Elements of Harmony
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The Elements of Harmony are six magical artifacts representing fundamental virtues of friendship in the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Each element embodies a specific virtue: honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty. The sixth element, magic, is the catalyst that activates the others when the bearers demonstrate true friendship. The Elements serve as both physical magical artifacts and abstract concepts central to the show's lore and moral framework.
Originally discovered as ancient relics in the Everfree Forest, the Elements initially manifest as ornate jewelry pieces that can be wielded by worthy bearers. However, as the series progresses, it is revealed that the true power of the Elements lies not in their physical forms but in the embodiment of their respective virtues by the main characters; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie act as the living representations of magic, honesty, generosity, kindness, loyalty, and laughter, respectively.
Appearances
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010–2019)
[edit]The Elements of Harmony are introduced in the series premiere "Friendship Is Magic" as ancient artifacts of legend. Initially depicted in a tapestry and stained glass window, they are described as the "most powerful magic known to ponydom."[1] The Elements are first discovered as physical stone orbs housed in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest,[2] where they transform into ornate necklaces and a tiara when activated by the protagonists' demonstration of their respective virtues.
Throughout the first two seasons, the Elements appear in their physical jewelry forms during major conflicts, including the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the initial confrontation with Discord. However, the artifacts' power is contingent upon the genuine friendship and emotional connection between their bearers; when Discord manipulates the ponies' personalities and severs their friendships in "The Return of Harmony", the physical Elements become powerless.
In the second season finale "A Canterlot Wedding," they are used to defeat Queen Chrysalis.
In the fourth season finale "Twilight's Kingdom", the Elements' magic is transferred to the Tree of Harmony.
Analysis
[edit]In the 2015 book My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria, the Elements are described as a set of six mystical jewels and an "unstoppable force of good" used to defend Equestria against powerful threats.[3]
Military bronies have drawn parallels between the Elements of Harmony and the United States Army's core values, known by the acronym LDRSHIP (Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage). According to Samuel Clark Miller, these fans are able to find direct correlations between the Elements and military values, such as loyalty appearing in both systems, while drawing similarities between honesty and integrity; generosity and selfless service; and kindness and respect.[4]
According to a 2016 study of children's media and environmental understanding by geographer Laura Shillington, the Elements function beyond their role as friendship symbols, as they are "responsible for keeping nature in balance." She wrote that the Elements, the association of individual ponies with different parts of nature, and their collective responsibility for maintaining natural equilibrium "create feelings about nature" and that the Elements are a narrative device where "if [nature] is not kept in balance, problems will emerge", making harmony both a personal virtue and an ecological imperative. Shillington argued that this contributes to gendered emotional responses to nature, particularly with characters like Fluttershy, whose Element of Kindness directly relates to environmental care and animal welfare.[5]
In his 2018 analysis of gender politics in Friendship Is Magic, media scholar Kevin Fletcher examined the Elements of Harmony within the context of feminist theory and gender essentialism. Fletcher argued that episodes like "The Return of Harmony" present the Elements in essentialist terms, with each pony embodying a single trait that Discord exploits by brainwashing the characters to act contrary to their respective Elements, thus preventing them from using the Elements as a weapon against him. He commented that while the show promotes individualism through the concept of cutie marks and distinct personalities, it simultaneously emphasizes "communalism and sharing" through the collective responsibility required to wield the Elements effectively.[6]
In his 2019 analysis of Christian faith within the brony fandom, history professor Andrew Crome examined how Christian fans interpret the Elements of Harmony from a religious perspective. According to Crome, many Christian bronies view the Elements as having explicit biblical parallels, particularly as allusions to the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Some fans interviewed in the study described the Elements as "a tool God has given us to diagnose friendship problems," while others made direct theological connections, with one participant referring to them as "the Seven Spirits of God." Crome wrote that the Elements were viewed as manifestations of divine principles working through popular culture; some Christian fans reported that their engagement with the concept had profound personal and spiritual significance in their lives.[7]
In a 2023 article in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, historian Louis Clerc wrote that the Elements of Harmony were the Equestrian equivalent of a nuclear arsenal—a powerful set of magical relics that gave Equestria the ability to defend itself from world-threatening assailants.[8]
See also
[edit]- Cutie mark
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom
- List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters
References
[edit]- ^ Cusack, Carole M.; Kosnáč, Pavol (2016-11-18). "Introduction: fiction, invention and hyper-reality in new religions and spiritualities". In Cusack, Carole M.; Kosnáč, Pavol (eds.). Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality. New York: Routledge. p. 83. doi:10.4324/9781315582283-6. ISBN 978-1-315-58228-3. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ Valiente, Christian; Rasmusson, Xeno (2015). "Bucking the Stereotypes: My Little Pony and Challenges to Traditional Gender Roles". Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture. 5 (4). Bridgepoint Education, Inc. and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.: 88–97. doi:10.1002/jpoc.21162.
- ^ Begin, Mary Jane (2015). My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria. New York: Abrams. ISBN 978-1-4197-1577-8.
- ^ Miller, Samuel Clark (May 2016). Friendship is Manly: The Brony Fandom and the Challenge of Masculinity (PhD thesis). Grand Forks, North Dakota: University of North Dakota.
- ^ Shillington, Laura (2016). "Children's Media Landscapes and the Emotional Geographies of Urban Natures". Identities and Subjectivities, Geographies of Children and Young People 4. Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. pp. 1–20. doi:10.1007/978-981-4585-91-0_22-1.
- ^ Fletcher, Kevin (2018). "My Little Pony, Communalism and Feminist Politics". Orienting Feminism. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 25–42.
- ^ Crome, Andrew (2019). "Cosplay in the pulpit and ponies at prayer: Christian faith and lived religion in wider fan culture". Culture and Religion. 20 (2): 129–150. doi:10.1080/14755610.2019.1624268.
- ^ Clerc, Louis (2023). "A Better Hegemon? My Little Pony as a Pop Representation of Diplomacy in the Context of American Hegemony". The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. 18 (4): 534–557. doi:10.1163/1871191x-bja10146.
