Who is the villain in the end? Anon 11/27/2020 (Fri) 18:15:31 No.6940 del
I am going to go even further and state that Pharynx, before reaching the climax by beating the Maulwurf and despite his rude attitude, has had all the ingredients to be as much of a sweetheart as his brother.

Do you believe that I am kidding about this statement? Perhaps Thorax sets the bar really high but Pharynx proves that he doesn´t fall short either.

The most obvious moment that the episode exposes that he stood for Thorax in front of the other maggots who were mocking at his little brother. In the episode in question, he says in front of Dolores, Trixie and Thorax that he would have already feasted the two unicorns...but he doesn´t (so this means that either Thorax´s viewpoint has managed to enter into his mind to an extent or he doesn´t have the capability to do what he claims). He claims to not take advice from ponies either but, why did he turn into a rock for listening to both at the back? Why was he taking into account their backstories as villains and claim that they might understand him?

I will say this, the moment where Pharynx is actually the most "out of character" relatively speaking is...right in his presentation (his first two or three lines). Given that I am listening to the original English VA (Ian Hamlin), you can tell differences in his tone at first, sounding very sharp and presenting himself as a really menacing changeling. He does that with other changelings as well but from the 4th minute onwards, his voice sounds deeper, by starting his mindset of mockery and provide very funny contrasts because of his smugness and impish (yet honest) views towards the problem. At his worst, he is actually challenging to deal with but he never goes that far, even though he gained quite a lot of infamy because of not letting others live in peace and grow a sense of weariness about his intrusive attitude.

All of this is even more reinforced towards the end. When he gets to face the Maulwurf on his own, he admitted that he needed the aid coming from the swarm but not from his insect transformation alone. Not only that but he proves to love the hive and his people even if they have opposing views towards the matter.

One of the biggest reasons why I am picking this episode is because of this: None of the characters here is the villain. No one.

Both opposing views admit their mistakes and frictions that both have had. While Pharynx gives the impression that he is the villain, in reality, what I have exposed here and certain details in his attitude proves that even the most unpopular view have its own rights to be heard and defended. What caused the conflict was the approach at dealing with the problem. Both brothers care about the future of the hive yet time has proven how strong or weak both sides were with their own arguments at handling this dispute.

The resolution arrives because of the free will that has come out naturally from both parts and despite the constant suggestions at taking one decision over the other, there was an effort in order to understand themselves. Therefore, Pharynx´s transformation means, not only the role for the hive, but also the trophy for finally reaching an actual agreement because they actually feel like doing so (which is quite heart-warming).