Why do people hate Gilda so much?

[Sasoriman 128]

I don't, but I know for a fact that she could've been worse because I've watched bullies in other shows get away with far worse things than making their victims cry. And most of them were protagonists that I was supposed to root for!

Gilda, though... You ever watched Black Lagoon? I may never look at her the same away again after that.

[Landi 597]

I don't hate her, but I'm not a fan of her. She just comes off as a bully, and she does really jerky things to the main six. Especially Pinkie and poor poor Fluttershy. On top of that, I don't really find her character real interesting. Especially from her original airing in "Griffon the Brush Off"

Now, she did improve a bit in "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone," but still just didn't impress me. I'm just not crazy about her.

[Cirrus. 1,088]

I've been looking back on some episodes I haven't seen in years- and I've really changed my view on the "Griffon the Brush-Off" Episode. I used to think that Gilda was just a jerk character with a cool design, but thinking about her and the episode now, it's actually quite sad.

Rainbow Dash was probably really the first person who ever showed Gilda any real kindness.

After seeing Gilda again in "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" and how things actually are where she lives, I can't help but think that the poor thing came to the flight camp just expecting more indifference, rudeness, and possibly bullying. That's what actually happened until Rainbow Dash drove the bullies off and befriended her.

Well obviously Gilda went back home after camp, and in order to get by there she had to develop a tough, rude shell like everyone else. It seems to be everyone for themselves over there. I'm guessing her visit to Ponyville in the season 1 episode is like 8 years after they met in flight camp.

I think she started out kind of like Thorax was in comparison to the rest of the hive. He stayed good and just tried to blend in, but Gilda ended up actually becoming nasty for the most part like the rest of the Griffons.

Now In terms of Gilda being rude/mean to Pinkie, you have to think of her actions relative to the then still crappy society in Griffonstone. They're NOT good, but she's just reacting in the way she would back in Griffonstone.

Gilda traveled pretty far to see who seems to be her only friend. I think she considered Pinkie kind of like competition and just wanted to drive her off as she would to someone in a similar situation in Griffonstone. Spending time with someone who isn't a jerk is probably very rare/important to Gilda and she saw Pinkie as the jerk trying to take that away.

Pinkie just doesn't know what to make of such rudeness. She just keeps trying to join in and win her over with good intentions, but there isn't such a thing in Griffonstone, so Gilda interprets it as more persistent/aggressive competition and retaliates with more rudeness in return. When Gilda storms off from the party, she's mad and frustrated, but probably also SAD but not showing it. Due to her F'd up home life/society she doesn't know how to deal with the situation and leaves. In the later Griffonstone episode, Gilda does get sad remembering when her and Dash first met and their time at the flight school/camp before she helps rescue her with Pinkie.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Cirrus.

[dead account 2,703]

I would say the way she was in her first appearance is unique to her and can't be compared with the other griffons. I mean the griffons are not very friendly, only care about cash and prefer to be alone. But Gilda is the only griffon bully, she was the only one who went out of her way to be really ugly towards the characters, our ponies.

Hate is a strong word, I definitely don't feel this way towards her. But she is one of the very few characters of the entire show I don't like or care about.

[Evil Pink One 12,990]

G-g-g-gilda? Are you sure about that? 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

She was mean to Fluttershy, that's why.

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

In her debut episode, Pinkie Pie saw her as the "fake friend" and she is the first griffin ever seen in the series, which gave the implication that her race would be just like her. That implication suggested that she grew up surrounded by unfriendly griffins and that would stay that way for her.

All that gave the idea that Gilda was too deep in her mean ways and there wasn't much hope for her.

Spoiler

In The Lost Treasure of Griffinstone, we found out she is grumpy but she is a better friend than other griffins.

In The Fault in our Cutie Marks, we find out about Gabby, the excitable griffin.

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Rosy Moonlight