This is something that, while very much unpopular within the MLP fan community, I’d like to get off my chest:

Before it was revealed in “The Ending of the End” that Grogar was actually Discord in disguise, I was honestly less than enthusiastic about Grogar making an appearance so late into the series. Infuriated even.

When I saw him in “The Beginning of the End”, I was like, “Really? They couldn’t have him come in sooner than this?”

Every time I saw him, I found myself more peeved by him than intrigued. Before “The Ending of the End” aired, all Grogar ever did was angrily bark orders all the time. Even with the large background he had as a villain and his shows of power, I was not at all impressed by him. The time he showed his power in “Frenemies” also made him come off as a Gary Stu, and it made me question why he’d need his bell to begin with if he’s already powerful enough as it is. In addition to this, all I ever got out of him was that he was a mere one-dimensional, worthless, and annoying figurehead who hardly did anything important. With so much more focus being put on Sombra, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis anyway, I found myself questioning the character’s inclusion as a whole. Any time I’d take a sneak peek at an alternate take on “The Ending of the End” or Season 9 entirely where the real Grogar was in the picture, I’d still feel infuriated by him because he never did anything noteworthy or important before the episode came along.

In my opinion, having the real Grogar appear in Season 9 would openly waste and undermine his potential. He’s the kind of villain who’s worthy of appearing in more than just one season of a program for one, like Aku in “Samurai Jack” and Hacker in “Cyberchase”. He didn’t even have much development or screen time in Season 9 to be compelling, so frankly I found him to just simply be...well, there. He was present with no significant purpose whatsoever. Especially compared to the other bad guys.

All of this is exactly why I was happier with the twist, because to me...it openly saved Grogar from becoming what I’d consider to be the worst MLP antagonist of all time.

And before anyone asks...no, I do not hold any kind of grudge against Discord for doing what he did. I also thought the whole thing was actually very much something he’d do. It’s not the first time he’d actually try to help his friends in his own chaotic way only for his plans to backfire, resulting in him causing more harm than good.

I can understand that to an extent. I think if they wanted the trio to be the main villains they probably should have scrapped the "Grogar" idea entirely and found some other way for the trio to come together. I don't mind the idea of them bringing in Grogar just for the final season, but in that scenario I think he should be something pretty dang impressive.

Still, even with everything else staying the same I would have much preferred it be Grogar over Discord. The idea in theory of Discord doing something chaotic to help his friends and it backfiring horribly isn't a bad one and it's not out of character, but the way it's done was just bad. For one it only happens the way it does because Discord is an idiot with a brain the size of a peanut. Yes, he's done stupid and reckless things before but nothing else in the series even comes close. Why didn't he monitor the trio at all? He has the power to do so, he's not omniscient but he's repeatedly shown the ability to be aware of or see things he's not there for, he immediately knew the Mane Six and their elements right out of his statue, knew Twilight was planning to use Reform spells on him, etc. He's implied to spy on his own friends, so why not enemies he's manipulating? Ones he knows are manipulative liars?

Plus, the morality of what he does to the trio is just awful. Sure, maybe we can pass off what he does to his friends as just stupidity and chaotic logic, but the trio? He manipulates them, threatens them, uses force on them and makes them work for him doing evil things. Sure, they're bad guys themselves but that doesn't make it okay. Tirek and Cozy were in prison and a threat to nobody and Sombra was basically dead. Chrysalis was the only "Active" one and she was just going cuckoo for cocoa puffs in the woods. As far as I'm concerned his actions towards them were downright evil, and maybe I'd forgive that if the show or the other characters acknowledged that and called him out, but that doesn't happen. He get's called out for his stupid plan, not for his actions to the villains, and in a kids show largely about teaching morality and friendship. this is a huge issue. Not at all helped by him being the one to suggest and then help carry out their final punishment, whether they deserve the stoning or not, Discord has no right to be delivering it.

Finally, from a meta perspective it just stings. Despite all I've said above, I really like Discord as a character. Since he was playing such a big role in Season 9 I was excited to see what the finale had in store for him and we get nothing but him being stupid, cruel, and nearly causing the death of his friends, causing ALL of the major problems this season and basically just feeling like a worse retread of his Season 4 arc. He doesn't get to do anything cool, or funny, or clever. Nothing to really show growth as a character. Nothing to make a Discord fan cheer or to maybe make someone who doesn't like him go "You know, maybe he's not so bad". He barely even get's to do anything to make up for his mistakes, he frees the Mane 5 and Spike, that's it. Nice start but not nearly enough and then he's just kind of...there for the rest of the finale. He doesn't even really feel like a character, more just a plot device. All for the finale of the show, this as far as most people are concerned is how his story ends, the last impression most people will have of him, and it's this.

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I said it a couple times before, but I’ll say it again here.

The one thing I can’t help but wish for is that Discord was given a lead up from “The Ending of the End”. Not one of those “Discord gets punished” stories, mind you, but...something far more genuine. Like a story where he’s put to the ultimate test by facing an evil only he could stop.

Okay we're doing this again then. Twice, even, since you saw fit to copy/paste it into two groups.

Thread in the other group is more active. I'll be mostly posting over there. My response.

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Can you honestly blame him though? :/

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Might as well check out the response I gave you.

And before anyone asks...no, I do not hold any kind of grudge against Discord for doing what he did. I also thought the whole thing was actually very much something he’d do. It’s not the first time he’d actually try to help his friends in his own chaotic way only for his plans to backfire, resulting in him causing more harm than good.

Yeah lack of basic morals is what discord does. And one of the main reasons we call BS.

The exact reason why Grogar was generic and underused is BECAUSE of the twist. If they decided not to do it then they could have fleshed him out more.
And if it was really in-character for Discord to do this then just makes the ponies even dumber for trusting him.

The writers wanted Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow as the main antagonists because they had an actual history with the protagonists. I see both the pros and cons within this decision.

The pros would be that the battle wouldn't come directly out of nowhere. We have heroes and villains who have rivaled with each other who are in the fight of their lives. That would be a good way to climax the series.

The cons I find is that new villains have just as much potential. They can come across as a surprise to the protagonists, which would, in turn, make the protagonists feel intimidated. So if Grogar was used as the main antagonist, then The Ending of the End would've been about Twilight having to deal with this threat which she has never faced before.

But if Grogar was used as the final villain, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis would've been reduced to villain side-kicks. In comparison to their debut episodes where they posed a singular threat, this would've been an underwhelming send-off.

I think the best way they could've gotten rid of Grogar so that he wouldn't outshine the Mean 3 is to flat-out kill him off. Either the trio defeat him when they betray him, or he attacks Equestria and the Mane 7 destroy him with the Rainbow of Harmony. The twist that Grogar was Discord ended up making Discord look foolish and was pretty much an excuse to not have his powers so that he wouldn't Deus-Ex-Machina everypony out. Either way, it's an odd writing decision, one which did give the finale some ups, but also gave it problems.