Planeswalker
A planeswalker is someone who travels from one plane of existence to another. They appear in the two most popular works of Wizards of the Coast, namely Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, specifically Planescape.
In Planescape
A planeswalker is any old cutter who travels between the planes. Either by using the portals or through their own magic: all those who travel from one plane to another are planeswalkers.
In Magic
In Magic: The Gathering planeswalkers are capable of moving from one plane of existence to another via an in-between realm called the Blind Eternities.
Planeswalkers are distinguished by a Spark that manifests at some point during their lives, usually a suitably dramatic moment. This manifestation usually involves the newly-minted planeswalker involuntarily jumping to another plane. Not many planeswalkers survive this first jump, but the ones who have the right combination of survival skills and good luck to make it past the first few weeks are not to be underestimated. Only one in a million people are born with the Spark, and of those only one in a million have their Spark ignite during their lives. This makes them incredibly rare, and as such few non-planeswalkers know about them.
In games of Magic: The Gathering, the players themselves are planeswalkers. Players' decks ("Libraries") represent all of the spells they know, all the creatures they can summon, and all of the places whose natural energy (or mana) they can tap. Many cards involving shuffling or searching or otherwise manipulating hands and decks are flavored as being some kind of mental manipulation -- trying to recall how to summon a particular desired creature, or trying to scramble or erase the opponent's knowledge of a particular spell.
In a move that would make Xzibit proud Wizards of the Coast began to make planeswalker cards to allow players to play planeswalkers while being planeswalkers. The flavorful explanation for this is that the player is calling on the help of an allied planeswalker; the related mechanics somewhat reflect this, as planeswalker cards have their own selection of abilities they can use on their own akin to a player casting spells, and each has a pool of "loyalty counters" that are exhausted through taking damage and firing off their more powerful abilities. In addition, planeswalkers can be attacked by an opponents creatures, just like players (creatures can't attack anything else). Once all the counters are exhausted the card is discarded, representing that planeswalker's literal loyalty to the player being exhausted and them leaving off to find something better to do.
| 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 |