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 Shadow Play. He also appears in the IDW comics and Budge Studios' mobile game Harmony Quest. He is first mentioned by Twilight Sparkle in Luna Eclipsed as "the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era."

Depiction in the series

Season two

A view of the Canterlot library Star Swirl the Bearded wing.

Star Swirl the Bearded is first mentioned by Twilight in Luna Eclipsed 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.

Season three

Spike holding the book.

At the end 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.

Season four

Star Swirl befriending Scorpan.

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.

Season five

In The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1, Starlight Glimmer modifies Star Swirl's time travel spell and uses it to travel into the past and change history. At the end of The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, the scroll containing the spell disappears through a time portal.

Season six

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

Season seven

In Celestial Advice, 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.

Twilight's first meeting with her idol wasn't as she expected.

In the season seven finale Shadow Play, 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.

Season eight

In School Daze - Part 1 and Non-Compete Clause, a bust of Star Swirl appears in the School of Friendship. In Horse Play, 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.

Star Swirl confronts Flim and Flam about their scam.

In Friendship University, 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 A Rockhoof and a Hard Place, Mage Meadowbrook mentions that Star Swirl is still learning about friendship. In School Raze - Part 1, Star Swirl sends a message to the princesses in Canterlot explaining that magic is disappearing all across Equestria and will be completely gone in three days.

Season nine

In The Beginning of the End - Part 2, 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 Sparkle'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 Trivial Pursuit. 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.

Star Swirl vs. Tirek.

In The Ending of the End - Part 1, 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 Part 2, 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 Last Problem, Star Swirl attends Twilight Sparkle's coronation ceremony. He also briefly appears in Twilight's group shot during The Magic of Friendship Grows.

Depiction in Equestria Girls

Star Swirl the Bearded in Rainbow Rocks.

Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

In Rainbow Rocks, Twilight Sparkle discovers through research that Star Swirl banished three sirens from Equestria to the human world, believing that their magic would have no effect there. Once again, he is only seen in storybook illustrations.

Equestria Girls: Better Together

In Star Crossed, a statue of Star Swirl's human counterpart is on display at the Canterlot Planetarium. The statue also appears at the planetarium in the second season short Twilight Under the Stars.

Depiction in My Little Pony: A New Generation

A framed portrait of Star Swirl appears in Sunny Starscout's lighthouse in My Little Pony: A New Generation.

Depiction in the comics

From a faded-color flashback.

On page 19 of My Little Pony: Friends Forever Issue #2, Mr. Starswirl[sic] physically appears dressed as Gandalf the Grey in Discord's bubble reality. Of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #17, cover A says "Behold the Secrets of Star Swirl the Bearded", and Star Swirl the Bearded physically appears on the Hot Topic cover.

In the issue, Star Swirl appears in flashbacks of Princess Celestia's past. Having discovered the secrets of cross-dimensional travel, he creates a magical mirror that allows travel to other universes. Star Swirl and Celestia spend decades visiting these worlds and learning about them. However, when he finds out that Celestia has been using the mirror to travel to one specific world numerous times, he closes the mirror before Celestia's actions endanger two kingdoms.

In Issue #18, Star Swirl the Bearded appears in a stained glass window and in several flashbacks with Princess Celestia.

In Issue #19, he appears again in various flashbacks and Twilight Sparkle briefly imagines him as an Alicorn.

In Issue #20, he appears in a flashback with Princess Celestia and the alternate universe versions of King Sombra and Princess Luna and in another where he forgives Princess Celestia's actions.

Page 1 of My Little Pony: Friends Forever Issue #7 involves two editions of Starswirl[sic]'s "Guide to Magical Pedantry" with different publication dates.

A poster of Starswirl[sic] is shown on pages 7 and 14 of My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1.

Starswirl[sic] the Bearded appears in My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #3, in which he engages in several musical battles against the sirens and banishes them to the human world via the Crystal Mirror.

In My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #5, Star Swirl the Bearded pulls his cart up to an underground lake. Upon being bitten by a fly, he turns and sees that the tree in the middle of the lake is clutching a bone in its roots. Believing that the lake possesses evil magic, Star Swirl nails a warning sign to the tree. The crack left by the nail in the bark widens after he leaves, inadvertently enabling the changelings to emerge.

On My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #31 page 14, Pinkie Pie mentions that Sugarcube Corner is "where Star Swirl the Bearded bought his favorite cookies", which Twilight Sparkle states is historically untrue.

In My Little Pony: Legends of Magic Issue #1, Sunburst uses the records inside Star Swirl's private study in his research into the history of Equestria. Star Swirl also appears in flashback instructing young princesses Celestia and Luna in magic. He also appears on the Issue #7 covers B and RI and in Issue #11, in which he first meets Stygian and the legendary ponies. In Issue #12, he disregards Stygian's advice on how to confront the Sirens and banishes them, and in the present, Sunburst questions whether or not Star Swirl should be considered a villain. In Legends of Magic Annual 2018, he again joins forces with Stygian and the other Pillars to rescue Celestia and Luna from the Pony of Shadows of an alternate universe.

Star Swirl appears as a carousel horse on My Little Pony: Nightmare Knights Issue #4 cover B and Issue #5 cover B, and also in Stygian's nightmare on Issue #4 page 3. Issue 4 also reveals that the Star Swirl of Princess Eris' world, previously mentioned in the Legend of Magic Annual, was killed after Eris prevented him and the other Pillars from banishing the Pony of Shadows.

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #73, Star Swirl's Animamulet comes into contact with Fluttershy and causes her to behave like various animals. In Issue #84, Ocellus takes on his appearance during her school project. In Issue #89, Star Swirl appears on pages 3-4.

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #98, Star Swirl briefly appears in Celestia's flashback.

Star Swirl appears at the end of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #100, researching the temples containing the other Trees of Harmony alongside Twilight, Starlight, Sunburst and Stygian. In Issue #101, he collaborates with Princess Cadance and Discord to erect a force field around Canterlot. However, it fails to stop the Knights of Harmony from invading the city. In Issue #102, Star Swirl aids in the fight against the Knights, assisting the other Pillars in freeing Rockhoof and Flash Magnus from Morrigan's mind control and helping finally defeat the Knights' leader Danu.

Other depictions

Storybooks

Chapter books

In Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity chapter 10 "Dyeing to Please", Twilight Sparkle gets Charity Sweetmint to take some extra books about Star Swirl the Bearded. Star Swirl the Bearded is also mentioned in Daring Do and the Eternal Flower.

In Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Forgotten Books of Autumn, Moon Dancer mentions the spell "Star Swirl's Seven Safeguards". A biography of Star Swirl is mentioned in Starlight Glimmer and the Secret Suite, which also references Twilight's efforts to complete his spell.

The Journal of the Two Sisters

Star Swirl the Bearded is mentioned several times in The Journal of the Two Sisters.

Celestia and Luna meet him at their Princess Coronation. Celestia reveals that initially, the responsibility of the sun and the moon fell to him and five other unicorns before Luna and Celestia. In the journal, Star Swirl's beard is brown, becoming shorter when he becomes younger due to a time travel spell gone wrong; later in the journal, his beard turns gray after his magic is depleted by a failed attempt to lower the moon by himself, but turns brown again after his magic is returned to him.

Baby Flurry Heart's Heartfelt Scrapbook

Twilight Sparkle wears her Star Swirl the Bearded costume in episode 6 of Baby Flurry Heart's Heartfelt Scrapbook, "Nightmare Night".

Fundamentals of Magic

Star Swirl the Bearded appears in an illustration in Spells, and in Magical Objects.

Software

Star Swirl the Bearded is depicted in Budge Studios' mobile game Harmony Quest, having been traced from fanart.

My Little Pony (mobile game)

Star Swirl is a character in Gameloft's mobile game, and serves as a boss battle helper and boss with story role during the "Reflections of Harmony" and "Kid's Play" events. The game's description of him states, "Celestia's magic tutor and a wizard of great renown, Starswirl's reputation is as grand as his beard. Some ponies still dress up as him for Nightmare Night!"

In the My Little Pony universe, Star Swirl the Bearded is an elderly male unicorn with gray fur, blue eyes, and dark gray hooves. He is most recognizable by his long, flowing white beard and matching hair, and he typically wears a starry cloak, a large matching hat, and yellow bells