What is Sombra even supposed to be?

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,835]

So I've just finished reading book 9 of the MLP comic series and now I guess I'm curious as to what Sombra is even supposed to be.

Is he some possessed unicorn turned dark or is an umbrum like in the comics? (I guess this is what happens when you read too many comics and fanfic)

[Latecomer 439]

14 minutes ago, Sondash Studios said:

So I've just finished reading book 9 of the MLP comic series and now I guess I'm curious as to what Sombra is even supposed to be.

Is he some possessed unicorn turned dark or is an umbrum like in the comics? (I guess this is what happens when you read too many comics and fanfic)

I'm pretty sure umbrum are just a comics concept. In the show he is considered a pony (well, by Sandbar at least) and probably a unicorn, though his horn is... odd. His living shadow shtick is probably down to playing in the deep end of the Dark Magic pool, more willingly and committedly  than Luna or Stygian did. But really, a lot about him is a matter of interpretation (albiet not quite so much as before Season 9).

[Ittoni 538]

He's a unicorn according to the show

He's an umbrum according to the comics. 

It all comes down if you take the comics as canon, though it has been stated by the show staff and writers themselves that is not. Take it like official writerfics if you will. you can make your own headcanon regardless. 

Also apparently he was turn into shadow, which implies he wasn't a shadow before and that the elements of harmony transformed him.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Ittoni

[Misty Shadow 7,902]

In the comics, he's a comic canon-exclusive creature called umbrum. In the show, he's a being of shadow who used to be a unicorn as far as we've been told. 

[Sunlight Glisten 368]

He is the one true king of the crystal empire. Biding his time untill those equestrian imposters lower their gaurd then BOOM he will take what is rightfully his and rule with an iron hoof for the next millennia. 

Muahahaha cryssstallll.  

[Rumpelstiltskin 45]

When I first saw his debut episode I thought him to be some kind of lich, similar to the folkloric character of Koschei the Deathless. Basically a unicorn who studied dark magic and found a way to become more powerful but also becoming unnatural and more monster than equine which would account for his unusual appearance. 

[SharpWit 2,673]

I think his horn is either the result of dark magic, or he's of a subspecies of unicorn that Mistmane comes from, although he lacks the spiral notches of other unicorns.

[Lucky Bolt 35,063]

I believe he's like Tempest. Just born an outcast from the start. Or maybe he just is supposed to represent the spirit of shadow? *shrugs*

[overthemaginot 1]

On 10/6/2019 at 12:09 AM, Sunlight Glisten said:

He is the one true king of the crystal empire. Biding his time untill those equestrian imposters lower their gaurd then BOOM he will take what is rightfully his and rule with an iron hoof for the next millennia. 

Muahahaha cryssstallll.  

Technically, yes... Cadence and Shining Armour usurped him unjustly. He had already served a punishment for his previous crimes. It was Double Jeopardy for them to literally explode him - illegal. Their transition to power in the Crystal Empire was not official and they aren't the true Princess and Prince-Consort of it.

Whether that leaves him as the actual ruler of it depends on how he transitioned to power himself before getting shut into some ice. 

[Latecomer 439]

10 hours ago, overthemaginot said:

Technically, yes... Cadence and Shining Armour usurped him unjustly. He had already served a punishment for his previous crimes. It was Double Jeopardy for them to literally explode him - illegal. Their transition to power in the Crystal Empire was not official and they aren't the true Princess and Prince-Consort of it.

Whether that leaves him as the actual ruler of it depends on how he transitioned to power himself before getting shut into some ice. 

Objection! Said explosion was not for his prior crimes, but an act of self-defense against his current hostile invasion. (Now whether that makes the new administration legitimate is another question, but they do seem to be doing well on the "consent of the governed" bit.)

[Rushing cash 836]

He was(in my opinion) a unicorn(or recently some theorized half unicorn half kirin) that studied dark magic and slowly his mindset was set to think he is the most powerful and deserves the best and conquered the empire(which was not as protected as equestria, although he planed to conquer it later), then he was turned to shadow and banished. Once he returned in season 3 he was a shadow slowly returned to his regular form, and in season 9 he returned with his body and his new shadow powers intact.  Now he is dead. 

[TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos 1,206]

obviously, he's somepony's shadow that liked crystals sooo much that he painstakingly created himself a body with which to find and own all of the crystals in Equestria!

and on the way, he got that cool horn!

truly an inspiration to us all

[overthemaginot 1]

On 2/17/2020 at 12:04 PM, Latecomer said:

Objection! Said explosion was not for his prior crimes, but an act of self-defense against his current hostile invasion. (Now whether that makes the new administration legitimate is another question, but they do seem to be doing well on the "consent of the governed" bit.)

Double objection! He still owned that land as was still legally that ruler; Cadence/Shining Armour had not yet been "accepted" as the "crystal prince/ss". Ergo was just trying to get back into his own land he was being kept out of. You COULD argue that they were doing so in a just way, but he only really expressed hostility to the citizens/the empire as a whole AFTER he got through.

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

31 minutes ago, overthemaginot said:

He still owned that land as was still legally that ruler

Sombra was not a “legal” ruler by any stretch of the imagination.

[Steve Piranha 29,428]

I’ll stick with umbrum like in the comics tho 

[Latecomer 439]

10 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

I’ll stick with umbrum like in the comics tho 

Well I suppose we now have a new irredeemable pony villain, so him not being one isn't so bad...

[Splashee 28,564]

Isn't it "was supposed to be"? He was brutally ripped apart by rainbow power if I remember correctly?

 

There seem to be many characters created after Lauren Faust left the show that doesn't seem to have a defined species or origin within Equestria. A little lazy?

[Latecomer 439]

7 hours ago, Super Splashee said:

There seem to be many characters ....  that doesn't seem to have a defined species or origin within Equestria. A little lazy?

fixed.

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

Sombra was probably a pony that turned into a shadow pony, similar to the Pony of Shadows.

[Scootaloo90747475 140]

On 2019-10-11 at 7:05 AM, no_longer_here said:

I believe he's like Tempest. Just born an outcast from the start. Or maybe he just is supposed to represent the spirit of shadow? *shrugs*

I think Sombra is a Powerful Umbrum Demon unicorn  that studies Dark Magic