Twilight is pure evil we all know it just look at her and her name Twilight how many Twilight’s do you know who aren’t evil

I’m not even going to try to hide it. Yeah. This exactly what I think.

/ I don’t really see the connection…

IMNSHO, all of the above characters deserve the misunderstood label (including Celestia and Twilight), but, to paraphrase a teacher of mine, being misunderstood explains but does not excuse [evil, etc.].
 
For example, it would be difficult to argue that, within canon, Discord and NMM are not evil. However, both demonstrate behavior that suggests insanity.
 
On another note, the fact that Princess Celestia is not handing out voluntary clinical immortality like cheap candy despite being immensely powerful and at least Millennia old does seem to be valid but extremely weak evidence for evil tendencies. Of course, I consider it plausible that the Princess is simply overworked and misunderstood in her efforts to protect her subjects in a Warhammer 40k-esque world where even the slightest attempt at transponyism has unforeseeable and horrendous consequences (As put succinctly by a TVTropes poster, the mental states of the mane cast are more fragile than the average Lovecraft Mythos protagonist). In such a scenario, the God-Princess of Ponydom, Celestia, is still plausible as an in-universe force of good, but appears to us as twisted if not outright evil.
 
P.S. If, on the other hand, Celestia has been actively suppressing research into immortality similar to hers or better for no other reason than preventing the existence of immortals besides herself and her sister, and still has the gall to complain about watching her peoples die, then I believe we can agree that she is at the very least evil on the level of Euripides’ Medea.
 
Yeah, I’m still stuck in HS literature classes. A better example will be appreciated.

Trixie’s ego was out of control, but nothing bad would have come of the situation if the others had just kept their mouths shut. The vast majority of that crowd loved her show. And if you heckle a street performer, you bring that shit upon yourself. And it’s perfectly justified. Still definitely an antagonist character, but she’s hardly a villain, and definitely not evil.
 
And I’m sure we’ve all been in Gilda’s shoes at some point.
 
>See best friend from childhood
 
>Try to hang out for a day and catch up
 
>Irritating bitch won’t leave you two alone
 
And Discord… Again, he enjoys hurting people. He derives laughter and entertainment by turning family and friends against each other, he gets off by breaking people. That’s not sympathetic.
 
And yeah, what Kingbeat said. NMM was either a murderous monster or a crazy-incompetent, ignorant bitch.

All I’m saying is that no character is just EVIL.  
Everything has a reason (Childhood issues, brought up that way, doesn’t know better.)  
You can’t just say someone is evil and be done with it.  
What some think is evil, others would call a hero.  
(Don’t mind me, I’m in Psychology class)

@Kaiser There’s a difference between concepts of good/evil and concepts of flaws and intent in character reception. For example, the character of Trixie is intended to be obnoxious, prideful, and woefully incompetent in anything not involving basic misdirection, and it shows. She may not think she’s evil, but her character is set up to be so grating that she is antagonistic. She’s supposed to be an antagonist, not a protagonist, and certainly not a hero.

There is no such thing as evil.  
No-one does things to be evil, they do it because they think it’s the right thing to do.  
Chrysalis thinks that the attack will give her children food.  
Trixie was doing her job.  
Discord is made from chaos, so he can only see it as good and thus wants to share it with everyone else. He Discorded the elements because they were the only ones who could re-trap him in stone.  
Gilda was trying to hang out with an old chump, got harrased by Pinkie and felt betrayed by Dash Pranking her.  
NMM was luna been sick of everyone ignoring her when she tried to be nice, and maybe a demon, not sure.  
Diamond Tiara bullies Apple Bloom because she feels insecure (Maybe due to her parents been too busy for her).  
Diamond dogs… I got nothing.  
Celestia? Alone.
 
So yeah, no-one is evil.  
There is no such thing as evil or good.

Ron the Death Eater is also frustrating, but I think it’s a biiiit more tolerable because of the fact that Draco in Leather Pants has more theoretically quality work that adds to the problem of not getting rid of the idea. On the flip side, nearly ALL of the Ron the Death Eater stuff amounts to turning a good character into the exact same raving clingy bitch/bastard, getting them mutilated in some fashion by the other characters, and then said characters transform into yaoi bishonen and get involved in poorly written, Ikea-style buttfucking. So whereas Draco in Leather Pants is a problem because it tugs at specific desires for “not evil, but misunderstood” based on existing traits in the character that they want to twist into sympathy points, Ron the Death Eater is less of a problem simply because it turns ANY character into Amy Rose, thus making it less easy to take seriously.

YES! A discussion on “Draco’s in leather pants”
 
Anyway, I don’t have a problem with people trying to find something sympathetic about a villain… up to a point. That point when they pull what tvtropes calls a Ron the Death Eater

Discord is quite clearly evil. He /enjoys/ breaking a pony’s mind, even if it has a reason. All his changes to the world only suit him. His’pranks’are the sort that only make /him/ laugh, and that’s just from the short time we see him free when it’s getting worse every second. I love Discord, don’t get me wrong, cause he’s one of my favorite villains…but I love him because his an unredeemable jackass who twists and torments others cause it makes him laugh sheathed in a layer of silliness and likeability that makes him really charismatic. It’s so easy to forget that he’s a threat, even as he’s making ballet-dancing bison appear out of thin air. I always thought it was clear that Discord was Disharmony (which is basically evil in MLP) and Chaos was his /means/.

@First BP… How was NMM a “bad choice” of Celestia’s? You realize what she wanted to do to the planet? Celestia had to do something. No one said she got some kind of sadistic glee from sending her sister to the moon.

Alien Queen doing what aliens do: Feeding and invading
 
Boastful performer. A jerk, but the kind you let slide because it’s not worth it to confront them
 
Chaotic Trickster God. Do not put up with his bullcrap.
 
Brash, rude, incosiderate thinks it’s okay to act this way. Needs some serious growing-up.
 
Magical Manifestation of anguish. Misunderstood in a sense, but this entity is evil. Purify.
 
Bratty little kid. Filthy Rich is applying some discipline to her, so she’ll hopefully grow up good.
 
Goblins. Greedy, dumb, industrious. Let ’em live, fight ’em off when they get grabby

While I enjoy a good three dimensional, tragic villain, I will agree that the poorer attempts to make a villain good are annoying. Here’s how I see it.  
Chrysalis: Evil, but at least she cares about her people.  
Trixie: Not misunderstood. She’s a jerk. She’s Rainbow Dash pushed to Eleven. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like her making a reappearance and becoming a friend.  
Discord: Spirit of Chaos. He’s doing what he loves and he doesn’t care about our petty ideas and morals.  
Gilda: A jerk and a bitch. She ‘might’ care about RD, but its open to interpretation. Again, I wouldn’t mind some redemption for her.  
Nightmare Moon: Wanted to bring eternal night. Which would have killed everyone. So if she knew about this, she’s an insane monster. If she didn’t, she’s a dumb, arrogant monster.  
Diamond Tiara: A jerk kid. Its hard to believe, but some school bullies do grow up to be regular people. Pony. You know what I mean. I wouln’t mind seeing an episode where she acts a bit nicer.  
Diamond Dogs: They at least seem okay to their own kind. Besides that, they’re rude, mean, kidnappers. But they’re also kind of pathetic.  
Twilight and Celestia: They’re good mares. Kind, heroic, and likable. NOT VILLAINS.

@Molestia He’s less evil as much as he is destructive and chaotic. Think Mirror Universe Q before the character development.

@PsychoPomf No worries, I follow you quite well. It helps that I prefer my coffee in the noontimes. XD
 
See, I’m fine with a jerk getting character development INTO a complex character; Babylon 5’s G’kar is one of my favorite characters precisely because he developed from barbarian villain to eloquent hero. That makes a character well-rounded and interesting. And in the case of Trixie and Gilda, you can definitely make the argument that they have insane desires for recognition and adoration, and take the refusal of this attention terribly. Problem is, though, people don’t WRITE these flaws realistically for these characters. What would be interesting analysis of emotionally crippled people is undercut drastically by the philosophy of “THEY ARE FLAWLESS EMO WONDERFUL SNEWFLAKES AND THE MAIN 6 ARE DICKBUTTS” that accompanies the Draco in Leather Pants. Nothing is worse than an OOC character who didn’t get a good reason for it.

@Molly
 
I don’t think he’s pure evil more than pure chaos. He’s still a psychopath, but I think his thing was being an insane bastard than a bastard who happened to be insane.

Canonically, the three big villains are pure evil. Especially Discord, he is literally pure evil.
 
Oh and Celestia, definetly evil. She’s plotting to take over the planet at this very moment.

I get the joke  
But, It’s:  
Evil  
Asshole  
Evil  
Asshole  
Evil but crazy  
Asshole  
And bad but not evil

@TheAbridgenator
 
I partially agree with you. See, I am a little frustrated with how few stories put them in… how you say… TOO sympathetic lights if that makes any sense.
 
I mean, by all means have Trixie just yearning for some honest companionship but don’t have her realize it at first as the first person to offer it is abused.
 
Gilda would never admit to despise being alone and would probably be quite liberal with the profanities to anyone who suggests otherwise even if she knows herself its not true.
 
Basically what I’m saying, is the lessers evils that aren’t wicked to the core (Discord being an uncaring dick, Nightmare Moon being a crazed supernatural monarch, and Chrysalis being an invasion happy soul-magic sucking beast) could get sympathy. But still keep them in character as it’d take them a while to even realize that their behavior should change.
 
If I am making no sense, tell me. I haven’t had my coffee yet.

See, this is the one thing that drives me nuts about the “Draco in Leather Pants” concept: why do the bad guys need to be misunderstood emo kids? Seriously, we like these guys as they are! We like our villains to be villainous! We can have them be complex, but where’s the fun or interest if they’re just another goddamn Sasuke clone? We love these guys BECAUSE of how awesomely evil they are, not because they’re big emo gits that need hugs to be super special snowflakes!
 
GAAAAAAHHHH!

There’s an article from TV Tropes for both these scenarios, but I’m not going to name them because talking in “troperese” makes me feel unclean.

I’m cool with romanticizing villains. They’re all fascinating. But trying to make out a blatantly wicked character as a sympathetic woobie is just annoying, and even more so because it’s so goddamn common.

Twilight IS pretty evil when you get down to it.