This is a psychological and sociological breakdown of Tempest Shadow's character in the My Little Pony 2017 movie, addressing some criticisms I see as misguided or false.
As if you thought I couldn't sink lower.
Hello. I'm here to talk about Tempest Shadow, one of the new characters introduced in the 2017 My Little Pony: The Movie. I've heard a lot of discussion on her throughout the internet, through what I've seen surprised me. I like Tempest, and I thought her character was great, while a lot of people didn't see her in the same way. Though a matter of differing opinion is natural, it was some of the reasonings behind it. If you just didn't like her character or her voice actress (Emily Blunt), that's fine. I don't want to sound like I'm getting up on my high horse, but to me there seemed to be some misunderstanding in the details of her character and the movie in general. The points of contention are as follows:
1. Losing her friends to instantly wanting to destroy the world.
2. Last second 180 with no build-up.
3. Unbelievable backstory.
4. No depth.
Now throughout this essay I will be tackling these points and offering my evidence and point of view on the subject, but first we need a standard for how I will be deconstructing Tempest. First I will be looking at her character, not the writers. To fully understand the points and her character as a whole, we need to look at her how she was intended to be looked at: as a pony in Equestria. We're not talking about the writers behind them, because for the case, they don't exist. This is a breakdown of this movie through the lens of their universe. Secondly, I will be using a method I like to call Psychociology. I made it up for this exact purpose; I'll take what I see as the two pillars of understanding to properly analyze Tempest and the world around her. Psychology, "the study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context" to understand her thoughts. As well as Sociology, "the scientific study of society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture" to understand her surroundings and outside influences that pushes her choices. I will be using these together throughout, switching quite often to try to get as full of the picture as I can from what we are given.
But first, a pretty big point that has to be made: How I write this. I do not want to flood this essay with 'I think' and 'it seems like' statements, because there would be a lot. I am not saying everything I say she's thinking, she is. That would be dumb. I am looking through her eyes and connecting the dots she leaves throughout using Psychociology to help others see these points the same way I did.
But enough tangents, let's start. And what better way to, then going back to her beginnings.
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Now this part tackles points one, two, and a little bit of four. We get to know that Tempest was a pretty normal, yet overtly brave kid, playing with her friends and having a good time. But then she loses her horn via an Ursa Minor attack. Then we see her presumably later, wound healed into a scar, standing alone before scaring her friends away with her unstable magic. Now not even a paragraph in, and we're already getting into point three and arguably four. Because you can't think of this in the setting of the real world to fully understand.
