Ertai

Ertai
Details
Race	Human Phyrexian Previously Human
Birthplace	Tolaria, Dominaria
Lifetime	4186[1]-4205 AR Resurrected ~4562 AR
Colors
(formerly) Center:
Sources
Rath and Storm, Nemesis, Planeshift, Apocalypse

Ertai was a talented, arrogant young wizard from Tolaria who signed on to be the Skyship Weatherlight's mage.^[2] He was resurrected during the second Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria.^[3]

History

Journey to Rath

Following the kidnapping of Captain Sisay, the Weatherlight crew required a mage to fix the coordinates of Rath into the planeshifting powerstone. Hanna suggested that Barrin could fill the role, but when approached, he refused and instead provided Ertai, one of his top apprentices, who had just been granted full journeyman status. Dubious of his qualifications, Ertai challenged Hanna to a competition which he won easily.

After arriving in Rath, Weatherlight's planeshifting engine was damaged in battle with the Predator. Ertai, therefore, volunteered to keep the planar portal they found open as an escape route. While trying to open the portal, Ertai was contacted by Lyna, who offered to aid his rituals in exchange for letting the Soltari use the portal as well. Ertai agreed and they successfully opened the portal. However, the Weatherlight was being hotly pursued by Predator as it fled and so was forced to leave Ertai behind.

Nemesis

After Weatherlight abandoned him, Ertai was captured by Greven il-Vec and taken back to the Stronghold. He became an unexpected dark horse candidate in the contest to replace Volrath as Evincar, largely because of his romantic relationship with Belbe. However, he knew he was no real match for Crovax and thus spent much of his time trying to find a way to escape Rath. When Crovax and Volrath dueled for the throne, Ertai saw that Crovax would win regardless, but by aiding him, he could prevent the deaths of bystanders from Crovax's ability to regenerate himself by killing them, so he used his magic to off-balance Volrath at a critical moment and thus give Crovax the victory. Soon after, Belbe was killed by Eladamri, who also used the last energy of Belbe's portal to flee to Dominaria. This gave Ertai no hope of escape, so he chose to submit to the new evincar and was thus transformed into Crovax's loyal lapdog.

Invasion

Embittered by his abandonment by the Weatherlight crew and by Belbe's death, he regarded Gerrard and company as personal enemies. After the Rathi Overlay, Ertai accompanied Predator into battle with Weatherlight, where he captured Gerrard (and, accidentally, Squee) and teleported them into the Stronghold. After Squee was given the ability to resurrect, Ertai delighted in killing him over and over again, until finally Squee, quite by accident, overloaded the Phyrexian healing device he was using, killing Ertai in the explosion.

Dominaria United

Several centuries later, Ertai was reconstituted by the dark sciences of Sheoldred as part of the second Phyrexian Invasion during the events of Dominaria United.^[4][3] Trained in the art of magic at the Tolarian academy, Ertai's resurrection only strengthened the arcane gifts at his disposal, and he took control of the new academy at Lat-Nam.^[5] After escaping a battle with Jaya Ballard, Ajani Goldmane, Danitha Capashen, and Radha, he travelled to Squee's clan to compleat the immortal goblin and retrieve the Salvation Sphere. He compleated Aron Capashen and Squee's clan of goblins, and managed to protect himself when Squee accidentally blew up his clan's mountain.^[6][4] He was present at the Battle of the Mana Rig, and led an attack on Karn from the Phyrexianized Skyship Weatherlight. He was last seen stumbling over the edge of the Rig before its self-destruction.^[7] Because he was originally compleated by old Phyrexia, it is possible he was not affected by Elesh Norn's failsafe, which rendered New Phyrexians inert.^[8]

Planes visited

Though not a planeswalker, Ertai traveled through the Multiverse as a crewmember of the Skyship Weatherlight.

• Dominaria
• Rath

Story appearances

Trivia

• During Weatherlight design and development, Mark Rosewater was put in charge of establishing Ertai's mannerisms and style of speech.^[9]
• The original storyline of the Weatherlight Saga, as envisioned by Michael G. Ryan and Mark Rosewater, featured a time travel story. Fifty years in the future, Dominaria is beset by the Phyrexians, with a resistance led by an older and wiser Ertai, who had found a way back from Rath. He would help stop the Phyrexians with the help of a powerful artifact that Gerard left behind, the Hourglass pendant.^[10][11]

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References