Soliciting Opinions · 3:45pm Aug 28th, 2014
Despite all:
These other stories that keep slipping in ahead of it and demanding to be written, I continue working on my notes for the next "Clandestine Corps" adventure, Rune Maker. It's gonna have lotsa zebras in it 'cause I want an excuse to write rhyming dialogue in various meters, but the question occurred to me last night: is that spiral pattern on Zecora's flanks her cutie mark?
I mean, cows in Equestria don't get 'em, nor do sheep or dragons or griffins. But do zebras?
Mike, Wondering
EDIT: As I mention below, an hour or so after posting this, I've come to realize that this is the very question about which the story will be focusing. That's the most annoying thing about my brain: the way it gets all "passive aggresive" with the wondering and the musing and the dropping of subtle hints instead of coming right out and telling me stuff! Ding dang it, brain!
Mike Again
I like to think so.
Almost certainly. Even if it's tattooed on, it likely serves a similar cultural role.
I have actually considered this before.
I think that it's incredibly unlikely that all zebras have that same sun symbol on their flanks, unless they all have some special connection to Celestia or something. Like, maybe they're all defended from Celestia and the father of all zebras (whoever that might be). I think it's more likely that Zecora's sun is something like a cutie mark. If it's not a cutie mark exactly, then maybe all zebras have blank spaces on their flanks where they get tattoos when they find their special talents but the. One has to wonder why Zecora's is a sun.
It could also be a tribal thing. Maybe Zecora's whole tribe has suns on their flanks, while another tribe has moons, another has flowers, another has turtles, and so on.
And I am very glad to hear that the next "clandestine Corps" story is underway, and even more glad to hear that it will be full of rhymes.
2408933 Never even imagined it to be a sun...
Anyway, the question is not 'what it it' and more 'what could it be that is interesting'. I like the idea that, being the closest thing to pony-kind in the show, they have something similar to cutie marks, but I don't imagine it would be the same. Some kind of clan or tribal markings might be cool.
I can imagine four possibilities, but I'm not sure if any of them are specifically more correct than the others.
1: It's a real regular magical cutie mark.
2: It's a (presumably artificial) mark from a shamanic rite of passage that indicates something about the chosen philosophy or training or whatever.
3: It's a (presumably artificial) tribe marking.
4: It's an artificial individualized cutie mark because Equestrian cultural hegemony is something fierce.
This last is depressingly plausible, but I would really rather hate to see it in most stories. The first is easy enough to imagine, but honestly a little bit boring, and the third isn't much better. Mixing stuff up in the second seems like the most interesting, really.
Delving into headcanon here, but my take on it is that Zebra cutie marks work in exactly the same way as pony cutie marks: by having the pony's (or zebra's) subconscious pick something that the cutie mark owner would consider appropriate to his or her special talent.
Thus, from my point of view, the difference in color and shape between pony and zebra cutie marks is a cultural one; ponies imagine little colorful icons when they think about representing a special talent, while zebras think of more abstract black and white shapes. It also accounts for cultural variability — like Ahuizotl's henchman having what looks like Aztec-themed cutie marks. This line of thinking does have curious side-effects in border cases (e.g., a pony raised by zebras would get a zebra cutie mark), though I see those as an advantage, enabling a few interesting stories.
2408889
2408923
2408933
2408972
2409012
2409032
The more that I:
Think about it, the more I'm coming to realize that my brain coughed this question up because it is exactly the heart of the story I want to write. Darn brain! Why can't you ever just come right out and tell me anything??
Mike
2409106 Do you want an answer to that?
I've always thought of zebra butt-tattoos (or whatever they call them) as working on the same principal as cutie marks (puberty-metaphor/coming-of-age signifier), but being more abstract in nature. Pony cutie marks can be abstract in the sense that "having a diamond mark doesn't mean you're a miner," but I picture zebras as having marks that are, as others here put it, more "tribal tattoo" than "concrete symbol."
And if you don't write zebras exactly the way my headcanon about them goes your story will be a failure in my eyesThat's just my opinion, though. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!P.S. Moonraker is my favorite non-Connery Bond movie, because apparently I have terrible taste. What can I say, I like my Bond on the cheesy side!
What's interesting is that donkeys don't seem to get cutie marks. What makes zebras so special?
Zecora's solar spiral is markedly (tee hee!
) different from what we've seen on pony butts: it's monochromatic, and very abstracted. Which suggests to me that it's analogous to cutie marks, but not the same thing. How the zebra marks differ from pony ones, I leave up to you. (My personal headcanon on them is that while pony marks are an expression of the pony's special talents, shaded by their personality, zebra marks represent mythical and cultural archetypes.)
2409236
Cranky: "Kid, it's us donkies who are special."
2409168
My brain and I:
Have an understanding--I don't bother it too much, and it doesn't bother me too much.
But still, sometimes I have to call upon it to do some heavy-lifting of a cerebral nature, and every once in a while, it does something sneaky like this and gives me ideas to work with. Brains: can't live with em, can't live without 'em.
2409216
2409236
2409279
This is all still:
In the early stages, but since Zecora's mark could be considered "runic" in the broadest possible sense of the word and the title of the story is gonna be Rune Maker, I'd say I'm gonna be throwing Blueblood and Rainbow into the very heart of the zebras' most sensitive cultural issue. Because who else would you want tromping around in a place like that?
Mike
2409216
In other words, close to ideograms, such as Japanese Kanji?
This does lead to an interesting thought: ideograms tend to start as actual representations of what they mean, evolving across the centuries until they become something abstract. If one is to consider Zebra and Pony marks as similar in essence, this might be an indication that Zebra culture is more developed than Pony culture in this specific aspect.
For what it's worth, in The Journal of the Two Sisters book, there is a mention of zebras having cutie marks -- but that is from Luna's point of view, and she could just be assuming that's what the marks are.