Discussion Characters / FriendshipIsMagicDiscord

Does Discord count as a unscruplous hero now eos or is he just a nicer nominal hero?

Okay, since nobody else seem interested in discussing this, I'm restoring all the tropes to the page. We'll see if Jade feels like edit-warring over this.

Trope examples removed by Jadethe Pegasus without leaving edit reasons. Let's discuss if they are valid:

• Anti-Villain: After his debut, whenever he antagonizes somepony, he's no longer malicious about it and/or now has some friendship-based motive. And even his relapse in "Twilight's Kingdom" ends in him seeing his error.

• Arc Villain: Of "The Return of Harmony" two-parter and, to a lesser extent, the "Princess Twilight Sparkle" two-parter. [[spoiler:In "Twilight's Kingdom" he's Demoted to Dragon by Lord Tirek.

• Card-Carrying Villain: "Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Helloooo?"

• Chaos Is Evil:
  • Zigzagged in canon. Played straight in that his status as "Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony" is initially used to portrayed him as a villain; a Mad God who turns the world in a Cloud Cuckoo Land and wreaks havoc on people For the Evulz. Subverted in that he ultimately is redeemed and becomes a friend to the Mane Six, whilst still being a Cloudcuckoolander Reality Warper who revels in chaos and nonsense.
  • Inverted in one comics story, where he becomes his polar opposite; the Order Spirit Accord. In this guise, he portrays the trope's Inversion, "Order Is Evil", by pointing out that individual personality and thoughts are a form of chaos and seeking to grant Equestria "true order" by brainwashing everyone into a single homogeneous Mind Hive. The only way to stop him is to reverse him back into Discord.

• Classic Villain: Fits all of the criteria as a Wrath and Pride villain before his Heel–Face Turn.

• Evil Is Hammy: It's John de Lancie playing a much more malicious version of Q as a draconequus.

• Evil Overlord:
  • Ruled Equestria over 1,000 years ago. Celestia implies his rule was far from pretty — the stained glass window depicting his rule shows a cackling Discord dangling three helpless ponies on puppet strings over a pit of fire. He becomes this again during his brief reign over Equestria after being freed.
  • In one alternate future in "The Cutie Re-Mark", Discord returns to power unopposed, and turns the current sovereigns, Princesses Celestia and Luna, into his personal clowns to torment in payback for his original defeat by them.

• Evil Sounds Deep: Averted; while John de Lancie does have a deep voice, he doesn't give Discord a commanding, threatening tone, but a jovial, excited, and sarcastic one, suiting his deceptive characterization. De Lancie has said his recordings are sped up to make Discord talk faster, resulting in his natural bass being lost. In his first appearance, there are instances where his voice drops to a more threatening, ominous tone, usually when he's doing something particularly malicious. However, follow his reformation, this aspect mostly disappears.

• Faux Affably Evil: In his debut, Discord treats the ordeal as a "game" and seems good-natured... then we see the absolute joy he takes in manipulating and breaking the Mane Cast. However, he eventually becomes genuinely Affably Evil at worst, courtesy of Fluttershy.

• For the Evulz: While he may do things because it amuses him, he's not above doing terrible things to achieve that goal. He clearly acknowledges morality as a thing, but, true to the trope, he doesn't care about it in any way other than how he can exploit it for his own ends. Subverted as of "Keep Calm and Flutter On", when he has a Heel Realization. After that, while still a Jerkass, his actions tend more towards It Amused Me than this trope.

• God of Evil: Closer to God of Chaos and Disharmony, but a much more literal example than Nightmare Moon. Not only is he truly evil, but his powers are far more god-like than hers were, and he claims to be several eons old. However, this is eventually subverted, as he eventually is reformed and comes to truly embrace the importance of friendship (although he still remains rather chaotic).

• Laughably Evil: He's fun to watch, that's for sure, but he's more like The Joker in this respect, as it just makes him more creepy and disturbing. After his Heel–Face Turn, he... well, he's still this, in more of a Poke the Poodle fashion.

• Non-Action Big Bad: Among the Big Bads, he's the least inclined to fight directly (Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Sombra, and especially Tirek and Starlight all have action scenes ranging from brief to lengthy); at most, he just sticks around to watch his Powers Do the Fighting.

• Not-So-Harmless Villain: At first, he only seems mischievous by doing things like making cotton candy clouds that produce chocolate rain. Then he steals the Elements of Harmony, and things just get worse from there.

• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Twilight Sparkle complains about the hedge maze being taken away, he corrects her error in reasoning by proving he never said the Elements were in the maze, instead of keeping quiet and letting her continue to believe they've already lost because of his cheating. He is completely aware of this and never lets Twilight know that the Elements won't work if the team isn't completely united. In fact, he was banking on their failure increasing their despair to the point where it will drive them apart permanently, thus granting him long-term security from the only viable threat to his power. It still comes back to bite him, as the Elements are ultimately used to defeat him later on.

• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Unlike a certain princess, he doesn't turn ponies into stone! This has nothing to do with morals; he's "chaos", and chaos is "active", so turning ponies to stone is just too boring.
  • His friendship with Fluttershy was initially part of a plan to cause chaos under her nose, until he came to genuinely care for it. Even then, he admits that he was only being a good guy for the sake of it, letting Tirek tempt him.
  • The "Discord's Magical History Tour" comic reveals he helped topple a evil regime long before his Heel–Face Turn, likely because he viewed it as "boring".

• Sealed Evil in a Can: Discord had been imprisoned in a stone statue by Celestia and Luna since ancient times for the suffering his rule brought everyone in Equestria. The Cutie Mark Crusaders release him by creating discord (fighting) in front of it, giving him the power to break free from his weakened prison. He's put back in his can at the end of Part 2. The Mane Six eventually release him and reform him.

• Sissy Villain: He shows some feminine traits, such as cross-dressing.

• Token Evil Teammate: Post Heel–Face Turn. He's not evil anymore, but he's still a mischievous Troll who only helps out when and if he feels like it, and the cast aside from Fluttershy don't trust him. "Twilight's Kingdom" then deconstructs this — turns out when you team up with a former villain with nothing to ensure his cooperation but the honor system, The Power of Friendship can only do so much. Especially if he is only really friends with one pony and the others... really don't try to understand him (though he didn't make much of an effort to endear himself to anypony but Fluttershy). Now that he's truly learned how valuable friendship has become to him, he seems to look at subverting this trope and becoming genuinely good.

• Villain Decay: While he is still as powerful as he was in his premiere, Discord's evil has been downplayed since season 3 because of his Morality Chain. Tirek pointing this out to him is the motivation for Discord's Face–Heel Turn to try and reclaim his former glory, but he has reformed more than he realizes and just doesn't have it in him anymore.

• Villain Teleportation: Utilizes this more often than walking; it goes well with his lack of personal space to teleport in someone's face.