Should Granny Smith Die?

[Princess Periwinkle 3,775]

"If Granny Smith goes down, I go down with her!"

 

That was my first thought upon seeing the title of this topic.

 

I think I would be all-around opposed to her dying. I guess I just don't see that being appropriate for the show. :/

[DarligPegasi 315]

Oh my God, NO! I love Granny Smith! She's awesome and should never ever die! In fact Princess Celestia should turn her into an alicorn! Now I'm sad...

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

I don't think it's necessary at this point in time. She's played a more expansive role as the series has shuffled along -- going from a simple background pony-esque figure to a real supporting character. I earnestly believe she has a few more stripes to usher in before Father Time gets to her. Even then I might hold off on revealing her "death" until the series finale (assuming that's an episode featuring the mane six as old mares).

[hawkflame 3,310]

I don't think it is "too mature" at all. Like i said, Seasme Street and The muppets both covered the deaths of real actors and both of those shows were aimed at kids from grade K-8th. I think people are just too concerned for kids' well beings today thinking they are way too fragile than they really are. It is this over-protection/hyper sensitivity that makes me feel kids are being talked down too.

The problem is less whether or not kids could take it, and more whether or not it really fits the show. That's a *very* heavy theme to cover, and the death of a major supporting character would just cast a pall over the series. Sesame Street was always about teaching children, not just letters and numbers, but about life in general- even to a greater degree than mlp did. And in their case it only came up because the actor died.

 

The primary thrust of Sesame Street is to educate. The primary thrust of MLP is to tell a good story. And I can't see this gelling with the narrative we already have.

[lincolnshirepony 527]

Oh man, I would not want that to happen. I don't think I could take it.  

 

I don't know if there would be a way to kill off Granny Smith without completely throwing off the tone of the show. The majority of the episodes are lighthearted, and while there are serious moments, the show maintains a cheery style. Everything works out for the characters for the most part, even if they don't get a perfect ending, they still get a happy one. Granny Smith dying (and the characters' reactions) would be incredibly difficult to portray with in the show. If they were to do it tastefully, they couldn't take the usual tone of the show, because the usual optimistic, cheery approach wouldn't fit the subject matter. There isn't a way to give death a happy ending, at least not if the show wanted to portray it realistically. 

I suppose they could do an episode like that, but it wouldn't be anything like a typical FiM episode, and if it was, I feel like that would be making light of a very serious subject. 

So, I don't think she should die, just because I can't see a way FiM could stay true to its tone and deal with the subject respectfully. 

[Crapplejack 136]

I don't think you can even say the word "death" in a show like that and I'm not okay with it, Children have to grow up emotionally if they want to be entertained.

[Mister G 101]

No! Granny Smith is the only adult figure that Applejack can look up to now since, AJ's parents are dead. Without Granny Smith, Applejack would have to care for her brother and sister and she would not be able to cope with herself without her beloved grandmother and her parents. Then, it would turn into a Bruce Wayne situation.

"Bruce Wayne situation"? I'd like to see that! -Just kidding there.

Yeah, DEATH IS A DARK AND SERIOUS THING. And yeah, IT'S TOO MATURE FOR LITTLE GIRLS ESPECIALLY UNDER 12.

Dekutree64 is true. Too many deaths already exist IRL, and yeah, even if it showed a funeral in one ep, and we all know death is real, why bother?

But,

if the writers ever come up with an ep about death, at least, make it at least soccermom-free.(a.k.a. No reason for "Oh God! They just featured death in a kid's show! We should rant to the about it!") Make it also that understandable for little girls, that "it's like eternal sleeptime" or something....

[Champion RD92 8,658]

To be honest, I don't give a flying feather about Granny Smith. However, I really don't see what the point of having her die would be. I'm pretty sure AJ's parents are dead already, we don't need more deaths in the Apple family. Plus Apple Bloom would cry and it would be depressing :/

[Forlong 1,726]

Let me put it bluntly:

 

They haven't even dirrectly talked about how AJ's parrents died, why would they kill off a character.  They have to touch on that before they deal with death in real time.

[Blackcat 205]

I absolutely think death should be covered at some point. However, I don't think Granny Smith is the way to go. I vote for applejacks parents to be the focal point. 

 

Just becaue AJ, Applebloom, and Big Mac are clearly able to continue living their lives feeling up beat and happy, doesn't mean that they've magically gotten over the death of their parents. The loss of a loved one doesn't just go away, and it can spring back up and hit you at the most unexpected of times. 

 

It's not uncommon or unnatural for a seemingly happy go lucky person to just have a shitty day thanks to old loss coming back years later. I think AJ's parents would be a perfect catalyst for exploring this theme.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

I honestly think there's more potential in Granny Smith *not* dying.

 

If you want to go *really* dark, you could do a story line emphasizing the fact that Granny is outliving everyone. Have a funerals for her friends from the family reunion episode, and drive the point home that everyone she has known in her youth is gone, and that she has to find a way to continue to live despite that.

 

Then have Celestia show up, and they have a good cry together.

[Mlpfan185 1,763]

Something was here. Something was here. Something was here. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by NONAME

[Cwanky 17,602]

Wait didn't the show already cover death with King Sombra?

 

 

 

 

Cut to 2:25 of the video. Meghan McCarthy herself said on February 22, 2013 that King Sombra is dead as far as we know. Ignoring that and the apparent funeral in Hearts and Hooves Day, where by the way the Cutie Mark Crusaders were behaving like very insensitive morons, its true the show hasn't properly addressed death yet in a larger scale.

 

That said I think its far too soon if at all, to sentence Granny Smith to death. Why? Because she's old, seemingly frail and mortal? Are we running a death panel here? I don't think Celestia, Meghan or Lauren and the other writers and animators show this sentiment. A lot of folks regarding Applejack have noted that there's lack of info regarding her parents, and her own family and her background. Why would you want to just suddenly off the one character who has lived through all that and is basically the gateway and encyclopedia to better know and understand Applejack?  

 

Its a nice but ill conceived idea. Don't you dare suggest such a thing lest you make Applebloom cry.

 

[Silver Letter 1,832]

I honestly think there's more potential in Granny Smith *not* dying.

 

If you want to go *really* dark, you could do a story line emphasizing the fact that Granny is outliving everypony. Have a funerals for her friends from the family reunion episode, and drive the point home that everypony she has known in her youth is gone, and that she has to find a way to continue to live despite that.

 

Then have Celestia show up, and they have a good cry together.

I think that sounds smarter. It would have a reason to bring back Babs Seed for such a funeral. Since the parents of Applejack seemed to have been overlooked or possibly not even considered during the creation of the show, it's best to not bring them up at all. Granny Smith herself would not have to die but the death of another would symbolize the end of her life as well. There could be ways to touch on the idea without being too open.

[Magic Man 222]

Death is a very dark, mature theme to tackle, particularly in a kid's show. I do not mean to come off as talking down to kids at all, they are a lot smarter and savvy than we give them credit for, not to mention other kid's shows have handled it in the past, but each situation is different and we need to ask ourselves if MLP, a show primarily about friendship, is the right one to do it and if so, HOW would they do it and would they do it with it still being an MLP episode not a "very special episode", like the way 'One Bad Apple' did with bullying? Though some could argue it being a "very special episode" would be justified considering the subject matter, though on the other hand, you could argue why didn't they then do that with bullying and did the subject justify it being a "very special episode". 

Edited June 19, 2013 by Magic Man

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

@@Cwanky

 

To be honest, Sombra was a villain so his death won't be played up in the way the traumatic death of a good character would be anyhow.

 

Barring that, I do agree with your other points. I will say that if death is covered, I hope it's done in a tasteful way and not one that feels tacked on or contrived.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

No, Granny Smith should not die. First of all, Applejack's parents are already dead, and if this show is to ever tackle a death storyline, that would be the best option. Secondly, Apple Bloom is just a filly, and she needs an adult figure in her life. It would be downright gut-wrenching to suddenly kill off a pretty important character like Granny Smith. She's the token "old" pony character, and she's a great character at that. There would be no good that could come out of having her pass away. The Apple Family has lost enough already, and we don't need to turn My Little Pony into a tragedy.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[Diamond* 531]

Granny smith die? I don't really think she would. Nothing actually dies in My Little Pony as far as I know.

But it could be possible, noone knows what the storywriters do..

Edited June 20, 2013 by ~Luna Squee~

[SoarinBlue 202]

That would be a pretty ham handed way of slamming such a dark subject into a kids show. When things like this are done, it's always something like a distant relative that hasn't been seen before. Losing a character that has played a decent sized role in several episodes that kids may know and like can be traumatizing to them, and would probably upset parents  who would then stop buying the toys, which is what Hasbro really doesn't want. Plus it would just be a radical departure from the overall tone of the show, which is that Equestria is pretty close to a utopia where bad things don't happen and there are always people that will save it from bad things happening (dragons, discord, eternal night)

[Party Cannon 876]

 

 

No. It is way too sad. Applejack, Big Mac, and Applebloom's parents are practically confirmed dead, so there is enough loss that surrounds that family in the show. Plus, who else would fill the old person role on the show?

[Astrobrony 655]

Granny Smith?  Die?  Why should she?  She's as young and spry as ever!

 

 

There!  See?

 

*ahem*

 

Seriously though, if the show really wants to address death and coping with loss, they should just make an episode where Applejack finally comes to terms with the loss of her parents.  As for dear old Granny Smith, I don't think they should kill her off the show.  It's nice to have an elder pony around the show.  Besides, I think Tabitha has way too much fun playing her anyway.

[Thunderchild 875]

Yeah-screw that noise.

 

Man, kids are going to get the crap beaten out of them by life soon enough as it is-can't they enjoy a cartoon without some morbid lesson being embedded into it?

 

Besides-there's a process to these things. Sooner or later as a parent, you're going to have to deal with explaining death to your kids. Now. Depending on your beliefs, you will approach this in a way you know your kid will understand. How do you make a death in a cartoon universal enough to apply to everyone?

 

No thanks. Stick to sonic rainbooms and Discord fucking things up. Leave the real life stuff to the parents.

[WWAPD 126]

Well, I mean, maybe, I guess. Though a little morbid, death would be a good topic for MLP to deal with, and Granny Smith seems like the only pony old enough to die without it seeming like an overwhelming tragedy.

[crazitaco 596]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOxt9PoJNkg

NO!!! absolutely not! i love granny smith, she's got so much yolo swag. she's too much of a badass grandma to go without. no, i demand granny smith be immortal. she shall never ever die, because I SAY SO. if granny smith goes, i shall ragequit my little pony foreverrrrr!

 

that being said, do i think the show should tackle the topic of death, if not granny smith? ehhhh..no, not really. little kids are going to cross paths with death eventually, maybe they already have. is it really necessary for them to learn about death from my little pony of all places? no, its their parents job to teach them about that. and if they have already experienced the death of a loved one, they don't need to be reminded. why can't kids have nice things for a little longer, before the reality comes in crashing through the ceiling?

Edited June 21, 2013 by crazitaco