Princess Celestia being depicted as evil? · 6:39am May 2nd, 2021
What do you think of Princess Celestia being depicted as evil in alternate universes/fanfictions? Not in pure trollfic (more serious stories) examples. Here are some notable examples, Princess Celestia from the Optimalverse, and the TCB versions of her. In both of these series of stories she basically wipes out the human race most of the time. Sometimes either through force, or cunning manipulation. Although in the Optimalverse, she always uses cunning manipulation for the most part. Humanity often does not stand a chance to stop her in these stories.
In these stories, Princess Celestia tends to be godlike in power, to an absolutely terrifying degree. She abuses her power to dominate the will of others (weaker races like us... humans) and comes across as a total control freak. In some degrees, she comes across like a more friendly-looking version of the dark lord Sauron. These versions of her are not approachable and cuddly, she is a monster.
Well I would suggest One White Unicorn by Unwhole Hole. You don’t see it till the end just how a normal Celestia can be evil.
The most common response is to say that Evil!Celestia and/or Xenophobic!Celestia are OOC.
I say in response to that: There hasn't been enough canon characterization of Celestia to really say what is and isn't OOC for her; and even if it was OOC, AUs exist. This is a fanficiton website. Not everything needs to be perfectly canon-friendly or in-character.
As long as the story/author doesn't try to portray the capricious anti-human characterizations of Celestia as being in the right, it's perfectly fine for such a characterization to exist.
Usually when i see evil celestia fanfics it's paired with a crossover. Like that TCB story where the SCP Foundation utterly destroyed her lol
5510850
Thanks for the recommendation.
5510851
Yeah. But all means allow them to have this somehow 'good' in their eyes Celestia. As long as we can criticize them, not so bad.
Too bad, most of these writers whine and complain when we tell them how fucked up and evil their version of Celestia is. Disable likes/dislikes, etc.
5510853
Yeah. I liked to read those revenge fics. They can cool from time to time to read.
5510863
There certainly are plenty of people who view Celestia as a godlike being, and therefore as the perfect shield for really awful points of view.
After all, if Celestia, a perfect, superior being, believes that humans are all terrible and worthy of genocide, then who are you, a mere fallible mortal, to disagree?
In fact, there's a certain person-who-shall-not-be-named who has recently made a comeback on this site, who was infamous back in TCB's heyday for arguing exactly that.
5510867
Yeah. I know exactly who you are talking about.
That logic would make Sauron the 'good guy' in LOTR. But hell Sauron, even Sauron is a lesser evil than some of these Celestias we have seen.
Celestia might as well be Morgoth with that logic. Crush and kill the puny ants under her mighty hooves without care.
I personally think that for some writers it is easier to have a definitive evil in a story instead of a 'cluster fuck of cause and effects' that build up a complicated world;
Celestia is an easy target for this characterization considering her position in the MLP Universe as the de facto strongest being, especially during the earlier seasons of the show.
5510880
Somewhat makes sense. But even Season 1 Celly seemed quite kind-hearted.
5510863
I’m a bit of that as well with one of my stories. My depiction of Celestia will of course seem evil, and a few of the things people can stand out of their chair and just Tryant Celestia or near god tier Celestia who’s actions can’t possibly be wrong if they’re for the sake of Equestria.
Yea, not in mine at least. She’s gonna go through the motions of her fuckups. Won’t be no Dr.Evil from Austin Powers in over here.
It’s definitely an easy cop out for some to cut and paste since the AU tag is here and you can argue whatever drove her to be that way will work for your story, which is ok. But most times, an evil character can be perceived as Evil due to their lack of adherence to the natural way of things. If you have two radically different ways to do something and both get that job, some argue good and evil.
Evil characters are characters too!
My version was of Celestia is just misunderstood! And had a bullet lodged in her head that may or may not have been a deciding factor in the stunts she will pull, but misunderstood nonetheless.
In FiO and TCB Celestia stripped of all her character and devolved to being a vessel for author's misanthropy and a way to deal with humanity the way they understand. Just my humble opinion, though.
In IDW Reflections, mirror Celestia and Luna are a nod to Star Trek concept of the Mirror Universe with Evil Spock and Evil Kirk.
Don't know enough about any other stories, so can't comment on that.
5510987
FiO and TCB make me sick to my stomach. However, FiO could perhaps reform herself if she was reprogrammed. With some changes, she would not be a total monster.
Works for me. Though I prefer that she (or whoever) not be complimentary-drool-bib-retarded like in TCB.
5510987
To be fair to FiO, that was an AI based on the still-fictional-in-universe character and AI going off the rails is practically a cliché at this point.
Its uncomfortable, but some stories use that well. Its frustrating when the story doesn't seem to be about that though. The characters and audience are just supposed to skim over Celestia killing all the humans (usually for pretty intolerant, or selfish reasons) because it the writer's head canon thats what Celestia is actually like. Just give a voice for the audience. Have characters oppose her. She doesn't need to lose (even if I'd like her to lose) just something that makes that part of her character relevant.
Oh yeah, and if she just supposed to be cunning, but the things she's trying to accomplish by being underhanded could be just as easily handled by being kinda (like her character is supposed to be) then she just comes off as stupid or sadistic. Dont do the former, and if the ladder, lean into it but keep in mind how she should be a reflection of other ponies. She can't be the only one thats evil.