Celestia vs. Twilight: Who makes a better ruler of Equestria?

[FirePuppy 726]

State your opinion about who makes the better ruler of Equestria -- Princess Celestia or Princess Twilight. Be as specific as possible.

It is recommended that you already have seen the series finale first.

[Tao 7,428]

Twilight,  she has always been at the forefront and did a lot in her short before wing years to prove she could be a leader! 

[Number62 1,258]

I haven't seen the series finale yet, but the answer is obvious.

On one hand, you have one pony who overcame a bunch of obstacles and problems to eventually achieve the goals she desired and prove her worth even before she became an alicorn.

On the other is a pony that the show is much more interested in saying what the she can't do instead of showing what she can do.

Edited June 23, 2020 by Number62

[SharpWit 2,604]

@Number62 As someone who also hasn't seen the show's finale, in Celestia's defense, she was the sole ruler of Equestria for 1,000 years, and with the duty of raising the sun and moon she serves the role of a deity. Her feeling the need to say what she can't do is her way of reminding others that she isn't all powerful. Shr has to push her subjects to be more independent because that fact is that she cant always save the day, and that she wont necessarrilly be there to do so shoukd something bad enough occur. Her managing to keep the nation alive without the elements of harmony at her disposal for so long is kind of a miracle.

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

Princess Twilight "Twiggly-wiggle" Sparkle makes a much better ruler of Equestria than Celestia ever did.  Why? Because one, she's Twilight Sparkle. Two, she's Twilight Sparkle. And three, she's Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle is the best Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Twilight Twilight, Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle, Twilight Twilight Sparkle Sparkle.  Have I mentioned how much I absolutely adore Twilight Sparkle and think she's literally the best pony in existence? 

Obviously I'm very biased towards Twilight, so since she's the ruler of Equestria now I'm gonna have to say that Twilight is the better ruler. Sorry @DivineKnight1000 I know how much you love Celestia, but I'm afraid that Twilight has Celestia beaten here 

Also this-

What more reason do I even need to confirm that Twilight is the better leader? 

[DivineMist1000 71,353]

14 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

Princess Twilight "Twiggly-wiggle" Sparkle makes a much better ruler of Equestria than Celestia ever did.  Why? Because one, she's Twilight Sparkle. Two, she's Twilight Sparkle. And three, she's Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle is the best Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Twilight Twilight, Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle, Twilight Twilight Sparkle Sparkle.  Have I mentioned how much I absolutely adore Twilight Sparkle and think she's literally the best pony in existence? 

Obviously I'm very biased towards Twilight, so since she's the ruler of Equestria now I'm gonna have to say that Twilight is the better ruler. Sorry @DivineKnight1000 I know how much you love Celestia, but I'm afraid that Twilight has Celestia beaten here 

Also this-

What more reason do I even need to confirm that Twilight is the better leader? 

I think that the both of them are equally the best at being rulers of Equestria!

In terms of beauty though... Twilight is a very pretty pony but when compared to Celestia...

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

1 minute ago, DivineKnight1000 said:

I think that the both of them are equally the best at being rulers of Equestria!

In terms of beauty though... Twilight is a very pretty pony but when compared to Celestia...

Your right! When Twilight is compared to Celestia in terms of beauty, Celestia doesn't even stand a chance 

Twilight is the best at everything! 

[DivineMist1000 71,353]

7 minutes ago, King of Canterlot said:

Your right! When Twilight is compared to Celestia in terms of beauty, Celestia doesn't even stand a chance 

Twilight is the best at everything! 

Celestia is a literal goddess pony from the heavens! 

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

2 minutes ago, DivineKnight1000 said:

Celestia is a literal goddess pony from the heavens! 

It appears that we have reached an impasse, I'll never get you to admit that Twilight is prettier than Celestia, and you'll never get me to admit that Celestia is more pretty than Twilight. How about we just declare this one a draw? 

[DivineMist1000 71,353]

1 minute ago, King of Canterlot said:

It appears that we have reached an impasse, I'll never get you to admit that Twilight is prettier than Celestia, and you'll never get me to admit that Celestia is more pretty than Twilight. How about we just declare this one a draw? 

I know one thing that we can agree on: Rainbow Dash is awesome! 

[TotallyNotNyx 15,566]

Unpopular opinion but Twilight simply doesn;t have the right character for a ruler.

Celestia is smart and sly. She manipulates events from the background in a way that people every rarely trace it back to her. She's prepared to overlook details for the greater good and stuff. Twilight was never that subtle lmao. She'll learn over time but for now I would say Celestia. 

[Latecomer 439]

15 hours ago, FirePuppy said:

State your opinion about who makes the better ruler of Equestria -- Princess Celestia or Princess Twilight. Be as specific as possible.

It is recommended that you already have seen the series finale first.

Well one has 1000+ years of mostly peace and happiness, while the other has a few decades at most? I don't think there's much reasonable grounds for comparison, especially given how little we know about their politics or leadership style.

 

 

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

55 minutes ago, Latecomer said:

Well one has 1000+ years of mostly peace and happiness, while the other has a few decades at most? I don't think there's much reasonable grounds for comparison, especially given how little we know about their politics or leadership style.

Agreed. I’m super biased towards Celestia, but I can’t even BEGIN to try and compare them on equal footing. Celestia has proven she can do the job just fine, and ALONE, for a straight millennium.

Twilight seems to be doing great for her first couple decades, but again... Celestia’s got centuries under her belt.

[Jane 123]

I really want to say that Celestia is a better ruler, but everything throughout (and especially at the end) of the series points to Twilight being a much better leader than Celestia, and that's why I don't like this whole thing about "student surpasses teacher", because in less than 5 years, Twilight did more than Celestia in 1000 years, and all she needed to do it was to have 5 friends...

[Number62 1,258]

19 hours ago, SharpWit said:

@Number62 As someone who also hasn't seen the show's finale, in Celestia's defense, she was the sole ruler of Equestria for 1,000 years, and with the duty of raising the sun and moon she serves the role of a deity. Her feeling the need to say what she can't do is her way of reminding others that she isn't all powerful. Shr has to push her subjects to be more independent because that fact is that she cant always save the day, and that she wont necessarrilly be there to do so shoukd something bad enough occur. Her managing to keep the nation alive without the elements of harmony at her disposal for so long is kind of a miracle.

I don't mind that she isn't "all-powerful". Sure, you might say that she ruled Equestria for 1000 years by herself, and if the country has been in peace during that entire period, then she must have done something right. That sounds good on paper.

But the show introduces another problem, which is that there's always some shoddy excuse for her to be useless and/or helpless during a crisis, which hardly helps her credibility as a ruler. The beginning of season 9 tried to say that Twilight and friends were actually being tested, and that's just another weak and obvious excuse to justify Celestia's (and/or Luna's) uselessness because there's nothing to suggest that the sisters could have ever handled the threats that came to Equestria.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Number62

[nightshroud96 124]

1 hour ago, Number62 said:

I don't mind that she isn't "all-powerful". Sure, you might say that she ruled Equestria for 1000 years by herself, and if the country has been in peace during that entire period, then she must have done something right. That sounds good on paper.

But the show introduces another problem, which is that there's always some shoddy excuse for her to be useless and/or helpless during a crisis, which hardly helps her credibility as a ruler. The beginning of season 9 tried to say that Twilight and friends were actually being tested, and that's just another weak and obvious excuse to justify Celestia's (and/or Luna's) uselessness because there's nothing to suggest that the sisters could have ever handled the threats that came to Equestria.

And it hurts worse for Luna's case since she doesn't have what Celestia falls back on. Making her look worse than Celestia in comparison.
Since Luna's return from the moon, she never got to properly and directly succeed in protecting Equestria from a villain not even once. Either she gets sidelined or gets taken out and/or forced to rely on the girls to save the day.
(No, the Tantabus doesn't really count if it somehow does for some people. It was a problem sadly she caused)

And then there's the.. not-so-good sendoff she and Celestia had gotten as rulers due to what happened in the finale.

[nightshroud96 124]

3 hours ago, Jane said:

I really want to say that Celestia is a better ruler, but everything throughout (and especially at the end) of the series points to Twilight being a much better leader than Celestia, and that's why I don't like this whole thing about "student surpasses teacher", because in less than 5 years, Twilight did more than Celestia in 1000 years, and all she needed to do it was to have 5 friends...

Honestly I hated how the writers handle the Royal Sisters for the sake of Twilight there.

[SharpWit 2,604]

5 hours ago, Number62 said:

I don't mind that she isn't "all-powerful". Sure, you might say that she ruled Equestria for 1000 years by herself, and if the country has been in peace during that entire period, then she must have done something right. That sounds good on paper.

But the show introduces another problem, which is that there's always some shoddy excuse for her to be useless and/or helpless during a crisis, which hardly helps her credibility as a ruler. The beginning of season 9 tried to say that Twilight and friends were actually being tested, and that's just another weak and obvious excuse to justify Celestia's (and/or Luna's) uselessness because there's nothing to suggest that the sisters could have ever handled the threats that came to Equestria.

I don't like how the show went about it, but the previous 50 generations of Equestrian citizens might disagree with that sentiment, and that testing ties back in to her trying to make her subjects more self reliant.

It's not just on paper though, that's their history. It'd really only be up for question if the topic were who would be a better leader for someplace other than Equestria. Luna may have been absent but theoretically she's just as capable as Celestia, and we as the viewer know from an alternate reality, that she can handle threats to Equestria in the form of Nightmare Moon (likely via a no tolerance policy).

It's without question, that Celestia managed to stop threats alongside Luna, and maintained the peace or at the very least held the nation together in the Millennium post banishment.

[Number62 1,258]

22 hours ago, SharpWit said:

I don't like how the show went about it, but the previous 50 generations of Equestrian citizens might disagree with that sentiment, and that testing ties back in to her trying to make her subjects more self reliant.

Then it's too bad Princess Celestia couldn't live up to the figure that the previous 50 generations of Equestrian citizens knew.

22 hours ago, SharpWit said:

It's not just on paper though, that's their history. It'd really only be up for question if the topic were who would be a better leader for someplace other than Equestria. Luna may have been absent but theoretically she's just as capable as Celestia, and we as the viewer know from an alternate reality, that she can handle threats to Equestria in the form of Nightmare Moon (likely via a no tolerance policy).

Yeah, as NIghtmare Moon. Princess Luna herself has been terribly inactive for stupid reasons. Even then, that scenario (as well as others) you saw at the end of season 5 was really more about Celestia being completely helpless against whatever threat came to Equestria.

On 6/24/2020 at 3:14 PM, nightshroud96 said:

And it hurts worse for Luna's case since she doesn't have what Celestia falls back on. Making her look worse than Celestia in comparison.
Since Luna's return from the moon, she never got to properly and directly succeed in protecting Equestria from a villain not even once. Either she gets sidelined or gets taken out and/or forced to rely on the girls to save the day.
(No, the Tantabus doesn't really count if it somehow does for some people. It was a problem sadly she caused)

Celestia has also failed throughout the show to protect Equestria. I mean, her job in the 2-part episodes is to sit helplessly and tell the Mane 6 to do everything. I don't think either of the sisters were handled well, but Luna was handled better in my opinion as she at the very least got to directly help other ponies more often than Celestia. Luna got to be something of a counselor to at least a few ponies through their nightmares. I certainly think she could have been given much more such as being an actual ruler, but it's better than nothing which is essentially what Celestia got.

[SharpWit 2,604]

3 hours ago, Number62 said:

Yeah, as NIghtmare Moon. Princess Luna herself has been terribly inactive for stupid reasons. Even then, that scenario (as well as others) you saw at the end of season 5 was really more about Celestia being completely helpless against whatever threat came to Equestria.

Wholeheartedly agree with you on that first bit. Having her recover and not return in season 1 made sense, she had a whole new world to learn about. Perhaps she became submissive after getting struck with the elements of harmony, or was so overwhelmed with the changes that she decided taking a back seat was the best thing for her and everyone else. But when I saw the preview or leak about her and Celestia wanting to retire, (still haven't seen the episode yet), I was furious. She didn't go through banishment to give up her role completely. It's ridiculous and completely out if character! Dialing back ambition doesn't mean giving up.

 

[nightshroud96 124]

21 minutes ago, SharpWit said:

Wholeheartedly agree with you on that first bit. Having her recover and not return in season 1 made sense, she had a whole new world to learn about. Perhaps she became submissive after getting struck with the elements of harmony, or was so overwhelmed with the changes that she decided taking a back seat was the best thing for her and everyone else. But when I saw the preview or leak about her and Celestia wanting to retire, (still haven't seen the episode yet), I was furious. She didn't go through banishment to give up her role completely. It's ridiculous and completely out if character! Dialing back ambition doesn't mean giving up.

 

I heard Faust wanted Luna to appear in season 1 and explore her but Hasbro didn't allow that due to she was a "villain".
She even wanted to touch on resolving Luna's bitterness about being in Celestia's shadow and the banishment stuff. Like how to get out of Celestia's shadow truly. And touching on the themes of darkness with Luna. But sadly Hasbro didn't let that pass.

The whole retirement bit for Luna just bothered me so much.  She didn't rule anywhere near as long as Celestia did and she's still in Celestia's shadow in a way.

About the submissive part, I am starting to think the Elements did something to Luna aside from "purifying" her. Big time

4 hours ago, Number62 said:

Then it's too bad Princess Celestia couldn't live up to the figure that the previous 50 generations of Equestrian citizens knew.

Yeah, as NIghtmare Moon. Princess Luna herself has been terribly inactive for stupid reasons. Even then, that scenario (as well as others) you saw at the end of season 5 was really more about Celestia being completely helpless against whatever threat came to Equestria.

Celestia has also failed throughout the show to protect Equestria. I mean, her job in the 2-part episodes is to sit helplessly and tell the Mane 6 to do everything. I don't think either of the sisters were handled well, but Luna was handled better in my opinion as she at the very least got to directly help other ponies more often than Celestia. Luna got to be something of a counselor to at least a few ponies through their nightmares. I certainly think she could have been given much more such as being an actual ruler, but it's better than nothing which is essentially what Celestia got.

Being able to interact a bit more with the subjects isn't the same as directly helping against some threat attacking Equestria sadly.
It hurts more for Luna since how she "failed" Equestria big time by succumbing to her darkness and left Equestria hanging for a 1000 years. With making Celestia handle the burden of protecting Equestria alone.  Her not being able to truly start making up for that is just.. making the scars she has ache worse.

[Landi 600]

While I do sometimes joke around about Celestia, she managed to peacefully rule Equestria for over a thousand years, and I'd say she did a pretty good job at it. Ponies seemed to live both safely and freely, and in general they were happy. So I'd say that Celestia did a pretty good job ruling Equestria. As for twilight, we didn't get to see too much about Equestria under her rule, but I still think Celestia did a better job. In my opinion, Twilight doesn't really stand out as being Equestrian-ruler material, so I was a little shocked when it was revealed that she would be taking the reins. Plus, from the little glimpse of Twilight's Equestria we did see, it felt like a whole different Equestria. Of course, there's not really much to go off of, which makes it hard to really know. With all this being said, I personally think Celestia makes the better ruler.

[Twilight Sparkle97 402]

Twilight does because she's my favorite pony. 

[JMTV99 1,352]

4 hours ago, Landi said:

While I do sometimes joke around about Celestia, she managed to peacefully rule Equestria for over a thousand years, and I'd say she did a pretty good job at it. Ponies seemed to live both safely and freely, and in general they were happy. So I'd say that Celestia did a pretty good job ruling Equestria. As for twilight, we didn't get to see too much about Equestria under her rule, but I still think Celestia did a better job. In my opinion, Twilight doesn't really stand out as being Equestrian-ruler material, so I was a little shocked when it was revealed that she would be taking the reins. Plus, from the little glimpse of Twilight's Equestria we did see, it felt like a whole different Equestria. Of course, there's not really much to go off of, which makes it hard to really know. With all this being said, I personally think Celestia makes the better ruler.

Yeah, same here.

[HedonismBot 239]

Twilight's scientific mind seems like it would be quite helpful for helping Equestria move forward.