Worst Villain: The Poll

[Dulset Tarn 441]

I thought Sombre gets a lot of unwarranted flak, but was also definitely handled badly. People say he's a terrible villain for just being a looming force, a time limit, and in some sense that's true. Like, what if without the Crystal Heart, the Empire would have been swallowed by the frozen wastes? Honestly, it's kinda the same thing in a lot of ways, but I think what little we understand about Sombre really does make him a good villain. He enslaved an entire empire of ponies, like actually into slaves. No mind control or nothing, just crushing their spirits and using them to um... do things. In chains. His rule was also so absolute that he dominates the memories of those under his hoof, even after he's "gone". Also he has a bunch of countermeasures guarding his Crystal Heart. What the heck did Twilight do to open that door anyway?

 

Now this is mostly just inference based on the narrative, but when people complain about him being nothing but a looming force in the background, I see it as the way to preserve the show's rating. See, from what I see of Sombre, he's a powerful, single minded, no-nonsense villain. If he'd ever actually gotten to who he was aiming at, there would be corpses. Okay, Shining got hit and came out with little more than horn chunks. Admittedly yes, the pony with the most powerful defensive magic in the kingdom still had his incredibly powerful magic nullified after a run in with Sombre. People also say that he wasn't as good because he didn't monologue like the other villains, meaning he had less character. Well yes, it would be nice to know mor about him and his personality, but like I said earlier he's a single-minded, no-nonsense guy. Those previous three villains who did all that monologuing and spoiled us like children? They weren't taking things seriously. If Sombre has time to talk to you, he has time to kill you. It doesn't really make sense for him to talk to people like that.

 

But that's just not what we're used to is all. A villain that doesn't show off everything about themselves is seen as barely existent. Also, ever notice that while every other villain had ALL the chips in their favor and lost? Sombre actually had NO chips in his favor. He had nothing at all but the Crystal Heart hidden and no access to it. His only move was to just beeline for it, and that's what he does.

 

But there's one huge thing I blame the directing for. Remember when we first see Nightmare Moon? She's just a storybook illustration. Then when we see the real her, WHOA HUGE REVEAL! Remember Discord flying around the stained glass windows? We don't see him for real until WHOA HUGE REVEAL! Chrysalis, heck aside from knowing the fake Cadence is evil, we don't know a thing about who or what the villain even is! Then suddenly WHOA HUGE REVEAL! But with Sombre...... We just see him there, out in the open, during a flashback at the beginning. It's not even shown to Twilight, it's only for us. Why did we need to see that?? It's even stranger because when we next see him he's a hazy cloud, then he slowly gets more and more of his body back until the very end when we see his full body. But we already saw it in the beginning, there's no reveal, so why even bother? He totally got shafted by the storyboard.

 

Oh and he also exploded, that's badass.

[Castle Bleck 19,366]

I thought Sombre gets a lot of unwarranted flak, but was also definitely handled badly. People say he's a terrible villain for just being a looming force, a time limit, and in some sense that's true. Like, what if without the Crystal Heart, the Empire would have been swallowed by the frozen wastes? Honestly, it's kinda the same thing in a lot of ways, but I think what little we understand about Sombre really does make him a good villain. He enslaved an entire empire of ponies, like actually into slaves. No mind control or nothing, just crushing their spirits and using them to um... do things. In chains. His rule was also so absolute that he dominates the memories of those under his hoof, even after he's "gone". Also he has a bunch of countermeasures guarding his Crystal Heart. What the heck did Twilight do to open that door anyway?

 

Now this is mostly just inference based on the narrative, but when people complain about him being nothing but a looming force in the background, I see it as the way to preserve the show's rating. See, from what I see of Sombre, he's a powerful, single minded, no-nonsense villain. If he'd ever actually gotten to who he was aiming at, there would be corpses. Okay, Shining got hit and came out with little more than horn chunks. Admittedly yes, the pony with the most powerful defensive magic in the kingdom still had his incredibly powerful magic nullified after a run in with Sombre. People also say that he wasn't as good because he didn't monologue like the other villains, meaning he had less character. Well yes, it would be nice to know mor about him and his personality, but like I said earlier he's a single-minded, no-nonsense guy. Those previous three villains who did all that monologuing and spoiled us like children? They weren't taking things seriously. If Sombre has time to talk to you, he has time to kill you. It doesn't really make sense for him to talk to people like that.

 

But that's just not what we're used to is all. A villain that doesn't show off everything about themselves is seen as barely existent. Also, ever notice that while every other villain had ALL the chips in their favor and lost? Sombre actually had NO chips in his favor. He had nothing at all but the Crystal Heart hidden and no access to it. His only move was to just beeline for it, and that's what he does.

 

But there's one huge thing I blame the directing for. Remember when we first see Nightmare Moon? She's just a storybook illustration. Then when we see the real her, WHOA HUGE REVEAL! Remember Discord flying around the stained glass windows? We don't see him for real until WHOA HUGE REVEAL! Chrysalis, heck aside from knowing the fake Cadence is evil, we don't know a thing about who or what the villain even is! Then suddenly WHOA HUGE REVEAL! But with Sombre...... We just see him there, out in the open, during a flashback at the beginning. It's not even shown to Twilight, it's only for us. Why did we need to see that?? It's even stranger because when we next see him he's a hazy cloud, then he slowly gets more and more of his body back until the very end when we see his full body. But we already saw it in the beginning, there's no reveal, so why even bother? He totally got shafted by the storyboard.

 

Oh and he also exploded, that's badass.

 

He should've just been a silhouette in the flashback scene.

[Dulset Tarn 441]

He should've just been a silhouette in the flashback scene.

Seriously wtf, the princesses were silhouetted as if we're supposed to be like "Omg who are they??" but Sombre was out in the open??

[The Awesome One 1,315]

Sunset was a lame villain. What was she even hoping to achieve? At the end the moment she knows its over she is all apologetic.

[Shift 4,272]

Welp, since Season 5's over, added more options to the poll!
 

I personally really didn't like the Dazzlings; I felt they were shoehorned in the plot and that they just weren't all that interesting, and were overall very forgettable. Also I didn't like their designs so... I just thought they were handled very poorly.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Welp, since Season 5's over, added more options to the poll!

 

I personally really didn't like the Dazzlings; I felt they were shoehorned in the plot and that they just weren't all that interesting, and were overall very forgettable. Also I didn't like their designs so... I just thought they were handled very poorly.

Haha XD

Nothing against your opinion, its the entire point of opinions to differe after all; but I think you'll find that's probably in the minority there though ;p

The sirens are probably the ONE antagonist from the equestria girls series (or even characters in general) to have a pretty unambiguously positive reception from the fandom.

[Shift 4,272]

@@Unlikeable Pony,

 

Yeah, it's a pretty unpopular opinion, but I just didn't like them. You guys can like 'em of course, I just wasn't a huge fan of the trio. I actually really like Sunset Shimmer (I liked her BEFORE it was cool!)... 

[Megas 27,672]

Yeeeeaaaaahhhh after the Cutie Remark I have to give it to Starlight. Had that episode not happened I'd actually consider her one of the best, but man, that pathetic backstory and that redemption just...damn :l

 

Also Prinicpal Cinch, screw her

[Clarity 3,094]

Voted Sunset, 'cause her threat level wasn't very high. Didn't help that the worst crime she committed before putting on the Element of Magic is to antagonize people. She's kind of a ruler... in a sense... but over a high school? Furthermore, her motivations were also not very thoroughly explored (so... Sunset origin episode, please?  ) which further weakens her capacity to be a villain. Thankfully, she emerged from the ashes of flat villainhood as a bright, new, and engaging heroine! 

 

As for the secondary antagonists, I voted Jet Set and Upper Crust. Those two annoyed the crap out of me in Sweet and Elite with their irritating and pompous attitudes. Honorable mentions go to the Flim Flam brothers and the three douchebags in Sonic Rainboom. 

[EmeraldSkies 93]

Even though I love Sunset now, she was a terrible villain. Her plan would never have worked, and I only thought of her as a basic high school bully. Principal Cinch wins in the other category for me (there are honestly worse in there, but I don't remember them enough). She was extremely bland and was not memorable.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

 

Prinicpal Cinch, screw her

>for some reason, this stuck out in my mind

 

 

 

Voted Sunset, 'cause her threat level wasn't very high. Didn't help that the worst crime she committed before putting on the Element of Magic is to antagonize people. She's kind of a ruler... in a sense... but over a high school? Furthermore, her motivations were also not very thoroughly explored (so... Sunset origin episode, please?  ) which further weakens her capacity to be a villain. Thankfully, she emerged from the ashes of flat villainhood as a bright, new, and engaging heroine! 

 

As for the secondary antagonists, I voted Jet Set and Upper Crust. Those two annoyed the crap out of me in Sweet and Elite with their irritating and pompous attitudes. Honorable mentions go to the Flim Flam brothers and the three douchebags in Sonic Rainboom. 

 

The comic staff did a good job of making Sunset's motivations make sense, but she would have been better as a PONY villain than a human villain honestly.

 

Having an ex-student of celestia's who was obsessed with becoming an alicorn for power would have been a good foil to compare twilight's Ascension into an alicorn with, and I kind of feel they wanted to do something like that. but the Human angle kind of just ruins it honestly.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

I am still gonna vote for Nightmare Moon here, Sombra despite having no personality I at least felt was threatening and had fairly clever traps in his episode, hell he came closer to winning than anyone other than Tirek probably. At no point past her big reveal in the pilot did I find Nightmare Moon Threatening, and her villain ball stupidity levels are off the charts. She could of ended the Mane 6's quest against her at literally ANY moment had she chosen to just go out and deal with them rather than turn into thorns and make some trees look scary. I don't care how compelling a backstory you have when you aren't impressive in what I actually see on screen. Actually with NMM that backstory actually works against her since it hypes her up so much as this mega huge threat and then it's just almost nothing. That's what puts her bellow Sunset for me probably actually. 


Nightmare Moons following appearences are a lot better, she was threatening and cool in the S4 premiere and she had some really nice villainous charisma to her in the S5 finale but man when she was actually spotlighted as THE villain of the episode she was kinda just pathetic. The pilot done with the S5 finale Nightmare Moon could of been really interesting, she even seemed more proactive there. 

 

The best villain to me is ether Discord for pure entertainment value and the strength of those episodes or Starlight Glimmer , I don't care how weak her backstory might of been she was threatening, intimidating and cunning. Able to use words just as much as her great magical power (seriously I think my favorite scene in the finale is actually Starlight talking to the bullies) though the reason behind it was kinda weak she had an actual reason and ideology behind her actions and honestly to me the worst part of her redemption is that she won't be around as a villain again cause I really liked her in that capacity. While I have faith that they can make good from the redemption as they did with Sunset later on. Since Starlight unlike Sunset was great as a villain, I doubt I will like Heroic Starlight Glimmer as much as I did Villainous Starlight Glimmer. 

Edited December 23, 2015 by M'gann M'orzz

[Jangocoolguy 433]

Can't remember if I posted on here (and too lazy to read through if I did), but...

 

Sunset, who made a better hero than villain.

 

In fact, one has to wonder if she was a crappy villain so she COULD be a star...

Edited December 23, 2015 by Jangobadass

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Man 'o man has it been a LONG time since I last posted here. And honestly my vote for worst villain still has to go to Sunset Shimmer. Granted I LOVE her as a character and she's easily amongst my top five of character from FiM/EqG overall, but as a villain she was BORING and her plan just didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things. Granted I am sure her she-demon form was quite powerful, but against 4 alicorns, Discord, and the royal guard? I'm sorry, but an army of teenagers isn't going to do much.

 

But like I said I absolutely adore Sunset now. <3

 

Granted at first I probably would've changed my vote to Cinch, but good LORD did she have the entirety of Crystal Prep brainwashed to her philosophy. Of course she isn't very memorable, but she was effective.

 

And I'm not sure if we could count Sassy Saddles as an antagonist here... :/

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I am still gonna vote for Nightmare Moon here, Sombra despite having no personality I at least felt was threatening and had fairly clever traps in his episode, hell he came closer to winning than anyone other than Tirek probably. At no point past her big reveal in the pilot did I find Nightmare Moon

Nightmare Moons following appearences are a lot better, she was threatening and cool in the S4 premiere and she had some really nice villainous charisma to her in the S5 finale but man when she was actually spotlighted as THE villain of the episode she was kinda just pathetic. The pilot done with the S5 finale Nightmare Moon could of been really interesting, she even seemed more proactive there. 

 

I'm pretty sure Nightmare moon's poor showing though was due to the Exec's demands at the time the show first started. They were aiming for a much younger audience than they hit (the current Age range of your normal little girl for the show seems to be 5-7 while the pilot seemed aimed at being appropriate for 5 and under, to say nothing of bronies) so they didn't want the villain doing much more than some poke the poodle stuff to Scare the heroes off.

 

hence why in S4 she was axe crazy and had no qualms about trying to kill celestia on sight while she was horribly reluctant to hurt anyone in the Pilot.

 

 

Heh. Though, ironically, Nightmare moon's timeline seemed to be BY FAR the best alternate timeline of the bunch; all her servants seemed very happy, she was remarkably civil and seemed to be a very legitimate governmental leader all things considered.

[Chara 1,565]

King Sombra and why: 

When we had King Sombra as a Villian we never honestly got to know anything about Sombra besides he is the former ruler of the Crystal Empire, he enslaved the Crystal Pony race, and he got defeated once and was wanting revenge (we all know how that turned out). And the entire episode he was not even a huge threat, he is a VERY shallow character and we STILL have not learned anything about him in The Cutie Remark.

 

So I am going to say for short he was a shallow character not including the comics.

 

Gilda and Diamond Tiara:

VERY cliched bullies basically.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

So....

Sombra turning out to be good all along and just needing a friend: better or worse for his character than the show? XD

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

I'm pretty sure Nightmare moon's poor showing though was due to the Exec's demands at the time the show first started. They were aiming for a much younger audience than they hit (the current Age range of your normal little girl for the show seems to be 5-7 while the pilot seemed aimed at being appropriate for 5 and under, to say nothing of bronies) so they didn't want the villain doing much more than some poke the poodle stuff to Scare the heroes off.

 

hence why in S4 she was axe crazy and had no qualms about trying to kill celestia on sight while she was horribly reluctant to hurt anyone in the Pilot.

 

 

Heh. Though, ironically, Nightmare moon's timeline seemed to be BY FAR the best alternate timeline of the bunch; all her servants seemed very happy, she was remarkably civil and seemed to be a very legitimate governmental leader all things considered.

Yeah I suppose that is true, NMM did have to work within more limitations, and once those were gone we DID see a much much more threatening and less passive villain in her later appearances, one who was smart enough to skip the tricks and monologues and jump right to "I am going to murder you now Sister"

 

And yeah compared to the WWII European Front that was the Crystal War Equestria or the Chrysalis controlled Equestria (which I think was the WORST of the futures, Civilization seemed to be all but destroyed there and ponies probably reduced to living food). the Nightmare Moon future seemed positively normal and stable. Even had tourist going to her castle sometimes apparently. I guess she DOES want to be loved by her subjects, that was part of her initial motivation. 

 

And that GIF there is absurdly adorable, and being a massive Rarity fan? especially relevant to my interest.

 

 

 

So....

Sombra turning out to be good all along and just needing a friend: better or worse for his character than the show? XD

Worse than Starlight Glimmers by far...

The worst part is, if he had just died when he chose to restore the Crystal Heart, making his final first choice against the bonds of what he saw as fate, a sort of redemption equals death moment, I would of been 100 times more okay with it. The scene where he was fading from existence and telling Hope to do good with her life was actually quite nice, but then saving him from that ruins any impact of it. 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

The scene where he was fading from existence and telling Hope to do good with her life was actually quite nice, but then saving him from that ruins any impact of it. 

 

yeah, I'll definitely agree there. I 100% wished he'd died, as that would have been a much more poignant moment. Plus I feel that would have worked well with hope in forcing her to finally move on past sombra and realize that there's more to her life than just living in the past.

 

 

 

And that GIF there is absurdly adorable, and being a massive Rarity fan? especially relevant to my interest.

 

Given the nightmare rarity doll in the image, I strangely enough want to have the headcanon that Rarity was just as much a pupil of Nightmare moon as a servant in that timeline XD

 

I actually kind of wish we could get a chance to see those timelines in a comic again really.

 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Oh no, vague language and double negative! My one weakness!!! 

Well suppose I should answer the question in every way possible:

 

The most effective villain ie the one that was the worst for Equestria: Starlight Glimmer, 7 doomsday scenarios, though all technically never happened. Discord is then next if we take actually affecting Equestria into question. 

 

The least effective villain ie the villain that was the worst at their job: Queen Chrysalis. She has Twilight shunned by her friends and nobody believes her and is at her lowest point. You know what would help? Sending to the real Cadence so that she can help her escape and reveal you to the Celestia and everyone else. Also completely ignore the alicorns and powerful magic users right behind you as well as completely underestimate the source of all your energy. 

 

The villain I disliked the most ie the worst character among the villains in my eyes: Starlight Glimmer. Okay so her as a cult leader is fine but she never impressed me at all in The Cutie Map, mostly because they still played her as being evil and her ideology not having an damn leg to actually stand on, but whatever she wasn't that bad.  The Cutie Re-mark though, is where I really dislike her.  One thing is that she's OP as heck just to write out magic in the story, as well as shill the character. Secondly that last ten minutes drives me up a wall and ruins the character for me.  So yeah I ain't a fan of Starlight.

 

The villain I liked the most ie the villain worst at being hated by me: Discord. Damn I love this guy. For one thing even as a villain I think he was the best.  For starters, he's the only villain so far to actually go after ALL of the Mane 6 one by one and eliminate the biggest threat to him and if it wasn't for the letter to Celestia, he would have won! Also his reformation is by far the best in my eyes since he's still very much disliked by most of the cast, but he don't care

Edited December 23, 2015 by Sidral Mundet

[FlutterGuy999 2,228]

As far as worst villain goes, for me, it comes down to King Sombra and Principal Abacus Cinch. There was a brief time that I thought Sunset Shimmer was the worst, but she at least got some great development in later movies as a reformed character struggling to overcome the demons of her past. Sombra, aside from being inspired by Sauron from The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, is not a very well fleshed out character. He hardly ever shows up in the Season 3 premiere and then he just goes out like a pussy. Personally, though, I feel like Abacus Cinch is even worse. I'd even be willing to go as far as to say she's worse than Sunset Shimmer. This character is just soo painfully clichéd that any moment she was onscreen I was just groaning. Every time she brings up reputation I just want to take a pen and jab it in my ears it's that obnoxious. The only good thing she had going for her was her villain song which had some pretty good build up to the climax, but, aside from that, I'm much more interested in Flash Sentry than her. Also, while on the subject of Cinch, why is she labeled under "Secondary Antagonists"? Last time I checked, she was the main villain of the Friendship Games movie.

Edited January 18, 2016 by FlutterGuy999

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Imma have to go with Sunset Shimmer. The battle was going really well, until that moment when Shimmer was revealed crying. Plus, the fact that Celestia's former student would want to take that shortcut...

 

Jet Set and Upper Crust were just snobby stereotypical rich Canterlot ponies...

[Castle Bleck 19,366]

Granted I am sure her she-demon form was quite powerful, but against 4 alicorns, Discord, and the royal guard? I'm sorry, but an army of teenagers isn't going to do much.

 

Midnight Sparkle's potential threat, however, was shown far better.

 

Which sounds more threatening to you? A bunch of mutated highschoolers, or space itself being ripped open?

[Steve Piranha 29,425]

  Sorry Sunny, as much as I love you now (in a platonic sense mind you   ), you were the lamest villain, EVER in all MLP related. You stole the crown and spent most of the movie just being a HS queen bee

 

  Secondary would be Svengallop. You're just a douche. At least other hate sink characters like Diamond Tiara and Cinch were fillies in the case of DT (the reform helps), and a good voice and  composure with the latter 

[Castle Bleck 19,366]

Secondary would be Svengallop.

 

He even looks like a Pony version of Kristoph Gavin from Ace Attorney.

 

But at least that guy was cool and scary, not to mention how he did the most damage to Phoenix Wright out of any villain.