The Ancient History of Discord

[NavelColt 22,877]

So, over a thousand years ago, Celestia and Luna came from *somewhere* and stumbled upon Equestria, which was under the tyrannical rule of Discord. I'm assuming that the whole Hearth's Warming Eve thing and the 'Founding of Equestria in the first place' came prior to this, and then Discord came and took over, but I could be wrong.

 

So then, what of Discord then? He's been refereed to as a spirit. A spirit of chaos. That implies immortality. Ignoring all the fanmade content that depicts him in a young form with Celestia in the old days, honestly, I believe that as far as the canon goes, he is a spiritual manifestation of chaos, and is therefore immortal. Perhaps since the beginning of time. So then, does that mean pony-kind and all other species have been dealing with him for that entire time? Has he been imprisoned somehow before, or has he just wandered the globe until Celestia imprisoned him? And what of the Elements of Harmony? How long have they been around? If they're more recent, then does that mean Discord was unstoppable until Celestia 'discovered' them?

 

Discuss~

Edited June 9, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Starshine 16,330]

Not really sure about the Hearth's Warming Eve thing, as it was a show intended for the foals. It might be a totally watered down version of the real one.

 

As in 'Spirit of Chaos', Celestia said that "the ponykind suffer under his rule". There's a chance that he indeed wanders around creating havoc here and there, directly and indirectly, to every creature. Ponykind just happened to be one of them and lucky enough to have both regent of the Sun and the Moon as their guardian.

 

The Royal Sisters arrived in the chaotic world after Discord took reign over the land, and proceed to kick his hairy ass. Hilarity ensues.

 

That's what I thought

[NavelColt 22,877]

Not really sure about the Hearth's Warming Eve thing, as it was a show intended for the foals. It might be a totally watered down version of the real one.

 

As in 'Spirit of Chaos', Celestia said that "the ponykind suffer under his rule". There's a chance that he indeed wanders around creating havoc here and there, directly and indirectly, to every creature. Ponykind just happened to be one of them and lucky enough to have both regent of the Sun and the Moon as their guardian.

 

It's never explained how valid Hearth's Warming Eve is, so I keep an open mind on how much of it is or isn't true. It's very thought out, and frankly, it could fit into before Discord took over, and make perfect sense still, so I always consider that.

 

I feel Discord would have preferred to troll on species like ponies more than any others, as they're intelligent creatures. The more advanced the society, the more he can cause terror and panic by screwing things around. My guess is he's been trolling ponies frequently throughout the ages, and has either been somehow defeated or just lost interest time and time again, and it was only until Celestia found the Elements of Harmony, Chaos's pure opposite, capable of petrifying him, that he was actually ever stopped altogether.

Edited June 9, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[SoonVindicated 71]

All Hail the Lord of Chaos,

 

How I see it, is that the beginning of time requires things to be chaotic with order eventually giving substance to that chaos. This chaos is eternal, and ever-present and ever-lasting. For this reason Discord may very well be a tangible manifestation of that chaos. This implies that the different forms and body parts that make up a draconequus are but extensions of chaos given order merely by the force of order itself. This form is merely a way of order making sense of that chaos, and the name of that form is but an expression of a concept that is difficult to discuss anyway. That would mean that Discord's true form would be maddening. To answer the question bluntly, Discord has always been there, however his physical representation is something that makes appearances from time to time. This physical embodiment can be contained, by the sheer power of order. Order which of course is the essence of harmony would be only thing that could hope to defy Discord. Yet just these elements of order (elements of harmony) can only contain his physical form. His true form is ever present, and is only held in check by the ever present force of order itself.

 

Imbalances happen from time to time which is when Discord is reborn. This must be necessary for the stability of reality. That every so often chaos must reign supreme. Though these are all my own ideas on this.

 

As for Hearts Warming Eve. Assuming that it is an accurate portrayal of events, and is not just some story meant to communicate morality. I would place it after the time that Celestia and Luna defeated Discord. Just because they defeated Discord doesn't necessarily mean they took power right away. In fact, it is very possible that it is after the events of Hearts Warming Eve that Celestia and Luna began to rule the races of Equestria. The races all came to the same land that Celestia and Luna rule over, and it is possible they decided to have these goddesses of the sun and moon be their rulers. In an effort to hold onto that sense of order and harmony. I have a few ideas, and remember that these are all ideas that I have formed through subjective ideas. These are not facts, but rather my interpretation of what would make sense.

[MVC NVMXD JVRXD 2,406]

I never really thought about Discord's history... >pinkie shrug.png<

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,353]

Well according to Celestia Discord ruled Equestria before Luna and her defeated him, which would mean the founding predates their battle (also, if the Sisters would have been around during the events leading up to the founding, I'd think they would have intervened before everypony was about to starve).

 

Apart from that, I've always seen Luna and Celestia as the Law opposing Chaos, powered by the desire for harmony and stability shared by all ponies.

[caesar15 231]

I've always wondered about this, i guess celestia was born from the sun?

[The 13th Doctor 0]

It also could be possible that Discord was a being made of all disharmony and chaos in the world.

[NavelColt 22,877]

Like what several of you have said, Discord is probably the living, breathing representation of all chaos in the world, or perhaps even universe. Harmony has no divine being on it's side, but it seems to make itself known through Celestia and others whom fight for harmony and stability simply because that's what they believe in. Peace/stability in reality is something most if not all species thrive for, so in that sense, harmony doesn't need a single entity of divine power to represent it in full, because it has every pony and individual that fight for it on a daily basis.

 

One could argue though that the Elements of Harmony are Harmony's representation of itself, which raises the question why does chaos have an actual creature while harmony only has objects. And that also raises the question that if Discord is more or less chaos, and was probably there since the start of time or at least the start of the world, then the elements probably were too, and they simply remained undiscovered till Celestia found them.

Edited June 10, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Nas 2,863]

(I made a very long and descriptive post to this, but it got deleteded ;-; )

 

Oh, backstories, one of my favorite parts of franchise canon speculation... >w>

 

Here's my take on his history.

 

Celestia said before she and Luna “stood up to Discord”, he was already already in tyrannical reign of “Equestria”. This makes it safe to assume that, 1) they possibly arrived there before Discord did and/or it was before they became deities of the land, and, 2) it was possibly after the land's founding, considering they earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicrons were already living among themselves, as well as the fact that she called it by its name.

 

If anything, I'd say I agree with you in saying that he probably lurked the earth beforehand as he is an immortal reincarnation of chaos itself. Whether or not that he is from the world (I think he is, but y'know, you never know. :0) is something I'd like to know in the coming future. I really want to know more of the backstories of this character.

[SoonVindicated 71]

Like what several of you have said, Discord is probably the living, breathing representation of all chaos in the world, or perhaps even universe. Harmony has no divine being on it's side, but it seems to make itself known through Celestia and others whom fight for harmony and stability simply because that's what they believe in. Peace/stability in reality is something most if not all species thrive for, so in that sense, harmony doesn't need a single entity of divine power to represent it in full, because it has every pony and individual that fight for it on a daily basis.

 

One could argue though that the Elements of Harmony are Harmony's representation of itself, which raises the question why does chaos have an actual creature while harmony only has objects. And that also raises the question that if Discord is more or less chaos, and was probably there since the start of time or at least the start of the world, then the elements probably were too, and they simply remained undiscovered till Celestia found them.

 

Your post gave me an idea. If the elements of harmony are the representation of order. Are there elements of disharmony? The representation of chaos? Two ideas come to me. One in that the elements exist, and are in fact pure forms of the basic energy that makes up both order and chaos. However there are deities of both Chaos and Order. Discord being the physical godlike expression of chaos and "X" being the one for order. Whereas "X" is a character we yet do not know about. A character that has remained silent, and calm. As would be expected of order. In this way there are a set of elements (Harmony and Disharmony) and deities (Discord and "X") of both chaos and order.

 

In my other idea. The elements of harmony are in fact the remnants of the god of order. Shattered into it's base elements when they were defeated by Discord ages before in some epic world shattering battle. Which would explain why Discord held power over the land, until the princesses stepped in. They probably had a quest to collect these remnants of this god of order. Either way the possible existence of The Elements of Disharmony may give rise to counterpart ponies for the mane 6. Discord would then have his own 6 ponies that represent chaos. 2 earth ponies, 2 pegasuses, and 2 unicorns in direct symmetry to the Mane 6.

 

Just a few ideas ^~^;.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Waifles