What We Don't Know About The Elements Of Harmony

[Arctofire 227]

Okay so since day one the elements of harmony have been pretty essential to the lore of the franchise. First before I delve into what we don't know about them, lets talk about what we do know.

 

We know that originally, the elements of harmony were comprised of ordinary magic, and looked quite different; Celestia and Luna were the ones that originally wielded them. When Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, Celestia used them to banish her to the moon.

 

1000 years later the elements were smashed, but the mane 6 rebuilt them using the magic of friendship instead of normal magic, with each friend representing an ordinary magical element. We also know that if the friendship is broken, like Discord did when he corrupted the mane 6, the elements will no longer work.

 

Now here's what we don't know. We are not sure exactly what the elements do apart from shooting a rainbow beam at a villain. 3 villains have tasted the rainbow directly: Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Sunset Shimmer. Apparently Nightmare Moon turned back to Luna once the elements struck, I can presume because of friendship and that's why Celestia had to banish Luna to the moon, until the elements could take their new form, but we aren't directly told this. With Discord however the elements have a completely different effect, turning him into stone, and with Sunset, that movie was so terribly written that its best to ignore it because that raises a billion other questions about the elements. Can they be used without them in substance? Can they cause evil people to be possessed by good? 

 

These are all questions I want an answer to and I hope that in season 5 they go in a little more detail. What do you think, can you answer some of my questions, was I missing something.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Arctofire

[10InTheTardis 509]

i saw a video called something like "elements of harmony are WRONG" or "rainbow dash doesn't deserve her element of harmony" or something like that and one thing it said was something like "Don't you think it's weird that applejack, the one who earned their cutie mark by being LOYAL to her family got the HONESTY element but rainbow dash, the one who often blurts out the truth while her friends, including applejack, lie gets the LOYALTY element?"

[Arctofire 227]

Yeah, the only time Apple Jack is honest is when the plot needs her to be, same with Rainbow with loyalty. But there's nothing the show can do about that now, however explaining the elements in more depth is something it can do.

 

I still love this show and its 2 part episodes (Twilight's Kingdom and Return of Harmony being my favorite), but it doesn't do a great job of explaining the elements. We have a basic idea of what they are, but with the exception of the pilot 2 parter they haven't been explained in massive detail.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Arctofire

[sweetolebob18 728]

IMO, the Elements of Harmony can be invoked by almost anybody w good intentions.  HOWEVER, the more closely the user matches their Element, the stronger the effect.  This is why Celestia & Luna together were able to turn Discord to stone, Celestia alone was only able to banish Nightmare Moon & Twilight + friends were able to heal NMM.  This is why Discord was so overconfident at the end of Return of Harmony, he didn't realize T had regained her friends & was able to use the Elements at full power.  I'm not sure why Discord wasn't healed.  Could be power level, he wasn't a good person turned bad (always a sociopath), or T tried to heal NMM & didn't try to heal Discord.

 

As to why NMM didn't just blast them to bits on their way to the castle, I think that Luna was able to restrain her actions to just trying to scare them off. Luna never wanted to harm the kingdom, she was just jealous of C.  This is why NMM captured C but took no other effective action to rule the kingdom -she literally couldn't make up her mind.

 

As to the Elements in season 5.  In Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Elements were NOT destroyed, just returned to the Tree of Harmony.  The big question is "Do the Mane 6 have to have the Elements physically present or are they sufficiently in tune to access their power at a distance?"

[Arctofire 227]

No I think that's just a headcanon. Twilight Sparkle almost got the elements working without friendship, with ordinary magic. So I think that Celestia and Luna used the elements when they were in that form.

[Bird Mom 902]

i saw a video called something like "elements of harmony are WRONG" or "rainbow dash doesn't deserve her element of harmony" or something like that and one thing it said was something like "Don't you think it's weird that applejack, the one who earned their cutie mark by being LOYAL to her family got the HONESTY element but rainbow dash, the one who often blurts out the truth while her friends, including applejack, lie gets the LOYALTY element?"

She wasn't exactly being LOYAL to her family, she just had sudden realization that Sweet Apple Acres is where she belonged, bucking apples. Hence the triple apple cutie mark. Applejack was being honest with herself. Rainbow Dash on the other hand, really does deserve her element, she just has a hard time embracing it. I've never seen Applejack ever lie, except for when Discord was around and screwed everything up. And besides, if the elements were switched around like they are saying, it wouldn't sound right anymore.

[sweetolebob18 728]

QueenRarity  Look at AJ's behavior in Leap of Faith, for example.  She never flat out lies, but she is willing to bend the truth into a pretzel to avoid hurting her friends.  She believes the Flim Flam Brothers are lying, but looks the other way & weasels on her statements.  She puts her family's good ahead of the truth until it becomes impossible to overlook the lies.

 

Loyalty ahead of Honesty, in other words. 

[RainbowTashie 379]

She wasn't exactly being LOYAL to her family, she just had sudden realization that Sweet Apple Acres is where she belonged, bucking apples. Hence the triple apple cutie mark. Applejack was being honest with herself. Rainbow Dash on the other hand, really does deserve her element, she just has a hard time embracing it. I've never seen Applejack ever lie, except for when Discord was around and screwed everything up. And besides, if the elements were switched around like they are saying, it wouldn't sound right anymore.

Aj and RD's elements are too similar as well as their character's in my opinion. It is too easy to fuel a discussion of which of the two is the most worthy of loyalty/honesty i'd say they were pretty much even.

[VitalSpark 1,830]

I think the major thing we don't know about the elements of harmony is where the hell they came from. Obviously from the tree of harmony, but where did that come from? Has it always been growing? If not, who planted it? Why? How?

 

Look at AJ's behavior in Leap of Faith, for example.

 

That's an exceptional episode though. It's one of a series of six episodes that show the elements limits being tested.

 

In It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, Fluttershy needs to be cruel to be kind.

 

In Rarity Takes Manehattan, Rarity's generosity backfires, yet she learns to continue to be generous.

 

In Pinkie Pride, Pinkie realizes she needs to sacrifice her role as the most laughter-bringing pony to make her friend happy.

 

In Rainbow Falls, Rainbow Dash's loyalty is put to the test, and she ends up teaching the Wonderbolts a thing or two about loyalty.

 

And in Twilight's Kingdom, Twilight gives up her magic, and in doing so is rewarded by access to the chest, and a greater magic within it.

 

So in each of these six episodes, the pony either loses sight of the importance of their element (loyalty, honesty, generosity), but rediscovers it, teaching it to somepony else. Or they end up in a situation where they need to sacrifice their element (kindness, laughter, magic) for the greater good.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Vital Spark

[Dulset Tarn 441]

The bothersome part is the OTHER stuff the Elements have done. Apparently they can be affected by poems, as well as blast a pony to smithereens (Magical Mystery Cure) as well as being used to... summon Discord? The way the Element of Magic reacts in the human world only raises even more questions.

I think the major thing we don't know about the elements of harmony is where the hell they came from. Obviously from the tree of harmony, but where did that come from? Has it always been growing? If not, who planted it? Why? How?

I'd like to know why the tree of harmony is in the heart of the most chaotic place in all of Equestria.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Possibly, the Tree of Harmony is in the Everfree Forest because it is the most chaotic place in EQ.  Ever see a Yang/Ying symbol?  The white part has a small black dot & the black part has a small white dot.  The Tree of Harmony is that dot.

 

However, this implies a similar outpost for Chaos in the most organized part of EQ.  Could Discord be that spot?  This might be why he can't destroy the tree -it is mystically linked to him.

Edited January 24, 2015 by sweetolebob18