Theory King Sombra is Discord's Creation (Fan Theory)

[Misty Shadow 7,941]

Yup, here we go again. 

https://www.deviantart.com/cloudmistdragon/art/King-Sombra-is-Discord-s-Creation-Fan-Theory-818804040

Except this time...it's not just about him not being dead. 

Overture 

 

I think it’s safe to say that the series finale to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was not what either followers or skeptics of my past two theories on King Sombra were expecting. On one hand, to the dismay of many Sombra fans, Sombra did not appear in any of the final episodes. However, on the other hand, I only had to make minor updates to my previous theory in contrast to the major ones I initially expected to have to make. Though it did initially contain some inaccuracies that I had to correct, the final episodes, despite lacking Sombra, actually provided more evidence that points to my theory being on the right track. You should already know just from the title that this theory will focus on a different subject than the first two, but it is a subject that ties directly back to the notion that our shadow king will never be truly gone, since there is no way to deny now that Sombra’s apparent immortality has something to do with Discord. 

 

One may ask though, what is the point of making another theory now? The show is over, right? As I’ve discussed before, there is very much still purpose in discussing theories and possibilities, as not only did the show leave much to speculate and answer for ourselves, but the MLP franchise itself is far from over. Furthermore, the Kojima-style storytelling of “everything’s a lie” that the first of the final three episodes went with feels intended to motivate us to do our own digging to find the truth for ourselves. So let’s get right in…

 

Discord’s Powers

 

The things we are told about the show’s biggest plot twist, the biggest lie that completely went against what most fans were expecting, that do get confirmed to us by the show itself are Grogar being Discord, Discord being the one who brought the villains back as a way to test Twilight Sparkle, and most notably in relation to this theory, Discord being the one who “resurrected” King Sombra. Yes, as you may have noticed, I am still maintaining my habit of putting “resurrected” in quotations because there is so much about Discord’s “power of resurrection” that demands scrutiny. If he can just bring the dead back to life, why didn’t he ever do it before? If he always had that kind of power, it’s hard to believe that even the Elements of Harmony could’ve brought him down in his days as a villain. 

 

Not only that, but take note of the way he brought Sombra back in The Beginning of the End. He didn’t use his chaos magic, but a symbol on the ground with a shape similar to that of Sombra’s dark crystals. The color of the symbol on the ground in this scene was blue too, while Discord’s magic is normally yellow. In Twilight’s Kingdom, when his magic gets sucked out by Tirek, the color of his magic is...black, the color of shadow. Interestingly, even while Discord was pretending to be Grogar, his magic still maintained a color of yellow...in addition to an aura of shadow. When Discord’s magic was absorbed by Grogar’s Bell, the magic’s color was yellow and black. And what kind of magic did Discord use to teleport the villains to his lair? Shadow magic. Bearing these facts in mind, it seems much more likely that what Discord used to bring Sombra back wasn’t “the power of resurrection”, but the power of darkness.  

 

What difference does it make? A huge one. If Discord could not tap the power of the forces of darkness, he couldn’t possibly have been able to impersonate Grogar. He didn’t just summon Tirek and Cozy Glow straight from Tartarus, he was also able to utilize Grogar’s Crystal Ball to its full effect, recreating images of the time where Grogar’s monsters roamed Equestria and even used Grogar’s Bell to reclaim his chaos magic. And it’s not just Discord either who must know how to use dark magic to recreate the past. In fact, it’s even been proven in the show that not only do Celestia and Twilight have the ability to use dark magic, but alicorn magic, in Princess Twilight Sparkle, takes the form of Sombra’s trademark green and purple magic when used on the potion Twilight needs to drink to see the past. Almost every instance of dark magic in the show is faithful to a central theme of recreating the past and both casting and dispelling illusions of fear. Yet not one spell in the show, dark magic, alicorn magic, or otherwise, has ever been used to call back a creature from the dead…

 

One more fact we know that would definitely be consistent with my theory that it was shadow magic that was used to bring Sombra back, not “resurrection magic”, is the fact that Grogar was a real creature, not a character that Discord made up, as confirmed by the show. Every image Discord showed in the Crystal Ball was a depiction of a real object or a real event that happened in the past, and one of those events was Grogar summoning monsters from the dark to terrorize Equestria. Discord even vows to send Sombra back to the darkness he came from if he does not comply with his deal… Yeah, I do believe at this point it’s safe to say that it’s much more likely that Sombra’s return was the result of him being called back from the shadows, not “resurrected from the dead”. Occam’s Razor would agree, the former solution is the much simpler one and much more likely to be the correct one.    

 

Regardless of how Sombra came back though, it’s only scratching the surface of the wealth of clues we are given in the show that things are not what they appear to be. To reiterate, we are flat-out told by the show that everything we were made to believe involving the mess with Sombra returning and trying to take over Equestria was a lie...but we are not told in-depth exactly how everything was a lie. That’s where the next part of my theory comes in…

 

King Sombra is Discord’s Agent

 

Again, let’s begin with what the show confirmed. It was actually Discord who brought King Sombra back, and thus, he was the one who sent Sombra to the Crystal Empire to attempt to take it over as a way to test Twilight and her friends. Seems straightforward enough. So what is the reason for wanting more details on what exactly happened? Honestly, I’d have trouble only coming up with one. 

 

First of all, Discord’s scheme of only sending one villain to test Twilight and her friends, followed by three, only makes sense if he knows in advance that Sombra will not submit to him. Though anyone could predict that the villains would need time to learn how to work together, only someone who knows Sombra well enough could predict that he wouldn’t go along with the plan. And as far as the show tells us, Discord does not know Sombra well...at least as we are told.

 

If we only go by what we are shown in the show, we are left to see that Discord sent Sombra to the Crystal Empire, right after he vowed to “destroy anypony who got in his way”, unsupervised. What would Discord have done had Sombra actually killed someone? The scene where he talks to Twilight and her friends in the castle not only proves that he was not constantly monitoring Sombra, but also makes it very likely that he knew Sombra would destroy the Tree of Harmony. After all, it is in this scene where he expresses his disdain over Twilight and her friends resolving to defeat Sombra with the Elements of Harmony rather than their own strength. Don’t forget either how he revealed his agenda was to test them...and this also isn’t the only time Discord has been hinted to have an agenda against the Tree…

 

Going back to Princess Twilight Sparkle again, Discord revealed at the end that he was responsible for the Tree of Harmony’s rot, back in the time when he was a villain. However, after he got reformed, why did he do nothing to stop it despite the fact that the Tree’s life was in jeopardy? The answer can very easily be inferred as him just wanting to test Twilight and have fun as always...but is that really all? Remember that the Tree has been revealed to be not just a living thing, but a conscious being since What Lies Beneath. Even Discord at his worst has never killed anyone or put their lives at risk, so if we only go by what we are told by the show, it is very uncharacteristic of him to feel no remorse for not only putting the lives of innocent civilians in danger, but also getting a conscious being killed by bringing Sombra back.  

 

Does all of this mean that I believe that Discord used Sombra to kill the Tree without getting his hands dirty and in turn, used the Mane 6 to kill Sombra to cover his tracks, all without showing regard for the innocent lives of anybody who may have gotten caught in the crossfire? The answer...is no. Yes, despite how damning the evidence against Discord may seem, there is a way for him to be innocent. Hanlon’s Razor, always assume incompetence before malice. 

 

In my second King Sombra theory, you may remember a part where I talked about Sombra being sent to the Tree of Harmony as part of his destiny, meaning that the powers that be were responsible for the Tree’s destruction, not Discord. It’s true now that we have another way to explain how Sombra came back after being “destroyed” by the Elements, Discord could’ve simply restored him to life again. However, bear in mind that if it was the Tree that allowed itself to be destroyed so that it could adapt to a new form Equestria needed and help the Mane 6 realize that they didn’t need the Elements, Discord would be absolved of killing the Tree. Regardless of the Tree’s length of involvement, that is the only way for him to be innocent if he is Sombra’s “mastermind”. The quotations should be enough to tell you that I don’t believe Sombra is Discord’s puppet, but his accomplice.

 

One admittedly unsettling implication of The Ending of the End, that I, like many, hope and believe was unintended, was that Discord was using the villains as cogs to be thrown away and  destroyed before they could have a chance to change their ways. I myself have no clue why Discord would not just state that he wanted to reform the villains, since not only would that make him look better, it would also make much more sense with what the show implied prior. Think back to how much Discord emphasized as Grogar the importance of working together. He never imagined that Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis would ever use Grogar’s Bell against him, and it was the quest for the bell that almost got them to discover the magic of friendship. And even if the bell wasn’t used on him, wouldn’t the villains find out anyway that Discord was Grogar? After all, Discord would never release Grogar’s magic or use the bell to steal magic from innocent creatures. So that only leaves Sombra. Why did he seemingly never get a chance to change his ways? This goes back to what I believe, Discord and Sombra were working together.  

 

Think of the two’s relationship this way, and I’ll explain why this way makes the most sense. What if before Discord made his grand entrance as Grogar, he and Sombra talked over what they were going to do ahead of time? Sombra was the last to show up at the first meeting of the villains, and he was the only one who could’ve seen Grogar’s true form in the cave. Notice how when Discord draws the circle with the stick, the stick isn’t being levitated with magic, implying that Discord is holding it by hand. This makes it likely that Discord was not even in his Grogar disguise yet, as he had to levitate objects with his horns as Grogar. Also imagine if Sombra didn’t know Discord was Grogar. What chance would he have had to change his ways if Discord’s plan was to redeem the villains as is implied? Unless Discord’s idea of reforming Sombra was manipulating him to potentially kill ponies before getting himself blown up again. It doesn’t make any sense unless you consider the fact that Discord and Sombra could have very easily set everything up together. 

 

Also consider how torn up Twilight was in The Ending of the End, lamenting over how, in her own words, the victory she and her friends had against Sombra was “all a lie”. Keep in mind that they already knew beforehand that Discord could’ve stopped Sombra any time he wanted, so how does simply being reminded of their “very good-looking safety net” discourage them? The truth of Discord being the one who brought Sombra back leading Twilight to doubt herself only makes sense...if she is able to sense that Sombra was in on Discord’s plan.

 

Doesn’t this, however, contradict Discord’s assertment that the fight was real and Sombra’s behavior throughout The Beginning of the End that seemed too good for an act? It does not, it’s consistent with my line of reasoning that Sombra was not some puppet being manipulated. I fully believe that he did what Discord told him to do for a goal of his own, to prove that he was the strongest being in Equestria, something he boasted about to Twilight and her friends. He could only prove such a thing by defeating them on an even playing field. That would explain perfectly why he didn’t use mind control on them and gave them a chance to defeat him instead of killing them when he had them trapped. He wanted them to escape and face him again, which is why he was so happy when he saw them enter the throne room…

 

This would also explain how Discord’s plan would’ve given Sombra a chance to redeem himself as well. Discord must have known that the only way Sombra could’ve learned the power of friendship was through experiencing it for himself and realizing that it was indestructible. He couldn’t have learned this through the Elements being used on him, and while I still do not believe Discord instructed Sombra to destroy the Tree, Discord must have known that the Tree’s destruction was an inevitable part of Twilight’s destiny. After all, Twilight could not have fulfilled her destiny had she not realized that the Elements were never her true power. This also comes back to the focal topic of my last two theories...Discord’s plan to reform Sombra only makes sense if Sombra is not dead, but an immortal shadow. 

 

This tie-in is not how I intend to conclude everything though, since I have only set up the focal topic for this theory, our feature presentation…

 

King Sombra is Discord’s Creation

 

Both Discord and King Sombra have always been characters shrouded in mystery. At first glance, these two characters don’t seem to have much in common. A wacky, talkative, incorrigible master of chaos and an enigmatic, stoic, calculating master of shadows. At least that’s how it was before The Beginning of the End, where Sombra’s new persona actually displayed traits reminiscent of Discord, being much more vain, voluble, and giddy. “Coincidentally”, this complete retcon of his old personality from the Season 3 premiere happens right after Discord brings him back…  

 

Returning to the topic of mystery, recall that in the entirety of the show’s run, we are never even given so much of a hint as to what Discord or Sombra’s origins are. This can be said about all the other villains too, but what sets these two apart from all the other villains is that they were the only two to engage with Celestia and Luna before they had the Elements of Harmony. And it was only because of these two that the Elements were ultimately destroyed. Though the connection is difficult to doubt, it is also difficult to tell the exact ordering of events between these four. Logically, one would assume that Celestia and Luna fought Sombra first, since they didn’t use the Elements on him in the flashback. But again, The Beginning of the End has brought a new question to the table. If Sombra was also interested in taking over all of Equestria, not just the Crystal Empire, why didn’t he do so before? What if he and Discord were both putting ponies under their reign of terror at the same time? 

 

After all, what else could have been stopping Sombra if he didn’t know of Celestia, Luna, and Discord’s strength? We have seen proof in the show that Discord is stronger than Sombra, in the sense that he can just click his fingers and be done with him, so it could be that Sombra just didn’t want to fight a losing battle...but how would he know that? And on the other side, what would be stopping Discord from taking Sombra out of the picture so that he could have the Crystal Empire to himself too? One would initially presume that all this can be easily answered by Discord not showing up in Equestria to wreak havoc until after Sombra was banished, but it can not. In order for the timeline to make sense, Discord needs a window of opportunity to know Sombra personally, or else he would not have a spell on hand that could bring him back.   

 

Besides what I already discussed, the unlikelihood of Discord just having the power to resurrect any pony he pleases, more evidence that his spell is only meant to revive Sombra specifically is the symbol on the ground that appears to be two of Sombra’s jagged crystals. Even more glaring evidence that I feel seals the deal is something I also already discussed in my previous theory, the center of the circle showing that there is something buried underneath. Most likely, what has been planted there is a seed. And who once tried to plant seeds underground as a way to destroy the Tree of Harmony? Discord. No pun intended, this is where everything comes full circle to the root...that seed is King Sombra. 

 

To expand even more on points I already made in my previous theory, I discussed then that both Sombra’s true nature and ultimate destiny were intertwined with the Tree of Harmony. Last time though, I did not discuss the possibility of him being born from a magical seed. I knew then that the Tree was also created from a magical seed, but I still chose to save the point for a later time, since then, we were still under the impression that it was Grogar, not Discord, who brought Sombra back. However, the reveal of it actually being Discord in the final episodes changes everything, as while we currently know nothing about Grogar, we know more than enough about Discord to see what could really be going on. After all, if Sombra knew that Grogar was actually Discord when he called him “the father of monsters”, that would make all too much sense...

 

I’ve also gone over enough similarities between the Tree of Harmony and Sombra to make my point that the hint of a connection between them simply can’t just be attributed to coincidence. The more important matter now is Discord. We never learned where he got the Plunder Seeds he used against the Tree from. The most likely explanation is that he just created them with his magic, but what would that say for Sombra?  

 

Discord is shown using the power to bring inanimate objects to life throughout the show, granting them the ability to talk and move, but he has never been shown to have the power to give these inanimate objects a personality or anything that would lead to us believe they have an independent soul. In the end of The Break Up Break Down, he is shown gawking at Spike for acting as if a skeleton pony card he brought to life was anything more than a fictional character, describing her as “imaginary”. It is clear that this is not the way he could’ve given life to Sombra, however, that is not to say that Sombra was always a seed…

 

Remember what I talked about in my last theory, how Sombra’s physical form and spirit form could be separate? And how in this theory, I’ve talked about Discord having the ability to call back creatures from the shadows? The easiest explanation we have right now for how Discord could have created Sombra is through contacting his spirit from the shadows and putting him inside a seed, creating him as a weapon to destroy the Tree. This explanation is not only the simplest, but also the most consistent, as it ties into the show canon’s description of Sombra being a former unicorn, what Jim Miller has said about Sombra being a ghost, and what I’ve said about him being a shadow in a body of crystal finding a way to truly return to life.   

 

One question this explanation would beg though is that if Sombra was created by Discord to destroy the Tree, why did he not destroy it then? Why was Discord forced to use Plunder Seeds instead? At first, it seems tricky, but the answer is actually in plain sight. Discord originally wanted to use Sombra because a living weapon would be more effective against the Tree than a nonliving weapon...but what if Sombra refused his commands? Since the Elements failed to defeat him, the case could be that he can’t be defeated by the Elements, but Discord certainly can. Not knowing that Celestia and Luna had the power in themselves to defeat him, he left Discord to get rid of the Tree himself. Since Discord’s plan also involved getting Celestia and Luna out of the way, it would make perfect sense with this line of reasoning for Sombra to disobey Discord and go off on his own. 

 

It seems that everything has finally come together in a niche...yet there is still one thing lacking. Hardcore evidence. Though it all fits logically, the appearance of a seed being planted in the middle of the circle used to call back Sombra is the most convincing piece of evidence to support the veracity of this theory. Not implying that it’s the only piece of evidence, and I feel that combined with all the evidence that points to Sombra having some kind of connection to the Tree of Harmony in addition to all the evidence that points to him having a connection to Discord, this theory stands on solid ground. However, I feel there is one stone we have yet to turn…

 

In The Ending of the End, there are two very noteworthy parts that you wouldn’t think would demand further analysis, but are actually very telling. The first is the part where the Windigos return. What makes them worth discussing is not what happens with them in the actual episode, but the confirmation of their existence, which means more for this theory than you would think. If they were real all this time, you would think that the reason King Sombra never had to deal with them is because of the Crystal Heart...however, in both the alternate universe shown in The Cutie Re-mark and in his siege on Equestria in The Beginning of the End, he didn’t cause the Windigos to come back despite spreading his reign of fear and terror outside the Empire. It’s confirmed that the cause of the Windigos returning is animosity, hate among the ponies...yet Celestia described Sombra’s return in The Crystal Empire as hatred and fear taking hold. What banishes the Windigos is unity...which is ironically what Sombra does when he puts the ponies under his mind control. Though it’s through evil, he unites them and turns them into a formidable force. 

 

This leads right into the other noteworthy part, Twilight’s speech to the villains about how “there will always be darkness in the world, but there will always be those who find the light”. The discussion this part demands will not be as in-depth, as it is straight-up proof, confirmation from the show of what I talked about at the end of my last theory, the philosophy of Yin-Yang. This is the final part of my previous theory that gets called back to, where I spoke of Sombra being the dark counterpart of the Spirit of the Tree of Harmony, the Yang to its Yin. This final piece of evidence points to Sombra’s apparent connection to the Spirit of the Tree being part of the show’s biggest central theme by far...for the power of unity would be the same as the magic of friendship...

 

Conclusion 

 

Though I do wish for this to be my final theory on the subject of King Sombra (after all, Part 3 is never as good), it is obviously out of my control if something else comes up to demand more analysis. I don’t wish to indefinitely create Sombra theories, but I also don’t want to close myself off from any more discussion of him that could be thought-provoking. I can’t deny that I do feel there are still more secrets surrounding this character that have yet to be explored, but that will be for another time. Until then, I would encourage you to do your own research and see what you can find before more evidence comes out in future pieces of MLP media. No matter what happens, long live the shadow king.

Edited December 15, 2019 by CloudMistDragon
Put "Fan Theory" in the title.

[Rushing cash 836]

I think its possible that the season 9 sombra is discords creation(at least to some degree), but I really don't think he is. Its a possibility but its certainly not what the writers intended but the fact that so many different theories can be brought up says a lot about how diverse the show is.

[Goat-kun 2,528]

Rather than making a TL; DR-worthy post, I condensed my unquestionably legitimate theories into digestible morsels:

1.  This world is an illusion, exile.

2.  He is a former Mexican gangbanger who fell into a vat of liquid meth and then got banished to Equestria by original Ghostbusters.

3.  He is just a pony who made mistakes from time to time.

[Hierok 11,832]

Maybe it was Discord disguised as Sombra. That would be the reason why he talked so much, knew of the tree and didn't take control of the mane 6 too in the cave. 

[Flash-Magnus 16]

In the IDW comic Umbrum like Rabia know how to created the fake Sombra: 

So the third Sombra or we call him the fake Sombra can be created by Cosmos,Eris,Rabia,Discord and even Grogar as the Father of all Monsters but didn't created Sombra as a Pony because they created Sombra half pony and half monster for their necessity if they need something.

[Fritzy 1,692]

Just now, yayzz said:

You know what's funny is that Sunset upped Trixie at being the alpha bitch, and she's better at magic, and talented at nearly everything. If anything, Sunset would make Frenchfry fat.

Sunset would find a way to stop him with her powers while having to calm down a hysterically fat sobbing Trixie.

Sunset's brilliant plan was to clone Trixie a thousand times, letting Frenchfry fatten and eat each one until he couldn't move; thus Sunset saved the day!

When all was done, Trixie was but a sobbing head. She ate another burger, and her head got fat and exploded.

Oh goddamn it not you again