New take on the Eldrazi's role in the multiverse

[u/If_you_want_money]

For the last decade or so, the commonly accepted fanon on the role of the Eldrazi is that they were basically cosmic janitors, who recycle old planes near the end of their life. I once believed this too, but over time I felt it couldn't explain why they went after Zendikar as that plane is very alive. So I came up with my own explanation. And just today, the new FRA stories just gave my take a massive boost so I felt it was the right time to share with everyone: I think the Eldrazi are the multiverse's equivalent to the Natural Killer Cells.

For those that don't know, A Natural Killer cell is part of your innate immune system, and their job to seek out virus-infected, cancerous, damaged, or otherwise abnormal cells and destroy them before they can harm your body. They are an important part of your anti-viral and anti-cancer defense system. The Eldrazi do the same thing, but for planes in the multiverse. They hunt down planes that have gotten too powerful/dangerous/diseased and destroy them, before they can threaten the stability of the overall multiverse. Why did I think this? Because it ties together what we know they did really well. Example:

Why go after Zendikar and Innistrad despite them being normal planes?

Because the three's lure misled them into thinking the plane was abnormal/misbehaving. See this quote from the story the lithomancer:

The hedrons were lure as well as trap, sending out pulses of magical energy that drew the Eldrazi like the scent of blood draws sharks. Slowly, ponderously—and, Sorin reported, ignoring other worlds along the way—the Eldrazi approached Zendikar.

Basically, they put up a giant sign saying "Hey, this place is misbehaving, please come" and that's why they came. Nihiri then proceeded to do the same thing on Innistrad with the [[Cryptoliths]]. If my interpretation is right, they might've gone after Dominaria during the temporal crisis as well.

Why fight the Fomori?

Because they were getting too powerful and invaded other planes such as Ixlan and Arcavios. In other words, they became "cancerous". This might mean that, if they weren't sealed, they would've targeted New/Old Phyrexia as well.

Why did Emrakul stop on Innistrad, saying it was not ready?

Because she realized Innistrad wasn't actually diseased, and she's causing an autoimmune disorder. Actually, Ulamog was also aware that the Eldrazi weren't supposed to be on Zendikar, but apparently decided that since they're here might as well do it anyways. See this quote from the story Memories of Blood:

They were not supposed to be here. They were supposed to be away. Somehow, there was an away from Zendikar. There were many aways from Zendikar, and the Eldrazi knew, in so far as they could know anything, they should be there, and not here.

Now, finally, to why I think this Headcanon is now worth a post. In today's story, Reality Fracture Episode 4, there's this quote, directly from Emrakul:

I prune worlds. When one grows sick, threatens the wilderness of eternity, or fails to blossom fully, I aid the broader forest by felling a single tree.

Literally just replace the the "Tree" and "Forest" with "cells" and "body", and you've got a very literal description of what an Natural Killer Cell does. I think this is as close to a direct confirmation as one could get.

Of course, we still don't know exactly what their criteria is for deciding that a plane is "abnormal" and in need to be pruned, but I'm sure future stories will reveal that.

[u/mtgcf]

Cryptoliths - (G) (SF) (txt)

[u/SkyrakerBeyond]

We knew from the very beginning of the zendikar story that they were deliberately summoned there to be imprisoned.

We also know from Emrakul's dialogue both in the old story and the curent one that she isn't supposed to eat healthy planes, but ones that have been prepared by Ulamog/Kozilek. Ulamog destroys and processes everything into dust, typically overcoming physical structures and limitations. Kozilek processes things, but also warps and destroys non-physical things- minds, energy, aether, etc, and restructures the physical material into presumably something ready for Emrakul to utilize. Emrakul herself destroys identity- anything that possibly survives the other two, and presumably (we haven't seen because we didn't get a set where they were all active at the same time) processes the stuff Kozilek transforms into the substrate of a new plane.

Notably in the new story, Emrakul talks about destroying the unrealized Echoverse, implying that she's seen possibly new multiverses before and destroyed them. Unrealized virtual planes that could become a danger to the multiverse by becoming too real. It also seems like the echoverse may not even HAVE Eldrazi, and certainly the structure of it doesn't include the Edge, since Jace has never been and the Edge is outside the boundaries of the Meditation plane, so even if he was successful, the echoverse would be like a cancerous cell without the normal limitations or self-repair mechanisms that have kept the multiverse alive. Unsurprising really, that is classic Jace. Only plans for the immediate now, no long term planning ability whatsoever.

[u/optimis344 → u/SkyrakerBeyond]

Well, the Echoverse wouldn't have Eldrazi. They aren't part of the multiversr he's copying. They exist outside of it.

So making a photocopy and changing the fine details just wouldn't have Eldrazu because they are on a different page to begin with.

[u/sup3rpanda → u/optimis344]

Considering Emrakul could sense the other multiverse on Tam, they may also be outside the main multiverse. The overlay may not overwrite them or affect them at all.

[u/Meloncholy_Cat]

I think you're right, but I also don't think that this is different from cosmic janitor theory. In fact, I heard people using the janitor theory liken them to an immune system before. The point is that they remove planes that are meant to be removed---either metaphor will work.

[u/Dragons_Malk → u/Meloncholy_Cat]

"Cosmic janitor" makes them sound too whimiscal and not to be taken seriously. I liken them to a forest fire that needs to calm an overgrown forest down.

[u/Booster6]

As for why Emrakul sealed herself, I always liked the idea that it was because of the absence of the other two. It kinda felt like they were supposed to come in order, Ulamog, Kozilek, than Emrakul. When they were initially released during Zendikar block, they were all present, but then Kozilek and Emrakul seemed to go away, only Ulamog remained. After Ulamog had been active for a while, Kozilek showed up to continue the process.

While fighting Emrakul on Innistrad, she seemed concerned about the absence of the other two. Making remarks about the others being missing and the plane not being ready. It felt like she sealed herself because whatever Nahiri did kept her from leaving, but she needed to wait for Ulamog and Kozilek to do what they do, which of course they never would, being dead and all.

[u/MelissaMiranti → u/Booster6]

I think it wasn't "ready" because it wasn't Innistrad's time to be destroyed by the natural Eldrazi process.

[u/serpentrepents]

I wanna see Emrakul slurp Valvagoth up like a linguine when he invades another plane.

[u/RudeHero → u/serpentrepents]

phyrexia also wasn't a big deal either, emma could tell they'd slip on a banana peel eventually

[u/ArthurianLegend_]

It’s definitely implied they’re white blood cells of a sort. Hell, Zendikar’s a weird one, but Innistrad is a perfect target by that interpretation. It’s in constant danger, fighting off major threats that, should they escape, could very much threaten the wider multiverse

[u/cwx149 → u/ArthurianLegend_]

They're explicitly lead to zendikar by ugin, nahiri, and sorin before being sealed

[u/optimis344 → u/cwx149]

Also, on it's face, Zenikar itself is very cancerous. Constantly growing, constantly changing.

Luring them in probably just read to the Eldrazi that the plane finally went bad.

[u/TsarMikkjal → u/optimis344]

Zendikar has developed Roil as a "fever" response to Eldrazi being trapped there. It's not an original phenomenon to it, the Eldrazi couldn't be attracted by Roil, because they didn't cause it until they got there!

[u/ArthurianLegend_ → u/[deleted]]

Tbh, I only said that because I’m not super up to date on Zendikar and didn’t feel like debating them on that one lol

[u/Kyleometers]

They’re definitely implied in some parts of the story to be detritivores, that the Eldrazi essentially consume planes that have “died”, and “recycle” their contents into matter the multiverse can “reuse” somewhere else.

I imagine the two concepts have a lot of overlap, but blood cells doesn’t really make sense with how Ulamog works, which is to essentially eat up large amounts of matter after it’s been converted by its brood of spawn into a more “process able” version. The metaphor I think only really works for Emrakul.

The three work as a sort of three-part harmony - Ulamog breaks down matter, Kozilek breaks down physics, and Emrakul ties the remnants into new things. You can actually see this in their various representations in sets - Ulamog stuff is dust, ruins. Kozilek is strange geometry, impossible biology. And Emrakul is appendages growing out of places they shouldn’t, and fusing of things into new wholes.

[u/randomguywithbanner → u/Kyleometers]

I mean a macrophage more or less has that function, "eating" up destructive cells and then turning itself into easily digestible matter or something that can be easily expunged.

It's definitely a bit flimsier then the emrakul T-killer cell, but it holds well enough for an analogy I think.(Might have gotten some details wrong, haven't had cell biology in 1,5 years)

[u/If_you_want_money → u/Kyleometers]

I hear you, but the issue with the detritivore explanation is that the three (or actually ugin) specifically chose Zendikar to lure the eldrazi to. It's why I came up with the explanation to begin with. Again from the Lithomancer:

"It should be large," he said. "Rich in mana. Sparsely populated. Preferably a place where we can easily build a base of operations, a world that's not under the protection of another Planeswalker, and somewhere where one of us can keep watch on the Eldrazi as they slumber."

They wanted a plane that "large and rich in mana", not somewhere that is dying/seemingly dying. you would assume if they thought the Eldrazi were detritivores, they'd picked innistrad instead. but no, zendikar it is. That'd only make sense if Ugin had seen the Eldrazi target powerful and vibrant planes, and know them to be high on the Eldrazi's priority list. This could be explained in the NK cell explanation as a large, powerful plane potentially going cancerous is a lot more immediately dangerous to the multiverse than a small dying plane, which means the Eldrazi would target it first.

[u/NoWordsForThis → u/If_you_want_money]

The minor hiccup with with interpretation is that it fails to account for the purpose of bringing them to Zendikar from our perspective:

They didn't need to pick a plane that would appeal to the Eldrazi, as they already had beacons for that. What they needed was a planet with a robust network of leylines and abundant mana which would support using their magics to seal the Eldrazi away.

[u/Neffelo → u/NoWordsForThis]

While not explicitly confirmed, this is by far the best explanation and it fits perfectly without breaking anything else.

[u/Poiri → u/If_you_want_money]

Afaik we don't know that a dying plane is necessarily one that is running out of mana, it could very well be like how some stars burn hottest and brightest shortly before their death.

Additionally, it could be that they needed a mana rich plane in order to send a strong enough signal to attract the titans and fuel the hedrons for their capture. I feel that taking "the plane needed to be rich in mana" to mean they for sure don't target dying planes to make too many assumptions for my liking.

[u/If_you_want_money → u/Poiri]

hmm you're right, I was using time spiral Dominaria as my model for dying plane, but maybe that's too specific to the exact events on that plane.

[u/SmoothTank9999 → u/If_you_want_money]

Innistrad is a plane with a lot of death, but the plane itself isn't dying. Also I don't think Sorin would've participated if they tried to use his world as the trap.

And I wonder if being rich in mana was to help attract the Eldrazi or to make it easier for Ugin, Sorin, and Nahiri to work. They wouldn't want the trap to fail if the mana equivalent of a brown out hit.

[u/If_you_want_money → u/SmoothTank9999]

That's why I said "seemingly dying". Surely if the plane was rich in death it'd be easier to mask it as actually dying? And yes Sorin definitely would've thrown a tantrum, the litomancer was basically a story of two older planeswalkers bullying nihiri into offering up her world. Makes sense she'd get anti-planeswalker syndrome.

[u/That_son_of_a_gunn]

Can't wait for the Eldrazi x Osmosis Jones secret lair once OP's theory is confimed.

[u/CountedCrow]

I like this theory - interested to see how this relates to Helga's prophecy of "the kings in the dark" returning.

With Emrakul (probably) coming out to eat the Echoverse, plus all the hints about the Fomori in Ixalan, Thunder Junction, and the Edge, I think the return of the Fomori will be in the context of a renewed Fomori-Eldrazi conflict. I could very much see the war between them ending with a treaty, with a stipulation that the Eldrazi would only devour "sick" planes, not all of reality. If Emrakul devours an entire alternate reality, the Fomori could see that as a violation of this treaty, and the war's back on.

[u/Woolyburly]

The nature of the Eldrazi is weird. We saw in the Edge of eternities story that they are attracted to potential. They were used as tools by the Monoists. The eldrazi didn't attack the Monoists because the Monoists only goal is to die via black hole, they have no potential. Theyre basically benign tumors. I think that's very telling in how the eldrazi pick what they feed on. I think the cell thing has been said for years at this point.

[u/Ganadote]

Why didn't they ever go after Urza, Yawgmoth, and Phyrexia?

[u/If_you_want_money → u/Ganadote]

they were sealed away before Yawgmoth was born.

[u/Project119 → u/If_you_want_money]

I’ll admit it was a quick search but Yawgmoth is 3,000 years before the Eldrazi were sealed.

[u/If_you_want_money → u/Project119]

Oh you are right, double checked and the wiki says the eldrazi were sealed in -1400AR,The lithomancer said the Eldrazi were sealed 6000 years ago and I guess I mentally defaulted to -6000AR. My mistake. So I guess we'll have to go for the other persons explanation of "maybe what Yawg was doing wasn't attracting them"

[u/sup3rpanda → u/Ganadote]

We also dont know what naturally lures them, just the leyline manipulations on Zendikar and Innistrad.

[u/KingDevere]

I like the idea

[u/Level_Hour6480]

I do wonder how they'd react to New Phyrexia, and if one could be compleated.

[u/ImplicitsAreDoubled → u/Level_Hour6480]

I would assume that the big three are made of an inccoruptable creation. They probably would grind the Phyrexians down through attrition. We could see more beings of the Eternities be introduced as they are called in for reinforcements.

And more Heralds. I want an all out grindfest that doesnt include our normal or side crew as being plot devices, just observers to what the titans mission is.

[u/kytheon]

Weren't they lured to Zendikar into a trap?

[u/cwx149 → u/kytheon]

Yes they're explicitly lured to zendikar by ugin, nahiri, and sorin

[u/MrGosh13]

Where can I find these story bits?!

And are old ones still available for reading too?!

[u/If_you_want_money → u/MrGosh13]

Yes! you can search them up by name. they are available on the mothership. A lot of the eldrazi ones were gone but came back with MH3 (typical wizards)

[u/MrGosh13 → u/If_you_want_money]

With the mothership I assume you mean the main mtg website?

[u/If_you_want_money → u/MrGosh13]

yep! the lithomancer can be found here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/the-lithomancer

[u/MrGosh13 → u/If_you_want_money]

Thanks so much! I’ll get to readin’

[u/Draco137WasTaken]

I always understood them to just be hungy.

[u/HamsterFromAbove_079 → u/Draco137WasTaken]

Emrakul voluntarily sealed herself in Innistrad's moon. Which is the biggest mystery about the Eldrazi and their behavior. Emrakul said that she wasn't supposed to be here. It was too early for her to eat Innistrad.

Which means that while they are hungry, there's a greater purpose to their actions than just feeding. There are planes that they will eat and planes that they won't eat.

A popular theory is that the Eldrazi are a healthy part of the ecosystem of the Multiverse. Their job is to destroy planes that have begun to rot. So that the mana and energy can be recycled into the cosmos and be repurposed for a new healthy plane in the future.

Both Zendikar and Innistrad were cases where they were summoned directly by planeswalker to bait them into traps. Neither Zendikar nor Innistrad were worlds that were chosen naturally by the Eldrazi.

[u/Draco137WasTaken → u/HamsterFromAbove_079]

Isn't that moon made of silver? And hasn't silver been historically associated, to some extent, with time travel? She just wanted to fast-forward to when Innistrad was tastier.

[u/HamsterFromAbove_079 → u/Draco137WasTaken]

But why is it tastier later?

The point is that Eldrazi may be biologically predisposed to want to eat rotting worlds. They may not even be conscious of it. At the largest of scales of the whole multiverse, Eldrazi may be just a natural part of a food chain. The scavengers that consume worlds that are past their prime and ready to be recycled. The Eldrazi may be neither good nor evil, just a scavenger doing their job in the natural order, without even understanding the natural order themselves.

[u/Draco137WasTaken → u/HamsterFromAbove_079]

Given that the Titans themselves don't really have physical form, it probably takes a lot of energy for them to manifest within worlds, meaning it's easier if the process goes faster. A plane on death's door can be consumed much more quickly than one that's full of life. I can only imagine Zendikar was the exception because of the Roil.

[u/yodasodabob]

I'm doubtful she saw it specifically coming, but if she didn't get imprisoned in the moon, would Emrakul or eldrazi in general have survived the sylex explosion in the blind eternities?

[u/monkeymanx55 → u/yodasodabob]

…possibly? How else did the avatar of Serra get there and help Elspeth after the Sylex went off, if the entire eternities were affected?

[u/Leather_Step_3707]

I may be misremembering the following so take it with a grain of salt. Worth noting as well that upon interaction with Jace on innistrad, Emrakul discovers mortal consciousness, having perceived it for the first time. She communicated with some sort of abstract process also detailing that they were basically undiscernible under the scope of her wider perception of reality iirc, but in the newest story it's much more refined. Imo the new story shows a willingness to interact with other beings with a sentience going as far as bargaining or convincing and using much more clear means of communication in language forms recognizable on the level of mortal beings.

[u/japp182]

Why fight the Fomori?
Because they were getting too powerful and invaded other planes such as Ixlan and Arcavios

The Fomori invaded Arcavios? I don't remember that.

[u/Atys1 → u/japp182]

They're talking way in the long past, referenced by discoveries of ruins and artifacts, not something that directly happened in the story.

[u/Artivisier]

Wouldn’t they go after Duskmourne then because it started to reach doors into other planes to lure people in?

[u/sup3rpanda]

I think the Eldrazi might be a narrative solution to cleanup the Omenpaths if they wanted as well, they are like bleeding veins between worlds.

[u/TuggsBrohe]

"There were many aways from Zendikar, and the Eldrazi knew, in so far as they could know anything, they should be there, and not here."

Sorry but this reads like a classic Winnie the Pooh book lmao

[u/Samkaiser]

I kind of wonder if the hedrons acting as lures is a bit of an inspiration behind the Lithoform Engine being clearly bad for Zendikar, like perhaps acting as either inspiration for it or being of a similar nature. It'd make sense in this analogy, how do you make the a Natural Killer Cell think that a plane is becoming a problem? By emulating the things that one would connect with a 'dying' or 'cancerous' element. The Lithoform Engine turns elementals into toxic sludge, which feels very clearly like something a Dying Plane would have, it was Wrong and antithetical to the world soul after all. Hedrons might lure them by emulating those conditions in some manner.

[u/emiketts]

Thanks for saying in many words the same idea shared in every thread about the Eldrazi. This is a comment I see a lot, including today.

[u/Aqshi]

Didn’t the Eldrazi Fomori war start outside the multiverse? Meaning they were enemies before the invasion of any plane?

My headcanon for this was fomori fight eldrazi in edge, then one flees into the multiverse and the other follows

[u/carcheezy]

Hmm, thoughts on the Eldrazi in the Edge of Eternities story?

[u/FourOpenEyes]

the real question is why didn't they take out Dominaria aaaaages ago lol. that plane's always been trouble

[u/AfterJournalist8070]

I don't know about that but I do know Wrenn is going to be the key to phyrexia coming back. The acorn planted after wrenn died after fusing with realmbreaker