For the longest time, I've been trying to figure out what it is about Sombra that makes me like him as a villain. And it was so obvious, too. I like him because I see him as a pony who consists of all my favorite kinds of villains.

It's not just his shadow, crystal, and psychic powers, which are my three favorite kinds of villain abilities. I also like him as a character, as his most definable character traits are how evil he is, and how intelligent he was or still is. It's also how he's inspired by Sauron. I'll admit, I like the Lord of the Rings, but I'm not much of a fan. I didn't grow up with it.

Regarding Sauron, I realized that he was a villain who had all of my favorite kinds of antagonists rolled into one.

1. He's a constantly spreading influence that corrupts and mutates. I'm a fan of the 'dark influence that turns you to their side'. I'm also afraid of the whole 'constantly spreading presence of dread.'

2. He has an organization of 'black cloaks' called the Ring Wraiths. I'm a fan of the 'collection of mystery figures', and I'm afraid of the idea of conspiracy. But more afraid of the paranoia against conspiracy.

3. He has an extremist mentality. Something that I'm afraid of.

4. He wants to enslave everyone. Again, something I'm afraid of.

5. He's intelligent. I like my villains to be more cunning and intelligent rather then powerful.

6. He is practically a force of nature on a world ending scale. He is like a cloud of darkness. I'm scared of storms, and the end of the world.

7. Growing up with certain shows, I've come to find a certain thing about all the villains I like. The Phylactery. I don't know why, but I'm a huge fan of this idea. The best part is that it's central to Sauron, and thus Sombra.

All seven of these things are what I loved about Sauron. So Sombra should also have these, along with being the embodiment of fear.

So there you have it! My attempt to rationalize why I'm such a fan of King Sombra. What do you think?

4218060 I think I'd agree, though I would add ruthless. He may be intelligent and manipulate, but if shattering a man's knee will yield a result, he'll do it.

Also, though you fear it, if you like stories with enslavement, I think you might enjoy my fic Age of Terror, as it mainly focuses on Twilight being enslaved and a small bit of what Equestria would be like had he won.

4218060 and don't forget his devishly good looks but also because he is just badass and evil.
1.Discord is basically Loki a.k.a just a trickster/jokester
2.Chrysalis is just fighting for survival and food
3.Nightmare Moon is just a god having a temper tantrum
4. That centaur guy who name escapes me was just a power hungry waste of a villian who is beyond weak unless he steals power.
5.Sombra- incredibly intelligent and extremely powerful where the princesses combined couldn't beat him so they had to banish him using the elements.
So he an actual badass villain

4218234 To be fair each villain has their set of good qualities as a Villain.

1) Nightmare Moon - Tragic backstory that has been the inspiration for hundreds if not thousands of fan works, and turns into a likable and relatable character, one of the most popular in the fandom. Sure she was a weak villain but she like many others improved as characters greatly after their initial debut.
2) Discord - Yes he's a trickster, but he's so enjoyable to watch, he's funny, he's witty, intelligent, actually succeeds in manipulating the main characters against each other, and even reformed continues to be an interesting, entertaining and complex character. But I enjoy Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls more as a villain in terms of the trickster, in that Bill actually inspires fear.
3) Chrysalis - Up for debate, but I agree with Joshscortcher in that she is a cunning strategist. At first glance her plan might have more holes then swiss cheese, but if you look at it from a different angle, you might get a better picture, see Taking Chrysalis' Invasion Too Seriously for more details.
4) Sombra - Mysterious, intelligent, pragmatic, bit of a silly design but then again most pointy armoured dark lords are in my opinion, and near the end he nearly won. He was effective and of course for shock value was the first character to be seemingly killed in MLP FIM. Too bad, I would like to have seen him in other stories.
5)Tirek - What can I say about him? He is very cunning and deceptive in his weaker form, able to persuade Discord, DISCORD to rejoin the path of darkness and help him gain power. He has an interesting back-story which revolves around a Cain and Abel relationship with his brother Scorpan, he has believable motivations for hating the Ponies, genuinely viewing them as inferior and weak. Then when he's stronger, sure he uses more brute force then brawn for a while, but seriously, if you had all that power at your finger tips just as easily, would't you also want to shoot fireballs around? But even then he shows great intelligence in bargaining Twilight's friends for her magic. He was defeated by something he had no idea existed, how can you prepare for something you don't know about?

So all in all, every Villain in MLP FIM has at least one moment where they are badass!

you happy that the sombra back story comic releases in 3 days?

4218420

4219288 Well apart from fan depictions, he's still scary. For anyone who has any doubts, just look at this scene....