Okay, this... is probably not going to be a popular opinion. I know there are still many fans who prefer Discord evil, and I must admit that in-series, his reformation (despite having some great visual gags) was nonsensical at best and carried many Unfortunate Implications at worst.
But that's the hand we've been dealt, and with that in mind, Jeremy Whitley has been the first (and only?) writer who's used the Heel-Face Turn to actually explore new facets of Discord. Namely, he gave Discord a vulnerability that was both interesting and made sense.
What was Discord, as we first knew him? A being with all the powers of a god and all the malice that a TV-Y7 show would allow. It all sounds like the perfect formula for a villain... save for his defeat. For most of "The Return of Harmony", his power over all illogic was played to its logical conclusion, and he wiped the floor with our hero(in)es so thoroughly that his downfall, inevitable as it was (this was still a TV-Y7 show, after all), felt like a cheat. The fact is: only a complete twit could have had that much power at his talon-tips and still lost to a jewelry set that only worked under such narrow circumstances.
And the events of "Keep Calm and Flutter On" hardly need mentioning. Now, Discord was not only an imbecile (why could he not turn Fluttershy to stone, toss the Element of Kindness into the sea, and go his merry way again?) but also given an eleventh-hour friendship addiction. A sorry sight indeed.
Whitley does not - cannot - reverse these disappointments, but he does the next best thing: give the god a task even all his powers can't accomplish. It makes the Crusaders the butt of a rather cruel joke, but I'm blackhearted enough to chuckle at their string of failures. And for the first time, we see Discord grapple with a new and genuine emotion: frustration. The Lord of Chaos has known powerlessness before, but only now does he know limitation. And he charges headlong against it, ego (and perhaps a little bit of kindness) spiraling out of control until Sweetie Belle breaks through to him with an innocent "thank-you".
The image of a mere child defusing a Mad God is so powerful, even the cliched "we're all outcasts" speech doesn't feel as painful as it should have been. And that, my friends, is real magic.
Friends Forever #2: The Greatest Discord Story Ever Told...?
Okay, this... is probably not going to be a popular opinion. I know there are still many fans who prefer Discord evil, and I must admit that in-series, his reformation (despite having some great visual gags) was nonsensical at best and carried many Unfortunate Implications at worst.
But that's the hand we've been dealt, and with that in mind, Jeremy Whitley has been the first (and only?) writer who's used the Heel-Face Turn to actually explore new facets of Discord. Namely, he gave Discord a vulnerability that was both interesting and made sense.
What was Discord, as we first knew him? A being with all the powers of a god and all the malice that a TV-Y7 show would allow. It all sounds like the perfect formula for a villain... save for his defeat. For most of "The Return of Harmony", his power over all illogic was played to its logical conclusion, and he wiped the floor with our hero(in)es so thoroughly that his downfall, inevitable as it was (this was still a TV-Y7 show, after all), felt like a cheat. The fact is: only a complete twit could have had that much power at his talon-tips and still lost to a jewelry set that only worked under such narrow circumstances.
And the events of "Keep Calm and Flutter On" hardly need mentioning. Now, Discord was not only an imbecile (why could he not turn Fluttershy to stone, toss the Element of Kindness into the sea, and go his merry way again?) but also given an eleventh-hour friendship addiction. A sorry sight indeed.
Whitley does not - cannot - reverse these disappointments, but he does the next best thing: give the god a task even all his powers can't accomplish. It makes the Crusaders the butt of a rather cruel joke, but I'm blackhearted enough to chuckle at their string of failures. And for the first time, we see Discord grapple with a new and genuine emotion: frustration. The Lord of Chaos has known powerlessness before, but only now does he know limitation. And he charges headlong against it, ego (and perhaps a little bit of kindness) spiraling out of control until Sweetie Belle breaks through to him with an innocent "thank-you".
The image of a mere child defusing a Mad God is so powerful, even the cliched "we're all outcasts" speech doesn't feel as painful as it should have been. And that, my friends, is real magic.