Chain Veil
The Chain Veil is an ancient and powerful artifact that was hidden within the ancient catacombs of the Onakke at Shandalar.
Description
The Chain Veil is made of burnished gold and is exquisitely crafted, so fine it appears to have the texture of silk. When worn, it covers the face.
It was created to turn someone into a vessel for the resurrection of the long-dead Onakke.[1] It kills its users if they're not strong enough. Others, like Ob Nixilis, are turned into a demon.[2]
History
The Veil has been of great interest to the mysterious individual only known as the Raven Man.
The planeswalker Liliana Vess retrieved the Chain Veil from the catacombs at Shandalar, as instructed by the demon Kothophed.[3] Wearing it over her face she was able to enhance her power, destroy Kothophed and Griselbrand, and pass the demon curse to Garruk Wildspeaker. She appeared to be too strong to be killed or demonized herself. However, as the Veil took hold of her she seemed to become possessed by its eldritch spirits.[4] The spirits keep begging her to release herself to them.[5]
On Innistrad, Liliana tried to exorcize the spirits from the veil, with help from the geistmage Dierk and a witchbane orb loaned from Olivia Voldaren. She failed.[6] While drawing upon the Chain Veil, Liliana was able to temporarily harm the Titan Emrakul herself, although it drained Liliana greatly. During the confrontation, the spirits of the Veil urged her to flee numerous times and referred to Emrakul as the "World-Ender" and the "World-Creator", implying greater knowledge about the Eldrazi.[7]
Liliana used the Veil again on Dominaria, in her ancestral home, to break the lich spell that had kept her brother Josu Vess undead and bound to her creditor demon Belzenlok.
Lilianna used the Chain Veil intensively during the War of the Spark and at one point the Onakke spirits emerged from the Veil itself to protect her. Jace noted that the spirits had never operated this way before.[5] He speculated that Bolas' hold over Liliana allowed her to release the true power of the Veil. Liliana used the Veil's powers to drain Eternals and used the energy of their unholy resurrections to heal her severe wounds, brought upon by Jace, Teferi, Jaya and Vivien.
After the War of the Spark, Liliana returned to her home on Dominaria and used the Veil against a powerful djinn named Zahid.[8] Just before she subdued Zahid, Ugin had appeared to Liliana through the Spirit-Gem and encouraged her to choose a better path in her journey ahead. Later, while holding the Spirit-Gem in one hand and the Chain Veil in the other, the Spirit-Gem began to glow, and as it disappeared, Liliana dropped the Veil and gave it up. Using his shield magic, Teyo Verada transported the Veil back to Ravnica where it was used as proof of Liliana’s death. Teyo placed the Veil into a puzzle box for safekeeping by Niv-Mizzet.
In-game references
- Represented in:
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
- Quoted or referred to:
External links
- John Vornholt (Febuary 2010). The Curse of the Chain Veil
- Liliana Vess. Planeswalker Biography. Wizards of the Coast.
References
- ↑ Kelly Digges (July 22, 2015). "Catching Up". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Nik Davidson (August 6, 2014). "Dreams of the Damned". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (August 31, 2011). "Liliana's Mission". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ James Wyatt (July 2, 2014). "Veil of Deceit". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Greg Weisman (April 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica". Del Rey.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (June 29, 2016). "Innistrad's Last Hope". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Ken Troop (July 27, 2016). "The Promised End". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Greg Weisman (November 2019). "War of the Spark: Forsaken." Del Rey.