Tirek (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

See also Tirek (My Little Pony)

""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 have been mine long ago."

- Tirek while stealing a unicorn's magic.

Lord Tirek is the primary antagonist in Season 4 of ''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. ''He first appears as the main antagonist of the two-part Season 4 finale "Twilight's Kingdom".

He is a powerful centaur with the ability to drain ponies' magic. Lord Tirek is a revamped version of the very first antagonist from the original My Little Pony cartoons. He is the elder brother of Scorpan. In the IDW comics, he is also the son of King Vorak and Queen Haydon and the elder brother of Scorpan.

Tirek is voiced by Mark Acheson, who also voices Unicron in Transformers : Armada and Transformers : Energon, Slyder in Barbie and the Diamond Castle and Sabretooth in Hulk Vs.

Backstory
A thousand years ago, Tirek and his brother Scorpan tried to take over Equestria; but when Scorpan came to appreciate Equestria and became friends with Starswirl the Bearded, he tried to turn Tirek away from his quest. Tirek refused, so Scorpan warned Celestia and Luna, who were able to imprison Tirek in Tartarus for his crimes while Scorpan returned to his homeland.

Season 4
In "Twilight's Kingdom", it is revealed when Cerberus left his post at the gates of Tartarus (in "It's About Time"), 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. Unfortunately, Tirek was able to manipulate Discord into betraying his friendship and joining his side as his chief henchman. 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 upon finding their magic to be gone, he imprisoned them in Tartarus.

As a sign of gratitude, Tirek gives Discord a medallion that he received from "somebody close to him". Tirek then found Discord messing with Celestia's stained glass windows, and grew angry upon seeing one depicting Princess Twilight, demanding to know why Discord didn't tell him about the fourth Princess. Discord stated that he wasn't sure if Tirek could be fully trusted, but now knowing that he is, tells him about Twilight and her friends. Tirek and Discord the headed to Ponyville and captured Twilight's best friends, Tirek draining their power before doing the same to Discord, saying that his medallion actually came from Scorpan, and that Discord is as worthless to him as his brother was.

Growing to tremendous size from the magic he absorbed, Tirek attacked Twilight, and when he destroyed the Golden Oak 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 inside orbs. Tirek told Twilight to give him her magic and that of the three Princesses or else he would destroy her friends, 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 became 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 (and the one that destroyed his G1 counterpart), leaving him imprisoned in a cage in Tartarus guarded by Cerberus with no power while restoring Equestria and the ponies to the way they were while freeing the other Princesses from Tartarus.

Season 5
Tirek is mentioned in the first episode of Season 5 "The Cutie Map" by Rainbow Dash when she reminds Twilight Sparkle that they along with the rest of the Mane Six have opened all six keys of friendship, defeated Tirek and received a castle of their own.

Tirek was mentioned again by Pipsqueak in the episode "Crusaders Of the Lost Ark", stating that Tirek's battle with Twilight is the cause of the poor conditioning of the schoolyard.

In the fourth alternate timeline created when Starlight Glimmer stopped the Sonic Rainboom, Tirek is briefly seen causing destruction.

Depiction in the comics
In the Fiendship is Magic comic series, Tirek and Scorpan were shown to have been the princes of their own kingdom. One day, Tirek went to visit an old centaur wizard named Sendak the Elder, who was also his teacher. Though at first Scorpan said they had to return to the castle because their parents could be worried for them, Tirek ignored Scorpan and ordered him to stay and guard the entrance. Once in Sendak's hovel, he told to Tirek everything about ponies and how he captured one when he traveled to Equestria in order to steal its magic. Tirek and Scorpan returned to the castle where their parents, King Vorak and Queen Haydon were arguing about Tirek's behavior, with the king being worried that Tirek would turn against him, until they enter on. That night, Tirek and Scorpan talked about their parents relations with them and when everyone went to sleep. Tirek went out the castle to find out more about pony magic. Once in Sendak's home, while the hermit was taking a nap, Tirek attempts to steal the unicorn's magic until Sendak woke up just to see how Tirek's spell of absorbing magic just causes a great explosion that traps Sendak under a pile of rubble. Sendak begs Tirek for help, but he abandons him and sneaks back to the castle.

The next day, it is revealed that Sendak was rescued by Vorak's guards, but was sentenced to work in the mines for the rest of his life for his crime of kidnapping a resident of Equestria. Vorak asks to Tirek where he was the night when the explosion happened and Tirek lies that he never left the castle. However, his father doesn't believe him and confines Tirek and Scorpan to the castle, Tirek especially to his chamber, until he returns from Equestria. Tirek is last seen in the balcony where he swears that one day he will overthrow his father and finish what Sendak could not: Rule over Equestria.

Appearance
Similarly to his original 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. Unlike his bestal yet human- looking face from his original incarnation, his face has a more primate-like or bull-like shape. In the beginning Tirek appears far smaller than he was in the original series, 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 his status as a revamp of one of original show's darkest characters, Tirek is extremely power-hungry and brutal. He wants to have complete and utter dominion over all 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 also very quick to anger, and his wrath is absolutely terrifying to behold.

Despite this, Tirek isn't purely a brute as he was patient enough to wait for a long time after escaping Tartarus, recovering just enough power to become able to launch an assault on ponies.

He 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 Earth and Pegasi 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 ruler, 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, flying and hitting Twilight straight through a large mountain, and smash the ground to create a fearsome shock wave. 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 is capable of wingless flight, which would be consistent with him stealing Pegasus magic.

Differences from the Original Series

 * In the original show, Tirek uses the Rainbow of Darkness to transform ponies and other creatures into monsters. In FiM, he eats unicorn magic, and eventually the power of Pegasi and earth ponies, and increases his size and power.
 * FiM Tirek shoots energy waves with his horns while classic 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).
 * Classic Tirek wanted to bring eternal darkness, while FiM Tirek simply wanted power.
 * FiM Tirek is Scorpan's brother while classic Tirek turned a prince into Scorpan and forced him to work for him, threatening to behead Spike after Scorpan's repeated failures.
 * FiM Tirek has a few appearance differences from classic 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.
 * FiM Tirek does not ride a Chariot of Midnight.
 * Classic Tirek is destroyed while FiM Tirek is re imprisoned in Tartarus. However, one similarity 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 FiM (much as he was in the original series). After consuming enough magic, he surpasses even Discord in power. 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 villains 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.
 * However, in the comics, King Sombra was offered a chance to change his evil ways by Princess Amore and maintain his friendship with Radiant Hope, only to refuse, turn Amore into crystal, and shatter her into pieces in front of his former friend. Also, the comics depicted Sombra as less evil and murderous than in the show because Amore survived this, and Sombra eventually reformed.
 * Also, after the Changelings reformed in To Where and Back Again, Queen Chrysalis was given a chance to do the same by Starlight Glimmer, but adamantly refuses and swears revenge on Starlight.
 * His role in the original series and his relationship with Scorpan are given a nod in FiM, 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 show, 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 also ends up imprisoned in Tartarus, which is another name for hell, much like deceased villains of Dragon Ball Z such as Frieza and Cell are shown imprisoned in Hell.
 * This opens up slight possibility that the Mane 6 did kill Tirek and villains spend their afterlife imprisoned in cages in Tartarus (supported by the fact that Rainbow Power couldn't fix Twilight's library or the playground equipment), but as Tirek and the Princesses have been imprisoned in Tartarus alive, this is unconfirmed.
 * Tirek is the oldest villain in the My Little Pony franchise as he was in his age when Star Swirl the Bearded was a young unicorn. The second ones are the Dazzlings, who were in their age when they were defeated by Star Swirl.
 * However, in FIENDship is Magic Issue 3, Discord is shown to be present when Tirek was younger, meaning Discord is older and thus, the oldest villain (though he is later reformed). Furthermore, in the show Tirek is familiar with Discord and is well aware of his imprisonment in stone.
 * Also, in FIENDship is Magic Issue 4, it is shown that when Starswirl banished the Dazzlings, they appeared in the present day, meaning that they never aged to begin with.
 * Tirek is the third male main villain of the series, first two being Discord and King Sombra. Interestingly enough, all three were imprisoned by Celestia and Luna a thousand years ago, while none of the females were (though Nightmare Moon and the Dazzlings were banished a thousand years ago, only Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, and Starswirl banished the Dazzlings).
 * Lord Tirek is very similar to the Dragon Ball Z villain, Cell.
 * They both have the ability to drain a certain species to gain power (Tirek absorbs magic from ponies, Cell absorbs bio-energy from humans).
 * They both wished to absorb a specific source to gain ultimate power and eventually succeeded (Tirek wanted the magic of the Alicorn Princesses so he could become god-like, Cell needed to absorb Androids 17 and 18 in order to reach his perfect form).
 * They managed to convince a former villain to their side by making certain promises, only for said villain to realize the folly of trusting them (Tirek tricked Discord into an alliance by promising him "freedom" from his friendship, only to later betray him and take his magic as well. Cell convinced Vegeta to help him absorb Android 18 so that he can reach his full potential and grant the prince a proper challenge. However, after being beaten and watching his son get killed, Vegeta becomes remorseful for allowing this to happen).
 * They were eventually defeated by a protagonist who gained a power even greater than theirs and were aided by the villains that were tricked, sending them into an eternal prison (Tirek was defeated and sent back to Tartarus by Twilight Sparkle and her friends when she used the last key given to her by Discord to open the chest of the Tree of Harmony and gained Rainbow Power. Cell was killed and sent to Hell by Gohan when he became a Super Saiyan 2, who mustered the power he needed while Cell was distracted by Vegeta's Big Bang Attack).


 * Tirek is similar to Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3:
 * They both steal power from enemies they encounter (Tirek stealing magic from ponies around the world of Equestria (including Discord's magic) to try to be ever powerful and to rule Equestria. And Kai defeats many Kung Fu masters and steals their chi and to use them to attack more Kung Fu masters across China to steal more chi to try to destroy Po and all other pandas).
 * Both were also banished to an afterlife area many years before the story's beginning, though on opposite sides (Kai was imprisoned in the spirit realm, which appears to be heaven, and Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus, which appears to be hell).