Off-Topic General Discussion - Page 4449

A lot of Planeswalkers are characterised as feeling like there's something missing or wrong in their life, and how they can feel there's something out there but they can't really tell what it is. Narset here in the story seems to follow that route, where she always thinks there's something more. Something else she should be going. And that matches her earlier story in old-Tarkir (aka no Dragons Tarkir) where even though she's the Khan and the Englightened Master, she still hasn't found peace and still thinks of imaginary worlds and the thought that there's still truth out there she has still yet to find.

Her evolution as a character in this story to me highlights really strongly the difference between the Jeskai (WUR) and the Ojutai (WU) Clans and how they have lost their Red. For the new Ojutai clan, the enlightenment they try to seek is through the marriage of the pursuit of knowledge (U) with pure focus (W), and throwing away all the baggage of emotion (R) that the Jeskai once had.

And the story mirrors that transition. We have a Narset at the beginning who feels like she always has to keep doing something. That she always has to seek answers. She has to walk a journey and get to a destination of enlightenment. But when she finally reaches Master and is finally face-to-face with Ojutai, she feels empty. She doesn't know what to do any more. The emotions that have constantly hounded her since childhood don't have anywhere to go any more. And that's when she has a BSOD moment (Obligatory Warning: TV Tropes)

And so she goes on a journey to try and find the truth. To find what her life is supposed to be about, because she has nothing left in her life since she has allegedly reached the enlightenment and become a Master of the Ojutai Clan. But as she searches for old scrolls, and travels the entirety of Tarkir trying to find the answers for the question she so desperately holds, she slowly realises her entire approach is wrong.

The last exchange between Narset and Ojutai is quite telling: "Once we reflect we must then move forward. All one needs do is seek enlightenment, for there is always more to learn."

I think most of the story is really a build up to this moment. At this point, Narset finally understands the real lesson Ojutai has been trying to teach all along. You ask questions not because you necessarily want the answer but because you want to understand what to ask as your next question, and the question after that.

And once she learns that, she finally does find true peace with herself and all the emotional baggage she once carried has fallen away. And you can tell Ojutai is really happy when flies away after their final encounter because there is no more he can teach her. And thus, Narset goes from being 'enlightened' in the Jeskai timeline, to actually transcending the flawed 'enlightenment' of the past and replaces it instead with the most important lesson of all. And that's what makes her the Great Teacher's Student.