GlimGlam is Very Interesting and Here's Why · 9:34pm Feb 9th, 2021
Howdy.
You might have been in the fandom for a while and noticed that some people dislike precious Glimmy. You might note them cite reasons why they dislike her. Perhaps her nonsensical motivation for villainy and equalisation? Perhaps her questionable and dubious ethical orientations? Do people insist that she is forced in episodes?
Yes. Yes they do. And I've had to listen to them for half a decade. It's been great. I feel great.
Recently a thread went up and, once again, I recited my take on the character. That thread was, tragically, deleted by the original poster, and whilst we do mourn for it, we can take solace that I had my entire response cached. So that's nice.
Since the matter comes up a fair bit on forums, and since I feel poor GlimGlam gets poorly done by by a lot of the fandom (she has hate groups and everything! The sign of true international success) I've decided to put some of my thoughts into a blog post on the matter. I hope to dispel some misconceptions about the character and, in general, better arm people with stronger character analysis so that, even if you don't like the character, the calibre of discussion in general can be elevated a tad higher.
Most of my points are from a salvaged post from the Starlight Glimmer group. I will have edited it to fit a blog format, of course, but the bulk will remain the same. I may also cheekily add some stuff in there too. My ultimate goal isn't to convince you to like Starlight. I think it's perfectly okay to dislike characters, especially in a show where the sheer variety of colourful characters kinda makes it real hard to like all of them. But I do want to explain why a lot of the pseudo-analysis that gets tossed around doesn't stand up, and really dive into how her character works a bit to explain why she's actually a pretty interesting and well-put-together character.
Let's begin!
To begin, I'd like to preface some common criticisms I've seen throughout my time here. Among them is that Starlight doesn't evolve as a character, that she has a dumbass motivation, and that she's given undue favouritism by the writers. I've seen some argue she flipflops to the side of good too quickly, and others say she never actually learns to be good at all.
I can't address all the criticisms every denizen of the internet has thrown at her simply because some are contradictory. Instead this is going to be a simple analysis and examination of how she works, what she's about, and then explore briefly what doesn't work so well about how she's written in my opinion. However, these common criticisms are things to bear in mind since a lot of what follows will be aimed specifically at these types of arguments.
Chapter One: Starlights Conflict and Flaw
In order to analyse Starlight's character at its most fundamental, which is crucial to address the areas in which she does and doesn't work, we need to identify her fundamental flaw and the direction in which she grows as a character.
Much like characters like Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and to be honest most other major characters other than (arguably) Fluttershy, the show does not explicitly come up and explain 'this is the problem this character has'. The overt, surface level problem Rainbow displays, for example, is egotism and narcissism, but this surface level analysis doesn't stack up. Any slightly below-surface level analysis would highlight a dramatic lack of confidence and insecurity as a driving factor in a lot of her misadventures. We learn this from how she breaks down when contemplating failure, how she overblows attachment, and even has a history of being bullied.
Starlight is made especially complex because she doesn't wear her true motivations on her sleeve. Her equalised village and stated desire to 'bring equality' does not represent her 'true' motivations; her rhetoric about fairness is a ruse, and it's possible not even Starlight really realises this at the time. Later, she cites her friend leaving due to him getting a cutie-mark as a motivation for her actions, but she doesn't even make it very clear why this motivated her to target Twilight in response. Start Equality Town, sure, but then, why wouldn't she try to perform this Equality thing on Sunburst? There's gaps in logic here, and this is usually a sign of a character who has a more complexity than what they initially show.
So what's her actual flaw and motivation?
Starlight, not so dissimilarly from Twilight in this regard, is a control-freak.
What's crucial to note regarding the equalised town is that she was in control of it. She was the one performing the operation and she had all the power. The others couldn't leave because they couldn't function in a society that wasn't equalised. Couldn't function in a society without Starlight. This should come as no surprise since Starlight later cites a friend leaving her as being a moment of immense insecurity. Starlight set up her perfect world, and it wasn't an equal world (Starlight keeping her powers is evidence of this hypocrisy) but a world where nobody could leave her. Later we see her panic and resort to things like mind-controlling, meticulous perfectionism, and other controlling, dominating behaviour.
Given how she spent her whole life running away from addressing her inability to control everything by forcing control over her surroundings, making her perfect little bubble where everything is perfect for her, she has no experience dealing with confronting her own powerlessness. In this moment she responds with anger, which motivates her targeting Twilight Sparkle. Much of her actions in this encounter are aimed at showing Twilight how powerless she is against Starlight, and to Starlight's credit, she has the magic skills to back this up. In this instance we can see a second flaw manifest; Starlight doesn't understand that other ponies are special. It's all about her. The idea that other ponies have such a big impact on the world doesn't work with her view that she is in control of everything.
When Twilight explains that because her friendship with her friends was ruined all of Equestria gets repeatedly doomed, Starlight is incredulous. It doesn't make sense to her that one small group of ponies could possibly be so important, and why would she? In her Town, she made every pony disposable and replaceable. She was the only one that mattered. She is a deeply unhealthy pony who has exerted control over other ponies by viewing them as replaceable. This is the third time she is forced to confront her weakness; the first time was when she couldn't control her relationships changing as a child, the second was when she lost control of her town, and the third was when she couldn't even lash out properly against the pony she blamed for ruining her perfect safe bubble.
This is the first instance of Starlight getting a moment of self-realisation. She becomes aware that she is flawed and it's the first step towards her overcoming them.
Realising her flaws is the first step we have to make to be able to analyse her properly. Understanding that, central to Starlight's character, is a major conflict about control, is the first major step to being able to dissect her behaviour later, since so much of her character revolves around ideas like redemption, self-improvement, and healing. Without understanding the flaws she's trying to rise above, this analysis simply doesn't work, and it's why assuming that she 'hates cutie marks', as an example, misrepresents her character in a major way, oversimplifying it.
Chapter 2: Redemption or Healing?
The following season (season 6) is, I would argue, about Starlight. Yes, it's also about Twilight being challenged in a way she never really has before at this scale; Starlight is outrageously damaged and just straight up warped as a pony, and it's up to her to find a way to help Starlight get better. The closest we've come to this was Discord, but Discord didn't really interact with Twilight much. Starlight by contrast is explicitly Twilight's protégé.
If Twilight can help Starlight in a long-lasting and meaningful way, then Twilight's theories about friendship being for all are justified, because let's face it, if you can help Starlight with friendship, then realistically almost anyone who wants to change, no matter how shit, has the possibility to do so.
The catch? Starlight is sort of a villain.
Starlight is still a control-freak and her first instinct when confronted with problems is to assume direct control. She mind-controls Twilight's friends in a panic (again going back to her problems of seeing ponies as replaceable or disposable on top of her control freak issues). She avoids tackling the aspects of friendship studies she's uncomfortable with, diving deeper into the things she is good at (magic) to cope. She's aware of these problems but it's not like her instincts, evolved over years and years of unhealthily enforcing her will over others, are just going to go away. Even after this season they will never truly go away; she simply becomes better at recognising when she has let her weaknesses overcome her judgement.
Again and again Starlight tends to learn how to relinquish control; to share responsibility with Trixie, for example (it's no coincidence that Starlight immediately gravitates to a pony who is also morally ambiguous), and maybe not mind-control others. To not relapse into domineering behaviour, even if she thinks it's for the good of someone else (Road to Friendship comes to mind).
This theme recurs in that season and culminates in the excellent finale To Where and Back Again.
Chapter 3: The Graduation
If Twilight's graduation was when she got her friends to help themselves by reminding each other of what their destinies were, Starlight's takes place in To Where and Back Again. Starlight, a former villain, is joined by no less than three other former baddies or bad-associated characters: Discord (who needs no introduction), Thorax (who, yes, is adorable, but is also a changeling and was part of the evil force that invaded Canterlot) and Trixie (who slightly took over Ponyville herself, and nearly destroyed it twice as the antagonist in two episodes). If the significance of these four characters with complex morality teaming up with Starlight goes over your head, then I'm not sure how much I can help you. This is a team of characters who have experience with the wrong side of morality, and it's kind of a big deal.
Why this two-parter is better than pretty much every finale until this point isn't really relevant to Starlight, but it's very worth mentioning that unlike in Twilight's two-parters, every character plays a pretty crucial role in getting them through Chrysalis's hive. It feels like an adventure involving all the characters, not just Twilight bringing along five friends to use as a battery to shoot a laserbeam. Hell, in a lot of finales most of her friends don't even need to be there. I don't like the Twilight & Pals format, and this finale was a breath of fresh air for me.
But the parts relevant to Starlight's character take place at the end.
The significance of Starlight relinquishing control to Thorax to try and destroy the throne is very pertinent given her previous control-freak flaw. The significance of her using herself as a decoy is pertinent given how she used to see other ponies as disposable, only to now be humble enough to see their worth over herself. The significance of her, a pony who led a cult by keeping the ponies around her weak, telling Thorax to share his love and thereby undercut Chrysalis's own cult-like influence over her people is very pertinent, and mirrors how Twilight returned control to Starlight's followers many episodes earlier. Lastly, it's incredibly pertinent that Starlight does the exact same thing Twilight did for her after the events of Our Town and offers a hand to Chrysalis, only for Chrysalis to behave exactly as Starlight did and reject her and run away, plotting revenge.
Unlike Starlight, Chrysalis never gets over her rage, but in this moment, Starlight, probably the most flawed pony of the main cast by a massive mile overcame all of her flaws, flaws that were deeply ingrained in her personality and were on display since her inception.
Chapter Four: The Problems with Starlight
The problems with Starlight isn't that she's in episodes, or that her backstory doesn't make sense, or that her motivation is inconsistent (it's actually very consistent; she just hides it initially). The problem with Starlight is, in my opinion, presentation. Specifically, the Cutie-ReMark finale of season 5.
I struggle with this finale because it has the opportunity to really show the hypocrisy Starlight displays, but is otherwise so preoccupied with going through a lot of alternate fanservicey timelines that ultimately don't go anywhere. Starlight's need for control and her inability to see ponies as special can't even get addressed here because for the majority of the time Starlight's not even there. How can Starlight show her true motives (and don't get me wrong this finale is the easiest place to show these things) when for the most part Twilight is flicking through alternate timelines that get erased five minutes later?
This leaves viewers with just one scene where Starlight is explaining why she hates cutie-marks, which misses the point. Cutie-marks were just one of the things that took control away from Starlight, and whilst it makes sense that Starlight would project her insecurities onto cutie-marks, particularly at a young age, this brief introduction to her motivation is immediately undercut by the lack of time the episode has to show how that progressed into her taking control of the town and running from her lack of control, turning her into an insecure tyrant.
This leaves viewers with only a few lines describing her motivation. Whilst people like me (lunatics who spend an absurd amount of time picking apart episodes and character motivations) will look past this shoddy misrepresentation of her character and see the actual recurring problems she has, a lot more people will use it as an excuse to not look deeper, and therefore miss all this growth she displays throughout the season.
Later after To Where and Back Again she flipflops a bit, which is also a bit wibbly, but as the show becomes more about international harmony, I'm a bit more forgiving to overlook it.
Conclusion
I dig that Starlight is a harder character to examine than most because she spends a lot of time hiding her true motivations as a villain and later the season 5 finale squanders its time and fails to properly convey her true motivation, but looking at what her motivation and flaw is and how it gets presented (especially through season 6) shows a pretty poignant growth. It's not perfect (few things in MLP are, when you get right down to it) it's frankly the best redemption the show has. By contrast, Discord is a bit... weird, Nightmare Moon's redemption is practically nonexistent, and the changelings in general just sort of switch sides.
Starlight shows that changing is hard, and she puts effort in. This alone makes her redemption work more I'd argue than Discord or Luna (who just got lasered in the face and only showed a bit of anxiety about it a few seasons later).
I'm not saying you have to like her, but this is where we are today. She's a villain trying to fit in amongst ponies who are all inherently much nicer than her, and every one of her instincts runs counter to what she has to do on a day-to-day basis just to get along with others. Hers is certainly the longest redemption arc in the show, but frankly, calling it redemption feels reductive to me. It's a constant battle she faces against herself, not a simple binary 'you are now good' situation.
I find that pretty poignant.
Anyway. I hope you enjoyed my rambling. I happen to be a bit of a fan of Starlight; I find her deal with complex morality to be especially fun and interesting, and her journey is in my opinion one of the more interesting ones in the show.
Have fun my dudes.
Some people are just plain wrong. I jest, I jest, please don't punish me.
Anyway, interesting read regarding Starlight. Certainly is food for thought.
But I don't think you mentioned probably the most common criticism, besides her cutie mark motivation. The lack of
retributionpunishmentjustice for Starlight's crimes when she was a villain and her episodic blunders (primarily the whole mind control episode). Granted it isn't strictly speaking Starlight's problem personally.Objection, Trixie isn't responsible for the first destruction. How was Trixie supposed to know that a pair of kids would take her boast seriously and actually lure an Ursa Minor? She still was rather antagonistic in the episode and I don't buy the usual justifications for her behavior.
Mmmmm. That is some good Glimmy. I’m just gonna copy this and share it next time someone starts hating on her needlessly. Thank you for the wonderful analysis.
Basically this, yes. Starlight is a fantastic dark reflection of Twilight. As much as I like Sunset, I have to admit that the other Skylight Lightverb is more a counterpart than a shadow archetype, defined at least as much by ambition, rage, and entitlement as control. Not very Twilit qualities. But the need for control, the sticking to her comfort zone, the discounting others... There but for the grace of Celestia goes Twi.
I took a while to warm up to Starlight, but I'm glad I did.
5451154
It's called asking for trouble.
Once, I boasted that I could beat a horse in single combat. Within the week a horse came and bested me in single combat. No joke. Horses are vicious buggers and they sense that kind of weakness. My point is that the cosmos looks at people like myself and Trixie, the CHR builds of the universe, and despises us and looks for any opportunity to kick us in the nuts.
Trixie should have known better. - _ -
For real I think that episode is rather complex in of itself, but since I'm not really focussing on Trixie specifically, I didn't go into it.
I possibly should have gone into more deets regarding the lack of punishment, but frankly, going in-depth about the merit of retribution, the difference between vengeance and justice, and so on, is an essay in and of itself. I'd much rather just highlight what's cool about her than endlessly justify a lack of retributive karma in a narrative context, I guess. : )
5451163 By all means. Have fun!
5451194 The angle of her being a 'dark shadow' isn't one I think of often, but it's certainly worth considering. I like the vibe that she's almost like a Twilight, but way worse, which makes her a unique challenge for Twilight. I really do find Starlight fascinating, since her darker vibes jive with me in a big way.
Huh. Never seen anyone write anything even half as convincing about Where and Back's merit.
I tell you though, all Cutie Re-Mark needed was five seconds at the end of the damn song for Rainbow Dash to cross her arms, say, "Yeah, but you're gonna have to work for it," and Starlight looks sheepish as she cowers under the glares of the rest of Twilight's friends, if not also Twilight herself. Instead, it seems like the song is literally all that's required to say, "She's a good person now". Which is not what it's doing, but as you said, the surface level keeps people from wanting to dig deeper.
5451239 It's always the Cutie Re-Mark, man.
I dig that the alternate timelines are cool, but for once the show has a two-parter, which practically lifts the constant and gruelling time-restraint that the vast majority of episodes bend and break under, and it gets whittled away by visiting something like three alternate timelines and a montage, all of which whittles away time that could have been done for so much more.
You're right; setting up something like you said could help. Using the time shenanigans to explore Starlight's past and evolution could have helped as well! Even bringing a bunch of alternate main cast to confront Starlight would have been nice, if only so they weren't scenery (although I do struggle to see how it would have helped Starlight's presentation).
I dig the vibe they were going for, but I feel like the style-over-substance approach has left me with something like five years of having to recite the same kind of excuses about Starlight. So perchance Hap is a little bitter about it.
We do get this gif tho!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/11/28/1032014.gif
So, you know, I can't stay too mad.
I love this
5451222
Of course, now you must make a Trixie blog. You cannot resist it is your destiny!
5451251
Starlight has given us a lot of .gifs.
i.ibb.co/TvjTm0b/1567655368211.gif
i.ibb.co/f0fVkTd/1594867503914.gif
5451549 It will be considered.
Although it might as well be 'Boast Busters: the Convoluted Essay' for at least like half of it...
Glad to see this material wasn't lost to the capricious ego of another.
I think the blog does pretty well highlighting surface-level analysis vs doing it right. What makes Glimmy so great is how she changes rather than what she's like at any given point along the way. Too many complaints seem to be "this point here is bad so the whole thing is bad." I'm reminded directly of the lesson Starswirl learned from Starlight. Almost as if the writer saw those complaints and addressed them directly.
There is a distinct hatred towards characters that change. I suspect, for them, being confronted with the prospect of self-improvement is too uncomfortable.
On to criticism.
I think you glossed over the redemption/healing vs justice/vengeance bit. You instead mostly rehashed the "Starlight needs to be in control" element.
While pointing out how "healing Starlight shows how awesome Twilight is" is a pretty great point, the argument I've often seen and you mention in the open is "Starlight didn't get punished enough." Paired with that "Starlight should instantly be good" sort of arguments would be a chance to explain how watching a character stumble along is better storytelling and what kind of punishment Starlight actually got.
A major disconnect I typically see is that haters identify Starlight living with Twilight as a reward. Being friends with her and the other girls is a reward, thus Starlight was rewarded for her crimes instead of punished. It's another surface-level assessment.
What they miss out is that Starlight is essentially confined. There are no bars or locks, which might not work anyway. Starlight is confined as voluntarily as many IRL prisoners are. She's been sentenced and agrees to serve her sentence. It's all the more powerful because there are no bars, locks, or manacles forcing her.
Starlight is a willing prisoner in Twilight's castle and agrees to the tasks/lessons Twilight assigns to her. In Every Little Thing, Starlight's reluctance takes the forefront and she backslides into control. But the important element is that she doesn't want to do this, she feels she has to and makes a bad choice in how to do it.
We're not watching an instantly fixed character suddenly be one of the good guys. There was no rainbow lazer to the face for Starlight. We're watching someone in the process of not just accepting she did wrong, but learning how to not be wrong. We're watching therapy for a broken character. Not rewards.
The show doesn't treat "friendship" like money. It's not a prize to be won or earned. It is a force of good that makes things better. Having friends is good. Being a good friend is difficult but worth it. There's no magic switch to flip but a gradual process to navigate through. Befriending Starlight in order to guide her into a better person was the best story told in MLP and those that hate her probably need some self-reflection.
5451780
That's a pretty nifty perspective, and it does kinda track considering a lot of shallow criticism I've read.
I guess from the perspective of the season 5 finale, her being made Twilight's student is presented as a reward of sorts, though. In the sense that Starlight's 'reward' for taking her chance with Twilight and giving up on her anger is being able to have a chance to work on her various issues. At least, I believe it could be interpreted that way, even if I don't think it really makes sense to persist with that interpretation past the season 5 finale. It's also not the kind of reward I imagine a lot of weaker analysis would interpret her being made into Twilight's pupil as, which (from my anecdotal experience) has sort of wish-fulfilment undertones.
A strong point. Perhaps it'll be something I'll remember to bring up in future. : )
This is fantastic analysis of Starlight's character. One thing that could be examined more: Starlight is the biggest control freak ever. Yet when she has this choice of who to befriend, she picks Trixie, who comes off as the least controllable pony in the show. (Like maybe she has oppositional defiance disorder). Did Starlight suspect Trixie would challenge her more than anyone else?
5451932 I'm not entirely sure. Certainly it's true that Trixie does challenge Starlight a lot, which makes them a very fun duo in my opinion, but I confess I'm not really sure whether this is something Starlight intended for or not.
I feel like the significance of Trixie is that, like Starlight, she had a history of being on the wrong side of the story, functioning as a sort of antagonist stand-in in Boast Busters and then a proper megalomaniac villain in the Alicorn Amulet episode. In that regard, she was probably the only other character with that aspect in common with Starlight other than Discord, who perhaps isn't Starlight's type. Luna might have worked, but she's a bit... unavailable a lot of the time. That would have been interesting to see, though!
5451789
I think we're on the same sheet of music here. The perspective exists and is held by a non-zero (and potentially high) number of haters. As you note, it's possible to argue, shallowly, that Starlight received a reward. I've argued with people saying directly this very thing.
My own perspective is that Starlight was punished. I think a deeper analysis would prove this.
The "wish fulfilment" aspect is fairly important to understanding this disagreement. It informs several of the "arguments" they make. They don't want a good story. They want to marry Twilight Sparkle (or whoever their pony waifu of choice is). The idea of living with Twilight (regardless of context) is a dream. And Starlight got that. She got to live in Ponyville. She gets to be on the show. She gets to be in episodes. All of these things are things they want for themselves and Starlight got them.
The two sides are often arguing completely different things. We're arguing for a good story which Starlight's arc was (though not without flaws). The notion that the haters misunderstand the ratio of virtues:flaws in that story and we can better educate them on that ratio to convince them may be misguided. Instead, they're trying to use "criticism" language to sound reasonable when they're really just simping for a waifu.
"Twilight Sparkle is best pony. Starlight did bad things to her so she needs to be cast into pony hell!" is not an argument about story quality. It's one of personal preference, which can't really be argued for or against.
5453090 Cynical, but it tracks as far as I'm concerned.
I personally feel that the treating it as either punishment or reward is a bit reductive (which is another reason why I may not bring it up a lot in forums and stuff). It's interesting to consider her perpetual reform as a punishment, though, especially from her perspective. I dig the vibe that she's at least partly trying to 'fix' herself out of remorse or something. It's a cool angle.
To be real I don't especially mind that people simp for Twilight or hate Starlight or whatever, but I do wish that they'd either be honest about it or at least get some stronger discussion going around the topic. If only so I get to enjoy a little novelty in the forums now and then...
As someone who has been defending Glim-Glam for years, this blog was a relief to see. I'm glad you pointed out how Starlight, in reality, isn't fully reformed by the end of Season 5 and needs all of Season 6 to fully turn over. It felt like the most realistic way for a pony to become "good", rather than the quick about-face we usually see in villains.
It's that bastard song, is what it is.
I understand the reasons behind it. Finish with a musical flourish, pack in lots of exposition, get as much information across as possible in the tiny remaining runtime. But it gives the wrong message, counterproductively, on several levels. Starlight is fixed now! Starlight is forgiven! Starlight is part of the gang!
It not only skips through (and so removes from season 6) several important scenes it would have been good to actually see, it happens very quickly despite probably covering quite a long period of time. It reinforces the message a couple of people have already mentioned, that Starlight is being rewarded for her misdeeds by getting to join the team and hang out with our beloved characters without having earned it, and on a more meta level, barging her way into the show Poochie-style without having earned that either. Add in the possibility of latent unhappiness with Twilight's ascension not having made much karmic sense either, plus a target for displeasure who until the closing minutes of the episode had been excellently written as a scheming antagonist who very specifically and effectively pushed the buttons of a beloved heroine, and the resentment is kind of understandable.
Which is a shame, because as you say, Starlight's redemption isn't completed by the end of the song. This is the start of her rehabilitation, not the end, and it's going to be a drawn out process that shows her struggles, development, backsliding and pride in little achievements; it's a redemption that won't fully feel earned until an entire season later, and still feels precarious even after that. We know this now because of hindsight - and I agree l love the long arc of her hard work in rehab, her steps making friends with other troubled characters, dealing with issues too dark or nonsensical for the mane 6 to confront this late in the game, the way the castle is her halfway house and not a palace for her to lounge around in - but none of that is apparent from the song.
It's not even a bad song, but because it's given almost no lead in, and because it's upbeat and hopeful and celebratory, it just feels hugely jarring, emotional whiplash... It's not even that we needed something approaching closure and didn't get it, it's that it feels like a cackhanded attempt at closure when what we actually needed was to be reassured the story wasn't done yet.
Anyway, I love her, just in case that's not clear, and I think she was badly treated as a character by the manner of her addition to the show being "announced" like that.
5453878 I find musicals in general don't work for me that well. I suspect that, when you don't have a lot of time to wrap something up, it might have seemed like the best bet in order to get across what was happening. There's always context lost when told through a musical number, though!
Like, I dig that Twilight's response is to put Starlight through the same conditions Twilight was, which makes a lot of sense to me. There you are, faced with a walking disaster on the scale of Starlight who not only has never really had friends, but also doesn't seem to get it. What I'd do is probably introduce her to my own friends, who at this point are pretty used to this sort of thing, explain that we're trying to help Starlight so give her a chance, which in a musical number probably looks kinda like what we get.
What would have been more powerful (and Present Perfect mentions something along these lines in an earlier comment) is actually doing the introductions properly, and showing that mix of trepidation and cautious optimism that I think it makes sense for them to have felt, but dialogue, particularly rather complex dialogue with a lot of characters, often takes up more precious minutes, so there might simply not have been enough time to work through that properly.
Normally this is where I begin forgiving the show due to time constraints, but in this instance I think it's entirely their own fault for squandering their time that two-parter on alternate timelines.
It's a complicated issue and I think there's a lot that could have gone differently in the s5 finale; probably too many alternatives to list. This is what we got, though, and whilst I can peer through the episode and find the intent within, it's way more of a struggle than it needs to be.
(probably obvious, but I got here from that hyperlink)
It's poetic that in the end, the pony that tried to, despite her own probable conscious thoughts to the contrary, went from making ponies' only purpose in life to be to be her friends by being the same, stripping out individuality for the "greater good," to trusting that a group of diverse ponies would save the world, in a way that all control she'd have would then be out of her hooves, in direct contradiction to her cynical view that no group of friends, especially not ones so different, could be so important; letting go all of her control from there on (I don't really see her as really being a control freak as of S9, anyway). Even as far back as S6, she was making changelings unequal, in contrast to her old ways that Chrysalis embodied, and contrasted her in that she continued to do so, no matter how self-evident it should've been that it would improve her life.
I also think it's important to point out that befitting her at times short-sighted/impulsive nature where she doesn't think things through often (before character development especially; she's the type to "win the battle, lose the war," is likely a better tactician than strategist, even at the end, but she'd probably do a far better job at recognizing this), Starlight's philosophy was very likely not a sustainable one, no matter what her dreams of spreading it to the country might've been.
First of all, if everypony was equalized, there isn't exactly much you could do for moving the sun and moon; as Horse Play established, unicorns could burn themselves out permanently doing so, even great sorcerers, so she might lose her magic if she didn't have some serious help via seriously powerful artifacts or something (which are of probably dubious commonality), and everyone else would lose it en masse trying to help her, second, and very importantly, farming and weather output would be drastically reduced, since farmers and weatherponies are equally bad. Third, if you're all equally weak, you make it easier for Equestria's enemies to attack the lands, and she is just one pony, and this in part brings up changelings: I highly doubt changelings gain an equal amount of power from eating equalized ponies' love (since Shining Armor, for instance, was exhausted from sustaining his spell and Chrysalis feeding on his love for Cadance), so Chrysalis, even if she has... questionable priorities due to her egomania (wanting to conquer and rule, over subterfuge), would almost certainly have an incentive to go after her, because she'd be in the way on multiple levels beyond "she rules."
All of the above also excludes Discord doing anything at all, is assuming he'd just sit back and watch the show out of amusement.
(so in short, from unsustainability to the point it'd collapse in on itself, unless Saddle Arabians [who don't have cutie marks, even presumably Hoo'Far, a unicorn, seeing as we never saw one] could pick up all of the slack, which isn't... a given, and potential external threats, it wouldn't last, more than likely, without extreme measures like say "Starlight puts on the Alicorn Amulet" [if she could find it], and even then, that kind of hypothetical is probably not foolproof even if its resulting corruption and probably questionable sanity didn't happen)
5453878
Yeah, you're exactly right.
The issue is, with a lot of ending songs (which S6's finale, refreshingly enough, doesn't do this at all, doesn't have a song in general actually, which was good for the tone), they seem generally written to pair with the idea that "this could be the last season." You see this with S3 and Twilight flying at the end (then having issues in the premiere), you see this kind of vibe with S4, S2, etc.
Therefore, the two-parter seemed to feel obligated to rush through a sense of closure, and rushed through scenes that could've been interesting to build up to, even though it wasn't really a good idea. The season enders I remember not being written as if they could be the last are the ones of S6, maybe S7, and S8, because of their implicit or explicit sequel bait (Chrysalis swearing revenge on Starlight, the Pillars being back, and Cozy being Cozy with her end line).
5455002
I absolutely agree, but one thing that I think is important to note is that she probably wasn't interested in spreading her cult-like philosophy to the rest of Equestria. She had no real reason to; she was in control of her village and, until Twilight came along, she was probably quite happy to rule and cement her power.
Sure, she'd describe the wonders of her great philosophy but that's as much to maintain her cover as it is to justify her behaviour to herself and others, not to try and spread it to areas where she wouldn't be able to control it as easily. At the very least, I don't believe it would have worked, and it seems a bit strange to imagine Starlight not realising this considering her intelligence and general desire for control.
Hey, she's edgy enough in my book to get a pass. Plus, saying she gets writer's favouritism when there's Twillight in the show is kind of tongue in cheek.
I already loved Starlight, but this piece really does a superb job of explaining exactly who she is and elevates her even higher in my eyes. Why in the hay am I not already following you?
5456036 To be fair I might not follow me! I'm very sporadic and haphazard when it comes to what I do.
Glad you enjoyed the blog tho. : )
(meant to post this a bit earlier, oops)
5455102
It seemed to be strongly hinted (if not outright stated) that she had dreams of expanding her philosophy/cause, with the weight she placed on the prospects of a Princess being equalized, in the first part of the episode. Yes, she may have been acting on expansionism little to none before they showed up, but it seems very clear that she had or was coming up with expansion plans that would've likely only grown in size as time went by, had things gone differently. She at least sounded like she wanted the national spotlight at that point, and how she mentioned the helping the "cause" in the second part.
In any case, with how irrational she was with conflicting viewpoints, it was fortunate that she was stopped when she was, because I don't think her S5 mindset allowed for the grasping of nuance very well whatsoever, with her lack of maturity and what it took for her to have a meltdown, seeing the end of the world with her eyes, and a bit of denial thereafter (and it's not like it'd be unprecedented for her character, her not seeing the consequences until they're right in front of her, if it'd be emotionally pleasing to ignore up to that point [which she tends to use emotional logic a lot, aside from not thinking things all the way through; see her reason for forming the cult, abandonment issues, why she brainwashed her friends in ELTSD to complete friendship lessons faster - she wanted to impress Twilight/not disappoint her, she felt overwhelmed by fear of failure because of how much there was to do -, trading away Trixie's wagon thinking it's a win-win to smooth things over, not knowing of its sentimental value in Road to Friendship due to a failure to communicate, Maulwurf in To Change a Changeling, succing her emotions away trying to not drive Trixie away with her anger, her trying to bond with Sunburst in Uncommon Bond and not really helping herself out because she frustrated him, her being foolishly dismissive of Discord because she made a promise to Twilight in A Matter of Principals, about how she'd run things, etc]); she could've easily gotten worse under that path.
5455778
Edgy? She isn't Tempest!;)
But on a serious note (Tempest is fine by me don't fite me), Twilight was the one who had, at the time she got her cutie mark/just as it was happening, the most raw potential of any unicorn Celestia had ever seen, which, taking her word at face value (meaning she's being truthful there/not lying by omission), likely means alicorns too, since the opening of the series called them "unicorns."
She had a song like this praising her, for instance (when Spike was arguably more useful in some ways, between him saving her from the Fear Door, and the Crystal Heart), and I can't remember something that... kinda overbearing with Starlight.
5456898 Whilst it's possible Starlight means to expand her Town, again, I find it rather unlikely. I think it makes a lot more sense given the context of her setting up an isolated cult away from civilisation that when she says stuff like 'they'll see what I'm trying to do', she probably means it in a legitimacy sense.
From Starlight's perspective, Celestia, Luna, and whoever might feel the need to dismantle her operation, especially if they see it as disruptive. She probably imagines that the risk of this happening is reduced if another Princess gives her Town legitimacy, basically protecting it from Equestria's rulers. I suspect when she says this, she's thinking about survival, not expansion.
What's interesting is that Twilight at the time might not be aware of this, as she functions something like the viewer in the context of the s5 premier. It's only later when we get a better grasp of Starlight's motivations that it gives her actions in the Town their proper context, which is what I mean when I say that Starlight doesn't wear her motivations on her sleeve.
I'm not saying it's impossible that she had a grand plan to conquer Equestria, just that it doesn't really seem to fit her actions and mentality.