spoiler Discord and the Golden Oaks Library

[Silver Letter 1,832]

New episode "spoilers" below if you care.

 

I am still bothered as to why the scene of Twilight looking at the ruins of her old home in the new episode, "Castle Sweet Castle", has any weight to it. She seemed all sad and it seems to effect her psyche significantly as to how she perceives herself. She ends up not wanting to live in that castle at all.

 

Why can't Discord just bring the tree back? It would be easy. Just a snap of the claws and poof... the tree is back. Right? It wouldn't be anything Discord couldn't do.

 

It would perhaps be best for Twilight and everypony else.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,164]

Added spoiler prefix for spoilers mentioned in OP.

[simba86 1,541]

because then they would not have been able to do the episode?

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

It would be boring if Discord would just fix all of the mane 6 problems.

 

Being a reality warper and all so he could do it maybe but he shouldn't

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,164]

It would be boring if Discord would just fix all of the mane 6 problems.

 

Being a reality warper and all so he could do it maybe but he shouldn't

 

Not to mention that as we have seen in the past Discord isn't above teaching Twilight & co. a lesson if need be. He did that a few times in S4, so if Twilight was to properly learn to accept and move on from horrible tragedies, just gifting her the library back wouldn't help her grow and mature.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

Yeah, it might be boring if that's all that happened but it was more or less Discord's fault to begin with. Maybe restoring it would be a way to compensate for past mistakes.

 

Perhaps PathfinderCS is right though. Perhaps it was a good lesson to learn.

[Castle Bleck 19,453]

Not to mention that as we have seen in the past Discord isn't above teaching Twilight & co. a lesson if need be. He did that a few times in S4, so if Twilight was to properly learn to accept and move on from horrible tragedies, just gifting her the library back wouldn't help her grow and mature.

 

He's what TV Tropes would call "Awesome But Impractical."

[Violet_S 785]

It would be nice of him to do that but then the lesson of the episode wouldn't make sense. I get that twilight was sad and was avoiding the castle but I think its better for her to let go and start a new :/

[ShadOBabe 19,028]

In addition to what everyone said, it wouldn't really be a smart idea to start on that kind of path with Discord.

 

Discord isn't an innocent lamb and probably does need to make up for some things he's done.

But if you just start going to him every time you need something just magically poofed the way you want it, he's going to start feeling used. Like if you had a wealthy friend and continuously asked them to pay for things for you.

[ArcheoPony 76]

Now you see part of the problem Discord's recurrence poses for the narrative. The scenario of loosing and moving on doesn't seem to me like it'd be something Discord would think up himself to teach Twilight a lesson. Usually the lesson's he teaches others are all influenced by some selfish desire are some point. Maybe having had him considering popping up the tree back, because he really felt bad about its loss, but after a chat with Celestia or somebody deciding against it because there's a valuable lesson learned would've been a nice little story for him.

[Banul 3,831]

That would set a weird precedent of Discord solving everyone's problems. 

 

In my own personal headcannon, Discord works like Roger Rabbit from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. If you're unfamiliar with that move, Roger Rabbit is a cartoon character in real life. He seems to have super powers like being able to get out of handcuffs without effort, but he can only do it when its funny to do so, because he's a cartoon.

 

It helps me to think that Discord has some kind of limitation on his power like that. He can only do such and such when its chaotic or funny to do it. Its not perfect, but there you go.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

Perhaps Tirek's evil magic damaged the tree beyond even Discord's ability to repair it.

[The Crimson Cross 7,533]

I don't think it would be much of a lesson if he just poofed everything back to the way it was. Besides, Twilight has a castle now anyway. As if that wasn't enough of a compensation!

 

Sure he could poof it back to the way it was, but the way Discord works is that he won't do anything unless its for his own personal gain. There's a lot he must learn about friendship, but he's still a over 1000 yr old being of chaos after all.

 

Or perhaps Discord's powers only work on things he has manipulated himself.

Edited April 12, 2015 by The Crimson Cross

[cuteycindyhoney 13,339]

The Tree of Harmony gifted the castle to Twilight for a reason. It was thanking her for it's salvation, and giving her the means (The Cutie Map) to spread her message of friendship throughout Equestria. Even Discord could see that this was not something to meddle with. 

[Pastel 7,630]

Can he really do that though? Bringing back the tree exactly the way it was? I know he has powerful magic, but I'm not 100% sure he could do that.

 

But anyway, that would have been boring, plus Twilight got the castle that definitely replaced the library.

[Yellow Diamond 7,578]

For narrative reasons, it would be totally bunk: the lesson from "Castle Sweet Castle" (you can make new memories while staying true to your roots) would be lost. Moreover, Discord reconstituting the Library would imply he could just fix about any problem or inconvenience. I gather Twilight, Discord himself, and most of the primary cast would come to recognize the moral implications of following that route, that is, treating Discord as an instrument rather than as a person.

 

Second, Twilight would likely feel as though she had somehow cheated herself and her memories by having Discord gloss over the damage with his magic. The new Library wouldn't be the original but rather a facsimile. My guess is such an arrangement would leave Twilight extremely uncomfortable, on top of everything else.

[Cwanky 17,755]

Perhaps Discord's magic is not as we understand it to be. It may very well be that he can distort and bend reality - but that effect only lasts as long as he dictates that they do. All the changes he made before are often either quickly reversed after he's defeated or reverses it.

 

Besides that, this is a transition point in Twilight's life now whether we like it or not. Just as Twilight has to deal with being a princess and move on, so too does she have to adjust to her new home now. Its basically the Elements of Harmony's base of operations now anyways.

[Malinter 3,064]

The tree is a living thing. Discord can certainly morph living people but restoring the tree is more or less bringing a living creature back from the dead and that realm of magic belongs to different spirit entirely

 

Discord could quite easily make a copy of the tree but in Twilight's heart she would know this and she would still feel the same sense of loss.

 

(Personally, i'd have thought they'd see if a sapling of the tree remained and grow a new tree as a symbol of new beginning but then how will they sell that ugly new castle to the kids XD)

Edited April 12, 2015 by Malinter

[UnknownFry 169]

It would perhaps be best for Twilight and everypony else. 

 

No it would not be as it would actually be rather unhealthy to relive the past instead of doing the healthy thing by moving on. It would also cheapen the loss from a narrative sense it the library could be brought back that easily.

Edited April 12, 2015 by UnknownFry

[ggg-2 3,555]

I saw a Discord blog acknowledge this on tumblr, and have adopted it as my headcanon that what when Centaurface Mcugly, AKA Tirek destroyed the library, the blast carried with it, an extremely dark magic. A magic so dark and corrupted, in fact, that anything destroyed by it can never be restored again, even by a Draconequus.

[Castle Bleck 19,453]

Maybe he simply doesn't know enough about its layout to recreate it fully.

[MLPFanatic34 3,241]

The Tree of Harmony gifted the castle to Twilight for a reason. It was thanking her for it's salvation, and giving her the means (The Cutie Map) to spread her message of friendship throughout Equestria. Even Discord could see that this was not something to meddle with. 

I think the castle that the Tree gave Twilight suits her much better since she's now a princess and needs her own essential palace. Plus what cuteycindyhoney said lol.