Lord Tirek

Lord Tirek is the main antagonist of the Season Four finale episode Twilight's Kingdom, the secondary antagonist of School Raze, and one of the three main antagonists of The Ending of the End.

He is an escapee from Tartarus, a dark land that serves as a prison for many horrific entities, and possesses the power to drain ponies of their magic. This Tirek is significantly different from his older counterpart - he has no army nor access to the Rainbow of Darkness, and instead relies on his own magical powers - but he shares the old Tirek's status as the most powerful and evil villain of his generation so far.

Development and Design[]

Tirek shares his name and certain aspects of his design with a Generation 1 villain from the animated television special Rescue at Midnight Castle. He is a centaur with dark reddish skin, white hair, black fur, cloven hooves, and is somewhat bovine in appearance. Over the course of Tirek's appearances in the finale, his appearance gradually changes as he absorbs more magic. He intially appears very frail, with muted colors and a hunched posture that leaves him roughly at the height of a normal pony. After absorbing the magic of many unicorns, he gains a more muscular physique, brighter colors, and a pair of curved horns. His later transformations exaggerate his form even further, becoming larger, brawnier, and with increasingly long and elaborate horns.

Role[]

In Rescue at Midnight Castle[]

He resides in the forbidden Midnight Castle alongside his minions and his servant/slave Scorpan, who he orders to kidnap the ponies of Dream Valley to execute his evil scheme. Tirek 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. When Tirek takes off in his Chariot of Darkness, 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's 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. Tirek was destroyed by the Rainbow of Light, freeing Scorpan from his spell and turning him back into his human form.

In Twilight's Kingdom[]

Tirek and his brother Scorpan tried to take over Equestria; but when Scorpan became friends with Starswirl the Bearded, he came to appreciate Equestria and tried to turn Tirek away from his quest. Tirek refused, so Scorpan warned Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were able to imprison Tirek in Tartarus. When Cerberus left his post at the gates of Tartarus (in episode "It's About Time; for unknown reasons) Tirek was able to escape. Sometime after he began absorbing a unicorn's magic. Celestia received a vision of this and sent Discord after Tirek. However, Tirek was able to manipulate Discord into betraying his friendship with Fluttershy and joining his side. Tirek began eating energy from pegasi and earth ponies to take away their flight and strength. Finally he went after Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, but finding their magic to be gone he imprisoned them in Tartarus. Discord thought Tirek didn't value him as a partner so Tirek gave him his medallion, saying that it was his only keepsake from someone close to him. Then Tirek saw a stained glass window of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Discord explained to him who this new princess was. He and Discord captured Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike, and Tirek ate their power before doing the same to Discord, saying that his medallion actually came from Scorpan, and that Discord is as worthless to Tirek as Scorpan was. Growing to tremendous size from the magic he absorbed, Tirek attacked Twilight, and when he destroyed her library, she became enraged and fought him in an epic battle. The two were evenly matched, though Twilight seemed to have a slight advantage, so Tirek revealed the other Mane 5, Spike, and Discord, imprisoned in orbs. Tirek told Twilight to give him her magic and that of the three Princesses, and she agreed, so Tirek released all except Discord. Twilight told Tirek to release him as well. He accepted and then ate Twilight's magic, increasing his size to massive proportions. To thank her for her kindness, Discord gave Twilight Scorpan's medallion which was the final key to the Tree of Harmony box. Unlocking it, the Mane 6 received Rainbow Power, which they used to blast Tirek with a rainbow not unlike the one produced by the Elements of Harmony, leaving him imprisoned in a cage in Tartarus with no power while restoring Equestria and the ponies to the way they were.

Powers and Abilities[]

Magic Draining: Tirek is shown to be able to consume the magic of any other creature by literally sucking it into his mouth. He can also drain dozens of beings at once if they are all close enough to him and each other. Any pony drained this way is completely stripped of all magic and strength, removing their cutie mark in the process. Tirek then adds the stolen magic to his own, increasing his size and power.
- Magic: Tirek displays a degree of magical power consistent with the amount of magic he has consumed. At low levels of power, he is only able to fire a weak, paltry blast. After consuming enough magic he becomes almost unstoppable. His magic seems to be affiliated with fire. The way he casts spells is unique to him: instead of emitting magic directly from his horns, he instead forms a ball of infernal energy in the empty space between his two horns.
  - Energy Projection: Tirek can shoot beams of magical energy from his horns. He is able to do this even at his weakest state without having to absorb any magic, as shown when he began charging up to attack Sombra in Season 9. At high levels, his beams can rival Twilight while she was powered up by the three other princesses' magic. In his third form, he gains the ability to fire magical energy blasts from his hands as well.
  - Shield Construction: Tirek can construct a force field to protect himself. At high levels, his shield can withstand a large blast of energy from a powered-up Twilight.
  - Telekinesis: Tirek can levitate objects with his magic. At high levels, he can even bind the mighty Discord and once hurled Twilight into a mountain miles away.
  - Portal Creation: With enough magic, Tirek can create portals to anywhere he wants, such as when he banished Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to Tartarus.
  - Heat Generation: Tirek once generated enough heat to melt a stain-glass window depicting Twilight.
  - Bubble Imprisonment: Tirek can summon others within seemingly indestructible bubbles, just as he did with Twilight's friends.
- Superhuman Strength: At high levels of power, Tirek displays an enormous degree of supernatural strength. He is able to lift and throw chunks of the earth bigger than himself, flying and hitting Twilight straight through a large mountain, and smashing the ground to create a fearsome shock wave. Presumably, his physical power depends on the amount of earth pony magic he has consumed.
  - Earth Manipulation: By slamming his fists into the ground, Tirek can cause pieces of the earth to stick up and attack his enemy.
High Intelligence: Aside from being incredibly powerful, Tirek is also quite intelligent. After escaping from Tartarus, he knew to wait in hiding for a while before making his move to avoid being recaptured.
- Psychological Manipulation: Tirek was able to convince Discord, who is a master manipulator himself, into quitting his friendship with the ponies and aid him in his quest for power by playing on his ego and need for freedom, and then betray him and take his magic once he was powerful enough to do so. He also forced Twilight to give up her alicorn magic when he saw that he and she were evenly matched by threatening her friends.
- Magic Intuition: Tirek has intricate knowledge about absorbing magic through other means than just his own, as he instructed Cozy Glow how to use magical artifacts in a spell to absorb all of Equestria's magic.

Weaknesses[]

Oldness: Due to Tirek's old age, he must absorb the magic of others to keep himself strong. Without it, he is basically a weak, shriveled-up shadow of his former self.
Draining Limits: If an individual's magic is too powerful, Tirek will not be able to absorb it unless they willingly allow him to, so he must wait until he is strong enough or somehow coerces them to give up their magic somehow.
Lack of Hindsight: Despite his intelligence, Tirek doesn't always think things through, as he did not think of the fact that he would be trapped forever with the Mane 6 when he decided to help Cozy Glow with her plans.
Inanimate Objects: "Frenemies" reveals that Tirek can only absorb magic from living beings and not from nonliving things, such as magical barriers.
Chaos Magic: It's later revealed that, while Discord's chaos magic increases Tirek's power, Tirek cannot actually control it if he were to absorb it via Grogar's bell since those who possess Discord's magic would be driven into madness, which happens to Cozy Glow and Pinkie Pie.

Other depictions[]

IDW comics[]

My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #2 explores Tirek's "secret origins" at a young age, Tirek, a prince of his homeland, was instructed in the ways of magic by a centaur hermit named Sendak the Elder and became interested in pony magic through him. Tirek's ambitions greatly concerned his parents King Vorak and Queen Haydon. When Tirek attempts to absorb the magic of a unicorn that Sendak captured, it backfires, resulting in an explosion that catches the whole kingdom's attention. King Vorak sends Sendak to the mines for his crimes, punishes Tirek, and returns the unicorn to Equestria. While confined to his castle quarters, Tirek plots to overthrow his father and rule over Equestria.

Trivia[]

Tirek will become Little Bear's enemy in Little Bear's Adventures of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Twilight's Kingdom.
Tirek returns and guest stars in Brian and the Eeveelution Family's Adventures of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Brian and the Eeveelution Family's Adventures of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Brian and the Eeveelution Family's Adventures of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Rambo III, Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Star Trek: Beyond, Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Blade Runner 2049, Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Dragonheart, Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Dragonheart: A New Beginning, and Thomas and Twilight Sparkle show How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
In a running gag in our heroes call Tirek a "Monkey Horse". But however, only a few heroes do call him a Centaur.
Tirek was originally a G1 villain who was the main antagonist of Rescue at Midnight Castle. *While Tirek was likely meant to outshine previous villains such as Chrysalis and Sombra, many fans hate him for destroying Twilight's library and sending the princesses to Tartarus. Some have even speculated, out of hate for Tirek, that after his reimprisonment, Cerberus eats him as punishment for sending the princesses to Tartarus. This is the exact opposite scenario of Chrysalis and Sombra; When they died, most fans denied it out of love for them or desire to see them return (and the IDW comics, whose writers are bronies and pegasisters, had Chrysalis survive, while some continue to deny Sombra's demise even after it was confirmed). This, in turn, could likely be the reason why Meghan did not have Tirek end up like his G1 counterpart.
In his fully-powered state, Tirek is easily the most powerful antagonist (and maybe even character) in G4 (much as he was in G1). After consuming enough magic, he surpasses even Discord in power (a character who is constantly portrayed as near-omnipotent). However, despite the raw power he possesses, he is not as skilled with it as the draconequus is. Tirek mostly uses the magic of others to fuel his own familiar offensive spells, rather than reshaping reality at will like Discord does. It's later revealed that while Discord's magic increases Tirek's power, Tirek cannot actually control Discord's magic if he were to absorb it via Grogar's bell since those who possess Discord's magic would be driven into madness, which happen to Cozy Glow and Pinkie Pie.
He is considered as one of the most evil villains in Friendship Is Magic, along with Queen Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, King Sombra and The Storm King. Tirek is shown to have consciously flat-out rejected the very concept of friendship with the ponies of Equestria, his brother Scorpan, and Discord, believing it to be a weakness. Also, without any rain or food (due to stealing flight from pegasi and strength from earth ponies), the ponies of Equestria would likely die early into his rule if he stayed in power. However, he is later willing to cooperate with Cozy Glow and Queen Chrysalis to achieve his goals and he did come close to reforming in the episode "Frenemies" before Chrysalis snapped him out of it.
When Tirek steals Equestrian magic, he has the Xenomorph Queen's hissing sound.
Tirek also reveals to Tai Kamiya he made Tai's sister Kari Kamiya sick from the flu and she almost died.
Tirek will become Thomas' enemy in Thomas' Adventures of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic - Twilight's Kingdom (Full Movie)
Tirek became Aku's General in The Night to Remember.
He will appear in Team Robot in Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages.
He make his return planning to capture all Legendary Pokémon and have revenge in War of the Apocalypse.
Tirek will be the third villain to be the main antagonist of two two-part episodes, other being Starlight Glimmer and Queen Chrysalis.
He is voiced by Mark Acheson, who also voiced Unicron in Armada and Energon of the Transformers Unicron Trilogy.
He will appear in Jewel Sparkles' Adventures Series as a villain.
Tirek become the enemy of Connor Lacey and his friends in The Irelanders' Adventures of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Twilight's Kingdom.
In Ryan's Adventures Series, Tirek is one of Ryan Freestar's most hated enemies because of Tirek's evil ways and Tirek thinks that friendship is a form of imprisonment and the magic of friendship is Twilight's biggest weakness. He is also one of the villains who never reformed after learning that he has no son.
He will face Ben 10 and his team in Ben 10's Adventures of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Twilight's Kingdom.