Ojutai

Ojutai's History

Ojutai, a.k.a. the Soul of Winter or the Great Teacher is one of the five elder dragons of Tarkir. He is a lithe, feathered winged creature with an icy breath. He is considered to be insightful and wise, although he has been motivated by spite on numerous occassions.

Ojutai and his brood emerged full-fledged from Ugin's dragon tempests and were drawn to Tarkir's cold peaks. Ojutai and his brood were revered by the Jeskai Way for their cunning. Dangerously treacherous, they forced the Jeskai into a battle of wits for their own survival. However, after Ugin's death, they lost the battle against the clans of Tarkir. No new broods were created and they all were killed or died from other causes. Ojutai in that timeline never reached elder status.

In the new timeline created by Sarkhan Vol, Ojutai and his brood established themselves as exceptionally dogmatic individuals after taking over the Jeskai, when they attacked the meeting of the khans. Accepting Shu Yun's terms of surrender, Ojutai ordered the execution of every Jeskai ghostfire warrior.

As the new leader, Ojutai demanded that the records of the Jeskai were edited to rewrite history in his favor, declaring himself ruler and founder of the clan. The humanoids of his clan revere the dragons as the epitome of age, wisdom, and martial strength, seeking their guidance and believing that, by following Ojutai's edicts, that they will in another lifetime be reborn as dragons. The elites of the clan are the long-lived Skywise dragons. They are aloof, solitary, and graceful. The teachings of the dragons (and of Ojutai in particular) are seen as the pinnacle of attainable wisdom and the entire clan is structured around gaining enlightenment from the Great Teacher himself. Leadership among the humanoids is earned by martial prowess and spiritual teaching rather than by heredity. Each humanoid member of the Ojutai holds both a martial rank and an academic rank. Any given individual may pursue either or both, and the two exist in parallel. The highest-ranked martial artist in a sanctuary commands that sanctuary's fighters, and the highest-ranked scholar teaches and leads the sanctuary in peacetime. The dragons rarely involve themselves in the lives of their subjects, preferring to tend to their own, inscrutable affairs. Attempts to deviate from Ojutai's teachings, including seeking records of the past, results in the person being declared a heretic and executed.

The dragonlord himself resides in the mountain sanctuaries, concerned with enlightenment and teaching, not with the mundane details of humanoid society. Ojutai himself seems to have gained a soft spot for his best and favorite student: Narset. He not only allowed her to live after she discovered the existence of the original clans, but he also encouraged her to continue seeking knowledge.