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Published: 2012-12-20 04:28:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 25510; Favourites: 1079; Downloads: 521
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So I was recently asked which princess is my favorite. I've observed that most people's answer is Luna and I can completely understand. She's a great character. She's fun, memorable, adorable.. She's gone from being a villain to an amusingly socially awkward princess to the guardian of ponies dreams. She's grown so much as a character over the course of the series so it's only natural that she would get attention. But she's not my favorite.Celestia has been the ruler of Equestria for more than a thousand years. She is wise, kind and beautiful. She knows when to be a princess and when it's ok to laugh. She's helped Twilight grow from a bookish recluse into a wonderful friend to many ponies. She is all this and more. But that is not why I love her. I love her because she forgave a traitor. She forgave the unforgivable. She loved the unlovable. Luna was supposed to rule by her side, to abide by the Elements and keep the peace throughout Equestria. But more importantly they were supposed to love each other, to be each others friend through the long years of their reign. But Luna allowed jealousy to blind her to love. She chose bitterness and anger over love and she betrayed her sister. I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone close to you. It's like a knife in the back, slowly twisted until your heart breaks from the pain. It is the hardest thing in the world to look that person in the eye and tell them that you still love them and that you forgive them.
Celestia did just that. Luna did nothing to deserve her sister's forgiveness. She did nothing but cause Celestia grief and pain and loneliness. Celestia would have had every right to punish Luna, to strip her of her royal title and banish her from Equestria. But she didn't do that. She welcomed her home with tears of joy as though she did nothing wrong. It is this beautiful act of love that makes me adore Celestia.
The quote is a slightly adjusted version of some of the lyrics from the song Forgiven by Skillet. [link]
In case anyone is interested, this one was drawn and inked traditionally then scanned and colored digitally.
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Comments: 207
UWoodward In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 20:46:46 +0000 UTC]
You know, I never really thought about it from that angle. Gives me something to think on, I guess.
I have to admit Luna's been my favorite princess pretty much from the beginning. (Probably has more to do with Nightmare Moon than anything else. I'm a sucker for hammy villains.) I always did like Celestia a lot, though.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to UWoodward [2012-12-20 20:52:10 +0000 UTC]
Well I'm glad I could introduce you to a new idea!
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EnigmaticThief [2012-12-20 20:39:31 +0000 UTC]
Very nice work, V-G. They really need to do something along the lines of this piece in the show proper.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to EnigmaticThief [2012-12-20 20:51:22 +0000 UTC]
That would be pretty much amazing though the opportunity is probably long gone.
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ThatNightmareNyxilis [2012-12-20 19:36:08 +0000 UTC]
I have never cared if someone had a favorite so much. Why not have a favorite? I have a favorite princess but I like them both, and a lot of folks really do. Favorite after all doesn't mean you just hate the other.
Yet, that said. Never understood the folk that are rampagingly antiCelestia. What's the point in that? Tsk.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to ThatNightmareNyxilis [2012-12-20 21:14:48 +0000 UTC]
Oh I completely agree. Just because I like Celestia so much doesn't mean that I dislike Luna. Luna is a wonderful character and I'd be stupid to dislike her.
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Dark-Tsubaki88 In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 18:53:01 +0000 UTC]
Omg...Every time I find someone who declares Celestia as his/her favorite of the two sisters,it makes my day
Nothing against Luna,of course I like her too
Hoping they give Celestia more love in the show in the future.It seems that the writers are pretty comfortable with just using her a plot device or with simple cameos :/
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to Dark-Tsubaki88 [2012-12-20 21:24:28 +0000 UTC]
I would love to see Celestia play a more prominent role in the show! One can hope.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to QuercusRobur [2012-12-20 20:48:16 +0000 UTC]
Thank you very much!
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spring-warmth In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 11:22:21 +0000 UTC]
I agree, and Celestia is my favourite of the pair :3 (although I still like Luna as well)
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to spring-warmth [2012-12-20 20:50:47 +0000 UTC]
Oh Luna is definitely still awesome for sure.
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CastoroChiaro In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 08:03:04 +0000 UTC]
I absolutely agree with everything you had to say here. Celestia is very near and dear to my heart, so it's nice seeing that others appreciate her character as much as I do.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to CastoroChiaro [2012-12-20 21:24:58 +0000 UTC]
Glad you share my feelings!
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GrayTechnoRaptor In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 07:14:38 +0000 UTC]
This is just beautiful. I love touching moments like this.
I'd really like to see Celestia get more screentime.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to GrayTechnoRaptor [2012-12-20 07:17:37 +0000 UTC]
I'd really love it if she got her own episode. Luna got one after all.
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d715 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-20 07:06:12 +0000 UTC]
I like Tia too
ironically luna fans helped
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d715 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-20 08:39:03 +0000 UTC]
yep
It more like it was during the high of NLR Celestia bashing I felt so bad for her I started thinking about how the show portrays her and stuff
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to d715 [2012-12-20 21:02:53 +0000 UTC]
NLR? I'm not sure what that means...
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d715 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-20 22:04:34 +0000 UTC]
New lunar republic
for some people seemed to think luna would want to overthrow her sister and make equestria a democratic republic most likely because those e people hate a woman in power
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to d715 [2012-12-21 00:30:38 +0000 UTC]
Ah yes. The New Lunar Republic. Such silliness.
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wolfstorm56 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-31 04:41:35 +0000 UTC]
You're welcome! Sorry this is late, I went on vacation.
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Moonstruck-badger In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 06:16:53 +0000 UTC]
Celestia was always my favorite too. She seemed to be a very tragic character to me, maybe even more then Luna.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to Moonstruck-badger [2012-12-20 06:59:47 +0000 UTC]
I think they are both equally tragic. The only difference is the Luna brought the tragedy upon herself by choosing selfishness over love.
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Moonstruck-badger In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-20 07:25:04 +0000 UTC]
That's true. I suppose a big part of choosing a favorite princess depends on who you sympathize with more.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to Moonstruck-badger [2012-12-20 07:29:34 +0000 UTC]
Could be. I think it also has to do with my own personal experience so I can connect with Celestia more because of that.
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Hunter992 In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 06:16:39 +0000 UTC]
don't cry... don't fuckn' cry.... fail
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to Hunter992 [2012-12-20 07:01:00 +0000 UTC]
Awww! It's ok. If it moved you that much then I feel like I've succeeded in my task.
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gdpr-16812140 In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 05:04:47 +0000 UTC]
So I was recently asked which princess is my favorite. I've observed that most people's answer is Luna and I can completely understand. She's a great character. She's fun, memorable, adorable.. She's gone from being a villain to an amusingly socially awkward princess to the guardian of ponies dreams. She's grown so much as a character over the course of the series so it's only natural that she would get attention. But she's not my favorite.
I'm not sure - was that an irony with a small bits of a sarcasm? Just FYI: Luna was the most popular character in the fandom since ep02s01. At that moment the was no character, no person - just few seconds of screentime and one dialogue line. As someone who observed this fandom since dec of 2010 - your words hardly makes sense to me. Not that it is your fault, of course - the whole Luna popularity makes no sense to me. Especially up to ep04 of s02.
Princess Celestia is the most underrated character ever. But that's perfectly fine, bronies may have their Luna ;3
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ragnad In reply to gdpr-16812140 [2012-12-31 13:02:38 +0000 UTC]
As of the first season, Princess Luna gets two lines, ten words, and less than two minutes of screen time, and yet it seems she inspired more fanart and fanfics than almost any other member of the cast. Why? Why would a character that appears in only once spark so much creativity? Was it a combination of appealing character design and voice acting excellence? (With that cute, tremulous, trepidations, sincere and sorrow-filled voice?) Do bronies enjoy writing about someone struggling to live down past sins? Is it that Luna embodies table rasa? That she is a blank slate that each author could project whatever they want onto?
When I put that to my friend Buddha. he said something that, with satori-like clarity, laid bare the answer to my question. His answer reminds me an old psychology paper attempting to explain Godzillaβs universal appeal to the awkward destructive child in all of us. Here, in Buddhaβs words on Luna, is some enlightenment:
Princess Luna illustrates a dark part of all of us. She is that part that has done something so terrible, so horrible, that she never expects to ever be forgiven. Princess Luna had a massive fight with her sister, and forced her sister to act violently towards her, sending her away. When Nightmare Moon is defeated, and Luna is returned, Celestia offers Luna her friendship, and welcomes her back into the family. The rest of Ponyville accepts Luna, and even welcomes her.
Luna did something that she never believed could be forgiven, and instead of being shunned and rejected, sheβs forgiven without condition and seemingly without consequence. Both sisters are willing and eager to put the entire past aside and move forward. Thatβs what Luna represents, and thatβs why I think sheβs so popular, simply because everyone at some point in their life has done something so terrible that they donβt ever expect to be forgiven.
Luna represents that forgiveness. An unconditional forgiveness, the kind only family (Or extremely close friends) can ever even hope to offer.
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ragnad In reply to ragnad [2012-12-31 13:07:21 +0000 UTC]
And who gave that forgiveness? The most underappreciated pony of all. Though there are many reasons to adore Celestia, this βbeautiful act of loveβ is strong among them. Thank you, Valkyrie-Girl, for putting it so eloquently.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to gdpr-16812140 [2012-12-20 05:14:00 +0000 UTC]
Yeah I think I was referring to the fans who like her for character development...reasons...I don't know. But you are right. She has been popular from the beginning.
You say "bronies may have their Luna". Does that mean you don't consider yourself a brony?
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gdpr-16812140 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-20 05:38:14 +0000 UTC]
No, of course not.
Also, using this moment I hereby request more Celestia from you. She looks gorgeously adorable in your "style' and execution.
(preferably in the company of saddle-arabian mini-horses :3)
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to gdpr-16812140 [2012-12-20 07:13:50 +0000 UTC]
Of course I will draw more Celestia. But as always there will be other things in between.
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gdpr-16812140 In reply to Valkyrie-Girl [2012-12-31 13:22:33 +0000 UTC]
No, of course not. as "I don't consider myself a brony of course". And yay for C3lestia :3
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me-smith0211 In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 05:01:18 +0000 UTC]
Celly is best princess! Finally someone who agrees with me
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ThatAsianMike In reply to ??? [2012-12-20 04:52:09 +0000 UTC]
Very well done! To me, the princess' relationship is really one of the most interesting things in mlp's story. Luna is my favorite pony, and I'm more empathetic to how unappreciated she felt before turning on her sister. It really comes from the core message of the show that Tia could forgive her sister and open up the character that I and many others have grown to love, and your drawing has all of those adorable feels wrapped up in it. Btw I totally am interested that you drew and inked your work it's how I've been making stuff for a while too.
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Valkyrie-Girl In reply to ThatAsianMike [2012-12-20 07:05:00 +0000 UTC]
Some here. The story of the Princesses was really what made the show stand out for me and really reeled me in.
I don't always ink my work and scan it in to color it. A lot of the time I'll do it all one way or the other. Testing out new things.
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