Why Didn't Discord Help In Season 4?

[Harmony And Rarity 195]

In the Princess Twilight Sparkle P2. Discord does not help in any way other than to cause trouble. We already saw him be able to take away the plants that he planted in the first place. I feel like he is still his old evil self and he has not changed. He IS Discord you know. And I hate to predict that later on either in S4 or S5 that he tries to take over Equestria again.

[caramba2654 602]

But he DID help. He taught Twilight and the other ones a valuable lesson. And just because he trolled them pretty much every time, it doesn't mean he didn't help at all.

 

Besides, he's not reformed, he hasn't changed at all. He's just being "blackmailed", because he doesn't want his friendship with Fluttershy to end. If Fluttershy wasn't there to be his friend, I'm sure Discord would go try to take over Equestria again.

[Guest90210 3,567]

He's loosely reformed. He could have helped clear some of the seeds he planted for sure, but being Discord he wants it done in the most convoluted way possible. He enjoys the chaos its causing and helps Twilight as she doe the main part of the work while he still lavishes in the chaos. Discord also claimed he wanted to teach Twilight a lesson and didn't want to "rob her of the experience"

[NavelColt 22,877]

You make it sound like morality and alignment are black and white, which they clearly aren't :3 Discord as he was up until Keep Calm and Flutter On could be called Chaotic Evil. He was a chaotic and unpredictable entity who sowed some legitimate strife and sinister intent along with that chaos. The ponies did not turn him into a good guy when they reformed him, all the reformation did was make it so he could live in Equestria and do what he wants, as long as he doesn't try to take over or do anything overly bad again. And, as Celestia has hinted to, and as Twilight's summoning spell has shown, come and be some type of supporting character when he's called upon.

 

He has zero obligation to fight anybody's battles for them, or to lead them by the hand through anything, unless Celestia more or less requested he do something such as that. As it was all Twilight did was summon him because she thought he was the bad guy.

[JonPear 209]

But this is exactly the point:

[Metemponychosis 1,239]

I think that Discord was helping himself.

He wanted the Mane Six to get rid of the Elements. Makes me think that he is going to do something the ponies may not enjoy in the future.

 

I mean, he could have just snapped his fingers and made the vines go away, unless he is not as powerful as he seems to be.

[Jammo 986]

He's a jerk, short answer.

Having fun with ponies at their expense is more fun than telling them exactly what they need to hear.

[Kulstor 254]

I think he doesn't want his friendship with Fluttershy to end, but also I think he was playing both sides.  If the ponies failed then he'd have full reign to do what he wanted.  If they succeeded, he's not any worst off and at worst gets to have some fun watching some chaos happen around him and watch some ponies suffer.

[Shanks 10,811]

Think about it, Discord clearly knew from the beginning exactly what was happening and he knew that the only solution aside from one he might be able to cook up himself assuming he was able to do anything to solve this situation permanently was to return the elements of harmony to the tree of harmony. Doing so means that the elements can no longer be used against him without risking the seeds he planted sprouting again which means that for now at least there is nothing that can stop him. Discord may be reformed or at least on his way there but, he knows that the ponies don't trust him and knows that with the elements they could turn him into stone again so in other words he dosen't fully trust them to not turn him into stone just like how they don't trust him to not revert to his former ways.

 

And it is also entirely possible that Discord might not have been able to do anything about it, Discord can do many things but harmony is something even he cannot do and it is clear that that is what solved the problem. He could have told the mane 6 to return the elements to the tree of harmony but they would have assumed it was all a trap so they would no longer be able to use the elements against him. So he had to have a round about way of telling the truth without their understandable suspicions of his motives getting in the way of that.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

being reformed doesn't always mean instant super helpful good guy, hes just not going crazy, there are multiple reasons he may not of helped, perhaps he wanted to teach twilight and the mane 6 a lesson in friendship or perhaps he tried to teach them why you don't send your friend a princess and the element of magic away because she almost got killed by a aligator. When twilight came back I think it was made pretty clear that he could care less about helping and would rather just tease and bug the mane 6 except on a way more minor level than in the past and lets face it if discord did remove the vines that were attacking ponyville he probably would of sent them to some other unknowing town because the mane 6 wouldn't find out for awhile

[SBaby 660]

Well, if you had a chance to get rid of the objects that encased you in stone for a thousand years, wouldn't you?

 

And I would actually say Discord is Chaotic/Neutral.  He does what he wants, when he wants.  He never really had an agenda, even when he was a bad guy.

Edited November 27, 2013 by SBaby

[Scootalove 10,685]

Well, Discord did help in a way by irritating the Mane 6 to the point of them learning a lesson. Besides, it was just the first two episodes.

[Static Electricity 729]

Chaos by it's very nature cannot stay on the same path for long.

 

Therefore, it is impossible for Discord to be completely good or completely bad eternally, at most he'll just manage to be a nuisance to everyone.

[WWAPD 126]

Well of course Discord helped. He was the one who told them to go to Zecora for help, and he was the one who convinced Twilight to turn back and help her friends.

 

He just helped in a way that seemed super dickish. But at the end of the day, he was the one that ended up teaching a valuable lesson.

[Declen 118]

 

 

Discord as he was up until Keep Calm and Flutter On could be called Chaotic Evil.

I wouldn't call him evil. I don't beleave he wanted to hurt anypony deliberately. He just didn't care one way or another. He did what amused him, and if somepony gets hurt in a process - well, such is the fate of mortals, isn't it?

 

Imagine, you have enormous amount of power. Like both rojal sisters together. And not in form of brutal force but in form of endless posibilities to transform your invironment.

But you were given all that power for some exactly clear purpose. Clear to you in first place: you knew exactly why had you have all this power and what you had to do with it.

And some miserable day that purpose is gone. Since then you can do almost anything, but you don't kno what you should do and why.

So what will you do? Do you start killing ponies deliberately? I don't think so. Because why, what would be the point? You know, you're poweful enough, you've always been.

No, I bet you'll start amuse yourself any way you can. Especially when you live long enough to get bored of any trivial thing.

[Tired Brony 89]

Because some men just want to watch the world burn...

[Declen 118]

But this is exactly the point:

I don't think, that would be realistic. - Which reminds me of one strange thing - a "reform" spell.

A spell that could brainwash such a mighty creature like Discord (whom even EoH couldn't harmonize properly) looks like very powerful thing. Practically a "Deus ex Machina".

And it wasn't used anyway, because Discord ate it, can you imagine?

I wonder, why did they mention it in a first place.

[IlikeBoris 13]

Okay, I know that Q is not exactly equal to Discord, (I don't think Discord is as powerful as Q, but still a step above the ones he's playing with.)  But there are similarities in personality, (Discord is more towards immature pranks and catering to chaos against sensibility.)

 

But I think there was only one time on Star Trek where Q snapped his fingers and fixed their problem.  Every other time, it's been playing psychological games, just sitting back to watch, and then foisting his problems onto the humans because they're better at the things his powers can't solve. 

 

I think Q-less has him at his most playful.  He decided to get into a fist-fight with the captain and played fairly enough to get knocked on his bum.  Plus he's trying to get his Companion back because he doesn't know that they should be replaced every two years.

 

Discord is playing a game.  I think he's lying about how uncomfortable his prison is, and doesn't mind loosing as long as it makes the game interesting enough.  He has no empathy, though season four might have him learning how to fake it when it suits his fun.  He won't take the easy path to helping the ponies' problems, but he would nudge them just to see what they would do.

 

I really wish that Pinkie would stop being so hostile towards Discord.  If he could cultivate the "would be willing to watch paint dry for the sake of friends" mentality, and she the "fun has so many flavors"     Hmmmmm, all I can think of right now is making the ponies jaded enough that a stampeding herd of bunnilopes would be seen as an inconvenience. 

[Declen 118]

Because some men just want to watch the world burn...

Oh yeah! That reminds me of some creazy fic i read th other day.

 

Like, one russian brony happened to get to Equestria.

And there a brilliant idea had dawned upon him: to return to the earth and start a nuclear war to whipe the humanity out.

Because, you know, chickens don't like me, ssso, too bad! ...I'mean, we are such evil creatures of Discord, and if we find a possibility to come to Equestria, we inevitably conquere it and kill all the ponies. So, to prevent this our world must be burned down.

And that is what he did - with the help of Discord, of course. Then he wanted to kill himself, but haven't succeed. And at the end it appeared that russian brony has become Discord himself.

 

 

[Vermillion 613]

because he's discord, chaos itself, why would he help make things normal ? 

[Malinter 3,064]

He did help. Fluttershy bossed him into cleaning up ponyville in a maid outfit...

 

...that counts as helping, right?

[Declen 118]

 

 

I really wish that Pinkie would stop being so hostile towards Discord.

Wow. Pinkie Pie, The One of Equestria plus Discord - that would be an explosive mix!

[Seaweed-Headed Dragon 356]

You're talking about Discord here. Chaos. Yes I doubt he would help them. Plus if even though he is reformed, he still has bad in him and I like it that way. Makes for a interesting character

[FNGRpony 655]

well,

we could spend (And will spend) pages and pages of threads wether discord is helping or not.

 

and neither answer is going to be right or wrong, (potentially).

 

The series might wrap up with discord riding the fence.

and you know what,

he's chaos.  That's not out of line.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I wouldn't call him evil. I don't beleave he wanted to hurt anypony deliberately. He just didn't care one way or another. He did what amused him, and if somepony gets hurt in a process - well, such is the fate of mortals, isn't it?

 

 

The way he screwed with the Mane Six in Return of Harmony seemed pretty deliberate.  He could have just brute force mind zapped them like with Fluttershy, but he chose emotional torture instead. 

 

At any rate, much as I would prefer that Keep Calm and Flutter On *never happened*, I think that going forward with the character the best approach is to keep him chaotic neutral, rendering him morally totally unpredictable.  Being too much of an obvious aide to Twilight undermines that.