Ugin and Elder Dragons

Lore forum

Posted on Sept. 1, 2018, 5:02 a.m. by QuilavaUchiha

Ugin and Nicol Bolas are canonically brothers, twins even, so why isn't Ugin represented alongside the other elder dragons? Also, would Ugin technically be more powerful than Bolas? If I understand correctly, Nicol Bolas took over the minds of the Tarkir dragons Ugin had created and called to help him, and won mostly becuase of that. Ugin had also used a lot of his power to help imprison the Eldrazi. Therefore, in theory, if Ugin hadn't used his power to create the Dragon Tempests or the Eye of Ugin/Eldrazi prison, he would've beaten Bolas when the fight happened, meaning, in theory, he is the most powerful elder dragon. Thoughts?

kanokarob says... #2

Ugin's name and place as an Elder Dragon has been forgotten on Dominaria as part of Bolas' jealous campaign. Even though in power and stature he is on par with his brothers and sister and cousin, he is not an Elder Dragon in title, and probably doesn't really want to be anyway.

As for his relative power, its difficult to say. Elder Dragons have so much raw power anyway, in varying disciplines of magic, that it's hard to compare them. Especially when they are better at some things than others, such as Bolas' penchance for mind control or Rhuell's shapeshifting. Both are exceptional in those fields, but neither are better hunters than Palladia-Mors. But that doesn't make Mors stronger than them.

I think Ugin definitely can't be the strongest Elder Dragon, just as Bolas can't be, because they are not whole. They are twins, but in practice, it means they are both half of a complete almighty Elder Dragon. Still powerful, and still able to compete, but even Bolas' campaign with the Elder Dragon War doesn't necessarily indicate he's more powerful than his siblings and cousin.

September 1, 2018 8:37 a.m.

QuilavaUchiha says... #3

kanokarob Huh, I never thought of it that way when it came to Ugin and Bolas. I do hope that the other Elder Dragons get expanded on, as fun as it is to see Bolas' conquests. With the Eldrazi freed again, I think there's an opportunity for Ugin to be represented, and Bolas may even return to Dominaria to finish the war. Admittedly, though, that may be a pipe dream with core sets replacing blocks now.

September 1, 2018 7:24 p.m.

kanokarob says... #4

Bolas and Ugin (if you count him as alive) are the only surviving Dominarian Elder Dragons.

Arcades Sabboth was killed by Kristina when she dueled Leshrac. We don't have many details on this as it happened off-screen, but it's stated after the fact that Leshrac summoned "Rhuell's brother" in their battle, and since Bolas is Rhuell's only other brother, and cannot be summoned due to being a planeswalker, Sabboth had to have been killed here.

When Palladia-Mors and Chromium Rhuell were discovered by some townsfolk, she tried to destroy them. Rhuell put her to sleep, and lived among the townsfolk as the Tickery Man for eighty years. She was awakened by Vaevictis Asmadi, who needed her to undo a curse set upon him. Chromium convinced Vaevictis to turn on Palladia, telling him that she only wanted to use him to kill Rhuell. In their fight, Palladia reversed his spell and caused him to vanish into nowhere. Then Rhuell put Palladia back to sleep.

Leshrac, Faralyn, and Tevesh Szat killed Chromium Rhuell at the Summit of the Null Moon in an attempt to escape the Shard of the Twelve Worlds. (In fact it only granted them enough power to escape to Shandalar, which could pass in and out of the Shard. They had intended to kill a planeswalker, but that's another story.)

Although Vaevictis could have survived, and Palladia was put to sleep and not killed, Bolas has stated that none of his kind are still alive. Now, we know him to be a liar, especially regarding his siblings and cousin, but it's unlikely that Vaevictis survived his duel with Palladia. Palladia might still be alive under the tickery magic, but since Bolas clearly wants nothing to do with her, there's no reason anyone would ever want or need to wake her up ever again.

September 1, 2018 8:39 p.m.

RicketyEng says... #5

The reason Ugin didn't get a card in Core2019 was that he was added to the story too late in the design process to give him a card which would do him justice.

In Bolas and Ugin's Tarkir duel it was actually Yasova who cast the spell that turned the Tarkir dragons against Ugin. Bolas's plan for that duel was to speak through extra-planar means to Yasova's mind and get her to go to Ugin. Along the way she made markings in the shape of Bolas's horns to mark the trail and she also met Sarkhan Vol. Bolas used the markings like a landing strip to know where on Tarkir to planeswalk to. Once their duel had begun and the Tarkir dragons moved to attack Bolas, Yasova cast her spell to cause them to attack Ugin instead. Her presence made all the difference in the outcome of that duel. She later realized that she had been influenced by Bolas and in the Core2019 stories we see her fears of Naiva being influenced by him too.

September 4, 2018 11:12 a.m.

Please login to comment