Interpreting Cutie Marks

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

So, neither of these seem to follow the usual mores of Cutie Marks so I can't really guess how accurate if at all my assessment will be but here goes nothing!

  On 2018-05-24 at 12:33 AM, Califorum said:

 

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First, the Purple one.

Breakdown: The Glyph is a Black Pentagram amalgamated with directional arrows. It is Nested within a double layered abstract form of some sort which might generously qualify as a wisp glyph. The second layer may be an aura around the Pentagram.

Interpretation: It is very clear that chaos and Magic play heavy roles in this Pony's destiny. The Nesting implies a protective nature so perhaps this pony uses their magic to protect others from the forces of Chaos? or uses Chaos magic to protect others?

  On 2018-05-24 at 12:33 AM, Califorum said:

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Now the other.

Breakdown: We have two toned Wisps emerging from a grey vortex. The wisps are occluding the Vortex pretty heavily.

Interpretation: This wisps seem to be escaping the dark vortex so here they could represent adaptability as their form is pretty regular and repeated, though not mirrored.This pony could be adept at adjusting to dark times in life and escaping unscathed?

 

How did I do? Like I said, these marks don't really follow the established patterns seen in cutie marks so I hesitate to assume any accuracy here.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

Well, that's still better than a blind guess! I got the feeling when I saw the marks that these were gonna be some fringe characters with odd talents that don't really mesh with your standard Pony. That instinct was right on the money it seems. I think that these are honestly mostly Symbolic marks anyway so there wasn't much chance of an exact interpretation lol.

 

Anypony else want a go?

 

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

I bet you ponies thought this was dead. No such luck! Just added color as a criteria for consideration. Anypony else want to give this a whirl?

[Senko 459]

You know I only skimmed your first post (so much to do, so little time) and I have to say its kind of impressive how well it match's up to my OC's cutie mark considering I had none of this in mind when I made it. To try and expand it a little. This is an older one as i've not had the time to remake it. Put one of the purple stars on the cover of the book (that blurry mess is meant to be a moon like Luna has though like I said I swapped to the star later) and move the array of smaller sparkles around it to match where the points of the stars would be. This is for a character who's talent is magic.

So the book represents learning and knowledge while the star represents magic i.e learning about magic and teaching it to others. The book cover is meant to be saphire blue representing knowledge and power while the stars are purple associated with royalty and magic and she is a unicorn/alicorn (depending on when in her timeline your looking at). The stars surrounding the book imply a duty and the one inside implies protection. Which considering my own personal name apparently has the meaning of "Protector" and my surname is "of the defending army" and the name I used for her is Twilight Shield and she uses her magic to protect others (in fact in her storyline she ascended when she thought she was sacrificing herself to save another). She got her cutie mark by developing a spell to allow her to create duplicates (she had no luck making friends so she decided she'd "Make" a friend) of herself.

Um I'd say yes your method seems to work quite well, disturbingly well really considering as I said this was not anything I had in mind when creating her.

[Iris Flower 254]

Marvelous work here! I'm highly impressed this. I'm incredibly curious if you could breakdown Iris's cutie mark without looking at her bio. 

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[Sunlight Glisten 368]

I feel like I just attended twilights lecture on cutie marks from 'the cutie remark'

[Will Guide 21,365]

@Dalkrin-the-Wanderer

Since it's my OC, only I have the final say in what my Cutie Mark is supposed to mean. But as long as you're doing OC's Cutie Marks for fun, let's see you interpret Will Guide's mark and see how close you are to me without looking at my OC's bio. Let me know if there's any more information you require.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Iris Flower

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Description: Iris Flower is a pale pink earth pony with a deep purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a white lotus flower with an open eye nested inside.

The white lotus flower from the Nelumbo family are seen as meaning purity and devotion. It can also show a skill in cultivating Lotuses specifically or flowers in general. The color white also can mean Perfection, purity, goodness, and Innocence. The eye can represent foresight or knowledge, it also resembles the all seeing eye of masonic symbolism and can represent prophetic vision. The Eye nested within the Lotus implies a protective relationship between the two with the eye protecting the lotus.

Her coat being pale pink could be a weakening of that shades meaning. She could by shy and reserved (which seems to be supported by her design, her mane covering her eyes) Her dark purple mane could mean she is often morose and gloomy (Like a goth aesthetic)

Following this description, I posit the following.
Iris Flower's mark represents her desire to protect the innocent and pure by being ever watchful for potential harm. This could refer to protecting ponies or flowers or both in equal measure. (This seemingly juxtaposed by her overall gloomy and reserved attitude)

 

@Will Guide

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The description: The Glyphs are a green book laid open, a pink heart, and blue castle and a gold star with light rays. The heart and Castle Are overlaid atop the open book The star is occluded by the open book, castle and heart. The heart and Castle seem to be paired with the book.

The pink heart and blue castle being paired with the open book seems to imply stories or story telling. The colors may be of lesser significance but a pink heart relates to love and a blue castle can relate to trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth, likely taking from the knightly tales to specifically denote chivalrous conduct. The golden star supports the storytelling deal by hearkening to intellect, joy and and newness. It's occlusion can denote that the holder is striving for perfection in this, seeking to tell the stories that bring about the greatest joy. The light rays imply excellence in the meaning of the star.

Following this description, i believe this cutie mark represents a storyteller who wishes to be the greatest in his craft or already is, using their talent to bring joy and happiness to as many as they can.

There's my breakdowns and interpretations of your marks! tell me how I did!

@Senko

I think my method has a bit of an advantage in the same way that horoscopes can be seemingly accurate to just about anybody. That's something I'm trying to address but it's all rather difficult to work out in a way that applies. I'm comparing my method to the cannon ponies and making sure that it still always works for them.

[Will Guide 21,365]

  On 2019-03-07 at 5:19 PM, Dalkrin-the-Wanderer said:

@Iris Flower

 

@Will Guide

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The description: The Glyphs are a green book laid open, a pink heart, and blue castle and a gold star with light rays. The heart and Castle Are overlaid atop the open book The star is occluded by the open book, castle and heart. The heart and Castle seem to be paired with the book.

The pink heart and blue castle being paired with the open book seems to imply stories or story telling. The colors may be of lesser significance but a pink heart relates to love and a blue castle can relate to trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth, likely taking from the knightly tales to specifically denote chivalrous conduct. The golden star supports the storytelling deal by hearkening to intellect, joy and and newness. It's occlusion can denote that the holder is striving for perfection in this, seeking to tell the stories that bring about the greatest joy. The light rays imply excellence in the meaning of the star.

Following this description, i believe this cutie mark represents a storyteller who wishes to be the greatest in his craft or already is, using their talent to bring joy and happiness to as many as they can.

There's my breakdowns and interpretations of your marks! tell me how I did.

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Very spot on with Will being a Storyteller! That's what he loves to do. Tell Disney Stories. Even be a literal one pony show doing a stage production of any and all Disney stories.

[Senko 459]

  On 2019-03-07 at 5:19 PM, Dalkrin-the-Wanderer said:

@Iris Flower

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Description: Iris Flower is a pale pink earth pony with a deep purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a white lotus flower with an open eye nested inside.

The white lotus flower from the Nelumbo family are seen as meaning purity and devotion. It can also show a skill in cultivating Lotuses specifically or flowers in general. The color white also can mean Perfection, purity, goodness, and Innocence. The eye can represent foresight or knowledge, it also resembles the all seeing eye of masonic symbolism and can represent prophetic vision. The Eye nested within the Lotus implies a protective relationship between the two with the eye protecting the lotus.

Her coat being pale pink could be a weakening of that shades meaning. She could by shy and reserved (which seems to be supported by her design, her mane covering her eyes) Her dark purple mane could mean she is often morose and gloomy (Like a goth aesthetic)

Following this description, I posit the following.
Iris Flower's mark represents her desire to protect the innocent and pure by being ever watchful for potential harm. This could refer to protecting ponies or flowers or both in equal measure. (This seemingly juxtaposed by her overall gloomy and reserved attitude)

 

@Will Guide

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The description: The Glyphs are a green book laid open, a pink heart, and blue castle and a gold star with light rays. The heart and Castle Are overlaid atop the open book The star is occluded by the open book, castle and heart. The heart and Castle seem to be paired with the book.

The pink heart and blue castle being paired with the open book seems to imply stories or story telling. The colors may be of lesser significance but a pink heart relates to love and a blue castle can relate to trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, and truth, likely taking from the knightly tales to specifically denote chivalrous conduct. The golden star supports the storytelling deal by hearkening to intellect, joy and and newness. It's occlusion can denote that the holder is striving for perfection in this, seeking to tell the stories that bring about the greatest joy. The light rays imply excellence in the meaning of the star.

Following this description, i believe this cutie mark represents a storyteller who wishes to be the greatest in his craft or already is, using their talent to bring joy and happiness to as many as they can.

There's my breakdowns and interpretations of your marks! tell me how I did!

@Senko

I think my method has a bit of an advantage in the same way that horoscopes can be seemingly accurate to just about anybody. That's something I'm trying to address but it's all rather difficult to work out in a way that applies. I'm comparing my method to the cannon ponies and making sure that it still always works for them.

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I should have done like the others and gotten your interpretation of the mark first then rats.

[EpicEnergy 23,238]

Thanks for interpreting cutie marks! It has helped me get a better understanding of how cutie marks work!

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

Long time no see! Just did a bit of a minor update. Added Numerology as an Interpretative category and delineated between primary and Secondary Characteristics. As always, I welcome any new ideas and would love to try interpreting some more Cutie marks

[Crunchypuff 152]

Very interesting analysis! I've got two OCs and their cutie marks match up pretty well with some of these interpretations, particularly the color and abstract/material sections. 

You can try to interpret them yourself if you want, the first one is somewhat easy:

The second is just a white blob, with a grey background because the OC it belongs to is grey and it won't show up with a white background lol

One thing to note about this cutie mark is that it almost blends into the other white spots on her coat if you aren't looking carefully.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Cali:

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Cali is a Royal blue Unicorn Pony with an orange mane and tail and dark amber eyes. Her cutie Mark is an opened lock with key inserted. The lock is grey, the key is gold. The key and lock are paired.

A lock can represent a hidden secret and a key represents release, freedom, escape or opening. If this Cutie mark is Literal, this pony may be a locksmith of good skill. The gold of the key reinforces this. A more interpretative view could show the pony is adept at getting close to ponies or finding hidden secrets.

Opia:

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Opia is a grey unicorn pony with a dark grey mane and tail with lighter gray waves and green flecks. Her Cutie Mark is a green spiral turning counterclockwise from the center.

Swirls are often associated with confusion. The color appears to be a darker shade of green, indicating some possible link with ambition, greed, or jealousy. This Cutie Mark is almost certainly Symbolic. It is unclear if the number of rotations of the swirl is significant. This may have something to do with illusion magic.

Magnolia:

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Magnolia is a light gray Unicorn Pony with a royal blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark is two offset five pointed stars, black over purple with ten five pointed stars ensconcing them alternating black and purple with purple at the crest.

Stars are often associated with magic and this is reinforced by the color purple which bears magic connotations. Black is associated with elegance which is born out by Magnolia's attention to personal appearance so it seams that she may be a noble with some skill in magic or astronomy.

 

@Crunchypuff

1:

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This cutie mark is a flaming heart. The heart is red and the Flames are Red-orange.  This cutie mark likely relates to romantic passion in some way as the red of the heart and the red tinge to the flames attest.

2:

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A white blotch. This cutie mark is almost certainly symbolic and highly abstract. The color white denotes goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection. This pony's special talent isn't made clear by the glyph of his mark but whatever it is, he is likely dedicated to its perfection.

 

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Those first two are very unique lol. I find that the more out of the ordianry a pony is, the less accurate this system becomes. With the first two, I would be hard pressed to get close to the actual meaning but for marigold, Just a little more info about her would have cleared up a lot of the vagueness there. clearly there is more work to be done. As always, I'm open to suggestions on how to refine my system so if you have any ideas, please feel free to share.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

I'll have to come back tomorrow to do these interpretations but rest assured, I will be back!

Edited February 22, 2021 by Dalkrin-the-Wanderer

[Crunchypuff 152]

Very close! For the first one, the heart does represent love, and also kindness toward others. The flames are more literal, since he is a firefighter and protects other ponies from flame by flying in to rescue them or dousing the fire with clouds brought in from above.

The second one is definitely symbolic, blending in as an almost ordinary spot to show how she blends in with the crowd and doesn't stand out much until you know her well. She's also an artist, and uses her cutie mark as a space to draw on. It usually has something covering it up, which is another part of her personality. She tends to hide how she feels until she trusts another pony. Knowing her name (Blank Canvas), and seeing her with the rest of her spots would probably have given some more context for that. Especially if I showed her covered in paint lol

I think knowing at least a little info about the pony behind the cutie mark does help to interpret it, like just knowing whether they're a unicorn/earth pony/pegasus or even an alicorn. 

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Crunchypuff

Yeah, that definitely seems to help. A lot of fine detail for these interpretations comes from the pony they're attached to.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Collapse:

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Collapse is a butter yellow unicorn Pony with an auburn mane and tail and brown eyes. Her cutie mark is a wide, gleaming golden ring with a triune of golden spheres overlaid.

 

The disk shaped glyph appears to be made of polished metal, it's golden color suggests precision and skill. The yellow of her coat speaks to her chipper personality and mental faculties. The triune of golden spheres suggests this pony is passionate about her craft. I think that if collapse is her True Name, then she is a skilled machinist or jeweler who is rather accident prone.

 

Rosemarid:

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Rosemarid is a dusky red alicorn pony with a red and green mane and tail and emerald green eyes. Her cutie mark is a rose of the usual coloration with thorns and a curling stem.

 

A Red rose Glyph on an alicorn would usually only mean leadership but this rose is embellished in an odd way. With the twisted stem, it is likely that either Rosemarid has rejected that expectation and seeks her fulfillment, following the abstract meaning of a rose Or she is more literally sovereign over nature or growth as is often the case with Alicorn cutie marks following the concrete meanings of the glyphs IE Luna and the moon, Celestia and the Sun, Twilight Sparkle and the universal symbol of magic in pony society.

 

Glacier Ray:

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Glacier Ray is a white alicorn pony with blue tipped feathers and an icy blue mane and tail with snowflake patterns. her cutie mark is a pair of snow capped mountains occluding a blue snowflake.

 

A mountain can have a few meanings as a glyph. Adventure, nature, Earth. They can also represent steadfastness and stoicism. The snow will further refine the meaning to be related to the cold of high altitudes which is supported by the occluded snowflake. This, being an Alicorn's cutie mark likely means its concrete meaning will be very important. Thus I believe glacier ray has power over the perpetual winter at the highest points of the world.

 

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

 

Very nice! I got closer with two of them that time!

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Absolutely, your ponies have helped me think of new possible additions

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

 

Haven't done the interpretations but the Challenge had me inspired. Check this.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@califorum

That was fun, I just realized I forgot to sharpen up the wings, but the idea is still very much there.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Sky Splitter, comes to mind playing off of the turn of phrase, lightning splitting the sky. If a pony stumbled upon her in a storm, lightning arcing off her wings and a dead stare directed at them, they would likely deeply regret going for a walk that night lol.

[Dalkrin-the-Wanderer 80]

@Califorum

Now did the lightning bolt cause brain damage or a thaumic overload? She appears to have gone full force of nature so possibly wearing her down might bring her back but she keeps getting recharged by the lightning bolts that strike her. RD would have to force her to burn through her pegasus magic at a huge rate to get her to stop. If it was brain damage, then there would likely need to be a capture and treatment. RD would want to but Fluttershy might be the better option there.