Twilight Sparkle and the Number 42.

[Grepper 3,192]

I was watching a (fake) conspiracy theory video by LittleshyFiM about hidden symbolism in MLP.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKkmgMTR9ww

 

He trots out the usual stuff like Illuminati symbolism, but he also pointed out that Twilight's cutie mark has 42 points (see below,) her race number in the Running of the Leaves was 42, and her voice actress, Tara Strong is 42 years old this year.

 

(In case you don't know, 42 is the meaning of life is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference.)

 

 

The video concluded that the number 42 is associated with Twilight, she is the princess of friendship, and the show is called Friendship is Magic. Therefore, friendship is the meaning of life.

 

I found this interestingly uncanny. It made me wonder if the 42-pointed cutie mark and her race number was an intentional reference to Hitchhiker's Guide. At the least, it could be a bored animator giving Twilight a number matching the points on her cutie mark.

 

Do you think this was intentional?

[BlueBrony 388]

Race number: yes. If you are going to give Twilight a random number- 42 is a popular choice.

 

As for the points of her star, I would lean more towards no on that. I think it was just an even number that gave an interesting not-5-pointed star.

 

Still it is interesting. We humans are really good at finding recurring patterns (intentional or not), especially related to numbers.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Well it looks like Monty Python was right after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBArMmngVH4

  Edited November 9, 2015 by Sidral Mundet

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,426]

I am not even too sure how people even come up with these 'conspiracy theories' but humans tend to do quite a lot when they are bored.

[Lil Pip 775]

technically more than 42 if you count one of the stars being over the other, it creates more points.

[Grepper 3,192]

technically more than 42 if you count one of the stars being over the other, it creates more points.

 

It's a bit hard for me to tell if the white starburst under the large pink star is an accent to the pink star, or another star entirely. Either way, we're only counting visible points.

[Roughshod 719]

 

Quite creative. Given the popularity of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it's 42 reference(which has become something of a meme on the internet) I don't doubt the possibility of her race number being an intended nod. The stars and release date is possible but unlikely. Then again Lauren Faust might be that clever.

 

As for the card and Tara Strong's age those are obviously coincidental. I think.

[El Duderino 878]

Well, if someone asked you what the meaning of life is, friendship would actually be a good serious answer. However, 42 being related to Twilight is completely a coincidence. 

 

 

And Monty Python is always right

Edited November 9, 2015 by McDude

[Vulcan 3,254]

having one or two facts correlate is  mere coincidence

but this has enough evidence backing it up for me to believe that it is no coincidence.

[J. Brony 313]

I am not even too sure how people even come up with these 'conspiracy theories' but humans tend to do quite a lot when they are bored.

 

It's all a matter of seeing what we want to see as a reflection of whatever mood we're in at the time, turning a random musing into our own personal gospel and then spazzing out over it.  Next thing we know we're preaching to cultist on the Internet how Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark indicates that she is the living reincarnation of some Sumerian god or another.

 

Yep, sounds like just another day on MLPForums to me.

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

I think they went with a 6-pointed star for the symbolism of the core group of 6 and the heavy implication of "destiny", but also because it represented a "spark" rather than a mere star. A five-pointed star would have been too standard. I have been aware of her cutie mark having 42 points for a long time, but I'm leaning more towards that being a coincidence rather than planned. I don't think Lauren or the character designers would have put this much effort into symbolism. But that would make a good question to ask her at a convention.

 

But friendship=magic=42=the answer to life/the universe/everything sits very well with me.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Wind Chaser

[cmarston1 5,952]

Yeah I can find this entertaining.

I can accept that friendship=magic=42 aka the meaning of live

[Grepper 3,192]

I think they went with a 6-pointed star for the symbolism of the core group of 6 and the heavy implication of "destiny", but also because it represented a "spark" rather than a mere star. A five-pointed star would have been too standard. I have been aware of her cutie mark having 42 points for a long time, but I'm leaning more towards that being a coincidence rather than planned. I don't think Lauren or the character designers would have put this much effort into symbolism. But that would make a good question to ask her at a convention.

 

But friendship=magic=42=the answer to life/the universe/everything sits very well with me.

 

I think it would be fun to ask her about it just to see her reaction to the interesting (presumable) coincidences.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Grepper

[LHfunk 422]

Oh, coincidence is it? Cutie Mark: 42. Race Number: 42. Tara Strong's Age: 42. 42+42+42=126. 126 divided by 6 equals 21. 21 can be divided by 3. A triangle has three sides. Illuminati confirmed.