Aug
9th
2017
Points of Canon: S2x11 - Hearth’s Warming Eve · 8:04am Aug 9th, 2017
Ooh boy, this is going to be difficult…
This is an incredibly historically important episode, that has an explicit story within a story, so it’s difficult to interpret unambiguously. And yet we have to, cause otherwise we have nothing to answer some of the most important questions of chromatic hippology.
- Heads up, I notice something important straight away: Even in winter, while the roofs of Ponyville houses are covered with snow, most of the ground isn’t, and the grass is still bloody green. The river has yet to freeze either. The same applies to Canterlot. We do not know when Hearth’s Warming Eve is in relation to the start and end of the winter, and we typically assume it takes place somewhere in the middle, like Christmas. However, this suggests it may well be the very beginning, soon after the first snowfall.
- This also means that autumn is not necessarily orange at all.
- For whatever reason, the Mane 6 couldn’t fit into one car. Rarity, Pinkie and AJ are in one, while Fluttershy, Rainbow and Twilight are in the other. The Doylist reason is obviously storyboarding: Three windows, each of the six has lines, and they didn’t want to squeeze everyone two to a window. Any Watsonian reason?
- The amount of snow progressively increases as snow falls.
- Mayor Mare came with the Mane 6, apparently, and so did the CMC. And Minuette was waiting for someone. Too bad Twilight didn’t talk to her.
- Looks like Rarity started that outrageous hat trend with that tree-hat of hers.
- “There’s so much to look at! I feel like my durned eyes are gonna pop right out of my head!” Sounds like Applejack hasn’t been to Canterlot before, which is important for chronology.
- Ponies play “I spy.”
- “I spy… an eight-foot candy cane.” This was and remains one of our best measuring sticks to estimate pony scales.
- I hope that the pained faces of Scootaloo and that other unicorn filly who got their tongues frozen to the candy cane aren’t there forever and someone went to fetch a kettle with hot water. Because they are apparently getting soundly ignored, and this could lead to serious injury and even death, if they stick there long enough.
- I wonder, is it an actual candy cane, or an imitation? An actual candy cane would require a lower temperature for you to get your tongue frozen to it.
- Snowponies are a thing.
- The hall where the show happens is not a dedicated theater. It is the exact same corridor where Celestia introduces the Mane 6 to Discord. There are six individual stained glass windows in there. I can’t exactly tell you which ones they are, but one depicts the Mane 6 defeating Nightmare Moon, one depicts Discord solo, and two others repeat. While they are barely visible, I can at least tell you for sure that neither is the window that was added in The Return of Harmony after defeating Discord. I’m pretty sure that this means this episode can only happen during Winter 1 and not at any later time.
- But of course the Canterlot Friends are in the front row, how could they miss that. Many of them are present twice and thrice.
- Derpy is poking out of the curtain and waving. I forgot she was even in there anywhere…
- Numerous obviously electrical stage lights.
- Most of the participants in the play other than the Mane 6 appear to be known Ponyvillains. So why, when Rarity says, “All across Equestria, ponies are preparing their own pageants for Hearth’s Warming Eve in their own towns. It’s tradition,” this doesn’t cause any comment? Who’s doing the Ponyville version, then?…
- Fluttershy has hysterical stage fright. I’m not sure how this sits temporally against Green Isn’t Your Color.
- “I can’t believe that Princess Celestia chose us to put on the most important play of the season!” Doing this was explicitly Celestia’s idea, and she is the one who gets to decide, at least for this particular show. Also, she gets to pick total amateurs and nobody can say no.
- “A lot of ponies will come to watch us.” “A lot?” “Hundreds.” Well, the visible portion of the hall holds about 200. Which is not that many. Did they do multiple shows?
- Rarity uses mascara on Fluttershy, which I don’t think came up before – not that it would be a surprise.
- When Pinkie pulls Twilight by the head while Twilight is holding Fluttershy’s tail with magic and pulling on it, the field around the tail is moving with Twilight. The exact mechanism remains unclear – it could move because Twilight thinks it should, or it could move because it’s anchored on the horn in one way or another. I wonder how that works.
- Spike is, obviously, wearing a custom costume. Which looks nothing like anyone else’s costume, and includes some pretty special pants, so I wonder what exactly is up with that.
“Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony.”
- Notice: no mention of Luna.
- And that’s how we knew Equestria was discovered in more or less historical times.
- “It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart… by hatred!” The uniform gasp of the audience makes me suspect that the word “hatred” is itself seen as mildly rude.
- Pegasi costumes are very notably Greco-Roman, and so are their haircuts, while unicorn costumes appear to imitate medieval Europe. Earth ponies are neither here nor there. Notably, one of the first three pegasi on screen is wearing a laurel wreath.
- Just for the record: “In those troubled times, as now, the Pegasi were the stewards of the weather. But they demanded something in return. Food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies. The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night.” Before Celestia and Luna, unicorns used to do it.
- “And so, mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil.” Funny, I don’t think we’ve actually seen someone suffering from infection yet. :)
- “The Earth ponies were freezing. … The Pegasi were hungry. And the unicorns were freezing and hungry.” So wait, the pegasi weren’t freezing and the earth ponies weren’t hungry? :)
- “Each tribe sent their leaders. Daughter of the unicorn king, Princess Platinum.” Notice that the unicorn king exists, but the leader is still his daughter for some reason.
- “Ruler of the Pegasi, Commander Hurricane.” Hurricane is explicitly a “ruler.” Notice that Puddinghead is “leader” of the earth ponies instead.
- The procedure for initiating negotiations includes removing headgear, even when it is the symbol of rank and office.
- The floor of the negotiation chamber on stage is straw. Notably, there is only one other straw floor in the series I remember, and it’s the schoolhouse…
- Surprised Fluttershy sinks through the cloud when attempting to stand on it. Staged or not, are there limits on what you can do with the cloud?
- “Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?” Strange verb to use. Why was Clover supposed to be so sure?
- “I was elected because I know how to think outside the box.” Chancellor was elected. Ponies had a certain history of democracy even before Equestria.
- “My hooves are killing me!” Noticing how Rarity’s hoof oscillates at this line, and remembering all the times she got pruned… She’s definitely a marshmallow.
- “On the other hand, I have no trouble watching you stoop down.” Other hand, you say?
- “The Earth is round. There is no up or down.” Well, I’ve said more than enough about globes already. What makes me wonder is, where was Puddinghead meant to have gotten the map?
- “…eventually, they all arrived in a new and wondrous land. Nopony had ever seen paradise before.” I.e. it was at least believed to be free of pony life. See above about the map.
- “I can see my future house from here.” Only, Fluttershy is pointing downwards – while pegasi normally live on clouds, don’t they.
- “I’ll have you court-martialed for insubordination, Private!” Ponies had, or, which is more likely, currently have, such a thing as court martial.
- “Don’t go around the rock, go over it! I’m not giving up an inch of territory to the enemy!” Inches exist, but that’s not the important bit. The important bit is that this whole scene implies national borders are a thing.
- “My mentor Star Swirl the Bearded taught me about them.” She just had to twist Star Swirl in. We really have no clue if this line was there originally or not – the play definitely involves a lot of improv.
- The plot still requires unicorn magic to produce the Fire of Friendship, directly or not – Clover is at least the required conduit for its appearance.
- “All through the night, the three ponies kept the fire of friendship alive by telling stories to one another and by singing songs, which of course became the winter carols that we all still sing today.” Everyone forgets about the songs, me included.
- Notice the similarity between the Fire of Friendship and the Crystal Heart.
- In the finale, the six leaders raise the modern flag of Equestria, with two alicorns and 41 stars on it. It’s pretty certain that neither Celestia nor Luna were in the picture at this point even from primary canon alone.
- “And together, they named their new land Equestria!” Notice the name certainly didn’t exist until this incident.
- The ending chorus, in particular the lyrics, gives this entire exercise a heavy ideological bent.
- The mini-quarrel between the Mane 6 and the way it ends suggests that while Twilight might say that windigos are mythical, after a play they certainly don’t feel that way for a while.
- The final frame shows the Fire of Friendship burning in the sky above one of the castle towers. We don’t know if this is a visual device, or an actual phenomenon.
Some analysis. While this is mostly rehashing what I said before, there’s no harm in keeping it close to the source:
- It’s pretty clear to me that the relationship between the three tribes described in the beginning of the play is not inter-tribal or inter-national or inter-anything. This is the setup of a single feudal realm with racially based castes, which, for a significant time, felt natural and satisfactory to the participants, but subsequently shattered under pressure along racial lines.
- Notice that earth ponies elected their leader. Some pretty heavy democratic tradition, that. Also notice while Platinum is the daughter of the unicorn king, she is the leader of the unicorns, not him. Some politicking had to have happened.
- Today, the Hearth’s Warming traditional play is clearly part of government ideology, if not outright religion, and friendship is that ideology. While historical science might say this isn’t how it happened, and probably does, seeing as how educated ponies consider windigos to be entirely mythical, tradition perpetuates largely unchanged, and affirms traditional values.
- There probably is a magical significance to the whole thing. Mystery play was a thing for a reason. Unfortunately, canon does not permit us to put a pin in the actual meaning, and this heart floating above the tower is not helpful.
"The ending chorus, in particular the lyrics, gives this entire exercise a heavy ideological bent."
I think that that may be Equestria's most likely national anthem so far in show canon, if it has one at all.
"Some politicking had to have happened."
Might also be a regency situation, with the king incapacitated and/or incapable somehow but still alive?
Well, one of them controls the weather well enough to probably create pockets of stable weather, and the earth ponies could probably just about manage to keep their own population well-fed, if our nebulous benchmark for their power level also applies to past generations.
In case we're collecting data on the historical figures, this could be the playwright's cheeky nod to Private Pansy eventually settling in an earth-bound home. Or Fluttershy slipping in a reference to her own real-life location, which even on a wooden stage with obvious limitations of scenery seems a tad more free with information than a national hero being kept eternally unperson'd/one-time fashion ultramodel should really be.
Ooh, throwing in a theory about the unicorn king: He's actually been dead for a really long time, but he was one of those guys who left such a huge legacy that just mentioning you were related to him by blood could open doors.
Maybe at this point king Bullion are too old and/or dying/sick/sick and dying?
And IIRC historical Hurricane are male.
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The Journal of the Two Sisters describes king Bullion as capable of state visits to the Sisters, so no, he’s definitely alive. Why doesn’t he take any part in the proceedings is never explained.
4628573
They were out of the food eventually, the play says…
I suspect this was an accident, actually. The play calls for a “I can see my future house from here!” and it doesn’t specify where Pansy should be pointing, or if any pointing should occur at all. Fluttershy instinctively points down, because that’s where she lives.
4628601
I don't have time to check your post on the Journal now, but couldn't that be a future king?
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"While King Bullion seemed fine, and quite secure in his situation, his daughter, Princess Platinum...." etc.
Saxon kings were elected from eligible nobility, so mixing democratic and feudal government styles is a thing.
King Bullion may have been absent for a number of reasons. Illness is the obvious go-to, but he may have had such a hatred for one of the others involved, that he knew he would sink the negotiations, and was wise enough to send his daughter instead. There is historical precedence for this sort of situation.
But we all know the real reason is that Rarity refused to wear a fake beard, so Celestia re-wrote the play (and history) for her.
There is also the possibility that none of this actually happened, and you are watching a pantomime. To a seasoned Pantomime watcher, this play has many the hallmarks of a modern Panto, including the big song at the end. At least one of the popular pantomimes is based on a real person (Richard Whittington), but beyond the name the various versions of the story bear little or no resembelence to history. The Pantomime season is also specifically associated with Christmas, and I never saw a Panto based on the Nativity.
4628820
Indeed, but this time, I am pretty sure that these are new power structures created after the collapse of the social order that existed prior, rather than the way it always has been. This triplication of control would simply never work if they still had a unified state of any kind, so we’re seeing something like what happened after the February Revolution in Russia, instead – local power centers emerging from whatever came handy to solve daily problems when the central government demonstrated its impotence, which subsequently united into a completely separate power structure. Since ponies also had readily apparent lines to split along – the immediately obvious tribal differences – that’s where they eventually split.
She also snuck back into the castle and adjusted the Journal to match, just to please Rarity. Right. :)
4628868
Well, we know some things:
As a result, we have to conclude that something happened, and pretty definitely, to the ponies described, but much of what is told about it in a play for children is inevitably bogus.
4628620
Ah. Oh well. Thanks.
4628875 The only pony who says that Windigos aren't real is Starlight, Twilight never actually agrees with her. Twilight doesn't really disagree with her either, but then the point of the story was to bond with Starlight and get her in a cheerful mood, not debate which particular subset of emotivores are real or fictional. (If the Windigos are mythological, I could see that myth being based in the Umbrum).
4628573 The Pegasi not freezing makes sense because between their presumed racial cold resistance and living about the snowclouds, they suffer less from the snow than other tribes. The fact that the earth ponies were "eating" while the other two tribes went hungry, at least for a while, suggests that whatever relationship existed between the three tribes, the earth ponies were powerful enough to prevent the other two tribes from just taking all their food. That's an important point, since it disproves some common ancient history fanon that earth ponies were basically slaves.
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True. The fact that he is played by a mare in this play could mean ponies care less about cross-gendered representation than humans do, or he was played by a mare due to matriarchal trends brought about by the rule of Celestia after the fact.
Consider a more literal interpretation of "Hearth's Warming" and this would be when you'd really need to light up and warm those hearths… (also: insert annoyance at it being "hearth's" singular here)
Traditional play? Being rewritten to suit changed circumstances? I don't think many arts would stand for that. On the other hand, when Celestia is producing this particular play, it takes a very different tone.
I've always seen that cowl representing Euro-peasantry. The third, however, feels a bit more [Saddle-]Arabian?
Nay, such creatures always seem to revel in rather than suffer from such an issue…
Fairly common to attribute some thermal resistance to pterippi; this is a way to support it. Flurry Heart's doomstorm overcoming RD is against it, but…it's also Flurry Heart.
He may be too busy wrangling nobles to remain ruling-family. Or he may just have abdicated early because he wants to enjoy his twilight years and ensure a smooth succession by making it gradual.
Barn.
More importantly, they call it The Earth. (Amusingly, of course, it's the Earth Ponies doing so…)
In-universe Doylian oopsie by her because the actor Fluttershy playing Pansy does, y'know, live on the ground.You yourself already said this in comments.4628620
Rebuttal option: regal numbered names (Bullion II)…were the JOST not also referring to all those other ToHW race-leaders.
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Fake or magic-grown, Twilight knows a moustache spell, don'tcha know.
You know, seasonal holidays don't have to take place in the appropriate seasons if you control the weather. The fact that there only seems to be significant snow in populated areas suggests they concentrated the snow there, and since the event the holiday commemorates involved unseasonable snow, it's not unreasonable to think it might not actually be during winter. They could put a reasonable amount of snow (enough to build snowponies, have snowball fights, and so on, but not enough to cause the apocalyptic conditions that were responsible for the event) on populated areas while avoiding farms (however rock farming works, I doubt it requires warm weather, so the Pies' rock farm could still get snow without issue) and not bothering to modify unpopulated areas. That gives you significantly more flexibility, though considering logistical issues, they probably wouldn't want it to occur too far from actual winter. Given that the history suggests the ponies had a prolonged food shortage at the time of the decision to leave their homes, it probably happened towards the end of what should have been the growing season, so sometime in autumn.
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…except for economic reasons, like all that gift-buying.
If we go this way, we might as well stop assuming any chronology is going on at all and relax, and even the question of alicorn immortality, so beloved by the fandom for the existential angst, is moot: “a thousand years ago” might as well have been last week. :)