So yeah, gonna retread some ground here. · 4:17am Apr 20th, 2023
When I portray a character within my writing, I try my best to keep them as true to their portrayals in the original material as possible. If I were to write Twilight Sparkle as some bloodthirsty witch, it would be wrong for her and it would be wrong to my readers (though I suspect there's at least one sick weirdo out there who as done exactly that). I can and will, however, exaggerate traits under the right circumstances, as my portrayal of Spoiled Milk can attest - she ain't exactly a nice character in the show, and definitely an abusive parent to Diamond Tiara, but not as bad as I wrote her.
I don't do subtle, folks. When I don't want a reader to like a character, I do my damnedest to ensure that. And in Spoiled Milk's case, I don't think I exaggerated too much.
But this isn't about her. It's about another character that people generally don't like, who's admittedly an antagonist, but not straight up evil. Said character, of course, is Chancellor Neighsay.
Yes, he's been discussed before. Yes, the knee-jerk reaction of many in the fandom is to treat him as an evil, racist jerk...which he kinda is. But given the fact that the show didn't treat him as pure, absolute evil, and the fact that a number of people are the internet are inclined to view him as a jerkass with a point (myself included), I'm not gonna treat him as an evil monster in the Quiververse. A jerk, yes, and something of an idiot who tends to stick his hoof in his mouth, but not an evil monster. And I honestly think that I'm doing a fair job of presenting him as such in Legends of Magic.
In my mind, Neighsay feels that he has Equestria's best interests at heart. He takes his job seriously, and if a school or school system doesn't meet his standards, then they're in trouble. He also has issues with ponies who don't take their own duties seriously - that's part of the reason why he was so critical of Princess Luna seeking out Cattail and finding information on Mage Meadowbrook, and also part of the reason why he had objections to Twilight's research into the Pillars. In his mind, the two of them are royalty, and have more important things to worry about than archaeological research projects, which he feels should be left in the hooves of accredited researchers.
Neighsay's not going to impede them, mind, but there's lot of reasons for that. First, it's a little too late to stop Luna's efforts, as she found Cattail and Meadowbrook's journals and went to the trouble of getting them authenticated. Second, Twilight's efforts aren't causing problems for others, and a part of him is convinced that her research likely won't go anywhere. His talk of research projects leading to nothing isn't wrong, after all. Third, the guy's in charge of schools - how they're run, what's taught in them, and so forth - and while what they were looking into could potentially come under his purview, it would be excessively petty for him to undermine them at this point, especially considering they haven't yet done anything to earn such ire.
Though this brings us to another factor, one that Neighsay hasn't considered - why they're researching it. Neighsay, as demonstrated in canon and pointed out in the most recent chapter by Quiver Quill, is rather short-sighted. Now to his credit, Neighsay merely thought that these were vanity projects on Luna and Twilight's parts, at least until he was explicitly told that Twilight was researching the origins of the Elements of Harmony, origins that were likely tied to Mage Meadowbrook. Neighsay's a stubborn git, but he's not stupid enough to ignore the fact that the Elements are important, especially once its made clear to him that they are, at least for the time being, off the table. There's a reason I had him apologize to Princess Luna for acting like a git - canon had him admit that his actions were wrong, after all, and if canon says the guy's not a complete jerk, and the fandom is fine with pointing out that he raises valid critiques, then who am I to disagree?
That said, Neighsay's still got a high horse or two to still be knocked down from. That will come in the next chapter, and I for one am very much looking forward to audience response to that scene.
You raise some good points here. I have no love for the character myself, but I also think that he's got a bit more to him than *just* being a racist P.O.S. (I certainly think he's not the alt-right personified, which someone else I knew believed him to be. Neighsay strikes me as a lot more old-fashioned and narrowminded in his views than being an out-and-out, militant supremacist.) And as you say, he *was* willing to recognize that he was wrong. And there's precious few people who can well and truly admit that about themselves.
As always, I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this.
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Hopefully, you won't have to wait too much longer.
When things calm down for you (AND they will!
), I am SO looking forward to this chapter with Quiver giving him some more much-needed what-for!
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This encourages me.
5724122 *hugs* That's what I'm here for, hun.
Well... meaning this in the best possible way, if you wanted to write a take on a character that was divergent from the original portrayal for some reason, I probably wouldn't mind it as long as either the path to said divergent take made sense in context, or you simply made it clear in author's notes or equivalent means that you were aware the character was not that way (or at least, there was nothing supporting the character being that way) in canon. The only thing that would completely turn me off was if you wrote, to use your own example, a story where Twilight Sparkle is a bloodthirsty witch and said "This is indisputably and undenably how she is in canon.". I admit, I might necessarily not like seeing a given character being portrayed in a given manner, but I wouldn't take 'actual issue' with it as long as the author didn't say that's undisputably how they are in canon.
I will admit I am heavily biased on this, though, as to give a few examples, not only I am open to portraying certain characters (mostly villains) as darker than they are in canon (though this is at least partly because I don't necessarily have to follow the official show's restraints), but I am guilty of doing the sort of thing I said I'd be okay with you doing, as I once (for a different fandom) wrote a take on a character's nature that turned out to be completely wrong once later official material came out, and yet I kept sticking with my take simply because I liked what I wrote enough to keep writing in that universe, and had already done enough work that I didn't want to scrap it all (although for what it's worth, I am well aware that the character in question is not that way at all in official canon, and already labeled the whole universe specifically as an AU and make it clear to readers).
That said, I don't think there's anything wrong in the least with you trying to follow canon as much as possible, and overall, I do agree with your assessment on Neighsay. I think the only part where he showed any clear objectionable bias was when Flim and Flam opened Friendship U, where his initial preference came from the fact they were taking a "Pony First" approach, even though their institution seems even less well equipped staff-wise than Twilight's Friendship School. Although even there, it's true that his final acceptance only came because Star Swirl implicitly endorsed it by studying there and showing his faith that Flim and Flam could have turned over a new leaf.
But as I said, I do agree with your assessments about him overall, both about him still having a few high horses he needs to get knocked from and about him not being an evil monster.
And wherever you decide to go with him, and with Legends of Magic as a whole, I'm looking forward to seeing it! :)
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I've got nothing against diverging from canon either, so long as it serves the story and isn't too wild a divergence.
Anyway, thank you for the vote of confidence. Here's hoping your patience is rewarded soon.
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Well... for what it's worth, I do think all the character-related divergences I have planned do serve a purpose, but I'll plead guilty to not being the most impartial judge. As for how wild they are... that's a judgement I'll leave to readers. I can only say I hope my takes will be enjoyable to read.
As always, wishing you the best of lucks. :)