Gull
| Gull | |
|---|---|
| Big Boy | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Colors |
 |
| Species | Human |
| Birth, Life & Death | |
| Birthplace | Whispering Woods in Aerona, Dominaria |
| Lifetime | War with Phyrexia |
| Born | 4053 AR |
| Family | |
| Spouse | Lily |
| Children | Hyacinthe and Sweet |
| Parents | Brown Bear and Bittersweet |
| Relatives |
Greensleeves, Rainfall, Angelwing, Poppyseed (sisters) Sparrow Hawk, Cub, Lion (brothers) |
| Sources | |
| Greensleeves Cycle | |
Gull was a human woodcutter from North Aerona on Dominaria. Traveling with his planeswalker sister Greensleeves, he became an experienced fighter against evil wizards.
Description
Like his sister Greensleeves, Gull had long, curly, chestnut brown hair. He only had two fingers on his right hand, the result of a tree-felling accident. He also had a bad knee for several years, until it was healed by the druid Chaney. He was tall and muscular, and had a commanding and inspiring presence, even though he had no formal training in the art of warfare.
History
Whispering Woods
Gull lived peacefully with his sister and his younger brother Sparrow Hawk in the village of White Ridge, on the border of the Whispering Woods. Greensleeves was perceived to be dim-witted because she couldn't talk, but only chattered like an animal. One day a falling star was seen in the sky, which was reputed to be a bad omen. This was proven true when White Ridge was destroyed during a wizard's duel. During the Destruction of White Ridge, many of the villagers were killed, including Gull's parents and two of his siblings. Almost all remaining villagers decided to relocate elsewhere. Gull and Greensleeves stayed behind.[1]
Gull found the centaurs Helki and Holleb and the Two-Headed Giant Liko, stranded after the battle. Gull first treated them harshly, thinking that they were just mercenaries, but they revealed that when a wizard summoned them, they were mind-controlled to fight for them. That evening, one of the wizards, Towser, came to Gull and, after assuring him he had no part in the destruction of the village, asked Gull to become his new freightmaster since the old one perished in the duel. Gull, confused by the mind magic of Towser and with nowhere else to go, accepted his offer and brought Greensleeves along. As a token of gratitude, Towser purportedly sent the centaurs and the giant back to their home.[1]
Towser's convoy
After the convoy started its journey, Gull quickly befriended Morven, an old sailor turned bodyguard, and Stiggur, the cook's boy. He also fell in love with Lily, one of the dancing girls of Towser. However, another bodyguard, Kem, started antagonizing the woodcutter. After a difficult slog through the forest, the wagon train reached its destination: the place where the star fell. The star was revealed by Towser to be a Mana Vault, a powerful artifact that could store mana. During the night, the camp was attacked by another wizard. Gull managed to save Lily from the clutches of a Black Knight, but then the enemy wizard stormed the camp to kidnap Lily and Greensleeves. He was defeated by a suddenly appearing Fungusaur, summoned by an unknown wizard. During the battle Gull saw Helki and Holleb again, and thought that Towser might have enslaved them; he confronted the wizard, but once again the mind magic of Towser was enough to appease him. Finally, out of the Woods, the convoy stopped for the night near a swamp. During the night, though, Kem was kidnapped by Sedge Trolls, so Gull and Greensleeves entered the bog and saved him. The convoy finally reached a coastal city. Gull was amazed by the city, the sea, and the birds he was named after. His greatest surprise was the discovery that Greensleeves suddenly could talk since it was the overwhelming magic of the Whispering Woods that had clouded her thoughts.[1]
The island
One night, the siblings and Lily were kidnapped by Towser's minions. Back at the camp, the wizard revealed his intention to kill Greensleeves and store her power in the Mana Vault. A fight started, and Towser was forced to teleport away, Gull, Morven, and Stiggur. The three found themselves on a tropical island, where they met, among others, the centaurs and Liko again, as well as the Northern Paladin Bardo. It appeared that this island was where Towser would send his minions when he didn't need them, and that there wasn't any way to escape from it. Still, Gull refused to surrender, and started organizing the people on the island in a ragtag army, until one day he was suddenly summoned away from the island.[1]
Fighting Towser
Gull was summoned by Lily who, unbeknownst to herself, was a wizard. Towser had tied Greensleeves to an altar and he was ready to kill her, when Kem changed sides, remembering how Gull had saved his life in the bog. At the same time Greensleeves, who also was revealed to be a wizard (she was the one responsible for summoning the Fungusaur earlier), started summoning Morven, Stiggur, the centaurs, Liko, and all the creatures of the woods who had befriended her to fight Towser's minions. Still, Towser was a veteran wizard and could control his creatures better than Greensleeves. She resolved to use an earthquake, which destroyed the cliff they were on and plunged them into the sea. Then Greensleeves put her hand in the sea and cast another spell - a tsunami. Towser escaped the great wave with his flight spell, and Gull, Greensleeves, and Stiggur escaped by taking refuge in a crack in the cliffside, while Morven, Kem and most of Towser's entourage were swept away by the sea. After the water had settled, they found that Lily, the centaurs, and Liko had survived. Gull and his friends vowed to form an army to fight Towser, who Gull now realized was the wizard who had killed his family, and all the evil wizards who saw people as mindless pawns.[1]
Commander
With his sister, Gull formed the growing army and fought several wizards. When Greensleeves became a planeswalker, he traveled with her to Phyrexia to find the Stone Brain.[2][3]
The army grew into a formidable force and liberated almost all of North Aerona from oppression by wizards.[3] However, all the fighting and death started to take their toll on Greensleeves. The druid just wanted some peace in the company of her lover Kwam and her brother, who had married Lily and became the father of two daughters, Hyacinthe and Sweet.
Meanwhile, ten wizards under the leadership of Towser and Karli had regrouped and protected themselves from Greensleeves's magic. Aided by the huge Keldon warlord Ix, who had a personal grudge against Gull, they attacked the army from three different directions. Gull was confronted by the Keldon warlord, but before the enemy could kill the woodcutter, Greensleeves teleported herself, Gull, and the survivors of their army to their headquarters at Greensleeves' Grove.
After traveling to Lat-Nam to discover the secret of the Stone Brain, they were attacked once again by Towser's wizards. After a long battle, the army retreated into a tunnel where Gull had a prophetic dream about his dead family. Among them, he did not see Sparrow Hawk, their long lost brother, and had a revelation about the warlord's identity.
Reunion
Towser proposed a truce, to which Gull answered asking for a personal duel between himself and the warlord. When Gull revealed to the warlord that the latter was in truth Sparrow Hawk, who had been kidnapped and enchanted by Towser to be a war machine, the two brothers reconciled. However, Haakon unleashed a fireball against the two, who were engulfed in flames. This caused Greensleeves to go mad with anger and sorrow, making the "final sacrifice" of her ideal that every life was sacred. She blasted Haakon with a Lightning Bolt, then trapped the other wizards in the desert and summoned a Force of Nature. Absorbing the mana of the creature, the enemy wizards, and that of Lat-Nam itself, Greensleeves became a godlike being and lost herself, seeing her friends and family as mere ants compared to her.[3] Before she could unleash her overwhelming power and destroy the isle though, she was brought to her senses by her lover Kwam and saw that her brothers had survived the fireball, thanks to the enchanted might of Sparrow Hawk. Greensleeves decided to pour all of her mana into the Isle of Lat-Nam, curing the land of the poison and transforming the desert into a verdant forest, thus sacrificing her planeswalker powers.[4]
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the Battle of Lat-Nam, Greensleeves was declared High Wizard of the Domains by her followers.
Story appearances
Gallery
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From the cover of Whispering Woods. -
From the cover of Final Sacrifice.
References
- ↑ a b c d e Clayton Emery (1994). Magic: The Gathering - Whispering Woods. Harper Prism.
- ↑ Clayton Emery (1995). Magic: The Gathering - Shattered Chains. Harper Prism.
- ↑ a b c Clayton Emery (1995). Magic: The Gathering - Final Sacrifice. Harper Prism.
- ↑ Jay Annelli (December 22, 2023). "My thread on desparked planeswalkers.". Twitter.