If King Sombra Returns should he be redeemed?

[Java Jive 440]

Just by looking at him and hearing only two or three lines... Sombra looks very, very unredeemable, much like Palpatine from SW, this guy obviously just likes to be bad.

 

Him staying evil would present options i personally am rooting for. One of which is him recognizing Twilights' potential. Depending on how his character would be fleshed out, which is in real desperate need of it, he could try to manipulate her into following him in his hoofsteps, and from what i've seen in the many months since, that's quite a popular storyline, both in fanfics & art.

 

Twilight, having just been introduced to whatever new abilities we have yet to see, i can see an episode or two where she has to learn to avoid this path to darkness and wield them properly. Yeah, the thought of dark Twilight has intrigued me since the episode starring Sombra aired,. However for that to work well you would need some really, really valid reasons for her to forsake/betray her friends or take Celestia in doubt for some reason. In the end she would learn the lesson of the toll it takes on both her mind and body.

 

She used dark magic pretty quickly and got a grip on it fast, lashing out in anger the second time. You would have to say that such a thing wouldn't go unnoticed eventually. Should Sombra ever go face to face with her, you can bet that he'll try to drag her down with him before actually fighting her, should it come to that. If it's too dark a place for the show to go to... Well, that remains to be seen. But some things can only be learned the hard way, and she is in every sense of the word, as a princess now, a greenhorn.

 

And Sombra would fit the role as her test of will, character and responsibility pretty damn well, should she ever be exposed to his magic once again.

[Phoenix237 353]

No

Among the other villans so far, King Sombra didn't have any clear motivations for his actions

Nightmare Moon-wanted to take over Equestria when no one appreciated her night

 

Discord-He did it to be mischievous and wanted to sprees chaos. He wasn't in my terms evil, just mischievious

 

Queen Cryslalis-She did what she did to feed her people, whose diet consisted of having to feed in the love of others

 

King Sombra-We have no clear motivation. For all we know he was just evil

 

Out of all the villans so far Sombra may be the closets to the definition of pure evil and would be the least likly to be redeemed.

[Silverstream 51]

I think a no on this one,  they could

have done so much more with him

in MLP but did not but maybe the writers

wanted to save him for later use.   Some of

his horn did  make out of the bang,  so maybe

he could up end up taking over the

body of a pony or something with the horn

and more of a back story would be

a nice given for us.

[Heretick-Tock 462]

I'd accept him back as long as he has a sombrero and leads an army of pony skeletons on a "Day of the Dead" episode. Then he needs to star in an episode where CNN's Wolf Blitzer gains super powers and attempts to take over Equestria. 
 

[Righteous Fury 344]

The scariest thing about him was that we didn't know him at all.

 

Like, the other villains might be more powerful, but you know what they want, and you know why they do what they do.

 

Sombra, he's just THERE. You don't even know what he really is or how he got such power. He doesn't do any stupid villain monologues, he doesn't toy with captives, he just shows up, attacks everyone, and takes over everything.

 

He just can't be redeemed. I can't see how that would work. He's practically an animal.

[Staticthor Draconus 958]

with 36 saying no and not a single yes

 

i feel its safe to say that if somepony from studio b sees this, they will know what action to take

Edited April 16, 2013 by Staticthor Draconus

[Betez 1,734]

Honestly, I don't think so.

 

We need some villains that are still bad. And honesty, I doubt he'll make a reappearance. I kinda want him to, but I don't think he will.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I wouldn't see that happening.

 

Here are some reasons why:

 

Backstory: We don't really know much about him from the Crystal Empire besides, that he enslaved Crystal Ponies for thousands of years as an evil unicorn. He ruled over them with an iron hoof and, gave them bad gruesome memories of him while they were under his reign as he enslaved them. But we don't really know more about him and what he is capable of. They could done more for him but, even if he was redeemed there wouldn't be much to reflect on or any reason for redeeming him at all.

 

Like for example Discord, a villain that causes chaos and disorder wherever he goes. They redeem him, and he is now neutral good in a way. The difference between the two of them is, before they redeemed Discord he had a backstory and still does. While, if they chose to redeem Sombra he wouldn't have that much of a story on why he chooses to do what he does.

[GrooveBroove 680]

I love the poll.

No one wants to see him redeemed.  For discord it works, but that's more because of his personality and character. We really cant be going and letting all the Baddies become good guys. Not to mention in Sombra's case he's so underdeveloped we need to know more about him before any real conversations start to go about this. The most he did in his episode was Stairs and laugh a bit.

[NavelColt 22,879]

No. It worked fine with, say, Discord, because from the get go, Discord was not pure, ruthless, heartless evil. He's chaos, incarnate. He was a trouble maker who never, ever bothered nor got the chance to form bonds with anyone, as all he cares about at his core is chaos. Sombra on the other hand, is literally depicted as pure evil. Some villains are dick wads just because they enjoy being so. They're the ones that are usually non-redeemable. Besides, half of the main villains in the show have been redeemed at this point (Nightmare Moon counts, don't forget, and Discord), so imo, Chrysalis and Sombra should remain evil.

[Castle Bleck 19,333]

While he lacked personality in comparison to NMM, Discord, and Chrysalis, he made up for it by being the most depraved of the four; that's just what he brought to the table.

NMM = Tragic Villain.
Discord = Affably Evil.
Chrysalis = Pragmatic Villainy.
Sombra = Made Of Evil.

Take that away, and he really will be as bland as many fans say.

P.S. - Don't revive him, either; his death gave the show an edge.

Edited May 21, 2014 by A.V.

[TheJackedBrony 12]

No, he doesn't need to be redeemed and he shouldn't. Sombra is the embodiment of pure evil. His soul is dark, and he desires nothing more than pain, agony, and misery at the expense of his slaves. His extreme cruelty makes Discord look tame in comparison.

 

Instead, if they ever bring him back, give him more character development to show us viewers how evil he can be. Show us more of an evil, disgusting personality rather than have us proven that he's evil by the artifaclts he possesses nor a vision of his past cruelty with the Crystal Empire. Give him a genuine, three-dimensional, EVIL personality instead!

I deff agree with you, there needs to be some vilians in this series, because without any vilians there wouldnt be much of challenges to conqure in the new episodes

[Rolls Royce 606]

Absolutely not.  Despite his lack of character, I still see him as the most evil villain in the show by far, I mean he enslaved an entire kingdom for 1000 years, and is a master of dark magic.  Plus, I just see him as too evil to reform, you can't change somebody like King Sombra. 

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I'm going with no on this one. King Sombra would be a lot harder to redeem do to the fact that he is just all evil. If he comes back leave him evil. Also team him and Chrysalis up. 

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

Wanna know Sombra's motivation?

 

He's an asshole.

 

That's pretty much it.

 

He's a dictator who used whatever means necessary to get what he wanted, common decency be damned.

 

Nightmare Moon was written to be tragic and Discord is ambiguous enough that you can do what you want with him. Even Chrysalis is mysterious enough that you can build upon her (*cough*love poison*cough*).

 

Sombra is too evil to live. Or even too evil to be undead, as Crystal Empire shows.

[hereTill6 4]

I'm with the general consensus here. We need our devils, a standard for ultimate evil in the MLP world, and King Sombra so far fits that particular niche pretty well.

 

And I agree that his general ambiguity is an opportunity in disguise, there's a lot you can do with it.

 

Also, his eyes give off purple smoke. How do you work a redemption story around that!? Maybe in a Visine commercial you could, hmm...

[Freewave 1,145]

Nope Sombra enslaved an empire. I'd love to see him return and with more backstory and perhaps trying to toy and defeat new princess Twilight. Redeem an evil tyrant? No way. Case in point:

 

[IridscentNionios 1,420]

They didn't allow much choice to do this when they made him... but it would be awesome to see him imprisoned and humbled forced to help those he hurt. Just like Sunset Shimmer in the end of EQG.

[Pastel 7,630]

No "maybe" option?

 

I don't want him to return (he's dead!), but if he does, it wouldn't be that bad if he's redeemed.

 

But he shouldn't return to the show, so no.

[Castle Bleck 19,333]

While I believe Sombra himself is most likely Deader Than Dead, his horn could possibly return as an Artifact Of Doom similar to the Alicorn Amulet and the Inspiration Manifestation.

Edited May 21, 2014 by A.V.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Sombra is pure darkness, so he should remain evil. He can't be revived because his body was purified and literally exploded. 

[Forlong 1,726]

 

Most of the villains should stay evil.  Not saying that redemption shouldn't be tried again on this show.  It's just that I like the subtle message that not everypony that does wrong will learn from their mistakes.

[Adorkable 2,737]

I'm not very sure how to respond to this, can you see a pony as evil as Sombra being redeemed?

 

Coming from a brony who hasn't read the comics. ^^"

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Nope. We already have a good Sombra in the comics (...Who's canonically in a relationship with Celestia!...I honestly did not see that coming. O_o)

 

I would like him to come back and explored more as a villain!

[Castle Bleck 19,333]

I'm not very sure how to respond to this, can you see a pony as evil as Sombra being redeemed?

 

Coming from a brony who hasn't read the comics. ^^"

 

Comic!Sombra's a pretty decent guy, but Show!Sombra needs to stay irredeemable; it's what sets him apart to compensate for his lack of personality.

Edited May 22, 2014 by A.V.