Blind Eternities
The Blind Eternities[1] is a term commonly used by planeswalkers to refer to the space between planes in the Multiverse which is filled with chaotic energies, mainly the Aether but also mana and temporal energy.[2][3][4] During the time of the Thran, this space was also referred to as the Corridors of Time, the Halls of Time, and the Bastard Plane.[5]
Description
Only planeswalkers and the most powerful, godlike beings can enter the Blind Eternities and survive its rough environment. The planeswalker Jaya Ballard recalls that even ghosts may die in the Blind Eternities.[6]
The Blind Eternities appear differently to each of their visitors, although tandem planeswalking can allow one visitor to see another's version.[7] Karn saw them as an endless space that feels like crushed velvet, prickly and sometimes even painful, causing both a feeling of vertigo and a feeling that he wasn't moving at all.[8] Jace Beleren sees them as he does others' minds: as endlessly intricate layers of glass, curving and overlapping.
The Aether takes part in summoning creatures, from which that creature materializes, or is pulled from. Much about the blind eternities is still unknown. There does appear to be some basic concept of being "between" two points in the Blind Eternities.[9] However, according to Mark Rosewater, they are more like a doorway rather than a physical space.[10] He argues that planeswalkers might experience the Blind Eternities and relate it to an experience they understand, experiencing it as a place while it isn’t one because it has no substance, area or locality.[11][12] Nonetheless, it is possible for a planeswalker to "explore" the Blind Eternities in search of a new plane.[13] Tezzeret's Infinity Globes allow planeswalkers to interact with each other while in the Blind Eternities.
The Eldrazi are unfathomable beings that exist in the Blind Eternities.[14] It is not known if they were born there, or later adapted to survive its rough energies.
Though inorganic material can pass through the Blind Eternities safely, unprotected flesh vaporizes in seconds.[15] Planeswalkers, whose spark is implanted by a connection between aether and their soul, are able to traverse them, though not without danger.[16] In a way, Planeswalkers function as avatars of the Blind Eternities.[17]
During New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse, Realmbreaker's branches were capable of tearing paths through the Blind Eternities and opening the way for the Machine Legion to invade other planes. To the defenders, it was a terrifying sight.[18] Each branch of the Invasion Tree was covered with thousands of seedpods, spiny vessels that transported the Machine Legion through the Blind Eternities.
Seeking to protect the planes connected to New Phyrexia from its blast, Elspeth Tirel detonated a replica of the Golgothian Sylex in the Blind Eternities, potentially causing a Multiversal spark rupture.[19]
Planes can be closer or further from each other in the Blind Eternities, and it has been suggested that they may conserve momentum in the Eternities in a similar manner to outer space. When the Sundering of Alara, an extremely powerful outburst, occurred, the shards separated and continued to drift further apart over time.[20] As an aftereffect of this blast, a phenomenon of aetheric rippling was observed in the Eternities. During the Conflux, the movement of the shards back toward each other was reacted to with surprise, and observers noted so-called "streaks" in the aether from the shards that didn't match with "expected" trajectories.
In other media
 | This article or section discusses story elements that are canon only in the BOOM! comics. |
In the Magic comic series, the Blind Eternities are depicted quite differently. They are described as a place where one's deepest desires are mirrored, comforting their mind, a stark contrast to the way they have traditionally been depicted. This was established in the very first issue,[21] with no apparent attempt to date at explaining this contradiction.
| Planeswalker | Perception of Blind Eternities |
|---|---|
| Kaya | the final resting place of the multiverse's silent ghosts[21] |
| Ral Zarek | a clockwork machine whose mysteries someday may be understood[21] |
| Tibalt | wonderful visions of horrors that no one should ever experience[22] |
| Vraska | "an endless riot of life and death, decay and rebirth"[21] |
In-game references
- Referred to:
- ^† Scryfall does not record flavor text for digital cards. See Alchemy: Thunder Junction/Flavor text.
Notes and references
- ↑ The Nether Void and the Abyss may be its alternate names.
- ↑ Brady Dommermuth (April 14, 2004). "What is the Æther?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Brady Dommermuth (January 3, 2007). "What exactly is "Æther" (and what is its correct pronunciation)?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Brady Dommermuth (August 16, 2007). "You Are a Planeswalker". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ J. Robert King. (1999.) The Thran, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 0-7869-1600-1.
- ↑ Greg Weisman (November 2019). "War of the Spark: Forsaken". Del Rey.
- ↑ Alison Lührs (April 1, 2024). "Outlaws of Thunder Junction - Epilogue 1: Bring the End, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Langley Hyde (August 11, 2022). "Sand in the Hourglass". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ The Lithomancer. magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 30, 2019). "Will we ever see the act of planeswalking depicted in card art?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 31, 2019). "MANY stories from both the novels and the stories on the site would argue otherwise as planeswalkers can and have stopped in the Eternities at times for various reasons.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 31, 2019). "Just about every work of magic fiction makes the blind eternities out to be a physical place". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (March 28, 2014). "Is it possible for a PW to communicate to another PW the location of a plane which the latter has never visited?". A Voice for Vorthos. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 31, 2019). "If the blind eternities are not a place, how did the Eldrazi exist (mostly) within them?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Reinhardt Suarez (October 25, 2022). "The Brothers' War - Chapter 3: Nemesis". Magicthegathering.com.
- ↑ Jay Annelli (2022). Magic: The Gathering - The Visual Guide, DK. ISBN-13 978-0744061055.
- ↑ Seanan McGuire (January 18, 2024). "Roots of Decay, the DVD extras". Seanan McGuire.
- ↑ Emily Teng (April 11, 2023). "Planeswalker's Guide to March of the Machine: The Phyrexian Invasion of the Multiverse". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Grace Fong (May 1, 2023). "March of the Machine: The Aftermath - She Who Breaks the World". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Doug Beyer & Jenna Helland (2008). A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786951246
- ↑ a b c d Jed Mackay (2021). Magic. Iss 1. Boom!
- ↑ Jed Mackay (2022). Magic. Iss 18. Boom!