Spirit-Gem
| Spirit-Gem | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Origin | Meditation Plane |
| Creator | Ugin |
| User | Nicol Bolas, Liliana Vess |
| Status | Disappeared |
The Spirit-Gem was a mystic artifact that was metaphysically tied to the Meditation Realm. Nicol Bolas used to wear it between his horns.
Description
The Spirit-Gem was a smooth, egg-shaped stone with a silken sheen. Its color was between gold and silver.[1] The Spirit-Gem can reveal its possessor's “true, best self” and allows Ugin to communicate with its holder. Bolas used the Spirit-Gem as a channel to absorb the planeswalker's sparks that he had harvested through the Elderspell during the War of the Spark.[2]
History
Bolas found the gem in the Meditation Realm after killing his brother Ugin, unaware that it was made from a piece of Ugin's essence. Recognizing its connection to the plane, Bolas claimed it as his own and wore it for millennia as a symbol of his supremacy.[3] After Ugin was resurrected as a Spirit Dragon, he used his connection with the Spirit-Gem to observe Bolas and the events of the War, even without being on Ravnica. After Bolas's defeat, Liliana Vess picked up the Spirit-Gem before she planeswalked away.[2][1]
In Caligo on Dominaria, Ugin briefly spoke through the Gem to Araithia Shokta and appeared to Liliana Vess, explaining that Liliana would have to choose her path to redemption.[1] Araithia would become visible to everyone when she held the gem. Later, when Liliana held the Spirit-Gem in one hand and the Chain Veil in the other, the Spirit-Gem began to glow. As it disappeared, Liliana dropped the Veil and gave it up. The Gem returned to Ugin.
When Jace Beleren returned with Vraska through an ancient Omenpath to the Meditation Plane, they were met by Narset and Elspeth Tirel who had followed a lead to find a solution to the increasing dragonstorms.[4][5] At first, the Realm looked different for each of them, as their thoughts that trapped them in a shifting space. Jace saw no logic, no actual roads, and feared they would be trapped forever.[5] However, Narset's special mindset allowed her to help the others to clear their minds, and to reveal the true silvery nature of the plane. To their shock, they were met by the two elder dragons that had been sealed away here in eternal lockdown. While a weakened Ugin berated Jace for breaking their agreement (as he was the only one knowing about their continued existence) and warned them to get away, the nameless dragon that had been Nicol Bolas saw a chance to gain information and regain power.
While all the others were distracted, Jace put his plan into motion. He secretly moved behind Ugin's back and stole the Spirit-Gem. Using the power of the Gem, he started casting a magnificent spell, making use of Proft's technique to manifest an illusion into reality and the multiversal reality bending properties of the Realm. Thinking that he would offer the Gem to Bolas, Elspeth attacked and temporarily distracted him. While even Vraska tried to hold him back at the last minute, he proceeded anyway. The world blurred and deepened in hue, becoming the blue of the mind-mage's magic. Briefly, it appeared as if Jace might have done the impossible. The Realm expanded like an animal drawing its first breath, and when it exhaled, visions became kaleidoscopic, filled then with the glimpses of the futures that they'd lost: dead friends alive again, worlds unbroken, planes made innocent of their pain. Obedient to its new master, the Meditation Realm attempted to recreate itself in the image of Jace's desperate hopes, but for all the power he'd thieved from Ugin's gem, Jace was still only human. He gasped, the last of his endurance failing, and the others stared in horror as the horizon broke into mirrored fragments, revealing a nothingness that ate at the eye, a void that poured toward them, unmaking reality — Jace included. As the emptiness rolled over him, he shattered like glass.[5]
Trivia
- The Spirit-Gem looks similar to, but is separate from, the Gem of Becoming.[6]
In-game references
- Referred to:
References
- ↑ a b c Greg Weisman (November 2019). "War of the Spark: Forsaken". Del Rey.
- ↑ a b Greg Weisman (April 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica". Del Rey.
- ↑ Jay Annelli (2022). Magic: The Gathering - The Visual Guide, DK. ISBN-13 978-0744061055.
- ↑ Cassandra Khaw (March 12, 2025). "Tarkir: Dragonstorm - Episode 5: Recursion". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c Cassandra Khaw (March 14, 2025). "Tarkir: Dragonstorm - Episode 6: How Wretched Love". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Monty Ashley. (August 23, 2012). "What's that gem?". Magic: The Gathering. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on August 24, 2012.