Why was Chrysalis written to reject Friendship?

[Gaines 1,109]

I thought g4 was all about accepting friendship, but I guess Chrysalis proved me wrong 

But still, what did she do that for? What do you think the writers meant by this?

Edited March 1, 2023 by Gaines

[Pentium100 2,056]

They probably wanted a villain who could not be "reformed", someone who is evil and wants to stay evil (or, from her perspective, it's Twilight who is evil). Not everyone can be reformed by just making them understand that "it is better to be good". 

[CocoCody 476]

I think by that point the writers needed to keep some villains evil because of how many of them who were being reformed. Though chrysalises character reflects a nature that wasn't going to be changed.

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

I don't know, but it makes some sense. One of my friends had this girlfriend who was psychologically abusive with him, whenever he displayed an act of kindness towards her. Her self-esteem was so low that she took everything as an attack. She was anorexic, too. So, the pain had to go somewhere. Also, this woman was pretty good at taking advantage of her condition to manipulate people using pity. She was great at impersonating, as well. And almost got my friend drowned during an argument.

But other than that, she was just a broken human being. And it is similar with Chrysalis. She looks broken and acts broken. Which is cool, because people like that really does exist.

It is a similar case with me. I use pity to divert stress around me, prompting others to get hurt instead. That is the reason I avoid relationships. Because unlike this woman who actively ruined every relationship in the most overt way possible. Well, I want to believe I am more clever about it. We are both sociopaths due to congetinal defects, but I bite myself more often than I bite other people. Especially, when they have done nothing to me, that is unless I sense unwarranted hostility.

I hope this explanation about the psychological effects of anorexia and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism was insightful. Because I think Chrysalis is a perfect example of this condition. And because you cannot help those who are not willing to help themselves.

Edited March 1, 2023 by They call me Loyalty

[Guest]

As others suggested, there needed to be some villains that would remain evil instead of being reformed. That and after behaving like that for many moons, it's hard for someone to stop doing something after talking through it once. Some can change over time, but others can't accept a resolution at times. For some, these things take time. Take Starlight for example, she initially escaped from the village once they got their cutie marks back and plotted her revenge on Twilight Sparkle. It wasn't until the end of the time travel ordeal that she finally came around thanks to Twilight. A part of me was hoping that Chrysalis would maybe come around near the end, but she didn't and that's okay.

Edited March 1, 2023 by StarlightNyars

[CocoCody 476]

 

2 hours ago, StarlightNyars said:

As others suggested, there needed to be some villains that would remain evil instead of being reformed. That and after behaving like that for many moons, it's hard for someone to stop doing something after talking through it once. Some can change over time, but others can't accept a resolution at times. For some, these things take time. Take Starlight for example, she initially escaped from the village once they got their cutie marks back and plotted her revenge on Twilight Sparkle. It wasn't until the end of the time travel ordeal that she finally came around thanks to Twilight. A part of me was hoping that Chrysalis would maybe come around near the end, but she didn't and that's okay.

You make a very good point with that.

Quote

 "it's hard for someone to stop doing something after talking through it once"

I feel change is possible with everyone, and starlight did have to be confronted multiple times untill her change was possible for her, she had to see the conqunces of her actions and feel understood for why here loneliness manifested like the way it did. So yeah, to be fair even though chrysalises got a chance, she is a villian that would naturally take time because of where she is at mentally. In terms of the writing I felt she was written to stay as a big player within the villian ring, not impossible to change but she had to fill that role by design, and her flat out denial at being redeemed was the writers signalling that idea.

Edited March 1, 2023 by CocoCody

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, CocoCody said:

I feel change is possible with everyone, and starlight did have to be confronted multiple times untill her change was possible for her, she had to see the conqunces of her actions and feel understood for why here loneliness manifested like the way it did. So yeah, to be fair even though chrysalises got a chance, she is a villian that would naturally take time because of where she is at mentally. In terms of the writing I felt she was written to stay as a big player within the villian ring, not impossible to change but she had to fill that role by design, and her flat out denial at being redeemed was the writers signalling that idea.

Yes I agree to an extent; however, I don't think the writers were 100% sure where they were going with Chrysalis. She was kind of randomly used throughout the last seasons and thrown together with the other villains in the last seasons. When Starlight defeated her, Chrysalis was almost shocked at the chance of redemption she provided and we saw a moment of hesitation in her that could've been interpreted as a small crack in her armor down the line. Sure she denied the offer, but so did Starlight and Discord initially. This moment could've been a glimpse of getting a full backstory on her. However, while watching Chrysalis in the last seasons of MLP,  I thought they would have delved deeper into her backstory to hint at a possible change, but since they didn't-  I assumed that the writers had decided to write her out to be an irredeemable villain. 

[LonelyYugi 59]

Because after Luna, Trixie, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer fans were sick of seeing villains getting reformed.

[EpicEnergy 22,074]

The writers needed to do something original rather than repeating what they've done before, and in Chrysalis's case, an unredeemable villain who had a chance at redemption but refused it is not a repeated idea in the show.

[RDDash 18,864]

She really didnt want to be friends with Starlight Glimmer, hah

[Jeric 46,834]

By the end of Season 2 the writers had no idea what or if anything would exist after Season 3 and if they would ever get a chance to use Cheeselegs again. No master plan at the time of her introduction. The IDW depictions and constant fandom requests to see a return helped her stay in the forefront, and when an opportunity to return to her organically they did.
 

I don’t know what Jim and Nicole have said regarding when they decided to make the run to the Legion of Doom arc, but knowing how fluid some of the decisions on the show were, I have a feeling that the seed existed in Season Six but not any real story idea yet. 
 

Her rejecting love and friendship fits a theme though. Starlight went out of her way to connect with former antagonists and this one failure allows a thematic juxtaposition with Trixie. Also, earlier fandom stories wrote her has a ‘cursed’ individual or sorts having to feed for her children. While mostly implied, to have Thorax be the leader, she had to be as evil as possible. The easiest way to write that without confusion would be to double down on her malevolence and push the new Bug King. 

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

You might as well ask why any villain in the show was written to be irredeemable. Then look over at how many people in the fandom were complaining about too many villains getting reformed. 

I know Chrysalis is the most often sympathized with out of all the villains, given that she is the most popular villain. However, her being written to reject friendship makes sense. Some people in this world can not overcome their obsession with bitterness and vengeance and Chrysalis consistently showed throughout the series that she was the type to bear grudges and value power over love.