How would you describe Princess Luna's personality?

[melody5697 195]

I take it you have firsthand experience with the disorder. Note that the following text is not an attack on your experience or persona, just little ol’ inexperienced me thinking aloud.

 

Let us handle Nightmare Moon and Tantibus as forms of Luna’s emotional state, then analyze her deterioration that led to her banishment, Nightmare, and her current negative personality traits.

 

We start our story with a young alicorn named Luna who was entrusted with an honorable task of moving the Moon across the sky. Then, after a while, something stirred in this young princess: she became resentful. The pony subjects favored daylight and she took that as a personal insult. We are not aware of any emotional outbursts she had during this period, but we can assume that she did suffer persistent anger caused by minor slight(s) she herself imagined as such.

 

Then comes the Nightmare Moon: a violent, impulsive, self-damaging act born out of immense emotional distress. She does the same thing once more with Tantibus, and, once again, she demonstrates impulsivity and lack of planning since her activities always result in collateral damage and guilt that pushes her into even greater emotional distress. For each such action, she wishes to punish herself, which is also her way of coping with negative emotions. It is a circle that she cannot break on her own.

 

And last but not least, her quirks: Current Luna has a very poor image of herself. It is plagued with self-criticism and emotional liability. She can go from “having fun” to “I’m angry and depressed” do to environmental causes in an instant. She also lacks the insight into the feelings of others (while those are not visualized in the dream), easily misunderstands them, and is thus easily provoked into aggressive behavior. We can also suspect that her view of others is leaning on the negative side more often than not. She also has family issues and was until recently unable to form stable relationships with other ponies, which hints on pathological mistrust of others.

 

So we have impairments of self and interpersonal functioning, negative affectivity in forms of emotional liability, depressive behavior, anxiety over past actions along with feelings of shame, disinhibition in the form of impulsivity (perhaps even risk taking), and antagonism with persistent anger and irritability provoked by minor insults.

 

Whelp, my monthly quack diagnosis quota is fulfilled. Lay it on me!

I think there was more to it than ponies liking the day better, and I think she was possessed when she turned into Nightmare Moon. She kind of let it happen, but she was tricked. The fan fiction I'm writing explains what happened when she became Nightmare Moon, so you can read more about what I think happened if I ever finish my fan fiction. As for the other things, sounds a whole lot like how I used to be, and I sure as hell didn't have borderline personality disorder. I thought I did, but when I told the psychiatrist in the mental hospital that I thought I had it and why, she sure didn't think so.

Plus, I'm pretty sure they didn't intend for her to have it, and it seems unlikely that they would do it by accident.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

I think there was more to it than ponies liking the day better, and I think she was possessed when she turned into Nightmare Moon. She kind of let it happen, but she was tricked. The fan fiction I'm writing explains what happened when she became Nightmare Moon, so you can read more about what I think happened if I ever finish my fan fiction. As for the other things, sounds a whole lot like how I used to be, and I sure as hell didn't have borderline personality disorder. I thought I did, but when I told the psychiatrist in the mental hospital that I thought I had it and why, she sure didn't think so.

Plus, I'm pretty sure they didn't intend for her to have it, and it seems unlikely that they would do it by accident.

So you’re going with the Nightmare Forces route? That’s totally fine with me. Well, I’m not really a big fan since I think it detracts from Luna as a person and turns her into a perfect damsel in distress, but that’s just my opinion. I like my princesses slightly weird.

 

As for the staff, I’m pretty sure they don’t know everything about the natural world. Heck, they even gave Derpy/Muffins congenital strabismus that does cause amblyopia in the non-dominant eye, which would explain a part of her clumsiness. If the writer is good and experienced with the world, he/she is perfectly capable of describing a condition or a natural phenomenon without being aware.

 

TLDR – Disorders below, no ponies included:

Now, I don’t know about your experience with psychiatric institutions, but personality disorders aren’t usually high on the totem pole when it comes to diagnosis or treatment. One needs to be cautious when pointing fingers at such conditions.

 

The thing about personality disorders is that they are just an accentuation of individual’s personal traits which are fairly chronic, unadaptable, and unchangeable (though they do tend to decrease with age). They alter our cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns in such a way to cause suffering for the individual and/or the society around him/her. As such, these disorders are regarded more as a social than a medical problem, and they are definitely not a psychiatric disease. Moreover, we can even say that milder versions of such personality disorders do occur in “normal” individuals. More often than not, individuals with the disorder do not come to the doctor because of the disorder itself, but because of depression, anxiety, psychosis, or aggressive behavior that it caused. Once those conditions are gone, the patient will often cease treatment because they regard themselves as normal (and in a way, they’re actually right). All in all, these things are a tough cookie to crack.

 

Does Luna have such a disorder? Who knows. I still suspect her.

[S.F. 1,560]

She has always come across as being relatively serious/stern, but I also get the impression this is partly due to her tying to adapt to a new time and also because of her past as Nightmare Moon. 

 

However, she does show her fun side every now and then (especially in the comics

did anyone else find her and Big Mac hilarious in the Zen and Art of Gazebo Repair

- like when she pranked Rainbow at her own prank during Nightmare Night.

 

And as others have said, she does have a nurturing side, and tries to help her subject when she can (the CMC seem to have benefitted well from this   )

[melody5697 195]

So you’re going with the Nightmare Forces route? That’s totally fine with me. Well, I’m not really a big fan since I think it detracts from Luna as a person and turns her into a perfect damsel in distress, but that’s just my opinion. I like my princesses slightly weird.

 

As for the staff, I’m pretty sure they don’t know everything about the natural world. Heck, they even gave Derpy/Muffins congenital strabismus that does cause amblyopia in the non-dominant eye, which would explain a part of her clumsiness. If the writer is good and experienced with the world, he/she is perfectly capable of describing a condition or a natural phenomenon without being aware.

 

TLDR – Disorders below, no ponies included:

Now, I don’t know about your experience with psychiatric institutions, but personality disorders aren’t usually high on the totem pole when it comes to diagnosis or treatment. One needs to be cautious when pointing fingers at such conditions.

 

The thing about personality disorders is that they are just an accentuation of individual’s personal traits which are fairly chronic, unadaptable, and unchangeable (though they do tend to decrease with age). They alter our cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns in such a way to cause suffering for the individual and/or the society around him/her. As such, these disorders are regarded more as a social than a medical problem, and they are definitely not a psychiatric disease. Moreover, we can even say that milder versions of such personality disorders do occur in “normal” individuals. More often than not, individuals with the disorder do not come to the doctor because of the disorder itself, but because of depression, anxiety, psychosis, or aggressive behavior that it caused. Once those conditions are gone, the patient will often cease treatment because they regard themselves as normal (and in a way, they’re actually right). All in all, these things are a tough cookie to crack.

 

Does Luna have such a disorder? Who knows. I still suspect her.

I wasn't talking about the Nightmare Forces, actually. I don't consider the comics canon, and the Nightmare Rarity arc has pretty much been disproven by Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep anyway. But the thing I'm talking about is similar. I'm working on a fan fiction about what happened when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, but I might never post it. I very rarely have any ideas for stories, so I haven't had a chance to develop my writing skills. I think my idea is good, but I'm not writing it very well because I'm so inexperienced.

Luna definitely has some sort of mental illness. I'll have to do some research. This should be fun.

Edited July 17, 2015 by melody5697

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

She's definitely becoming more caring for others

[melody5697 195]

She has always come across as being relatively serious/stern, but I also get the impression this is partly due to her tying to adapt to a new time and also because of her past as Nightmare Moon. 

 

However, she does show her fun side every now and then (especially in the comics

did anyone else find her and Big Mac hilarious in the Zen and Art of Gazebo Repair

- like when she pranked Rainbow at her own prank during Nightmare Night.

 

And as others have said, she does have a nurturing side, and tries to help her subject when she can (the CMC seem to have benefitted well from this   )

Hmm, I really should read the comics at some point. (I haven't read anything past the Nightmare Rarity arc because I can't afford to buy them all. Maybe I should stop spending my money on cake pops and coffee and spend it on books instead.) I heard that she acts the way she acted in The Journal of the Two Sisters.

She's definitely becoming more caring for others

Hasn't she always cared? (mustmakepostlonger)

Edited July 17, 2015 by melody5697

[S.F. 1,560]

Hmm, I really should read the comics at some point. (I haven't read anything past the Nightmare Rarity arc because I can't afford to buy them all. Maybe I should stop spending my money on cake pops and coffee and spend it on books instead.) I heard that she acts the way she acted in The Journal of the Two Sisters.

Hasn't she always cared? (mustmakepostlonger)

The comics do give a fair amount of characterisation of her, especially the Luna Microseries, so I'd personally recommend them .

[melody5697 195]

The comics do give a fair amount of characterisation of her, especially the Luna Microseries, so I'd personally recommend them .

Okay. I do have a fairly large allowance ($17 a week is a lot, right?) and my grandma (I live with my grandparents because my dad couldn't handle my problems) pays me extra to do things around the house because our house keeper quit, so if I stop wasting my money on cake pops and coffee, I should be able to afford to buy comics.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

I wasn't talking about the Nightmare Forces, actually. I don't consider the comics canon, and the Nightmare Rarity arc has pretty much been disproven by Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep anyway. But the thing I'm talking about is similar. I'm working on a fan fiction about what happened when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, but I might never post it. I very rarely have any ideas for stories, so I haven't had a chance to develop my writing skills. I think my idea is good, but I'm not writing it very well because I'm so inexperienced.

Luna definitely has some sort of mental illness. I'll have to do some research. This should be fun.

Such skills come gradually. Just go have some fun, cause that's what MLP is all about.

[melody5697 195]

Such skills come gradually. Just go have some fun, cause that's what MLP is all about.

Okay! ^^ I shouldn't be so worried anyway since I've seen fan fictions much worse that people liked for some strange reason. A few days ago I saw a story that took a few scenes from "The Real Story" but replaced the Miasma with Star Swirl's personal student (not Clover the Clever) who went bad and the writer added part of the lyrics of Lullaby for a Princess at the end and it was written really really badly yet for some strange reason there were people who actually liked it. Wow, we're really getting off-topic now.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Okay! ^^ I shouldn't be so worried anyway since I've seen fan fictions much worse that people liked for some strange reason. A few days ago I saw a story that took a few scenes from "The Real Story" but replaced the Miasma with Star Swirl's personal student (not Clover the Clever) who went bad and the writer added part of the lyrics of Lullaby for a Princess at the end and it was written really really badly yet for some strange reason there were people who actually liked it. Wow, we're really getting off-topic now.

Fanfiction serves as a perfect example of Sturgeon’s law: 90% of it is total crap. It doesn’t help that Luna is somewhat of a fan darling and is oftentimes used as a convenient plot device that enables writers to insert their great and powerful selves into the story.

 

And yes, we did hijack this thread. Better skedaddle before mods come for our sweetbreads. There may be others who wish to put forth their grand hypothesis about Luna’s mental health.

[Jeric 46,851]

 

 

Now, I don’t know about your experience with psychiatric institutions, but personality disorders aren’t usually high on the totem pole when it comes to diagnosis or treatment. One needs to be cautious when pointing fingers at such conditions.

 

Just popping in here to mention that my wife just said that was about the smartest thing said about attributing mental disorders to character in the fandom that I have read to her. I mean, she uses the DSM V just like any head shrinker, but there is quite a bit more to it than that

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Just popping in here to mention that my wife just said that was about the smartest thing said about attributing mental disorders to character in the fandom that I have read to her. I mean, she uses the DSM V just like any head shrinker, but there is quite a bit more to it than that

Of course there is. The only reasons I ever went ham on Luna are because she’s not real, I’m nobody in the fandom (so slim chance of mass triggers), and I have a battered lore enthusiast mentality I accidentally picked up while sneaking round gaming communities. We’re used to scavenging up broken shards of content and doing crazy stuff with only a few hints, a glass of cat spit, and lots of kappa. It’s fun, but it can be slightly disruptive. Good day sir.

[urapony 41]

Boring.

 

 

Seriously though, not a fan of the whole brooding emo thing.

[melody5697 195]

Boring.

 

 

Seriously though, not a fan of the whole brooding emo thing.

Don't call people who self-harm emo. People who self-harm are mentally ill and need help. It seems that you are one of the people fortunate enough to not have experienced terrible pain. But to people like me who HAVE experienced such terrible pain, being called emo is very offensive. There's nothing wrong with actually being emo, but you don't even know what emo actually means or you wouldn't use it the way you do. I won't go into what it actually means because nobody will believe me, but I will tell you that self-harming doesn't make someone emo and being emo doesn't mean somebody self-harms. Luna IS NOT emo. She is a girl who has been through a lot and is hurting very badly and needs help.

[Dark Qiviut 22,425]

After last week's episode... emo.

 

Boring.

 

 

Seriously though, not a fan of the whole brooding emo thing.

Neither of you are using the word correctly. "Emo" ("Emotional Hardcore") is "a style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects." It has nothing to do with depression or self-harm. To use "emo" as such reinforces a vile stereotype on a musical genre that doesn't deserve to exist.

 

Observe Luna's personality in the show canon; nothing about it screams this stereotype in the slightest, especially Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? Even though her friends, the rest of society, and Celestia forgave her, it doesn't mean she forgave herself. One of the reasons people self-harm is because the emotional pain is so bad, cutting will ease it. The Tantabus is equivalent to Luna cutting; it helps ease the pain.

 

"Self-harm" doesn't mean emo, and using it as such is immensely disrespectful to Luna bronies, the emo genre, the people who self-harm, and especially yourselves.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Dark Qiviut

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Luna is someone who has to deal with a culture clash, deals with serious guilt, while at the same time showing certain humorous quirks (if you count certain comics). I wouldn't attribute it to any certain disease and that's largely because personality quirks are complex, and almost everyone has something to that effect.

[melody5697 195]

Neither of you are using the word correctly. "Emo" ("Emotional Hardcore") is "a style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects." It has nothing to do with depression or self-harm. To use "emo" as such reinforces a vile stereotype on a musical genre that doesn't deserve to exist.

 

Observe Luna's personality in the show canon; nothing about it screams this stereotype in the slightest, especially Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? Even though her friends, the rest of society, and Celestia forgave her, it doesn't mean she forgave herself. One of the reasons people self-harm is because the emotional pain is so bad, cutting will ease it. The Tantabus is equivalent to Luna cutting; it helps ease the pain.

 

"Self-harm" doesn't mean emo, and using it as such is immensely disrespectful to Luna bronies, the emo genre, the people who self-harm, and especially yourselves.

Good luck getting these people to believe that emo is a music genre. In tenth grade I tried to explain to a bunch of kids in my English class that emo is a music genre and the people who are called emo because of their clothes and hair and makeup and the music they listen to are actually scene kids (I got this information from a scene kid I used to be close friends with), but nobody believed me. Then one of them played a song by Black Veil Brides and asked me if I thought it was emo and I said no and she said that emo isn't a music genre because BVB isn't emo. What the heck? Where's the logic in that? What were these kids doing in honors English?

[Goat-kun 2,527]

Luna is someone who has to deal with a culture clash, deals with serious guilt, while at the same time showing certain humorous quirks (if you count certain comics). I wouldn't attribute it to any certain disease and that's largely because personality quirks are complex, and almost everyone has something to that effect.

That would be feasible if she didn’t go all Nightmare-y 100X years ago when there was little to no cultural clash, and if there had been another event that would have caused her to feel guilty, eventually leading to her outburst. It relies on a premise that something caused a perfectly fine young alicorn princess to go berserk, not only inconveniencing all hard-working Equestrians, but also hurting her own sister.

 

Her entire personality hinges on that Event Zero. Why did it happen? Does the fault lie within? Is she a perfectly normal little pony that just had her jimmies rustled? A little bit of both?

 

I think she has issues

melody5697 thinks she was set up by an external source

What do you think? Do we have an option c?

 

Also please don’t take my sweetbreads.

[melody5697 195]

That would be feasible if she didn’t go all Nightmare-y 100X years ago when there was little to no cultural clash, and if there had been another event that would have caused her to feel guilty, eventually leading to her outburst. It relies on a premise that something caused a perfectly fine young alicorn princess to go berserk, not only inconveniencing all hard-working Equestrians, but also hurting her own sister.

 

Her entire personality hinges on that Event Zero. Why did it happen? Does the fault lie within? Is she a perfectly normal little pony that just had her jimmies rustled? A little bit of both?

 

I think she has issues

melody5697 thinks she was set up by an external source

What do you think? Do we have an option c?

 

Also please don’t take my sweetbreads.

Actually I think she has issues too, and it's because of those issues that she was tricked so easily. My fan fiction will explain it if I ever finish it. I'd better get back to work!

[cider float 2,538]

I believe she said she was impatient in an indirect sort of way during the alicorn song. She holds all of it in and tries to act like a strong princess. She's definitely the more serious princess of the four. She also seems to love children as she is seen a lot in the CMC episodes when they have a bad dream that tells of a problem they have or made. Luna could make a good mother or a Michael Jackson I mean she was on that moon for a millennium she could do that moonwalk by now.

 

Edited July 21, 2015 by cider float

[Swifty 249]

This might be unpopular. She's kind of mentally fragile. I'd be concerned, if she had dealed with the yaks alone.

[Shanks 10,816]

Luna is very insecure and as we have seen from the most recent episode is still coming to terms with her past. She is still old fashioned in certain ways by having relatively formal speech patterns that were likely common place 1000 years ago, seems to be reluctant to show emotions and tries to put on a regal front. Despite her own struggles though we have seen a few examples of her actually helping others such as making Sweetie Belle realize the error of her ways in the episode For Whom the Sweetie Belle Tolls for example. I have noticed Celestia putting up a somewhat regal front but hers is a bit more subtle and seems to be motivated more by trying to be professional than by insecurity and Celestia has broken this a tad more often though Luna is slowly starting to get there.

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

Aloof, yet sensitive, introspective, reflective and wise. Knowledgeable on the other side. Striving for love, without first realizing self love and acceptance, which often leads to self-punishment for what it seems to be past mistakes.


We share a lot in common. I like her quite a lot.