Isolation, Terror, and Totalitarianism in the War of the Spark: An Arendtian Perspective of Ravnican Lore in Magic: the Gathering

Magic: the Gathering is considered by many as the “grandfather” of trading card games. Created by Richard Garfield in 1993, the game has captured many hearts of both young and old, for what it consistently offers in its gameplay experience, social and multiplayer dynamics, financial trading aspects, and my personal favorite: lore and in-depth stories. Since its creation, there have been several lore origins and grand storylines, which were told by the very cards players traded for and played with, through the art featured in the card itself, and the flavor of text and design that supports its theme, mood, and origin. Faithful to the lore, the cards’ design have been attributed to tell a story across the multiverse, as players — myself included — play the game not only for gameplay’s sake, but for flavor, story-depth, and appreciating intricate arts of wonder.

When I began my journey in Magic: the Gathering, I was in senior high school, as it was introduced to me by my friends. During the last quarter of 2018, a new expansion (a block of three sets) was released and the theme was set to be in the plane of Ravnica. I began looking into the story of the Guilds of Ravnica, similar to how one would understand simple factions in other storylines found in video games or films, and have come to understand the depth of the story that goes way back to 2005. The story of the War of the Spark, from my understanding, begins with the elder dragon Bolas, and Liliana’s contract with the demons.

The mind-ripper, the deathbringer, the winged dark that terrifies your dreams. The first to witness the sun rise on Dominaria, and the last to watch it set for the final time. Bolas was one of the seven elder dragons who survived the Elder Dragon War. He acts as the main antagonist in the story. A greedy wizard named Liliana wanted to acquire her lost power and youth. Bolas, upon learning this desire, proceeded to act as a form of broker between Liliana and four demons to form a contract restoring some of her power and youth at the cost of her soul. “His price for this service was unknown at the time. However, it is later revealed after Liliana kills all four demons, that in the event of the demons’ deaths, the contract defaults in ownership to Bolas instead of being dissolved.”

Much later into the story, Liliana joined the Gatewatch, consisting of an alliance between her and four other planeswalkers. At first, she joined the Gatewatch in the interest of defeating the four demons who had since owned her soul, regretting her choices, wanting to free herself from the contract for good. Over time, however, she grew to care for her allies despite her denying the fact. Unbeknownst to her that upon killing the four demons, the contract would not fade away into non-existence, but Bolas instead would gain control over her soul, and would be able to control her as his pawn. This has been a major obstacle within the Gatewatch, as the allies had trusted her to defeat the elder dragon tyrant who had started taking over different planes. Under Bolas’s clutches, she had been forced to obey her master’s commands and deserted the Gatewatch to do Bolas’s bidding. She must uphold her end of the contract, otherwise, her borrowed youth and power would be lost, and as a result, she would cease to exist. The final War of the Spark is set to be on the plane of Ravnica, where there will be one last showdown between the Gatewatch and Bolas’s army, which now includes Liliana.

The city of Ravnica is isolated from the others as a distinct plane in the Magic multiverse. I will relate the concept of planes with countries in the real world. Ravnica is home to the ten socio-political factions that hold power in the city plane, with each guild possessing its unique ideology and philosophy that “unifies its members with one another, with the guild itself, with its functions and purposes, and with its structure.” The citizens of Ravnica are divided into these aforementioned guilds, namely: Azorius (legislative power), Boros (military enforcement), Dimir (communication and information), Rakdos (entertainment and trade), Gruul (wilds-keeping and forestry) , Orzhov (religious order), Selesnya (wildlife and nature conservation), Izzet (science and engineering), Golgari (agriculture and waste management), and Simic (conservation and innovation). Thes Guilds of Ravnica are what makes the city work, as the factions allow for the citizens to have specific roles to fulfill in order to contribute to society as effectively and orderly as possible. Each function is distinct, and as such this requires each guild to perform it at a consistently high level for the city to prevail. Ravnica, at its very core, is a harmonious city run by an effective system based on an understanding of purpose and skill, and a profound sense of belonging.

In this essay, I intend to focus on discussing the common ground for terror and the feeling of loneliness, fear and confusion within the War of the Spark, using how Arendt’s work entitled The Origins of Totalitarianism described the nature of totalitarianism as a framework. Furthermore, I will assess Bolas’s plans based on Arendt’s understanding of the totalitarian movement and its nature.

Based on the lore, Bolas wanted to take over Ravnica, and destroy the Gatewatch, taking each planeswalkers’ “spark” which is the source of their magical power. Collecting these sparks would eventually grant him insurmountable power and help him achieve godhood. Looking at the nature of Bolas’s plans of tyranny, we ask the following question: why do totalitarian movements move towards world-domination? Once they gain power, these movements lose influence which gave them power in the first place. When movements gain power through some sort of crisis, chaos and conflict, it would heavily depend on it and would be nothing without it. Why would the movement then let go of this root and necessity? No tyrant will stop and think that he has enough. Bolas’s plans are exactly the same; the elder dragon is no exception from other tyrants. When stability and a sense of contentment is introduced to the movement, it loses traction because the very core of the movement, the fuel that keeps the engine running, will have been resolved and therefore, there would be no progress moving forward. Bolas’s plans to take over Ravnica involves using Liliana and his army to destroy the Gatewatch and the guilds that refused to switch sides, as they are the last force that disallows him from taking over other planes. This is similar to the concept of desiring world-domination as part of totalitarianism’s nature. He needed to get rid of the opposition as soon as possible. A tyrant will never stop and think he has enough, and Bolas’s plans after taking over Ravnica, indeed extends to dominating the rest of the planes across the Magic multiverse.

No sheath can conceal what finds its home in the flesh of the hopeful. When Arendt depicts loneliness as the common ground for terror, I am reminded of the lonely streets of Ravnica, right before the War of the Spark. I remember the feeling of helplessness and isolation, as depicted through the art and the accompanying flavor text in the cards themselves. For the rest of this essay, I will consider the ten guilds the same way as how Arendt considers “men,” as autonomous conceptual thinkers and decision-making entities. MTG lore does not go in-depth as to defining each citizen individually, as such it is acceptable to come to the following conclusion: that all members of a specific Ravnican guild are of essentially the same thinking and knowing. Since the guilds of Ravnica “suffer” from this strict unity, there is essentially no difference between a man in the real world, and a guild in MTG lore. I believe that placing this notion of singularity to the guilds’ uniqueness and consistency, will improve how we can view the relationship between Arendt’s men and Ravnica’s guilds similarly in a conceptually sound manner.

Arendt states that “it has frequently been observed that terror can rule absolutely only over men who are isolated against each other and that, therefore, one of the primary concerns of all tyrannical government is to bring this isolation about. Isolation may be the beginning of terror; it certainly is its most fertile ground; it always is its result. This isolation is, as it were, pretotalitarian; its hallmark is impotence insofar as power always comes from men acting together, ‘acting in concert’ (Burke); isolated men are powerless by definition.” In layman’s terms, “united we stand, divided we fall” alludes to this fundamental socio-political concept. Alas, the weakness of factions and guilds when isolated from each other, and then proceeding to be challenged by a strong political power with diabolic intent. First, Bolas begins by invading specific guilds that he believes could be useful (and possibly controllable in the first place), when taking over the rest of the guilds, destroying the Gatewatch, and then dominating the city. Arendt discusses this in Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government, as Bolas’s plans indeed involve “methods of intimidation, its means of organization and its instruments of violence from the well-known political arsenal of tyranny, despotism and dictatorships.” This is coming from the notion that he is aware that he is unable to persuade all guilds to his side, despite his magical powers. Despite the isolation that has been magnified by his orchestration, the Gatewatch still remains to be a force to be reckoned with, only if they come together and “act in concert.”

The guilds were already divided in the first place, despite working “together” in this harmonious environment. Bolas taking this and using it to his advantage, allowed him to inflict terror into the minds and hearts of these semi-isolated guilds, in the interest of completely isolating them from each other. As Arendt discusses, “isolated men are powerless by definition.” The ten guilds which had their leader controlled by Bolas have been: Azorius, Gruul, Orzhov, Izzet and Golgari. The other five guilds: Simic, Selesnya, Dimir, Boros, and Rakdos remain firm. The creative team at Wizards of the Coast designed the expansion’s art and flavor based on this splitting of the guilds in half, where five would fall under Bolas’s influence, and five would not. At this point, there are “six sides” and not two, in the sense that Bolas and the five controlled guilds represent one party, and while you may think the rest are fighting for the “good side” as one party, the remaining five guilds, are in fact, isolated still. There is discord between the remaining players for the “good side,” and this remains to be a problem, especially when you also consider the outcasts of Ravnica. The outcasts of the city are creatures without a guild, and what Arendt reminds us about how the politically neutral and indifferent masses “could easily be the majority in a democratically ruled country” speaks more to this dissonance between which guilds are left to fight for the city of Ravnica.

Thus, we recognize the importance of the Gatewatch in bringing the rest of the guilds together, rallying them towards the final battle as one, during the War of the Spark. Made up of the four remaining planeswalkers Jace, Nissa, Chandra, and Gideon, they worked together despite knowing that they would eventually have to defeat Liliana in order to defeat Bolas. Rallying troops and getting the guilds to work together, is in essence, Arendt’s concepts of loneliness and isolation being circumvented. This is very important as to have even the slightest chance of winning against Bolas’s Dreadhorde army, which is now led by Liliana whom Bolas appointed under his bidding, the Gatewatch must work with the rest of the guilds as one. Arriving at the War of the Spark, the battle is set to begin.

Upon reading Arendt’s work, I have come to realize that totalitarian movements primarily revolve around the will of the leader alone, which becomes the supreme law, and that no individual member or subordinate of the movement is able to take responsibility for their own actions or exhibit autonomy in reasoning. The movements are composed of subordinates working under the tyrant which tend to act as instruments of the tyrant’s will, and such actions that they take are no longer autonomous for they are influenced and then controlled. This perfectly encapsulates the concept behind the conflict between Liliana and her contract with the demons, overturned to Bolas. Almost like a metaphor, her freewill is reduced to the mind of Bolas, as the contract she must adhere to forces herself to be Bolas’s most valuable weapon to destroy the city of Ravnica and defeat the Gatewatch. Bolas had Liliana command the Dreadhorde army to kill her allies and destroy what’s left of Ravnica. The Gatewatch and the guilds were outnumbered by the Dreadhorde, and stood no chance against Bolas’s army. However, unexpectedly, Liliana turned on Bolas at the final showdown, and led the Dreadhorde to charge against the elder dragon tyrant instead, in one last attempt to save her friends and the city. Bolas did exactly as he had warned her, and invoked the contract’s magic which took away Liliana’s youth and power, and she started to disintegrate. “Bolas’ roar of anger was matched by Liliana’s scream of defiance.”

Intentionally choosing to miss out on the in-depth technicalities of the lore, very simply, Liliana’s Dreadhorde army and the God-Eternals which she commanded in her last attempt had enabled the Gatewatch to find ways in order to defeat Bolas. The weakened Bolas was then imprisoned for eternity, never to rise from power again. Thanks to Liliana’s sacrifice, the loyalty of the Gatewatch’s members despite Liliana’s deserting, and the unity and camaraderie of the guilds, proved stronger than the tyrannous elder dragon Bolas himself.

I believe that I have found a deeper appreciation for Magic: the Gathering story-writing through this essay. I have also found an even greater appreciation for Arendt’s school of thought. Much of her writing, as I have come to discover, speaks to both fact and fiction, and has become a tool to better understand political dynamics between the leader and members, at times of loneliness and being lost, in the midst of terror and domination. With the Gatewatch and Ravnica fighting against Bolas’s army and the other guilds he corrupted as a distinct and tyrannous political action, Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism reveals intricate understandings on the concept of human plurality in the midst of oppression. I realize the importance of the sense of belonging and humanity in terms of connecting with others, forming solidarity and camaraderie, and avoiding the dangers of isolation and loneliness. This is what is required of us, as was the city of Ravnica in the War of the Spark: to face oppression headstrong.

References
Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
LaBelle, Cassie. 2018. A Flavorful Guide To The Guilds Of Ravnica. https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/flavorful-guide-guilds-ravnica-2018-10-03.
“Magic Story”. 2021. Magic: the Gathering. https://magic.wizards.com/en/story.
“War Of The Spark”. 2021. MTG Wiki. https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/War_of_the_Spark.