Oversoul
The Tentacled One
So yesterday I read the last chapter of the Magic Story for Dominaria. I mean, I saw most of this coming since they spoiled the card In Bolas's Clutches long before they got to this chapter. Anyway, I don't think it's quite worth a full article, but some of this stuff is bugging me...
First, I should note that I think the quality of the writing has generally gone up. That's kinda why I'm complaining in this manner in the first place. I mean, I take everything in the lore with a grain of salt and I try to take the perspective that it's all in good fun anyway. While I can't pinpoint it right now, I remember that over the past few years (at least), many of the story segments posted on the official website have been so riddled with typos, with stilted dialogue, and with amateurish melodrama that I couldn't really take it seriously anyway. I mean, I wrote that rant about Amonkhet, but most of that was about card flavor and my obsession with ancient Egypt. Anyway, I guess they finally hired an editor or something? I didn't really pay that close of attention, but the writing got better somehow.
The exact nature and limits of Karn's abilities has never been firmly established. He's a "silver golem" for the purposes of time travel, which seems to be irrelevant now. He's big and strong. He's extremely tough, possibly kinda invincible, and at the very least has survived a lot of trauma that would kill other beings. Also, back in the Invasion craziness, Karn got back old memories showing that he'd fought and killed lots of Phyrexians to protect Jhoira. Phyrexians were formidable, so it stands to reason that Karn was even more formidable. While we don't know exactly what made him such a potent killer, it seemed reasonable to assume that if Karn was built by Urza, his abilities should be impressive.
All of that was before Karn absorbed Urza's soul or whatever and became a planeswalker. And then after that, Karn created an artificial plane, Argentum. A probe he'd built to monitor events on Dominaria broke and became the Mirari, one of the most powerful magical artifacts ever. Of course, all of that was before "the Mending." Planeswalkers got powered down by "the Mending." While we were never overtly shown Karn's exact powers, the combination of his history, his accomplishments, his importance in the New Phyrexia story (the praetors sought, above all else, to control him), and the flashiness of the card Karn Liberated...
...all taken together gave the audience a kind of inferred notion that Karn is extremely powerful. What can he do and what can he not do? Well, we're not exactly sure. But he's not a chump. He's a nigh-invincible artificial planeswalker born from the death of Urza himself. He's going to war against the Phyrexians, the foremost recurring antagonists in the story. Karn is a badass. You do not mess with Karn. Is he more powerful than Nicol Bolas or is Nicol Bolas more powerful than him? Eh, we're never really told one way or another, but I always thought the implication was that Karn was so powerful that he was among those few elite beings providing the impetus for Nicol Bolas to keep his activities in the shadows.
So then Karn shows up on Dominaria, agrees to help, and proceeds to do something between "zilch" and "nothing." The story features this big showdown between the Weatherlight/Gatewatch alliance and the Cabal, and amid all of that action, Karn mostly just stands around talking. For the purposes of telling a compelling story, I get that we need conflict: it wouldn't do for the protagonists to simply recruit Karn and have him snap his fingers and zap the Cabal into oblivion. But there are a lot of other options! Have him leave to go fight the Phyrexians, like he intended. Introduce some other threat that he has to deal with. Throw in some mumbo jumbo about how he somehow lost most of his vast power due to circumstances in his war against the Phyrexians. Something. Anything! Don't just have him mope around and inexplicably stand helpless following the emergence of a ghost frog. Or if you do, you'd damn well better write something in explaining that Karn's great weakness was secretly always ghost frogs (for some reason).
When I wrote that ranting article about Amonkhet, I noted my frustration with the transformation of Nicol Bolas from a master manipulator into a bullheaded brute who charges headlong onto a new plane and fights eight gods at the same time. I won't rehash that here. But I do find the conclusion, obvious as it was, to the "Liliana's contract" arc of the story to be unsatisfying. It fits the character depictions of both Liliana and Nicol Bolas. Liliana prior to the establishment of her contract was desperate, less experienced than most other pre-mending planeswalkers, and vulnerable enough to blunder into an obvious trap. Nicol Bolas, always playing the long game, would have anticipated the possibility that Liliana might get her demonic masters killed, which would play into his hands, er, claws. In the context of those two characters, it makes sense. And it actually seems possible that Liliana's character was always intended to reach this point. But there's a bigger problem...
Mark Rosewater has pointed out that the lore and card design of Magic rely on resonance. They borrow concepts with the expectation that the audience will recognize them and that this familiarity will do the legwork for them, obviating the need for exhaustive explanations of what things are like and of what's going on. Liliana's contract is an example of this, the trope being most commonly known as a "deal with the Devil." You probably don't need me to tell you that. Everyone is familiar with the concept. In fact, I knew before I checked just now that the TV Tropes site would have a page called "Deal with the Devil" and that Liliana would be cited as an example. A key detail in the trope is that the mortal victim is in over his/her head. Through some character flaw, such as lust, cowardice, or greed, the victim excepts the bargain, but the bargain is skewed in favor of the devil. The mortal underestimated this magical villain, and must now pay a price. Generally, a "Deal with the Devil" ends in on of two ways...
This was a bit of a problem from the beginning, but not an insurmountable one. The people who initially set this up probably planned for Liliana's contract to be an ongoing part of the story for a long time, that it might occupy most of her attention and occasionally crop up. If her demons were more spread out, made to be more ominous, then I could see this working well as resonance. But the whole "Gatewatch" thing messed with this. Still, it seemed like the writers were trying to maintain resonance. There'd be some technicality, some foreshadowed turn of events, which would turn things in Liliana's favor. Taking stock...
First, I should note that I think the quality of the writing has generally gone up. That's kinda why I'm complaining in this manner in the first place. I mean, I take everything in the lore with a grain of salt and I try to take the perspective that it's all in good fun anyway. While I can't pinpoint it right now, I remember that over the past few years (at least), many of the story segments posted on the official website have been so riddled with typos, with stilted dialogue, and with amateurish melodrama that I couldn't really take it seriously anyway. I mean, I wrote that rant about Amonkhet, but most of that was about card flavor and my obsession with ancient Egypt. Anyway, I guess they finally hired an editor or something? I didn't really pay that close of attention, but the writing got better somehow.
The exact nature and limits of Karn's abilities has never been firmly established. He's a "silver golem" for the purposes of time travel, which seems to be irrelevant now. He's big and strong. He's extremely tough, possibly kinda invincible, and at the very least has survived a lot of trauma that would kill other beings. Also, back in the Invasion craziness, Karn got back old memories showing that he'd fought and killed lots of Phyrexians to protect Jhoira. Phyrexians were formidable, so it stands to reason that Karn was even more formidable. While we don't know exactly what made him such a potent killer, it seemed reasonable to assume that if Karn was built by Urza, his abilities should be impressive.
All of that was before Karn absorbed Urza's soul or whatever and became a planeswalker. And then after that, Karn created an artificial plane, Argentum. A probe he'd built to monitor events on Dominaria broke and became the Mirari, one of the most powerful magical artifacts ever. Of course, all of that was before "the Mending." Planeswalkers got powered down by "the Mending." While we were never overtly shown Karn's exact powers, the combination of his history, his accomplishments, his importance in the New Phyrexia story (the praetors sought, above all else, to control him), and the flashiness of the card Karn Liberated...
...all taken together gave the audience a kind of inferred notion that Karn is extremely powerful. What can he do and what can he not do? Well, we're not exactly sure. But he's not a chump. He's a nigh-invincible artificial planeswalker born from the death of Urza himself. He's going to war against the Phyrexians, the foremost recurring antagonists in the story. Karn is a badass. You do not mess with Karn. Is he more powerful than Nicol Bolas or is Nicol Bolas more powerful than him? Eh, we're never really told one way or another, but I always thought the implication was that Karn was so powerful that he was among those few elite beings providing the impetus for Nicol Bolas to keep his activities in the shadows.
So then Karn shows up on Dominaria, agrees to help, and proceeds to do something between "zilch" and "nothing." The story features this big showdown between the Weatherlight/Gatewatch alliance and the Cabal, and amid all of that action, Karn mostly just stands around talking. For the purposes of telling a compelling story, I get that we need conflict: it wouldn't do for the protagonists to simply recruit Karn and have him snap his fingers and zap the Cabal into oblivion. But there are a lot of other options! Have him leave to go fight the Phyrexians, like he intended. Introduce some other threat that he has to deal with. Throw in some mumbo jumbo about how he somehow lost most of his vast power due to circumstances in his war against the Phyrexians. Something. Anything! Don't just have him mope around and inexplicably stand helpless following the emergence of a ghost frog. Or if you do, you'd damn well better write something in explaining that Karn's great weakness was secretly always ghost frogs (for some reason).
When I wrote that ranting article about Amonkhet, I noted my frustration with the transformation of Nicol Bolas from a master manipulator into a bullheaded brute who charges headlong onto a new plane and fights eight gods at the same time. I won't rehash that here. But I do find the conclusion, obvious as it was, to the "Liliana's contract" arc of the story to be unsatisfying. It fits the character depictions of both Liliana and Nicol Bolas. Liliana prior to the establishment of her contract was desperate, less experienced than most other pre-mending planeswalkers, and vulnerable enough to blunder into an obvious trap. Nicol Bolas, always playing the long game, would have anticipated the possibility that Liliana might get her demonic masters killed, which would play into his hands, er, claws. In the context of those two characters, it makes sense. And it actually seems possible that Liliana's character was always intended to reach this point. But there's a bigger problem...
Mark Rosewater has pointed out that the lore and card design of Magic rely on resonance. They borrow concepts with the expectation that the audience will recognize them and that this familiarity will do the legwork for them, obviating the need for exhaustive explanations of what things are like and of what's going on. Liliana's contract is an example of this, the trope being most commonly known as a "deal with the Devil." You probably don't need me to tell you that. Everyone is familiar with the concept. In fact, I knew before I checked just now that the TV Tropes site would have a page called "Deal with the Devil" and that Liliana would be cited as an example. A key detail in the trope is that the mortal victim is in over his/her head. Through some character flaw, such as lust, cowardice, or greed, the victim excepts the bargain, but the bargain is skewed in favor of the devil. The mortal underestimated this magical villain, and must now pay a price. Generally, a "Deal with the Devil" ends in on of two ways...
- The victim is well and truly duped, dragged into Hell, etc.
- Through some extraordinary circumstances and against all odds, the victim turns the tables, defeating the Devil.
This was a bit of a problem from the beginning, but not an insurmountable one. The people who initially set this up probably planned for Liliana's contract to be an ongoing part of the story for a long time, that it might occupy most of her attention and occasionally crop up. If her demons were more spread out, made to be more ominous, then I could see this working well as resonance. But the whole "Gatewatch" thing messed with this. Still, it seemed like the writers were trying to maintain resonance. There'd be some technicality, some foreshadowed turn of events, which would turn things in Liliana's favor. Taking stock...
- Liliana defeated Kothophed by exploiting his overconfidence. He believed himself to have so much control that he armed her with the Chain Veil. He wasn't aware of the possible X-factor of the Raven Man's involvement, and he was overwhelmed by the power of the Chain Veil. So far, so good.
- Liliana ambushed Griselbrand on Innistrad, where he'd been conveniently trapped by Avacyn in the Helvault. Due to this circumstance, Liliana was fully prepared for the fight (and once more, armed with the Chain Veil), while Griselbrand was not. Lucky for her.
- Liliana tried to attack Razaketh on Amonkhet, but he was able to use her contract to immobilize her. Liliana survived through the power of friendship. Razaketh was prepared to deal with Liliana, but not with her "Gatewatch" buddies. He's caught off-guard and then Liliana has him eaten by an army of zombie crocodiles.