Tirac

"They belong to me now. And Scorpan, if by midnight I do not have a fourth pony, a head will roll. His! (points to Spike)"

- Tirac, threatening to behead Spike for Scorpan's constant failures.

"Ô Rainbow of Darkness, that darkness sends, now begin the night that never ends!"

- Tirac prepares to unleash the Rainbow of Darkness into the sky

Tirac is the main antagonist of the My Little Pony episode "Rescue at Midnight Castle". He is a demonic centaur who resides in the forbidden Midnight Castle alongside his minions and his servant/slave Scorpan, whom he orders to kidnap the ponies of Dream Valley to execute his plan of creating eternal night.

He was voiced by Victor Caroli.

Rescue at Midnight Castle
Tirac wields the Rainbow of Darkness, a powerful satchel containing evil magic which corrupts everything it touches. It can even turn the ponies he captured into evil dragons which were used to pull his "Chariot of Darkness" and execute the event called the "Night that Never Ends", on which he will use the Rainbow of Darkness to corrupt Dream Valley and plunge it into chaos. To achieve it, he orders Scorpan to capture the ponies and bring them to him, but Scorpan who is a gargoyle, he was before a prince until Tirac corrupted him and turned him into his slave. Once Scorpan captured four ponies, Tirac turns three of them into Dragons except for Ember who was too small, but Tirac orders to imprison her and for his many fails to get the fourth pony, Tirac threaten Scorpan to kill Spike, a close friend of him. When Megan and the ponies come to the castle to save their friends, Tirac's guards capture Applejack and Tirac turns her into a Dragon while Scorpan betrays Tirac after releasing Spike and Ember and attacks the guards. However, now with the four ponies corrupted, Tirac takes off in his Chariot of Darkness, Scorpan tries to stop Tirac but he is defeated. Then, Megan grabs the satchel containing the rainbow of darkness, but can't hold on to it. As he was about to release the Rainbow of Darkness, Megan opens the locket to reveal the Rainbow of Light. But it is only a small piece that is soon enveloped in darkness. But the Rainbow of Light starts fighting back, and eventually overpowers the Rainbow of Darkness. Tirac was destroyed by the Rainbow of Light, freeing Scorpan from his spell and turning him back into his human form.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
In this version, he is known as Lord Tirek and serves as one of the main antagonists of the series. This version is slightly less evil than his G1 counterpart.

Personality
Tirac is a horrifyingly sadistic and power-hungry monster who especially stood out in a show that was meant to be for little girls. He was a Devil figure who only sought an eternal night and used the Rainbow of Darkness to transform Little Ponies into horrific monsters, alongside anyone else who opposed him. He is a menacingly monstrous and hateful creature with a disregard for innocent life, and takes particular sadistic pleasure in turning especially children into horrendous creatures deprived of any sign of individuality or innocence. Tirac was surprisingly violent and cruel as well, as particularly shown when Scorpan failed him several times he threatened to behead Spike as punishment (this is exceptionally wicked as Spike is a baby dragon).

Despite his violent tendencies and apparent barbaric sadism, Tirac is actually very intelligent and mindful, as he knows full well on how to manipulate his victims into working for him, even if it means brainwashing, threatening, abusing, and even killing them, all to keep them all under control.

Compared to all the other My Little Pony villains, old and new, who are either obsessed with total power, or more importantly, either lost their way, have their share of morals, or have redeemed themselves in the end, Tirac openly understood the difference between good and evil, but gleefully embraced his evil side, and has a disturbing enjoyment on spreading his darkness to other creatures, not even caring if they were innocent or even harmless. By that logic, his utter sadism and obsession with darkness, domination, and power makes him all the more unredeemable, and thus makes him one of the most (if not the most) demented and hateable of all the other villains in the franchise, especially compared to the other villains in the older My Little Pony series, who are almost as bad as him. And considering the fact that he comes from My Little Pony regardless, that is certainly an achievement in itself.

When Tirac reappeared in Friendship is Magic, now known as Lord Tirek, he retains his menacing and manipulative nature, despite having a new story and goals, and remains obsessed with power, though he isn't quite as depraved and violent as this version is, but still stood out in terms of villainy there nonetheless.

Trivia

 * Tirac was the first threat that required the Rainbow of Light and is also the reason the Little Ponies came to the real world, resulting in the events that would start the Original Series: he was also one of the more serious and malevolent villains in the show (which is saying something as most early villains were greedy, corrupt and only a few redeemed themselves).
 * The "Night that never ends" aspect is shared with another My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic villain: Nightmare Moon. Accordingly, it's often stated that she had been brainwashed. Many speculated to be by Tirac himself (although when he eventually does appear, as Tirek, he does not seem to possess this kind of power).
 * Tirac may have been the origin of the phrase "Night that never ends", and he is considered the trope namer for that trope.
 * Tirac is often spelled Tirek, as the original pilot in which he appears in had no credits, leaving many to wonder how his name was spelled. However, it has been confirmed by the MLP cartoon bible as well as multiple VHS covers, plus how it is pronounced in the episode, that it is indeed Tirac and not Tirek.
 * In Tirac's first scene, his face is unseen, and he is running his hand across the Rainbow of Darkness as if petting a cat. This is most likely a reference to the James Bond villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
 * Tirac has no villainous theme song (though the creepy tune that goes with Midnight Castle could count as one), while the G4 Tirek shares one with Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.
 * Tirac is the first My Little Pony villain to be Pure Evil, and one of two to be deemed so in general, with the second being Cosmos.

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Tirek (My Little Pony)