Gilda the Griffon: Your Opinion on her Past and Future in MLP

Comet Tail · March 2, 2012

Okay, so there's a huge chunk of story that might or might not make it into my fanfic, and this subplot is all about Gilda, who might even go on to become a major character.

So I'm just kinda making an appeal here to see what everypony knows and thinks about Gilda. The deeper the better.

"She's a big meanie" is okay, but I'm more looking for deep things, like why she is the way she is. I mean, she is a jerk, but the question I wonder is why. Better yet, she's very nice to Rainbow Dash, not gentle, but nice in that when she's around Rainbow Dash, she's her perfect playmate, instead of her jerk-self.

I go to a school associated with a "ranch", kinda like a Foster home for kids who have been given up, abused, etc. All the kids from "The ranch" go to this school, and completely unlike the sweet stereotype, they're all highly notorious for being unruly and obnoxious.

Gilda actually strikes me that way a little. It's like she's really emotionally damaged by something, which causes a great deal of anger that ends up surfacing in a way that makes her a jerk. She's a jerk to new ponies she's unfamiliar with, but she's much nicer and more comfortable around Rainbow Dash. Also, Rainbow Dash doesn't remember her being that way.

Okay, you could say, maybe she doesn't remember how she really was, or maybe that's just RD's perception of her because they're friends. But remember, they had to meet and become friends at some point. And if Gilda treated her the way she treats the ponies in pawnyville, then RD would've ended up butting heads with her like Fluttershy's bullies. Better yet, if Gilda treated anypony or anygriffon like she treats ponies now, then RD would've stood up for the person Gilda was being a jerk towards, and would've never become the great, close friends that they obviously used to be at flight camp.

I think what this says, is that maybe something's happened in-between then and now, "Junior Speedster Flight Camp" implies they were much younger at the time, and Gilda sounds pretty adult; in other words, it's been maybe at least a decade.

From all this, I think Gilda used to be a decent chick/cub[?], probably very similar in personality to the Rainbow Dash we met in S1E1. The Rainbow Dash before she learned about choosing friends (S2E7) or reading (S2E11).

Also, her obsession over "cool" seems to come from insecurity, IMO. RD's does a little, but RD isn't all about being cool, and doesn't call ponies "lame".

So I think what we're seeing in Gilda is a griffon, that ten years ago, was almost identical to Rainbow Dash, except maybe had a little more pride, and had a bit thicker "walls", than RD, so to speak. In other words was less willing to "open up" and admit weakness. But those two differences were very small and subtle, almost impossible to see. At the time, they were so similar they quickly bonded and became great, and I mean great friends. "Only for you, Dash..."

In those ten years since, however, either many small things have added up, or something big has happened, and she's been faced with a lot of anger that she doesn't control, and her pride and fear are too much for her to show any softness or weakness. Either that, or she's lived in a harsh spartan-like society, maybe not as extreme as the spartans, though, but where weakness is considered a major flaw, causing her to hide any angst she feels and respond to it by being a jerk, basically.

EDIT:

The really sad thing is, Rainbow Dash was like a window into the past for her. Around Rainbow Dash, a friend from the early days before all this happened, she doesn't feel like she has to hide herself behind a thick wall. And because of that, when she "comes out" and acts her old self around Rainbow Dash, it makes her feel vulnerable, and her response to that is to be even more of a jerk than normal; so how we saw her treat ponyville was worse than her norm. And it only makes sense she was jealous of Pinkie: RD was essentially her only source of an innocent kind of happiness that she really felt. RD may have been the only friend she could ever be herself around, instead of the thick-walled griffon she's become since flight camp, so many years ago. So to her, RD's new friends represented a threat to her own friendship with RD, and all the change that's happened since then.

It's no excuse to treat the other ponies that way, or to make Fluttershy cry, but it is an explenation for why she acted that way. She wasn't that mad at Fluttershy or any other pony, she was mad because she was starting to realize just how much she hated her life compared to what it used to be, back when she was friends with RD, and she felt vulnerable because for the first time in so many years she was acting like her old, young self again, and instead of controlling herself, she let it out by teasing the other ponies, and then as a snap at Fluttershy.

And when those pranks started going off on her at the party, she was beginning to feel entirely rejected by all of RD's new friends, and that was probably the very moment when she felt her friendship with RD was threatened the most.

And she was right, but not because of what was happening to her, but because of how she reacted.

/EDIT

You don't have to post a multi-page, in depth, multi-layered "Pencils" analysis, I'm just looking for your thoughts on why Gilda is the way she is. Nobody's anything without a reason

(It's not an excuse, but it's a reason.)

EDIT: Okay, here it is, my extended scene-by scene look at Gilda:

(Really is a spoiler, covers the entire episode!)

Very first scene with Gilda, Rainbow Dash mentions the cheer they had back at the flight camp:

“That lame thing?...”

The chant – she's hating on it, because she actually likes it deep down, but she has a “cool” image to keep, so she hates it, on a more surface level because it's a threat to that "cool" image she wants. She hates it the same reason many haters hate MLP: The innocence and childlikeness of it brings out a weak, innocent side of themselves that they're scared to admit exists. Their response is hate towards the source of the fear. All they're aware of, though, is the hate.

Also, I think my description of a hater applies here, too.

She's especially a hater because she used to feel so much excitement over the cheer, but now she's a "cool" griffon. The most tragic thing is that she believes the only way to fit in is to be "cool", probably because in the past, since Flight Camp, she's been socially rejected for not being "cool" enough, presumably by other griffons. Since then, she's strived to become "cool" so others would like her.

Later, she was racing Rainbow Dash from cloud to cloud. At one point they stop, and she was laughing with joy. She was reliving those moments with RD at flight camp, back when she was playful, happier, innocent, and didn't carry whatever anxiety and/or angst she has now. And because she's her younger, more innocent self, she's extremely vulnerable. Then, Pinkie Pie pops in. At first her and RD both are just surprised. But after that wears off, she's mad at Pinkie, both because it took her out of that moment, and Pinkie popped in on her vulnerable self. And when the flightless pony caught up, Gilda saw it as a threat to end her fun with RD, so she tries to leave Pinkie behind.

They race to the higher cloud, she was hoping for some relief, and either in her selfishness denied that Rainbow Dash had won, or she honestly thought she'd won, it was a pretty close race. And then, Pinkie Pie shows up to declare that RD did win, and RD says:

“Hah! See? Good thing Pinkie Pie's here to keep you honest, G!”

That's when you hear the guitar strums and Gilda gets a wave of anger. Once again, her hopes are falling apart, and now, not only has RD declared she trusts and has a better friendship with Pinkie, but she places Gilda as the “bad guy”, which damages their friendship, and Pinkie Pie is the reason for all of it, in G's mind. That's why she gets angry and pops Pinkie's balloons.

By now, Pinkie Pie is firmly placed in Gilda's mind as an enemy.

Gilda probably isn't nice back at home, either, but being out of her home, surrounded by ponies instead of griffons, she's just opened up for the first time in so many years, and she was furious and a jerk towards Pinkie. This has made her feel confused and, once again, angry. But now, she's starting to feel like she doesn't have control anymore. Those feelings are pushed aside while she flies with RD, but once she leaves her, and she's reminded that RD is a weather pony now ("I've got to go take care of some things..."), taking her out of her blissful state once again, those feelings start to come back again. As a result, she pulls that prank on Grannie smith to use humor as a relief.

Now, she addresses her feeling of lack of control: She asserts her control by stealing an apple.

And Fluttershy, Fluttershy makes her furious! Unreasonably furious...

She doesn't even know it, she's not even aware of it. But Fluttershy immediately gives the worse possible first impression, by striking a parallel to the person Gilda hates most – Gilda.

Fluttershy isn't acting like the Gilda we see, but Fluttershy is acting like the real Gilda, underneath her raging river of anger. The reason Gilda's such a jerk, is because she's soft like what Fluttershy appears to be, and so she's completely unable to have the strength of character to control her anger.

And she hates herself for it, she hates herself because she's a terrible jerk, and she knows it, and it only makes her act like more of a jerk, and continue in a cycle.

She pulls a prank and steals an apple because she felt like it, because it provided some immediate gratification. But at the same time, the very same action only added to her anger because she's mad she did it. This has built up over many years of time and many actions since junior flight camp, her entire adult life. But now she's being unusually mean, and she doesn't know why, and it's making her more confused, scared and angry at herself than ever.

And she's feeling all of this, you can even see her brooding as she walks towards Fluttershy (which is even probably why she ran into her, she was lost in thought) when suddenly, some little pony becomes the weak little Gilda that has failed so many times to take control of herself and stop the anger and break the cycle. Fluttershy's soft voice, her lack of demonstrating strength or control over Gilda after Gilda yells at her, reminds Gilda of that war within herself, where mind-Gilda is a weak Fluttershy and real-Gilda is Gilda's uncontrollable anger.

In that little exchange, some part of her is screaming for Fluttershy to be strong and assertive and take control in return to her own yelling, and she's mad that Fluttershy doesn't, Fluttershy's weakness just makes her all the more furious because it reminds her of her own weakness to conquer her anger, her own anger and cruelty because of this makes her more furious, and it feeds on itself.

Then Fluttershy speaks again, still not taking control, and now it's all feeding on itself to the point where Gilda explodes – she's so overcome with rage she can't talk - she roars in Fluttershy's face. She's not really that mad at some random pony that's bumped into her, she's that mad at the weak Gilda that doesn't have the "strength" to subdue her anger.

And she's embarrassed she acted that way. She's not normally nice, she can be somewhat a jerk sometimes, but screaming, mocking, then roaring to a point where someone runs away crying is at a whole new level for her. She exploded, and she didn't even realize why. All she knows, is just that something about Fluttershy made her angry, she doesn't know why, but it made her explode. Then, immediately after Fluttershy runs off, she's confused, and she's embarrassed herself in front of the entire town. Her response is exactly the same as her response in any situation, now, she doesn't know any other way to act, so she; “plays it cool”, but now she has to do it more than ever. So she immediately decides she's so cool she's way above all these “lame ponies”, and confused and embarrassed, she leaves.

Then comes the party.

Like I said earlier, the real Gilda, is soft like Fluttershy. She can't take a prank. So every one of those pranks hurt her like a personal attack. Now, she can take some abrasiveness from Rainbow Dash because she knows Rainbow Dash and knows her abrasiveness or pranks aren't meant as a personal attack. Rather, it's just the pegasus pony's way of interacting. But G's also still mad at Pinkie, and thinks of Pinkie as a threat to her friendship with Rainbow Dash. Not only because Gilda might make herself look bad or embarrass herself to make herself look like a worse friend than Pinkie, but she also thinks Pinkie's actively undermining her friendship with Dash, too.

Now, given her exchange with Pinkie, and Pinkie's announcement that everyone welcome Gilda, Gilda probably would've started to turn around. Possibly, Gilda might have been doubting her initial assumption that Pinkie's the enemy. And we even see her turn immediately to a positive attitude: “Oooh. vanilla lemon-drops, don't mind if I do!” And as she eats it, instantly, she's betrayed, she feels attacked by Rainbow Dash's friends, and as such she feels unwelcome and rejected by them. All those nice words Pinkie Pie just said, have all just been totally undone.

With the presents, we see a grin, and she eagerly opens one – this actual reveals a sort of innocence to Gilda: She's willing to put aside her doubts because she wants to be accepted by the ponies, and dearly wishes they extend kindness to her. Once again, though, she's met by a prank, instead of the gentle kindness she truly longs for, a huge crowd of ponies are laughing at her and she looks dumb, and she's probably humiliated, once again. All things considered, she handled this quiet well.

(once again, though, she takes abrasiveness from RD just fine because she understands RD, and that that's just her way of interacting.)

A few pranks and a mishap later, she's humiliated more than ever, and then comes her outburst. Her calling them a bunch of "lame dweebs" is her expression of anger. Calling Pinkie's pranks weak, is her self-defense against the humiliation she felt from them. Then, she tries to escape from all of it with her old friend Rainbow Dash.

She's shocked that Rainbow Dash set up the pranks; if she would've known it was Dash doing it all along; she actually would've laughed along with everyone else. But since it wasn't the Dash she felt so close to; she took the pranks as humiliating attacks. Maybe back in flight camp, as a little griffon, she could've taken pranks because she used to be more open, and didn't fight to hold a "cool" image to fit in, but not anymore.

Finally, RD stands up for her new friends against the cruelty of her old.

Gilda responds with shock and denial. She trusts Rainbow Dash, so she believes it, but her emotional mind is screaming "it can't be true!", and we actually hear her voice come close to crying. But she's too scared of others to show her weak side, so she turns to her anger for strength, and blames Pinkie Pie, makes her the "bad guy", "No way! It was Pinkie Pie! She set up this party to trip me up! To make a fool of me!" Also an expression of her humiliation. She's almost crying hoping to have Rainbow Dash back on her side again.

Then Rainbow Dash doesn't. Instead, she stands up for her new friends - but at the same time, attacks her old friend when she's the most hurt. And the very worse thing she does, is say that all Gilda cares about is "being cool". And she's close to right, Gilda cares about "being cool" greatly, only because that's the only way she knows to socially interact without exposing her weak self.

But, whereas before, she was more open, almost crying, even, because Rainbow Dash was there, a window into her soft self, now suddenly that window slams shut. She suddenly realizes that Rainbow Dash doesn't understand her; heck, she doesn't even understand herself, but what hurts most is RD thinks she's so shallow and doesn't feel any pain, and only cares about "cool". That's what hurts, that Rainbow Dash is completely oblivious to her true, hurt self, and isn't showing any care for her.

Now, before, he expressions have been huge; shock, scared and hurt, or angry, now her expressions just die flat. The reason is because that window has slammed shut, any soft side of her has just been driven below her conscious mind due to the inbearable pain of all that's happened, and now she's mostly numb, except for some anger. And that anger is rapidly on the rise.

She can't come up with an insult because she still longs to be friends with Rainbow Dash, and still likes her. Instead, she calls her a "flip-flop", which she may or may not understand is an illustration of her sense of betrayal. "cool one minute, and lame the next" only illustrates her feelings for Rainbow Dash, her excitement that someone might understand her, dying. All she does now is come up with something clever to say in her anger as she storms out, leaving Ponyville, possibly forever.

-

Overall, what we can see from Gilda, is a griffon that was faced with, primarily, anger. But rather than control it, she let it get the better of her, and didn't stop herself from being cruel to others. Eventually it built to an enormous level. Next, she could have opened up to the one pony she trusted most – Rainbow Dash – but she didn't. Maybe she was too afraid of weakness, or too afraid of losing her friendship with Rainbow Dash, but she hid her true feelings to keep up her own image.

And most of all, Gilda's biggest mistake is she always thought of herself. She focused on her own feelings and thoughts rather than let her feelings go, and concern herself with the feelings of others. That's ultimately the biggest mistake she made.

You can even follow along and see what I'm talking about, if you like

Gilda pops in with evil guitar strums at 7:21

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

Edited March 2, 2012 by EASA - Dr. Braun

GrooveBroove · March 2, 2012

It would actually be pretty interesting if they brought gilda back to maybe explore that a bit.

The same thing goes for trixie.

Fghik · March 2, 2012

I always imagined a super-best-friend relationship between them... A bond really. And I'm not talking some stupid Rule 34 Shipping Potty-Mouth Bad-News Crap. I hate all that stuff. Just a bond between the greatest of friends. Taking the whole "friends laugh with you... best friends will laugh at you, until you laugh at yourself too" to a whole new level. A cooler level. "About 20% cooler" in fact.

No matter what happens, no matter what fight they get into, Rainbow Dash and Gilda will always stay by eachothers' side. Even if they hate themselves and eachother... But somehow they stick together, always at their back ready to defend the other to the grave. Even if at the time they are pointing knives at their throats.

It's a complicated relationship really... It's hard to explain in mere words, for the true essence of such a bond can only be explained by experience. I had a bond like this once...but that was long ago.

RagingTwilight · March 2, 2012

Gilda just strikes me as the type of person who is desperate for attention, always wanting to be with the "in-crowd." If it's deemed uncool, Gilda will distance herself from it.

It's entirely possible that she was different back when she and Rainbow were best buds, but people change...for better or for worse. To make things interesting, though: what if Rainbow was just like Gilda when she was little, always wanting to go with the flow and go with what's "cool," then changed into the loyal friend she is today?

ScarletDagger · March 2, 2012

Guilda isn't coming back trust me. The way she treated The mane 6 and The other equestrians nopony would let her back into ponyville. And guilda would never want to come back anyway because to her, the equestrians are "lame, losers". Guilda is pathetic.

I used to be a stranger · March 2, 2012

The main characterization of Gilda in Wings of Steel, Geart of Hold is that griffon culture in My Little Pony is almost completely violent and reclusive, thus her mingling with ponies conflates as a culture shock as well as the social descrepancy conflated as "unhealthy family life", which resulted in her antagonistic behavior.

(Among other not so pleasant subject matter.)

Guilda isn't coming back trust me. The way she treated The mane 6 and The other equestrians nopony would let her back into ponyville. And guilda would never want to come back anyway because to her, the equestrians are "lame, losers". Guilda is pathetic.

You never know.

How the fans interpret her could be far different than what the showmakers intend. They could make her come back as some kind of Hipster.

Eenohay · March 2, 2012

this: What does a gryffon do in a pony city? It's logical to think she was abandoned or somehow left alone and somehow was brought to cloudsdale. I believe that probably everypony used to bully her for being different, until Rainbow stood up for her.

Thus they become good friends.

But Gilda doesn't forget, and though she liked Rainbow and sticked with her most of the time, she still hated every other pony for what they had done to her, and she grew up stronger and grumpier. End of story

Raita · March 2, 2012

Nobody's anything without a reason

that's the way I feel about Trixie, rly.

but I never analyzed Gilda the same way I did with Trixie [may be its becouse I am still mad at her for shoutin at Fluttershy].

great post, though [so many fanfic ideas....].

Dreadmallon · March 2, 2012

Gilda was a symbolism of the common filth of what is children today. R.D should've chased her down and broke her wings.

Queen Cassie · March 2, 2012

Truth is, many of the thoughts I've had about Gilda run along the same lines as yours. She definitely seemed to be too much of a jerk for Rainbow Dash to ever have wanted to hang out with her in the first place if she'd been like that as a youth. Dash has almost never been portrayed as a serious jerk on anything even approaching that level. She can be brash and rude, but not abusive.

Something must have changed with Gilda since they were both young. Where Rainbow Dash seemed to...stay more or less the same, apart from a slightly greater maturity due to growing older, Gilda probably became far more bitter. Why? Well, there could be any number of explanations. We don't really have enough information on Gilda or griffons in general to speculate.

So, I suppose I shall simply say that I agree for the most part with what you've said.

Comet Tail · March 2, 2012

I always imagined a super-best-friend relationship between them... A bond really. And I'm not talking some stupid Rule 34 Shipping Potty-Mouth Bad-News Crap. I hate all that stuff. Just a bond between the greatest of friends. Taking the whole "friends laugh with you... best friends will laugh at you, until you laugh at yourself too" to a whole new level. A cooler level. "About 20% cooler" in fact. No matter what happens, no matter what fight they get into, Rainbow Dash and Gilda will always stay by eachothers' side. Even if they hate themselves and eachother... But somehow they stick together, always at their back ready to defend the other to the grave. Even if at the time they are pointing knives at their throats. It's a complicated relationship really... It's hard to explain in mere words, for the true essence of such a bond can only be explained by experience. I had a bond like this once...but that was long ago.

Wow! This is actually similar to what I had in mind, but it's much more amazing, especially how you described it! After hearing this, I definitely want to include Gilda as a major character in my fanfic.

I'm sorry if it's getting personal, but I really wonder now... Are you saying that that bond broke? You said had. I thought the bond was unbreakable, even if you hated eachother...

And, I think I can sort of understand it; I've got a friend that used to be, like, my other half. Some crap happened, and we're still friends, but not anything like we used to be, and he certainly doesn't have the same respect for me anymore. But if he ran at me with a knife, I don't think I could shoot him. Childhood friendships have a certain depth, in the fact that the other person is buried so deep into your life, mind, and memories...

The main characterization of Gilda in Wings of Steel, Geart of Hold is that griffon culture in My Little Pony is almost completely violent and reclusive, thus her mingling with ponies conflates as a culture shock as well as the social descrepancy conflated as "unhealthy family life", which resulted in her antagonistic behavior. (Among other not so pleasant subject matter.) You never know. How the fans interpret her could be far different than what the showmakers intend. They could make her come back as some kind of Hipster.

Well, those are purely fanon. As far as we know, well nothing. Canon-wise, we don't know anything about griffon culture. Gilda's the only griffon we've seen. MLP wiki doesn't even have a griffon page.

There could be any number of ways she ended up at the flight camp with Rainbow Dash. But apparently griffons are so rare that Pinkie Pie's never met one until Gilda came along. Then again, though, she does live in the country, though it seems like she's traveled a ways since the rock farm. I wonder if Twilight knew of any back in Canterlot, since it's such a large city?... Or if AJ ever saw or heard of any in Manehatten.

What the showmakers intended? It's hard to say. On the surface, Gilda only played the role of "old friend Rainbow Dash had that's a jerk". That's what the episode required, and that's all the canon there really is. Any depth other than that is ambigious speculation. Not saying that the writers didn't have anything more in mind, they probably did, even if the entire creative team isn't agreed on particulars.

As Lauren Faust has said a number of times, something is really only made official when the entire team agrees to put it in an episode. But, knowing how creative authors are, it's entirely possible that this kind of depth was invisioned by whoever imagined Gilda, even if they didn't bring it forward for discussion to the entire studio. A good writer puts far more into a creative work than what you get on the surface. The best way to make a sense of depth is to actually have depth far beyond what's on the surface.

People often to a good job because they enjoy their work, and if the creative team enjoys their work, then this level of depth probably does exist wherever it can, at least to some writers, even if it never surfaces in the show, or if they have to "cartoonize" some things for the purpose of keeping the show itself.

that's the way I feel about Trixie, rly. but I never analyzed Gilda the same way I did with Trixie [may be its becouse I am still mad at her for shoutin at Fluttershy]. great post, though [so many fanfic ideas....].

That's where she crossed the "moral event horizon" for most bronies. But I decided to re-watch the episode to put my ideas to the test and see what I could come up with. Shockingly, the very thing that makes most people hate Gilda, was the biggest thing that reinforced my ideas that she doesn't like the way she is.

I mean, she roared-screamed in Fluttershy's face. That was far beyond being a jerk on any level. We saw Gilda emotioanlly break and explode just then. And like a break in a fault line reveals it's deeper layers, a break in a person's actions reveals deeper layers, as well. The fact that Fluttershy made her explode, is incredibly revealing...

Here's my scene by scene look at Gilda: