A Deep Dive Into Twilight’s Character - Final Thoughts · 6:48pm Sep 7th, 2022
Hiya, lovely peeps!
I have officially ended my 3-part blog on Twilight Sparkle and her relationship with the show’s villains. It went on way longer than I thought it would - what was originally supposed to be a single blog turned out to be three and took more than a week. It required a lot of research. The entire thing composes of roughly 4900 words (counting the quotes) and has, as of April 21st, 2024, amassed 921 views (counting this blog makes 1347 views).
I’m really proud of the analysis as a whole. There’s plenty of personal bias involved, ‘cause Twilight’s my favorite character, but I did try to remain fair. It started out as just a few thoughts in my head, but then I was like, “No. I have to write this down.” So I did. To commemorate, I put together this little image. Are you ready?
Ta-da! What do you think?
You can take a look at Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. For some more thoughts, you can check out JinxJTL’s comments here, here, here and here.
Thank you all for reading and hope you stick around! Love ya’ll and see you soon.
Hi buddy
5684712
Hiya there. Do we know each other?
Gosh, Naimat, dunno what to call you lol that looks great! It's a wonderful little collage that fits so well together! Even to these dull eyes that once flunked out of a digital design course! I especially love Luna's and Stygian's. Forcing a perspective on two opposing figures by literally having them opposing is always a great design choice. Also, don't know if it was intentional, but I love that Trixie and Starlight are opposite from each other on the 'wheel.' for obvious reasons. and because otp <3
And, gosh, I've got a big dumb smile on my face because of the shout-out. This whole discussion has been a very pleasant experience, and I've enjoyed the intelligent debate immensely. Twilight's very deserving of the effort, because there's just so much to do with her character, and talking about her in such depth helps me reconcile my ideas so much. Feels like it's keeping me sharp in the midst of my latest hiatus.
But yeah: isn't it fun to set yourself a goal, and suddenly find halfway through that you're having too much fun to stop? Laying down plans for any creative pursuit is usually pretty fruitless for me, because I just end up loving writing so much that I can't help but endlessly expand upon every half-thought step. It just turns into an itchy little energetic need. I can do this, and I want to, so I'm going to. It's like a personal little hell of creativity!
And don't worry about silly things like bias. Bias exists inexorably, and you can't tell a story without it; it's a fact of life that some things are more interesting and inherently deserving of time to certain eyes. Twilight's one of my favorite characters, too, and reading stories about her kicking ass was one of the galvanizing forces that first brought me into the fandom. And whether I love her to death or not, I'm still able to recognize her flaws, partly because I love her so much.
Blind love is surface deep- truly loving a character implies that one is able to look deeper. To be able to see their flaws, and know, despite a willingness and desire to recognize them, that you do still like them. The act alone speaks to that enjoyment; looking for their flaws is an undertaking. An undertaking taken as a labor of love for the character. Taking that time to think about them. The act implies love.
...Whoops, I went on a tangent. Uh- great art!
5684824
Thank you for the compliment and for the discussions we’ve been having.
And also, those things you mentioned about the image, like Starlight and Trixie, was completely unintentional. In fact, I didn’t see it until you pointed it out. Funny how some things just reveal themselves, huh?
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that. Could you please explain again?
5684916
Ah, I suppose I might've worded it strangely. They're both characters who struggle with some kind of alter ego or general inner darkness that manifests as a different character, right? Well, you've included the Pony of Shadows as well as Nightmare Moon in the same portions, and framed them both facing away-ish from their hosts. It's a nice choice of contrast, however unintentional, that manages to speak to their shared theme of corruption and internal conflict in something as small as the posing.
Again, whether it was intentional or not, it's the kind of unnoticeable design choice that I really appreciate about art, and more specifically this piece. The deeper meanings to artistry can be dissected just as much as literature, you know?
5684824
I also feel like I should have talked about the Flim Flam brothers because Twilight interacted with them personally in Season 8’s “Friendship Univeristy”. But I didn’t for two reasons: One, I don’t really know how to explain Twilight’s behavior towards them in that episode (she was justified, but it doesn’t really fit In with the whole “Twilight is forgiving by this point” thing) and two, I wanted my image to contain twelve villains to have a nice wheel with twelve sectors. Thirteen would’ve ruined it.
And one last thing: Twilight is the only character who has had a personal interaction with every single villain on this list. All of them. Regardless of whether or not she was their downfall. Makes sense ’cause she’s the protagonist, but MLP has a large arena of heroes.
5684920
The bit about Luna and Stygian facing away from their counterparts facing away from their evil alter egos was intentional. I chose those vectors for a reason.
And I always appreciate my art being dissected that way, so thanks.
5684924
It's probably best that you didn't include Flim and Flam; they're not really all that centric to the story or Twilight's growth. They're barely even villains, as much as alternate futures and comic storylines may say otherwise. Twelve is the golden number of design, and it's already a little stretched with the Storm King, so I'd say keeping it nice and even was the smart choice.
As for her actions- you're right, they are a little hard to understand. There's a lot intersecting in this one episode: the return of Flim and Flam puts Twilight's mood and mind into uncertain positions, she's going up against the antagonistic force of Neighsay again, Starswirl is there, and the sanctity of the institution she'd built was being called into question. Throwing so many factors into one mixing pot results in very muddy waters, and the only way to properly discern just what was going through her mind would be a few very intense rewatches. Even to say that she's still in a good place mentally- as much as I've said that she probably wasn't- the sheer number of colliding forces in this one episode is a bit staggering. The potential depth to each facet could very well be enormous.
Simply put: there's probably some decent justification, but I'm not properly prepared to theorize right now.
Twilight is the protagonist, and so she is front-and-center on Equestria's first line of defense, but just because of that minor contrivance doesn't mean it's not all very important to the growth of her character. Out of all the characters on the show, even including Fluttershy, Twilight is most certainly the one who goes though the most personal upheaval- and that owes in part to the constant literal conflict she goes through. Life-or-death situations are inherently something that changes a pony. Falling through fire such as Twilight so often does must invariably result in a lot of moments of pure, personal thought.
She faced Nightmare Moon together with her friends- but she was the first to befriend Luna. Trixie tormented them all- but she had a vendetta against Twilight. Discord singled her out as the core Element of Magic, and she had the benefit of Celestia's letters to remind her that friendship was worth fighting for.
She knew Cadence- and she knew Chrysalis wasn't. She traveled to the top of the Crystal Empire because she knew dark magic, and the Crystal Heart never would have made its way from Spike to Cadence without her. Sunset Shimmer, the Princess's previous student, stole her crown, and then she was the only pony smart enough to eventually invent inter-dimensional travel. She fought Tirek to the point of bargaining as the last standing Princess of Equestria.
Redeemed Starlight, who was so much like her. Dove in to help Stygian, whom she'd brought back to the world.
But... ah. Was betrayed by Cozy Glow. Locked in Tartarus by the snake in her garden.
My point- as waylaid by season 8's tragedy- is that all of the conflict that follows Twilight doesn't derive directly from her role as the protagonist: it's merely tertiary. Everything that happens to her happens as a result of the things she's experienced and the ponies she knows- maybe because she's the protagonist, but just as likely because of the regular old contrivances of life. Somepony had to be the Princess' student. Somepony had to be the Element of Magic. It's Twilight's lot in life, just as much as it was Applejack's to be the Element of Honesty, and to come to constant blows with conniving conponies.
...And I've brought the topic conveniently around to Flim and Flam again, because I just wanted to tie in the fact that they really are more Applejack's problem. And again, I will say, that that's probably why it was a good idea to leave them off a sheet dedicated to Twilight's grievances.
Ah, circuity: how I love thee!
5684942
Twilight doesn’t have things happen to he because she’s the main character. She’s the main character because things happen to her. I heard that quote somewhere, can’t remember.
I didn’t want to include the Storm King. I don’t like him and he’s not a part of the forgiveness facet of Twilight’s character. But I needed twelve sectors in the wheel; eleven is just not a beautiful number for sectors.
5684734
Yes. I am buddy
5685696
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t answer my question. How do we know each other? Have we interacted on the site before?
5685697
We were buddies. Then we were buddies again in a server on Discord. Then we stopped being buddies, then we started being buddies again.
5685698
Are you Sunny? The one who used to be in the Pony Project 156?
5685699
Yes hi :D
5685827
Well, then. Hi again, Sunny.
Can we move this to a PM, please?