Cutie Marks: Reflection of a soul, pure magic or something else? Maniak's opinion on the nature of butt stamps · 6:56am Mar 7th, 2018
What is a Cutie Mark?
A question that kinda bothers the minds of bronies everywhere now and then, as there is no clear answer. The MLP wiki describes a cutie mark as simply a magical symbol of a ponies talent to which they develop a personal bound, which is how we also see them often in show. But then there are also those who argue that cutie marks are more and in fact essential for a pony to live.
Recently, a certain DuckKing has decided to rant a bit of what he thinks cutie marks are, based on entries of the MLP wiki, his own theories and to pee on the opinions of others who criticize his work. Particularly to people who yank at him that if he his piss poor B-plot villains remove the cutie marks of others, they are removing part of a ponies soul or their very magic.
And in parts I have to say, he is right to think people are over reacting. Cause cutie Marks are not what I would consider a pony’s soul.
Now please ignore the flying pig outside your home that all off sudden materialized when I said something so unbelievable about DuckKingMichael and hear me out:
Personally I believe that a soul is the entirety of a person’s personality. Their traits, fears, interests, memories and emotions they are able to feel or experience, combined with the wonderful little thing called free will. Now, do I also believe that a human’s “soul” also keeps on after someone dies as many religions proclaim? Not really. Sorry, not a religious person in that regard. It is in my opinion a comforting thought that something of people we love or that makes us who we are, survives even after our time on this planet has ended. But I don’t believe it something like that exists in a “clear” form. If anything I believe the only thing that remains of us after we die, is memories. Memories by people who know us, memories of things we did to shape the world in any way or form. In that regard, as twisted as it sounds, many of histories biggest dictators will live on far longer than any regular Joes, because their atrocious actions affected so many generations. But at the same time, the works of fiction certain people did to celebrate the good of humans? It too will exist for a long time.
But lets go back to the ponies and leave the rest up for a philosophy class.
With my definition of a soul in mind, every sentient creature in FiM has a soul in my opinion, because they have memories, personalities and so on.
So, what are Cutie Marks then?
As I believe, they are a manifested representation of the link between the dormant magic of a pony and the ponies soul.
Let me elaborate on this theory:
The show has made clear in the season 4 finale, that all ponies in Equestria are in some form magical. Earth Ponies are super strong and are more in tune with nature, unicorns can do magic on a physical level and pegasi can fly. All because of some sort of inner mana pool each pony is born with.
This pool is something Tirek feeded on, which weakened any of his victims and was in part represented as their Cutie Marks vanishing.
At the same time though, the ponies kept their personality which in my opinion is an indicator for Tirek not sucking up their soul.
As another example, we saw in the season 5 opener how Starlight was able to remove a ponies cutie mark. Doing so actually affected the ponies, making Pinkie for example duller, Applejack couldn’t even speak the way she normally did and their talents were either cancelled out or downed down (like Dash’s ability to fly, which as established, is connected to the mana pool of a pegasi)
Let me based on those two examples now explain what my link between dormant magic and the soul is meant to say.
Let us assume that the inner mana pool and the “soul” of a pony are two independent entities of a ponies spirituality. While they are independent, they are also in some way or form connected to one another. This connection, for a lack of a better word, is something that the ponies are not entirely aware of, but still exists on a metaphysical level throughout a ponies entire life. At the same time, if a pony finds out what it is good at, what the pony does is it comes to terms (subconsciously or consciously) with a trait of its personality, it may connects to for the rest of its life. This connection begins to manifest itself then magically in form of a cutie mark.
Subsequently, if one of these three spiritual aspects (the inner magic, the soul or the cutie mark link) is in some way or form manipulated or tainted, it will affect to different degrees the other two, with the connection itself being hit the hardest.
Which is in my opinion exactly what Tirek and Starlight did, though in different manners.
Tirek sucked up the inner magic of his victims, in doing so only leaving the soul of the pony and breaking the connection to its partner. This breaking of the connection manifested itself in adult ponies by their cutie marks vanishing and was restored, when their inner magic returned.
Starlight on the other hand, did something more cunning.
She “removed” the connection and replaced it with another one.
We can not forget, Starlight not only removed the Cutie Marks and locked them away in a vault (and some strawberry jam pots. Seriously?), she also gave ponies new ones in form of her equal marks. Equal marks, which as far as seen in the opener, would also weirdly glow if a pony was going to use its talent or express itself in a more personal manner.
I think what these equal marks were, were in fact also -though Starlight and other ponies do not realize it- replacement connections between the soul and a ponies inner magic.
These replacements were able to affect both a pony’s mana pool (explaining why AJ for example also lost part of her strength) and their personality (aka one aspect of their soul) by damping emotional responses to make a pony more “equal”.
In addition, seeing how the cutie marks of Starlight’s victims were literally swarming back to their owners after their hold was broken, I assume that this connection between a pony’s mana and its soul is so natural, any attempts to tamper with it are normally getting rejected or will have some consequences for the pony.
To give examples for that, don’t look further than to what happened when Applebloom tried to use magic on two occasions to get her cutie mark.
Remember, Twilight used magic on Applebloom’s first solo episode, because the filly asked her for help in getting a mark. It did not work. Anything that manifested vanished almost immediately.
Which in my opinion was the result of Applebloom’s inner magic refusing the kind of symbol its connection to her soul would have taken on.
The other example was, when Applebloom used the magic plant Hearts Desire to get a cutie mark. You remember the cutie pox? What I believed happened here was, that Hearts Desire as a magic plant had actually not affected the connection, as much as it affected her inner magic.
Remember what I try to say: The cutie mark is a connection between a pony’s soul and its magic and affecting one of the three also has consequences for at least one of the other two.
So by consuming the plant and therefore affecting her inner magic, Applebloom forcefully made the connection manifest itself. However, as Zecora herself stated in the episode, Hearts Desire can also have negative consequences. This consequences in Applebloom’s case were actually that her inner magic went haywire, as such creating more cutie marks, which in reality was just a manifestation of her corrupted magic forcing her body to do things she did not want. Only after she ate the cure and as such cleansed her magic, the marks disappeared and she became normal again.
And those are not necessarily the other examples.
Remember the spell of Twilight, that switched the marks of her friends. What I think happened here was, that instead of swapping their marks, Twilight actually swapped what by accident parts of her friends soul, which in turn also affected the cutie marks and was shown as such. The part of the soul she swapped? Their friends talents, composed in huge parts out of their life experiences and memories, explaining why they were convinced they always had certain jobs they did not have and why by reminding them of what they really can do and who they are, Twilight managed to change them back again.
Now I will also admit, this theory and my explanation for some of the show’s most significant, cutie mark related moments, is just that: a theory. Something I made up to make sense out of these moments, as the actual show writers tend to have a certain concept of what cutie marks are, but then seemingly adapt the concept to fit with ideas for stories as they please, meaning there is no clear cut out definition of what cutie marks are and their nature.
But I think that if we look at a pony’s magic, their soul and their cutie mark as separate yet in some way also interacting elements of what makes it who it is on a spiritual level, it becomes way easier to understand the workings of magic in Equestria and to come up with ideas for stories, where something happens that may affect one of those three or all of them.
With that said, if we look at Mykan’s stories now with my theory in mind, we just get some hilarious idiocy to read about. At least season 4 of Starfleet and his Grand Ruler become way funnier, as my theory would suggest his mana pool and soul are so rotten, there is no way to connect them spiritually.
And the DuckKing hating on Cutie Marks as such? Let’s face it, it is just him trying to hate on another thing of MLP he doesn’t like and thinks he can make better.
Therefore Grand Ruler needs to be so powerful and super special (do not steal) that he can not have a cutie mark, even if he is so awesomely multitalented.
…seriously, this is the most self fellating thing I ever saw since stumbling upon a really weird futa manga.
So anyway, those were my two cents on the subject. Any thoughts?
I think that you might have something there.
You know, a part of this makes me think of the magic system back in Slayers. Of how each spell caster had two sets of magical potiential, one they were born with that said how much power they could weild, and then one they could train.
Well, hey that's all we can do sometimes, come up with fun theroies that allow us to see the world as we see it. Hell, I wonder how many of us did that about avatar and who the first one is until the Legend of Korra.
I also love your theory because it harkens back to the idea of harmony and a system of unity. Three parts working together in a single part as one.
For me, it just says that Grand Ruler and the other guys have no talent whatsoever. That they really have nothing special about them or unique.
Don't forget "Child of the gods."
...
Who are these gods anyway? The Digimon divas? The dark gods of Slayers? Arceus? Lauren and Bonnie?
I think again, we are working on the same wavelength here. As I said in my live reads, they are a manefestation of your soul. And you are basically saying that, a balance of soul, mana, and a pony. It's why it's so hard to change it or why it pops up when a little foal hits puberty, because that is when their magic is finally beginning to manifest fully. Dash gained speed, Applejack strength, and Rarity learning to bring out the beauty of things. It's basically a spiritual quest that brings out your innerself. It's part of why its fun to think of one for your OC. (Like for instance, I gave Kudos the symbol of Eugenics for his, and for mine it's a paper with a quill).
It's an interesting theory and very well written out.