| Discord | |
|---|---|
| My Little Pony character | |
 Discord as he appears in "What About Discord?" | |
| First appearance | "The Return of Harmony" (2011) |
| Created by | Lauren Faust M.A. Larson |
| Voiced by | |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Draconequus |
| Title | Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony |
| Affiliation |
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| Significantother | Cosmos (ex-girlfriend; comics only) |
Discord is a fictional character who appears in thefourth incarnation ofHasbro'sMy Little Pony toyline andmedia franchise, beginning withMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010–2019). He debuts as the main antagonist of the second season premiere before becoming a recurring character throughout the rest of the series. He is voiced byJohn de Lancie.[1]
Discord is depicted as a powerful and mischievousanthropomorphic draconequus who embodieschaos anddisharmony.[2] As the Spirit of Chaos, he possesses reality-warping abilities and delights in creating disorder and confusion. Initially presented as a malevolent force who once ruledEquestria through chaos before being defeated and turned to stone byPrincess Celestia andPrincess Luna, he is later reformed through the friendship and kindness ofFluttershy, becoming one of her closest friends and an unlikely ally to theMane Six. His character arc explores themes of redemption, the value of friendship, and the balance between order and chaos.
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More than a thousand years before the beginning of the series, Discord once ruledEquestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used theElements of Harmony to turn him into stone. Discord first appears in the second season premiere "The Return of Harmony" when he escapes from his stone prison and plunges Equestria into chaos. He corrupts theMane Six by turning their positive traits into negative ones, causing them to turn against each other. AfterTwilight Sparkle overcomes his influence and restores the Elements of Harmony, Discord is defeated and turned back into stone.
Discord returns in the episode "Keep Calm and Flutter On" whenPrincess Celestia releases him from his stone prison and tasksFluttershy with reforming him. Throughout subsequent seasons, Discord develops a close friendship with Fluttershy while learning to use his chaotic abilities for good rather than evil, and occasionally helps the Mane Six in their adventures.
He's the one character where we can break all of the rules of the show. He can have a reference to something that's a bit more modern day or contemporary. He has hands—which is a big thing. In Seasons 4 and 5, I ended up with a couple of Discord episodes, and he then became a kind of character where you could just throw him in a different costume and have him do something extra silly—it seems to work really well for him.
In mythology, Discord orDiscordia is a trickster and the Roman goddess of chaos.[4] Faust based Discord's character onQ, an omnipotent trickster played by John de Lancie inStar Trek: The Next Generation. The production team considered casting a soundalike of de Lancie to voice the character but decided to try to get de Lancie himself, who was available.[5] The creative team developed Discord as "the one character who could break all of the rules of the show", by making him put more modernized or contemporary pop culture references than usual in the series' "fantasy storybook" setting.[6][7] He was not intended to have a recurring role;[6] according to McCarthy, "'reforming' him allows us to tell new stories with his character. He gets to be the not-always-reliable ally instead of the known enemy".[8] Author ofMy Little Pony: The Art of Equestria Mary Jane Begin commented on the "chaotic" settings that accompany the character, such as his home dimension called Chaosville, likening them to "dream-inspiredSalvador Dalí paintings".[9]
Discord's introduction in theSeason 2 premiere was indicative of the show's incorporation ofpop culture references to appeal to adult viewers.Media studies professor Venetia Laura Delano Robertson noted that Discord's chaos-inducing abilities, including causing chocolate rain to fall overPonyville, referenced the viralYouTube video andInternet meme "Chocolate Rain" byTay Zonday that had been popularized on4chan. The character's debut was part of what Robertson identified as the show's deliberate "tailoring to thegeek demographic"; the series also used references ranging fromStar Wars: A New Hope (which the ponies' victory ceremony directly mimicked) toThe Big Lebowski (whose characters appeared as background ponies).[10]
Supervising director and executive producerJayson Thiessen wrote of Discord's reformation:
"What I like is that he started out as a villain and now he's not a villain, but he never really changed. It's really just whether or not he's trying to hurt the ponies or take over their world. He's still the chaos character that we were introduced to; it's just that now he's not doing it for evil purposes. He's essentially the genie fromAladdin in a way, orLoki—really, any sort of trickster. He can be either negative or positive, but it doesn't change his trickster nature."[11]
Academic analysis has examined Discord's character design and mythological significance within the show's lore. According to Priscilla Hobbs, when show creatorLauren Faust drew inspiration fromGreek mythological creatures likechimeras andmanticores when developing Discord, she deliberately made his body parts asymmetrical and from different animals to give the impression ofdisharmony. Hobbs likened Discord's character to theGreek goddessEris, the personification of discord and strife, and applied essayistLewis Hyde's analysis of trickster figures to Discord, describing him as "a boundary-crosser" who "will cross the line and confuse the distinction" between established social and moral categories. Hobbs also wrote that the show presents a doctrine of balance similar toAristotle's Golden Mean, where Discord and harmony must coexist rather than one annihilating the other (cf.The Nicomachean Ethics). Hobbs wrote that Discord's transformation from chaotic villain to reformed ally represents hope and optimism for controlling real-world chaos, especially for "a generation who has spent a significant portion of its life in a state of war and chaos."[12]
Samuel Miller used Discord as the namesake for a theoretical framework he termed "discordant masculinity." Miller argued that Discord's physical composition as a draconequus and his character arc from chaotic antagonist to reformed ally through friendship parallels how adult male fans of the show challenge traditionalgender norms. According to Miller, Discord's initial appearance as "chaotic, mish-mashed, and an oddity" followed by the revelation of "something within him that is genuine and good" mirrors how the general public perceivesmaleMy Little Pony fans (also known asbronies).[13]
Kevin Fletcher wrote that Discord's backstory reflects "a feminist impulse" and thatPrincess Celestia andLuna's dethroning of Discord is a form of feminist revolution againstautocracy, with the sisters liberating the oppressed ponies and establishing Equestria'smatriarchaldiarchy. Fletcher wrote that Discord's actions (taking control of the world while altering reality in ways reminiscent ofM.C. Escher andSalvador Dalí) are a representation of "male culture" that contrasts with the femininity of the ponies.[14]
Carly Olsen, writing inScreen Rant, ranked Discord as the fourth most powerful magic user inFriendship Is Magic.[15]
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