More Wild, Random Speculation · 10:18pm Jul 7th, 2017
Welcome to another edition of me yelling random predictions about the show. This time it's about the villain from the season seven tie comic arc and who it might be. As a bonus, I'll make my points in a really pretentious way like I'm writing a thesis or something.
Point 1a:
A recent arc in the comics is tied into season seven. The story was about a unicorn, named Shadowlock, who learned that his ancestor was some kind of great evil in the distant past. Fearing that this same evil would corrupt him, and believing that it was now coming for him, he began to erase history books.
Point 1b:
Supplemental material, such as these comics and the movie prequel comics, serve to fill in back-story and provide teasers for upcoming stories. They can't be required to understand events in the actual show/movie, as comparatively few people will read them. Therefore, Shadowlock will not be making an appearance in the show, and will not be the actual season finale villain.
Point 1c:
Some other character will have to be corrupted by this evil darkness. While Shadowlock said he was the 'last branch' in the family tree of the pony who was originally corrupted, he also mentioned his parents having recently retired. Also note that 'last branch in the family tree' is a rather broad term. It could, in fact, include dozens of other members. Therefore, it is likely he has other relatives living in Equestria.
Point 2a:
Since season three, the premiere episodes have always been linked to the finale in some way. Season three started off with Celestia and Luna being shown with a book, which in the finale turned Twilight into an alicorn. Season four started off with them giving the elements back to the Tree of Harmony and receiving a locked box, and in the finale that box was unlocked to grant them the Rainbow Power. Season five started off and ended with Starlight Glimmer as a villain. Season six started with Flurry Heart's birth, at the end of which a changeling was seen flying into the Crystal Empire. This changeling was revealed to be Thorax in a mid-season episode, and the finale was about changelings.
Point 2b:
There were two separate episodes in this season's premiere. One was about Twilight struggling with having to send Starlight Glimmer away. The second episode involved Starlight trying to control her anger, which was manifesting itself in a dark cloud crackling with red energy.
Point 2c:
When Starlight lost control of her anger, it infected other ponies, giving them blank red glowing eyes.
Point 2d:
The preview comic shows a picture of Shadowlock's evil ancestor. He has blank eyes, like the possessed ponies, and is surrounded by a mass of clouds.
Point 3a:
The themes of this season are family and legacy.
Point 3b:
Many ponies in a family share similar cutie marks. The Apples are an obvious example. Twilight and her brother also both have six-pointed magenta stars as part of their cutie marks, and their mother's mark involves stars as well (though not six-pointed or magenta).
Point 3c:
In the comics Shadowlock is wearing a cape, presumably one that he found at the same time as he was cleaning out his family castle. It could be assumed that the clasp on the cape is some kind of family crest or heraldic device.
Point 3d:
While it is missing the swirls of magic, this crest is otherwise the same as the base of Starlight Glimmer's cutie mark.
Conclusion:
Starlight Glimmer is the season seven finale villain.
She will be corrupted by this ancient evil and turn into the villain pictured in the comic. Her powers will likely include infecting other ponies with her anger and turning them into her minions/allies (which possibly may mean that Luna and Celestia will be secondary villains as Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker).
I actually feel pretty confident about this (though I've said that before). There's real evidence behind what I'm saying, even if a lot of it is conjecture based on rather tenuous connections. At least this time it's not just me yelling that the new changelings are evil because I don't like them.
This story would finally provide a good explanation for Starlight Glimmer's behavior. Her friend left, so her reaction was to enslave a village with the apparent ultimate intention of conquering Equestria? Then when that plan was foiled, she attempted to use time travel to break up a group of friends, being so obsessed with revenge she was willing to let the world die to get it? None of that is normal.
And that's not even taking into account her actions after being 'reformed'. She still seems to think magically forcing others to do what she wants is acceptable, many of the episodes she's been in have involved her losing her temper or having some kind of outburst, and the lesson of A Royal Problem was literally "only Starlight Glimmer is enough of a psychopath to switch the Princesses' cutie marks". Yes, it was the right choice, but it's still only a choice that a semi-villain would make.
Compare Starlight's reaction to being reminded that she was a villain with Sunset Shimmer's reaction to the same. Starlight still gets very upset about it; Sunset was mildly upset at first, but by the end of Rainbow Rocks she was laughing it off. Which isn't a bad thing—different characters should react to things in different ways. Starlight's always just seemed much, much more angry about it. About everything, really.
I actually kind of like that Starlight has anger issues, but the point is that it's always seemed a bit on the extreme side. The season opener was literally about Starlight being so angry that her rage was manifesting as a physical cloud and infecting others. Sure, the lesson was that you shouldn't repress your feelings too much, but it was still taken to a level beyond anything normal. And, since the premieres tend to foreshadow the finales, it seems natural that this is going to play into the finale in some way.
So if the finale does reveal that she's had this ancient evil in her past all this time, it might finally give us a good reason for why she acts the way she does. I'm not saying it's bad that she gets angry a lot, just that her anger tends to be way out of proportion to what's actually making her mad. It's not normal anger, and maybe this is the reason why.
Hopefully if the conclusion of this does change her personality, if defeating this evil alleviates her anger issues, her anger isn't completely removed. Like I said, I do like that her 'weakness' is anger, like Fluttershy's is meekness and Dash's is ego. I also hate when an outside force ends up being responsible for a character's mistakes. It just utterly removes all agency from them. Like the Nightmare Rarity arc in the comics, where Luna turning into Nightmare Moon was explained as being because she was possessed by the 'Nightmare Force'. That kind of thing takes away anything interesting and powerful about the character and turns them into a victim.
But it wouldn't be a problem if they toned down Starlight's anger and over-reactions to the point where she isn't being a borderline villain every other episode. I mean, it's been kind of ridiculous ever since she was first introduced. "I CREATED HARMONY!" was a great line, but the fact that veins were practically popping in her neck kind of pushed it over the top.
And since I can't talk about anything relating to this show without mentioning Queen Chrysalis, let's get into that now.
Because this is the perfect opportunity to reform her. This is almost literally the story arc of Vegeta from Dragonball Z; defeated and vowed revenge, but now has to team up with the good guys to fight an even worse foe.
It also provides the best opportunity to end her current character arc. Because generally, you have two options for where she can go from here: either she tries to get revenge on Starlight and dies/is reformed in the attempt, or she just keeps coming back episode after episode, becoming less threatening each time. Neither option is particularly interesting.
But this way, she can actually get her revenge, and it will be completely acceptable. She can beat up Starlight Glimmer and it will be a good thing. I can picture the Mane Six deciding to try and recruit her: "But Starlight is our friend! Even if she is doing these terrible things, we can't fight her!" "No... but I know someone who can." And working with them gives her the opportunity to reform a bit.
I think that might be where all this is heading, and how the first episode of the premiere ties into the finale. Because that episode was about how hard it is to let someone you love go, and how you can be scared that they might get hurt without you around to protect them.
And that was a big theme, though in more of a subtext kind of way, with Chrysalis in the season six finale. "This is a changeling hive, it's constantly shifting its layout to confuse invaders." "Chrysalis carved her throne from a dark crystal that absorbs magic, to keep the hive safe." "Thorax was a fool to leave the hive." "Those few changelings out in Equestria will bring the love they collect to us here in the hive."
Why did she call Thorax a fool? Because he left the hive. Why was he a bigger fool to return, and why did she start draining his love? Because he betrayed the hive. He led their enemies into the heart of the hive, actively attacking it himself. He threatened the hive, and she was protecting it. Everything she did was for the benefit and protection of the hive. It just seems like they said "Chrysalis does X to keep the hive safe" too much for it not to mean anything.
I think Chrysalis will end up being shown as the mother of all the changelings, possibly in the Changing a Changeling episode. It fits—we haven't seen a single female changeling yet besides her, and insects that have hives tend to have one female Queen with the rest of the hive being males (yes, I know that's not technically true, but I'm simplifying to make the point easier to understand). Also, insect females are almost all significantly bigger than their male counterparts. You probably think Thorax is tall, but that's just those antlers throwing things off. He's actually Luna's size, maybe even a bit shorter, meaning he's smaller than Celestia, who is smaller than Chrysalis (in height terms, at least—if you're talking mass, I don't think there are many ponies who beat the Princess of the Cake Sun).
In any case... I think Chrysalis's actions will ultimately be portrayed as her being an overprotective mother, who has trouble letting her children go out into the world.
It's easy to view her actions as those of a dictator, telling her subjects that everywhere else is horrible and that anyone who leaves is a traitor, all just to keep control.
But a more subtle reading of the way Chrysalis has acted, a more interesting way, is that she's simply afraid for her changelings. Out in the world, they can get hurt, but in the hive she's there to protect them, to keep them safe. What happened during the Canterlot invasion would have only reinforced her views; notice how her following plan involved the vast majority of the changelings staying safe in the hive. Everything she's done has been for their good and their protection, and that includes ruling over them with an iron hoof.
At the end of the season six finale, who was she mad at? Thorax, who usurped her throne? The changelings, who rejected her? No; she was mad at Starlight, the pony who took her changelings away from her protection, the pony who has put them in 'danger'.
So if the finale ends up being her fighting against Starlight, all of that can be resolved.
Maybe Thorax and his changelings end up fighting alongside Chrysalis and whatever changelings she has left, and she can see how strong they are, how they can take care of themselves without her there to guide their every action. Maybe they even save her at some point. And the changelings can see that while how she was ruling wasn't exactly good, she was just trying to keep them safe.
For a character like Queen Chrysalis, you can't just have her do a face-heel turn. For one, she's done some terrible things that can't just be forgiven by her going "Okay, sorry about that, I'm good now!" But what you can do is give her a Hero Moment, let her be the one to save the day. That works particularly well as way for the changelings to accept her back, especially if it involves her sacrificing herself in someway; "Why are you doing this?!" "I'm just doing what I've always done—keeping you safe."
Celestia and Twilight have both dealt with the same issues Chrysalis has, the struggle in letting someone you love go when you're afraid they might get hurt. They'll be able to commiserate with her, and, in the end, maybe get her to try a new way of ruling the changelings.
Because I think that's where things will end, with Chrysalis back as the ruler of the changelings. I find it particularly telling that Thorax hasn't been given any sort of title yet, and that he has referred to ruling a kingdom as being 'overwhelming'. I've mentioned this before, but I think we're going to end up with Queen Chrysalis and Prince Thorax ruling over the changelings, who are a mix of the new reformed version and the old hole-in-hoof changelings.
And okay, you a completely crazypants extra theory? Someone once pointed out that the 'wings' on the villain pictured in the comic are coming out from the chest area—the place where the wings are on the Alicorn Amulet. You know, the artifact that grants untold powers to the wearer and corrupts them? The amulet that changes a unicorn's magic to red—red like Starlight's evil anger cloud magic? The amulet that was last worn by Starlight's best friend? The amulet that was taken away by Zecora—who is now suddenly involved in two episodes this season after not having been seen since, what, season four? Coincidences? Probably!
In other news, ohmygod how hype was that movie trailer?! The Storm King is hilarious in both the pre-movie comic and the trailer, in that great 'silly but deadly villain' kind of way. And Tempest was super badass.
Although, for a movie taking place during a friendship festival, there sure weren't a lot of changelings there, reformed or otherwise. I mean, you'd think their newest friends, who are a prime example of the magic of friendship, would have been invited.
Okay, yes, the movie was being worked on far in advance of the season six finale. Still, everything that's happened on the show was probably planned out equally far in advance—I doubt it wasn't confirmed to the staff that the show would be running at least until the movie was released. Just look at the last few seasons: they introduced Starlight Glimmer specifically to be Twilight's student/replacement, they threw in Cadance being pregnant partway through a season with no intention of following it up until the next season, and they ended season six with a defeated villain vowing revenge. Those aren't the kinds of things you do when you don't know if your show will be continuing. They would have gone more with the pattern of seasons three and four, where the season finales could have worked as series finales (which was actually the intention of season three).
Also, consider that parts of the trailer looked unfinished—dear God that airship was terrible. EQD pointed it out in their article on things you might have missed in the trailer, but just look at this screenshot. You have a beautifully colored and detailed city in the background, and then a giant clump of barely-textured CGI landing on it. There's no way in hell that's a finished shot—the movie is clearly not 100% ready to go. So certain things were probably missing; maybe they haven't gotten changelings modeled and rigged yet.
Actually, there weren't any other races at all around. No griffins, no yaks, no dragons, no minotaurs. It might just be that they were still learning the new animation software. And since the show is about ponies, they focused on them and the new movie characters, rather than trying to work in other races and potentially spreading themselves too thin.
Although, the trailer makes it look like the festival is being set up. So maybe the simplest explanation is that the movie takes place while they're still preparing for the festival, meaning only ponies being there would make sense.
And finally...
Since you probably all want some news—yes, more stories are coming soon. Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon Team up to Save Everyone is about halfway done, and we've started the proofing process on those chapters. Once these chapters are all ready to go, and I've finished the cover, I'll start posting. Call it maybe a month or so (so more like two months in 'Ex Equus Time').
Damn, how do you do it that I like most of your ideas?
Of the season finale really turns out like that, it'll go a long way to making me want to watch the show again.
The points you make do make sense. In a way, her declarations that the power the changelings gather is for her might be her preemptively making sure her enemies are focused on her instead of her children, just in case.
Yeah, the typical reformation wouldn't work for Chryssie. But at least partially reforming her with a hero moment brings the opportunity of having a new semi regular character in the cast, one who'd be more sarcastic and generally less straight up goody two shoes than most of the main cast.
... That CGI looks late pre-ps1 era bad. Ps1 games had better CGI cutscenes.
I do hope there'll be some established non pony characters in the movie. When the new toys are revealed, I was happy that we'd get new gryphon characters, but then they turned out to be anthropomorphic birds. And we still don't have any real mlp griffon toys.
And can't wait to read the new story.
Well- reasoned, until the Chrysalis part which is more of a hopeful leap of logic.
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Oh yes, that was definitely on the 'wild and random' side of my speculation :P
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See, that's the part of her characterization that's the most confusing.
In the finale, she says she's doing everything 'So I can feed, of course!" And then explains her plan as being that the changelings replacing the major show characters "will bring the love back here, to me!"
But then like thirty seconds later she makes it quite clear that the love is for her and the hive: "My drones and I will have enough love for generations to come!" And literally the first words out of her mouth when she was revealed at the wedding were "As Queen, it is my duty to find food for the changelings."
So it's really kind of unclear what her exact motivations are. Which has had some effects on the fandom; from what I've seen, half the people are like me and see her as more sympathetic, while the other half hate her and want her to die.
The season six finale did play up her megalomaniac aspect, but I feel like most of that was for Starlight Glimmer's benefit. They shoved in a sixty second segment of her returning to the village so she could feel bad about how she acted while in charge of the villagers, and then made Chrysalis the same so that Starlight could go "Look, I actually have changed, I'm not like that anymore!"
So that's why I'm kind of hoping that whenever she reappears, we get a better explanations for why she acts the way she does. Hopefully it's better than "A friend was mean to me once". And while it was an awesome scene in the comics, hopefully the reason also isn't "This is just the way I am".
Discord already fills the "sarcastic and generally less straight up goody two shoes" role pretty well, but I think Chrysalis would have a good spot as a character who's antagonistic to the whole concept of friendship. Like, she's willing to give it a try, but she doesn't quite trust it. It would be a nice change from all the reformed villains who instantly go "Hooray, friendship is magic and awesome and all I want now!"
It would also be nice to see episodes where the lesson is less "Oh, so this is what you have to do to be a good friend" and more "This is why friendship is good in the first place".
Like... it's literally unfinished. That's the base model, without any details added to it. It's hard to get a good screenshot of it, but if you look at the later shot where the one airship fires a grapnel into the other, those ships are clearly better looking.
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And the one that wants her to die is the one that thinks she's about feeding her hive, right?
I kid, but only by exaggeration. The group that hates her does not map perfectly to the group that thinks she's motivated by selfish, evil reasons and the group that likes does not map perfectly to the group that thinks she's trying to help her hive.
Personally? I don't see any reason for it to be one or the other. That's a false dichotomy.
How could you leave out the implications of the line:
I don't see it. This is still a kids show and they wouldn't ask a bunch of kids to put this much into a character then turn them bad.
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she is the state
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Honestly, I found that whole exchange kind of weird, considering that A: They had literally just finished discussing the time Maud gave Starlight access to a stone that nearly allowed her to do exactly that (or at least take over a small part of it) and B: The entire reason they even had to go into the changeling hive was that Chrysalis had, you guessed it, a stone, which was nullifying all magic. So I'm not really sure why Starlight was acting all confused and disbelieving.
That said, it did seem kind of foreshadowy, but I couldn't really tie it into anything so I left it out (stone = jewel in the alicorn amulet, maybe?).
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I'm not saying she would become a permanent villain, just that she'd be one for the finale, via some sort of corruption. Maybe she even backslides a bit, along the lines of Discord and the season four finale. It would be more like 'we have to turn Nightmare Moon back into Luna' vs 'we have to blow Sombra into teeny-tiny bits'.
Putting this much into a character and then having them turn bad works well even for a kids' show, because then the theme can be 'how do we save her/get our friend back/This isn't the real you! Don't you remember all the good times we had together?!'
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Oh, definitely, I was simplifying a bit. It just seems like the two sides are really extreme, either you absolutely love her or absolutely despise her. I was just speculating that she seems to have motivations that are on two ends of a spectrum, one where she acts out of a selfish desire for power and one where she's doing whatever she can to feed the hive, and the fact that people favor one interpretation over the other is why there's such widely varying opinions on her.