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Tirek's abilities


Cwanky

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Presenting Mark Acheson as Tirek:

 

 

So thus far, at least in my book, Tirek trumps all other villains that My Little Pony: FIM has to offer, easily beating out the equally ruthless but blindly arrogant Queen Chrysalis. 

 

Tirek definitely has A LOT going for him. He manipulated the Entity of Chaos - Discord to his will and then just as easily betrayed and weakened him, he took out the Mane 6 and the alicorns with ease, and wields an impressive set of abilities.

 

What we're here to discuss today though is the nature of Tirek's abilities, namely his ability to absorb and channel "magic." We know that since, the 3 pony races at least in part derive their abilities on some inherent magic, it only follows that Tirek absorbed much of those powers. We also know, however that his abilities extend far beyond that, with being able to not only absorb alicorn magic, but also that from non-ponies such as Discord.

 

So exactly, what is the extent and nature of this power?

 

In many ways his magic functions similarly to a unicorn's. He can directly channel it in the form of blasts and create projections an its channeled directly through a medium - his horns. To what extent this is due to Discord's powers is unknown but it still seems pretty vast.

 

There's also the question as to what Tirek absorbs. Almost indisputably, he absorbs magic, from both ponies and non-ponies like Discord alike, so he may likely be able to go after griffons and dragons too after he was done conquering Equestria if he desired. What we don't know is the extent of this power. Did he absorb ALL the magic from the ponies he attacked.

 

Moreover perhaps he also drained their life force. Or perhaps the life force of a creature is directly tied to its magic? Since MLP:FiM is PG-13 and thus killing is generally a no-no, we might never know for sure. What is certain though is that all the people Tirek drained, Discord included not only lost their magic, they became weak to the point that they could not stand up and felt drained. So, if Tirek for example absorbed power from a bird, would it lose the ability to fly and be drained, or could he drain it to the point of death?

 

And so the questions abound.  :wacko:

Edited by Cwanky
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He caught Discord off-guard. Discord showed his weakness and was done for at the time. But truth be known, he's a BEAST!  :P

 

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/062/5/d/discord_by_atryl-d4rill9.png

 

Tirek? I'm not totally sure what the extent and nature of this power is but it certainly isn't better than Discord's, let me tell ya.  :lol: 

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It depends on how the creatures use their magic: I don't think birds in Equestria have magic anyway, so Tirek can't absorb anything from them.

Also, while he can absorb magic, he doesn't know any spell at all, he can just make blasts.

 

 

Since MLP:FiM is PG-13 and thus killing is generally a no-no,

I think you meant TV-Y?

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Tirek's ONLY ability is to take magic from others, everything else he did in the show was a result from the magic he stole from the ponies.

As for Discord, he did show Tirek he wanted a friend BUT also wanted power so Tirek gave this to him. That is why Discord fell from his own greed you could say.

Discord could have easily taken Tirek as we see in their first encounter

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I'm curious if there are more centaurs.  Are they a race somewhere?  Wouldn't put it past horse world having a land of centaurs.

 

If there are others can they all do the things he does or is Tirek just an exceptionally strong warlock?  Like others can drain powers but not to the extent he can.  He's mastered it.

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Tirek has a lot of power and isn't limited in its use. He used powerful telekinetic field on a flock of pegasi, teleported Luna, Celestia and Cadence to Tartarus, used both conjuration and teleportation (the bubbles at the end of Twilight's fight). His capabilities are pretty much endless, he just lacks imagination. Magic ray is the only weapon he uses, despite having the capabilities of, for example, crashing the moon on Equestria or conjuring an army of burning centaur skeletons to do his bidding. 

 

Also on the topic of absorption- ponies eat and breathe, and Tirek doesn't drain the world itself, only ponies. They certainly are vessels of magical energies and are dependent on them, but that isn't the only force driving them.

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I was initially surprised in regard to how easily Tirek was able to overcome Discord, but I think I understand why that is the case. It is indeed possible that Tirek is more powerful than Discord, but I think a likely possibility is that Discord was too emotionally dejected to even want to try to fight back. It almost seems like that he realizes what exactly he has done once Tirek betrays him. The act of being betrayed resulted in him understanding how wrong it was for him to betray the mane six and Equestria as a whole.
 
In regard to what exactly it is that Tirek drains, he certainly drains magic but it seems to be a bit deeper than that due to the other effects it has upon the ponies, such as their cutie marks disappearing. I think he may be draining their essence: which, for unicorns and alicorns, may be inherently tied with magic, but that would vary for other types of pony, such as pegasus and their flight. Tirek was not killing them physically, but it was as if he were draining them on an abstract, spiritual level. 
 
That being said, I don't believe he has the ability to drain everything. I'll have to rewatch the episode to remember the specifics of this, but when Twilight's gift from Discord flashed with rainbow light I believe her coat returned to a normal color, or perhaps it was her eyes. And, that may have actually been when her eyes flashed with rainbow light following Tirek's proposition. Regardless, I believe that demonstrated the fact that Twilight, and most likely everyone else, even if many could not access it as easily, still had an inner flame of life, a spirit, a soul, that could not be touched by Tirek.
 
Fundamentally, his abilities were rooted in greed, hatred, selfishness, and a complete disregard for the well-being of anyone other than himself. This is inherently flawed and destructive, which ultimately lead him to his downfall when he came across that which he had no power over: harmony and light. Rooted in love, balance, reason, and life, his ignorant and destructive pattern stood no chance against it.

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Let's assume that Tirek drained ponies to the maximum extent that he could. This is somewhat limited due to MLP's TV-Y rating, but it makes an easy point for comparisons in the future. With that information, we know that Tirek does not have the ability to kill ponies. However, once he has drained their magic, speech and mobility are made severely more difficult. The ponies are still alive, but likely in their weakest possible state.

 

Tirek has stolen enough [unicorn] magic that he now has the strength to steal flight as well. Without Pegasi to control the weather, there will be no rain in Equestria. There is word he has gone after Earth ponies as well.

 

Until he had collected a sufficient amount of Unicorn magic, Tirek was not strong enough to steal flight. Earth pony magic may be as strong as Pegasus, if he has gone after them at the same time, but it could also be that it is weaker than Unicorn magic--he chose to go after Unicorns first so that he would accumulate more strength more quickly. Alicorns have the combined magic of Earth ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns as well as their own brand of magic (unless "Alicorn magic" is just a phrase used to name all three powers combined). Discord has dark magic, a magic of his own brand, the powers of flight and likely magic similar to that of Unicorns and Earth ponies. According to my own headcanon, Discord is the most powerful being in Equestria (I do not count Tirek in this mix, as Tirek is not powerful on his own, and relies on the accumulated strength of thousands of ponies in order to match Discord), and I would think that he would be more difficult to overpower than a single Alicorn. Or even two Alicorns at that, since he was leader for years before Luna and Celestia stood up to him using the Elements of Harmony instead of their own magic. Had Luna, Celestia and Cadence not transferred their powers to Twilight, I'd think that Discord would have been Tirek's last victim. As it is, I believe Discord would have been able to put up a fair fight to the empowered Tirek, and possibly even defeat him (or at the very least reach a stalemate), if he hadn't been so shocked by Tirek's betrayal and horrified by his own.

 

I think that Tirek's ability to so easily manipulate Discord had little to do with his actual cunning. I believe that in Keep Calm and Flutter On, Discord did genuinely begin to value friendship, though he did not realize he did as he did at the end of Twilight's Kingdom. He learned that it is possible to trust even creatures who have highly contrasting interests. Because Tirek had similar goals to Discord, he was easier to trust and team up with. I find it hard to believe that Tirek expected Discord to be so gullible, since he did not know of his new friendship with ponies. He may have extended a hand somewhat earnestly, only to withdraw it once realizing that Discord put his full trust in him.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

He caught Discord off-guard. Discord showed his weakness and was done for at the time. But truth be known, he's a BEAST!  :P

 

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/062/5/d/discord_by_atryl-d4rill9.png

 

Tirek? I'm not totally sure what the extent and nature of this power is but it certainly isn't better than Discord's, let me tell ya.  :lol: 

I dunno. Even as a devoted Discord fan as I am I have serious doubts whether Discord's powers could have bailed him out at that point. :umad: The fact that Tirek was able to withstand the full blast of power from FOUR alicorns combined leads me to seriously question whether Discord's magic could have much effect. Tirek might as well been able to easily absorb or deflect Discord's magic like he did Shining Armor. A weaker Tirek? Sure. But Tirek was beyond even Queen Chrysalis levels when he betrayed Discord.

 

Tirek just knows how to make DBZ-like blasts. Atleast are much more destructive than "chocolate rain"...

Well at least Discord's chocolate rain was able to neutralize Pinkie and Rainbow...

Edited by Cwanky
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If you call that neutralizing...

Pinkie was enjoying it.

Well if you consider that it the rain had a similar effect to the red balloon in Three's a Crowd, which was also employed by discord, basically distracting and drawing Pinkie's attention away,

 

 

I'd say it got the job done. :blink::umad:

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In regard to what exactly it is that Tirek drains, he certainly drains magic but it seems to be a bit deeper than that due to the other effects it has upon the ponies, such as their cutie marks disappearing. I think he may be draining their essence: which, for unicorns and alicorns, may be inherently tied with magic, but that would vary for other types of pony, such as pegasus and their flight. Tirek was not killing them physically, but it was as if he were draining them on an abstract, spiritual level.

 

 

 

Let's assume that Tirek drained ponies to the maximum extent that he could. This is somewhat limited due to MLP's TV-Y rating, but it makes an easy point for comparisons in the future. With that information, we know that Tirek does not have the ability to kill ponies. However, once he has drained their magic, speech and mobility are made severely more difficult. The ponies are still alive, but likely in their weakest possible state.

 

When I saw the visual effects on the Ponies that Tirek drained, I was reminded of a classic film from my youth - The Dark Crystal. It's a close analogy. The Skeksis were draining the life-force or essence of the Pondlings as a way to rejuvenate with a desire for longevity and strength - there is a power lust aspect going on there too.

 

I could almost hear Tirek say, "Skeksis Ponies friend"

 

To be honest, I'm not sure if the Ponies would have recovered in general, or if that was just Twilight and the Mane Six that seemed to get a second wind at the end. Perhaps it was a benefit to being Elements. I have to re watch it myself and mull it over.

 

 


 

Oh! I'm not getting into villains vs villains stuff ... cause Flim and Flam could take them all out. Power of Industry!

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