are always evil, and I'd like to see somebody prove me wrong!"

― Orko

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved March 8, 1983 and final script revision took place April 21, 1983. John Erwin's voice for King Danton is an imitation of actor Ronald Colman. Gorgon's staff is actually a back scratcher.
2. Continuity: The dragon that escapes from the Royal Zoo is a recolored Dragosaur from The Time Corridor. The animation of He-Man running and diving would be used again in Search for the VHO, Jacob and the Widgets & Hunt for He Man. Orko's backflip in midair would be seen again in Origin of the Sorceress. He-Man's gallant bow as he allows the ladies to exit the cell first would be reused in both The Greatest Show on Eternia and Time Doesn't Fly.
3. More continuity: Animation elements from the fight sequence between Man-At-Arms and one of Gorgon's guards would be used again when he fights one of Rago's guards in It's Not My Fault. The animation of Orko reacting in shock and pushing himself backwards is seen again in Monster on the Mountain. The character model of Sibyline was reused as an extra on a balcony in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode The Red Knight. The character model of Gorgon can be seen as part of the Keeper's menagerie in The Heart of a Giant. Gorgon's guards were going to be reused as Queen Balina's warriors in A Tale of Two Cities.
4. Animation errors and goofs: King Randor Holds up a piece of paper he received from Sibyline which has disappeared in the next shot he appears in. At Castle Grayskull, the heroic warriors are standing on the edge of the steps to the Sorceress's throne, with Cringer positioned awkwardly on the side of it's base. In the reverse shot, they are positioned much further back. He-Man is not shown transforming Cringer into Battle Cat, though the latter does appear in the second act. Sibyline's Cobra staff changes position in her hands during her fight with Evil-Lyn. When Sibyline is talking with King Danton in his cell she says that she need to travel to Eternia for help. Eternia is the name of the planet. She should have said Eternos which is King Randor\`s city. One of Gorgon's Guards rushes at Sibyline carrying a spear. When he slips on marbles that Orko has caused to appear, the guard is bare handed, but when he passes Sibyline he is carrying the spear again.

The first major Mer-Man spotlight. Larry DiTillio uses the defection premise to develop Mer-Man as a character with his own grievances and dignity rather than a generic henchman, foreshadowing the more substantive Mer-Man treatments in the 2002 MYP reboot and the 2021 Revelation continuation.

Catalogue source: heman.fandom.com (CC BY-SA 3.0).