Characters / Friendship Is Magic: Lord Tirek

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Main Index The Main Cast: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Supporting Cast: The Princesses (Princess Celestia, Princess Luna), Mane Family Members, the School of Friendship, Ponyville, Other Locations, Animal Companions Antagonists: Major Villains (Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow), Dangerous Creatures, Jerks and Bullies, Redeemed Antagonists (Discord) World of Equestria: Races, Historical Figures, The 2017 Movie, Expanded Universe, Toyline Exclusive, Miscellaneous Minor Characters: One-Shots, Other Characters, Background Ponies (Common Background Ponies, Special Background Ponies, Other Background Ponies) Equestria Girls: Heroines (Sunset Shimmer), Villains, Supporting Cast

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"How does it feel, knowing that soon every pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony will bow to my will?"

"I am Lord Tirek. And I will take what should have been mine long ago."

Debut: "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1"

Voiced by: Mark Acheson

Long ago, Tirek and his younger brother, Scorpan, came to Equestria intending to steal the magic of every pony and Take Over the World. Scorpan, however, learned friendship from Star Swirl the Bearded, and helped the ponies seal Tirek in Tartarus. However, when Cerberus left Tartarus undefended, Tirek broke free, and is now ready to pick up where he left off.

Expanded Universe comic My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic #2 explains that of his centaur race, a young Tirek possessed even more magical ability than his father King Vorak. Already thirsty for power, his goals turned towards Equestria after seeing the power that unicorn ponies possessed when hermit Sendak the Elder returned from his travels with an abducted unicorn. The comic shows that Tirek's mother, Queen Haydon is a gargoyle like his brother Scorpan, and that Discord was a member of Vorak's council, explaining their previous familiarity.

For tropes applying to his G1 counterpart, see My Little Pony TV Specials.

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Tropes A to F

• Adaptational Badass: Tirac in G1 was no pushover, but his main threat came from his army, which he created with the Rainbow of Darkness. This time around, Tirek is an army unto himself.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Zig-zagged. Tirac had no comical moments to his name and, aside from a few comically serious moments, the G4 version was the same. The Season 8 finale and Season 9, however, do bring out a more comical side to Tirek, especially in regards to Cozy Glow.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. Tirac was pure evil with no redeeming qualities. This iteration, while still a villain, has a small scrap of honor in him. He loves his grandmother, honored his agreement to give Chrysalis her magic back, and, in a surprisingly nice moment, caught a bird in his hand after it was blown away by the Canterlot castle defenses and allowed it to fly free instead of hurting it. He even came close to reforming in "Frenemies" before Chrysalis snapped him and Cozy Glow out of it.
• All Your Powers Combined: He eventually absorbs the powers of hundreds of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, giving him super-strength, the ability to fire beams of magic, and the ability to fly. It isn't shown what further power he got from Discord.
• Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: He wears a golden pendant around his neck, which he grants to Discord. Subverted when he tells Discord it was a gift from his brother and is worthless to him, and the amulet holds no power. Double subverted when Discord gives it to Twilight when she frees him, and it becomes the sixth key to the chest from the Tree of Harmony.
• And I Must Scream: While not explicitly stated, if what's shown is accurate, he's spent over one thousand years trapped in one place in Tartarus, unable to escape or do anything and fully aware. Not to say he didn't deserve it.
• Arch-Enemy: Tirek seems to have a particular hatred for Discord. He took great pleasure in betraying him, and calls him a turncoat. It’s also implied that the two of them have personally met before and not on good terms.
• Arc Villain: Of the Season 4 finale. Defeating him requires the Mane Six to open the chest from the Tree of Harmony, and his defeat resolves Twilight's season-long character arc of figuring out her place as a new Princess in Equestria, so Tirek acts as the culminating event in those story arcs as well.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: At full strength he's almost as big as an Ursa Major.
• Ax-Crazy: He's a power-hungry sociopath who's incredibly aggressive and threatening that he's able to scare others because of how brutal and powerful he is.
• Bad Vibrations: When he becomes massive enough, his steps shake the earth as he walks.
• Beard of Evil: A long white one to be exact.
• Bicep Kiss: He is prone to doing this in season 9 whenever he regains some of his former strength.
• Big Bad Triumvirate: With Chrysalis and Cozy Glow during the series finale after Grogar is revealed to be Discord.
• Big Red Devil: Is a massive centaur with red skin and large horns who is also a Satanic Archetype.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: He has a pair of these, and they come with pupil-less glowing yellow irises.
• Berserk Button: He does not like being compared to his father, King Vorak. Discord bringing him up (and claiming that Tirek feels like he can never measure up to him) is enough to make Tirek attack him in a rage.
• The Brute: Though he's more than capable of using his head, mostly he prefers to strong-arm his victims. After he drains Discord's chaos magic, he barely uses it, instead almost entirely using sheer physical force against Twilight during their clash. And once he has the Alicorns' magic, he simply rampages around, destroying the landscape, simply because he can. This continues in Season 9, where in contrast to Sombra, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow who demonstrate more finesse with their powers, Tirek's approach to any problem is to try and smash it or blast it (though he is smart enough to use his brain against any problem he can't simply manhandle).
• The Bus Came Back: Tirek appears in a major role for the first time since the Season 4 finale in Season 8 for the "School Raze" two-parter.
• Cain and Abel: He's the Cain to Scorpan's Abel.
• Card-Carrying Villain: In Frenemies, he joins in the Villain Song titled "Better Way to Be Bad".
• Character Development: Throughout Season 9, he gradually learns to work better with his allies in the Legion of Doom.
• The Chessmaster: An enemy too strong to drain that could lock him back up in a heartbeat? Convinces him to join his side, then disposes of him once he has become powerful enough to drain him. The last alicorn between him and the power he needs to rule the world? He makes sure to have bartering chips in reserve in case of a stalemate.
• Composite Character: While he shares his appearance, deep booming voice, general frightening presence, and many personality traits with Tirac, his plan and powers are similar to Lavan and Erebus, two other G1 villains.
• The Corrupter: He convinces Discord to turn on the ponies and help him drain their power, telling him that in becoming their friend he's suppressing his true nature and is just imprisoned in a different manner for it.
• Daddy Issues: Discord implies that Tirek uses the power he gains from draining magic to compensate for his inability to earn the approval of his father.
• Deadpan Snarker: Surprisingly, he gets a few moments in Season 9.
• Decomposite Character: His original goal is given to Nightmare Moon.
• Demoted to Dragon: In Season 9, he goes from the Big Bad of Season 4 and the Greater-Scope Villain of Season 8 to one of Grogar's flunkies. This is until the finale, when Grogar is revealed to be Discord and he instead becomes part of a Big Bad Triumvirate.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: His 'everypony will bow to my will' comment implies Tirek's ultimate goal is a world were he has all the power and everyone else has none.
• Didn't See That Coming: As a consequence of his long imprisonment, Tirek isn't fully up to date on current events. (For example, he's surprised to learn that there is a fourth alicorn princess.) Because of this, he is repeatedly blindsided by this trope, but usually proves very good at rolling with the punches. However, in the end, it catches up with him when he doesn't realize the Mane Six still have a trump card left in the form of the Harmony Box.
• Didn't Think This Through: He is initially ecstatic to learn that the Mane Six will be trapped with him in Tartarus for all eternity, but soon changes his tune when he realizes that he is trapped in Tartarus with the Mane Six for all eternity.
• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: He successfully got Discord to his side by promising to let him go back to the way he was. Note that he was barely powerful enough to do anything at this point, and Discord had just defeated him in about ten seconds flat. Once he gets strong enough, he takes Discord's power too.
• Dragged Off to Hell: He was imprisoned in Tartarus for his crimes until he escaped. He's ultimately dragged back in the end, but is freed once more by Grogar, who actually is Discord in disguise, in the Season 9 premiere.
• The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of him. Upon having a prophetic dream of his return, the next thing Celestia does is call in the other Princesses, explain to them what's going on, and sic Discord on him before he gains any more power.
• Escaped from Hell: Quite literally in a Classical Mythological sense, as he manages to escape Tartarus.
• Establishing Character Moment: He walks up to a unicorn in an alleyway during the dead of night, introduces himself as "no friend" in the creepiest voice imaginable, and drains the hapless unicorn of his magic.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In "Frenemies", Cozy Glow mentions that Tirek talks to his "Gram-Gram" in his sleep, which is one of the only redeeming qualities Tirek has displayed thus far. Tirek immediately screams not to bring his Gram-Gram into their argument.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk he may be, but Tirek does have one rule — trust and loyalty. He despises Scorpan for turning on him, and is outraged at Discord not telling him there was a fourth princess (Twilight) and turns on him soon after. When Twilight demands the release of her friends, Tirek is surprised and disgruntled she includes Discord under that definition in spite of him betraying them. Also, he does release them all as he agreed, so at least he kept his word.
  • Zigzagged in "School Raze": Despite believing that Cozy Glow's plan to send all of Equestria's magic to another realm was wasteful, he gladly went along with it, since it meant the ponies would suffer.
    • Played straighter in "Frenemies" when he suggests draining all the magic from Equestria was a bit excessive.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His utter disregard for loyalty and friendship is precisely how Twilight and the others defeated him the first time.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • In a sense, he and his brother, Scorpan, are ones to the Royal Pony sisters. They originally came to Equestria to conquer it, but Scorpan befriended the ponies, changed sides and tried to convince Tirek to do the same. When Tirek refused to do so, Scorpan had no choice but to imprison him.
  • To Discord; Tirek is a mash-up of at least two mythological creatures (A centaur with minotaur-like features such as bull horns and cloven hooves), and both are very good Chess Masters to an extent. But Discord eventually reformed because he realized how wonderful it is to have friends while Tirek sees friendship as weak and pathetic and remains as evil as ever.
  • To Celestia; Tirek has a demonic appearance which contrasts with her angelic one. He and Scorpan are shown to be princes in FIENDship Is Magic, making them even more this.
• Eviler than Thou: He pulls this on Discord after convincing him to pull a Face–Heel Turn, only using him to regain his lost strength before telling him You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: Tirek's magic is fire-based, or at least gives off the impression of being fiery.
• Evil Is Hammy: "WHERRRRRRE IS YOUR MAGIIIIIIC?!?"
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  • The main reason he gets as powerful as he does as quickly as he does is because Discord uses his own powers to hand him Equestria on a platter. Celestia even mentions the only reason the Alicorn princesses can't smack Tirek down as a last resort is that they can't beat him while he's under Discord's protection. For all his trouble, Discord gets his powers stolen the moment Tirek is strong enough to just take them.
  • Hits Discord with this again during the finale when he teams up with Chrysalis and Cozy Glow when his plan to use the trio to boost Twilight's confidence backfires when they turn out to be far more dangerous and cunning than he realized.
• Evil Is Petty: He teaches Cozy Glow how to drain Equestria of magic just because he knew the Mane Six would trap themselves in Tartarus trying to figure out the cause, even though otherwise it in no way benefits him to do so. He even lampshades how wasteful it is, considering his M.O.
• Evil Mentor: Turns out he's been acting as this for Cozy Glow.
• The Evil Prince: FIENDship Is Magic reveals he was an actual prince of the centaurs, adding ambition to his many sins, and showing part of his motive was resentment over his father's (completely justified) holding him back from power, fearing what Tirek would do with it. The series finale brings this into main canon, while also revealing Tirek has a bit of an inferiority complex towards his father King Vorak.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is rather feeble-sounding at first, but it becomes deep and booming later on.
• False Friend: He fakes a friendship with Discord.
• Fatal Flaw: Greed. His stealing Discord's power despite him still being an ally who likely would have willingly aided him leads to his defeat.
• Faux Affably Evil: Acts friendly and polite with Discord, even congratulating him on escaping imprisonment. It continues into the next episode, but is limited to Discord. He drops the act once he no longer needs Discord's aid, stabs him in the back, and mocks Discord for trusting him.
• Final Boss: Successfully betrays Grogar/Discord to become the final villain of the series, sharing the role with Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.
• Flight: After absorbing Discord's magic, he displayed this against Twilight, ramming her through a mountain and remaining airborne while doing so.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In "It's About Time", Twilight muses over the catastrophe that could result from the ancient abominations locked in Tartarus breaking out. Celestia confirms that he's been loose since "It's About Time" when Cerberus left his post; he's just been too weak to be a threat until now.
  • In "School Raze", he refers to Twilight as the Princess of Friendship when she and her friends confront him. Since he was reimprisoned immediately before Twilight gained that title, this was an early indicator that Tirek had been in contact with somepony on the outside world.
• Four Is Death: He goes through four forms, each one getting bigger, and each time making his horns grow.
• Freudian Excuse: Discord implies that the reason Tirek takes magic from ponies is because he uses the power he gains from it to compensate for the fact that he was never able to earn approval from his dad, King Vorak.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While he was born an Evil Prince, he was a normal, if talented member of his race. He eventually becomes a near all-powerful threat to Equestria. By the end of his time as Arc Villain he's stronger than Discord.

Tropes G to O

• Genius Bruiser: He's a Manipulative Bastard good enough to play Discord like a fiddle, but in his penultimate form has enough strength to ram straight through a mountain and lift a slab of rock bigger than he is with little effort.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: His eyes glow yellow.
• Godhood Seeker: While the show doesn't directly state it, this is more or less what his plan amounts to. In a world where ponies need magic to control the forces of nature, Tirek draining them would give him control over the rise and fall of the sun and moon, allow him to manipulate weather freely, and he'd be the only creature able to grow the crops the ponies need to feed themselves.
• Godzilla Threshold: How dangerous is Tirek? Enough for Celestia to ask Discord to defeat him!
• Greater-Scope Villain: Of the Season 8 finale "School Raze". He's still locked up and virtually powerless in Tartarus, but it was his advice that allowed Cozy Glow to enact her plan, and she uses fear of Tirek to trick the Mane Six into trapping themselves in Tartarus with him.
• Greed: His hunger for power is one of his defining features.
• Hades Shaded: His skin tone starts off a dull brown and then grows to a bright red as he gains power.
• Hand Behind Head: He does this in "The Beginning of the End-Part 2," out of nervousness in joining Grogar's plan.
• Hated by All: Backstabbing the only being on his side will do that. Not that he cares; he seems to like earning the hate of every victim he thinks is powerless to stop him. He does gain Chrysalis and Cozy Glow as allies in Season 9, though.
• Having a Blast: Attacks with fiery blasts of magic from between his horns.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Ultimately, Tirek was failed by his own hunger for power; had he accepted Scorpan's offer, he would not have been imprisoned in Tartarus. This also means that Tirek brought his transformation into stone upon himself.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He sets the stage for his own defeat when he gives Discord his medallion, which is passed on to Twilight when she demands Discord's freedom, turning it into the sixth key that unlocks the Tree of Harmony chest and grants the Mane Six their Rainbow Power. Downplayed in that no-one could have seen it coming and Tirek had no way to know this would bite him in the flank.
• Horror Hunger: His Mana Drain seems to resemble this, as he literally swallows a unicorn/alicorn's magic, leaving them an empty-eyed, blank-flanked shell of their former self.
• Hulking Out: Initially appearing as scrawny old centaur, but when he starts absorbing magic he gets bigger and more muscular. By the time he fights Twilight, he's turned into a walking tank with his arms growing so big that they break the wrist bands in the picture shown.
• Hypocrite: He despises his brother for turning against him, yet he uses and betrays Discord without a second thought. The comics also show that he betrayed his old mentor Sendak, who genuinely seemed to care for him and helped him learn to control his magic.
• In a Single Bound: While his third form cannot fly like Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, he can jump extremely far.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: He has a huge ego and feels entitled to whatever he desires...but Discord suggests part of his driving force is feeling he's inferior to his father, King Vorak. The fact this provokes Tirek enough to try and blast him then and there suggests this is indeed true.
• In Name Only: While he does look somewhat similar, his voice, motivations, and personality are all much different then his G1 counterpart. Still that provides very little comfort when the ponies are confronted by a hellbeast.
• Insistent Terminology: He's very insistent on being called Lord Tirek.
• Insufferable Genius: He is very smart with his plans and manipulations, and smugly rubs this in other's faces pretty often. When he and Cozy Glow get into an argument, she describes him as having an "I'm so much smarter than you" attitude and that she is done putting up with it.
• In the Hood: Starts out wearing a hooded robe, framing the upper half of his face in shadow. Justified, as being a centaur he can't blend in with ponies without some method of hiding himself.
• It Amused Me: He justifies answering Cozy Glow's inquiries about how to drain magic from Equestria by claiming he was "bored".
• It's All About Me: He wants power for himself, he hates his brother for having moral qualms and turning on him and getting in his way. He also constantly refers to the magic of Equestria as being "his", considering it to have always belonged to him in the first place. This explains him stabbing Discord in the back.
• It's Personal: Destroying Twilight's home made him this for Twilight, prompting her to go berserk on him. Notably, unlike previous villains that did this, the act that warranted this reaction stuck.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He's so power-hungry he doesn't seem to care if getting what he wants leaves Equestria lifeless. He also seems to start a Villainous Friendship with Discord when he gave the medallion of his brother Scorpan, but he later betrays him while saying that the medallion is worthless to him because he hates his brother for "betraying" him. He sees his companionship with Discord as being just as disposable as the medallion.
• Kick the Dog: After draining Rockhoof of his magic (reducing him to the scrawny stallion he once was), Tirek mockingly says, "Oh, run along. The big stallions are playing".
• Killer Gorilla: His upper humanoid half looks somewhat simian, especially when he grows a crest-like mane.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • In "Frenemies", he's the only one of the Legion of Doom who takes Grogar's warnings about Mount Everhoof being impossible for any single being to transerve alone seriously. When they actually get there and get a good look at it, he just builds a camp and relaxes while the others try and fail to scale the mountain themselves and waits for them to come back.
  • In the finale, he and Cozy Glow immediately back down when they're depowered. Not that it saves them.
• Large and in Charge: The more magic he absorbs, the larger he becomes. Once he's drained Twilight and thus has absorbed the magic of all four Alicorn Princesses, he's starting to reach Ursa Major size.
• Large Ham: His hamminess grows proportionally with his size.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the series finale, he is petrified along with Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, and Discord remarks that they'd all hate that more than anything. What's more, he is reverted all the way down to his frail and skinny first form before it happens, not even being left with his muscular second form that he had spent most of the season in, when he wanted to re-obtain the huge physique of his final form.
• Lean and Mean: He starts off a scrawny monkey-like figure, then grows stronger and more muscled as he absorbs magic.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite his immense power, he's also fast in his penultimate form.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Having been sealed in Tartarus for hundreds of years, and then hiding while recovering his strength after his escape, he's not entirely caught up on everything that's happened since his imprisonment, resulting in him being repeatedly surprised. That he quickly adapts and becomes the biggest threat Equestria has ever seen is a testament to his intelligence.
• Love Is a Weakness: Views friendship in this light, believing his brother Scorpan and Discord were weak minded for allowing friendship to change them. Considering what world this is, he's proven wrong. He voices this opinion again in "The Ending of the End — Part 2" after he and his allies force the Mane Six to surrender by threatening Spike, calling the magic of friendship their "greatest weakness".
• Mage-Hunting Monster: When he first escaped Tartarus and was in a weakened state, he could only drain the magic of unicorns and wasn't a threat to any of the other pony species. As he stole more magic, however, he eventually got powerful enough to drain pegasi, earth ponies, and eventually more powerful beings like alicorns and Discord.
• Magikarp Power: He starts out as a weak, frail creature but, as he consumes more magic, he becomes larger and more powerful and his appearance becomes more menacing. His final form is almost the size of an Ursa Major.
• Mana Drain: Has the power to drain others of their magic. At first he can only drain unicorns, but he grows stronger each time, and starts moving on to pegasi, earth ponies, alicorns, and even Discord. "Frenemies" reveals he can also release the magic he's absorbed willingly, and that he can't absorb magic from nonliving things.
• Manipulative Bastard: He effortlessly manipulates Discord, himself a master of this trope. He also makes sure to keep Discord on his side; Whenever Discord showed signs of faltering, Tirek would quickly take steps to appease him, either by offering him the chance to "have a little fun", or giving him his brother's medallion as a false symbol of his gratitude and loyalty.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: He's so cunning and manipulative that he can start a scheme to potentially doom Equestria, even while he's locked in Tartarus and kept in his powerless form. Thanks to being pen pals with Cozy Glow, he almost succeeds in removing all magic from Equestria, despite not even leaving his cage.
• Mind over Matter: After he starts gaining power he displays powerful telekinesis, including grabbing Twilight and throwing her into a mountain with it.
• Miracle-Gro Monster: A side effect of his Mana Drain.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: As a centaur, Tirek has the lower body of a horse and a humanoid torso, but also with traits of a bull (horns, nose ring, hoofs) and of an ape (at first rather baboon-like in his weakest form, and then more gorilla-like as he gains power).
• Moral Myopia: Is willing to suck the life out of an entire country to get what he wants and cause untold suffering, as well as stab Discord in the back, but holds a grudge on his brother Scorpan for betraying him, ignoring the fact Scorpan outright tried to talk him out of it before hand and was ignored, leaving Scorpan with no other choice. He also expresses disgust that Twilight considers Discord her friend despite his backstabbery, though given he had openly expressed friendship as an empty virtue, this may have been the point.
• Narcissist: After being restored to one of his more powerful forms (courtesy of Grogar donating some magic for him to eat), he briefly flexes his muscles and kisses his biceps. In "Frenemies", he has a portrait of his fully-powered form in his quarters.
• Never My Fault: Shows continual hatred and bitterness towards his brother Scorpan, never even considering the fact Scorpan offered him a Last-Second Chance and tried to talk him out of their plans and thus it's entirely Tirek's own fault Scorpan was forced to betray his brother. He also believes his defeat at the Mane Six's hooves was a result of them being "annoyingly lucky".
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In "School Raze", Tirek tells the Mane Six who his pen pal in the School of Friendship is because he doesn't think they'll ever escape Tartarus. As a result, they know who to confront once they get back to the school.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: By the time he fights Twilight, he can take hits from massive energy beams that rip trenches in the ground, slams through a mountain, get sent into the ground by an energy attack that buries him, and be caught in explosions that leave massive craters... all without a scratch.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: There's still a little bit of ham in him, but by the standards of most MLP villains, he's frighteningly straightforward. He's not even much of a sadist, generally preferring to dispose of his opponents quickly and efficiently and THEN maybe indulging in some light taunting.
• Not So Above It All: In "Frenemies", he momentarily breaks from his normal seriousness and joins in a Villain Song with Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, even dancing a bit towards the end and striking a pose.
• Obviously Evil: All of the MLP villains qualify, but most of them had some degree of subtlety. Tirek stands out in the fact in just how blatantly evil he is. You can tell he's trouble just by looking at him.
• The One Guy: In Season 9, he is the only male besides Grogar in the Legion of Doom among Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.
• One-Man Army:
  • He starts off small and weak as a result of his imprisonment, but as he starts growing stronger he drains hundreds of ponies of their magic, dozens at a time. Even charged up with the power of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, Twilight is barely able to fight him to a standstill.
  • In the series finale, Tirek seems to be by far the most powerful member of the Legion of Doom after the three of them absorb the power of Grogar's bell. Even after being powered up by the bell, Cozy Glow is quickly defeated by the Mane Six using only their own innate talents with no special magical assistance, and Starlight Glimmer is able to match Chrysalis blow-for-blow, while Tirek is able to effortlessly defeat Star Swirl and the Pillars of Equestria, and in the final battle he's ultimately the one who disperses the combined armies of Equestria and its neighboring kingdoms with a single punch to the ground.
• Only Sane Man: He seems to be by far the wisest and most sensible of the Legion of Doom. When sent to retrieve Grogar's bell, he's the only one to sit back and scope the problem out while the others dive in head first and fail repeatedly. Also, ironically despite his intention to destroy Equestria instead of rule it, in the series finale he's the only villain to be wise enough to realize that the Windigos would be the real winners if the villains succeeded in their plans, and thus were a problem that should be dealt with, while Cozy Glow and Chrysalis are too focused on defeating the ponies to realize that if the three of them actually won, the Windigos would turn Equestria into a barren wasteland and render their victory a case of Pyrrhic Victory. He also advocates finding and capturing Twilight, well aware that she is a possible threat to the villains' plans.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: For one thing, this one is the My Little Pony equivalent of Satan. His upper body is more simian than human, which goes with the show's policy to never include any humans or part-human creatures.
• Our Demons Are Different: He's not from Hell, he's from Tartarus. And he wasn't even born from there in the first place.
• Out of Focus: Compared to the other Arc Villains up to the Pony of Shadows, Tirek doesn't get much attention after his defeat. Nightmare Moon appears in frequent cameos and flashbacks, Chrysalis and Sombra feature prominently in the comics and in the Season 5 finale, and Discord and Starlight reformed and joined the main cast. Tirek, however, only rarely gets namedropped and got a very brief cameo in the Season 5 finale. He finally returns in the season 8 finale.

Tropes P to Y

• Person of Mass Destruction:
  • Case in point: an attack aimed at Twilight manages to blow Golden Oak Library to kingdom come and his battle with her devastates the landscape.
  • In the Bad Future where he wins, there doesn't appear to be anything left for him to rule, because he's just going around destroying everything with sadistic glee. In Season 9, Sombra, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow are all motivated by a desire for conquest and a thirst for revenge, while Tirek seems to just want to completely obliterate Equestria For the Evulz.
• Pet the Dog:
  • While he considers Cozy Glow a nuisance, he does let her hide behind him when she's scared without a complaint, expresses concern when Grogar berates her for not knowing his name, and takes the time to explain to her who Grogar is.
  • In "Frenemies", he honors his word and returns Chrysalis' powers to her despite having a golden opportunity to betray her and take said powers for himself.
  • In "The Summer Sun Setback", he catches a bird that was blown away by Canterlot castle's fan defenses. During the same episode, he casually plays chess with Cozy Glow.
• Physical God: By the end of his stint as Big Bad, he's become stronger than Discord and Nigh-Invulnerable.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Rare case where getting more power causes his facial hair to grow (into a Beard of Evil). It's not until he's near the height of his power that the hair on his head grows too.
• Pragmatic Villainy: While still a monstrous individual, of the Legion of Doom he's also the most pragmatic and least likely to partake in pointless sadism that might bite them in the butt and suggest reasonable plans. This includes calling for the Windigos to be immediately dealt with rather than trying to exploit them and risk losing control of the situation.
• Reality Warper: After stealing enough magic (especially Discord's), he demonstrates shades of this twice: by summoning a portal to Tartarus (to trap Celestia, Luna, and Cadance), and then by summoning Twilight's friends trapped in giant orbs (to force her into a Sadistic Choice). He even cements the latter with a Badass Fingersnap of his own, possibly to mock Discord after stealing his magic.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: His character design invokes much use of red and black, and he's definitely not a hero.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Contrary to what their appearances and color schemes would imply, he's actually the Blue Oni to Cozy Glow's Red Oni. He remains calm even when destroying everything around him, comitting crimes, or taunting his foes, whereas Cozy Glow is an Ax-Crazy Bratty Half-Pint who is very excitable, talkative, and open about her desire to destroy Twilight and her friends.
• Related in the Adaptation: In G1, Scorpan was Tirac's minion. In this version, they are brothers, despite appearing to be different species.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Pulls this on Discord, and was genuinely confused as to why Twilight would still consider him a friend.
• Satanic Archetype: He came from another realm to conquer Equestria, but was defeated and sealed in Tartarus. Now that he's back he's considered the most powerful threat the kingdom has ever seen, and he manipulates Discord into helping him, only to turn on him once he no longer needs him. At the height of his power he even looks the part, with a white beard, red skin, horns, and of course, hooves.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: He was originally trapped in Tartarus; now he's out. He's re-sealed at the end of the finale.
• Shadow Archetype: Like Discord pre-Character Development, he's self centered, holds a grudge when slighted despite his own evil deeds, considers Friendship to be a worthless thing, and is a Manipulative Bastard of the highest order. Unlike Discord, instead of allowing a friend (Discord, ironically) to change him, he stabs said "friend" in the back at the first opportunity, something Discord originally couldn't bring himself to do until convinced to by Tirek. Fittingly, it's Discord fully embracing the value of friendship that leads to Tirek being vanquished.
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: After being hit by the Mane Six's Wave-Motion Gun, he shrinks back down to his weak thin form.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He's incredibly egotistical and a straight up narcissist who's obsessed with power and ruling over others to the point that he's quick to betray just so he remains on top.
• Smarter Than You Look: As he drains more magic and gets bigger and stronger, it becomes apparent that he prefer to strong-arm others to get what he wants and his fighting style is quite brutish and destructive. Beneath that he's still a Manipulative Bastard fully willing and able to use his brain if his brawn can't cut it such as when he finds himself fighting and merely breaking even with Twilight and so unveils his Hostage for MacGuffin ploy.
• Snowballing Threat: His Mana Drain gives him this powerset, as he can absorb anyone substantially weaker than him.
• The Sociopath: Feels no empathy for anyone he hurts as long as he gets his way, has a grandiose sense of self-worth, and will manipulate anyone he pleases to serve his ends. He's basically Discord if he didn't reform. If even Discord finds you repulsive, you probably fit this trope. This aspect of him even shows in the comics. He constantly disobeys his parents' rules not to go in the "nether lands" and constantly lies about it. He used magic to force his little brother in a physical restrain, causing Scorpan to cry. He snuck into Sendak's cave, using a spell to keep him from interfering, to try and suck magic from a captive unicorn. When this fails, Tirek just runs from responsibility and lies about ever being involved even though his actions could've sent his kingdom and Equestria's into war (according to his father, King Vorak). Vorak even mentions that Tirek was ALWAYS like this since he was BORN. Despite his family being loving, he never appreciates how much they love him and how much they just want to keep him out of trouble. Subverted as "Frenemies" reveals he loves his grandmother, which is something somebody with Anti-Social Personality Disorder can't do.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: At the end of "School Raze", he is able to interpret Cerberus's whining as a complaint about how "boring" it is in Tartarus with the Mane Six gone.
• The Starscream: At the end of "Frenemies", he and the other members of the Legion of Doom agree to keep Grogar's bell for themselves and plot against him.
• Super-Toughness: In his penultimate form prior to draining Twilight, his power was such that even the combined power of the Alicorn Princesses could only match him equally. By the end of it he is completely unharmed, only annoyed that he was not strong enough to get what he wanted by brute force. After being powered up by Grogar's bell, he is able to No-Sell attacks from Star Swirl the Bearded, the greatest unicorn sorcerer in history (who was being backed up by Mistmane, another powerful unicorn, at the time).
• Taken for Granite: His ultimate fate, along with Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. He gets Depowered, is said to be Beyond Redemption by Celestia, then turned to stone, presumably permanently.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: His alliance with the other members of the Legion of Doom is just barely held together by Grogar's threats of violence. They do manage a better working relationship once they decide to put aside any differences until Grogar and all their enemies are crushed, though.
• This Cannot Be!: His reaction to the Mane Six obtaining their Super Mode and No Selling his Wave-Motion Tuning Fork after he drained their magic.
• Time Abyss: He has spent over a thousand years imprisoned in Tartarus, and may be even older than that, as it's implied he and Discord may know each other.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His Hulking Out eventually makes his arms bigger than his legs.
• Treachery Cover Up: Tirek is forced by Cozy and Chrysalis to give back the earth pony magic he stole as to avoid Grogar learning of their little "road trip" to Canterlot.
• A True Story in My Universe: In the Equestria Girls dimension, he's the fictional title character of a popular video game series. Amusingly, Sunset Shimmer, a native Equestrian, is a big fan of the games but doesn't seem to recognize Tirek as a real figure from her world.
• Villain Decay: Tirek started as one of the most powerful and successful villains in the entire franchise. During his debut he showed his strength and his wit, playing Discord like a fiddle before disposing of him when he no longer needs him, and draining all the magic in Equestria for himself. In season 8 though he is once again reduced to his weak shriveled form and trapped in Tartarus, forced to rely on Cozy Glow for revenge. Even when the plan they make works and the Mane Six and Spike are trapped in Tartarus, he can only celebrate for a few minutes before he finally realizes that he has actually trapped himself with them for all eternity, and agrees to help them escape when he can't take Pinkie annoying him any longer. The Season 9 premiere reduces him to one of Grogar's toadies, but he spends the season crawling back up to his status as a respectable villain by backstabbing him (though "Grogar" was actually Discord), taking his bell for himself, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, and becoming one of the Final Bosses along with Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.
• Villain Has a Point: Tirek sees through Cozy Glow's attempts to hide her true nature by acting cute and innocent, saying that she has attempted to manipulate both him and Chrysalis the same way she did with Twilight and her friends, and that she shows her true colors whenever she doesn't get her way.
• Villainous Breakdown: Suffers the expected screaming fit as the Mane Six overpower and drain him.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • Started one with Discord but only for the sake of manipulating him.
  • The Season 8 finale reveals that he and Cozy Glow are pen pals. She tries to get him to become friends with Chrysalis as well.
  • In "Frenemies", he proves capable of bonding with Cozy Glow and Chrysalis over their shared hatred of the heroes.
• Villainous Legacy: In "Castle Sweet Castle", the episode is all about Twilight and company dealing with the aftermath of his rampage, but Tirek never appears and is never even mentioned.
• Villain Song: "Better Way to Be Bad", along with Chrysalis and Cozy Glow in "Frenemies".
• Virtue Is Weakness: He sees friendship as another form of imprisonment.
• Wave-Motion Tuning Fork: His magic is generated in the space between his horns, though it still comes from the same point over his head even in his weaker, hornless form.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Implied to be the reason that he takes magic from others; deep down, he's afraid of not living up to his father's expectations.
• White Hair, Black Heart: He has a white beard and starting with his penultimate form has a white mane, but is worse than Discord ever was in terms of sheer evil.
• Would Hurt a Child: Tirek has no problem holding Spike hostage, with the implication he'd be completely willing to kill the little dragon along with Twilight's other friends if it gets him what he wants. Of course, given his G1 counterpart threatened to decapitate Spike, this should come as no surprise. He also has no issues shaking Cozy Glow around roughly when he gets particularly annoyed with her. In the finale, not only does he have no objections when Chrysalis threatens to tear Spike's wings off to get the ponies to surrender, but he still tries to kill Spike along with the ponies right afterward.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Tirek is repeatedly caught off-guard throughout his debut two-parter due to acting on faulty information, but proves very adept at rolling with the punches.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Discord has helped Tirek become powerful enough, Tirek drains him as well.

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