Just idly musing about what could happen on Theros following the deaths of Xenagos and Elspeth. I don't keep very good track of the actual written stories, so there could be some contradictions to what we already know did or did not happen (specifically if Ajani already has another destination in mind). I don't like the death of Elspeth, and this is my head canon until we revisit the plane and I can be proven otherwise.
Rescuing someone from the pits of the underworld is a well-established archetype of myths, and we even have Rescue from the Underworld showing that exact sort of flavor in Theros. It would be risky, but the underworld of Theros is a place that can conceivably be reached by the living, and can ultimately be returned from. Ajani already followed Elspeth all the way to Theros in the first place and helped her fight a god, and it's not unthinkable for him to go the extra mile and try to save her after her untimely back-stabbing at the hands of Heliod.
The whole ordeal with Xenagos has rocked the foundations for what a "god" really is on Theros, and the remaining pantheon is more wary about the strength of the mortal world. Ajani approaches Erebos ready to fight for Elspeth, and Erebos proposes a deal rather than risking his life in combat against someone who has already helped to dispatch a god. This deal can be any sort of typical strings-attached deal with the devil like your old Disney Hercules if you life, in which Erebos gives Ajani the chance to go in and save Elspeth, but never actually expects him to return alive.
Meanwhile, faith in Heliod is shaken due to his actions. His own champion is dead by his hands, and his followers are doubting him.
Ajani isn't so easily dealt with, and in true mythical-hero fashion he ascends from the pits of the underworld not as a zombie but as a god, shining brightly as he carries Elspeth out in his arms. Like the dawn of a new day, Ajani crests the horizon and usurps Heliod's position as a god of the rising sun, a symbol of new beginnings and the setting of the previous sun.
The leonin of Theros, having previously lost their faith in the gods, readily bad together beneath Ajani just as they did before.
It's a regrettable fact that Ajani is not one of the most popular planeswalkers in the game. From a mechanical point of view, this gives new purpose to Ajani as a god card rather than a planeswalker in much the same way that Xenagos changed. Elspeth is returned better than ever after some recovery. Some balance is created in Theros as the leonin now have their god representative, much like the gorgons, tritons, minotaurs, and centaurs all do. As for the fate of Heliod, he could be cast as part of the new set of villians, or be sent down some sort of path of humility or even mortality.
Of course, this is all just silly head canon musing. Just something interesting that I was thinking about.
Well, I'm fairly positive that the inevitable return to Theros will be centered around the quest for rescuing Elspeth out of the underworld. The trope is just too obvious to pass.
However, I'm not sure Ajani will become a god on Theros. I guess it makes sense somewhat with the fact that the leonin don't have an associated god, but on the other hand, how would Ajani even ascend? He has no motivation to and without an utterly complicated series of rituals it doesn't seem likely at all. I don't see him ascending just by accident. That would just cheapen Xenagos' entire story arc life.
Speaking of which, if we ever get back to Theros, they need to fill the RG god slot. It doesn't make any sense inlore, but the set structure kind of demands it, unless they choose not to print a majority of the gods anyway, which WotC probably won't do. And imagine they do introduce a RG god that appeared in the meantime, it would just make Ajani's ascendancy -if it really happens- much less meaningful.
Also given how Xenagos's Ascension made a huge mess of the plane, caused mass panic and destruction and a lot of hullabaloo it doesn't make sense for a Walker centered heavily in White to cause that level of problem. Especially when the more reasoned, marshaled, and controlled answer is to try and unseat the other Gods.
i prefer Elspeth becoming an agent/slave of erebos being let out of the underworld to carry out his bidding but ultimately still under his control.
I don't see why Erebos needs that, or what plot purpose it serves, or what he'd do with a planeswalking slave who could end up places he cannot follow.
i prefer Elspeth becoming an agent/slave of erebos being let out of the underworld to carry out his bidding but ultimately still under his control.
I don't see why Erebos needs that, or what plot purpose it serves, or what he'd do with a planeswalking slave who could end up places he cannot follow.
IIRC, the books said Xenagos fell into the underworld from Nyx.
i prefer Elspeth becoming an agent/slave of erebos being let out of the underworld to carry out his bidding but ultimately still under his control.
I don't see why Erebos needs that, or what plot purpose it serves, or what he'd do with a planeswalking slave who could end up places he cannot follow.
It will be interesting to see if Elsepth and Xengagos (if he isn't really dead) have a spark, since death normally strips a planeswalker of their spark.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Its obvious. Throw it out and make it so that Elspeth has taken the black white god's spot. She can become a god of expedient spirituality that gives the mortals free reign to worship only as they see fit rather than demanding it.
Xenagos's body fell from Nyx into the despair lands, which is where the entrance into the underworld is located, but not necessarily that he descended into the underworld when dying in Nyx explicitly.
I think Elspeth had something planned. She knew about The Returned from Weeping Rock and her visit to the Despair Lands with Daxos. Why *trade* her life for his, rather than just having him return? And why not specify his return as a full human with a soul and not as a Returned? Something makes me speculate that she seeks Daxos' mother in the Underworld of Theros, considering she and Daxos could not find her when they attempted to during The Silence. So she's doing it from within. And Daxos not being released as a full human may be a way she can either get out of her contract with Erebos, or perhaps change things for The Returned, who Ajani said he's tried to assist before, but never found a method of doing so.
there could be any number of interesting things they could have erebos want from other planes and it wouldn't hurt him that he isn't able to follow Elspeth as long as he has some way of making Elspeth want to return to him like say her mask thingie.
Here's a weird thought: Could Gideon be the son of Heliod? They both share an certain indestructibility about them, We know that Gideon's father wasn't around when Gideon was born and there is an entire trope of being the heroic offspring of deity common in Greek myth that Theros never hit.
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Wizards. listen. The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
Here's a weird thought: Could Gideon be the son of Heliod? They both share an certain indestructibility about them, We know that Gideon's father wasn't around when Gideon was born and there is an entire trope of being the heroic offspring of deity common in Greek myth that Theros never hit.
I've read a similar theory. I think it's possible personally and can't wait to see. Gideon as Theors Heracles! Would be neat.
Here's a weird thought: Could Gideon be the son of Heliod? They both share an certain indestructibility about them, We know that Gideon's father wasn't around when Gideon was born and there is an entire trope of being the heroic offspring of deity common in Greek myth that Theros never hit.
I've read a similar theory. I think it's possible personally and can't wait to see. Gideon as Theors Heracles! Would be neat.
Creative has already said that the Theros gods don't have childern with mortals. Anything "born" from the gods are the Nyx born.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
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Rescuing someone from the pits of the underworld is a well-established archetype of myths, and we even have Rescue from the Underworld showing that exact sort of flavor in Theros. It would be risky, but the underworld of Theros is a place that can conceivably be reached by the living, and can ultimately be returned from. Ajani already followed Elspeth all the way to Theros in the first place and helped her fight a god, and it's not unthinkable for him to go the extra mile and try to save her after her untimely back-stabbing at the hands of Heliod.
The whole ordeal with Xenagos has rocked the foundations for what a "god" really is on Theros, and the remaining pantheon is more wary about the strength of the mortal world. Ajani approaches Erebos ready to fight for Elspeth, and Erebos proposes a deal rather than risking his life in combat against someone who has already helped to dispatch a god. This deal can be any sort of typical strings-attached deal with the devil like your old Disney Hercules if you life, in which Erebos gives Ajani the chance to go in and save Elspeth, but never actually expects him to return alive.
Meanwhile, faith in Heliod is shaken due to his actions. His own champion is dead by his hands, and his followers are doubting him.
Ajani isn't so easily dealt with, and in true mythical-hero fashion he ascends from the pits of the underworld not as a zombie but as a god, shining brightly as he carries Elspeth out in his arms. Like the dawn of a new day, Ajani crests the horizon and usurps Heliod's position as a god of the rising sun, a symbol of new beginnings and the setting of the previous sun.
The leonin of Theros, having previously lost their faith in the gods, readily bad together beneath Ajani just as they did before.
It's a regrettable fact that Ajani is not one of the most popular planeswalkers in the game. From a mechanical point of view, this gives new purpose to Ajani as a god card rather than a planeswalker in much the same way that Xenagos changed. Elspeth is returned better than ever after some recovery. Some balance is created in Theros as the leonin now have their god representative, much like the gorgons, tritons, minotaurs, and centaurs all do. As for the fate of Heliod, he could be cast as part of the new set of villians, or be sent down some sort of path of humility or even mortality.
Of course, this is all just silly head canon musing. Just something interesting that I was thinking about.
However, I'm not sure Ajani will become a god on Theros. I guess it makes sense somewhat with the fact that the leonin don't have an associated god, but on the other hand, how would Ajani even ascend? He has no motivation to and without an utterly complicated series of rituals it doesn't seem likely at all. I don't see him ascending just by accident. That would just cheapen Xenagos' entire
story arclife.Speaking of which, if we ever get back to Theros, they need to fill the RG god slot. It doesn't make any sense inlore, but the set structure kind of demands it, unless they choose not to print a majority of the gods anyway, which WotC probably won't do. And imagine they do introduce a RG god that appeared in the meantime, it would just make Ajani's ascendancy -if it really happens- much less meaningful.
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
I don't see why Erebos needs that, or what plot purpose it serves, or what he'd do with a planeswalking slave who could end up places he cannot follow.
Xenagos didn't give up his spark to become a god;
http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/73487640842/so-xenagos-is-he-still-a-planeswalker-if-he
It will be interesting to see if Elsepth and Xengagos (if he isn't really dead) have a spark, since death normally strips a planeswalker of their spark.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I think Elspeth had something planned. She knew about The Returned from Weeping Rock and her visit to the Despair Lands with Daxos. Why *trade* her life for his, rather than just having him return? And why not specify his return as a full human with a soul and not as a Returned? Something makes me speculate that she seeks Daxos' mother in the Underworld of Theros, considering she and Daxos could not find her when they attempted to during The Silence. So she's doing it from within. And Daxos not being released as a full human may be a way she can either get out of her contract with Erebos, or perhaps change things for The Returned, who Ajani said he's tried to assist before, but never found a method of doing so.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
I've read a similar theory. I think it's possible personally and can't wait to see. Gideon as Theors Heracles! Would be neat.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Creative has already said that the Theros gods don't have childern with mortals. Anything "born" from the gods are the Nyx born.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"