Tirek (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

""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.

"PRINCESS TWILIGHT!! YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME!!"

- Tirek before his fight with Twilight Sparkle.

Lord Tirek (simply known as Tirek) is one of the main antagonists of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. He is a demonic centaur with the power to drain the magic and abilities out of other creatures, particularly ponies. He is Friendship is Magic 's incarnation of Tirek; the first villain of the original series.

He first appears as the main antagonist in Season 4's finale "Twilight's Kingdom", the secondary antagonist in Season 8's finale "School Raze", and one of the secondary antagonists of Season 9.

He is voiced by Mark Acheson, who also portrayed Unicron in Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon, Moses Tripoli in Fargo, and Sabretooth in Hulk Vs.

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 red. 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 bestial 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 the original show's darkest characters, Tirek is extremely power-hungry, oppressive, brutal, abusive and selfish. 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, to better oppress them. Tirek is also very quick to anger, and his wrath is absolutely terrifying to behold.

Despite this, Tirek is not 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. Tirek seems to be quite lucid, because he did not understand how Twilight could still consider Discord as his friend after the way he betrayed him.

Despite Tirek's low opinion on friendship and ponies, he conspired with Cozy Glow to get his revenge on the Mane Six. He even referred to Cozy Glow as his "little protégé". However, after she is locked in Tartarus with him, he becomes annoyed by the filly's attempts to befriend him.

In The Beginning of the End, he shows fear when he is awed and intimidated by Grogar, having heard stories of the villain's reign of terror when he was a child. At the end of the episode, his laughter, along with that of Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, is less maniacal and more reluctant

Backstory
Along with his brother Scorpan, Tirek used to be the princes of their own kingdom. One day, Tirek went to visit an old centaur wizard called Sendak the Elder. Though at first Scorpan said they had to return to the castle because their parents could be worried for them, Tirek ignored Scorpan and once on Sendak's house. He told Tirek everything about pony magic and how he captured one when he traveled to Equestria. Tirek and Scorpan returned to the castle where their parents, King Vorak and Queen Haydon were arguing 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 (who was taking a nap)'s house, Tirek tries to make the same ability that Sendak used to steal the pony'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 asks 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. Vorak asks Tirek where he was the night when the explosion happened and Tirek explains that he never left the castle. However, his father doesn't believe him and confines Tirek along with Scorpan to their chamber. Tirek is last seen in the balcony where he swears that one day he will overthrow his father and finish what Sendak couldn't: Rule over Equestria.

A thousand years prior to the series, 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, and Scorpan warned Celestia and Luna of his brother's ambitions, and, because of this, they were able to imprison Tirek in Tartarus for his crimes while Scorpan returned to his homeland.

Twilight's Kingdom
In "Twilight's Kingdom", it is revealed that when Cerberus left his post at the gates of Tartarus (in "It's About Time"), Tirek was able to escape. After spending his time free recovering his strength, he had eventually regained enough power to absorb a unicorn's magic. Celestia received a vision of this and sent Discord after Tirek, as he could sense magical imbalances and therefore make it easy for him to find Tirek. Discord, using the guise of a unicorn, discovered Tirek in alleyway and confronts him. Tirek initially commends Discord for his "escape" from his imprisonment, only for Discord to bind him with shackles, revealing that he had switched alignments and is reimprisoning Tirek for his friends. Taking advantage of this new revelation, Tirek convinced Discord that his friendship was a new form of prison and that, if they worked together, he could get the one this friendship could never give him; freedom. With Discord now at his side, Tirek began devouring the energy and magic from unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike from all across Equestria, regaining almost all of his strength.

Knowing that he would seek alicorn magic next, Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence, with no options left, called upon Twilight and entrusted all of their magic to her, as Tirek was not aware of the existence of a fourth Princess. As expected, Tirek and Discord assaulted Canterlot in search of the Princesses' magic, only to find the three Princesses without it. Still assured of his victory, Tirek ironically banished the three Princesses to Tartarus and approached Discord, who was comically altering Celestia's stained glass windows. Seeing the window depicting Twilight, Tirek demanded 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. As a sign of gratitude, Tirek gives Discord a medallion that he received from "somebody close to him". Tirek and Discord then headed to Ponyville and captured Twilight's best friends, Tirek draining their power before doing the same to Discord, telling him that he has outlived his usefulness, revealing 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 sought out Twilight, obliterating her home of the Golden Oak Library in his search, enraging her and driving them to fight in an epic battle. The two were evenly matched, though Twilight seemed to have a slight advantage, and so Tirek revealed the other Mane 5, Spike, and Discord, imprisoned inside orbs. Tirek told Twilight to give him all the alicorn magic in Equestria in exchange for her friend's release, and she agreed, and Tirek released all except Discord, who Twilight then wanted to be released as well. Although not understanding why Twilight would want Discord after he betrayed her, Tirek complies and drained her of all the alicorn magic, increasing his size and strength to titanic proportions. To thank her for her kindness, Discord gave Twilight Scorpan's medallion, this time out of legitimate gratitude, making it the final key to the Tree of Harmony box.

Unlocking the box, the Mane 6 receive Rainbow Power, and confront Tirek with their new abilities. Tirek fires at them with a massive magical blast, only to be confused when his attack has no effect on them. A distressed Tirek asks how it is possible for the Ponies to be undamaged without magic, and Twilight responds by telling him that she possesses the most powerful magic of all; friendship. The Mane 6 then attack Tirek, draining him of his stolen magic and reimprisoning him in Tartarus, undoing all of his actions.

The Cutie Map
In "The Cutie Map", Tirek is mentioned by Rainbow Dash when she reminds Twilight 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.

Crusaders of the Lost Mark
In "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", Tirek was mentioned again by Pipsqueak, who stated that his battle with Twilight was the cause of the poor conditioning of the schoolyard.

The Cutie Re-Mark
In "The Cutie Re-Mark", in the fourth alternate timeline created by Starlight Glimmer, without the Mane 6 to stop him, Tirek succeeds in draining all the magic in Equestria and is briefly seen causing destruction.

Shadow Play
In "Shadow Play", Pinkie Pie mentions Tirek while recounting the threats Equestria has faced over the last thousand years to Starswirl the Bearded.

The Mean 6
In "The Mean 6", while not mentioned by name, Pinkie Pie briefly recounts the battle between the Mane 6 and Tirek while talking to Twilight (who, in reality, was a clone created by Queen Chrysalis).

School Raze
Tirek reappears in Season 8's two-part finale, "School Raze", in which it's revealed that he is pen pals with Cozy Glow. He also conspired with Cozy for the sake of getting revenge. Cozy Glow was successful in trapping the Mane 6 in Tartarus, during which Tirek told them that Cozy Glow was behind it and his involvement in her plan. However, Twilight reminded him that if they were trapped in Tartarus, he'd be trapped with them for eternity. Pinkie Pie annoyed Tirek to the point of giving Twilight what remained of his magic so the Mane 6 could escape just to get rid of them.

After the Young Six broke Cozy Glow's spell, Tirek got his magic back, which hit him in the head and knocked him down. Later, a bored Cerberus lay next to Tirek with him remarking that it may be boring in Tartarus but at least Cerberus isn't in a cage. When Luna and two Royal Guards imprisoned Cozy Glow in Tartarus, in a cage next to Tirek, Cozy Glow asked Tirek if he wanted to be her friend.

The Beginnning of the End
In "The Beginning of the End", while still imprisoned with him, Cozy Glow annoys Tirek by continuing to try and befriend him, before the both of them are suddenly transported out of Tartarus. Emerging within a mysterious cavern, Tirek and Cozy Glow are met by Queen Chrysalis, who immediately accuses them of summoning her, though Cozy Glow assures her that they thought she freed them. As this happens, King Sombra suddenly appears, causing the three to accuse him of summoning them, only for Grogar to reveal himself to be the one who was responsible for summoning them. Tirek, Chrysalis and Sombra are shocked to see him, as they believed he was only a legend, though Grogar assures them that he is real and states that he summoned them as part of his plan to rid Equestria of Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

Seeing that Cozy Glow doesn't know who he is, Grogar decides to demonstrate his power by giving Tirek a sample of magic that revives much of his strength. Tirek then tells Cozy Glow that Grogar is ancient and extremely powerful, as well as the former ruler of what would become Equestria, claiming that he had heard stories of his tyranny when he was younger. Grogar then tells the villains of how he created monsters that roamed the land and took whatever they wanted under his rule, before Chrysalis remarks how he was banished by Gusty the Great, although Grogar claims that he was only temporarily weakened when she took his bell; however, Cozy Glow points out that, since he has been weakened before even Tirek was born, he has a very different idea of what "temporarily" means, much to his annoyance.

Grogar proceeds to tell the group that he has watched them and their failures to take over Equestria, and asks them why they have always been defeated by the same six ponies each time, Tirek claiming that it is because they are "annoyingly lucky". Grogar rebuffs their answers and claims it is because their enemies work together as a team, demanding that the villains join forces with him to take over Equestria. Sombra, however, refuses to serve Grogar and arrogantly proclaims that he will take over the Crystal Empire by himself, causing Grogar to send him off to the Empire on the conditions that, if he fails, he will serve him or be destroyed again. After this, Grogar tells the others to prepare to work together and leaves. Cozy Glow immediately compares working together to making friends, telling Tirek and Chrysalis that they are in luck since she knows "all about that", though the former only flicks her away in annoyance.

Cozy Glow tries to get Tirek and Chrysalis to work together by having them each say nice things to each other, though this falls apart when Chrysalis refuses to say anything nice about ponies. Grogar then approaches them and states that he hopes the three of them will be enough to help his plans along, causing Tirek and Chrysalis to ask about Sombra. Grogar shows them that Sombra had failed in his plans to conquer Equestria and had again been defeated by the Mane Six, remarking that he will at least serve as an example to them as what will happen if they don't submit to his plans. Having seen this, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow unanimously agree to serve Grogar, though are seemingly left nervous by the thought.

Frenemies
In "Frenemies", as Grogar is working, Cozy Glow approaches him and tattles on Tirek for leaving food out, Tirek quickly approaching Grogar and telling him not to trust anything she says afterwards; though Grogar is quick to point out that he already doesn't trust anything that they say. After being annoyed by Chrysalis, Grogar informs the villains that he is leaving and demands that they all stop fighting and find a way to work together so that they can accomplish their goals. Once Grogar leaves, Tirek, not listening to his orders, begins to work out by himself (seemingly in an effort to re-obtain his physique from when he had absorbed Equestria's magic). While doing so, he is approached by Cozy Glow, who states that she is organizing a team meeting, which he agrees to go so long as she leaves him be. At the meeting, Cozy Glow encourages the fact that they all need to trust one another, which Chrysalis finds hard to do as Tirek is trying to steal her magic. Tirek firmly denies doing such a thing (returning the magic he actually had stole to a cupcake that Chrysalis devours), and calls her out for constantly ranting to her log, before joining Chrysalis in telling Cozy Glow that she wasn't left in charge. Cozy Glow then tries to get them all to agree with one another over their common goals, leading them all into singing "Better Way to be Bad" with one another, only for them all to devolve into bickering.

Grogar returns to see this, and, upset to see they have not yet resolved their differences, decides to send them off on a mission to retrieve his Bewitching Bell from Mt. Everhoof so that they can learn to work together. Tirek and the others fight over who should lead the mission based on their previous feats, only for Grogar to angrily overpower and remind them that they all failed before and cannot work alone. Upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, all of the villains immediately split off and begin to find their own ways of getting up; Tirek staying behind and making a camp for himself. He proceeds to laugh at Cozy Glow upon seeing her return, and explains to her that he had already deduced that getting up the mountain by himself would be impossible, and so had planned to wait for her and Chrysalis to fail so that he could take what they learned and use it to his advantage. Cozy Glow and Tirek proceed to bicker — Tirek calling her out for her fake cutesy persona and constant manipulations, and Cozy Glow criticizing his arrogance, while also mocking him for talking to his "Gram Gram" in his sleep — until they are approached by an Ophiotaurus, which they both blame each other for attracting. Suddenly, a female Ophiotaurus arrives and seduces the other one, Tirek quickly realizing that the former is actually Chrysalis in disguise, who admits that she needs their help, causing Tirek to gloat about his own strategy.

That night, Tirek and the others proceed to bond with each other over their previous endeavors; him remarking on how he turned Discord against his friends and used their emotions against them and that Cozy Glow's plan to destroy all magic would have been worthwhile if it meant seeing Twilight and her friends defeated, also admitting that working with Chrysalis and her may not be such a bad thing. The next day, the three villains proceed to combine their abilities in order to scale the mountain, only to find that the cave at the top is protected by a magical barrier, which Tirek cannot absorb since he can only take magic from living beings. With some convincing, Chrysalis allows Tirek to take her magic to become powerful enough to create an opening in the barrier, allowing Cozy Glow to enter the cave and retrieve the bell. Tirek then returns Chrysalis' magic, stating that he wasn't sure he would do so and that it seemed smarter to work with her than fight. The villains begin to reflect with one another over how it felt to rely on others for a change, before Chrysalis snaps them out of it, not wanting friendship to infect her like it did her hive. The three then concur that Grogar has grown too powerful and decide to betray him together, and Tirek agrees that they can all go back to trying to destroy one another afterwards. He and the others later return to Grogar's lair and fool him into thinking that they failed while yet still becoming allies, though in reality have kept the bell for themselves.

Powers and 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 pegasus ponies of their innate magic as well. At very high levels of power, he can steal magic from alicorns or a draconequus. 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.

Reception
Lord Tirek received positive reception from critics and fans of the show. He is praised for being evil, intimidating, threatening, manipulative, powerful, his abilities, and is considered by many to be the biggest and strongest foe ever faced in MLP:FIM. Even showrunner Meghan McCarthy said that Tirek is her "new favorite character". His voice actor Mark Acheson is praised for his performance.

Tirek is one of the most popular villains in the Brony fandom, the others are Discord and Queen Chrysalis. His popularity and reception are likely the reason he returned in Season 8 and also Season 9.

Season 4

 * Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1
 * Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2

Season 5

 * The Cutie Map - Part 1 (mentioned)
 * Crusaders of the Lost Mark (mentioned)
 * The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 (alternate-timeline)

Season 7

 * Shadow Play - Part 2 (mentioned)

Season 8

 * School Raze - Part 1
 * School Raze - Part 2

Season 9

 * The Beginning of the End - Part 1
 * The Beginning of the End - Part 2
 * Frenemies

Friendship is Magic

 * Ponyville Days (cameo)
 * Night of the Living Apples (mentioned)

Friends Forever

 * Friends Forever Issue 20 (mentioned)

My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic

 * My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue 1 (cameo)
 * My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue 2

Differences from G1 Tirek

 * 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.
 * Tirek has never met Grogar in G1 while the opposite is happening in FiM.

Trivia

 * Tirek is the only villain in My Little Pony who has been shown as capable of actually defeating Discord - though he did have to use trickery to gain enough power to do so, nevertheless it is a testament to Tirek's cunning that he could achieve this (since every other villain so far has been stated as incapable of even harming Discord, unless he allows it)
 * In his fully-powered state, Tirek was easily the most powerful antagonist 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 as Discord does (he has since likely been outranked by Grogar, who easily gave Tirek a form similar to his empowered state with a small portion of his own power and is feared by Tirek and every other major villain in the show).
 * He is considered as one of the evilest 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. Also in the "Mean Six", Queen Chrysalis shares a low opinion on friendship after a petty argument between her and clone Twilight.
 * Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Queen Chrysalis are the only recurring major villains of the series who did not reform.
 * Despite the difference in backstory and his relationship with Scorpan from G1, it is given a nod in FiM with Scorpan betraying Tirek for the ponies, though Scorpan never appears in the show.
 * 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 evilest. He corrupts Discord into betraying the Mane Six, and his ultimate ambition is to rule as God of Equestria.
 * Aside from Grogar, 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 (although Nightmare Moon and the Dazzlings were banished a thousand years ago, only Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, and Starswirl banished the Dazzlings).
 * Tirek's claims of friendship being a form of imprisonment in which those involved are forced to surrender their true nature was eerily predicted in the Season 5 premiere episode "Cutie Map", in which the residents of an unnamed village are made to believe that they must give up their unique talents in order to remain friends with one another by Starlight Glimmer.
 * Tirek is the first villain to steal the Alicorn magic, the second being the Storm King.
 * Tirek is the third villain to appear in two two-part episodes, others being Starlight Glimmer and Queen Chrysalis.
 * Tirek's second form resembles the G1 Tirek's appearance.
 * It is revealed in Frenemies that Tirek had a close relationship with his grandmother, who he calls "Gram-Gram", as he dreams about her while he sleeps and becomes angry when Cozy Glow mentions her.