Garble

Garble was a who lived in the Dragon Lands. He was the elder brother of Smolder and friend of Fume, Charcoal, Clump, Fizzle and other dragons. He was incredibly antagonistic against and Equestria in general, wishing to conquer their lands and burn everything to the ground.

Early life
Very little of Garble's upbringing and personal life is known. seemed to be a well-liked or feared individual in his group, seeming to know a fair bit about his fellow dragons, such as the names and possibly families of dragons who weren't in his immediate gang. It's unknown if Garble has any permanent residence and he has no known family members. He resembles Razer, who nestled himself into a mountain near by Ponyville during "Dragonshy" and is one of the few dragons with a similar color scheme, however this may simply be a biological attribute of his sub-species.

In childhood, Garble was known as “Gar-Gar” by his sister Smolder, though the name embarrassed him as he grew older. Smolder was also the only dragon Garble felt comfortable sharing his secret passion for beat poetry with. This closeness did not prevent Smolder from kicking him out on his own when he began undergoing Molt.

Gang
For lack of a better term, Garble had himself a "gang" of dragons during the migration. These dragons were unnamed but consisted of a purple dragon, a white dragon and a bulky brown-grey dragon. These dragons appeared to be considerably dimmer and not nearly as outwardly heinous as Garble, but where nonetheless cruel and merciless as they had no qualms with killing the baby phoenixes for fun.

First encounter with Spike
Garble first encountered spike in the Era of Harmony when the little dragon went on migration to be with other dragons. At first he was skeptical of Spike, though grew to somewhat respect him after seeing his sheer moxie and gusto in performing feats, such as diving into pools of lava. However, his views on Spike changed for the worst when he invited the little guy for a dragon raid, in which they were to smash the eggs of baby Phoenixes, presumably killing them in the process. Spike of course refused and so Garble and the others ganged up on him until Spike's friends,, and  came to rescue him. The dragons of course didn't back down and so Spike and the others fled.



Spike subsequently had a nightmare where Garble, Backdraft and Charcoal were bullying him, though he was woken up by. He later thought back with his experiences with Garble when he was thinking about his relationships with Dragonkind. Initially he was upset, but remembered the good times he had with Mina and remembered that not all dragons were bad.

Gauntlet of Fire
Garble participated in the Goblet of Fire event in hopes of becoming the next Dragon Lord. Garble told his peers that if he were to be victorious and become the next Lord, he would organize a countrywide raid on Equestria, burning everything they didn't take. When he encountered Spike, he was once again incredibly hostile and rude to him, bluntly telling him that he didn't like him at all.

During the actual event, Garble did quite well for himself, becoming the second dragon to enter the Flamecano in order to receive the Bloodstone Scepter (the winning condition for the ordeal) next to the combined party of Spike and, who was participating in secret. Garble wrestled with Ember throughout the volcano until Spike grabbed the Scepter, becoming the Dragon Lord. Spike's first, and only creed, was for Garble to go back home, hugging every dragon he saw. He was also forbidden to explain why to any of the reciprocates of this embarrassing and uncharacteristic behavior, who included Dragon Lord Torch.

From simulations to revelations
When considering where she might send her student Starlight Glimmer to continue her education, Twilight briefly considered the Dragon Lands. In a magical simulation she created for the possibility, Garble appeared, though he was uncharacteristically friendly. Perhaps due to her unpleasant past encounters with him, however, Twilight was quick to imagine him pulling Starlight along while diving into a lava pool, oblivious to pony vulnerability. Later, the real Garble proved to be the unwitting new owner of Netitus, which he used as a board for Gorge Surfing. Rainbow Dash and Spike challenged him to a race over ownership of the relic, and Spike won.

Furious, Garble prepared to attack Spike, considering the younger dragon exempt from Ember’s recent decree prohibiting dragon antagonism of ponies. However, Rainbow Dash convinced him to race her instead, only to fly off with Spike and Netitus after persuading Garble to lay it down, much to his chagrin. Smolder later mentioned her brother’s Molt experience to Spike without bringing up Garble’s name. Later, Garble and his gang began antagonizing Spike again when he paid another visit to the Dragon Lands. The old adversaries were unpleasantly surprised when Smolder introduced Garble as her brother and Spike as her friend.

Garble’s supposed friends reported his recent moodiness to Smolder, only to mock him upon learning that Smolder had brought Spike to hang out with him. Garble proved as unfriendly to Spike as ever, subjecting him to pain and humiliation and reacting with anger when Spike used his nickname. However, when disclosed that Garble had been feeling bad without Smolder, Garble got a taste of his own medicine as the other dragons teased him. Later, Fluttershy came across him performing poetry for Smolder, who revealed that she was the only creature he would perform in front of, leaving him feeling repressed with her attending the School of Friendship.

Though angry and embarrassed at the situation, at being found out, and at the belief that the other dragons would mock his hobby, Garble soon found a use for his gifts. With the next generation of Dragon Eggs in desperate need of warmth, Garble began reciting his poetry to the dragons attempting to hatch them with Fire Breath. The other dragons were so amused that they produced laughter Fire hot enough to hatch the eggs. However, any mockery was swiftly halted by Ember, who proclaimed Garble a hero and decreed that the dragons would celebrate each other’s unique traits from them on. To Garble’s pleasant surprise, she then became the first dragon to ask him for writing tips.

and Celestia later spotted Garble while traveling through Equestria. He later joined many teenage dragons and other creatures in fighting against the Legion of Doom during the Apocalypse. Garble and his friends joined other airborne creatures in charging the villains, disrupting Cozy Glow in particular. Years later, Garble would be remembered among the Council of Friendship’s most significant acquaintances.

Personality
Initially appearing to be little more then a lowlife punk, Garble presented himself as a rough, tough, but seemingly goodhearted big-brother type to Spike. He showed absolutely no respect towards Princess Celestia and Equestria as a whole but seemed to eventually warm up to Spike, calling him "dude" in an affectionate manner. However, Garble's true colors were shown, revealing him to be a truly deranged and heinous individual, one who has no qualms with killing those weaker than him for getting in his way, or even just for fun. This however, was eventually revealed to only be the tip of the iceberg as Garble's views on ponies went far beyond simple annoyance or flat-out prejudice, but ventured into vehement hatred.

When he went to participate in the Gauntlet of Fire, his goal if he won was to organize an all-out assault on Equestria, taking what he gets and burning all the rest. Garble's violence isn't reserved just for ponies however, he appears to have absolutely no regard for any form of life. He relished in the opportunity to kill baby Phoenixes, making a game out of it and attempted to beat up during the Gauntlet of Fire. Garble is shown to be relatively intelligent, or at least not stupid. He's shown to use manipulation to get what he wants and knows how to play his enemies, using Spike's naturally caring personality to his advantage when he got him to move a boulder than fell on him.

Abilities
Being a dragon, Garble is naturally quite strong and is a force to be reckoned with. Despite only being a teenage dragon, Garble appears to be more powerful than ponies who are considerably stronger than average, going as far as to strike immense fear into even Rainbow Dash. In fact, Garble is one of the few fights Dash willingly backed down from. Garble was strong enough to fight Ember on roughly equal footing, though was eventually defeated. Like other dragons of his age, Garble can fly, breath fire and has an innate resistance towards heat, being able to relax in lava as if it was a hot-spring. Garble is fairly cunning and is shown to be at least decently intelligent, smart enough to formulate strategies and read pony writing.

In other realities
Both Garble and Charcoal appeared at the Chaos Casino in Eris' dimension.

Lasting role and impact
Garble is one of the few true recurring antagonist in the show, a role he shares with and Nightmare. Garble has appeared in a handful of episodes and comics in some form or another and has made quite the impression on the show's cast and fanbase alike. Garble helped shaped Spike's view on dragonkind prior to his trip to Dragon Town and has had a large impact on his character development.

In the fandom
Garble is typically played as a much more serious threat in the fandom, though his acts of villainy vary depending on the tone of stories. Being unbound by standards, much of Garble's darker traits are often full front on display, portraying him as a thoroughly twisted individual. Some stories involve Garble rising to power through various means and begins to pose a serious threat towards Equestria, often by waging wars or pillaging. Sometimes, Garble is just mentioned in passing when character's, usually Spike, Rarity, Dash or Twilight discuss dragons. Rarely, Garble is portrayed in a more sympathetic light, whether that be by showing a more vulnerable side of his personality or even a softer side. Even more rarely, some stories portray a "what-if?" scenario where Garble wasn't such a bad guy and instead took on a big brother role towards Spike, mentoring him after he left his pony friends behind.

Trivia

 * Garble is quite the opposite of Spike in many ways. While Spike is good-natured, selfless, fairly weak, small and caring, Garble is mean-spirited, selfish, quite strong, fairly tall and seemingly has no regard for life outside of his own. Additionally, Spike wanted to win the Gauntlet of Fire to save those he loved, while Garble wanted to win it so he could destroy those he hated.
 * Garble was one of the the last villains to be redeemed. The last villains being, , , and , who were all redeemed in "Daring Doubt".
 * Garble was secretly mentioned in "Molt Down" when Smolder mentioned that she loved her brother, who was later to be revealed to be Garble in "Sweet & Smoky".
 * Aside from his redemption, Garble was shown to be arguably among the most violent of the villains in Friendship is Magic, seemingly having no qualms with killing other lifeforms.