Theorycrafting Where are the Windigos? Ponies seem to now hate each other...

[HereComesTom 2,232]

Something clicked in my head while reading other people's comments:  Windigoes.  If ponies hate each other, then won't the windigoes come back?  They'll need a really good explanation for why that didn't happen if this is going to be their backstory!

[Jeric 46,834]

@HereComesTom this post asks a great question that could lead to its own amount of theorycrafting and speculation on its own so I made it its own topic. 
 

We’ve seen this issue happen twice in the show. Before the establishment of Equestria and when the Trio sowed animosity between the three types of Ponies. It’s logical to ask why this isn’t a big problem now. Why isn’t Equestria overrun by these frozen wasteland making beings if there is this much distrust among the various races? 
 

A possible element is that it’s not as surface level as we may be thinking. It may just be that the races might be passive aggressive, with the distrust lying under the surface. Or, probably more likely, the elimination of magic has something to do with it. What if “no magic” also means no magical beings like the Wendigo? 

[Goat-kun 2,496]

1.) Whoever is running things is in cahoots with them

2.) There exists a plot artifact like Crystal Heart that's shielding the land

3.) Whoever is running the show doesn't give a shit

4.) Don't care moar poneh

[Props Valroa 25,971]

Maybe the ones ruling Equestria are the windigos, as they feed off on the division of the ponies. If the world is frozen over, there is no more division to rule over. 

[HedonismBot 217]

2 hours ago, Jeric said:

A possible element is that it’s not as surface level as we may be thinking. It may just be that the races might be passive aggressive, with the distrust lying under the surface. Or, probably more likely, the elimination of magic has something to do with it. What if “no magic” also means no magical beings like the Wendigo? 

That would raise another question: Wouldn't "no magic" also mean no magic to move the sun and moon?

[HereComesTom 2,232]

Wow...I didn't expect this to get spun off into its own thread!

Here's my best guess as to why:

One of the rumors is that there are some alicorn tyrants running Equestria (or what's left of it); if there are multiple alicorns, then they might together have the ability to ward off the windigoes.  It was implied that Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow together could've found a way to ward them off, even if tensions between ponies were high.

 

 

1 minute ago, HedonismBot said:

That would raise another question: Wouldn't "no magic" also mean no magic to move the sun and moon?

Maybe this question will get spun off into another thread, too

If alicorns really are still running around, then they'd probably still be moving the sun and moon.  Maybe taking turns...I can picture it now:  "Hey, Brights Brightly, it's your turn to do the sun."  "Again?  I did it last week!"  "I did the moon last night; I'm not doing the sun again this morning!!"

Dunno if the writers will remember that the sun and moon need to be moved or not; it's an easy thing to forget.  The artbook for the 2017 MLP movie showed scenes at night, even though Luna was frozen in stone.  Good thing the writers remembered how that kind of thing is supposed to work in Equestria!

[Truffles 2,033]

2 hours ago, Jeric said:

A possible element is that it’s not as surface level as we may be thinking. It may just be that the races might be passive aggressive, with the distrust lying under the surface. Or, probably more likely, the elimination of magic has something to do with it. What if “no magic” also means no magical beings like the Wendigo? 

I just presumed the mood of ponies had reached a state of equilibrium once again, like they were before the events of the founding of Equestria. The Windigos only seem to appear when there is active discord. But you bring up a good point that they may not be able to appear anymore anyway since magic has left the land. (There's a bit of a mystery then why magic was still working when the three tribes were separate so long ago, but perhaps there is another factor at work here?)

It makes for an interesting moral dilemma for our new heroes, however: If they bring magic back to the land, that likely means all the bad magic returns as well. My guess that will factor into the message of the movie - that one can't simply sweep bad things under the rug and pretend they don't exist. Good has to be actively maintained and it simply has to exist alongside the bad. Perhaps Twilight set up a constitutional mechanism as best she could to keep what she had built working, but the ponies took her plan for granted and the ideals that were fought for fell into disrepair?

Heh, perhaps Boulder even borrowed from itself and Twilight tried to make an improved version of the device that caused problems in "Rainbow Roadtrip" but it too eventually failed?

[HedonismBot 217]

2 hours ago, HereComesTom said:

Maybe this question will get spun off into another thread, too

If alicorns really are still running around, then they'd probably still be moving the sun and moon.  Maybe taking turns...I can picture it now:  "Hey, Brights Brightly, it's your turn to do the sun."  "Again?  I did it last week!"  "I did the moon last night; I'm not doing the sun again this morning!!"

Dunno if the writers will remember that the sun and moon need to be moved or not; it's an easy thing to forget.  The artbook for the 2017 MLP movie showed scenes at night, even though Luna was frozen in stone.  Good thing the writers remembered how that kind of thing is supposed to work in Equestria!

I just thought of another thing: With G4, there was a social media post from the creative team to the effect of "if you see something that looks unusually advanced, assume it's powered by unicorn magic". With all the modern-ish stuff we've seen, it looks as though they've been using magic to industrialize while conveniently sidestepping the environmental horrors we had to deal with here in real life. If that went bye-bye along with all the friendship and harmony, the ponies are going to be in for a world of hurt.

[Sonic Shimmer 4,116]

I think they were just a legend.

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,293]

They're working for an insurance company.  You know, the one where The General appears in those commercials  

[Pentium100 2,056]

The legend of windigos in G4 is probably watered down to make it more suitable to tell for foals.

 

Maybe windigos do not come just because ponies hate each other. Maybe they come when the three races of ponies are at an all-out war, trying to enact genocide on each other (maybe instead of just hatred, they feed on souls of ponies who were killed, but need a high body count)? If this is not happening in G5, then the windigos do not come.

[Kevin Tang 2,422]

So, the Mane 6 found a way to get rid of them at some time 

Everyone starts hating on each other and being racist because there is no more consequence for it 

Coupled with the arrival of modern day technologies like the pony internet, no wonder why harmorny started falling apart 

I bet they have their own pony twitter 

....

Im not trying to formulate any worthwhile headcannon  

[ShadOBabe 18,984]

On 2021-02-27 at 6:48 AM, HereComesTom said:

They'll need a really good explanation for why that didn't happen if this is going to be their backstory!

Heh, you overestimate how much big companies give a flip about continuity.

If they even slightly reference it I would be ASTOUNDED.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

You're right! It technically should be winter forever in the state that Equestria's in if the plotline says that "harmony is lost." 

[Props Valroa 25,971]

2 hours ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

You're right! It technically should be winter forever in the state that Equestria's in if the plotline says that "harmony is lost." 

But does forever winter satisfy the windigos? If there is no more ponies, no more division, there is no more windigos? 

[North Star 4,466]

I have a theory about Windigos - that they're the opposite of Alicorns who are magic brought to life when ponies are in harmony. Windigos would therefore be magic brought to life by pony disharmony. This theory fits the absence of Windigos in the current world, since if pony magic has disappeared on my theory so would alicorn princesses and Windigos. 

 

[Denim&Venöm 16,459]

There is an idea that's made the rounds lately. 

G5 isn't a canonical spin off of G4. It's a meta spin off. G5 exists in a universe where G4 is actually a TV show and toy franchise. The turbulent world we see is just the harsh reality to contrast with FiM's idealism.

Kinda like how in Digimon season/ generation three, the first two shows that came before were actually a card game and TV show in that universe. 

[HereComesTom 2,232]

2 hours ago, Denim&Venöm said:

Kinda like how in Digimon season/ generation three, the first two shows that came before were actually a card game and TV show in that universe. 

I remember Digimon Season 03; it'd sure clear up a lot of canon issues if G-5's creators went that route.  But the leaks hint that it's a canonical spinoff.

[EpicEnergy 22,064]

The synopsis for the movie didn't necessarily say that ponies hate each other. Windigos only appear when ponies are fighting each other and there is much hate, and the synopsis for the movie didn't say ponies hate and fight each other, it only said that there was paranoia and mistrust among the pony races.

[TransitPony 219]

The Windigos were defeated again in the second to last episode of the series when the Mane Six brought together the students and the Legends of Harmony to end Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Tirek, so this could mean it more has something to do with the ponies themselves as to why they are divided in G5. Bad leadership is a likely possibility. 

[Steve Piranha 28,747]

I have a theory: maybe G5 doesn’t take place in FIM Equestria, but an alternate one, where windogoes don’t exist. My theory goes, is that Equestria was threatened by radicals who wanted to overthrow Twi Twi, and she was forced to banish them to another dimension, being in the world of G5, and these ponies are descendants of said radicals. In fact, MAYBE some of these were originally power hungry pastel humans, hence the modern tech 

[SolidFire7 63]

1 hour ago, Steve Piranha said:

I have a theory: maybe G5 doesn’t take place in FIM Equestria, but an alternate one, where windogoes don’t exist. My theory goes, is that Equestria was threatened by radicals who wanted to overthrow Twi Twi, and she was forced to banish them to another dimension, being in the world of G5, and these ponies are descendants of said radicals. In fact, MAYBE some of these were originally power hungry pastel humans, hence the modern tech 

Huh... 

Food for thought. 

Not THAT kind, Pinkie! 

[North Star 4,466]

On 2021-04-06 at 11:02 PM, Denim&Venöm said:

G5 isn't a canonical spin off of G4. It's a meta spin off. G5 exists in a universe where G4 is actually a TV show and toy franchise. The turbulent world we see is just the harsh reality to contrast with FiM's idealism.

 But I'm pretty sure G4 is a meta spin off of G4 :p I mean almost everything Discord says and then ep 100...

 

[NotGoodEvilPony 0]

Sorry for the bad English, English is not my primary language 

Maybe they gave up all the magic to defeat the windigos, that's s why all magic is gone. Or they made all magic gone so windigos can’t harm them like what happens on "star vs the forces of evil."

[RDDash 18,847]

I would say they're gone for good. I never actually liked windigos because they were used as a plot device to force ponies to behave or they will be destroyed.

Edited May 9, 2021 by RDDash