Unicorn King...

[Noble 66]

Remember when they did the hearts warming eve thing? Remember that princess platinum (rarity) said that she was the daughter of “the unicorn king" what if that king is king sombra? After all the crystal empire is icy and we never know how long sombra ruled the Crystal empire and that he might have sent platinum to be around her subjects more because he was inslaving the crystal ponies.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

That's an interesting thought. It mucks with my personal headcannon time-line though... But I'm sure I can work a way around that, I just have to sit and puzzle for awhile on it.

 

If Sombra predates.... then he would be.... Huh. I think I can actually make that one work.

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,275]

That would be an interesting theory...I'd actually like to know who the mother was as well, or maybe King Sombra wasn't evil in the past. Princess Platinum doesn't seem evil, she's really prissy and annoying but that's about it. So Sombra must of had some sort of different past before he was possessed by some sort of evil, that's just my random theory if Sombra was really Unicorn King xP

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

No, it's probably not, although you're not the first person to suggest the connection. The Crystal Empire is located in the arctic north of Equestria, and Princess Platinum (and therefore her father) would have been alive before the ponies even discovered it.

[Crapplejack 136]

Probably not, If princess platinum was the daughter of king sombra why didn't he show up during the episode? We must assume that it's because he was banished by the 2 sisters, but remember, this era was before Luna and Celestia existed.

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,795]

Our basic lack of information supports that theory in some way, because:

 

1) We still don't know any basic timeline besides the standard "over a thousand years ago"

2) We don't know when exactly Celestia and Luna came into existence

 

And never Forget: it is easy to create new characters or expand one characters background and imply that into what you already have. For example: Shining Armor and Cadence. Twilight had a "friend" before and Equestria actually has three princesses all of a sudden.

 

Everything is possible.

[Noble 66]

Probably not, If princess platinum was the daughter of king sombra why didn't he show up during the episode? We must assume that it's because he was banished by the 2 sisters, but remember, this era was before Luna and Celestia existed.

because like I said he was ruling the crystal empire and couldn't be with his subjects. Another thing is the old area the ponies were living were icy because of the wendigos and they are most likely still there which means that the crystal empire may be near oldestia as I like to call it.

No, it's probably not, although you're not the first person to suggest the connection. The Crystal Empire is located in the arctic north of Equestria, and Princess Platinum (and therefore her father) would have been alive before the ponies even discovered it.

I have one thing to say to your article north thing that I will say in my favorite meme which I will do after I waste my 100 chars

Edited June 20, 2013 by Noble

[Crapplejack 136]

 

 

because like I said he was ruling the crystal empire and couldn't be with his subjects. Another thing is the old area the ponies were living were icy because of the wendigos and they are most likely still there which means that the crystal empire may be near oldestia as I like to call it.

 

Yeah but they confirmed that The Crystal Empire's located in Equestria and the first time Equestria was discorvered was actually during hearth's warming eve.

[SoarinBlue 202]

It doesnt seem like the time tables match up. The stuff with hearth's warming eve predates Equestria, which was around at the same time as the Crystal Empire. Also, Sombra is supposedly just pure evil, if he were the unicorn king, he would have just tried to take over and enslave the other races, not go through the diplomatic process with them

[Fhaolan 4,484]

It doesnt seem like the time tables match up. The stuff with hearth's warming eve predates Equestria, which was around at the same time as the Crystal Empire. Also, Sombra is supposedly just pure evil, if he were the unicorn king, he would have just tried to take over and enslave the other races, not go through the diplomatic process with them

 

You're assuming characters are static and they can't change. This idea works from the perspective of Sombra originally being just a non-evil, but powerful Unicorn King from the Crystal Empire, that predates Equestria and is in the northern area. With the events of Hearth's Warming Eve, the Windigoes are driven out of the new country of Equestria, but that doesn't mean they're driven completely out of the world. The place the ponies came from to get *to* Equestria are still under threat of the Windigoes. King Sombra goes a different route than Clover, and turns to dark magic rather than friendship. Instead of driving the Windigoes out of the Crystal Empire, he takes control of them to maintain the frozen north, but becomes corrupted in the process.

 

Then Discord happens, distracting everyone from the fact the Crystal Ponies up north are being oppressed by this new dark King, and gets himself stoned.

 

King Sombra, now functionally immortal thanks to the dark magic, is in control of the Crystal Empire and the Princesses, riding on the high of taking down Discord, decide to go after Sombra as well. Luna gets blasted, and gets corrupted herself, so Celestia has to go for the hat trick.

 

It still works, and doesn't directly contradict anything in the show itself. It does contradict secondary sources, but since 90% of that is fan-made anyway, who cares?

[SoarinBlue 202]

You're assuming characters are static and they can't change. This idea works from the perspective of Sombra originally being just a non-evil, but powerful Unicorn King from the Crystal Empire, that predates Equestria and is in the northern area. With the events of Hearth's Warming Eve, the Windigoes are driven out of the new country of Equestria, but that doesn't mean they're driven completely out of the world. The place the ponies came from to get *to* Equestria are still under threat of the Windigoes. King Sombra goes a different route than Clover, and turns to dark magic rather than friendship. Instead of driving the Windigoes out of the Crystal Empire, he takes control of them to maintain the frozen north, but becomes corrupted in the process.

 

Then Discord happens, distracting everyone from the fact the Crystal Ponies up north are being oppressed by this new dark King, and gets himself stoned.

 

King Sombra, now functionally immortal thanks to the dark magic, is in control of the Crystal Empire and the Princesses, riding on the high of taking down Discord, decide to go after Sombra as well. Luna gets blasted, and gets corrupted herself, so Celestia has to go for the hat trick.

 

It still works, and doesn't directly contradict anything in the show itself. It does contradict secondary sources, but since 90% of that is fan-made anyway, who cares?

That's awfully convulted and reverse engineered around not contradicting canon, but I suppose it works. It seems clear to me that Sombra was always evil though. From his name to his coloring, to the fact that his verbal communication seems limited to evil laughter. I cant imagine him having ever been "good"

[Fhaolan 4,484]

That's awfully convulted and reverse engineered around not contradicting canon, but I suppose it works. It seems clear to me that Sombra was always evil though. From his name to his coloring, to the fact that his verbal communication seems limited to evil laughter. I cant imagine him having ever been "good"

 

Never said he was good, just not evil. There is a difference. Darth Vader was not evil when he was Anakin Skywalker, but I can't stretch things to actually call *him* good either.

[SoarinBlue 202]

Never said he was good, just not evil. There is a difference. Darth Vader was not evil when he was Anakin Skywalker, but I can't stretch things to actually call *him* good either.

I cant imagine he would ever have been not evil either. I mean shit, his name is Sombra, he's a video game controller cutie mark away from looking like the worst OCs in the fandom and he's like made of smoke or some shit. Characters do not get more stereotypically evil than that

[Fhaolan 4,484]

I cant imagine he would ever have been not evil either. I mean shit, his name is Sombra, he's a video game controller cutie mark away from looking like the worst OCs in the fandom and he's like made of smoke or some shit. Characters do not get more stereotypically evil than that

 

And if that's all he is, then there's nothing further you can do with the character. He's just a stock villain with no substance whatsoever. Snidely Whiplash in all his pathetic glory. He existed purely to be an obstacle, with no past, no story, nothing. A weightless cardboard cut-out.

 

Me, I prefer worldbuilding. It entertains me to try to make sense of the nonsense presented in the show. Piecing together connections from the implied backstories and whatnot, and tying it all into models built from real-life or literary history. If all these characters are just cut-outs, if there is no 'history' to discover or work out, if the characters have no motivation beyond 'Garrrrrr! Crystals!!!' then there's nothing to interest me. So I like seeing what other people have come up with from the same pieces, like this one from @@Noble. And I try to see if what they've thought of can fit into what I've already built, just to add texture to the tapestry.

 

As for convoluted, we are dealing with events that took place at least a thousand years ago, and likely took hundreds of years to occur. Lots tends to happen in hundreds of years. Using RL for example, people tend to simplify the Crusades down to a paragraph or maybe two, and if they try to be accurate those paragraphs are going to be convoluted and confusing. Because there were nine different Crusades covering six hundred years. Simplifying all the critical events in a six hundred year period to two paragraphs is going to be convoluted.

[SoarinBlue 202]

 

And if that's all he is, then there's nothing further you can do with the character. He's just a stock villain with no substance whatsoever. Snidely Whiplash in all his pathetic glory. He existed purely to be an obstacle, with no past, no story, nothing. A weightless cardboard cut-out.

 

Me, I prefer worldbuilding. It entertains me to try to make sense of the nonsense presented in the show. Piecing together connections from the implied backstories and whatnot, and tying it all into models built from real-life or literary history. If all these characters are just cut-outs, if there is no 'history' to discover or work out, if the characters have no motivation beyond 'Garrrrrr! Crystals!!!' then there's nothing to interest me. So I like seeing what other people have come up with from the same pieces, like this one from @@Noble. And I try to see if what they've thought of can fit into what I've already built, just to add texture to the tapestry.

 

As for convoluted, we are dealing with events that took place at least a thousand years ago, and likely took hundreds of years to occur. Lots tends to happen in hundreds of years. Using RL for example, people tend to simplify the Crusades down to a paragraph or maybe two, and if they try to be accurate those paragraphs are going to be convoluted and confusing. Because there were nine different Crusades covering six hundred years. Simplifying all the critical events in a six hundred year period to two paragraphs is going to be convoluted.

I mean, that's pretty much what the writers did though. They introduced him as a generic villain who's bad because I don't know why just go with it. If a character has a complicated backstory they tend to emphasize that. Sombra clearly didnt, he was just evil. And I realize that this is all just headcanon, but my jimmies start acting up when people go too far out on a limb to fill in the blanks with characters that are left largely undefined, same thing happened with Luna in season 1. Occam's razor and all that, I fill in the blanks with the things that make the most sense and are the most straightforward, other things seem to me to be coming up with what you want to be true and then reverse engineering some crazy scenario around that, which seems silly to me

[Zygen 6,066]

I actually find this to be quite the interesting theory. However I do find that if this is the case it must be before Sombra became evil, I just can't see Princess Platinum being ok with Sombra in the evil state of power he was.

 

Interesting though... its very possible.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Zygen

[Fhaolan 4,484]

I mean, that's pretty much what the writers did though. They introduced him as a generic villain who's bad because I don't know why just go with it. If a character has a complicated backstory they tend to emphasize that. Sombra clearly didnt, he was just evil. And I realize that this is all just headcanon, but my jimmies start acting up when people go too far out on a limb to fill in the blanks with characters that are left largely undefined, same thing happened with Luna in season 1. Occam's razor and all that, I fill in the blanks with the things that make the most sense and are the most straightforward, other things seem to me to be coming up with what you want to be true and then reverse engineering some crazy scenario around that, which seems silly to me

 

You really care that much about what other people have for headcannon? Huh. I don't feel like taking on the weight of that much responsibility for other people's flights of fancy.

 

Ockham's Razor (from William of Ockham) can only be applied when two competing theories are both otherwise equally supported by evidence. In this case, it cannot apply because there is no evidence for either theory. In fact, your theory is based completely on the lack of evidence. It is not stated in-show, therefore it does not exist. Basically; attempting to write backstory is pointless because we are not the writers of the show. To me, this seems very defeatist.

 

The bit I wrote about Sombra above, that I came up with off the top of my head in ten minutes, also has no evidence. However, it has one thing going for it, that yours does not.

 

It amuses me. 

 

Plus, as Fransis Crick said, "While Ockham's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a very dangerous to implement universally.' He was nominally speaking of biology, where Ockham's razor can lead you down some very bad paths. The razor assumes optimal choices made using perfect knowledge at every juncture. Biology, literature, history, and others are rarely built from optimal choices made from perfect knowledge. In fact, many genres of fiction are dependent on the characters having incomplete knowledge and therefore making 'bad' decisions in order to drive the story forward. I tend to find stories filled with characters, all with perfect knowledge and always making the correct decisions... boring.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Fhaolan