Now that War of the Spark has hit the shelves, I wanted to examine where our cast of characters stand. Consequences abound after the conclusion of Magic’s biggest story arc. Today covers the alphabet down to M. (Gideon Jura falls under G, Nicol Bolas under N.)
Novel spoilers ahead.
Ajani Goldmane
Ajani begins the story on Kaladesh alongside the rest of the Gatewatch. He is one of the chief voices during the summit at New Prahv, when the heroes are trying to formulate a strategy to unify their forces to destroy Bolas. He takes a background role after that point, and spends most of the book’s latter half protecting a large group of Ravnican children. He reappears for the final assault on Bolas, and survives the battle.
Angrath
A formidable fighter but minor character, Angrath is present in multiple battles. He fights alongside Huatli, Arlinn, and assorted Gruul berserkers. He proves skilled at dispatching the eternals thanks to the reach of his chain, and used his magic to ignite Hazoret’s spear during the final battle. After Bolas’s defeat, Angrath makes a point to destroy as many eternals as possible, and even stops to offer some surprisingly philosophical advice to the young Teyo.
Arlinn Kord
Mentioned in passing a few times, Arlinn Kord is present at the meeting of planeswalkers and later fights alongside Angrath against the eternals. It seems she survived the war, but no specific mention is made to confirm this.
Ashiok
Despite Ashiok’s appearance in the set, the only mention of the enigmatic planeswalker is when Dack remembers breaking their sleep curse back on Theros.
Aurelia
Aurelia leads several fights against the eternal dreadhorde throughout the novel, usually fighting alongside Gideon. When the guilds gather to resurrect Niv-Mizzet, Aurelia serves as the Boros representative. She also leads a united front of airborn warriors from multiple guilds to distract Bolas from Gideon’s final attack.
Chandra Nalaar
Chandra begins the story on Kaladesh waiting to meet with her mother, but the ignition of Ral’s beacon brings her to Ravnica with the rest of the Gatewatch. She feels lost early in the story, only truly finding her purpose at the summit of New Prahv when she’s assigned to go after Dovin Baan and shut down The Immortal Sun with Saheeli, Lavinia, and Lazav. She takes part in the final battle with devastating effect, after arriving just in time to witness Gideon’s death. During the aftermath and celebration she declares her love for Nissa, but is pulled away to cremate the Dreadhorde before the story can explore their relationship at all.
Davriel Cane
Appearing only briefly, Davriel Cane summons multiple demons to fight against the dreadhorde, and once saves Nissa’s life by sucking the magic of the Elderspell out of an eternal that had ambushed her. It seems that he survives the war.
Domri Rade
The young warchief had been instrumental to weakening the allegiance of guilds prior to Bolas’s invasion, seizing power after Borborygmos lost favor with the clans. He initially fought against the invading eternals, but soon changed his mind when he saw them destroying the city he hated. He took a small contingent of Gruul warriors to pledge fealty to Bolas, and was the first planeswalker to be harvested when the Dragon decided he had no use for the upstart. Domri was left as a soulless, desiccated corpse.
Dovin Baan
One of the few planeswalkers that sided entirely with the Dragon god. Dovin quickly climbed the ranks of the Azorius thanks to how highly they valued his thopters, and put himself in the position to gain the title of guildmaster on a technicality when Vraska assassinated Isperia. He was put in charge of guarding The Immortal Sun during the War of the Spark, and fought a battle against Chandra, Saheeli, Lavinia and Lazav. After the sun was deactivated he fled the plane immediately, destination unknown.
Gideon Jura
A focal point throughout most of the story, Gideon travels to Ravnica alongside the rest of the Gatewatch following the Beacon’s ignition. He tries to lead a preemptive strike against Bolas, but inadvertently scatters his forces to deal with the invading eternals. Despite slaughtering countless eternals he is forced to fall back before the endless army, trying to protect as many as possible. He lays out much of the strategy for the assembled planeswalkers at New Prahv, and afterwards personally leads a war party out to confront the onslaught of God-Eternal Rhonas, whom he personally slays with the blackblade.
During the final battle Gideon leads an aerial assault alongside the Boros angels to try to take Bolas out, only for it to be revealed that Bolas has been immune to the Blackblade for thousands of years. With his plan in shambles and Ravnicans dying around him, Gideon makes a last-second choice to shield Liliana from Bolas’s dragonfire, saving her at the cost of his own life. We briefly see Gideon pass into what seems to be the Therosian afterlife and reunite with his fallen irregulars. Finally at peace.
Huatli
Arriving early on alongside Saheeli, the warrior-poet forges an uneasy alliance with Angrath to cut through the dreadhorde and later joins the group trying to unite the scattered guilds.
Hazoret
We briefly meet Hazoret when a strike team of planeswalkers travels through the planar bridge to Amonkhet. She vows to wipe out the eternals remaining on the desert world, and gifts her spear to Samut to use against Bolas. She also reveals that she trapped the Locust and Scarab Gods outside the newly-rebuilt hekema, leaving leaderless eternals as the only remaining threat.
Jace Beleren
Jace arrives on Ravnica with the rest of the Gatewatch, and joins the first assault on Bolas to supply invisibility and use his powers as Guildpact to literally arrest Bolas for disturbing the peace. Only then does he realize the destruction of the Chamber of the Guildpact robbed him of that position and power. He spends most of the rest of the book in an advisory position: his most prominent contribution is leading the summit at New Prahv, and afterwards joining Teferi, Jaya, and Vivien in a failed attempt to assassinate Liliana Vess.
With Niv-Mizzet resurrected, Jace’s time as Living Guildpact comes to a close. Before the final battle he and Vraska agree to try a relationship the next day: whether they live or die. During the final battle Ugin reaches out to him and has the telepath disguise Bolas’s disappearance as a death. Jace also learns how broken Gideon’s sacrifice left Liliana, and he orders Saheeli to shut down the Immortal Sun so that Liliana can flee the plane.
Jaya Ballard
Jaya was with the Gatewatch on Kaladesh at the start of the novel, and went with them to Ravnica to fight against Bolas. She spent most of the war alongside her protégée, and witnessed the rise and fall of Vitu-Ghazi. After the summit at New Prahv she joined Jace, Vivian Reid, and Teferi in a failed attempt to assassinate Liliana. After the war was over she and Chandra cremated the last of the eternals. Jaya also declined entrance to the Gatewatch twice, though she didn’t give a reason for doing so.
Jiang Yanggu
Appears alongside Mu Yanling, occasionally seen fighting the eternals with his dog Mowu, and joins a brief alliance with Ajani Goldmane to escort innocents down into the undercity. He and Mu leave Ravnica almost immediately after Bolas’s defeat.
Karn
We meet Karn on Kaladesh alongside the Gatewatch. He travels to Ravnica to aid them against Bolas. After the meeting at New Prahv he leads the team of Ob Nixilis, Dack Fayden, and Samut through the Planar Bridge to cut off the source of Bolas’s army. With Tezzeret defeated he transports Hazoret’s spear back to Ravnica, and joins the final assault on Bolas with mechanical precision. Hesurvives the war, but declines an offer to join the Gatewatch.
Kasmina
Oddly, Kasmina is never mentioned in the story. This is especially noteworthy since Mu Yanling does appear in the story but didn’t get a card.
Kaya
Kaya worked with Bolas to assassinate the Obzedat council; but after forgiving many of the debts she inherited and participating in the failed effort to unite the guilds against Bolas, her position as guildmaster is crumbling at the start of the novel. Actively refused aid by her own subjects, Kaya fights alongside Ral and the newly arrived planeswalker Teyo for most of the book, working to unite the fractured guilds. She successfully does so, and serves as the Orzhov representative in the attempt to resurrect Niv-Mizzet. She survives the war, and is charged with hunting down Liliana Vess to atone for her crimes. Despite this (and publicly swearing an oath to the Gatewatch during the battle’s aftermath) she is miraculously still the guildmaster of the Orzhov.
Kiora
Arriving alongside Tamiyo thanks to Ajani’s summons, Kiora was at the summit of planeswalkers at New Prahv, and later fought as alongside Samut, Saheeli, and Huatli against the dreadhorde. She was not at the celebration after Bolas’s defeat, most likely planeswalking away the first time the Immortal Sun was shut down.
Lazav
Working from the shadows, it’s revealed that Lazal purged house Dimir of Bolas’s agents before the events of the books. He only shows his hand twice during the war: pretending to be Chandra Nalaar during the assault on the Immortal Sun so that the pyromancer can get the drop on her old nemesis, and stepping out of the shadows to participate as the Dimir representative in the resurrection of Niv-Mizzet.
Liliana Vess
Liliana arrives on Ravnica beside Bolas, and is put in charge of commanding the Dreadhorde. She does so with minimal effort, trying to limit the zombie army’s effectiveness as much as possible. She makes sure that they only stay outside, and for the most part leave people alone as soon as they lose sight of them. Her hope to outlast the dragon and manipulate the surviving planeswalkers into freeing her is dashed when Jace, Jaya, Teferi, and Vivien do their best to kill her. Out of spite she turns on Bolas at the last minute of the final battle, fully expecting to die for her betrayal. Gideon saves her life, but with the rest of Ravnica hungry for her blood she’s forced to flee the moment the Immortal Sun is disarmed.
Mowu
Is a good boy.
Levi Byrne has been with the game since Worldwake and has a rabid love for fantasy writing that goes back decades. Despite some forays into Legacy he plays Commander almost exclusively, and has a love for the crazy plays and huge games that make Magic what it is. He was the go-to advisor of his playgroup on deck construction for more than five years before joining Dear Azami.