Jaya Ballard

Template:Character Earning her name as a not-so-humble task mage, as an acquaintance of Jodah, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage 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.

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

To be written

Jaya gave Jodah an amulet, allowing to remain sane despite his age, and allowing him to live as long as he willed, then departed Dominaria for the wider Multiverse.

Current status

In the Planar Chaos novel, Jodah says that Jaya is "gone", though exactly what is meant by this is unknown.