Character Analysis & Interpretation

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

Confound these ponies! They drive me to think!

 

Ever since Episode 1 I've been struck by how well the characters within Friendship Is Magic are developed, and not simply because they're so effective at conveying characterization both visually and auditorially.

Equivalent in those respects are how recognizable and identifiable characters are in the game Team Fortress 2, but MLP:FiM has characters for plot based entertainment and as such have flaws as well as complementary details, which is entirely not equivalent to the placeholder ragdoll targets in America's #1 war-themed hat simulator.

 

From here on in, it's all speculation unless otherwise stated, and feel free to opinionate or debate.

I won't spend much time talking about what we know of the obvious aspects of the mane characters, seeing as we can easily see them or have already read about them. In addition, by no means is this thread constrained to only the mane characters- that is, if any characterization can be gleaned from Secondary, Tertiary, Subordinate or Background characters. But in regards to the Mane characters, I made this handy dandy graph to show all 15 polarities of their personalities.

 

Twilight Sparkle. Studious and ever willing to learn and teach. Her main flaw appears to be how susceptible she is to stress. How she deals with it has seemed to be rather inconsistent. When faced with an impending threat or visible danger, such as Night-Mare Moon, the Ursa Minor, the Diamond Dogs and the Dragon, like myself, she confronts the problem knowing courage is something we all have and must take to wield consciously like a sword, not just some talent or skill. In social situations she depends heavily on read knowledge as opposed to cultural wisdom which can lead to awkward moments, and yet in some situations that both mix her emotional investment in her friends as well as her personal well-being junctures by possible danger, her reaction is a bit of a muss up of her knowledge with a lack of applicability. We see her visibly crack in Lesson Zero, Swarm of the Century, and partially in the climax of Look Where You Sleep. The most egregious being Lesson

, obviously- which we see therein, that in this stress she is also susceptible to irrationality.

 

Applejack is practical and hard working. She's also the element of Honesty; we can see that she is visibly inept at lying. Ironically, she is not very honest with herself, which as a consequence explains her pride and stubbornness. Rarity also has this problem, although it shows up as priorital confusion and ego trouble, rather than pride.

 

Suddenly I can't remember the things I was going to say about the other ponies, but I will mention a flaw they all have in common that's rather egregious:

. A necessary evil in Children's shows it seems; contrived miscommunication and poor assumptions are the screw and glue of many a plot, so I don't think I could fault any particular character for that.

[FLARE 952]

you seem to have an understanding about the ponies and there personalities! 10/10 why am I rating stuff!

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

Well presumably people could also talk about this, compared to me talking at you.