spoiler [THEORY] Does Starlight have the mentality of a child? Literally?

[Lonk Chase 255]

She doesn't stop until she is completely defeated.

She quickly reforms herself when she does.

She has extreme dedication to her dream.

She never thinks of the consequences of her actions.

She constantly mocks Twilight and boasts her abilities.

She is self-obsessed.

She was in denial that she lost the battle in the premere.

 

Sound familiar to you?

 

When did she obsess over cutie marks?

When she was a child.

When did her friend abandon her, causing all of these events?

When she was a child.

 

She was trying so hard to get her cutie mark, then her friend gets his and they separate.

Her only friend. Motivation.

Gone.

She goes mad and goes on a rampage.

Her madness made her stay with the personality and mentality of a foal. Yes, she has gotten smarter, but the normal mental growth to transform a kid to an adult stopped.

 

What do you think?

 

I know this is probably a very outlandish theory, but it's a thought.

 

EDIT: This is a reposting of sorts of a reply I made to the finale discussion. I wanted to put it here for convenience.

Edited December 22, 2015 by lonkfania

[luftschloss 833]

Actually, this sounds pretty accurate. She grew into an adult, yet her mental growth was halted. In the way of mentality, that is. 

 

 

Because people need certain things to continue their growth, she might not have gotten those things. This was a very good theory! 

[Silver Stream. 708]

I was thinking along the lines of being mentally unstable but that sounds fair as well.

 

Not to mention she, like any adolescent, created her own escape to live her fantasy that is free of reality or the thing that hurts her the most of which is accepting that cutie marks aren't the blame. And when that escape was taken away, she got pissed enough to nearly ruin the future even after she saw the risks of what it could bring.

[ManaMinori 4,146]

So innacurate t think that no adults have or do anything listed in the op.

But for the sake of argument, sure. Let's say SG does have the mentality of a child. She was still capable of thinking 3 steps ahead of Twilight, to render Twi incapable of suceeding to stop her multiple times over.

Nice to know that someone with a child's mentality can whoop the main character so badly.

And no, that's not sarcasm.

[Pinkiest Pie 405]

So innacurate t think that no adults have or do anything listed in the op.

But for the sake of argument, sure. Let's say SG does have the mentality of a child. She was still capable of thinking 3 steps ahead of Twilight, to render Twi incapable of suceeding to stop her multiple times over.

Nice to know that someone with a child's mentality can whoop the main character so badly.

And no, that's not sarcasm.

And my reply isn't sarcasm.

 

I think this might be plausable, but I see this unlike. As above user stated "She was still capable of thinking 3 steps ahead of Twilight." I don't think someone with Child Mentality could do that.

[Lonk Chase 255]

And my reply isn't sarcasm.

 

I think this might be plausable, but I see this unlike. As above user stated "She was still capable of thinking 3 steps ahead of Twilight." I don't think someone with Child Mentality could do that.

I was implying that although she has the mental capacity of an adult, the personality side of her brain is the mentality of a child.

But that's kind of cheating to say that, so I get your point 100%.

Also, we're talking about Plot-Armor® situations here, so that might not be 100% accurate either.

[Silver Stream. 708]

So innacurate t think that no adults have or do anything listed in the op.

But for the sake of argument, sure. Let's say SG does have the mentality of a child. She was still capable of thinking 3 steps ahead of Twilight, to render Twi incapable of suceeding to stop her multiple times over.

Nice to know that someone with a child's mentality can whoop the main character so badly.

And no, that's not sarcasm.

 

Thats almost as if you are implying a child is incapable of being manipulative or smart enough to think ahead. ESPECIALLY if it's something a child wants.

 

*raises hand* I'm guilty for being a little slick when I was a kid. If you know a person well enough, even a child can predict their next moves. Who knows it's the reason Starlight stalked Twilight before she made her move.

[Goat-kun 2,530]

Let’s take a red pill on this one. She demonstrates villainous behavioral patterns that are a staple among family friendly TV content like Home Alone. Plus they needed a quick n’ easy story to explain her background which had a misfortunate side effect of making her look cuckoo. I’m sure that given more minutes and cash they’d do a better job, but since they’re all poor and overworked we must cut them some slack and use our imagination. Also, it’s a kid show – never forget ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,894]

To further complicate things, I could be remembering this wrong, but wasn't she playing with the CMC's near the end of the finale?  Of course an adult could do that just fine but perhaps she could connect with them better because of her mentality. This whole concept would make me like her character a lot more, because I too an a child at heart, always have been. I actually REALLY hope that this is the case with her.

[Lonk Chase 255]

To further complicate things, I could be remembering this wrong, but wasn't she playing with the CMC's near the end of the finale?  Of course an adult could do that just fine but perhaps she could connect with them better because of her mentality. This whole concept would make me like her character a lot more, because I too an a child at heart, always have been. I actually REALLY hope that this is the case with her.

That is some continuity.

You need to work for Hasbro.

[cider float 2,539]

She's more childish than Discord? No way.

[1234zua 19]

Starlight isn't the most childish villain. I find her to be the most realistic because there are people like her in real life who grow bitter over failed friendships and turn evil or turn into heartless jerks because of it.

 

Starlight also needs professional help as well because her actions just shows how crazy she is.

[CP3_P0n3 170]

If what my lecturers has told me is true, then she might just be the opposite of the op. She's has a high maturity level be it mentally or anything.

 

The desire to obtain the answer of certain things and put every single effort into reaching those answers are what Starlight did. Did she stopped learning magic to find the answer to her sorrow? No. Did she stopped trying after Mane 6 defeated her? No. Did she accept Twilight's answer and not her own? Yes. Did she just accept Twilight's answer without any confirmation? No. She needs to confirm to get the best answer.

 

All successful people are like that, and we often sees them as the demi-god of mature being. That's Sartlight, she's bound for great things just like Twilight.

 

People often judge others by what they do, not how they think.

 

A child cries and wants something and continue to persuade dad with many ways, crying, hitting, whatever, if dad is mature enough, he wouldn't let his child get spoiled like that and try every way until his child gives up. If a child does everything she could to make dad go to the beach, dad will let her because it's the perfect opportunity to spend time with his family and he knows his child wants to have fun with the whole family together. See?

Edited December 25, 2015 by CP3_P0n3

[cmarston1 5,960]

That sounds interesting, but I don't think that is what the show was going for with her character.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,673]

Starlight's backstory seems incomplete. The biggest question I have here is where her parents or family have been all this time. There's no way that her experience with losing a friend could have festered into her the way it did unless... unless she truly did have nobody to guide her growing up. Here's something I wrote elsewhere:

 

 

 

As for Starlight's backstory, reading between the lines, there's something really strange about her. Moondancer was already grown up when this turning point happened but Starlight was but a small filly. Are we really to believe that Starlight grew up lonely and bitter? That she had nobody to turn to at such a tender age? That is very unnatural. Children tend to turn to their parents or guardians when in distress. Did she really have no family to turn to? Or maybe she did have a family but they were neglectful of her, not giving her any outlet whatsoever? You'd think that a proper education and upbringing would help prevent someone from growing up with ideas as crazy and off the wall as Starlight's.   It would seem as though she grew up alone, pretty much without guidance... What could possibly go wrong?

 

 

Looking at things from the outside-in with the show itself, having a new main character that's very behind when it comes to wisdom and maturity could be what the show needs to prolong its friendship lessons motif as the current Mane 6 are maturing.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

She has the mentality of one of those progressive activists at college campuses imo.

 

>equality more important than anything

>ends justify means

>illiberal — coercion and censorship

>dishonest

>resorts to shouting when she's losing an argument