- Return to The Hearth's Warming Club
So I'm kind of curious as to whether Gallus' orphan status may be fairly common in Griffonstone, if not the norm. Based on some of the discussion in the comments for the episode page, and what we know of Griffons in general, I get the impression that Griffons probably aren't the most family-oriented species. As such, it wouldn't surprise me too much if Griffon parents ditched their offspring at the earliest opportunity, and maybe even separated themselves, in the interest of maintaining/accumulating personal wealth. It would certainly explain why Gilda and Gabby both have jobs, Gilda needing money to leave Griffonstone on her own and Gabby presumably to support herself.
Looking at the interactions between the young Griffons and Grampa Gruff, a chilling possibility comes to mind. Could Grampa Gruff be something of a Fagin character, who keeps a cadre of young Griffons around to further his own situation through their labors? In my mind it would explain the "family gathering" in this episode, as well as his interactions with Gallus. Maybe Gallus is one of Gruff's less-productive "charges", and his punishment was being left out in the cold.
It would also explain why he allowed him to go to the School of Friendship in the first place. If Gallus isn't a particularly successful worker in Gruff's little operation, Gruff wouldn't have minded sending him off to keep the ponies off his back. Of course, once the School of Friendship seemingly failed, however, he would have been eager to get his little bit of extra income back.
As a side note, I'm also curious about the Fire of Friendship decoration; is it just a magical facsimile of the Fire of Friendship or the actual thing? I'm leaning towards a facsimile, as you would think the real Fire of Friendship would stand up to a little powder without causing trouble.--Kilmarnock228 (talk) 20:52, August 10, 2018 (UTC)
- That sounds a little dark, brah. Then again the griffin culture does seem pretty dark which kinda explains why their culture isn't talked about often! This looks like something that should be saved for the comic books! --Mega Sean 45 (talk) 20:54, August 10, 2018 (UTC)
- Yeah, I kind of theorized the same thing too - that Grampa Gruff gathered that band of griffons together, and he only cares about them so long as they can make him money, and is willing to take whatever actions are more profitable for him (so like you said, if Gallus didn't do good work for him, it would make sense to ship him off somewhere where he didn't have to pay for the expenses of caring for him, such as the School of Friendship).
- Yeah, I would guess facsimile as well.--
Jonny Manztalkcontribse-mailedit count 10:37, August 11, 2018 (UTC)