Is the Royal Guard Inept?

[Nature's Spell 526]

The Royal Guard is the most useless bodyguard force since the Stormtroppers. Now you can sorta understand the Stormtroopers being horrible since they are the bad guys, but the RG are supposed to be the good guys! I mean I can't think of a time when they did more than look impressive. Now Luna's bat guards look hardcore, but we've never seen them in action beyond Luna eclipsed.

 

Now Celestia isn't a lot more helpful and neither is Shining Armor, so maybe the Royal Guards need better leadership! What do you think? Inept by nature or do they have bad leadership?

 

Maybe they need a new leader?!

Edited November 17, 2013 by Nature Spell

[Mywas 687]

They are just there to look cool and so can the bad guys look good when they take them down. Like how NMM took out some Royal Gaurds and Sombra did the same to Shining Armor

[lomk 20,663]

The Royal Guard is useless lol 

 

I like your comparison to Storm Troopers. 

 

But yeah, they've got the Elements of Harmony fighting for them so they don't really need to do their job. 

[Nature's Spell 526]

They are just there to look cool and so can the bad guys look good when they take them down. Like how NMM took out some Royal Gaurds and Sombra did the same to Shining Armor

You're both exactly right, but I can't help think they have a leadership problem. Dr. Wolf has any interesting video musing about Celestia's powers starting to weaken. Maybe so.

 

http://youtu.be/NXXD1yQA12k

[Fluttershutter 2,494]

All guards everywhere are inept.

[Scootalove 10,689]

They are pretty useless, they just surround the royal Canterlot castle and stay inside the castle just to stay there to protect the princess there. But the reality is which we all know, the Elements of Harmony get rid of the evil threat and protect the princess.

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

I see no point in even having royal guards. What purpose do they serve? I don't recall them being that useful in Equestria Girls when Sunset Shimmer was sneaking around the castle to steal Twilight's crown.

[Inactive01 5,299]

I've always thought of the royal guards as useful for domestic issues where enemies don't have magic powers. I mean, surely Celestia can't handle them physically all on her own because she'd be at different places at different times right? Also, they could be used just for processions and could symbolize power and loyalty to the crown.

[Cygnus 60]

All guards everywhere are inept.

 

Nothing more than filler to be distracted by the protagonist and/or antagonist, the poor things...

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

I think this is a bit too far looked into, but to be fair the Royal Guard could be boosted a bit, you know, give them more character, give them something to do other then to look cool and stand around like statues. Like when an actual threat occurs we can see them battle or fight, pega guards flying to help, unicorn guard using their magic?

 

And Shining Armor had his moments of using his magic to protect Canterlot, he also did his best to save the girls from Sombra at the beginning only to be dishorned a few minutes after trying. I'm not calling him useless though, I just think more can be done to show him and the royal guard off. There's poltential for more. Even Rainbow Dash asked one of the royal guard, "So what does it take to become a Royal Guard anyway?" to which they didn't answer, but obviously she's heard good things about it otherwise she wouldnt' have asked right? Just an assumption hehe.

[Azureth 687]

I mean Shining Armor is useful, but he's the only one of note to do anything and even then he's the captain.

 

Yeah yeah, I get that if they were effective there would be no need for the Mane Six, but even still doesn't it seem kind of weird that your normal no training female ponies are much more capable than what I assume to be highly trained and disciplined stallions?

 

 

[Lisa 5,553]

Because the story would be boring if the guards did everything. :|

[Manman20x6 359]

The Mane 6 aren't "Normal" ponies, they are the embodiments of the elements of Harmony, which grants them enormous power when they are united. Not to mention Twilight is the most powerful magic user in the world, and Rainbow Dash can accelerate to Mach 2 in two seconds flying upwards and punch with the strength of a nuclear bomb.

 

The guards are probably very effective at most of their jobs, but since they tend to not be as interesting as the adventures of the Mane 6, we don't get many chances to see them succeeding.

[Wyzecat 350]

If I'm not mistaken, the only things that we've really ever seen them defend against were the changelings, and at that, there were a ton of them. I wouldn't go so far as to call them useless mainly because we've only seen them defend against enormous threats, and haven't seen that much otherwise.

[catnet 9,357]

Guards in fiction are meant to be useless. Be it the Castle guards of OOT that can't hear Link screaming and dropping bombs around their backsides, or the castle Toads in Mario games, or soldiers in Doctor Who, or any sort of non-main character defence from any series, they just seem to be more than a little ineffective at their jobs. In my perspective, it's done to emphasize that our heroes, whoever they may be, have something which makes them truly unique and worthwhile in comparison to them... plus, if even the guards could solve the problem, then an episode's/story's dilemma isn't really all that troubling, huh? :/ And focusing on lots of guards is just not as interesting as focusing on a few characters that are not afraid to be different and adorable :3

[Cwanky 17,590]

For the same reason that Stormtroopers are so bloody incompetent (outside of the 1st 3 chronological episodes) and rebels are such equally inept meat shields:

 

It highlights and makes the main characters look better.

 

Also have some clumsy stormtrooper:

 

 

genießen

[Nature's Spell 526]

As Cwanky said it is the Stormtrooper effect. Support characters can never be more effective than the main characters. Perhaps it's sloppy writing, but it's consistent; Celestia and Luna were kicking butt, sans guards, for hundreds of years. As Twilight and the Mane 5 are now doing. The Warrior Princess is a thing in Equestria.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Nature's Spell

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Hey @Azureth!

 

Just to let you know I merged your thread with an older one started by @Nature's Spell as it covered the same topic. In the future please remember to search for previous topics so as to avoid duplicate ones. If the search function on the forums is having issues, you can also go to google and use site:mlpforums.com as a means to search.

 

Thank you, and have a good day!

[Princess Lona 382]

I always thought the Royal Guard acts as a sort of Canterlot Police Department. They probably keep petty crime in check and hand out parking tickets. When a powerful, episode-worthy antagonist comes to town, the RG trying to fight it would be like cops shooting at Godzilla with their tiny little pistols.

[Lordav 3,427]

Well i personally compare them to the Popes Swiss Guard

I mean a awsomly awsome (or ridiculous) that they look... they couldn't realy do anything with those old pikes. 

I mean even these guys pose more of a security force than the EQ RG

 

They just seem to be there...to be there as castle-->soldiers-->guards

I mean if you look at the technological level of Equestria you'd be surprised how backward their millitary is. Fact is the RG cant actually be powerful as they would take away from the "danger" level of certain episodes... such as Canterlot wedding. Which brings me... Where da fuk were all the armada of royal guards wen the changerlings attacked

I mean u see them here

and then here

(didnt find a non-crayoned pic)

I mean.... how...what.... 

How come the changelings didnt ever attack and totally own EQ before Cadence was a princess?

Cuz either these changelings know Blitzkreig (which we later see they dont)

Or the RG just surrendered and then grunted

And the mane six, with no millitary experience whatsoever owned em

 

Personally i think they could be improved if they were idk... maybe trained. As the way they are portrayed i dont see them as having any actual training. They seem to just be randomly picked off the street, dressed up, congratulated and sent to a post. I mean i see an angry mob more efficient then they are:

[silvadel 1,393]

Even the Wonderbolts are pretty inept.  It comes from too many parades and not enough battles.

[sweetolebob18 728]

As several others have mentioned, IMO they are more ceremonial & crowd control than a military force.  Also, in fiction they tend to be like the security forces in Star Trek, they are there to get chomped up.

[RainbowTashie 378]

royalty needs guards pretty crap ones but they need them regardless it's just plot i guess

[Denim&Venöm 19,096]

Well you have to consider the types of threats Equestria faces. Discord: Warper of reality. NMM: Generates enough power/force to move the moon and can infiltrate dreams. Sombra: cast wide range curses & effects emotions. Tirek: Steals magic. 

 

Consider the power rangers series. Why don't we ever see police or military fighting the goon soldiers or the monsters? Why is it always left up to the power rangers? Because the rangers are the only ones who can fight them. 

 

The Royal Guard are a conventional military battling unconventional threats. What good is a spear or even an tactical nuke against a creature that can disregard the laws of physics, change states of matter, can lift up entire contents through sheer magic force, alter your moods or steal the very thing that powers your personality and talents? 

 

And these threats have existed for thousands of years. The only ones who could fight these threats are the sun and moon gods and the Elements/ Keys of Harmony. 

 

Which would render any reason for having a conventional military obsolete. Why bother deploying troops when the princess can obliterate the threat with the power of a supernova or the elements of harmony can turn everything back to it's default peace setting. 

 

Think about all the shows episodes. When have we seen an active military, outside of an episode featuring the princesses? Never.

 

And no, the wonderbolts do not count as a military force. Their function is more in line with public service & maintenance. They'll clean up the weather and perform stunts while occasionally performing rescues. They're closer fire, EMS, and a peace keeping force than police or military. 

 

The royal guard never make an appearance, despite every threat that occurs in Equestria, unless the princesses are involved. Therefore, it's safe to presume that the guard are actually more of a secret service, there to protect the princesses, not Equestria at large.  

 

You wouldn't send secret service agents into the front lines of a battlefield. No, the royal guard are essentially just bodyguards for the princesses. 

 

The threats Equestria faces, and the methods used to counter them, render any and all military forces obsolete. 

[Nameless Knight 1,001]

I think that they need to stop researching culture for a while and start working on better armor and weapons for their guards and military. They are clearly based on Romans (armor) and Macedonians (Only weapons are spears and pikes) .

 

Here is an idea make some plate armor like Sombra's and get some swords! Also get a real general instead of Shining Armor! The fact that he has Shining in his name makes me think he has no fighting experience...

 

sorry, I know I'm nick-picking but its stupid, if they have ovens and sewing machines, why can't they have a good military... I'm actually surprised they haven't been conquered already.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Times Hay