spoiler How can they forgive Starlight Glimmer?

[cuteycindyhoney 13,282]

How can they forgive Starlight Glimmer after all she's done? ? It's insane! She's created several apocalyptic times lines during The Cutie Remark, one of which seems to be a lifeless ash wasteland. All that awful things over losing a single friend? 

 

Does Starlight Glimmer deserve forgiveness? Should she be executed or exiled? All she got was a slap on the wrist for doing all that.

 

How it would play out in a more realistic setting.

 

Starlight Glimmer: I'm sorry. Can you forgive me for all I've done?

 

Princess Twilight Sparkle: Nope. What you did was unforgivable. If you don't go into exile, I'm putting you under a guillotine.

 

The End (cue end credits music)

The different timelines never existed once Starlight changed her mind and avoided tampering with the past. She learned a very hard lesson. I see no reason why she would be beyond forgiveness.

[Grtxkkyz 387]

Well, given she expressed remorse and guilt at all those possible Bad futures, it's safe to say she will have to live with that feeling forever. Plus, appealing to Starlight's nature certainly helped her see the error of her ways. Given Equestrian culture strongly values friendship, it was logical for Twi to reason with her so she could turn over a new leaf. You can't reason with villains such as Tirek and Sombra because they are power hungry tyrants who will stop at nothing to take over the world.

Plus, redeeming Starlight was necessary so that Twilight could come full circle.

On the other hand, her redemption feels kinda rushed, I mean, the ponies were way quicker to forgive and accept her, while they were hostile and untrusting with Discord (Fluttershy was the only one willing to give him a chance after all.) But maybe, this will get explored in upcoming episodes, given the show's strong continuity.

[Singe 2,109]

There is a difference between living it and hearing about it. The Mane 5 lived through Discord's trouble and they only heard about what Starlight Glimmer did. Worse experience she's done to the Mane 5 was take their Cutie Marks away while time shenanigans doesn't apply.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Singe

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Look at that scene a bit more closely though; Twilight proposed to reform and befriend Starlight for the benefit of Equestria. She's seen this method work on quite a few occasions

Luna

Trixie

Discord 

Sunset Shimmer 

Gilda

Diamond Tiara (the cmc did this one but you get the idea)

 

Each of these characters have gone on to be at the very least allies and at the very best friends and ambassadors of friendship. A lot of those characters have quite a rap sheet under their belt, but now they are working for the benefit of Equestria and its interests. With Starlight being as powerful as she is, and this being a clearly viable option in that world, I say she went with the right decision in reforming Starlight Glimmer. Hell she may even prove to be a powerful ally in the season to come. 

[Lucario14 26]

Look at that scene a bit more closely though; Twilight proposed to reform and befriend Starlight for the benefit of Equestria. She's seen this method work on quite a few occasions

Luna

Trixie

Discord 

Sunset Shimmer 

Gilda

Diamond Tiara (the cmc did this one but you get the idea)

 

Each of these characters have gone on to be at the very least allies and at the very best friends and ambassadors of friendship. A lot of those characters have quite a rap sheet under their belt, but now they are working for the benefit of Equestria and its interests. With Starlight being as powerful as she is, and this being a clearly viable option in that world, I say she went with the right decision in reforming Starlight Glimmer. Hell she may even prove to be a powerful ally in the season to come. 

True.

 

Twilight's ability to reach out to characters goes under the radar. She's greatly surpassed Celestia in this regard. If Starlight had been fighting Celestia then she would have been banished to another dimension. 

[Merion 783]

Twilight's way is better. Starlight Glimmer is quite obviously an extremely powerful unicorn, and it's far better for Twilight to mentor Starlight, guide her towards being good and teach her about friendship than to kill or banish her. Killing her would be an overreaction and would be overly harsh; banishing her from Equestria would only encourage her to continue on her path to darkness. Whereas the decision Twilight chose means that a unicorn who has tremendous magical talent is brought to the good side and could be a valuable allie in the future.

 

This! Killing her would be too extreme, but letting her go would be too risky... I guess it's safer to have Starlight inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in. 

[cider float 2,535]

    Remember this is a show meant for a very young audience. How would you feel, as a 9 year old, seeing how the bad guy gets killed after saying sorry and even repairing what he did? She didn't deserve immediate forgiveness, but it was the best possible outcome for that episode

 

   I mean, you can't expect realism in this situation, since the show creators always want to stress the importance of friendship and forgiveness. 

 

   But hey, Twilight did say that Starlight was more talented in magic than any pony she had seen- so maybe she's plotting on using her as an assistant for her evil plan of conquering Equestria... 

As a 9 year old I'd think that would be pretty cool.

[DANUTERCISD 202]

starlight did something bad, worse then any of the other villains in the show, but, as god forgives, twilight decided to forgive. I thought she did a smart choice of forgiving her, though she may be punished, but not killed or exiled.

[DeadAccount 4,603]

I believe that she was let off the hook way too easily and some problems weren't addressed. Her motive wasn't a good one either... One friend and all that happened? But according to the show, that is how it is. But doesn't that concern anypony? Her mind obviously went off the deep end over such a matter. I say she gets a taste of her own medicine and gets equalized! jk She did an awful lot and if all the other ponies except the Mane 6 and the ponies from the "Equal village" knew about what Starlight did then they wouldn't be very happy either

[EmeraldSkies 93]

What people need to understand is that Starlight is a very lost pony. Sunburst leaving her at a young age was the trigger to a series of events that led to her being like she is. It makes me feel extremely uneasy for some reason when people suggest exile or execution, what would that do? It would just make her worse.

 

Not to mention that it was never her intention to hurt / destroy Equestria. Ironically, her plan was to stop others from being hurt like she was. That's partially why she stopped the bullies. Starlight was very surprised when she saw the wasteland, she didn't believe it.  She just wanted to hurt the ponies that hurt her, Twilight had to be the bigger pony and stop the cycle.

 

 

 

I just hope they can figure out how to develop her without overshadowing Sunset.

 

Though they are very similar characters initially, I feel like Starlight will end up going down a much different path. Sunset's arc led her into becoming the main character of Equestria Girls, and what seems like an alicorn. Her story demands her to be the lead, and for her to guide Twilight and the others, the dynamic in Equestria Girls is much changed. Starlight obviously can't have that. 

[Kivil 1,721]

Realistically speaking I'd exile her.... I know.... I am a bad person

[Twilight Frost 271]

Anypony who thinks she should not be forgiven obviously does not understand anything about friendship. You obviously have not paid attention to the lessons that the ponies have learned and taught us if you think that her crimes were warrent of a punishment considering the circumstances.

[Ianpiersonjdavis 512]

Well, I don't think she really deserved forgiveness-at least, not immediate forgiveness regarding the catastrophic temporal damage when she only got lucky on the fact it wasn't permanent.

 

And I don't think that the severity of her crimes should go without punishment.

 

Since it would be too brutal to execute her and exile would be to her personal benefit with her manipulative nature (as we've seen with her town in her first appearance) and well the fact that she had the power to even cast the spell to begin with leads me to believe that the punishment she should have is her magic being either removed or inhibited until they are certain she is sincere-similar to how they had the Elements of Harmony to keep Discord in line when they still had them. 

Edited December 3, 2015 by Ianpiersonjdavis

[HereComesTom 2,232]

Well, I don't think she really deserved forgiveness-at least, not immediate forgiveness regarding the catastrophic temporal damage when she only got lucky on the fact it wasn't permanent.

 

And I don't think that the severity of her crimes should go without punishment.

 

Since it would be too brutal to execute her and exile would be to her personal benefit with her manipulative nature (as we've seen with her town in her first appearance) and well the fact that she had the power to even cast the spell to begin with leads me to believe that the punishment she should have is her magic being either removed or inhibited until they are certain she is sincere-similar to how they had the Elements of Harmony to keep Discord in line when they still had them. 

 

Interesting thought:  Starlight was a match for Twilight, an alicorn.  But would she be a match for Rainbow Power?  When you consider Rainbow Power is as powerful as the Elements of Harmony or more, and the Elements beat DisQord and Nightmare Moon, Rainbow Power (which the Mane 6 can access at will) can probably beat Starlight Shimmer if it proves necessary.

 

When you think about it that way, probably Starlight is essentially in about the situation you described, but then again, it would've been better if the show had made it clearer that Twilight and her friends were taking precautions with her---that's probably a symptom of the rushed ending.

[Reading Heart 167]

Hmm... you have started with a fallacy here, forgiveness is never deserved, if it's deserved, it's not forgiveness, it's what you deserve.  So the answer on that level, is always a no, since to forgive is to grant pardon, it can be a single instant, and it can be a process, or it can be both.  Forgiveness is the better path though, then punishment, especially when folks are truly repentant.. and I'd have to say that Starlight was.. it was a bit rocky to to reach point, but if she wasn't she wouldn't have hung around to face the music, she would have run away like she did in the beginning (of the season).

 

Extending forgiveness is not always easy, but it's always better, since withholding it hurts us more then it hurt the one we won't forgive.  Why do I say this.. because it means we hold onto the pain and heartache, the hurt and let it fester.  And before you say that's easy for me to say, let me say that I have been mistreated in the past, and I've chosen the path of forgiveness, it's not always easy, but it always heals... choosing not to forgive leaves wounds to fester within our souls.

 

Now, more to Starlight's actual crime, until Twilight took her to see the future's she was creating, she had no idea of the damage she was doing... and while anger pushed her to make some threats there at the end, she was hesitant, otherwise she wouldn't have been so slow about tearing the scroll.  And she turned away from it, and accepted Twilight's hoof/hand there at the end.  

 

So, are you really saying she should have been punished for the crime of ignorance?   And executed?  Wow, that's dark, definitely sounds like some of you almost think she should 'burn in hell' for her crime.  Seems so harsh as I'd have to say, too much, to far people, so far that I'd go with it being just as wrong as her own actions.  And two wrongs do not a right make.  

 

So, let's consider the exile option a moment.  So, as punishment, your banishing one who may be one of the most powerful unicorns alive, meaning she can offer a great deal to make the world a better place, as punishment for a crime that she turned completely away from. I mean, if anything, that seems likely to make her feel more resentful, and considering her friendless state, meeting with the wrong sort of individual could come back to bite you later.. .. hmm, seems sort of short sighted of folks.

 

 Actually, I feel that twilight choose the wisest and kindest path here, the path most likely to produce the best results for everyone, Starlight included.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Reading Heart

[Carl Poppa 464]

Her crime was stealing the essence of other ponies, turning them into empty husks, because as a filly she didn't try to keep in contact with a friend who moved on or make new friends. I'm sorry but taking away somepony's individuality and special talent is simply unforgivable, and her back story is much too weak for it to be plausible.

 

That said, Twilight did make the right decision; just it was way too rushed. Starlight wouldn't have given in as quickly as it was done on the show and neither would Twilight's friends or the villagers have forgiven her so quickly.

 

In order for the episode to have the ending it deserved, Starlight needed a stronger motive and ought to have resisted reformation longer; or, as it would have fit her character better, she oughtn't have reformed at all--Twilight would have been forced to punish her, perhaps imprisonment, and eventually after thinking about it, maybe she could have been reformed later.

 

I understand why the ending happened the way it did, but it fell short and was very disappointing after a strong season. Starlight, and the show, deserved something more epic than they were given.

[gamecubeguy214 2,511]

She should be forgiven because she has been reformed and will never commit another crime and everything is back to normal.

[cider float 2,535]

Starlight Glimmer could have screwed up so many lives with her time traveling, she disrupted the time continuum, she wasted the lives of those ponies at equality town for who knows how many years, snuffing their talents away.

 

All for what, her first friend left? I mean come on.

Edited December 4, 2015 by cider float

[1234zua 19]

And I'm supposing you had a lot of friends growing up? Now I can understand why you will have a problem with Starlight being forgiven easily, but wanting her executed is ridiculous. Other characters were just as bad as she was, but they didn't get death.

 

Starlight has every right to be angry and bitter over a lost friend, but her actions were wrong.

[Princess Cheese Dorito 7]

Yeah, she did enslave a whole village pf ponies and took away everypony's cutie marks, but I agree with most people on this forum. Starlight felt sorry, but I agree that her redemption should have taken some time rather than just making her good on the spot. Yes, she did some unforgivable things, but believe it or not, that's the spirit of FiM. I bet it still troubles Starlight even in the current episodes.

On 12/4/2015 at 4:20 AM, 1234zua said:

And I'm supposing you had a lot of friends growing up? Now I can understand why you will have a problem with Starlight being forgiven easily, but wanting her executed is ridiculous. Other characters were just as bad as she was, but they didn't get death.

 

Starlight has every right to be angry and bitter over a lost friend, but her actions were wrong.

I agree completely 

[MysticWolficorn 76]

I can't agree more. What she did was absolutely unforgiveable, and she should have been sent to tartarus with her cutie mark stripped off as well, to get a taste of her own medicine. If not that, then she should be killed. I really dont share Twilights ways of forgiveness.

Edited October 8, 2020 by MysticWolficorn

[swu24 8]

I think Starlight does deserve forgiveness and as punishment, I think she should get a super hard slap on the wrist then the horn.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

She didn’t deserve to be forgiven because she didn’t earn her forgiveness. Twilight had to forgive her because the alternative was the destruction of the entire world.

Twilight didn’t had an option so it wasn’t an act of mercy. Starlight’s redemption was just given to her without any cost whatsoever (actually it was a better option for her own selfish interests in the first place) so she didn’t earn her redemption.

She didn’t deserve to be forgiven, and if there was a way to stop her by blasting a rainbow laser to her face or imprisoning her, Twilight would have done it thousand times just like she did it with Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek and Cozy Glow. 

[Ittoni 536]

More than forgiveness I think it was that Twilight saw potential on her changing her ways. Also it's stated that she's just too powerful and resourceful to be punished effectively

Edited October 9, 2020 by Ittoni

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I think if her magic was disabled for a long while, she would eventually learn not to use her powers for any more extreme things.