rainbow rocks Were the Dazzlings really that evil?

[AmberJewel 0]

Were hey? I recently saw a YouTube video (The Brony Notion, I think) about how Queen Chrysalis maybe wasn't as evil as we think. The main reason she wanted Equestria was to feed her subjects, not to simply take over like Discord, Nightmare, ect. So, although she was still evil, it wasn't because she wanted power.

Anyway, that got me thinking. What about the Dazzlings? At the beginning Aria mentions, "I'm tired of fast food. I need a meal." Does this imply that Sirens needed powerful magic, or they could eventually starve? Now, we know that real food is a source ("It's Taco Tuesday!") of energy for them, but could they still survive if their negative energy source was cut off? If not, then I think the Dazzling's aren't completely evil.

What do you think?

~Amber Out~

Edited February 7, 2015 by AmberJewel

[Fallen Valkyrie 525]

I wachd movi about month ago so sry if i miss something:
They are trying to go back to Equestria,but they dont have inaf of power.They are geting power from arguments(or something similar).They are trying to make ther subjects to fight so they can feed on ther,fight?.And as they feed on it they get more and more magic,so they can use more and powerfull magic.Ther greates feeding was on end of movi(thet final battle)and we can clerly see thet they got inaf of power to ,,transform,, back to ..........(forgot what they are).
And just about ther ,,im tired of fast food,, they use ther magic to make people fight so they can feed on it,so this is what i think :they use  10% of ther magic to make people fight but get onli 10.5%.
And about thet would they survive-ther necleses keepd negative energy and they where destroyd at end and they didnt die so i think thet negative energy just keepd em from not ageing.
And in my book they are evil,they done evrything evil,they didnt think about other not for a second and when they lost ther magic they just rund.

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

There is no proof that backs the theory that the sirens need the negative energy to live, they (probably) only need it gain more power. Because of this I think it's safe to assume that they are completely evil. 

Edited February 7, 2015 by Yamet

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

Definitely evil. Like Yamet said, the energy increases their power, I dont know where people got the idea that they needed to live. They have no problem controlling the masses for their own gain.

the fact that aria mentions "meal" I think she meams the fact that shes not getting enough power of it, considering theyre trying to get their equestrian magic back.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

I don't think that was Adagio saying she was literally starving as much as she was simply complaining about her sentence by Starswirl. I mean, does a convicted addict require his fix for physical survival? Do you think he's not going to want his poison of choice in the clinker regardless and try and score whatever scrap of it he can while there? (Similar to what the Dazzlings were doing there first moments on screen, scraping up what they can because they don't know how else to live. Showing their exile was justified as they are unable and unwilling to change for the better.)

 

Adding to this, there original plan in Equestria wasn't that of the Sirens they were based off of. No, they wanted power over everypony and were willing to corrupt all of Equestria to gain that. Their motives on Earth are not any less diabolical. They want to take over the world ("OF COURSE!"   ) and are still willing to corrupt everyone to do that.

 

The icing on the cake is that their entire shtick is more than mind control, something far more sinister than even what Chrysallis did to Shining Armor.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreThanMindControl

Edited February 7, 2015 by Steel Accord

[VitalSpark 1,830]

Immanuel Kant's philosophy is a good lens to look at the motives of fictional characters through. His take on morality was that it is immoral to treat people as a means to an end. (For the purposes of fiction, any sentient beings are effectively people. Ponies are people.)

 

Treating people as a source of food — whether that's feeding on their love (changelings), their hate (sirens), or their magic (Tirek) — is an example of treating them as a means to an end, and thus seems to trigger the "this character is evil" instinct in most people.

 

This is why Discord, even at his worst, never felt as evil as the other villains.

[Dulset Tarn 441]

Nope. Seriously, they barely even did anything besides make people vaguely irritable for a while.

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

Nope. Seriously, they barely even did anything besides make people vaguely irritable for a while.

I can see were youre coming from (edit: lol actually i dont i have no clue what kind of false void youre pulling your assumptions from), but it's quite laughable to call them being VAGULEY irritable. If it was VAGUE then everyone wouldnt have been hollering at each other every chance they got and flash wouldnt have called twilight incompetent and reduced her to tears.

Edited February 8, 2015 by NotoriousSMALL

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

Nope. Seriously, they barely even did anything besides make people vaguely irritable for a while.

Didn't they force people to adore them or something like that? I think that makes them evil enough.

[Fractured 2,683]

In magnitude, not at all. Even in MLP, their plan wasn't really all that impressive compared to other villains.

 

If you mean whether or not their tragic victims, then no. They were sadistic, and enjoyed hurting other people for their goals. They personally tried to murder the Mane Six as well. Even if we were to assume they were just starving... that still doesn't make them innocent. There's (usually) a better way, like talking to a certain magical Equestrian princess and finding a compromise...

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

In a sense, they were. Honestly, they could be compared to Chrysalis and the Changelings. In essence, their main goal made sense and I can see why they did what they did, but you could see that Chrysalis enjoyed toying with and tormenting the various ponies. Likewise, the Dazzlings didn't care who they hurt or what happened to get their means.

 

However, if we're comparing FiM villains, then they're rather light on the evil scale. Sombra (endorses pony slave labor), Nightmare Moon (eternal night leading to famine & death likely), and Tirek (essentially leaving magic-less ponies defenseless on the ground; ripe food for predators) rank MUCH higher, IMO.

[Dulset Tarn 441]

Didn't they force people to adore them or something like that? I think that makes them evil enough.

No, they actually didn't. Aside from the principals, no one at all shows them any deference.

[Dulset Tarn 441]

And when you compare their plan and deeds to Sunset's...

[Phoenix Flair 332]

I don't really believe in the idea of "good vs. evil", especially in literature, but it does seem like the Dazzlings were causing harm sort of needlessly.  I put that down to poor writing, though, rather than being evil.  Or maybe it was just that their nature and personalities include a chronic need for attention and to be liked and adored.  Seems to me that was really the goal of them doing the battle of the bands and all, instead of acquiring more magic.

[KatonRyu 1,026]

Considering they wanted to 'make everyone in this pathetic little world adore us' I think they sought to become powerful in the human world rather than going back to Equestria, but that doesn't make them less evil. They were still trying to brainwash the entire planet and I think we can safely consider that to be an evil goal.

[Po-Nonimous 583]

Yeah, I'd have to say they were definitely evil but, on a slight side note; powerful? Personally I don't think they were all that powerful, certainly not as much as  the original Discord was. If anything they were more like Hades from Disney's Hercules.

[Singe 2,109]

They would be Neutral Evil in a Dungeons and Dragons sense. They want power over everyone and are only doing all this for themselves.

[PROJECT: Simon 3,953]

Since they tried to control everyone, yes they are evil.