Chandra Nalaar
Chandra Nalaar is a Planeswalker specialised in KILLING IT WITH FIRE. A very typical red-aligned Planeswalker, she is passionate, impulsive, FIGHTS DA POWAH and is quite tsundere. She's also a bit of a Mary Sue.
Origins
Chandra's backstory is rather uninspired: she grew up in a remote mountain village with an older brother, two younger sisters and yadda yadda yadda. In her teens she discovered her abilities as a pyromancer. Unfortunately for her, pyromancy was banned on her home plane, and after an incident that set half her villiage on fire the local authorities rode into the village, did not believe that one person could cause such desctruction and locked all the villagers in their huts to burn to death. Chandra was captured and nearly executed, her triggered Spark saving her life.
The Purifying Fire
Some years after her ascention Chandra was living at Keral Keep on the plane of Regatha. A monstary for pyromancers founded by the legendary pyromancer and fountain of one-liners Jaya Ballard (Task Mage), Chandra's idol and spiritual liege, the place came under threat of the Order of Heliud, an white-algined planar institution of bend on bringing all the worlds of the Multiverse into the fold, with force if needed. While she was trying to steal a scroll from said order she encountered Gideon Jura who used his three-bladed whip to incapacitate and capture her. Chandra escaped by using the tried and tested technique of gaining new abilities as the plot requires. She (with Gideon in pursuit) landed on a plane called Diraden where because of a powerful plane-spanning enchantment there was only black mana. The plane's vampire lord had nefarious plans for the two, but Chandra destroyed him and the enchantment with the powers of shouting and willpower while developing tsundere feelings for Gideon. Returning to Regatha, Chandra surrendered to the Order of Heliud to avoid the destruction of Keral Keep. Though she expected to be executed, Chandra faced a worse fate: she was to be thrown into the titular Purifying Fire that would strip her of her abilities. As horrified as Chandra is, Gideon tells her that the Fire accepts those with a "clean soul". So she delivers her backstory to him, relieving her of her burden and when she was lead into the Purifying Fire, she felt more empowered than ever. Chandra stepped out and with a massive trollface she leveled the cavern the Fire was in, taking out the leadership of the Order of Heliud with it. This upsets Gideon, but Chandra tells him that the Order of Heliud is responsible for destroying her village and thus by extend he was the demons. And then Gideon was a zombie disillusioned with the Order while Chandra left for Zendikar.
Tangling with Jace Beleren
So far Chandra has encountered Jace Beleren twice. The first time was when she had stolen a scroll on the plane of Kephalai. The local authorities hired the Infinite Consortium to get it back, who in turn send Jace Beleren to carry out the task. He dueled with Chandra at Keral Keep, overpowered her and took the scrolls along with her memories of its contents. What he did not know that Chandra had given the scroll to the scribes of the Keep to be copied, rendering Jace's actions near irrelevant. That is, until they discovered that the copy they made was incomplete and Chandra had to steal the scroll again, starting the events of The Purifying Fire.
The second time she encountered the mind-mage was at the Eye of Ugin. After shenanigans featuring the deaths of several guides on the hostile plane of Zendikar and another encounter with a vampire with less than friendly intentions, she was saved by Sarkhan Vol who lead her to the Eye. This is where he turned into a dragon and announced his plan to kill her as a sacrifice. Alone and close to being killed, Jace encountered the duo and helped Chandra against the insane Planeswalker. Jace had figured out the riddle on the scroll that Chandra had stolen and urged her to cast a spell of "sheer fire, a flame without heat". The spell worked, and with Jace twincasting the spell they defeated Sarkhan. This left Jace temporary vulnerable, and while Chandra amused the thought of killing him on the spot to get rid of him, she did not hurt him. She left the plane in search of the person who told her about the scroll with the intention of kicking some ass, but it is likely that this person is an agent of the Lord of the Blind Eternities.
Manga
Chandra appears in the Manga adaptation of The Purifying Fire, called Eternal Blaze. Here she appears as far more moe than she is in her Western depictions, mainly because making a woman not adorable in Japanese comics/cartoons is a capital offense in Japan.
Cards
Like all of the original five, Chandra has three different cards representing her.
The first, Chandra Nalaar is an obvious Timmy card: her first ability pings a player for 1, her second is a Blaze powered by her loyalty counters and the third deals 10 damage to a player and his creatures, sweeping the board for a finishing attack. Starts with a massive 6 Loyalty and costs 5. This version doesn't get a lot of use because five mana is usually too much for a red deck, if the game lasts long enough for them to play it then it means that it's not going the way it should for them, and she costs way too much for he abilities do and her ultimate takes way too long to get enough loyalty for.
The second, Chandra Ablaze is more of a Johnny card: the first makes you discard a card that pings a creature/player for 4 if it's red (you will not discard anything other unless you are a true Johnny or perhaps a Melvin), the second makes all players discard and draw 3 (Useful if your hand is empty or you like to mess with your opponent, and the third allows you to cast any number of non-permanents from your graveyard for free which is a game-ender unless you're doing it wrong. Has 5 loyalty and costs 6. Like the regular version of her, however, this one is still too expensive and any self-respecting red deck.
The third, Chandra, the Firebrand takes more after the firs card: first ability pings a creature/player for 1, second lets you copy the next non-permanent you cast (do this for massive damage), the last deals 6 damage to up to six target creatures/players. Costs only 4 to cast but has 3 loyalty. This one actually has some use, unlike the last two since you can use it copy a good burns spell like lightening bolt or shock.
| Planeswalkers of Magic: The Gathering | |
|---|---|
| Original Five: | Ajani Goldmane - Chandra Nalaar Garruk Wildspeaker - Jace Beleren - Liliana Vess |
| Alara: | Elspeth Tirel - Nicol Bolas - Sarkhan Vol - Tezzeret |
| Zendikar: | Gideon Jura - Nissa Revane - Sorin Markov |
| Scars of Mirrodin: | Karn - Koth of the Hammer - Venser |
| Innistrad: | Tamiyo - Tibalt - Davriel Cane |
| Return to Ravnica: | Domri Rade - Ral Zarek - Vraska |
| Theros: | Ashiok - Kiora - Xenagos - Calix |
| Tarkir: | Ugin - Narset |
| Kaladesh: | Dovin Baan - Saheeli Rai |
| Amonkhet: | Samut |
| Other: | Dack Fayden - Vivien Reid - Kaya |
| Commander 2014: | Daretti - Freyalise - Nahiri - Ob Nixilis - Teferi |
| Pre-mending: | Bo Levar - Commodore Guff - Jaya Ballard - Urza |
| Forgotten Realms: | Ellywick Tumblestrum - Bahamut - Lolth - Zariel - Mordenkainen |
| Planeswalker Groups: | The Gatewatch |