Points of Canon: Legends of Magic #8

Life has been too unpleasant to actually write, but I did manage to squeeze out a chapter for “Aporia.” Unfortunately for any readers who happen to read my blog – why the hell are you reading the research notes, but ignoring the story they’re written for, anyway? The story is better, but I know a lot of people do just that – that’s Conversation #48, not #47.

Because #47 is Fluttershy, which is becoming a running joke. Anyway. Let’s get back to the other running joke.

Because that’s what Legends are, to the rest of the pony lore, if you ask me: A running, trampling joke.

• The opening page certifies that “The Mighty Helm” is not the name of the polity or even the town Rockhoof originates in, but the “team of the strongest ponies,” i.e. its military force. What is the name of the village itself remains unknown, though, because even Stygian never calls it by name.
• At the same time, Rockhoof is “one of the most legendary ponies in all of Equestria.” That said, this is the Stygian volume of Legends, and as such, has every chance of being written, or at least edited, in the modern day, which leaves it undefined just which meaning of the word “Equestria” applies here.
• Notice that the volume starts with Stygian being extracted from a well that he fell into in volume #7. Which was, apparently, level with the ground, and from inside, appears to be lined with stone – but once Stygian is up on the ground again, the art as well as Rockhoof’s statements imply that it’s just yet another trench Rockhoof just dug out, and is not lined with stone. What’s up with that?…
• “Filter fish” is a species of “magical fish that keep our lake clean [from muck and moss].” I honestly don’t understand why would this require magical fish, and for that matter, how such a useful species of fish would come about. Later shots depict fish with lures like monkfish, but otherwise shaped like normal river fish. Whut?
• “Lumber bears” are a population of timberwolf-like creatures of bear persuasion. Notably, according to Rockhoof, the village area had timber wolves, which they “ran off” – instead of simply using for kindling so that they couldn’t eat some other village, like responsible ponies would – and that caused lumber bears to move in. Not only this ecosystem is bizarre, which is par for the course with magical creatures, this is the only statement so far implying that timber wolves and similar animated-wood fauna exists anywhere outside Everfree area. Correction, DannyJ caught another one in Friendship is Magic #2. Still, timber fauna appears to be very, very rare elsewhere. Also, the lumber bears are depicted as if they have a distinct relation to barrels. With what looks like iron bands holding them together, but apparently isn’t.
• Stygian requests a map of the area and gets it. The map has a marked north, but doesn’t let us put it into correspondence with any modern day maps. Unlike most other maps, it has a grid, which implies that Mighty Helm explorers had an idea of what a meridian is. Notice that most modern maps of Equestria have no grid. It’s likely that flashback rules apply here, though – this is still Sunburst reading a book, after all.
• “Let him talk, captain. I can see the gears grinding in that little head.” Rockhoof knows what gears are, which implies much more advanced industry than should be expected for the period, but this is a complaint about every issue of Legends, not just this one.
• Stygian’s plan for dealing with the lumber bears involves rerouting the river by using Rockhoof’s prodigious digging skills. Coming up with that just by looking at the map, however, would involve the map having information about elevation, which is not visible on the depicted map.

• “Now, I had read the legend of Rockhoof, but I always figured it was an exaggeration.” Notice that this requires a few things to happen:

  • Someone to write the legend down.
  • The written story to end up in Stygian’s hooves, halfway across the continent or so.

  What, do you think, should the news propagation speed be in this society?

• “…So I made a magical wall to keep the river from pushing its way into the trench.”

  • Stygian could do that well before his pony-of-shadows transformation. Which actually would involve considerable force and energy expenditure, water is heavy. Done purely by telekinesis, this would be a feat comparable to Twilight’s stunt in Boast Busters. It might not be, because later, Stygian claims that Rockhoof + shovel is “much heavier than what I’m used to lifting with magic,” but it’s still more power than a regular unicorn, to be sure.
  • Instead of simply connecting the trench to the river at the last moment, which would be the smart thing to do. They do have a time limit, because they expect a fish migration, that starts partway through the digging, but I can’t help but think there could be a more reliable way to solve this problem.

• “A few strong soldiers might be able to fight off the townsfolk, but we need to make sure we can get them out from under the spell.”

  “So it’s a healer we’re after.”

  Notice, not a wizard. Why?!

• When camping with Rockhoof, Stygian cooks what appears to be marshmallows. Which would imply marshmallows are prehistoric, if there was no Sunburst reading this.
• “Here’s the thing, friend. Where I live is high desert, and our town is right next to a volcano.” Despite Rockhoof saying that, this volcano is directly adjacent to the sea, and there’s no sign of a desert in the area at all. Or it being high. Neither in Rockhoof’s time nor now.
• Looking at the bunny’s ridiculously aggressive behavior – which remains unexplained – it’s almost like Angel Bunny is a representative of a specific species rather than an isolated case. We later find out that a fungus is responsible, but that would mean the Angel Bunny is actually infected, wouldn’t it?…
• “It’s a hippogriff!” Stygian knows what hippogriffs are, even though he considers them a myth. Which has a lot of implications regarding the state of hippogriff/seapony kingdom at the time this legend is supposed to happen at, since Stygian knows about both seaponies and hippogriffs, and considers both legendary.
• “I’m Mage Meadowbrook, and unless you wanna spend your whole day fighting bunnies, I suggest you follow me.” If you introduce yourself as “Mage Meadowbrook,” doesn’t it follow that “Mage” is simply your first name?… Possibly, even short for something silly like “Margerie…”
• “So you’re the same Mage Meadowbrook that discovered the cure for swamp fever?” See the above considerations regarding Rockhoof’s legend.
• “Your whole town? That must be one heck of a spell.” Notice that Meadowbrook is not surprised to be asked to remove a spell. For a healer, this is apparently normal.
• “I thought if I could hold them still, maybe I could use the mask to calm them down. It usually works.” Notice that Meadowbrook is attempting to use the mask on creatures other than bees, and still expects it to work. For Some Reason.

• “We’re forming a travelling band of heroes! Every good party needs a healer!”

  • Notice the typo in “traveling,” I didn’t make this one.
  • The idea of an adventuring party is normal to Rockhoof.

• “Allie? Allie, it’s me, Meadowbrook!”

  “These alligators can speak pony?”

  “No, just Allie. We grew up together. She picked it up from me.”

  • Notice, not “Ponish.” Compare to Sounds of Silence.
  • The alligator doesn’t just respond in readable text that even Stygian appears to understand – because he does not ask what did she say – but lives in a hole with a door. And a handle. And while I’m tempted to build those theories that sapience can rub off from ponies onto other creatures – this would certainly do a lot to explain cows and sheep! – this is quite shaky, since the hole is a dwelling for two more alligators and therefore, the whole family is clearly sapient.
  • Later, Meadowbrook talks to three bears in a very similar dwelling, too, and otherwise presents a universal translator ability not unlike Fluttershy’s. Only more powerful, because other ponies seem to share in it.

  Thankfully, by modern day all those sapient animals appear to have died out.

• “It’s either a plant or a fungus. And I happen to know that this fungus has only been growing here recently.” Telling one fungus from another would involve more complicated tools than you would expect.
• Wait, so if it’s a wild fungus, and it infected just about every herbivore around, why isn’t Meadowbrook affected? Does she eat nothing that grows in the swamp?

Yeah, I remember why I lost all the enthusiasm about writing up PoC on comics when this one came out.

To be continued in #9…

Comments

[Shrink Laureate]

• “Filter fish” is a species of “magical fish that keep our lake clean [from muck and moss].” I honestly don’t understand why would this require magical fish, and for that matter, how such a useful species of fish would come about. Later shots depict fish with lures like monkfish, but otherwise shaped like normal river fish. Whut?

Is that reference to gefilte?

[Oliver]

5015266

Alas, no idea.

[iisaw]

Coming up with that just by looking at the map, however, would involve the map having information about elevation, which is not visible on the depicted map.

A possibly apocryphal story blames the Gallipoli disaster on this very thing: When planning the beachhead, Churchill was given a large-scale map... yes, you guessed it... with no elevation markings. I tend to believe it, because lots of idiotic things like that happened in WWI and the alternative is to assume that Churchill was stupid enough to think sheer cliffs would make an excellent site for a landing zone.

5015266

[Reese]

Ah, sorry to hear that you've been having problems; I hope that life gets more pleasant for you soon.

[Cursed Quill]

I can see how that would drain your enthusiasm.

When camping with Rockhoof, Stygian cooks what appears to be marshmallows. Which would imply marshmallows are prehistoric,

They've been around a long, long time on our side.

• Notice the typo in “traveling,” I didn’t make this one.

It's just not the US form.

[DannyJ]

Not only this ecosystem is bizarre, which is par for the course with magical creatures, this is the only statement so far implying that timber wolves and similar animated-wood fauna exists anywhere outside Everfree area.

Untrue! Timberwolves also appear on the map of the Forest of Leota from Return of Chrysalis, which appears at the end of issue #2.