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

Twenty years after the casting of Worldspell, Jaya suddenly appears in the School of the Unseen to see Jodah, who she had not seen since the event. She brings him an emaciated, blackened hand of Lim-Dul - with four fingers. The finger with the ruby ring - Mairsil's ring - is missing. Jodah and Jaya sets out to search for the missing ring, fearing that Jodah's ancient enemy is somewhere out there. Jaya tells 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 realizes that Jaya has somewhat changed since her younger years, and she often behaves strangely (e.g. attacking Coldeyes's shaman bearing the missing (but ringless) finger of Lim-Dûl). When they reach Soldev and visit the vaults of the Adnates, the truth is revealed - in the aftermath of the battle of Lim-Dûl vs. Kjeldor and Balduvia, Jaya found the finger and the ring and decided to bring them to Jodah, hoping that they help him. However, she donned the ruby ring, and Mairsil the Pretender's spirit (with a part of Lim-Dûl's spirit as well) infected her mind, lying dormant and waiting for the proper time. The time has come, and she cuts Jodah's throat, using his (a descendant of Urza) blood to revive the Phyrexian War Beasts. Jodah miraculously saves himself from certain death with the help of his mirror. Then he battles the possessed Jaya in the debris of ruined Soldev. He manages to shatter his mirror directly into her face, triggering the "reward" from Freyalise, that should helped him to ascend. In the blazing inferno that follows this breakpoint, Jaya's own planeswalker spark flares. With a thought, she erases Mairsil's tainted presence once and for all, then planeswalks to School of the Unseen and destroys the rampaging War Beasts there. With Jodah's help, she cuts and seals the bottomless pit that Lim-Dûl relocated here from Tresserhorn with the agreement of Gerda Aagesdotter. And finally, she helps Gerda with finding new place for the school and transporting there.

As a parting gift, 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'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.