Preparing for Wilds of Eldraine

Posted on August 16, 2023

Welcome back, loreseekers! Today we're here to get you up to speed on Eldraine, the Arthurian Myth meets Fairy Tale plane! It's been four years since we last visited Eldraine, so you're forgiven if you don't know much about the plane. Just like before it's being used as a low stakes decompression set, so sit back and enjoy!

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time by Matt Stewart

There really isn't much in the way of reading material for Eldraine, so you can be caught up pretty quickly if you want to be. Below is the sum total of all published lore for Eldraine. I highly recommend the novella The Wildered Quest by Kate Elliott. I'll summarize it below, but it's a great story that I think gets overlooked a lot. By the time this article is published, the entire Wilds of Eldraine Story will also be published, so those are linked below as well. Make sure you're clicking those links!

The Wildered Quest

Throne of Eldraine (Card Set)

Planeswalker's Guide to Eldraine

The Realm

Castle Ardenvale by Volkan Baga

The Realm of Eldraine is made up of five courts, each a united kingdom under the High King or Queen. This side of Eldraine is our Arthurian fantasy. During the original Throne of Eldraine, the High King was Algenus Kenrith, the Returned King. King Kenrith was our King Arthur stand-in. The five courts were Castle Ardenvale, Castle Vantress, Castle Lochtwain, Castle Embereth, and Castle Garenbrig. Each court emphases one of five knightly virtues, and in general a magic artifact connected to the knighthoods there, and the source of the knights' magic.

Castle Ardenvale

Ruler(s): Kenrith, the Returned King and Linden, the Steadfast Queen

Virtue: Loyalty

Artifact: The Circle of Loyalty

Castle Ardenvale was a rocky mesa where humanity made their stand against their elven masters and won their freedom. Ever since, it has stood for the virtue of Loyalty and has been the seat of the High King or Queen. Beneath the castle lies The Circle of Loyalty, and to become a knight of Ardenvale one must pass through the fire, which judges your motives. The noble pass through unscathed, while those with selfish motives are burned.

Will and Rowan Kenrith, The Royal Scions, grew up in Castle Ardenvale with their father King Kenrith and and step-mother Queen Linden. The King and Queen also have two younger children, Erec and Hazel, the half-siblings of the twins.

The High King or Queen is selected by the mysterious Questing Beast, who sets them on the High Quest and tasks them with earning a knighthood at each court. Castle Ardevale was hit hard during the Phyrexian Invasion. The Kenriths' Royal Funeral shows us that Algenus and Linden perished, and Restless Fortress shows us the grim state of the castle itself. Since the Kenrith's death, the Questing Beast has not reappeared, leaving Will and Rowan to try to unite the realm again on their own.

Castle Vantress

Ruler(s): Archmage Gadwick, the Wizened

Virtue: Knowledge

Artifact: Indrelon The Magic Mirror

Castle Vantress sits atop a massive lake (called Lochmere) and is home to Indrelon, the Magic Mirror. Vantress does not have a king or queen, but instead the Mirror itself is considered their leader. However, that only really works in the broad strokes, and so an Archmage, in this case Gadwick, the Wizened administers the day-to-day. To become a knight of Vantress, you must tell Indrelon a secret it doesn't already know.

Castle Lochtwain

Ruler(s): Queen Ayara, First of Lochtwain

Virtue: Persistence

Artifact: The Cauldron of Eternity

Castle Lochtwain was a floating castle ruled by the elven queen Ayara. Ayara was the only elf to have remained in the realm after the rise of humanity, and she proved herself a steadfast ally. Her castle used to rest atop the cave that housed The Cauldron of Eternity (a holy grail analogue), but when humanity took over the Cauldron was lost to the wilds and Lochtwain has been floating in search of it ever since.

Lochtwain was the first court to fall to New Phyrexia during the invasion, with Ayara, Furnace Queen succumbing to Phyresis and leading much of her now-corrupted forces against the realm. They were only stopped by Rankle and Torbran in the short story from MOM linked above. Rankle tricks the Lochtwain-Phyrexians into following him down a chasm just as the Wicked Slumber settled in.

Castle Embereth

Ruler(s): A ruling council of knights and nobles

Virtue: Courage

Artifact: The Irencrag (Represented by Embercleave)

Unlike the other courts, Embereth is ruled by a council of knights and nobles and not by a single leader. We don't currently know any of these leaders or their status after the Phyrexian Invasion. Embereth is home to many tournaments in the Burning Yard for its knights to prove their courage and skill. To earn a knighthood from Embereth, one must plunge their weapon into the Irencrag (a sword-in-the-stone analogue), a massive boulder that radiates volcanic heat. The Irencrag speaks into aspirants' minds, taunting them and testing their courage. If the aspirant can draw their weapon again from the Irencrag (only possible if their heart is full of courage), they'll have passed the test and become a full knight. Particularly brave knights have their weapons imbued with power, such as Embercleave.

Castle Garenbrig

Ruler(s): King Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig

Virtue: Strength

Artifact: The Great Henge

Like Lochtwain, Garenbrig is still ruled by it's original masters. Built in ancient times by the giants of the plane, Yorvo chose to stay behind while the others of his kind left for the deeper wilds. He finds humanity's pursuit of strength as a virtue a noble cause, and considers strength in all its forms (not just physical strength) when choosing to grant a knighthood. Garenbrig is home to The Great Henge, a massive stone monolith that contains a portal into the wilds.

Yorvo is the only monarch to have survived the Phyrexian Invasion, but the state of Garenbrig at the time of my writing this is less clear.

The Wilds

Escape to the Wilds by Chris Ostrowski

In contrast to the Realm, the Wilds are an untamed place without well-defined rules. Inspired by European fairy tales, the Wilds often run on more whimsical logic, and the shortest path between two points may not be a straight line. It is inhabited by a number of non-human peoples collectively referred to as the Fair Folk.

Faeries on Eldraine come in three varieties: the White-aligned Meddling fae, who are the size of humans and fill the fairy godmother role and meddle in human lives; the Blue-aligned thieving fae or are tiny thinkerbell-esque fae; and the Black-aligned prankster fae, who look like human children but wrong, and who engage in all sorts of cruel pranks. In Wilds of Eldraine, we also learn there are also faerie nobles, like Talion, the Kindly Lord.

The merfolk of Eldraine are curious creatures who hoard their secrets, sometimes murderously so. They often live in the Lochmere near the Magic Mirror or in the various lakes and rivers of the wilds. Goblins on Eldraine are called redcaps, named for their blood-soaked hair that takes on the appearance of a cap on their heads. Witches of Eldraine follow the fairy tale tropes, although we're learning in Wilds of Eldraine that they're not all evil, but often misunderstood and abused by society.

The dwarves of Eldraine exist somewhere between 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'. They're independent folk who usually disdain the realm, but occasionally there are dwarves like Torbran, Thane of Redfell who are friendly to and embrace the realm's virtues.

The giants of the wilds come in all shapes and sizes, and are generally friendlier toward humans than the other Fair Folk. We've also learned of a kingdom of cloud giants we didn't see in Throne of Eldraine.

Finally, the elves of the wilds have an ancient grudge against the realm for kicking them out years ago. The elves are ruled by a druidic council from their various bands. While elves as a whole harbor resentment against the realm, elvish knights atop giant foxes have been known to rescue human children from the wilds.

The Wildered Quest

Kenrith Family Portrait by Ryan Pancoast

In the prologue of the story, Garruk has attacked Oko, who is intrigued by the curse gripping the hunter. Oko glamours Garruk into becoming his thrall, and refers to him only as Dog. As the story itself begins, Rowan and Will Kenrith miss their chance to accompany their father the High King on a procession through the Realm. Queen Linden forbids them from departing after the castle gate is closed, with them only having themselves to blame for being late. They defy their step-mother and sneak out of the castle to catch up to the procession, cutting through a patch of the wilds, only to find themselves ambushed by redcaps.

An imposing figure rescues the twins, revealed to be Oko and 'Dog.' Oko ingratiates himself with the Kenrith twins, drawing information out of Rowan without her realizing it. Before parting ways, he glamours them into forgetting about their encounter. The twins try to blend back in with the Grand Procession but are caught by their friends Titus and Cerise, who know they snuck out. Before the twins can get in trouble, however, a scream rings out through the camp, as their father has gone missing.

Three months later, the High King is still missing, but the twins have reached their eighteenth birthday and can begin their own knightly quests. Things are starting to fall apart for the kingdom, as courtiers talk openly about Queen Linden possibly being responsible for her husband's disappearance. Linden ignores them, and instructs the twins to do the same - that only deeds will prove the rumors wrong. Linden blesses their departure and has Cado, their father's friend and fellow knight, guide them to Vantress, their first destination. Titus and Cerise join the group.

As they adventure outward, they encounter an ogre terrorizing a village. They defeat it, and meet Elowen, a loremage of Vantress. Elowen notices a witch's hex on Will and Rowan, and notes that they're linked at a deep level. At Vantress, Will and the others are granted an audience with the magic mirror. Will trades a secret (hinted at being he knows of other planes) for the location of their father. The mirror shows them a vision of a stag, and tells them if they can find the stag they can find their father.

Their travels take them to Garenbrig next, where they learn there's growing tension between the courts when they're denied entry by several knights of Garenbrig. Cado introduces himself to the knights of Garenbrig and they're allowed to the castle, and it turns out Castle Locthwain is there as well. They're granted an audience with King Yorvo, who agrees to set the portal in the Great Henge for where the vision showed them.

The party ventures through the portal the next morning, but are scattered around the clearing where they're meant to find the stag. They're beset by a lich knight, who murders Titus. Just as it is about to take Will as well, a stag bursts into view and flings the lich knight from its horns, then tramples it. At the sound of a whistle, the stag flees.

In pursuit of the stag, they discover the elvish council arguing with Queen Ayara about possibly going to war with the Realm. As they sneak away, they're caught by Oko, and learn that Oko has transformed their father into the stag. To prove it, he transforms Elowen into a bird. He intends to have the elves hunt the stag in their midwinter hunting ritual to spark a war between the elves and the Realm. He summons a cage of thorns for the party, and leaves 'Dog' behind to guard them.

Will attempts to talk 'Dog' into letting them go, but the group notices a binding hedron implanted in his skin. Thinking it responsible for his curse, they remove it, only to realize it was the opposite, and Garruk's curse overtakes him at full force. Cerise is injured in the confusion. Freed from the glamour, Garruk decides to hunt Oko down. The party splits up, with Cado taking Cerise back to the portal, and the twins continue after their father. They stumble across the midwinter hunt in full swing as their father runs for his life. Oko catches them, but he is amused rather than angry, believing himself untouchable.

The twins decide that Garruk is their best lead, and go to track him down to help. They find him in agony from the unleashed curse, but as creatures of the Wilds attack them Garruk is knocked into the river, unconscious. When Will jumps in after him to help, they both wash up into a massive cauldron - [The Cauldron of Eternity]. The cauldron absorbs Garruk's curse, and in a flash of light they wake up upon the shore. Together with a curse-free Garruk, they pursue the stag.

The hunt ends at a cursed glade, haunted by a witch. The twins protect their father as their step-mother arrives with a small army. They try to defuse and explain the situation as a set-up, but the confrontation descends into battle, Queen Ayara shoots the stag with an arrow, only for Garruk to attack her and reveal it was really a shapeshifted Oko. The fae planeswalker flees across the Multiverse before he can be caught.

With the lie revealed, the elves depart in (relative) peace, and Linden reveals a dark truth to her children. Their father fled to this glade because it was familiar. Eighteen years ago, King Kenrtih disappeared during his High Quest. Linden put her own High Quest on hold to go rescue him, only to find him ensorcelled by the witch that lived here. The witch had twin babies with Kenrith, which she planned to sacrifice for her own power. Linden killed the witch and rescued the babies, using the magic of her Questing Blade to restore them to life. She had raised the twins as her own ever since. The shock of the truth, and her parents hiding it from them, causes the twins' shared spark to ignite. The restored High King and his Queen are baffled by the sudden disappearance of their children. Garruk, remembering Will's sacrifice to attempt to save his life, vows to track them and ensure they're safe.

The Road to WOE

That's it for my recap of Throne of Eldraine, if you want to know more about the Kenrith Twin's journey, below are the links to their stories in Strixhaven and Wilds of Eldraine!

Strixhaven: School of Mages: