Why the Hype with Princess Luna?

[Eavath 278]

I've tried four times now to formulate something elaborate to explain my love of Luna, but everything I typed up fell short of what I wanted, so have this:

I love Luna because she's the goddess of the night and I have a slight (understatement) case of Nyctophilia. I love the night time and sitting around losing myself in the stars above me.

[Thaliel 116]

I always had a liking for the moon and anything/anyone related to it

also, I like characters that used to be bad and are turned good, gives you that feeling that anyone can change given the chance

finally, I reallly ike her mane

[Eureka 1,119]

Hmm... You gotta admitt she is a kinda awesome pony xD. I just feel people can relate to her not fitting in.

Maybe it's like that she has an alter ego. Luna has not been in many episodes, so we probably want to find out more about her.

She is different than every ruler like Celestia.

[Tia Is Best Pony 310]

For me its that i am alot like her i love noght time its 5am right now lol i love the stars and i also fudged up alot in my past AND let me note that she is a loner...... like me !

[Luna's Husbando 60]

I can't speak for everyone, but to me, Luna is an idealization of everything I would look for in a partner. She's an outsider; she is reclusive, introverted, and socially awkward. As a lot of people in this thread have already mentioned, this makes her an easy character to relate to since many of us share the same traits. Since Luna's canon personality hasn't been fleshed out very much aside from these traits, it leaves room for us to speculate and idealize as to what her personality is actually like. Since Luna already has several admirable traits, we can add to those traits based on her pre-existing ones, creating a Luna in our own vision, as we want to see her.

 

I like to imagine Luna as someone who is somewhat uncomfortable with close relationships, especially after her own sister banished her to the moon for a thousand years, but can be very caring and loving if she does become close with somebody. I like to think that she is extremely intelligent and inventive but also lonely and in need of love and partnership, which I and many others would gladly give to her. She would be intimate and fond of physical contact and would love to follow whatever your own interests are. If you wanted to play video games with her or watch something with her she would gladly oblige and would enjoy doing those things with you.

 

tl;dr: she is very easy to relate to and form a head-cannon around that suits your ideals.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Luna's Husbando

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

I love Princess Luna too.

 

Just watch how the fans are freaking out on the livestrema chats everytime that Luna is showing up.

[Night Shine 767]

Well, I don't really get or necessarily like her 'sub-fandom' either, the whole "she is good and Celestia is evil" dealio, since I love them both as characters. I can't really explain that.

 

What I can explain, however, is why I personally love Pwincess Woona so much. :3

[SCS 7,443]

For me, it is due to a combination of factors: the lack of screentime she receives, and how interesting her character is, both in her personality as well as her visual design. Firstly, her lack of screentime peaks my curiosity about her character, so the moments when she does appear are more special than they would be if she appeared on a regular basis. Her character design is absolutely beautiful as well. All of the ponies' are, but I especially love Celestia's and Luna's, what with their flowing manes, and how their character designs represent fundamental aspects of nature. She is also a likeable and fascinating character, who progressed from a state of spiritual darkness, to an early state of healing, to a state of maturity, as evidenced throughout the show thus far. 

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

Luna was an early favorite of mine. Even though she hasn't had much screen time i liked her story about being the under appreciated little sister that never had her share of licks as Twilight would say. Plus i really like her voice and think we'd get along really well.

Edited March 18, 2013 by Bucky_McGillycuddy

[Dashmagic 19]

I actually like her just because I think she's cool.

 

I mean, Celestia's cool and all... but it's not the same. Like some others said, Luna's kind of mysterious, she's cute, I like her character design, and whenever she's in an episode... I can assume I'll like it. Generally.

 

She wasn't in much, but Luna Eclipsed was raw character development, essentially, so that's a thing.

[Dark Photon 0]

Stay indoors, Twilight Sparkle.

 

Out of all the encounters with villains and what not, Luna was the first (or only) character to actively defy a protagonist through her own envious violations, thus supposing deep internal conflicts, which is ripe ground for fan fiction, head cannon/fannon etc.

 

Exploring emotional tensions as relationships flex and settle, it would seem, also plays a fascinating part to this.

[Twinhead B 482]

People like Luna because she's much more relatable that Celestia.

 

Celestia is portrayed as the perfect princess. She's benevolent, generous, kind, beautiful, protective, and powerful. The only thing that's stopping Celestia from being a total Mary Sue (don't kill me for using this term) is the fact that she's not around enough to steal the spotlight in traditional Mary Sue fashion. No one can relate to Celestia because she's perfect in every way. She's socially accepted, physically superior to every other pony, intelligent, and perfectly well behaved.

 

Luna on the other hand hoof, is much more relatable. She's not perfect, far from it actually. She's not as powerful as Celestia, she's not as kind, nor as trusting. The creators even intentionally made her shorter than Celestia to further drive home the point that she's "not as good". Unlike Celestia, Luna has a blemish on her reputation. She's tried to take over Equestria and plunge the world into eternal night...twice.

 

Luna's character flaws are what make her more popular than Celestia. She's fallible, she's mortal....at least in spirit.

[kirbyboi 587]

It's kinda like Derpy. People like Luna for her looks, and some of her personality traits. But I think mainly her design. I don't mind it, I mean I love Derpy, so it shouldn't be the end of the world if someone like Luna as their favorite Princess. 

 

It's just a matter of them liking her personality/design. I like Deroy because she's funny, and so adorable! So just let them be, it's just how we like Derpy as a background pony. 

[Shanks 10,811]

Celestia is portrayed as the perfect princess. She's benevolent, generous, kind, beautiful, protective, and powerful. The only thing that's stopping Celestia from being a total Mary Sue (don't kill me for using this term) is the fact that she's not around enough to steal the spotlight in traditional Mary Sue fashion.

You are right about Luna being more relatable as a character than Celestia but to be fair to Celestia we haven't seen much of her outside of her roles as princess and teacher. People or in this case ponies often behave differently in certain situations, one of my favorite scenes with Celestia is this one in Ponyville Confidential where it shows her stuffing her face with cake both because it is hilarious and shows a small glimpse of Celestia the pony.

[Twinhead B 482]

You are right about Luna being more relatable as a character than Celestia but to be fair to Celestia we haven't seen much of her outside of her roles as princess and teacher. People or in this case ponies often behave differently in certain situations, one of my favorite scenes with Celestia is this one in Ponyville Confidential where it shows her stuffing her face with cake both because it is hilarious and shows a small glimpse of Celestia the pony.

 

That's true. Perhaps if we saw more of Celestia, fan opinion would change. But currently, every instance we have of Celestia interacting with others, she's shown to be pretty much perfect.

[Cupcake Ice Cream 436]

she's ridiculously beautiful in design but her personality in Nightmare Night was awesome. So sweet once she relaxed a bit and she was vulnerable...I love her

 

best princess ever

[poniesforfun 716]

People like Luna because she's much more relatable that Celestia.

 

Celestia is portrayed as the perfect princess. She's benevolent, generous, kind, beautiful, protective, and powerful. The only thing that's stopping Celestia from being a total Mary Sue (don't kill me for using this term) is the fact that she's not around enough to steal the spotlight in traditional Mary Sue fashion. No one can relate to Celestia because she's perfect in every way. She's socially accepted, physically superior to every other pony, intelligent, and perfectly well behaved.

 

Luna on the other hand hoof, is much more relatable. She's not perfect, far from it actually. She's not as powerful as Celestia, she's not as kind, nor as trusting. The creators even intentionally made her shorter than Celestia to further drive home the point that she's "not as good". Unlike Celestia, Luna has a blemish on her reputation. She's tried to take over Equestria and plunge the world into eternal night...twice.

 

Luna's character flaws are what make her more popular than Celestia. She's fallible, she's mortal....at least in spirit.

 

Celestia powerful? Don't know about that. There never has been a moment when she displayed her full power at all. She did come over to fix Twilight's mistakes with a spell but that's about it. Other than that it's raising the sun. She only lost to Chrysalis and that was the first Celestia fight we ever witnessed (though to be honest this isn't a show about fighting). She just happened to have the Elements of Harmony and used it to banish Luna. Luna has actually showcased more spells than Celestia so far. So how is she a Mary Sue. The Elements of Harmony is Mary Sue... :/

[Harmonic Revelations 8,833]

I know right? I never understood it either, up until Season 3 she had like...what...three or four speaking lines? Her personality wasn't well developed and while Season 3 improved on that it's still not fully explored what her personality is like.

[Twinhead B 482]

Celestia powerful? Don't know about that. There never has been a moment when she displayed her full power at all. She did come over to fix Twilight's mistakes with a spell but that's about it. Other than that it's raising the sun. She only lost to Chrysalis and that was the first Celestia fight we ever witnessed (though to be honest this isn't a show about fighting). She just happened to have the Elements of Harmony and used it to banish Luna. Luna has actually showcased more spells than Celestia so far. So how is she a Mary Sue. The Elements of Harmony is Mary Sue... :/

 

I seriously doubt Celestia would be able to rule over Equestria for 1000+ years in peace if she weren't very powerful. Aside from her implied magical prowess (she's the head of the most prestigious magical institution in all of Equestria after all), she also has alot of political power, ruling Equestria unchallenged for a millenia, as well as having full command over the Royal Guard.

 

Celestia doesn't have any major character flaws, aside from occasionally trolling Twilight and her friends, and the one time she lost to an extremely powered up Chyrsalis (who even expresses surprise that she was able to defeat Celestia).

 

Now, I'm not arguing that the Elements of Harmony aren't overpowered, but to say that Celestia isn't is silly.

[poniesforfun 716]

Celestia was mostly powerful because she could use the Elements of Harmony which she doesn't have anymore and that ownership went to Twilight and the others. And was the only thing that took out Discord and Luna. Why would Celestia need someone else to do it? She obviously has lost the touch.

 

No major character flaws? She had no idea that Chrysalis was disguised as Cadence, so she dismissed Twilight's pleads. And if she lived over 1000+ years you would think at the very least she would have investigated her "most faithful student's" case especially when they were in a military lock up situation. I mean she probably have had her share of changelings, assassins and strange mishaps going on in her court enough to know it's always worth investigating the inside man.

Edited March 20, 2013 by poniesforfun

[Twinhead B 482]

Celestia was mostly powerful because she could use the Elements of Harmony which she doesn't have anymore and that ownership went to Twilight and the others. And was the only thing that took out Discord and Luna. Why would Celestia need someone else to do it? She obviously has lost the touch.

 

No major character flaws? She had no idea that Chrysalis was disguised as Cadence, so she dismissed Twilight's pleads. And if she lived over 1000+ years you would think at the very least she would have investigated her "most faithful student's" case especially when they were in a military lock up situation. I mean she probably have had her share of changelings, assassins and strange mishaps going on in her court enough to know it's always worth investigating the inside man.

 

A fair argument, but you do have to remember that Equestria is a peaceful land. Most ponies wouldn't even imagine touching their benevolent ruler, let alone making an attempt on her life. Any threat against Equestria would no doubt come from outside threats, which have been shown to be few and far between. Celestia dismissing Twilight's claims against Chrysalis was no doubt due to how common it is for one to be over-protective of their siblings (a point that is made clear by the rest of the Mane 6).

 

But, Luna looks up to Celestia (quite literally) as her superior. It's not Luna who sits in the throne room making the decisions, it's Celestia. Celestia is the head of the Canterlot school of magic, not Luna. Twilight is Celestia's protege, not Luna's. Celestia was able to wield the Elements of Harmony alone, not Luna. Luna tried to plunge the world in eternal night, Celestia singled handedly stopped her.

 

While Luna has an even balance of positive and negative traits, Celestia's positive traits far outweigh her negative ones.

 

At the end of the day, the show has set Celestia up to be the paragon of good, and righteousness, while Luna has been repeatedly scorned and ostracized.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Twinhead B

[Fhaolan 4,468]

Luna is interesting *because* we don't know much about her. This allows people to try to fill in the details. In order to support a character-driven subfandom, the character has to be either very deep or give the illusion of deepness so that the fans can fill that depth with their headcannons.

 

At first all we knew was that she was billed as a demi-god who succumbed to her weaknesses, and was imprisoned for a thousand years. As presented, the weakness was that she hated being lonely, and for punishment she was locked away to be even more alone. After being released, she was sarcastic, manipulative, and grandstanding. She was trying so hard to be a 'Magnificent Bastard', except that she wasn't really that *good* at it, getting distracted and loosing the thread of her plots too easily. Once stripped of the evil influences and power, she regressed to a filly and was visibly upset and confused.

 

So far, this is unusually cruel and deep for a children's show. The ending scenes with Luna getting a flower wreath from little fillies was deliberately designed to create sympathy for the Luna character, and the viewers were left with tons of questions about Luna. Who exactly *is* this mysterious dark mare?

 

And then we didn't see her again for the rest of the season. A character that was important enough to trigger this chain of events, is acknowledged to be a co-ruler of Equestria, but is effectively forgotten? Why isn't she at the Gala? What's going on? Mystery!

 

Then Luna Eclipsed, and we got a completely different version of Luna. Physically different from both the Nightmare Moon and the filly-shape we last saw her with, using bizarre antique phrasing and manners, all wrapped in this pseudo-gothic presentation. Her main character traits were still confusion and loneliness, and now an obvious temper and playfullness. She isn't Nightmare Moon, but now we can see how easily she could *become* Nightmare Moon again. Despite answering some of the viewer's questions, she has retained the mysteriousness because now we have even more questions.

 

And then she disappears again. What the hell? Okay, a few walk-on scenes, but no explanation as to why she's not around during actual events.

 

Finally, Sleepless in Ponyville. Buhwuh? Dreamwalking? This is not helping! How does this fit in with what we already know?

 

So every time we really encounter Luna, we've gotten a different character. This gives the impression that the character is very deep. In reality its probably more that the character is being whatever the writer needs her to be at the moment, but that doesn't really matter. Even the illusion of depth gives room for fans to fill it with headcannon.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Fhaolan

[supercolt3 0]

Although she has few episodes and appears rarely when she does come out she does so in memorable if not epic ways.  She has felt most if not all feelings of the heart from transitioning from normal to villain and back to good while also still trying to adjust after 1000 years solitary confinement.  Here are perfect examples. 

 

Enough said for me when she does things like at 4:34

[white hawk 0]

I know this thread is old i feel like adding something. First off i don't agree that celstia tried reasoning with her,first off in the first episodes Luna starts feeling unnapreciated for what is basically her, celestia doesn't bother doing anything till it's too late. And sends her to the moon for a thousand years. I will always hate celestia in the show (though i rarely do in fics) in the season 4 flash back we find luna wielded honesty loyalty and laughter. It annoys me to no end that a pony that was a paragon of loyalty honesty and laughter fell so far as to be corrupted by the nightmare forces.

But anyway im getting of track i love luna because i can empathise with her im loyal im honest and always trying to make people laugh,i am a cancer zodiac born on a new moon at 7 mins to midnight on the first of the month.

 

I have always had an affinity for the night ever since i can remember i'd stay up at night and smell the night air watch the moon. The moon is my ruling planet so it affects me a lot. Heck the moon has brought me to tears as i watch it. And heck i am weird an outsider always have been.

 

I also find luna sexually attractive as well as romantically attractive, plus shes so adorable with her Elizabethan speech. She has a great personality and in my oppinion better than celestia. And lets not forget luna helps all the ponies as they sleep and teaches the fillies and colts moral lessons in a far more personal way than sit back watch and eat cake celestia.

And before i am asked yes i am NLR

Edited May 30, 2014 by white hawk

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Oh man, this again!

 

I love Luna. Don't get me wrong. I don't hate her. I've never said once on my profile or in this comment section ''I Hate Princess Luna'.'

 

She is an interesting character. With a beautiful design. But she gets far too much adoration.

 

Why? Honestly why?

 

What does Luna do that makes her so special? More important then Celestia. Stay on the moon all day? Haunt dreams and nightmares?

 

In the Season 2 finale, A Canterlot Wedding, where is Luna during the battle? We never see her until she flies down from the moon and through the force field and tells Celestia to get some sleep and she'll watch over and then before Love is in Bloom starts. Where was she when Chrysalis overpowered her sister?

 

Now look at Sleepless in Ponyville...

She is being the Headless Horse in Scootaloo's dream yes. But that's all she does then comes to her in the dream and tell her to face her fear then vanishes until Scootaloo dreams again. That's it!

 

But the last thing to point out...fans forget that Luna was once Nightmare Moon and was an evil doer. She herself wanted to cast the world into eternal night and who knows what else she tried to do before Celestia used the Elements on her. I've even seen some people say that Celestia only banished her to the moon for fun/cause Celestia the bad guy, not "Poor Little Woona"/Etc., but honestly that argument just doesn't add up. You'd kill all life on Earth if plants didn't get sun, silly!

 

I also think this is due to people overhyping the For the NLR song that would nowadays be considered to be PINO (Pony in Name only) and the fact that Luna has got her own episode while Celestia hasn't yet.

I feel like Luna gets too much love and Celestia gets too much hate for no reason whatsoever.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Carbon Maestro