Tarkir: Dragonstorm Story Signals Ominous Return of Nicol Bolas

Last updated on March 17, 2025

Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

It's official: Good ol' Nicol Bolas is back in the Magic: The Gathering storyline!

One of MTG's Big Bads, who we last saw six years ago in War of the Spark, has shown up in last Friday's story, Tarkir: Dragonstorm‘s Episode 6, “How Wretched Love”. And although the Tarkir: Dragonstorm storyline ends in a huge cliffhanger, it's very safe to say Magic's most infamous Elder Dragon will soon be back in full form.

Who is Nicol Bolas?

Nicol Bolas | Illustration by D. Alexander Gregory

For those who aren't much into Magic's lore, Nicol Bolas is a dragon planeswalker who's also the main antagonist in a gazillion MTG sets. Bolas seems to have a claw in every pie across Magic's multiverse, either as the obvious main-stage villain or as the puppeteer pulling most of the strings: He was behind the shattering events in Shards of Alara, he's the titular Devastation in Hour of Devastation, and the War of the Spark was his bid at ultimate power. His official article describes him as a 25,000-year-old dragon, and a greater threat to the Multiverse than almost any other creature alive. 

In short, only the Phyrexians could have a better claim at Public Enemy #1 in Magic's history.

Outside of Magic's lore, Nicol Bolas is one of the Elder Dragons, the very first iteration of commanders. That's why the Commander format's original name is “EDH,” as in “Elder Dragon Highlander”: You had to use one of the legendary dragons from the Legends set.

Oh, and he is the final boss you have to beat in the MTG Arena tutorial. Clearly a villain of many talents!

We last saw this legendary dragon-god in War of the Spark, where he was finally defeated… yet not slain, but rather captured and entrapped in the Mediation Realm.

How Does Nicol Bolas Return to Magic?

Prison Realm | Illustration by Daarken

First, mandatory spoiler warning – if you want the non-spoiler version, be sure to check the official “How Wretched Love”! If you want the shorter, spoiler-full version:

Jace, in a rather uncomfortable display of “I know that what I'm doing is wrong, but I'm doing it for the right reasons,” keeps reading Loot's alien mind to find his way to the Mediation Realm, even if Loot very much wants Jace to stop. Jace knows that both Ugin and Nicol Bolas are in the Meditation Realm – Bolas as prisoner, and Ugin as his warden – because he helped Ugin trap Bolas there.

Oh, and he also helped Ugin in making everybody else in the multiverse think that Nicol Bolas is dead: What everybody else saw dying on Ravnica was Jace's illusion.

Jace's doing all this because he has learned, through reading Loot's mind, that the Meditation Realm holds the key to shaping reality. And Jace's plan is to basically do that, and undo all the pain the Phyrexians inflicted upon the multiverse. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with such a carefully laid plan?

In the Meditation Realm, Jace meets Narset and Elspeth, and together they bump into Ugin and Bolas; the latter is indeed trapped and has lost his memory (thanks to Ugin), but remains as much of an adorable, sassy villain as ever.

Ugin begs Jace to depart, lest they put Bolas' imprisonment in jeopardy… which is of course what happens (the jeopardy, not the departure). Narset, Elspeth, and even Vraska try to stop Jace, to Bolas' great amusement and sassy taunts: The planewalkers' struggle is helping the Elder Dragon recover some of his memories.

After a bit of back and forth, the blue mind-mage steals the gem suspended from Ugin's horns (because, apparently, it's as easy as that: You just yank such a jewel from between the horns of an Elder Dragon that, according to the story “felt stronger than worlds,” and the jewel is all yours).

And with Ugin's gem in his power, Jace goes ahead with his plan and tries to bend the Mediation Realm to his will… which, what do you know, horribly backfires and basically shatters reality. Whoopsie!!

Narset stared in horror as the horizon broke into mirrored fragments, revealing a nothingness that ate at the eye, a void that poured toward them, unmaking reality—Jace included.

How Will Nicol Bolas Influence New MTG Sets?

Nicol Bolas, the Ravager | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

We don't really learn what happens to Jace, Ugin, or Bolas after the events of the story, but you know how plot armor works: Of course none of them are dead.

As savvy redditors noted, the ravenous nothingness that Narset sees at the end of the story looks a lot like the Edge of Eternities.

And it also resembles the  prophecy told by Helga, the frog seer of Bloomburrow: “The kings in the dark will return; the mage in blue will bring about the end.” It's obvious now who the mage in blue is. The kings in the dark are probably the Fomori, and “How Wretched Love” even confirms that Loot is one of them (or at least Jace thinks he is).

Given how big of a role Tezzeret is going to have in Edge of Eternities…

… and how close Bolas and Tezzeret used to be, it looks like the perfect spot for Magic's biggest bad to make another return.

(And also serve as a palate cleanser for the Universes Beyond sets that Edge of Eternities will be sandwiched between).

There's even a direct reference to Jace, Loot, Tezzeret, and Bolas in a flashback in one of Outlaws of Thunder Junction's Epilogues:

Tezzeret sent him [Jace] here [Thunder Junction] to find something the great dragon Nicol Bolas was afraid of. From the tone of the assignment, Jace gathered Tezzeret couldn't get inside. So now, Jace stands at the great entrance to the Fomori vault [where, later on, they'll find Loot].

All in all, Nicol Bolas probably won't impact Tarkir: Dragonstorm‘s storyline too much: The cliffhanger we get in “How Wretched Love” seems more about setting the stage for future events. But with “a void that poured toward them,” and Edge of Eternities coming to us with Tezzeret at the helm, it looks like the stage is ready for Nicol Bolas' return!