The Lore of Commander Legends
Howdy folks! We've got yet another Commander product coming at us, this time the draft focused product of Commander Legends! However, just like other Commander products have done, we are seeing printings of older Magic characters in a new card form that have never existed before.
Seeing as how many of these characters may well be unknown, I like to do these little lore refreshers to talk about some of these older characters and the impact they had on the lore of Magic.
So let's dive right into Commander Legends, shall we?
Tevesh Szat, the Doom of Fools
Tevesh Szat wasn't always a scary demonic and draconic Planeswalker. He was in fact, a man at one point. Originally named Tev Loneglade, he grew up along the Sarpadian Coast of Dominaria with his sister Tymolin Loneglade around the time before and during the Brothers' War.
Tev and Tymolin Loneglade
Tymolin was an accomplished warrior, and often protected Tev from outside threats. At some point, Tev became a Planeswalker. With his godlike new abilities, he enchanted his sister with the gift of eternal youth. While the two would eventually travel the world, events in the outside world were too much for Tev to deal with, leaving the man with incredible guilt over what had happened in Argoth and Terisiare. The two would eventually return to Sarpadia where Tev became a reclusive hermit.
Living alone, Tev's guilt over his inability to change people grew and grew into a massive hatred and contempt for everything. The only thing he loved was his sister. Tymolin on the other hand, fell in love with a Dwarf named Kaylen, and also had an affair with an Icatian Priest named Oliver Farrel. Kaylen would later perish in a battle with Orcs during 170 AR, forcing Tymolin's banishment from the Dwarven empire.
Tev rescued his sister and while Tymolin pleaeded with him to do something about the orcs and goblins, Tev preferred to remain isolated and apathetic. However, he was secretly bubbling below the surface into an absolute bitter hatred for everything and anything he had developed from his power.
Tev's final snap and transformation would occur later when Tymolin was killed by the Farrrelite leader Oliver Farrel in a trap set by her and Vaylesh and the Order of the Ebon Hand. After sensing his sister's demise from afar, Tev lost all grip on his humanity fully and unleashed his power, transforming into the draconic demonic appearance we know by Tevesh Szat. Tev made his way to the Ebon Hand encampment and destroyed Farrel, Vaylesh, and everyone else present. He renamed himself to Tezesh Szat, and vowed to seek "Ssssssssilence."
Tevesh Szat in all his dark glory.
His first actions as Szat were to summon a gate bringing the Orc-Goblin army over the Icatian city of Montford. Szat would use his powers to decimate Sarpadian empires, before moving on from civilization to civilization. He had become convinced that civilization only led to decadence and corruption. Szat would also act as manipulator, using his powers to manipulate other Planeswalkers into combat with another. Several times he came into combat with the Planeswalker Freyalise. He even helped serve as patron to the necromancer Lim-Dul along with Leshrac, another Planeswalker.
At some point however, Szat stopped his rampages and retreated to a plane of perpetual darkness. It is unknown for how long he was there, but at some point he was visited by Urza Planeswalker, who convinced the draconic horror that he was to be part of Urza's Nine Titans project to attack Phyrexia. Szat had been included because of his dealings with Phyrexia in the past.
Szat would go on to betray the other Planeswalkers, using his powers to convince the dragon Darigaaz to free the Primeval Dragons of the plane (A VERY BAD IDEA), and also killed the Planeswalkers Daria and Kristina of the Woods. However, Urza revealed calmly that he actually expected and predicted Szat's betrayal, activating a kill rubric in Szat's Titan suit that destroyed the Planeswalker and converted his soul energy into the fuel needed for the soul bombs that were used eventually to devastate Phyrexia.
The end of Tevesh Szat
Rebbec and Glacian
The Thran were among the most enlightened and scientifically advanced cultures on the plane of Dominaria. At the height of their power, their Chief Architect Rebbec and her husband Glacian the artificer were part of the ruling council in the city of Halcyon. At some point, Glacian had been stabbed by a Thran powerstone by an Untouchable (people who were diseased or otherwise unwanted) named Gix and fell gravely ill. With the best healers in the city unable to help him, Rebbec used her influence within the city to seek help from an exiled eugenicist named Yawgmoth.
Yawgmoth discovered the disease known as phthisis, an affliction caused by powerstone radiation exposure, that had been plaguing Glacian. Developing a cure for the disease gave Yawgmoth a bargaining chip with the Untouchables, and despite how much of the cure he used on Glacian the man's disease never seemed to actually improve due to a hidden sliver of powerstone in Glacian's wound. During this time Yawgmoth began to fall in love with Rebbec and used his pull to gain more and more power within Halcyon. Rebbec secretly felt the same, but neither acted on their feelings outright.
The Planeswalker Dyfed would arrive to meet with Glacian, aware of the man's latent Planeswalker spark. However, she too became charmed by Yawgmoth's ways and helped him create a permanent portal to a plane known as Phyrexia by splitting two halves of a powerstone as a place where Yawgmoth could build a paradise for the Thran. During this time, various other nations approached the Thran preparing for war over Yawgmoth's actions while he had been exiled by the Empire. Glacian's disease continued to accelerate until Yawgmoth removed the sliver of powerstone, replacing it with the two halves that had been used to open the portal to Phyrexia while Rebbec created an infirmary on the surface of the plane for him.
Rebbec would eventually find the true extent of Yawgmoth's plans upon Phyrexia, finding that the insane man had merged with the plane. Upon discovering the twisted experiments he had been performing and the Planeswalker Dyfed dying on a table, Rebbec mercifully allowed her to die by removing the powerstone blade from her head before returning to Halcyon. There she found Glacian dead and the two powerstones that had been implanted inside of him by Yawgmoth. However, Glacian's essence had been trapped inside the two stones, and she journeyed to where the portal had been opened, joining the two halves together to close the portal to Phyrexia. This prevented Yawgmoth's entrance into Dominaria. Rebbec then walked to Halcyon, where an energy cloud that Yawgmoth had previously unleashed was devastating the city and walked directly into it, ending her existence.
Glacian's essence and latent spark would exist within the stone, which eventually would become split yet again in the hands of the brothers Urza and Mishra as the Mightstone and the Weakstone. The two stones would be joined yet again as the eyes of Urza Planeswalker after his ascendance, and would also be pivotal in activating the Legacy Weapon inside of Karn to defeat Yawgmoth during the Apocalypse.
It is speculated that Rebbec became the spirit of Gaea and protector of life on Dominaria, as Yawgmoth himself claimed to recognize her when he stepped fully onto the plane during the Apocalypse. However, years of raving insanity and singular focus on Rebbec as a source of pain to him means that it is possible that Yawgmoth was simply crazy and this actually isn't the case.
Radiant, Serra Archangel
Radiant was an archangel who served under the Planeswalker Serra in Serra's Realm, which was a constructed plane created by the white-mana aligned Planeswalker. At some point in the history of the plane, it played host and caretaker to an injured Urza Planeswalker after a failed attack on the plane of Phyrexia. After five years, Urza left, leaving the plane wide open to Phyrexian attack. Despite the fact that the Phyrexians were turned away, their black mana tainted the plane's white mana alignment, corrupting it. Serra left the plane after this having become incapable of staying there due to the pain of the black mana infesting the plane, and Radiant took charge in her absence.
Radiant was unable to understand how to use Serra's throne at the top of the realm, its power allowing only that of a Planeswalker to truly comprehend the images that showed the entire plane simultaneously to the viewer. Radiant instead turned to military might and paranoia and made sweeping changes to the palace to enforce this including hollowing out rooms for battlements and also installing armors of steel and mirrors to protect her.
The Phyrexian infiltrator Gorig advised Radiant in all matters, leading her to hold a holy crusade against her own people by being under the impression that the Phyrexians were infiltrating through the populace, when in fact they had already gotten to the head. Using devices known as Soul Torches which would "detect" black mana, hosts of angelic armies would descend upon the people living in Serra's Realm and slaughter them en masse. In reality, the Soul Torches funneled that energy and siphoned it into black mana, furthering the corruption of the plane.
Radiant's Crusade
Without Serra to maintain the artificial realm, the realm was slowly becoming closer to collapse due to the tampering by the Phyrexians. Urza recognized this and journeyed to the realm to attempt to save it, but became embroiled in the politics of the realm with Radiant, who had increasingly become more and more paranoid thanks to Gorig's machinations. Urza left and returned with a combined might of the Skyship Weatherlight, the wizard Barrin, and many others to help save as many of the realm's inhabitants as possible before the realm collapsed.
Urza engaged in battle with Radiant, with the archangel gaining the upper hand and nearly managing to kill Urza by tearing the Mightstone and Weakstone from his eyes. Unfortunately, the power of these two powerstones was simply too much when the archangel attempted to rejoin them, causing a blast of power that destroyed both her and the palace. Before she was ripped apart by the magic, her final words were "I am the mad one!" Radiant at the end had realized how she had been duped by the Phyrexians, and it has cost her everything.
But Serra's Realm would live on, as the inhabitants of the realm were evacuated to the plane of Dominaria, Urza Planeswalker collapsed the plane himself and used the energy generated by its white mana alignment to store it into the Thran Powerstone inside the Skyship Weatherlight, which would power its ability to travel the planes.
Belbe, Observer of Phyrexia
The creature known as Belbe started life as a normal Elf, but not a typical Elf. She was once known as Avila, daughter of the Skyshroud resistance leader Eladamri on the plane of Rath. While her father was away, she was murdered by her former lover (who had been transformed into an agent of Phyrexia) and her body was brought to Phyrexia, where she was dissected, put back together and completed as a full-fledged Phyrexian agent. The Phyrexian Abcal-Dro gave her the name and function of Belbe, translating loosely to the word "lens." This description was apt as a lens-like device known as the Eye of Yawgmoth was installed in Belbe's chest. Belbe's function was to oversee the selection of a new evincar for the plane of Rath, as the previous evincar Volrath had recently disappeared.
Belbe arrived at Rath, utilizing her Phyrexian skills to restore a sense of order and functionality to the Stronghold and its flowstone production. Initially, Belbe was very stilted and robotic in nature, focused only on the goal of selecting the new evincar, of which she had settled on three disparate entities: the newly Phyrexianized vampire Crovax, Greven il-Vec (the commander of the Predator), and a young wizard named Ertai who had simply gotten caught up in this after he was left behind by the crew of the Weatherlight.
Belbe began to become more humanlike in nature, mostly in part to her growing relationship with Ertai, who had seemingly impressed the Phyrexian observer with his natural talent with the flowstone and his cunning nature. Belbe secretly hoped that Ertai could become the evincar and grew very close to him, in turn growing disillusioned with the Phyrexian goals set in motion on Rath. She intentionally disabled the Eye of Yawgmoth to ensure that she was unable to be spied upon, and even went as far to scale back flowstone production in small ways to prevent the end goal of the planar overlay of Rath onto Dominaria during the Invasion.
As time went on, Crovax's power grew greatly, frightening the observer Belbe. After an encounter with the newly captured Eladamri, who had attempted to kill her (enraged by seeing the flesh of his dead daughter as a Phyrexian agent), Belbe pushed forward to make a decision on the state of the new evincar. Crovax used his power to force Belbe into a position where the only possible choice was him. However, Volrath would intervene and both Crovax and he would battle to the last, with Belbe eventually declaring Crovax the new evincar after Volrath was defeated.
After this, it was found that Eladamri and some of the other rebels were holed up in the Dream Halls. Belbe convinced Crovax to allow her to speak with Eladamri, intrigued by the elf's attack on her. Eladamri explained Belbe's origins as his daughter, and the Phyrexian used her portal within the Dream Halls, reprogramming it to allow Eladamri and the others to escape to Dominaria. Eladamri, still bitter, used a final drop of the poison used to originally kill his daughter's body, throwing it at Belbe. Despite all of her Phyrexian enhancements, the poison was simply too much and Belbe died instantly.
Belbe's death and Eladamri's escape
Belbe's funeral coincided with the execution of the false evincar Volrath. Afterwards, the newly Phyrexianized Ertai took her skull, a memento of his former love.
Kamahl, Wielder of the Mirari
Kamahl was a figure whose presence on the continent of Otaria on Dominaria would go on to shape the world at large. Hailing originally from the Pardic mountains, the massive barbarian traveled far from his home to test his skills and gladatorial prowess in the fighting pits of Cabal City as well as to earn great wealth and fame.
He first saw the Mirari amongst the prizes for the fighters of the pits, and became instantly attracted to the power of the object. It was during this time that he became friends with the Cabal dementia caster Chainer and the Krosan druid, Seton.
During a match in which the Ambassador Laquatus' champion Turg killed a Krosan Dragonette, a massive Krosan dragon attacked the city. Kamahl became embroiled in the fight, killing the dragon himself. However due to a mishap, he became buried beneath the carcass of the massive beast, and by the time he dug himself out, he found that the prize he so desired had been taken by the Order champion Lieutenant Kirtar. Kamahl followed Kirtar to the Order's citadel, intent on taking the artifact for his own. Kirtar used the device inadvertently and set off a chain reaction spell that crystallized the palace and most of the Order. Kamahl barely escaped with his life here, finding that the artifact had fallen into the hands of Ambassador Laquatus.
Unable to follow to the depths of the Otarian seas, Kamahl gave up his search for the orb, settling into life training fighters until Emperor Aboshan of the Cephalid Empire used the Mirari. The artifact was returned to Cabal City by the dementia summoner Braids, and thus Kamahl returned to the city.
Kamahl would eventually become greater friends with Chainer, working with the dementia caster as a partner in the gladiator pits. Kamahl even attended Chainer's shikar ritual, in which Chainer increased his powers of dementia summoning by capturing and killing new creatures. Kamahl felt conflicted by this, remembering the druid Seton's desire to stop poaching.
Upon their return to Cabal City, the two friends found the city was under attack by the order. During this battle, Kamahl was injured, and Chainer used the Mirari to graft snakeskin to the barbarian's wounds. Being ever proud of his battle wounds, Kamahl burnt the snakeskin away and then left. However, it would not be long before the two would meet again, as Chainer fell to madness under the Mirari's control. Kamahl was unable to save his friend, and Chainer gave him the artifact before he died. Kamahl fixed the Mirari to the pommel of his sword and then returned home to the Pardic Mountains.
Kamahl's visions enhanced by the Mirari
The Mirari worked its way into Kamahl's mind however, making the barbarian aggressive and unpredictable. He attempted to take control of the various barbarian tribes under a dictatorship ruled by him, forcing a civil war to occur between those who supported him and those who were against him. This battle ended with Kamahl grievously wounding his sister Jeska with the Mirari sword. This act shook the Mirari's influence from Kamahl, making him realize how the orb had infected this mind. He sought the healing powers of the Krosan forest, taking Jeska with him.
Being pursued by Laquatus as well as an alliance of Cabal and Order soldiers, Kamahl fled into the forest, meeting his old friend Seton. Leaving Jeska in care with the druid, Kamahl continued into the heart of the forest, meeting the Nantuko druid Thriss who taught him the ways of the forest. However Laquatus was hot on Kamahl's heels, forcing the two into a confrontation with each other.
During the battle, Kamahl's mentor Balthor, a Dwarven barbarian, had been zombified by the dementia summoner Braids, and forced into combat against his student. Kamahl was forced to strike down his mentor before killing Laquatus, driving the merfolk to the ground and embedding the Mirari sword into the forest floor. Kamahl gave up his old ways with this act, becoming a druid of Krosa.
Kamahl abandons his life as a barbarian and becomes a druid
Not all was well however, as Kamahl's sister Jeska was taken by the Cabal and turned into the abomination Phage. Kamahl tried to reach his sister, but was forced into a shaky alliance with the Cabal to fight the forces of Ixidor and Akroma. The druid acquired a new weapon at this time, an axe known as the Soul Reaper, made from the shattered halves of his druid staff and the Cabal Patriarch's axe. Eventually, Kamahl would leave Jeska as Phage yet again, returning to Krosa to meditate where he remained for a year.
Kamahl awoke mentally prepared to kill Phage. He arrived at the sight of a great battle between Akroma and Phage, utilizing the Soul Reaper to attack. The axe claimed the lives of both Akroma and Phage, in addition to the old woman Zagorka. The three women's souls collided and combined, becoming the false goddess Karona.
Initially wishing to worship the new goddess, Karona's instincts in killing to mete out justice made Kamahl realize the falsehood before him. He worked with the Numena to attempt to destroy Karona. After Karona's destruction, the Mirari was taken by the Planeswalker Karn, where it would be returned to his created plane of Mirrodin.
At some point, Kamahl died, but his legacy lived on in the heart of Krosa and the druid was fondly remembered as a hero in the world of Dominaria. Kamahl would be seen once more during the Mending in which Jeska sacrificed herself to close the Otarian rift. Kamahl welcomed his sister into the void of oblivion, and the two were finally reunited.
Jeska, Thrice Reborn
Sister to the Barbarian warrior Kamahl, Jeska spent most of her young life training and living with the Dwarves, namely Balthor Rockfist and his tribe. When Kamahl left for the pits of Cabal City, Jeska and Balthor followed close after, worried for his wellbeing. Kamahl would return to the Pardic Mountains, but his mind had become twisted by the Mirari. In a fit of rage in combat, Kamahl would inflict a grievous wound upon his sister with the Mirari sword. This broke the spell of the artifact over him, and Kamahl scooped his dying sister into his arms and took her to the Krosan forest hoping to find someone who would be able to help her. He left her in the care of the druid Seton, who watched over her while Kamahl went to meet with the Nantuko and the druid Thriss.
However, Jeska's fate was shifted when the Cabal dementia summoner Braids attacked Seton and stole her, bringing her to the Cabal Patriarch. Initially the Patriarch attempted to kill Jeska, but this attempt had an unanticipated effect due to the combination of the latent Planeswalker spark inside of Jeska, the Patriach's killing touch, and the intervention of the Numena Kuberr (the Cabal's dark God). She became the abomination known as Phage, whose mere touch rotted the skin of living things. As Phage she would bear the child of the Patriarch, a child which ended up being the reincarnation of Kuberr.
Phage, the Untouchable
Phage was unique, her physiology creating creatures known as Deathwurms inside of her with each living being she killed. During the battle against Ixidor and Akroma, Ixidor's dream magic infected Phage, releasing the Deathwurms and turning her back into Jeska. Realizing that the Deathwurms would destroy the world if left unchecked, she pulled them back into herself, turning back into Phage. She would eventually leave the Cabal, joining the old woman Zagorka who had been friend and servant to her at the Sanctum, where Akroma would eventually track her down. In a freak turn of events, Kamahl's swing with the Soul Reaper axe would kill Phage, Akroma, and Zagorka, and the three women's essence would blend into a single being - Karona.
Karona would eventually be destroyed, and in the ensuing death of the false Goddess Jeska's latent Planeswalker spark ignited and she ascended to become a Planeswalker. She became good friends with the Planeswalker Karn, the older of the two becoming her mentor. She traveled the planes with Karn for some time.
Jeska would later return to Dominaria in search of her mentor, who had disappeared for some time. She became embroiled in the conflict to resolve the time rifts plaguing the plane, and was ultimately responsible for the failed phase in of the nation of Zhalfir. Jeska would face the things she had become during this time, shedding her powers she had known as Phage and facing the being that had been Karona in the rift over Otaria. In a huge discharge of her own power and sacrifice, Jeska closed all the rifts at once and triggered what would eventually be known as the Great Mending.
Jeska died, but was welcomed into oblivion by her long dead brother Kamahl, where they were happily reunited in the end.
Akroma, the Angel of Wrath
Akroma began life as a vision, a vision of the reality sculpting powers of the illusionist Ixidor. Ixidor and his wife Nivea were fighters in the gladatorial pits of Cabal City. Unfortunately for both, they became the very first casualties of Phage, who had been Jeska. Phage killed Nivea in combat, and Ixidor became banished to the deserts to perish after failing to pay off his debt to the Cabal. In the desert, the man discovered that his ability of illusion creation was something more than that. He could shape reality at his whim. At the cost of his right arm and in the image of his fallen wife, Ixidor created the angel Akroma.
Akroma's sole existence was to avenge the death of Nivea at all costs. To that end, along with Ixidor's magic raised an army against the Cabal and Phage to seek vengeance. Akroma fought against Phage at Aphetto City, but was forced to escape when Kamahl intervened. Akroma did not escape this encounter unscathed, as her legs were maimed by Phage's corrupting touch. She returned to Ixidor, where the mage utilized his magic to infuse Akroma with the essence of a jaguar, transforming her into more of a centaur-like angel with legs of a jaguar.
Akroma's righteous crusade
Akroma led another army against the combined forces of the Cabal and the Krosan forest, coming again into direct conflict against Phage. The tides of the battle were turned when Phage's Deathwurms, the reincarnations of every soul she had killed, escaped her body. While Jeska managed to acquire most of the Deathwurms back into herself, the one representing Nivea's soul had devoured Ixidor, trapping him inside a dream world of his own making where he worshipped the image of Nivea.
Without a leader to guide her, Akroma became the defactor guide of Ixidor's will, forming essentially a religion around the reality sculptor's fervence. She converted and gained many followers during this time, before learning about the city of Sanctum and the god child Kuberr that had been conceived of her hated nemesis Phage and the Cabal Patriarch. She arrived at Sanctum to attack Phage, but found that Phage desired to talk more than fight. This greatly confused the angel, who returned to her kingdom of Locus to continue ruling. A chance encounter would lead the angel into the heart of the very Deathwurm that held Ixidor, where she attempted to convince her master to leave. Ixidor refused, wishing to stay with the image of the women he so loved. Obliging his wishes, Akroma departed.
Eventually, Akroma would come into conflict with Phage once more in the dome of the city of Sanctum. The two women would clash in a titanic battle, but it was interrupted by the druid Kamahl, wielding the Soul Reaper axe. As Kamahl swung, the old women Zagorka had leapt into the dome at the same time, and the swing of the axe took all three beings in one fell swoop. Akroma was utterly destroyed by this attack, avenging Nivea as she had been created to do, and her essence merged with the others to create the false Goddess Karona.
Baron Sengir
Baron Sengir was originally from the plane of Dominaria, a son of a small baron. His father dabbled in dark magicks, intent on becoming a vampire and being immortal. Realizing his father's dark intentions, the young boy met a young orphan girl in a nearby graveyard. He asked the girl to kill his father, teaching her the magic that allowed his father to control hosts of plague rats he summoned. The girl agreed after some convincing, joining the young lord in his mission. Upon the fateful night, a spell battle between the young girl and the rats ended in near tragedy as the rats settled on the young lord, tearing at his throat. However, he was saved by a spell from his father, who in his plight to save his son lost his life to the rats commanded by the girl.
Sengir's son became a vampire, healed by the spell his father had cast upon him. The young lord thanked the girl and suggested it was possible that she could become a Planeswalker, not realizing that the two would become reunited many years later.
During a Planeswalker battle centuries later, the Baron Sengir was summoned to the plane of Ulgrotha. However, the Planeswalker that summoned him was defeated and fled, leaving Sengir stranded upon the plane. Sengir, seeing no way to return home, settled into the plane as his new home, having become as ruthless and evil as his father had been. He took a Dwarven citadel as his own, slaughtering its inhabitants and stealing away the daughter of the Dwarven king, converting her into a vampire and naming her Irini Sengir. The dwarves abandoned the castle, vowing revenge upon the dark Baron.
Castle Sengir
Sengir would later discover a planar gate within his new castle, a device created by the Dwarves that had lived there. Unsure of what lay beyond this gate, Sengir began gathering an army. At some point, he located a sealed coffin containing an old mad crone. What he failed to realize is that the woman was the former planeswalker Ravi, the little girl that he had befriended to kill his father. He brought the crone to his castle and she became Grandmother Sengir, his teacher in the arts of black magic.
Sengir continued to terrorize Ulgrotha, entertaining himself with the slaughter of people. Later he would come into direct conflict with the Planeswalkers Feroz and Serra, who began helping the people of Ulgrotha to repel him. He also would turn the Lord Ihsan, a Serran paladin, into a shade under his direct control. It was through Ihsan that he found that the people of Ulgrotha weren't dominated into fear of him, but bolstered into action by their hatred of him. Sengir opted to disappear from public eye for a long while the people of the plane would fall to infighting without a common enemy to be afraid of. Feroz would later perish and Serra left and later perished herself, leaving the Baron to his machinations.
Despite being outside of the public eye, the Dark Baron is responsible for nearly every hidden plan being able to be tied back to him as his agents further his plans. His ultimate goal would be to destablize the plane just enough so that when he reappeared, he would offer the leaders of the various regions a choice to follow his ultimate rule or die in misery.
The hunter Veldrane, one of Sengir's many servants
At some point, the plane was visited by the Planeswalker Leshrac, who found a grand army of vampires all marching under the control of Ihsan's Shade, suggesting that Sengir's eventual conquest of the plane was complete.
Jared Carthalion
Jared is an exceptionally obscure reference in the Vorthos community, having only ever appeared in quotes on the card Fists of Flame. However, he was originally seen in the Armada Magic: the Gathering comic book series, starting with the book The Shadow Mage. Jared hails from the House Carthalion, an important family during the Ice Age that had many members involved in various parts of Dominarian history. Jared's own father was involved with the planeswalker Ravidel, becoming corrupted to gain power. During a battle in which Jared's father had refused to sacrifice his son to become a planeswalker himself, Jared was hit by a spell that altered his appearance so that no one would recognize him as a true heir of Carthalion. He spent many years on the streests as a beggar.
Jared would later become embroiled with Ravidel yet again, after the planeswalker returned, with events culminating in Jared summoning a Shivan Dragon, utilizing a Black Lotus, to seemingly destroy Ravidel. After Jared left, he met and fell in love with another planeswalker, Kristina of the Woods.
After discovering that Ravidel was still alive, Kristina and he moved to oppose the dark planeswalker in what would become the beginning of the conflict known as the Planeswalker War. Jared eventually battled Ravidel directly once more, and while Ravidel was able to escape yet again, Jared ascended and ignited his spark, becoming a planeswalker himself.
Whether Jared survived the war or not is unknown, but he was mentioned by Kristina during the Phyrexian Invasion when Urza came to recruit her for his Nine Titans project.
Colfenor
A powerful treefolk shaman and the last red Yew of his kind, Colfenor was one of the wisest creatures living on Lorwyn. Colfenor was a cryptic and secretive being, only revealing what was absolutely necessary. He was the teacher to the young Rhys for a time, teaching the elf the ways of the yew magic. The two would part ways until Colfenor learned of a great event that would change the face of Lorwyn forever, an event we came to know as the Great Aurora. Wishing to ensure the survival of his kind, Colfenor reunited with Rhys, tasking the elf to take a cone of his to the Murmuring Bosk in order to ensure the yew line would continue on. Rhys and a small company which included a flamekin pilgrim named Ashling journeyed to the Bosk, finding it burnt to the ground. Regardless, Rhys managed to plant the cone and perform the necessary ritual to ensure the growth of the cone.
Rhys attempted to return to Colfenor, while Ashling had been kidnapped and extinguished. Rhys was captured by the Gilt-Leaf, forced to combat the ruthless Nath to escape. When Rhys did finally make it back to Ashling and Colfenor to inform his friend what had happened, Ashling's flame became rekindled by a greater elemental, and as the flame ignited she engulfed the ancient Colfenor, burning the last Yew to ash.
Rhys and Ashling were distraught, and sought the grove where Colfenor's cone had been buried. They found that the Sapling was fully awakened, greeting them in the name of their "seedfather" Colfenor. The Sapling would go on to survive through the Great Aurora and would play a pivotal role in the defeat of Oona.
Halana and Alena
Halana and Alena were partners that lived on the plane of Innistrad, tracking and trapping monstrous entities in the province of Kessig. In the course of an investigation into murderous happenings, they ended up tracking what they assumed was a lycanthrope but ended up being a demonic possession that led them into direct contact with the Planeswalker Arlinn Kord. Arlinn spared the two in exchange for leaving the lycanthropes alone as a courtesy for helping to get rid of the demonic possession that she herself had been tracking.
Both Halana and Alena were caught up in the battle against the legions of Innistrad that had been warped and cursed by the existence of Emrakul on the plane, fighting together until they could not fight anymore. Their fate is currently unknown as they were last seen running from the dark monsters of Emrakul's warped creation.
Ramirez DePietro
Like many of the Legends cards, Ramirez DePietro doesn't have a ton of lore behind his existence. What is known is that he sailed the seas of Jamuraa around the year 3000 AR and also worked with Tor Wauki to combat against the Robaran Mercenaries in the service of Adira Strongheart (the wife of Hazezon Tamar). This took place in the Legends Cycle I novel, Hazezon. Ramirez was well known for being flamboyant and a consummate weaver of tall tales.
Ramirez would later appear under the guise of the shapeshifter Halfdane, who claimed that he had killed the pirate. Of course, whether this is true or not is up for debate as Ramirez could have been possibly dead for a long time at this juncture. At some point, it is clear that Ramirez did die, but survived as a ghost and now spends his time putting in with any ship that would have an undead pirate as a sailor. His penchant for the flamboyant tall tales remains.
Krark
Krark was a goblin from the plane of Mirrodin. His exploits took him from his home to the center of the plane, allowing the goblin to realize that the plane was hollow. He cataloged these adventures in a book, which then somehow became a fundamental basis of religion for a sect of goblins, which eventually became known as the Cult of Krark. The Krark-Clan of goblins was named after Krark
The goblin Slobad was once a member of the Krark clan at one point, but it was not a place that the outcast goblin felt home at. The lead priest of the clan at the time Dwugget became involved in the main storyline of Mirrodin by being negotiated with by Raksha Golden Cub and Lyese (Glissa Sunseeker's sister).
Bell Borca, Wojek Seargant
The only Wojek Seargant ever credited with solving his own murder, Bell Borca was a partner to the greatest Wojek who ever lived: Agrus Kos. Sort of. At the time, Agrus was an old washed up Wojek unable to retire, the product of an overworked and understaffed League of Wojek (a sub faction of the Boros Legion). Borca was killed during a terrorist attack by a Rakdos goblin, but that wasn't enough to stop Borca. Borca unfortunately had signed one of those Orzhov life insurance contracts and ended up stuck around haunting Agrus until the other Wojek captured the psychic Dimir vampire Szadek. Because Agrus put Borca's name into the official investigation, Borca essentially solved his own murder from beyond the grave.
Nevinyrral, Tyrant of Urborg
Nevinyrral was a powerful lich and necromancer on the plane of Dominaria. He ruled as king of the City of Urborg, and is the author of the Necromancer's Handbook, a bible on the art of necromancy. Seeking to conquer neighboring lands, Nevinyrral sent his armies to the region of Bogardan, prompting a counterattack from the volcanic nation. The city became surrounded and Nevinyrral realized that all was lost. In a last ditch effort to prevent his enemies from accessing the magical spells and artifacts that he had collected over the years, he poured all of his magical power into his "disk" (his phylactery), causing it to detonate and vaporize everything within a ten-mile radius, Nevinyrral included.
Nevinyrral's legacy lived on in Urborg, as many lich lords claim to be the ancient tyrant's heir. Unfortunately for them, these are generally all lies as none of them have even close to a tenth of the power Nevinyrral wielded.
The Crew of the Belligerent
BREECHES TELL STORY! STORY ABOUT BREECHES! AND BIRD MAN!
Malcom: My name is Malcom, you insolent little...
SHUT MOUTH BIRD MAN! BREECHES IMPORTANT PIRATE! BREECHES TAKE GOLD CITY! BIRD MAN HELP A LITTLE!
Malcom: Well actually I think that's not quite...
BREECHES SAY SHUT UP! BREECHES RIGHT! BREECHES CO-EMPEROR!
Malcom: Co-Emperor?
BREECHES CO-EMPEROR! NOW FIND BREECHES ALE! ALE AND CARDS AND GOLD!
Malcom: *sigh* Fine, ale and cards it is, Co-Emperor Breeches...
ALE AND CARDS AND GOLD! STUFF AND SUNDRIES AND MUNITIONS!
Wrapping Up
Whew! That's a lot of old characters getting cards in this set! It's also worth noting that despite so many getting cards or new cards there are still plenty of characters out there that haven't gotten cards yet. One of the big ones namely is the rest of the Nine Titans (we're only technically up to three of them if you don't count the Unstable Urza Planeswalker card, with Kristina of the Woods, Daria, Commodore Guff, Bo Levar, and Taysir of Rabiah left) and there are always plenty of characters within the Weatherlight saga even still.
I hope you enjoyed this dive into many of the characters of Commander Legends. As always you can find me on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Patreon, and I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server as well!
Until next time!
