Over one thousand years ago, Nahiri, the Lithomancer felt the Eldrazi broods had broken free and were swarming across Zendikar. She used the Eye of Ugin’s magic to call across the Blind Eternities for her allies. Sorin and Ugin never answered her call.

More than two years ago, Sorin Markov returned to Zendikar with the goal of repairing the hedron network and preventing the titans’ release. Neither Nahiri nor Ugin came to his aid.

Now, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is on Zendikar reforming the hedron network. After Sorin awoke him from his hedron cocoon on Tarkir, Ugin commanded Sorin to gather Nahiri and meet him on Zendikar. Neither has shown.

Art by Igor Kieryluk

Since the initial capturing, each time one member of the trio has been on Zendikar to help with the Eldrazi threat, the others have not. Ugin has the excuse of being in his comatose state on Tarkir, but what of Nahiri and Sorin? For two Planeswalkers adamant about resealing the Eldrazi prison at different times in the past, their absence during each other’s times of need—and now Ugin’s—is suspicious to say the least.

Lithomancer’s Focus

What has been officially stated as Nahiri’s last known situation is not all that we know. Starting from the beginning, Nahiri was initially opposed to Ugin’s plan to use her plane, but she quickly came to accept the idea as even more untimely alternatives were presented. She worked forty years creating the hedrons, afterward agreeing to stay on Zendikar as the plane’s protector to monitor the network. A distress beacon was built into the Eye of Ugin, capable of signaling the other Planeswalkers in the event of Eldrazi trouble.

She spent time among the kor but lost appreciation for the individual Zendikari lives she had loved and sought to protect long ago. With no reason to leave Zendikar but no reason to travel elsewhere, she entered a stony stasis near the Eye of Ugin, despite wanting to call Sorin for company and advice in her apathetic state.

Nahiri awoke to pain. The Eldrazi broods had emerged while the titans tried to break free from their prison. It was the perfect opportunity to call her friend for help, but Sorin never answered. She struggled to fix the disruption by herself and prevailed, saving the plane of Zendikar once more.

Eye of Ugin by James Paick

Looking closely at the story, it’s easy to spot the nihilistic tale. The final line of the “The Lithomancer” is Nahiri proudly replying that her work is just beginning, but “Stirring from Slumber” starts us off with an emotionally exhausted Nahiri who has retreated to avoid feeling anything. The quotes, “the bleakness she was experiencing,” “as if their brief lives meant anything,” and “a desire for those feelings to end,” all paint a portrait of a reclusive Nahiri, a kor woman who barely cares what happens to Zendikar and is later surprised that she wants to save it. As she explored the world and her memories, emotions began to stir.

What we do know is that she did move on. The end of “Stirring from Slumber” leaves Nahiri on an optimistic note, departing to “awaken” Sorin and reignite their lost friendship. It’s a new chapter to her story fueled by passion and life, but quickly turning on those allies who refused to help her in a time of need.

Mountain by James Paick

In the former Khans timeline story “Sorin’s Revelation,” Sorin recalled a time he had gone without feeding and how the experience was both “dangerous and horrifying.” Immediately following, he recounted that Nahiri was “gone” but unusually quiet. Sorin having expected “at least” Ugin on Zendikar tells us he has since accepted Nahiri’s abandonment of her role in the trio under whatever new life she began.

In the true Dragons of Tarkir timeline story “Sorin’s Restoration,” Sorin became worried upon finding the massive hedron cocoon on Tarkir, the Haven of the Spirit Dragon. Concerned that Nahiri had “bested the dragon,” he broke open the cocoon. Sorin was relieved that Ugin was alive and that it was Nicol Bolas, not Nahiri, who had defeated the spirit dragon over a thousand years ago.

Nahiri can still planeswalk. She may seek vengeance against her former Planeswalker friends, willing to use her powers of lithomancy against them. How did Sorin stave his rogue friend’s anger? What happened on Innistrad that made her lose concern for Zendikar? How was Sorin sure that she was gone?

Vampiric Touch

Following his contributions on Zendikar, using his blood magic to help weaken the Eldrazi titans for imprisonment, we don’t really know where Sorin went. Innistrad was already in Avacynian balance before the Eldrazi were captured, so there isn’t much he is known to have achieved in the thousands of years since. After all, Ugin recently explained that Sorin’s actions against the Eldrazi were “out of a very long-minded sense of self-preservation.” He probably assumed that Nahiri would take care of any trouble rather than endanger himself with the affairs of such a wild world.

Vindicate by Karla Ortiz

Nahiri called, and Sorin did not answer. Whether out of apathy or obligation, Sorin’s inaction has angered Nahiri even more than the Eldrazi threat. Did she explore Innistrad to discover a fasting Sorin? Weakened and starving, attempting to surpass his own mortality, he couldn’t have answered her call without wasting his efforts. Having become the “dangerous and horrifying” monster without feeding, did he unwillingly give in and feed on the angry friend who discovered him? It would explain the hasty thought connection between that memory and Nahiri’s absence.

When Ugin questioned whether Nahiri was alive, Sorin answered that she was but also acknowledged that he hid some extent of the truth from the dragon. If he did transform Nahiri into a vampire, the variability of her “living” is explained perfectly, along with Sorin’s complicated guilt over the situation.

Grim Return by Seb McKinnon

Nahiri did change directions. She was ambitious about returning to Zendikar moments before she departed for Innistrad, but something happened that ensured Sorin she was never coming back to save her world. Was the kor fearful to inflict even more vampirism upon Zendikar? Was she leaving the mess of the hedron prison behind her for freedom? Was she planeswalking away from a world she had no personal connection to?

Whatever the answer, Sorin knew that it meant she would never return to protect her home world. He did tell Ugin that he has an idea of where Nahiri would be, but Sorin’s absence in Battle for Zendikar, the announcement of Shadows over Innistrad, and trouble on his own plane indicate that his search may not conclude anytime soon.

What do you think happened to Nahiri, and where is she now? Since there are multiple pieces of evidence proving she cannot be Avacyn, how does Nahiri play into the future storyline? Comment below and, until next time, happy planeswalking!