Topic: Twilight Sparkle
Anonymous A started this discussion 15 years ago #13,025
In the newest episode, we saw her convincing herself that being late on her assignment would get her sent back to "magic kintergarden", and those flashbacks strongly imply that she was heavily, heavily bullied when she was at magic kintergarden the first time.
When a child goes through psychological trauma which isn't resolved (it clearly isn't in Twilight's case), a fundamental sense of fear carries over into adulthood. When Twilight experiences stress -- of any sort --, we've seen her show signs of:
- Guilt, shame and anger (Boast Busters, Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Hopelessness (Swarm of the Century, Winter Wrap Up, Return of Harmony Pt 2)
- Mood swings (Swarm of the Century, Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Confusion (Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Anxiety (Winter Wrap Up, Bird in the Hoof, Lesson Zero)
- Withdrawal from others (Prior to Friendship is Magic pt 1)
- Disconnection from reality (Swarm of the Century)
- Disbelief and denial (Feeling Pinkie Keen, Swarm of the Century,
- Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts (Lesson Zero)
- Nightmares (Bridle Gossip)
Her traumatic events seem to be experienced as if they were happening in the present - this strongly suggests to me that Twilight repressed the memories of trauma experienced as a child, rather than dealing with them, and as a result re-experiences the same trauma whenever a trigger event occurs.
Now, let's speculate on what the issue is. In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", we see Twilight attending the Summer Sun Celebration and being inspired to learn magic, and the viewer is treated to a small section where she turns a page for the first time. Not long after this, she attends the audition for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
Now, unless Princess Celestia has 20 other personal students, Magic Kintergarden either took place during or prior to the section in which she is reading the books at night. Either is irrelivent - we see that she has basically no hold or control over how much magic she can exert at that time. We can summarise from this that Twilight Sparkle was somewhat weak as a unicorn during Magic Kintergarden - something which would surely open her up to bullying from her peers. She is weak. She is a failure. She is different.
Adult Twilight, who locked herself in a library and did nothing but study, still has the same fears. To be seen as different is to be bullied - she is desperate for her friends not to know how good she is with magic. To be seen as weak is to be mocked - She breaks the rules in Winter Wrap Up and uses magic when it's not allowed because she doesn't want Applejack to think she is too weak to even clear snow. To fail is the worst crime possible, and will result in the people she thought are her friends to abandon her to mockery, hatred and rejection. She doesn't just "want to be the perfect student" - she must be the perfect student, or all is lost. She becomes self-destructive - not even rules apply when Twilight believes that she will fail, because she believes that she absolutely cannot fail. It's an either/or situation.
Twilight Sparkle desperately needed talk therapy, CBT and desensitization to the stressor. I feel so very sorry for her. Her experiences as a child have obviously damaged her psyche, perhaps permanently.
I'd go so far as to say that the focus of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the documentation of Twilight Sparkle coming to terms with her childhood trauma and becoming mentally healthy.
When a child goes through psychological trauma which isn't resolved (it clearly isn't in Twilight's case), a fundamental sense of fear carries over into adulthood. When Twilight experiences stress -- of any sort --, we've seen her show signs of:
- Guilt, shame and anger (Boast Busters, Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Hopelessness (Swarm of the Century, Winter Wrap Up, Return of Harmony Pt 2)
- Mood swings (Swarm of the Century, Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Confusion (Feeling Pinkie Keen)
- Anxiety (Winter Wrap Up, Bird in the Hoof, Lesson Zero)
- Withdrawal from others (Prior to Friendship is Magic pt 1)
- Disconnection from reality (Swarm of the Century)
- Disbelief and denial (Feeling Pinkie Keen, Swarm of the Century,
- Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts (Lesson Zero)
- Nightmares (Bridle Gossip)
Her traumatic events seem to be experienced as if they were happening in the present - this strongly suggests to me that Twilight repressed the memories of trauma experienced as a child, rather than dealing with them, and as a result re-experiences the same trauma whenever a trigger event occurs.
Now, let's speculate on what the issue is. In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", we see Twilight attending the Summer Sun Celebration and being inspired to learn magic, and the viewer is treated to a small section where she turns a page for the first time. Not long after this, she attends the audition for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
Now, unless Princess Celestia has 20 other personal students, Magic Kintergarden either took place during or prior to the section in which she is reading the books at night. Either is irrelivent - we see that she has basically no hold or control over how much magic she can exert at that time. We can summarise from this that Twilight Sparkle was somewhat weak as a unicorn during Magic Kintergarden - something which would surely open her up to bullying from her peers. She is weak. She is a failure. She is different.
Adult Twilight, who locked herself in a library and did nothing but study, still has the same fears. To be seen as different is to be bullied - she is desperate for her friends not to know how good she is with magic. To be seen as weak is to be mocked - She breaks the rules in Winter Wrap Up and uses magic when it's not allowed because she doesn't want Applejack to think she is too weak to even clear snow. To fail is the worst crime possible, and will result in the people she thought are her friends to abandon her to mockery, hatred and rejection. She doesn't just "want to be the perfect student" - she must be the perfect student, or all is lost. She becomes self-destructive - not even rules apply when Twilight believes that she will fail, because she believes that she absolutely cannot fail. It's an either/or situation.
Twilight Sparkle desperately needed talk therapy, CBT and desensitization to the stressor. I feel so very sorry for her. Her experiences as a child have obviously damaged her psyche, perhaps permanently.
I'd go so far as to say that the focus of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the documentation of Twilight Sparkle coming to terms with her childhood trauma and becoming mentally healthy.
(Edited 1 minute later.)
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 6 minutes later[^] [v] #234,669
And then she snapped and became a whorearmoredzombie !AoQlrvhHaA joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 4 minutes later, 11 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,674
tl;dr
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 38 seconds later, 11 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,675
@previous (armoredzombie !AoQlrvhHaA)
tl;dr Twilight Sparkle is emotionally unhealthy due to childhood trauma and this explains almost all of her actions seen so far.
tl;dr Twilight Sparkle is emotionally unhealthy due to childhood trauma and this explains almost all of her actions seen so far.
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 3 seconds later, 11 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,676
> Twilight Sparkle desperately needed talk therapy, CBT and desensitization to the stressor.
> CBT
> cock and ball torture
> CBT
> cock and ball torture
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 40 seconds later, 12 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,678
Anonymous D replied with this 15 years ago, 15 seconds later, 12 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,680
bookshelf !hbZVTk6JYc joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 32 minutes later, 45 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,710
hmmm, this is stupid.
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 46 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,712
@previous (bookshelf !hbZVTk6JYc)
do you have a reason for that or are you just going to call people names?
do you have a reason for that or are you just going to call people names?
bookshelf !hbZVTk6JYc replied with this 15 years ago, 47 seconds later, 47 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #234,713
Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,764
Why is Twilight Sparkle one of my favorites?
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,766
Anonymous G joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 2 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,771
That episode was something else. My body was not ready.
@234,764 (F)
Most bronies relate to her.
Because she's a nerd
@234,675 (A)
Sup Freud?
@234,764 (F)
Most bronies relate to her.
Because she's a nerd
@234,675 (A)
Sup Freud?
Anonymous F replied with this 15 years ago, 4 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,772
@234,766 (A)
Twilight seems like one of the characters I'd want as a girlfriend than some of the others.
Why is this?
@previous (G)
How is she a nerd?
Twilight seems like one of the characters I'd want as a girlfriend than some of the others.
Why is this?
@previous (G)
How is she a nerd?
(Edited 1 minute later.)
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 22 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,773
Anonymous G replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,776
@234,772 (F)
She's obsessed with books and studying, but maybe nerd's not the right way to explain it. Introverted?
She's obsessed with books and studying, but maybe nerd's not the right way to explain it. Introverted?
Anonymous F replied with this 15 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #234,781
@previous (G)
Books and studying makes someone a nerd? I thought in order to be a nerd you have to have an interest in stuff most other people won't care about. Like anime.
Books and studying makes someone a nerd? I thought in order to be a nerd you have to have an interest in stuff most other people won't care about. Like anime.
(Edited 15 seconds later.)
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 4 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #234,788
@previous (F)
Or studying magic and doing nothing but.
@234,776 (G)
She's naturally friendly, as you can see exhibited in her long road to recovery. The word you're looking for is withdrawn, and she is so extremely withdrawn due to her terrible childhood.
Or studying magic and doing nothing but.
@234,776 (G)
She's naturally friendly, as you can see exhibited in her long road to recovery. The word you're looking for is withdrawn, and she is so extremely withdrawn due to her terrible childhood.
Anonymous F replied with this 15 years ago, 4 hours later, 6 hours after the original post[^] [v] #235,040
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 25 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #235,056
@previous (F)
because she's an intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession.
because she's an intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession.
Armored Zombie !VoCaLoNunI replied with this 15 years ago, 3 minutes later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #235,059
Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 3 hours later, 10 hours after the original post[^] [v] #235,093
@235,056 (A)
> dictionary definition of nerd
@previous (Armored Zombie !VoCaLoNunI)
> that doesn't make her a nerd
> dictionary definition of nerd
@previous (Armored Zombie !VoCaLoNunI)
> that doesn't make her a nerd
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 3 hours later, 14 hours after the original post[^] [v] #235,125
@235,059 (Armored Zombie !VoCaLoNunI)
It's the dictionary definition of 'nerd', according to Google's "Define" function.
> Esoteric: Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
I'd suggest that Twilight is not intended for anything (such determinism is quite fridge horror) and that many peopple understand her.
It's the dictionary definition of 'nerd', according to Google's "Define" function.
> Esoteric: Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
I'd suggest that Twilight is not intended for anything (such determinism is quite fridge horror) and that many peopple understand her.