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Species Notes: The Storm King
🕑 Added 2020-10-03 00:45:07 +0000 UTCgot to thinkin about this dull sadsack of a villain today
specifically his big sharp teeth and forward-facing eyes, which suggest the Storm King is a predator. i don't like this idea, idk why, i guess there's something deeply unsettling about a large bipedal intelligent carnivore interacting with small anime-eyed prey animals
SO i argue, the Storm King may look big and scary, with a huge strong jaws and big stabby canines, but he's actually an herbivore! Juuuust like a gorilla. The Storm King is a yeti, which are Old World composite creatures distantly related to minotaurs and centaurs. A yeti is a blend of mountain goat, yak, and ape. Despite their reputation of being monstrous flesh-eaters, yetis are gentle giants, often willing to help anyone lost out in the snow.
Or, at least, they were gentle giants. Yetis have been hunted to near extinction. The Storm King is the very last one. He's a bit peeved about the slow destruction of his entire species, as well as being forced to survive on the fringes of society since he lost his mother as a juvenile. His world conquest was done out of revenge and misdirected loneliness. He has exactly zero empathy for the suffering of other creatures, and resents the ponies especially for their cutesy-wutesy saccharine nonsense.
(Had they ever met, he and Tirek probably would have gotten along like a house on fire, then lit some actual houses on fire~)
Comments
Dragon Turtle
I surprisingly dug the concept of a land-grabbing warlord combined with a brand-tracking self-startup. It's the sort of combination that works perfectly for the fantasy-modern amalgamation of Gen 4 MLP. Basing their tops halves off of the gorilla is pretty interesting, fits with the mythology of the Yeti, and is totally logical. I've always been fascinated with Fantasy creature physiology, and I spend a lot of time looking at detailed drawings and renders. Even if the monsters end up doing something unrealistic like breathing lighting or crushing tanks, I love thinking about how they move and breath. Creature design can be where Fantasy meets with Science Fiction. I just don't know what to call it; the term "science fantasy" conjures up the image of space operas for people, so I don't think that's the ticket... Reading your description of the plight of the Yetis, I was wondering if you were going to turn Stormy into some anti-hero fighting for his people. I'm relieved that's not that the case. It would feel like trying TOO hard to be different from canon. But mainly because the story of the abused becoming an abuser is extremely interesting. While a common occurrence, that kind of 'fall to the dark side' is something writers screw up a lot. Sometimes they can't bring themselves to portray a character they like as being so in the wrong. Or the screw-up goes in the opposite direction, and they fail at distinguishing between justified violence and sadism, turning the character into a one-dimensional loon. You've always done a great job at writing toxic life lessons, Lop. Interesting to see one blown up to a geopolitical scale with Stormy.
Lopoddity
remember how in the MLP movie it was established that the citizens of Klugetown have a whole shady black market where they make bids on body parts and sell sapient species into slavery? t'was them. yetis were said to be hunted to end the threat they posed to regular folk, but really it was for their beautiful white pelts, sturdy and teeming with magic.
Non-Euclidean Cat
Who was hunting the yetis?
tricoloryn
making him a yeti is SO COOL i adore it
Amber
'The Storm King's final design was decided upon when the art team wanted him to be bipedal, and according to the film's art director Rebecca Dart, "we were designing him more like a baboon or a yak." ' -MLP Wiki So you're on the nose with the ape thing.
Amaris
Can we please have house on fire art? 😂 nothing says bonding quite like arson.
