The Ending of the End Notes: The Legion of Doom, part 1 · 9:59pm Feb 2nd, 2020
I have decided to start a series giving some behind-the-scenes information. This first installment will focus on the Legion of Doom. Nothing in here will spoil anything that hasn't appeared in the story thus far (that is, up through Chapter XIII), and when discussing spoilers to the most recent two chapters, I'll put them in spoilers. I'll add any questions you guys have to the main post.
Today's topic is
The Legion of Doom
Where one [of the Mane 6] is weak, another is strong, and thus unified, they are a formidable force! But we shall use their own strategy to defeat them!
In General
In my eyes, the members of the Legion of Doom are both the most fun and the most important characters to write in this story. Chrysalis, Grogar, Tirek, Sombra, Cozy Glow, and Mean Twilight Sparkle are six of the characters most misused in the season 9 finale. The characterization of Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek are all completely butchered! Grogar isn't real! Sombra wasn't resurrected! After a season of Chrysalis keeping Mean Twilight's log, she didn't do anything with it! Luna, Celestia, and Discord indefinitely petrify Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek after they're defeated and helpless!
This really upset and angered me. So I had to fix it. I had to write the ending they deserved. An ending with Grogar real, Sombra resurrected, Mean Twilight reused, and Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek written right. That is my biggest goal, and if I succeed on that, then I will consider this story a success.
On with the characters!
You know nothing of the changelings or what it takes to be their queen! I decide what is best for my subjects, not some mewling grub!
Queen Chrysalis, the Infiltrator
We as viewers have known Queen Chrysalis the longest and the best. She's appeared in A Canterlot Wedding, To Where and Back Again, The Mean Six, and of course much of season 9. Writing her right is incredibly important to me, and in this story, I wanted to capture elements of every episode she's appeared in. From the caring if ruthless ruler in ACW to the harsh disciplinarian in TWABA to the revenge-fueled revenant in Mean Six and finally to what we saw of her in Frenemies and The Summer Sun Setback, I have tried to incorporate all the different sides we've seen of her into one cohesive whole.
She is being driven by her desire to rule her hive again, her desire to be wanted by them and seen as a hero, her desire for revenge against Thorax and Starlight Glimmer, and although she'd never admit it, her desire to protect her allies. She does care about them, even if she's in denial about it.
To the Legion, she brings a few special powers:
- She is fairly talented (think S2 Twilight level) at combat magic, both offensive and defensive
- She is extremely talented at shapeshifting, and is in fact the world expert on it, giving her a huge arsenal of battle forms
- Again, her talent with shapeshifting makes her an amazing spy and saboteur
- She is ancient and has a correspondingly immense collection of knowledge
- When modified by the Bewitching Bell she was able to shapeshift into multiple forms at once, using the best of multiple species, and even into diseases
Chrysalis is definitely a villain, but her motivations are generally understandable. She had her entire culture erased by a strike team composed of foreign agents and a traitor, and her people indoctrinated with their ideology. She wants to go back to a time that made more sense to her, and to get revenge on those responsible.
Through this story, I have tried very hard to show Chrysalis slowly becoming less averse to being part of a team. She still has similar goals to when she started, namely regain her hive and inflict revenge on Starlight, but she really is coming to work with her co-conspirators well.
Here are a few rough notes on what Chrysalis would be like in D&D terms, because I'm a D&D nerd:
Race: Changeling 1
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Class: high-level druid or high-level egoist (psychometabolism) psion
It appears we are at an impasse. How about a trade, Princess Twilight? Their release for all the alicorn magic in Equestria!
Lord Tirek, the Firepower
Tirek is a very interesting character to write because he combines incredible physical and magical skill with a brilliant mind. Tirek appeared in Twilight's Kingdom, School Raze, and several episodes of Season 9. In Twilight's Kingdom he outwits Discord himself, and comes very close to total conquest of Equestria. He would have won outright if it hadn't been for Rainbow Power ex machina. In School Raze, he's able to help Cozy design schematics to drain all magic from Equestria permanently, and Cozy isn't even able to use magic herself! In Frenemies he really displays his brilliance, and applies himself very effectively.
He wants immense power, but why? I follow both the aired finale and the FIENDship comic here: he wants to gain glory and return home in victory, having finally conquered Equestria. He has a very difficult relationship with his father, King Vorak, and a much better one with his mother Queen Haydon and his gram-gram. He doesn't have any interest in hurting ponies beyond draining their power, although he's not averse to it if necessary. In other words, he's practical about it, not bloodthirsty.
Some of Tirek's especially notable powers:
- He can suck out magic from any living thing, using it for his own power
- When suitably powered up, he is one of the mightiest in the world on what I'd call primitive combat magic: telekinesis and lasers
- He is very intelligent
- Like Chrysalis, he knows a huge amount of ancient lore
- When modified by the Bewitching Bell he became a passive parasite, eating any magic directed at him, but this doesn't work on spells that are directed at, say, the floor or the air in his lungs
Tirek is clearly a villain, but he is oddly noble. He honored Twilight's deal, choosing not to re-imprison the mane 6 after draining their magic. He gave Chrysalis her magic back. I haven't touched much on his backstory, just because he doesn't think about it much when under pressure. But once this is over, he'll definitely have a lot to think about.
In this story, Tirek acted as kind of the stabilizing factor of the team. Chrysalis is being tsundere, and Cozy is being saccharine. He's more worldly than Midnight and not as snooty as Sombra. He's just upfront about his goals, and consequently he can keep them all on track.
Tirek in D&D terms:
Race: Centaur
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Class: high-level sorcerer
You get some rest. Don't give any of this another thought. Just let Cozy take care of everything!
Cozy, the Friendship Specialist
Cozy Glow appeared first in Marks for Effort and then regularly throughout seasons 8, until, of course it was revealed she was evil in School Raze. She posed a new kind of threat: one who weaponized friendship and turned it to dark purposes. She expertly maneuvered and manipulated everypony. Season 9 freed her from Tartarus and added her to the conspiracy of malcontents.
Cozy is really hard to write about. Why? Because we know nothing at all about her backstory! We don't know what she did before she came to the School of Friendship. We don't know why she's so manipulative. Some people don't even think she's really a pony at all. I personally do, but it's an open question. Her motives are similarly unclear. We know she wants to be the Empress of Friendship and she has no compunctions about planet-rewriting events like draining all the magic from Equestria (did they ever explain how the sun still rose and set after Celestia and Luna lost their magic?). But other than that, she's a big question mark.
So, I had to invent some of my own ideas. I have deliberately kept it as ambiguous as possible, both so viewers can slot it in with their own headcanons and so when the Season 10 comics come out my backstory won't be overwritten. I've avoided delving into the big why of Cozy's motivations. I might explore them at some point, and I've read several fics on the matter; I might write my own sometime. Until then, Cozy's motivations are left to the reader to speculate on.
Cozy's powers are all psychological:
- She fully understands the mentality of all sapient beings and knows exactly how to manipulate them
- She's amazingly charismatic
- She's got the body of a young child, activating the parental protection response in most sapient species
- She can effortlessly pass all lie detectors regardless of what she says, including magical ones
- She has a borderline supernatural diplomatic proficiency
- When modified by the Bewitching Bell she gained the ability to project an illusory image of herself to see and communicate through, and to create a large amount of illusory duplicates of herself for use as a distraction during combat
Cozy is the hardest of any character on this list to rate as as how villainous she is. Maybe she really is doing it for the good of Equestria? Perhaps she's decided that Equestria will be ruled by somepony and it makes the most sense for it to be her? Maybe she wanted to get rid of magic because of all the magical supernatural threats Equestria has faced? Maybe she just wants to rule? We just don't know. We only know about her methods and her short-term goals, which are very morally reprehensible.
Cozy's D&D sketch:
Race: Pegasus
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Class: ordinary commoner, but has a 30 Cha and like 50 ranks in bluff and diplomacy
Once we get the power of the Elements, no creature—not even Her Majesty—can tell us what to do!
Mean Twilight "Midnight" Sparkle, the Brains
Mean Twilight only had one appearance in the show as a pony in The Mean Six, but she cropped up throughout Season 9 as Chrysalis's log. The leaks revealed that she was considered to be a member of Grogar's group but they eventually didn't do so. But she was too much fun not to include. I had to bring her back! So I wrote her as Moondancer with zero empathy and a burning hunger for magical power.
Unlike everyone else on this list, she doesn't want to rule. She doesn't care about having subjects. What she wants are knowledge and power, especially those related to magic. She doesn't want to hurt ponies, but if doing so is advantageous, she doesn't have any compunctions about it. Her ideal outcome is access to all libraries in the world and being left alone.
Midnight has these notable powers:
- Immense talent at every kind of magic (S9 Twilight level)
- Finesse with magic instead of just brute force; where Tirek might fire a huge laser, Midnight will just cast a spell to turn blood to acid, expending much less energy
- Incredible brilliance, to the point of being the smartest member of the legion by an order of magnitude
- Knowledge of a huge arsenal of spells, at least as large as the rest of the non-Grogar team combined
She is the least villainous of the group. She has no ruinous designs, no wishes to conquer or destroy. She just wants to be left to her own research. But she has started to form a sort of companionship with the other members of the Legion.
Midnight's D&D stats:
Race: Alicorn (synthetic, a living construct)
Alignment: Neutral Evil (noticing a pattern?)
Class: high-level wizard
Here to fight the good fight with nothing but your wits? Admirable, but foolish!
King Sombra, the Recruiter
Sombra is really two characters: the Sombra of The Crystal Empire, who didn't say much more than "Crystals", and the Sombra of The Cutie Remark and the The Beginning of the End, who has a dramatic, flamboyant attitude. The Season 9 premiere set up Sombra making a deal with Grogar: if Sombra successfully took and held the Crystal Empire, it would be his to keep, but if he lost it, Sombra would serve Grogar. Sombra agreed, but he wasn't resurrected. Why? We don't know. I decided that Grogar hadn't had the power to resurrect him yet, because Sombra had been so utterly destroyed by the Mane 62 it was nearly impossible to resurrect him.
Sombra wants to rule the Crystal Empire. He's collaborating with the others because Grogar would either not leave him an empire to rule or would force him to be a vassal. However, it seems he may be coming to care about his teammates as well. He certainly did not enjoy having them all laugh at his love for Radiant Hope, but he did enjoy hearing their secrets.
Sombra brings these powers to the team:
- Antimagic and anti-teleportation crystals
- Extreme talent with illusion and fear magic
- Brainwashing, enabling him to quickly gather a huge army
- Like Chrysalis and Tirek, he's very well-informed on ancient secrets
- Bonus points: his minions are just victims, so people fighting them feel awful
Sombra's definitely a villain, but he has gotten smarter about it. He figured out that once he took the Mane 6's family as hostages, he should treat them as well as possible to ensure the Mane 6 would be merciful towards him. He also has gone out of his way to avoid causing excessive harm to ponies in general so if he loses he probably won't get killed again.
Sombra's D&D info:
Race: Umbrum (fey)
Alignment: Lawful Evil (our first non-Neutral Evil!)
Class: sorcerer or warlock
I gave life to the foulest of creatures and allowed them to run wild, taking what they wanted and destroying the rest. My reign was a glorious, fear-soaked epoch of darkness in Equestria!
Grogar, the Visionary
Grogar only appeared in Season 9, though he was mentioned back in A Flurry of Emotions. He picked up Chrysalis from the middle of nowhere, broke Chrysalis and Cozy out of Tartarus, and resurrected King Sombra. He's the driving force behind the entire conspiracy. Writing him required something very particular: I had to avoid ever writing from his point of view. If there's a scene only he is privy to, I'll do what they did at the MLP premiere and show him offscreen. There's a very important reason for this, too: he's an in-universe mystery. It feels much better to write other characters speculating on him than his own thoughts.
His role in the story is sort of the opposite of Cozy's: I have figured out exactly what makes him tick, but much of it is spoilers for chapters that haven't been written yet. What we do know is that he wants to return Equestria to how it looked millennia ago, a scattered group of hamlets and villages existing only as livestock for his creations to pillage and destroy.
Grogar is also noted for being the only member of this list who is not in the Legion of Doom proper. Technically, that group invented that name as a group name for their conspiracy to overthrow Grogar and backstab the Mane 6.
Grogar's powers are currently unknown. Some of them include:
- Creation and design of new monsters, his signature ability
- Teleportation over incredibly vast distances, without even having to go himself
- Incredible power and skill with combat magic, including wards against almost every form of harm
- The vision to create a conspiracy of half a dozen villains for shared interest
- Knowledge of more ancient secrets than anyone else alive today as a result of his extreme age
- Ritual magic enabling things ordinarily impossible for any caster, such as resurrection of somepony supposedly permanently dead like Sombra, or whatever his massive ritual in Canterlot is
- Access to his Bewitching Bell and six other magical artifacts suspected to be the Elements of Disharmony
Grogar is the clearest-cut villain of anyone on this list. He wants to bring an end to pony civilization and metaphorically salt the earth. His goals are incompatible with any goals any of the others have.
Grogar in D&D:
Race: Ram
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Stats: on par with a high-tier demon lord or a low-tier archdevil
I'm just a kid, so...
Questions and Answers
What topic should my next blog cover?
More questions will be posted once you guys ask things
Footnotes:
- What creature type should changelings be? Humanoid? Monstrosity/monstrous humanoid? Aberration? Fey?
- Why are the mane 6 always so cavalier about killing him? He's a pony too! This bothered me so much I eventually decided it was because he was a lich. Death for him is a hassle, but not permanent. They're brutal against him only because they know he can take it.
If one of the show creators, who worked on S8 and S9 looked at your blog post, they would realize how much they fucked up with butchering both the lore and the spirit of MLP FiM. RIght now it's either to accept the Haberfiction and say "i-it's okay I guess, it had meme faces!", or say "it's bullshit, ponies don't torture beaten foes and it's not canon". I'm happy to see so many writers and artists going with the second option.
As for Cozy Glow, it's really hard to say anything about her today. She was supposed to be a completely different creature, with solid background and a reason to be manipulative. Incopetent people, who were in charge of working on her backstory really messed up, trying to merge Darla Dimple, Flowey and some random characters to create an ultimate S8-9 villian. They created someone who by default should get mental help, since they decided to make her a kid. Jim's twitter suggested she was an orphan, so the thing they did to her in the finale really makes you think - aren't the alicorns the real villains of Equestria?
Tirek's backstory shows he was a victim of manipulation, don't forget who was Sendak the Elder and how his influence messed up Tirek's morality.
So far Chrysalis showed she was the closest to accepting Starlight's hoof, but when you think about what happened to her... If one day princesses woke up and all ponies in Equestria decided to be transformed into rocks (hey, you don't have to eat or drink!), they wouldn't be very happy. Chrysalis lost everything and no wonder why she is so mad about it.
Sombra is the most messed up character in MLP, since he was depicted in 4 different ways in comics and episodes. Besides the bipolar thing from the show, we have an alternative timelines with "good" Sombra and another one, that explains his backstory. It really sucks for him to be a whipping boy for protagonists.
I must say I'm enjoying your story much more than most of the episodes from last seasons. Maybe in a few years we will be able to create our own animated finale - with assets, Pony Voice Preservation Project and some effort we could erase that OOC bullshit. You already started with a solid script!
Personally memefaces don't bother me unless they're excessive. I feel like they're like frosting: good in small to moderate amounts, bad when excessive, and you can't make something exclusively on them.
But yes, I absolutely agree that our heroes do not torture or execute helpless enemies. The only times they've ever used lethal force are against Sombra and those were all in the heat of battle when he was a direct threat. He got better anyway, so it might not have been lethal force in the first place. And they NEVER tortured anypony for any reason.
I really wish we had had a FIENDship is Magic: Cozy Glow.
Of course. And he also has family issues.
Agreed 100%.
Yep. I went with much of the FIENDship backstory as well as the season 9 depiction.
It really makes me smile to know you're having fun. I've admired your artwork for a long time, and to know you're admiring mine is... kinda awesome, to be honest.
Personally I enjoyed most of both seasons 8 and 9 a lot. So unlike some fans who hated most of them, I was caught horribly off-guard by the finale. I expected, to be honest, mediocrity. A finale that didn't live up to my expectations but wasn't that bad. So what I got completely crushed me. I just had to write my own version.
What do you think is a good topic for my next blog?
5196574
omg yes!
5196553
Definitely! They totally left me with questions! They started it so good, and ended it so horribly!
Plus, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow didn't harm all that much in season nine. It comes to show that the three races didn't actually have a very sturdy relationship with one another, and would eventually fall off with one another sooner or later.
The three villains were weakened, and turning them to stone was absolutely unnecessary! It comes to show how wrathful the alicorns are to their foes, and they seem pretty racist to anyone who is a villain.
The changelings were evil, but were blinded by the 'kindness' of pony kind. Ponies didn't accept them until after they were good. Chrysalis was considered an outcast for not accepting friendship. See what I mean?
Same with the umbrum. They wouldn't be accepted unless they were good, and seeing as they can only feed off fears and hatred, they would be unable to survive in a land full of love and happiness. They were locked away for doing what they needed necessary to survive! Sombra couldn't have dug a hole to break free the umbrum all on his own, so forcing thousands to do it for him seems logical, However, in the comics, it explains how he was hesitant to free the umbrum, fearing he was the only monster for enslaving the ponies, which comes to show that he isn't as much of a sadist as we all thought. He was just doing it for his family. Sombra fears himself.
5196574
Maybe Celestia, Luna and Twilight in "how not to be a princess". Add to this Discord as the most twisted villain who probably never reformed.
5197104
My blogs in this series are mostly going to be about elements of the story I haven't and can't really write. So I think a princess one would explain my character ideas behind writing the princesses. But that's a great idea!
Aberration and humanoid.
You have a really good grasp on these characters. I think their the best parts of your story. As for Sombra, I think the reason that they were so willing to steight up kill him was because they always did so mid-combat. It was not like with the s9 finale where the trio was already defeated and restrained (not that that helped them much, unfortunately). Sombra still had his full power and was willing to fight on both of his defeats. Still a bit jarring how happy they were about it now that I think about it.
As for your next blog, maybe you could cover some of the hero's or perhaps write something about the creatures Grogar himself created.
Love the analysis of your Legion of Doom. Leagues better than canon's.
I wanted to see this so much in the final battle. I wanted to see Tirek or Chrysalis shield her from Canterlot Castle's falling debris or from Grogar's blasts, showing how far they've come in caring for each other since Grogar banded them together.
I know you have subtle scenes in Love and Tolerance that show off these instincts, and I'd love to see more of them. I actually think Cozy might be the key to reforming Tirek and Chrysalis. Obviously Chrysalis needs companionship to avoid going insane, and Tirek cared enough about Cozy that he took her on as a protege and taught her how to drain magic and let her hide behind him whenever Grogar scared her too much. If she IS an orphan, then those two would be great parental figures for her because they accept her real self, and unlike whatever guardians the princesses could find for her, they'd let her decide when she wants to reform rather than try and make her reform. For example, Jade Ring did a great job of showing how well they connect and change each other while still keeping their core personalities unchanged.
5197181
So the rank and file are humanoids, while the queens are aberrations? Sort of like yuan-ti in 5e? That's an interesting and very neat way to do it.
5197241
I agree. I feel they are both the most skillfully done and most important part of my story.
Yeah, but they weren't willing to straight up kill Chrysalis or Tirek even when they were both threats. Just Sombra.
That's why I had to decide they knew he'd get better.
Hmm, those are both good ideas!
5200303
I still haven't watched the finale because I don't want my vision to be influenced. But the fact they didn't is disappointing.
More are definitely coming. I've had one major scene in particular in my head since I started the fic.
I disagree, actually. I think she's the one who will bring them all friendship, but that doesn't mean reformation. Bad guys have had friends in the show.
All very true, but one critical point needs to be kept in mind: they're all still supervillains. They're friends, even if they're in denial about it, but they have a shared goal: conquest of the world. Basically, what Cozy does is bring them together in the sense of "get the boys together, we're gonna conquer Equestria". That's not reforming, but it is friendship.
I agree. I love Jade's works.
5200323
Right, that's what I meant. I didn't mean so far as reforming, but just finding their place with each other. If they could live in peace together and still remain themselves, that would be the golden ending.
Almost forgot,
5200323
I'll be looking forward to those moments. They make my heart fluffy.
5200372
That's certainly a likely possibility.
5200374
They are a true delight to write. Honestly, everything with the Legion is.
Love the DnD stats, it's hilarious. Just funny nitpick on my part. My knowledge of DnD is very shallow but isn't 30 Cha (assuming it is Charisma) so high score that Cozy doesn't even have to bother with manipulation and can get everything she wants by just asking directly?
5200395
30 cha means she's incredibly likeable and can easily make lots of friends.
Her bluff and deception stats represent her manipulation talent
5200400
Oh. I get it now. Is 50 ranks in bluff a lot?
5200464
An insanely high amount. It means she'll be able to deceive deities, as she did with Twilight.
5200303
Oh my goodness, I would of loved that!! Even if it's something MLP wouldn't really do (even if Found Family is like a type of friendship), it definitely would of been great to see how the villains, while not entirely redeem themselves but at least stop doing evil, would of continued on with each other (finding friendship with other villains, heh). I love Jade's work about this prompt.
Tirek or Chrysalis doing a gesture to protect their youngest member would of been adorable, but I do agree that, least so far, they don't see her as a "child" but rather a fellow villain, don't know if out of respect or just don't care about discriminating children. But it still would of shown how much they've bonded with each other.
While Cozy may not be "the key" for their redemption, their overall bond could be. That's why I love the Mean 3 so much, there was so much potential for a redemption.