A Treatise on the Mediums of Magic Story Conveyance
I have returned with a Treatise to start off the new year! It’s good to be back. I’ve been quiet for a while, but the wait is over. I’ve graduated from Texas A&M University.
This time, I’ve brought a little bit of a different type of article for yall. Normally, I focus on Character Development or Story Progression. But today I’m going to talk about something just as important, if not- dare I say it- more so. The conveyance of the Magic Story is just as important as the story itself. What’s the point of having a great story if no one’s around to enjoy it? How a story is conveyed is vital to the survival and value of the story itself. So today, I’m doing to talk about the different mediums of Magic Story’s conveyance.
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
Introduction
Magic: The Gathering brings people together. Cliché, I know. But it’s true. It gathers people around to play a game. And in some cases, it gathers people around to talk about the characters in said game. That’s the nice thing about Magic. You don’t have to pick and choose. Recently there has been a lot of effort to marry the story with the cards. I think it’s really showing. These days, whenever the topic of Liliana comes up (and around me, it comes up a lot) lots of people, regardless of their gender, know her only for her looks. But when they see “Oath of Liliana” or “Liliana, Death’s Majesty” or “Dramatic Reversal”, they start to wonder. Inevitably, someone makes the mistake of saying something along the lines of: “Did she change her dress?” “What’s she doing in the desert?” “What’s that thing on her head?” “Wait, is she a good guy?”
*shakes head*
The poor fools never see it coming... Their innocent little question reveals a passion that usually ends with people coming over to my place to play Commander or with them wanting to ask and learn more about the other characters and the other worlds. Most of the time, it’s both. So let’s talk, then, about that fun stuff that brings us all together beyond just the gameplay itself. Let’s talk about the mediums of Magic Story conveyance.
The Art
The biggest way for the masses to receive the Magic Story is through the art. It’s literally a single glance’s worth of effort and the information it conveys is expressed in ways that our human brains have mastered recognizing throughout our existence. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and I think that it’s a true statement. Our brains are literally hardwired to take a single glance at something and assess its threat potential. Imagine two glances. Imagine how much you can learn while hold that glance, captured onto a piece of cardboard, and holding it in your hand for several minutes at a time. It’s basic psychology. Art is the quickest form of information distribution possible.
I’ll try and stay on topic and only discuss Story, but we have to at least acknowledge the truth: Brand Recognition Is A Thing. And Art, obviously, is key to that. Tell me honestly. Who can forget the brand of Shaving Cream Dotson used in Jurrasic Park (the first one) to ship the dinosaur embryos? I can’t. Shoot, I use it two to three times a week. But enough of that. Returning to the subject.
Let’s take a moment to illustrate the value of art in Story Distribution. When you look at the following image, what do you learn about the Magic Story?
Chandra is involved in the act of hugging someone
The expression on Chandra’s face is one we rarely see in other art, indicating that whoever this person is, that they’re privy to the deeper and more intimate parts of Chandra’s life.
Judging from the appearances, the person Chandra is hugging is in an age range that would place her in the approximate age range of what we expect Chandra’s mother to be.
This older person has tears rolling down her face, but her expression is not one clearly indicative of anger or sadness or pain- all of which have very recognizable features.
Judging from the art alone, and these four features by themselves, a casual observer could easily come to the conclusion that these two are possibly mother and daughter reunited. From the art alone. Yes, there are other things it can be. But this exercise is meant to illustrate the value of art in Story Telling. No matter your perspective, you would be hard pressed to argue that this image doesn’t evoke the words “loved one” and “reunion”.
The Flavor Text
Another big player in Story Distribution is “Flavor Text”. “Flavor Text” is a term that has been appropriated by gaming culture as a whole. Every game that I’ve played that involves a sentence or two of story revelation on a card refers to that little blurb as “Flavor Text”. Agricola. Terraforming Mars. Arkham Horror. So many games that use small bits of text that reveal story information call them “Flavor Text”. So it should come as no surprise to any of you when I say that Flavor Text is one of the biggest means of story distribution. If you were to take the entirety of the Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon flavor texts, you would be able to read a story almost as detailed as someone who actually read the weekly releases.
To say that Flavor Text plays a big role in Story Distribution would be an understatement. While the art is unavoidable because it occupies half of the card itself, the text box occupies the other half, where you would find the Flavor Text. A clever scheme that makes it practically impossible to play Magic without getting at least SOME exposure to the story itself.
As before, let’s do an exercise to illustrate the value of Flavor Text. Look at this screenshot of the Flavor Text. What do you learn?
Whoever this text is referring to is involved in an embrace, in a hug.
The term “their” implies that there are two people involved in this reference, as opposed to a single person hugging a non-person entity. This isn’t definite, as there are circumstances where the term might be interpreted differently. But to a casual observer, the term “their” used in this context, would lead the casual observer to believe there are two or more people involved in whatever it is that is being reference by this text.
Whoever, or whatever, it is that is embracing has been separated from the embraced by great lengths of time
Whoever, or whatever, it is that is embracing has been separated from the embraced by enormous spans of space, or even dimensions.
The embrace involved in whatever this text is referring to is one of great intensity and possibly emotion.
The term “collapse” implies that there were barriers or walls constructed between the relationship of the two.
This flavor text alone gives us an understanding of: “At least two things are hugging. These two things have been separated by time and distance for a long time. They’ve met up at last.” I find it hard to believe anything could imagine themselves successfully arguing with me on at least that much.
The Card Names
Naturally, names also play a vital role in Story Distribution. Names are the words by which people refer to cards to one another. Sometimes, even parts of names can be enough to depict to another player what card is being referred to. Let’s illustrate. Pay attention what comes to mind when you read the following names?
You know exactly what I’m talking about. The fact that there have been several versions of Liliana doesn’t matter. The fact is that by simply saying: “Lili”, every single person I know who has played Magic for any amount of time knows that I am referring to Liliana of the Veil in particular. I concede that you can argue that’s just bias because of who I am. But the truth still applies to all the other words. In Commander, I literally only need to say the word “Path” and they know to start looking for a Basic Land. I can see my friend Austin reeling at the very mention of the word “Delver”.
Why is that? Here’s why. Because humans categorize things along lines of thought. Tags and labels, just as on Tumblr, define how humans remember things. You ever heard the meme that jokes that people can remember all the Kanto Region Pokemon better than the Periodic Table? There are SOOOOO many reasons. Pokémon names have memories, and art, and behavior, and sound, and so many more labels to attach to it. How are people supposed to remember the Atomic number of Francium when they’ve never even seen it? Just numbers and letters.
But in Magic, the name of a card carries with it so much information. Let me give you a painful one here.
How many memories of Magic Story came to mind? The image of Sorin umaking Avacyn, an expression of pain on his face. Those thoughts then lead into the memory that Sorin created Avacyn. That Avacyn went mad. That Emrakul is to blame for the loss of so much we loved. And so much more. All the battles you’ve played when your plans get ruined by a well timed Anguished Unmaking come to mind. The times when you top-decked it when you needed it most. ALL OF THESE MEMORIES....
I brought these back to you with two simple words.
Names are powerful entities. Let’s illustrate now using a Magic Card, to recall the value of names as methods of Story Distribution.
The definition of the term “Cathartic” is: an attribute that induces catharsis. “Catharsis” is defined as: “A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions.”
The definition of the term “Reunion” is defined as the act of “Reunite”, a term which is defined as: “To unite again”.
You cannot, I don’t care how stubborn you are, argue to me that this title doesn’t express that some kind of emotional reunion is happening.
Story Spotlights
Another way that the cards themselves can carry story heavy relevance cards is by the Story Spotlights. The Planeswalker sigil I used as the introductory image to this article.
In my opinion, it wasn’t until Ixalan that they truly started nailing the Story Spotlights correctly. Early on, they made mistakes believing that only Rares could have the Spotlight. They fixed that in Amonkhet. But I don’t feel like they finally nailed it until Ixalan. If I were to take all five of the Story Spotlights, I should see all the beats of the story. If rumors I’ve heard are true, that they’re going to start putting numbers on the Story Spotlights, then that’ll be a snipe-shot direct into everything a Story Spotlight needs. Even as it is, it’s doing a great job. Wizards, or at the very least Rosewater, has talked about how Cathartic Reunion should have been a Story Spotlight. But that was during a time when the idea was young and unexplored. But, if they could go back, I’m certain they would mark it as one.
Official Literature
Then of course we come at last to the most direct medium of story telling that Magic currently employs, their official literature. These days, that refers to the Short Stories they produce every Wednesday for most of the year. Here, we receive all the juicy little nuggets our fandom loves to talk, share, discuss, and rave about. I mean... their official literature is....like...Literally. Telling. Stories. So... yeah. It counts as a story telling medium.
Conclusion
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A Treatise on Interpersonal Relationships and The Color Pie
Time for another Treatise! This time, I wrote about how each of the members of the color pie have relationships. I’ll be looking at relationships between the colors and friends, the friends of friends, romances, and family. There are some steroetypes that need clearing up, but beyond it all is this:
Love isn’t the same all over.
Just because you love someone in one way, doesn’t mean that everyone loves others in the same way.
Consider that a life lesson if you need to. Either way, you can read on and see what exactly I’m talking about. I’m happy to have discussion about your thoughts.
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
Blue Relationships
Friends
Blue’s friendships are based upon mutual respect and admiration. A Blue friend is the kind of friend who would actively keep you up to date with the things in their lives, the kind of friend who would take interest in the stuff going on in your lives. We all know knowledge is power. In Blue’s case, knowledge is love. Blue shows you that they care when they ask about your job interview, when they ask about how your new car is holding up, etc. Blue shows off its affection by keeping you up to date on their own life too, knowing that giving you that information exposes themselves to you. “I got into an argument with a coworker today. I realize I’m more stubborn in the workplace than I like to admit.” Sharing information like that is what Blue does to share its affection. In doing so, they’ve admitted the details of their lives they know you could use against them. But they trust you- that’s how they show they love you.
Blue’s expressiveness isn’t exactly public. Their affection for you is no one else’s business. Not that they’re the kind to hide their affection from others, it’s just that they’re not the kind who would let people, other than you, know just how important you are to them.
Blue friends are also likely to stay on top of your needs. If your coffee maker is failing, they’re the kind of person who would notice and buy you a new one. Most of the time, I imagine that you yourself wouldn’t know you needed or wanted the thing that Blue will give you. But in doing so, it just shows that Blue loves you enough to pay attention to the little things in your life. You may not need a new coffee maker, maybe this one is doing just fine but it’s getting a little dated and takes too long. Blue would notice and get you a new one, one strictly better than your old one.
Friends of Friends
Suppose for example that one of Jace’s friends meets someone new and starts hanging out with them. How long do you think it would take for Jace to dive into that new friend’s mind to learn more about them?
Blue is one of those friends who simply won’t trust your new friends until they’ve had enough time to prove themselves. And Blue would only be like that because they just want you safe. They’re looking out for you, in their own way. It’s not that Blue doesn’t want their friend to make new friends to keep them for themselves, it’s that Blue just wants their friend to be safe.
If your Blue friend saw you making a new friend, Blue is the kind of person who would learn everything they could about that new friend. Creeping on social media profiles, noticing their word choice when they talk about you, noticing how often they check their phone when they’re hanging out with your friend. Blue just wants to look out for you. They need to make sure your new friend isn’t going to hurt you, that they’re genuine in their intentions. If they don’t deem your new friend worthy, Blue will share their thoughts with you. It will seem possessive or jealous, but Blue will do it out of the goodness of their heart. It really only becomes unhealthy if Blue tries to force you to abandon that friend or keep you from making new ones, etc.
Romance
Blue’s romance is subtle. The most likely version of Blue’s romance is the love for a partner who helps them better themselves. “This person really brings out the best in me. Being with them makes me want to be a more idealized version of me. They’re so precious to me. I love them.”
(Barrin, Master Wizard: Urza’s Saga) (Art by Michael Sutfin)
(Rayne, Academy Chancellor: Urza’s Destiny) (Art by Matthew Wilson)
Barrin and Rayne had a loving relationship. Each recognized and supported the work the other did for Tolaria. Sometimes, several years worth of projects would keep them from one another. But they always returned to one another’s arms. Though they each had doubts about Urza’s tactics and projects, they gave each other the encouragement and support the other needed to support the other’s goals and aspirations. Too often they grimly nodded and set to work when they should have taken some time alone and away. Eventually they learned that they needed to, luckily.
Blue’s romance is very much about how the significant other helps the self improve. The following is a thought I can easily see Barrin having, though not one ever expressly written.
“Being with Rayne helps me find the strength I need to continue and see this project to the end, even though I don’t like what I’m doing. She encourages me with her words and inspires me with her actions. Rayne helps me b the best person I can be and I love her for it.”
We see a similarity in how and why Jace fell in love with Liliana. It was more than just his “hot woman detector” that drew him to her. Liliana helped Jace find self-esteem for himself. So far, in his life, he had been betrayed time and time again. When he finally met Liliana, he had abandoned literally everyone save for Kallist. But then Liliana shows up and make him feel important. She leads him to think that she’s there for him for who he is, not to use him as so many others had. Unfortunate that she did indeed intend on using him all along. But she inspired him to believe in himself again. And, although she did end up using him without talking to him about her plans, she taught Jace that he was worthy of being loved and had many reasons to love himself. Liliana taught Jace that the reason people kept betraying him wasn’t because something was inherently wrong with him. That other people had the power to make their own choices and that sometimes those choices would stand against him, but that wasn’t something inherently wrong with him.
Sure, Liliana is a sexy beast, but Jace didn’t fall in love with her for that reason alone. Jace fell in love with her because she brought out the best in him for his sake- instead of their own. Where Tezzeret brought out the best in him, it was forced and entirely for Tezzeret’s personal profit. Liliana brought out the best in him so that he would have the confidence to some day help her take down the Consortium. Even if Jace hadn’t gone after the Consortium, she would still have made him a better man. And Jace could sense the difference.
Don’t misunderstand me. Blue’s romance isn’t strictly mental or distant or selfish. Not at all. Rayne and Barrin had a true, loving, inspiring relationship. While Blue may not be your style of love, it’s a perfectly valid and genuine love.
Family
Blue’s relationship to family is tight and heavily focused on wisdom and guidance. Barrin loved his daughter. Deeply. And the loss of his wife at the hands of Greel, the Mindraker, was deep and fresh on his mind. Rayne was primarily an artificer and Barrin was primarily a wizard. When Hannah chose to follow in her mother’s footsteps, it resonated deep in Barrin’s heart and hurt him deeply. He didn’t want her studying artifacts. The fact that Hannah had her mother’s looks, brains, and stubbornness gave him all the more reason to try to guide her down a different path. It wasn’t that artifacts caused her mother’s death, it’s that Barrin wanted her near to study with him, so that he could oversee her tutoring and try and give her all she would want so that she would be safe. Barrin’s complicated relationship with Hannah led the two to constant arguments, but it shows us that Blue’s love is focused on wisdom and guidance.
Blue is the kind of family member who would call home every weekend so see how their parents are doing. They’re the kind who would call often to ask life advice or cooking advice or even what kind of car to buy. Trust and love in their family would create a tight bond with their family as hey seek to offer and receive guidance from people that they can trust.
Black Relationships
Friendships
Black friendships are every bit as valid as every other color’s. During the Hour of Devastation storyline conclusion, we saw Liliana beg Nissa and Gideon and Chandra to retreat, to flee with her. She didn’t want them to die. I’m going to spend a little extra time on Black. Black’s love is poorly understood and often misinterpreted. I’m not here to serve as a Liliana apologist, don’t think that. I’m here to present the way Black expresses its love. Liliana is currently the best and most visible example to use. I’m not gonna excuse her actions or ignore her past. But neither of those are the subject at hand. How Black expresses and views love is what I’m here to talk about.
Blue and Black’s love are different than what most are used to and I feel need a little more attention and explanation than the rest.
They were not going to win today. That was clear. As Bolas himself had said, these children lost this battle before they were even born. It was true. What were they going to fight for? To die? This was ludicrous, even for them. She looked again at the space where Jace had been, his agonized screams echoing in her mind. She felt something wet at the corner of her eyes, but willed it away, refusing to show weakness to anyone.
She didn't know what made her turn to the others, but she did it anyway, the words coming before she could stop them.
"Come with me. We've lost. You can see that, right? We're not going to win today. We can regroup, find Jace, figure something else out." She didn't care that Bolas could hear her; he knew they didn't have a chance today, and he wouldn't believe they would have a chance in the future.
He's right, whispered the Raven Man. The Chain Veil was silent.
Chandra would not meet Liliana's eyes. Nissa shook her head. The anger on Gideon's face was obvious, but he offered no argument, no plea to change her mind. She was unused to the swirl of emotion she felt. Better she had just left, uncaring of their fate.
"Please. If you stay here, you will die. This is not the way." She hated the pleading in her voice, but she let her words stand.
They did not respond.
She turned back to Bolas. "Where . . . where do you want me to go?" She swallowed uncomfortably, finding it as hard to speak these words as the others.
"No!" Chandra screamed. "No! We trusted you! I trusted you! No!" Chandra's head and hands burst in flame anew. You knew who I was, child. You knew. But those words she could not say aloud.
"Away," Bolas said. "Away. I will find you, and then we will talk. There are so many useful matters to discuss. Go now, Liliana Vess."
Her choices always led her here. Another betrayal. Another disappointment. Another trap. It was the comfort she found in the dead. They could not be betrayed. They could not be disappointed. They could not look at her with hurt and anger in their eyes.
Hour of Devastation, by Ken Troop
Liliana had to fight tears at the thought that Jace was dead. She begged her friends to come with her, to flee, to live another day. Tears? Pleading? Caring about others? Liliana? Seem strange that these concepts can be arranged into a structured sentence? Well, it’s true. Reread the above section if your eyes need more proof. You can interpret it in whatever way you want. But in Liliana’s eyes, she loves these people, truly. You don’t have to like the way he loves. But that doesn’t invalidate her feelings.
How does Black treat its friends? It makes sure they’re happy. If Black’s friend is happy, then Black is happy. Entirely selfish of Black? Matter of perspective. Let me provide you with an example of a line of thinking a Black person might have of their loved one.
“I find it personally gratifying to see my friend smile, to know that I have made them happy. That warm fuzzy feeling deep down inside me feels so rewarding. I love my friend and want to make them happy as much as possible so that these feelings of love and happiness I’m having never go away.”
Does this count as selfishness? Sure. But is it benign selfishness born of love for another? Absolutely. When we act upon our desires to make someone else happy, we are being selfish, because we WANT to see that someone else happy. Selfish because it makes it feel warm and happy inside to know we’ve made a difference. Even if we try and convince ourselves that we’re acting out of pure altruism, we’d be kidding ourselves. We find the desire to be altruistic to align with our calling or our selves. In fulfilling our purpose or our calling, we are only serving ourselves in the service of others.
There is nothing wrong with being selfish is no one is hurt and love is shared.
I stress this point because yes, Black’s relationships to others is entirely based upon selfish actions and desires. The desire to make someone happy is in fact selfish. So when you look at how Black expresses its affection, try to see past your inhibitions and stereotypes and see that Black’s love and affections for others is genuine and valid. You don’t have to agree with me. That’s not the point here. I’m showing you how Black handles and thinks about its relationships and loves. When Black loves someone truly, that love is equally sincere and honest as any other love.
Crovax, before he became evil, was an honest man. His adventure on the Weatherlight was entirely based upon the desire to rescue Selenia from Phyrexia, or at the very least take vengeance upon Phyrexia for taking her. But his interactions with everyone else on the ship? Honest. Crovax had no reason to be cruel or manipulative of anyone else on board. When he interacted and spoke with them, it was honest and genuine. The Weatherlight crew were his friends. Not just his ride.
On that note, we move to presents. When it comes to gifts, Black is the kind of person that would give presents that their friend wouldn’t need and wouldn’t ask for, but would appreciate. Jewelry or rugs or new plates, etc. Something the friend would enjoy, wouldn’t think to get for themselves, and wouldn’t spend money on to buy. Luxury gifts.
Friends of Friends
Black just wants you to be happy. If you make a new friend, Black will probably want to be their friend too. So long as the friend of the mutual friend is as good a friend as they can be, then all is well. Unlike Blue, who is likely to maintain a healthy distance from the friend of a friend, Black is likely to cozy up and become friends with the friend of a friend. Not only would Black benefit from making sure the new friend is good to the mutual friend, but Black would have the chance to make new friends for themselves.
Romance
Black’s romance will lend itself to possessiveness or protectiveness, which is alright so long as that trait doesn’t become unhealthy to either party. When Black allows someone into their heart, they allow them all the way in. Willingly, Black gives over to another their heart, their weaknesses and vulnerabilities and fears, to their romantic companion. That’s a lot. Especially for Black people. While Red and White might be far more willing to share their heart fully without much thought, Black and Blue find doing so to be very off putting as it exposes themselves to another. So when Black lets someone in, that love is going to be true. Now, this isn’t always the case. But let’s look at some recent examples in Magic Story.
Liliana made it pretty clear that she wanted to make Tezzeret suffer for what he did to Jace. Why did she want this? Tezzeret never actually affected her. Tezzeret killed all of Jace’s friends (granted, it was only because Liliana fed him their location), ruined Jace’s life, body, and mind. But he never once did anything against her. She was ever a freelance member of the Consortium. She was never anything else to him and he never did anything to her. So why did she want to kill him? Because he hurt her Jace. Notice she didn’t bat one eye at the idea of selling out Jace’s friends. But the very thought of what Tezzeret did to Jace drove her to a total fury. So much so she ended up working with the Gatewatch to crumble the entire organization Tezzeret was hiding behind and overthrowing an established government.
(Art by Daarken)
Liliana summoned an army of ghouls and marched into Thraben to keep Cloak Boy alive. She intentionally marched toward Emrakul with an entire army to keep Cloak Boy alive. She knew Innistrad was beyond saving. She knew Jace had willingly chosen to walk into Thraben. She knew that the concentration of cultists and Eldrazi was greatest at Thraben. There was absolutely nothing to gain from marching in with those ghouls. The only thing she wanted was to save him. She did not know the Gatewatch was there. She might have known it existed, at the most. But she did not know they were there at that very time. Jace was in trouble. So she summoned an entire army, literally an army, of ghouls to go rescue him.
(Liliana, the last Hope: Eldritch Moon) (Art by Anna Steinbauer)
Yes, it’s her Jace that was in trouble. But the love was real. When Bolas attacked Jace’s mind, Cloak Boy ended up planeswalking away just before Bolas finished his work. She nearly wept. Interpet that as you will. But she admitted to herself she had come to the point of shedding a tear. Which, for Lili, is a big deal.
They were not going to win today. That was clear. As Bolas himself had said, these children lost this battle before they were even born. It was true. What were they going to fight for? To die? This was ludicrous, even for them. She looked again at the space where Jace had been, his agonized screams echoing in her mind. She felt something wet at the corner of her eyes, but willed it away, refusing to show weakness to anyone.
-Hour of Devastation, by Ken Troop
Liliana loves Jace. Even if her words haven’t said it yet, her actions have. Hunting down Tezzeret, summoning zombie armies and marching into hell, tearing up when Jace nearly dies... her actions are loud. Her love is genuine. It might not have started out that way, but that doesn’t change its validity now.
My current girlfriend and I didn’t start out of love either. I knew my current girlfriend was going to my university and I knew she would probably be the only person I would know there. So I told myself, eh, why not? And so I began taking her out on dates. I didn’t necessarily like her before that. But I knew it would be convenient to me. (Note: I was a different man then. This was 5 years ago, as of the time of my writing this in 2017). That relationship that began because it was convenient to me blossomed into something beautiful and enduring. A relationship that I only ever dreamed I could have. Black can have genuine love. Mine started out entirely selfishly, but became so much more.
Family
When Liliana Ignited, it was because of what she did to her brother. She took her father for granted but cherished her brother. Black’s relationship to the family would be loving but cool. At the surface level it would seem to be minimal affection. The family would have learned to see past the cool demeanor and feel Black’s love. Liliana’s pain of what she did to Josu was enough to Spark her. That’s saying a lot for a woman willing to uproot entire plane-wide governments and fuel a civil war just to get a little payback. That what she did to Josu was as painful as it was is a testament to the love she had for her family. As in most things in love about Black, it would lend itself to possessiveness. It would be, much like Blue, very interested in people showing up in their lives. This is Black’s family. Not someone else’s. If someone is going to show up and interact with them, they’d better not be anything but good.
(Art by Izzy)
Red Relationships
Friendships
Red is the color whose relationships and loves are most easily recognized as they tend to be the type the media enjoys over dramatizing/romanticizing. Why? Because it’s easier to simply show a character give all kinds of big mushy expression than to do some solid writing and develop characters who love in ways some of the audience might not recognize. Red’s friendships are the kind that show up with a car full of balloons on your birthday, the friendships who organize the gang to visit you at the hospital, the kind who shoves you into the pool at a party when you aren’t expecting it. Bright, happy, shining love. Red’s friends know that they are loved...so does everyone else. It’s not that Red likes to brag. It’s that Red doesn’t give two cents if anyone else knows.
When it comes to gifts, Red is the kind that would want to go as big and loud as possible. The over-sized teddy bear or 3-billion balloons or biggest birthday cake.
Friends of Friends
Red believes that everyone has the liberty to be happy and make as many friends as they want. If Red’s friend meets someone new, awesome! Just so long as that new person doesn’t hurt Red’s friend, Red wouldn’t care. In fact, Red would probably be happy to hear that their friend is making MORE friends.
Romance
Red is the color of passion, of expressive affection. This isn’t to say that the rest of the colors aren’t passionate. It’s to say that Red is the color of expressive affection. Liliana and Gideon are plain awful at expressing their romantic attractions...even to themselves. But Red gets the message across. Even if it’s awkward and timid, like Chandra when she tried expressing her affection to Nissa, Red still expressed itself because nothing good comes from keeping feelings bottled up. Red is the kind to buy gifts and sing serenades and hold hands or kiss in public. This isn’t to say that the other colors won’t, just that Red is the most likely to do so. Red won’t care if anyone else knows how they feel. They’re not important. Only the loved one’s thoughts truly matter.
Family
Red takes its family very seriously. Friends, and especially family, are an extension of the self to Red. An attack against a loved one would be seen as a personal attack. Let me give you an example:
It got personal. It wasn’t just spite or revenge. Chandra felt that Tezzeret had personally hurt her, when it actually was her mom that was directly affected. Hurting one of Red’s friends or family is the equivalent of hurting the Red person themselves.
This goes to show just how important friends and loved ones are to Red. When Liliana fled from Bolas Chandra felt personally injured and attacked. Why? Because to Chandra, Liliana’s flight was the equivalent of a family member betraying The Gatewatch. Lili’s flight had nothing to do with anything against Chandra. It was only that Chandra had expectations of her family, Liliana, that Liliana knew they would not survive to meet.
When the Consulate was torn down and replaced, we saw that Chandra was willing to settle down and end her planeswalking travels for her mom. Yes, even Chandra, the mighty champion of liberty, was willing to shackle herself to Kaladesh out of love for her mother. Chandra. That’s... HUGE. But that’s just because of how Red loves its family. It’s pure, fiery, and bright love.
White Relationships
Friends
White’s friends are White’s responsibility. Gideon knows all about that. ALL about that. White is the color that would plan parties or send group messages or randomly check to make sure their friend was doing alright; checking in regularly to see if their fence needs fixing or if they need help with groceries; Selfless. White would probably be the best friend one can imagine. Red would be the closest friend. But White would be the ideal kind of friend who loves and gives unconditionally.
(Gideon’s Intervention: Amonkhet) (Art by Daarken)
White would be the kind of friend who loves to unite friends together. White would be the best at giving a toast at a wedding or at giving a speech at a birthday party. White’ friendships are extremely straight forward, transparent, and honest. While Red is the socially perceived ideal of Romantic love, White is the socially perceived ideal of Friendly love.
White’s gifts would be especially well thought out, things White knows would speak to their friend’s heart. A handwritten letter. An arranged visit from an old friend or family. An MTG: Masterpiece their Commander deck could show off. These are the kinds of gifts White would give. Gifts that are very personal and moving, but not necessarily big or public or loud.
Friends of Friends
White would encourage their friends to make friends and would likely try and be friends with those people. They would do this, not necessarily to keep an eye on that new friend, such as Black or Blue might do, but rather to simply make a new friend and build a better support system for everyone involved. If the friend of a friend hurt White’s friend, White is the kind of person to address the friend of a friend personally to discover why and to ask them to apologize.
Romance
We have seen Gideon’s romance with Chandra from many years ago and his feelings for Chandra more recently. But our best example of White romance is how Elspeth and Daxos fell in love. They found safety in each other’s arms. They found fulfillment in each other’s company. But most of all, they found hope for a better life, a different life, with each other. They hoped for a normal life. Of settling down, having kids, and living a honest and simple life.
(Swords to Plowshares: Unlimited Edition) (Art by: Jeff A. Mengez)
We see that White romance is incredibly personal. No one else knows how Gideon feels for Chandra. And Daxos and Elspeth could not care less if other people knew of their love or didn’t. I like this kind of love. It’s honest and sincere and pure. It’s not bright and passionate and fiery. It’s calm and peaceful and true.
Family
White has difficulty differentiating between friends and family. Both are loved so sincerely that it hardly matters whether they are blood related or not. Gideon never had a family. Hixus was the closest he’s ever had to a father and his Irregulars were the closest thing he’s ever had to brothers.
But in general, White’s relationship to family is heavily built upon respect and gratitude. While Blue is likely to adhere to their family to have a relationship to be able to ask for guidance, and Black is likely to hold their family dear and close and personally, White would adhere to their family out of respect and appreciation to the family unit as a construct and out of respect of the people in the family.
Green Relationships
Friends
Green’s relationships with friends are all about maintaining harmony. A friend is having trouble? Can’t have that. I should go to talk to my friend and help them adjust to or fix whatever problems they’re having. A friend of mine is moving to a new apartment? Better go help them move and help them settle into their new home. Green will be that rock, that solid foundation, that everyone needs. You can always count on them to be there for you, through the thick and thin. Green is likely to brush aside arguments with their friends for the sake of maintaining the relationship. These are the kinds of friends we normally take for granted. We don’t realize how much we value them until we lose them. These are precious and easily underappreciated friends.
Green’s gifts would be the kind of present that is one of two things. If there is no need for the former, it would give of the latter.
1) Something you need
Your shoes are running old or your mircowave is wearing out? Green is the kind of person who would replace that for you so that you don’t have to go out of your way.
2) Something you didn’t need at all
“You have everything you need? Nothing needs replacing? Okay. Here is a rare flower I have been cultivating just for you.” Or maybe: “Here is a recipe book. I know you don’t cook much, but maybe one day you’ll need to or want to. So here you go.”
Friends of Friends
Looking at how Nissa interacts with Liliana, we can see some of Green’s “If the status quo must change, it’s gonna be slow and natural.” When they first met, Nissa was quite clear about how much she didn’t want Liliana’s help. But when the battle against Razaketh came, Nissa didn’t hesitate or even make any kind of snide remark at her. But until then, Nissa had quite clearly expressed her distaste of my Liliana. Why? Because that’s how Green is. The status was quo. She had friends and they were at peace. Now someone new is getting involved? Why? Will they disrupt our current harmony? Why do we need more friends? Are we not enough? At first, Green will be very clearly resistant. But as is also within Green’s character, once Green realizes that this new friend is going to stick around, Green will embrace the new friend. It might be a little slow for that process to happen. But it’ll happen.
Romance
We have not seen Green have much romance with anyone. We’ve seen Emmara Tandris turn down Jace’s affections. Of the many things going on in that whole circumstance that contributed to her rejection, her strongest and clearest argument was that Jace was not an elf. Very traditional of elven culture to only have romantic interactions with other elves. It wasn’t that she didn’t have feelings for him, maybe she did or maybe she didn’t, I don’t think it was clear. It was that she wouldn’t act on them even if she did.
(Jace Beleren: Lorwyn) (Art by Aleksi Bricolt)
Emmara Tandris: Dragon’s Maze) (Art by: Mark Winters)
Other examples of Green romance are like Nylea and how she fell in love with Daxos. But her romance was distant. She knew she couldn’t express herself. Daxos was a human and she was a god. Never once, in my memory, did Nylea let anyone know of her feelings.
(Daxos of Meletis: Theros) (Art by Karla Ortiz)
(Nylea, God of the Hunt: Theros) (Art by Chris Rahn)
Looking at Green protagonists across Magic’s history, we that most are people who are devoted to their home, not other people. Khamal, when he became the Fist of Krosa, didn’t have any inkling of a desire for romance. Surrak had no desire to even consider it when he turned Mono-Green. Ulrich, Ezuri, Meliria, Anthousa of Setessa, Anafenza, Rofellos, Seton, Glissa, Rishkar-- most Mono-Green characters have a devotion to their home and their surroundings rather than other people specifically. Eladamri had a family, but his attachment to was that of a powerful familial bond. I honestly don’t even remember a mention of Eladamri’s wife.
Romance isn’t exactly in Green’s mind. But that isn’t to say it’s not capable. I argue that Green is the type of person who would be happy with an arranged marriage. When marriages are arranged, the couple learns to love one another as they come to realize that this is the person they’re going to be spending the rest of their life with. There is no point in not loving them. I’ll inform my Western readers that arranged marriages have historically been a major method of marriage. It is even today still prevalent. But contrary to popular Western belief, most arranged marriages are happy and loving marriages. An idea many Westerners can’t imagine. But people can grow to love each other as my example with my girlfriend (and the millions of happily married arranged couples out there, of course). Just cuz it didn’t start passionately doesn’t mean it isn’t a true and powerful. I’m not saying some arranged marriages aren’t awful. But no one can tell me that chosen marriages all have happy endings. One glance at divorce rates and domestic violence reports should dispel that thought.
Family
Green’s family is about harmony and togetherness. Of all the colors, I think Green the most likely to live with their parents the longest. Green might live at their parent’s house, with them, or they will move out and bring their parents along. While many Western cultures find the idea strange, keeping the family together over time is a cultural standard across most of the human populace.
Family is harmony and love and the place we are all meant to be. At least, that’s what Green will think. Consider how that plays with Green’s hold on the status quo. Living with the family has been the status quo for literally their whole life. Why does it need to change? Quite clearly it’s been a good arrangement or they would have left and adapted a long time ago.
Colorless Relationships
Talking about colorless is tough. But let’s talk about Karn. There is one singular defining feature of Karn. They are many things and have felt all the emotions in the rainbow. But the one quality that permeates them throughout his life is love. They is many things, but of them all, Karn loves.
(Karn Liberated: New Phyrexia) (Art by Jason Chan)
Jhoria was Karn’s best friend. Even when Urza placed the mind trap on Karn’s mind to limit Karn’s memory, Karn knew that they could not let Jhoria’s memory die off. Every night Karn read their journal and looked at his drawings of Jhoria. Even when Karn’s memories of her were gone, their love for her did not. Karn keeps their memories of all on the Weatherlight close to their heart. The golem’s love for Gerrard though was beautiful. For many years, all Karn cared about was protecting Gerrard and ensuring that Gerrard and his Legacy could live on. Somehow, despite all Urza did to him, Karn loved their master, their maker.
Karn felt rage and sadness and joy and everything else. But their defining feature is something without border, something that permeates the color wheel. Love. Love isn’t restricted to personality types. It exists everywhere. It has no borders. And I think that’s what I can define colorless as. Complete loyalty to loved ones.
Conclusion
What is one consistency across all the colors of the Color Pie? Sincere love. Every color has it. Maybe it doesn’t look like the way you love others, or the way others love you. Maybe it isn’t the idealized, romanticized, or fantasized version you want or think it to be. Love is universal across all people. But it doesn’t look the same. Just cuz you aren’t used to it or it seems different, doesn’t make it any less sincere.
Thank you for reading. As always, I encourage conversation with my readers.
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The Nature of Storytelling: Why We Have Superheroes
This article is intended for everyone. Not just people who read comics or books or play card games. What I am addressing in this article is the question of: why we have superheroes. Why do we, as a species, have stories of superheroes? To my knowledge, every single culture on Earth has a story about some great individual, or group of individuals, that has made significant changes in their world in the name of a greater good. But what makes this such a ubiquitous concept? Why do humans have stories of superheroes?
Gather `Round. It’s Storytelling Time!
Let’s take a look at a group of characters from my fandoms. Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Magic: The Gathering. These aren’t all my fandoms, but they’re the one I feel will resonate most with the reader due to the character’s popularity. I would include RWBY or Overwatch but so brevity’s sake, I’ll try and keep it shorter.
Captain America: Sam Wilson
Sam is a powerful voice for minorities in the comics. He wears the shield and he fights for what he thinks is right. But in his fight he discovers the dark side of The United States of America no one really wants to look at or remember. An imperfect judicial system. Shady politicians. Parasitic business people. Flawed penal system.
For each shady politician he exposes, another gets voted in. Every time he crushes a business whose practices are illegal and unethical, it creates a power vacuum that only empowers other parasitic business people. When he looks the U.S. Court system and hopes that he can trust in it. When his friend, Rage, is wrongfully arrested for theft, Sam trusts that the courts will execute justice and let Rage go free.
But Rage is a black man accused of a crime in a jury that wasn’t representative of the local jurisdiction.
Rage never stood a chance.
The prosecutor obliterated him. Rage couldn’t afford a lawyer and was assigned a public defender. But as is too often the case, the defender was so overworked, too spread thin, that he spent less than three hours reviewing the case before going to trial. Even with overwhelming evidence to his innocence, Rage was still found guilty. This is an awful reality that we see all too often. What does this about your judicial system?
When Rage was put in jail he was thrown in superpower prison. In General Population. That’s the same as putting a cop in general population. And exactly what you don’t want to hear, but what you expect, happened. A group of super criminals beat Rage into a pulp. They left him comatose with little chance of survival. What does this say about our penal system?
How does Sam respond when he watches his faith in the U.S. Justice System crumble? He gives up the shield. Sam is embarrassed to wear the flag and shield of his nation. No longer would be fight in the name of a nation he didn’t believe in, that he didn’t trust.
Sam came to realize that fighting the symptoms isn’t going to work. It will become a perpetual cycle. He realized that he needed to treat the disease. The people needed educating. They needed hope. They needed to be spurred into action. And it looks like it’s working. Slowly. But people in New York, in the comics, are starting to accept that they can’t rely on Sam to protect or fight for them. That they have to do their part.
Sam is showing us the ugly side of America. He is showing us that we can’t sit around and hope things work out. Sam Wilson teaches us that we need to treat the disease of this nation, not its symptoms, as a group- without relying and hoping on someone else. That we have to stand up and make the changes from the very bottom of the ladder.
Captain America: Steve Rogers
Captain America became an agent of Hydra because the Red Skull rewrote reality with the Cosmic Cube. Steve became Hydra’s ultimate weapon who was then handed to the United States to let him manipulate it from within. Direct the military towards non-critical targets. To destroy evidence about major operations. Provide Hydra with intel. And who would doubt him? He’s Captain America!
But you know what really stands out? Steve Rogers never changed. His history was rewritten, yes. But Steve remained exactly the same person he has always been. A man who fights for justice, for truth, for peace, for the greater good.
“What? But he’s Hydra!” You might say.
I respond with: “True Hydra, not Red Skull’s Hydra and not Hitler’s Hydra, was originally meant to bring peace to the world.”
Steve believes in what Hydra used to stand for. A unified planet where ALL its people would be protected by a single government whose interests would solely be on the people. In application, yes, this is pretty much impractical. But the point is that Steve wanted that world. He wanted that peace. Steve Rogers has always fought for ideals and for values. Even when he wasn’t a member of Hydra, Steve fought for “truth” and “justice” and “peace”. He fought for what he thought was right. Now he still does the same. He is still fighting for “truth” and “justice” and “peace”. Nothing about the character is different. All he wants is to help the world be a better place. His tactics are different, yes. But his end goal is the same.
The fact that he’s fighting for Hydra puts many people at an uproar. But why? Because we’ve been taught that the world is an “us” versus “them” environment. It’s led us to believe that anyone who takes a different approach or point of view to us is evil. But that’s simply not true. It is that very thought process that is the cause of war and strife all over the world.
In his stories, Steve tries to teach the reader to stop being a mindless sheep. He tries to tell us to open our eyes and think about the world we live in, beyond what we’re told to believe in. Steven Rogers is teaching us that we must never accept something as truth without thinking and researching about it first.
Not just in his story, but in his comic as a whole. People who don’t read his comics hear he’s joined Hydra and what do they do? Clamor and shout about how Marvel has ruined an American Icon about how they have made Steve a Nazi. How many of those people clamoring and shouting, what percentage, have actually gone to their local comic book store and purchased even one Captain America: Steve Rogers comic book?
That. Is. The. Problem. Too many people in America watch a television ad, or see a Tumblr post, and they latch onto it, thinking it to be truth. How many people will go out and research a politician or a political issue before forming an opinion?
I am not saying that I want Hydra’s dream of a tranquil totalitarian regime to come true. I am saying that the function of all of Steve’s stories right now is serving the idea that we need to question what we are told, that we need to research before we speak. Personally, I hope all of Hydra is taken down and that the world, and S.H.I.E.L.D. learn their lesson. I’m not saying I agree with Hydra or it’s goals. All I’m saying is that Marvel, and Steve, are trying to teach us to research before we speak and question what we accept.
Wonder Woman: Princess Diana
Geez I have so much to say about this. Wonder Woman has been amazing.
Recently, Diana had to deal with a major identity crisis. It was so bad, she lost her powers and was admitted into a psychiatric hospital. Do you know how much that means to me? WONDER WOMAN. DEALT. WITH. MENTAL. HEALTH. ISSUES. !!!!!!!!!!!!! Reread that again and again. This woman, so powerful, so beautiful, so strong, so determined... she fell ill to mental illness. What am I trying to say?
Even the most powerful of people can fall victim to mental illness
It’s okay if you admit you are mentally ill. It’s gonna be alright
Mental illness is real problem that ANYONE can deal with
It’s not something that “weak people” deal with
I, who suffer from Severe Depressive Disorder- I who have to take a handful of pills a day just to keep myself sane- look at Diana and realize that it’s okay to be sick. That anyone can get sick. That anyone can endure.
What else can Diana teach us? That women can be powerful. Look at her.
She’s beautiful. She’s sexy. She’s wise. She’s strong. She’s courageous. She stands her ground against gods. She stands her ground against gods.
Here’s the kicker.
Diana does all this without losing her identity as a woman. Not only is she a warrior. She’s a woman too. Diana teaches us that women can be powerful and not lose their femininity.
Aquaman: Arthur Curry
Aquaman has the BEST storytelling I have EVER seen in ANY comic book. EVER. The character development. The story progression. The high stakes. Everything. Aquaman is my favorite character in all of fantasy. Arthur Curry is by far the coolest character ever.
What does Aquaman have to teach me? That I have to stand my ground.
I literally can’t even begin to give you a rundown on the kind of crap he’s had to deal with. I’m serious. On a daily basis, Arthur is saving the world. Let me tell you some of what he has to deal with.
Rebels in Atlantis, wanting to overthrow him
Warmongers on the surface, looking for Atlantian tech
Countries of the world, wanting to nuke Atlantis out of fear
Factions in Atlantis, wanting to flood the world out of fear
Atlantian leadership telling him he can’t marry Mera
The jokes and disrespect many people in the world have for him
The jokes and disrespect many of the Justice League have for him
These are just some of the crap Arthur has to deal with on a daily basis.
Arthur, as King of Atlantis, has to make hard decisions every day. Every. Day. Every single decision he makes can be difference between total annihilation of Atlantis or of the entire surface world. How many decisions do you think the King of Atlantis has to make in a single day?
Try to imagine what that weight is like. One second of hesitation. One moment of anger or frustration. Even one misplaced word or mistake could ruin everything. Arthur teaches me that I have to stand my ground against the weight of the world. Even when EVERYONE wants me to fail, I have to stand and endure. Arthur teaches me that I must have control over my temper. That I have to think before I act. That every choice in my life affects everyone around me, not just myself.
Arthur is literally fighting the entire world at once. And he can’t flinch. He can’t even blink or the world will swallow him up. And you want to know what’s BEST about all of this?
Arthur Curry fights against all of this oppression and his powers can’t help.
Read it again, and read it carefully. Arthur can give Superman bruises, bounce bullets of his flesh, mind manipulate krakens and leviathans, take on the Shaggy Man (A MAJORLY powerful villain that usually takes the whole Justice League to defeat) on his own. And yet... all of that power means nothing when he has to endure against the stress of every day life.
Yes, Arthur is a super hero. But the greatest challenges he faces aren’t ones he has to solve with his fists. They are the ones he must defeat with nothing more than sheer force of will and careful thought.
What an inspiration. What a...wow.
Nissa Revane
Look at Nissa. She’s beautiful. Powerful. And a real butt kicker even without her magic. But you know what else she is? She’s shy. She’s an introvert. She’s quiet. She’s loving. She’s considerate. Nissa is so much love wrapped up in a quiet little package. She doesn’t want thanks. She doesn’t want a reward. All Nissa wants to do is protect the life of every plane because she loves life so dearly that she is willing to break free of her comfort zone, leave to far away strange places, and selflessly and thanklessly help people.
There is nothing in it for her other than to take the time to learn a little more about herself. She’s amazing. Her heart is so big. Yet, she’s fought and defeated eldritch gods, dragon gods, and political tyrants. Never did she want anything in return. She just wanted to help.
Nissa is still shy. She’s still an introvert. She’s still happy to be in the background. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be an introvert. There is nothing wrong with that.
Wow. What an inspiration. Not only for introverts everywhere. But even for everyone else. If someone as timid as Nissa was able to break out of her comfort zone to do what is right, how could we not choose to do that same?
Gideon Jura
Gideon teaches us that no matter how hard or painful your past has been, you can never give in to the anger inside. Gideon fought for his life, daily, on the streets when he was orphaned at 6 years old. In prison, he fought for survival every day. When he planeswalked away from Theros, he was thrown into a foreign and unfamiliar world. He was alone and afraid on a world he knew nothing about. Gideon lost his mother at 6 and his father walked out on him before he was born. His friends died because of a bad decision he made. The love of his life was nearly executed because he chose to fight for a cause he didn’t fully believe in.
Gideon has suffered so much. And I haven’t even gone into detail on any of this. But what do we learn from him?
Never give up. Never let the anger and the hate destroy you. Even if you think you have every right to do so. Even if the darkness threatens to engulf you. You have to fight. You have to stand back up. And you can always stand back up when you’ve been knocked down.
Humans have been telling stories since even before we had language. Why? Because we need something to look up to. We create these characters who suffer from very real problems but end up enduring or we talk about the amazing feats of real people around us. But at the end of the day, storytelling is critical to the human condition.
Humans NEED storytelling.
I know things are hard for you sometimes. Or even all the time. But listen to me. Listen closely. You. Can. Endure.
You. Can. Endure.
You. Can. Endure.
You. Can. Endure.
YOU. WILL. ENDURE.
But you can’t give up. Look to our storytelling for beacons of hope if you must. No one I mentioned in this article uses their powers to fight against the real problems they deal with. Sam’s fighting prowess won’t fix the American government, courts, or penal system. Steve’s super soldier serum can’t help him teach people to take possession over their own lives. Diana’s powers can’t prevent her from falling to mental illness or help her recover. Arthur’s powers won’t help him make the decisions he needs to make and hold on in the tidal wave of stress those choices bring. Nissa’s powers have nothing to do with her going about spreading love in her own quiet way. Gideon’s powers and fighting skills won’t help him keep his darkness at bay.
Don’t look at these characters and dismiss them as mere fanciful stories. They’re so much more.
As someone who has been to the darkest brink of Depression, who’s stood at the edge of suicide... I can tell you that you can endure. I will not promise you that your life will get better soon. Or that it will be easy. But I will promise you that you can make it through whatever it is that’s hurting you.
I know some of you read this and say “Pssh. Not me. You don’t understand what I’m going through.” Stop it. I know because I have found myself saying the same thing. This isn’t the end. it doesn’t matter how dark you think things are. It doesn’t. I have stood at the brink of suicide and stared at the depths of hell. And it was terrifying. It was so awful. But I survived. I endured. I came back. No. It wasn’t easy. It took months and patience and steely will to crawl out of it. Even now, 5 years later, I still have to deal with my Depression every so often. But I know I can beat it. I defeated it at it worst, so I know I can endure it when it pokes its ugly head out. Let me promise you something. A truth that will stand despite ANY argument you can make.
You. Will. Endure.
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It has been a while since I was last able to really sit down and spend some time to write up another Treatise. But Spring Break gave me a couple of days to do some research and a few days to pick back up before school got back in full swing again. So I took advantage.
As is usual for many of my articles, this is more than just a regurgitation of information and history. I’ve used that stuff to write this off and base my thoughts upon, but, as with most of my articles, this Treatise is mostly based on the idea of interpreting the information and understanding it within the context of the storytelling as a whole.
This time, I’ve written an essay about The Nature of Planeswalking. Please note that this is not an essay about The Nature of The Planeswalker Spark. =). Because that one is coming up next. I’ve already started work on that one and, so far, that one is looking really cool too.
But for now, please read and enjoy my most recent Treatise: “On The Nature Of Planeswalking”.
The Mending
We must first discuss what exactly The Mending did before we can talk about the nature of planeswalking. This event is far too important to ignore.
Before The Mending, Old Walkers were capable of planeswalking with hardly more than a thought. We see this example several times throughout the stories related to the Old Walkers as they manage to planeswalk even mid sentence. But there is one except from Invasion that really catches my attention. An interesting interaction between Teferi and Urza as they try to disrupt one of Phyrexia’s planar portals.
“Urza. Abruptly, they were both gone... The pair flashed again into being, and simultaneously out. It was as though they were mere boys, racing for the water hole. A capricious light shone in their eyes when next they appeared... Faster they flashed, and faster. Their grins only deepened.” - Invasion
Let us compare this example of Old Walkers to examples of planeswalking we have in the Post-Mending world.
In Agents of Artifice we see Jace and Baltrice planeswalk to Kamigawa from Ravnica.
“Jace climbed from the murky water, flopped down on the nearest spot of dry land, and just breathed. There were few magics more tiring than walking. He could have risen immediately if he’d had to, but given the opportunity, he preferred to gather his strength. So he lay still and took a moment to examine his surroundings.”-Agents of Artifice
From this we can tell that modern planeswalking is no easy task, even for a Planeswalker as powerful and experienced as Baltrice. This alone is evidence of the effects of The Mending, though it doesn't exactly explain why. Agents of Artifice provides us even more information about what planeswalking is like in the Post-Mending multiverse when Lilliana is discussing with Jace Tezzeret’s Infinity Globes which he uses for near instantaneous planeswalking.
“As I understand it,” she continued, “They’re made of an etherium filigree, so tightly packed it’s almost fused. It provides a lot of the power you’d normally have to focus from the world around you, so you don’t need to spend more than a few seconds in concentration.”- Agents of Artifice
If given a huge burst of energy is enough to cut the time it takes to planeswalk down to a few seconds, then imagine how long it might take normally. I would assume it takes a the least a minute. We have seen examples of near instant planeswalking, such as with Kiora escaping Thassa and the multiple instances that Dak Fayden did it. However, we are also aware that when planeswalkers do this, they are left almost entirely spent by the end of it.
So now we have seen that planeswalking is both exhausting and time consuming. This is yet more evidence of the changes The Mending brought.Is change in the nature of planeswalking something we can simply attribute to the changes in power levels between Old Walkers and Modern Walkers? I don’t think so. And neither does Nahiri.
“They had been a soap bubble; now they were a barrier that would take will and time to overcome.” -Stone and Blood
Here we see that Nahiri also used to find planeswalking a simple act, confirming the contents of Planeswalker and Invasion. But it is this next quote that gives us a better idea about what actually changed when Nahiri tries to planeswalk for the first time after she was released from the Helvault.
“She pushed, the way she always had. The problem wasn't strength. The walls really were higher, thicker. The Blind Eternities were less connected to this place than they had been when she arrived. The shape of the universe had changed, while she fell. She could feel it.”- Stone and Blood
The fact that she arrived after both the Helvault and Avacyn were completed and was released after the shattering of the Helvault provides strong evidence that these observations about the “walls” don’t apply only to Innistrad. From this evidence we can surmise that the challenge of planeswalking isn’t necessarily inherent to the planeswalkers but rather in the nature of the Blind Eternities.
A final piece of evidence I wish to present is one I will discuss in greater detail further down. This one is also from a former Old Walker.
“... Tezzeret was building something like an old-fashioned planar portal, the sort of thing that had caused so much chaos in Dominaria's ancient history. As far as she had known, such things were impossible now, now that the Multiverse had...changed.”-Puppets
Note her words. “...now that the Multiverse had...changed.”
This provides an interesting perspective. But just how much did The Mending change the nature of Planeswalkers themselves? Allow me to speculate some.
****Start Speculation****
We see Nahiri is surprised that her body is no longer an extension of her self awareness as it was for all Old Walkers before The Mending. From this we can discern that planeswalkers are now mortal entities of flesh and blood. We also know for certain that modern planeswalkers cannot create their own planes as Bolas and Karn and Serra and who knows how many others did.
Here is the speculative part. What if the reason they can’t do this anymore isn’t because they changed. But because of the way they access mana changed? Perhaps the “depowering” of the Old Walkers is strongly correlated to the way leylines connect across planes. If these leylines are significantly more difficult to access, could it be possible that this is why modern Planeswalkers are far weaker than before? If the “walls” of the Multiverse have thickened, it is not unfair to claim that the interplanar Leylines would also be affected.
Could this be why Bolas wanted to absorb the Maelstrom? Because that exact place represented a nexus of leylines that bound the shards of Alara together? Would being able to have the kind of access to the leylines of the Blind Eternities that he used to have made him a god again?
Along this same thought process, could this be why Bolas took such an interest in the Hedrons of Zendikar? The Hedrons powerfully manipulate Leylines, enough to enough to bind the Eldrazi Titans. Could Bolas’ interest in them have had anything to do with their ability to manipulate the Leylines? This would also seem to line up with the concept that the reason modern Planeswalkers are significantly weaker is because of the stronger barriers around the Leylines of the Blind Eternities?
****End Speculation****
From the presented evidence, despite my speculation, we can take a pretty confident assumption that the changes that The Mending brought were changes to the Blind Eternities and the Multiverse, not necessarily to the Spark itself. Now, I must emphasize a very important point. It is under this fact that the rest of this article operates.
The Nuances of Planeswalking
So we now know that planeswalking takes time and effort. But what are the other nuances of planeswalking?
Arriving To A Plane
Why is it that Planeswalkers don’t planeswalk into a mountain or at the bottom of the ocean? We do have some insight provided to us through the eyes of Xantcha, who traveled with Urza for more hundreds of years.
“Urza insisted he had no advance idea of what a new plane was like, no way at all of selecting the exact place where his feet would touch the ground, yet, more often than not, he 'walked out of the between-worlds in sight of a road and a town.” - Planeswalker
This sentence gives us a couple of clues.
1) Planes are a mystery to planeswalkers before they arrive to them
2) They always land on a stable surface
3) They usually arrive at places that can best have them arrive to their world safely
These are incredibly important details, details critical to storytelling of course. Without these rules planeswalking would be so hazardous no one would ever do it. These sets of rules apply specifically to planeswalkers arriving on a plane they have never been to before.
It seems that the rules for planeswalking to a familiar plane are a little more flexible. When Urza planeswalks to Koilos, Xantcha makes the following observation.
“Planes-walking couldn't easily take him to a place he didn't quite remember.”-Planeswalker
From this excerpt we see that it is possible to planeswalk to a location that is well known and familiar. Looking again at the events in Invasion when Teferi and Urza disrupt the planar portal, we see that it is possible to planeswalk to an exact location, assuming one knows the place well enough.
Following Another To A Plane
In “The Battle of Thraben”, Jace, Nissa, Gideon, and Chandra arrive within a few meters of each other to a place none of them have been to before. How is this possible if planeswalking to a new plane is unpredictable? In Agents of Artifice we see what following a planeswalker to an unfamiliar plane is like through Jace’s eyes as he followed Baltrice to Kamigawa.
“Ahead he saw a flickering road, a ribbon of fire that stretched into the distance. At its end was a burning husk, a dead tree that crackled and flamed but was never consumed, and he knew it was the Spark of the woman he followed. He wondered, briefly, what his own looked like to her, then swiftly gave up conscious thought and simply followed. For a time he could not possibly measure, he walked in her path. It was a tenuous lifeline he followed, the burning line of footsteps she left behind, footprints that wavered and shifted and— a time or two— even rose and floated away. Tenuous, but it would suffice. -Agents of Artifice
By keeping a sense of another’s Spark, assuming that the time interval between leaving is relatively short, Planeswalkers can follow each other to new planes and still arrive in the same place.
****Start Speculation****
Allow me another moment of speculation. Every planeswalker has their set of magical talents, things they excel at. I believe that Garruk has a gift for chasing people across the planes. Following Liliana is not something I imagine would be easy, especially given that he had been Veil Cursed before he took off in pursuit. Following a trail left by another planeswalker, even when within close physical and temporal proximity, even when you know the Spark bearer, seems to be a challenge in itself. But to follow a stranger’s path outside of these conditions doesn’t seem feasible. So how would he find her after she left him on Shaldalaar? It is my belief that Garruk has a unique ability to follow planeswalkers through the planes- this would be reflective of his natural skill in tracking things while plane bound. This ability certainly sounds very useful should it be used in the name of The Gatewatch... *conspiratorial eyebrow raise*
****End Speculation****
The Nature of the Multiverse
When Urza was searching the multiverse for Yawgmoth’s home plane, he traveled all the way to the end of time, to Equilor, as he searched for answers. During their long journey, he and Xantcha landed on thousands of planes and we learn though her several important details about the Multiverse.
The Size of the Multiverse
The Multiverse is not infinite. Not by definition, at least. But the innumerable quantity of worlds it hosts is easily beyond the capacity of anyone, probably even Old Walkers to ever discover.
“Urza insisted that, compared to the mul-tiverse, a thousand worlds could be properly termed a "few" worlds.” -Planeswalker
The definition of a “few” can certainly vary. But I understand Urza to be an immensely patient individual. Prone to emotional outbursts, of course. But so, so, patient. To me, this fact helps me understand what “a few” could look like as opposed to what a generally impulsive and impatient individual would consider a few.
Sentient Life Across The Multiverse
So we know that The Multiverse is big. Very big. But how many of these worlds actually are meaningful- stated another way, how many of these worlds have intelligent life on them? Much to Xantcha’s dismay, we see that most planes simply aren’t hospitable to sentient life. Let us read the following sentence with the understanding that Xantcha was raised on the first layer of Phyrexia. Her definition of “hospitable” is far harsher than most humans can endure for long.
“Every handful of worlds held one that was hospitable enough for Xantcha.... Every ten or twelve handfuls of hospitable worlds revealed one that was interesting” -Planeswalker
How many are a handful? Let’s be literal and say ten. Literally a handful. This would mean that 10% of the planes are habitable. Note, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it actually is inhabited. Merely that the world is capable of sustaining life. If it did contain life, that life might be limited to things such as fish or moss. But I doubt even that.
But in about another 11 handfuls or so, another 100-110ish worlds, there is one world that has enough life to be interesting. This would mean that the world has fauna, flora, and enough stable ecosystems to create a world worth exploring. This doesn’t mean that there is sentient life on this world. Only that life on the planet has become rich enough to be entertaining to someone raised on Phyrexia. Given that much of Phyrexia was a hellhole of mechanical monstrosities, something as simple as a butterfly could be considered entertaining. At least to me.
We don’t get an idea about how many of these “interesting worlds” have sentient life. For the purposes of this theoretical exercise let us use Urza’s definition of a “few” planes- 1000. Taking a generous leap of saying that even half of these “interesting” worlds could have sentient life, that would give you about 4-in-1000 worlds, or in simpler terms, 1-in-250.
Sentient Life Variety Across The Multiverse
So what does sentient life look like across the multiverse? Xantcha makes a very interesting observation of the diversity of life during her travels with Urza.
“The multiverse might well contain an infinite number of worlds, but it had no more than two-score of sentient types, if Xantcha followed Urza's example and disregarded those types that, though clearly sentient, were also completely feral and without the hope of civilization.” - Planeswalker
While the definition of “civilization” can be up for debate, the word “feral” helps a lot with understanding in context in which that word was used. We know for certain that Urza doesn’t think of tribal organizations as “feral” or “uncivilized” for we have seen him interact with the goblins, viashino, and humans of Ghitu who could easily be defined as tribal.
Let us look at the current known sentient species of the multiverse. To set some ground rules, I will only be including beings that are found on more than one plane and defining it using Urza’s definition of sentient. I’m also restricting this to species where all the members of the species are sentient. This excludes entities such as Brinelin and Lorthos since I doubt that krakens in general would fit into Urza’s definition.
Human
Vedalken
Loxodon
Rhox
Leonin
Elf
Dryad
Elemental
Merfolk
Naga
Djinn/Efreet
Dryad
Spirit
Dwarf
Viashino
Goblin
Devil
Demon
Angel
Dragon
Giant
Shapeshifter
Vampire
Tree folk
Kor
Aven
Troll
Sphinx
Ogre
Imp
Centaur
Orc
Minotaur
Archon
Gorgon
Cyclops
Would you look at that. No more than two score. With the arrival of more planes in the card game I’m sure we’ll add to this list probably Ainok soon. But even still we’ve got room for another 4 species. Wow Xantcha! Spot on observation!
Proximity In The Multiverse
The Blind Eternities don’t have the dimensions required to be grasped as a measure of direction. However, we are aware that there is a measure of proximity. If Dominaria was hundreds of years of near-constant planeswalking away from Equilor, it indicates that there is something that can be understood as proximity. Add to this is what we learn when Urza tries to go back home to Dominaria after it shut him out. He probes Dominaria from every “direction” he could to find out if it was possible to planeswalk there at all.
She took his arm and followed to a "few" more worlds, thirty-three, before he was satisfied that Dominaria was inaccessible behind what he called a shard of the multiverse. -Planeswalker
This sentence gives us the idea that there are at least 33 ways to `walk to a plane. We don’t know how many more probes Urza tried. But this does provide even more proof that there is some sense of proximity in the multiverse. In fact, in Urza’s own words we hear:
“There is an element of proximity in the multiverse...”- Planeswalker
Really. There could be no more solid evidence.
The Overlap Between The Characteristics Of Planeswalking And The Nature Of The Multiverse
Hospitable Words
While we know that there are only so many hospitable worlds in the Multiverse, how is it that modern Planeswalkers are able to move about without randomly arriving on a plane made entirely of toxic gas or boiling lava? While we have seen that even Old Walkers can’t tell what a new plane is like before arriving, we have seen that Planeswalkers seem to be able to tell which worlds are habitable for them.
“...she never understood how Urza found anything in the between-worlds, much less how he distinguished hospitable worlds from inhospitable ones, near from far.” -Planeswalker
This is a convenient story point in that it allows planeswalkers to travel without dying on some unknown plane randomly because they happened to travel there. Especially given how far and few in between hospitable worlds are, why would anyone bother to planeswalk when there is a 90% chance they would arrive and die on a strange world?
The Multiverse Though A Planeswalker’s Eyes
So what does planeswalking look like from a planeswalker’s perspective? Urza gives us an idea of how we can comprehend it.
'Walking the between-worlds wasn't like walking down a path. There was no north or south, left or right, only the background glow of all the planes that were and, rising out of the glow, a sense of those planes that a 'walker could reach in a single stride. By choosing the faintest of the rising planes at each step, Urza insisted they would in time arrive at Equilor, the plane on the edge of time ” -Planeswalker
It’s hard to make sense of what this sentence means when seen at face value. But once we start taking in the other details discussed so far, we get some clues as to what these sentences mean.
The words “By choosing the faintest of the rising planes...” gives us strong evidence to assume that the intensity of the glow is what indicates how proximal the plane is with regards to the Planeswalker.
Were I to take a guess, the color of these glows would provide a clue as to whether or not these planes are hospitable. While this second assumption falls into the realm of speculation, it as fair a guess as can be extrapolated from our current evidence.
Other Forms of Extraplanar Travel
There are other ways to move about between the planes other than just Planeswalking. Those we have seen are:
The path used by The Myojin of Night’s Reach
Phyrexia’s Ambulators, Gates, and Portals
Overlays
And (Arguably) The Void
And (Also Arguably) Elder Dragons
With the changes of The Mending, how many of these methods are still possible? Are any of them still possible? Let’s discuss each of these individually.
The Path Used By The Myojin of Night’s Reach
According to @vorthosjay, there is a theory that the only reason that the path used by the Myojin of Night’s Reach was possible was because of the ringing of the apocalypse chime which weakened the barriers between worlds.
Beside that theory, we have little evidence toward or away from the idea that this type of travel is still possible. I will, however, argue that this type is travel is impossible post-Mending given to the changes of the "walls” between planes. This theory holds especially true if we assume @vorthosjay‘s theory is valid, which I do believe.
Phyrexia’s Ambulators and Gates/Portals
Phyrexia’s portals were incredible and mysterious feats. We have seen their planar portals be small enough to be carried by singular individuals (these are called ambulators). We have seen them be huge enough to transfer legions and legions of Phyrexian battleships and troops.
The way that Xantcha described the ambulators can only give us so much information.
“The ambulators could be anchored anywhere. Once unrolled, they were tunnels, direct passages from one specific place to another, no detours allowed, but a 'walker made his own path here, there and everywhere...”-Planeswalker
And later we see...
"Searcherpriests don't "walk between-worlds...They use ambulators, but I don't know how they set the stones to find new worlds.”-Planeswalker
It’s not much to work with other than the fact that these ambulators (and by this logic portals/gates) creates something like a planar tunnel. Urza eventually figured out and taught Xantcha how to set the portals, so apparently there was some kind of logic to it. Were I to speculate, I would guess that these stones set the planar coordinates.
But in the post-Mending multiverse, are such things possible?
Old Walkers who survived The Mending experienced the changes in the Multiverse seem to believe that such technology is no longer possible. At least, Liliana thought it impossible, and she’s from Dominaria where there would be the most knowledge about interplanar travel via technology available.
“...Tezzeret was building something like an old-fashioned planar portal, the sort of thing that had caused so much chaos in Dominaria's ancient history. As far as she had known, such things were impossible now, now that the Multiverse had...changed.” -Puppets
However, there is powerful evidence that travel via technology is still possible as seen in Breakthrough when Rashmi beholds the Multiverse.
Overlays
The only instance in which this has happened is when the artificial plane of Rath aligned its planar coordinates with Dominaria’s. Very unique and very special circumstances. I am virtually 100% certain this will never happen again. Enough said with this.
The Void and the Elder Dragons
In this respect, I will have to defer to @vorthosjay once again. His understanding is significantly better than mine when it comes to this subject. The Void itself an interesting subject I am willing to discuss further in another article. But for now, let @vorthosjay‘s words carry the weight behind these two remaining methods of travel.
Conclusion
Planeswalking is still something we only know so much about. We have sufficient evidence to have an understanding of the action as a whole, but we cannot and will not understand the exact science behind it. There is simply no need to know so much detail. That mystique is part of what makes planeswalkers so special to us as fans. Also, establishing hard and fast rules set in stone is dangerous to the Creative Team. It puts restrictions on them. Even so, the information we have now is quite enough to keep us busy.
Thank you for reading. I hope you found this Treatise informative and entertaining. As a storyteller, sometimes there are things that I simply must talk about. This is one of those subjects and I am glad I finally made time to get around to it.
If you liked what you read, hit that “Reblog” button. For more insights into Magic: The Gathering’s storytelling, hit that “Follow” button. Check out my blog and search up “ premiere issue “ to see my greatest works. Or, you could press the “Premiere Issue” Tagegory Button on the left side of the blog.
The next subjects I intend to write a Treatise about is “The Nature of the Planeswalker Spark”. I’ve already made good progress on it but I’ll save it for another date.
Thanks again!
- @the-foxwolf
I only tag blogs for my articles that I feel merit doing so. If any of you find this practice in any way improper, let me know. I use this judiciously and only for my biggest works, so I hope it is no mistake of mine to do so. Let me know if you feel otherwise. I am tagging the Vorthos blogs I know, my biggest fans, and most of the people I follow.
A subject of great conversation among the Tumblr community- among the Magic Fanbase in general. For the purposes of conversation and this article, let us work off the assumption that Chandra willing, able, and desirous to enter in a romantic relationship with a member of the Gatewatch. Who would she end up with? Nissa? Gideon? Note that I’m not saying “Who would she choose”, “I’m saying “Who would she end up with”. There is a difference. After a deep look at their personalities and their histories and where they are right now, I’ve come to a conclusion. Using my skills as a natural storyteller and psychology student, I’ve come to a conclusion.
Wanna know who I think it will be? Let’s find out!
Gather `Round. It’s Story Telling Time!
Before We Begin...
I’ve written personality assessments of all three characters involved. Reading those articles would go a long way in understanding my reasoning behind the things I’m gonna be talking about.
Read Chandra’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
Read Nissa’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
Read Gideon’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
The Magic Story on the Wizards Website related to this article are here.
Read “Homesick” --> Here! <--
Read “Burn” --> Here! <--
And if you REALLY wanna deep deep, read “The Purifying Fire” by Laura Resnick.
I will write this article as if you’ve not read any of this. Now. Let’s proceed to talk about her options.
Why These Two?
In “Homesick” we see Chandra melt in her boots at the very thought of Nissa. I get flashbacks to my teenage years just thinking about it. Because I’m sure many of us were the exact same way back then. Heart pounding. Speaking before you think. Getting clumsy. Beating yourself into the ground for even the simplest mistake- mistake only YOU probably noticed. Classic teenage crush.
In “Burn” we see Chandra have the same erratic spontaneous thought-to-words behavior she exhibited with Nissa in “Homesick”. It is possible that you could argue that this can be applied to Chandra in general, but I don’t buy it. She isn’t as erratic with Liliana or with Jace as she is with those two. Or with anyone she’s interacted with on Kaladesh for that matter. Just with those two.
We could see even the start of these feelings toward Nissa way back in the BFZ block. It just got a lot more brilliant towards Kaladesh.
Her feelings toward Gideon have been around since "The Purifying Fire”. (Which they summarize in “Burn”). While those died down for a little bit, it’s not been entirely extinguished. She still gets tingly and warm whenever she’s near. And she’s made it more than just a little clear what she thinks of his appearance.
She’s bisexual. There’s really no doubt about that. She’s attracted to both men and women. Which is cool that Wizards is doing that. A major protagonist being bisexual speaks volumes of their attempt at inclusivity.
Nissa
(Art by Wesley Burt)
Chandra’s Thoughts About Nissa
Chandra hasn’t exactly had close and intimate relationships with anyone. I go so far as to venture to say that she’s never even had a best friend. Friends, sure. But a best friend is something else entirely. And I don’t think she’s ever had that. She’s had Mother Luti and the Abbot of Keral Keep, but those were authority figures/ parental figures. They weren’t friends. Chandra has always been surrounded by people, but she’s she’s always felt alone.
That all changed when the fire nation attacked Chandra and Nissa touched each other in their special place. Their very souls, so to speak. The essence of their beings were merged together when they burned Kozilek and Ulamog to death after bringing them into the 3rd dimension. That kind of connection is something that can’t really be described. It’s a level of intimacy without restriction or barriers. During those moments, they were almost a single entity. Chandra, who has never had any kind of relationship with actual depth, was introduced to something she was not prepared for.
(Art by Chris Rallis)
I’m not talking about love here. I’m talking about intimacy. Between one person and another. Not sexual intimacy, but personal. In the blink of an eye, Nissa and Chandra went from total-strangers to almost-soul-merging. Its must have been overwhelming. Extremely overwhelming.
I don’t think Chandra understands what she feels about Nissa. We, as an audience, may interpret her behavior as attraction or desire. But I argue that we might be misunderstanding Chandra’s behavior entirely. Consider this: Maybe what Chandra is feeling isn’t love in the sense of relationship-parter to relationship-parter, but rather a love in the sense of intimately-close-best-friend to intimately-close-best-friend.
Chandra has never experienced what it means to have someone that close, a friend of that kind of depth. But she has experienced romantic and sexual attraction with Gideon. It is possible that we, as an audience, are assigning emotions to Chandra based on the behavior we see. But the cause of the behaviors may be something entirely different. We should ALSO consider the idea that Chandra’s is misinterpreting her own feelings. She might be confusing the love one has for a best friend with the love one has for a significant other. She’s only ever known the latter, so it is quite understandable that she might have trouble differentiating the two.
I am NOT discounting the idea that it might actually be love or attraction she is experiencing. I am saying that we should consider the multiple other options it could be.
Nissa’s Thoughts About Chandra
If Chandra has difficulty being social and intimate with someone, Nissa is in far deeper waters. Chandra is the first person Nissa has managed to make any kind of relationship with anyone. To Nissa, Chandra is real, she’s human, she’s true to herself. These things make Chandra the best introduction to the social realm for Nissa. Our elven friend needs Chandra to help ease her into the world of people. imagine what it would be like for Nissa if her only examples of social interactions are Liliana and Jace... She’d probably just go back to Zendikar.
Nissa needs Chandra. She needs her. Because outside of that, Nissa can’t even human. But what does Nissa feel about Chandra? She has no clue. She’s even more lost than Chandra when it comes to interpreting her feelings.
Gideon
(Art by Wesley Burt)
Chandra’s Thoughts About Gideon
On Diraden, Chandra developed feelings for Gideon. We’re talking romantic feelings. Sexual, mental, emotional, personal- all of it. It didn’t fully develop or blossom into something special. But these feeling developed to the point that Chandra is capable of recognizing those feelings as romantic even today. That has a lot of ramifications about where they were and where they were going.
What does she think about him today? We’ve seen her constantly mention how much she finds him attractive. (Honestly, who doesn’t find him attractive? The man is beautiful.)
But what does she think about him now? She doesn’t know. Chandra has been way too busy trying to figure out what her feelings for Nissa are and what it means to be back home and back with her mom. Gideon just hasn’t been a thing she’s had time to consider.
Gideon’s Thoughts About Chandra
He’s hopelessly in love. There is just no way to argue against that. He really really loves her. To quote “Burn” by Chris L`Etoile.
“He bolted up the stairs, and tried not to think about the fleeting heartbeats when he'd been privileged to hold a tiny, maddening, precious sun against his chest.”
I’ve been there. It’s beautiful and, as he says, maddening.
Honestly, I don’t know what else to add. This is the most straightforward response I can give.
So Who Will She Give Her Heart To?
(Promotional Art for Battle For Zendikar)
Let’s talk about why.
Gideon’s Heart Would Do Chandra Good
Nissa isn’t ready for a relationship. Honestly, some could argue that Chandra might not be ready-but that’s not what this article is about. But in my opinion, Nissa isn’t ready for romance. She’s barely ready for friendship. She barely comprehends friendship. Her entire current character arc is her learning what it is to have friends. And it’s gonna be a while before she’s able to.
But Gideon is patient. The man knows how to roll with the punches that hit him beyond his indestructible barriers. Even if it hurts. What’s best is that he isn’t going to push for anything she’s not ready for. Sure, he might express his feelings. But he won’t want her to do anything or say anything she isn’t ready to do yet. Even if he knows he must wait a while before she is able to return his love.
A lot of what draws Chandra to Nissa is Nissa’s ability to calm her, to ground her. But we’ve seen Gideon do that same with to Chandra. When she was afraid and stressed all Gideon needed to do was wrap her up in his warm, muscly, embrace to ease her fears. Even if only for a moment.
(Art by Chris Rallis)
Chandra’s needs discipline. Before you start making lewd comments, take a moment and think about that. She needs someone solid, someone patient, to help her discover herself. Chandra at a point in her life where she is learning who she is and what that means- who exactly is Chandra and why is a good thing to be her? Those are the questions she needs answering. And now that she’s gone back home and faced the troubles there, I think Chandra is ready to start looking in.
I believe that Gideon is the person that can best help her through that. Allow me to defend myself before some of you lash out for thinking that she needs someone to help her through that. My relationship with my girlfriend has been beautiful and loving. Dreamlike. Plenty of troubles and difficulties and trials, but it remains to be one of the greatest gifts I can think of. My relationship with her has lasted for several years. My entire college career in fact. This age, between 19 and 23, is where many people start to discover themselves. I can claim with absolute certainty that my relationship with my girlfriend has made me a better man. I could sit here for hours writing about all the flaws she has helped me find about myself and how she has encouraged me and inspired me to work hard to overcome them. Flaws I never would have seen, or identified as weaknesses, without her.
Some people can discover themselves without the help of a loved one. But sometimes the presence of another is exactly what one needs to become who they are meant to be.
I believe that Gideon is that man. Gideon knows who he is. He’s got a lot of issues to work through, lots of self-loathing to overcome, self-forgiveness to experience. But he’s not in an identity crisis/turmoil like Nissa is. For Chandra, Gideon would be a lighthouse, a railing, a shoulder to lean on as she goes through that difficult time of self-identification.
Nissa just isn’t in a place to help her with that.
Chandra’s Heart Would Do Gideon A World Of Good
(Art by Dan Scott)
Gideon needs her. The man is a soldier and has been his entire life. Gideon has no idea how to be a normal person. His identity has been thoroughly colored by the fact that he’s always been either part of the rank-and-file or part of the leadership. He’s never had another option. Chandra is, to him, the spark of life. A breath away from his regimented world. She is freedom. She is the purity of life itself. She is everything he isn’t. That’s part of what makes her so special to him. With her, I think his world would relax, ease off from what it is now. He needs to escape from leadership-Gideon and become friend-Gideon. But he cannot do that without her. He simply can’t. Jace and Liliana are perfect for each other far too manipulative to help Gideon learn to be a normal guy. And Nissa is only just learning what being a friend means. Gideon knows what a friend is supposed to look like, he just sucks at it.
Chandra’s Heart Would Do Nissa No Good
Nissa doesn’t need Chandra’s love to get to where she needs to be as she discovers herself. Just being friends with Chandra will be enough for Nissa to learn by example. Being romantically involved with Chandra would throw everything Nissa knows about social interactions out the window.
She must first learn to walk before she can run. And romantic feelings right now are not what Nissa needs to develop as a character.
There You Have It
There were 3 ways to end this article. With Nissa, with Gideon, or with no one. It didn’t matter who I said I thought she might end up with. People would be unhappy with me. Argue away, if you feel that you should. I merely presented my opinion and addressed it with my understanding of story telling and psychology.
That’s all the time we have for today. Thanks for reading, everyone. If you liked what you read, please hit the “reblog” button below. For more Story Telling Time, hit “Follow”. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to message me or reblog with your comments. Always happy to chat. This has been @the-foxwolf . Until next time!
1) A death in the Gatewatch is coming...eventually.
I’ve written an article about who will be the first Gatewatch member to die --> here <--
2) You idea of tragedy is not the same as mine
Just because a character you care about hasn’t died doesn’t mean that Wizards has stayed away from tragedy. It just means that someone you care for hasn’t died.
Bruna, Gisela, Avacyn, are prime examples. To be honest, I’m glad they died. It hurt me to the core to see what they had become. Their deaths may not have been something you consider a tragedy, but Avacyn has been one of my favorite characters in MTG since I started. I cared more for her than anyone, other than Liliana, in the Gatewatch. Her death and corruption struck me harder than a possible death of Chandra or Nissa or whoever. Just because it wasn’t a member of the Gatewatch doesn’t mean it wasn’t tragic. Just because you didn’t feel like a death affected you doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected others.
3) Superheros don’t have a history of dying
The only reason Batman isn’t a bent up old man is because the DC universe has rebooted several times, because he’s been dipped in the Lazarus Pit, because time restarted- superhero stuff.
Like... do you have the slightest clue how many times Steve Rogers has died? Honestly, the kind of stuff they have to pull to bring him back into the comic world is kinda ridiculous- even for Marvel.
4) When Superheros die, it’s a BIG deal
With “The Death of Superman” back in the 1990s was a BIG deal. The world over mourned him. When Captain America (Steve Rogers) was assassinated at the end of the Civil War, the world suffered. These weren’t just small time events. They hit hard. But those characters had been alive for more than 50 YEARS each before the grim reaper came calling.
We can’t expect Wizards to kill off a main character willy-nilly. It’s gonna be a big deal and they’re gonna make sure we hear it loud and clear.
5) We must build before we can destroy
To reinforce what I said earlier, Steve Rogers had been a character for a LONG time before they killed him off. Superman had been around for ages before he died. These were characters we loved and had come to know personally.
When Goliath died in the Marvel Civil War 1, no one cared. The superheroes themselves cared, but there was very little upset in the community at his death. (As far as I know). That’s because few, if any, cared about him.
What this goes to show is that we must build before we can destroy. For a death to truly feel impactful, among the community, we have to care about that character. We have to love the character. Otherwise, it’s just wasted potential.
For example, if Delpala died off right now, the community would be a little upset but would get over it. Hold up, hold up. Let me finish. Let’s be real here. She’s cool. She looks like she’d be a real fun character. But killing her off now wouldn’t truly hurt anyone. Because we don’t know her. We don’t truly love her. We might like the idea of her, of her image, but SHE isn’t someone we care about.
Yaheeni dying would be a pain. Because we’ve seen Yaheeni personally. Our interactions with Yaheeni have caused us to come to care for them. Yaheeni’s death would strike many of us down.
But if Delpala died in the next episode, it would mildly upset the community but they’d get over it in a couple weeks. MORE IMPORTANTLY... they’d be wasting great character space. Delpala is a really cool character, even though we know very little about her. But killing her off would be a waste of space. They can still do so much more with her. That’s an entire character wasted away with whom they could have told great stories with. Killing her off willy-nilly isn’t good storytelling.
Killing Yaheeni off IS good storytelling. Killing Pia or Pashri IS good storytelling. But killing a Gatewatch member needs some buildup. We need to love so that we may properly grieve.
6) There are things worse than death
Death isn’t the only way to make the community grieve for a beloved character. Take Yaheeni for example. Already, Yaheeni has gone through a MAJOR change. Going from a respected and popular party host to revolutionary life-draining vampire Aetherborn over the course of the story. Yaheeni today is nothing like the Yaheeni we know when we first started. War affects people. It can destroy the person you were before and mold you into someone new. Yaheeni is a good example.
No convinced yet? Think about Innistrad. All of it. It will NEVER be the same. Not after Emrakul finished with it. Innistrad is the first plane I went to when I started playing. It was amazing. It has since been my favorite plane. Now, I have watched my favorite plane burn and suffer at the hands of a major antagonist.
You can’t tell me that isn’t tragic. If the plane had been destroyed, I think I would have suffered less. But it wasn’t. It was warped. And it’ll never be the same. Looking at it now, I will grieve the loss of the Innistrad I once loved. I believe that, from a storytelling perspective, Wizards did the right thing to make us love and grieve Innistrad. I don’t fault them for that, even if it hurt.
7) Just because we didn’t see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
Still not convinced? How many millions of Zendikar died? We saw them die by the thousands in the BFZ storyline. Those are just the ones we saw. Across the world, millions were lost to the Eldrazi. Millions. Discounting that as “we didn’t see it” or “it doesn’t count” is kinda heartless. But fine. Let’s assume you’re still not convinced.
The world will never be the same. Seriji and Bala Ged are gone. Gone. Wasted. Empty. Dead. Nothing more than chalk now. Entire continents will never be the same. Think of the millions of animal species that are now extinct. The animal life. The minerals. The ecosystem. The culture. The people. All of it has been ground into a fine chalky dust. Zendikar will NEVER be the same. It doesn’t matter how hard they try, Wizards can never return to Zendikar without acknowledging the Eldrazi. That’s just a fact.
But back to what I’ve said before. Innistrad lost its religion. Think about what that means. It’s like Christians actually watching Jesus come down from heaven in the second coming and watching him be killed by some dude with a gun in front of you. So much for a divine entity. There goes thousands of years of faith and love and religion gone in an instant. Disproven and obliterated. You may be thinking- that would never happen! He’s God! Yeah well, that’s exactly what the people of Innistrad thought of Avacyn. Look what happened to her.
What I’m getting at is there is more than life being lost. There are entire cultures, species, ecosystems, religions, ways of life, continents, even entire world governments being destroyed. Some of you want a major character death but take a look around. There are so many things to mourn for.
8) They’re doing a fine job
Despite all this awful destruction, it’s not overwhelming us. They’re not making MTG a dark pit of despair. Though, if you wanted to, you could stop and think about just how much tragedy we’ve seen in the last year alone. It’s happening enough for us to have plenty to mourn for. But it’s not happening enough to make us distracted or overwhelmed by it.
Conclusion
Wizards is doing a fine job. Those of you who want a protagonist death, I understand you. I hear you. Just hear me back. It’s coming. But trust that Wizards is going to do it right. It’s going to happen, for sure. Just let them take their time to do it right. I’d rather them do it with the right set up than hastily throw it in and have us offended at poor execution. There is plenty to mourn for. There is plenty to celebrate. Let Wizards do their job. They’re doing a really good job at it. You’ll get the tragedy you’re wanting. Until then, appreciate the tragedy we’ve seen.
A Treatise on the Aspects of Villainy in the Color Wheel- Motivations
Hello everyone! It’s been too long since my last Treatise. But I’m here now and I’ve got a new series of Treatises coming. My last series was focused upon Planeswalking, Planeswalkers, and the Planeswalker Spark. In this new series, I’ll be talking about the Aspects of Villainy in the Color Wheel. Specifically, I’ll be covering Motivations. In my next Treatise in this series, I’ll discuss Means.
My most recent Treatise was a bit technical and probably too short. I was trying something new but I think I’ll go back to the subjects and lengths I was doing before. Those of you who’ve read through my Treatises in the past know they’re worth the read.
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
Intro
Great villains are hard to make. Anyone can make a simple mustache-twirling villain. But a great villain is one with believable motivations, one that challenges the hero on multiple angles, one that is as relatable, and as real at the hero. A vital part of this realism is the villain’s motivations. Let’s talk about what villainous motivations look like in the color wheel.
Red
“I’m here for the experience”
Some Red villains are little more than entities out to watch the world burn just for the heck of it. But great Red Villains go beyond that. Red Villains act for the sake of the action itself. To them, it’s about the experience of villainy, not the end goal. Villainy is an art form, not a product, to them. Let me give you an example.
The Joker.
No matter which iteration of him you choose, that Joker will have Red in his Color Identity. Why? Because he does what he does because it’s fun. Challenging the Batman, as well as the other DC heroes, is simply entertainment for him. For instance. The Joker once released Doomsday from imprisonment... just because he could. Doomsday. The creature that has singlehandedly exterminated countless planets, that the entire Green Lantern Corps were unable to stop, the creature that successfully killed Superman. And The Joker released him. Because it would be fun to watch the Justice League try and stop him again.
Red Villains can be incredibly fun but aren’t necessarily deep. Their motivations are rather simple, though the origin of those motivations can be as intricate as it needs to be. No one truly knows The Joker’s origins. They can be a labyrinth of intricate story arcs. But they don’t matter now. All that matters is what he’s doing at this moment.
What Red Villains have we seen in Magic? A popular one is Tibalt, the Fiend-Blood.
(Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded: Avacyn Restored) (Art by Peter Mohrbacher)
Tibalt is a Pain Mage and enjoys his practice. He’s not out to learn to how to create the most perfect method of delivering pain. No, our devilish friend simply enjoys the screams. And if he happens to learn something along the way, happy day! But there’s no objective in his mind. He’s doing what he does for the experience of it.
Blue
“I’m here to accomplish a goal.”
Blue Villains are extremely goal oriented. As much as they enjoy the process, they will not be satisfied until they achieve their end goal. It may be an unrealistic and improbable venture, but Blue Villains believe they’ll be the one to finally accomplish what no one else has. They could be striving to for the perfect state of mind, perfect body, the perfect society, the perfect android, etc.
One major example of a Blue Villain is DC’s Brainiac. There are many iterations of him, but all of them are Blue. His ultimate goal is to learn everything there is to learn, to know all there is to know. If that means he has to digitize it all or capture it all, then so be it. Every moment of Brainiac’s existence is devoted toward advancing this goal.
One example of a Blue Villain in Magic is Stitcher Geralf.
(Sticher Geralf: Commander 2014) (Art by Karla Ortiz)
Stitcher Geralf is, to me, probably the most clear example of a Blue Villain. He’s out to make the perfect Skaab. Everything else be damned...literally. It doesn’t matter how many people have to die. How many years it takes. Which world-ending monstrosity has arrived. Geralf’s not out to create the perfect Skaab to prove he’s the best or so he can take over a town. No. He’s doing it simply because the idea of having done it satisfies him.
Green
“I’m here to reestablish the natural order.”
Much of where Green Villain’s complexities come into play is with regard to what they define as the ‘natural order’ that they feel must be established. There are two main types of Green Villains. First are those that feel the need to return the status quo. Then, there are those who want to prove themselves to be the best. Note the difference between these motivations and Blue’s. Green is out to prove it is the perfect self. Green needs to bully its way, it needs to compete against other things, to get to the top. But Blue can reach its ‘perfect self’ even without anyone or anything to compare itself to.
Corum Rath is a good example of a Green Villain. After Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, took the throne from his brother, Orm, many Atlantian citizens were left unsatisfied. Orm was 100% Atlantian and decent at his job whereas Arthur was only 50% Atlantian and very new to the job. Corum Rath saw this as a violation of the natural order. When Rath took the throne from Arthur, Atlantis chose him as the new king. Rath wasn’t royal blood. He never wanted the throne, but he accepted because it was the nation’s will. While he wasn’t royal blood, he accepted it because the nation embraced a new paradigm, a new natural order. But Arthur’s arrival was not a natural evolution of Atlantis. It was sudden take over by an alien king.
In Magic, a good Green Villain example is Dwynen, Gilt Leaf Daen.
(Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen: Magic Origins) (Art by: Johannes Voss)
She might seem like a small time villain because she didn’t get a lot of screen time, but nothing about her actions seem small time to me. She led her people into advancing the extinction of an entire species. The boggart ‘eyeblights’ as they called it. In the eyes of the Gilt Leaf, the natural order of Lorwyn was that beauty was the most important aspect of evolution. The existence of the ugly boggarts was a blight upon the land, an irrational stain on nature and thus deserved extinction. There we see a Villain that is both out to prove themselves superior to the ‘uglies’ and out to establish what they believe is the natural order.
White
“I am here for YOU.”
White Villains are my favorite. These are the people who act, believing 100% that they are justified in what they do. They intend to bring order to what they perceive as chaos or injustice. Religious fanatics set out to worship, praise, or act in the name of their god are great examples. Zealous patriots who ruthlessly follow orders without question. Unmoving arbiters of law, who have abandoned mercy in exchange for justice. White Villains not only serve a cause, but they also tend to work in groups. Few instances of White Villainy come to mind that involve a single character.
Let’s look at an example. Judge Claude Frolo, from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Terrifying villain. Within the boundaries of the law, Judge Claude Frolo conducted countless cruelties. The systematic extermination of the Roma, called the ‘Gypsies’, the burning of houses, torture of innocents, public executions- ALL of it was within the bounds of the law. Judge Claude Frolo truly believed he was doing God’s work, that he was doing what was best for the city, by exterminating the Roma population. His evil was widespread and difficult to stop, both physically and socially.
Let’s look at Magic villains again. Konda, Lord of Eijano is a White Villain.
(Konda, Lord of Eiganjo: Champions of Kamigawa) (Art by John Bolton)
He kidnapped O-Kagachi’s daughter and used her power to conquer the lands surrounding Eijano and bring prosperity to his people. And it worked. That is...until the Kami War started. O-Kagachi sent the Kami from his realm to the realm of mortals. It wasn’t an organized war. Rather, the spirits just popped into the mortal realm all by themselves somewhere and destroying some stuff until they were killed. The land suffered and people everywhere felt O-Kagachi’s rage. But Eijano was the nation that endured the war the best- not that it endured it well. This was because of the power Konda gained from kidnapping O-Kagachi’s daughter. Konda could have returned O-Kagachi’s daughter at any time. But he refused and killed any who coveted so much as looking at her. He was doing what was best for his people. Not even the literal invasion of his entire dimension could convince him that anyone but he knew best. With the entirety of the military at his side, who could even dare raise a hand to make such a claim to begin with?
Black
“I am here for ME.”
Black Villains are out to accomplish something for themselves. While Blue Villains seek an idea to fulfill, Black seeks only to fulfill itself. The quest for more power is the defining feature of Black Villains. They act for no other purpose than to advance their own schemes. On occasion, you’ll see a Black Villain who acts to make a point about society or about the flawed nature of humans- this is the rarer, more nihilistic, side of Black.
Prince Hans from Disney’s Frozen is a Black Villain. He set out to become a king and was willing to do literally anything to accomplish that. The man played the role of a charming prince, an obedient son, an infatuated lover. But none of that was truly important to him. If Anna remained his wife after he became king, all the better. If not, oh well. But he rotten to the core. Prince Hans ordered a hit squad on Elsa. He set about to earn the hearts and minds of Elsa’s people. He came to her country to woo and seduce. It was all about the end of the game for him. What came in between could be fun, but his eyes never left the prize. Once king, he would probably be as benevolent as he could manage. If being a kind and loving king meant he could keep his power, Hans would have been the best darn king ever. Legitimately speaking, he might have even been better for the country than Elsa ever was. But the end rarely justifies the means.
In Magic, my favorite Black Villain is Crovax. Ob Nixilis could do as well, but he’s pretty close to a mustache-twirling Villain as Magic’s gonna get. Crovax is closer to the type of nihilistic yet power hungry Villain I like.
(Ascendant Evincar: Nemesis) (Art by Mark Zug)
Crovax only joined the Weatherlight so he could find Selenia, his family’s guardian angel, who had been kidnapped, and with whom he had fallen in love. He made friends with the crew and was an honest man. But he never forgot his objective- to rescue Selenia from Yagmoth’s influence. But Yawgmoth was cruel beyond measure... when all other options were exhausted, Crovax had no choice but to kill Selenia, tears in both of their eyes. He hoped to free her from Yawgmoth’s influence. But instead of freeing her, Yawgmoth’s influence passed on to him. Crovax then became the true, the final, Evincar of Rath. He found every upgrade Phyrexia could give him- but even Phyrexia knew better than to arm him too well... they actually feared what would happen if they let him have limitless access to their facilities. And they were right to do so. Crovax was going to join Yawgmoth’s Inner Circle of Demons if all went according to plan. There is no doubt in my mind that Crovax was planning to take Yawgmoth’s seat. No amount of power or bargaining could possibly make Crovax forgive Yawgmoth for what he did to Selenia. It was a twofold purpose he served in seeking power. Never again would he allow himself to be powerless. He was powerless to stop Phyrexia from slaughtering his family. He was powerless to stop Phyrexia from kidnapping Selenia. He was powerless to save Selenia from Yawgmoth. Never again. He hungered to power for these reasons, but also because Yawgmoth could never be forgiven for what he did to Selenia. I understand his hate. I understand his fear of being helpless. I can’t forgive nor condone all the things he did. But at least I understand why.
Black Villains are usually the easiest portrayed in media. Probably because mustache-twirling villains are easy to write, and making any other kind of villain would require someone to do some real writing. That said, White Villains are my favorite. But Black Characters, both Villains and Heroes, I hold dear. When well made, they are far richer and developed that people give them credit for.
Conclusion
Villainy comes in all colors. As you can see, there are all sorts of Villains out there. They can be deep, complex, and come from a variety of backgrounds. Think about your favorite super villain. Why are they your favorite? Where would they lie on the Color Pie?
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For my final exam, I was asked to write about a new way to read a fantasy fiction book. A way most people don’t tend to read. I chose “Time Streams” by J. Robert King. This is the third book in the Artifact Cycle. Or rather, the Urza cycle in my opinion. I was limited to topic and length, so I wasn’t able to talk about everything or spend as much time on it as I could.
Understand that I was required to limit how much I could talk about. There are multiple ways to read “Time Streams” and I was allowed to emphasize one. That said, I understand that you can read into the novel in multiple ways. This essay is merely one of the ways I chose to talk about.
Why am I making such a big deal about this? Because this was an essay for school. I know that there are other ways to present it. I chose this one for the essay.
Gather `Round. It’s Story Telling Time!
(I must make a note that this essay is my intellectual property and I do not allow anyone to use this essay, or parts or it, without permission.)
A shout out to those who asked to be tagged in this. =). I remembered you.
@imbibethesea @thebuckshot
Urza: A Hero Unmasked
Urza the planeswalker is the champion of the plane of Dominaria against the machine-flesh horrors of the plane of Phyrexia. His plans against them took five thousand years to come to fruition but at the end he succeeded. Many of the fans of this character Magic: The Gathering see Urza as a hero and they point to “Time Streams” as proof. But Urza never intended to be a hero. Everything he ever did, including his war against Phyrexia, was done out of purely selfish motivations.
To better understand “Time Streams” the story must be seen in context of Urza’s life. In his youth, before he became one of a handful of magic-wielding, semi-omnipotent, interdimensional, entities called planeswalkers, Urza committed crimes that would haunt him until the end of the Phyrexian Invasion. When he and his brother, Mishra, were teenagers, they found a stone of great magical power in an ancient machine. During their struggle for ownership, the stone broke in twain, one half in each brother’s hands. Each blamed the other for the breakage and wanted the entirety of the stone for themselves. Their disagreement dictated their lives as both strived to live in opposite corners of their home continent of Terisare. Using the magic of the stones, their intellect, and their charm, Urza became a prince and Mishra became a powerful warlord. Eventually, their paths crossed once again and thus started The Brother’s War. Barrin, Urza’s most trusted advisor in “Time Streams” describes the war very succinctly, “Three thousand years ago, a mortal Urza battled his mortal brother. Their sibling rivalty turned fratricidal. So began the Brother’s War. In his rage to kill Mishra, Urza enlisted the armies of the world, sank the isle of Argoth, gutted the continent of Terisare, and wiped whole nations from the globe. He ushered in an ice age.” (King 2). A few relevant details left out from Barrin’s explanation is that Urza betrayed half the nations he allied with to plunder their lands for resources; Terisare was mined and reaped to the point where it was almost entirely inhospitable; Argoth was a continent, not an island; and the ice age lasted for nearly two thousand years. Urza’s telling of the story was truthful, but insufficient to describe what really happened. The Brother’s War finally ended when Urza used the magical weapon called the Sylex to destroy Argoth, where he and his brother had gathered their remaining forces. As Mishra finally confronted him face to face for the first time in decades, Urza unleashed the explosion that literally sank the entire continent and obliterated everything on the surface. In he instant before Urza was destroyed, the powerstones merged with Urza’s soul and ignited the latent spark within him that turned him into a planeswalker. But the greatest detail that Urza left out from his explanation to Barrin was that to counter Urza uniting the nations of Terisare, Mishra turned to the Phyrexians to help. The Phyrexians, monsters made of organic, metallic, mechanical flesh, saw purely organic beings as incompleat, their word for unfinished. They desired to compleat as many Dominarians as they could and destroy the rest. When Mishra turned to them, the Phyrexians saw their opportunity to begin their war against Dominaria
Over the years, Phyrexia came to realize that Urza was a problem to their conquest of Dominaria and chased him across the planes of the multiverse where he inadvertently led the Phyrexians to discover and plunder countless worlds. During his flight, Urza finally managed to find his way back home to Dominaria where he managed to magically lock the Phyrexians out from all except the smallest scouting parties. He established an academy on the continent of Tolaria where his students would research weapons and magic to better fight the Phyrexians. One such magic was that of time travel, where Urza hoped to go back and prevent the Phyrexians from ever coming to power.
With the context of “Time Streams” in place, Urza’s actions can be seen for what they were, not acts of heroism but selfishness. Once again, Urza was responsible for the destruction of another continent as his time travel experiments backfired and ravaged the continent in isolated streams of time. Some streams were fast time, where one second in normal time was worth ten seconds in that stream. Others were slower, where one year of normal time was worth one second of that stream.
Instead of abandoning the students, the survivors, the school, even the island itself, as his history would imply Urza would do after a cataclysm like this, Urza decided to stay and clean up his mess. Fans of Urza claim that this is evidence that Urza was learning to take responsibility for his own mistakes. But Urza did not stay because of the students or those trapped in the time streams; he stayed because his mind could carry no more guilt. As Barrin explained, “…the explosion of the time travel machine. That blast did to Tolaria what The Brother’s War had done to Terisare.” (King 3349). Urza did not care for the students trapped in the time streams, the students killed by the explosion, or the now homeless survivors. He stayed because his conscious would not allow him to abandon another continent that he had destroyed.
While his students researched the time streams, they discovered that a Phyrexian spy, Krr`k, had been caught in a fast-time stream and had been using Phyrexian technology to create birthing vats and had already created a small army of Phyrexian horrors, called Negators. But the time differential was too extreme for either side to cross over to destroy the other. Unless Urza managed to find a way to send his armies across the time differential first, K`rrk would evolve his Negators to be powerful enough to survive crossing the time differential. Tolaria, if not the entire world, was on a clock. As always, Urza lost himself in his obsessive search to find a solution before K`rrk did.
But K`rrk was a microcosm of the Brother’s War. Once again, Urza’s mistakes had allowed Phyrexia to set their foothold on Dominaria. As Urza discovered in the years after he became a planeswalker that he and his brother were responsible for Phyrexia’s arrival to Dominaria. K`rrk himself described Urza’s mistakes very clearly when he said, “In the caves of Koilos, [Urza] and his brother Mishra sundered the powerstone that had locked us away from Dominaria, thus opening the way for us.” (King 2047). Phyrexia would have been locked away from Dominaria forever if Urza had only allowed Mishra to win a single brotherly dispute. Urza fought against the Phyrexians, but not because of the threat they posed to Dominaria, but because of his brother. Mishra was the Phyrexian’s first victim. Victim because Phyrexia didn’t just want to destroy Dominaria. Barrin’s writings in his journal say it best, “It wasn’t regret that later sent Urza on his own private invasion of Phyrexia. It was revenge for his brother.” (King 9). When Mishra turned to the Phyrexians for help to balance the scales against Urza and the nations of Terisare he had united, the Phyrexians improved his war machines and compleated him into a Phyrexian. Urza fought so viciously against Phyrexia because he believed, wrongly, that the Phyrexians had compleated Mishra against his will and because he was responsible for their arrival to begin with.
In his quest to find a way across the time differential to kill K`rrk and his Negators, Urza found that mechanical, weaponized, semi-intelligent animals could cross through the time stream with significantly less damage than organic flesh. These constructs, artifact creatures he called them, were something he specialized in making even back when he was a mortal. The difference was that he needed a metal strong enough to cross the time differential and still be able to fight. His search took him to the continent of Shiv where he found an ancient foundry that once belonged to the civilization known as the Thran. In his youth, Urza had worked with ancient pieces of Thran metal and knew enough of their properties to be certain that they would allow his artifact creatures to cross the time stream without pause. The problem was that the foundry was sacred ground to multiple goblin tribes and a tribe of lizard men called Viashino. The Viashino were in constant war with the goblins and the goblins were at constant war with each other for control of the foundry. When Urza arrived, the Viashino were in possession of the foundry and were unwilling to allow some foreigner gain possession of their foundry.
A comment by Jhoria, one of Urza’s brightest students who was born on Shiv gives an indication of exactly the kind of man Urza was, “By the time he’s done…I certainly won’t recognize the place…The Viashino and goblins will be massacred, the drakes will be enslaved, and the mountains will be leveled…” (King 2290). Urza nearly did exactly what Jhoria expected he would but he stayed his hand. Fans of Urza claim that this is evidence of his kindness and diplomacy. But Urza did not spare them out of the goodness of his heart. Nor did he spare them so he could press them into working the foundry; he could have created artifact creatures to do their job. Urza spared them because he did not want to relive what he did to the nations of Terisare. He united them and ended up betraying them for their resources. His unification of the nations of Terisare was not out of kindness or diplomacy, but for war. Urza’s conscious would not bear that guilt again. He needed to unify the goblin and Viashino nations for something other than war and needed to prove to himself that he was not someone who would betray those who put their trust in him.
Once the Thran metal was in production and being shipped to Tolaria, Urza moved on to his next project, Skyship Weatherlight. It was to be a flying battleship powerful enough to serve as his mobile command center for when the inevitable global Phyrexian invasion would arrive. Building the skyship entirely out of Thran metal was impractical. He would have to ask Multani, the spirit and guardian of the magic forest of Yavimaya, for lightweight, indestructible, ageless, magical, semi-sentient wood. He left Shiv to Jhoria and Tolaria to Barrin, giving him an amulet that, when pressed, would tell Urza that K`rkk was attacking Tolaria. Urza knew that Multani would be angry with him for what he did to Argoth, but he was not prepared for the extent of Multani’s wrath. Multani trapped Urza inside one of the magic trees, flooding Urza’s mind with the thoughts and experiences of every living thing that died on Argoth because of him. The forest spirit made him live through the life and death of every single elf, tree, insect, blade of grass, everything. For five years, Multani unleashed his wrath on the planeswalker. Only when Barrin pressed the amulet did Urza’s mind reignite enough for him to escape the trap. The Negators had slaughtered hundreds and were just about to finish off the students in their final holdout, when Urza arrived. His arrival turned the tide and allowed Urza to move against K`rrk. Urza showed Multani had seen what horrors the Phyrexians were capable of, and the forest spirit helped Urza defeat K`rrk. When it was all over, Multani granted Urza the wood for Weatherlight and then gave him a gift that Urza cherished more than anything he could have asked for: forgiveness.
Weatherlight had nothing to do with K`rrk. Had Urza stayed with Tolaria and helped them research, they would have found a way through the time differential before K`rrk managed to escape and endanger all Urza’s devoted students. Skyship Weatherlight could have waited until K`rrk had been dealt with. But Barrin recognized why Urza had gone to Yavimaya, “Perhaps by creating an alliance with Yavimaya, he can make amends for Argoth.” (King 2867). Urza needed forgiveness from Multani more than he wanted to destroy K`rrk. This is further evidence that Urza’s war against the Phyrexians was done entirely out of selfish reasons.
During his battle with K`rrk, Urza learned that Serra’s Realm, one of the many worlds he went to while fleeing the Phyrexians, was being destroyed by the Phyrexians. He gathered his best and most trusted assistants and fighters onto Skyship Weatherlight. With an incredible feat of power, Urza planeswalked Weatherlight to Serra’s Realm to battle the Phyrexians who had very nearly plundered the plane to the point of collapse, where soon it would simply cease to exist. Realizing that the plane was going to implode soon, Urza found a way to charge Weatherlight’s engines permanently with the energy of the dying plane. Urza managed to rescue hundreds of the citizens of Serra’s Realm and take them to Domianria.
Some fans of Urza would claim that Urza’s return to Serra’s Realm was an act of duty. But in the past Urza has ignored Phyrexians while he served his own purposes, such as when he went to Yavimaya instead of finding a way of finishing off K`rrk and his armies. Urza visited Serra’s Realm before taking Skyship Weatherlight there, to see how hard their battle would be. He knew that the plane was dying and that the Phyrexians had already managed to exterminate eighty percent of the people of the plane. Urza did not go to the plane to save it; Serra’s Realm was already gone. The planeswalker did not needlessly endanger his trusted assistants and warriors for the sake of saving a handful of people from a dying world. No, Urza went to battle the Phyrexians at Serra’s Realm in an attempt to redeem himself for the many lives that had died for his wars. Barrin described what he saw as Urza’s mindset clearly when he observed, “He acts as though these folk are modern-day ambassadors representing the bygone thousands killed in his wars. Perhaps they are. Perhaps in saving them, he is saving himself.” What some fans of Urza see as a righteous crusade to destroy Phyrexia was really a reckless attempt to atone for the millions of lives that weighed on his mind.
Barrin properly described all of “Time Streams” in last of his journal entries found in the novel,. “…With the destruction of…Tolaria, Urza began to understand the destruction of Argoth...Tolaria allowed Urza to make amends with the human world for crimes against Argoth. He yet needed to be reconciled to the natural world. Then came Yavimaya. Urza had gone there to seek the avatar of the forest…what he got instead was a five-year penance for the agony of Argoth. In purging the guilt of Argoth, Multani returned Urza’s sanity.” (King 3360). Urza was Dominaria’s champion, not its hero. That he saved Domianria, and perhaps hundreds of other worlds, from Phyrexia was secondary to his attempt to cleanse himself of his guilt. “Time Streams” is not a story of a hero uniting nations, establishing academies, rescuing refugees, or even defeating Phyrexians. It is about Urza’s quest to find forgiveness, penance, and atonement for his mistakes and the immeasurable guilt they weighed upon him.
Work Cited
King, J. Robert Time Streams, Wizards of the Coast, March 1st 1999, Kindle ebook.
