Many people were looking forward to the second War of the Spark novel but the release of Magic: The Gathering – Forsaken has not gone well.
Currently, the book has 1/5 stars after the initial ratings on Amazon.co.uk.
So, what’s up?
The popular Kaladeshian planeswalker Chandra Nalaar was supposed to be in a relationship with the elven planeswalker Nissa Revane. That LBGT status seems to have been overwritten by Forsaken in which was described as a heterosexual who likes “big-muscled manly men”.
Fans were not only upset with the reversal but the quick and apparently offhanded way in which it was done.
The reaction was swift with an outcry on Twitter, those poor reviews hit Amazon and petitions created to pressure Wizards of the Coast to reverse the reversal.
On Friday, Wizards kinda did that. They issued a statement.
Over the past week, we have seen and heard strong reactions from fans about how we handled the resolution of the Nissa-Chandra romantic relationship in the recent Forsaken novel, and we apologize. We didn’t live up to the expectations we created for Chandra and what she means to our fans.
Chandra will love and be involved with many characters as her story unfolds—regardless of gender. She will explore her relationships with fire and passion as she adventures across the multiverse. She is the character you’ve come to know and see yourself, your friends, and your family in over the past decade.
A value we hold dear is that our characters belong as much to our fans as they do to those of us who help create and shepherd them. Moving forward, we will take more care to ensure they stay true to their ideals, their identity, and the history we have carefully curated—none more so than one as beloved as Chandra Nalaar.
-The Creative Teams at Wizards of the Coast and Del Rey
The reaction was mixed. It took Wizards a week to notice and respond, which this blogger thinks it pretty swift moving for a company of their size, but many thought this wasn’t good enough.
The Gamepedia article for Chandra notes that the fire-wielding planeswalker was originally planned to be a pansexual “hot mess”. I don’t imagine this is the “hot mess” Wizard’s Creative team had in mind.
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