King Sombra

Sombra was the illegitimate king of the Crystal Empire, and a bitter and harsh ruler, so cruel that his subjects shivered at remembering his name. Described as "a with a heart as black as night", he possessed powerful dark magic.

Early life
Following their defeat, the Umbrum sought to find a way to invade Equestria once again. They devised a wicked plan, to create an Umbrum who appeared to be a pony in order to infiltrate Equestria. This pony, was Sombra.

Sombra was quickly abandoned by his creators as they cared not for him, only what he could do for them. Regardless, Sombra didn't know of his creation, his parents, or even how to speak the Common language. All alone, Sombra was eventually discovered by a group of Crystal guards. The guards questioned the young foal about the whereabouts of his family, but he couldn't answer them. All he could say was "Sombra", which the guard decided to name him.

Being a "lost colt", Sombra had no family to return to and was sent to stay at Chestnut Falls' Orphanage to be raised. Sombra was warmly greeted by Chestnut Falls herself, but Sombra himself could not say anything but Sombra. Sombra was rather melancholy in the earliest days of his creation, he found it strangely difficult to speak in the pony tongue, writing as if it was like he wasn't supposed to say them. Because of this, Sombra found it increasingly hard to communicate with his peers, which caused him to fall behind in class. However, Sombra was a quick learner and hard worker, and the kind and understanding caretaker Ms Chestnut always helped Sombra when he couldn't understand his homework.

Befriending Radiant Hope
Sombra wasn't very popular among his fellow orphans. Due to his lack of a cutie mark and weird, regal way of talking, most of the ponies shunned him. While Sombra had adult friends, the only other foal his age who showed him kindness was a young Radiant Hope. Sombra would later describe Radiant Hope as "a bit weird", but that "[he] enjoyed it" and said that "she was the most amazing pony I've ever met". Radiant Hope, like Sombra, was somewhat of an outcast too, as she enjoyed talking to "fairy friends". The two enjoyed being "weird" together but Sombra mistook Radiant Hope's affinity towards fairies as an overactive imagination.

Sombra continued to be laughingstock among his peers, but he no longer cared. He and Radiant Hope were the best of friends, couldn't be any closer and the two always enjoyed each others company. The two would write in their own "language" to pass notes. Many other ponies berated them, but admitted they deserved one another as they played weird games together. One such game was one where "Prince" Sombra would be locked away in a crystal tower as "Sir Lady Hope" would have to save him from an imaginary dragon, which ended with Sombra being "eated" by a dragon.

After a year of saving up, Sombra and Radiant Hope attempted to appear at the fair, but he came down with a mysterious illness, or as he would later call it, a "transformation". This transformation left him bed ridden every year when the Crystal Fair began, every year causing him and Radiant to miss it. One year, the transformation hit in full swing, causing Sombra to "disappear", though Radiant Hope was able to save him and gained her cutie mark in the process.

One day, Radiant Hope ran towards Sombra with a note in hand, telling him she was to study with the Princesses of Equestria. Believing his friend was about to leave him, Sombra ran into the Frozen Wastes in tears until he eventually came across the Umbrum Crystal. The crystal spoke to him and "flipped a switch in his brain", causing Sombra grow wicked and gained dark powers. Adorned in a cloak, Sombra ran into town and stole the Crystal Heart, when caught by Princess Amore, Sombra petrified the mare. Radiant Hope, who saw the whole event, was horrified at what her friend did and pleaded to Sombra to let her fix it, but Sombra instead told her they could rule the empire as king and queen. Radiant refused and instead wanted to restore the princess, so Sombra shattered her stone body, causing Radiant to run away, crying that Sombra truly was a monster.

Dark ruler
King Sombra's origins are a mystery, with all that is known being that he seized control of the Crystal Empire some time before the fateful day. and moved to oppose him, and transformed Sombra into shadow before casting him into the depths of the Frozen North. For unknown reasons, the Empire disappeared around the same time, and would not be seen again for roughly 1000 years.

After Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor became the new monarchs of the returned Empire, Sombra once again returned to wreak havoc on his peoples. This time, by engulfing them in the smoke of his presence, though each time he was repelled by Cadance's magic. The legacy of Sombra's rule, even when he was kept at bay, was a very noticeable one, as his former subjects were weary, haggard and dreary and only grew worse when reminded of Sombra and his reign. Eventually, Cadance ran out of magic to hold off his power and soon Sombra nearly took back his city. Through the unlikely team-up, Spike and Cadance were able to retrieve the Crystal Heart and destroy Sombra, restoring their land.

Conquest of the Crystal Empire
Contrary to expectations, Sombra had actually survived his defeat, though barely, with only a fraction of his power remaining and his spirit tied to the last remnant of his body, his broken horn. He possessed some capacity for movement, as he was able to enter the Crystal Castle, and later followed Cadance and the now Princess Twilight down to his old study when they went to investigate it. Having gone undetected apart from an unidentifiable noise, Sombra remained in the study, slowly trying to regather his power with the knowledge that it would take a long time before he could hope to return to his former strength. He received unexpected help in this regard from Radiant Hope, who had spent the millennium of Sombra's absence with the Umbrum and now believed them benevolent beings deserving of release.

Hope's magic restored Sombra's body, though he disbelieved her claims about the Umbrum; learning that she had stolen the Crystal Heart, he made his way to the surface. Sombra freed and her army of Changelings, Flim and Flam, Lightning Dust, and Iron Will, whom Hope had recruited to help her, and led them in subduing the Mane Six, Shining Armor, and the royal guards. Celestia and Luna then arrived and engaged Sombra and Chrysalis, but Hope arrived on the scene and distracted them, which allowed Sombra to turn his old enemies to stone. Sombra intended to transform Twilight as well, but found that he was still recovering from his restoration to life.

He then set his sights on freeing the Umbrum, showing nothing but contempt for Chrysalis when she opposed the move; she and the other "allies" subsequently fled the Empire. Twilight's friends helped her to break Sombra's curse on her horn, allowing her to cast magic once again, while Cadance met with Hope apart from Sombra and together they learned of the Umbrum's true nature. Hope attempted to persuade Sombra not to free his people, which he had been reluctant to do anyway. Unfortunately, Twilight attempted to stop Sombra by force, and Hope was hurt when she took a blast that Twilight aimed at Sombra. Enraged by the attack, Sombra freed the Umbrum, with whose aid he swiftly subdued the Empire once again, recapturing Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor while their friends fled to seek help.

Sombra was then proclaimed Emperor, and began making plans to conquer Yakyakistan and Griffonstone now that Equestria seemed to be no threat. After extracting the supposed location of the remaining rebels, Canterine, from Cadance, Sombra turned Shining Armor to stone and then prepared to do the same to the remaining two princesses. However, when he shared his plans with "Empress" Hope, she expressed her disgust with him. When he claimed that the Crystal Heart had shown him this as his destiny, she reminded him that she had seen herself as a princess, a path she had chosen not to pursue. After a failed attack by Twilight's friends and various allies, Rabia urged Sombra to destroy the Crystal Heart.

Realizing the truth about his ability to choose after looking into the Heart again, Sombra rejected his heritage, returning the Crystal Heart to its proper place and sealing the Umbrum away once again. Sombra himself nearly faded away, as well, but Hope-aided by the restored Four Princesses of Equestria-used their magic to save him, transforming him into a normal unicorn. In return for his willingness to stop the Umbrum and sacrifice himself, the Princesses pardoned him, and Sombra decided to do some forgiving of his own. Revealing that Amore had not been killed by his petrifying and shattering her, he and Hope set out to recover her fragments so that they could restore her to life.

Conquest of Canterlot and death
King Sombra later returned to life through the power of Grogar, who brought Sombra to his lair along with, Queen Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow. Having witnessed their defeats at the hooves of Twilight and her friends, Grogar sought to form them into an alliance that would at least achieve domination of Equestria. However, Sombra refused to share power, declaring that he could retake the Crystal Empire by himself; Grogar agreed to let him try, in exchange for his agreement to serve Grogar were he defeated. Grogar then sent Sombra back to the Crystal Empire, where he swiftly enslaved the inhabitants, reclaimed the Crystal Heart, and captured Flurry Heart, forcing her parents to surrender.

Wielding the Elements of Harmony, Twilight and her friends arrived and broke Sombra's power over the Empire, seemingly killing him once again. However, this proved to be a ruse, as King Sombra followed the heroes secretly and then used his magic to shatter both the Elements and Tree of Harmony. Leaving the six of them free to suffer as he took everything they loved, Sombra set out to lay claim to all of Equestria. He soon enslaved Ponyville and Canterlot's inhabitants, with the exception of Celestia and Luna who came to the aid of Twilight and the others.

Twilight and her friends managed to penetrate Canterlot, and were joined by Discord who reluctantly agreed to help them. Challenging Sombra in the castle throne room, Discord easily dispelled his attacks, until Sombra took a shot at Fluttershy that Discord intercepted. Enraged by their friend's apparent injury, Twilight and the others rallied and were able to summon the magic of friendship despite the Elements' loss. A horror-struck Sombra was then hit full force by their attack, which brought a final end to him. However, Grogar would use his failure as an example to the other villains, while the ponies of Equestria and their allies were slow to forget Sombra's assault.

Later, the other members of the legion betrayed Grogar and stole his magic using the Bewitching Bell, revealing that Discord had been impersonating him all along. He was forced to admit this to Twilight and the others, along with the fact that he had been responsible for Sombra's return.

Personality
Sombra's personality was not well-shown during his attacks on the Crystal Empire, though he was shown to be tyranical, wicked and cruel. His reign seemed to diminish the individuality of his subjects and caused much strain on their own personalities. Much more of his interaction was seen during his interactions with the Legion of Doom, displaying a more standoffish and arrogant side to his personality. His intelligence and cunning nature was also seen more during his period of his life where shown more clearly.

Casting
In his debut, Sombra was depicted by Big Jim Miller. Many fans were disassified by his original voice, believing it was "generic" and unoriginal. In his return appearance in "The Beginning of the End", he was instead portrayed by Alvin Lee Sanders, the voice actor for "Flutterguy". Fans are divided on Sander's take on the character, with some thinking his Sombra was far superior, giving him a deeper range of personality. Other fans find that his portrayal clashes with his earlier depictions while also making him seem like more of a stereotypical villain.

The Lord of the Rings connection
Several fans and J.R.R Tolkien fan sites have noted the similarities between Sombra and Sauron and other of the villains from J.R.R Tolkien's Middle-earth legends. Typically, comparisons revolve around his role as more of a presence then a fully defined villain and his assault on the Crystal Empire resembling that of the depiction of Isengard in the Peter Jackson films.

Notes regarding other appearances
Sombra is the only major villain in Friendship is Magic, not counting those introduced much later in the shows run, to not have an Equestria Girls form. has appeared as a plush toy on a few occasions, has a toy of her and  is a popular video game character. Arguably Nightmare Moon falls into this camp too, but as revealed in Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree, there is some slight animosity towards Celestia and Luna over their preference in day vs night, hinting that Nightmare Moon may have existed in an extremely downplayed example.

Appearances

 * "The Crystal Empire"
 * "The Beginning of the End"