Discords punishment was insanely harsh and cruel.

[That Colt 42]

I think discords punishment was unfair and unbalanced, getting turned into a statue is a fate worse than death, his fate seems even more insane when compared to other punishments,(excluding Luna's banishment, whitch was also insane), when nightmare moon returned and was beaten by the elements of harmony, how was she punished, when snips and snails brought an ursa minor to ponyville how were they punished, and what happened to cyrisalis? They all were hardly punished, and discord was turned into a statue!

[Ron Jeremy 2,032]

You've got to put what Discord did into scale, as well as what he can do.

 

I mean, he through Ponyville, and for all we know, the entire world, into chaos. He changed the physical forms of some ponies, made some ponies act like dogs, etc. He taunted Princess Celestia, and any way you look at it threatened to end peace forever with his reign of chaos. [Memo, start a metal group with the name "Reign of Chaos"]

 

Not only that, but he has the power to do these things. He can change the very way gravity and physics work. He can change physical structures. He can pretty much do what ever he pleases, and he uses that power to cause chaos. Nopony like that has any possibility of turning over a new leaf. Realistically, killing Discord would be the most realistic thing to do, because having that kind of power around, that has been used for chaos already, can't result in anything good. But, it's My Little Pony, and killing characters would out of place, and would anger parents, so turning him to stone is the alternative. Besides, was it ever implied he was conscious when he was originally turned to stone?

 

lol, look a me overanalyzing a cartoon

[Bronium 512]

I'm going with Pinkie on this one. I mean, chocolate rain! Come on! Screw logic and consistency! It's freaking chocolate rain!

---

And to be honest, until new episodes air which proves otherwise, I will never say Discord is inherently bad. More of a mischief maker. I mean, all he wanted was fun and a little bit of chaos.

 

The problem was, at least this is what I think, he can't empathize, at least to the extent we can. I mean, he wasn't trying to really hurt these ponies in ways that would physically hurt them. He hadn't harmed the Mane 6 physically, in ways he could have. He could have annihilated them. But he didn't. I think he knew he was going to be petrified. I think he wanted to be petrified. Being a god isn't all that fun. Taking power away from authority and showing them how weak they are is. He just wanted to upset the balance. Which, unfortunately, caused a lot of bad.

 

He's not bad, really. He's not evil. It's just ignorance.

 

The more interesting question is. does being ignorant justify a fate worse than death? It's once of those questions, isn't it? It's like asking to kill baby Hitler or giving a baby the chair because they accidentally murdered someone. It's a tough one. Yes, but an important one, nonetheless.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Bronium

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

I don't think it was a very large punishment in the grand scheme of things.

He ruled for a thousand years creating chaos and had ponies at each other's necks.

He STOLE the elements of harmony

He STOLE the mane6's features

He littered...

 

The odds aren't in his favor...

[Fox 5,330]

Discord was completely cruel what he did to the Mane 6! Discord pretty much separated the mane 6, and evoked the negativity out of them. They had been turned against each other and were nothing as close to friends.

And when Twilight became depressed and had turned grey. Wasn't that sad? Once close friends, suddenly separated because they had been turned against each other. Chrysalis just fooled everyone, and controlled Shining Armour, and I don't think Nightmare Moon had a plan.... just she wasn't a morning person... I think Discord being petrified, was a stronger punishment for a farther worse crime.

[That Colt 42]

You must remember that making a group of freinds hate each other is not actually a crime, sure it's mean, but not illegal. If it was a crime we would have no popular kids in school!

[Fox 5,330]

You must remember that making a group of freinds hate each other is not actually a crime, sure it's mean, but not illegal. If it was a crime we would have no popular kids in school!

 

Well, in my terms turning someone against each other is really mean, but like using them for his personal gain, so, he can rule Equestria? In a realistic perspective many would perish for his silly shenanigans! Discord had plans on taking the world on, vesus Chrysalis who wanted just Canterlot. Discord was more greedy so he had gotten his just desserts.

[Abstract 831]

There's a few different ways it could be interpreted. On one hand, it was unnecessary and cruel, for the scale of damage he had done was (presumably) relatively small, and as has been pointed out, he didn't seem to really have destructive tendencies, just causing a lot of chaos and personal problems. On the other, perhaps he could have had much more in store that we, the audience, did not know about, and therefore the ends justify the means.

 

Altogether, perhaps casting him in stone was overkill, but Equestria seems to value its peace and normalcy above most everything else; you're just begging for no mercy disrupting this.

[NavelColt 22,877]

I don't think it's cruel, considering he's an unstoppable force of nature that is both immortal and -presumably- invincible from regular attacks. The only thing we've been at all inclined to believe can stop him is the elements; if they weren't the only thing that could stop him, then Celestia and the Mane 6 wouldn't have been so hellbent on getting them back from him.

 

You either let the spirit of chaos rule, or you seal him in stone using the one thing that can petrify him, the elements, due to their harmonic powers. I don't see it as cruel personally, but whether you do or not, it's the one and only choice the ponies have, as far as we've been lead to believe.

Edited September 18, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Planty 1,052]

I don't think it's cruel, considering he's an unstoppable force of nature that is both immortal and -presumably- invincible from regular attacks. The only thing we've been at all inclined to believe can stop him is the elements; if they weren't the only thing that could stop him, then Celestia and the Mane 6 wouldn't have been so hellbent on getting them back from him.

 

You either let the spirit of chaos rule, or you seal him in stone using the one thing that can petrify him, the elements, due to their harmonic powers. I don't see it as cruel personally, but whether you do or not, it's the one and only choice the ponies have, as far as we've been lead to believe.

 

I was also thinking about where would Chrystalis (sorry if wrong spelling) rank next to Discord. They both wanted to rule equestria but it seems like Chrystalis did the same as Discord, forcing ponies to loose there mind's.

 

The reason he is set in stone and not banished I think is because that's the only think that would stop him from coming back, if they just banished him to a far away land he would be back quicker then a flash or even harm the creatures of the other land's. I think

 

They did the safest and best thing in setting him in stone

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

He's definitely not cruel enough to be turned into a statue... I honestly don't think Discord ever was truly evil, If you guys had read my history theory, you would understand how he was a kind deity until the element of friendship showed up. So, that goes into saying, I don't think his actions were justifiable at all, but I do think his punishment was quite cruel...

[Juggler 345]

They had to stop Discord in some way, and some kind of banishment I don't think would do... It's pretty much being turned into a statue or death which would be able to stop him.

 

And I don't think that they would be able to kill him even if they wanted, think about it. They used the elements of harmony to turn him into stone. That was all that they succeded with. And the elements are clearly the strongest magic in all of Equestria (that we have seen). It's even stronger than Celestia's powers. So I don't think that they would be able to kill him.

[Dimitri Hammer 3,645]

Well his ability to change physics and space and time is rather exponential. Chocolate Rain is awesome but having the universe plunged into chaos forever is a little much. So I guess the punishment fits the crime on this one.

[One 498]

Well it is a "little kids" cartoon, so expect unfair/unjust laws on the so called "evil". Also him being turned to stone will just make it so he acts worse apon the ponies if he ever gets out again. Which hopefully will happen, so we can watch another semi-epic showdown.

 

Edit: grammar

Edited September 18, 2012 by One

[pinkiefan1287 610]

Well Discord is a little different than Luna/Nightmare Moon was. Luna was someone who was corrupted, while Discord was not. He was pure chaos and had to be sealed away.

[silvadel 1,393]

I think discord was turned to stone because that was the ONLY way to deal with him. In essence he can not be destroyed because how can you have harmony without discord? All you can really do is imprison him and in stone is the only way to do it without him escaping too quickly.

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

I think discords punishment was unfair and unbalanced, getting turned into a statue is a fate worse than death, his fate seems even more insane when compared to other punishments,(excluding Luna's banishment, whitch was also insane), when nightmare moon returned and was beaten by the elements of harmony, how was she punished, when snips and snails brought an ursa minor to ponyville how were they punished, and what happened to cyrisalis? They all were hardly punished, and discord was turned into a statue!

 

.

Chrysalis was sent blasting off again, and while I agree that snips and snails deserved a greater punishment, how would you stop discord? Guy's a god mode reality warper and it's pretty hard to keep track of those. Also discord sadistically drove several characters insane and generally terrorized everypony, I'm not in too big of a hurry to feel sorry for him

[silvadel 1,393]

Snips and Snails punishment was the anticipation of punishment rather than the actual act. In essence they had the fear of twilight put into them before they simply got mustaches.

 

Chrysalis I think was let off far too easy -- There was nothing there to stop her from terrorizing some other part of equestria.

[Nothing&NoOne 695]

Think about it guys. The stained glass window had Discord and the ponies under him looking miserable. Think about how it'd be to live in those conditions; you'd loose your mind. You wouldn't have food to eat, animals would be doing whatever the heck they want, and you'd be under the control of a tyrant. He DID try to "destroy" the world, after all. I'm sure after he defeated Twilight, his playful aspect would've disappeared and he would've sought revenge against Celestia.

 

And better trapped in stone then dead. Can you picture Celestia killing someone? Come on..there's a child audience too. Can't kill ALL the bad guys.

[Castoro Chiaro 181]

Ooh, boy! I've always wanted to get in on one of these debates.

 

Discord is such a fabulous character because he really is a rather morally ambiguous one. He isn't EVIL per se, but he definitely isn't good either.

 

I personally thing there was nothing else that could be done. Banishment probably wouldn't do much because he has enough power to come back if he wants to. Depriving him of his powers would be just as cruel as being trapped in stone, because he'd basically have no purpose. Killing him prooobably wouldn't do much either; he's a spirit, not just a monster. I personally think that his mortal form can "die", but what makes him truly the essence of chaos cannot be destroyed.

 

Some might say he was just making it rain chocolate and making things a little kooky...but he said himself these were only the first modifications. He was planning to do much more. I've always pictured Discord as the type who's constantly trying to outdo his last tricks, and is never satisfied. Constant change is simply the nature of chaos. He didn't care if anyone else liked what he was doing, just that he was having a laugh.

 

So it'd be a pretty miserable state to live in if you weren't. Well. Him. Plus the whole changing people's personalities and turning them into horrible versions of themselves. That's...toeing the line a bit, don't you think?

 

I love Discord oodles and oodles, but even I can say he sorta had it coming. I would never want to see him totally reform, as that would pretty much destroy what's so lovable about his character...but I suppose it might be nice if a compromise could be made, somehow, so that he didn't have to sit in suspended animation FOREVER.

[Luna1945 24]

I thing his punishment was harsh, as was Luna's/nightmare moon's punishment, for me, that would be worse than death or any form of execution. Living alone, you would go insane. Probably wishing death.

[NavelColt 22,877]

I was also thinking about where would Chrystalis (sorry if wrong spelling) rank next to Discord. They both wanted to rule equestria but it seems like Chrystalis did the same as Discord, forcing ponies to loose there mind's.

 

The reason he is set in stone and not banished I think is because that's the only think that would stop him from coming back, if they just banished him to a far away land he would be back quicker then a flash or even harm the creatures of the other land's. I think

 

They did the safest and best thing in setting him in stone

 

Discord is chaos, the elements are harmony :3 It's my belief that his powers are nullified and canceled out when he's hit by the elements, which results in his petrification. Also, Chrysalis wanted to be a tyrannical overlord. Discord just wanted to cause never-ending chaos; he wasn't obsessed with ruling for the sake of being in power, like Chrysalis, he wanted to rule for the sake of causing more chaos, which he deems to be fun.

Edited September 18, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Nouth 495]

As stated before, while Discord is not totally evil, he lacks the ability to empathize.

About the petrification being a fate worse than death, I'm unsure about that.

I think that such powerful spirit as Discord is could not be banished/captured fully

(unlike Luna, who is after all just an alicorn, not a great spirit of chaos), and that

him being petrified just limited his powers a lot. I think that he was still able to cause

some of the minor every-day chaos and disagreements, like we seen him (at least I

do believe it was him) cause when the CMC had a fight under his statue.

I think that Discord doesn't really suffer that much from his physical body being turned

into stone.

[Demi 545]

Like other ponies have said I think turning him into a statue is the only way of truly getting rid of him. It's true, all Chaos thrived to do was make everypony's lives miserable and make the world a giant mess. Since banishing him wouldn't do anything at all (you really think he'd just go peacefully anyway?) and there's no way to limit his power, turning him into a statue is the best punishment fit for him, so he simply can't do anything whatsoever.

 

Hopefully he isn't conscious while he's a statue.. now that would be brutal. But then again it seems he was still "alive" when he was sealed the first time, though maybe his powers reawaken himself when too much discord is nearby.

 

Instead of killing him per say they should of done a big Dragon Ball Z effect after he got struck by the Elements of Harmony. Just a big giant white flash, him screaming, then all of the sudden POOF, his entire existence is gone in a giant cloud of smoke. Then they could show him down in the Home For Infinite Losers plotting his revenge.

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

There are two options with discord, either he is evil through and through(in which case you should stop him in any way possible) or he is a sociopath who is unable to understand exactly what he is doing and why it is wrong( in which case it makes him a more tragic character but still one you have to stop in any way possible). I always got the impression that discord was immortal, the embodiment of an idea, so they can't kill him. What other option did anyone have? You can't use kid gloves against someone who is that powerful