- Return to Sunset Shimmer
Demon form[]
I have a theory about Sunset Shimmer. You're probably going to dismiss it as preposterous, but hear me out (and I wouldn't think of posting it if this wasn't a place where everyone respects each other's opinions). This might also be helpful to people who were disappointed with her turning good instead of dying; this might not only explain why she turned good so quickly, but also reveal a possible death scene.
Between Sunset Shimmer's shock and pain during her demon transformation, the way the evil is removed from her leaving a redeemed and remorseful Sunset Shimmer, and comments about her "inner demon" being "drawn out", I think that Sunset Shimmer's demon form might actually be the embodiment of all the evil in her heart, kinda like Nightmare Moon is the embodiment of Luna's jealousy.
Well, unlike Luna, Sunset was evil from the beginning, but not pure evil because a.) the rainbow purified her instead of destroying her, and b.) She was unwilling to go as far as killing Spike (whereas when she became a demon she tried to kill Twilight, so the demon form is the essence of her evil). So the way my theory goes, when Sunset put the crown on, it split her into two: All of her evil, manifested into a demon, and the rest of her, possessed by that demon. In short: A dark side and a light side, both with equal memory of what they did when they were one and the same (given lines they speak), and therefore both equally considered Sunset Shimmer: For Demon Sunset Shimmer, while she is her dark side, Sunset had more evil than good in her to begin with; for the redeemed Sunset Shimmer, well, she's the real Sunset Shimmer just without any evil in her. Compare Majin Buu and Evil Buu, Seto Kaiba and Ghost Kaiba, and Elliot Spencer and Pinhead.
Sorry if this sounds a little complicated, and again it might just be from the point of view of one who expected a more climactic finish to a movie, but either way, her evil side is removed, so I guess I'd like to think it manifested into an entity of its own before it was. So, anypony disappointed with Sunset's redemption: While it cannot be denied that Sunset Shimmer herself survives and turns good, her evil was manifested into a demon and destroyed in order to bring about said redemption. So in a sense, they killed her dark half. Ghostkaiba297 (talk) 00:33, August 25, 2013 (UTC)
I don't know. Sunset "demon form" is much like Nightmare Moon, yes. But I think such complex explanation isn't necessary, when there are simple ones.
First of all, it looks like Sunset Shimmer is not exactly evil, but just misunderstood arrogant and doesn't care for relationship with anyone. Good example is when Twilight joins Rainbow Dash and other girls. Sunset proceeding with her plans and doesn't realize that together they are pose more significant threat. She also doesn't try to persuade anyone to vote for herself (even by threatening or some other dirty tricks), obviously thinking that her “subjects” attitude is insignificant. She only tricks principle, as her superior.
Personally my impression (at least from movie, I haven't read comics) that Sunset was “what if Twilight would be more headstrong and haven't made any friends”. And in the end, after she realize, what she had done when wearing The Crown, she obviously was very sorry.
Another explanation, in fact even simpler, is that Sunset Shimmer is just smart. I mean, what did you expected her to say after defeat? “I'll be back!”,”You fools, will test my revenge, when after 30 moons I go to Equestria for my Crown and become all-powerful!” — what's the point? If you can't beat them, join them. It was best course of action in any case. If she decided to become good, she obviously had to ask for forgiveness and try to make friends. If not, she also better had to ask for forgiveness and try to make friends, so everyone would think she became good and took their guard down.
Actually, if Hasbro would try to continue Equestria Girls story (as series or comics) I expect, that there would be more trials for Sunset when she'll have to choose between 'light' and 'dark' sides.Wizeman (talk) 02:45, August 26, 2013 (UTC)
- What you're saying is possible explanations to the reason behind her redemption, and yes I have heard the theory that she turned good because she was horrified at what she became during her demon form, but any interpretations on the nature of her demon form and why an Element of Harmony (as opposed to, say, the Alicorn Amulet) transformed her into a demon against her will? If Sunset Shimmer was more arrogant than evil (kinda like Trixie and Lightning Dust), then how did she become the evil demon that tried to kill Twilight? (I'm open to all theories and interpretations on that, I'd like to kinda have a clear view on it). Ghostkaiba297 (talk) 03:45, August 26, 2013 (UTC)
- But she did seem a little more evil than, say, Trixie (but less evil than Nightmare Moon), the way she drove Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the others apart. And at the same time, she did seem to feel genuine remorse for her actions, based on her reaction after being restored to human form, so I don't think she was pretending to be good to make everyone let their guard down. Ghostkaiba297 (talk) 03:48, August 26, 2013 (UTC)
- And I can agree about the "more trials for Sunset" thing. Mentioning Kaiba again, even though his evil side was removed in the first episode, he acts like a jerk toward Joey in later episodes, and at the end of Season 3 tries to kill Yugi and the gang, even his own guys, with only Kaiba and Mokuba escaping in a helicopter, and I think it was by chance that Yugi and the others escaped the explosion. But anyway... what are your interpretations on her demon form? Ghostkaiba297 (talk) 03:57, August 26, 2013 (UTC)
- Well, my personal opinion is that any powerful magic corrupts. Even Element of Harmony. Only support of friends can help to neutralize this effect. That's why Celestia haven't tried to use Elements against Nightmare Moon when she was alone and actively encouraged Twilight to make friends in pilot episode.
- As for demon form, I'm not very familiar with anime, so I use analogy from Star Trek. In original series was an episode, when Kirk (yes good captain Kirk) during transporter incident was separated into two persons. One was kind and compassionate, other harsh and headstrong and, as you can consider, evil. 'Evil' Kirk was ready to do anything to remain in a position of captain, even kill his members of his own crew. But at the same time 'good' Kirk was too soft — he couldn't make any decision, which included risk for others, however small it was. And so on... The point of episode was, that in each person there are many desires, which balance each other. For example you need anger to fight for what seems right, even if you have to fight with your own crew (if they do something wrong and you have no opportunity to talk them out of that), but if your anger is out of control you can kill everyone for nothing.
- I think Element of Magic made Sunset's desire for power dominant. I think, that when she drove everyone apart, she was doing that for some purpose, for example, to break some resistance. And when she put on the Crown, her 'evil' part, which wanted to rule Equestria, went completely out of control. That's became her demon form. And I don't think it was destroyed, because it would imply, that Elements of Harmony can change personality magically.Wizeman (talk) 03:08, August 27, 2013 (UTC)
- Well, that's a good theory. It's clear Sunset Shimmer's main objective is to gain greater power, which is why she was after the crown and wanted to rule Equestria, if that comic is canon then she wanted Celestia to make her an alicorn/princess immediately. Although she wasn't willing to go as far as killing anyone to get it, that changed when she became a demon and turned pure evil. Her demon form I think represents her "inner demon", as some say, and was fully dominant there, either the essence or embodiment of all her evil or else her evil was magnified. I think the cloud of darkness around her during the transformation represented her evil side as well. So what you're saying about the reason the crown transformed her is because she wanted to use it for power, and her desire for power was the reason for her evil actions, thus it drew out/magnified her evil side and turned it into her demon form? I can go with that, it makes sense. The big question is, is her demon form to her like Nightmare Moon to Luna?
- As to whether her evil side was destroyed, didn't the Elements kind of destroy Luna's jealousy, which is what Nightmare Moon essentially was? And that didn't make her too "soft" because Luna Eclipsed showed she can still get angry, even though she never showed signs of becoming Nightmare Moon again (except in appearance). So it probably just destroyed the essence of the pure evil in Sunset Shimmer represented by her demon form, leaving her mostly the way she was before the transformation, except she was horrified by what she had become as a demon and didn't want to be evil anymore. (I still think the elements removed her evil side or atleast made her see how wrong she was).
- Here's the story of Kaiba: In the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kaiba is, well, kinda like Sunset Shimmer, except instead of driving friends apart and trying to take over the world, Kaiba wanted to be the greatest undefeated duelist. He possessed three of a four-of-a-kind powerful card, and put Yugi's grandpa in the hospital to take the fourth from him so it couldn't be used against him. Yugi duels him and wins, then uses a Mind Crush to seal his dark side in the Shadow Realm (hell). Although Kaiba still acts like a jerk in later episodes, it's to a lesser scale than before as he no longer seems as sadistic. Later in Season 1, Pegasus resurrects Kaiba's evil side as Ghost Kaiba, who duels Yugi and repeatedly says he is Kaiba, saying he tore up the fourth card and says he couldn't believe it when Yugi beat him. When he reveals his true form he says "I am Kaiba. Or atleast I'm part of him, the darkest part." After defeating him, Yugi destroys/banishes him for good. (He's who I named myself after) Ghostkaiba297 (talk) 04:28, August 27, 2013 (UTC)
How long in human world?[]
I think she was there for 2.5 years (30 month = 30 moons). Her three portraits from (presumably) yearly Spring Fling and Fall Formal, kinda suggest that. Or maybe it was 5 years?--Wizeman (talk) 02:36, September 22, 2013 (UTC)
Adopted Daughter of Princess Celestia[]
Now I know some of you are probably gonna nag me for saying this, but just bear with me for a moment. The evidence is clearly there, as in the comics (which I don't consider canon, mind you all), Sunset was around the age of a teenager when Celestia showed her the mirror. Celestia even mentioned that whenever Sunset would not get what she wanted when she wanted it, she turned cold and dishonest, like any spoiled child would. Celestia tried to help her, and even though she rolled her a eyes a little, she clearly meant it. In the comics, Sunset and Celestia had an argument, and every child and parent goes through that at some point in their lives. And since Sunset and Twilight are basically the same age, when Celestia showed Sunset the mirror, Hightmare Moon's return could've been not that far away. Knowing that NMM would probably use Sunset to get to Celestia, she showed Sunset the mirror to save her adopted daughter from her evil aunt. Some of you may think that if this was true, that there would be mention of this, but what if there wasn't for a good reason? What if Celestia made sure of this so no criminal would target Sunset. What would you do if you were the ruler of Equestria, had adopted a child, but knew that the child's parents' killers or other assassins would target him/her? Probably make sure no one, not even your own protege knows about it. It's what I would do. Celestia knew that NMM would come after her first, and didn't want Sunset getting caught in the crossfire. NMM would figure it out eventually, and decide to cause Celestia a lot of pain by making sure the portal never opens again. Of course Celestia would intervene and the combined spells would make it so it doesn't open for 30 moons (however long that is). This would fuel Sunset's anger, making her think Celestia had sealed off the portal. In Rainbow Rocks, she confronted the Dazzlings on her own, and told them they wouldn't get away with their plan. She was basically warning them that she would not hesitate to attack them if they hurt her family or home. And when she freaked out when Sci-Twi sealed off the portal, she was worried she may never get to see her family again.--User:Nighlocktheawesome 08:48, September 21, 2017 (UTC)