Why was Luna initially banished instead of reformed?

[Anadu Kune 668]

So in the first episode it is established that Celestia had no other choice but to banish her sister to the moon for 1000 years using the Element of Harmony. However using those same elements Twilight and crew were able to rid Luna of her dark Powers. Why then didn't Celestia do that? Is there an explanation I am not seeing? It would seem to be indicated that Celestia was planning for this so her sister could finally be free. However I see no reason indicated as to why she couldn't do it in the first place. 

So am I missing something here,  or does this stand? 

 

[PonyEcho 1,610]

@@Anadu Kune,

because the Elements of harmony were luna's as well, my guess is that there full power couldn't be used to change Nightmare Moon back so Celestia had to try another method.

 

the whole point of the banishment was like so Celestia could find away to change her back. its was even hinted that Celestia knew all along what was going to happen and how it was gona all play out, basically making all of the beginning her plan to return Luna back to normal < that's just my opinion tho.

 

EDIT- i have something too

 

In the first episode we find out that Luna was jelly of her sister because ponies were playing out in the day and not at night.

 

but her power is for her to go into dreams meaning for her to do what she does they would need to be asleep, :/ why did she complain then and start that petty squabble?  

Edited February 9, 2013 by PonyEcho

[Shift 4,271]

It probably took a lot for one pony to wield the power of all six elements. Using that much power probably would of sent Celestia into overdrive and...well, yeah. So she used minimum energy and sent her sis to the moon, in hopes 1,000 years later six ponies would take her place and wield the elements, defeating NMM.

 

As for Ponyecho? Maybe she thought her sis was awesome-er because ponies loved her more and they disliked her for making Nightmares?

 

Wild guesses FTW.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Shift

[Rainbow RapiDASH 53]

Like shift said, It was probably too much for just Celestia to use the elements alone.  They were probably never ment for a single pony, or a pair of ponies for that matter, to wield.  Their full power could only ever be unleashed when they were paired with a single pony each.  And I have to think that since it was originally Luna's jealousy of Celestia that caused her to transform into Nightmare Moon, Celestia wasn't the one most suited to save her sister by reminding her just what friendship and sisterhood truly means.

[Evilshy 5,089]

In Return of Harmony, Celestia said that she and her sister were no longer tied to the Elements, implying that they both were the bearers. Thus, If only Celestia was using Elements, she wouldn't have access to their full power.

[Veylon 255]

I've always gone with the notion that the Elements are some fundamentally uncontrollable force of nature. When somepony puts them on and tries to use them on something, they don't necessarily know what the Elements will do. So when Celestia used them against Nightmare, she didn't have any real say about what would happen.

[poniesforfun 716]

In

Return of Harmony, Celestia said that she and her sister were no longer

tied to the Elements, implying that they both were the bearers. Thus,

If only Celestia was using Elements, she wouldn't have access to their

full power.

 

That's probably the reason. The Elements of Harmony probably did not work when there was no harmony between the bearers thus Celestia may have used a different spell to imprison Luna in the moon.

Edited February 9, 2013 by poniesforfun

[Evilshy 5,089]

That's probably the reason. The Elements of Harmony probably did not work when there was no harmony between the bearers thus Celestia may have used a different spell to imprison Luna in the moon.

That being said, it definitely shows how powerful Celestia is that she could use them at all by herself. The Mane 6's fizzled when they were 5/6 with no harmony, Celestia's worked when she was 1/2 with no harmony.

[Anadu Kune 668]

In Return of Harmony, Celestia said that she and her sister were no longer tied to the Elements, implying that they both were the bearers. Thus, If only Celestia was using Elements, she wouldn't have access to their full power.

You know... that makes sense. It is taken directly from the future continuity. I think it stands as a problem for the episode alone, but not when taken in context of the entire series. 

[Betez 1,734]

I honestly think the backstory if the first 2 episodes could have been done a lot better. It's like in the Wizard of Oz. The Witch could have told Dorthy to click her heels, but instead she made her go on this long hour and a half adventure. I guess Celestia just wanted Twilight to make some friends.

[PonyEcho 1,610]

I honestly think the backstory if the first 2 episodes could have been done a lot better. It's like in the Wizard of Oz. The Witch could have told Dorthy to click her heels, but instead she made her go on this long hour and a half adventure. I guess Celestia just wanted Twilight to make some friends.

or maybe this was her plan all along to have Twilight make friend and wield the Elements of harmony (which she could no longer do because her and Luna were connected to them) to save Luna..... because Celestia did know of Nightmare moons return.

[himanuts 165]

In Return of Harmony, Celestia said that she and her sister were no longer tied to the Elements, implying that they both were the bearers. Thus, If only Celestia was using Elements, she wouldn't have access to their full power.

It isn't stated at exactly what point Celestia's connection to them was severed. Considering it took imprisoning the co-bearer when she used them, that probly was the moment her connection severed, after she imprisoned NNM.

[Harkentent 2]

So I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think I might have come up with an answer. Celestia was buying herself time, It is very likely that she didn't have full control/power of all the elements, therefore, she could not reform her with them. It was Celestia, not the elements of harmony that sent Nightmare Moon/Luna away. So she sent her away for a thousand years, so she could, come up with a plane, find the new bearers of the elements, find a pony capable of holding the element of magic, and ultimately bring Luna back.

 

Keep in mind this is just what I think happened, it is not in the show. And please leave your responses, and if you find any holes in this theory, tell me so I can either patch them up or, dismiss the theory entirely.

[Fhaolan 4,468]

In my worldbuilding blog, I talked a bit about this. I think you're right. Celestia had issues because she didn't have full control of all the elements. At least one, and possibly more, were still controlled by Luna.

[Winona the Dog 1,981]

I kind of thought of it this way.

 

Maybe when Nightmare Moon first came into being; Luna was far too gone to become un-corrupted by the Elements Of Harmony. Celestia used the Elements to send her away to the moon for 1,000 years in hopes that Nightmare Moons grip on Luna would weaken enough to the point the Elements of Harmony could free her.

[Orablanco Account 3,706]

Head Canon Time!

 

Okay, so my theory is aligns with your's, in that Celestia didn't have enough power to free Luna, so she imprisoned Nightmare Moon to give her more time to find the next Elements of Harmony.

 

My theory probably differs from most people, however, in that I believe that there were no other Element-bearers to aid her. They were there to fight Discord, but had since become...

 

 

...incapacitated.

Edited June 15, 2013 by CITRUS KING46

[Mylittlealicorn 3]

I brought this up in another topic i made about plot holes.

 

Why did Celestia banish Luna to the moon for 1000 years when the Mane 6 got rid of her dark powers right away? Tell me your opinions.

 

I have a few theories:

Celestia could not free Luna right away as she was buried deep within NMM/jealousy too strong/If she freed Luna, she wouldn't stay that way for long (again, the large amt of jealosy) she'd turn right back/felt it was best for her kingdom and maybe in a certain time Celestia orchestrated the star escape prophecy for mane 6 to confront her...

 

I confuse myself with this topic hahahaha. Add to the fact that it might just be as simple and inexplainable as other mythology in tv and real life...

[Jalaton 155]

I think maybe Celestia just didn't have the power to do anything more then send Luna away. She and Luna used to share the elements between them so I think that doing it all by herself took a lot more energy. Freeing Luna from her own emotions was harder than just sending her away (even if it was for 1000 years).

 

I dunno.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Jalaton

[Sugar Pea 2,681]

You see, Celestia used the Elements Of Harmony to seal her for 1000 years on the moon...therefore, she must suffer the consequences before she is ready to come back to Equestria to rethink her ways. She was put in her own moon because she refused to make way for the dawn, thus making ponies unable to harvest or live their daily lives. Celestia had no choice for what she did, if she let Luna just come back right away...the jealousy and hatred Luna had for her sister would still be there, nothing would change.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Nature Of Fluttershy

[Scootalove 10,684]

If Celestia freed Luna, she would have tried to defeat Celestia then plunge Equestria into an eternal night forever. So, she had to banish Luna inside of the moon and it kept her occupied for 1000 years of course.

[NocturnalRainbow 248]

A lot of people say she was banished for 1000 years but if you remember correctly you'll remember that Celestia had no intention of letting Luna off the moon. She happened to escape after 1000 years. So technically she didn't have a set time she was going to be spending on the moon.

[Crazydud619dx 30]

Not sure if you guys remember, but Luna(as Nightmare Moon) was banned to the moon permanently for refusing to lower the moon for dawn due to her bitter emotions; she didn't have a specific time of banishment.

[Lux Klonoa 18]

Wasn't this already answered in the season 2 opener? The reason why she couldn't restore Luna immediately is because she couldn't wield the full power of the Elements at the time. She was missing the Magic of Friendship at the time, I presume.

 

Only with the full power of the EoH can one restore or redeem (or seal), and that's exactly what the Mane Six did.

 

It'd help if, you know, actually watch the episodes to know the answer. No offense. =/

[Skitter Run 44]

Well the theory is that it was both luna and Tia who wield the Elements Back in the time of discord.

And like when discord came back if the elements aren't in harmony they can not be used

So if we think of it like that and each sister had 3 elements then Tia could only use half because her and the other wielder were not in harmony.

So where it could take 6 elements clear the hated Tia only had 3 so she went with the best course of action.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Most likely, Celestia could not use the fool power of the elements because she was on her own. The elements need team work in order to have fool power. So with only her by herself, she could only seal Luna/Nightmare Moon. It also explains why she no control over them anymore. Because she lost her partner.