MLP Misconceptions: Discord's (Lack of) Scruples
I'm a brony, as I've mentioned before. I don't normally participate in the (occasionally laughable) arguments over plotholes that take place in certain sectors of the fandom. But this doesn't mean I don't have opinions.
Mine just lean towards the moral and ethical centers of the show. And they tend to be in tune with the creators... which tends to put me at odds with many of the other bronies out there.
Today we'll discuss one such example.
About a third of the way through "The Return of Harmony, Pt. 1", Discord makes his first appearance in the stained-glass windows. As he moves around, he greets Princess Celestia with a line that has caused much debate:
"Do you have any idea how boring it is? Oh, wait, of course you don't - because I don't go around turning people into stone!"
As I've discussed in one of my rants earlier, fans have a complicated relationship with Princess Celestia. Quite a few took Discord's line at face value, declaring it to be another of her "many sins". I've seen a comic that has Twilight Sparkle try a stone-to-flesh spell on another statue in the garden, only to have a rather unpleasant surprise.
There's a major problem with taking Discord at his word here, though - Discord cannot take any sort of moral high ground.
Within the episode he says the line alone, Discord mindrapes the entire Mane Six, alters the weather and fauna of Equestria beyond recognition, and deliberately sets things up so that the cast cannot win his "game". Princess Celestia makes clear that life in Equestria during his first reign was hellish. What he does in the second episode is funny only until you think about it.
Compared to what he does, turning to stone is minor.
And that brings us to the real reason he said it - not because he has any moral objections to it, but because it's not his style. Discord is a very active monster. What he does involves warping personalities to force ponies to do what they wouldn't normally do. Turning people to stone is a passive-based punishment - it's thus the worst thing you could do to him, and the opposite of what he would do to you given the chance.
So it isn't about morals. It's him being snippy about professional standards.
Discord doesn't have a leg to stand on here, and fans don't seem to get it.
Mine just lean towards the moral and ethical centers of the show. And they tend to be in tune with the creators... which tends to put me at odds with many of the other bronies out there.
Today we'll discuss one such example.
About a third of the way through "The Return of Harmony, Pt. 1", Discord makes his first appearance in the stained-glass windows. As he moves around, he greets Princess Celestia with a line that has caused much debate:
"Do you have any idea how boring it is? Oh, wait, of course you don't - because I don't go around turning people into stone!"
As I've discussed in one of my rants earlier, fans have a complicated relationship with Princess Celestia. Quite a few took Discord's line at face value, declaring it to be another of her "many sins". I've seen a comic that has Twilight Sparkle try a stone-to-flesh spell on another statue in the garden, only to have a rather unpleasant surprise.
There's a major problem with taking Discord at his word here, though - Discord cannot take any sort of moral high ground.
Within the episode he says the line alone, Discord mindrapes the entire Mane Six, alters the weather and fauna of Equestria beyond recognition, and deliberately sets things up so that the cast cannot win his "game". Princess Celestia makes clear that life in Equestria during his first reign was hellish. What he does in the second episode is funny only until you think about it.
Compared to what he does, turning to stone is minor.
And that brings us to the real reason he said it - not because he has any moral objections to it, but because it's not his style. Discord is a very active monster. What he does involves warping personalities to force ponies to do what they wouldn't normally do. Turning people to stone is a passive-based punishment - it's thus the worst thing you could do to him, and the opposite of what he would do to you given the chance.
So it isn't about morals. It's him being snippy about professional standards.
Discord doesn't have a leg to stand on here, and fans don't seem to get it.