Colfenor

Colfenor
Colfenor the Red Yew Sage Colfenor
Information
Colors
Species	Treefolk
Job	Shaman
Birth, Life & Death
Birthplace	Murmuring Bosk, Great Forest, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor
Lifetime	Rift Era-Mending Era
Born	Centuries before 4520 AR
Death	4520 AR
Family
Children	Sapling of Colfenor
Sources
Lorwyn
Scryfall Statistics
2 artworks 50% 50%
6 references 16.7% 16.7% 33.3% 33.3%

Colfenor was one of the most ancient and wisest treefolk sages on the plane of Lorwyn. He was the wielder of great precognition and historical knowledge of the plane, being able to perceive coming events before shorter-lived races could. The last of his species, Colfenor became the architect of a plan that would eventually lead to the downfall of the plane's tyrannical faerie queen Oona.

Description

Colfenor was a taciturn, cryptic personality, showing only a fraction of what he really knew and always pursuing his own secret agenda. He was the only and last living red yew treefolk: powerful shamans whose dark, arcane poison magic was considered the strongest type of magic and unequalled on Lorwyn. He was columnar of face with a mossy brow and stentorian of voice, and his amorphous body created a symphony of creaking wood as he moved.

Towards the end of his life, Colfenor's presence loomed like the fragrance of burning leaves.

History

Colfenor apprenticed a young Gilt-Leaf elf named Rhys and taught him the secrets of yew magic and the wisdom in their peaceful ways of life. It was Cofenor's wish that his protégé become a seedguide, which was an order of elves devoted to ambassadorial service between their kin. However, despite their close bond, their ways parted for a long time after. Rhys became a hunter in the Gilt-Leaf tribe, and Colfenor traveled through Lorwyn alone. Rhys' strict adherence to the Gilt-Leaf's predatory treatment of Lorwyn's other races caused a growing rift between the two, although Rhys would maintain a complex, conflicted attachment to his former mentor and recall him fondly as Old Log. After some time, Colfenor became alerted to a great coming event that would change Lorwyn forever. Deciding he needed to ensure the survival of his species in this world to come, he wandered into the kithkin clachan of Kinsbaile and set in motion a chain of events that would reshape the plane's destiny.

Reunion

In 4520 AR, Colfenor met with Gaddock Teeg in Kinsbaile and retained the service of a flamekin messenger named Ashling. Colfenor tasked Ashling with reaching his former apprentice, Rhys. Colfenor had been able to provide Rhys with tenuous telepathic counsel at times, but the elf had proven resistant to his former mentor's attempt to reconcile and reconnect. His plans were not kept safe from Oona, notably, as she had dispatched a trio of faeries named the Vendilion clique to spy on him as he discussed with Ashling the nature of her role. Nonetheless, Ashling was successful, and he was reunited at last with Rhys.

His former pupil had become an eyeblight and an outlaw after his magic spell had gone terribly awry during an attack on a boggart gathering in the Porringer Valley; Colfenor had attempted to telepathically forbid him from participating in the slaughter, and in fact had bestowed him with the overabundant yew magic that ruined him. Now together in Kinsbaile, Colfenor tasked Rhys with traveling to Murmuring Bosk, a sacred treefolk grove, and planting his seed cone there to make certain the yew line would live on, and that his life of accumulated knowledge would be borne forth into a new vessel. Rhys and his companions, Ashling and the Kinsbaile archer heroine Brigid Baeli arrived at Bosk only to find it completely leveled and burned. Rhys planted the cone anyway, performing a ritual to ensure its growth.

Colfenor was outraged to learn that Brigid had been tasked with capturing Rhys on their journey in a show of political intrigues played by Teeg to cement his relationship with Taercenn Nath, who had overtaken Kinsbaile in his tireless pursuit of Rhys. Colfenor redirected Brigid to abduct Ashling instead. His action was twofold: to save the life of his pupil and to ensure the end of his own. As he would later explain to Brigid, his life needed to end so his progeny could take his place. Ashling, who was now on the verge of death herself and in need of rekindling by way of Colfenor's machinations, was to become the instrument of his death.

Rhys returned to Kinsbaile to inform Colfenor of Murmuring Bosk's destruction, only to find himself trapped by his former tribesmen. He fled but was forced to battle his former commander, Nath, to escape. Rhys emerged victorious, killing the ruthless Gilt-Leaf taercenn. The siege on Kinsbaile had been broken, and the Festival of Tales was about to begin, where Colfneor was welcomed as an honored storyteller. The gathered kithkin put aside their worries and listened with rapt attention as Colfenor shared his tales: the autobiographical stories of his long life.

Brigid, meanwhile, told Rhys of Colfenor's imminent fate and of how Ashling was to be somehow involved. They intervened just as the flamekin was rekindled by a greater elemental, and as her elemental-fueled fire reignited, the blaze engulfed Colfenor. Rhys pinned himself on Ashling to stop the spread of flames, but Colfenor telepathically told him it was too late, bidding him farewell with the promise that he would see him again. Ashling's unconscious body was heavy as iron and hot as a forge, but Rhys did not waver in his attempt to save his mentor. Colfneor had knowingly sealed his fate, however, and the last yew burned brightly to his death.

Legacy

Rhys, Brigid, and Ashling, now joined by Maralen, supposedly a Mornsong elf, returned to Murmuring Bosk to check the progress of Colfenor's offspring and were surprised by what they found. Instead of decades, the young tree had grown, awakened, and "risen" merely one day after Colfenor's death just as he intended, and greeted the company in the name of her "seedfather." Colfenor was dead, but the experience and wisdom of the whole species and Colfenor himself lived on in the young yew treefolk.

The sapling of Colfenor went on to play an important role in the events of the Great Aurora, and in the war between Oona and her renegade twin, Maralen. The sapling would not survive the ensuing conflict, but decades after her death the other races of treefolk remained steadfast in their duty to avert the total extinction of yew treefolk across the plane. A yew named Ferrafor could still be found in the Great Forest despite rumors of their extinction, and thus Colfenor's lineage endured.

Trivia

• In the Lorwyn style guide, Colfenor was called Cronan.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Lorwyn	Cory J. Herndon & Scott McGough	August 2007	Lorwyn	Lorwyn	Maralen, Maralen, Peradala, Eidren, Ashling, Sygg Gauhren Gyllalla Syllvar, Dugah, Unice, Irgil, Ryleigh, Vendilion clique, Rhys, Yelm, Brion Stoutarm, Kiel, Gaddock Teeg, Colfenor, Collemina, Smitsmott, Brigid Baeli, Angus Gabble, Oona, Tiristan, Grath, Gryffid, Nath, Rosheen Meanderer (mentioned), Thumb, Grieve, Aeloch, Gaevin, Chevor, Sapling of Colfenor
Lorwyn Survival Guide	Doug Beyer	October 31, 2007	Lorwyn	Lorwyn	Oona, Colfenor, Galanda Feudkiller
The Sapling of Colfenor	Jenna Helland	July 2, 2008	Eventide	Lorwyn-Shadowmoor	Colfenor, Rhys, Gaddock Teeg, Ashling, Brigid, The Sapling
Lorwyn Eclipsed: Three Dreams, Three Truths	K. Arsenault Rivera	2026-01-07	Lorwyn Eclipsed	Lorwyn-Shadowmoor	Kellan, Amalia, Annie Flash (mentioned), Morecote, Erewaker, Sigric, Baby's Breath, Forget-Me-Not, Meadowsweet, Colfenor (mentioned), Oona

In-game references

Represented in:

• Colfenor, the Last Yew

Associated cards:

• Colfenor's Plans
• Colfenor's Urn
• Sapling of Colfenor

Quoted or referred to:

• Rootgrapple
• Scapeshift (Morningtide)