Lost Chapters
Edgar Allan Poe: Cobalt Character
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 to 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor and critic, best known for the poem "The Raven" and for tales of horror and mystery. His stories about the detective C. Auguste Dupin helped create detective fiction, and his death in Baltimore at age 40 has never been fully explained.
- Cost
- 4 crystals
- Type
- Character · Free Spirit
- Power / Health
- 3 / 3
- Color
- Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
When destroyed: draw a card.
Melancholic master of macabre whose personal demons fueled literary nightmares that still haunt American literature.
The real history
Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. His parents were both professional actors, and both died before he turned three. John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a wealthy tobacco exporter, sent him to the University of Virginia, but Poe had to leave after less than a year when Allan refused to pay his gambling debts. In 1827 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and published his first small book of poems.
For most of his career Poe worked for magazines, editing journals such as the Southern Literary Messenger and Graham's Magazine. In 1836 he married his cousin Virginia Clemm, who was 13 years old at the time.
In April 1841 Graham's printed "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," in which C. Auguste Dupin solves a baffling crime in Paris through careful reasoning. Dupin became a model for many fictional detectives who came after him. In 1845 Poe published "The Raven," the poem he is still best known for.
Virginia died of tuberculosis in 1847, and Poe's long struggle with depression and alcohol grew worse. On October 3, 1849, he was found in great distress at a Baltimore tavern that was serving as a polling place on election day. He died four days later, on October 7, at Washington College Hospital. No death certificate was filed, and theories about the cause range from alcohol and illness to rabies.
Sources
- Edgar Allan Poe, Academy of American Poets (Poets.org)
- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
- The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
In the game's story
In the game's invented story, Poe arrives in Marginalia on a stormy night and is sure he has written himself into one of his own tales. He soon befriends Ink, the clever raven who lives in the Archive's rafters. When the Echo of the Raven tears into the Archive in a storm of feathers and torn pages, Poe walks into it and reads the true lines of his poem back until it breaks apart into ink.
How the card plays
Edgar Allan Poe costs 4 crystals and is a 3/3 Cobalt Free Spirit. Lightning 2 means he deals 2 damage to an enemy character the moment you play him, enough to finish a small blocker or a token. When he is destroyed, you draw a card, so trading him away still leaves you a card ahead.
Play him when the rival has a 2 health character in the way, then use him as a charger or blocker you do not mind losing. He is legal in both Martin Luther King Jr. and Neil Armstrong decks.
The Circus gives Free Spirits +1/+1, making him a 4/4. P.T. Barnum, Ringleader is another Free Spirit that rests an enemy character when it arrives, and William Faulkner shares his habit of drawing a card when destroyed.
- Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
- In the Dr. King starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4 - In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Poe
How did Edgar Allan Poe die?
No one knows for certain. He was found in distress in Baltimore on October 3, 1849, and died four days later. No death certificate was filed, and historians and doctors still debate the cause.
Did Edgar Allan Poe invent the detective story?
He is widely credited as one of its originators. His 1841 story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" introduced the reasoning detective C. Auguste Dupin, who influenced many later detective writers.
Card art
The standard version of Edgar Allan Poe. The Full Art above is a rare version that can appear in packs.
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