King Sombra
this wiki
| King Sombra | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Kind | Unicorn Umbrum |
| Sex | Male |
| Residence | Crystal Empire (formerly) Canterlot (alternate universe) |
| Occupation | Ruler of the Crystal Empire (formerly) Ruler of Equestria (alternate universe) |
| Other links | |
| More info | |
|---|---|
| Eyes | Brilliant scarlet with deep scarlet pupils Grayish sap green (formerly) |
| Mane | Black Black with moderate cobalt blue streaks (alternate universe) |
| Coat | Dark gray |
| Magic aura | Black engulfed in a vivid violet haze with light brilliant green edges Light amber (alternate universe) |
| Nicknames | King of All Monsters, Sombrero, Sm (The Periodic Table of My Little Pony) |
| Relatives | Unnamed crystal mother |
| Cutie mark None (S3E1, FIENDship is Magic Issue 1) "not known" (trading cards)[1][2] | |
| Voice | Jim Miller (English)[3] Mikołaj Klimek (Polish)[4] Zeca Rodrigues (Brazilian Portuguese) Adrian Moraru (Romanian) Nikita Prozorovsky (Russian) Joan Massotkleiner (European Spanish) Dan Osorio (Latin American Spanish) |
Contents
[show]
Development and design
The show's story editor, Meghan McCarthy, and another staff member have stated that the character's name is Sombra.[5][6][7] A tweet by Hasbro's My Little Pony Twitter account spells the name as "Somber".[8] "Sombra" is a Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician word for "shadow", which comes from the Latin "umbra". A differently-shaded version of the armor around King Sombra's neck is used for the 2012 Design a My Little Pony Finalists poster, as part of Steel Masquerade's armor. Jim Miller, the show's storyboard supervisor and King Sombra's voice actor, drew inspiration from the vocals of the Mastodon song "Crystal Skull" for his performance as King Sombra.[9] Meghan McCarthy has said that King Sombra was inspired by Sauron from The Lord of the Rings and is meant to be a dark presence.[10]
King Sombra is a dark gray unicorn with a black spiky mane and tail. Unlike regular unicorn horns, which match the pony's coat color and are straight and segmented, Sombra's horn is curved, smooth, sharp at the tip and it gradients from dark gray to red. He has sharp teeth with two visible fangs unlike other ponies and red—green when younger—irises, but most often his otherwise white eyes appear green and have a purple mist emanating from them, which disappears both times he is attacked. He wears silver armor on his legs and neck, a crown with horn-like points on his head, and a red cape that covers his flank. When his flank is shown briefly in Princess Celestia's flashback, he has no visible cutie mark. When he is turned to shadow in the flashback, only his head remains, and when he returns as an amorphous black cloud, only his eyes are visible at first.
The alternate universe version of Sombra in the IDW comics' Reflections story arc has a neatly smooth mane and tail with blue streaks. His horn is a solid color and segmented like other unicorns, and he still has green irises instead of red. He wears a light blue crown with a yellow gem, matching shoes and collar, and a purple cape instead of a red one. After the alternate Sombra absorbs the evil from alternate Celestia and Luna, he closely resembles the original King Sombra.
On March 15, 2015, Jim Miller was asked, "I would like your thoughts on this: are Sombra and Tirek the redeemable types? This is not about Season 5 at all[,]" and replied, "I don't want to speculate in case we ever decide to use them again."[11]
Defeat
The show and most other materials do not explicitly specify the exact nature of King Sombra's defeat at the end of The Crystal Empire - Part 2. Meghan McCarthy referred to Sombra as being "dead now" on February 22, 2013;[12] some later merchandise and other media raise ambiguity (in-and-out-of-universe). In February 2015, Jayson Thiessen (having joked a month prior that somepony would die in season five)[13][14] was asked, "why would a pony die on TV-Y show?"[sic], and replied, "hence the joke. Maybe one day someone will deal with death on a TV-Y show...Wait, Sesame Street did in 80s. Mr. Hooper died."[sic][15]
Depiction in the series
King Sombra being banished.
Sombra haunting a Crystal Pony.
Later in the episode, Twilight and her friends interview some Crystal Ponies. One pony who Twilight interviews tells her that she can't seem to remember anything before King Sombra came to power and flinches while a superimposed image of King Sombra's eyes flashes over her. She then says she doesn't want to remember anything about his rule.
King Sombra appears.
Twilight performs "a little trick Celestia taught [her]", which gives her the same green glowing eyes and horn engulfed in black mist as Celestia did at the beginning of the story. She turns the throne black with this spell, and slowly makes the throne room look the way it did when King Sombra ruled. She finds a hidden staircase, and at its bottom is "a doorway that leads to your worst fear", created by "King Sombra's dark magic". When Twilight is under the spell, she has the same green eyes as Sombra; Spike wakes her from this state, but then he falls into it himself and his eyes change the same way, and Twilight wakes him in turn.
King Sombra's defeat.
In Games Ponies Play, Sombra is briefly referenced when Rainbow Dash says the Crystal Ponies "lost a thousand years to an evil king's curse."
Depiction in comics
The Midtown Comics cover variant of Friendship is Magic Issues #4 and #5 are two halves that when put together feature King Sombra's eyes in the background. Covers A, B and the Hot Topic variant of Issue #18 and cover A of Issue #19 feature King Sombra as well.
Alternate King Sombra in the Reflections story arc.
Sombra's face is shown on Friendship is Magic Issue #25 covers A and RI. Sombra also appears on Friendship is Magic Issue #30's Hot Topic cover.
King Sombra is mentioned by Shining Armor and the crystal bard in Friends Forever Issue #4 and appears in a flashback showing how he captured the bard with the assistance of his guards. Sombra is also mentioned in Friends Forever Issue #14.
Young Sombra in FIENDship is Magic #1.
When he runs off into the frozen wastes one day, Sombra finds a strange red crystal. Calling itself his mother, the crystal reveals to Sombra his true nature: he is actually a living shadow called an "umbrum," created to destroy the Crystal Heart and set free the umbrum army trapped below the Crystal Empire. With his dormant powers awakened, Sombra embraces his destiny; he steals the Crystal Heart away, turns the empire's ruler Princess Amore into a crystal statue, and shatters the statue to pieces. When Radiant Hope informs Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Sombra knows his defeat is imminent, so he enacts a curse that makes the Crystal Empire vanish.
Back in present day, Sombra's disembodied horn makes its way to the bottom of the spiral staircase, appearing to still contain his essence.
Personality
King Sombra smiling.
In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Issue #18, a parallel version of King Sombra in another world is stated by Celestia to rule that world's Equestria with "kindness and benevolence", as opposed to the King Sombra seen in the series. In his introduction he is shown to be generally very kind and polite. He is also quite dashing and charming, as evidenced by Rarity and Fluttershy swooning over him. The alternate Sombra is later revealed to be deeply in love with Celestia, who reciprocates his feelings.
Alternate King Sombra and Princess Celestia.
In My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1, Sombra is shown to have been friendly, caring, and shy during his youth. However, after learning about his origin, he becomes evil and power-mad, referring to himself as the "king of all monsters."
Magic
King Sombra in his shadow form.
Merchandise
Promotional material
Writer M.A. Larson wrote on Twitter regarding the quiz's image of King Sombra that was presented to him: "Interesting. I read about that in a script but never seen it before."[20]
King Sombra is included in Hasbro's online game Crystal Empire Seek & Find as one of the items in level 5.[21]
In the HubNetwork game Adventure Ponies 2, King Sombra is the first boss.
Other depictions
Discovery Family description
He's only the scariest pony ever -- he can even appear as black smoke. King Sombra enslaved the Crystal Ponies, and when Princesses Celestia and Luna banished him, he made the Crystal Empire disappear. The ponies used the Crystal Heart, plus the power of love, to restore the Empire -- and shatter this evil Unicorn forever.
The Elements of Harmony guidebook
KING SOMBRA ruled the Crystal Empire thousands of years ago but was banished and turned to shadow. Before he disappeared, the snarling black-hearted monster made the kingdom disappear and destroyed hope and love in the process. He recently returned but was thwarted by Twilight Sparkle and her pony friends.[22]
Chapter books
In the My Little Pony Equestria Girls screenplay novelization My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Through the Mirror, chapter 3's narration states that without Twilight Sparkle's Element of Harmony crown, "everypony back home in Ponyville and everypony else in the Kingdom was left completely vulnerable. What if Queen Chrysalis somehow came back again? Or King Sombra? Or somepony even worse? It was a horrible thought."
My Little Pony (mobile game)
King Sombra is a character in Gameloft's mobile game. His in-game description states "The former tyrant ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra is one unnerving unicorn! With his powerful dark magic, piercing green eyes and crazy laughter, this shadowy shadow dweller is the stuff nightmares are made of!"
Quotes
- "Yes... crystals..."
- — The Crystal Empire - Part 2
- "Crystal Heart..."
- — The Crystal Empire - Part 2
- "My crystal slaves..."
- — The Crystal Empire - Part 2
- "That is mine!"
- — The Crystal Empire - Part 2
- "What? No... No! Stop!"
- — The Crystal Empire - Part 2
- "Greetings, friends. Can Sombra play too?"
- — My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1
- "Destruction was my talent and darkness was my cutie mark."
- — My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1[23]
- "What do I do with this power? Why am I the only one with it?"
- — To his mother, My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1
- "Restore her? Help me? You've got it all wrong, Hope. I don't need help anymore. And as for Princess Amore, she's not the saint you think she is. Inside she was... BROKEN."
- — To Radiant Hope, My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1
- "I am not just any monster, Hope. I am king of the monsters!"
- — My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1
- "Long live the king."
- — My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #1
Gallery
See also
- King Sombra on the Fan Wiki
- This article's speculation page.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:Series 2 trading cards 28-36.jpg
- ↑ File:King Sombra trading card series 2 back.jpg
- ↑ https://twitter.com/TheBiggestJim/status/267325607048773632
- ↑ Guests of honor at Pony con-gress Cracow 2013 (Polish). Retrieved on 2013 September 16.
- ↑ Season 3 SPOILERS! (2012-10-13). Retrieved on 2012 October 13.
- ↑ Twitter / MMeghanMcCarthy: @jordanolling SomBRA. (2012-10-13). Retrieved on 2012 October 14.
- ↑ Season 3 SPOILERS! (2012-10-14). Retrieved on 2012 October 14.
- ↑ Twitter / MyLittlePony: Princess Celestia introduces ... (2012-11-07). Retrieved on 2012 November 6.
- ↑ Twitter / TheBiggestJim: Sombra voice ... (2012-11-14). Retrieved on 2012 November 14.
- ↑ GuyWithNoNickName (2012-12-04). Meghan McCarthy Talks About King Sombra On "Stay Brony My Friends". YouTube. Retrieved on 2012 December 6.
- ↑ Jim Miller (2015-03-15). Big Jim on Twitter: "@Blue5Girl I don't want to speculate in case we ever decide to use them again.". Twitter. Retrieved on 2015 March 19.
- ↑ Writers Panel - Las Pegasus Unicon 2013 (2013-03-01). Retrieved on 2013 May 4.
- ↑ Jayson Thiessen (2015-01-18). Jayson Thiessen on Twitter: "@platypusbrony somepony will die". Twitter. Retrieved on 2015 February 23.
- ↑ Jayson Thiessen (2015-01-19). Jayson Thiessen on Twitter: "@platypusbrony @MLBrony of course it was a joke. And the 7th is obviously Spike.". Twitter. Retrieved on 2015 February 23.
- ↑ Jayson Thiessen (2015-02-19). Jayson Thiessen on Twitter: "@corneygirl109 hence the joke. Maybe one day someone will deal with death on a TV-Y show...Wait, Sesame Street did in 80s. Mr. Hooper died.". Twitter. Retrieved on 2015 February 23.
- ↑ my little pony fiendship is magic #1 sombra. PREVIEWSworld. Retrieved on 2015 January 21.
- ↑ My Little Pony by Amy Mebberson. Acidfree Gallery (2014-07-03). Retrieved on 2014 July 6.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 My Little Pony Wedding Quiz. Retrieved on 2012 October 12.
- ↑ Pony Wedding Micro-site + Possible Season 3 Character?. Equestria Daily (2012-07-15). Retrieved on 2012 October 12.
- ↑ M.A. Larson (2012-07-12). @DlSCORD Interesting. I re .... Retrieved on 2012 October 12. Archived locally
- ↑ Game: Crystal Empire Seek & Find. Retrieved on 2013 January 9.
- ↑ File:King sombra in elements of harmony book by anzu18-d68czwd.png
- ↑ Jeremy Whitley (2015-02-10). Jeremy Whitley on Twitter: "Best Sombra line from Fiendship #1 or best line of anything ever?: "Destruction was my talent and darkness was my cutie mark." #MLP #Sombra". Twitter. Retrieved on 2015 February 17.









