Queen Chrysalis is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

's ''

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...

'' toyline and

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She serves as the main antagonist of the second season finale and a major recurring villain throughout the series. She is voiced by

Kathleen Barr Kathleen Barr is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for voicing Marie Kanker and Kevin in ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' and Trixie Lulamoon and Queen Chrysalis in '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic''. She also voiced Henri Richard Maurice ...

. Chrysalis is depicted as a malevolent and manipulative

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found throughout much of European folklore. According to folklore, a changeling was a substitute left by a supernatural being when kidnapping a human being. ...

—a shapeshifting insect-like creature—who rules over a hive of changelings. As the Queen of the Changelings, she possesses powerful magic abilities including

shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...

mind control Mind control may refer to: Psychology and neurology * Brainwashing, the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques * Brain–computer interface * Hypnosis * Neuroprosthetics, the technology of cont ...

, and the ability to feed on love and positive emotions. She is characterized by her distinctive black appearance with holes throughout her legs and translucent insect-like wings, her curved horn, her fanged teeth, and her long flowing mane. Throughout the series, she is a recurring threat to

Equestria Equestria () is a fictional kingdom and the main setting of My Little Pony (2010 toyline), the fourth and My Little Pony: A New Generation, fifth generations of the My Little Pony toy line and media franchise, including the Animated series, ...

and the Mane Six.

Appearances

Fourth ''My Little Pony'' incarnation (2010–2021)

''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''

Chrysalis first appears in the second season finale "

A Canterlot Wedding "A Canterlot Wedding" is the title of the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth episodes of the second season of the animated television series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. The fifty-first and fifty-second episodes overall, they were di ...

", where she is revealed to have been impersonating

Princess Cadance Princess Mi Amore Cadenza "Cadance" is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's ''My Little Pony'' toyline and media franchise, beginning with '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (2010–2019). She first appe ...

while the real princess was imprisoned in the caves beneath Canterlot. Having disguised herself to infiltrate Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding, Chrysalis planned to feed on Shining Armor's love and use him to lower Canterlot's magical defenses, allowing her changeling army to invade and conquer the city. Her plan is ultimately foiled when Cadance is freed and she and Shining Armor use the power of their love to repel Chrysalis and her army from Canterlot. Chrysalis returns as a recurring antagonist in later seasons, continuing to plot against Equestria and seeking revenge against those who thwarted her initial invasion. She appears in various episodes either directly or through her changeling subjects, maintaining her role as one of the series' primary villains. In the ninth season, Chrysalis teams up with Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow to work together and launch a final assault on Equestria. In the series finale, "The Ending of the End", they use the magic of the Bewitching Bell to make themselves all-powerful and take over Equestria, but are eventually defeated by Twilight and her friends, as well as turned into stone as punishment for their crimes.

Development

Character designer Rebecca Dart drew Chrysalis and the other changelings with an insect-like design after reading the character's name in the script, drawing inspiration from

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

artists

Junko Mizuno is a Japanese manga artist. Her drawing style is often termed as ''Gothic kawaii'' or ''kawaii noir'' style. Art style Mizuno's drawing style, which mixes childish sweetness and cuteness with terror and erotica, has often been termed a ''Goth ...

and

Hideshi Hino Hideshi Hino (日野日出志 ''Hino Hideshi'', born April 19, 1946) is a Japanese mangaka, manga artist who specializes in horror stories. His comics include ''Hell Baby'', ''Hino Horrors'', and ''Panorama of Hell''. He also wrote and directed tw ...

. According to Ridd Sorensen, the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

of ''Friendship Is Magic'', he enjoyed working with Dart in creating the character, though "all ehad to do was approve the amazing design".

Reception and analysis

In his 2018 essay ''My Little Pony, Communalism and Feminist Politics'', media scholar Kevin Fletcher analyzed Queen Chrysalis's portrayal in "

" within the context of

gender representation Gender diversity is equitable representation of people of different genders. It most commonly refers to an equitable ratio of men and women, but also includes people of non-binary genders. Gender diversity on corporate boards has been widely ...

in children's media. Fletcher argued that the character's behavior while impersonating

could be interpreted regressively, similar to evil Disney queens, noting that her transformation at the wedding to her true form—which he described as "a decaying mare with insect wings"—draws visual inspiration from

Maleficent Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who first appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film, ''Sleeping Beauty (1959 film), Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). Maleficent is the self-proclaimed "Dark lord, Mistress of All Evil" based on the Wic ...

's transformation scene in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''Sleeping Beauty''. He also examined her role as ruler of the changeling hive, observing that the Changeling Kingdom resembles a

termite mound Mound-building termites are a group of termite species that live in mounds which are made of a combination of soil, termite saliva and dung. These termites live in Africa, Australia and South America. The mounds sometimes have a diameter of ...

and referencing

feminist science fiction Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on such feminist themes as: gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, reproduction, and environment. Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to ...

writer

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as '' How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as ...

's observation that matriarchal societies in science fiction are often modeled on

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s. Fletcher interpreted Queen Chrysalis's song lyric "Who says a girl can't have it all?" as demonstrating the show's awareness of post-feminist discourse around "having it all" while associating this concept with villainy. A 2015 content analysis study by Christian Valiente and Xeno Rasmusson examining

gender roles A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gende ...

in ''Friendship Is Magic'' identified Queen Chrysalis as an example of the show's challenge to traditional

gender stereotypes A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...

by featuring female characters as both heroes and villains. In their analysis of "A Canterlot Wedding," the researchers observed that despite the presence of male characters including an army of male changelings, "the main dialogue and action belong to the females

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

and the shape shifter," with Queen Chrysalis driving the plot forward while male characters are "rendered inept or under the command of females." They remarked that the show consistently depicts "girl characters as the menacing villains" alongside female heroes. In a collection of essays on ''Friendship Is Magic'', author Jen A. Blue examined Queen Chrysalis and the changelings within the context of power versus love dynamics. Blue argued that Chrysalis represents pure power without the capacity for love, citing the character's song " This Day Aria" where she declares "No, I do not love the groom / In my heart there is no room / But I still want him to be all mine!" Blue wrote that Chrysalis lacks any humanizing desires beyond the need to possess, control, and dominate others. According to Blue, the episode presents love as a potent force against power, with the changelings representing creatures of power and manipulation who are ultimately defeated when Cadance and Shining Armor's genuine love overcomes Chrysalis's control. Blue characterized the episode's resolution as a "

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

n dream", but ultimately acknowledged that "but it has happened, in a small and temporary way, so many times. So, I say, dream on."

In popular culture

Queen Chrysalis has become a popular subject within the

brony fandom ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' is an animated children's television series produced by Hasbro that ran from 2010 to 2019 as part of the ''My Little Pony'' toy franchise. The series tied in with My Little Pony (2010 toyline), the 2 ...

. Academic research has documented positive fan identification and intensive parasocial relationships with the character. The character quickly became a subject of

fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by Fan (person), fans of a work of fiction or celebrity depicting events, Character (arts), character, or other aspect of the work. As fan labor, fan art refers to artworks that are not created, commissione ...

following her debut. For example, fan art titled "Chrysalis Hearts" was posted on

DeviantArt DeviantArt (formerly styled as deviantART and thus abbreviated as dA) is an American online community that features artwork, videography, photography, and literature, launched on August 7, 2000, by Mathew Stephens, Scott Jarkoff and Angelo Sotir ...

within days of the character's first appearance, with the artist captioning it "our lovely new queen". Fans described her as "evil yet charming" and praised her complex scheme to take over Equestria. Queen Chrysalis has been featured in other fan-created content, such as the popular

Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

blog ''Ask Fluffle Puff'', which features a fictional relationship between Chrysalis and an

original character An original character (OC) typically refers to a type fictional character created by someone that is not affiliated with a company, or by a member of a fandom. They are a non-canonical character created by the author of fan fiction, a fan artist ...

named Fluffle Puff.

References

Bibliography

* * {{My Little Pony My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters Female characters in animated television series Fictional queens Fictional shapeshifters Fictional insects Female villains Animated characters introduced in 2012 Television characters introduced in 2012 Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities