MLP And World Building

[Pony Of The Month 534]

No one really knows what Starswirl's spell from the season 3 finale was supposed to do. Even M.A. Larson himself admitted that he doesn't know. This has inspired me to create this thread. The purpose of this thread is to analyze the show's world building.

 

How much effort goes into the show's world building? Is it done well? Do they still follow a series bible? (a series bible is a set of guidelines for what's allowed to happen in the show, what characters are allowed to do what, etc.) Do you want to learn more about a certain location in the show?

 

There are many questions we could all ask about world building, but I'm gonna leave the analyses to you guys. How good do you think this show is at world building? Does it need improvement? And what future world building would you like to see?

[Blue Moon 6,341]

I think this show needs to explain its history properly. There are a lot of plot holes in the backstory right now and I would like to see it be properly discussed.

[Pony Of The Month 534]

I think this show needs to explain its history properly. There are a lot of plot holes in the backstory right now and I would like to see it be properly discussed.

Hearth's Warming Eve is quite confusing, and in my headcanon it's a historically inaccurate play. You are thinking about Hearth's Warming Eve right?

[Blue Moon 6,341]

Actually, I was referring to all the episodes including Equestria's history. Which includes Hearth's Warming Eve. I am confused where everything fits in. Like when Discord is there, King Sombra, and Celestia banishing NightmareMoon

[Fhaolan 4,483]

At the moment I don't believe they have a series bible to the extent that you're thinking about. They leave a *lot* of threads dangling here there and everywhere, and honestly I wonder if that's a good thing or not. It's definitely fan-fiction-fodder, and it gives fans things to try to tie together. It may frustrate fans, but does the ability to inspire that frustration give those fans something to obsess over and therefore cement their fan-ness?

 

For example, I've written a fan-fiction that ties together Nightmare Moon, the batponies from Luna Eclipsed, and King Sombra. Not definitively, but enough that the tie is plausibly established *in my mind*, and there's nothing in canon to dispute it. This wouldn't be possible if the writers explained everything.

 

Hearth's Warming Eve is odd in many ways. Where exactly does it fit into the timeline with Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Crystal Empire, and Starswirl the Bearded? How much of it is actual history, versus being a play about history? Perhaps it is as accurate as Shakespeare's Henry V.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Fhaolan

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

I love world-building episodes, but I have to agree with Fhaolon that I don't think they really have a concrete idea of what they're doing.

 

A lot of interpretations about the history comes from the fans themselves, especially since the history is left vague; not vague in the sense that we have no idea of what happened, since it's pretty clear that Discord apparently once ruled, King Sombra enslaved the Crystal ponies, Nightmare Moon tried to bring eternal night, and all that other jazz, but vague in the sense that the reasons for some of it are left unexplained, as well as where in the timeline this all fits.

 

We know that Discord obviously ruled and was banished before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, same with King Sombra. Apparently these two events and Nightmare Moon's rise all happened very close together about one thousand years before current day in the show.

 

Overall, I think the show should world-build some more, but it needs to also tie up loose ends and explain the history better.

[truth is life 76]

I tend to agree with Rainblow Hash. The history is left rather vague in terms of timelines; even the dates could be considered somewhat...metaphorical, in the sense that "a thousand years ago" is often used approximately (for instance, if I said, "Charlemagne ruled a thousand years ago," most people who knew who that was would probably agree and move on, even though that's not literally true unless I'm somehow cross-posting from the eighteenth century)

 

Not that I mind; it leaves more open for fanfiction writers such as myself.