The Morning Star (災いの樹 wazawai no ki, lit. "Tree of Disaster; Tree of Calamity"), also known as the Tree of Woe in the anime, is an ominous symbol that appears in the sky above worlds when the world is set to be destroyed by a Keeper. When the time comes, the symbol becomes a door that the Keeper walks through to end the world.
Shadowverse[]
In the the first chapter of Story Mode, the Morning Star appears in Aleister's sky as a prelude to Nexus of Serenity's arrival in Aleister. The seven protagonists are taken for different reasons to the Morning Star, where they witness the appearance of Nexus and are later trapped in an idyllic dreamworld. After breaking free and defeating Nexus, Nexus disappears through the Morning Star, leaving their world trapped in a dream.
Anime[]
In the anime series, the Morning Star appears many years before the start of the series, being named the Tree of Woe.
Leon, Eiji, and Asagi were investigating this mysterious power together, hoping to use it for the benefit of humanity. It was through its power that Leon created the Shadowverse game as well as the class with the closest connection to the Tree of Woe, Portalcraft. However, Leon became seduced by the power and desire to become a god to remake the world himself. To this end, he foresaw that the power of the Tree of Woe would eventually spiral out of control, resulting in Asagi becoming Nexus' vessel and Eiji ending up trapped in another world.
The Tree of Woe reappears after the conclusion of the Shadow Grand Prix, where Leon reveals its existence to the seven finalists and how they have been chosen to save the world from it. As a result of the appearance of the Tree of Woe, all the people are frozen and paralyzed, some being possessed by Empty Shadows. The chosen ones, Leon, his assistant Marguerite and the Shadow Knights are the only ones who remain safe thanks to the protective walls disposed in Genesis Island's central tower. The seven are tasked with awakening the Mythical Cards, the only force capable of stopping the Tree of Woe. Despite gathering all the cards and defeating Eiji, who had become an ally of Nexus in order to save Asagi, the Tree of Woe opens and sucks the protagonists into idyllic dreamworlds. This was caused by Leon shuting down his systems, as he was actually plotting to take over the power of Nexus.
However, Asagi's heart manifest to guide the seven ones back to reality, restoring their memories by making them battle the heroes inside the worlds of their Mythical Cards.
The Tree of Woe finally dissapears after Leon, who absorbed Nexus, is defeated by Hiro and his friends by combining all the Mythical Cards into Ultimate Legendary Dragon. However, a remnant of the Tree of Woe remained in the form of the Arc, a digital artifact formed from the compressed data of the Tree of Woe.
With the world returned to the way it was, everyone losed their memories of the incident, except for the chosen seven. Even so, Genesis Corporation kept records of what happened and the knowledge was made public although it was not revealed who was responsible for saving the world.
Three years later, the Tree of Woe is revived by Wolfram Zerga who had become the new vessel of Nexus. Using the Arc, Wolfram brings the Tree of Woe so that inside it humanity becomes beings of mental energy without bodies or individuality, thus making them "equal" and free from the unjust differences that make them suffer. This plan is thwarted when Wolfram is defeated by Light Tenryu and his friends, destroying the Tree of Woe once again.
Gallery[]
)_The_Tree_of_Woe.png "(SF (OP04)) The Tree of Woe.png (1.71 MB)")