Discord, evil or just plain chaotic?

[That Colt 42]

What do you think of discords motives, we know he LOVES chaos, but does he love torturing other ponies or is this just apart of his chaos?

[SongBrony 419]

Chaotic. One of my favorite characters. I wish they would bring him back. He was hilarious, especially since I absolutely love craziness.

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

I think it's just a part of his chaotic nature. He doesn't necessarily like bringing ponies pain, just pulling pranks and having a good time xP

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Chaos is in his nature, he just loves messing things up. He's definitly not evil, nor should he be considered evil. He just is a master of chaos.

[ParsoOfEquestria 1,490]

I'd go with chaotic. Evil sounds like he had intentions on killing everypony, he didnt he just wanted a realm of madness to rule over

[Glaceon 793]

I would say chaotic. If he were really evil he could of destroyed Ponyville or Canterlot you know.

He's just a troll IMO. So yeah.

[hana 217]

why did hitler killed jewish? it wasnt because he likes ashes right? he had some weird twisted world view.

basicly, discord probably has some wierd world view.

(btw, maybe he just obssesed with chaos, concidering the fact he was born as a chaos)

[WordplA 42]

I see Discord as a powerful force of nature, that much is true... But he is sentient. He can make choices, and he has a personality. So even though chaos is in his nature, he's warped it, twisted it, into something dark and sadistic. After all, if he was truly chaotic, his reign wouldn't be completely malicious. He'd just be totally random.

[silvadel 1,393]

Discord is actually very much similar to evil chaos spirits in general. The only thing that is odd about Discord really is that he actually has some level of moral code which doesnt fit his chaotic nature. He tortures ponies -- he doesnt usually outright kill ponies. Not that either is better really.

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

I've always considered Discord demonic. It's clear that he takes pleasure, or at least derives entertainment, from twisting reality in a manner which is detrimental to others. His behavior is nasty and self-indulgent, masked by an affable persona that gives the impression that he is just trying to have fun. But because he robs other beings of their spirit, literally corrupting them with his magic, it is difficult for me to envision Discord as some sort of wayward soul who happens to terrorize everyone around him. Discord is deliberate; I'm not quite certain how one could draw a contrary conclusion.

 

This perception is further reinforced by the environment of MLP, one steeped in numerous classical and mythological traditions. A number of religions---Judaism, for instance---emphasize the need for order to be brought to chaos. In the first creation account in Genesis, the world is depicted as dominated by a turbulent ocean, one which is calmed by the creative power of God. Zoroastrianism, if I am not mistaken, also has roots in a similar understanding of the universe. The are other mythologies which emerged from Mesopotamia that viewed the world as chaos being tamed.

 

If Equestria's mythos is anything like that of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans, then order, even if undemocratic, is preferred to the confusion and violence of an uncontrollable world. Discord, for all of his playful nature, disrupts the harmony of the established order. Anything of that ilk is viewed with suspicion in a society where the unrestrained results in disorder. Equestria takes this to the extreme by having the seasonal cycles and movement of the stars (or the planet, more likely) under the direct control of the ponies. Therefore, Discord is the embodiment of lawlessness. (Quick! Someone call the Apostle Paul!)

 

This digression isn't so critical for answering the question at hand, though I think it may provide insight into how Discord should be perceived. I can tell you, however, that I would be horrified by a creature akin to Discord. His existence wouldn't be at all amusing.

Edited September 13, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Smokin'HotRarity 182]

What do you think of discords motives, we know he LOVES chaos, but does he love torturing other ponies or is this just apart of his chaos?

 

no he's not evil, celestia can be evil if you disobey. celestia supposedly said that ponies were unhappy during discord's rule but hey it's celestia saying that. and he handed free food. the only mean thing he did was turned the ponies gray because he knew celestia set them against him.

[NavelColt 22,881]

Chaos and strife are two different things, but are indeed related. Discord is the incarnation of chaos, disharmony and unpredictability. 'Disharmony' = strife, so while yes, it's in his nature to cause not only chaos but also disharmony, he seems to rather enjoy himself when it comes to torturing ponies and pitting them against each other for his amusement. A quote from me in a past thread, on the same subject:

 

Discord wants to have fun, but people seem to forget that part of his sense of fun is taking your emotions and crushing them, by turning you against your friends and making your own relationships become your worst enemy, whilst he laughs at your expense in the meantime. It's not like he's just fun and games. He's sadistic in his own right.

It's both. I like to think pure chaos and having fun suits his fancy more, as that's mostly what he did while released, but he certainly does have causing strife as a motive, as well.

[Night Shine 767]

I feel like a lot of ponies here are forgetting what Discord did with his time.

 

He didn't really focus on the chaos he created; it just sort of popped up around him. He would laugh at an occassional joke his chaotic aura created, and then go back to what he was doing.

 

What he was doing being corrupting the Mane 6 and making them miserable. He concentrated and really seemed to put effort into twisting their minds into monsters that embodied the opposite of the reason these 6 were "good".

 

Yes he DID need to prevent them from using the Elements of Harmony, but thinking logically here, wouldn't it have been smarter to hide the Elements and imprisoned the Mane 6. Discord went out of his way to make sure that he made the Mane 6s' lives utter hell while taking control of Equestria.

 

And, in some cruel, twisted fashion, he found their miserable state absolutely hilarious.

 

Discord is evil.

[Flying Whales 311]

I was thinking Discord is relatively harmless. He didn’t go out of his way to harm anypony, he just turned Ponyville into “the capital of chaos.” I may need to watch The Return of Harmony again but as far as I can remember he never did anything harm to anypony. He just kept rambling on about how glorious the chaos he crated is. To me he was just chaotic, and very sarcastic.

Edited September 13, 2012 by Flying Whales

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

I was thinking Discord is relatively harmless. He didn’t go out of his way to harm anypony...

 

Does corrupting the Mane Six not count as harming anypony? All things considered, it appeared as if they gravely suffered from his influence.

[Samurshy 708]

It is quite obvious that discord is not evil. Really if his goal was to be evil he would easily use his powers to murder ponies and torture them. But instead he uses his powers to make random sh*t happen, like chocolate rain. Sure it is harmful to the crops, and he messes with the local fauna, not just the flora. But if he really wanted to be evil he could just as easily use his magic to create a explosion on the scale of a nuclear warhead to wipe out Canterlot or Ponyville. Yeah he is not evil, just chaotic. Which is still bad, well at least for the ponies of Equestria, so it was necessary for him to have been stopped. Those are my thoughts, take them or leave them.

[Flying Whales 311]

Does corrupting the Mane Six not count as harming anypony? All things considered, it appeared as if they gravely suffered from his influence.

 

When I say relatively harmless I mean he didn’t physically harm anyone. To me it seems like with the power he displayed he could have done much worse. Like you said he did influence the Mane 6 but their actions were still their own. It kind of reminds me of when Vegeta was under the “influence” of Boppity. For me evil has strong connotations of violence, and I know you don’t have to be violent to be evil but as I stated before I feel he was capable of worse.

[NavelColt 22,881]

It is quite obvious that discord is not evil. Really if his goal was to be evil he would easily use his powers to murder ponies and torture them. But instead he uses his powers to make random sh*t happen, like chocolate rain. Sure it is harmful to the crops, and he messes with the local fauna, not just the flora. But if he really wanted to be evil he could just as easily use his magic to create a explosion on the scale of a nuclear warhead to wipe out Canterlot or Ponyville. Yeah he is not evil, just chaotic. Which is still bad, well at least for the ponies of Equestria, so it was necessary for him to have been stopped. Those are my thoughts, take them or leave them.

 

>Calling cartoon villain on a 'Y' rated show 'not evil' by using PG-13 to R villain standards, like murder and nukes

 

Wut. There's only so much he can do. If this wasn't for little kids, I have little doubt Discord would be as sick and twisted as the Joker could be, at his worst. And besides, Discord isn't about physical torture. I think the following quote, from the relevant fan made song known as 'Neverending Strife' by H8_Seed best explains it. "Oh, please excuse me, I don't mean to alarm, and certainly don't mean you no physical harm. I'm just the reigning king of chaos here to rock your world, so just sit tight and let this little story unfurl."

 

>physical harm

 

Discord is all about mind games. He lies to you, makes you see things, hear things, experience things, all in order to try and ruin your relationships with others. That, in addition to what he does with causing generic chaos, is what his motives are. Trying to crush your relationships because he finds it amusing is hardly not evil.

Edited September 13, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

When I say relatively harmless I mean he didn’t physically harm anyone. To me it seems like with the power he displayed he could have done much worse. Like you said he did influence the Mane 6 but their actions were still their own. It kind of reminds me of when Vegeta was under the “influence” of Boppity. For me evil has strong connotations of violence, and I know you don’t have to be violent to be evil but as I stated before I feel he was capable of worse.

 

Physical violence isn't a necessary requisite for evil acts. You can deprive someone of hope, much like Discord did with the ponies, or socially ostracize them. As an example, Jim Crow laws opened the door for racial violence; but arguably the most insidious aspect of those laws was the fact it deprived human beings of basic fundamental rights.

 

What Discord did was violate the ponies, breaking their spirits to secure his victory. He didn't need to leave bodies of ponies stacked in front of Twilight's door; he twisted and manipulated their fears in order to drive them to despair. That is evil.

 

The Majin Vegeta analogy doesn't work very well. Babidi was undeniably evil. He and Discord effectively share the same role as corrupters. If the discussion revolved around the Mane Six potentially becoming evil as a result of Discord's influence, then the comparison might function more appropriately.

Edited September 13, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Samurshy 708]

>Calling cartoon villain on a 'Y' rated show 'not evil' by using PG-13 to R villain standards, like murder and nukes

 

Wut. There's only so much he can do. If this wasn't for little kids, I have little doubt Discord would be as sick and twisted as the Joker could be, at his worst. And besides, Discord isn't about physical torture. I think the following quote, from the relevant fan made song known as 'Neverending Strife' by H8_Seed best explains it. "Oh, please excuse me, I don't mean to alarm, and certainly don't mean you no physical harm. I'm just the reigning king of chaos here to rock your world, so just sit tight and let this little story unfurl."

 

>physical harm

 

Discord is all about mind games. He lies to you, makes you see things, hear things, experience things, all in order to try and ruin your relationships with others. That, in addition to what he does with causing generic chaos, is what his motives are. Trying to crush your relationships because he finds it amusing is hardly not evil.

 

I still don't think he is evil. If he really wanted to be truly evil (in a Y rated senario) he would have gone after Celestia and Luna. Discording them would throw off the whole balance of night and day, and create confusion and chaos among all ponies of the world, and that is probably the most evil thing you can do in this universe. But no, instead he decided to go after the wielders of harmony simply because he knew he could have the most fun with them. You see it is not about how much evil or damage he can do, it is about how much fun he can have.

[NavelColt 22,881]

I still don't think he is evil. If he really wanted to be truly evil (in a Y rated senario) he would have gone after Celestia and Luna. Discording them would throw off the whole balance of night and day, and create confusion and chaos among all ponies of the world, and that is probably the most evil thing you can do in this universe. But no, instead he decided to go after the wielders of harmony simply because he knew he could have the most fun with them. You see it is not about how much evil or damage he can do, it is about how much fun he can have.

 

Yes, fun, and his sense of fun is to twist emotions xP Which makes him sadistic in his own way, which is a hop skip and a jump away from being classified as evil. Celestia and Luna are ancient, they're probably half-way immune to his tricks if not fully. Discord knows that they're harmless to him since they no longer wield the elements, and in his mind, his rule was complete the moment he got out of stone. He went after the Mane 6 because:

-They were chasing him, and provoked his attention with what he saw as a futile effort to beat him.

-Unlike Celestia and Luna, they were young, easy to manipulate, easy prey.

-They were the wielders of the elements. The only thing in the known universe that can defeat him. If he beat them, well then, that's truly when the world is fucked, isn't it?

 

To each their own :3 Discord is not your run of the mill antagonist, so I suppose this discussion could go on forever.

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

I still don't think he is evil. If he really wanted to be truly evil (in a Y rated senario) he would have gone after Celestia and Luna. Discording them would throw off the whole balance of night and day, and create confusion and chaos among all ponies of the world, and that is probably the most evil thing you can do in this universe. But no, instead he decided to go after the wielders of harmony simply because he knew he could have the most fun with them. You see it is not about how much evil or damage he can do, it is about how much fun he can have.

 

Fun at the expense of others. And as it has been established, Discord showed no remorse for his actions. His sense of fun and the fact his acts were malicious are not mutually exclusive concepts.

 

Functionally speaking, Luna and Celestia were no longer threats to him. Targeting them would have meant little in terms of his broader schemes. The greatest threat came in the form of the Elements of Harmony. That is why the Mane Six were on his radar: not because Discord was acting on impulse, but rather due to his recognizing the most immediate hindrance to his plans.

[Skoogles 45]

Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, as we all know. It is inherent as his nature to spread nonsense and anarchy. We never saw him cause direct, physical pain, and I think if everypony started to enjoy the chaos (like Screwball apparently does) he'd be a very, very happy Draconequus.

Also, Discorded Big Mac x Screwloose = OTP

[Samurshy 708]

Fun at the expense of others. And as it has been established, Discord showed no remorse for his actions. His sense of fun and the fact his acts were malicious are not mutually exclusive concepts.

 

Functionally speaking, Luna and Celestia were no longer threats to him. Targeting them would have meant little in terms of his broader schemes. The greatest threat came in the form of the Elements of Harmony. That is why the Mane Six were on his radar: not because Discord was acting on impulse, but rather due to his recognizing the most immediate hindrance to his plans.

 

Someone evil is not going to only target those who threaten him. Someone evil is going to target those who have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Innocent bystandards. If he was truly evil he would have not only messed with Ponyville, but also Canterlot, and actually all of Equestria. He decided that he would instead spend his time and energy making the mane six's lives miserable, messing with their home town, discording them, and overall creating chaos towards everything they love. When Joker on the Batman has an evil plot, it is hardly ever created specifically for Batman. He never outright attacks him. He does however realize that the Batman will most likely interfere with his plans at one point so he tries to account for that. Discord is much different in the fact that he is actually targeting one group that can actually do him harm.

[That Colt 42]

I don't think what he did to the mane 6 really was that evil at all, I mean,

Didn't mean fluttershy look like she was enjoying herself, he did not force them to do something they wouldn't do and whatch them suffer, he merely reversed there personality and after that there actions were their own choosing. He did not torture them. If you just woke up after thousands of years as a statue, and some body wanted to to turn you back into a statue, well you would try to stop them.