Language
Lore forum
Posted on Sept. 30, 2016, 7:45 p.m. by Vicarian
So, I've been wondering. How is it that everyone from different planes can understand each other? Has Wizards shed light on this?
Current canon would be like the population of Earth all knowing English and speaking it or whatever. Closer would be an alien race showing up and actually speaking a terrestrial language.
Homura_Akemi says... #3
Idk it's just one of those coincidences where everyone conveniently speaks English
September 30, 2016 7:56 p.m.
That might be true, but the problem with that is the story of Gideon adopting Zendikar as his home and helping to defend it. He was able to inspire rank and file Zendikari (who didn't seem to be magical or have any sort of powers) by communicating with them directly. A note wasn't made that due to being a planeswalker, he suddenly spoke the Zendikari language. It seems a subject that's largely just been omitted from any sort of storytelling on the part of Wizards' writers. Just been curious about whether or not Wizards has actually explained at any point in time how people in the lore seem to have a universally common language.
September 30, 2016 7:59 p.m.
ABadMagicPlayer100 says... #6
There seems to be a common language. However, some species (such as the Nezumi on Kamigawa) speak their own language and magic is required to understand them, such as the spell used by Jace in Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell, published by WotC (great book btw, 8/10 would recommend). This can potentially be used to support my initial statement.
September 30, 2016 9:48 p.m.
freakman13 says... #7
The planeswalker spark was said to give understanding of most languages, plus there is a low level speak language style spell.
September 30, 2016 10:09 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #8
Since Richard Garfield was heavily influenced by D&D when he was originally creating the game I'm sure he had it in the back of his mind that there was a common language spoken by everyone, then race/tribal specific dialogues that separated everyone. Every race/plane is assumed to know the common language and their language specific to them is secondary/common is secondary to their specific tribal lingo.
That's at least how I imagine it goes in mtg. If I started down the rabbit hole I'm sure it would bug me too so I figured it's best to keep it simple in terms of linguistics unique to planes. It would take too much away from the fun of the game if we delved into semantics like that I feel.
September 30, 2016 10:12 p.m.
The real answer is just that it's lazy storytelling.
Having a story being told over multiple card sets would really hampered if they had to go through the nuts and bolts of translation with each set, so they just don't broach the subject.
October 1, 2016 1:29 p.m.
shinobigarth says... #11
not wasting time explaining trivial things like that is hardly lazy storytelling. its called not boring the players/lore enthusiasts. they simply dont need to waste time explaining it in a multiverse with frikkin MAGIC.
October 1, 2016 9:56 p.m.
bennybubbles says... #12
sonnet666 I love how you say it's lazy storytelling and then explain exactly why it isn't practical for them to have different languages on different planes.
We can really mark it down to one of two things; either the planeswalker spark gives them an innate ability to speak and understand the common language on each plane, or ever plane has the same common language. From a real life perspective it would be more likely that the spark lets them speak and understand the languages.
I think this mostly comes down to the fact that we still don't understand how the multiverse in Mtg works, and we probably never will, and as MaRo has said multiple times; gameplay trumps flavour.
October 1, 2016 10:03 p.m.
October 9, 2016 7:35 a.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #15
Vicarian If anything, the story of Gideon suggests the opposite. When he first planeswalked from Theros to Bant, he had to change his name, because people on Bant couldn't pronounce Kytheon. That strongly suggests that there is a language gap for non-planeswalkers.
October 10, 2016 9:05 a.m.
Named_Tawyny I was under the impression that whoever heard him on Bant just mispronounced/misheard it and he stuck with Gideon. That's at least how that one Office Hours video described it.
October 10, 2016 10:30 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #17
It's likely that they misheard him and since he had no desire to be Kytheon anymore since his arrogance caused the death of his friends.
I view it as a "Kytheon died on theros" type of thing.
October 10, 2016 10:48 a.m.
shinobigarth says... #18
so going by the link above, it was explained with Jace in Kamigawa. its a spell, and having a spark makes it more potent or easier to master.
so unsurprisingly, magic.
Ohthenoises says... #2
The game is called "Magic the Gathering" I'm going with magic ;)
September 30, 2016 7:52 p.m.