Were you satisfied with King Sombra as the antagonist?

[ColourShine 67]

I was pretty disappointed by the antagonist for this season starter...

He had a great sounding voice (for the few lines/words I heard him say) and a pretty good design. I absolutely loved the red tint he had on his horn. But we just saw so little of him, there is no way to compare him to any of the previous villains.

 

I really hope we see more 'Dark Magic' this season, because Celestia's dark spell was a personal highlight to these opening episodes.

[linnyc 22]

I was kind of disappointed. I mean, it's bad when Gak gets more attention than you do. He had like 2 lines, and I couldn't even understand them! He should have gotten more screen time and been harder to defeat (like maybe the ponies could have had to use the Mane 6).

 

I think this was more of a Twilight-centered episode.

[GuillermoGage 246]

I don't think the Season 3 Premiere was supposed to be about the character of the villain, but about the setting and the characterization of the crystal pony townspeople. King Sombra isn't intended to be anything more than a looming videogame boss right now.

[ColourShine 67]

I don't think the Season 3 Premiere was supposed to be about the character of the villain, but about the setting and the characterization of the crystal pony townspeople. King Sombra isn't intended to be anything more than a looming videogame boss right now.

 

That's a good point. I suppose we're all just fussing over him because we're so used to the antagonist taking a big part in the first two episodes of each season. It didn't ruin the episode, and his presence did have some suspense. We were just all expecting a bang and he just fizzled.

[NavelColt 22,881]

 

King Sombra: Villainous Threats and Narrative Framing

"Fire and winds come from the sky! But your god is Krom, and he lives in the earth!"

Sombra is not cut from the same cloth as other Friendship is Magic Villains. The strong personalities and charisma of the likes of Discord or Chrysalis never seem to come into play with him. In fact, it's only in his last few moments on screen when he even has a distinctive form, spending most of the rest of his time as an amorphous shadow-beast. Compared to the fan-favorite badguys of the past, it would appear that Sombra is lacking.

But the evil unicorn king doesn't fill the same role as his predecessors. Unlike previous two-parters, the primary theme of the episode is not about thwarting or uncovering a villainous plot, but rather Twilight Sparkle wrestling with herself and solving the mysteries of the Crystal Empire. And while Sombra does play a key role in all of that, he does so as a part of its history and, should Twilight fail, its future. Sombra barely speaks, hardly ever crystalizes (ha, see what I did there), because to do so would be contrary to his role in the narrative. Instead, he serves as a looming threat. He cripples Shining Armor and gradually drains Cadance of her power, removing the crutches Twilight has to lean on and forcing her to make faster and more rapid decisions than she is typically comfortable with. He is the darkness, and the threat of failure, and both of these things are infinitely less threatening when they're given form.

By pulling attention away from the newest villain, the episode is able to use him as a super intense magnifying glass to hover over our protagonist and provide a genuine sense of urgency to everything she does. That urgency in turn drives the story forward. You can certainly shine a bigger spotlight on him, but then it becomes a very different story.

Another piece of valid information to take into account when talking about Sombra as a character, and as a villain. While past things I've linked to and talked about have talked his relation to Sauron, this goes even deeper, and talks about his role as a character and villain in the episode itself. Taken from EQD's latest post, "The Crystal Empire Parts 1 and 2: Theme Analysis"

[The-Master 1,176]

Guy's, have you seen this image. It explains everything! Somber will be back with a vengeance, I can promise that much if not anything.

[NavelColt 22,881]

Guy's, have you seen this image. It explains everything! Somber will be back with a vengeance, I can promise that much if not anything.

 

I was actually one of the first ones to make a type out of the horn thing, but I never pieced together that Trixie's necklace may in fact be Sombra or contain part of Sombra's magic, and that's what will give Trixie her incredible influx in power.

 

That said, I think your efforts would be better spent in this thread. It's about Sombra speculation, whereas this topic is about whether or not you were satisfied with him in the premiere.

[Rarietty 632]

"

The Crystal Empire Parts 1 and 2: Theme Analysis

 

 

As I mentioned in the comments of this article:

 

I wish I could make the entire Brony community read this, particularly the parts about Sombra. A villain doesn't have to speak or do much at all to be scary or complex. If it were to focus on him the episode would be completely different, not to mention it would take time away from Twilight, which is really who the story is revolving around. Not Sombra, not the Crystal Ponies, but her goal and task. Sombra is just the thing that's stopping her from accomplishing her goal.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Rarietty

[NavelColt 22,881]

As I mentioned in the comments of this article:

 

I wish I could make the entire Brony community read this, particularly the parts about Sombra. A villain doesn't have to speak or do much at all to be scary or complex. If it were to focus on him the episode would be completely different, not to mention it would take time away from Twilight, which is really who the story is revolving around. Not Sombra, not the Crystal Ponies, but her goal and task. Sombra is just the thing that's stopping her from accomplishing her goal.

 

That was you? That's really cool, I remember seeing and mentally agreeing with that. I should sign up for EQD so I can make comments. Always been too lazy to do so before xP

[Rarietty 632]

That was you? That's really cool, I remember seeing and mentally agreeing with that. I should sign up for EQD so I can make comments. Always been too lazy to do so before xP

 

Yup, I just changed my name from Jewelsia to Rarietty, like just ten seconds ago. As soon as I read the article I just thought, "wow, Phoe summed up my thoughts on Sombra so perfectly, it's almost like he read my mind." No matter what, if you're one of the first five commenters on EQD you're going to get a ton of likes anyway, but it's an awesome feeling knowing that at least 56 people agree with you.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Rarietty

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Guy's, have you seen this image. It explains everything! Somber will be back with a vengeance, I can promise that much if not anything.

 

Well i already knew about the fact about King Sombras horn going off in another direction and he's still somewhat alive but i never considered the fact that he would store himself his power in a necklace that Trixie was wearing. Me thinks Trixie's return episode will be more than epic.Twilight will have to counter with more dark magic and that might corrupt her sor something.

[Faceless 101]

Disappointed, Sombra. The best you got to was:

 

"My crystal slaves." Show some witty banter, man!

 

Trixie, you have a lot of explaining to do...

[SmileForever^.^ 128]

Nope!

I had high hopes for Sombra before the two-parter aired (Thanks to unavoidable, taunting spoilers) due to his epic design!

And then the moment of truth spat on that whole image I preserved.

He has almost no personality (well, on cannon) and no dialogue I remember specifically except for: "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA" and "AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

 

But I do think the MLP team on the inside, did animate Sombra in a way to mainly please the Brony community; but then got carried away and totally forgot about character persona (except that he REALLY likes stairs).

[Flutterdasher 115]

As I said in another line I think that King Sombra has a LOT of potential. I wasn't disappointed in the episodes I thought they were good, even though he wasn't in them much. It was still clear that he was an evil nasty piece of work, but I got the impression by the end of the two that he was going to come back at a later time.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

This is my thought on what the writers were going for when they made King Sombra. For 2 seasons now we have had some very powerful villains in the show, but have any of them be threatening looking? I mean we did not see much of Night Mare Moon and she was powerful, but she did not do much when facing Twilight. Discord was also powerful, but you have to admit he was not someone u may take seriously. Also he kinda talked to much. Finally Queen Chrysalis was pretty freaky looking, but is probably the weakest of the villains so fare. Now she could have won, but she talked to much and just thought she won and in the end she lost.

 

Now for Sombra I feel like they wanted to make a villain who was scary looking, but did not need to talk to much. If anything he tried to at least stop the crystal heart from getting in the hoofs of the other ponies.

 

So I liked him, but he just was not that great of a villains. Still like I said, they were just trying something new.

[roptiriolg 49]

I think the episode was great and well thought until they seem to have run out of time to develop Sombra and rushed the 2nd part, like they didn't calculate the time they would need.

[Mywas 687]

Yes I was Satisfied with Sombra as a villain. I don't want an emo who crys and justs want to be Loved as a Villain. I wanted a villain who is Evil because he god damn wants to be one. Seriously Atleast he did not cry like Sunset did. Imagine if Scar cried and asked to be forgiven. Also King Sombra had stuff like Dark Magic and was able to survive fighting two alicorns(The immortal ones) at the same time and still be able to banish an entire Empire with him. nd on top of that, he was a Unicorn, not a god, but a mortal who is as strong as gods. which one of you could even live 55 hours in Ice? He lived 1000 Years in Ice, came back and spat on Shining Armors face, made Cadence lose all her powers, Outsmarted Twilight, Wanted to eat Spike, and nearly Won if it  wasn't for a fluke. Thats why hes best Villain.

[Ihei 713]

I was pretty happy that he's the antagonist. He was a better antagonist that Sunset Shimmer, since he could take over a whole empire for a thousand years and Sunset for barely a hour.

[Broseph 215]

To be honest, since the episode was based more around Twilight passing a test than anything else, I thought he was pretty satisfying.

And really, what else could they have done with him? He isn't really the main focus of the episode.

And I like how he slowly develops from a giant looming cloud into his final form as the episode progresses.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Broseph

[Mutemutt 773]

Meh. I found him pretty unremarkable, but he served his purpose. Yeah, he was evil and did evil this and evil that and likes crystals, but he just doesn't have much character to him. Right now, he is merely a shadow of a character and I'm not sure that will ever change. Still, although I have very little interest in the current Sombra, he did enough for the episode to progress which I guess is good enough.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,632]

I think Sombra has a ton of potential, he just wasn't utilized very well at all. He has a dark backstory and apparently dark powers, but they did not seem to matter much because of how quickly he was destroyed. I LOVED the atmosphere of his character in The Crystal Empire. That looming feeling of an extreme thread being incredibly close and just waiting, that was well done in my opinion. Then he shows and up dies. It killed off that mood obviously and that is probably what disappointed me the most. I would love to see him return at least one more time to attack the Crystal Empire, but I want to see much more. The atmosphere can be there, we have seen that already, just establish him better.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Like everyone says, he is full of potential but instead they killed him off too quickly. If they didn't kill him off, he would have been one of my favorite villains or at least one of the most complex villains in the show.

[SkyBound 829]

In regards to how the episode was focused not on Sombra himself but Twilight and her friends' mission to save the Crystal Empire, he was satisfactory as a constantly-looming threat.  In way of character, personality and further back story, there was much left to be desired just based on what was presented.  However, and this is merely speculation and my opinions alone, Sombra is much more of a threat than he appears.  

 

Fear is his greatest weapon and assest and he uses it with utmost skill.  He is a devilish tactician and one with foresight to thwart or incapacitated his enemies without having to deal with direct confrontation.  To even gain entrance to the chamber that held the Crystal Heart, one had to discover the secret entrance in the throne room, overcome the nightmarish door that projected one's deepest-seated fears (leaving those afflicted relatively paralyzed without someone to awaken them), the seemingly-endless staircase, and finally the pressure activated crystal prison if one approaches his prize hostage.  

 

There is also his unique magical powers to disable a unicorn's magic as well as his sheer power to exhaust an alicorn princess of her magical strength; he is a force to be reckoned with.

 

Perhaps I am reading a bit much into this, but Sombra certainly had a lot of potential to be a true threat to the Mane 6 and Equestria.  It was a shame that he was defeated so quickly but here is to hoping that he is not truly dead and he will make a comeback.

Edited June 18, 2014 by SkyBound

[Seldon 12]

I think King Sombra is a very tolkienian villain: purely evil, always far or hidden, casting his shadow on the world and waiting the right moment to act. He's not even a complete character, but what matters is his mere existence. To make him more interesting they should not show him more, instead they should show other ponies talking about him as a legendary pony and stuff.

[SCS 7,537]

I was extremely pleased with King Sombra's role as the antagonist. I disagree with the notion that he did not play a prominent role in the story, just because he did not speak often. 

 

In fact, Sombra plays an absolutely critical role in the story. The fundamental idea behind the story is good clashing against evil, and how evil lost due to its inherent self-destructive nature. Both subtle and not-so-subtle aspects of Sombra's nature, actions, and provided history were essential to developing these ideas through the tale of the Crystal Empire.

 

King Sombra seems to be the antithesis of Princess Celestia. While Celestia represents the epitome of light magic, Sombra represents the epitome of dark magic. With the introduction of the Crystal Heart used as a magical artifact to channel light and love energy, it seems to me that the story involves a battle between evil of the highest order, and good of the highest order.

 

Another interesting factor to consider is Celestia's awareness of dark magic, and Sombra's awareness of light magic. It is shown directly in the show that Celestia knows how to perform dark magic, when she demonstrates its nature to Twilight Sparkle as part of her explanation of The Crystal Empire and King Sombra. It is implied that in turn, Sombra knew how to perform light magic. There were three things that happened in the show that lead me to this conclusion. Firstly, Sombra felt the need to hide and lock away the Crystal Heart behind a series of complex magical traps and puzzles. If he felt the need to go through that much difficulty to attempt to stop others from getting the Crystal Heart ever again, that implies that he was aware of its immense power. I doubt he would be aware of its immense power if he had never done light magic, or had light magic done upon him. Secondly, in the moments before his destruction by love and light channelled through the Crystal Heart, his awareness of his fate is shown plainly on his face, and in what his last words were. Thirdly, if he was intelligent enough and magically powerful enough to do that level of dark magic, to the point where Sombra is to dark magic as Celestia is to light magic, it is doubtful to me that he would not know how to do light magic. 

 

Consideration of this point then brings me to the following question: why did Sombra choose the path of hatred? He was incredibly magically talented. If he had chosen so, he could have used his power for good, and followed the path of harmony. He could have stood alongside Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Twilight, to rule Equestria with love, peace, tranquility, and harmony. 

 

Yet, he did not choose that path. Perhaps he wanted a more self-indulgent life. If he were a ruler in harmony, he would be serving the people, instead of the people serving him. The fact that he chose the path of hatred, and ended up enslaving the Crystal Empire, is evidence that all he cared about was power.

 

But, if he was intelligent enough to perform dark magic to an extremely advanced level, why did he not recognize the inherently self-destructive nature of not only dark magic, but evil in general, that would ultimately lead to his demise? This is because intelligence and wisdom are two completely different things. One can be extremely intelligent without having an iota of wisdom. Gaining knowledge is only the first step. Learning how to use that knowledge positively to help others and yourself is the essential second step that allows you to grow in wisdom.

 

The reason why he was not wise seems to me that it would most likely be his initial preoccupation with power and self-indulgence. As he grew more powerful, he would become more obsessed with his own power. As such, he would not at all care about anyone other than himself, which, through his own free will, barred him from the path of wisdom.

 

Sombra's nature, mannerisms, and provided history - both the subtle and the not-so-subtle - are key in understanding the philosophical elements underlying The Crystal Empire: Part 1 and The Crystal Empire: Part 2.

 

As such, I am greatly pleased with Sombra's role as the antagonist, and I feel that the writers did an excellent job with him. They made enough aspects of his character obvious in order to make the story and its moral lesson easily accessible, while still providing more subtle characteristics for deeper analysis that were not unreasonably abstract. By leaving some aspects of Sombra indirect, more abstract, and up for analysis, they were able to present him as an enigmatic character. His intriguing nature only makes me even more pleased with his role as the antagonist in The Crystal Empire: Part 1 and The Crystal Empire: Part 2.

Edited July 27, 2013 by SCS