Starlight is better written than Tempest in my opinion · 3:58pm Jul 23rd, 2023
I’m not going to make a lot of friends with this, but I think Starlight is a lot better written than Tempest is and I know it sounds unfair to compare a character who’s been around for four seasons to someone who made one movie appearance but since there is some debate out there with Tempest being seen as better written, I have no choice but to believe this is something that can be compared.
First, we should start with their reasons to turn evil. Tempest turned to the dark side because she broke her horn. Starlight turned evil because her best friend got a cutie mark and was sent away because of it. Neither are necessarily the best backstories in the world, but I feel Starlight's is a bit better. Before you all mount my head I can explain, with Starlight’s backstory, it’s implied that things happened out of her control and she slowly grew up with the idea to take cutie marks away to make everypony equal since she clearly went through some phases in her youth(the implied goth phase in Parent Map for example), and no one likely ever talked her down until she met Twilight.
Meanwhile, Tempest broke her horn when she was attacked by an Ursa Major after ignoring some very obvious signs warning ponies to stay out of the cave. Everything that happened to Tempest was entirely her own fault. And before you rage in the comments, look at the song number again, there were warning signs and the cave was boarded up. Even kids can follow simple directions.
Next we should look at how they reformed. Starlight had her entire belief system questioned by Twilight and after a very long battle finally saw the error of her ways while Tempest was oh so shockingly betrayed by a warlord.
The reason Starlight’s reformation worked is that she had to see what her actions would cause and Twilight was able to tune into Starlight’s emotions with genuine sympathy and even then, Starlight had to think before taking her hoof, heck there were TEARS in her eyes. She clearly had to reflect on her choice. Starlight was broken, not evil.
Whereas Tempest really only reformed because the Storm King betrayed her. It didn't even really feel like a real reformation, just Tempest just getting scrappy seconds because she didn’t get her way.
I'll just give my short cents.
Tempest is awful. The movie was horribly written with ooc characters left and right and terrible original characters.
Starlight is one of the best written characters in the show (which isn't saying much, but like I said take what you can) and has some of the greatest potential as a character.
Honestly, I feel like tempest was one of those one off villains that turn good and never come back. I feel like she had a lot of potential but because the cast was already too big they tossed her somewhere.