The Tragical Historie of King Sombra · 12:27am Nov 17th, 2012
So Season 3 gave us a new villain, the unicorn King Sombra, and he was pretty flat. Nightmare Moon was darkly majestic, Discord was delightfully twisted, and Chrysalis was flat-out creepy. Sombra was just . . . flat. Evil for evil's sake, or so it seemed.
Being me, I decided to look deeper.
What do we know about Sombra? Celestia tells us that he was "a unicorn whose heart was black as night." This is important, as we shall see. We know that he took over the Crystal Empire, and we know that he wore full armor – an even heavier suit that the Royal Guards are seen to wear.
We also know that he was a tyrant, if Celestia's testimony and images of chained earth ponies are anything to go by. We know he was cautious – he secured the Crystal Heart in his palace where only he could access it, rather than hiding it in some distant place. We also know he was cruel – aside from his tyranny, his final act when defeated was to curse the empire he ruled.
I propose a theory.
King Sombra was a mortal unicorn. From his armor – notably heavier than that worn by the royal guards – we can assume he was a warlord of sorts. This implies, despite his facility with magic, a concern for the physical.
FiM villains are known for their motivations, and Sombra is the first to lack one. Let's give him one. Since the Crystal Empire was in the arctic north, it's reasonable to assume there were dangers beyond the weather – wandering Ursas, timberwolves, windigoes, and who knows what else. The world of Equestria is a dangerous places. It's plausible, therefore, that Sombra's original intentions were good: he wanted to protect the Empire, and he decided to do this by making it strong. To do this, he had to be in a position of power, and the current rulers – with their focus on "weaker" emotions like love – had to be ousted.
Another interesting facet of Sombra's appearance is his glowing green eyes, trailing plumes of violet light. We see this effect elsewhere: when Celestia channels Dark Magic to show Twilight what Sombra's reign was like, and again when Twilight herself does so. Since friendship and love are tangible sources of power, it is plausible that this magic is a manifestation of darker emotions – hatred, fear, envy, and bitterness. Let is assume this is so.
So, Sombra is a well-meaning tyrant who was presumably carried away with his own power, ego, and darker side. The fact that the Divine Sisters together were required to put him down – at which they were not completely successful – says that he was powerful. And when the Sisters struck him down, he was not slain; he was transformed into living shadow and imprisoned within the arctic ice. Whether this was by accident or design is irrelevant at this point.
Sombra was not an immortal alicorn, or a demigod of chaos. He was a mortal unicorn, and possibly a very physical one (the armor implies a keen awareness of his own mortality). He is suddenly bereft of his body, alone with the Dark Magic of Hatred, unable to either escape or die. Is it any wonder that he went utterly mad? From the intelligent being he had been (all the powerful spellcasters we've seen have also been reasonably smart), he devolves to something barely sapient, a primal force of hatred, with one thought: reclaim his empire. Whether to save or destroy it, he himself no longer knows. Unable to speak or even think coherently, he is an elemental entity, governed by the magic of hatred that once served him.
Such a fate is ghastly to imagine.
Seeing it put like that, that really makes sense.
547427
I never said he was a kind despot; I said that his original motives may have been honorable. "Well-meaning" doesn't mean "good;" I could bring up the validity of good intentions as a paving material, and the destination of roads so designed.
547525
No worries.
I have not, in fact. Any good?
I think he was just power hungry
547427
can't people be evil for personal benefits?