Are the writers divided on making Twilight a Mary Sue?

[ManaMinori 4,149]

I have to wonder, really. They've set her up with a silver spoon in her mouth, destined to be the op chosen one, for reasons, but turn the status quo on its head by having her be anything but perfect- the many times she's screwed up a spell and caused chaos, the time she brainwashed all of Ponyville over the lack of a friendship report to turn in, her failing to defeat NMM on her own, failing to get the Crystal Heart back to the dias on her own, failing to defeat Tirek on her own, allowing herself to be discorded and needing help from Sunbutt's letters to make things right, not even able to get cutsies in line in the city when she needs to help a friend, in spite of her being an alicorn princess, and her telling Discord that "she's not better than anypony", when in fact, because destiny, she kind of is.....the examples are numerous.

 

But then lines like "since when has Twilight Sparkle ever failed?" (Rainbow Dash- "The Crystal Empire part 2", and "Twilight's never  met a problem she couldn't solve." (Spike- "Rainbow Rocks"), "I'm supposed to have all the answers-" (Twilight- "Rainbow Rocks"), and "You've never let anypony down" (Spike- "Equestria Games"), heavily imply that she is, in fact, a Mary Sue.

 

Are the writers divided on how they want to portray THE CHOSEN ONE?

[Mesme Rize 15,692]

That's not a mary sue. If Twilight was a mary sue, she would've been flawless from the very beginning, which she certainly was not.

 

You don't just become a Mary Sue, in the middle of a story.

[Megas 28,146]

No Twilight is not a Mary Sue, and I'm really sick of that word. At this point we might as well call everyone a Mary Sue, and I'm gonna start discrediting anyone who uses it for their argument

 

She still has flaws and still screws up a plenty

Edited September 27, 2016 by Megas

[Marimo 555]

 

 

But then lines like "since when has Twilight Sparkle ever failed?" (Rainbow Dash- "The Crystal Empire part 2", and "Twilight's never  met a problem she couldn't solve." (Spike- "Rainbow Rocks"), "I'm supposed to have all the answers-" (Twilight- "Rainbow Rocks"), and "You've never let anypony down" (Spike- "Equestria Games"), heavily imply that she is, in fact, a Mary Sue.

Just because it's said in-universe doesn't mean they're stone cold fact. 3 of those are more meant to just hype up or celebrate Twilight then state a definite fact, and 1 of those is Twilight feeling pressured about what her status is.

[BastementSparkle 20,335]

If a bunch of boasting and praise is all it takes to be a Mary Sue, then Rainbow Dash is a Mary Sue too. According to the Crystal Ponies, so is Spike.

 

 Twilight's smart, and very powerful. And maybe the "CHOSEN ONE!" or something, but she's still made plenty of mistakes, failed plenty of times, and has shown many personality flaws. Her more "Perfect" status she has these days wasn't there originally and she only gained it through work and character development, and even now she still messes up at times.

 

 I guess it's just a compliment to Twilight though that so many are blinded by her greatness, they somehow think she's literally perfect despite all evidence to the contrary.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

I think they are too busy making Starlight be a mary sue to do anything with Twilight at all. I cannot think of anything that Twilight has ddne this season that Starlight hasn't done and possibly did it better, because reasons.

[BastementSparkle 20,335]

 

 

I think they are too busy making Starlight be a mary sue to do anything with Twilight at all. I cannot think of anything that Twilight has ddne this season that Starlight hasn't done and possibly did it better, because reasons.

 

Starlight has insecurities about failing her lessons, a hard time fully grasping the negative consequences of her actions, and is too manipulative at times. These are personality flaws. A Mary Sue does not have these.

 

 Also, the magic training between Twilight and Starlight at the start of the most recent episode clearly shows them as being quite well matched with each other. Starlight's skills are certainly very impressive, but I'm not sure she's necessarily "Better" than Twilight. Even if she was better than her magically, Twilight clearly still surpasses her in other ways, like her understanding of Friendship, she is Starlight's teacher after all.

 

 A Mary Sue is perfect, Starlight is not perfect. Mary Sue doesn't just mean someone who is really powerful, or really talented at something. If it meant that, a lot of ponies would be Mary sue's. 

[KatonRyu 1,036]

I don't think Twilight is, or has ever been, a Mary Sue. However, I do feel that the writers sometimes want to drive that home so much they take away skills she should really have by now, like common sense. An episode like What About Discord would have worked in Season One or maybe Two, but certainly not in a Season Five episode, simply because Twilight should really know better by this point. They undo character development to set up a conflict that has no reason to exist. Sure, they could have meant that Twilight still doesn't really trust Discord, which would have been a valid source of conflict, but instead they chose to make her foolishly try to reenact fun things her friends did down to the last movement. That's not quirky or endearing anymore by this point, it's just stupid. She's the Princess of Friendship with years of experience learning about it, not the socially inept unicorn she was when she first arrived.

 

If the writers would just let her show that she understands everything she's learned she would be a much better character, especially because she still does have legitimate flaws they can use to generate conflict.

[cmarston1 5,964]

No Twilight is not a Mary Sue. Not like this criticism has any merit anymore due to how it has been misused.

[pony.colin 156]

I think Tommy Oliver did a pretty good job explaining the term Mary Sue, or at least how I've understood it. And I don't think Twilight has fallen into that state.

 

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

Edited September 28, 2016 by pony.colin

[FlootahBabby 265]

I wouldn't say she is a Mary Sue. But she is the closest to a Mary Sue out of every other character on the show.

[cider float 2,539]

I feel like they're more like dividing importance of character between the mane six now. Who knows what might happen at the finale, maybe they'll make Applejack or Pinkie Pie become the main hero in that? Well yeah I know I'm starting to lose it but that would be nice to have a different member of the mane six "hero" it out.

[heavens-champion 1,907]

I dunno. But they seem to be divided on whether or not she should be a supporting character.