Will and Rowan are children of Algenus Kenrith, the High King, but not their mother.
Algenus was bewitched by a witch living in a cottage by a love potion, in order to fall in love and impregnate her
That was successful, the witch needed the child to kill it for its blood and use it for eternal youth potion (Mother Gothel, anyone?)
The twins were born and killed, but Linden, Algenus' wife, used her life-bound sword to revive them.
The book revolves also around Midsummer's hunt, by elves. Kind of "Lords and Ladies" by Pratchett vibe here, only the elves are basically good (with the exception of some hotheads) Oko transforms Algenus into a stag , then assumes the form of the elf queen to shoot him with an arrow, to incite war between elves of the Wilds and the Realm. In the end, Algenus is revived by his own life-bound sword that remained in the witch's cottage.
Along the course, Will saves Garruk from drowning and Garruk is cured from his curse by even stronger magic of Eldraine (some cauldron/well, I just skimmed through). He probably breaks from Oko's control before that, I have to read it thoroughly. The twins need Garruk to track the elven hunt and save their father (who is the target of the hunt after being turned into a stag).
Oko is revealed and almost subdued by Rowan, Will, Garruk & co. but he slips away. The Kenrith twins are revealed their true history and from the psychical trauma, their sparks ignite (together). Garruk, cured and well, promises the parents that he will track them and basically make sure they are safe. They helped him, he'll help them.
More details to follow.
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Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Garruk got cured by the Cauldron of Eternity which seems to be Eldraine Holy Grail.
The twin share a spark go it seems they need to planeswalk together.
EDIT
The twins being revived by the sword and giving them one shared life might have also been how they end up sharing a spark and might even be how could use the sword to come back
“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"
So this, and Throne of Eldraine as a whole, is happening before the events of Battlebond then? Or am I misunderstand what Caranthir meant by spark? Overall sounds interesting and thank you for the information. How is the writing compared to the WAR novel?
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So this, and Throne of Eldraine as a whole, is happening before the events of Battlebond then? Or am I misunderstand what Caranthir meant by spark? Overall sounds interesting and thank you for the information. How is the writing compared to the WAR novel?
Yes, Rowan and Will don't spark until the end.
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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"
Overall great writing very engaging. Elliot is able to again really able to draw you into her writing. I spent 3 hour being reading it and it didn’t feel all that long. I also feel like she does a better job giving out all the explosion that the setting and backstory for character very well. Loved her for Chronicles of Bolas and I’m so happy she was brought back for this.
Characters
I going from who I liked best to worst. I will say I didn’t outright hate or any characters so the character not mentioned I liked just didn’t love them
Will- Will ended up being my favorite character. Similar to current Jace Will is insightful and curious and due to that he was able to see the man under the monster in Garruk. I loved the moments he and Garruk Elliot did a great job at having Will and Rowan both work as a pair but still separate people. Will out of the two is the calm and knowledgeable one. He’s the one who when Rowan has a plan is able to figure out how to execute it. But while Rowan is out for glory, Will is out for knowledge wanting to learn and find out secrets. While a bit bland at just using ice magic, I like that it back up with swordplay and gives Will a combat aspect that we don’t see much in blue. Overall my favorite character.
Garruk
Damn. Just damn. Garruk story in Eldraine was beautiful. Garruk for the most part was a victim for most of his storyline. First off we get info on his mother who was a soldier who seems to be where Garruk giot his fighting skills while his nature magic side is from his father. This story really drove it home with Oko enslaving him and dehumanizing him. Then we finally get Will seeing his humanity and ended up helping Garruk himself. I like the curse free broken Garruk, the man who animals come to and feel claimed by. Also it seems his hate for other humans is leesen some by Will and Rowan since instead of hunting Oko (or Liliana) he chose first to get in on them. Reminded of how Kratos was in the Norse God of War, still a badass but no longer driven by rage and anger. I welcome Garruk back as a mono green druid and now maybe father/big brother like character. While I feel like its kinda rushed that Garruk suddenly got cured, it does fit with creative goal of closing loose ends of storylines that been going on for awhile (Eldrazi, Bolas, Liliana Demons, Jace and Chandra dealing with their pasts and homes ect). I’m really thinking Garruk might be a link to a bigger story arc and might end up joining the gatewatch with a similar goal as Nissa to protect life.
Elowin
I enjoyed the snarky and very blue Elowin. A few times I thought she was really Oko with how tell she was able to get through the Wilds, but I like the twist of how she was able to use a witch hex to survive instead and that she was the one who figured out Oko. I bet she will really loved to hear the secrets of where Will and Rowan went lol.
Oko
I enjoy Oko. I like him as an antagonist even if in person I’d want to hit him. He very much fills that Puck fey trickster, alien, cruel and playing a game in which he does his best to control the rules. As a few people wondered about the red or black, I relaized readin that Oko cruelness was a lack of empathy or caring about emotion of other something blue is known for though more typically a cold scientific minded person. We also saw he can be very charming and manipulative. We also learn he can also transform anyone he's touching when he transforms himself. Also his card is the most flavorful I think I’ve seen, he offers food to the protagonists, he transform their father into a stage (elk) before stealing him.
Rowan
I liked Rowan well enough. She is the typical fairy tale disney princess who “wants adventure in the great wide somewheres”. With WIll she is the bold one who often is the one who makes the (not always thought out) plans and push them into action, but on her own she seeks fame, glory and the freedom of knight hood. As I said with Will, Elliot did great on giving the twins great personalities that work well but still are their own people. While Idid dislike Rowan I just didn’t like her as much as the other characters.
Rest of the Kenriths
More a group but I love how the Kenrtih family is. First I love the message of having a blended family that loves and supports each other. I like that they don’t call Linden their stepmother but rather their mother and the other women their birth mother. I think Erec and Hazel are cute and would love to see them on cards. I also like the psudeo-twist on Lancelot/Mordred where Algenus has the twins out of wedlock and the mother is a witch. Linden using the “one use one life” sword magic on twins makes me wonder if that's why they share a spark. Overall I love the Kenriths and hope Will and Rowan show up again and we get to see their family on Eldraine again too.
Plane/Setting
While a bit differnt then I was hoping for in a fairy tale set I’m overall happy from the book presented the world. I really think the fairy tale elements are needed since the high fantasy elements felt a bit overdone without the odd mention of a fairy tale trope. While I haven't played a huge amount it very much felt like World of the Witcher. We have the Realms with its five courts and the Wilds where “bad” and wild magic is let run. People set off on knighty quest given by a Quest Beast. This is also how the high king is picked. From we story we find out the races of Eldraine include;
Goblins called Redcaps who keep the myth tradition of being blood stained and attack villages in mobs.
An Archon appears so it's likely no angels on the plane.
Elves who split into two groups, the ones in the Realms and the ones in the Wilds.
Some tension between elves and humans but it seems some of the elves are willing to work with decent human rules. They also do a wild hunt each midwinter.
Giants are shown as mostly more tame though not unsure if there are the more evil ones.
Small trickster fairies appear similar to ones normally found in magic, though they poof when killed.
Orge are mentioned as a threat to humans.
When a person dies in the WIlds they can become a lich who uses soul life sucking magic to make more of themselves.
Dragons are mentioned as an untamable creature on Eldraine following no elf or person.
Undine, Merfolk, who live in waters are will trade in secrets or information.
EDIT:
I also like the subversion of the "wicked stepmother" with Linden who while antagonist at point of the story its out of love and care for her children.
“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"
Overall great writing very engaging. Elliot is able to again really able to draw you into her writing. I spent 3 hour being reading it and it didn’t feel all that long. I also feel like she does a better job giving out all the explosion that the setting and backstory for character very well. Loved her for Chronicles of Bolas and I’m so happy she was brought back for this.
Characters
I going from who I liked best to worst. I will say I didn’t outright hate or any characters so the character not mentioned I liked just didn’t love them
Will- Will ended up being my favorite character. Similar to current Jace Will is insightful and curious and due to that he was able to see the man under the monster in Garruk. I loved the moments he and Garruk Elliot did a great job at having Will and Rowan both work as a pair but still separate people. Will out of the two is the calm and knowledgeable one. He’s the one who when Rowan has a plan is able to figure out how to execute it. But while Rowan is out for glory, Will is out for knowledge wanting to learn and find out secrets. While a bit bland at just using ice magic, I like that it back up with swordplay and gives Will a combat aspect that we don’t see much in blue. Overall my favorite character.
Garruk
Damn. Just damn. Garruk story in Eldraine was beautiful. Garruk for the most part was a victim for most of his storyline. First off we get info on his mother who was a soldier who seems to be where Garruk giot his fighting skills while his nature magic side is from his father. This story really drove it home with Oko enslaving him and dehumanizing him. Then we finally get Will seeing his humanity and ended up helping Garruk himself. I like the curse free broken Garruk, the man who animals come to and feel claimed by. Also it seems his hate for other humans is leesen some by Will and Rowan since instead of hunting Oko (or Liliana) he chose first to get in on them. Reminded of how Kratos was in the Norse God of War, still a badass but no longer driven by rage and anger. I welcome Garruk back as a mono green druid and now maybe father/big brother like character. While I feel like its kinda rushed that Garruk suddenly got cured, it does fit with creative goal of closing loose ends of storylines that been going on for awhile (Eldrazi, Bolas, Liliana Demons, Jace and Chandra dealing with their pasts and homes ect). I’m really thinking Garruk might be a link to a bigger story arc and might end up joining the gatewatch with a similar goal as Nissa to protect life.
Elowin
I enjoyed the snarky and very blue Elowin. A few times I thought she was really Oko with how tell she was able to get through the Wilds, but I like the twist of how she was able to use a witch hex to survive instead and that she was the one who figured out Oko. I bet she will really loved to hear the secrets of where Will and Rowan went lol.
Oko
I enjoy Oko. I like him as an antagonist even if in person I’d want to hit him. He very much fills that Puck fey trickster, alien, cruel and playing a game in which he does his best to control the rules. As a few people wondered about the red or black, I relaized readin that Oko cruelness was a lack of empathy or caring about emotion of other something blue is known for though more typically a cold scientific minded person. We also saw he can be very charming and manipulative. We also learn he can also transform anyone he's touching when he transforms himself. Also his card is the most flavorful I think I’ve seen, he offers food to the protagonists, he transform their father into a stage (elk) before stealing him.
Rowan
I liked Rowan well enough. She is the typical fairy tale disney princess who “wants adventure in the great wide somewheres”. With WIll she is the bold one who often is the one who makes the (not always thought out) plans and push them into action, but on her own she seeks fame, glory and the freedom of knight hood. As I said with Will, Elliot did great on giving the twins great personalities that work well but still are their own people. While Idid dislike Rowan I just didn’t like her as much as the other characters.
Rest of the Kenriths
More a group but I love how the Kenrtih family is. First I love the message of having a blended family that loves and supports each other. I like that they don’t call Linden their stepmother but rather their mother and the other women their birth mother. I think Erec and Hazel are cute and would love to see them on cards. I also like the psudeo-twist on Lancelot/Mordred where Algenus has the twins out of wedlock and the mother is a witch. Linden using the “one use one life” sword magic on twins makes me wonder if that's why they share a spark. Overall I love the Kenriths and hope Will and Rowan show up again and we get to see their family on Eldraine again too.
Plane/Setting
While a bit differnt then I was hoping for in a fairy tale set I’m overall happy from the book presented the world. I really think the fairy tale elements are needed since the high fantasy elements felt a bit overdone without the odd mention of a fairy tale trope. While I haven't played a huge amount it very much felt like World of the Witcher. We have the Realms with its five courts and the Wilds where “bad” and wild magic is let run. People set off on knighty quest given by a Quest Beast. This is also how the high king is picked. From we story we find out the races of Eldraine include;
Goblins called Redcaps who keep the myth tradition of being blood stained and attack villages in mobs.
An Archon appears so it's likely no angels on the plane.
Elves who split into two groups, the ones in the Realms and the ones in the Wilds.
Some tension between elves and humans but it seems some of the elves are willing to work with decent human rules. They also do a wild hunt each midwinter.
Giants are shown as mostly more tame though not unsure if there are the more evil ones.
Small trickster fairies appear similar to ones normally found in magic, though they poof when killed.
Orge are mentioned as a threat to humans.
When a person dies in the WIlds they can become a lich who uses soul life sucking magic to make more of themselves.
Dragons are mentioned as an untamable creature on Eldraine following no elf or person.
Undine, Merfolk, who live in waters are will trade in secrets or information.
Thanks for the great post, pal. I did not have enough time to read it thoroughly and enjoy it thoroughly yet, but I am stoked now even more.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
At what part(s)?
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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"
I enjoyed the story, probably more than the War of the Spark novel. The characters were all well-written, though I still want to kick Oko in the crotch so hard his testicles come out the top of his skull. Maybe it was a good thing that we previously didn't have a fairy planeswalker. I do wish that it had been in a more accessible format (the hoops I had to jump through compared to reading a paper book, I swear), but it worked out in the end. I'm glad the Garruk isn't cursed anymore, and I hope we get to see Will and Rowan in more stories.
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
At what part(s)?
The beginning and the ending mostly highlights his flaws in comparison to Lindon’s. Especially when Rowan gets angry at him.
I would have been happier with the Questing beast returning to recognize Lindon’s equality and receiving the title of High Queen at the end than to beat up on the High King and masculinity as a way to prop up Femininity and the Strength of Women. She clearly deserves the title.
Feminism and positive depictions of women in fiction doesn’t require focusing upon or attaching the negative re: men and masculinity. Nor does masculinity in vice versa.
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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
So Ono is basically Xenagos with Blue instead of Red right?
Yeah, Oko is basically what Xenagos could have been if not killed. He's less directly violent than Xenagos (blue instead of red), but even more manipulative. Xenagos caused chaos outright, Oko just nudges here and there and enjoys the chaos unravel by itself. Xenagos made Elspeth kill Daxos under a spell, Oko changed Algenus Kenrith to a stag and led it to be the target of the Midwinter hunt in order for the elves to slay it (compelled by spell and tradition) and by that incite the war between the Realms and the Wilds. But he e.g. ordered Garruk to mercilessly slay the King's entourage (two people) before transforming him, so it depends.
And whereas Xenagos was basically content with overthrowing Theros gods, Oko wants to topple every rule-bound sovereign (in his eyes, rules are tyranny), demask hypocrites, liars, false preachers etc.
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
At what part(s)?
The beginning and the ending mostly highlights his flaws in comparison to Lindon’s. Especially when Rowan gets angry at him.
I would have been happier with the Questing beast returning to recognize Lindon’s equality and receiving the title of High Queen at the end than to beat up on the High King and masculinity as a way to prop up Femininity and the Strength of Women. She clearly deserves the title.
Feminism and positive depictions of women in fiction doesn’t require focusing upon or attaching the negative re: men and masculinity. Nor does masculinity in vice versa.
Personally I didn't read that way.
In the beginning I saw it more that while Algenus is allowed to "human" and that Lindon was always being judged. As noted people where questioning her ability and right to rule while the king was missing despite her being a knight of four realms and being the second most qualified for the position. Less that he's a bad king and more that Lindon has to be perfect just to earn a bit of respect.
In the end with Rowan I see it as Rowan barley 18 (and red aligned) and she's (rightly)so hurt and angry that it caused her and Will to spark. She gonna say angry teenager ***** and does also yell at Lindon for not telling them although really Lindon did what I feel was the right and her respect her husband of when when to tell the twins.
The rest of the narrative, even after the twins spark, I feel doesn't reflect that much either. It really paints up Algenus as almost perfect since he such a fair and just ruler that even some of the elves wanna make peace and work within the Realms because of him.
I do wish the narrative could have had time to spend on the rape aspect but that revelation comes so close to the end I can see why they didn't have the time to wrap it up and wanted to focus on having a "Happy ever after" feel to ending with the King returned and Garruk going after the twins to make sure they are okay.
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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"
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
At what part(s)?
The beginning and the ending mostly highlights his flaws in comparison to Lindon’s. Especially when Rowan gets angry at him.
I would have been happier with the Questing beast returning to recognize Lindon’s equality and receiving the title of High Queen at the end than to beat up on the High King and masculinity as a way to prop up Femininity and the Strength of Women. She clearly deserves the title.
Feminism and positive depictions of women in fiction doesn’t require focusing upon or attaching the negative re: men and masculinity. Nor does masculinity in vice versa.
Personally I didn't read that way.
In the beginning I saw it more that while Algenus is allowed to "human" and that Lindon was always being judged. As noted people where questioning her ability and right to rule while the king was missing despite her being a knight of four realms and being the second most qualified for the position. Less that he's a bad king and more that Lindon has to be perfect just to earn a bit of respect.
In the end with Rowan I see it as Rowan barley 18 (and red aligned) and she's (rightly)so hurt and angry that it caused her and Will to spark. She gonna say angry teenager ***** and does also yell at Lindon for not telling them although really Lindon did what I feel was the right and her respect her husband of when when to tell the twins.
The rest of the narrative, even after the twins spark, I feel doesn't reflect that much either. It really paints up Algenus as almost perfect since he such a fair and just ruler that even some of the elves wanna make peace and work within the Realms because of him.
I do wish the narrative could have had time to spend on the rape aspect but that revelation comes so close to the end I can see why they didn't have the time to wrap it up and wanted to focus on having a "Happy ever after" feel to ending with the King returned and Garruk going after the twins to make sure they are okay.
These are some fair points, and in sad truth, women have to appear to be working 2x as hard or successfully to get the same cred as men in the workforce, and that would be an extra stressor atop of Lindon’s not having her 5th knighthood.
I also saw parallels between women often cutting their careers short for the sake of kiddos and Lindon’s sacrifice of her blade for the twins.
At the same time, and as you said, the high King’s previously being raped by the witch needed more pull at times. I cannot blame him for going a bit crazy and just wanting to get ‘away’. The trauma would’ve been terrible especially when you end up siring kids from it and being forced to sacrifice them or allow their sacrifice.
I’d go pretty mad myself!!
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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
I felt Oko was one of the better villains we've had in quite some time. Makes me want to build a deck around him. The writer protrayed him as far more devious and intelligent than even Bolas in the WAR book. Not genius-level intelligence, but you got the sense in reading about him that he was smarter than anyone else around him, and it made you nervous whenever he was in a scene.
I thought the cauldron scene with Garruk was difficult to understand, and I thought it was a bit easy to liberate him, but I'm happy to see rational Garruk again. Many happy returns!
Overall, the author fleshed out a world and gave me some characters I liked in a limited amount of space. A vast improvement on WAR. And I didn't miss the Gatewatch whatsoever. I'm actually far more interested in Garruk and the Kenrith Twins, and Oko, than any member of the Gatewatch. Like, I am fired up to see the adventures of these walkers.
Do any of the legendary creatures appear in the story?
As far as we know Algenus, Linden, The Questing Beast and Ayara.
Likely Yarvo for the cycle Ayara is in.
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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"
I felt Oko was one of the better villains we've had in quite some time. Makes me want to build a deck around him. The writer protrayed him as far more devious and intelligent than even Bolas in the WAR book. Not genius-level intelligence, but you got the sense in reading about him that he was smarter than anyone else around him, and it made you nervous whenever he was in a scene.
This is interesting because I partly agree but I never actually saw him as intelligent. He easily is smarter than most of the people he interacted with in the story, which isn't saying much as it includes a deranged Garruk, some children(17 is a child) nearly every adult proves to be smarter than him or at least smart enough not to listen to him. He is almost certainly regularly the most knowledgeable person in a room because he is the one running whatever scheme he's got everyone else wrapped up in and by nature of being a walker who is interested in knowing things he's better learned than plane bound people living on planes set in the dark ages where intelligence was a rare trait. Overall no part of his actions or schemes seem intelligent but they are great in their simplicity. Kidnap the king and trick people into killing him to start a war isn't complex and that makes it easy to get behind rather than the multistep rube goldberg machines that other scheming villains build to prove how smart they are.
I felt Oko was one of the better villains we've had in quite some time. Makes me want to build a deck around him. The writer protrayed him as far more devious and intelligent than even Bolas in the WAR book. Not genius-level intelligence, but you got the sense in reading about him that he was smarter than anyone else around him, and it made you nervous whenever he was in a scene.
This is interesting because I partly agree but I never actually saw him as intelligent. He easily is smarter than most of the people he interacted with in the story, which isn't saying much as it includes a deranged Garruk, some children(17 is a child) nearly every adult proves to be smarter than him or at least smart enough not to listen to him. He is almost certainly regularly the most knowledgeable person in a room because he is the one running whatever scheme he's got everyone else wrapped up in and by nature of being a walker who is interested in knowing things he's better learned than plane bound people living on planes set in the dark ages where intelligence was a rare trait. Overall no part of his actions or schemes seem intelligent but they are great in their simplicity. Kidnap the king and trick people into killing him to start a war isn't complex and that makes it easy to get behind rather than the multistep rube goldberg machines that other scheming villains build to prove how smart they are.
It could be that intelligent wasn't the most precise word. It's been a long day.
I read the story in scattered bits here or there, but to me it takes intelligence (tactfulness? street smarts?) to be able to study a foreign society for only a small space of time (a day or so?) and immediately come up with a plan that has a high likelihood of plunging the plane into war and chaos. He took all the info Rowan was vomitting out and knew what levers to pull. To us as readers, and to denizens of Eldraine, those levers might be obvious. But he was a brand new arrival, and quickly came to understand intricate relationships and long-simmering resentments. He also successfully played both sides of the possible conflict through understanding of their cultures and motivations. If it was so easy, one of the elves who wanted war for all these generations would have pulled something similar off, I suspect. But it didn't seem that easy to do, and Oko did it all while appearing perfectly relaxed about it. And all without knowing much about the plane before speaking with Rowan.
Some elves were suspicious of his motives, but not all. The human realms had no idea he even existed at all. Some random interloper almost caused a war. That's not something an individual of average intelligence could pull off. He may not be Bolas level genius, but he almost accomplished something Bolas would probably be impressed by. I can't think of a puppet-master in literature I've read who wasn't smarter than most if not all of the people they were manipulating.
Not saying your view is incorrect. Just supplementing my previous post.
He's clever no doubt but he's far more lucky than intelligent. He's also hardly a puppet master; outside of when he was using his shapeshifting the only people ever fooled by him into anything were Will and Rowan, as well as some hotheaded elves and they were only fooled into continuing to do the things they were doing. Everyone else was not moved by any of his actions. He happened to stumble upon two of the most knowledgeable and ignorant individuals on the entire plane. Then he didn't even manipulate them by reading their dispositions and adjusting to them but rather happened to have enough in common with one of them that they didn't see anything he did or said as suspicious despite a lot of it is very suspicious. It takes very little intelligence to take the information that these two sides are at war and here is one faction's king away from their castle to come up with his plan. His power set is exceptional for infiltration and assassination and as I said earlier he is very lucky to come across Will and Rowan rather than someone less knowledgeable or more competent.
Since garruk is finally cured will he reunite with gatewatch members (and probably join or whatever) someday and still do his new mission since he’s a good guy again
This questions more about the set I wonder if the birth mother of the twins will get a card (the wicked witch that raped the king by using love potion)
Will and Rowan are children of Algenus Kenrith, the High King, but not their mother.
Algenus was bewitched by a witch living in a cottage by a love potion, in order to fall in love and impregnate her
That was successful, the witch needed the child to kill it for its blood and use it for eternal youth potion (Mother Gothel, anyone?)
The twins were born and killed, but Linden, Algenus' wife, used her life-bound sword to revive them.
The book revolves also around Midsummer's hunt, by elves. Kind of "Lords and Ladies" by Pratchett vibe here, only the elves are basically good (with the exception of some hotheads) Oko transforms Algenus into a stag , then assumes the form of the elf queen to shoot him with an arrow, to incite war between elves of the Wilds and the Realm. In the end, Algenus is revived by his own life-bound sword that remained in the witch's cottage.
Along the course, Will saves Garruk from drowning and Garruk is cured from his curse by even stronger magic of Eldraine (some cauldron/well, I just skimmed through). He probably breaks from Oko's control before that, I have to read it thoroughly. The twins need Garruk to track the elven hunt and save their father (who is the target of the hunt after being turned into a stag).
Oko is revealed and almost subdued by Rowan, Will, Garruk & co. but he slips away. The Kenrith twins are revealed their true history and from the psychical trauma, their sparks ignite (together). Garruk, cured and well, promises the parents that he will track them and basically make sure they are safe. They helped him, he'll help them.
More details to follow.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
The twin share a spark go it seems they need to planeswalk together.
EDIT
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Does the story say what happened to
—Mowagh the Gwyllion, Fang Skulkin
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
Yes, Rowan and Will don't spark until the end.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Characters
I going from who I liked best to worst. I will say I didn’t outright hate or any characters so the character not mentioned I liked just didn’t love them
Will- Will ended up being my favorite character. Similar to current Jace Will is insightful and curious and due to that he was able to see the man under the monster in Garruk. I loved the moments he and Garruk Elliot did a great job at having Will and Rowan both work as a pair but still separate people. Will out of the two is the calm and knowledgeable one. He’s the one who when Rowan has a plan is able to figure out how to execute it. But while Rowan is out for glory, Will is out for knowledge wanting to learn and find out secrets. While a bit bland at just using ice magic, I like that it back up with swordplay and gives Will a combat aspect that we don’t see much in blue. Overall my favorite character.
Garruk
Damn. Just damn. Garruk story in Eldraine was beautiful. Garruk for the most part was a victim for most of his storyline. First off we get info on his mother who was a soldier who seems to be where Garruk giot his fighting skills while his nature magic side is from his father. This story really drove it home with Oko enslaving him and dehumanizing him. Then we finally get Will seeing his humanity and ended up helping Garruk himself. I like the curse free broken Garruk, the man who animals come to and feel claimed by. Also it seems his hate for other humans is leesen some by Will and Rowan since instead of hunting Oko (or Liliana) he chose first to get in on them. Reminded of how Kratos was in the Norse God of War, still a badass but no longer driven by rage and anger. I welcome Garruk back as a mono green druid and now maybe father/big brother like character. While I feel like its kinda rushed that Garruk suddenly got cured, it does fit with creative goal of closing loose ends of storylines that been going on for awhile (Eldrazi, Bolas, Liliana Demons, Jace and Chandra dealing with their pasts and homes ect). I’m really thinking Garruk might be a link to a bigger story arc and might end up joining the gatewatch with a similar goal as Nissa to protect life.
Elowin
I enjoyed the snarky and very blue Elowin. A few times I thought she was really Oko with how tell she was able to get through the Wilds, but I like the twist of how she was able to use a witch hex to survive instead and that she was the one who figured out Oko. I bet she will really loved to hear the secrets of where Will and Rowan went lol.
Oko
I enjoy Oko. I like him as an antagonist even if in person I’d want to hit him. He very much fills that Puck fey trickster, alien, cruel and playing a game in which he does his best to control the rules. As a few people wondered about the red or black, I relaized readin that Oko cruelness was a lack of empathy or caring about emotion of other something blue is known for though more typically a cold scientific minded person. We also saw he can be very charming and manipulative. We also learn he can also transform anyone he's touching when he transforms himself. Also his card is the most flavorful I think I’ve seen, he offers food to the protagonists, he transform their father into a stage (elk) before stealing him.
Rowan
I liked Rowan well enough. She is the typical fairy tale disney princess who “wants adventure in the great wide somewheres”. With WIll she is the bold one who often is the one who makes the (not always thought out) plans and push them into action, but on her own she seeks fame, glory and the freedom of knight hood. As I said with Will, Elliot did great on giving the twins great personalities that work well but still are their own people. While Idid dislike Rowan I just didn’t like her as much as the other characters.
Rest of the Kenriths
More a group but I love how the Kenrtih family is. First I love the message of having a blended family that loves and supports each other. I like that they don’t call Linden their stepmother but rather their mother and the other women their birth mother. I think Erec and Hazel are cute and would love to see them on cards. I also like the psudeo-twist on Lancelot/Mordred where Algenus has the twins out of wedlock and the mother is a witch. Linden using the “one use one life” sword magic on twins makes me wonder if that's why they share a spark. Overall I love the Kenriths and hope Will and Rowan show up again and we get to see their family on Eldraine again too.
Plane/Setting
While a bit differnt then I was hoping for in a fairy tale set I’m overall happy from the book presented the world. I really think the fairy tale elements are needed since the high fantasy elements felt a bit overdone without the odd mention of a fairy tale trope. While I haven't played a huge amount it very much felt like World of the Witcher. We have the Realms with its five courts and the Wilds where “bad” and wild magic is let run. People set off on knighty quest given by a Quest Beast. This is also how the high king is picked. From we story we find out the races of Eldraine include;
Goblins called Redcaps who keep the myth tradition of being blood stained and attack villages in mobs.
An Archon appears so it's likely no angels on the plane.
Elves who split into two groups, the ones in the Realms and the ones in the Wilds.
Some tension between elves and humans but it seems some of the elves are willing to work with decent human rules. They also do a wild hunt each midwinter.
Giants are shown as mostly more tame though not unsure if there are the more evil ones.
Small trickster fairies appear similar to ones normally found in magic, though they poof when killed.
Orge are mentioned as a threat to humans.
When a person dies in the WIlds they can become a lich who uses soul life sucking magic to make more of themselves.
Dragons are mentioned as an untamable creature on Eldraine following no elf or person.
Undine, Merfolk, who live in waters are will trade in secrets or information.
EDIT:
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Thanks for the great post, pal. I did not have enough time to read it thoroughly and enjoy it thoroughly yet, but I am stoked now even more.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Edit: my only criticism is that the author didn’t portray the High King in a very kindly light considering he was basically raped. He literally doesn’t do anything.
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
At what part(s)?
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
The beginning and the ending mostly highlights his flaws in comparison to Lindon’s. Especially when Rowan gets angry at him.
I would have been happier with the Questing beast returning to recognize Lindon’s equality and receiving the title of High Queen at the end than to beat up on the High King and masculinity as a way to prop up Femininity and the Strength of Women. She clearly deserves the title.
Feminism and positive depictions of women in fiction doesn’t require focusing upon or attaching the negative re: men and masculinity. Nor does masculinity in vice versa.
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
Yeah, Oko is basically what Xenagos could have been if not killed. He's less directly violent than Xenagos (blue instead of red), but even more manipulative. Xenagos caused chaos outright, Oko just nudges here and there and enjoys the chaos unravel by itself. Xenagos made Elspeth kill Daxos under a spell, Oko changed Algenus Kenrith to a stag and led it to be the target of the Midwinter hunt in order for the elves to slay it (compelled by spell and tradition) and by that incite the war between the Realms and the Wilds. But he e.g. ordered Garruk to mercilessly slay the King's entourage (two people) before transforming him, so it depends.
And whereas Xenagos was basically content with overthrowing Theros gods, Oko wants to topple every rule-bound sovereign (in his eyes, rules are tyranny), demask hypocrites, liars, false preachers etc.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Personally I didn't read that way.
In the beginning I saw it more that while Algenus is allowed to "human" and that Lindon was always being judged. As noted people where questioning her ability and right to rule while the king was missing despite her being a knight of four realms and being the second most qualified for the position. Less that he's a bad king and more that Lindon has to be perfect just to earn a bit of respect.
In the end with Rowan I see it as Rowan barley 18 (and red aligned) and she's (rightly)so hurt and angry that it caused her and Will to spark. She gonna say angry teenager ***** and does also yell at Lindon for not telling them although really Lindon did what I feel was the right and her respect her husband of when when to tell the twins.
The rest of the narrative, even after the twins spark, I feel doesn't reflect that much either. It really paints up Algenus as almost perfect since he such a fair and just ruler that even some of the elves wanna make peace and work within the Realms because of him.
I do wish the narrative could have had time to spend on the rape aspect but that revelation comes so close to the end I can see why they didn't have the time to wrap it up and wanted to focus on having a "Happy ever after" feel to ending with the King returned and Garruk going after the twins to make sure they are okay.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
These are some fair points, and in sad truth, women have to appear to be working 2x as hard or successfully to get the same cred as men in the workforce, and that would be an extra stressor atop of Lindon’s not having her 5th knighthood.
I also saw parallels between women often cutting their careers short for the sake of kiddos and Lindon’s sacrifice of her blade for the twins.
At the same time, and as you said, the high King’s previously being raped by the witch needed more pull at times. I cannot blame him for going a bit crazy and just wanting to get ‘away’. The trauma would’ve been terrible especially when you end up siring kids from it and being forced to sacrifice them or allow their sacrifice.
I’d go pretty mad myself!!
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 thought the cauldron scene with Garruk was difficult to understand, and I thought it was a bit easy to liberate him, but I'm happy to see rational Garruk again. Many happy returns!
Overall, the author fleshed out a world and gave me some characters I liked in a limited amount of space. A vast improvement on WAR. And I didn't miss the Gatewatch whatsoever. I'm actually far more interested in Garruk and the Kenrith Twins, and Oko, than any member of the Gatewatch. Like, I am fired up to see the adventures of these walkers.
I am content with the money I paid.
As far as we know Algenus, Linden, The Questing Beast and Ayara.
Likely Yarvo for the cycle Ayara is in.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
It could be that intelligent wasn't the most precise word. It's been a long day.
I read the story in scattered bits here or there, but to me it takes intelligence (tactfulness? street smarts?) to be able to study a foreign society for only a small space of time (a day or so?) and immediately come up with a plan that has a high likelihood of plunging the plane into war and chaos. He took all the info Rowan was vomitting out and knew what levers to pull. To us as readers, and to denizens of Eldraine, those levers might be obvious. But he was a brand new arrival, and quickly came to understand intricate relationships and long-simmering resentments. He also successfully played both sides of the possible conflict through understanding of their cultures and motivations. If it was so easy, one of the elves who wanted war for all these generations would have pulled something similar off, I suspect. But it didn't seem that easy to do, and Oko did it all while appearing perfectly relaxed about it. And all without knowing much about the plane before speaking with Rowan.
Some elves were suspicious of his motives, but not all. The human realms had no idea he even existed at all. Some random interloper almost caused a war. That's not something an individual of average intelligence could pull off. He may not be Bolas level genius, but he almost accomplished something Bolas would probably be impressed by. I can't think of a puppet-master in literature I've read who wasn't smarter than most if not all of the people they were manipulating.
Not saying your view is incorrect. Just supplementing my previous post.
He’s also very charismatic.
Edit: in fact, I’d wager his cleverness wouldn’t nearly be as effective if it weren’t for his charisma.
Where is Lindon’s card? I missed that.
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
We have her art from the very first load of Eldraine pictures Wizards provided. It is an educated guess that it is a card art.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
This questions more about the set I wonder if the birth mother of the twins will get a card (the wicked witch that raped the king by using love potion)
Oh another thing
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/187755151858/garruk-has-seen-his-colour-shift-away-from-black
Garruk looses his black ability he’s back to mono green