Magic: the Gathering Planeswalkers Pre-Mending / Characters

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Main Character IndexPlaneswalkers: Planeswalkers who ignited Pre-Mending, Planeswalkers who ignited Post-Mending: A-M, N - Z Planes and their peoples: Factions, Other Characters (Dominaria, Phyrexia, Rath and Mirrodin, Innistrad, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Theros, Tarkir, Zendikar), Planes

"We were gods once, Beleren. Did you know that? The Spark burned so much brighter then. We willed our desires upon the worlds, and the worlds obeyed. And then, the catastrophe on Dominaria and we... We are less, Beleren. Less than we were... And less than we will be!"

—Nicol Bolas, Elder Dragon and Planeswalker

Regardless of whether it happened before or after The Mending, the way in which a being becomes a Planeswalker is the same. Whenever a sentient being is born, there is a one in one million chance of it being born with "The Spark" — that is, the Planeswalker spark. And even then, the odds of that being triggering their ascension is also one in a million.^note The Spark is ignited typically in one of three ways — a near-death experience, situations of immeasurable psychological strain, or extremely deep meditation. These old-style Planeswalkers had powers comparable to most gods; they could travel to other realities with no more than a moment's concentration, they can take on any appearance they desire (though most choose to look the same as they did when they ascended), will not age or die of natural causes, no longer need to eat or sleep, draw upon and wield vast amounts of mana, and in a few cases, create their own artificial plane (and live there and practically are worshipped as gods).

The earliest version of Magic lore had characters who could travel between worlds if they were powerful enough. This was soon codified into the term "Planeswalker" (one who can walk from one plane to another) and turned into the main characters of the stories. There are now two types, split between "old" and "new", either before or after the Mending, where The Mending was an event with the potential to destroy the entire multiverse, with every plane being at risk of being consumed by the Blind Eternities, an area of Limbo between planes. This page is for Planeswalkers whose spark ignited before The Mending took place, not just those who were introduced before it. Despite their first appearance being years after the event in question, Planeswalkers like Sorin and Nahiri go here.

For the longest time, pre-Mending Planeswalkers were not allowed to be printed on cards, simply because they would be too powerful. This created a large case of CCG Importance Dissonance, where many important Planeswalkers from the literature only ever featured in flavor texts, and was one of the factors that led to the creative decision of The Mending. The Commander 2014 decks finally introduced the first pre-Mending Planeswalkers in playable form, as special Planeswalkers who can be used as commanders and were designed for (and are mostly exclusive to) the Commander format.

Within the meta-sense, you, the player, are a Planeswalker, encountering others and fighting for superiority. The general problem is that being a Reality Warper, fights tend to get caught up in the entire multiverse...

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Pre-Mending walkers as a whole

Above Good and Evil: Oldwalkers tend to see their actions as being exempt from such petty mortal concepts.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: After being alive for millennia, their perspectives have... shifted. Many mortals think they're completely insane as a result.
Brought Down to Badass: After being depowered by the Mending and losing their Reality Warper abilities, they were still immensely powerful mages.
Energy Being: Their true nature. Whatever bodies they appeared to have were essentially mental projections they could change at will.
A God Am I: A lot of pre-Mending planeswalkers saw themselves as gods, and considering their power level they weren't exactly wrong. Some were genuinely benevolent deities like Serra, but many... weren't, to put it mildly.
Immortality Bisexuality: Averted. Most oldwalkers seem to be asexual, which makes sense considering they no longer really have biological bodies and the vast, vast age difference between them and any mortal partners they might take.
Immortality Immorality: Many of them eventually drift in this direction.
Immortal Immaturity: Considering how powerful they are, some oldwalkers behaved surprisingly childishly when they didn't get their way.
The Immune: Justified. Since the oldwalkers were essentially Energy Beings who're Made of Magic, they can't be compleated by the Phyrexians. This immunity goes away after The Mending renders them as physical beings, however, as seen in Tamiyo's case.
Made of Magic: Pre-Mending planeswalkers were essentially made of mana around their sparks, which explains their immortality, shapeshifting abilities, inability to be compleated by Phyrexians, and god-like power. After the Mending, planeswalkers are very much physical beings.
Not So Invincible After All: Despite being immensely powerful Reality Warpers akin to Physical Gods, oldwalkers can still die, or be killed, in certain circumstances; in a Takes One to Kill One battle against another Planeswalker, Eldritch Abominations who can inhabit the Void Between the Worlds such as the Ur-Dragon, willfully giving up their own Planeswalker spark, manifesting physical parts of themselves that would leave them vulnerable or getting hit with a powerful energy source in Dyfed's case, etc. Then came The Mending...
Physical God: Very close to literally.
Reality Warper: Before The Mending knocked them down several rungs on the cosmic ladder, planeswalkers could literally do whatever they wanted. Several even created their own planes and sentient races to populate them.
Society of Immortals: Sort of. They only really seemed to consider other planeswalkers as worth interacting with, since from their perspective any mortals they try to befriend will die almost immediately.
Time Abyss: The oldest pre-Mending walkers we know of, like Nicol Bolas, Sorin Markov, and Ugin, are multiple millennia old. Even the youngest are still several centuries old.

Arzakon

Colors: Unknown, possibly 5 color.
Race: Unknown
Home Plane: Unknown

A Planeswalker trying to enter the world of Shandalar for its unique mana, Arzakon uses the five guilds from there, each of a different color of mana, to gain three "mana taps" to summon him. He's the final boss of the 1997 Microprose Card Battle Game.

Awesome, but Impractical: A five-color deck? Granted, it's stacked with broken cards, but still. It also contains literally hundreds of cards. Even though he has every one of the Power Nine, with so many cards, he may never get the chance to use even one before you bring him down.
Big Bad: Of the Microprose game.
Deal with the Devil: He tricked five archmages into casting a powerful spell they thought would give them control over Shandalar, but in reality gave him the ability to access the plane.
Horned Humanoid: Looks like a horned statue in his image, and the front cover of the Expansion Pack makes him look like a demon.
Rocks Fall Everybody Dies: He'll attack when his five minions are defeated.
Sealed Evil in a Can: If you can't defeat him completely, he'll still be locked away. How long he stays sealed depends on how much damage you can deal to him.

Azor

Azor the Lawbringer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dsoyoslxkaa_doi.jpg

Colors: White, Blue
Race: Sphinx
Home Plane: Unknown

The founder of the Azorius senate of Ravnica, Azor I is a character mentioned only in passing until he was revealed to be a former planeswalker during the Ixalan storyline. Azor has traveled to many worlds, where he is legendary as a lawbringing individual, if not always to that world's benefit. Ultimately, he settled on Ixalan, where he gave up his spark to create the Immortal Sun in an attempt to trap Nicol Bolas on the plane according to Ugin's plan.

Allegorical Character: He's clearly a metaphor for colonialism as a whole, given his desire to perfect cultures minding their own business and ultimately ruin them.
Anti-Hero: He may be a delusional, narcissistic Lawful Stupid busybody, but he still opposed Bolas, and in fact ended up trapped on Ixalan due to a flaw in the plan to capture and subdue him.
Big Good: Certainly tried to be. Unfortunately, he was also unwilling or incapable of seeing the consequences of his meddling, and rarely if ever returned to a plane "improved" by his governance, so his attempts to impose law and order always degenerated in his absence.
Chekhov's Boomerang: In the Return to Ravnica storyline, it was briefly hinted that he could have been a planeswalker, and then he was never mentioned again. Over half a decade later...
The Chooser of the One: It was the spell he left behind that ultimately decided that Jace would become the Living Guildpact.
De-power: He willingly gave up his spark in order to create the Immortal Sun. It wasn't supposed to be permanent, but that plan went off the rails.
A Fate Worse Than Death: Jace sentences him to guarding Useless Island for all eternity, never to interact with intelligent beings ever again.
Godzilla Threshold: The "Godzilla" in this scenario: he is apparently paroled from Useless Island to fight off the Phyrexian invasion of Ixalan.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Spending a thousand years almost entirely alone on Ixalan is implied to have been bad for his mind. It's probably not a coincidence that while Ravnica's guilds remained relatively stable for thousands of years (even if they created great suffering), his attempts to "perfect" Ixalan amounted to: give one group all the power, oops they abused it, give another group all the power, oops they abused it, okay, make a third group stop anyone from using it. As a result, the plane has been embroiled in centuries of war.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: As part of his work in building the guilds of Ravnica, he created the position of the Living Guildpact, a role imbued with powerful hieromantic abilities to punish lawbreakers. Jace ultimately uses his powers as the Living Guildpact to formally charge Azor with widespread negligence and incompetence, and ultimately to punish him for his wrongdoings, since as Parun of the Azorius Senate he is technically a part of Ravnica, and thus subject to Ravnican law.
Knight Templar: He clearly regards law and order above all else, and is willing to oppress and corrupt planes for the sake of peace.
Lawful Stupid: A complicated example. While Azor genuinely had the best of intentions, he chooses to blame the flaws of the individual over the flaws of the system. In his eyes, societal suffering is caused by people's refusal to follow the law to the letter, rather than the law itself being exploitable, abused, or lacking nuance.
Light Is Not Good: Acts as the final antagonist of the Ixalan block, and hee in particular uses white runic magic in his hieromancy.
Mutually Unequal Relation: Comparing their POVs indicates that Azor had a higher opinion of his friendship with Ugin than Ugin did.
Never My Fault: He also refuses to accept culpability in the planes he touches falling apart, saying that the systems are perfect and that the people are the issue.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Attempted to do this to Bolas, but failed due to Ugin's absence. Ultimately, he's an example of this himself, since he's an insane Knight Templar whose efforts have caused oppression throughout the multiverse and who wound up imprisoning himself on Ixalan. And then Jace uses his powers as the Living Guildpact of Ravnica to bind Azor so he is forced to stay on a small, unimportant island on Ixalan, instead of just roaming free as he pleases.
Self-Restraint: In giving up his own spark, he became a prisoner of Ixalan just like any other planeswalker would, though this was supposed to be temporary. Unfortunately for him, Ugin was defeated by Bolas and unable to carry out the rest of the plan. The laws (and the penalties for breaking them) he created for Ravnica also apply to him as Parun of the Azorius, which Jace resorts to as the Living Guildpact.
Time Abyss: He is at least ten thousand years old, making him one of the oldest living characters in the franchise as a whole.
Whatevermancy: Azor is the multiverse's master, if not creator, of hieromancy, which is literally magic based on manipulating law and order.

Bo Levar

Bo Levar (formerly Crucias )

"I'd be happy to stop contradicting you, Urza, just as soon as you start being right."

Colors: Unknown, possibly Blue (Black and red prior to becoming a Planeswalker)

Race: Human

Class: Pirate

Home Plane: Dominaria

Formerly known as Crucias, Bo Levar is a native of Yotia on Dominaria.

Anachronism Stew: Despite hailing from a Medieval European Fantasy world, Bo Levar looks like he's straight out of the British Royal Navy of the 1800s.
Beyond the Impossible: After being abandoned by his crew, the love he felt for his newborn daughter let him singlehandedly pilot his ship to safety, an act explicitly called out as impossible.
The Captain: Levar was first a pirate captain, then a legitimate merchant captain.
Despair Event Horizon: His daughter’s death broke him, and he continued going through the motions of life until the Sylex Blast ignited his spark and he discarded his identity as Crucias.
Doorstop Baby: The result of his affair with the admiral's daughter was a baby girl left in his ship’s cabin.
Explosive Cigar: Used one to deal with a Phyrexian horror. According to his internal narration, he intended to give it to Urza after they'd destroyed Phyrexia "as a kind of Planeswalker practical joke."
The General's Daughter: A tryst with an admiral's daughter started his career as a privateer, and continued until she left a newborn baby girl in his ship's cabin.
A Good Way to Die: His last thought was that his Heroic Sacrifice was "a worthy death."
Heroic Sacrifice: He ends his own life to power a shield that blocked Yawgmoth's final form when it tried to kill the merfolk.
Mundane Utility: Some old-style Planeswalkers use their power to become Genius Loci. Some use it to become as gods. Others use it to accrue unending knowledge. Bo Levar uses it to smuggle cigars from one world to another.
One Degree of Separation: His Spark ignited when his ship was hit by the Sylex Blast, the same event that ignited Urza's.
Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter became very sick, and despite every effort he made to find a cure she ended up dying while still a teenager. It broke him.
Papa Wolf: The man’s love for his daughter was so great he would literally do the impossible if it meant keeping her safe. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough to prevent her dying of sickness.
The Prankster: In case the Explosive Cigar entry didn’t clue you in, his character art comes from a card called Planeswalker's Mischief.
Privateer: After being forced to leave the navy after an indiscretion with an admiral's daughter, he turned his maritime skill to use as a privateer.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the admiral’s daughter he was having an affair with left a newborn baby in his cabin, his entire crew proceeded to abandon him.
That Man Is Dead: After the Sylex Blast ignited his Planeswalker spark, he abandoned the name Crucias and was known as Bo Levar until his death.

Commodore Guff

"It's the oldest trick in the book. And I ought to know — I wrote it."

Colors: White, Blue, Red

Race: Human

Home Plane: Unknown

A very old Planeswalker who owns the largest hidden library in Dominaria that contained every book imaginable, including one that records the destiny of the multiverse.

Beware the Silly Ones: To everyone else, Guff is an eccentric old man who thinks he’s a character in a book. Then, during the events of Invasion, he prevents Yawgmoth’s conquest of Dominaria by pulling out a book and a giant eraser and outright editing the future like one would a story draft.
Casual Danger Dialogue: He nonchalantly acknowledges the upcoming deaths of all his comrades, and even knows that, in the "original" history, Yawgmoth wins and Dominaria is assimilated into Phyrexia. He only agrees to start erasing things when it's brought to his attention that Yawgmoth's victory would mean the destruction of his library.
Fourth-Wall Observer: What Deadpool is to the Marvel Universe, Guff is to Magic. Not only is he aware of his status as a literary character, but he can even weaponize that awareness to alter the course of future events. Unfortunately, it didn’t help him survive Yawgmoth’s death cloud…
No Celebrities Were Harmed: According to J.Robert King he's based on fellow Magic novel writer and Head of Storytelling at the time Scott McGough.
Rage Against the Author: Goes through a hilarious one in Invasion when he starts erasing future events in order to prevent Yawgmoth’s victory, some of which were quite stupid indeed.
Madly, he erased. Madly, yes, for what editor erases so fervently the words an author has written? What editor allows his author to write a hundred thousand words only to erase ten thousand of them? Only an editor desperate to get history right.

"Bother."

Commodore Guff crouched upon a gnarl of basalt and feverishly applied the massive eraser to the history of the Dominarian Apocalypse. There went a sentence about the death of Eladamri. Just after, Liin Sivi[sic] no longer died, for all the way through she had been paired to him as though she were his gimp leg. And what about this paragraph where Bo Levar lights a cigar in a swamp and is blown to smithereens? Guff didn't even erase that bit, but crumpled up the whole page and threw it into the lava that seeped from a nearby crack. What else had to go to make this goddamned trilogy work out? How about the legal material, and the dedication and acknowledgments? After all, who gives a goat's droppings for the editor of an epic? Commodore Guff hurled those pages aside and saw them catch fire. He threw out the teaser too. It had given away the destruction of Dominaria anyway, something that was completely undecided at this point.

Commodore Guff turned his face from the ravaged book in his hand and looked skyward. "This would never have happened when I was in charge of continuity."
Reading Ahead in the Script: Some planeswalkers use magic to see the future. Guff just looks up the setting’s storylines in his library.

Dakkon Blackblade

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

"My power is as vast as the plains, my strength is that of mountains. Each wave that crashes upon the shore thunders like blood in my veins."

Colors: White, Blue, Black

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Home Plane: Dominaria

A blacksmith whose spark was ignited by Geyadrone Dihada in exchange for creating the Blackblade, a weapon that would absorb the souls of those it killed and become ever stronger. The Blackblade would eventually wind up in the hands of another planeswalker, Gideon Jura, during his time on Dominaria.

'90s Anti-Hero: Look at him. Seriously, he doesn't look out of place in a Dark Fantasy title in the 90's (which he technically starred in...)
Anti-Hero: While he is one of the protagonists of his comic, he is a genuinely evil bitch. He tested the titular blackblade on slaves for years, putting his death count on the thousands. He tries to kill and betray Carth multiple times before his heart accepts him as a surrogate son.
Black Swords Are Better: The Blackblade, presumably named for its appearance.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: The Blackblade's description doesn't match up with any of its depictions in the actual card game. Rather than making the wielder more powerful whenever they kill another creature, it instead powers up the wielder based on the number of lands its controller controls.
Light Is Not Good: He has white in his mana cost and likes to use mana from the plains, but he is evil.
Sword of Plot Advancement: The Blackblade, which Dihada wanted to use to absorb the soul of an elder dragon. It would be sought after much later by the demon Belzenlok, then obtained by Gideon Jura, who hoped to use its powers to slay the elder dragon Nicol Bolas.
Ultimate Blacksmith: Was a blacksmith prior to igniting, and the Blackblade that he forged was capable of slaying dragons and demons as well as absorbing their souls.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Dakkon's final fate is unclear, bordering on Uncertain Doom. What is known is that he participated in the Planeswalker War and, assuming he wasn't killed, lost the Blackblade at some point during or after and never got it back, with the the weapon eventually breaking when Gideon attempted to use it on Nicol Bolas during the War of the Spark due to an enchantment Bolas had put on the weapon at some point prior.

Dyfed

Colors: Unknown, probably Green based on beliefs and prefered planes

Race: Thran Human

Home Plane: Dominaria

Dyfed's sole appearance is in The Thran, but her role would prove tremendously vital. A Thran supremacist, she returned to her homeworld to see Glacian's latest invention. Instead, she found Yawgmoth. Finding in him a charismatic leader, she offered to find a new plane for the Thran Empire to exercise its might. This so happened to be Phyrexia, allowing Yawgmoth to become as infamous as he did...

And I Must Scream: Once she betrays Yawgmoth he takes advantage of her momentary shock at his experiments to jam a powerstone up her brain, lobotomizing her. This allows him to dissect her pointlessly in search of a spark; her suffering finally ends thanks to Rebbec's mercy.
Black Boss Lady: A powerful, imposing black woman fully embracing fascism.
Bright Is Not Good: Wears silver clothes but is seldomly better than Yawgmoth.
Extreme Omnivore: Insists that the Thran can subsist on the "flesh" of the metallic creatures that inhabited pre-Yawgmoth Phyrexia. Whether this is true or she's Too Dumb to Live remains unknown.
Irony: She's a black woman who's a Thran supremacist against all non-human/Thran races.
My God, What Have I Done?: She realizes too late that siding with a sociopathic fantasy nazi was probably not a good idea.
The Social Darwinist: What little characterization she receives centers on fully believing Yawgmoth's tripe on the Thran's innate might and how it must subjugate others.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Thanks to her misguided belief in Yawgmoth's philosophy and giving him access to the plane where it would eventually become Phyrexia, the hell plane as we know it was born and it became an eternal threat to the Multiverse.
White Hair, Black Heart: A white-haired black woman that is also a supremacist and only changes her mind way too late.

Freyalise

"Life cannot be created and then abandoned. It must be nurtured and fed so that it may express its ripened might."

Colors: Green

Race: Half-Elf

Home Plane: Dominaria

Jeska, Thrice Reborn/Phage, The Untouchable

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jeska_planeswalker.png

"Even the threat of power has power."

Colors: Red (As Jeska), Black (As Phage)

Race: Human

Class: Barbarian Warrior

Home Plane: Dominaria

Jeska first appeared in the Odyssey block storyline as Kamahl's sister. After suffering mortal wounds at the hands of her brother's Mirari-induced insanity, she was resurrected by the Cabal during the Onslaught storyline, gaining a new life as the fearsome Phage the Untouchable. The events of Legions caused her to fuse with Akroma and Zagorka to form Karona, the False God. When Karona was defeated, Jeska's spark ignited and she re-emerged as a Planeswalker, leaving with Karn to travel the multiverse. She later returned in Future Sight to help seal the time rifts.

Bad Powers, Bad People: As Phage, a villain with rotting powers.
Braids of Barbarism: Jeska kept her hair in long locks.
Brainwashed and Crazy: "Brainwashed" might not be the best word, but the Cabal Patriarch certainly warped Jeska's psyche to turn her into Phage.
Enemy Within: Jeska struggles with her alter-ego Phage, both before and after she becomes a Planeswalker.
Facial Markings: Has markings in her face.
Fiery Redhead: Has red hair and a fiery temper.
Gameplay and Story Integration: She has the ability to cause any living matter she so much as touches to rot and decay instantly. In the game, any creature she damages dies immediately, any player she damages dies immediately, and if you mishandle her, you die immediately.
Heroic Sacrifice: In Future Sight, she gives her life to seal the Otarian time rift.
Make Them Rot: As Phage, her touch causes organic matter to rot, to the extent she has to wear silk and sleep on a bed of stone.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Phage comes from Ancient Greek phageton, which means to consume. She's also referred to as "the Untouchable".
One-Hit Kill: As The Untouchable. Any creature she deals damage to dies. Any player she deals damage to loses the game. And if she enters the battlefield in any other way than casting her from your hand, you die.
Reforged into a Minion: When Jeska was captured by the Cabal. Bonus points for keeping the Minion creature type through all her printings!
Superpowered Evil Side: Phage, to Jeska.
Unwitting Pawn: Is Leshrac's during the events of Future Sight.
Walking Wasteland: As Phage. Anything she touches instantly rots and dies.
What the Hell, Hero?!: Teferi gives her an incredibly angry one when she rashly closes the Zhalfirin rift before the kingdom was due to phase back in. It leads her to a brief My God, What Have I Done? moment.

Karn

Karn, Scion of Urza

"I've lived through the cycle [of apocalypse-to-rebuilding], and I know this time shall be different. Together, we shall crush this evil at its source, forever. Dominaria cannot wait...and neither will we."

Colors: Colorless

Race: Golem

Home Plane: Dominaria

A sentient silver golem created by Urza to help with time travel experiments, Karn eventually joined the crew of the Weatherlight. Upon Urza's death, Karn inherited the Mightstone and Weakstone, and integrating them into his body caused him to ascend as the first known artifact Planeswalker. Read more about him here.

Karn's ability to planeswalk was lost in the aftermath of March of the Machine, leaving him on Zhalfir.

Actual Pacifist: He's depicted in the art of the Tempest edition of Pacifism. And if he participates in combat, he gets -4/+4, making him a 0/8 unless you've modified him in some way. Until the 'Invasion' cycle, he was such a staunch pacifist that Volrath tortured him by locking him in a flowstone room filled with goblins and then shifting the flowstone to make him crush them with his own weight. But during 'Invasion,' he realizes that remaining pacifist will indirectly harm those he wishes to protect, leading him to become a Martial Pacifist.
Karn: Enough! If I must kill the guilty to save the innocent, then I will kill!
And Then John Was a Zombie: The Phyrexians attempt to do this to him. And everything else. But since he was created to destroy Phyrexia, it's especially symbolic that they tried to do it to him.
Artificial Intelligence: Karn is fully a fully sapient machine.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: While he was trapped in the center of New Phyrexia, slowly being corrupted.
Became Their Own Antithesis: He was very, very close to becoming the new Father of Machines.
Beware the Nice Ones: Karn generally has a very mellow demeanor, but if given the reason, he can be incredibly strong. Case in point, his creature form couldn't deal much damage but could block, while the basic ability of his Planeswalker form (after he had picked up the resolve to save his plane) is to negate something's existence. This is one gentle giant you don't wanna mess with.
Big Good: As one of the last oldwalkers that can still be considered a genuinely good person, he fills this role as much as he can. He's also the heir of Urza, the first Big Good of magic, though he's considerably nicer than his father.
Body Horror: The Phyrexians partially compleated him, fusing him with a "throne" made of what appears to be metallic bones.
Brainwashed and Crazy: More and more over time as he remained within New Phyrexia.
Brought Down to Normal: He burns out Venser's spark to uncompleate Ajani and Nissa after March of the Machine, making him finally lose his Planeswalker status. The fact he specifically uses Venser's spark also implies whatever New Phyrexia did to him the first time he was captured did this as well.
Dueling Messiahs: An unusual example in that Karn is both of the messiahs dueling each other at once. The Mirran Resistance views him as a Messianic Archetype and are trying to save him, while the Phyrexians see him as a Dark Messiah and are trying to corrupt him into becoming their leader. The Mirrans win this battle, but lose the war. By the time they rescue Karn, it's too late to stop the Phyrexians.
Embarrassing Nickname: Before he got his name, the young and mischievous Teferi nicknamed him Arty Shovelhead.
Fallen Hero: With the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin, the Phyrexians adopted him as their new Father of Machines. Eventually, he managed to escape their clutches, but not before the plane was lost.
Fighting from the Inside: He attempted to do this while he was corrupted on New Phyrexia. He wasn't very successful until Venser showed up.
Final Boss: In Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. And the deck he uses makes him a cheating bastard since the game doesn't use the Restricted/Banned list in use by everyone else. His normal first turn has him playing a Darksteel Colossus by playing an Island, casting two Mox Sapphire artifacts, and then casting Tinker to search for and play the Colossus.
Forced to Watch: In All Will Be One he is left disassembled and unable to planeswalk in the same room as Realmbreaker, the Phyrexian World Tree that connects New Phyrexia to the rest of the multiverse. Elesh Norn has given her "father" a front row seat to New Phyrexia's compleation of the multiverse.
Genocide Dilemma: He was created to destroy the Phyrexians, who (if you've followed this far) aren't very nice. He's also a pacifist.
- Karn seems to have gotten over this conundrum in the Dominaria storyline. He uses an army of artifact workers to dig up Urza's Sylex from Yavimaya and has every intention of Planeswalking to New Phyrexia and using the device. Considering what the Sylex is capable of doing^{what it's capable of doing} Karn is ready to jump off that slippery slope. Jury's still out on if the surviving Mirran Resistance fighters will change his mind, though.
Gentle Giant: Despite towering over most other human-shaped planeswalkers, Karn is a gentle and thoughtful soul who detests violence.
A God I Am Not: Both the Mirrans and the Phyrexians worship him, though in very different ways. Considering he did literally create their world, they're not entirely wrong to consider him a god.
Golem: Karn is an artificial being made from silver. This makes him the only artificial being in the multiverse to hold a planeswalker spark (until Calix, at least).
Heart Drive: His heartstone, which originally belonged to Xantcha.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Karn's own heartstone drips with the Phyrexian Oil, which can infect entire planes if left unchecked. It happened with Karn's own plane of Argentum, turning it into Mirrodin and giving way for the rebirth of Phyrexia. It's implied he left this oil on every plane he traveled to, which is many.
The Maker: Created Mirrodin (which he originally named Argentum) and populated it with the first generation of golems, who worshipped him as a god.
Meaningful Name: Jhoira later gave him his name, after the ancient Thran word for "mighty."
Merger of Souls: Multiple times, in multiple ways. When he was first created, he was given Xantcha's heartstone in order to grant him sentience. At the climax of the Phyrexian invasion, he assimilated all the pieces of the Legacy into his body to destroy Yawgmoth, causing him to absorb both Urza's and Glacian's souls into his body (it's a long story). Then, later still, Venser sacrificed himself by teleporting his soul into Karn's body to reactivate his spark and cleanse him of Phyrexian corruption. That's at least four souls floating around inside him.
Mook Maker: In his Scion of Urza form, his "ultimate" (only costs two Loyalty counters) creates artifact creatures that get +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
No Biological Sex: Karn goes by "he" simply because that's how Urza referred to him. As a golem, he has no sex or gender.
Non-Elemental: As a creature of artifice (golem), he's by nature outside the traditional color alignment.
Parental Neglect: Urza wasn't a very good father figure to him. Rona in turn accuses Karn of being a neglectful parent towards his Phyrexian "children", an accusation that actually gets to him.
Person of Mass Destruction: When he became the Legacy Weapon.
Reluctant Warrior: Karn is a pacifist in a game about fighting. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.
Reset Button: His last ability is to restart the game, with everything he's exiled with his other abilities sent "back" to the beginning, on your side.
Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Karn knew that the Sylex could only be activated by offering one's own life to it. He planned to sacrifice himself stopping New Phyrexia all along.
Silver Has Mystic Powers: It's the only substance able to safely travel through time, so he's made from it.
Stop Worshipping Me: He strongly dislikes being worshipped — especially by the Phyrexians, who wish to use him as a figurehead for their monstrous "religion".
"Well Done, Son" Guy: The New Phyrexians still consider him to be their Father and want to prove themselves to him. Unfortunately, they are doing this by trying to convince him of the "glory" of compleation.

Leshrac

"Will not the mountains quake and hills melt at the coming of the darkness?"

Colors: Unknown, possibly Black
Race: Unknown
Home Plane: Unknown

Evil Gloating: He relishes speaking mockingly to everyone.
The Man Behind the Man: Behind Tevesh Szat and Lim-Dûl during the Ice Age, and behind the Weaver King during the time rift crisis... though he himself was acting at the behest of the Myojin of Night's Reach.
Manipulative Bastard: He got under Jeska's skin very easily and nudged her into doing his bidding.
Mega Manning: In Future Sight, he stole the black magic abilities from Nicol Bolas and Jeska/Phage.
Out-Gambitted: He thought he could destroy Nicol Bolas with the power of the Mask of Night's Reach during the events of Time Spiral, which was probably true... but Bolas had the real mask while Leshrac had a mere forgery, and the Elder Dragon decisively defeated the other Planeswalker and killed him to mend the Madaran time rift, ending his reign of terror.
Red Baron: Was widely known as "The Walker of Night", or just "Nightwalker".
Sealed Evil in a Can: Twice. Once in the Shard of the Twelve Worlds, and once in Phyrexia.
Significant Anagram: The exact in-universe significance, if any, is unknown, but his name is an anagram of the (from an Earthly perspective) decidedly more ordinary Charles.
Squishy Wizard: Very much unlike Nicol Bolas, he was a terrible physical combatant, and had to resort to trickery and magic for the edge.
While Rome Burns: He believed the time rift crisis wouldn't be as widespread as Teferi claimed... and even if it were, all he cared about was killing Nicol Bolas and stealing the rank of top Planeswalker for however long he could keep it.

Liliana Vess

"Survival is for the...uninspired; victory is for the strong! And the strong are willing to embrace the darkness! [Innistrad] is my domain, so fall in, soldier. As the true enemy rises...darkness is your only hope."

Colors: Black

Race: Human

Class: Cleric

Home Plane: Dominaria

Liliana Vess is a black-aligned Planeswalker whose speciality is necromancy. Her spark ignited before The Mending, and after it, not relishing the idea of mortality, she made several deals with powerful demons in order to regain her immortality. She now has several long-running debts with said demons, and is tracking them down in an attempt to kill them, one by one. Read more about her here.

Accidental Hero: Her efforts to kill Griselbrand led her to break open the Helvault, which had the side effect of busting out Avacyn and saving everyone on Innistrad.
Amplifier Artifact: The Chain Veil greatly enhances her already-formidable magical abilities.
Amulet of Dependency: The Chain Veil appears to be psychologically addictive.
Anti-Hero: While she's a selfish person and definitely modeled after a traditional villainess, she more often than not fills this role, since her interests mostly align with the common good as she gets rid of threats to her well being. She was a sympathetic figure in Agents of Artifice (even though she was The Mole she never fully sided with the actual villains), saved Innistrad twice and joined the Gatewatch.
Artifact of Doom: The Chain Veil, which is in Vess's possession. It seems to be taking its toll on her...
Battle Trophy: Her headdress originally belonged to an angel she slew.
The Beautiful Elite: In every novel she has appeared in, there has been at least one passage describing just how ludicrously attractive she is. Justified, at least, since she did sell her soul for beauty...
Berserker Tears: When Gideon's Heroic Sacrifice causes Nicol Bolas to give a smug smile Liliana cries while screaming with rage.
Black Magic: She specializes in Mind Rape, death magic, and necromancy.
Casting a Shadow: Without corpses for her to animate, most of her fights involve using shadowy tentacles.
Character Development: Very slowly, but surely. Liliana starts of as an entirely selfish and careless character, before coming to learn the value of friendship... as a means to accomplish her goals, and nothing else. Then over time she grows to genuinely appreciate the presence of the other members of the gatewatch, particularily Chandra and Gideon. She has a setback on Amonkhet, ditching her friends for her own survival (though not before warning them about the danger) and being forced into working for Nicol Bolas, but she eventually defies Bolas, refusing to hurt innocents any more. After unexpectedly surviving the War of the Spark, she elects ot retire, becoming a mentor for the next generation.
Clingy MacGuffin: The Chain Veil, to Liliana's chagrin. No matter how hard she tries to rid herself of it, her body won't allow her to.
Cool Big Sis: Since joining the Gatewatch, she's been developing (read: "cultivating") such a relationship with Chandra.
The Corrupter: Takes great pleasure in cursing Garruk and zombifying Mikaeus. Even after she mellows out a teensy bit after joining the Gatewatch, she gives Chandra very questionable advice.
Dark Is Not Evil: Liliana edges begrudgingly into such territory at the end of the Eldritch Moon storyline. She leads an undead army to Thraben to save the Gatewatch from Emrakul, but winds up needing to be saved herself when she tries to fight Emrakul herself using the Chain Veil, only being saved by the Gatewatch's combined efforts. She finally admits that doing everything alone won't always get the job done, and sooner or later it will get her killed, so she accepts Jace's offer to join the Gatewatch in the hopes she can use them to achieve her own goals. Dark Is Pragmatic, essentially.
Deal with the Devil: Made a contract with four archdemons in order to gain eternal youth. Being the selfish woman she is, she decides to try to get out of it by killing them. As of Dominaria, they're all dead. Thing is, all killing them did was transfer the contract to Nicol Bolas. The Kenrith twins specifically note that "professor Onyx'" warning about making these kinds of deals seem to be from personal experience.
Debt Detester: She can't stand knowing she owes the demons for her eternal youth. She's beginning to despise her reliance on the Chain Veil even more.
Deconstructed Trope:
- The art and flavor text of "In Bolas' Clutches" reveals that her efforts to break her Deal with the Devil don't have the results that she was hoping they would. One doesn't try to cheat demons without consequences, after all:
Nicol Bolas: Your contract is in default. You belong to me now. Serve or die.
- More specifically, not only did killing the demons result in Bolas being the new master of the pact, it turns out that the existence of the pact itself is what keeps her young — it wasn't a one-time reversion. If the pact breaks — like if she rebels against Bolas — her body will rapidly age into dust.
- At the conclusion of War of the Spark, her last minute Heel–Face Turn against Bolas does not redeem her in the eyes of the people of Ravnica. As far as they are concerned, she changed her mind too late and is still responsible for most of the casualties. Most of the planeswalkers agree. As a result, Kaya is hired to hunt her down.
Defiant to the End: In the trailer for War of the Spark, she leads a battalion of Eternals to wreak havoc throughout Ravnica, and pauses to gaze up at Bolas, his back to a portal, gazing down at her. She turns to see a woman trying to shield her younger brother from falling debris and both getting crushed to death. Liliana sics the Eternals on Bolas and Bolas, in turn, roars in mockery at Liliana, who begins to crumble into ash for breaking her pact... and rather than despair, she screams back at him with every ounce of anger she has.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Very slowly. Well, when she's not Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, that is.
Distracted by the Sexy: She invokes this against almost any male opponent she faces.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: She's incapable of telling sympathy apart from pity, and thinks it means people see her as weak. In Dominaria she accidentally lets slip to Ajani and the Weatherlight crew what the Cabal did to her hometown:
Liliana: You didn't see what he did to Caligo! Everything I knew, destroyed, turned to mud and rot. We have to stop - we have to —
She realized abruptly she had said more than she meant to, that she had exposed herself terribly. The new people were staring at her sympathetically; Shanna in particular was nodding as if she understood perfectly, and it was all horrible. Liliana folded her arms and lifted her chin, determined to brazen it out.
Liliana: I need to be free of my pact before I can fight your battles for you, Ajani, it's just that simple.
Drunk on the Dark Side: Hardly a virtuous person beforehand, the Chain Veil seems to turn Liliana's less redeeming qualities up a notch.
Eating the Eye Candy: While she gives Gideon mocking nicknames, she nevertheless admires his physique.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her brother, Josu (before he died) and Jace, for a little while. Of course, she was willing to kill him to get what she wanted, but she really, really didn't want to, and spent a lot of time deeply conflicted. It's unclear whether she still cares about him as a person these days or just finds him useful, but either way, she's pretty cranky when he won't help her out. She also comes to care for Gideon to the point that when he dies to save her life she's horrified and begs him to take his invulnerability back.
- In Dominaria she initially only cares about killing Belzenlok to get out of her last pact. Then she sees how he destroyed her home town while she was gone, and made her undead brother his general, and then it becomes personal. Not that she'd ever admit it.
Even Evil Has Standards: She might broker deals with demons and take advice from Nicol Bolas, but work directly for him? Ha ha, no. This is less likely to have anything to do with inherent nobility, however, and more that 1) Bolas would have had some measure of control over her, which she hates and 2) he's got a documented habit of breaking his toys. That is until he makes her An Offer You Can't Refuse. Twice. She's also as horrified by Bolas's destruction of Amonkhet as the rest of the Gatewatch.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In Dominaria, she's briefly taken aback when Gideon immediately agrees to help her lay Josu to rest and doesn't change his mind when she reveals that this means she won't be able to use the Chain Veil against Belzenlok. She was prepared to argue her case and wasn't prepared for agreement. She would have immediately left if she were in his shoes, after all. She is also surprised in War of the Spark when Gideon gives up his own life to save hers by taking the price of breaking the demonic pact onto himself.
Evil Mask: The Chain Veil, a mask-like artifact made of chain mail that gives its user an enormous power boost in dark magic.
Fallen Princess: She was a daughter of a nobleman, but had to leave after accidentally zombifying her brother Josu thanks to the 'advice' from the Raven Man.
Fantastic Racism: Against angels. They have a habit of trying to kill her on sight. But she seems to especially dislike their self-righteousness.
"I come looking for demons and I find a plane full of angels. I hate angels."
Faustian Rebellion: After obtaining the Chained Veil, she decides to kill the demons she made bargains with. Starting with Kothoped, the demon who sent her to fetch the Veil.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. She cannot stand being dependent on anyone or anything but herself and her life is a cycle of trying to overthrow any source of control or influence over her, usually getting under influence of something else from demons to Chain Veil to Nicol Bolas in the process. Her definition of dependent is also quite a bit broader than most people's. She can't stand not being above the people she considers close, and just asking them for a favor or telling them the truth never occurs to her. Best demonstrated when she tries to use Jace and the Gatewatch to help her slay her remaining demons. She never even considers just asking them to help and instead tries to manipulate them into unknowingly helping her.
Femme Fatale: She sold her soul for eternal youth and beauty, and doesn't at all mind leveraging her attractiveness if it'll get her what she wants. She's also an extremely powerful necromancer, ruthless, selfish and manipulative. Her art and abilities focus equally on these characteristics.
Fetishized Abuser: Liliana makes no attempt to hide her less redeeming qualities. Not many people seem to have a problem with it unless she's specifically gunning for them.
Five-Man Band: Liliana joined the Gatewatch after the events on Innistrad, although her motives are more ulterior than that of the other four.
Gotta Kill 'Em All: Her quest to slay the four demons she sold her soul to.
Hearing Voices: One of the side effects of using the Chain Veil for prolonged amounts of time.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: In Hour of Devastation, Bolas talks her into both abandoning the Gatewatch and working for him, in exchange for teaching her how to control the Chain Veil. She rejects this when given the chance to break the contract he held over her, but is brought back under his thrall by force after she belatedly learns that the actions she thought would break the contract instead gave him complete control over her. She also turns against Bolas in the final battle, playing a critical role in his defeat.
Heel–Face Turn: She starts one in Eldritch Moon when she joins the Gatewatch, but remained antiheroic and shady up until the end of War of the Spark, where she completes it due to Gideon's influence and sacrifice. Afterwards she decides to settle down as a teacher in Strixhaven.
Heroic Vow: "Heroic" is a bit of a stretch, but it's something.
Oath of Liliana: I see now, that together, we are more powerful than we are alone. If that means I can do what needs to be done without relying on the Chain Veil, I'll keep watch. Happy now?
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Like Nicol Bolas, she was a pre-Mending Planeswalker who lost her immortality and much of her power, and she didn't take it well. She made Faustian bargains with several demons in an attempt to regain this lost power.
Hypocrite: As pointed out by the Onakke spirit in Veil of Deceit: she uses "everyone dies" as a justification for her necromantic practices and callous disregard of others' lives, but everything she has done so far has been to prevent her own death.
I Die Free: Considers her impending death after breaking the pact to attack Nicol Bolas to be Worth It since it means she's finally free. However, much to her own surprise, she survives...because Gideon takes the price upon himself, giving up his own life for her.
Immortality Inducer: Bolas reveals that the demonic pact itself is what keeps her young. If she breaks the pact by disobeying him, she will age into dust and die.
Impossibly-Low Neckline: The dress◊ she wears when she visits Innistrad. Seriously, how is that thing staying up?
Internal Homage: When viewed upside down, The Chain Veil has the shape of the Planeswalker symbol in its design.
It's All About Me: Makes the other Black Planeswalkers look humble in comparison (only Nicol Bolas rivals her in self-obsession, which is probably why they don't get along). Her brother mattered to her, but he's dead. Other than them the only people she really cares for are Jace and to a lesser extent Gideon (to the point that when Gideon dies to save her she's heartbroken and miserable rather than happy).
It's Personal: The last demon who holds her contract, Belzenlok, makes it very personal when he enslaves her undead brother Josu and makes him into the commander of his forces who then proceed to raze her homeland.
Jerkass: While developing her second card, Innistrad lead developer Erik Lauer went to the creative department and asked them to give him an overview of her character, so that he could work on some abilities that would be representative of her personality. Their response?
She's a bitch.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Liliana is utterly selfish, but she can genuinely care for other people (most notably Jace, and to a lesser extent Gideon)... not that she'd ever admit it.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The moment she realizes that the Gatewatch stands no chance against Nicol Bolas on Amonkhet, she decides that the best course of action is to leave without a fight and planeswalks away alone after her pleas to the rest of the Gatewatch fall on deaf ears.
Lady of Black Magic: As an elegant Femme Fatale and accomplished Necromancer, she is very much the Lady of Black Magic.
The Lancer: In the Gatewatch. If Jace is taken as a co-leader, she's his lancer. Otherwise she's more of The Sixth Ranger, especially given that she joins last.
Luck Manipulation Mechanic: Her first card's second ability puts any card in your library on top and reshuffles the rest of your library.
Mark of the Beast: The violet tattoos that cover her body are a sign of her pledge to the four demons she sold her soul to. After killing Kothophed, the first of the four, they began to bleed sporadically.
Mask of Power: The Chain Veil.
Meaningful Rename:
- In Forsaken she chooses "Ana Iora" as her new name. Ana for the healer who trained her prior to her spark igniting and Iora as a tribute to Gideon (though she is in denial about that part.)
- During her tenure as a teacher at Strixhaven, she's goes by Professor Onyx. You can tell it's she because she retains the Liliana sub-type.
Mentor Archetype: After her retirement, she becomes a teacher at Strixhaven, serving as a (poor) mentor especially to the Kenrith twins.
Mind Rape: One of her abilities.
Morality Pet: Jace and Gideon. Liliana does things like knock on doors politely (rather than kicking or blasting them down) and use people that really deserved it as zombie minions when around Jace. Mostly because she wants a favour from him, admittedly. "Pet", in this instance, is the operative word. Later on in Innistrad's Last Hope, it's the thought of Jace that drives her to save Innistrad from Emrakul. And while she starts out contemptuous of Gideon she does bond with him during the Dominaria set, to the point where she hesitates to kill him despite Bolas's orders and is sincerely heartbroken when he dies to save her life (she also unknowingly uses Gideon's true name as inspiration for her new identity).
Mortality Phobia: One of her biggest flaws is her fear of death, which drove her to make a deal with Nicol Bolas and four demons, putting her under their control. The climactic point of her Character Development is when she overcomes this flaw by deciding that death is worth no longer being under Bolas's control.
My God, What Have I Done?: She was utterly shocked that the potion that she enhanced with her powers zombified her brother instead of curing him. This, combined with said zombified brother's attempt at mass murder, causes her spark to activate. It gets even worse when she finds out that Josu's undeath did not end when she Planeswalked away. He had been an undead monster for centuries, and their entire family had perished trying to either end him, heal him, or find her. Then when Gideon dies on her behalf, she begs him to take his gift back.
Nominal Hero: Whenever Liliana does something heroic (including joining the Gatewatch), her motivations for doing so are almost always in her own self-interest.
Not Afraid to Die: Liliana turns against Nicol Bolas in War of the Spark even knowing that doing so will kill her due to the demonic pact. She no longer feared death or Nicol Bolas. To someone like Nicol Bolas who controlled others through fear, this made Liliana his worst nightmare.
Not in This for Your Revolution: Unlike the other members of the Gatewatch, who are in it for more-or-less selfless reasons, Liliana is in it solely for her own personal benefit...or at least, that's what she tells herself.
Necromancer
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her efforts to free Griselbrand to kill him also frees Avacyn, Innistrad's Guardian Angel, though she didn't exactly tremble in fear at the prospect. Unfortunately it had further-reaching consequences than she knew: she also freed Nahiri, who kicked off the events of Shadows Over Innistrad.
The Nicknamer: Rarely bothers to use any other Planeswalker's real name, but especially never runs out of different variants of 'beefcake' for Gideon. Her naming antic goes up a notch after the Gatewatch joins the Kaladeshi revolution, insisting that Gideon be codenamed 'Beefslab', crowning herself 'Night Queen' and codenaming Jace 'Cloak Boy'.
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: So "saving the day" is a bit of a misnomer...but Liliana discovered something very peculiar about the undead she summons forth on Innistrad: they're completely immune to Emrakul's influence and can't be turned against her.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Her getup as "Professor Onyx" in Strixhaven is ridiculously easy to see through. The only reason she fools anyone is that it's been centuries since she visited Strixhaven last, and the only planeswalkers she interacts with are relatively newly sparked and thus don't know her, even by reputation.
Pimped-Out Dress: The clothes she wore on Innistrad definitely qualify.
Pretty in Mink: As Liliana, The Last Hope◊, she's added a gorgeous fur-lined one shoulder cape to her wardrobe.
The Power of Friendship: Learned to recognize it in Eldritch Moon when she joined the Gatewatch. Unfortunately, she sees it like she sees any source of power: exploitable.
Really 700 Years Old: Liliana uses her magic and demonic contracts to maintain her youthful appearance and extend her lifespan. She's over two hundred years old, but she looks like she's in her twenties.
Chandra: Anyways, aren't you like two hundred or something?
Liliana: Ah, but two hundred going on twenty-nine.
Reformed, but Not Tamed: She DOES become somewhat nicer during her time with the Gatewatch but she's still incredibly ruthless
Reformed, but Rejected: Despite committing perhaps her first selfless act by giving up her life to oppose Nicol Bolas during the War of the Spark, Liliana is seen as having turned sides too late to win any sympathy. She has to go on the run from both her enemies and her erstwhile allies, dodging assassins when she returns to her home plane of Dominaria. It did not help that the one member of the Gatewatch who had any actual faith in Liliana sacrificed himself to give her a second chance at life.
Sadist: She has a horde of zombie crocodiles devour Razaketh alive, all while being mentally connected to them so she felt as if she was devouring him herself. She takes so much glee and satisfaction from the act that Jace is highly disturbed and asks her to stop.
Sadistic Choice: Liliana of the Veil's ultimate ability, which splits all the opponent's permanents into two piles and forces them to choose which pile lives and which pile dies. Used in the climax of Dark Ascension to force Thalia to break open the Helvault, or have all her companions devoured by ghouls in front of her. In Dominaria she is forced into one of her own: serve Nicol Bolas or die due to the way the demonic pact works. She actually considers choosing death over servitude, but decides to live so that she can Take a Third Option in the future.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Hour of Devastation, Bolas talks her into abandoning the Gatewatch and planeswalking away.
Signature Headgear: Her golden, face-framing tiara. While planeswalkers are almost always depicted wearing the same outfits in many of their cards, Liliana's occasional wardrobe change makes this trope stand out for her; barring flashbacks, the only time she doesn't wear said tiara is as Professor Onyx.
Significant Anagram: "A villainess". Word of God swears this was completely accidental.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: Waker of the Dead was her first card printed after Gideon's death. In it, she wears a noticeably less revealing and somber dress, similar to something one might wear at a funeral. It is, in fact, the least revealing clothes she's worn since before her spark ignited.
Slouch of Villainy: Her promo art in Innistrad. Again in Amonkhet.
Sole Survivor: As of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Liliana and Chandra are the last surviving members of the original gatewatch who haven't been subjected to Compleation.
Soul Power: The Black Magic variant.
Start of Darkness: She's tricked by the "Raven Man" into using her magic to enhance a potion that accidentally zombifies her dying older brother and has to utilize her dark magic to its fullest extent to escape with her life. She then spends the next century training with Necromancers across the multiverse.
Stripperiffic: Her outfit in her first appearances shows of a lot of skin. Ever since she joins the Gatewatch, she has opted for her classier Innistrad gown instead.
Suicidal Overconfidence: At the climax of Eldritch Moon, with an Eldrazi-immune undead army and with the Chain Veil in her arsenal and with the Gatewatch at her back, Liliana picks a fight with Emrakul. She's struck down in short order, leading to the rest of the Gatewatch having to step in to save her.
Survivor Guilt: A flavor text from Strixhaven shows that she has a hard time dealing with the fact that Gideon sacrificed his life to save her.
— Liliana: "Why, Gideon? Of all people, why save me?"
There's No Kill like Overkill: How she kills the demon Razaketh: After the rest of the Gatewatch wound and bind him, she takes control of an entire river of dead creatures that Razaketh had killed, and has every beast in it (hippos, crocodiles, and others) drag him into the blood-river, drown him, and then start eating him alive, while being connected to their senses so she feels like she's the one doing it. The other Gatewatch members are...disturbed, to say the least. She, on the other hand, is basically high from the experience.
Token Evil Teammate: She fills this role to the rest of the Gatewatch.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Chandra's Tomboy.
Trapped in Villainy: As of the end of Dominaria. The demons' deaths transferred ownership of Liliana's soul to Nicol Bolas since that was how he arranged it when he first brokered the deal. Furthermore, Liliana can't disobey him since that would break the pact, and the pact itself is what keeps her young. If it breaks, she will age into dust and die. Liliana briefly considers choosing death over slavery, but refuses to give up like that.
Troll: Among other things, she reshelves books out of order in Jace's library just to mess with him.
Tsundere: She has some Tsundere-ish tendencies, especially in her relationship with Jace.
Unwitting Pawn: The Chain Veil is connected to... something. Something dead, ancient, powerful, and restless. It appears to have chosen Liliana as its vessel, and while she struggles not to be controlled, it's becoming more difficult the longer she possesses it. In addition, the mysterious "Raven Man" has some sort of sinister investment in her life. To the point of even manipulating her into awakening her Planeswalker Spark all those centuries ago.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She probably wouldn't have grown up to be so vicious had she successfully healed her brother, or even merely poisoned him instead of turning him into a fully sapient undead abomination.
Vain Sorceress: Fits this archetype to a T, at least before character development sets in. Those deals with the demons were for eternal youth, after all. Although it's more accurate to say that she's overwhelmingly terrified of her own mortality, and that the eternal youth and beauty are more like a convenient bonus.
Woman Of Wealth And Taste: She always has a preference for the finer things in life.

Lord Windgrace

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_wingrace.jpg

"Phyrexia is an unforgiving place, and I am an angry lord in an unforgiving mood."

Colors: Black, Red, Green

Race: Cat Warrior (Leonin)

Home Plane: Dominaria

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He closed the Stronghold rift over Urborg first by infusing his essence with the land (to make sure a part of him would always watch over it), grew to gigantic size, and crushed the rift in his jaws.
Cat Folk: He was a humanoid panther warrior from Urborg.
Dark Is Not Evil: He was a black, scary-looking panther warrior with a ferocious temper and destructive spells, but also thoroughly on the side of good.
Genius Loci: It is implied that his spirit fused with Urborg itself and he still watches over it.
Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrificed himself to stop the Urborg temporal rift and stop a Phyrexian invasion through time, but his spirit remains to guard his homeland.
Light 'em Up: Control over light for both protective and destructive purposes was a signature ability of his.
Offhand Backhand: The art for the card "Planeswalker's Fury" shows his causally using a fire spell to destroy a Phyrexian standing behind him.
Panthera Awesome: The only known feline Planeswalker of the old kind, and with some truly powerful magic at his disposal he was no mere kitten.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite his hatred for all artifice, he goes easy on Venser despite the poor guy's adaptation of Phyrexian relics into his machines because he sees Venser as more misguided than actively malicious. He also eventually listens to Teferi's warnings, though he had him at arm's length for a long time.
Science Is Bad: Had a special hatred for anything even remotely related to artifacts.

Nahiri (Unmarked Spoilers)

Nahiri, The Lithomancer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nahiri_1064.jpg

"This is your world. This stone, this earth, is yours to fight for. If you don't think you can rely on us, then don't."

^{Click here to see her Compleated}

Colors: White (primary), Red

Race: Kor. Phyrexian(formerly)

Class: Artificer

Home Plane: Zendikar

A kor Planeswalker from the plane of Zendikar who aided fellow Planeswalkers Sorin and Ugin in sealing away the Eldrazi within her homeworld millennia ago. When Sorin returned 6000 years later to check on the weakening seal, Nahiri was nowhere to be found, having vanished without a trace long ago. Turns out, she remained on Zendikar as a guardian of the Eldrazi prison and eventually cocooned herself below the Eye of Ugin. She awakened, performed some maintenance, then went to search out Sorin and Ugin. She found Sorin. His reaction to her appearance was less than amiable. Read all about her here, here, and here.

Although cured of her Phyresis, Nahiri's ability to planeswalk was lost in the aftrmath of March of the Machine. She remains on Zendikar, where she has resolved to "protect" the plane from external influences all costs. That's probably fine.

Action Girl: As a female planeswalker, this comes with the territory. Even before then, she was an adventurous nomad who regularly clambered, glided and hiked her way across the deadly and treacherous landscape of Zendikar.
Ax-Crazy: With the revelation that she was the one who set Emrakul upon Innistrad knowing the carnage that would occur, it's clear that something inside of her has come unglued, and she will now do anything to hurt Sorin regardless of collateral damage. The process of undergoing compleation, being freed, and losing her Spark absolutely has not substituted for therapy.
Reckless Handling flavour text: The relic shattered, and something in Nahiri broke as well.
And I Must Scream: During their brief scuffle, Sorin opted to seal her in the Helvault for a millennia; she drifted endlessly in bleak darkness as it became populated with demons and, eventually, Avacyn. She keeps her mind in check by mentally building Zendikar, but her anger towards Sorin only grew in time.
Became Their Own Antithesis: During her eons-long slumber on Zendikar, her message to the natives about the threat of the Eldrazi was warped into them believing the Eldrazi to be benevolent gods ("gods" is more or less correct, "benevolent" not so much) with her as their prophet. She was understandably annoyed at this when she woke up. During Shadows over Innistrad, she intentionally started an Eldrazi-centered cult on Innistrad, intentionally luring Emrakul there as her prophet. Additionally, between Zendikar Rising and March of the Machines, she has herself been a major threat to Zendikar twice.
Berserk Button: Sorin Markov. Seeing an illusion of him on Zendikar made her pissed beyond belief, and gave Jace the chance to slip through her mental defenses.
Big Bad: Creative recognizes her as such for Shadows Over Innistrad. She's also unambiguously for Zendikar Rising.
Big Good: Once.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Her compleated replaces both her forearms and hands with massive blades.
Claustrophobia: She suffers a bit of it in Zendikar Rising. Rather understandable considering her time in the Helvault, but also ironic that a Lithomancer would dislike caverns and closed stone structures.
Cynicism Catalyst: Sorin's perceived betrayal by sealing her in the Helvault did a number on her emotionally, but it was planeswalking back to Zendikar immediately after being freed only to find it seemingly ravaged beyond salvation by Ulamog and his brood that pushed her past the breaking point.
Dishing Out Dirt: Her main form of magic, being a lithomancer. She can manipulate rocks, which in her story is used to create the hedrons (a task that took four decades), bury Eldrazi spawn/aggravatingly persistent cultists, and create the cryptoliths on Innistrad. Even after the Mending, she remains one of the most powerful earth-mages in the multiverse, and did this◊ to Markov manor.
Enemy Mine:
- During the War of the Spark she temporarily puts aside her differences with Sorin to combat the Eternals (though after a good while of duking it off).
- She joins the Gatewatch (by now a personal enemy to Nissa and Jace) because she's sane enough to see that New Phyrexia is the worse option.
Et Tu, Brute?: She took Sorin's refusal to go with her to Zendikar as a betrayal.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- She's a Well-Intentioned Extremist who can not wrap her head around why Nissa and the elementals would fight to preserve Zendikar in its broken state when she's offering the chance to repair it.
- She refuses to accept that Ajani could legitimately be there out of compassion in Aftermath and ends up convincing herself that he's there to murder her instead.
Extra-ore-dinary: She can extract, refine, smelt and forge metal into elaborate and fully-functional equipment with nothing but her own two hands and a convenient source of rock.
Fallen Hero: Oh, she fell hard, essentially condemning innocents (and local evils) for Sorin's deeds via death and assimilation by an Eldrazi Titan.
Foil: To Nissa. Both are Zendikar natives with a fierce love of their home plane and magic that directly interacts with Mana and the land. Both see themselves as the self-proclaimed guardians of Zendikar. Both fought against the Eldrazi, and both worked with - then had a violent falling out with - Sorin Markov, and both were Holier Than Thou Knight Templars. Both were also Compleated but later cured. However, whereas Nissa has learned from her mistakes with the aid of her friends, Nahiri's guilt and anger leads her to keep repeating the same self-destructive habits, and Holier Than Thou attitude.
Freudian Trio: Between herself (Id), Sorin (Superego), and Ugin (Ego).
The Heart: Nahiri lived, loved, and lost among her people for centuries. While her own immortality made her survive all her friends and lovers, save Ugin and Sorin, who grated on her over time, Nahiri never lost her driving optimism. She even retains fondness for Sorin and Ugin for being there as she outlived everyone else she knew.
Heroic Sacrifice: In Phyrexia: All Will Be One, she is the first planeswalker infected, but refuses healing because it would put her out of commission for too long, and she knows the other planeswalkers will rely on her power. She ends up pulling a more dramatic one later, when the entire planeswalker strike team is cornered by an army in the Dross Pits. Despite it accelerating her phyresis, she uses her full power to send them to relative safety, staying behind herself.
Honor Before Reason: In the story linked above, she insists on staying to protect the survivors even though they have no chance of survival against the Eldrazi.
Hope Bringer: She tried to inspire the survivors of a plane consumed by the Eldrazi to have courage, confusing and annoying Sorin.
"Any hope is better than none. Always."
Hostile Terraforming: Her goal in Zendikar Rising. She wants to use ancient Kor lithomancy to terraform Zendikar back to how it was before the trio messed up its leylines (not to mention a few millenia of Eldrazi corruption). Unfortunately, life on Zendikar has adapted to its new environment in the thousands of years that have passed, and most of it would not survive a sudden upheaval.
- She attempts this again in the Aftermath story by attempting to seal Zendikar off from the entire multiverse.
  "No more," she breathed. "No more pain. No more suffering." Her voice hardened with furious conviction. "Whatever it takes, I swear. No Planeswalker will set foot on Zendikar ever again."
Hypocrite: She resents the damage caused to Zendikar by the Eldrazi. Yet she has no problem inflicting that same damage on Innistrad.
Light Is Not Good: Through most of her life she was good, but after Sorin's betrayal she retributed with the massacre of an entire plane, plunging well into the Moral Event Horizon. She earns the dubious distinction of being the first White planeswalker Big Bad.
Magma Man: She is capable of melting rock, which she normally uses in order to forge weapons.
Never My Fault: During March of the Machines, she's Phyrexia's commander on Zendikar. While she does start out Aftermath wracked with guilt over this, after an encounter with Ajani goes badly, she deflects it into blaming planeswalkers in general.
Outside-Context Problem: The poor vampires in Markov manor had absolutely no way of dealing with an immensely powerful and pissed off lithomancer.
Perky Goth: Though that's not make-up; her skin color is typical of kor. She's definitely upbeat... at first.
Protectorate: Toward her homeworld of Zendikar, in part out of guilt at agreeing to imprison the Eldrazi there.
Red Baron: Was known simply as 'the Lithomancer' before her reveal. Turns out it's also her title. These days she's known as the Harbinger.
Revenge by Proxy: Nahiri's response to Sorin failing to come when the Eldrazi titans were destroying Zendikar, and subsequently imprisoning her, is to actively draw the surviving titan Emrakul to Sorin's home plane to ravage it.
Revenge Before Reason: She sics an Eldrazi Titan, one of the things she was was fighting to keep imprisoned or away from the material planes (and for good reason), onto Innistrad and lets it go on a killing spree just to spite Sorin. During War of the Spark when Bolas is threatening the lives of all planeswalkers everywhere, she initially chooses to renew her feud with Sorin rather than assist.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: As of Shadows of Innistrad, she's very upset at Sorin, she's on Innistrad, and she's wrecking the place.
"As Zendikar has bled, so will Innistrad. As I have wept, so will Sorin."
Skewed Priorities: She's much more interested in her personal feud with Sorin than the threat to the entire Multiverse posed by Bolas and his Dreadhorde during War of the Spark.
Tailor-Made Prison: She did all the grunt work constructing the elaborate prison system trapping the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Ugin did the enchanting and runes, Sorin did the mana- and life-draining magic and tracked the Titans through the planes.
Talk to the Fist: Does not let annoying vampire cultists finish half a sentence when she needs to focus.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She, Sorin and Ugin don't always see eye to eye, but all three are fully aware that only by working together do they stand a chance against the Eldrazi.
Terrain Sculpting: The powerful magic in the hedrons she personally constructed creates the weird gravitational effects that make Zendikar possible. She completely changed the landscape of the entire plane.
Token Evil Teammate: Shares this position with fellow Red-White planeswalker Lukka in the Gatewatch's strike team against New Phyrexia. Despite her record of antagonism, both towards the Gatewatch as a whole and individual members like Nissa, Jace recruits her for the mission because the Godzilla Threshold has been firmly crossed. She ultimately ends up defying the trope by pulling a Heroic Sacrifice, willingly risking Compleation to make sure her allies can make it.
Ultimate Blacksmith: She takes her race's love for crafting and cranks it up. The millions of hedrons that cover Zendikar? She made all of them. And now she's used what she learned there to make the cryptoliths, which are responsible for the magic warping Innistrad and driving Avacyn and her angels mad.
Unflinching Walk: This image◊.
Unwanted False Faith: Taught the fledgling races of Zendikar about the threat of the Eldrazi, a message that got muddled over time and cast her as their servant instead. Nahiri is not pleased by this development, and wrecks every trace of said religion she can find. Now that she's summoned an Eldrazi Titan to Innistrad, she's become what she's hated.
Vocal Dissonance: After spending centuries in meditation, Nahiri is noted to have have a voice akin to the "crunch of gravel".
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Sometimes she resents her immortality.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the Zendikar Rising set, she has dedicated herself to repairing the damage caused by the Eldrazi's imprisonment, most of all the Roil. Unfortunately, in the time since the Eldrazi were imprisoned, Zendikar's life has adapted to the upheaval, and Nahiri's view on the true Zendikar is one where said life can't survive.
We Used to Be Friends: As she describes it to a group of adventurers, Sorin "was like a father" to her. It's part of the reason she took Sorin's perceived betrayal of her so hard. She trusted him enough that she assumed that the only reason he ignored his oath to aid her if the Eldrazi escaped was because he was in peril.
White and Red and Eerie All Over: Besides her mana alignment she has bleach white skin (typical for a kor) and has taken to wearing red sleeves. She's evil. As of Aftermath she also has glowing orange-red patterns scarred into her shoulder.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Not quite literally, since as far as we know she's just trying to have everything on Innistrad Driven to Madness instead of actually destroying the plane, but close enough. She did not take Sorin's failure to show up and help Zendikar well, and was even less happy with his reasons, became even more enraged when he chose to seal her for centuries in Helvault after her brief scuffle with Avacyn, and finally she snapped after returning home to see Ulamog busy devouring the plane. Now actually literal with the reveal that she's brought Emrakul to Innistrad to destroy it the way Ulamog and Kozilek had razed Zendikar.
Wrench Wench: She is an extremely powerful Lithomancer, and when the trio worked together to imprison the Eldrazi, she was responsible for creating the physical parts of their prison. AKA the Hedron Network.
Zombie Infectee: She is infected with the Glistening Oil but hides it. Melira does realize what's happened and offers to heal her, but recovering would take days, time which Nahiri knows they don't have. Knowing she's the powerhouse of the planeswalkers, Nahiri elects to taker her chances without healing.

Nicol Bolas

"There is no greater folly than standing against me."

Colors: Blue, Black, Red
Race: Elder Dragon
Home Plane: Dominaria

Nicol Bolas is one of the oldest Planeswalkers in the multiverse — and perhaps the most powerful. He first appeared in the Legends cycle, where he battled Tetsuo Umezawa (a descendent of the Kamigawa block's protagonist, Toshiro Umezawa) for control of Madara. He reappeared in the Time Spiral block for a pair of epic Planeswalker duels against Teferi and Leshrac, and then again to serve as an antagonist in the Shards of Alara block. He's been manipulating Magic's storyline from behind the scenes ever since. The Amonkhet block returns him to being more than "behind the scenes." Read more about him here.

Above Good and Evil: He cares not for "pathetic moralizing", and views those who condemn him as a villain as seeing weakness as a virtue.
Bolas: What they call villainy is no more than the will to win by any means available. I make no apologies.
The Ace: He's one of the few Elder Dragons to survive the Dragon War, knows Blue, Red, and Black magic, is regarded as one of (if not the most) intelligent beings in the multiverse, and has even shown himself capable of cheating death.
The Assimilator: His plan in War of the Spark is to absorb the sparks of every other planeswalker in the multiverse so that he can become a god.
Ax-Crazy: Bolas is extremely sociopathic, highly sadistic and is not shy about killing others for simply annoying him or just because he can. And that’s when he isn’t committing mass murder for its own sake; in Emperor's Fist he openly brags about hunting entire planes of creatures he created just for sport.
Agony Beam: His touch causes immense physical and psychological trauma.
The Arch Mage: He's an extremely powerful wizard even by Planeswalker standards.
Back from the Dead: After his death at the hands of Tetsuo Umezawa, leading to him being reduced to a wraith bound to a time rift, Nicol Bolas managed to revive himself by tricking Venser and mind-controlling him into a ritual that revived him. This is why Ugin argued against killing him once he'd been defeated on Ravnica - if death cannot stop Bolas for good, then the only way to ensure he won't be a threat is to imprison him alive.
Bad Boss: He has a history of abusing his minions, whoever those minions are (even planeswalkers such as Sarkhan and Tezzeret).
Nicol Bolas doesn't distinguish between servants and victims.
Badass Boast: He's very fond of making impressive evil statements; practically every time he's quoted in the flavor text of a card, it's an example. His entire encounter with Ajani at the end of Alara Unbroken is basically a long boast. Trouble is, he really is that good. Best summarized by this quote: "I've survived more apocalypses than you've had chest colds."
The Bad Guy Wins: Most of the stories he appears in after his debut see his plans coming to fruition — he encounters some hiccups along the way, but ultimately achieves his goals. In Shards of Alara, he successfully used the Conflux to increase his power; in Zendikar, he managed to see the Eldrazi released for reasons still unknown; and in Amonkhet, he obtained his army of Eternals, destroying the plane's civilization in the process and completely stomping the Gatewatch when they attacked him to stop this.
Batman Gambit: In War Of The Spark it's revealed that he was the one who insured the reforged Blackblade made its way into Belzenlok's claws, knowing full well the Gatewatch would kill Belzenlok to take it, and pin all their hopes on its ability to kill another Elder Dragon... because he'd taken measures to ensure it wouldn't work on him after the first dragon it killed, thus making sure they didn't look for a weapon that could actually harm him.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: During his battle with the Gatewatch, he takes time in beating them in their area of expertise, just to add insult to injury. He subjects Jace, a telepath, to a Mind Rape, takes control over the plane from elementalist Nissa and gives manipulator Liliana a Breaking Speech that makes her abandon the team. Gideon and Chandra tried to take him with brute force, so he just beats them up. This is also reflected in game by cards showing him defeating each member of the team being in that member's color and targetting cards of the same color.
Beauty Equals Goodness: In a game full of majestic dragons, Bolas is easily recognizable for his gnarly, gremlin-like face.
Berserk Button: Insinuating that he has at any point in his life felt fear is probably the most effective method of pissing him off.
Big Bad: Arguably Magic's premier force of evil with Yawgmoth out of the picture. He certainly sees himself this way.
Book Ends:
- Hour of Devastation's storyline starts with him defeating Amonkhet's gods, starting with subjecting the Blue-aligned one to a Mind Rape, then committing mass murder and building a new order, before leaving victorious. It ends with him committing mass murder and ending the new order that he built, before defeating the Gatewatch, starting with subjecting their Blue-aligned member to a Mind Rape.
- As the first Chronicle of Bolas story shows, Bolas's first words were "I'm stuck." In the last Chronicle of Bolas story, when Baishya accuses him of being stuck in the past and being obsessed with his rivalry with Ugin, Bolas childishly protests "I'm not stuck!"
Breakout Villain: At first, Nicol Bolas was just one part of a cycle of Elder Dragons. He's the only one who most people pay attention to nowadays.
Brought Down to Normal: Like all of the Planeswalkers who survived the Mending, Nicol Bolas was reduced from a godlike being to a mortal dragon. Even if he's still a powerful Elder Dragon, Bolas hates this loss of power, and his schemes since then have revolved around a way to get his pre-Mending power back. Bolas regains some of this power from the Conflux, but Ajani defeating him before he could fully absorb it meant this power was only a temporary stopgap. He temporarily succeeds in War of the Spark, absorbing hundreds of Planeswalker sparks to gain power equal to (or perhaps even beyond) his pre-Mending self... only to lose it all when Liliana and Niv-Mizzet defeat him with his own weapons and despark him. At the conflict's end, Bolas is no longer even a post-Mending Planeswalker, but a planebound dragon - an ant, in his words.
Cain and Abel: The Cain to Ugin's Abel.
The Chessmaster: His defining characteristic. His schemes span countless centuries and numerous planes of existence.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He and Yawgmoth are the two most important villains centered on black mana but the similarities pretty much end here. Yawgmoth started as a normal human with no known relatives and never became a planeswalker, tied his own essence to a single plane after failing to surgically extract the spark from a planeswalker, acted behind the scenes for most of the time and it took years before seeing him represented in any art; also, while he was certainly lacking in empathy, he had a cause to follow and envisioned a future of perfection. Bolas was born as a powerful dragon and then became a planeswalker, has spent most of his life in feud with his brother Ugin, travels through the Multiverse and plans to harvest the sparks of all other planeswalkers while on Ravnica, generally loves to be all over the place, has been depicted in many occasions (even getting several planeswalker cards on his own) and doesn't even try to find a motivation for his deeds apart from power for power's sake.
The Corrupter: He corrupts just about everything and everyone he touches. Sarkhan Vol, Tezzeret, the entire plane of Amonkhet...
Crazy-Prepared: When Tezzeret was dealing with the Phyrexians, he notes that Nicol Bolas has always accounted for Ajani every time he makes a move since their encounter in Alara and he still failed to even do anything to him, much to Tezzeret's horror. In comparison, the Phyrexians outright compleated Ajani with even fewer planning or effort at their end.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He delivered two of those on the Amonkhet, one against the Eight Gods, the other against the Gatewatch.
Dark Is Evil: Is Black mana aligned, and is the Ax-Crazy Big Bad of Magic. His golden appearance and sun motif make him (visually) more of a case of Light Is Not Good.
Deadpan Snarker: He is intellectually so far above more-or-less every other life form in the multiverse, so his condescending attitude leads to the delivery of some pretty legendary snark.
Didn't See That Coming: He really didn't expect Liliana to turn his own army of Eternals against him even while aware that breaking the pact would kill her. As someone who spent his whole life controlling others through fear, someone who was no longer afraid of him was his ultimate blindspot.
Dispense with the Pleasantries: Really doesn't care for people wasting his time.
Tezzeret: You do us great honor with your presence. It is my hope, Nicol Bolas, that together we can come to a mutually beneficial-
Nicol Bolas: Shut up. I hate you, artificer, and I find rare cause to bother hating anyone anymore. The only reason I'm not currently picking your spine out from between my teeth is because you were smart enough to arrange these wards ahead of time. More to the point, I know full well you feel the same about me, no matter how you choose to doll up your words and trot them out like perfumed trollops. So perhaps we can save the pleasantries for those who might actually care about them, and simply tell me what you propose?
The Dreaded: Prepared or not, practically every Planeswalker ever does an Oh, Crap! when he deigns to appear in person. This extends to even the great powers of planes he's never even been to. On Theros, the god Kruphix knows everything that anybody in Theros knows as part of his divine nature, which means that he knows everything that a visiting Planeswalker does as soon as they planeswalk there. Not only does he fear what might happen if Bolas should come to Theros, he even admits that Bolas is unfathomably ancient and powerful compared to him. This from the oldest and most powerful member of the entire pantheon.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Emperor's Fist states that he respected his siblings as equals, and "Chronicle of Bolas: The Twins" shows that he had a (very short-lived) concern for his very short-lived sister Merrevia Sal upon her death. Considering that he is currently attempting to murder his twin brother and even has succeeded in one timeline, however, this doesn't matter a lot in the great scheme of things.
Even Evil Has Standards: Even he is worried about New Phyrexia, and was immensely relieved when Tezzeret informed him they hadn't gained the ability to cross planes yet. According to the latter, his first action after achieving Godhood during War of the Spark would've been to obliterate the whole plane for good before they could become any more of a threat to the multiverse as a whole. His fears become real when they do gain the ability to cross planes and effortlessly pull out feats not even he managed despite all the planning (like compleating Ajani). Then again, this coming from one of the greatest threats ever to the multiverse seems to be more a desire to get rid of competition than anything else.
Evil Genius: His is without a doubt one of the most brilliant minds in the Multiverse (probably even the most brilliant), and he's not using any of his brain cells for good.
Evil Overlord: At several points in the history of the Multiverse, the dragon has been known to rule empires, such as his stint as Emperor of Madara.
Evil Sorcerer: Most likely the most powerful example to ever live. There's seemingly no end to his evil or his sorcerous might.
Evil Is Petty:
- The first thing Bolas does when he's freed from the Meditation Realm is hunt down anyone who was descended from the man that put him there. And probably anyone they ever knew or loved for that matter. And their pets.
- Bolas is also really fond of being as annoying as possible in any given conversation with Tezzeret and/or Jace.
- He openly admits causing the genocide of his own creations for fun.
- Hell, part of the trigger that caused his Spark to ignite was jealousy that Ugin discovered the Spark first and had something he did not.
False Friend:
- Ugin loved Nicol as a brother and assumed the feeling was mutual. When Nicol tried to manipulate him into joining him in his conquest of Dominaria, Ugin realized that his brotherly bond was a lie. Nicol had never really understood Ugin or even cared to understand him and had no qualms about using Ugin for his own ends. This betrayal hurt Ugin so much it awakened his Planeswalker Spark.
- That said, there are a few hints that Bolas did deeply care about Ugin, in his own way. Even within his own retelling of the story of his and Ugin's birth - which, naturally, paints him in the most flattering and impressive light possible, to almost comical absurdity - he retells the feeling of sorrow and shame in thinking that Ugin may have died in the sorcerous assault from the enemy that ensued immediately following said offering - in actuality Ugin planeswalking after his Spark ignited, but he had no way of knowing it. It's stated he spent many years trying to find out what happened to his brother, and when Ugin returned thousands of years later, Bolas becomes overjoyed and eager to show his brother what he had accomplished in that time - it's only when Ugin showed his disdain for Bolas's oppressive and brutal regime, that he really began to hate him, viewing him as weak willed and a coward.
Fashion-Victim Villain: The word "garish" comes to mind when considering his golden armor and the aggrandizing green statue of himself that he places on Ravnica.
Fatal Flaw: Fear. He is utterly terrified of being powerless, and is scared of factors that are absolutely out of his control (chiefly his brother Ugin, who cheated death at Bolas's hands twice). Yasova exploits this fear to bluff Bolas into leaving Tarkir alone for good. In War of the Spark, this fear becomes reality; see Fate Worse than Death below.
Fate Worse than Death: All his great power is removed from him, reducing him to an 'ant,' the thing he hates most.
Faux Affably Evil: Has a pleasant conversation with Jace Beleren the first time they meet... before promptly sicking an army on both him and Tezzeret with the intention of killing them both.
Final Boss: Of Magic: the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013.
Foil: To Ugin. Both ancient, extremely powerful Elder Dragons with conflicting views on the nature of the Multiverse.
For the Evulz:
- His most basic motivation, as stated in Emperor's Fist:
  "I was old before this world was even born. I watched my brothers rule for a thousand years until little worms like you overcame them. But I am not my brothers. I am older than they are, greater. I have devoured stars and shattered worlds. I have sired whole races, populated entire planes, and then hunted them to extinction for my amusement."
- Subverted with Hour of Devastation. While it initially seems petty and counterproductive to raze Naktamun with the Eternals they've been making him for sixty years, War of the Spark reveals that this had a purpose - by killing the gods of Amonkhet, he could have them converted into God-Eternals leading the Dreadhorde. Though he did enjoy doing that.
Freudian Excuse: The Twins reveals that his very first moments in life were defined by entrapment (he got stuck under a fallen tree when he and Ugin crash-landed), death (he witnessed his sister dragon be slain by human hunters), fear (though he denied it he was afraid of the hunters), and violence (he slaughtered the hunters' hounds and reveled in it). His first minutes in life would eventually come to define his entire worldview.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The story makes it obvious that his Freudian Excuse above doesn't justify any of the atrocities he has committed.
Game-Breaking Injury: Even a simple spell to repair a strained wing muscle after being sealed in the Mediation Realm is a bridge too far for him after War of the Spark.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: The ___'s Defeat cards from Hour of Devastation show Bolas defeating each member of the Gatewatch, but they don't always reflect how it happened in the story.
Genius Bruiser: Bolas has an absolutely mind-bending storehouse of information, is cunning enough to play Xanatos Speed Chess like it was Tic-Tac-Toe and one of the most brilliant magical researchers the multiverse has ever seen. Lest you forget, however, that he is a mountain sized (sometimes) dragon with demi-god level magical power who can casually shrug off and retaliate to conventional weapons as if they were wielded by mosquitoes.
God-Emperor: Ruled over the empire of Madara as a god before being sealed away in the Meditation Realm for thousands of years. He's also worshipped as the God-Pharaoh in Amonkhet after brutally subjugating the plane into his personal factory.
Green-Eyed Monster: He can't get over the fact that Ugin's spark ignited before his, and that his brother could be as powerful as him.
Hates Small Talk:
His voice faded to a gurgle as the dragon leaned on his chest hard enough to spring a couple of his ribs. "Banter," said Nicol Bolas, "gets on my nerves."
Hero Killer: He's the reason Ugin was:
- Old timeline: dead.
- New timeline: taking a 1000-year recuperative nap.
Hijacked by Ganon: A serial offender. For about a decade in the storyline, nearly every seemingly isolated planebound conflict in the multiverse could be traced to his meddling, either directly or through intermediaries like Sarkhan and Tezzeret.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His enslavement of Liliana and the creation of the God Eternals ultimately backfire on him horribly. Right at his moment of triumph, Liliana turns against him (which she survives thanks to Gideon's sacrifice) and sics two of the God Eternals on Bolas. He destroys God Eternal Oketra, but God Eternal Bontu manages to drain all of the Sparks he had harvested which empowered him, sealing his fate. The spear he gave to Hazoret was also created with some of Bolas' own power, which meant it could still hurt him even after he became godlike. This also led to his downfall since Niv-Mizzet got a hold of the spear and stabbed Bolas in the back with it.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Despite being one of the most powerful planeswalkers in the entire multiverse, he is aware that his current power is but a fraction of what he once wielded. He is determined to set this right, even if it means unleashing interplanar wars and releasing eldritch abominations.
We were gods once, Beleren. Did you know that? The Spark burned so much brighter then. We willed our desires upon the worlds, and the worlds obeyed. And then, the catastrophe on Dominaria and we... We are less, Beleren. Less than we were... And less than we will be!
- Happens to him again at the end of War of the Spark, to an even greater degree. He's imprisoned for eternity deprived of all of his power, including his Planeswalker Spark, and even his name courtesy of Ugin.
Humiliation Conga: He doesn't really go out on a high note. Liliana turns against him, he's impaled by a reborn Niv-Mizzet (that Bolas thought to have killed for good), the gods he had previously subjugated deprive him of his own spark and Ugin ensures he won't cheat his way out of death by confining both of them to the Meditation Realm for the rest of their lives, where Bolas is unable to even repair his own strained wing. And that huge statue of himself is toppled and destroyed by the citizens of Ravnica as soon as possible.
Hypocrite: He showed concern that New Phyrexia could become a threat to the multiverse as a whole, when he himself endangered several planes by himself and specifically gloated about annihilating entire species for his own amusement. Phyrexians wouldn't be the whitest kettle even with Norn's porcelain, but Bolas is a really black pot.
Irony: His Evil Plan in War of the Spark was to harvest the Sparks of every Planeswalker in the multiverse so he could become a god. It ends with him losing his own Planeswalker Spark and being reduced to a powerless creature.
It's All About Me: Nicol Bolas is the only thing that matters to Nicol Bolas.
Jerkass: You might have noticed a pattern in the other tropes. In addition of being a megalomaniac tyrant, he's also extremely petty and unpleasant to foes and minions alike.
Just Toying with Them:
- It'd be easier to count the fights Bolas has been in where he wasn't toying with his opponent. Exemplified in his "confrontation" with Jace Beleren and Tezzeret, where he proves fully capable of engaging with Tezzeret in a complex negotiation, idly chatting with Jace Beleren without giving any outward sign that he's doing anything but speaking with Tezzeret, has managed to move in and conceal an entire army without either Tezzeret or Jace becoming aware of it, and then, when Bolas is done with his idle chatting, he overwhelms Jace's best mental defense without even trying. That Jace could hold him off like that for less than a second is described as a greater feat than Jace will ever understand.
  His body rigid, as though he'd long since succumbed to the blizzard's touch, Jace hurled the entire force of his will into a mental lunge. His mind screamed into the ice, and nobody heard. Like a closing fist, he snapped shut the grid of thought, trying to block Bolas before he — Oh, dear Heaven! Jace's mind quailed before the greatest power he had ever felt. The innermost depths of Alhammarret's psyche, the very core of the wizard's being, had been nothing, a gentle springtime gust to the roaring hurricane that was this single tendril of the dragon's mind.
- The Amonkhet artbook spells out that Bolas didn't just want to defeat the Gatewatch during the fall of Naktamun; he wanted to humiliate them and rub his superiority into their faces. Best exemplified when he lets Gideon put up his invulnerable shield... and then spends the first half of the fight dribbling him against the wall with his tail just for the laughs.
Laser-Guided Karma: At the end of War of the Spark, he's finally facing what he fears most: being powerless, stripped of his spark, names and titles and forced to spend the rest of his life with the brother he hates. And he deserves every single bit.
Last of His Kind: Bolas is one of the last two elder dragons known to exist in the entire multiverse, alongside his twin brother Ugin. Most of the others were wiped out in a civil war long, long ago. (Although this depends how "Elder Dragon" is defined — the new Tarkir's dragonlords have the same type, although they aren't of the same lineage as Bolas.)
Laughably Evil: Along with his snarky attitude, he manages to be downright hilarious in spite of, or perhaps even because of how evil he is thanks to his massive ego and petty attitude.
Light Is Not Good: In spite of his mana alignment he has a strong sun motif, which only intensified in Amonkhet-onwards stories.
Magikarp Power: His Core 2019 card is a double-faced card reflecting how Bolas grew from the Elder Dragons' runt to the most feared Planeswalker in the multiverse. The front side◊ is a 4/4 dragon with only a modest ETB effect to his name, dwarfed by the other Core 2019 Elder Dragons and even by "average" dragons like Shivan Dragon. Pay the mana cost for his transformation, however, and Bolas becomes a powerful Planeswalker◊ with a plethora of devastating effects, including an ultimate that outright destroys your opponent's library.
The Man Behind the Man: He enjoys using others as puppets.
Manipulative Bastard: Manipulates everyone he can all the time, and really, he's just a bastard all around.
Mind Rape: As an undisputed master of blue and black magic his standard attacks cause this, which we see multiple times throughout the storyline. He could do the in-game equivalent of this even as a regular old pre-Planeswalker creature; if he hits you, you lose every card in your hand.
Multiversal Conqueror: Nothing less than absolute dominion over all planes of existence is his end goal.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Supposedly he has so many titles he doesn't even care about them anymore, most notably the Tyrant of Worlds. Jace Beleren comes up with a few more, such as the Eldest Planeswalker (even though Ugin's Spark ignited before Bolas's) and the Forever Serpent. There is a secret, forgotten name he was known under on Amonkhet: the Great Trespasser. Not that "God-Pharaoh" isn't also intimidating.
Narcissist: At the end of the day, he's a cosmic scale bully who wreaks havoc to feed his own ego and compensate for his deep-seated fear of being powerless.
Nepharious Pharaoh: An Evil Sorcerer being worshiped as the God-Pharaoh? This can't end well.
No Fourth Wall: Once took over a column on the official website.
Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: He considers himself the only one who can get away with whatever he wants forever. Of course, he'll also point out that he does not play games.
Number of the Beast: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 states that he is 60 feet long, 60 feet wide, and weighs 60 tonnes.
Numerological Motif: His final ability does seven damage to a player, then makes that player sacrifice seven permanents and discard seven cards.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: After he delivers his Breaking Speech to Liliana in Hour of Devastation he offers her to work for him in exchange for two things. One is knowledge of how to control the Chain Veil. The other is her own survival.
Olympus Mons: The original five Elder Dragons are the ancestors of all dragons, with Bolas himself as the far greatest among them. And you, as a Planeswalker, can summon him both as a creature and as a Planeswalker ally.
Our Dragons Are Different: Immortal, supremely powerful, masterfully manipulative wizard bent on total omnipotence.
Pragmatic Villainy: Bolas subscribes to this, and in his "On Winning" article, advises others to do the same. The textbook example is his reason for being against cheating within the context of a game: If you win by cheating and don't get caught, you won. If you win without cheating, you won. There is no difference. However, if you get caught cheating, you lost and now you are likely denied any future chance to make up for the defeat.
Psychopathic Manchild: The grandiose titles and cosmic powers can't do much to hide his nature as a bratty Enfant Terrible who delights in killing small animals and harming other children, just on a much bigger scale.
"Reason You Suck" Speech: In Hour of Devastation he delivers one to each member of the Gatewatch as he defeats them one after another.
The Runt at the End: He and his twin Ugin were the smallest and weakest Elder Dragons at birth. While their bigger and stronger elder siblings and cousins had somewhat more impressive landings, Nicol and Ugin had an undignified crash landing that resulted in Nicol being stuck under a fallen tree. Though they would eventually become the most powerful of their kin as well as the only survivors, Nicol never forgot what it felt like to be weak. His driving motivation is to never be weak again.
Sadist: See For the Evulz above. For all his power, knowledge and age, he's just a nasty kid playing with a lenses.
Satanic Archetype: Starting by the fact that his own name is reportedly a German term for the Old Scratch and he is a dragon designed to resemble a demon, but it goes so much deeper than that. An impossibly old, evil member of a host of god-like beings, of which he stood out amidst, he is a designated liar and manipulator as well as an outright corrupter who can't resist being worshiped as a god if he can help it. He is thoroughly associated with the most stereotypically evil color association with all that entails,^note, and is Magic's quintessential force of evil.
Sealed Evil in a Can: He was trapped in the Meditation Realm for thousands of years before escaping in the Time Spiral block. He is sealed in the Meditation Realm again at the conclusion of War of the Spark by Ugin, possibly for eternity.
Sibling Murder: In the original timeline, he succeeded in killing his brother Ugin.
Slept Through the Apocalypse: By the time he awoke from his millennia of imprisonment in his Meditation Realm, Dominaria was a post-apocalyptic wasteland due to the Phyrexian invasion.
Smug Super: Even post-Mending, he's far and away the most powerful Planeswalker alive (with the exception of his rival Ugin) and he damn well knows it. Best shown in Hour of Devastation when he takes the time to crush and humiliate each member of the Gatewatch, one at a time, forcing them to run away in defeat, when he could have killed them with one spell.
The Social Darwinist: He's extremely fond of the idea that the strong should dominate the weak. And in Bolas's mind (and reality most of the time), he's the strong and everyone else is the weak. The Twins reveals that he started to develop this mindset after witnessing his sister dragon getting slain by human hunters. That made him determined to always be the hunter and never the hunted.
Bolas: Do the innocent pay for the crimes of the guilty? Of course they do. That's the fate of the weak.
The Sociopath: When other empathy-devoid oldwalkers like Ugin and Azor feel that you're an awful person, you know something's not quite right. His delight in killing entire species for the sake of funzies probably doesn't help.
Sorcerous Overlord: His vast array of magic ensures his dominion over his servants.
Start of Darkness: Almost immediately after he and Ugin hatched, he witnessed his sister Merrevia Sal be murdered by primitive human hunters. This seems to be the root of his deep-seated fear of death and his need to be more powerful than the humans.
Superpower Lottery: Nicol Bolas is an Elder Dragon, which old lore described as the first dragons in the entire multiverse and progenitors of all other dragonkind (though the title of "first dragons" no longer applies after it was revealed they were spawned by the wing-beats of the ur-dragon), and were capable of rivaling pre-mending planeswalkers in power. Then his own spark ignited, allowing him to reach heights of power so great that he could honestly be called the most powerful being in the entire multiverse.
Take Away Their Name: Ugin takes away both of his names at the end of War of the Spark, ensuring that he can never be summoned by anyone again.
This Cannot Be!: He does not exactly take his defeat well, shrieking how it 'cannot happen to me!'
Time Abyss: The second oldest Planeswalker in existence.
Tom the Dark Lord: Nicol sounds like a form of 'Nicholas'. In fact, Vraska calls him "Lord Nicholas" when referring to her employer in the guise of a pirate on Ixalan.
Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Defeating members of Gatewatch on Amonkhet, he takes his time to brag on how easy it is to defeat them.
Villainous Breakdown: Upon his defeat at the climax at the War of the Spark, he is reduced to impotent howls of terror, rage and disbelief.
Nicol Bolas: No. NO! This is incomprehensible! I am Nicol Bolas! This does not happen to me!
Wake-Up Call Boss: To the Gatewatch. After taking down the Eldrazi, they figured they could bring Bolas down by simply catching him off guard. Bolas proceeds to show them just how wrong they are. They didn't even succeed in catching him off-guard; he knew they were coming far in advance.
We Can Rule Together: When Nicol revealed his true colors to Ugin, he asked Ugin to join him in his conquest of Dominaria. But Ugin had never desired power over others — and the realization that Nicol didn't understand this or even care to understand this about him led Ugin to realize that Nicol had never truly valued him as a brother. To Nicol, even his own twin brother was just another potential pawn.
"World's Best" Character: Dragons are Stronger with Age. The last Elder Dragon, Nicol Bolas, is an incredibly dangerous villain described as "Dominaria's most ancient evil".
Xanatos Gambit: In the end, all schemes lead to victory for Bolas. You don't survive for millennia without being an expert manipulator.
Xanatos Speed Chess: His favorite game, made easy by having such a tremendous intellect.
Your Size May Vary: Exactly how big he is depends on the artist. Possibly him changing size depending on what's the easiest for him to fit in a location.
You Can't Thwart Stage One: The Gatewatch tried to do this in the Amonkhet block. Bolas easily defeated them.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Rather than have Naktamun keep producing Eternals for him, he decides he's done with the place and takes his zombie army out on a test run by siccing them onto Naktamun itself.

Ob Nixilis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4ce63979baa1e7ee31efa83c9e85cf4b.png

"Conquering your first world is the hardest, after all. My power grew as I moved from world to world, taking anything that would make the next taking easier."

^{Click here to see him as a demon}

Colors: Black (primary), Red
Race: Demon, formerly Human
Home Plane: Unnamed Destroyed World

Introduced in Zendikar as a demon who lost his Planeswalker spark, Ob Nixilis was originally a human tyrant engaged with a neverending war with the people of his homeworld. He ultimately ended the war and brought "peace", as it were, by offering the blood of his last two loyal soldiers to summon a demon. The demon wiped out all life from his world except for Ob Nixilis. Despot with no one to rule over, his spark ignited, showing him infinite worlds to conquer. Unfortunately, conquering the multiverse isn't easy. A failure led him to seek out the power of the Chain Veil, which instead cursed him with the body of a demon. He sought out the boundless mana of Zendikar to cure him of his curse, but an unfortunate run-in with Nahiri left his Planeswalker spark sealed away. However, the hedron that was sealing his spark has been removed from his skull, and his spark has been recuperating. He is ready to take out his revenge on the world that trapped him for so many centuries.

He later resurfaced on the plane of New Capenna, known as "The Adversary" and trying to force his way through the power balance of the plane's five crime families. His initial plans were stopped by Elspeth, but when New Phyrexia's invasion began, he saw a new opportunity: to wait until it was over and seize control during the disarray. Unfortunately (for him), Ob's ability to planeswalk was lost in the aftermath of March of the Machine, leaving him stranded on New Capenna and in the crosshairs of every other family there.

Ambition Is Evil: Although in fairness, "destroy all life" is hardly a relatable ambition to begin with.
Arch-Nemesis: He really, really hates Nahiri. Nissa's also not his favorite person for her resistance on Zendikar. They have a Duel Deck series dedicated to their battles now.
Arc Villain:
- Of Battle for Zendikar. Though Ulamog and his brood are far more dangerous threats, as of now the Eldrazi do not seem to be motivated by any desire save for the never-ending need to consume, while Ob Nixilis has been exploiting the chaos Ulamog has brought forth to finally reignite his spark.
- Becomes this again for Streets of New Capenna where he seeks to destroy the ruling demon families and take control of the plane's Halo supply for himself.
Bald of Evil: At least when he was human.
Bad Boss: He is more than willing to sacrifice his own minions for his gain.
You fill each bowl with blood, and you place one hand in each. From there, the chamber would do the rest. And I just happened to have two lives with me to fill the bowls.
The Bad Guy Wins: He has regained his wings, his spark, managed to unleash an additional Eldrazi Titan upon Zendikar, and defeated three out of four members of the future Gatewatch before Chandra appeared. Even when he was forced to flee, he remarked that they had wasted their time fighting him instead of the Eldrazi and so allowed Zendikar to suffer further. Not bad for someone whose chances to escape from his previous state of being looked less than bright.
Black Knight/Tin Tyrant: As a human, he donned the usual garb of a villainous conqueror in a medieval fantasy.
Briar Patching: He tricked the player character in Duels 2015 into taking the hedron from his forehead, thinking it was the source of his power. This removed Nahiri's power limiter, making him much stronger and causing him to grow wings.
Brought Down to Badass: Even after losing his spark, he's still a very powerful demon. Technically it's still true after he regains it, since he is still gone from a godlike pre-mending planeswalker to a powerful post-mending one.
Curse Escape Clause: He believes that if Zendikar is destroyed, he'll regain his spark. This turns out to be unnecessary (he only had to usurp the power to save the plane, not destroy it personally), but he figures he might as well help it along a bit anyway.
Deadpan Snarker: After being captured by his opponent, Lord Raximar, he carried out a series of quick gambits that resulted in the two of them dueling to the death and every witness dying horribly. Ob then told Raximar's army that he challenged Raximar to an honorable duel of succession and won.
"The Raximar troops, for some reason, doubted my version of events."
Deal with the Devil: How he defeated the opposing army that was coming for him — and also killed every other living thing on his home plane.
Depower: Nahiri stuck a hedron in his skull that blocked his spark, and thus weakened him severely. Then he falls victim to whatever is causing most planeswalkers to lose their sparks after New Phyrexia’s invasion.
Enemy Mine: Despite his absolute hatred of the Gatewatch, he also doesn't hesitate to work with them against Bolas in War Of The Spark, but abandons them after helping destroy the Planar Bridge.
Evil Makes You Monstrous: Duh. Ob-Nixilis started out as a human, but his attempts to seize the power of the Chain Veil had him cursed into his present form. This is mostly to justify why a demon can be a planeswalker, since mana constructs aren't supposed to hold sparks.
The Fatalist: What drove him to become an Omnicidal Maniac. By studying the history of his home plane, where civilisation was periodically brought to ruin by magical forces, he came to believe that societies are inherently doomed to destroy themselves.
Faux Affably Evil: He's remarkably civilized, witty, well-educated, and polite as he stabs you in the back. Even as a demon trapped on Zendikar, he went out of his way to speak to every Planeswalker who passed through the plane, making sure to let all of them know about powerful the hedron in his forehead was ...
Gambit Roulette: How he defeated Lord Raximar and tricked the player character in Duels 2015 into removing his hedron, along with some Crazy-Prepared and a hefty dose of bluffing. The man simply doesn't care if he lives, so his plans end with him either succeeding gloriously or dying horribly. So far, it's always been the former.
Hijacked by Ganon: Performs this on the New Capenna storyline. It was part of the New Phyrexia arc and Urabrask did appear, but Ob is the primary antagonist and threat to Elspeth and Vivien because of his attempts to take control of the titular plane, launching a mass attack against its ruling gangs.
It's All About Me: After the destruction of his world, was he emotionally affected by the deaths of everyone he'd ever known? ... Well, he did think it was funny. It was once it struck him that he had nothing to rule anymore that he became vexed.
Laser-Guided Karma: His attempts to take control of New Capenna's Halo made him the enemy of all five crime families. Meaning it's very bad for him when losing his spark leaves him stuck on New Capenna.
Karmic Transformation: His lust for power led him to the Chain Veil, which turned him into a demon — just like the ones he called on to destroy his home plane.
Magic Knight: He's equally adept with a greatsword and with spellcraft.
Opportunistic Bastard: If an opportunity presents itself that he can use to his own ends, he will take it.
Multiversal Conqueror: It took him several decades at least to annihilate all life on his home plane. The second fell much more quickly.
Omnicidal Maniac: Before losing his spark, he traveled the multiverse wiping out all life from each plane he visited. Now he's convinced the only way to get his spark back is to help the Eldrazi destroy Zendikar ...
Our Demons Are Different: He has born a human, but a bad encounter with the Chain Veil turned him into a winged demon.
Power Limiter: The hedron that Nahiri placed in his skull suppressed his spark, withered his wings and greatly diminished his powers.
Pragmatic Villain: As seen in the battle of Zendikar, after his plan to regain his Spark is thwarted, he is perfectly fine with working with his former enemies, if necessary. Keyword being if, when he finds out it's not necessary he switches back to his genocidal plans without a second thought.
Restraining Bolt: Nahiri bound him to Zendikar to prevent him from being able to continue on his planar killing spree.
Revenge: After being defeated by the Gatewatch, he promises to strike back at them in the future.
"I will walk every plane, scour every pathetic world, until I find a way to bring fitting punishment down upon your misguided lives."
Spikes of Villainy: On his armor as a mortal, and on his carapace as a demon.
To the Pain: But of course.
"Oh, little elf. Would you like to hear something amusing? If you had simply let me finish my work, I would have regained my spark and left your world. I didn't choose you as an enemy, but now I feel obliged to be the enemy you deserve. Kozilek's distortion will allow you to experience the last hours of Zendikar drawn out over the space of a thousand years. Suffering as I did. Normally I don't care for these kinds of theatrics, but you've earned yourself an exception."
The Unfettered: He will betray any trust, commit any blasphemy, and pay any price for power.
Vampiric Draining: A specialty magic of his, extinguishing the life of everything nearby and drawing the energy for himself to restore and/or bolster his strength. Doing this on a planar scale by siphoning the power of Zendikar itself through the hedron network used to trap Ulamog is how he finally reignites his spark.
Villain Song: Just like all crime families of New Capenna, he got one for his own, Until This City's Burning, written as recruitment drive for new members. In it Ob and his crime family are presenting themselves as fighting for the little man against ruling families, but sinister undertones poke out underneath. A heavy, fast-paced rock piece filled with pounding percussion, aggressive electric guitars and screaming vocals, the piece strongly contrasts the smooth and jazzy Villain Songs of the five families, painting Ob Nixilis as an Outside-Context Villain who is much more dangerous than any of them.
We're gonna tear their towers down!
It's not like they're undeserving!
A whole new gang's in town!
Here to help, the table's turning!
The family you have found
is better than the boss you're serving!
We. Won't. Stop.
Until this city's burning.
Was Once a Man: He was originally a human planeswalker, but his evil and dark magic ggradually warped his form into that of a monstrous, fiery demon.
Wicked Cultured: He's a student of history, religion, and anthropology, taught himself several languages, and trades witty banter with his opponents while dueling them.

Serra

Serra, The Benevolent

"Let Phyrexia breed evil in the darkness; my holy light will reveal its taint."

Colors: White

Race: Unconfirmed, probably Human

Home Plane: Unknown

A white-aligned Planeswalker, Serra created an idyllic and beautiful plane where she lived her version of a perfect life. Angels answered her commands and protected its human inhabitants from danger. When Urza was wounded by Phyrexians, Serra gave him sanctuary and helped heal and restore him- drawing the eye of Yawgmoth to her private paradise. The subsequent Phyrexian attacks eventually forced her to flee with many of her followers while those angels and humans who refused would fight on. Of the remaining beings, Urza saved those angels and humans finally willing to leave the Realm before collapsing it into a Powerstone Core for the Skyship Weatherlight. He transplanted her surviving followers to the nation of Benalia on Dominaria. After leaving Serra's Realm, Serra came to the devastated plane Ulgrotha, setting of the Homelands expansion, where she met and married the planeswalker Feroz, but abandoned this plane as well after he died in a lab accident. Serra ultimately died when a planeswalker thief coveted her wedding ring and, in grief, she allowed herself to be killed in the mugging. Like their counterparts in Benalia, the humans of Ulgrotha still worship her.

As the Good Song Says: The angels of Serra often quote from her holy book in card text, The Song of All.
"In the gathering there is strength for all who founder, renewal for all who languish, love for all who sing."
Big Good: She tried her entire long, long life to be this. It's debatable how much she herself succeeded, but her legacy has at least become a beacon of hope across the planes.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: The faith formed around her was strongly inspired by Christianity, design-wise. Especially evident in earlier sets like Homelands.
Crystal Spires and Togas: Her Realm's aesthetic is this in a Fluffy Cloud Heaven.
Death Seeker: She became one after Feroz died. She eventually got her wish.
Floating Continent: Her Realm consisted of flat strips of land floating in an endless, cloud-specked sky.
Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Her Realm was the Magic multiverse's clearest example of this kind of dimension.
God Guise: Like some other pre-Mending planeswalkers, she inspired a religion among the mortals. However, she was named after an ancient Dominarian goddess, so it goes both ways really. Members of the Church of Serra believe the planeswalker Serra was an avatar of the goddess Serra, so there's little to no difference between them in their minds.
Have You Seen My God?: She hasn't been seen since Urza's first visit to her realm. The second time he shows up, the Archangel Radiant is running things in her absence. She did it again to her worshippers on Ulgrotha, except this time she became suicidal and got herself killed.
- As of the new Dominaria set, the Archangels of Serra in the land of Benalia continue to worship her, with Guardian Angels continuing to manifest out of thin air in response to mortal prayers. The Angels believe Serra to be alive, or somehow ascended to goddess-hood and still powerful enough to create new beings. However, its unclear if it's she or the goddess she was named after. Or... perhaps she and the goddess aren't so separate after all...
Heroic BSoD: The eventual cause of her being Driven to Suicide was the combined horror at the death of her husband Feroz and the partial corruption of her Realm.
Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe. She died of suicide by proxy, but her present day worshipers hold that she bravely sacrificed herself for Benalia.
Impossibly-Low Neckline: Serra's original design (as seen on her Vanguard card) had her in a Breast Plate that covered as little of her upper torso as possible.^note Averted in her redesign for her planeswalker card in Modern Horizons, pictured above.
Knight Templar: Displayed a rather zealous attitude much of the time.
Light 'em Up: Light was her favored element.
"Follow the light. In its absence, follow her." (2012 Core Set version of Serra Angel)
Light Is Good: All in all, Serra was a great force of good.
The Mourning After: When her husband Feroz died in a freak lab accident, she lost all will to live.
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Her voice helps Elspeth to amass enough courage to get back to the fight and turn the tides of the war against New Phyrexia.

Sivitri Scarzam

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sivitri_dragon_master.jpg

Even the brave have cause to tremble at the sight of Sivitri Scarzam. Who else has tamed Scarzam’s Dragon?

Colors: Blue, Black

Race: Human

Home Plane: Unknown

A planeswalker who raided ancient Corondor with her horde of Scarzam dragons. She came into conflict with Sol'Kanar twice, who first killed many of her Scarzam drgaons, then later attempted to control the Scarzam dragons to take control of Corondor for himself. Her fate after their last conflict was never revealed.

Adaptational Badass: Her original card, Sizitri Scarzam was a vanilla creature from the Legends set. Her Legends Retold card, Sivitri, Dragon Master is a planeswalker with multiple powerful effects.
Adaptation Expansion: Received additional lore in a feature of issue 39 of the Dragon+ magazine, where she was converted into a Dungeons & Dragons NPC.
Ambiguous Situation: Like some other early characters, her status as a planeswalker was ambiguous as it wasn't clear if she was the one planeswalking, or if it was due to the dragons she would ride.
Dragon Rider: Her main gimmick, hence her planeswalker card searching for Dragons and destroying non-Dragon creatures.
Sole Survivor: When she attempted to conquer Corondor with a horde of Scarzam dragons, all but one of them were killed by a poison created with a poppy. The poppy itself was created by the Maro-Sorcerer that would later become Sol'Kanar.

Sorin Markov

"Death not for survival but for vanity and pleasure? This is the decadence I sought to curb."

Colors: Black (primary), White

Race: Vampire

Home Plane: Innistrad

Sorin Markov is a black-aligned vampire Planeswalker who specializes in Blood Magic, though some white has crept into his cards as of later events. He hails from Innistrad, and is an estranged Markov family member. He was one of the three Planeswalkers who created the seal to trap the Eldrazi in Zendikar. Presently, he is busy with two things: Dealing with the resurgence of Eldrazi in Zendikar, first by working (begrudgingly) with Zendikar native Nissa Revane to reseal the Eldrazi, and later when they break free, he seeks out Ugin in Tarkir; and finding out what's wrong with his home plane Innistrad, first due to the disappearance of of Avacyn, Innistrad's guardian angel (his creation), and later due to the resurgence of dark forces despite her return. Read more about him here.

The Ageless: Innistradi vampires are not undead, merely ageless. This was initiated by Sorin's grandfather, Edgar, who wanted to live forever, and thus made a pact with the demon Shilgengar and created Innistrad's vampires.
And I Must Scream: For imprisoning Nahiri in the terrifyingly lonely darkness of the Helvault, she defeats him and encases him in stone, ensuring he lives (returning his "favor", as she terms it), but helplessly immobilized with a front-row seat to watching his plane tear itself apart.
Anti-Hero: He left conventional morality behind a very long time ago — but since he'd like to keep amusing himself in the multiverse, he'll do what it takes to preserve it.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Sorin has a contentious relationship with his grandfather, but somewhere deep down he does care about him. He occasionally goes to him for advice, and is horrified when Olivia brainwashes him into becoming her husband in Crimson Vow.
Berserk Button: Mentioning Avacyn is the best way to get under his skin after he had to put her down. Arlinn Kord finds that out the hard way when her supernatural reflexes only barely saves her from his sword.
Best Served Cold: He cultivates grudges like some people grow flowers. When he's not being dragged into helping fix something or other, it's part of how he spends his time.
Big Good: His schemes and powerful magics have been instrumental in maintaining the relative peace and harmony on two planes we've seen so far:
- He worked together with two other Planeswalkers to trap the Eldrazi in Zendikar, and even returned there to reinforce the seal when he found out that it had weakened.
- He set up a Balance Between Good and Evil in Innistrad at the cost of being forever hated by his vampire kin, including his own grandfather.
Blood Magic: But of course. His sangromancy is both powerful and practiced, enabling him to drain the lifeforce of other beings, place curses on enemies, and even possess the minds of others.
Charm Person: A vampiric ability, beefed up with his magic to the point where he can enthrall several people effortlessly.
Create Your Own Villain: Nahiri was a kind and benevolent soul until Sorin coldly brushed her off when she begged him for help, and then imprisoned her in the helvault when she tried to force him. The eternity of sensory depravation, being freed and finding most of her power gone, and seeing that the Eldrazi were free and destroying her home, turned her into a bitter and vengeful person.
Cruel to Be Kind: Created Avacyn to prevent the vampires of Innistrad from eating themselves to death. Even though Avacyn gives humanity the strength to kill the vampires, it really is for their own good.
Dark Is Not Evil: He's scheming, paranoid, brutal, and eats people to survive, but he's essentially a Big Good and doesn't like artless, senseless destruction. This is summed up in a quote of his from Day of Judgment:
"I have seen planes leveled and all life rendered to dust. It brought no pleasure, even to a heart as dark as mine."
Deadpan Snarker: Being functionally immortal will do that to you.
Deal with the Devil: His origin aside, he makes one with Olivia Voldaren: remove Avacyn, and her army is his to command against Nahiri. True to the trope's spirit, however, when he loses to Nahiri, Olivia decides their bargain is fulfilled and leaves him trapped.
Defector from Decadence: He despises the other vampires of Innistrad for their short-sighted wastefulness.
"Death not for survival but for vanity and pleasure? This is the decadence I sought to curb."
Despair Event Horizon: He loses hope to reseal the Eldrazi after discovering that Ugin has died. Sarkhan's altering of the timeline stops him from hitting this in the new present. A second time (or first, depending on how you look at it) when Emrakul arrives on Innistrad after he unmakes Avacyn; he gives up on defending the plane and dedicates all his efforts to getting revenge on Nahiri.
Disappointed in You: Among his final words to Nahiri are chastisement that she didn't kill him when last they met. He's specifically described as speaking teacher to student (and it makes a direct contrast with his congratulations to her when they sealed the Titans with Ugin's help, which carried a note of So Proud of You).
Freudian Trio: Between Nahiri (Id), himself (Superego), and Ugin (Ego).
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: In comparison to others of his kind, at least, which is not saying a whole lot. He still doesn't regard humans as inherently precious in themselves and he's perfectly happy to drain people's blood to survive (or at least sees it as an inconvenient necessity rather than monstrous), but he regards defending his own plane as an obligation, and preserves the lives of billions sealing away the Eldrazi. He might eat a few individuals, sure, but he won't have anyone devouring entire planes. There is one being he might genuinely care about: Avacyn, his creation.
Good Is Not Nice: He might be one of the only Big Goods in this setting, but don't let that fool you. Sorin's cold, arrogant, and vengeful, and you do not want to piss him off. Or even mildly annoy him.
Flavor text for Mortify: Many who cross Sorin's path come down with a sudden and fatal case of being-in-the-way-of-a-millennia-old-vampire.
The Hedonist: When he doesn't have any important matters to deal with, he usually just seeks pleasure and excitement. This is apparently a trait of Innistrad vampires.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Very spiffy leather coat he's got.
I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Sorin doesn't mind his vampirism, and even enjoys it, but he hates his grandfather for putting him through the immensely traumatic ritual to turn him (the ritual was traumatic enough to ignite Sorin's spark). The hatred is mutual, as Edgar (and every other vampire on Innistrad) resents Sorin for creating Avacyn, and Sorin has been banished from his ancestral home since. He only returns after Nahiri trashes the place.
I Did What I Had to Do: Sorin is a ruthless defender of the multiverse's continued existence who firmly believes that A Million Is a Statistic. He has consigned thousand lives to death in order to keep the Eldrazi sealed and maintain the balance between humans and vampires on Innistrad, and has hardened his heart to make these choices possible to live with.
Insufferable Genius: While undeniably intelligent, his condescending demeanor (especially when speaking with Nahiri) is often pretty grating.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is cold and distant, but there is a heart in there somewhere, even if it is buried deep sometimes. In Crimson Vow especially, he remains to help the heroes beyond the point where it is required of him to save his grandfather and Innistrad.
Kill the Ones You Love: Old as he is, there aren't many people he bothers to care about. He does care about Avacyn, but when she becomes corrupted from her purpose and then rebels against her creator, he has to put her down. He also won't be able to create a replacement for her because he made her before The Mending, and even then it used up a huge chunk of his near-godlike planeswalker power.
Magic Knight: That sword he has isn't just for show.
Mind Control: With or without necromancy. See also Charm Person.
Mook Maker: Some of his card incarnations can recruit vampires under his service.
Never My Fault: Don't suggest or imply or hint that the chaos engulfing Innistrad might have something to do with what he did. It's the result of other, foolish, younger mages overstepping their bounds. Absolutely, completely, entirely. And when it's not, he was just responding as they should have expected him to. Yes.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He's made two major misjudgements with awful consequences. Just after he completed Avacyn and the Helvault, Nahiri came to ask him for help strengthening the seal on the Eldrazi. Rather than explain that he was weakened from building the defences for his own plane, which had also accidentally blocked her request for aid from reaching him when the Eldrazi escaped, he shrugged off her concerns, then responded to her hurt/rage by locking her in the Helvault. Then at the conclusion of Shadows over Innistrad, Sorin deals Avacyn a Mercy Kill. Turns out as mad as Avacyn was, she was the very last thing keeping the plane safe from the third Eldrazi titan, Emrakul.
Noble Demon: He has his nasty points, but he knows how to do good when needed. (Also literally true: he's a vampire aristocrat.)
Not So Stoic: Though he's indifferent towards Liliana, Sorin comes close to attacking her when she deduces that he "wronged Nahiri", and thus what's happening is partly his fault.
- He is also legitimately devastated when he is forced to Mercy Kill Avacyn, who he admits was like a daughter to him.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: In the Crimson Vow story, the other vampires still make jokes about that time Nahiri stuck him in a wall and left him there.
Only Sane Man: It certainly seems that way. Did none of the other vampires of Innistrad think about what they were doing? Not to mention Nissa ruining everything on Zendikar...
Our Vampires Are Different: Notably, Innistradi vampires aren't undead. They're the product of a curse placed on Sorin's grandfather millennia ago due to a Deal with the Devil.
Outliving One's Offspring: He outlived Avacyn, his "daughter", and even had to put her down himself. In Midnight Hunt, the mere mention of her name puts him in a worse mood than he's always in.
Painful Transformation: Being turned into a vampire was so painful his spark ignited.
Parental Substitute: Views Nahiri as a daughter. And probably feels similarly to Avacyn. This makes it all the more painful for him when the former starts destroying his home and turns the latter into such a monster that Sorin has to kill her.
People Puppets: Can control other people by manipulating the blood in their bodies, bloodbender-style.
Persona Non Grata: His creation of Avacyn to protect humanity made him a reviled outcast among the vampires. Not even his grandfather wants him back.
Pet the Dog: In the aftermath of the battle of Voldaren Manor in Crimson Vow, he insists on bringing the wounded to Markov Manor where they can recover under his care.
Protectorate: Innistrad is his plane, thank you. Nobody's eating it while he can stop them.
A Pupil of Mine Until She Turned to Evil: How he views Nahiri. This version of events conveniently leaves out that her Face–Heel Turn was motivated by his mistreatment of her.
Putting the Band Back Together: What he's trying to do on Tarkir. His goal is to reseal the plane-devouring Eldrazi. He successfully wakes Ugin from his slumber in the hedrons, but Nahiri, whom he sealed in Helvault some time before, is wreaking havoc in Innistrad.
Really 700 Years Old: Sorin is the one of the oldest Planeswalkers in existence, with Nicol Bolas and Ugin being the only Planeswalkers known to be older than he.
Revenge Before Reason: He becomes so obsessed with teaching Nahiri a lesson that he forgets about helping his native plane. Even when Nicol Bolas and an army of super-zombies are threatening him, Nahiri and every other planeswalker, they'd rather fight each other.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Nissa screws up his plan to reseal the Eldrazi in Zendikar, he breaks his alliance with her and the elves, and leaves the plane to its doom.
Skewed Priorities: He is much more interested in his personal feud with Nahiri than the threat to the entire Multiverse posed by Bolas and his Dreadhorde during War of the Spark.
Super-Strength: Innistrad vampires have physical strength roughly double that of an equivalent human.
Tailor-Made Prison: He created the Helvault used to trap the demons of Innistrad. Apparently he picked up the basics from Nahiri while she was making the hedron network.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He, Nahiri, and Ugin don't always see eye to eye, but all three are fully aware that only by working together do they stand a chance against the Eldrazi.
Tranquil Fury: Annoying Sorin isn't hard, but it's short-lived (because typically he'll just sigh and then kill you). Starting from Nahiri's visit to Markov Manor, however, he's getting less invested in protecting his plane and more in avenging it. But he's just as cold and brisk as ever while doing so.
Unexplained Recovery: When last seen in Innistrad Sorin had been sealed in stone. Come War of the Spark and he's perfectly fine. How he was unsealed hasn't been fully explained, though we do get to see the place he was sealed... and it's covered in bloody scratch marks.
Vampire Bites Suck: Both Avacyn and Nahiri describe his bite as extremely painful.
White Sheep: He hates his kin for being murderous, over-indulgent vampires, while they in turn hate him for creating Avacyn.

Taysir of Rabiah

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taysir_8232.jpg

"How terrible to wander wishing only to escape oneself."

Colors: 5 Color

Race: Human

Home Plane: Rabiah

The Chosen One: On Rabiah, at least.
Cool Old Guy: Lived to the ripe old age of 95.
Fusion Dance: A Power Booster example. He originally had five alternate universe counterparts, one for each colour of mana, and became a Planeswalker when his Black self pulled this off with all the rest.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Attempts this on Urza after Urza betrays the Nine Titans and turns to Yawgmoth. In response, Urza kills Taysir in self-defense.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Back and forth and back and forth... to begin with, his black self was the murderous henchman of an evil wizard. After fusing with the personality and memories of his first alternate-universe-self victim, he had a Heel–Face Turn and fused more peacefully with the others only to save them from said wizard. After centuries as an immortal, he slowly became a total Jerkass and then a violent villain. After dying and going through Anaba Minotaur purgatory, he came back as a good guy.
Minor Major Character: Canonically, he was briefly the most powerful Planeswalker in the multiverse until Urza ascended, due to having five sparks instead of one, and even then he was quite powerful. Most of his time in the limelight is in the time before the Weatherlight saga, where Urza doesn't figure into things much at all, and afterwards he barely even gets mentioned. He comes back for the Invasion block, only to get killed.
Papa Wolf: His aforementioned attacking of Urza was also in part caused by the fact that Urza's recruitment of Tevesh Szat led to his adoptive daughter being killed.
The Red Mage: One of the few Planeswalkers to master all five colours, due to the circumstances of his ascension.

Teferi Akosa

Teferi Akosa, Hero of Dominaria

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teferi_742.jpg

"We define the boundaries of reality; they don't define us."

Colors: White, Blue (primary)

Race: Human

Class: Wizard

Home Plane: Dominaria, Zhalfir (technically)

A blue-aligned Planeswalker from Zhalfir specializing in time magic and phasing. The events of Time Spiral caused him to lose his Planeswalker spark, making him mortal again. Read more about him here. Was once so powerful he could wield time magic on a level encompassing the entire multiverse.

After finally returning his homeland to the timestream, Teferi 's ability to planeswalk was lost in the aftrmath of March of the Machine. He gladly remains on Zhalfir, helping to integrate the Mirran refugees into their new home.

The Atoner: He feels incredibly guilty for what happened to Zhalfir, and has been trying to find a way to fix it for decades.
Bald of Authority: Lacking hair, his role as a great leader later in life propelled him into this trope.
Brought Down to Badass: After losing his spark. He may not be a planeswalker anymore, but he's still a very powerful time mage. Even after he regains his spark in Dominaria thanks to Jhoira, he's still not as powerful as he was prior to the Mending.
Class Clown: During his time at the Tolarian academy, though he's long since grown out of it.
Court Mage: To the court of Zhalfir, specifically.
Complexity Addiction: Being a Blue-aligned mage, he just unconsciously gravitates towards manipulative and calculated acts, which instill no mean amount of exasperation in his companions during the time rift crisis.
Depower: He gave up his Planeswalker spark and became a mortal (but still very powerful) wizard in Time Spiral so that he could close the time rift over Shiv. He regains his spark in Dominaria thanks to Jhoira, but is no longer as powerful as he was prior to The Mending. He loses his spark again in the aftermath of New Phyrexia's invasion, being one of the planeswalkers affected by whatever phenomenon is causing most planeswalkers to lose their sparks.
Fish out of Temporal Water: Happened to him not once, not twice, but three times! When he was a student at the Tolarian Academy he was trapped in a slow-time bubble, aging only minutes for the hundreds of years that passed outside. Later he accidentally phased the island with his workshop into an alternate timestream, returning an unspecified amount of time later to discover Jamuraa had broken down into warfare in his absence. The third time he purposefully phased out all of Zhalfir and Shiv to protect them from the Phyrexian invasion, and when he returned found Dominaria was a wasteland.
Former Teen Rebel: When we first meet Teferi in Mirage, he's a mature Planeswalker and master of temporal magic. Then we see him in Urza's Saga as a young student and discover that he was a Bratty Half-Pint.
Godzilla Threshold: He always considered actual Time Travel to be off-limits. He crosses the threshold during Dominaria United with Ajani compleated, Jaya dead, Karn taken to New Phyrexia, and the original Golgothian Sylex destroyed. Even though Saheeli Rai managed to create a duplicate of the Sylex, only Karn knew how to use it, so Teferi employs Mental Time Travel (with Saheeli's and Kaya's help) to get answers from another time — the era of the Brothers' War.
The Good Chancellor: Once the court mage of Zhalfir, before departing in vague but bad terms with the king.
Heroic BSoD: He gets two during the time rift crisis: first, when he loses his spark closing the Shivan rift, and second when Jeska unwittingly consigns Zhalfir to oblivion.
Heroic Neutral: He's definitely heroic, but more concerned with protecting his homeland than with the rest of Dominaria.
Heroic Vow: His Gatewatch Oath.
Teferi: For the lost and forgotten, I will keep watch.
Honest Advisor: While he is playful, he never sugar-coats the truth.
Hero with Bad Publicity: A lot of people hate and fear him because of his decision to remove Zhalfir from the timestream. At least after Jeska's inexpert interference with the Zhalfirin time rift caused Zhalfir to be stuck that way, and presumed destroyed by many. On the other side of the rift, his reputation might be even worse: Zhalfir didn't take kindly to Teferi cutting them off from the rest of Dominaria and abandoning them for years.
I Did What I Had to Do: Played With. He admits that he believed phasing Zhalfir out of Dominaria was the right idea at the time, but in hindsight he's less certain. He was convinced Zhalfir would never survive the Phyrexian Invasion, but the rest of Dominaria survived much better than he expected they would, leading him to wonder if he didn't give his people enough credit and trapped them for nothing.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Not usually, but in the novel Time Spiral it is very clear his sources are garbage considering everyone from Freyalise to even Radha keeps correcting him.
The Lancer: To Urza, kind of.
Large Ham: As a Planeswalker, his playfulness manifests in making everything he says and does unnecessarily impressive.
Late to the Tragedy: He phases out his homeland for several centuries, and returns long after Dominaria has been devastated by the Phyrexian invasion.
Long-Lived: Even though he is no longer immortal, he still ages very slowly. He looks about the same age as his daughter who is in her fifties.
Mass Teleportation: His specialty. He's so good at it, in fact, that he's able to teleport entire continents!
Mayfly–December Romance: Got married and had a daughter after Time Spiral. By Dominaria, said daughter is as old as he looks (mid-fifties), and his wife has died, presumably of natural causes.
Neutral No Longer: During the events of Time Spiral, he realizes how short-sighted his perspective had been and devotes himself to saving Dominaria, even going so far as to sacrifice his spark to do it.
The Nicknamer: As a student, he used to call Karn "Artie Shovelhead". Karn was not amused.
Opt Out: He chooses to remove himself and Zhalfir from the timestream completely rather than face the disaster he knew was about to occur.
Pungeon Master: His voice lines in Arena are abundant with time puns.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He is one of the most benevolent oldwalkers, being always reasonable and using his wisdom to temper even people like Sorin.
Slept Through the Apocalypse: Well, he was in temporal stasis through the apocalypse, anyway.
Stealth Pun: Some characters keep using time-based pun when together with him. Such as "You have all the time in the Multiverse to destroy them."
Time Master: And one powerful enough to warp two countries into an alternate timeline, no less.
Trickster Archetype: Phasing in many ways resembles this.
Tyke Bomb: Since he was noticed to have great magical potential as a child, he was trained to fight back against the Phyrexians at Urza's Tolarian Academy.
Walking the Earth: After Time Spiral he took to wandering around Dominaria, trying to stay ahead of his bad reputation. He eventually settled down after starting a family though.
Year Outside, Hour Inside: The effect of the slow-time bubble he was trapped in after the accident at the Tolarian Academy.

Tevesh Szat

Tevesh Szat, The Doom of Fools

You pray to Freyalise, but she cannot hear your pleas. It is Tevesh Szat who will claim your soul.

Colors: Black

Race: Human

Home Plane: Dominaria

Cynicism Catalyst: The death of his sister drove him to finally abandon the last shreds of his humanity.
Evil Makes You Ugly: He started out as a regular man, but his hatred would turn him into a hideous squamous abomination.
Evil Sorceror: His sorcerous might brought ruin to many a civilization.
Madden Into Misanthropy: How he turned evil.
Meaningful Rename: From Tev Loneglade to Tevesh Szat.
Morality Chain: When Szat was a mortal, his sister Tymolin was the only thing preventing him from becoming worse. Her death caused him to go from being merely bitter and passively hateful to actively taking his wrath out on the world and everything in it.
Out-Gambitted: He thought he was winning by betraying Urza's allies, but Urza had planned it all and won in the end.
Playing with Fire: Incinerating those he's not fond of was not an uncommon thing for him to do.
Red Baron: "The Doom of Fools".
Scaled Up: Abandoning the last piece of humanity and goodness within him in favor of hatred fully transformed him into a serpentine monstrosity.
Sssssnake Talk: A ssside effect of getting Ssscaled Up.
That Man Is Dead: Tev no longer.
Token Evil Teammate: Invoked by Urza, who deliberately included him on the Nine Titans expecting him to betray them so that he would have a moral justification to use his life energy to fuel his soul bombs. (What the Hell, Hero? ensues.)
Was Once a Man: Before ascending, he was a human named Tev. Afterwards, he looked like a lizard man's torso on an octopus's tentacles.

Ugin

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d453e963274e2f2e563214a1466bbb07.png

"The Multiverse is boundless, but its contents are finite. To believe otherwise is to believe that nothing matters at all. And when you are as old as I am, you will understand that nihilism is an indulgence you cannot afford."

Colors: Colorless

Race: Elder Dragon

Home Plane: Dominaria, Tarkir (adopted/created)

Ugin is ancient, as old as Nicol Bolas himself, and extremely powerful. His long life and power have caused him to gain an interesting view on the multiverse, transcending the five colors of magic completely to become a colorless Planeswalker. He helped Nahiri and Sorin trap the Eldrazi on Zendikar, then vanished for thousands of years.

And now the Eldrazi are back.

Urza, Planeswalker

"You can build a perfect machine out of imperfect parts."

Colors: 5 Color, Blue (primary)

Race: Human

Class: Artificer

Home Plane: Dominaria

One of the oldest and most powerful Planeswalkers in the multiverse, the artificer Urza was first seen as a mortal in the Antiquities expansion, where he fought a bitter war against his fellow artificer and brother, Mishra. The disastrous war eventually led to the destruction of most of the continent, Mishra's death, Urza's ascension (after detonating the Golgothian Sylex, annihilating most of a continent and starting a millennia-long ice age), and the release of the lock that was keeping Phyrexia sealed away from Dominaria.

Urza, recognizing the threat of Phyrexia and blaming them for the corruption and death of his brother, began a crusade to purge them from the multiverse. His campaign spanned millennia, eventually culminating in the Weatherlight saga and the Dominarian Apocalypse.

He eventually died, victorious at last, at the end of Apocalypse.

Anti-Hero: He causes multiple cataclysmic magical disasters that completely destroy major landmasses, creates a eugenics program to breed super-soldiers, and is an overall Manipulative Bastard who gets regular What the Hell, Hero? moments. If Yawgmoth hadn't been set as the villain from the beginning, Urza would have made a fine Villain Protagonist. He did spend most of his plane-bound life waging war against his own brother.
Arch-Nemesis: First Mishra, and then Yawgmoth.
Big Good: In the sense of leading the good guys, at least. Urza was not a nice man.
Blind Seer: Used as a disguise.
Byronic Hero: Tortured, driven, brilliant, charismatic, and deeply flawed, Urza is an excellent example of this kind of "hero".
Cain and Abel: The conflict with his brother Mishra got a little out of hand.
CCG Importance Dissonance: For a very long time, Urza only appeared on one card... in his disguise as a Blind Seer. Over time, he has been given more cards, particularly in the Brother's War set, which revisits the fight between him and Mishra with more modern design sensibilities.
The Chessmaster: Combine this with his Good Is Not Nice traits seen below, most of his gambits are only "good" because they're being used to fight Phyrexia.
Evil Hero: Before becoming a planeswalker, he was a shrewd but ruthless warlord and statesman who killed untold thousands in his quest for revenge against his own brother. Prior to the appearance of Phyrexia forcing him to act as A Lighter Shade of Black, he could easily be considered The Heavy of the Brother's War cycle.
Face–Heel Turn: Zig-Zagged. He betrays his fellow Planeswalkers and gives in to Yawgmoth once he has reached Phyrexia, but when he loses his head he snaps out of it.
Gadgeteer Genius: An artificer at a level that has not been seen before or since. While no slouch in terms of raw magical power, Urza's ability to create devices that could reshape reality was unquestionably his greatest strength. Special mention goes to his creation of Karn, a Deus est Machina in his own right.
Glass Eye: He has a red powerstone for one eye and a green one for the other. Both are extremely powerful artifacts called the Mightstone and Weakstone, respectively and are actually two halves of an even more powerful artifact.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Learning what Phyrexia did to his brother earned them his eternal hatred and had an extremely negative effect on his mental state.
Good Is Not Nice: Gets worse as he gets older. It reaches its peak when he doesn't tell his longtime partner and friend Barrin that his daughter is dying of Phyrexian plague. It's after that point, when Barrin kills himself, that Urza starts to really pick up the pace.
Heroic Sacrifice: This was what he intended when he unleashed the Sylex against Mishra. The Sylex requires someone to sacrifice their own life to activate it. The only reason Urza survived was that the Sylex Blast also awakened his Spark, leading him to be reborn as a Planeswalker.
He Who Fights Monsters:
- "As the invasion drew closer, Urza's means began to resemble Phyrexia's end."
- In one of the Invasion-cycle novels, it's mentioned that over the years of fighting the Phyrexians, Urza came to admire them.
- Once he has reached Phyrexia, he finally gives up and bows before Yawgmoth.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Gerrard, the warrior he has bred to fight Yawgmoth, beheads him in the Phyrexian Arena. Somewhat of an aversion, though, because it was Gerrard beheading him that snapped him out of Yawgmoth's influence.
Insufferable Genius: Very smart, and also a dick about it. His belief that he always knows what ought to be done is one of his biggest flaws. What makes it worse is that he's almost always right.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Urza is a man with very few scruples, but his enemies, particularly Yawgmoth, are even worse.
Losing Your Head: His Planeswalker powers mean that he can be beheaded and survive. His disembodied head can later be spotted relaxing in a hot tub in the non-canonical Unhinged expansion, and returns in Unstable as a full-fledged (disembodied head of a) Planeswalker.
Luke Nounverber: He's occasionally referred to as "Urza Planeswalker." This crosses over with Species Surname when you take into consideration that before The Mending, "Planeswalker" was less of a job description and more of an actual race.
Mad Scientist: A scientist of unparalleled vision, almost totally bereft of ethics.
Manipulative Bastard: Almost as dangerous as his talent in artifice was his ability to arrange people like cogs in a machine without them even realizing it.
Mirror Character: From Yawgmoth. Both were ruthless, egotistical, had little tolerance for error, and generally treated people as pawns.
Numerological Motif: Major artifacts associated with Urza tend to cost exactly seven mana. He also has a set of lands (Urza's Tower, Power Plant, and Mine) that when together on the battlefield will produce exactly seven mana by tapping the three. This is, of course, not a coincidence.
Person of Mass Destruction: Gerrard uses his severed head as a weapon. He can't regenerate his body because Gerrard used a soul-killing weapon to behead him, but he can still talk and use his rather powerful eye-lasers.
Redemption Equals Death: After a reversed Face–Heel Turn he died for the good-ish side of history.
Set Bonus: Possibly the first example in a trading card game, the three Urza lands. Separately, they each give one mana. Together, they give seven mana. Add on an Urza's Factory and, for seven mana, you can put tokens into play. Add on his brother's factory and you can make those tokens bigger.
Spared by the Adaptation: In the alternate Dominaria of the joke Un- sets, Urza is still alive and well... as a severed head.
Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. His mental stability improved over the years, and he is, in the very end, a force for good. He's still a dick.
The Unfettered: Nothing will stop him from triumphing over Phyrexia - certainly not the welfare of Dominaria.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If there's one thing he really left a mark on unintentionally in the distant future, it's using Xantcha's heartstone as Karn's personality core. It still has Phyrexian Glistening Oil, and it went to corrupt Karn's own plane and gave birth to Yawgmoth's distant descendants like Elesh Norn.
We Can Rule Together: When Yawgmoth asks his greatest desire, Urza answers that it is to sit beside Yawgmoth and benefit from his knowledge and power.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He may be a dick to everyone, including his allies, but at least his efforts go towards stopping Yawgmoth. That is, until he reaches Phyrexia.
What the Hell, Hero?: Urza gets called out at least Once an Episode.

Characters / Magic: the Gathering Planeswalkers Pre-Mending

Main Character IndexPlaneswalkers: Planeswalkers who ignited Pre-Mending, Planeswalkers who ignited Post-Mending: A-M, N - Z Planes and their peoples: Factions, Other Characters (Dominaria, Phyrexia, Rath and Mirrodin, Innistrad, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Theros, Tarkir, Zendikar), Planes

Arzakon

Azor the Lawbringer

Bo Levar (formerly Crucias )

Commodore Guff

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

Dyfed

Freyalise

Geyadrone Dihada

Jaya Ballard

Jeska, Thrice Reborn/Phage, The Untouchable

Karn, Scion of Urza

Leshrac

Liliana Vess

Lord Windgrace

Nahiri, The Lithomancer

Nicol Bolas

Ob Nixilis

Serra, The Benevolent

Sorin Markov

Taysir of Rabiah

Teferi Akosa, Hero of Dominaria

Tevesh Szat, The Doom of Fools

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Urza, Planeswalker

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Index

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Characters / Magic: the Gathering Planeswalkers Pre-Mending

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Main Character IndexPlaneswalkers: Planeswalkers who ignited Pre-Mending, Planeswalkers who ignited Post-Mending: A-M, N - Z Planes and their peoples: Factions, Other Characters (Dominaria, Phyrexia, Rath and Mirrodin, Innistrad, Kamigawa, Ravnica, Theros, Tarkir, Zendikar), Planes

Arzakon

Azor the Lawbringer

Bo Levar (formerly Crucias )

Commodore Guff

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

Dyfed

Freyalise

Geyadrone Dihada

Jaya Ballard

Jeska, Thrice Reborn/Phage, The Untouchable

Karn, Scion of Urza

Leshrac

Liliana Vess

Lord Windgrace

Nahiri, The Lithomancer

Nicol Bolas

Ob Nixilis

Serra, The Benevolent

Sorin Markov

Taysir of Rabiah

Teferi Akosa, Hero of Dominaria

Tevesh Szat, The Doom of Fools

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Urza, Planeswalker

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