Sarkhan's History
Sarkhan Vol is a planeswalker hailing from Tarkir, a plane scourged by war. He is fascinated by dragons, something that has been a blessing and curse to him throughout his life. This profile deals with Sarkhan before the alteration to Tarkir's timeline. For the profile after, look
here.
Early on in his life, Sarkhan was a soldier, but sought something more than the life of an expendable pawn. He quickly rose in position and power in the Mardu Horde until he came to claim the title of general in his warlord's army. Growing sick of the endless blood, he set aside his spear and traveled away from the tents. Up into the Qal Sisma mountains, he joined the Whisperers, a clan of shamans. He found some level of peace but quickly grew bitter because of the futility of worshipping a nigh-extinct beast. When he returned to his warrior life, the Helmsmasher grudgingly sent him forth with a wing of riders to challenge the Sultai. Upon this first expedition, he was touched by an ancient dragon spirit in a trance after having slain the opposing commander. Sacrificing his own men, he unleashed a massive spell that wiped the battlefield clean as he ascended, channeling the power of the spirit he'd connected to. This was to be his first and last battle as a general, as he was stripped of his position, leaving no connection left to bind him to that plane.
On Jund, Sarkhan continued his quest to find a worthy dragon to whom he could pledge his loyalty. For two years, he searched, and during his quest, he found himself under Mount Jhal standing in the path of Kresh and Rakka Mar in their fight against the hellkite Malactoth. He assisted them in vanquishing the dragon, unknowingly assisting Rakka in her secret mission. Buried in the cavern, Kresh glimpsed the Obelisk of Jund before everything went black.
Days later, after having escaped the collapsed cavern with Rakka's help, Sarkhan encountered the newly ascended
Ajani and spared the leonin from the tyrant dragon Karrthus. He explained to the traveler what he had become, as well as the fury of red mana and the merits of vengeance. Taking wing, Sarkhan left Ajani to his own devices and sought revenge against Rakka Mar for her part in what happened in Malactoth's cavern. Eventually, he did indeed find her, but she presented him with a unique opportunity to meet her master, and led him to a mountain rife with goblins. Atop this mountain, he met
Nicol Bolas and stood in awe of the dragon's power, though his methods were far removed from what he knew of most dragons. Upon that spot Sarkhan swore his allegiance to Bolas and exchanged blood with the dragon, gaining more power than he had imagined from the transfusion. He was given the task of activating the Obelisk of Esper.
As a reward for that task, Bolas presented Sarkhan with a flight of 5 dragons, one of which was the brainwashed Karrthus. At this point, Sarkhan began to doubt his allegiance to Bolas but followed through with the next step of Bolas's plan: to goad Naya to war with Jund. He came into conflict with Mayael the Anima's armies of behemoth and arrived in time to see Bolas absorb the mana of the Maelstrom and be driven back by a duplicate avatar of himself. Seeing his master defeated caused something within Sarkhan to snap, and his mind started to unravel.
After the debacle on Alara, Bolas sent Sarkhan to follow the trail of
Liliana Vess as she ravaged kingdoms, fueled by the power of the Chain Veil. The extent of the dragon's interest in her was unknown. At some point on an unknown plane, he watched as she left to kill Kothophed and reported to Bolas on this.
Under Bolas's order, Sarkhan found himself on Zendikar wandering the Eye of Ugin. While in the tunnels and caves, he reminisced about his time as a soldier and spoke to himself, wondering about his purpose and what fortune had in store for him. Very specifically, he wondered if he was being punished by Bolas for some failure on his part. Throughout his time in the Eye, he seemed to be in a hallucinatory state, but eventually, he became lucid in time to save
Chandra Nalaar from an attack by the vampire ruin sage named Anowon.
He proceeded to threaten Chandra before she detonated a spell next to him, and though it failed catastrophically, he was impressed with its power. He led Chandra deeper into the heart of the Eye, explaining what it was and finally revealing his true agenda as he spoke to whatever voice he had been speaking to in his previously delusional state. He transformed himself fully into a dragon and attacked Chandra, intending to sacrifice her to the voices. His plan was foiled by the sudden appearance of
Jace Beleren, who had no clue that Sarkhan was anything more than a dragon. The confluence of these three triggered a reaction from one of the Hedrons, which began to absorb their magic, and when Jace and Chandra discovered Ugin's invisible fire, hinted at in the Dragon Scroll, they used it to defeat Sarkhan. But this action unwittingly opened the last lock of the Eldrazi confinement spell. Chandra left hurriedly and Jace followed shortly after making sure the unconscious Sarkhan, back to his human form, was alive.
Sarkhan woke alone in the chamber and reflected upon his defeat while making his way to the top of the mountain where the Eye of Ugin lay. There he found the rotting corpse of a dragon that a group of Eldrazi spawns was being birthed from. Sarkhan, enraged at the scene, fulminated against the spawn and bid peace to the corpse of the dragon. However, the spirit of the fallen dragon appeared and taunts Sarkhan with threats of the punishment Bolas would inflict upon him for having failed his mission. Sarkhan could not discern, and did not seem to care, if the dragon was a hallucination of his own mind, or the remnants of the fallen beast. Sarkhan returned to the Eye of Ugin to try to find a way to restore it only to begin wondering if Bolas's secret purpose was for him to activate it all along, as he realizeed that the confluence of planeswalkers was what triggered the Eye. Returning to the central hedron, he remembered that as he battled Chandra in his dragon form he could read the runes on the hedrons. Filled with new resolve he returned to his complete dragon form and blasted the taunting dragon spirit. Sarkhan broke off a large chunk of the floating hedron and planeswalked away to meet his master.
The shaman arrived upon Bolas's Meditation Realm and hoped to leave his hedron prize unnoticed. Minions, tiny impish effigies of Bolas, appeared around Sarkhan and taunted him until Sarkhan was forced to meet his lord. As he traversed the strange landscape Bolas spoke in his mind, debriefing him and learning the true extent of the events that transpired on Zendikar. Finally, Sarkhan arrived at the heart of Bolas's power, a massive floating Keep. The shaman called upon his wings once again and bowed to his master, hoping to deliver his trophy and be done with his punishment. Sarkhan waited in vain as Bolas revealed it was his intention to free the Eldrazi all along, having manipulated events to unlock Ugin's work. Furthermore, Bolas claimed to have dealt with Ugin much to Sarkhan's surprise. When it finally became clear that Bolas had no plans to harm Sarkhan at the moment, the dragon dismissed his pawn, showing Sarkhan the twisted form of
Tezzeret with a smile and assured him that he always took care of his minions.
His mind broken, Sarkhan fled to his home plane of Tarkir, to see if he could rekindle what he loved most about dragons.
