Hexhaven Mystery Contains Hidden Clues to Understanding Reality Fracture

Last updated on March 26, 2026

Professor Onyx | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

Secrets of Strixhaven’s story is in full swing and looks to be priming us for the Reality Fracture story in October. While we know very little about Reality Fracture beyond it being the end of the massive story arc following the aftermath of Phyrexia’s invasion of the Multiverse, a few crumbs have leaked through here and there.

Most tantalizing is the idea of Hexhaven, pitched as the mirror image of Strixhaven, and it’s worth browsing the school’s brochure as the story of Strixhaven proper deepens.

What Is Hexhaven?

Source: reddit.com

What we know about Hexhaven and Reality Fracture comes form a survey conducted by Wizards of the Coast in November 2024; luckily, Redditor u/Electronic-Voice-613 saved screenshots of concept art and text from the survey! That includes the above image, which may represent students at Hexhaven, or a battle at the end of Secrets of Strixhaven.

The jist of the story is that Jace has built an “alternate Multiverse shaped in his misguided image.” Hexhaven is “the dark mirror of Strixhaven…a ruthless and grueling academy where only the strongest mages survive,” with the implication being it serves as a training ground for Jace’s allies. The survey also promises a Planar Chaos vibe, with “color-shifted characters” allied with Jace and Hexhvaen students practicing “color-shifted versions of the Multiverse’s most iconic spells.”

To date, the Secrets of Strixhaven story hasn’t acknowledged Hexhaven, though othe stories have introduced those “color-shifted characters.” From a speculative standpoint, I’m guessing Hexhaven will be a major setting of Reality Fracture. At the most dramatic, a major upheaval could see them overlap; as the survey notes, Jace and his companions wish to make “Jace’s new creation the true Multiverse.”

Why Is Jace Breaking the Multiverse?

Unstoppable Plan | Illustration by Borka Pindado

It might be strange to see Jace breaking things rather than defending them, as one would expect from a founding character of the Gatewatch, an organization of planeswalkers that defends the Multiverse.

The very short answer is that Jace came up with a plan that allowed him and Vraska to survive compleation by New Phyrexia. After the Invasion, they found the Omenpaths and feared they would lead to another war, like the War of the Spark or the Phyrexian Invasion (see Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s epilogue for more: Part I, Part II). This put Jace on a quest to remake the Multiverse, trying to reset it before Phyrexia broke everything; to this end, in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Jace invaded the Meditation Realm and stole power from Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. While most characters in the story believe Jace to be dead, we know better; these were the final lines of TDM’s story:

“In the beginning, there was nothing, and into that nothing fell a single drop of water, and another, and another, until there was a pool floating above the nothing, a faultless lamina of silver. Had there been anyone there to look, they would have seen a reflection gather, a shape moving under the water as if it were a window to a world equally without feature, and a shape coming into view. A silhouette of a blue cloak coming into focus.” Tarkir: Dragonstorm Episode 7: Return

Color-Shifted Planeswalkers

Source: reddit.com

The biggest proof in the current story that the events of the survey are coming to pass are the color-shifted planeswalkers who have appeared. The first to appear was a white, color-shifted Liliana, who gave the Lorwyn Eclipsed story a resounding cliffhanger:

Liliana could only stare as the white-clad version of herself stepped past her into the office, pausing to lay a hand briefly across Liliana's own and say, in a soft voice, “Maybe close the door, dear. We need to have a conversation.”

The door swung shut with a sound like a tomb closing, and everything was silence. Lorwyn Eclipsed Episode 7: The Charm Dissolves Apace

Of note, a test print version of a mono-white Liliana was included in the Hexhaven Survey:

Source: reddit.com

The first Secrets of Strixhaven story, “Off the Record” (notably, a side story, not the first chapter of the main story), introduced an alternative Ral Zarek in Silverquill finery with the magic and disposition of a law mage:

Illustration by Billy Christian

We know very little about these characters; the only result to come from the Lilianas meeting is that Liliana proper has gone missing. Professor Zerak manipulated students into helping him steal a forbidden magical tome, but that too was left in a cliffhanger. What can be said is this: These color-shifted planeswalkers are evidence that what was in the Hexhaven survey is coming to pass, and it’s likely to have major effects on the Multiverse going forward, just like the opening of the Omenpaths.