| Marina Vendrell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Race | Human |
| Birthplace | Duskmourn |
| Lifetime | Unknown-Omenpath Era |
Marina Vendrell is the human girl whose contract with Valgavoth led to the creation of Duskmourn.[1]
Description[ | ]
Marina is the last surviving member of the Vendrell family.[1] As a teenager, she wore elaborate, nearly antique clothing and cobwebby makeup that spread out around her eyes.[2]
Marina exists within a bubble of warped unreality, where the horrific aspects of the House are transformed into a semblance of normalcy.[1] Within this bubble, the environment appears as a well-kept mansion bathed in soft light, starkly contrasting with the nightmarish reality of Duskmourn. This distortion creates an eerie, surreal atmosphere around her. Marina often appears emotionally detached from the terrors surrounding her, living in a semi-aware state. This detachment is a defense mechanism and a consequence of her warped perception of reality. She maintains an air of calmness and composure, rarely showing fear or distress. This demeanor can be both comforting and unsettling to those who encounter her.
History[ | ]
Many years before the Omenpath Era, a sixteen-year-old Marina and her parents purchased and moved into the House.[2][3] Marina was a shy, bookish girl who struggled to make friends, but her family hoped a new environment would be just what she needed to find her place. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. From her first day at the local school, Marina was the target of frequent bullying. She grew increasingly isolated and withdrawn, spending her free time at home, exploring the nooks and crannies of the new house. During one such exploration, she discovered the demon Valgavoth living in the basement. At first, she was wary and distrustful, but she soon came to view the entity as a friend. "Val" was always sympathetic and understanding, and as the bullying grew worse, she came to rely on him more and more as her only friend. He helped her to learn demonology, necromancy, and spirit-bending, in hopes of setting himself free.
One day, after particularly vicious bullying, Marina returned home distraught.[1][3] Screaming and crying, she poured out her pain and rage to her friend in the basement. Her friend listened in patient silence, and when her words finally died down, he offered to fix the matter for her.[4] In that moment of misery and anger, she agreed. Following Valgavoth's instructions, she lured her bullies to her house and took them down to the basement. However, she was unprepared for what happened next. She watched, horrified, as the hungry entity came alive and devoured the bullies. Too late, she realized that her "friend" was something far more malevolent than she could have realized. She fled the basement and locked the door, vowing that she would never have anything to do with the entity again. But it was already too late.
Empowered by this first sacrifice, Valgavoth began to hunt. People around Marina began to meet sudden, unexplained, and terrifying ends.[1] The neighborhood began to warp as well, twisting and growing strange and terrifying. But most disquieting of all, the house itself began to warp and grow, expanding to envelop the houses to either side.[3] At first, Marina tried to pretend nothing was happening, even as the zone of influence increased and the occurrences became too obvious to ignore. But then, her parents vanished. Unable to deny it any longer, she delved into research and the history of her family's house and discovered that the entity in the basement was a demon. Previous owners of the house had summoned the demon but quickly lost control. To stop themselves from being devoured, they'd bound the demon to the physical structure of the house and fled. Trapped and unable to feed, the demon had sunk into hibernation and bided his time—until Marina came along and unwittingly loosened his shackles.
Faced with the full truth at last of what she had done, Marina confronted the entity and demanded it stop.[1] If it didn't, she would burn the entire house down. Powerful though he was, the demon was still bound by his original summoners' curse. Destroying the house would kill him as well. With no other choice, the demon agreed to give her back the world as she remembered it. Marina accepted, relieved that she had bested the demon and restored the world to normality … as far as she could perceive, anyway. In reality, the house continued to expand. The horrors continued to increase, drowning all who lived within in terror. The demon grew in power until the entirety of the plane was swallowed up in the walls of Duskmourn.
When Zimone and Tyvar encountered Marina in the House, she still appeared as a teenage girl, seemingly unaware of the true state of her surroundings or the passage of time.[3] The House responded to her presence in unusual ways, becoming a normal, peaceful environment when she was near. However, when confronted with the reality of what had happened, Marina became distressed and defensive, denying any wrongdoing. As she reacted, the House began to shift back to its nightmarish form, indicating her deep connection to the entity of the House. Zimone and Tyvar managed to retrieve Marina's diary, which confirmed the extent of her involvement in the House's transformation.
Story appearances[ | ]
Trivia[ | ]
- The origin of Marina as a malcontented goth girl is inspired by characters like Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice.[5]
In-game references[ | ]
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
- Quoted or referred to:
References[ | ]
- ↑ a b c d e f Emily Teng (August 31, 2024). "Planeswalker Guide to Duskmourn". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mira Grant (August 19, 2024). "Duskmourn: House of Horror - Episode 1: Don't Go Past the Old Dark House". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d Mira Grant (August 28, 2024). "Duskmourn: House of Horror - Episode 5: Don't Give In". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mira Grant (August 19, 2024). "Duskmourn: House of Horror - Welcome Home". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Seanan McGuire (August 19, 2024). "Don’t Go Past the Old Dark House, the DVD extras.". Seananmcguire.com.
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