by Harvs » November 15th, 2012, 12:53 am
I think King Sombra has received some unjust negative feedback as a villain. I would consider myself a villain expert, I understand how they tick, what makes them bad, and what makes them a complex villain. Or a comedic villain. Or whatever kind of villain they are. So let me see if I can defend the new King.
Let's start out by tackling what people say about him: he doesn't do anything. Well, let me say this. What would the ponies have done had King Sombra done anything? Elements of Harmony were back in Canterlot, Shining Armor's magic was disabled, Cadence was too tired to do much of anything. That leaves only Twilight Sparkle to battle the King of Shadows. Twilight can do many things, but I don't think she was ready for this.
Next, his simplicity. OK, let me say this right away; Sombra is not a complex villain. He's a power maniac. He wants to seize power at any cost. And he does just that. So well that the Princesses of sun and moon need to stop him. And even then, they were unable to prevent him from putting a curse on the Crystal Empire. He is simply trying to reclaim his kingdom and slaves (come on guys, slaves in My Little Pony).
Now let's try to see how smart he was. Hiding away the Crystal Heart was a given. But how he went about hiding it was perfect. Tearing out the last page of the tome to erase knowledge of the heart. If you did find it, it would be only accessible through a dark magic spell, leading to a door to your worst fear. And if you went alone, you wouldn't be able to escape from the door. If you did make it there, you'd traverse a long long LONG staircase, only to grab the Crystal Heart and be trapped inside a prison. Even teleporting would prove useless as it would pull you back inside.
Finally, let's tackle the last piece, his intimidation. Nightmare Moon was good, instilling fear of everlasting night. Discord was inserted into the story very early, not allowing for any build up. Chrysalis was kind of a mix of both. You knew something was up, but you didn't know what. Only that 'Cadence' was acting off. And now, the build up to King Sombra. They refer to him as 'it'. Even Celestia is afraid of what he can do. When the mane six arrive in the tundra, Shining Armor is afraid of what he will do to them if they run into him. And they do, so Shining loses his magic. Cadence's forcefield is down for about seven seconds, and he is able to engulf a majority of the empire, only pushed out by the shield returning. And finally, when the shield falls again, had he been even one second faster, all would have been lost.
Let me emphasize 'everything'. Literally everything. The mane six, Spike, Shining, Cadence, and the Crystal Ponies would be slaves to him. And he would then move for the Princesses.
So there you have it. King Sombra is not only a great villain, a great addition to the show, but may even be better than the other three.
"A film should engage, not distract. expand, not contract. Inform, not retract. Redefine, not reenact."
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