Just as reading the fiction makes me even more sympathetic of Liliana, it makes me hate Gideon even more.

Gideon Jura is a manipulative bastard.

He doesn’t realize how manipulative he is, which is his one redemption, but he’s every bit as manipulative as Liliana, possibly more, because Liliana has to think about manipulating people while Gideon manipulates unconsciously through his magic.

Lets start with Catching Up, where it starts becoming really clear that Gideon is manipulative and a bit of an asshole. He barges in on Jace and Liliana’s not-date, where Liliana is apparently genuinely asking for help, at least as much as she can after 4000 years of using manipulation and power to get what she wants. She understands, however shallowly, that she does need to change, especially if she wants help. She takes faltering first steps, and doesn’t reach the point of asking for help, still just assuming Jace will help, but for someone who’s been manipulating for 4000 years, I’m willing to give her a gold star for trying.

Gideon somehow figures out where Jace is (probably asking around), and just strides in, taking advantage of his Boros insignia to make the Maitre d’ assume it was actual guild business, and while he does ”ask” Jace for his help, not a single part of the encounter actually plays as a request. He uses his physical stature, he uses the knowledge of other planes to interrupt another’s conversation, he uses his knowledge that Jace is a problem-solver who probably can’t help himself (putting the pieces of the Hedron Network and the Leylines in front of him), and finishes by saying “I now you’ll do the right thing,” framing what he wants Jace to do as the unambiguously RIGHT thing to do, and everything else, from Jace’s responsibilities on Ravncia, to Liliana’s needs, as the unambiguously WRONG thing to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gideon’s Hieromancy included some ability to sense guilt and know that Jace feels guilt for the Eldrazi. Liliana, for all her manipulation, for all her assumption, for all that she came to Jace all tits and old emotions and a tantalizing puzzle to be solved and playing, as much as Liliana can, the damsel in distress, was presenting Jace with a choice. And was likely on her way to actually asking Jace for his help, genuinely asking. Again, 4000 years of doing things with manipulation. If Gideon had not interrupted, Liliana probably would have explicitly asked Jace for help, even if it had been due to Jace prompting it.

Gideon does the same thing with Chandra in Offers to Fire, but Chandra knows Gideon and so is resistant to his manipulation. Gideon barges in on Chandra’s life, unconcerned that she has more personally important shit going on, and says that Zendikar needs her, expecting her to drop everything to do what he wants. Again. To his credit, he doesn’t realize how manipulative he’s being, and he acknowledges that if Regatha needs her, then she should stay, but he doesn’t truly care about what’s going on on Regatha, he doesn’t care that he interrupted Chandra being asked to be the new Abbot, he doesn’t genuinely think Regatha needs her, he thinks that Zendikar trumps everything, and while I can be sympathetic to what’s going on on Zendikar, and the millions of lives being lost there (millions? Planes are a lot smaller than Earth, so I’m not sure there have actually been more than a million Zendikari lives lost there at that point). But Gideon is heedless of what other planes need because he has friends dying. Gideon’s own guilt is driving him to guilt others into doing what he wants.

Finally, because its as far as I’ve gotten, we look at Slaughter at the Refuge. Gideon is at perhaps his least manipulative as far as stories where he’s manipulative go, but his manipulation is at its most explicitly magical.

"It's all for nothing if you die trying to find her in a city teeming with Eldrazi."

"Jace." Gideon put a hand on the mind mage's shoulder. "Look at what we've done today. Greater deeds lie ahead for both of us. Trust me."

Jace squirmed out from under his hand, stepped back out of reach, and met his gaze. He opened his mouth to speak, then paused.

"Trust me," Gideon said again.

"I do," Jace said, with a touch of wonder in his voice. "I still think it's foolish, but I do."

Gideon’s magic is manipulating Jace to believe what he says. Jace knows, intellectually, that Gideon’s proposed course of action is stupid. He knows the danger of the Eldrazi. He knows that as formidable as Gideon is, he can be worn down, and that if he had not made the man see a healer before returning to Zendikar, Gideon would probably be dead at that moment. He knows what a long shot finding Jori En is, and that if anything, it’s probably better for them to get ahead of the Eldrazi, to a leyline and some Hedrons, and let Jace start puzzling things out. And yet his knowledge is overriden by Gideon’s white magic, making him trust the stupid words and plan coming from Gideon.

White Magic At Its Worst

In Magic’s nearly 25 year history, it has had comparatively few White villains. Because for all the talk that White “isn’t inherently Good,” lets face it, because of our cultural milieu, because of human prejudices, because of color psychology, because of the muddy beginnings of the color pie, White is pretty much The Good Guys, and it seems very hard for Creative to focus on the bad sides of White. But White has plenty of bad. White is about Organization, Community, and Peace. But White also believes “suffering is a by-product of individuals not prioritizing the good of the group.” IE, “people are suffering because they’re just selfish.” White wants peace, but it doesn’t really care how it gets that peace, and its just as likely to obtain peace by killing everyone as by arresting the offending party, or the party white finds offensive, anyway. Just because White has mostly desirable goals doesn’t mean its above offensive means. At its best, White is about cooperation and community, but it’s just as easily about coercion, oppression and conformity. White believes its way is best, and that individuality and passion are dangerous at best (hence why its enemy colors are Black and Red). It is much more at home with Dharma (the principle of cosmic order in hinduism, and the best way to describe Green’s philosophy) and perfection (Blue’s shtick).

As the White planeswalker, Gideon sees himself as always being in the right, as doing what is best for the whole multiverse, but he does so by bending others to his will, by coercing them, by removing others’ choice even as he believes and makes them believe that he is offering them a choice.

To be clear, I’m not saying Gideon is a villain. This isn’t a head canon about that. It’s not a head canon about Gideon really being evil (though Gideon becoming the next villain would be interesting). This is purely about how Gideon’s really no less manipulative than Liliana, except that he doesn’t realize he’s manipulating people.

Remember, “the ends justify the means” is not a philosophy people generally regard as praise-worthy.