Wrenn and Trees: Retcon, or am I simply wrong?
Lore forum
Posted on June 3, 2022, 3:18 p.m. by legendofa
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Wrenn, of Wrenn and Six and Wrenn and Seven fame, didn't particularly care about the trees she inhabited, numbering them instead of naming them and abandoning them when they became useless to her. She was also generally cold, to the point of cruelty.
The stories and lore clearly state that she cares a lot about her trees, following their wishes of where they want to part with her. She considers them partners and allies. And while she doesn't come across as especially kind to the more fleshly folk, she is more typically hotheaded than malign.
So is this a retcon? Was there early speculation that Wrenn had the characteristics I remember, that was later disproven? If so, can anyone provide a source? Or am I simply wrong?
TypicalTimmy That's reasonable, although I think I would have caught the symbiotic/parasitic distinction unless I was pretty far down the line and missed the original source (which is possible). Good to hear it's not just me.
June 4, 2022 3:18 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
Often times what may occur is, when a character with no lore is introduced, many YouTubers will take to the screens on pure speculation alone. These are often the result of their own personal opinions, or the opinions of what they skim off of Reddit. I see it all the time with MCU theories where a 24 minute video will be given 125k upvotes and viewed by millions, only to be entirely 100% false because the video was built off of a 2 minute trailer.
I recall this happening when Modern Horizons came to pass. YouTube videos were showing the artwork of Wrenn and Six, where we see a Dryad glowing with an inferno as the background smolders. We see a Treefolk mimicking her movements. We see lands and graveyards mentioned in the +1 as well as graveyards being important in her -7. We see in casting cost, which is often times associated with rage and malice. Then we hear on Blogatog that she doesn't even bother to name her Treefolk companions, and that she has a "symbiotic" relationship with them.
Taking all of those elements in a vacuum and at face value, it is super easy to speculate that she forms a parasitic attachment to these Treefolk and rages across the multiverse, laying waste to the land she claims hold over.
And yet, what we find, is the literal exact opposite - as fleshed out under Innistrad 3.
But hey, that's just a theory. A MAGIC THEORY, thanks for watching (reading)!
- God I really just did that, didn't I?...
June 4, 2022 3:30 a.m.
Yeah, you just did that.
I definitely read it, I didn't get it from a video. That doesn't mean I didn't read an article or thread from someone who took a theory video at face value, though.
I might dig through some of the reveal videos from three years ago and see if anyone had this line of reasoning.
June 4, 2022 3:45 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #6
When I was doing searches, I was finding marketplace evaluations but almost nothing on lore or speculations, despite them being numerous at that time.
I've seen it happen before where "incorrect" videos get deleted and re-uploaded. I feel like I'm getting dangerously close to tinfoil hat areas here, but hear me out.
If a handful of influencers all had speculation videos, and those spawned off-shoots that have now all proven to be wildly untrue, it would make sense to delete those videos. Given that almost nothing exists, that's a reasonable guess.
June 4, 2022 3:55 a.m.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o1hnnaOk5Z4 is a short non-official video summarizing the (then very little) available information on Wrenn, Estrid, and Aminatou. No mention of her personality, and this is the only thing I found that wasn't pack opening or deck building. So maybe all the videos did get removed.
And digging into your symbiotic/parasitic theory a little bit, I also can't find an official source for the word "symbiotic" or "symbiotically" from around the card's reveal or release. The word keeps showing up in non-official sources, so it comes from somewhere.
June 4, 2022 2:07 p.m.
KasminaCompleted says... #8
When we first saw the card art on Wrenn and Six , we were astounded . When we saw the card price , we were hurt . When the card had been deliberately bought out on our birthday when we had set aside enough funds to actually cover it , we were enraged .
Then Decadent came out , depicting SNOTTY with Aeve , Progenitor Ooze . Then we coded Seven as a willow tree and had them print her as a Maple . Then they went and printed Six again .
Yeah . Suffice to say , FUCK THAT
June 7, 2022 12:08 a.m.
legendofa & TypicalTimmy The source of symbiotic ("symbiotically" really) was in the original reveal of Wrenn, the SCG article Introducing Wrenn and Six.
Wrenn is the being in front and Six is a Treefolk host carrying Wrenn around. Six is the sixth Treefolk, a mech-like vehicle for Wrenn to symbiotically pilot.
https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/introducing-wrenn-and-six/
August 15, 2022 5:10 a.m.
Vallaris I guess that's as official a source as we're likely to find at this point. Thanks!
TypicalTimmy says... #2
I recall hearing all of this too. I am now wondering if it was a game of telephone, because I can not find anything on the issue other than a single post on Blogatog that cites how she does not name her trees from May 4th, 2019
I suspect that what happened was many people heard how she has a "symbiotic" relationship and mistakenly understood this to be "parasitic". If that one mis-representation occurred, it would be therefore easy to speculate how a Planeswalker who does not name her Treefolk hosts and depicts fire which ravages the land, would be cold and malicious in nature.
June 4, 2022 2:05 a.m.