The Gathering Dark

[["Publishing Information",[{"data":"Jeff Grubb","label":"Author(s)"},{"data":"June 1999","label":"First printing"},{"data":"978-0-7869-1357-2","label":"ISBN-13"}]],["[[Ice Age Cycle]]",[{"data":"''[[The Gathering Dark]]''\n\n''[[The Eternal Ice]]''\n''[[The Shattered Alliance]]''"}]],["[[List_of_storyline_sources#Books|Publication chronology]]",[{"data":"Preceded By'''''[[Time Streams]]'''''\n\nFollowed By'''''[[Bloodlines]]'''''"}]]]

The Gathering Dark
Publishing Information
Author(s)	Jeff Grubb
First printing	June 1999
ISBN-13	978-0-7869-1357-2
Ice Age Cycle
The Gathering Dark The Eternal Ice The Shattered Alliance
Publication chronology
Preceded By Time Streams Followed By Bloodlines

The Gathering Dark is the first novel of the Ice Age Cycle. It tells the origin of Jodah, whose story continues in The Eternal Ice and The Shattered Alliance. It was written by Jeff Grubb, and published in June 1999. It received a second printing for inclusion in Coldsnap fat packs.

Overview

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
The Gathering Dark	Jeff Grubb	June 1999	The Dark	Dominaria	Arkol, Ith, Mairsil, Rag Man, Vervamon (mentioned), Jodah, Voska, Jarsyl (mentioned), Thargrin (mentioned), Tanar, Delphine, Michelle, Dobbs, Sima, Togath, Fendah, Tivadar, Barl, Lucan, Drusilla, Alex, Betje, Shannan, Ophenia, San-Lo, Dorine, Dervish, Jonko, Orm, Nedastophalites, Remarin, Ingles, Wode

Featured characters, events, and cards

Featured characters

• 
  Ith
• 
  Jodah
• 
  Mairsil
• 
  Rag Man
• 
  Tivadar

Featured events

• 
  Battle of Pitdown
• 
  Fall of the Conclave of Mages

Featured cards

• 
  Alabaster Potion
• 
  Amnesia
• 
  Apprentice Wizard
• 
  Barl's Cage
• 
  City of Shadows
• 
  Coral Helm
• 
  Dance of Many
• 
  Dark Sphere
• 
  The Fallen
• 
  Festival
• 
  Fountain of Youth
• 
  Gate to Phyrexia
• 
  Goblins of the Flarg
• 
  Inquisition
• 
  Jodah's Mirror
• 
  Miracle Worker
• 
  Pikemen
• 
  Preacher
• 
  Safe Haven
• 
  Stone Calendar
• 
  Tracker

Blurb

After the war comes the darkness.

Terisiare lies in ruins. Nations have fallen, goblins raid the land, and an oppressive faith throttles the city-states. Now deep within the walls of the Conclave of Mages Jodah must decide if unlocking his immense power is worth taking a step into the dark lands.

The epic of the Ice Age begins.

Plot

After the Brothers' War the continent of Terisiare is falling apart. Large nations are crumbling into smaller city-states, the Church of Tal is prosecuting all wizards, and each winter the cold gets worse. But in this environment, we first meet Jodah, who is destined to become one of the greatest pioneers of magic on Terisiare.

It is a time of intolerance, plague, and war. We follow the young wizard-in-training Jodah, who encounters a series of difficulties in quick succession. First, he is captured by the Inquisition, who killed his mentor Voska. He flees to the city of Alsoor just as it falls under plague quarantine. He gets a job selling folk cures, but his magical improvements of the healing balms bring the inquisition down on him again. To flee persecution, he joins the army, only to have both his fellow soldiers and the opposing army be slaughtered by attacking goblins and giants in the Battle of Pitdown, where he has to hide in a Fountain of Youth to avoid being killed by goblin raiders. Eventually, he meets up with Sima, a wizard of the City of Shadows, who promises to bring him to this mysterious school to study magic in peace - but their ship encounters a storm and he falls overboard and is abducted by merfolk working for the Rag Man, who instead leads him to the rival school called the Conclave of Mages.

Jodah quickly makes friends with the wizards at the Conclave, and when their leader, Mairsil, takes great interest in him, it seems like he has finally found his place in the world. But then he starts to figure out that there appears to be something strange going on at the Conclave, as he discovers that Mairsil has usurped control of the Conclave from its founder, Lord Ith, who he keeps locked in a cage that allows Mairsil to drain his powers. Ith has gone insane, but in a rare moment of clarity he summoned the Rag Man and ordered it to bring someone to free him to the Conclave, and this someone turns out to be Jodah, great-grandson of Jarsyl.

Mairsil hopes Jodah can recreate Jarsyl's famous journey to Phyrexia because Mairsil thinks the Phyrexians can turn him into a planeswalker. Luckily for him, he never found out just how mistaken he was about that. The inquisition led by Primata Delphine has been following Jodah, and they launch a huge attack on the Conclave. The mages defeat them, but meanwhile, Jodah has been joined by Sima, and together, the two of them free Ith. The insane wizard kills Mairsil but then is shown his reflection in Jodah's magical mirror, which restores his mind before he causes further destruction. Ith decides to leave and be on his own, while Jodah and Sima take the remaining wizards from the destroyed Conclave to the City of Shadows.