Is Nightmare Moon still alive?

[Dreadmallon 353]

   This is mainly a thread discussing your personal headcanons on the entity that is Nightmare Moon. Is she the darkness made up of Luna that took over? Is she an entirely different being, as we saw in the comics?

 

   Whatever the answer, do you believe she could return?

 

   Keep in mind that I have made this thread because a large amount of bronies do not consider the comics canon with the show, therefore do not believe Nightmare Moon's return as canon.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Alkryn

[DaReaper 1,945]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmbBHJ0Ni68

 

that song basicaly my thoughts on Luna dealing with Nightmare Moon

 

basicaly my thought is it's a part of her she has to learn to live with cause she is both Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon

[Unikitty 1,212]

I like to think of Nightmare Moon not as an actual being, but rather an inner accumulation of the doubt, jealousy, hatred, and general negativity that has taken physical shape in a mutilated form of it's host. It is everything bad that we hold back, and force behind locked doors.

 

Therefor, my headcanon is that Nightmare Moon exists in every sentient being and will always exist so long as people/ponies have these feelings. Anyone can turn into a depiction of Nightmare Moon, if they allow the negativity to consume their heart.
 

So long as Luna feels like she is not valued as much as her sister and the Sun, her Nightmare Moon will continue to reside within.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Akoura

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

"Dead" isn't the right word. Is she gone? No, she's most likely still in Luna, but she's taking her time and trying to get out again. Still, I doubt she'll come back.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well, she only comes out when her hatred, jealous, and envy start to come out then Nightmare Moon starts to appear since that is Luna's evil interpretation of her feelings towards Celestia.

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

Ever listen to the song, Lullabye for a Princess? It might help you on this matter. Her transformation was an accumulation of doubt and jealosy that she was getting almost no attention, and then she snapped.

 

I think that the show canon and the comic canon do not line up. Parallel universes, perhaps?

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Nightmare Moon is really just an alter-ego of Princess Luna. She's not really "dead" because Nightmare Moon IS Luna. At least that's what I think.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

I've kinda settled on Nighmare Moon being a gestalt entity, pretty much what the comics have gone with. Bascially it's Luna + a malevolent parasite/symbiote/spirit-thingy that was feeding off of Luna's anger and emotional distress.

 

To pull in prior generations, my headcannon has Tirek being a minotaur that was possessed by a similar, if not the same, parasite/symbiote/whatever.

[Super Derpy 535]

Nightmare Moon is just an alter-ego of Princess Luna. So yes since Princess Luna is alive then Nightmare Moon is alive as well.

[Nature's Spell 526]

I've not read the comics so my feeling are based on show cannon only. I've always felt that Nightmare Moon was simply Luna's magic run amuck due to her jealousy of Celestia, etc. Think about it this way, as NMM she was larger and malevolent and had an overall different look. When she got zapped by the Elements of Harmony she reverted to an almost adolescent Luna, but after a time grew taller and got her flowly mane back. At the moment she is at equilibrium. The two extremes are NMM and the scared little "filly" we saw her revert to. Do I think she could turn back to NMM? Yes, but I think conditions are different now. She has more support and the ponies show her more love. However, the season 4 spoiler indicates that we're going to revisit NMM at least in flashbacks.

[Adash 193]

I believe that Nightmare Moon is Luna's alter-ego that comes out only in times of extreme hatred and jealousy.  As long as Princess Luna lives, Nightmare Moon lives inside her.  She can come out at any time and she will according to the Season 4 anamatics.   

[VictimoNightmareMoon 38]

NightmareMoon with Princess Luna, is like~ Pheonix with Jean Grey/ the Savage Personality within a chara... When woonas  changed her. The Elements of Harmony- trapped the darkness form {within the mind}

[Wardaddy 470]

If I might add my own interpretation, Nightmare Moon is the corrupted form of Luna, building up to the process of consumption of Luna's heart for the length of time that she feels negative emotions of any kind. When those feelings reach breaking point, NMM then consumes Luna's heart, taking over her body and soul to manifest itself into physical form. However, when the Elements of Harmony destroyed Nightmare Moon, it also affected Luna as well, because for the time she was NMM, she possessed dark powers of great strength. When the EoH sapped NMM's powers from her, Luna also lost much of her power as well, turning her into the scared little filly that resulted from NMM's destruction. Over time, and no doubt with assistance from Celestia, Luna managed to reach an equilibrium between her powerless from and Nightmare Moon, as we currently see her. (Personally, I also think that the Luna we see now was the same Luna that helped Celestia defeat Discord, long before the NMM incident)

 

To conclude, having seen the Season 4 sneak peek, I don't know if it was a dream or if it was actually happening in front of Twilight, but I can safely say that Nightmare Moon is still alive and she will make a return this winter.

[Freewave 1,145]

I think Nightmare Moon is basically still Luna but very much a split personality. Where her negativity, jealousy, and hate all live and come forth to overshadow and override her normal self. All the reason why she exists are legit (ponies love the daytime more and not the night, living in Celestia's shadow, etc). It's very much like Dark Phoenix from the X-Men in a way in that its another psyche, evil, and where even a physical transformation occurs. When Shadow Moon comes forth it traps Luna very much back in her head as a subconscious, swapping the very place that Shadow Moon came from. In the end Luna will always know she's there, what she's done, and may have to deal with her again if triggers occur. The comic seems to chock it up as an evil symbiote very much like Black Spider-Man Suit / Venom which isn't too far off but doesn't match up really with her origin story in eps1+2. Sure you can go back and blame it on symbiotes but if they were on the moon then they came into play AFTER the banishment (and helped get her back to equestria perhaps).

[Dashabel 381]

Omg that freakin' scared me O.O

 

Moving on...

 

I think Luna's a free mare, set free from Nightmare Moon's evil grasp. Yes, it was her. But she couldn't control it, and when the Elememts of Harmony brought her back to normal, I think she might have felt guilty.

 

Buuut... If you've seen the animatics - actually, I don't want to spoil it. You sound like you've not seen it.

[Zygen 6,066]

I kinda think of Nightmare Moon as a dark being created by Lunas hate and resent of her sister. So she created Nightmare moon by filling her hatred.

 

Now is she alive? Well I think so in a way, but as long as Luna doesn't let hate and all that take over she will remain herself, I don't think Nightmare Moon has any power really on her own.

 

Then again theres always how she transformed in Lunar Eclipse into Nightmare Moon it seemed, so i'm not totally sure how that works.

[Cloby 16]

I think the nightmare moon is the dark part of every pony and the most nightmares of everypony. Thats why in the canon and the episode of "Sleepless in ponyville" Luna is always saying to face your fears.

 

I think. YES, she can return.

 

 

Also I was thinking......The moon is lighted by the sun... so celestia is giving light to luna? 

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

In my headcanon, Nightmare Moon is alive. She'll be around as long as Luna is around, because they are one and the same. Luna wasn't suddenly possessed by Discord (who was defeated and petrified already) or an evil spirit; the potential to become Nightmare Moon existed in her from the beginning. It represents Luna at the peak of her powers. In this case NM was brought out by her jealousy and rage, and that part of her has been dormant ever since her defeat in Season 1. But it can come back. I hope it does, for that matter.

[Lunas Husband 2,777]

Truth be told you cant kill the darker side of you're self, just cant you can fight it! you can lock it up deep in side of you! but at the end of the day its still there its not going to go away. I know I have to deal with it I have to fight it every damn day! it sucks! but I make it work! anyway no nightmare moon is not dead and I know she is going to come back, yes she did come back in the comics(which if you have not yet read the comics you are missing out..) but something is telling me that she is going to come back in the show too....

[CT-1138 3,183]

Like others, I see Nightmare Moon as all of Princess Luna's jealousy and hatred that she had for her sister incarnated into Luna's form. Nightmare Moon is Luna essentially as a "Sith Lord". NMM can't die, because she IS Luna. She's a part of Luna's psyche in a manifested form, and when the Elements of Harmony struck NMM after her return from exile, what they did was find that good part of Luna that NMM had locked away in the back of her mind, and brought her back to the surface, and placed NMM in her stead, locked away at the back of Luna's mind. 

Edited August 4, 2013 by Dinos4Ever

[Scootadress 361]

For me, in my headcanon, its not a pony, its just the thoughts and feelings of the pony brought to the outside to depict what they actually feel.Nightmare Moon is just jealousy, rage, etc brought out, creating this monster that can't be controlled through simple means. Instead of it being just feelings and that twists your personality, its an actual being (well, "parasite") that dwells and turns YOU into the monster as it does to a person's personality. In other words:Its a physical form of actual pain, jealousy, etc. After all, they say jealousy and wrath can change a person. Nightmare Moon isn't real, but Luna is. Nightmare Moon is just the title of Luna's emotions, but she doesn't take on a physical form despite everything.

 

She'll exist as long as ponies and people are feeling these harsh emotions. As long as this hatred lasts, she lasts. Not only that, but its not only in Luna, but in EVERYPONY, it just hasn't reached the surface yet. Even the elements can have her inside them, but its the fact they don't act upon it and it hasn't surfaced, of course, shows the difference.

[Stormy Shock 28]

Yes she is. In all of us. Shes that feeling of never getting some thing you have always wanted and keep getting pushed away from it.