magickruger asked: Doug, please, explain WHY is silumgar an Elder Dragon. And does Nicol Bolas know this?

We chose to use the term “Elder” here for a few reasons:



As you’ll see as preview season continues on, Dragons of Tarkir contains a lot (!) of dragons. It was crucial to emphasize the importance of these dragonlords — both in the setting, and compared to other dragons in the set. They’re dragons who have risen to become the heads of entire clans. They are revered as wise and awe-inspiring leaders. Their commands are seen almost as divine edicts, even by other dragons. Other than Ugin himself, these dragons are the quintessential elder beings of Tarkir.

Similar to the time of the Dominarian Elder Dragons, Tarkir now sees dragons battle one another for supremacy. Silumgar and the other dragon leaders are the most powerful members of massive broods of dragons (it’s thought that the mana of the terrain causes the tempests to spawn “families” of dragons with similar characteristics). Although they do not dwell on Dominaria, these five dragons are worthy of the same term. They are the movers and the shakers of a world full of, and led by, and reverent to, dragons. They are Tarkir’s Elder Dragons. This is a time travel story, and the term “Elder” helps tell part of the ending of that story. Tarkir and these five dragonlords are, in fact, 1280 years older than we saw them last time — it helps point out the difference not only between one legendary Silumgar and the other, but between the middle of the story and its completion. In one word, “Elder” serves to enshrine the story of the way an entire world progressed from an earlier state.

Those were some of the motivations behind the term! So: Cool? Massive betrayal of a nostalgic term? Something in between? Curious to hear what you all think as it all rolls out.

