Release of the Eldrazi
| Release of the Eldrazi | |||||
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| Rise of the Eldrazi | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| Era | Mending Era | ||||
| Date | 4557 AR | ||||
| Location | Eye of Ugin, Teeth of Akoum, Akoum, Zendikar | ||||
| Storyline Sources | Journey to the Eye, Awakenings, Enter the Eldrazi, Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum | ||||
| Affiliations | Eldrazi | ||||
| Characters | Anowon, Chandra Nalaar, Emrakul, Jace Beleren, Kozilek, Mudheel, Nissa Revane, Sarkhan Vol, Smara, Sorin Markov, Ulamog | ||||
| Outcome | |||||
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The Release of the Eldrazi was an event that occurred on Zendikar during the Mending Era.
Description
The Release of the Eldrazi was a catastrophic event that occurred in 4557 AR on the plane of Zendikar, marking the end of the Eldrazi's roughly 6000 year-long imprisonment and setting in motion the devastating events on Zendikar and Innistrad. The Release of the Eldrazi was the result of a convergence of planeswalkers and circumstances at the Eye of Ugin, an ancient hedron chamber located in the volcanic region known as the Teeth of Akoum, with the Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas pulling several strings in the background.
Millennia earlier, the Eldrazi titans — Emrakul, Kozilek, and Ulamog — had been lured to Zendikar and bound within the Eye of Ugin by a trio of planeswalkers: the vampire Sorin Markov, the Elder Dragon Ugin, and the kor lithomancer Nahiri. The binding of the Eldrazi was maintained through a delicate network of magical stone artifacts called hedrons, which channeled the Eye's suppressive energies. The prison required a specific condition to weaken: the combined presence of three planeswalker sparks within the Eye and the use of Ugin's ghostfire.
In 4557 AR, that condition was unwittingly fulfilled when Chandra Nalaar arrived at the Eye of Ugin following a trail she had learned by the theft of the Dragon Scroll. Chandra was followed by Jace Beleren and later joined by Sarkhan Vol, all three of whom engaged in a chaotic confrontation inside the chamber. During the conflict, Chandra unleashed a powerful spell using the scroll's contents, casting the burst of ghostfire that destabilized the Eye’s enchantments.
The collapse of the Eye of Ugin's enchantments allowed the titans to stir, and immediately their presence became known in Zendikar in the form of their brood, ranging from small to immense. The threat of these Eldrazi brood grabbed the attention of Sorin Markov, who planeswalked to Ondu where he made contact with the animist Nissa Revane and the vampire archaeomancer and brood slave Anowon. These three agreed to travel together to Akoum, where Sorin intended to reseal the Eldrazi prison. However, Nissa gleaned enough information from her travels with Sorin and Anowon that she instead decided to free the Eldrazi so that they could leave her plane. When Nissa, Sorin, and Anowon arrived at the Eye, guided by the goblin Mudheel and the kor prophet Smara, Nissa interrupted Sorin's ritual, and instead broke apart the keylock hedron that was needed to reseal the prison.
From their confinement beneath Zendikar’s surface, Ulamog, Kozilek, and Emrakul emerged once more — beings of immense, reality-warping power. Their release initiated a slow but devastating unraveling of Zendikar’s natural forces, as leylines twisted, landmasses heaved, and the wild, vibrant plane began to desiccate and decay under their touch. Even as Nissa, Sorin and Anowon watched, the sudden rise of the titans decimated the immediate area outside the Eye, scattering those present and sowing fear across the plane.
The full-scale Battle for Zendikar would start to ramp up as the Eldrazi titans separated, and Emrakul would later leave Zendikar entirely, migrating to Innistrad and precipitating events that would culminate in the Travails there. The consequences of the Release reshaped the fate of Zendikar and foreshadowed the broader threat the Eldrazi posed to all planes.