King Sombra Is the only Villain who was not an Idiot

[Hodni 7]

I think the lack of Sombra's backstory is that season 3 is more of Hasbro's story direction rather than Lauren Faust's.
Crystal ponies were created to compliment the toys and obviously they needed a bad guy to antagonize them. then Poof! you get Sombra.
Since he was never intended to be part of the original lore then that might explain for the lack of any history on his part at all. (same with Cadence & Shining Armor. Conveniently made to compliment the royal wedding play set)


But that's just my theory.

But anyways I think the writers still did ok integrating Sombra into the lore despite popping out of nowhere. At least Sombra was given a few flashbacks and a general explanation of his past. Chrysalis didnt even get one. All we know about her is what Cadence said about her during the big exposure scene. That she's a changeling and does this and that.

Personally I didnt like him much but that simply coz I didnt like his character design much (i'm quite aesthetic) and I tend to be biased towards female antagonists (so for me to like a male antagonist, he'd have to be really really high up the coolness factor.) plus the fact that Sombra virtually had no dialogue. What made the other villains more likable for me was their voice acting.

Otherwise:
Yes, he is the villain who has achieved the most. Despite just being a lone unicorn, not being Alicorn, no god-like powers, nor did he have an army.


 

Edited March 26, 2013 by Hodni

[Darker 1,351]

He never proved to be intelligent either.

[Deviousnights 48]

That's the Power Puff Girls. I'm comparing him to the other villains in MLP. Discord was a god of chaos, ruling Equestria before Luna and Celestia. Fair enough. Chrysalis was the queen of a race called Changelings who fed off of love all over the world. Good. Nightmare Moon was Celestia's sister before being banished to the moon for her actions. King Sombra is just a powerful dude. We don't know where he came from, what he is, and he barely even speaks. We just know that his "heart is black as night."

If you ask me That's enough. A backstory doesn't make the pony y'know. Chryisalis didn't have much of a backstory either. Where did she come from before the events if the story? At least we know that Sombra was a badass dude who enslaved multiple ponies and an entire empire.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

He never proved to be intelligent either.

 

I have to disagree there.

 

1. His traps have a great amount of foresight in them, and I have to imagine the endless amount of steps has to do with his magic. If a pony any other than Twilight has ascended them, Sombra would be back in power as of now.

 

2. I have a feeling he let his horn be cu on purpose because he knew he could grow it back AND it was the only way to get past the shield.

 

3. He doesn't rush into the Crystal Empire when he knows there are possible dangers. When the shield was down, he didn't have to rush in. That could've been risky as Cadence was quickly able to bring the shield back up; hence his quick thinking with his horn.

[Darker 1,351]

I have to disagree there.

 

1. His traps have a great amount of foresight in them, and I have to imagine the endless amount of steps has to do with his magic. If a pony any other than Twilight has ascended them, Sombra would be back in power as of now.

 

2. I have a feeling he let his horn be cu on purpose because he knew he could grow it back AND it was the only way to get past the shield.

 

3. He doesn't rush into the Crystal Empire when he knows there are possible dangers. When the shield was down, he didn't have to rush in. That could've been risky as Cadence was quickly able to bring the shield back up; hence his quick thinking with his horn.

1. Those were probably put there long time ago.

 

2.I agree, that was smart , but It felt like Sombra just got lucky.

 

3.He was just chasing the Mane 6 and Shining, he didn't know a shield would come up.

[Castle Bleck 19,380]

We mostly see Sauron's aftereffects instead of Sauron himself? Fans: "Bad@$$!"

 

We mostly see Sombra's aftereffects instead of Sombra himself? Fans: "Gak!"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsO7Xq717c

[Hodni 7]

LOL necroposts

anyways just curious, is the OP of this thread even still around? Name seems to be unclickable. Last I saw him (last year) he was aggressively picking fights with members who didnt agree with him. Banned?

[ScarfaceOne 263]

Doubtful now that Tirek arrived.

[Pastel 7,630]

^ Yeah

 

I even think none of them (except maybe Nightmare Moon) were idiots.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Tirek is officially the smartest villain surpassing sombra...

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

1. Those were probably put there long time ago.

 

On that one, that's my point. Again, he had the foresight to actually think of any & all possibilities that no one other than  genius would figure it out.

[Castle Bleck 19,380]

On that one, that's my point. Again, he had the foresight to actually think of any & all possibilities that no one other than  genius would figure it out.

 

All the other villains seemed to just make it up as they went along.

[EpitomeOfTruth 243]

Something I've noticed....why is lack of a backstory the biggest complaint people have on Sombra? Chrysalis has even less backstory than Sombra, yet she is constantly receiving praise.

[~ Dr. Ocsid ~ 690]

I just have one little thing to add, please don't bring up the fact that guards could hear her singing. It was to add a nice enemy song to the episode, she wouldn't have actually sung that in the open around all the guards.

Also, she got the Captain of the Guard under mind control. 

Making the guards stand guard somewhere further on that corridor was easy for her.

 

Also, Sombra mostly relied on brute strength while Chrysalis was cunning.

All the other villains seemed to just make it up as they went along.

Discord has an excuse for this: Planning is contrary to Chaos. Therefore, the best plan is none at all.

Also, I got the feeling that Discord behaviour is like the one of a gamer who knows the cheatcodes of the game and constrains himself in using them to much so the game doesn't get boring. 

Basically, the whole life is a game for him, and he has the cheatcodes, the sourcecode, and the rulebook in his claws. 

If he were stupid, he would use that to the full extent, making the game to easy for him and therefore boring.

Edited August 25, 2014 by YetAnotherDiscord

[Fractured 2,684]

Yes, actually, and he won, to boot, at least before he was vaporized by the royal sisters. Of course, he wasn't really sentient, does that count?

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Sombra never had the ego complex that every villain seems to have...THAT is quite scary for a villain to be collected and aware of his limits.

 

The best bad guys are the ones that are aware of this weakness. Even Tirek was foolish enough to not do enough research on Twilight even though he escaped Tartarus back in Season 2.

[Old Fluttershy 349]

Sombra isn't a bad villain I mean he DID take over an empire for 1000 years. He just didn't have the screen time, literally he's a dark cloud throughout most of the episodes. What's so menacing about a dark cloud? I mean let's be honest here, Chrysalis is constantly being praised because she was able to fool everyone into believing she was the real Cadence. She said it herself her goal as queen of the changelings is not to defeat anybody but to get food for her subjects.

 

Basically, we all saw the other villains succeed in their plans only to have it blow up in their face, Sombra got beat like right on the spot we didn't see what he was really like nor did we see what he was really capable of.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

Sombra executed his plan the best among the villains the two-parters have given us. Unlike the other villains, he actually went down fighting instead of revelling in his power and success for just enough time to allow the Mane 6 to handily defeat him. His traps in the "darkest fear" door and the "endless" staircase were extremely clever and add to the entertainment value of the episode. If only we could have the villains do more things like that instead of revel in their power and victory, we'd have better season premieres and finales.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Wind Chaser