An interesting detail I noticed

[Koori 156]

Okay... I don't know if anyone else noticed this detail when watching the season 3 finale.

 

When I watched the finale, there was something that bothered me a lot, but couldn't put my finger on it. Then today just before coming back from my morning shift, I noticed it:

 

The book

 

It was the book that bothered me and the reason is that I swear I'd seen it before and then the pieces fell together.

 

The best detail about the book can be seen here:

 

 

Now look at this screenshot I cropped from Season 3 Episode 2:

 

 

It's a bit hazy, but the details are quite clear. The book that puzzled us at the beginning of season 3 came back in the finale. The thing is we still don't quite know what exactly is the book about. All we know is that the last page includes an unfinished masterpiece spell from Starswirl the Bearded which he abandoned in the end. No title is ever said.

 

Anyone else noticed this and what are your thoughts about it?

[Reani 176]

When I say the book Spike held, it took me seconds to realize that that book was from the Season 3 Episode 2. That book was a huge foreshadow when Luna held it up. It was quite clear that that book was going to be used for something big. I was even looking for that book at the start to see if it would appear again.

[GrifCannon 102]

That book was probably Starswirls private spellbook probably filled with unfinished and/or dangerous spells he invented. Which is why the sisters were in posession of it and it wasn't in the canterlot archives with the rest of his spells.

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

whoa i would have never even thought of that. You have keen eyes my friend. Looking at it and trying to piece it together. I'm assuming we are taking the whole magic writing lore in account when we talk about this book. When ever a high level magic user writes a new spell or magic, the previous pages are usually filled with instances where they tried and failed horribly or just their thoughts on the whole process. Like a book of random thoughts and research notes followed by the aha moment and the spell.

[Rolls Royce 606]

I'm surprised that I didn't catch this in the episode.  Ever since the 2nd part of Crystal Empire, I knew that it would be used for something big in a future episode, but I couldn't think of what I could be used for.  Well, now I know.

[SandCoffeee 7]

Wow. I didn't even think about that book when I saw it in Episode 2. OK, know I wish I had been paying more attention, because of course a book with super advanced spells wouldn't be with the rest of the spells. You, my friend have a sharp bird's eye.

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

The very first theory as to what that book was that I heard was that it was Starswirl's, kind of like how the very first thing I heard after the season opener was "Dude, Twilight's totally gonna become an alicorn".

 

I think it's weird that Starswirl couldnt finish the spell because he didn't understand the power of friendship. So...Starswirl had no friends?

[Stellafera 3,836]

I think it's weird that Starswirl couldnt finish the spell because he didn't understand the power of friendship. So...Starswirl had no friends?

 

Starswirl seems to be episode 1 Twilight Sparkle. Incredible magical talent, but no concept of the magic of friendship. So, basically, the reason why Twilight could become an Alicorn was because she understood the magic of friendship enough to know how to do the spell right. 

[himanuts 165]

The cover looks like what could've been StarSwirl's Cutie Mark.

 

But my I kind of wonder...what exactly was StarSwirl trying to achieve with that spell? Simply switch around cutie marks? Maybe a Spell to be used on enenmies by trolling with their lives? Why would this be his masterpiece?

Edited February 17, 2013 by himanuts

[GrifCannon 102]

The cover looks like what could've been StarSwirl's Cutie Mark.

 

But my I kind of wonder...what exactly was StarSwirl trying to achieve with that spell? Simply switch around cutie marks? Maybe a Spell to be used on enenmies by trolling with their lives? Why would this be his masterpiece?

Seeing the way the spell interacts with the Elements of Harmony, its entirely possible the original intent was to bind all 6 elements to a single pony.  His purpose for this may have been after Celestia banished luna and she lost her connection to the elements, so they became inert. Starswirl knew the power of the elements, and likely wanted celestia to continue to have the ability to use them, but their true power can only be achieved through 6 seperate ponys and their friendship. A single Alicorn, no matter how powerful, simply can't truley master the elements.

 

  Personally I don't believe the spell was intended to turn someone into an alicorn, nor do I believe Celestia was what turned twilight into one. I believe that when twilight rewrote the spell, it triggered a personal transformation with the elements of harmony acting as the catalyst.  When they blasted her she was clearly suprised.  The following sequence with celestia hints that it may have all been in twilight's head and was her subconciously transforming into an alicorn while her body changes. Note the passage of time between the elements zapping her away and her reappearence in ponyville, it was daytime when she was zapped and it was nighttime when she reappeared. It almost seems like it was a dream sequence.

 

Throught all this, the chessmaster is Celestia, who likely knew this would all happen in some form or another, likely from the day she met twilight. When she saw twilights raw power Celestia knew that twilight had the potential to be the element of magic and redeem Luna, whose escape from the moon was imminent (relatively.) She put twilight on the proper corse and let her try her strength nad grow.  When she knew twilight was ready to ascend she made sure that twilight was in possession of the elements when she attempted to cast the unfinished spell and subsequently rewrote and completed it.

 

I really hope this makes as much sense typed out as it does n my head

Edited February 17, 2013 by GrifCannon

[immblueversion 331]

Could this feed into the idea that Star Swirl is actually Discord? There's a discussion about it here that's been around since before "Keep Calm and Flutter On" aired, and it's even been updated to incorporate the newer details on him in the season finale.

His spell kept causing all sorts of chaos, and since he just couldn't get it right, he flipped out and decided to keep wreaking chaos because that's all it seemed his "masterpiece" was good for.

[GrifCannon 102]

Could this feed into the idea that Star Swirl is actually Discord? There's a discussion about it here that's been around since before "Keep Calm and Flutter On" aired, and it's even been updated to incorporate the newer details on him in the season finale.

 

His spell kept causing all sorts of chaos, and since he just couldn't get it right, he flipped out and decided to keep wreaking chaos because that's all it seemed his "masterpiece" was good for.

 

As cool as I think it would be if that were true, we know for certain that luna knows what starswirl looked like, and that she helped overthrow Discord and Sombra (possibly sealing sombra away with the elements.)  Therefore, we know this all happened before nightmare moon.  We also know that Starswirl was alive when equestria was founded seeing as his apprentice was a founding pony (and discovered the fires of friendship.)  Since the sisters weren't around when equestria was founded (as far as we know) we can infer that Starswirl is older than

the sisters.  So while this doesn't disprove Starswirl becoming Discord, his decent into madness must have been quick.  It also doesn't line up with my theory that I outlined above because I believe that Starswirl's unfinished spell was created after luna was banished.

Edited February 17, 2013 by GrifCannon

[Scootalove 10,689]

I guess since Starswirl the Bearded could not understand the lesson in friendship to finish the spell. Twilight did not want to learn about friendship from the beginning until she met the Mane 6, so it is a coincidence that the book appeared again in the Season finale and the Crystal Empire Part 2. The book probably has a lot of magic that, Celestia and Twilight can relate to.

[immblueversion 331]

As cool as I think it would be if that were true, we know for certain that luna knows what starswirl looked like, and that she helped overthrow Discord and Sombra (possibly sealing sombra away with the elements.)  Therefore, we know this all happened before nightmare moon.  We also know that Starswirl was alive when equestria was founded seeing as his apprentice was a founding pony (and discovered the fires of friendship.)  Since the sisters weren't around when equestria was founded (as far as we know) we can infer that Starswirl is older than

the sisters.  So while this doesn't disprove Starswirl becoming Discord, his decent into madness must have been quick.  It also doesn't line up with my theory that I outlined above because I believe that Starswirl's unfinished spell was created after luna was banished.

 

Maybe the spell had an unintended and unforeseeable effect on the Elements of Harmony when Twilight first cast it. And I wouldn't write off such a descent into madness as quick; for all we know, Star Swirl could have spent months, years, or even his entire life trying to perfect his magnum opus that his sheer determination led to stubbornness, then frustration, and finally madness. All because he didn't have any friends.

 

Friendship lesson of the episode: Having friends keeps you sane. I think Twilight can attest to that.

Edited February 17, 2013 by immblueversion

[GrifCannon 102]

 

Maybe the spell had an unintended and unforeseeable effect on the Elements of Harmony when Twilight first cast it. And I wouldn't write off such a descent into madness as quick; for all we know, Star Swirl could have spent months, years, or even his entire life trying to perfect his magnum opus that his sheer determination led to stubbornness, then frustration, and finally madness. All because he didn't have any friends.

 

Friendship lesson of the episode: Having friends keeps you sane. I think Twilight can attest to that.

My only real issue with this theory is back to the question i discussed before, "What was the spell actually supposed to do?" If it was never intended to be used with the elements, then your theory holds merit because at the time, the sisters were the element bearers and he would have had no use for the elements seeing as they're basically powered by friendship, a concept he didn't fully understand. On the other hand, if he designed the spell to channel the elements' power (or otherwise interact with them), the only reason I can think of would be if Celestia and Luna were no longer bound to the elements, which we know only happened after Luna's banishment, and it would directly contradict the fact that discord was petrified before Luna's fall.

 

Edit: Dear Celestia my grammer is terrible.

Edited February 17, 2013 by GrifCannon

[Malakili 165]

This Discord = Starswirl makes a lot of sense to me now... That would explain why Celestia wanted to free Discord : she knew that the Mane 6 could teach him Friendship, something he never achieved before. This way, he could once more be a great magician, the only thing stopping him,  which also made him so interested in Chaos, was his lack of knowledge of Frienship.

 

Starswirl wrote this spell because he wanted to become an alicorn, a demi-god, as is stated in the link immblueversion posted. He wasn't able to reach that status because he did not have Friendship, but what he did have was Chaos, and it made him a demi-god, but not quite the one he originally tried to become, a Dragonequus. 

 

An Omniamorphic spell is even mentioned by Twilight in Luna Eclipsed, and it really fits seeing Discord's body...

This is probably false, but god, I hope it isn't.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Malakili