Now that Discord is "free"

[Cwanky 17,632]

Discord: Where are those little trinkets of yours? You know, the ones you use to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison? Applejack: [sigh] Gone. Discord: Gone? Gone? Fluttershy: But our friendship remains. And if you want to remain friends, you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking and help us clean up. Discord: Fine. But I don't do windows.

 

This is a very big plot hole I'm surprised not more people noticed. Considering Discord's well a near god like spirit of chaos that even Celestia and Luna combined can't take out without help, its very significant that 1 of the few things holding him back - The Elements of Harmony, are now back with the Tree of Harmony, effectively making them a nonfactor.

 

This will have potentially big implications for the plot and it opens up a lot of potentials for the writers. I am sure some of you are already freaking out and screaming "Oh no Discord's gunna be evil and wreak chaos again!" but I highly doubt this will be the case, at least not without very good justification. It would first off be very bad writing and planning by the writers, but moreover there's this:

 

Remember the key reason why Discord was reformed was because he truly valued friendship. Something that Fluttershy taught him and he lacked before. Its very subtle, and Discord himself doesn't notice it at 1st, but the emphasis of friendship doesn't just apply to the Mane 6, it applies to their friends and others also including Discord.

 

Having Discord commit to his promises and actions because of he values friendship, as opposed to having him "stay good" under the threat of a gun being blasted by The Elements of Harmony makes him a stronger character. The writers somehow found a way to make a character as dynamic as Discord even more dynamic by removing a restraint that held back his character. If all fails we can expect that it will stem from the breaking of the friendship between the Mane 6 and characters like Discord - after all these are the bonds that keep them all connected.

 

You could essentially say, that friendship literally is what's maintaining harmony for Equestria. 

[Zygen 6,066]

Yeah thats true, and when they first put the elements up i wondered what would happen to Discord.

 

Of course then i realized that he does infact now value friendship, and this episode shows he truly does, as he is actually intimated by Fluttershys threats, and if this was before his reformation he wouldn't even flinch.

 

Its nice to see the writers really stuck to it though.

 

And it'd be interesting to see if something does happen in the future to break their friendship and make Discord go crazy again, and more so how Discord will be stopped if that happens.

[Scootalove 10,689]

With the Mane 6 learning that they can retain their friendship without the Elements of Harmony in use, could show that Discord now values friendship which was the main goal in Keep Calm and Flutter On. The writers are using this to their advantage, to show that friendship can balance the harmony in Equestria by keeping Discord in check.

[Rough Pathway 157]

Good point. I didn't realize that until now. I really hope that he doesn't go evil again, because of what you said. He is a stronger character, by staying (mostly) good. One thing though. In the season four premiere, he didn't even say Fluttershy's name correctly. I'm not sure if he really values his friendship that much. Not saying that he doesn't, and there could be a lot of reasons why he didn't say her name correctly, but its something to consider. Maybe I'm just nitpicking. Still, this could be interesting if what you said is true. I want to see Discord struggle throughout the season a bit, as that would make him a stronger character.

[Nature's Spell 526]

I also think Discord enjoys messing with the ponies more than ruling them and weirdly enjoys his role as their "friend". Plus Twilight's new role makes her irresistible as a target and I think he actually likes her too.

[Solid 1,327]

Now Discord is more of a "bugger friend" type, which kind of relates to realife.

 

The two main kind of discord is the positive discord and the negative discord.

 

Positive discord: A little joke around between friends, STRENGTHENS the friendship.

Negative discord: terrorism and violence, induces hatred.

 

Discord as we can see now is positive, meaning he pokes around with the ponies to actually strengthen their friendship, hope this make sense.

[FNGRpony 658]

well you had me consider this from a villian stand point.

 

is flutter shy what's keeping discord in check?  suppose i'm a bad guy and i want the old discord back.
seems pretty obvious what needs to be done.

 

imagine if a changeling were to impersonate flutter shy to discord?

 

I mean even if he could see through it,

he'd have a get out jail free card later on for everything he did.

[UserNotFound 964]

I like to think Discord has learned his lesson... Especially with the whole maid thing at the end when fluttershy told him to help clean up! :')

 

Anyway he may be the "class clown" but I don't think he's going to return to his evil ways

[Cwanky 17,632]

 

Well now that I'm done gloating about my season 4 predictions , it seems the verdict is out for Discord in Season 4:

 

The fans were right AND wrong.

 

A lot of fans were right to assume that Discord would become corrupted in Season 4. In Twilight's Kingdom, he returned to his evil ways befriending Tirek and wreaking havoc on Equestria. Except it didn't quite turn out that way. Discord did betray Equestria, but he was damn conflicted, and he valued friendship more than ever. Moreover the Discord's decision to apologize and reconcile mutually with Twilight, and also Fluttershy, restoring and building new and old friendships alike, were what ultimately saved Equestria, almost making him a hero. So why then?

 

For the same reason I have always emphasized: Discord like most other characters is a more complex person than he's given credit for. He evolved and learned to appreciate friendship and the complexities and hardships that come with it. His friendship with Fluttershy may have been great, but any relation he had with the Mane 6 and Celestia was rocky and Tirek exploited that opening. Its an excellent tie in to the show's theme as well, friendship is magic, as that is a major defining point for Discord now. Looking towards Season 5 and beyond, it will be fun to see what further chaos Discord will stir.

 

Its always a little odd looking back at things in retrospect.

[Conred 274]

He is still learning. He strenghten his friendship with Fluttershy and Twilight. However he is still kind of distant toward others and he still didn't show enough care to defend any of them. I hope there will be times where he do something out of his own heart to help them in need. For now he is kind of neutral toward everything and do not seem to feel empathy toward others. We will see in S5 on how much he actually changed.

[Castle Bleck 19,390]

*Remembers Discord's role in 2011, then compares it to his role in 2014.*

 

My, how the pendulum has swung.