Tirek (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

"How does it feel, knowing that soon every pegasus, unicorn and earth pony will bow to my will, and that there is NOTHING you can do to stop it?!"

- Lord Tirek

""Is he friend, or is he foe?", the pony wonders? I can assure you... I am no friend. I am Lord Tirek, and I will take what should've been mine long ago."

- Tirek while stealing a unicorn's magic.

See also Tirek (My Little Pony)

Lord Tirek is a male centaur and the main antagonist in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4 finale "Twilight's Kingdom." He is a powerful demonic centaur with the ability to drain ponies' magic. Lord Tirek is a revamped version of the very first antagonist from the first generation My Little Pony cartoons.

Role
Tirek and his brother Scorpan tried to take over Equestria; but when Scorpan became friends with Starswirl the Bearded, he came to appreciate Equestria and tried to turn Tirek away from his quest. Tirek refused, so Scorpan warned Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were able to imprison Tirek in Tartarus.

When Cerberus left his post at the gates of Tartarus (in episode "It's About Time; for unknown reasons) Tirek was able to escape. Sometime after he began absorbing a unicorn's magic. Celestia received a vision of this and sent Discord after Tirek. However, Tirek was able to manipulate Discord into betraying his friendship with Fluttershy and joining his side. Tirek began eating energy from pegasi and earth ponies to take away their flight and strength. Finally he went after Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, but finding their magic to be gone he imprisoned them in Tartarus. Discord thought Tirek didn't value him as a partner so Tirek gave him his medallion, saying that it was his only keepsake from someone close to him. Then Tirek saw a stained glass window of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Discord explained to him who this new princess was. He and Discord captured Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike, and Tirek ate their power before doing the same to Discord, saying that his medallion actually came from Scorpan, and that Discord is as worthless to Tirek as Scorpan was.



Growing to tremendous size from the magic he absorbed, Tirek attacked Twilight, and when he destroyed her library, she became enraged and fought him in an epic battle. The two were evenly matched, though Twilight seemed to have a slight advantage, so Tirek revealed the other Mane 5, Spike, and Discord, imprisoned in orbs. Tirek told Twilight to give him her magic and that of the three Princesses, and she agreed, so Tirek released all except Discord. Twilight told Tirek to release him as well. He accepted and then ate Twilight's magic, increasing his size to massive proportions. To thank her for her kindness, Discord gave Twilight Scorpan's medallion which was the final key to the Tree of Harmony box. Unlocking it, the Mane 6 received Rainbow Power, which they used to blast Tirek with a rainbow not unlike the one produced by the Elements of Harmony, leaving him imprisoned in a cage in Tartarus with no power while restoring Equestria and the ponies to the way they were.

Appearance
Similarly to his G1 incarnation, Tirek is a demonic-looking being with elements of a centaur. His lower body is black, with a white horse tail and cloven hooves. His upper body appears to be covered in black fur, except his arms and face, which are crimson. He has a pair of horns and a white beard, his eyes are jet black with yellow pupils. He dons steel bracelets which seem to be all that remains of his shackles, a steel collar, and a ring in his nose, he also wears a gold amulet that is a keepsake from Scorpan. In the beginning Tirek appears far smaller than he was in Generation 1, he is also scrawny and old-looking. However, the more power he absorbs, the bigger and nastier he gets. Notably, he becomes much more muscular, grows more hair, and his horns grow much longer. After he absorbs the power of the five main characters (sans Twilight), his shackle bracelets shatter.

Personality
Befitting Tirek's status as a revamp of one of G1's darkest characters, Tirek is extremely power-hungry and brutal. He wants to be the ruler and god of Equestria, and he will stop at nothing to accomplish this goal. However, he does not kill his enemies, preferring to leave them alive, but powerless, the better to oppress them. Tirek is very quick to anger, and his wrath is absolutely terrifying to behold.



Despite this, Tirek isn't purely a brute - he can be deceptively intelligent. He is shown to be patient as he waited for a long time after escaping Tartarus, recovering enough power to become able to launch an assault on ponies.

Tirek is also an expert manipulator, who cannot be trusted - he was even able to persuade Discord, himself known as an expert master of puppets, into joining him - only to betray him and consume his power after gaining enough magic to do so. Despite this, he will sometimes keep his word - but only when he feels he's not really losing anything out of the deal, such as when he released Twilight's depowered friends.

Powers / Abilities
Tirek has manifested the following abilities so far:
 * Magic Drain: In his first appearance, Tirek is shown to be able to consume the magic of ponies, removing their cutie mark in the process - he seems to literally suck this magic into his mouth, like a more kid-friendly version of "soul stealing" (and possibly a flat-out violation of the ponies' selves). A pony drained this way is completely stripped of all magic. Tirek adds the stolen magic to his own, increasing his size and power. The more magic he drains, the bigger and more powerful he becomes. After devouring enough unicorn magic, he becomes able to strip pegasi and earth ponies of their innate magic as well. At very high levels of power, he becomes able to strip even an alicorn or a draconequus of all magic. If Tirek drains the magic of every single pony in Equestria, he effectively becomes its God, able to single-handedly control all the aspects of the land that ponies normally regulate collectively.
 * Immense Strength: At high levels of power, Tirek displays an enormous degree of super strength. He is able to lift and throw chunks of the earth bigger than himself, and smash the ground to create a fearsome shockwave. Presumably, his physical power depends on the amount of earth pony magic he has consumed.
 * Demonic Magic: Tirek displays a degree of magical power consistent with the amount of magic he has consumed. At low levels of power, he is only able to fire a weak, paltry blast. After consuming enough magic he becomes almost unstoppable. He has displayed enormously powerful energy projection in the form of blasts and beams, the ability to create magical shields, high-level telekinesis, high-level magical entrapment, the ability to create portals, and more. His magic seems to be affiliated with fire. The way he casts spells is unique to him: instead of emitting magic directly from his horns, he instead forms a ball of infernal energy in the empty space between his two horns.
 * Durability: Tirek's durability seems to be immense as he survived the magical equivalent of a nuke and even managed to ram himself and Twilight through an entire mountain without seeming to injure himself. Tirek almost never shows any sign of feeling pain (except at rare occasions like when Twilight blasted him in the face) and never seems to be injured at all. He may even be immortal, since the rainbow did not kill him, instead only draining his power and sending him back to Tartarus. Also, like Celestia, he is over a thousand years old.
 * Flight: During his battle against Twilight, he seems to be capable of wingless flight, which would be consistent with him stealing pegasus magic.

Differences from G1

 * In G1, Tirek uses the Rainbow of Darkness to transform ponies and other creatures into monsters. In G4, he eats unicorn magic, and eventually the power of pegasi and earth ponies, and increases his size.
 * G4 Tirek shoots energy waves with his horns while G1 Tirek only seems to use the Rainbow of Darkness or attack physically (although he did cause an explosion to blow up part of the wall of his castle).
 * G1 Tirek wanted to bring eternal darkness, while G4 Tirek wanted power.
 * G4 Tirek is Scorpan's brother while G1 Tirek turned a prince into Scorpan and forced him to work for him, threatening to behead Spike after Scorpan's repeated failures.
 * G4 Tirek has a few appearance differences from G1 Tirek, such as a white beard and tail, a longer tail, a nose ring, and no spikes on his wrists. His wrist braces also break when he becomes big enough.
 * G4 Tirek does not ride a Chariot of Midnight.
 * G1 Tirek is destroyed while G4 Tirek is reimprisoned in Tartarus. A similarity, however, is that both were defeated by a rainbow.

Trivia

 * In his fully-powered state, Tirek is easily the most powerful antagonist (and maybe even character) in G4 (much as he was in G1). After consuming enough magic, he surpasses even Discord in power (a character who is constantly portrayed as near-omnipotent). However, despite the raw power he possesses, he is not as skilled with it as the draconequus is. Tirek mostly uses the magic of others to fuel his own familiar offensive spells, rather than reshaping reality at will like Discord does.
 * He is considered as one of the most evil villain in Friendship Is Magic, along with Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. However, while those two villains were never presented with any attempts at befriending them, Tirek is shown to have consciously flat-out rejected the very concept of friendship with the ponies of Equestria, his brother Scorpan, and Discord, believing it to be weakness.
 * His role in G1 and his relationship with Scorpan are given a nod in G4, but Scorpan is not shown outside of the flashback and the existence of Megan is not acknowledged.
 * He seems to be a sort of Satanic archetype for the show. He is obviously a demon, the most powerful antagonist of his generation, and beyond a doubt one of the most evil. He corrupts Discord into betraying the Mane Six, and his ultimate ambition is to rule as God of Equestria.
 * The fight with Tirek is also similar to Dragon Ball Z battles, and is considered the most epic moment of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic so far.
 * Tirek bears a striking resemblance to Trigon from Teen Titans.
 * Tirek is the second main antagonist that is the main villain of a season conclusion (the first being Queen Chrysalis).
 * In his first appearance, Tirek bears a striking resemblance to Darth Sidious, Ring Wraiths, and Dementors.
 * Tirek is the second main villain to be directly involved with Discord in an evil plan, the first being the Plunderseeds which were created by Discord.

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