Background Pony #A2FB
Agreed very much; Starswirl was very understanding and cordial with stygian, and didn’t trash talk him or browbeat him– he gave stygian every opportunity to give a reason he was important, and even tried to comfort him when stygian couldn’t come up with anything on his own.
I really hope the next comic reverses this by having the lesson be that you can’t expect everyone to just revolve around you and give you a reason to exist, you have to take the initiative yourself sometimes– Stygian blaming others for not handing him a purpose on a silver platter (and what’s worse, blaming starswirl for his own failure in that regard) seems excessive.
@Anonycat
Yeah, but the show did the same thing in that it portrayed starswirl as the cause of Stygian’s evil and whitewashed his fault in the matter away too. Heck, if anything starswirl was treated better in the comic than the show as he wasn’t an ass like he was in shadowplay.
There is one thing I feel I should mention regarding the latest LoM comic: while there is definitely a strong element of Starswirl being domineering and overbearing, I also noticed that Stygian had a number of occasions to bring himself more into the spotlight, and of his own agency seemed to take efforts to shoot himself back down.For instance:Starswirl acknowledges the possibility of having overlooked something in his analysis and asks Stygian what his strengths are. Stygian replies he doesn’t have any and that he has nothing to contribute to the group.Another exchange immediately earlier has Starswirl begin to explain his idea of the proto-Elements, how the noble elements within ponies can combine to create a power to defend Equestria. Flash Magnus points out that Stygian had a similar idea, Starswirl asks what that is, and Stygian tells him not to worry about it and to continue talking.Flash Magnus: Stygian, didn’t you have an idea kind of like this?
Starswirl: What’s that?
Stygian: Don’t worry about it. Tell us more, Starswirl.The way I understood it, Stygian had opportunities to make himself heard early in the formation of the Pillars, but seemed to go out of his way to discredit himself. Take the second exchange – if he hadn’t dismissed his own idea, he likely would have had a chance to make a favorable impression on Starswirl (since Starswirl seems to be the type to value intelligence and analysis skills, and since he had that idea himself he would logically approve of it) and further strengthen the other Pillars’ opinion of him. Instead, he helps cement a subordinate relationship to the others where he did not have to.Yes, Starswirl did not need to be so overbearing, but I do think that Stygian was responsible at least in part for the direction things took.
Agreed very much; Starswirl was very understanding and cordial with stygian, and didn’t trash talk him or browbeat him– he gave stygian every opportunity to give a reason he was important, and even tried to comfort him when stygian couldn’t come up with anything on his own.
I really hope the next comic reverses this by having the lesson be that you can’t expect everyone to just revolve around you and give you a reason to exist, you have to take the initiative yourself sometimes– Stygian blaming others for not handing him a purpose on a silver platter (and what’s worse, blaming starswirl for his own failure in that regard) seems excessive.
@Anonycat
@Background Pony #8B84
Dude, it’s a Whitley story. You already should be familiar with his peculiar way to reinterprete everything so it could suit his own views about the series. (It was as if he just had discovered this ancient meme and decided to use it.)
Yeah, but the show did the same thing in that it portrayed starswirl as the cause of Stygian’s evil and whitewashed his fault in the matter away too. Heck, if anything starswirl was treated better in the comic than the show as he wasn’t an ass like he was in shadowplay.
