Jaya Ballard

Template:Character Earning her name as a not-so-humble task mage, as an acquaintance of Jodah, Jaya Ballard witnessed many of the momentous events on Terisiare during the Ice Age. She helped Jodah unite Kjeldor and Balduvia against Lim-Dûl and fought in the final battle of the Ice Age. After that, she witnessed Freyalise cast the World Spell.

Twenty years later Jaya, possessed by Mairsil/Lim-Dûl, lured Jodah to Soldev and used his blood - Urza's blood - to activate the Phyrexian war machines there. Jodah smashed his mirror, enchanted by Freyalise, into her face, triggering her planeswalker's spark. After ascending, Jaya destroyed the war machines and left Dominaria.

In prerevisionist storylines, Jaya was little more than a supporting character in the Ice Age, who accompanied Kaysa, Jaeuhl Carthalion, Laina, Taaveti, the Fyndhorn elves and some Knights of Kjeldor into Yavimaya as their guide and hired protector a decade after Freyalise cast her World Spell. She defended the elvish settlement when it was attacked by sentient gorillas, and later aided in cleansing the Heart of Yavimaya, and helped to birth Kaysa and Jaeuhl’s child.

Jaya Ballard is one of the few instances where fans of prerevisionist storylines often prefer the revisionist version.

Biography

Early life

Jaya's childhood is shrouded in mystery, but she learned to be a thief "on the streets".

One day, she tried to steal something from the private chambers of Archmage Eternal Jodah, but he caught her. Sensing magical capabilities in her Jodah allowed Jaya to study in the School of the Unseen, but after learning a few spells she decided to set out into the world and make a living as a task mage.

During her travels Jaya once helped Kolbjorn and recieved an amulet capable of summoning Freyalise.

Eternal Ice

One day she discovered Jodah had disapeared. She tracked him down to Tresserhorn, where he had been drugged with Fyndhorn Pollen by Lim-Dûl and made to think he was a summoned creature. She resqued him, but Jodah became sick and delusional because his body had been affected by the pollen. Jaya summoned Freyalise, but the planeswalker wanted something in return for her aid: to use Jodah's mirror and the resources of the School of the Unseen in order to prepare for her World Spell. Altough Jaya was in no position to offer her these, she agreed on Jodah's behalf nonetheless.

To be written

Traveling to Yavimaya

To be written

Shattered Alliances

Twenty years after the casting of World Spell, Jaya suddenly appeared in the School of the Unseen to see Jodah, who she had not seen since the event. She brought him an emaciated, blackened hand of Lim-Dûl - with four fingers. The finger with the ruby ring - Mairsil's ring - was missing. Jodah and Jaya sets out to search for the missing ring, fearing that Jodah's ancient enemy had returned. Jaya told Jodah something about the last 20 years' time - she was a leader of a group of mages who tried to protect the city of Kelsinko from being flooded by the rising seas without success.

Their journey lead them to Tresserhorn, Kjeld, Lovisa Coldeyes's Balduvian camp, and finally to Soldev. During the journey, Jodah realized that Jaya had somewhat changed since her younger years, and she often behaved strangely. When they reached Soldev and visited the vaults of the Adnates, the truth was revealed: in the aftermath of Lim-Dûl's battle against Kjeldor and Balduvia, Jaya found the finger and the ring and decided to bring them to Jodah, hoping that they would help him.

However, she donned the ruby ring, and Mairsil the Pretender's spirit infected her mind. She cut Jodah's throat, using his blood to revive the Phyrexian war beasts. Jodah miraculously saved himself from certain death with the help of his mirror. He then battled the possessed Jaya in the debris of ruined Soldev. He managed to shatter his mirror directly into her face, triggering the "reward" from Freyalise. In the blazing inferno that followed this breakpoint Jaya's own planeswalker spark flared. With a thought, she erased Mairsil's tainted presence once and for all, then planeswalked to the School of the Unseen and destroyed the rampaging war beasts there. With Jodah's help, she cut and sealed the bottomless pit that Lim-Dûl relocated there from Tresserhorn with the agreement of Gerda Aagesdotter. Finally, she helped Gerda with finding a new location for the school.

As a parting gift, Jaya gave Jodah an amulet, allowing him to remain sane despite his age, and allowing him to live as long as he willed. She then departed Dominaria for the wider multiverse.

Current status

In the Planar Chaos novel, Jodah's mentions of Jaya Ballard imply that she died in the period between the end of Ice Age, when she was seen for the last time, and the present, the cause being her recklessness and impetuousness, that "eventually cost her her life". It is neither known where and when this event happened, nor how Jodah knows about it.