My Thoughts on Twilight Sparkle · 9:35pm Aug 3rd, 2017
Hello, brothers and sisters. I am Madness and welcome to my kingdom.
Today I've decided to talk about a character that I really haven't said much of anything about, which is strange considering she's the mane protagonist. Yep, it's Twilight Sparkle; Element of Magic, Princess of Friendship, and Master of Giving Madness Conflicting Emotions. Unlike my previous 'Thoughts On' blogs, Twilight gives me a lot to say both positive and negative. This is due to the fact that Twilight gives me many reasons to like her while also giving me many reason to dislike her. So, how do I feel about her? Well, let's look through her character.
Twilight has generally been the same character from the start (Not counting the first two episodes) and has always had good qualities and bad qualities like any other character. However, there needs to be a limit to a characters bad qualities so that they don't end up unlikable and Twilight can cross that line at times. And I want to pick at the ones that really get to me. Starting with...
Her ego problem: With you think of MLP characters with an ego problem, you'll probably settle on Rainbow Dash and maybe Applejack. But what people don't seem to realize is that Twilight also has an inflated ego that gets her into trouble. Twilight knows she's gifted and a genius, which causes her to be very self-assured even when she's wrong. Feeling Pinkie Keen is probably the best example of this. The reason the episode is so freaking funny is because Twilight is being an annoyingly self-assured jerk and brings all her suffering on herself, so we can only laugh at her pain and misery. Another good example would be What About Discord?. She let's her jealousy of Discord get so out of control that she convinces herself that he's brainwashed her friends. It really take a big ego to go with that without even considering that maybe her friends just had a good time without her. Another would be No Second Prances (though that's a case of character derailment). While she's completely right about Trixie, she acts so controlling, hypocritical, and full of herself that she even brings the 'friends' she picked out for She Who Shall Not be Named for her tea party with Celestia, fully expecting Starlight to be there. In fact, that episode doubles as an example of the next big flaw...
She's an idiot: For somepony so smart, Twilight can be really stupid... a lot. It really annoys me when a character who is meant to be super smart acts like an idiot. Of course, even the smartest and wisest of people can do really stupid things sometimes, but Twilight does it all the time! This is a side effect of her inflated ego; she's so self-assured that she doesn't realize when she's being stupid. A Bird in the Hoof is a great example of this. For someone so close to Celestia, you would think Twilight would have more confidence in Pony Jesus. It's like Twilight read a bunch of Tyrantlestia fanfics and took them to heart! Possibly an even better example would be Lesson Zero.Yeah, not having a friendship report for that week is definitely worth having psychotic breakdown and brainwashing three fillies into fighting each other and accidentally brainwashing the entire town in the process because she had so little faith in Celestia that she was afraid she would send Twilight back Kindergarden. 100% understandable... not. Oh, and of course, A Canterlot Wedding. I love how people call out everypony for not listening to Twilight while leaving out that Twilight was acting like a possessive lunatic rather than approach the situation like a sensible person and was just as guilty as they were. 
And then there's the big flaw that bothers me the most...
She's abusive to Spike: Spike is pretty much Twilight's son and the way she treats him is often abusive. Twi, child abuse is never on fleek. She often treats him more like a slave than an assistant and often shows to be ungrateful for all his hard work...... In fact, I can't remember a single time when she gave Spike a heartfelt thank you for all he does. And there are so many moments that show her as being uncaring and abusive to him. She uses him as a pack mull whenever they go on trips. She rarely if ever shows concern when he gets hurt. When sh'es caught up in her books, she doesn't even register him speaking to her. She gets him a book every birthday and Hearth's Warming instead of something he would enjoy. It wouldn't have to be anything big, just something like a Power Ponies comic or a picture of Rarity. I get that some characters think 'I'd want it, so they would', but you would think the freaking Princess of Friendship would be more logical than that! But the worst case of all was in Winter Wrap Up. Did she really knowingly let her fire-breathing dragon son/little brother fall into a freezing cold lake without even a scooch of remorse? Yes. Yes, she did. Spike could of freaking died; it's a good thing he only got sick; and she didn't care. Twilight, you are a terrible person. 
Part of the show is that the characters develop and become better. Rainbow is far from egotistical jerk she used to be. Pinkie Pie has learned how to be mindful of others. Fluttershy has learned to stand up for herself. Applejack...... Rarity no longer puts her thoughts above those of her friends. All just parts of their development. But Twilight? It's like takes a step forward and then steps back. She gets passed one problem only to get another. It's not to say she hasn't grown, but her biggest problems, like the ones I've mentioned, haven't even been addressed. How are you supposed to get better if you don't know what makes you bad?
Twilight's main problem is how self-assured she is. It makes her egotistical and stupid, which are the elements of her often abusive treatment of Spike, which is disgusting and horrible. And the writers just aren't aware of these falling, so they can't work to fix them. A character that is supposed to be humble, but has an ego problem. A character that is supposed to be a genius, but is an idiot. A character that is supposed to be an all-loving hero, but acts like a sociopath to her son. How can I not hate her? Well, here's the thing...
Unlike characters such as Trixie, Twilight does have a lot of good qualities. She's compassionate, forgiving, devoted, and always tries to do the right thing. Despite her fallings, when it matters the most, Twilight truly is an all-loving hero; even more so than Pinkie and Fluttershy when the situation comes. She has an adorkable yet snarky personality, is a true genius when she's not being stupid, suffers a lot of slapstick as punishment for her shortcomings, and lives up to being the Princess of Friendship. And while I still have reasons to dislike her, there are a certain two moments that will always prevent that. Even when Twilight is at her worse, I can look back at these moments and see that I could never stop liking Twilight.
The first one is in the first Equestria Girls. When Sunset tries to force Twilight to give up the Element of Magic by threatening to destroy the portal, what does Twilight do? She tells her "No." She would have never seen her friends and family again. She would have never seen the world she knew again. In yet, she didn't even hesitate to rebuke Sunset. She had seen what Sunset could do without magic and wasn't going to risk either world by giving it to her. She had full confidence that her friends would be able to protect Equestria without her or the Element of Magic. Even if she just said that to convince herself, she still didn't hesitate to protect a world she barely knew. And when Sunset was defeated and left crying in a crater, Twilight pulled her out and offered her friendship without a second thought.
The second one is in Twilight's Kingdom. When Tirek held her friend's lives in his hands and demanded her magic, she agreed. I used to wonder if that was the right call. I mean, Tirek was going to destroy all of Equestria and no one knew that Discord would give Twilight her key. Then I realized something. Tirek and Twilight were at a stalemate. Twilight couldn't be sure she could beat Tirek, but she could be sure he would kill her friends. Twilight wasn't willing to gamble. Not giving up her magic would have been the foolish decision. But then, when her friends were released, she told Tirek to release Discord as well. Twilight had every reason to leave Discord to Tirek, but she didn't hesitate to call him a friend and demand his release. That's just who she is.
Both of these moments stand out to me because it shows why Twilight is the Princess of Friendship. Both were hard choices that only took a few seconds for Twilight to decide on. Whether she was refusing to give magic to Sunset or agreeing to give it to Tirek, she did the right thing. And she was willing to give Sunset and Discord a second chance despite having no reason to. I feel it's moments like these that truly define characters and I believe these are the moments that make Twilight, well, Twilight. Behind that self-assured jackass is a pure of heart hero and that's the part that matters to me.
Still, that's not gonna stop me from writing 10 Times Twilight Was a Self-Assured Jackass.
Aaaand that's all for now. God bless you, bye bye.
I think a lot of Twilight's earlier shortcomings stems from the fact that all her life she was sheltered and essentially treated as royalty. Although being sheltered was mostly self-imposed, it would explain why she treats Spike the way she does (at least in earlier seasons, no excuses for the more recent ones)
I think the only way current Twilight can start correcting some of her flaws is if someone in universe directly (or indirectly) points them out. Kinda like in Amending Fences when Spike points out that she forgot about her friends in Canterlot. Her ego and her stupidity (although I think ignorance is a better word) is her blind spot. She can't fix what she can't see.
But regardless, she still holds a special place in a lot of are hearts.
4623083
Completely agree with you.
Still, what she did in Winter Wrap Up was just plain horrible.
4623088
Agreed
I see. I personality really like Twilight because I can relate to her a little bit more so then the other characters but I can understand your points.
4623187
Oh, I like Twilight. There's just plenty of reasons why she's not in my Top 5 sort of speak.
4623204
Cool, I can respect that.
Interesting opinion you have of Twilight.
4623306
Not as one sided as the others I've done, ay?
4623307
Pretty much.
I feel like that second point is more Twilight always grasps the worst case scenario for almost any given situation, if somehting could go wrong she panic because it's a possibility, thta led to events such as the smarty pants incident
4623446
Which is stupid of her.
4623448
Yes but that's part of who she is, she is very good at seeing the worst possible outcome which is why she is such a good planner, she can plan aroudn the worst of events becaus eshe sees all the things that could go wrong but sometimes her approach to fixing the problem has uninteded consequences, such as the smarty pants incident.
4623452
True, but that doesn't stop it from being annoying to me.
4623453
Fair enough, Actually somehting I want to bring up about Twilight is that somw people may forget when comparing Twilight to Sunset is that I could see if the Nightmare Moon incident didn't happen she could have easily followed the same path Sunset did and run away.
4623457
Hmm... Never thought of that.
4623458
I mean Twlight was very arrogant cocky and had few friends she ven said Celstia had never told her she was wrong, thta is arrogance at a level that rivals Sunset's before her reformation which means a few things, 1 Sunset would have not run away if she had some friends
2 Celestia made a similar mistake when teachign both Sunset and Twilight
3 Twilight could have done far worse than Sunset did particularly wiht the release of Sombra not long after, imagine a unicorn of Twilight's talent learning dark magic and becoming Sombra's second or maybe even Queen.
4623461
Well, I know Twilight was a jerk at first and could have ended up like Sunset, but I don't think any situation would make her evil enough to work with the Prince of Darkness, let alone be his second or queen.
4623464
Sombra could mainpulate her anger at Celstia , it woudl be a possibility, anger is powerful and Sombra would know better than to just tell her I'm the lord of darkness, work for me, a little suggestion and some teaching, and she would be well on the way.
4623470
First of all, will you please check your spelling before commenting? No offense, but it's getting hard to read.
Secondly, it is a possibility, but how far would Twilight have to fall to be willing to work for the Devil?
Hmm... I think you may have just given me a fanfic idea.
4623472
Sombra isn't exactly a devil, he is a unicorn as well just one versed in dark magic and ruling empires. Dark magic is fueled by emotion, a large amount of hatred made him into the tyrant we know.
4623474
It's an expression of how evil he is and how his character has Satanic elements.
4623475
Yes but to Twilight he would not appear to be a Devil, there is no Devil in Equestria thus she ha sno basis for that plus likely Sombra will use a disguise, not just say hey you work for me.
4623491
Even in a disguise, I'm pretty sure Sombra would give off an evil vibe. My headcanon is that Sombra's very presence fills the air with a sense of dread and darkness.
Twilight is stupid, but not in that area.
4623495
Yes bu Twilight may be more inclined to fall for it at the start of her story particularly if she is blinded by anger plus she is a seeker of knowledge and if he provides it she will follow, much like Sunset before finding friendship the thing she craves more than anything was knowledge, they both started craving knowledge and friendship changed them for the better.
4623497
Again, that's true. And if he has Twilight hooked, Sombra will be able to poison her mind with his influence.
Funny thing is, I actually am writing a story that has Sombra with a student of his own, but it's been a long time since I worked on it. Though I want to do an AU fic with Twilight joining Sombra now.
4623498
You do that and tell me when it is an interesting premise
Good points, though personally I don't think you can say Twilight has an ego problem. Far more episodes show that she is humble to a fault, even to the point where she doesn't seem to think her princess title really amounts to anything or is worth making a big deal about. And she's never shown trying to use her title for her own selfish gain, not even once. Others have tried unintentionally, but it's clear that Twilight has humility. That's the reason why Trixie and Sunset are foils to her, showing what Twilight would be like if she stopped being humble, if she became arrogant about her ability, or if she tried to use her status for personal gain.
I'm glad you brought up her actions in "A Canterlot Wedding" as I feel that, while what her friends and mentor did was wrong (Shining Armor debatedly crossed a line, but he might have brainwashed and reacted more harshly than he would've if he was of sound mind) Twilight should've known better than to make such rash assumptions without proof. And storming in during the wedding rehearsal without even trying to talk to anypony of importance like either of the princesses at the time, wasn't going to make a compelling case for her arguement.
If it counts for anything, Twilight did tell Spike that nopony could ever replace him in "Owl's Well That Ends Well", hugged him in "Lesson Zero" for writing the letter to Celestia about how she was freaking out and needed help, and gave him the day off in "Spike at Your Service". I think she does care for him, she's just not very good at showing it because she's still that socially awkward bookworm even after all this time. She's gotten better to be sure, but some things don't change overnight. I do think we need an episode where Twilight realizes how badly she's treated Spike though, it's sorely needed.
4657930
It's a different kind of ego problem. A different breed.
Yeah, people need to realize she was her own fault as well.
Yeah, we really need an episode like that. It'd go right into my Top 10, no doubt.