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Okay so I strongly believe that Starlight Glimmer may suffer from boarderline personality disorder and here is my reasoning behind this idea. This might be a lot so buckle in:

 

1. Unstable Relationships

  • Starlight struggles with maintaining stable relationships, especially early in the show.
  • Her intense friendship with Sunburst as a filly set the stage for her abandonment fears when he left, which spiraled into unhealthy coping mechanisms (e.g., creating a commune where everyone was "equal").
  • Even after her redemption, she often demonstrates difficulty navigating her relationships, sometimes swinging between extremes of closeness and conflict.

2. Fear of Abandonment

  • Her fear of abandonment is a central driving force in her backstory. When Sunburst moved away, she internalized it as a personal failure, leading to deep emotional wounds.
  • She overcompensated for this fear by controlling others (such as her village) to avoid being hurt again, even if it meant suppressing their individuality.

3. Identity Disturbance

  • Starlight often grapples with her sense of self.
  • Post-reformation, she struggles with guilt and doubts about who she is beyond her past mistakes. She’s frequently insecure about her role in the group and whether she’s truly "redeemed."

4. Impulsivity

  • Her actions are frequently impulsive and extreme, particularly when she’s emotionally distressed.
    • Examples include traveling back in time to rewrite history, running away from her problems instead of confronting them, or lashing out when she feels cornered.

5. Emotional Instability

  • Starlight experiences intense emotional reactions, which she often struggles to regulate.
  • She goes from feeling on top of the world to utterly defeated with little provocation, reflecting the rapid mood swings common in BPD.
  • Her fear of rejection or failure often manifests in self-critical outbursts or anxious behaviors.

6. Black-and-White Thinking

  • Her early philosophy in the village shows her tendency toward all-or-nothing thinking. She believed that "cutie marks" inherently created inequality and that removing them was the only solution.
  • Even after her reformation, she sometimes falls back into this mindset, struggling to see nuance in situations.

7. Difficulty Managing Anger

  • Starlight’s anger is often explosive and disproportionate.
    • For example, her reaction to Twilight and the Mane Six defeating her in the village was extreme—she pursued a convoluted revenge plan involving time travel rather than processing her feelings.

8. Chronic Feelings of Emptiness

  • While not explicitly stated, Starlight often exhibits behaviors that suggest an underlying emptiness.
  • Her obsessive need for control and connection can be interpreted as an attempt to fill a void left by her unresolved emotional pain.

9. Intense Fear of Rejection

  • Starlight is highly sensitive to perceived rejection.
    • In Every Little Thing She Does, her anxiety about messing up leads her to use magic to control her friends, fearing they’d reject her otherwise.

Counterarguments

While many of Starlight's traits align with BPD, it's important to note other interpretations:

  • Her behavior could also stem from past trauma rather than a pervasive personality disorder.
  • The show simplifies complex emotions for storytelling, so her actions may be exaggerated for dramatic effect. 

 

now, I’d also like to add that the flashback to Sunburst abandoning her was just a small part of her past that we got to see. When Her and Sunburst had to confront their parents later, we see that Only Starlight’s dad is there like Sunburst’s mom. Her dad is very protective of her and very needy emotionally and it leads me to believe that the incident with Sunburst wasn’t the the catalyst to her spiral into corruption, yet, the straw that broke the camel’s back. I believe that her mom was once in the picture but due to unknown reasons, abandoned Starlight and her father. Making her wounds even more deeply rooted than examined in the show. I also believe that Trixie has NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) I’ll prolly say more about that on another post

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Even though Starlight Glimmer did some terrible things in the past with her dictatoresque actions, I think the turning point for her, at least in my opinion, is when she not only became an important ally for Mane Six but she also was willing to show mercy to Chrysalis after defeating her later on. But her actions do stem from difficulty relating to others, fear of rejection and messing things up for others is what in my opinion, makes her worthy of sympathy, people who criticize this character too often forget why something happened can be just as important as the action itself, because not understanding why things happen leads to more of that bad action happening.

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I was very close friends with someone who has BPD, and I can kind of see what you mean honestly. 
 

On 2025-01-19 at 7:46 PM, Pepper Snap said:

Her behavior could also stem from past trauma rather than a pervasive personality disorder.

BPD can stem from trauma as well which I think probably lends more credence to your idea.

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7 hours ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Fatality!

 

 

lol!

18 hours ago, Iforgotmybrain said:

I was very close friends with someone who has BPD, and I can kind of see what you mean honestly. 
 

BPD can stem from trauma as well which I think probably lends more credence to your idea.

I have bpd too and I see so much of myself in her behavior. I’m not sure whether or not mine is genetic or from trauma since I was abandoned as a kid also, but also my dad seems to have the same issues as me but hasn’t been diagnosed so I’m not sure

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*insert she's literally me here*

I relate heavily to Starlight to an uncanny degree. I have never been diagnosed in having BPD but I've had symptoms similar to it for years at least since 2020. A thing I've noticed with people who have BPD that a lot of people heavily villianize them for their behaviors since they're maladjusted.

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Starlight Glimmer sure takes a lot of risks to prove her point. I'm not so sure everyone else would've acted differently in her situation in Every Little Thing She Does or Royal Problem, not with her upbringing, whatever the social norms she was raised into, it is clear it had an affect on her outlook on life.

Whatever that upbringing was, I am sure I would not want it, because enslaving others is not something I'd want to do with the knowledge of the effects it has on others.

I even wrote an MLP fan fiction where my imaginary self character asked for nurturing to avoid negative behaviours there after passing through the Bardo, may sound like a weird fantasy but there you go, not everyone fits the mold of others expectations, and I'm one of them.

Whether people like to face the truth or not, culture you're raised into does have an affect on your behaviour, and I concluded that this is one reason why I found it believable why Starlight Glimmer would have such difficulty adjusting. It's not just because of a possible diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

 

 

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14 hours ago, MangoFoalix said:

*insert she's literally me here*

I relate heavily to Starlight to an uncanny degree. I have never been diagnosed in having BPD but I've had symptoms similar to it for years at least since 2020. A thing I've noticed with people who have BPD that a lot of people heavily villianize them for their behaviors since they're maladjusted.

BPD can have crossover symptoms with other disorders like Autism, OCD and ADHD as well. And that’s so true. I’ve seen so much hate for people with BPD and it’s sad but when I look at it from their perspective I totally get it. They might not have the awareness of what it’s like to have this disorder and know that the things we do and say are coming from a place of fear usually. But I suppose the same thing can be said about other personality disorders more villainized such as ASPD (anti social personality disorder) and NPD (narcissistic personality disorder). The best thing for people like me to do is to ignore the hate but also take accountability for ourselves (as adults) because I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t do some horrible stuff because of my inability to regulate my emotions and control myself *sigh* it’s TOUGH

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1 hour ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Starlight Glimmer sure takes a lot of risks to prove her point. I'm not so sure everyone else would've acted differently in her situation in Every Little Thing She Does or Royal Problem, not with her upbringing, whatever the social norms she was raised into, it is clear it had an affect on her outlook on life.

Whatever that upbringing was, I am sure I would not want it, because enslaving others is not something I'd want to do with the knowledge of the effects it has on others.

I even wrote an MLP fan fiction where my imaginary self character asked for nurturing to avoid negative behaviours there after passing through the Bardo, may sound like a weird fantasy but there you go, not everyone fits the mold of others expectations, and I'm one of them.

Whether people like to face the truth or not, culture you're raised into does have an affect on your behaviour, and I concluded that this is one reason why I found it believable why Starlight Glimmer would have such difficulty adjusting. It's not just because of a possible diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

 

 

That is true! It’s just that we don’t have any evidence of her upbringing other than the interactions with her father, who seems to be a helicopter parent, you know, very clingy and anxious, I’d say. And her mother being out of the picture (evidence of abandonment, whether she left on her own or passed away, they can both have the same effect on a developing brain, but I personally think she left, probably because of the dad’s clinginess). As far as I’m aware if, there hasn’t even been any instances of her being taken back by traditions or customs of the ponies in normal society, just hesitance because of how she feels about herself. Since I grew up in an adverse environment, I recall being shocked to find out that being beaten with blunt objects and cords wasn’t a suitable punishment and instead are grounds for being charged with child abuse and that’s just one thing. That’s probably an extreme example but I feel like she would’ve had at least one instance of this that isn’t related to her time off the grid as a cult leader xD. Those are just my 2 cents tho

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39 minutes ago, Pepper Snap said:

That is true! It’s just that we don’t have any evidence of her upbringing other than the interactions with her father, who seems to be a helicopter parent, you know, very clingy and anxious, I’d say. And her mother being out of the picture (evidence of abandonment, whether she left on her own or passed away, they can both have the same effect on a developing brain, but I personally think she left, probably because of the dad’s clinginess). As far as I’m aware if, there hasn’t even been any instances of her being taken back by traditions or customs of the ponies in normal society, just hesitance because of how she feels about herself. Since I grew up in an adverse environment, I recall being shocked to find out that being beaten with blunt objects and cords wasn’t a suitable punishment and instead are grounds for being charged with child abuse and that’s just one thing. That’s probably an extreme example but I feel like she would’ve had at least one instance of this that isn’t related to her time off the grid as a cult leader xD. Those are just my 2 cents tho

Am I the only person who thinks there should have been mental institutions for villains in My Little Pony FIM?

Discord is an example of someone who could've benefited from this, they could've removed his magic in season 4 and made him undergo therapy to make sure he was no longer a threat to Equestria. Same should've happened with Starlight Glimmer, to have her be accepted by Mane Six, it would've made sense for her to humbly accept that help.

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(edited)
1 hour ago, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Am I the only person who thinks there should have been mental institutions for villains in My Little Pony FIM?

Discord is an example of someone who could've benefited from this, they could've removed his magic in season 4 and made him undergo therapy to make sure he was no longer a threat to Equestria. Same should've happened with Starlight Glimmer, to have her be accepted by Mane Six, it would've made sense for her to humbly accept that help.

Ik the ponyville hospital treats mental patients as seen with screw loose, but that’s the only example I’m aware of so I totally agree, maybe not with Discord but idk how they could safely remove his chaos magic, but Starlight for sure should’ve been admitted for her crimes and several other characters. They should’ve put Cozy Glow somewhere like that instead of sending her to mlp hell and then turning her to stone like she’s a kid lmaooo

Edited by Pepper Snap
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3 hours ago, Pepper Snap said:

BPD can have crossover symptoms with other disorders like Autism, OCD and ADHD as well. And that’s so true. I’ve seen so much hate for people with BPD and it’s sad but when I look at it from their perspective I totally get it. They might not have the awareness of what it’s like to have this disorder and know that the things we do and say are coming from a place of fear usually. But I suppose the same thing can be said about other personality disorders more villainized such as ASPD (anti social personality disorder) and NPD (narcissistic personality disorder). The best thing for people like me to do is to ignore the hate but also take accountability for ourselves (as adults) because I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t do some horrible stuff because of my inability to regulate my emotions and control myself *sigh* it’s TOUGH

I would love to see a mental health disorders destigmatized especially ones that are portrayed as being "evil" or "makes you a bad person". As I know of, I have ADHD, OCD and Tourette's. I have never been tested for autism but I'm fairly sure I have that too so I really do empathize. I think I had elements of ASPD back when I was younger too.

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