Starswirl has been mentioned by name as 'the Greatest Conjurer of the Pre-Classical Era' and the mentor of Clover the Clever. Luna apparently knew him a long time ago, and there is a small amount of evidence that he persuaded Scorpan to turn against Tirek. Who wants to figure out what was going on with this guy? Before we can begin figuring out what makes sense with him, we need a timeline. Here is mine. Feel free to write your own and offer arguments for it.

Pre-Classical > Post Unification > Tirek and Scorpan appear and are stopped, one in Tartarus, one going home > Discord's Era (coming to Equestria from somewhere else, explaining how Tirek heard of him) > Princesses Age > Sombra, a few decades before NMM > Nightmare Moon/1000 year banishment/Age of the Single Alicorn > Season 1. I think everything between Unification to The Age of the Single Alicorn is the Classical era, The AotSA is modern.

We have seen him mentioned as a Conjurer, Teacher of Clover, possible Acquaintance of Alicorns, Less sociable individual than Twilight, and possibly the guy who made Scorpan turn good. How can these things be brought together?

Did I miss anything?

3904878

Luna apparently knew him a long time ago

Well, she knew what he looked like, but then so did Twilight. She might just have seen a painting of the guy or something.

3904882
Um, yes, as I so eloquently put it in a blog a week ago, Star Swirl was a total and complete badas.

So, yeah, you, you didn't mention the fact that he was a badas.

I mean yeah, you brought up some badas things he did, but not really how much of a badas he was.

Also, you failed to mention his defeating, and subsequent banishing of the Sirens, that whole cave thing that hasn't been explained yet (but Twilight and Cadence saw the candle from), the fact that he has a traveling museum, his wing of the Canterlot library houses chronomancy spells, implying that he's the one to first develop the art, and dude you forgot the most badas thing about this stallion of pure badasery, HIS HAT!

Not to mention, if we go into extended canon of the comics (which you can feel free to ignore, they're only canon if you choose them to be) the invention of cross-dimension travel, and the pony that brought coffee to Equestria, having brought it from the other dimension.

3904878
I once wrote in a blog post that "Starswirl the Bearded" was not an individual, but a role -- much like "the Dread Pirate Roberts". I wasn't 100% serious, but feel free to run with this concept if you like. It definitely helps reconcile all the eras he's said to be part of and account for all the stuff he's said to have done.

3904878
There is nothing in canon for what his life was other than a handful of events, a location, and some names.

You could write pretty much anything for his life and it would be perfectly fine.

3904878

He's the Human equivalent of Merlin. 'Nuff said.

3904953 I think you mean the pony equivalent of Merlin. Merlin was already... oh wait, he was part demon and part human I believe.

3904961 Specificall part incubus and part human. Correct me if I'm wrong. Regardless, I still think of him the pony equivalent of Merlin. Even Dumbledore the poofter can't do shit against him. Not even Gandalf.

3904882
Evidence Luna actually knew him is circumstantial. It's possible but it's also possible she just saw a lot of portraits and statues, artwork that didn't survive into the present. He would have been much more recent history a thousand years ago.

3904978 Well remember, it's likely he was still around when Tirek emerged. You know, with Scorpan and everything.

Anyone have ideas to make a better timeline?

3904941 That would make for a very interesting Starswirl, which would explain why, even thought the original 'only' wrote 200+ spells, there is an entire wing of the Archives for his magic. The extra few thousand spells could be the other Starswirls.

3904915 His hat? Why, he was named after his truly magnificent Beard. Yes, his Beard is so Awesome that it needs to be capitalized for it is a proper noun. His Beard alone has experienced more than most ponies' entire bodies. It is a national treasure that was stored in an unbreakable vault after he died. Five wars have been fought over it.

It may have been reincarnated as Twilight Sparkle or Pinkie Pie, explaining their powers. They could be Beard-sisters. (That sounded strangely dirty. Was that dirty?)

3904912 3904978 He may have been time traveling. He could have known her for a few years. Though the idea that he was merely a significant historical figure that they saw pictures of is perfectly valid.

Time travel... Whoa. Starswirl IS THE DOCTOR!!! He is still around, disguised as an earth pony. He only shaved his beard to go undercover. Yes, I know that I am crazy

3904953 3904961 3904974 If Starswirl is Pony!Merlin, who is Marelin the Pony!version of?

But seriously, Marelin is to good a pony pun to pass up.

Besides, Twilight Sparkle is obviously the child of Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Starswirl's ghost, and The Element of Magic in a Metaphysical 4-way. Discord may have sent himself back in time to act as the midwife. Wouldn't that make her the Pony!Merlin? Yes I have read GhostOfHeraclitus's stories. That is where I got the inspiration for that idea.

Here's my personal Timeline:
Preclassical:
•Windigo Storm
•Unification/Creation of Equestria.
•Discord forms, assuming that he is a physical manifestation of chaos itself, and takes over Equestria.
•The Creator (Fausticorn) creates the incarnate form or avatar of the Sun, Celestia, and bestows power unto Celestia, thereby weakening herself. She retreats to a shadow dimension. Celestia defeats Discord, but she cannot imprison him. He escapes. Celestia contacts her mother for help, and the Creator creates an incarnate form of the Moon; Luna. This delays her own recovery. The sisters rule together to protect the unicorns, because now Celestia and Luna can raise and lower the sun and moon respectively the unicorns have no purpose; the other two races would surely unite to remove them, which the Creator did not want. Ergo, to protect Harmony, Celestia and Luna had to rule.
• Tirek and Scorpan arrive, potentially from the ponies' old home. The reason they have heard of Discord is that he was the ruler of Equestria before the sisters. We know that Celestia and Luna imprison Tirek in Tartarus, and that Scorpan befriends Starswirl. This is the earliest mention of him we see, and explains how Luna and Celestia know him. We can assume this is the end of the Pre-Classical Era. We know that Starswirl was young when Scorpan befriended him; Celestia outright says this, which implies that actually, the events divulged here take place over one lifetime, because Starswirl was Clover's mentor.
Classical:
• Celestia and Luna rule, with the three Houses (Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus) and their heads acting as their niblings - it's a title rather than a blood relation, which is why Blueblood is only a unicorn, but also Celestia's "Nephew". The title of Head is inherited.
• Sombra starts to descend to evil; until his descent, he and the Crystal Empire had been close allies with Equestria. But Sombra becomes corrupted, and Celestia and Luna therefore remove him. But when they do, they discuss the matter of what to do with the Crystal Empire. Originally, the plan was to simply absorb it as a second province of Equestria. When the Royal Guard entered the Palace to take Sombra's possessions from it, though, a small group of guards stumble on a hidden annexe, and inside is a Crystal Unicorn; Sombra's daughter, Mi Amore Cadenza. Celestia and Luna adopt her as a sister, but agree that she be given rule of the Crystal Empire when she comes of age. She is made into an Alicorn by Celestia, which is why she is one, but is why Sombra was not.
• Discord returns, but Celestia and Luna work together this time to destroy him. They succeed and petrify him.
• Nightmare Moon rises, and is subsequently banished. This shatters Harmony, which is why Nightmare Moon could shatter the Elements beneath her hooves as though they were glass.
Age of the One:
• Canterlot is built; the Petrified Discord and Mi Amore Cadenza go there with Celestia.
If there are holes or mistakes, reply to this comment and I'll see if I can work in an explanation. This is my personal headcanon, of course, but it's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense.

3905090 I like that timeline, and the detail you put into it. One problem I spotted: Starswirl is Clover's mentor. Clover helped establish Equestria, unless the Hearths Warming Tale is completely wrong. That means that he predates Equestria.

Though I guess that it ultimately hinges on the nature of the cosmology in a given setting, doesn't it? Some cosmologies allow that setup. Others do not.

3905124
It isn't very clear in the timeline, but what I had meant was that Starswirl did predate Equestria, but not by much. Let's say he was about Twilight's age when he took on Clover, and Clover was ten. Let's say that when Clover helped found Equestria, she was 14-18. That gives us four to eight years, which would mean Starswirl would still - especially compared to Celestia - be quite young.

3904974 You shouldn't be dissin' the Gandalfmeister there bud. He was a wicked master with a sword, and he totally pawned the balrog even if the bridge did collapse under him. After all, Gandalf came back and the balrog did not. He also led mass troops into battle more than once. He could have been a great King if he wanted to.

3905144 Merlin is more awesome. He's practically the inspiration of all fictional wizards.

3905144 Actually, the wizards in The Lord of the Rings are basically demigods/angels that work for the God that made Middle Earth (I cannot remember the name He was given). They are all forbidden from actually ruling anything by God because the last time one of them did try to rule, his name was Dark Lord Sauron. Thus, they cannot be Kings. They are also forbidden from using their magic to protect the world because the last time they did, they sank an entire continent.

Merlin was basically the inspiration for Gandalf. Tolkien was a huge history buff and based his world on many mythologies combined. He was also religious and so made magic an extension of God's will.

3904878 Tirek and Scorpan came after Discord's reign ended, hence why Celestia and Luna were in power when they arrived.

3905019
Points taken, but his hat was the hattiest hat ever to be a hat!

It just needed bells.

3905124
That's just the thing though, it's a legend, for all we know the whole thing could be malarkey.

We may never truly know, personally I thought the whole thing was gonna end with Pansy, Cookie, and Clever turning into alicorns, but I was off.

My take on the timeline (which I've used in most of my stories) is:

PRE_CLASSICAL PERIOD
Birth of Celestia, Luna and Discord
Rule of Discord
Discovery of EOH by the sisters
Defeat of Discord
Equestrian Tribal age
Star swirl born (or imported to Equestria from Earth because he IS Leonardo daVinci, and everypony knows it! PS Time doesn't run at the same rate between Equestria and Earth, so can it with the "What about the thousand years?" flame bombs!)
First ascent of Tirek and Scorpan, and Tirek's defeat
Clover born
HWE
Unification of tribes
Rule of Sombra in the crystal empire
1st Defeat of Sombra by diarchy
Lunar rebellion and banishment of NMM
Disconnection of the sisters with the EOH
CLASSICAL PERIOD BEGINS
Age of Harmony under Celestia
Return of Luna
Discord's reform
Second ascent of Tirek and his defeat
Etc....

3905302 Where they? I do not recall if they explicitly stated that they were in power when Tirek first showed up, or if they were referring to history from before their rule.

3905897 Think about it logically and you'll find it makes the most sense.

Pre-classical era in the western tradition first mention is pre-greek/roman that is about 5000 years ago. To call something an era it has to last quite a long time, ie millennial probably at least two.

So bar minimum the pre-classical era is "Before equestria", teaching clover would put him near the end of that.
The pre-classical era would then end when clover the clever, smart cookie, and private pansy use the magic of friendship for the first time and found equestria. That would be the classical era.
With the modern era being everything after the princesses take over after discord's defeat.

The first time he was mentioned was as "Most important conjurer of the pre-classical era" He was mentioned to have made "200 spells and has an entire shelf dedicated to him in the royal archives" was obscure figure of unicorn history. That is he isn't notable to the history of the other tribes...and was an obscure figure even there. In essence in his original characterization the only notable thing about star swirl the bearded is that he taught clover the clever.

The second characterization we get is "Twilight done wrong" he falls fully for the temptation of knowledge over wisdom, never gains any friends, and thus lives an empty and hollow life, his "Greatest work" being a magic fouler than any dark magic, violating ponies on the most fundamental level.
This is probably the most useful characterization.

The third characterization is "Some guy from history who did some thing" and is just bad. This is the one that does the tirek thing, because we established, he never had friends ever, friends were a distraction from studying.

PRE_CLASSICAL PERIOD
Birth of Celestia, Luna and Discord
Discovery of EOH by the sisters
Clover born

Clover, smart cookie, and pansy are canonically the first users of the magic of friendship/harmony EVER, it's very likely that the tree of harmony grew from the place where the fires of friendship were conjured. Also remember when they were around unicorns raised the sun and the moon, the Sisters hadn't been born until welllll after them.

3906067
All I ask is credit if you use the idea. A link to my profile page as part of the credit would be nice, too.
Or link to the blog post in question, if you like...

3904941
I'm always in favor of legendary characters being a composite, like the Prince of a Thousand Enemies from Watership Down.

Equestria's history - like ours - is going to be as much myth and morality tales as facts and figures. Stories get altered and changed around and forgotten as they are told and retold with different audiences in mind. Who today tells the tale Demon Rum and the Saloon Smashers as it was told then?

3906262 I just had an idea that came to me while thinking about your idea. Starswirl is not an alicorn, but he was clearly respected. What if he was like Plato or Pathagoreas? He could have collected a group of students in addition to Clover, his apprentice. They could have studied under his teachings, then expanded upon his ideas. That could explain why the Starswirl wing of the Archives looks like it contains thousands of books while he only wrote about 200+ spells. Of course, they would have preserved his work and images of their Teacher, which would then allow others (like the Princesses) to learn from him and see his image later to explain the scenario where the Princesses were born after he died.

Would pony social structure even allow such a group to form? Maybe. Ponies are a herd species that gather around a strong leader. The question is if a herd could form with a Patriarchal leader. Horses are, IRL, matriarchal.

3906663

Would pony social structure even allow such a group to form? Maybe. Ponies are a herd species that gather around a strong leader. The question is if a herd could form with a Patriarchal leader.

Pony society is also heavily structured around special talents, it has to be because ponies go crazy if their talents aren't valued.
IF you go with the idea starswirl's special talent wasn't magic per se but teaching magic it would work well enough why he has a lot of spells in his wing, and why he had students but no friends, never feeling he had equals.
It also explains why he's an obscure figure, he had a ton of important students who did big important things(with clover at the top of the pile), but he himself not so much.

Doesn't explain tirek, or the sirens, or his general overuse. But does merge characterization one and two.

Horses are, IRL, matriarchal.

And in show :D.