@Serious B
 
That right there, I would have been totally fine if her backstory was more along those lines.

There’s a lesson hidden somewhere in there for all aspiring writers. Villains with badly though-out freudian excuses are far worse than villains who just want to watch the world burn for shits and giggles. The latter may run the risk of being bland and forgettable, but won’t intice as much rage in the audience as a villain who went on a murderous rampage because someone in their past looked at them funny.
 
Ultimately, I think the show writers fell victim to their own ambitious ideas, and when they realized those ideas couldn’t be fully explored in a show like MLP, it was already too late.
 
Look back at the season 5 premiere. The introduction of Starlight Glimmer and her creepy ideology took everyone by surprise. People we’re genuinely shocked that the show decided to explore themes like brainwashing, propaganda, and cults. Starlight seemed like a villain with a (horrific) cause, a cause beyond just destroying or enslaving Equestria. Her line in the first ep.(“They will finally see what we’re trying to accomplish.”) made people think there’s some terryfying agenda about to be unveiled. It almost seemed like it would be too heavy for a show like this. Turns out the writers thought so too.
 
I cannot speak for other people, but personally I feel like Starlight’s excuse was a missed opportunity to explore and adress some elephants in the room in regards to the cutie marks, that’ve been bugging me (and maybe others, too) about the show ever since its beggining.
 
I mean - the ponies live in a society where their special talents, hobbies, jobs, practically your whole life is tattooed on their buuts for all to see. Are you gonna tell me there is no prejudice based on cutie-marks? Like, someone whose CM is a goddamn star going supernova signifying their magical talent wouldn’t need to worry, but what about ponies with cutie marks like a toilet plunger or a smelly sock? Am I supposed to believe there would be no teasing, ridiculing and ultimately some sort of segregation?
 
They cauld have made Starlight come from such a shitty community where ponies were segregated based on their cutie marks, maybe even have her be taken away from her parents, because her cutie mark represents something of higher value than those of her mom and dad. Her resentment towards cutie marks would make sense then, and so would her twisted campaign of equality.

Discord’s backstory is vague, which fits with his character
 
Starlight’s backstory is weak, and more than likely a complete lie.

@Red-Supernova
 
He was a jerk and therefore he didn’t have friends and because he didn’t have friends he continued to be a jerk was less believable?

I actually find Starlight’s backstory despite its flaws to more believable than Discord’s “backstory”.

No Discord backstory whatever little we got at least had some sort of foundation to stand on.
 
Starlight’s backstory fails even at the basic standard at what it’s trying to do.
 
Speaking of which you don’t need a sympathetic backstory to have a sympathetic character.

Discord has a backstory?

It’s not Discord’s backstory that’s weak, it’s Starlight Glimmer’s motives that are too rushed to emote proper empathy.

What nobody seems to realize is that such an emotional “trauma” at that young age could make Starlight see everything bad in the world be related to cutie marks, over time convincing herself that they’re evil and once getting strong enough to do something about them, she does.  
Also she never learns about the mane6’s exploits (how could she? she was living in a remote village for who knows how long) so she has no idea that ruining their friendship is “risking the life of all ponies”.  
Was her redemption rushed? Of course. But we could’ve gotten used to rushed endings in season openers and finales by now, because if you think back to it, they were always resolved way too quickly after a long buildup.
 
As for Discord, he’s a dckwad, but he’s a sorta lovable dckwad.

Eh, I’ve been callinbg Discord a selfish liability and butting heads with his defenders since the day he was “reformed”.

Discord = spirit of chaos, former ruler of Equestria, obvious hints to backstory with enough questions to remain hidden, mysterious inner workings, no sign of any will to change, rushed redemption.
 
Starlight = Talented unicorn, everyday conflict as motivation, no sign of any will to change, extremely rushed redemption.
 
OP’s Post ist quite obsolete. Of course Discord was not as developed - why would he be? We know everything important about him. Who is he? What does he do? Why does he do it? He is an ancient spirit. No need for any other motivation than “Let’s spread chaos and have fun”. Now, Do I think his redemption was much too fast? Of course. But he atleast got one full episode and a subplot throughout season 4.
 
Starlight on the other hand is a normal unicorn. She even had a normal life.  
The only reason for her downfall was the “loss” of one friend in her youth.  
And that equals “risking the life of all ponies in Equestria for revenge”?  
Yeah, pretty weak. She is no spirit. She only is talented in magic.  
And her redemption? About two minutes long. Rushed beyong believe.
 
Of course Discord does not have a real backstory. But he doesn’t really need one.  
He atleast learned some kind of lesson. Starlight - she definetely needed some kind of good explanation. Does anyone become a psychopathic villain from losing one friend? I highly doubt it.
 
Basic storytelling.

@Joshua
 
Up until this point I wasn’t aware he had a backstory beyond being a jerk. And guess what? It still worked. Because the writers didn’t really need to drum up some faux sympathy. As for Starlight?
 
It’s not decent. It’s poorly thought out. You can claim it’s well done but the lack in logic astounds. All this because a childhood friend left. She couldn’t get over something like that? And I’d even be willing to forgive it that but this notion that it would serve as an adequate justification for her actions just rings hollow.

Let me fix that description for you.
 
“Discord: Just a draconequus, who happens to be the lord of all things chaos, who once ruled over the land of Equestria and turned everyone’s lives to shit until the Goddess of the Sun and the Goddess of the Moon banished him using the elements of harmony. He came back to try and do it all again, but was once again banished. He then turned into a sort of Vegeta-like character in which he’s aligned good but is still a dick sometimes because, while he likes the idea of having friends, he still has a strong affinity for all things chaotic.
 
Starlight Glimmer: A pony who got butthurt that her friend got her cutie mark before her and whined about it until the Princess of Friendship told her to stop being a little baby and taking it out on everyone else. So, she stopped being a whiny baby and is now friends with everyone. Yay.”
 
You’re welcome.
 
Also, I appreciate when people think it’s strange that a massive group of people with different backgrounds and from different walks of life have different opinions about the show they all watch.

@Joshua  
And no, Twilight Clone #2’s backstory was not decent, it was cliche as all hell, and really didn’t match her present self. She lost a friend, so…….she goes on to become completely insane and start an anti-CM cult. What. Just…what.

@Joshua  
It’s almost as if…gasp
 
the fandom is made up of different people with different opinions!
 
Fancy that.

@Joshua  
That’s ignoring alot of context, don’t you think?

@Background Pony #684A  
It’s just as the image said; You didn’t care that Discord had a sucky backstory, but you flip out and rage about the show because Starlight Glimmer had a… somewhat decent backstory.

@Zebasiz
 
Well its a better thought out backstory than Starlight’s so I don’t find myself getting too upset.

@Zebasiz  
Gee, I wonder why.

I’m not even picking up the 10-foot pole to touch this one with.

My headcannon is that he’s Q from star trek just fucking around with ponies. But in reality he dosen’t have a backstory at all.

@Psycho Shy  
@soundtea  
@PonyPon  
Of course he had a backstory. He said it in his reformation episode: “I never had a friend…”
 
=P

@the metal bronyhead  
Why yes, indeed the finale was great. I’m utterly glad Starlight got reformed.

This fandom is strange that way.

Weak backstory Disagree it was a really interesting as for the Season Finale it was good Starlight Glimmer story was sad