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Angels and the Church
Avacyn
In Shadows Over Innistrad
Color: White (primary), Red
Race: Angel
The guardian archangel of the plane. Created by Sorin Markov, she was tasked with protecting mankind from the many monsters of Innistrad, but she was accidentally trapped within a mountain of silver known as Helvaut. The story of Innistrad is about how mankind almost became extinct during her imprisonment, as the holy magic she offered the clergy and the cathars (holy warriors) faded. She returned in the Avacyn Restored storyline thanks to the machinations of Liliana Vess.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: She was created by Sorin specifically for this reason: to give the humans their means to survive but never able to completely overthrow the forces of darkness. She seems to realize this, and has no real opinion on it. That is, until she starts to lose her mind.
- Battle Ballgown: Her armor is essentially a semi-metallic gothic dress.
- Big Good: Of Innistrad. In Shadows of Innistrad, things get a little shaken up.
- Blood Is the New Black: At the end of "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless", she appears with bloodstained wings.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Or creator, in this case. She pins her corruption on Sorin because his intentions were not worthy in making her, and won't allow him to remake her now that she knows what he is.Avacyn: If I am not the daughter you want, then we must battle again, and again, forever. For I will never yield. I am no monster's instrument. I will not be altered by the likes of you.
- Celestial Paragons and Archangels: The goddess of her world, master of White mana, and ruler of the angels.
- Comeback Mechanic: A rare In-Universe example. According to Word of God
, since Avacyn was created to maintain balance, the more dire things are for Innistrad's humans, the more powerful Avacyn becomes. - Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Church of Avacyn is a religion centered around her, and has many trappings associated with Roman Catholicism.
- Daddy Issues: Once she realises Sorin made her she violently rejects him, feeling disgusted at what she outright calls "father".
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- Sorin created her in his own image, with bleached white hair and black clothes (not to mention her deathly pale skin and black eyeliner and lipstick), but she is the protector of Innistrad's humans.
- Shifts to Dark Is Evil — or at least Dark Is Really, Really Down on Human Frailties — in the Shadows block. This also goes in hand with Light Is Not Good, being a White-aligned angel and whatnot.
- Death in the Limelight: "I Am Avacyn" is told from the POV of Avacyn, which ends with her death at Sorin's hands.
- Deity of Human Origin: She was created by Sorin Markov, after all, even if Sorin was already a planeswalker when he made her.
- Dying as Yourself: She spends her final moments standing against a creature of darkness and reaffirming her purpose as defender of humanity.
- Emotionless Girl:
Word of God describes her as like a robot; she never smiles because she sees no purpose in it, though she feels a deep satisfaction in her work. In "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless", one of the signs she's not in her right mind is that she starts to smile and laugh at the wanton destruction she weaves. - Face–Heel Turn: Once the light of Innistrad and protector of humanity, Avacyn went mad and became and Omnicidal Maniac bent on wiping Innistrad clean of human life.
- Fallen Angel: After being driven mad by whispers from the moon, she transitions from humanity's protector to a bloodthirsty, vengeful destroyer.
- Fallen Hero: She goes off the deep end in "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless", where she sets off on her crusade to wipe out the human race.
- Flying Brick: Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a Nigh-Invulnerable flier with 8 power and toughness.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: As with most of the game's angels, she has white avian wings. After being driven mad by the Eldrazi, these become stained red with blood.
- Guardian Angel: She was created to defend the whole of humanity on Innistrad, to the point that she can hear all their prayers for aid at once wherever she is.
- Heel Realization: When Sorin tells Avacyn that he created her, Avacyn's madness starts to lift and she realizes that he created her to protect the innocent — the innocent people that she had been slaughtering.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: She wears an outfit made of black leather.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: She got trapped in the rock she used to trap demons. A rare heroic example, therefore.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Her speciality are blasts of holy power, which take a decidedly more fiery bent after her corruption. She was also the source of the cathars' magic during the first Innistrad block.
- Hour of Power: During the Feast of Goldnight, when the sun is at its highest and doesn't dip below the horizon for two whole days, fully obscuring the moon, Avacynian wards and magic are at their strongest.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: When she realized Sorin is her father, she was not happy about it. Unusually, she's not a vampire, she just really hates her dad, who is.
- Killed Off for Real: Courtesy of a bitter and bereft Sorin, who couldn't bring himself to look at her face as he unmade her.
- Kill It with Fire: She starts setting villages ablaze and burning humans to a crisp in "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless".
- Knight Templar:
- Starting with "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless" she is attempting to wipe out humanity, believing them to be, in their own way, just as bad as the monsters she fights.
- Even before that, Avacyn seemed to have very rigid ideas about good and evil. There used to be a fourth angel alongside Sigarda, Bruna and Gisela,note whom they shunned for consorting with the very sort of creature the angels were supposed to fight, though she argued that to defeat their enemies they had to know those enemies. When this angel made an alliance with a demon lord, Avacyn branded her a heretic, annihilated her and her small flight of angels, and made it forbidden to speak her name.
- Light Is Not Good: In Shadows over Innistrad, Avacyn and the other angels begin "purifying" the world by slaughtering the humans.
- Lunacy: She is essentially a moon goddess. Her whole church is based on lunar worship, her symbol is a stylized heron (which is associated with Innistrad's moon because its craters look like a heron), and her holy magic is associated with the moon. And of course, when there is something wrong with the moon, it affects her, too.
- Madness Mantra:
- Starts hearing a few in "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless": The seeds of men are rotten, and All will burn. All will bleed.
- As she tries to cope with the realizations being given to her by Sorin in "I Am Avacyn", she mentally repeats "I am Avacyn. I am to protect," and "An angel is made of goodness — is goodness made of an angel's acts?"
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Arguably Avacyn killing Liesa is this, as it tips the power balance towards demons without a force dedicated to keeping them in check, in turn allowing Griselbrand to gather enough power to duel and seal her.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Her special ability projects this unto all creatures you control.
- Not So Stoic: She displays very little emotion to the point where some (including the writers) question whether she can feel any. "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless" shows that she can, and it is terrifying.
- Obliviously Evil: She seems to think that she is right in destroying humanity to cleanse the plane, and it isn't until she has a Heel Realization when she meets Sorin that she sees what she is doing is wrong.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Once she goes off the deep end and decides that, for peace to come to Innistrad, humans have got to go.
- Our Angels Are Different: Innistrad's angels are usually your typical sort like those in the Four Gospels, but she is a Gothic woman that governs the plane's White Magic and all that entails; when she's gone, holy magic becomes weaker, and her servant angels disappear. Also, she was created by a vampire.
- Prophet Eyes: Her eyes are pure white in color, possibly to show she's a supernatural being. They start turning black in Shadows over Innistrad, though.
- Sealed Evil in a Duel: She was trapped in the Helvault during her duel with Griselbrand, and the only way to release her was to set all the trapped demons free with her.
- Sealed Good in a Can: As a result of Griselbrand's plan, Avacyn was trapped in the Helvault for most of the original Innistrad block until Thalia destroyed it.
- She Who Fights Monsters: She goes from fighting Innistrad's biggest threats to humanity to becoming the biggest threat to humanity, although her corruption certainly didn't help.
- Statuesque Stunner: "The angel at her side stepped forward, a full head shorter than Avacyn, yet I still tilted my head to look upon her face."
- Through the Eyes of Madness: "I Am Avacyn" is mostly in Avacyn's point of view, and she sees humans and vampires as monsters ridden with Body Horror.
- Tragic Villain: Her villainy in the Shadows Over Innistrad block was not of her own volition; she was simply doing her job until she was struck with delusions caused by Nahiri's magic.Avacyn: I can only say to you, in this, my final prayer to the world, that I only ever meant to keep the innocent from harm. I am Avacyn. I am to protect.
- Would Hurt a Child: In "A Gaze Blank and Pitiless", she has every intention of hunting down and killing the child she saved a few months before, once she's done with his mother and their village. In her visions in "I Am Avacyn", she sees a mother crying over her child, implying that she had personally had a hand in killing children.
The Archangels
Gisela, Bruna and Sigarda are three great guardian angels, in the service of Avacyn. Each oversees a flight of angels, which perform specialized tasks in protecting humanity and keeping the dark forces of Innistrad at bay, and is aligned with a different color of mana in addition to White. Before the events of Innistrad, however, there was a fourth sister, who was deemed a heretic and whose name was forbidden by Avacyn's order.
Gisela and Bruna
Color: Colorless (formerly White-Red and White-Blue)
Race: Eldrazi Angel
Gisela is a Red and White-aligned archangel that trains the cathars to smite monsters who threaten humanity; her angels, the Flight of Goldnight, focus on fighting Innistrad's monsters directly. Bruna is a White and Blue-aligned archangel who personifies the "Blessed Sleep"; alongside her Flight of Albaster, she preserves the dead and protects them from desecration (forcible resurrection, being made into skaabs, etc.) When Avacyn returned and descended into madness, their reactions to joining her crusade were rather horrific.
- Angelic Abomination: In Shadows Over Innistrad, there is the two-headed, horrific thing that is Brisela, Voice of Nightmares, formed of a Fusion Dance between Bruna and Gisela.
- Face–Heel Turn: In Shadows Over Innistrad, Gisela and Bruna are on board with Avacyn's plan to Kill All Humans.
- Fusion Dance: Emrakul's corruption merges Bruna and Gisela into Brisela, Voice of Nightmares.
- Heroic BSoD: Gisela took Avacyn's disappearance the worst.
- Number Two: Gisela was Avacyn's chief confidant.
- Shame If Something Happened: Avacyn, Gisela, and Bruna's threats to Sigarda to join them in their crusade were about as subtle as a moonsilver spear to the back of the head. Sigarda still said no.
- The Nothing After Death: The Blessed Sleep, personified by the Flight of Alabaster, is the best reward for a good and virtuous life one can hope for on Innistrad; the deceased is sequestered to quiet and restful oblivion rather than being used as parts for a skaab or having their tortured spirit wandering the land.
- The Power of the Sun: Gisela and her flight are associated with the sun, the opposite of Avacyn and her Lunacy.
- The Remnant: Bruna and her Flight of Alabaster refused to go down without a fight while Avacyn was AWOL.
Sigarda
Color: Green and white
Race: Angel
Sigarda is a Green and White-aligned archangel whose angels, the Flight of Herons, primarily protect humans from harm while they are alive.
- Big Good: Following the events of Shadows Over Innistrad, with Avacyn dead and her sisters worse, Sigarda becomes the only major force standing between the humans of Innistrad and destruction.
- Defector from Decadence: Sigarda was the only one of them to reject Avacyn's genocidal crusade, abandoning the angelic hosts to fight in humanity's defense.
- Heroic BSoD: In Shadows Over Innistrad, she openly weeps when she beholds Brisela, the horror that her sisters had turned into.
- Only Sane Man: Sigarda doesn't abandon humanity when her sisters and Avacyn descend into madness. This all comes to a head when Sigarda battles Brisela, the melding of Bruna and Gisela thanks to Emrakul.
Liesa
Color: White and black
Race: Angel
Liesa was the fourth archangel of Innistrad, aligned with White and Black mana. Her role in the quartet was to serve as ambassador to the demons plaguing humanity, believing reasoning with demonkind could sway them to good. When Avacyn was created, she saw Liesa and her Flight of Dusk as heretics and killed them all before declaring her name forbidden from being spoken.
- Back from the Dead: In "The Dusk Reborn", set during the events of Midnight Hunt, Liesa is reformed and brought back to life by a summoning ritual gone wrong. Angels cannot normally reform in this manner, but her dealings with Innistrad's demons, who can reform themselves over time, tied her existence to a powerful demon's and prevented her from permanently falling into oblivion as long as the demon exists.
- Dark Is Not Evil: She is black aligned and compassionate, always trying to make humans and monsters co-exist, but never so stupid as to not ignore when compromise is impossible.
- Deal with the Devil: Liesa made a bargain with a demon known as the Buried Lord. While she came to regret it, it did bring the added benefit that she and the Lord are bound together. Angels don't usually reform like demons do, but as long as the Buried Lord lives, Liesa will too.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: As a result of being dead for at least several centuries, Liesa has no idea what's going on by the time she returns. A helpful demon worshipper named Algli fills her in.
- Posthumous Character: Liesa only got a passing mention as the fourth sister in the story of Eldritch Moon, being long dead. She received a card confirming her name in Commander Legends. This is Subverted by the time of Midnight Hunt. Liesa did die, but she was somehow able to reform similar to how Innistrad's demons' Resurrective Immortality works.
- Stop Worshipping Me: Liesa dislikes the idea of worship, and is surprised when she hears about the Avacynian church. Algli, her first mortal follower in a thousand yeears, is treated as her ally instead of a worshipper.
- Un-person: Avacyn forbid Liesa's name from being spoken or recorded after she killed her.
Mikaeus Cecani, the Lunarch
As a ghoul
Color: Black (formerly White)
Race: Human zombie
Class: Cleric
The chief of Avacyn's church. Killed by Geralf and made a zombie by Liliana.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He is reanimated as a zombie in Dark Ascension.
- Crisis of Faith: When Avacyn disappears. He has no idea what to do.
- Despair Event Horizon: He crosses it big time when he realizes that Avacyn is not a savior of humanity, but a shepherd to ensure that there are always humans for the vampires to feed on.
- Good Shepherd: Mikaeus is lunarch at a horrible time, but he nevertheless tries to ensure the safety of his flock.
- High Priest: Mikaeus is lunarch of the Avacynian church, a rank equivelant to pope.
- Sadistic Choice: He's faced with this in the wake of Avacyn's imprisonment. If he doesn't do anything, humanity will have lost their greatest line of defense against the horrors of the dark. If he breaks the Helvault to free her, hundreds of powerful demons will be freed along with her.
- Save Your Deity: Considered, and ultimately averted — he decides to cover up Avacyn's disappearance and keep the Helvault intact to prevent the demons from escaping.
Thalia
Color: White
Race: Human
Class: Soldier
A young Cathar rapidly rising in the ranks as humanity's defenses crumble, Thalia has become the new Guardian of Thraben in the wake of her mentor Mikaeus's death, and seems to be the last human to lead the fight against the ever-growing power of Innistrad's monsters.
- Badass Normal: Thalia's not a mage or divinely empowered, but you have to be a badass to still be fighting with the Cathars at this point in Innistrad's history.
- Defector from Decadence: In the Shadows over Innistrad block, Thalia leaves the Church of Avacyn as the Lunarch Inquisition becomes depraved and ruthless.
- Determinator: Steadfastly refuses to give up in the face of increasingly hopeless odds.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Thalia is empowered greatly by her bonding with Saint Traft, to the point where she is able to heal battle wounds in a matter of seconds and manifest a set of angelic wings. Furthermore, this allows her to wield Avacyn's spear. And with said spear, she's able to Mercy Kill Brisela.
- Enemy Mine: During New Phyrexia's invasion, Thalia is cornered by Phyrexians. The Gitrog Monster of all things rescues her and invites her to ride it into battle. She takes up the offer, wary that the Gitrog Monster may see her as its next meal after they are done with the invaders.
- Kill It with Fire: Her orders to evacuate the outer ring of Thraben and pull down all the thatch available in the face of a Zombie Apocalypse convince most of the soldiers she's lost her wits, but she proceeds to nearly obliterate Geralf and Gisa's entire army with a single match.
- Lady of War: Very pretty, and her First Strike ability and low toughness indicates she fights more with her wits and finesse than brute strength.
- Mercy Kill: She does this to a young cathar who becomes lost in Emrakul's corruption.
- Sadistic Choice: Break the Helvault, betraying your final duty and risking whatever disaster Mikaeus wanted to avert, or watch her comrades get eaten alive by Liliana's ghouls? Thankfully giving in to Liliana's demands and destroying the Helvault may well have saved humanity from extinction.
- Willing Channeler: Becomes one for the Geist of Saint Traft sometime after Avacyn becomes mad and the Lunarch Church launches its inquisition due to Emrakul's influence on Innistrad.
Odric
As a vampire
Color: White (primary), Red
Race: Vampire (formerly Human)
Class: Soldier
The Lunarch Marshal, leader of the Cathars, and Thalia's close friend and superior. Initially loyal to the Avacynite church even after her corruption and subsequent death, he eventually came to see the true depths of corruption in the Lunarch council and defected, joining Thalia's Order of Saint Traft.
- Achilles in His Tent: He sits out the final battle against Emrakul, suffering a Crisis of Faith.
- Break the Badass: The death of Avacyn and the revelation that the Lunarch council has been subverted by a cult of Ormendahl hits him hard. He cannot find it in him to even join Thalia and Grete in the battle of Thraben, though he gets himself together enough to battle Henrika Domnathi at the tail end of the Travails.
- Cool Old Guy: He's clearly getting on in the years, but is still a heroic cathar and steadfast companion of Thalia.
- Cool Sword: The moonsilver sword he wields in all his artwork, which has the symbol of Avacyn forged into the crossguard.
- Daywalking Vampire: Innistradi vampires can already walk in the daytime, but Odric still adheres to the spirit of this trope by being unbothered by the light of Innistrad's moon, which has a negative effect on Innistrad's vampires.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: After being turned by Henrika, his faith in Avacyn keeps him sane and prevents him from going mad with bloodlust, remaining an ally of humanity.
- Religious Vampire: He's an Avacynian through and through, even after becoming a vampire.
- Taking the Bullet: He jumped in front of Thalia to prevent Henrika Domnathi from killing her, being hit by the attack in her place. This did not kill him, but weakened him enough that she could bite him.
- True Companions: Him, Grete and Thalia are a steadfast trio fighting for mankind's existence in the realm of horror that is Innistrad.
Ghoulcallers and Skaaberen
Gisa and Geralf Cecani
Color: Blue (Geralf), Black (Gisa)
Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Distantly related to the Lunarch and once nobles, these twins were banished to the moorlands. Geralf is a skaaberen (a Blue-aligned Mad Scientist specializing in Flesh Golems) and Gisa a ghoulcaller (a Black-aligned necromancer); both wage war against each other with undead hordes. They eventually invaded Thraben during Avacyn's imprisonment, resulting in the Lunarch's death. After the events of Avacyn Restored, Gisa is imprisoned by the cathars, but is rescued by Geralf's skaabs and ends up meeting and helping Nahiri, whereas Geralf seeks apprenticeship under Ludevic, Innistrad's most infamous necro-alchemist.
- Ax-Crazy: Gisa is very much insane.
- Butt-Monkey: Geralf verges on this.
- Captain Obvious: After breaking out of prison, Gisa sends Geralf a letter saying, "GUESS WHO JUST BROKE OUT OF PRISON!" ...and signs it herself. Geralf notes that putting forth a "guess who/what" question and then immediately answering it defeats its purpose.
- Deadpan Snarker: They both have plenty of moments, but every other sentence of Geralf drips with sarcastic wit.
- Enemy Mine: They put their sibling rivalry on hold to combat Emrakul's brood and later the Phyrexian invasion.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: When Gisa tells Geralf that she raises their dead parents to chat, Geralf is clearly upset.Geralf: You are being incredibly irresponsible. Put Mummy and Father back in the ground where they belong.
- Fallen Princess: Both of them were once nobles. This is especially apparent with Gisa, who still wears what appears to be a tattered ballgown.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Gisa is the foolish one and Geralf is the responsible one. According to Geralf, at least.
- Improvised Weapon: As shown in their cooperative art, Geralf makes do with a pitchfork to fend off Emrakul's brood, while Gisa sticks to her trusty shovel.
- In the Blood: Affinity for the dark arts seems to run in the family; their mother in particular was regarded as a very talented necromancer, and their family was a good acquaintance of Ludevic.
- Laughably Evil: They are both quite evil, but their childish bickering leads the stories that focus on them in a rather comical direction.
- Necromancer: Both of them, though Gisa is the more traditional Black Magic using one.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Or at least what Gisa wears used to be one. She even tops it off with a veiled tiara.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: Or Manchild in Geralf's case. However, this trope applies to both of them. Geralf tries to hide it beneath a Mask of Sanity, acting like the mature and responsible sibling. Gisa, on the other hand, is openly childish and unstable.
- Quantity vs. Quality: Gisa vs Geralf, respectively. Gisa favors swarming the field with an army of uniform zombies, whereas Geralf prefers to create a single customized zombie. This continues to their next individual incarnations: Gisa, Glorious Resurrector, can potentially raise multiple dead creatures all at once, but these zombies are so flimsy that they can't block and die right after making just one attack, whereas Geralf, Visionary Stitcher, can only make one zombie at a time, but said zombie is considerably sturdier than Gisa's.
- Shovel Strike: This is Gisa's weapon of choice, and in her card art she's gleefully about to swing it at the viewer.
- Sibling Rivalry: They do not get along at all.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: On one hand, we have Geralf, who is cold, composed and academical in his pursuit of ghoul-stitching. On the other, we have Gisa, openly psychotic, loud, cheery, and fond of raising the dead en masse at a moment's notice.
- The Sociopath: Both seem to lack empathy, though Geralf fits the model more closely, what with his egomania and so. At least Gisa seems to be enjoying herself.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the wake of Avacyn's unmaking and Emrakul's arrival, the Cecani siblings have temporarily put aside their petty feud to fight back the eldritch horrors consuming the plane.
- Downplayed during the Phyrexian invasion of Innistrad. The two are still very much in competition with one another as they try to drive the Phyrexians from the city of Havenghul. Ultimately, though, they get an "Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other" moment after the battle is won.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Despite, and eventually after, Geralf's constant reminder that it is his skaabs who break Gisa free, she doesn't thank him.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: They insult and snark at each other all the time... but they're willing to join forces to invade Thraben, Geralf sent his zombies to break Gisa out of prison, and Gisa often writes letters about her life to Geralf. One gets the sense that there's some strange sort of affection there."These fiends are slightly less tolerable than you."
"A sentiment that warms my heart, sister."
Ludevic of Ulm
Color: Blue (primary), Black and Red
Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Innistrad's most infamous necro-alchemist. He is an old acquaintance of Gisa and Geralf's family, and eventually Geralf even asked to become his apprentice.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: After falling ill, Ludevic decided to attempt to make his final masterpiece; Olag, a horrifying creature made up of multiple species and a whole heap of metal. However, when he tried to send Olag to do his creations' usual Rape, Pillage, and Burn act, Olag only asked "Why?" Ludevic was so disgusted by one of his creations not turning out Always Chaotic Evil that he locked Olag away, desperate to find a way to "fix" his innocent creation.
- Flesh Golem: His expertise in making these is one reason why Geralf seeks him.
- Mad Scientist: The most prominant one on a whole plane full of them, to the point where his first card was actually Blue/Red, the same colors as Ravnica's own Izzet League, instead of the usual Blue/Black of Innistrad's stichers and scientists.
Vampires
Edgar Markov
Color: White and Black (primary), Red
Race: Vampire
Class: Knight, Noble
Sorin's grandfather, the world's first vampire, who made a pact with a demon in other to achieve immortality for him and his grandson. Unfortunately, Sorin was traumatized, and feeling guilty over the actions his vampire brethren inflicted on Innistrad's humans, Edgar's grandson created Avacyn, ensuring vampires would be pushed back. This made Edgar bitter, and to this day Sorin is not welcome in the family manor.
- Big Bad: Creative introduced him as such in commentaries. So far, he has done very little, if anything, to warrant such a reputation.
- Deal with the Devil: Edgar made a pact with a demon, which led to him becoming a vampire.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: For all their feuds, Sorin genuinly loves his grandfather and is infuriated when Olivia tries to use him as a political tool.
- The Ghost: He's one of the most important players on all of Innistrad, but did not appear in card form or on the art of any card until Commander 2017. Even then, the design team was careful to not associate him with a specific time period or event, simply that he exists, is powerful, and commands the obedience of other vampires.
- His tomb is found to be empty in Midnight Hunt, and he finally makes his debut in Crimson Vow, with his wedding to Olivia Voldaren being one of the block's main events.
- Immortality Seeker: The reason why he became a vampire. Judging by the fact that Sorin finds his casket empty by the time Midnight Hunt rolls around, he may well have succeded.
- Light Is Not Good: His card is part-White aligned, yet he is the progenitor of vampirism and every bit as evil as his kin.
- Monster Progenitor: He was the first vampire in Innistrad — his grandson Sorin was the second — and is the progenitor of all other vampires on the plane.
- More than Mind Control: During his and Sorin's fight in the Crimson Vow story, Edgar's resentment of him boils to the surface, and he rants at Sorin over their differences in a way that Sorin realizes can't just be Olivia's brainwashing.
- Orcus on His Throne: While he's the most powerful vampire around, he doesn't do much. He's done plenty, but his actions are effectively part of the plane's ecology now. Crimson Vow reveals that he, like many ancient vampires on Innistrad, chose to enter into a long sleep in his coffin, with Sorin occasionally waking him to discuss the state of innistrad, and apparently stayed that way through the first two Innistrad blocks; he's finally wakened by Olivia as part of her plan.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They're not undead and they're the result of demonic magic, which involved drinking the blood of an angel.
Olivia Voldaren
Color: Black and Red
Race: Vampire
Class: Knight, Noble
The first and current head of the Voldaren vampire family. Most vampires agree that she throws the best parties, but her human guests would probably disagree, in the unlikely event they lived through them.
- A Glass of Chianti: Several artworks show her with a glass of red drink in hand.
- Big Bad: Of Crimson Vow.
- Deal with the Devil: She's the devil in the equation, asking Sorin for some favor (which involves removing Avacyn) to help him fight Nahiri. True to the trope, however, when Sorin loses the battle, she laughs at his plight and leaves him to rot.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Nothing quite as explicit as rape happens, but close. In Crimson Vow, she makes Edgar Markov marry her under the influence of mind control. This is treated as absolutely horrific and terrifying, even if Markov is an evil man himself, especially as it's told from the prespective of Edgar's grandson.
- Enemy Mine: Her lineage, now geared up for war, go into battle alongside Thalia and her Order of Saint Traft cathars against Emrakul's minions and the abomination Brisela.
- Evil Redhead: Her hair is vivid red.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Acts as though she doesn't care about the world's imminent destruction when Sorin tells her only he can save Innistrad, but the next thing she does is ally with the Thalia to try to save it herself. Given that despite Sorin's claims when he was free he hadn't done anything but try to get revenge on Nahiri, she may have simply not believed him.
- Power Floats: A vampire power, though one that's only afforded to the most powerful.
- Puny Humans: She has a very low opinion of humanity, considering humans to be ephemeral nonentities only valuable as a food source.Olivia: "I have seen a hundred mortal families rise and fall. I shall outlast a thousand more."
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: She has yet to be seen wearing something that is not black, and as stated her hair is red. And she's not a good person. Unsurprisingly, even the mana used to pay for her or any card associated with her is either Red or Black or both.
- Rich Bitch: The wealthiest and most asshoelish of the vampire aristocrats of her plane.
- Stupid Evil: Like most vampires on Innistrad, she shows a remarkable lack of foresight, bordering on a complete inability to think long-term. Her reckless feeding on humans will inevitably cause her primary foodsource to go extinct, and in Midnight Hunt, she even stops the ritual that would prevent an eternal night, thus ensuring humanity's extinction even sooner. Sorin calls her out on it a few times, but she ignores him.
- Vampires Own Night Clubs: Or at least their gothic horror counterparts.
- The Wonka: A highly eccentric bon vivant with a flair for the dramatic, and the progenitor of one of Innistrad's most prominent vampire bloodlines.
Werewolves
Tovolar
In werewolf form
Color: Red and Green
Race: Human werewolf
A werewolf pack leader, active in the Kessig region. When Arlinn Kord was first inflicted with lycanthropy, he took her in and taught her about her nature. Decades later, he seeks to keep Arlinn from preventing The Night That Never Ends.
- Arc Villain: Of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, leading his massive Dire pack to try and stop the Dawnheart Coven from putting a stop to The Night That Never Ends caused by Emrakrul's sealing.
- Blood Knight: Tovolar lives for the hunt. Nothing else matters.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He was previouly mentioned in the card Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter back in Dark Ascension before taking the role of Arc Villain in Midnight Hunt.
- Enemy Mine: He comes to Arlinn's aid in Crimson Vow to stop Olivia. As much as he doesn't want the night to end, he realizes that Olivia gaining control of Innistrad's Angels would be far worse.
- Fantastic Racism: He thinks of werewolves as the apex hunters of Innistrad. Vampires and humans? Just prey.
- Foil: To his student, Arlinn Kord. Whereas Arlinn remains a devoted Avacynite and protector of humanity, even while still being a werewolf, Tovolar believes that being werewolves makes them entitled to hunt humanity at their leisure, and sneers at the church.
- Fur Against Fang: While he doesn't have a particular dislike for vampires, Tovolar hunts them as much as he hunts anything else.
- Karma Houdini: He ultimately ends up retreating from his assault on the Celestus due to Arlinn, but at the end of the day he's effectively unscathed, the majority of the Celestus' defenders are massacred by his pack, and due to Olivia the ritual to stop The Night That Never Ends fails anyway. In the end, he got what he wanted.
Demons
Griselbrand
Color: Black
Race: Demon
One of the demon lords of Innistrad, object of worship by the Skirsdag cult, and one of the demons who claims ownership of Liliana's soul. He is the quarry Liliana has come to the plane to fight against...but nobody can seem to figure out where he is. Griselbrand was trapped in the Helvault along with Avacyn after his gambit to release the demons within and/or trap Avacyn forever went sour. When the Helvault shattered, Griselbrand escaped and quietly retreated to bide his time for future mischief. Unfortunately for him, Liliana followed him.
- Arc Villain: Ultimately the one directly responsible for the events of the Innistrad block.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Before Avacyn Restored even came out, it was revealed that Griselbrand is killed shortly after his release by Liliana.
- Deal with the Devil: His card's ability. You can get yourself a nice new hand of cards. And you don't even have to throw away your current hand! All it'll cost you is seven life.
- Killed Off for Real: By Liliana.
- Sealed Evil in a Duel: He was sealed inside the Helvault with Avacyn.
- Smug Snake: His arrogance is mentioned repeatedly in the fluff, but things don't really go the way he planned. It's mentioned he underestimated Liliana quite a lot before she destroyed him easily with the Chain Veil.
- The Chessmaster: He had an elaborate plan to defeat the angels and bring the demons to power. His death has set the scheme back a bit.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: He knows better than to stick around when Avacyn's heavenly host gathers and divine magic goes into overdrive, but escaping his doomed plan doesn't save him from Liliana...
- We Will Meet Again: Or not.
Withengar
Color: Black
Race: Demon
A powerful demon lord who was sealed in a magical blade called Elbrus. He is infamous for killing Saint Traft.
- Artifact of Doom: He's sealed inside Elbrus, the Binding Blade.
- Dark Is Evil: Like all of Magic's demons, Withengar is made of pure black mana.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Take a look at his card.
- Rent-a-Zilla: He's colossal — his art shows him casually knocking over a church tower with a wing.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Withengar can't die, but he can be trapped inside of a magic knife called Elbrus. He was stuck in there for a very long time.
Ormendahl
Color: Black
Race: Demon
A demon who begins to rise in power after Griselbrand is gone.
- Corrupt Church: He seems to have a thing for fallen clergymen. He is first seen emerging from Westvale Abbey, and on a later occasion he is summoned by Jerren, Corrupted Bishop.
Other Denizens
Old Stickfingers
Color: Black and Green
Race: Horror
Old Stickfingers is an ancient horror that haunts the lands around Lambholdt. He is also right behind you.
- Alien Blood: His blood is white, and is compared to liquid moonlight and to mercury in appearance.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Old Stickfingers is a horrific conglomeration of mismatched human, animal and arboreal parts that can be charitably describes as fear given physical form, has a decidedly murderous disposition, and leaves a trail of ice and toadstools wherever he walks, but is technically a protective hearth spirit summoned to guard the home and lands of those who cannot protect them themselves.
- Extra Eyes: He has multiple eyes, although the precise number seems to change from moment to moment, all of them looking right at you.
- Fertile Feet: He has a decidedly dark version of this, as hoarfrost and mushrooms grow around his feet as he walks.
- Glowing Eyes: His eyes, however many they happen to be at any given moment, glow with a pale green fire.
- I Have Many Names: Over the ages, he's been known by a variety of names and titles — Aval, the Vine Lord of the Hearth, Macath, the Destroyer — and has most recently come to be remembered as Old Stickfingers as the old legends fade.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: He's a feared boogeyman among the people of rural Innistrad, who know him as a shadowy figure that lurks in the darkness and waits for the right moment to carry you off. He tends to ambush his victims from behind, often stalking them for extended periods of time beforehand, and has the uncanny ability to seem right behind you even when you're facing him directly. In person, he's an amalgamation of every child's nightmares, an almost-real conglomeration of inconstant, monstrous traits, a killer made of fear.
Algli
Race: Human
An Innistradi tanner who lost her entire family to the undead, then had to watch them be reanimated by a ghoulcaller. In the church's absence, she turned to the worship of a demon called the Buried Lord and managed to resurrect him, but incidentally brought back the archangel Liesa as well. After witnessing what a monster the demon truly was, she swore herself to Liesa and became the first member of the reformed Host of Dusk.
- Badass Bystander: A simple civilian who nevertheless had the gall to shove a torch into the gaping maw of a demon, enabling Liesa to slay him. She's currently the first and foremost of Liesa's host.
- Freudian Excuse: She worshipped the Buried Lord because he supposedly could keep the restless dead from rising, which appealed to her due to the grizzly fate faced by her family.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She has a bit of shock when she realizes the buried lord she worshipped is just another ravenous demon, though Liesa talks her out of it.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Inverted. By summoning a demon lord, she incidentally brought back Liesa as well.
- Unwitting Pawn: The Buried Lord cared nothing about her, only using her to resurrect himself, and would've eaten her along with her fellow cultists if Liesa hadn't been there.
