Knights of Harmony
The Knights of Harmony, also known as the Knights of Order, were an ancient order associated with the Elements of Harmony.
History
From Harmony to Order
Founded on the island of Cunabula, the Knights originally consisted of two sets of three siblings from the island’s royal families. Seeking to share the Magic of Harmony with the world, they took a Tree of Harmony to four different lands. Abyssinia received the Tree of Purpose, Caninia was gifted the Tree of Family, Farasi became home to the Tree of History, and Ornithia was bestowed the Tree of Love. Together with Cunabula’s Tree of Patriotism, these four served as symbols and sources of powerful magic to the lands where they stood.
The Knights built temples for each Tree, connected by a monitoring system with five indicator lights, one for each Tree. However, when they traveled to Equestria in search of a fabled sixth Harmony connection, they found the land under the tyrannical reign of Discord. Failing to bring the Knights under his sway, Discord instead turned the denizens of Abyssinia, Caninia, and Farasi against them, leading them to use their Elements of Harmony to make war on Cunabula. The Knights repulsed these assaults and, feeling that they had erred in gifting the other lands with Elements, set about rectifying their previous actions.
Redubbing themselves the Knights of Order, the Knights took action against the lands that had stood against them. The harmony temples of Abyssinia, Caninia, and Farasi were hidden from their inhabitants, with the elements they contained sealed within them. They also cast a spell of invisibility upon Cunabula, insuring that it would never again be threatened by the outside world. Having seen that the other Element temples had gone inactive, the then-ruler of Ornithia concealed her own city with its temple, and the Ornithian elements went inactive, leaving the Elements of Patriotism as the only active set. Unfortunately, the Knights of Order blamed the misfortune they had suffered on Equestria as a whole, notwithstanding Discord's eventual removal from power.[1][2]
Resurgence
A member of, or observer for, the Knights noticed when a display lit up for the temple in Farasi, and hurried to alert their commander.[3] Later, when another light illuminated for the temple of Caninia, an observer-whether the same or another was unclear-called for a meeting of the Knights.[4] Another alert was sounded following the reactivation of the Abyssinia temple.[5] Recognizing that Ornithia's temple and Elements would undoubtedly be reactivated next, the Knights sought to prevent this by dispatching Princess Ceridwen to Ornithia.
Ceridwen persuaded a lowly Ornithian, Huginn, to pose as a prince and act as suitor to Princess Ocypete, the sole unmarried member of the Ornithian royal family. As the Ornithian elements required three pairings between Ornithians who embodied the Elements and were connected by bonds of love, Ceridwen hoped to thwart the reactivation of the Elements by arranging Huginn's marriage. However, her plan was discovered by the members of Team Rainbow Dash, and Captain Celaeno proved to be the embodiment of the final Ornithian Element when she fought to save her beloved friend Ocypete from the impostor Huginn. Frustrated in what she deemed a "merciful" attempt to prevent the final Elements from being reactivated, Ceridwen used her magic to make Huginn grow to gigantic size, intending for him to destroy Ornithia. She then warned that Equestria would likewise be destroyed, prompting Rainbow Dash to rush back to warn her friends.[6]
Members
Era of Twilight
Ancient times
- Balor's predecessor
- Ceridwen's predecessor
- Danu's predecessor
- Mannah's predecessor
- Morrigan's predecessor
- Taranis' predecessor
Additional notes
Ironically, despite the Season 10 comics having an official insignia by Hasbro, the knights being the creators of multiple Trees of Harmony and delivering them to various lands is contradictory to the established canon of Shadow Play. The episode’s second part openly confirms that Equestria’s Tree of Harmony is the only one to exist, and that the Pillars of Old were the ones who both created the Seed of Harmony and planted it.
In addition to this, the Season 10 comics have frequently referenced previous ones that were either contradictory to the show or got retconned by it, such as the Cosmos and Reflections arcs.
