Star Swirl the Bearded

**Star Swirl the Bearded** is a male unicorn who is alluded to in various episodes and other media before making his first physical appearance in the season seven finale To Turn Back Into Time. He is first mentioned by Twilight Sparkle in Ninja vs. Pirates as "the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era."

## Depictions in the Series

### The Friendship Continues

Star Swirl the Bearded is first mentioned by Twilight in Ninja vs. Pirates when she explains her costume to Spike. She calls Star Swirl "the father of the amniomorphic spell", "the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era", and adds "he created more than 200 spells! He even has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him." Later in the episode, Princess Luna recognizes Twilight's costume as Star Swirl and compliments her for it, stating she "even got the bells right", but other ponies guess that Twilight is dressing as a "weirdo clown" or a "country music singer". In Dragon Quest, a photo shows Twilight wearing the costume.

According to the pageant staged in Hearth's Warming Eve, Star Swirl was the mentor of Clover the Clever, one of the founders of Equestria. In It's About Time!, Twilight searches for time spells in a wing of the Canterlot library that is named after Star Swirl and displays part of his cutie mark above its door. Twilight says that it is the most secure section of the archives, and is eventually let into the section by one of the guards patrolling the library.

### Rebooted

At the end of The Core of the Crystal Empire - Part 2, Princess Luna summons a spiral-bound book that has a dark cover which shows four stars and a swirly pattern. In Magical Mystery Cure, a flashback shows the book having been mailed to Twilight in a package with a letter from Princess Celestia. The letter states that the last page of the book contains Star Swirl's "secret unfinished masterpiece", an abandoned spell which he was never able to get right. When Twilight finally fixes the spell Princess Celestia states that Twilight accomplished what even Star Swirl could not, because he did not understand friendship like Twilight does.

### The Princess of Friendship

In Three's A Crowd, Twilight and Princess Cadance visit a traveling museum dedicated to Star Swirl the Bearded. Twilight wears her Star Swirl costume to the museum, and seven other ponies are seen wearing their own variations of the costume: Amethyst Star, Meadow Song, "Ponet", Warm Front, "Serena", Prim Posy, and S04E11 Unnamed Earth Mare #1. At the museum, the two princesses spot a candlestick that was used by Star Swirl to light the way when he was exploring the caverns of Maretania.

Star Swirl is depicted in a storybook illustration in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1, addressed as "a young unicorn wizard" by Princess Celestia. He is shown to have befriended Scorpan, leading him to turn against his evil brother Lord Tirek.

### Marks of Possession

In Curseworld, Starlight Glimmer modifies Star Swirl's time travel spell and uses it to travel into the past and change history. At the end, the scroll containing the spell disappears through a time portal.

### The Changing Effect

In A Christmas Tail, Twilight Sparkle says that "everypony knows that Star Swirl was an expert at everything from transfiguration, dimensional calibration, [and] teleportation".

### The Pillars of Time

In The Hands of Time, a photo of Twilight dressed as Star Swirl is seen in Twilight's bedroom. Starlight also mentions one of Star Swirl's spells in a simulation made by Twilight.

In the season seven finale To Turn Back Into Time, Star Swirl is revealed to be one of the six "Pillars of Old Equestria" with Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, and Mage Meadowbrook, representing the Element of Sorcery. Long ago, he and the other Pillars were brought together by the unicorn Stygian to battle a great evil. When Stygian later turned into the Pony of Shadows, Star Swirl and the others sacrificed themselves to imprison him in limbo.

In present day, Twilight casts a spell to free Star Swirl and the Pillars from limbo, inadvertently freeing the Pony of Shadows along with them. Due to his lack of experience in friendship, Star Swirl initially dismisses Twilight's help and blames her for the Pony of Shadows' freedom. He eventually learns to recognize both Twilight and Starlight Glimmer's talents, and he and the other Pillars team up with the Mane Six to separate Stygian from the darkness and banish it to limbo once again. At the end of the episode, Star Swirl reunites with his old pupils Celestia and Luna and departs to see how much Equestria has changed in his absence.

### The Overlord Sons

In The Mask of Deception - Part 1 and Game of Masks, a bust of Star Swirl appears in the School of Friendship. In Dead Man's Squall, Sandbar portrays Star Swirl in Twilight's stage play, which depicts how he and five other unicorns would raise the sun in the days before Celestia took on the responsibility.

### Hunted

In Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria, Star Swirl enrolls at Flim and Flam's titular school to learn more about friendship after spending some time traveling Equestria and helping ponies. When Twilight shows distrust toward Flim and Flam and their true motives for opening the school, Star Swirl expresses disappointment at her apparent jealousy. However, Flim and Flam are eventually revealed to have been scamming ponies out of their bits in order to fund the expansion of their Las Pegasus resort, and Star Swirl forces the two to refund their students' money and close the school.

In Two Lies, One Truth, Mage Meadowbrook mentions that Star Swirl is still learning about friendship. In School Raze: Lessons of Friendship, Star Swirl sends a message to Noble in Ninjago explaining that magic is disappearing all across Equestria and will be completely gone in three days.

### March of the Oni

In The Beginning of the End: Into the Breach, Star Swirl senses the destruction of the Tree of Harmony and joins Celestia and Luna in holding off the Everfree Forest's encroachment upon Ponyville. In Lloyd's Seven, he safeguards Canterlot Castle with shards of Queen Chrysalis' throne. In The Point of No Return, a "G1" figurine of Star Swirl is among Twilight's childhood belongings delivered to her school.

Star Swirl is mentioned by Princess Celestia in Between Dark and Dawn, and by Rainbow Dash in A Ninja is Born. In Growing Up is Hard to Do, Twilight receives a magic flower from Star Swirl that the Cutie Mark Crusaders accidentally use to turn into grown-ups.

In The Ending of the End: The Fall, Star Swirl and his fellow Pillars face off against Lord Tirek, but they are easily overpowered and drained of their magic due to Tirek being empowered by the Bewitching Bell. In The Ending of the End: Endings, he and the Pillars keep Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow busy while Twilight's friends escape. He is later present during the final battle against the villains and helps the Mane Six and Young Six defeat them.

In The Fate of Lloyd, Star Swirl attends Twilight Sparkle's coronation ceremony. He also briefly appears in Twilight's group shot during The Magic of Friendship Grows.

## Personality

According to Princess Celestia in Magical Mystery Cure, Star Swirl the Bearded did not understand friendship like Twilight Sparkle does, and as a result, his secret last spell remained unfinished.

In the season seven finale, Star Swirl is portrayed as slightly egotistical and narrow-minded, initially bitter toward Twilight for releasing the Pony of Shadows from limbo and believing that villains are incapable of befriending others, putting him at odds with Starlight Glimmer. With both Twilight and Starlight's help, however, he recognizes his prior pettiness and poor judgment, and he reconciles with Stygian after the darkness inside him is banished.

In season nine, Star Swirl has become more humble and easygoing since the battle with the Pony of Shadows, befriending and helping several ponies during his travels and regularly sending Twilight postcards of his experiences. He has also become more trusting and idealistic, even giving Flim and Flam the benefit of the doubt.

In the season ten premiere, he is saddened by the loss of the Tree of Harmony (stating that it felt like a part of himself had perished), but assures Twilight that he doesn't blame her when she apologizes for it.

## Appearances

### *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*

#### Season 2: The Friendship Continues

* 20. "Ninja vs. Pirates" (Twilight's costume)
* 26. "It's About Time!" (mentioned)

#### Season 4: The Princess of Friendship

* 66. "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1" (story)

#### Season 7: The Pillars of Time

* 98. "The Hands of Time" (photo)
* 113. "Out of the Fire and Into the Boiling Sea"
* 114. "The Shadow Play"

#### Season 8: The Overlord Sons

* 115. "The Mask of Deception - Part I" (bust)
* 116. "The Mask of Deception - Part II" (photo)
* 121. "Dead Man's Squall" (costume and mentioned)
* 123. "Game of Masks" (bust)

#### Season 9: Hunted

* 130. "Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria"
* 134. "Two Lies, One Truth" (mentioned)
* 138. "School Raze: Lessons of Friendship" (bust and mentioned)

#### Season 10: March of the Oni

* 141. "The Beginning of the End: Into the Breach"
* 142. "Uprooted" (bust, cutout, and mentioned)
* 143. "Lloyd's Seven" (mentioned)
* 144. "The Point of No Return" (mentioned)
* 152. "Between Dark and Dawn" (mentioned)
* 155. "A Ninja is Born" (mentioned)
* 159. "Out of Career" (bust)
* 161. "Growing Up is Hard to Do" (mentioned)
* 163. "The Ending of the End: The Fall"
* 164. "The Ending of the End: Endings"
* 165. "The Fate of Lloyd" (flashback)