Fairly apt image for you don't you think? Especially based on your past post history and because you just went and glossed over what I also said at the end my post:
Quote from Thief »
Look I'm still going to enjoy her character even if she is a Sue because I'm not going to let that taint what I view of her. Its kind of like the people who get flustered about her being considered a villain, which she clearly is, but associate that as a negative connotation instead of rolling with it and enjoying the character that way. Nahiri is similar to Liliana in being a villain but can still have fans because they are an interesting character.
Another issue I might add is that: Because Ravnica is part of this large wheel that gets spun to see where we land on next, we don't sit on a plane longer than we have to. That instead of us getting to learn about many minor planeswalker characters in the lore and then those characters dying to the elderspell, we instead just see a wispy spark with what might as well have a number attached to it like 'Planeswalker Spark #1333', which doesn't matter to the average person. Its also a hurdle in writing stories that the greater the devastation the harder it is for the average person to wrap their mind around the very concept. Sure a planet could be blown up with millions on it, that it might elicit some emotional response, but its not going to be as hard felt as something that hits closer to home.
To give a perfect example the set has provided: 1000 Nameless Planeswalkers Vs 1 Dack Fayden.
As consider that while there are deaths in the thousands, you and me are not really attached to another nobody dying that makes up a statistic. But what clearly struck a cord with people was Dack Fayden dying. A character that only people who read the comics, played legacy, played vintage would even known.
See, I don't see that as an issue, as much as what is often effective storytelling when making a series.
Once again, look at the Lord of the Rings books (and movies, I suppose). We only single two major characters actually die. Boromir, and Theoden. That's it. Throughout the entire series, with major battle during intense warfare where people are dying all around the protagonists, only a pair of them die.
Why so few?
Because in these longer stories, especially ones involving war, you can show many people dying in the background, and the stakes might not seem as high to start with. Then someone important dies in a major battle. Theoden. Dack. That pulls you into the moment of seeing someone you recognize die, and also highlighting that oh $%#!&, all those other people in the background are dying, too. Here's someone who's story we DO know paying the ultimate cost. Well, all those other people who have full lives and stories we'll never get to hear also had their life snuffed out.
Killing a Domri to make the stakes of spark harvesting being lethal puts the ball in motion.
Warfare going on with untold numbers dying pulls attention to the background.
Sparks flying to the Elderspell shows you that a disturbingly large number of planeswalkers whose stories we do not, and will now never know, are also dying, just like Domri.
Dack dying pulls it into focus that this means anyone we know could also die.
Now the sparks flying in the background have more meaning, because Dack made it apparent that damn, these people are also planeswalkers, who have wandered the multiverse on their own adventures, within their own story, and their lives are being snuffed out left and right, and we can actually physically SEE the essence of their lives flying toward this threat, Bolas, powering the spell.
Just like seeing someone like Theoden dies puts the stakes of all the nameless soldiers and knights perishing in this terrible war who we've never met, and will never know, into focus. Theodon shows that any one of the people in this war can die.
Gideon pays the ultimate price by sacrificing himself to try to save those he cares about, showing that even the heroes, the protagonists, had their lives at stake in this.
Boromir pays the ultimate price by sacrificing himself to try to let the Fellowship escape, showing that even the heroes, the protagonists, had their lives at stake in this.
See, all the planeswalkers put on cards?
Those are the centers of the story, and it's a loooooong, ongoing story, like a major serial. So like Avatar, the Last Airbender types of long-term storytelling, battles in ongoing warfare going on all around the whole time. Yet, with basically none of the protagonists themselves dying. Not even many of the side characters.
Because as the story ends, we, the reader, the viewer, see that these were the people whose story we were seeing the entire time, possibly being told by them, individually or collectively, in the aftermath.
The planeswalkers we see in print are, by and large, the major focal points of the narrative. Some will die here and there, but on the whole, as with the vast majority of long-term storytelling serials, overwhelmingly they will not. Yet, the background characters, including the unnamed, can quite ably show stakes.
It seems to me that an awful lot of people are, in the current time we're in, used to absurdly high-stakes narratives like The Walking Dead and A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), which are extreme outliers all said and done, are the best way to show stakes. When that is demonstrably not remotely close to the case.
So, much like a lot of ongoing narratives at the moment, it seems an awful lot of people built narratives up in their head tremendously. And of course, as is virtually always the case, those narratives will not be matched by the narratives that tend to be told on the page or on screen, save in those extreme outliers like a Song of Ice and Fire.
But the very fact that many, many, many planeswalker sparks are portrayed as flying to power the Elderspell means an awful lot of people on par with the 35 planeswalkers printed in the set who survived whose stories we've never heard, died in this war. Meaning Bolas largely carried through with his threat, and had he not been beaten, it would have ended extremely poorly for the Multiverse. Those are stakes. It's ok to not like how the story was told, but the consistent assertions that there were no stakes, or that the stakes mostly being shown by off-screen deaths of the unknown is "wrong" or "bad storytelling" demonstrably flies in the face of some of the greatest narratives of this type ever written. Where the protagonists survive these horrors as others do not, save the day or simply survive to the end, yet the stakes remained there the whole time. While the Magic narrative is relatively middle-of-the-road and not particularly special, all said, the decision to only kill off a handful of protagonists while killing off scores of powerful people in the background, does not a low-stakes narrative make.
Excuse me, I was talking about minor characters and how their death actually meant something compared to a statistic and how the average person cares more about that. Best case scenario, the sparks are the equivalent of the backup for Dack Fayden who is the equivalent of the main singer. They only exist to emphasis something to the audience and nothing more.
Another issue I might add is that: Because Ravnica is part of this large wheel that gets spun to see where we land on next, we don't sit on a plane longer than we have to. That instead of us getting to learn about many minor planeswalker characters in the lore and then those characters dying to the elderspell, we instead just see a wispy spark with what might as well have a number attached to it like 'Planeswalker Spark #1333', which doesn't matter to the average person. Its also a hurdle in writing stories that the greater the devastation the harder it is for the average person to wrap their mind around the very concept. Sure a planet could be blown up with millions on it, that it might elicit some emotional response, but its not going to be as hard felt as something that hits closer to home.
To give a perfect example the set has provided: 1000 Nameless Planeswalkers Vs 1 Dack Fayden.
As consider that while there are deaths in the thousands, you and me are not really attached to another nobody dying that makes up a statistic. But what clearly struck a cord with people was Dack Fayden dying. A character that only people who read the comics, played legacy, played vintage would even known.
Used the Mary Sue Litmus Test, even checked boxes sparingly unless it directly fit with her, also followed the instructions to a 'T', still got a score of 76 though. Which is in the 50+ category and means the character is considered a "Mary Sue". To me shes just a Villain Sue. Which based on the OSP video, is basically the easiest of the bunch to get away with because Villains are already over the top characters anyway.
I got a 14. I'm not sure how you could get a 76.
Death of lover (Gideon) and and death of a friend (Josu), special artifact (3 of 6 boxes ticked), born into nobility, powerful magics, settles for the with most handsome person in the group, spared by an other-wise ruthless villian and grants her asylum, makes mistakes which cause death to others, has a mental psychological disorder, enhanced via tattoos and enjoys their life more for such improvements, has been in fights but has no scars, clothing that makes her look sexy or badass, major villian has a personal obession/fixation on them (Nicol Bolas), strange thing that happened to them in their childhood (Raven Man), character needs help with past problems and other characters make time out of their schedule for them, character has a one of a kind jewelry that is magical, character has unusual tattoos, rules of the universe are broken for the character and they manage to cheat the system.
Along with other options that actually fit her. But even if it were just based on what I listed, that is a 37 Score. Which means they are dangerously close to a Mary Sue.
Look I'm still going to enjoy her character even if she is a Sue because I'm not going to let that taint what I view of her. Its kind of like the people who get flustered about her being considered a villain, which she clearly is, but associate that as a negative connotation instead of rolling with it and enjoying the character that way. Nahiri is similar to Liliana in being a villain but can still have fans because they are an interesting character.
I personally feel the perfect comparison to War of the Spark is Journey into Nyx.
Consider if you will both Nyx and War are the third set. Both feature the death of a and of a planeswalker. Both are treated as the climax to defeating an arrogant self-made god with Xenagos and Nicol Bolas. That Ajani is present in the story for both the death of Elspeth and the death of Gideon. That both Domri and Xenagos engaged in a destructive revelry and are both usurpers of power. That both Elspeth and Gideon are heroes of Theros who thwart the plans of the god. That the antagonistic god Heliod/Nicol Bolas who caused the death of the Theros hero still lives at the end of the day. That both Elspeth and Gideon went to a Theros-styled afterlife. That both Elspeth and Gideon tried to use a legendary weapon to slay a god. That also Ashiok features in both storylines and gets a planeswalker card in both. That Dack Fayden in both storylines is not on a single card but instead on an external piece of reading material Comic/Novel.
TLDR: War is Nyx 2: Planeswalker Boogaloo. Change my mind.
Used the Mary Sue Litmus Test, even checked boxes sparingly unless it directly fit with her, also followed the instructions to a 'T', still got a score of 76 though. Which is in the 50+ category and means the character is considered a "Mary Sue". To me shes just a Villain Sue. Which based on the OSP video, is basically the easiest of the bunch to get away with because Villains are already over the top characters anyway.
To give a perfect example the set has provided: 1000 Nameless Planeswalkers Vs 1 Dack Fayden.
As consider that while there are deaths in the thousands, you and me are not really attached to another nobody dying that makes up a statistic. But what clearly struck a cord with people was Dack Fayden dying. A character that only people who read the comics, played legacy, played vintage would even known.
Along with other options that actually fit her. But even if it were just based on what I listed, that is a 37 Score. Which means they are dangerously close to a Mary Sue.
Look I'm still going to enjoy her character even if she is a Sue because I'm not going to let that taint what I view of her. Its kind of like the people who get flustered about her being considered a villain, which she clearly is, but associate that as a negative connotation instead of rolling with it and enjoying the character that way. Nahiri is similar to Liliana in being a villain but can still have fans because they are an interesting character.
Consider if you will both Nyx and War are the third set. Both feature the death of a and of a planeswalker. Both are treated as the climax to defeating an arrogant self-made god with Xenagos and Nicol Bolas. That Ajani is present in the story for both the death of Elspeth and the death of Gideon. That both Domri and Xenagos engaged in a destructive revelry and are both usurpers of power. That both Elspeth and Gideon are heroes of Theros who thwart the plans of the god. That the antagonistic god Heliod/Nicol Bolas who caused the death of the Theros hero still lives at the end of the day. That both Elspeth and Gideon went to a Theros-styled afterlife. That both Elspeth and Gideon tried to use a legendary weapon to slay a god. That also Ashiok features in both storylines and gets a planeswalker card in both. That Dack Fayden in both storylines is not on a single card but instead on an external piece of reading material Comic/Novel.
TLDR: War is Nyx 2: Planeswalker Boogaloo. Change my mind.