Last season, Princess Celestia stated that she had use for Discord's magic if he was reformed. We have already seen him in 3 episodes this season. I'm wondering if Celestia's plan had anything to do with his actions thus far. Discord isn't the only one with a cryptic way of teaching the ponies (especially Twilight) the lessons that they learn. In S1, she knew that NMM was coming back and sent Twilight to Ponyville to make friends which ultimately was what she needed in order to wield the Elements of Harmony and turn NMM back into Princess Luna. I know this is just speculation but is it possible that Celestia and Luna allowed themselves to be captured by Discord's plunder weeds? Is it possible Celestia was the one who told Discord to feign an illness in order to test Twilight's patience and see if she would do the right thing? Discuss...
While Discord was never shy about a few pranks after his reforming, he did seem a little more jerk-ish than usual last episode... Then again, i just think that Fluttershy is Discord's kryptonite.
I agree with Lauren Faust that Discord should have never been reformed and should have stayed as a stone statue, simply because he has no real place in the show as a good guy. To draw another parallelism, it's just like what happened to the Ice King in "Adventure Time": after they revealed his tragic backstory (and the fact that most of the main cast is aware of such backstory by now), they really don't know what to do with him, so he feels out of place in the show, while he worked much better as a comedic villain and as Finn's enemy before the whole "Simon Petrikov" thing happened.
The thing is, Discord as a stone statue means that Discord is effectively written out of the show. Which sucks since he turned out to be a really popular character. Being able to just show up and be a nuisance I think allows him to be in more stories without anyone thinking "why doesn't Discord just take over the world again?"
She said that she doesn't like to have villains reformed, which I take to mean she didn't want/plan for Discord to be reformed.
She was not talking about Discord in particular, but about villains in general. I'm inclined to agree with her on that point. However, Discord wasn't her creation, so I doubt she had made plans for him either way. Besides, I'd like to think that Lauren Faust would have the sense to realize that when fans love a character and want him brought back, it's often in the best interest of ratings to give people what they want.
Lauren did come up with Discord. Her husband Craig helped with his design. The original sketches are on Lauren's DA page.
Hmm... That's what I get for not fact-checking. Remind to kick the person that gave me the bad info. Still, the producers, including Faust, have all expressly stated that Discord was based on Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you watched TNG, you'll know that Q, despite being an antagonist, was NOT evil. In fact, he eventually developed something akin to friendship with Picard. You know, kind of like how Discord has become friends with the Mane Six.
Actually, Discord is far more malevolent and cruel than Q. Q is more like Puck from "Gargoyles", while Discord is more like the Marvel Comics version of Loki (the COMICS version, that is) or like the original Dark Horse Comics version of the Mask.
Where did you see malevolent and cruel? He wasn't being cruel, he was just having fun, and was completely indifferent to the misery that his fun caused. You know... just like Q was at first.
The whole "discording" thing. Mind-raping ponies to become insane, sinister beings. I don't think he can do that without knowing how cruel and malevolent that is.
The "Discording" process seemed more like simple manipulation. He preyed upon the Mane Six's insecurities, and brought out their hidden darker sides. While it's true that he used magic to aid the process, he didn't make them into anything that they weren't capable of becoming in the first place. Rainbow Dash is loyal, so he used her loyalty to her hometown against her. Rarity is indeed generous, but she also struggles with a selfish side. Discord presented her with an irresistible temptation, and brought her greed to the surface. Applejack is honest to a fault, but when confronted with a truth that she couldn't bear, she began lying to herself and everypony else. Pinkie Pie values friendship and laughter above all else. When faced with the possibility that ponies were laughing at her, and not with her, she became angry. Fluttershy has a temper when provoked. Discord simply brought her temper to the surface. Twilight Sparkle was cold and unfriendly before moving to Ponyville. When Discord changed her friends into jerks, she became cold and unfriendly again. You also need to remember that the Mane Six wanted to turn Discord back into stone, so you can't really blame him for fighting back. The most important thing to remember, however, is that not only did Discord not actually harm anypony. He's a spirit of chaos and disharmony, but he's not truly evil.
Here is my emphasis on Discord: I think the new writers left it open ended about why Celestia changed her mind like that. I for one want to know that she wanted the girls to make them reform him. At the same time, I am curious about his history. 1. His origins 2. Why he became to mischievous in the first place. I do know after Fluttershy hit him with the word "Friends" that there is a bigger picture to it all. I also had no idea that Fluttershy would be the one to be his mentor figure.
