It's no secret that MtG has a fair number of characters with BCGE (Big Catholic Girl Energy); Liliana, Thalia, Teysa, etc. For Easter, I'd like to spotlight one of MtG's earliest and lesser-known big catholic-energy girls: Helana, from the short story Dual Loyalties by Glen Vasey.
Helana is the adopted daughter of preacher who oversees a rural sun-worshiping church. She is an intelligent, well-read and devout (albeit sheltered) young woman who is steadfast in her dedication to the sun-goddess, her father, and the well-being (both spiritual and physical, via healing magic) of the small community they serve.
The tl;dr of her story is that her father is suddenly (though not unexpectedly) summoned by a planeswalker to aid in a fight against a rival 'walker, and during the battle ends up getting cast into hell (this is in keeping with a running theme of the short stories in Distant Planes, a book that could have been fairly re-titled as Oldwalkers are Sociopaths and Here's a Dozen Case Studies Showing Why). Helana, left in charge of the church, immediately takes off to find her father, armed only with gumption, faith, a few pearls of white mana (which the sun god and her nighttime counterpart, Gohrah periodically leave for the devout to find), and a celestial prism (which will turn out to be critical later on, since her knowledge of spellcasting is *extremely basic*, and limited to healing spells used to treat the church's small congregation).
(She's also accompanied in her journey by a flying miniature dog named Rorsa; he's not plot-critical, but a very fun element in the story)
At the battlefield where the 'walkers dueled, she meets Illith, a demon who was summoned for the same fight her father was taken away to participate in. Illith, needing a hostage to return safely to his home in hell (demonic bureaucracy, don't ask), but also fascinated and sympathetic to Helana despite himself, agrees to guide her to the castle of the archduke of hell who has her father prisoner. The exchanges between Illith and Helana are all quite interesting, and I've included a sliver below b/c I really like how their dialogue is done:
(Illith is, though never explicitly stated as such, clearly meant to be the demon depicted on the original art for Demonic Tutor, based on the descriptions of how he assists the wizards/ planeswalkers who summon his aid.)
What Helana does once in hell is nothing short of stunning. Starting with a group of dark dwarves, who she tranquilizes with a surgery-prep spell, she proceeds to take on several squads of black-aligned creatures using nothing but her instincts and a selection of white-aligned healing spells that do absolutely twisted things to the minions of hell. She uses a proliferation/virility spell to make a group of skeleton warriors copulate each other to pieces, a healing spell on zombies so their flesh grows back and causes them immense pain. A spell of charity to make a rag man give her its kneecap. A spell of compassion and self-reflection to cause (implied lethal) psychic damage to an archduke of hell.
The story ends happily, with Helana and her new demon frenemy having gotten what they wanted out of the foray into hell (she her father and he his previous scholarly position). Helana is left at the story's end to confront a new duality of loyalties that has blossomed over the course of the story - to the Sun, but also to Gohrah, Daughter of Night.
It's a very interesting short that touches on the complexity of B and W characters, as well as gives some fun illustrations on how different card mechanics would work in the in-universe fantasy setting.
