Storyline of Theros (possible spoilers)
Lore forum
Posted on April 23, 2014, 12:53 a.m. by cupofnoodles
Was wondering if someone could offer a summary of what the storyline is for this block? So far as I gather, Elspeth is the main protagonist, with Heliod as the Deuteragonist. Xenagos is the main antagonist, who is trying to become a god after igniting his spark and visiting other planes, to which he obtained life-altering experiences for the worse. Xenagos achieves his goals in Born of the Gods, with all of the other gods under his control, and... supposedly gets killed in Journey into Nyx?
Do any of the other legendaries have roles in the story? Like Cymede, or Daxos, or Hythonia?
cupofnoodles says... #3
I'm offering what I know so far of the storyline, and was hoping someone could help by elaborating with more details and info, possibly a summary if possible, which would be vastly appreciated.
I don't know everything about the storyline, which is why I'm asking the community for more information =(
April 23, 2014 2:32 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
Cymede is the wife of Anax, ruler of Akros, one of the three major human poleis on Theros. She's a priest of Keranos, making her a warrior queen priestess.
I'm pretty sure Daxos is one of the people in Elspeth's entourage that goes around Theros trying to stop Xenegos.
Hythonia is just the queen of gorgons I believe.
A long time ago, back when Elspeth first visited Theros, Purphoros and Heliod were fighting and a sword was knocked out of Purphoros's hand. The Sword of Chaos as it was called could damage the very fabric of Nyx. As they fought, they disturbed the place the legendary Hydra, Polukranos, was sleeping, and Nylea and Heliod had to seal it underneath the forest of Nessia. the Sword fell to Theros, Elspeth claimed it and took it with her when she fled Theros after she caught Heliod's attention.
In present day, Elspeth was forced into planeswalking away from New Phyrexia by a now-probably-dead Koth, arriving on Theros with horrible injuries. Barely surviving them, she was tended by followers of Pharika and wrote a letter to Ajani and tossed it into the swamp in occordance with tradition.
When she recovered, she joined a band of mercenaries in Akros to learn more about the Gods and their powers. This kinda backfired on her, since Heliod tried to kill her when she visited his temple. Her powers prevented him, which shocked him. Intimidated, he turned her sword into a spear, called it Godsend , and made her even more of a badass. He ordered her to come to his main temple in Meletis.
Basically every God found out about Godsend and its awesome power and went crazy trying to get it, secrerly manipulated by Xenagos, the Planeswalker who wants to become a God. The group Elspeth was traveling with was attacked again and again and again, until Kruphix had enough and called all the Gods back into Nyx. Daxos and Elspeth crossed paths with a now-awakened Polukranos and managed to kill it. This act of heroism placed her in Heliod's temple in Meletis as the sun God's champion.
Meanwhile, the Nyxborn and Minotaurs were rising. Massing into an army under the secret commands of Mogis, they attacked Meletis, intending to raze it to the ground. Elspeth commanded the city's defenses, and after a long and bloody battle, Meletis was victorious.
Like all heroes love to do, they decided to have a party to celebrate their victory and honor Elspeth. But all this proved to be the plan of Xenagos, even the attacking army. The Satyr Walker used the celebration to catalult himself into both Godhood and the Pantheon. Naturally, everyone blamed Elspeth. She was exiled into the wilds as the pantheon begam to implode. Heliod was furious with her, since her actions let an outsider join the Pantheon and tried to kill her.
... Yeah, not the smartest move, since only a person not of Nyx or Theros can kill a God. Meaning, if he wanted to get rid of Xenagos, he had to rely on her.
Anyway, Ajani was revealed to feel guilty about letting Elspeth walk away with a death wish, so he decided to track her. He arrived on Theros and eventually made it to Tethmos, the Leonin capitol. He became a mentor to other Leonin there, learned what had happened to Elspeth and the plane, and, with the help of Brimaz,was reunited with his friend.
Together, they swore to end the chaos Xenagos had caused, but to kill him they had to somehow get into Nyx. The only person who might help them get in was Kruphix, so they left to find his temple at the end of the world and plead their case.
This is a (relatively) rough summary. For the full Theros experience, please read the e-Books Godsend part 1 and Godsend part 2.
April 23, 2014 3:30 a.m.
cupofnoodles says... #5
THANK YOU, this was exactly what I was looking for! I had been taking a break from the game during Theros and almost all of Born of the Gods, so I found myself wondering what was going on with the storyline and who the important characters were.
To be honest, during this block I was kinda pissed at Elspeth, because I was under the assumption that she realized Mirrodin couldn't be saved and just planeswalked away, like Sorin did for Zendikar. Now that I know she was forced to leave by Koth, my opinion of her is raised again. Speaking of Koth, I hope we see him again sometime.
April 23, 2014 5:01 a.m.
cupofnoodles: I just want to add that if you go to MTG's magazine's website, DailyMTG, you can find all sorts of lore with each block. It doesn't give full stories like the one GoldGhost012 summarized (which was amazing, thank you!), but you can read interesting bits about different characters. There's a few stories about Ashiok that I really enjoyed.
April 23, 2014 7:28 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #7
No problem guys. It didn't take that long... Lies, it took 45 minutes of typing on an iPod.
cupofnoodles, Koth is very very suspected of being very very dead. There was a very real chance that he and Elspeth were the only living non-corrupted beings on New Phyrexia by then (with the possible exception of Tezzeret if he was still leading a faction of Phyrexians) since Walkers can't be corrupted by Phyrexian Oil. Since he forced Elspeth to flee, he was surrounded on all sides by hostile Phyrexians holding a primed Spellbomb. His chances are not looking bright at all.
April 23, 2014 11:54 p.m.
cupofnoodles says... #8
@tj70
Thanks bunches for the heads up, I'll be sure to check that place out!
That sucks to hear about Koth. I was under the impression from the flavor text of Auriok Survivors and Urabrask the Hidden that at least some people survived, but I guess not. The good guys lost this time =(. The whole Scars of Mirrodin storyline was pretty depressing actually, probably the most depressing one overall aside from Weatherlight-Apocalypse. Many scenes, such as Urza discovering his brother still alive after a millenia of torture, when Gerard was forced to decapitate Urza, and how most of his crew, including Hanna, either betrayed him or died. Yawgmoth's defeat came at an extreme cost of life, that's for sure =(
April 24, 2014 2:33 a.m.
Sorry to ask this but if you look at all other elspeth art, you can see that her spear is Godsend , but why the hell would she have Godsend ? I mean, seriously, you can't get GOD-send on Alara.
GOD
-send.
The rest of magic is pretty much atheist (except Wrath of God and some 3-4 other cards), so she can't possibly have Godsend anywhere other than Theros.
(Honestly, I'm atheist, so please don't be judgey, but wizards could honestly have chosen better flavors for all non-Theros religion flavored cards, like, seriously, does ninth edition really have to be monoteistic with Blood Moon and Wrath of God ?)
April 26, 2014 12:46 a.m.
Why she was there in the first place? We do not know. I think I've read somewhere that she left the first time because Heliod wanted her dead...
April 27, 2014 3:33 a.m.
From what I understand, Elspeth's arrival on Theros was unintentional.
Her and Koth were among the last survivors in the stand on New Phyrexia, and were cornered.
Koth risked and (presumably, but unconfirmed) sacrificed himself to save her life.
In the end, her Planeswalk out of the battle was rushed, and less controlled than usual. Her destination on Theros was due to her focus on her past, specifically on her last trip to Theros, when she received Godsend .
April 28, 2014 11:12 a.m.
oops.... I thought I was answering Rocknj06's "Why she was there in the first place?".
But after re-reading, I'm guessing he meant the first time she visited.
Who knows... how does any Planeswalker go to a new Plane for the first time...? How do they know of it's existence or how to get there...?
April 28, 2014 11:23 a.m.
Rayenous good question...now i have another mystery on my mind too....XD
May 1, 2014 11:17 a.m.
allthingsMTG says... #16
Sorry, to correct you but the minotaurs attacked akros, and the victory celebration let xenagos become a god. The minotaurs attacked akros, not meletis.
Rocknj06 says... #2
You forgot Ajani's role in the story.
April 23, 2014 1:48 a.m.