Sarkhan, Unbroken
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Feb. 18, 2015, 9:50 p.m. by Rhadamanthus
As given in this news post on Penny Arcade, the WotC area at PAX East will have a "Sarkhan, Unbroken" pin available as a prize. The character on the pin has kind of an odd color scheme. Might that be significant? Now that he's no longer haunted by Ugin's vengeful ghost, what will Sarkhan's deal be?
branston567 says... #6
In the lore Sarkhan was the former Khan of Mardu, I think that we will see Sarkhan as the Mardu Khan in DTK
February 19, 2015 7:56 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #7
ljs54321 he was originally from Tarkir and was mardu then he learnt green on alara and went to town. He was born on Tarkir so he couldn't have been jund and on Tarkir, you can not have 
as you can only have wedge colors.
February 19, 2015 8:01 a.m.
In that goofy pin it looks like he's wearing 
; I really hope that he turns Temur (blue hair tho, wtf?)
It was a Temur shaman that helped him go back in time right? Maybe he falls in love w their lifestyle?
February 19, 2015 8:16 a.m.
branston567 says... #9
Theorectically this Sarkhan never travelled back in time, the one that did stopped existing and this one was born into a different world.
But i get the feeling that Wizards are going to skate over time travel paradoxes and all that
February 19, 2015 8:23 a.m.
I think planesalkers might be immune to the paradoxes that they cause, but he might have been affected by his adventures.
February 19, 2015 8:35 a.m.
branston567 says... #11
I thought that when he saved Eugene he caused the events that led to him being there not to happen, which would suggest that hes not immune?
February 19, 2015 8:52 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #12
I think it makes more sense for a new Sarkhan to be Temur, since he spent all that time learning from their shamans when he came back to Tarkir. One issue, however, is that we've already been told that Khans block isn't a "wedge block", and that was just the focus of Khans of Tarkir. How this will restrict the options for multicolor cards in Dragons of Tarkir remains to be seen.
There's nothing stopping someone on Tarkir from being "shard" colors, it's just that they probably won't fit into any given clan if they are. This makes sense, since Sarkhan felt he was a misfit in the Mardu horde and left Tarkir as soon as his spark allowed him to get out of there.
When Sarkhan saved Ugin the time warp generated by Ugin's Nexus in the "bad future" stopped existing. It must have been actively holding him there in the past instead of just being a doorway, so he got pulled back into the present day (which is now the "good future") when it closed.
February 19, 2015 9:12 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #13
The fact that FRF wasn't wedge themed is enough to say that Khans block isn't a wedge block. There is nothing stopping DTK from being a wedge set as well. Then again there is nothing stopping it from being any other color combination as well, including 5 color. Maybe Sarkhan will be the first ever 5 color walker. His color scheme includes black as well on his bracers and he is kinda pale.
February 19, 2015 9:19 a.m.
Did we all miss the Uncharted Realms article where Sarkhan vanishes due to the paradox he created. Sarkhan as we knew him now never existed.
IF he does come back, obviously it will be in DTK, and he could easily be mono-red or will be either RB or RG depending on the story. Personally I see him going RG over RB as Sarkhan the Mad was RB and he will have been unaffected by Bolas in this new timeline.
It seems pretty obvious now from the Uncharted Realms articles that were getting dual colour themes in DTK what with the Dragons having altered the clans forever (to the extent that clan and Khan are outlawed words!)
Sarkhan fits in this world, as he always worshiped the dragons, and this new world seems to revolve heavily on humans following dragons and doing their bidding.
Story-wise DTK is going to be very exciting. The rise of Ugin and what Sorin has being doing for 1000 years on the new Tarkir, not that he would have to stay on the plane, he may have go to find Nahiri, alongside with the huge change in Tarkir itself is going to lead to some epic storytelling!
February 19, 2015 9:36 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #15
I read the Uncharted Realms article, but I don't think it makes sense that Sarkhan would be erased and "reset". With that big a change to the plane, it's too big a stretch to say that Sarkhan would ever have existed, period, in the "good future". Being held in the time warp protected him from the change in the time stream.
To me, the most important statements from the end of that article are "as his actions had irrevocably changed the conditions that had led to the nexus of a dead dragon Planeswalker in this chasm" and "temporal forces whisked Sarkhan away". That's where I'm getting my idea that he was being actively held in the past by the Nexus' time warp, rather than the Nexus just being a doorway.
February 19, 2015 9:49 a.m.
"as Sarkhan's presence became an impossibility"
"as his travel to the past of his own world had become an affront to the laws and flow of history"
"as all the events that had led to his world's history, and even had led to his own existence, had become nullified"
So you quote the stuff that supported your side, fair enough. But you missed these 3 that to me pretty clearly say his existence became impossible (first quote literally says that).
This time change has specifically effected Tarkir (WotC confirmed this at some point recently) so it means Sarkhan's actions outside of the plane can still take place, it's just his actions in the "future" Tarkir are different.
I don't see him getting a whole new planeswalker card really. He became a planeswalker under conditions that will no longer exist in the new Tarkir. I could see him being a legendary creature however. It depends if he even exists in the new Tarkir.
From how the article reads, and from other examples in fictional works and theoretical discussions on time travel and paradoxical effects in general, it does not seem like he was just wisked off through time. Even if the Gateway was just holding him there, what now about Sorin and anything he's doing? Any investigation he was doing is now screwed as he would be pulled back. Sorin would still be looking for Ugin in the adjusted timeline as Ugin is presumably not going to awaken until the timelines meet back up, so Sorin would be able to stay in the past due to not having effected anything directly on Tarkir regarding the time travel. Plus it even says about how when he turned up in the past, he could no longer feel the pressure of the Nexus.
February 19, 2015 10:40 a.m.
BlastercoolWeird says... #17
The PAX east panel description for the WOTC panel expressly states "Visit the Magic: The Gathering panel to see what future awaits Sarkhan upon his return and learn more about Dragons of Tarkir" Emphasis mine.
It's the same Sarkhan we all know and love, perhaps altered by time-travel but still the same guy, just spat out in the new timeline. Which makes sense because the Dragons of Tarkir timeline couldn't exist without Sarkhan making it happen, so it would make sense that the timeline can't afford to just wipe him from existence.
Also worth pointing out that the Sarkhan we see in the beginning of the Khans of Tarkir trailer is clearly this Sarkhan Unbroken, and it noticeably different from his Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker design or any other we've seen him in prior. Odd that he seems to have dragon scales on one of his shoulders, seems to me that Ugin's talk about Sarkhan becoming the dragon he's always revered is maybe more literal than expected.
February 19, 2015 11:44 a.m.
Nice catch, BlastercoolWeird:
"Some were born to fight, some were born to rule: I was never born at all."
!!!
Makes sense now!
February 19, 2015 11:49 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #19
@Maltanis: You're right that it's better to take all of those things into consideration, so I'll flesh out my thoughts more thoroughly. I know that some of my conclusions partly come from the fact that I'm reading these with a certain idea already in my head. I can understand if you're not convinced by any of this, but I should be more clear about what I'm thinking.
as Sarkhan's presence became an impossibility
This says his presence was an impossibility, not his existence. The two things do have a lot in common, but they're still different. It's not that he shouldn't be, but that he shouldn't be there right now. The specific reason for "why" he shouldn't be there gets some more explanation in later statements.
as his travel to the past of his own world had become an affront to the laws and flow of history
Something has gone wrong with the causality of Sarkhan's travel to the past, specifically. He can't be there if nothing sent him there or is holding him there.
as his actions had irrevocably changed the conditions that had led to the nexus of a dead dragon Planeswalker in this chasm
More detail related to the previous statement. Obviously Ugin's Nexus is key to Sarkhan's travel to the past. The power in it was generated by Ugin's corpse and his vengeful spirit, but neither of those things exist in the changed timeline.
as all the events that had led to his world's history, and even had led to his own existence, had become nullified
I can understand why this one is the strongest counter to my interpretation. It does clearly say the changed timeline doesn't support Sarkhan's existence. The new Tarkir never had the Sarkhan that existed in the old Tarkir. This brings up the classic problem of "well then who saved Ugin?" Sarkhan's personal version of the past and his history have to remain true, otherwise he couldn't have been present at the battle between Ugin and Nicol Bolas. Tarkir's past and its history no longer reflect any of of Sarkhan's personal past, except for his presence at the battle. The new Tarkir's "record" of Sarkhan doesn't say he doesn't exist or came from nowhere, but that he came to the past from the "bad future" and his involvement made him part of the new timeline.
temporal forces whisked Sarkhan away.
With the above, this is the statement that brings it all together and gives me my idea that the time warp generated by Ugin's Nexus is actively holding Sarkhan in the past with its magic, rather than just operating on him once to transport him into the past or passively acting as a doorway. Now that the Nexus no longer exists in a way to power the time warp, it shuts down and nature takes over.
February 19, 2015 1:54 p.m.
Yeah, there's a lot of compelling points there.
I think Korombos summed it up pretty nicely however. "...never born at all"
The only thing that's throwing it off for me is Sorin. We know he travelled through time as well, but have no idea what he observed or what he witnessed. Will he also be pulled back through the nexus?
He doesn't seem to have directly been involved with anything, so is it possible he was able to stay in the past? His immortality means it's not a problem him turning up in a thousand years.
And I just went and watched the Khans trailer, he's speaking in the past tense, so this has already happened to him as he's narrating. Seems to strongly support the "pulled back to the future" theory. Consider me converted!
February 19, 2015 5:33 p.m.
lothshteth says... #21
I doubt we will see another Vol in the same block. We will most likely see a new walker if we see one at all.
And, I'm pretty sure Sorin didn't travel back in time. If he did please provide a link to the article.
In terms of time travel. Things are pretty linear in WotC in that they really don't deal with alternate timelines or paradoxes created minus the Time Spiral shenanigans which was caused by a temporal catastrophe. When Karn travelled back to stop the phyrexians from killing Jhoira and the rest of the academy it was pretty straightforward. So, things will change for sure, but Vol will still exist and he should still be a walker since he is still himself and not another version.
February 19, 2015 7:16 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #22
Sorin didn't time travel, he just came to Tarkir to look for Ugin because he knew the Spirit Dragon used to spend most of his time there. Bitter Revelation shows Sorin discovering that Ugin is long dead. I thought I remember reading something that said Sorin left Tarkir after that, but I'm having the darnedest finding it.
February 19, 2015 8:16 p.m.
KindredDiscovery says... #23
What do we know about Sarkhan, really? First of all, his name. Sar-Khan. It means "Great Khan". As in, a Khan that could lead all the clans. Yasova mocked him for this because at the time (1,280 years ago) the very notion seemed ridiculous. Times have changed, though, and I could definitely see all the clans and dragons being unified under Sarkhan's guidance. Okay, maybe not unified, but at least under his protection. Maybe the now-revived Ugin leaves Tarkir with Sorin to beat some Eldrazi face, and leaves Sarkhan as the plane's guardian.
And then there's his colors. We know he was part of the Mardu in his early life. That means he's been exposed to red, black, and white philosophy. But he has also lived among and studied with Temur shamans. That potentially adds blue and green to his palette. Obviously the green rubbed off on him (Sarkhan Vol). Given the trauma he's experienced, I don't think white or blue are necessarily off the table. He may have turned over a new leaf, reinvented himself.
What am I driving at here? I think Sarkhan might be our first 5-color planeswalker. At the very least, I think he has the most potential for 5-colorness than any of the rest of our planeswalker cast. And with so much awesome mana fixing in the block, I can't imagine better format to support it.
February 20, 2015 8:19 p.m.
superkamiguru7506 says... #24
There's a few different theories on how time travel would work and I don't want them to completely screw up the lore because of the time travel thing. Just because it's a fantasy world that doesn't mean there are no rules I hope that however they decide time travel to work they can keep it consistent. On that not how is he able to travel in the first place isn't that why Karn was built because only metal can travel safely
February 22, 2015 11:22 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #25
To me, the thing with Karn just means that the particular method of time travel Urza was researching and developing was different than whatever Ugin did. For whatever reason, Urza's tech/magic only allowed elemental silver to pass through unharmed, so he built Karn. The rest of that story shows different types of time travel and distortion that work in different ways, from the fast and slow time bubbles scattered across Dominaria after the Academy was destroyed, to the phasing problem in and around Jamuraa caused by Teferi's continued experiments.
February 23, 2015 9:31 a.m.
For me, I would like to think that time-travel can vary not only by the means of travel, but that time-travel may vary based upon the Plane in which the time-travel occurred.
ie.: Time-Travel on Tarkir may allow for organic material to pass seamlessly from one time to another, whereas the same method of time-travel on Dominaria may only be suited for Metalic objects.
The difference in Time-Travel methods from one Plane to the next may also explain the differing results of a changed past. - Time-Travel on Tarkir did not cause temporal rifts, and only effected the history of Tarkir, not other Planes... though this may be due to the method of time-travel, it is also possible that this is simply a facet of how time-travel works on Tarkir. (possibly explaining why the Temur refer to the future as 'The Unwritten', and viewing it a more malleable than others may view it.)
Just my 2-cents on the topic.
February 23, 2015 10:16 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #27
That's a good point. Time itself may just work differently in Tarkir.
February 23, 2015 10:59 a.m.
Necrachilles says... #28
99% sure that Sarkhan in the trailer for Khans of Tarkir is the "post timeline change" Sarkhan, reflecting on the past.
take that as you will.
Sainted says... #2
I think the pin is far too Cartoony to use it as a fair indication of waht to expect. however with what you referred to with Sarkhan not having to deal with Ugin drama this could very well change something about the character. However as far as changing his colors IDC. Sarkhan is very much a Red/Green type of dude. I could see maybe a Red/White version but....ehhhhhh
February 18, 2015 9:54 p.m.