The Importance of Being Nightmare Moon · 7:37pm Dec 3rd, 2013
Recently, I read a short plot summary of the MLP comics, especially, the Nightmare Rarity arc. Now, I like the idea of Rarity becoming evil. Rarity is the character with the biggest potential for growth through conflict. She is very vain, superficial and snobby, yet incredibly generous.
I could see her trying to make the land a better place (and prettify it up while she is at it) and losing sight of the good of herself and others, therefore turning evil.
The thing is: This story treated Nightmare Rarity as if she was possessed by "the nightmare", who even refereed to the other Elements as "the ones who banished her".
And that is, in my mind, a really big problem.
Let me explain:
The fall of Luna is something out of a greek tragedy.
Two sisters joining forces to smite a great evil.
Become princesses over Equestria and rule together.
One princess is more beloved than the other.
Jealousy grows and shatters their bond.
Luna falls, takes on the mantle of Nightmare Moon and destroys their palace and with it, the symbol of their joined rule.
She is banished, returns centuries later, is defeated.
Finally, she returns to her duties and has to overcome the guilt of trying to destroy her own flesh and blood.
That is an amazing tale and leaves so much conflict, potential and drama open.
But it only works if Luna was Nightmare Moon. If it was her choice and her fall.
If there was an outside force, well, half of her deeds are excused.
Then it wasn't her who fired magic lasers at Celestia, who darkened the sky and who tried to kill Twilight by collapsing the cliff.
It takes away from Luna, because she was not resentful, because she longed for the love she deserved, she was just vulnerable to someone else.
It also takes away from Celestia's character. The extent of her forgiveness is diminished if Luna was just possessed. So is the sacrifice she made. When she took up the elements against her own sister... that is heavy drama.
If she does the same to defeat her sister, because she is possessed, it is still dramatic, but not nearly as much.
Luna's redemption means a lot, if it is redeeming herself from her own deeds, but it is almost laughable, if she just has to live with the guilt of letting something evil possess her.
What I mean to say is this: In my stories, there is no doubt: Nightmare Moon IS Luna. There was no possession, no corrupted by evil, no magical shenanigans. She decided to go against Celestia on her own, fought her out of her free will and did everything because it was her choice.
Just so we are on the same page.
That's a fine headcanon and all, but it was established way back when that Nightmare Moon was some form of possession. Don't let that stop you, though.
Faust said from the start it was both. The Nightmare is a corrupting force, but it's a means to an end. The wishes that NMM acted on were Luna's, deep down. I see it as being Luna's fall, but that the Nightmare was never the same thing as Luna. Nightmare Moon is a bit of both of them. Luna's hatred. Luna's pain. Luna's neediness. But not her lust for power. Luna wanted to get back at Big Sister and make her feel the umimportance and neglect she felt, and wanted to get the respect she felt she deserved. Nightmare wanted to take over the world and start a Night Eternal that would kill every creature on the planet.
Think of it like this. Nightmare is Darth Sidious. Luna was Anakin Skywalker. The Luna that we get in the new series is like Darth Vader after Luke takes off the mask. Not the same innocent, impulsive and sometimes cruel person she was before she was lied to, betrayed and manipulated by a sinister force wanting to use her for power, but also not the same person as the heartbroken monster who tried to enslave the world and murder her own flesh and blood.
That's my take on it, anyway.
What if The Nightmare was created inside of Luna? Her jealousy and hate fueled by alicorn magic (because seriously, what is up with that stuff) created an evil personality in her mind that fed on her pain and eventually took over, and was exorcised, rather than destroyed, by the Elements of Harmony.
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Hmm, I like that star wars example, it's a good one. It brings both sides of the argument together.
1568797 It also involves Star Wars, which makes it twenty percent cooler.
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Because Star Wars.
1568768 I like that idea. It allows a "Nightmare" being without diminishing the drama in Luna's arc.
And then Applejack's version would have some credence too.
1568720 I think I will have to go against Faust here. I don't like the idea hat the Nightmare was an external force. If it was a byproduct of her fall, like a part of her wickedness that grew into it's own being, I'd be fine with it. Otherwise it is as you say: Luna was seduced by some other force.
And I don't like that because it just raises so many questions!
Who is the Nightmare?
Does she possess ponies on a regular basis?
Only magic users?
What are her motives?
Does Celestia know about her?
It would add some puppet master or malignant force that (lets be honest) is really unfitting here.
And please don't call him Anakin. This name just sends shivers down my spine (Vader does not yell "noooooo!")
1569426 He was named as Anakin in the first movie (the first movie, not the Jar Jar one). T'ain't nothin; to be ashamed of.
As to the questions, most of them were answered by Faust or in the comics. Nightmares (plural) are Eldritch Abominations that feed off the magic found in ponies and amplify it, using letting the ponies use their extra power to help them live out their wishes. They get a body and a food supply in exchange.
Tia only learned this after NMM showed up, but continued to work to fight them in dreams and elsewhere as best she could.
I think it's perfectly fitting that Luna defeats one corruptive Eldritch being, then succumbs to the temptations of another when her own flaws drive her to it. I like it as a narrative just fine. But I do like Luna as NMM too.
I'll be using this as a plot point in my next story, since I love Eldritch Abominations and Twilight needs to do something spectacularly awesome to impress Starburst.
1569456 Seeing you avatar, I would have never guessed that you like eldrich abomination from beyond the veil of space and time, who offer great promises for pacts.
And while they do sound cool and Cthulhu-esque, personally, I preferred the whole thing when it was Luna.
Again, just me.
Also: WHY ARE THOSE COMICS NOT SOLD WHERE I LIVE? I can't even get them online, because of payment problems! They sound awesome!
1569562 They truly are. You can torrent them, however. I have yet to find them, but they look quite awesome.
And yeah, I've always loved Eldritch horrors. I own the entirety of Lovecraft's works.
I tend to think that Nightmare Moon WAS Luna and that no outside being possessed Luna, but I think that when NMM was hit with the elements it may have splintered some of her dark power from her body and that fragment was the part that ended up possessing Rarity.
It's interesting reading people's opinions in here on what happened. :)
1569562>>1569575
You're welcome.
I agree with you completely.
> Nightmare Moon IS Luna. ...
This has been my headcanon since I started watching the show.
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You may or may not be able to buy them through comixology if you use an app like Spotflux. I was unable to buy the Adventure Time series through comixology cause 'stralia, but using Spotflux I was able to make comixology think I was in america.
Then I bought all the comics.
There are so many options for Nightmare Moon headcanon which preserve the classical tragedy...
- "Nightmare Moon" is Celestia's euphemism for temptation. It's a persona and a myth she created and crafted over centuries to protect her little sister's image so that upon her return and redemption, she could tell Equestria that "Nightmare Moon" had been transformed by the power of Harmony back into Luna, or had been purged from Luna by the same. Either way, it keeps her from having to admit, to others or to herself, that it was a jealous and resentful Luna the entire time.
- Nightmare was an external force, capable of possession. Eldritch abomination, vengeance demon, evil spirit, whatever, but it was not forced upon Luna. Perhaps Luna sought out the external entity and bartered with it for the power to defeat Celestia because she knew her power was inferior to Celestia's. Maybe the entity sought out Luna because it felt her grief and anger and offered its services in a Faustian bargain. Either way, it was a willing possession on both parts. The downfall was still Luna's; the Nightmare entity was just a means, a tool.
- Nightmare was an external being or power and did take over Luna forcefully, but was only able to do so because Luna had already fallen. Her rage and hatred had consumed her so fully that she was left unprepared and undefended against an entity that fed on hatred and jealousy the same way Chrysalis fed on love. Luna was already lost when the Nightmare took her. Nightmare would argue that it's hard to say you're forcing somepony to do something when all you're doing is what your host was planning on doing anyway.
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DownThemAll for Firefox is a lovely add-on, isn't it?
I like to think of Nightmare Moon as being Mr. Hyde. She represents feelings and impulses that Luna normally keeps suppressed, but that raises the question, what suppressed the rest of Luna's personality?
I somehow knew right from the Start of the Series that NMM wasn't Luna. But Whatever Canon is Canon and my headcanon is my own, so Headcanon 1. Canon 0.
This Little Comic Page from vavacung on DA represents my headcanon for NMM better than I can describe it.
That's my headcanon Too.