Why I Love Starlight Glimmer (Unaired Spoilers Are Behind Tags) · 10:16am Oct 12th, 2017
In the past two years of pony, nothing has affected my writing more than the character of Starlight Glimmer. She was an absolutely amazing villain in Season 5, giving us both a thrilling premiere and epic finale, and her redemption leading into Season 6 made her skyrocket to the top of my favorite characters in this show. Five of my last eight stories have been centered around her, or by extension, her oldest friend, Sunburst.
So it bears mentioning that since the fandom has plateaued these past couple years, probably the most disappointing thing I read about the fandom nowadays is when fans claim they stopped watching because of her. One of my friends is in this group; he says she was an unnecessary addition to the cast because Twilight already has an equal student; in the character of Sunset Shimmer.
I'll counter that by saying that Sunset is a dimension away, and while the writers may or may not ever touch on her homesickness, she's currently essential over there as she's the sole authority on magic.
Without someone to pass her knowledge onto, Twilight Sparkle had peaked as a character. Enter Starlight. A unicorn who rivaled Twilight's alicorn-level abilities to the point where the Princess of Friendship was forced to parley with her to save Equestria from ruin. Now, for the past two years, Twilight has successfully gone from student to teacher.
My desire to know more about Starlight's origins is probably more than the writers are ever going to sate. Everything around her seemed to come crashing down after Sunburst got his cutie mark and ran off to Celestia's school. Was anyone around to help her? Apparently not, as she succumbed to her abandonment issues and went off to found Our Town, a village without unique Cutie Marks. I'd really love to know what her state of mind was when she got her cutie mark. I would have to guess she hated herself. I like to think she used makeup to cover it up even before she applied the equals symbol.
Starlight, as well as the new film villain Tempest Shadow, lead me to believe there could be a concerning lack of elders available to help young fillies through said abandonment issues.
So when Sunburst left, something inside her just seemed to stop. There are enough snippets in the show to make me believe that a part of Starlight never grew up past that point.
Take her room in Twilight's castle in the Season 6 finale, for instance. The look leans towards a young filly's room than an older pony's bedroom.
When you combine the shot of her room with Rock Solid Friendship, we've got her favorite pasttime; flying kites, and judging from the materials at her hooves, she likes making them from scratch.
Another example of Starlight's childlike mentality is WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! (I watched the leaks this weekend) is her love for a board game from her childhood called Dragon Pit. She even goes so far to create a spell that returns herself and Sunburst to their foalhood town and even ages them down to their younger age, much to the latter's annoyance.
I also enjoyed her somewhat smaller contribution to the Season 7 finale, where (SPOILER ALERT!) she's the living counterpoint to Starswirl's staunch belief of 'once a villain, always a villain'. Seriously, the guy was a dick.
While she's been a fantastic "sixth ranger" of the show, I think the best thing that the show did for Starlight's character was give her her own circle of friends, instead of shoehorning her in with the Mane 6.
Her first friendship with Trixie showed that if you have a less-than-stellar past, the ponies who look past that first often have similar circumstances.
Her bond with Maud shows that maybe the only thing you have to have in common is how little you have in common with everypony else.
Her friendship with Sunburst shows that while it feels like you've grown apart, sometimes all it takes is a look back. (And I'm seriously, seriously hoping these two become closer as the show goes on).
Now don't get me wrong; I don't automatically fall for every redeemed villain. The show is at the point where I'm looking forward to Queen Chrysalis being disintegrated sooner or later, and I doubt any amount of touchy-feely backstory is going to change my mind in her case.
I believe the show has done a great job with Starlight, and I eagerly await to see what's in her future.
I love Starlight as well. Do you know who I hate? Her best friend Trixie.
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Know more of what, what this particular user wants to happen to Starlight? I'll pass, thanks.
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Nah, I'm good.
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If this blog doesn't, I don't know why I would bother. Some fans are so set in their opinions and nothing can sway them.
Not a fan of Starlight. Her backstory is worse than Sunset Shimmer's. I detest horribly conceived backstories and it affects how I view characters currently in the show. I also hate how Alicorns, the pinnacle of equinity, are little more than doormats. Even Twilight, who was quite capable as a unicorn, has become overpowered by other characters since earning her wings.
Meh, I'm tired and I'm grumpy. Pay no attention to the soulless ginger.
I'm surprised how much Starlight has grown on me over time.
I too love Starlight Glimmer and unlike a lot of the fandom, she skyrocketed up to my fave the day she showed up. It may seem odd but she is the type of villain and character that I find very appealing. My favorite moment of her is in the season 5 finale where Twilight admitted that she couldn't defeat her. Don't get me wrong, Twilight is one of my faves but seeing Twilight not being able to defeat her with magic was amazing to me. That episode did inspire me though, that and a mix of StarXie that I wrote a story where Twilight was mad over Starlight's relationship with Trixie (yes, real relationship) that she traveled back in time, stopped Twilight from hatching Spike and then SHE became Celestia's protege and I formed a new mane 6 (Starlight, Moondancer, Lyra, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts).
I will admit, I am not thrilled with what they did with her mane but I am thrilled that they brought Trixie into her life. I used to find Trixie incredibly obnoxious and was no fan of her but now she is way up there in my faves. Her and Starlight seem to compliment one another. Now I know this will likely never happen but I would love to see them two become marefriends, I think they are so damn cute together.
Now what utterly repulses me is Sunburst. Why in the hell did they have to bring that little rat into the series? Couldn't they have found a different reason for Starlight to hate cutie marks or at least made Sunburst a FEMALE? If Sunburst were a female she would for the most part be a decent character. Good grief, he flunked out of Celestia's school and in my eyes, that makes him an unredeemable failure. He may know a lot about magic but the fact that he can't do it makes him completely useless in my eyes. They could just throw those books in Twilight's library, find a different babysitter for Flurry and write him out entirely and the show wouldn't change much.....no I take that back, it would IMPROVE DRAMATICALLY.
I look back and remember how so many fans hated Flash Sentry after the first EqG movie. I'll admit, I was in that crowd back then but once he became so insignificant things would have been the same, that hate went away. I'm not sure how many people despise Sunburst but I am in that crowd. I hate him so much that he replaced Flash Sentry as my "fun to brutally kill off" character.
Is that you Vogel? If not, stop shilling for his OC.
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I get the feeling this is LightningSword you're talking about.
I really like Starlight as a character, she really is one of the best additions to the cast in recent years in my eyes, and in particular you bring up one of the reasons why here with her friendship with ponies outside of the mane six. I was really not fond of her as a villain however, and her magical abilities still seem over blown since Twi was supposedly the greatest magical talent Celestia had seen since Starswirl. It felt forced, but I actually have one head canon that balances things out a little in my mind, namely that Starlight is actually quite a bit older and more practiced than Twi, or has at least spent more time learning spells related to fighting.
Again, ever since the she has been redeemed, every episode heavily featuring Starlight has made me love her to bits, she just took some time to grow on me.
I'm going to be honest, I wasn't too keen on Starlight myself. But she's grown on me throughout S7. Starlight's almost become more princess-like than Twilight is (in my opinion). She keeps her objectivity better and sometimes shows more wisdom than the aforementioned princess. Hopefully they'll continue to grow her character throughout S8.
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He is just as bad as the guy you're talking about. CHRIST in heaven is he bad.
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Sooo...making Sunburst a female would have made all the difference in the world? Isn't that kind of sexist?
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Nope, not one bit! Read my bio and you'll see why I would prefer Sunburst to be a female. Besides, what purpose does having Sunburst be a male serve anyway? Couldn't you say it is sexist to have a male unicorn flunk out of Tia's magic school? The sexism argument works both ways.
Timeline of my emotions for Starlight
Starlight shows up. - there is the psycho villain
Starlight returns - total psycho called it.
Starlight redemption - buck this show and how it keeps redeeming people. That's boring
Starlight is the "sixth ranger" - I'm done
Starlight meets Trixie - huh, now that's interesting
Starlight befriends Trixie, Maud, Starburst and Sunset Shimmer. - so, everyone that mane cast couldn't get along with forms their own group? I like it
Starlight likes kites - hnng, no. Not today. *Panting* I survived far more Cuteness than that.
Okay, okay, Starlight has become awesome. I'm glad they gave her, her own role rather than being Twilight 2.0. I'm even happier that Starlight has given The Great And Powerful Trixie more screen time. Trixie is in my top 10 favorite ponies. FYI, Of the mane 6 only Pinkie is in my top 10.
Now if only the show will stop focusing on human Twilight and give Bacon Princess the love she deserves. Sunset Shimmer should be the source of magic in the human world. None of that b.s. of human Twilight having Alicorn magic.