| “ | You're a fool! Our ancestors thought they could bring the world together and eventually the world drove them apart. The same thing will happen with you. Your kingdom has remained stable because other Elements weren't in the world. Now you've given them your secret weapon. Soon, there will be alliances. Alliances bring war. Can you imagine a war between two sets of Elements? What about four? You'll destroy everything! That's why you have to be stopped. That's why the other factions have to be crushed before they can learn how to use their power. Our home must be protected from you. And if you had any sense, you'd be protecting your home from them. | „ |
| ~ Danu when Twilight tries making peace. |
Danu is the main antagonist of the Season 10 arc of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic IDW comic series. He is the king of a distant land known as Cunabula, and leader of the Knights of Harmony, representing the Element of Loyalty. After the kingdoms of Caninia, Panthera and Farasian attacked Cunabula thanks to Discord's manipulation, the ancestors of Danu and the other Knights decided to hide the other kingdoms' Elements from them, as well as hiding their own land. A thousand years later, when the other Elements are reactivated, Danu and his fellow Knights come to Equestria, intent on destroying the Elements' wielders, worried that allowing other kingdoms to have them could lead to yet another war.
Physical appearance[]
Danu is a hybrid of a stallion and a lion, with the front half of his body being the former while the back half is the latter. His stallion half has light blue fur, while his lion half has light brown fur. He has green eyes, and his hooves are magenta. The tuft of fur on the tip of his tail is brown, while his mane is brown, magenta and cyan. His Cutie Mark is of two mountains with snowy peaks, one being green while the other is purple. He wears white robes with gold trimming, and a green laurel wreath. He is quite large, being much taller than Twilight Sparkle.
Personality and traits[]
Danu is fiercely loyal to his kingdom, Cunabula, but that loyalty, combined with being raised to believe that Cunabula must be kept isolated from the rest of the world and that only he and his fellow Knights are worthy of wielding magical Elements, has made him an extremistic jingotist willing to go to any lengths to protect his country. Ruthless and relentless, he attacks and tries to destroy Equestria and anyone wielding elements unprovoked just because he is worried their discovery of Elements will lead to war, refuses to back down even when Twilight Sparkle tries to reason with him, and even tries to destroy all of Canterlot, including his fellow Knights, when his opponents gain the upper hand.
Danu is shown to be arrogant and delusional, prone to bragging about how powerful and "righteous" he and his fellow Knights, being somewhat flippantly dismissive of Twilight and her fellow ponies, and believing the Nations' having Elements would only lead to war even when presented with evidence to the contrary. He is also mentally unstable, devolving into screaming rage whenever his perceived enemies gain even the slightest advantage.
Powers and abilities[]
As the leader of the Knights of Harmony and the Element of Loyalty, Danu possesses great power:
- Geokinesis: Danu has the ability to create earthquakes, burrow underground, and manipulate rocks and boulders. He uses this ability to great effect in fighting against the Canterlot Royal Guard and Princess Cadance. When his size and powers are temporarily enhanced by Balor, Danu is able to create an earthquake so powerful it destroyed Canterlot.
- Super Strength: Danu is very strong.
- Leadership: Danu is skilled at commanding his fellow Knights.
Weaknesses[]
Despite his considerable power, Danu has a few weaknesses:
- Mental instability: Danu is not mentally stable at all, and thus is prone to acting irrationally whenever he is confronted by things he considers to be a threat. This is shown when he orders the Knights to split up to catch Discord, whose presence enraged him.
- Lack of knowledge of Geloogy: Danu doesn't what kind of rocks he's manipulating, which proves to be a big flaw when Cadance is able to exploit weak points in sandstone he throws at her.
Biography[]
Thousands of years ago, the Knights of Harmony set off to teach other civilizations about the Elements, giving the kingdoms of the dogs, cats, birds and zebras their own, and building temples for them. They sensed a sixth set in Equestria, but when they arrived, they found Discord wreaking havoc of the land. He tried turning the Knights against each other, but disappeared when that didn't work.
Discord then began manipulating the cats, dogs and zebras into turning against Cunabula, with the three kingdoms attacking them. The Knights were able to fight the attackers off, but then concluded that the rest of the world couldn't be trusted with Elements. They hid the other Element sets inside the temples, and afterwards hid their kingdom from the world so they would not be attacked again.
In the present, the other kingdoms find and reactivate their Elements with the help of the ponies of Equestria. Seeing this, the Knights go to Equestria's capital city of Canterlot to demand the Elements be handed over. Twilight Sparkle, queen of Equestria and Element of Magic, informs him that the physical forms of their Elements have been destroyed, and their power now lives within their holders, making giving them up impossible. Danu then tells her that she and her friends, the other Element bearers, will need to be destroyed. Twilight tries reasoning with him, but he doesn't listen, instead stating his intent to destroy Equestria's Element bearers before moving on to the next. He then uses his geokineses to burrow under the force field that's been cast, and a fight breaks out between the Knights and the Equestrians. The Knights soon overpower their opponents, and with her forces subdued, Danu tells Twilight the story of the other Elements' betrayal.
Twilight tries reasoning with him again, but is interrupted when Cadance, Trixie and Discord arrive. Recognizing Discord from the stories he was told as a child, Danu immediately orders the Knights to destroy Discord, but Cadance comes to his defense. He demands to have Discord turned over, but Twilight refuses. Discord then appears to flee, and Danu orders the Knights to give chase. Taranis asks what to do about the Elements, and Danu replies that if they destroy the Elements, but let Discord escape, all their work will mean nothing. The Discord that they're chasing is a mere illusion, and soon the Knights lose him. Danu and Mannah begin to argue before the real Discord shows up to taunt them, making multiple illusion clones of himself and having each run off in a different direction. Danu orders to have all of Equestria destroyed, and the Knights split up to chase down each copy.
While the other Knights are easily defeated on their own, and Cadance puts up a good fight against Danu, he soon defeats her. Twilight, her friends, the Pillars of Old Equestria and the Young Six all surround him. Twilight tries reasoning with him one last time, but he instead argues that since the other Elements nearly destroyed his home in the past, they will do the same to hers. She replies that no one's home is more important than anyone else's, and working together has only benefitted her and the other kingdoms.
Balor, who had been disguised as Spike, then reveals himself and drains Twilight and Starswirl of their magic. He then transfers the stolen magic to Danu, causing him to grow into a giant and making him even more powerful. Danu coldly states that he gave the ponies a chance to save their home, but they'll now be destroyed with it. With one stomp, he destroys all of Canterlot. As the city is falling apart, however, the Elements from the other kingdoms arrive to help restore the city. All the other Element bearers then blast Danu with a ray of energy, stripping him of his stolen magic and restoring him to his original size. Weakened, but unrepentant, Danu tells Twilight that one day the kingdoms will fight amongst each other once more, but she replies that when that day comes, they have friendships to fall back on. Afterwards, Danu and the rest of the Knights are not seen again, though presumably they went back to Cunabula.
Quotes[]
| “ | Danu: I am Danu of Cunabula. I am the leader of the Knights of Harmony. Twilight: The Knights of Harmony are a thousand-year-old myth. You don't look a thousand years old to me. Danu: How little you understand. Twilight: Well, then, help me. I want to understand. Danu: Very well. Hand over your Elements of Harmony, and I will explain whatever you like. Twilight: No, the Elements of Harmony are part of who we are. Even if we wanted to turn them over, we couldn't. The Elements were destroyed. Their power lives within us now. Danu: I see. Then you understand why we must destroy you. We must find and destroy any who have the magic of the Elements within them. Twilight: You don't have to do this! As queen, I've been trying to reach out to other countries. We want to be friends-- Danu: Ironic. That was the same thing that nearly brought the downfall of our country, and now it will bring the downfall of yours. |
„ |
| ~ Danu meeting Twilight and explaining his plan |
| “ | Danu: How rude. I don't even get to explain how we're going to destroy her. I suppose we'll just have to show them. Taranis, would you like to begin? Taranis: That only seems fitting, my liege -- I do represent the Element of Pride after all. And though they don't know it yet, pride is about to be their downfall. In fact, I think they'll be -- blown away! Danu: Always with the wind puns, that one. It's really not necessary. Mannah: Perhaps it is my Element of Acceptance speaking, but some things are as they are. And others can change. For instance, the force I control. Water. Danu: No question your Elements have some utility. But I will always prefer the straightforward strength of the Element of Loyalty. And of the earth itself. That should make the numbers a bit more managable, yes? Shall we finish this game? |
„ |
| ~ Danu during the fight against the Equestians |
| “ | We were the first to discover the Elements of Harmony on our beautiful island kingdom. Cunabula was a paradise, and it was protected by the Knights of Harmony. Our Elements are connected to love of country. Some call them the Elements of Patriotism. Magic, Equity, Faith, Pride, Acceptance, and most importantly -- Loyalty. Because the Knights loved what they had made, they set out to spread the way of Cunabula to other lands. It was our magic that built and connected these temples. We were the ones that taught others how to use their Elements. The Knights had built five temples -- including our own -- but they belived there was a sixth set of Elements. And they belived they would be found in what is now Equestria. Instead, where they hoped to help others, they found only madness. The creature who ruled this land tried to turn them against one another, bu that didn't work. So he dissapeared. They didn't know where or why. But soon his evil workings would become clear. Our home was being destroyed by the other Elements. The cats, the dogs, and the zebras had all been turned against us. The Knights of Order stoof their ground and managed to defeat the inexperianced and corrupted Elements. That was when our ruler knew things must change. They had given away too much power. Harmony was not enough. We had to become the Knights of Order. The Elements were too strong to be trusted to others who might turn them against us. We were not able to destroy the Elements, but we could hide the temples, cause them to be lost. And the Elements themselves would remain hidden within. And our island, our Elements, must also be hidden from the outside world. Even with their folly, our ruler did not believe in conquering other lands -- but they had shown they could not be given access to us. It was the land and our people that we loved, and that must be protected at all cost. Especially from the Serpent who had turned others on us and knew of our existence. The entire island was made invisible, and there we continued to prosper. And the Knights of Harmony swore to keep those other temples and other Elements inactive, no matter the cost. And because our Elements are tied to love of country, we are not at the whims of "feelings." Each generation passes the Elements down to the strongest magic users in the next. We are trained to wield the power of the Elements from the day we're born. | „ |
| ~ Danu explaining the Knights of Harmony's past |
| “ | I gave you a chance to save your home -- now it will be destroyed with the rest of you! | „ |
| ~ Danu before destroying Canterlot |
| “ | Mark my words, one day you'll fight. One day, you will do battle with the Elements. And the world will never be the same. | „ |
| ~ Danu after his defeat |
