For those who don't know, the term "canon" refers to things that have been described in source material or otherwise confirmed by the creators of a work. Basically, it's all the official stuff about plot, characterization, etc. "Fanon" and "Headcanon" are both terms for things that fans of a work make up for themselves. This includes things that can be assumed or deduced from canon, as well as things you just like the sound of that aren't directly contradicted anywhere else. For example, you could decide that Chandra loves ice cream - it never says anywhere she doesn't, right?
Here are some of the things I've come up with. Feel free to add your own!
We know that Ajani is albino and that his last name is Goldmane. My headcanon is that his twin brother Jazal had melanism and his last name was Glassmane, both for the alliteration and because Mesoamerican culture (which Naya was based off of) made heavy use of obsidian, black volcanic glass. And yes, I know genetics don't work that way. It's Magic!
Ashiok is always serene, polite, and soft-spoken, even as they inflict unspeakable torture on their victims. There's some support for this in the handful of quotes by them on cards and in Uncharted Realms, but I'm pretty sure it's not official. Ashiok is also deeply amused when fans argue over what pronouns to refer to them by.
Koth survived his attack on the Praetors, purposefully leading Elspeth to think he committed suicide so she wouldn't try to return and help him. He's still fighting the good fight, but Elspeth's account to Ajani was correct: the rest of the Mirran Resistance has been destroyed. Elesh Norn now rules as the Mother of Machines.
Sarkhan's mental state is the result of Bolas hitting him with his mind-warping touch attack. This seems like common sense, but I don't think it's ever been directly confirmed.
Sorin can use his sangromancy abilities to control other people by manipulating the blood in their bodies, bloodbender-style. He can also cut himself to shape his own blood into weapons if he wanted, though he naturally prefers to use his sword.
Since we have basically no information on Tamiyo, I've got a lot of headcanon about her! She's the author of all the Planeswalker's Guides, using the ability to cloud people's minds to her presence to observe them unnoticed. She's very cheerful and idealistic, being able to look at the Phyrexians and see them as a fascinating culture just as valid as any other that needs to be documented. She writes the Guides for her superiors at Oboro, meaning that the Soratami have a greater knowledge of other planes than any other group of non-'walkers in the multiverse. She's also something of a tomboy by Soratami standards, wearing pants and mucking about in the field like that.
What do you guys think about my ideas? More importantly, what's some of your headcanon for our favorite game?
Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
Arkhos is the plane where all the cards that got cut during Theros development exist. Also Krond the Dawn Clad and Vela the Night Clad's homeplane.
The cat from Diminish/Enlarge is a sapient cat planeswalker. It is even more self-absorbed than any cat from our world and also much smarter, so it comes off as a tiny UG sociopath to most humans.
Elspeth is from Moag, that was finally fully seized by Phyrexians after centuries of war (took much longer than Mirrodin because no Suns).
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that headcanon and fanon are by definition not official canon, so don't go trying to use fanon to contradict actual known information.
Also, Ashiok only uses the royal we in my head, and Test of Metal was only a dream in Tezzeret's head while he was in Bolas' Magical Bacta Tank, which is why it was so disjointed.
Oh, and I moved the thread to speculation, because that's kind of the point of headcanon/fanon--speculating to fill in details we haven't been given by the actual canon.
Thanks, Kaburi! I like the idea of Ashiok using the royal we, too.
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Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
Now I have the image of Ashiok (using Him's voice ) in my head saying things like "We find the texture of your deepest fears exquisite, child! Such delicious pain! Such sumptuous darkness! We will savor them like a fine wine," while stroking Elspeth's cheek with the back of a hand. (It doesn't necessarily have to be Ashiok's hand...)
I've always had it in my head that Jhoria and Jodah are touring the multiverse on Venser's abulator, enjoying a long romance while seeing the sights of greater Dominia. They got one of the rare happy endings in Magic.
My only prevalent "headcanon" is that Garruk is indeed from Shandalar. I don't know why it matters, but its convenient, so, yeah. Garruk is Shandalarian because reasons.
Also, officially, in my headcanon Chandra does love ice cream, but her favorite flavor is constantly changing. One week she loves strawberry, the next, if you bring her strawberry, she melts it and your face in anger and swears that she'll only eat mint chocolate chip.
I'm actually slowly figuring out my headcanon about Arkhos. Since I have been going over in my head about a merfolk Planeswalker who hails from Arkhos and lived inside of the Lethe Lake and the part I'm not sure of is A. What happens to these so-called memories that people lose when they make contact with the lake? Are they just gone, or are they washed into the lake itself? B. What would happen to a merfolk that lived there naturally? Would they be immune? Would they always be amnesiac? Depending on A, would memories of others affect the residents of the lake? If A is the case, and immunity was the case, my take is that his spark would ignite upon making a mana bond with River of Tears perhaps memories flow narrowly to or from the lake and those memories all rushed into said merfolk. So my headcanon is the potential nature of the lake and river.
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3WWU, 2GWW, and 4RWW! These were the mana costs chosen to summon the perfect little angel! But Professor Avacyn accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction! Chemical x Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!
My head canon says that Tetsuo became vilified by greater Madara for allowing the nekoru to takeover. The other primevals were killed outright or set themselves up as demigods to whomever would bend the knee. The voice Karona heard at the black portal was an especially powerful Yawgmoth Demon, while Teferi was so entrenched in experimenting with that he appeared at the white portal.
Sarkhan's mental state is the result of Bolas hitting him with his mind-warping touch attack. This seems like common sense, but I don't think it's ever been directly confirmed.
It's strongly suggested to be a existential crisis since he's found what is probably the most powerful dragon ever, like he wanted, but it doesn't act like a dragon should.
Sorin can use his sangromancy abilities to control other people by manipulating the blood in their bodies, bloodbender-style. He can also cut himself to shape his own blood into weapons if he wanted, though he naturally prefers to use his sword.
My headcanon:Arkhos is the plane where all the cards that got cut during Theros development exist. Also Krond the Dawn Clad and Vela the Night Clad's homeplane.The cat from Diminish/Enlarge is a sapient cat planeswalker. It is even more self-absorbed than any cat from our world and also much smarter, so it comes off as a tiny UG sociopath to most humans.Elspeth is from Moag, that was finally fully seized by Phyrexians after centuries of war (took much longer than Mirrodin because no Suns).
The cat is proven to not be a planeswalking pet feline.
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3WWU, 2GWW, and 4RWW! These were the mana costs chosen to summon the perfect little angel! But Professor Avacyn accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction! Chemical x Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!
Aw. That makes me sad. Cats were probably the only real animals I imagined would be popular enough to make a non-human PW out of (wolves are unlikely because it'd make more sense to just make a Werewolf Planeswalker).
Leonin, but, yeah. Also, it's probably more agreeable than most fanon, but I get the feeling Sorin was before he created Avacyn and became mono-black after doing so, and the CARD Sorin actually depicts Sorin after Avacyn was released and her pure white mana resonated with its source, making him applicably during the rest of the block. Considering vampires are spread out amongst red and black, how come Jeleva and Sorin are and in addition to and/or ?
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3WWU, 2GWW, and 4RWW! These were the mana costs chosen to summon the perfect little angel! But Professor Avacyn accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction! Chemical x Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!
I think it's a simple case of motives and profession. Jeleva is a vampire who happens to take interest in the magical arts, while Sorin as a planeswalker feels responsible for keeping the balance of the plane because unlike the other vamps, he knows the consequences of over predation.
Oh, here's another one I forgot! Tezzeret and Dack are both lefties, and Elspeth is ambidextrous. In the art they appear in, Dack is almost always shown using his left hand, and Elspeth seems to alternate. Tezzeret is clearly shown using his left hand to work on repairing his etherium arm in the alternate promo Tinker.
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Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
Oh, here's another one I forgot! Tezzeret and Dack are both lefties, and Elspeth is ambidextrous. In the art they appear in, Dack is almost always shown using his left hand, and Elspeth seems to alternate. Tezzeret is clearly shown using his left hand to work on repairing his etherium arm in the alternate promo Tinker.
I'm not trying to prove/disprove anything, but my way of looking at it is the left-handed thing is a misconception based on the fact their right hands are altered... but making them actually left handed would be the right thing to do for their characters.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
3WWU, 2GWW, and 4RWW! These were the mana costs chosen to summon the perfect little angel! But Professor Avacyn accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction! Chemical x Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!
Well, with Tezzeret he probably needed to do quite a lot of intricate fine manipulation to infuse one of his arms with etherium. It makes sense he'd pick his non-dominant arm so he could use his dominant hand to do the work.
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Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
And in Dack's case, he was caught stealing and had his right arm dipped in boiling oil.
He was "caught red-handed" as it were.
I don't know how much it hurts to have your arm dipped in a boiling fluid long enough to permanently scar the tissue, but it might affect how he uses that arm.
Oh yeah, my Vorthosian headcanon: Wizard's Tower is itself is a planeswalking facility that contains a library (spells) and battleground, as well as its own system of bequeathing mana bonds to would-be mages.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
3WWU, 2GWW, and 4RWW! These were the mana costs chosen to summon the perfect little angel! But Professor Avacyn accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction! Chemical x Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!
Ajani's brother Jazal had confirmed golden fur. I think headcanons are great, but not when they directly contradict the actual canon. (Source: Alara Unbroken, page 49)
That being said, my own headcanon is that Domri gives silly gruul-ish nicknames to different animals he meets whenever he travels, and when and if he returns to planes, he tries to find those animals and they tackle each other.
sometimes confirmed canon information is obscure, so I take it as an honest mistake and thank those who point it out.
Also, interpreting aspects of canon is a fine line between canon and fanon/headcanon.
(this goes for fandom in general, not just MTG)
In my headcanon, Chandra had a healthy, monogamous relationship with a blackberry and apple tart. This is how she became such a skillful pie romancer.
In all seriousness though, I know nowhere near enough about the multiverse to have strong head canons, but the one I do have is that I like to think Tamiyo distances herself from the other Moonfolk of Kamigawa not only because of her spark, but because she frowns upon the general disapproval of other species that, IIRC, most Moonfolk share.
In my personal headcanon, each natural world has a worldsoul, but on most planes it is dormant and it only awakens if there is a serious event going on that would threaten the plane as a whole. (For instance, Alara breaking into five shards.)
This world soul is also the reason why planes don't collapse like artificial planes do. Oldwalkers could emulate the processes of a world soul, but in the neowalker age, you'd need a powerful being to completely give up its former life to replace the world soul and save an artificial world from destabilizing.
I also see the fact that Zendikar's "immune system" is reacting to the Eldrazi as some sort of evidence for the world soul of Zendikar fighting back (but not yet manifesting).
Here are some of the things I've come up with. Feel free to add your own!
We know that Ajani is albino and that his last name is Goldmane. My headcanon is that his twin brother Jazal had melanism and his last name was Glassmane, both for the alliteration and because Mesoamerican culture (which Naya was based off of) made heavy use of obsidian, black volcanic glass. And yes, I know genetics don't work that way. It's Magic!
Ashiok is always serene, polite, and soft-spoken, even as they inflict unspeakable torture on their victims. There's some support for this in the handful of quotes by them on cards and in Uncharted Realms, but I'm pretty sure it's not official. Ashiok is also deeply amused when fans argue over what pronouns to refer to them by.
Koth survived his attack on the Praetors, purposefully leading Elspeth to think he committed suicide so she wouldn't try to return and help him. He's still fighting the good fight, but Elspeth's account to Ajani was correct: the rest of the Mirran Resistance has been destroyed. Elesh Norn now rules as the Mother of Machines.
Sarkhan's mental state is the result of Bolas hitting him with his mind-warping touch attack. This seems like common sense, but I don't think it's ever been directly confirmed.
Sorin can use his sangromancy abilities to control other people by manipulating the blood in their bodies, bloodbender-style. He can also cut himself to shape his own blood into weapons if he wanted, though he naturally prefers to use his sword.
Since we have basically no information on Tamiyo, I've got a lot of headcanon about her! She's the author of all the Planeswalker's Guides, using the ability to cloud people's minds to her presence to observe them unnoticed. She's very cheerful and idealistic, being able to look at the Phyrexians and see them as a fascinating culture just as valid as any other that needs to be documented. She writes the Guides for her superiors at Oboro, meaning that the Soratami have a greater knowledge of other planes than any other group of non-'walkers in the multiverse. She's also something of a tomboy by Soratami standards, wearing pants and mucking about in the field like that.
What do you guys think about my ideas? More importantly, what's some of your headcanon for our favorite game?
Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
Arkhos is the plane where all the cards that got cut during Theros development exist. Also Krond the Dawn Clad and Vela the Night Clad's homeplane.
The cat from Diminish/Enlarge is a sapient cat planeswalker. It is even more self-absorbed than any cat from our world and also much smarter, so it comes off as a tiny UG sociopath to most humans.
Elspeth is from Moag, that was finally fully seized by Phyrexians after centuries of war (took much longer than Mirrodin because no Suns).
Also, Ashiok only uses the royal we in my head, and Test of Metal was only a dream in Tezzeret's head while he was in Bolas' Magical Bacta Tank, which is why it was so disjointed.
Oh, and I moved the thread to speculation, because that's kind of the point of headcanon/fanon--speculating to fill in details we haven't been given by the actual canon.
@_kaburi_ on Twitter
Special thanks to Serrot_29 for Catbug'mrakul!
Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
I've always had it in my head that Jhoria and Jodah are touring the multiverse on Venser's abulator, enjoying a long romance while seeing the sights of greater Dominia. They got one of the rare happy endings in Magic.
@_kaburi_ on Twitter
Special thanks to Serrot_29 for Catbug'mrakul!
Also, officially, in my headcanon Chandra does love ice cream, but her favorite flavor is constantly changing. One week she loves strawberry, the next, if you bring her strawberry, she melts it and your face in anger and swears that she'll only eat mint chocolate chip.
It's strongly suggested to be a existential crisis since he's found what is probably the most powerful dragon ever, like he wanted, but it doesn't act like a dragon should.
Blood-based weapony is a-go.
Level 1 Judge
I write flavor articles for RoxieCards.
I play and judge at Giga Bites Cafein Marietta, Georgia.
The cat is proven to not be a planeswalking pet feline.
Leonin, but, yeah. Also, it's probably more agreeable than most fanon, but I get the feeling Sorin was before he created Avacyn and became mono-black after doing so, and the CARD Sorin actually depicts Sorin after Avacyn was released and her pure white mana resonated with its source, making him applicably during the rest of the block. Considering vampires are spread out amongst red and black, how come Jeleva and Sorin are and in addition to and/or ?
Tamiyo has buckteeth like a rabbit.
Level 1 Judge
I write flavor articles for RoxieCards.
I play and judge at Giga Bites Cafein Marietta, Georgia.
Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
I'm not trying to prove/disprove anything, but my way of looking at it is the left-handed thing is a misconception based on the fact their right hands are altered... but making them actually left handed would be the right thing to do for their characters.
Xantcha, Phyrexian Reject
Jodah, Archmage Eternal
Tovolar, Howlpack Alpha
Pivlic, Orzhov Informant
Crixizix, Master Engineer
Feather, Boros Peacekeeper
Marisi Coilbreaker
O-Kagachi
Gix, Phyrexian Praetor
Karn, Father of Machines
Yawgmoth, Father of Machines
Serra, Mother of All Angels
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
Leshrac the Nightwalker
Jeska, the Thrice-Touched
Elspeth Returned
Crucius the Mad
Taysir the Infinite
Urza's Head (Unglued!)
He was "caught red-handed" as it were.
I don't know how much it hurts to have your arm dipped in a boiling fluid long enough to permanently scar the tissue, but it might affect how he uses that arm.
Level 1 Judge
I write flavor articles for RoxieCards.
I play and judge at Giga Bites Cafein Marietta, Georgia.
That being said, my own headcanon is that Domri gives silly gruul-ish nicknames to different animals he meets whenever he travels, and when and if he returns to planes, he tries to find those animals and they tackle each other.
Also, interpreting aspects of canon is a fine line between canon and fanon/headcanon.
(this goes for fandom in general, not just MTG)
Vintage: Dredge | Legacy: Burn, Goblins, Soldier | Standard: Mono-Red Aggro
Commander: Nicol Bolas, Sliver Overlord, Rafiq
Casual: Selesnya Saproling Smackdown, Izzet Labs, Rebel
Played since June 2004, mostly inactive June 2011 to March 2018
Other usernames include AlanFromRochester, homerthebeerbaron
MTG checklists from Alpha to Ravnica Allegiance - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/other-magic-products/third-party-products/805324-checklists-for-everything-from-alpha-to-ravnica
In all seriousness though, I know nowhere near enough about the multiverse to have strong head canons, but the one I do have is that I like to think Tamiyo distances herself from the other Moonfolk of Kamigawa not only because of her spark, but because she frowns upon the general disapproval of other species that, IIRC, most Moonfolk share.
This world soul is also the reason why planes don't collapse like artificial planes do. Oldwalkers could emulate the processes of a world soul, but in the neowalker age, you'd need a powerful being to completely give up its former life to replace the world soul and save an artificial world from destabilizing.
I also see the fact that Zendikar's "immune system" is reacting to the Eldrazi as some sort of evidence for the world soul of Zendikar fighting back (but not yet manifesting).