This FAQ will use official sources as bases for answers related to Liliana’s presence in SOI and EMN. If new facts appear, I’ll update it. Feel free to contribute with other questions and suggestions!

I’m trying to keep this FAQ as free as possible from headcanons, so let me know if you disagree with anything and can point out a canonical source for me to correct it.

What I’m trying to cover here?



Why would Liliana return to Innistrad if she already destroyed Griselbrand?

Innistrad’s humans and angels hate Liliana, right?



If releasing Avacyn was a good move for humans, why didn’t Mikaeus release her in the first place?

Why would a telepath like Jace need Liliana’s knowledge when he could extract it from her mind?



If Bolas helped her reach those four demons, if he even protected her mind, why didn’t she ask his help instead of Jace’s?

Why would Jace help Liliana after she betrayed him?



Does this mean Jace forgave her?



Why do people keep treating this villainess like she could be a protagonist, while she’s clearly an antagonist?

Why are you trying to convince me she’s not an *******!? / I hate her! / She’s vulgar! / I don’t like her, all things Liliana-related means bad storytelling…

Let’s go?

Why would Liliana return to Innistrad if she already destroyed Griselbrand?

For the same reason she suddenly appeared in Ravnica: because she still hopes that Jace is going to help her. Even after he left with Gideon to Zendikar. Guess where is he going to be soon? Yup. Innistrad.



Liliana had come to Jace in search of a loophole, a way out of the mess she’d landed in. The power of the Chain Veil was immeasurable. It had allowed her to kill Kothophed and Griselbrand, two of the demons to whom she owed her soul—part of the pact she’d made to regain some of the godlike magic she had lost with the Mending. But in the process of trying to free herself from one bargain for power, she had unwittingly entered into another. The Chain Veil’s magic came with a cost, a terrible toll on both her body and her mind. In desperation, she had taken it back to Shandalar and tried to leave it there, but she found that she couldn’t. It was bound to her, and her to it. There has to be a way out. Jace was supposed to help her find it—some way for her to continue using the Chain Veil without being enslaved by it and the spirits it carried. Jace was nothing if not clever, and if the Veil had some kind of hold on her mind, she felt confident that he could help her break it.



Innistrad’s humans and angels hate Liliana, right?

Thalia and the cathars probably resent how Liliana managed to free Griselbrand (by blackmailing her to choose between breaking it or witnessing the death of her subordinates). Keep in mind, though, that Thalia didn’t know Avacyn was also trapped there and we don’t know how she would deal with this information.

The released archangel is currently hunting each released demon (as she did before) and Liliana already dealt with the most dangerous threat that resurfaced (in a few seconds in front of everyone). If it wasn’t for her, humans would probably be extinct from Innistrad by now. Anyway, Innistrad’s angels will always attack necromancers without second thoughts. That’s how several of them where pulverized by a not so worried Liliana.

The people of Innistrad are in trouble. With its protector, the archangel Avacyn, trapped in the Helvault, the Avacynian Church has no way to fight back. Humanity is dying out. The vampires, werewolves, ghouls, and other monstrosities of the plane have no plans to sustain humanity as their prey—they’re playing for keeps. If nothing changes, humanity will lose forever, and Sorin’s worst fears of a world without humans will be realized.



If releasing Avacyn was a good move, why didn’t Mikaeus release her in the first place?

Because he thought she might die if she ever leave the silver obelisk.

Mikaeus struggled with what to do about Avacyn’s entrapment. Should he work on magic that could sunder the silver skin of the Helvault, potentially freeing Avacyn? The Helvault contained the world’s savior, but it also contained Griselbrand and the ranks and ranks of unimaginable horrors that Avacyn had trapped over the years. Shattering the Helvault would free Avacyn, but release all those demons back into the world, as well. Worse than that, Avacyn’s heart was pierced through as she fell into the silver prison. Inside the timeless interior of the Helvault the artifact’s magic bound her in a kind of stasis, keeping her alive when otherwise she would die from her wound. If Mikaeus found a way to break open the Helvault, he might complete Griselbrand’s treachery and let Avacyn be destroyed forever. The decision was made, and the nature of the giant silver shard was kept quiet. Mikaeus didn’t even inform his captain of the guard, Lothar, that the Angel of Hope dwelt within the holy obelisk—he only told Lothar to protect it with his life.

Why would a telepath like Jace need Liliana’s knowledge when he could extract it from her mind?



Because Nicol Bolas protected the necromancer’s mind against mind-reading abilities before sending her after Jace (the mentalist doesn’t know it).

Then, “You know what must happen now?” the Other asked. “To ensure the mind-speaker cannot just pull the truth from you?” One deep breath, a second, and a third, to calm a suddenly racing heart. “I do.” “Then do not move.” And then there was only the scream, breathless, endless, a scream that would have drowned even the roaring of the Blind Eternities … as the Other stretched forth inhuman fingers, reached into the planeswalker’s mind and soul, and began, oh so carefully, to fold.

Agents of Artifice, prologue



If Bolas helped her reach those four demons, if he even protected her mind, why didn’t she ask his help instead of Jace’s?

Because she already did, and she realized the price wasn’t worth.

“Great and mighty Bolas,” she said, trying hard to modulate her voice, “please. I came to you because you’re the only one I know with the power to break this pact, strong enough to bend even a cabal of demons to your will. If you could just—” “If I am, indeed, the only one so gifted,” Bolas interrupted, “then I suggest you come up with some other way to make yourself useful. Offer me something else worth the trouble you bring me— and make no mistake, a quartet of demons is trouble even for ‘great and mighty’ me—and I will make you the same bargain. “Alternatively,” he added, his tone suddenly thoughtful, “you might swear allegiance to me. A planeswalker and necromancer of your power might prove useful indeed, and I would, of course, seek to protect my investment…” Liliana’s face went red, her eyes jet black. “You’d have me trade one master for another?” “Why yes, I suppose I would.” “Go find your own personal hell, dragon!” “I’ve got a rather nice one here on Grixis, I should say. When you come up with a better trade, be certain to let me know. You’re always welcome here, my dear Vess.”

Agents of Artifice, epilogue



Why would Jace help Liliana after she betrayed him?

Because he swore it to himself (he may even resist playing her games for a while, but deep down he already made his mind up). He also may need her to find Sorin (she was the first “thing” that jumped to his mind when Ugin mentioned Innistrad).

Because he knew, no matter whether he could ever forgive her, or she him, that he and Liliana would meet again; knew it as surely as he knew that a thousand suns wound rise tomorrow, across a thousand worlds. When that happened, he would have her answer. He swore to himself that he would free Liliana from her bargain, no matter how long it took, no matter how many worlds he had to scour. He would learn who she was beneath the fear and the desperation and the lies. And then, if he could love whom he found, perhaps they could begin again.

Agents of Artifice, chapter 33



Does this mean he forgave her?

Not really, no, but his pragmatic mentality tells him they’re both stronger as allies.



“I don’t expect to get out of this alive. I thought‑I knew‑that if I ever saw you again, you were gonna snuff me like a candle.” “I considered it,” he said. “It would have been an inelegant solution.” “What?” “And… well, not to grind too fine an edge on it, but it seemed rather foolish for me, alive, to kill you in revenge for my murder.” “That wasn’t your attitude at the time.” “I recall. I also recall that I was, at the time, hmmm, a bit emotional. If my eyes had been knives, I would have yanked them both out of my face to throw them at you.” “Yeah,” I said. “I was there.” “Perhaps returning from the dead has altered my perspective. All I know is how I feel now, and what I think now‑which is at some considerable remove from what I felt and thought then.” “So‑what, you’re forgiving me?” “I do not forgive,” he said with a level stare. “But a blood vendetta between us is of no use to anyone but our enemies.”

Test of Metal, chapter “Friends Like These”

Why do people keep treating this villainess like she could be a protagonist, while she’s clearly an antagonist?

Players may describe Liliana the way they want, but R&D members like Shawn Main and James Wyatt, among others, don’t consider her a clear-cut villain (at least until now).

James Wyatt in Inside R&D Magic Origins: Liliana



Why are you trying to convince me she’s not an *******!? / I hate her! / She’s vulgar! / I don’t like her, all things Liliana-related means bad storytelling…

I’m not trying to convince anyone. The goal here is to bring canonical background to the current discussion about her. Her presence in SOI and EMN is coherent with her previous lore, as I hope this post helped clarifying.

Want me to answer other questions? Send me an ask!

You may also want to check my Table of Contents

