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The leader of New Phyrexia and the self-proclaimed Mother Of Machines,Elesh Nornis the main villain of the Phyrexian Invasion arc ofMagic: The Gathering. Created on the Plane of Mirrodin, she and her fellow Phyrexians transformed the Plane into New Phyrexia.
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Elesh Norn leads all of New Phyrexia in a quest to take over the Multiverse and convert everyone into Phyrexians. She wants all to be one, and those who refuse are better off dead. She is the white Praetor, one of the five main Phyrexians that lead the five factions of New Phyrexia — one for each color of mana.
Creation And Rise
Elesh Norn (along with the other Praetors) wascreated through the five suns of Mirrodin. Norn was birthed through the White Sun’s influence. She leads the faction of theMachine Orthodoxy, a hyper-religious group that preaches the word of theKarn, Father Of Machinesand creator of Mirrodin. They do not care about how they deliver their messages, even if it means complete bodily reconstruction to show them the glory of Phyrexia.
Elesh Norn herself is very influential on the Plane and has used other Praetors as pawns. She was easily able to manipulateVorinclex, the green Praetor, and work closely withJin-Gitaxias, the blue Praetor. She is often at ends withSheoldred, the black Praetor who wants to take Elesh Norn’s position as New Phyrexia’s leader, andUrabrask, the red Praetor who believes in free will.
During New Phyerxia’s rise, Elesh Norndestroyed the domains of Sheoldred and Urabrask, but both resurfaced during the height of the second invasion of Phyrexia.
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During New Phyrexia’s takeover of Mirrodin, Elesh Norn captured the angelAtraxa—and in a show of unity, invited the other Praetors tocompleat her and turn her into a Phyrexian.
All the Praetors but Urabrask attended, leaving a now-compleated Atraxa without red mana. Elesh Norn delegates much of her work to Atraxa to carry out her vision, acting as her champion.
Encounter With Ashiok
Before New Phyrexia began to invade the Planes of the Multiverse, Elesh Norn had a run-in with thePlaneswalker Ashiok. On New Phyrexia, Norn attempted to compleat a Mirran woman in front of an audience, butthe compleation failed miserablywhen nature erupted from the woman’s body instead of machinery.
Norn was shaken by its failure, and while trying to figure out what went wrong, she discoveredit was a nightmare that Ashiok had conjured upfor her. Ashiok was surprised that one of their nightmares could be induced on a Phyrexian, but was pleased with the results.
Norn was enraged. Ashiok revealed that she had discovered the Phyrexians through the nightmares ofElspeth Tirel— a Planeswalker she met on Theros who had trauma caused by Phyrexia. When Elesh Norn tried to attack Ashok, theyconjured up an imageof Elspeth donned in Norn’s armor.
This made Elesh Norn feel emotions that were once foreign to her;uncertainty and fear. Ashiok left New Phyrexia as Elesh Norn vowed that she would rid the Multiverse of Elspeth.
Her fear of Elspethis discovered byUrabrask,who relayed this information to thePlaneswalker Vivien Reedon New Capenna to take back to the Gatewatch — as Urabraskprepared for a rebellion against Elesh Norn on New Phyrexia.
Leading The Invasion
Elesh Norn decided she wanted to spread the glory of Phyrexia throughout the Multiverse. To accomplish this, she employed thePlaneswalker Tezzeret— who had thePlanar Bridgeinside that allowed non-Planeswalkers to travel between Planes. In exchange for his assistance, she promised him a body ofdarksteel— indestructible metal that would replace the poisoning to his body caused by the Planar Bridge.
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The invasion’s first steps involvedVorinclex traveling to Kaldheim to retrieve the tyrite— a sap that would be turned into theRealmbreaker,and which was capable of infiltrating other Planes.
Jin-Gitaxias was sent to Kamigawato study the kami of the Plane, and made the breakthrough that allowed Phyrexia tocompleat Planeswalkers— something that would kill them originally.
With growing strength,Sheoldred resurfaced and was sent to Dominariato capture Karn. She succeeded in this mission, andElesh Norn kept Karn hostage. Norn showed him the Realmbreaker, and how she planned to use it to spread Phyrexia throughout the Multiverse.
Elesh Norn succeeded in nurturing the Realmbreaker, with it reaching out to many Planes across the Multiverse. By the time the Planeswalker strike team arrived on New Phyrexia,it was already too late.
Norn revealed thecompleated bodies of the Planeswalkers Nahiri and Nissa Revane,and offered the remaining Planeswalkers who hadn’t been compleated a chance to turn. They all refused, andNornused Nissa’s powers to activate the Realmbreaker— initiating the Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse.
