Grogar (My Little Pony)

"Very soon, there will be no more ponies in Ponyland!"

- Grogar in My Little Pony and Friends. "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" explaining how Equestria was under his reign in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Grogar is a ram sorcerer who appears as a villain in the My Little Pony franchise. He appears as one of the antagonists in the G1 series, My Little Pony 'n Friends, appearing as the main antagonist in the four-part episode, "The Return of Tambelon". In G4, he is a posthumous antagonist of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

The G1 version was voiced by, who also voices The Fear from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Medivh from the Warcraft games, Quackerjack from Darkwing Duck, and Lex Luthor in the 80s Superman Cartoon, while the G4 version was voiced by Doc Harris when Discord poses as him.

My Little Pony 'n Friends
The G1 version of Grogar appears only in the four-part episode " The Return of Tambelon" as the main antagonist. He is an evil demonic ram sorcerer and the leader of a kingdom named Tambelon, who once ruled Ponyland with an iron hoof 500 years ago before he was defeated when the ancient bell was rung. This banished him and the city to the Shadow World.

He then returned to Ponyland 500 years later, capturing all the Unicorn Ponies one by one and plans to capture everyone in Dream Valley to be banished to the Shadow World. He has a cold and antagonistic personality, always scolding Bray for his mistakes and sometimes abuses the Troggles so they can follow his orders and do what he wants. Grogar's powers come from the bells on his neck, and he has superior magic skills far beyond any Unicorn Pony that ever existed.

Grogar was defeated again by Megan after she rang the ancient bell for the second time, destroying the bell containing his power and banishing him and the whole city back to the Shadow World.

It is said he is unlikely to escape the Realm of Darkness again.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
The G4 version of Grogar appears as the posthumous antagonist of the series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He is first mentioned in the Season 7 episode "A Flurry of Emotions". His story was told in the book called "Gusty the Great". Millenia ago, long before the three pony tribes came together as one, Grogar was the supreme ruler of the land that would be later be called Equestria. Wielding a powerful artifact known as the Bewitching Bell, he created terrible monsters to terrorize the populace and ruled his domain with an iron hoof, until he was confronted by a pony named Gusty the Great and her Unicorn Warriors. As told in the book by Twilight Sparkle, he encountered them on top of the hill that leads to Cloudsdale. The unicorn warriors shot magical beams into the clouds and wrapped around Grogar and pulled him to the ground, but the evil ram managed to break through the bonds as fear gave him power. The rest of the conflict was left unknown due to the interruption by Flurry Heart, but in Season 9, it is revealed that Gusty took his magic bell and banished him.

In the ninth and final season, the redeemed spirit of chaos, Discord disguises himself as Grogar, in hopes of preparing Princess Twilight to take over as ruler of Equestria when Princesses Celestia and Luna retire. Using this disguise, he then creates a syndicate of the most dangerous villains in Equestria, believing that the combined threat would pose an even greater challenge for Twilight and her friends. These villains include the former tyrant of the changelings, Queen Chrysalis, the power-hungry centaur, Lord Tirek, and the treacherous pegasus filly, Cozy Glow. He even revives the dark unicorn, King Sombra, who was previously deceased, though he refused to work with him, which got him destroyed yet again.

After cementing his place as their leader, "Grogar" then later sends the villains on a mission to retrieve the real Grogar's Bewitching Bell, which was hidden in an enchanted cave atop Mt. Everhoof. Even though the villains claim to have failed to obtain the bell, they did learn to work together, which was apparently enough to please "Grogar". Unbeknownst to him, they actually did get the bell but kept it so that they could use its power to betray him and take Equestria for themselves, which they did near the end of the season. Using the bell, they gained new super forms and then drained "Grogar" of his own magic, which revealed him to actually be Discord in disguise.

The existence of the Bewitching Bell means that Grogar was indeed real in history and Gusty the Great had banished him successfully, never to return again. He only ever appears in illustrations or flashbacks.

Trivia

 * A popular fan speculation was that Grogar would be the villain in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 5 premiere since Tirek was rebooted as the Season 4 finale antagonist. However, this was proven false, and the real antagonist in the Season 5 premiere is Starlight Glimmer. However, he was mentioned in "A Flurry of Emotions" and Discord poses as him in Season 9.
 * Grogar's defeat takes place during a song. The next time this is done with a My Little Pony villain is in Friendship is Magic, with The Dazzlings - Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk.
 * It is a common misconception that Grogar is a necromancer in My Little Pony 'n Friends, despite nothing in the show indicating this to be true. Ironically, the version of Grogar from Friendship is Magic seems to use necromancy to resurrect fellow villain King Sombra. However, it turns out to be Discord in the form of Grogar, meaning that King Sombra came back from the dead by Discord's doing, not Grogar's.
 * While Discord poses as Grogar throughout Season 9, the real Grogar's fate and true personality are unknown, although he's known to be cruel and wicked in the past. It is known that he was banished and defeated by Gusty the Great as Chrysalis pointed out in the Season 9 premiere according to the tales she and others had heard. As the Grogar seen throughout the season was an imposter, it can be assumed that the real Grogar simply remained banished. However, it is unknown if his banishing involved him being sealed in another realm like the Pony of Shadows or if he was simply exiled from Equestria. If it was the latter, he may have died of old age, though several creatures in the series are known to have extended lifespans.
 * As he never actually appeared in person, the exact power of the FIM version of Grogar is unknown. The magic initially stored in the Bewitching Bell was stated to have been his, and it was enough to turn Cozy Glow into an alicorn, give Chrysalis a new form powerful enough to defeat Starlight Glimmer, and power a version of 2nd form Tirek that was only one Earth pony away from his third form to a level of his third form that could very easily defeat Starswirl and the other pillars all at once. It's unclear however if the magic was split exactly evenly amongst the three villains. At the very least, he would have to have been far more powerful than Starswirl or any base level alicorn, likely putting him on par with Celestia. Assuming that his magic was divided exactly evenly, he would still be less powerful than Twilight and Tirek were during their battle in season 4, as they had power equal to all 4 alicorns, while Grogar would only have the power of three alicorns, given that a third of his magic would have been enough to turn Cozy into an alicorn.
 * While the G4 version of Grogar may still be alive in another realm, as all of his old magic was stored in the Bewitching Bell and eliminated when the magic of friendship was used to defeat Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek after they had absorbed it, all of his old power is now gone forever, meaning that even on the off chance that he did somehow return, he would have no way of reclaiming his magic. His only way to become as powerful as before would be to reobtain the Bewitching Bell and absorb enough magic from other beings to gain power equal to his previous power. In addition, it is unknown what was done with the bell after the villains were defeated, so it's not even clear if he could reclaim it. As a result, the possibility of him returning for real would not be of much concern at this point.
 * The G4 version of Grogar (including Discord's disguise as him) is the third character to be a revamp of a G1 villain, the first being Tirek and the second being the Smooze.
 * Both the G1 and G4 versions of Grogar are similar in many ways:
 * They onced ruled the ponies' home country in the distant past.
 * G1 Grogar ruled Ponyland 500 years ago.
 * G4 Grogar ruled ancient Equestria thousands of years ago.
 * They each had a magical bell which was the source of the their power until they lost it.
 * G1 Grogar's bell was destroyed when Megan rang the Ancient Bell a second time.
 * G4 Grogar's Bewitching Bell is indestructible, but was taken from him by Gusty the Great and her Unicorn Warriors.
 * They both had minions who served them out of fear and later turned on them.
 * G1 Grogar had the Troggles who abandoned him out of redemption.
 * G4 Grogar had Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow who betrayed him to take Equestria for themselves (though this was actually Discord in disguise).
 * When Discord poses as Grogar throughout Season 9, he was thought to be the main antagonist, bigger bad and overarching antagonist of the entire series while Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, were thought to be secondary antagonists. However, this all changed in the finale as when Discord's treachery was revealed and thus, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow took over as the main villains of the season and entire series.