I’m starting to have some ideas on why she didn’t have any friends when she was a child.
@Background Pony #399B
No we’re being contrary because what he said is an objective lie and anyone who watches the series knows this. If they were 100% good then they wouldn’t have any flaws at all whatsoever.
However, comig back to the original pic: This is what Radiant Hope was willing to inflict on her own people. She thought they were bad because the Umbrum told her so. It’s just not made an issue in the comic because the whole population of the Crystal Empire vanishes into thin air at the most convenient time, or else we might’ve seen Radiant Hope actually have to face some real hostility instead of the good guys indulging her again and again.
@Vree
The problem is how unsatisfying Hope being sarcastic here is, seeing as how she’s to blame for all this crap happening. Nevermind that no, it’s not even that clear she’s being sarcastic since she’s drawn like she’s about to fall asleep and just doesn’t care.
@Background Pony #399B
Their character flaws in some cases do make them tend towards evil. Especially the redeemed villains that are now Twilight’s friends. They definitely have tendencies towards evil that they even sometimes relapse into.
People on this site are seriously arguing that the Main 6 AREN’T good ponies just to be contrary to Whitley. Their character flaws and their mistakes do not make them evil, not even the slightest bit.
When he did this 1000 years ago, Hope was all the way over in the Everfree forest meeting the Princesses to ask for their help to stop Sombra.
During the events of “The Crystal Empire”, Hope was not around. She emerged later. If Sombra was allowed to go to war instead of being defeated then, Hope would not have healed him and would never have gotten a chance to reason with him.
Another friendship potentially ruined by Starlight Glimmer’s time meddling.
ugh so much bitching.
Even OP can see that her lines are sarcastic (and it’s a very well done/satisfying scene too), why can’t you, commenters?
It’s a really nice page about Hope confronting him about how unrealistic his vision is. (ie. that when they have conquered all, they can live a happy life, even though it’s quite clear that the violence is never going to end.)
Though I think it brings up a certain issue with Whitley’s writing in general: He tends to write it so the villains are too easily forgiven.
I am all for a good redemption story, but as someone said, there is just so much a rainbow of friendship can do till the redemption comes off as ridiculous. Some stories just need the villain to also face consequences or heroic sacrifices for their actions, even if all of sudden they feel sorry. In Cassie’s case e.g., seeing how she was willing to drown the town, I thought the most positive outcome should have been Twilight chewing her out about NOW playing the victim card after all she did, but then deciding to still go with it. Not because Cassie was “nice” out of sudden, but because the ponies are the better people and would not want the baby kelpies to suffer for her idiocy.
@Starswirl
Actually it is obvious even to me that this line was meant in a very sarcastic/cynical way to indicate she is against what he wants to do.
The problem with it is, that she is not the one who has really much room to judge someone for their evil deeds/the willingness to do evil, if she herself has done a lot of shit for the wrong reasons.
I will say the following about Radiant Hope: I actually liked her in Fiendship 1. Was she a special little snowflake character from the get go? a Mary Sue created by Whitley to work as morality chain for Sombra? Yes. Yes she was. She was from the get go more of a plotdevice than a character.
But there are many works of fiction showing us, that such characters can still become entertaining and at least less one dimensional if handled well in a good story or with the righ development. Which Whitley did not give us during Siege at all.
Hope never expresses true regret for things she does, questions her decisions to help Sombra even if it is obvious he seems to rather enjoy what he does and all she wants to do is set the Umbrum free and let Sombra rule over Equestria, as if anything he did before indicates he may mellow down and be the good guy she knew from her childhood. Hope isn’t blind to reality or malicious, she is just badly writen, because the drama itself is badly writen. And in a way that makes her just come off as worse than Whitley may have intented.
And the sad thing is, I can see ways how Hope could have become easily more relatable.
Here a few personal suggestions:
Make it clear that while she uses the villains to bring Sombra back and set the Umbrum free, her plan is actually to NOT let them have the victory. Instead Chrysalis and the changelings will face consequences, because she doesn’t want Equestria to suffer under them.
Show her actually being in shock/disappointment that Sombra supposedly really wants to embrace his darkness even still, depsite her best attempts to convince him to let go of the past.
Make her motivation more sympathetic. Yes, she wants to bring Sombra back and help him, but she doesn’t really want him to take over the Crystal Empire. All she wants is for him to be back, in hope they can run away and be happy as friends. She also wants the Umbrum rather to be free, because she got convinced/tricked by them into believing, that they are harmless and will leave the empire alone as soon as they are free. Which of course is a lie.
Let Hope actually feel remorse for what she did, the moment she learns about the true nature of the Umbrum. Let her admit she did a mistake and was naive and try to fix things. Either by convincing Sombra to not let them free or being more active in the final part.
But nope, none of that because Whitley is a bad fanfic writer and doesn’t want to admit now that the story was bad.
The funny thing though, the scene of her chewing out Sombra about destiny and his evil ambitions… I kind alike it. If the context was a bit altered, it could be a great scene of Hope questioning him if all that is really what he wants and her also showing disappointment in her friend, as well as indicating her own remorse about the fact that at the end of the day her own naivity led to all of that. Too bad the person who came up with it proved to be the second worst Sombra fan of the staff.
@DanielTepesKraus
And better than Twilight because she watched one of her friends have an evil side! All of Twilight’s friends old and new are 100% good don’t you know.
Guys, you’re all wrong! Radiant Hope is good, and Sombra is just misguided! I know they did absolutely nothing good, were completely unrepentant, committed heinous crimes, and were completely unsympathetic, but I know deep down they were good!
Yeah, this is why I was never that sympathetic to Hope, anyway. In the end, I’d rather have them both arrested, but allowed to be confined together, like under house arrest. They still have to face the music for all the crap they did, but they still get their “happy ending.”
