Writing Twilight's World - Part 4. · 7:55pm Feb 23rd, 2015
Who are the Princesses?
Talk about writer's block.
Chapter Sixteen is a chapter necessary to bringing us up to date with what was happening in the Equestrian universe. Specifically, I felt I needed to touch on the activities of the Princesses. And it's been giving me quite a lot of trouble because I don’t know what their characters are like.
I have very little material to go on. The appearances of the two Princesses in the MLP:FiM TV series are very limited. And they are, for the most part, too busy being all Princess-y to reveal a lot about their characters.
So who is Celestia? And who is Luna? What drives those two ponies forwards, making them the ponies that they are? As a certain character in the movie 'Dirty Harry' once said− “I gots to know.”
Many fanfics have chosen to portray Celestia as being Trollestia or even Molestia (though I have no idea as to what spawned that second interpretation). And all too many fanfics decide to paint Luna as a cut-down Nightmare Moon, cruel, haughty and quick tempered or maybe the converse, a hurting filly that is damaged and vulnerable.
I've just had an epiphany, and think that I have found some significant clues as to their real personalities. Maybe others have thought of these clues already, I don't know. But for now, here is what I'm calling my 'Elemental theory of the Princesses'. (Oh my, how pretentious of me.)
You see, the Princesses were at one time, bearers of the Elements of Harmony. And that fact alone gives us some major insights into their personalities. The Elements do require a certain something to preexist in their bearers.
In the Season Four TV episode “Princess Twilight Sparkle – Part 2”, Twilight drinks a magic potion and witnesses the historical confrontation between the two Princesses and Discord. If you look closely you can see which of the two Princesses each of the Elements has chosen.
A little cross checking with the Episode Two of the First Season reveals the following: Celestia has the Elements of 'Magic', 'Kindness', and 'Generosity'. Luna has the Elements of 'Loyalty', 'Honesty' and 'Laughter'.
So to portray Celestia, I should take a little bit of Rarity and Fluttershy and throw them into the mix. The good parts representing their Elements that is, not their character flaws. As for the 'Element of Magic' I would take the qualities of wisdom, understanding and leadership that we catch glimpses of in Twilight and it's quite obvious that Celestia possesses those.
Hmm, the TV show MLP:FiM always depicts Celestia as being warm and kind, motherly even. In all her dealing with other ponies, she is always gracious, never cruel or demeaning. So Kindness and Generosity do seem to be appropriate for characterizing her.
Sometimes the character traits are a little more explicit. In the Second Season episode “Sweet and Elite”, Princess Celestia generously gifts Rarity with a suite at the Castle. And later she gifts Twilight with the use of a ballroom at the castle, just for her private birthday party. I would say that the Princess is indeed acting upon a spirit of 'Generosity'.
In the Season One finale “The Best Night Ever” we can see the Princess Celestia maintains an extensive menagerie of animals in her palace gardens. This is very much a 'Fluttershy' sort of activity, and shows us that Celestia does indeed harbor a similar degree of 'Kindness'.
Let's now shift our focus and discuss Luna. According to my 'Elemental theory', I can portray Luna by taking parts of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and a little bit of Pinkie (a little bit of Pinkie goes a long-long way) and blending them together to make up her character. Again, we want to consider the positive aspects of those ponies and not their character flaws. Let's see how well this fits with what we know about Luna.
In the Season Two episode 'Luna Eclipsed' we see that whenever she speaks with Twilight (or any other pony) she is quite blunt and direct about her opinions and feelings. Sort of a characteristic of 'Honesty' wouldn't you say?
What about the aspect of 'Laughter'? I suspect that Luna quite enjoyed playing those Nightmare Night games. She did loudly proclaim that “the fun has been doubled”. And don't forget that excellent prank she pulled on Rainbow Dash at the very end of the episode, it was a prank quite worthy of Pinkie.
In the Season Three episode 'Sleepless in Ponyville' it is revealed the Princess Luna guards the dreams of her subjects. Loyally keeping watch over them in their sleep. In Scootaloo's dream she urges the filly to be 'Honest' about her fears and face up to them. At the end of the episode, when Luna checks up on Scootaloo, we hear Luna laugh a happy giggle, delighted with the evidence that Scootaloo has met her fears and overcome them. So in this one episode we see Luna display all the characteristics of 'Loyalty', 'Honesty' and 'Laughter' together.
Why, you may ask, did I specifically exclude the character flaws of the Main Six characters? Well, those character flaws come from those ponies' individuality, and are not linked to the 'Elements' themselves. For example, the 'Element of Honesty' is evidence that Applejack has 'Honesty' in her character. But that same jewel is not in any way considered to be evidence of Applejack's 'Pride' and 'Stubbornness', traits which are wholly Applejack's own. So the jewel confirms to us that Luna has 'Honesty' but says nothing about whether she carries the same 'Pride' and 'Stubbornness' that Applejack does.
This is not to say that the Princesses don't have their own character flaws, or that some of those character flaws may not be found in the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Luna for one must have held a fair amount of 'Vanity' and 'Pride' in order to allow Nightmare Moon to take over her life. And Celestia must have displayed a fair amount of 'Obliviousness' (like Twilight sometimes does) in order to miss seeing what was happening with her sister.
So, in conclusion, yes I can work with this. I now have some solid impressions as to who the Princesses are, and where they are coming from, what their emotions and motivations are.
I do hope that I can now portray their true characters without depicting some OOC monstrosities that violate the canon of the show.
This Blog is written to you from deep within the bowels of a gutted chapter sixteen.
Cant wait for the next chapter