Silence of the Gods
| Silence of the Gods | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Silence | |||||
 | |||||
| Information | |||||
| Era | Mending Era | ||||
| Date | 4559 AR | ||||
| Location | Theros | ||||
| Sets | Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx | ||||
| Characters | Athreos, Daxos, Elspeth, Ephara, Erebos, Heliod, Iroas, Karametra, Keranos, Kruphix, Mogis, Nylea, Pharika, Phenax, Polukranos, Purphoros, Thassa, Xenagos | ||||
| Outcome | |||||
| Timeline | |||||
| |||||
The Silence of the Gods was an event on the plane of Theros during the Mending Era, occurring in 4559 AR. It marked a rare moment when the entire pantheon of Theros was forcibly withdrawn from the Mortal Realm by Kruphix, the enigmatic god of horizons and knowledge, to prevent their escalating conflicts from destroying the world they claimed to protect.[1]
Description
In the years leading up to the Silence, an 8-year-old Elspeth Tirel came into possession of a powerful sword forged by Purphoros, the God of the Forge. This blade, infused with chaotic potential and reforged into the spear Godsend by Heliod, could wound even the divine. Fearing its power and what their rivals might do with it, each god was driven to paranoia and violence, manipulated further by the satyr planeswalker Xenagos, whose secret ambition was to ascend to godhood himself.[1]
As Elspeth met Daxos again for the first time since childhood on the Four Winds Plateau, the gods’ obsession with her led them to wage open war against each other, with tidal waves crashing, volcanoes erupting, seas boiling, and lightning flashing across the skies.[1]
The gods' paranoia was in part due to Xenagos’s machinations, tearing holes in the fabric of the Nyx and creating blind spots for the gods, leaving them faltering and enraged. As conflict among the gods spiraled toward catastrophe, only Nylea, goddess of the hunt, glimpsed the true nature of Xenagos’s plot — but it was too late to stop it outright.[1]
To stop the cataclysm and prevent further interventions by the gods on mortal lands, Kruphix intervened. He decreed the Silence of the Gods, withdrawing the entire pantheon into Nyx, the starry realm of the divine, severing their direct influence over the mortal world for months. In this void of divine meddling, Xenagos’s plan flourished: without the interference of rival gods, he was free to ascend to the status of a god himself, becoming the God of Revels and reshaping the balance of power in Theros.[1]
Elspeth and Daxos together were faced with the giant ten-headed hydra Polukranos, the World Eater. Leaving each of its heads only partially severed prevented them from growing back, and at the end, the beast lay slain, its spirit going to the Underworld. In awe of her deeds, Daxos named Elspeth the Champion of Heliod.[1]
The Silence of the Gods thus stands as a period of paradox — both a reprieve for mortals caught in divine feuds, but also an opening for an ambitious mortal to seize immortality for himself.
Although the Silence affected all the Gods, some of them found ways to cheat its intended effects. Although the gods could not communicate directly with any mortals, including their oracles, they could still at times send visions and provide mute aid, as Keranos did with Cymede while raising the waters of the Deyda River. Iroas and Mogis showed themselves battling in the sky to those who witnessed the duel between Anax and Rhordon outside Akros. Mogis even healed a wound on Rhordon's leg during the duel, and Keranos retaliated by creating a draconic steam elemental from the river, which killed Rhordon and all his minotaur allies.[2]
References
- ↑ a b c d e f Jenna Helland (April 2014). "Theros: Godsend, Part I." Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-6556-4.
- ↑ Jenna Helland (May 2014) - Journey into Nyx: Godsend, Part II, Wizards of the Coast.
| ||||||||||||||
