Nicol Bolas is one of the few surviving Elder Dragons from the Plane of Dominaria. At over 45,000 years old, he is one of the oldest living things in the Multiverse. A true master of manipulation, Nicol Bolas has many dozens of schemes going, and orchestrated events such as the release of the Eldrazi and the Sundering of Amonkhet.

Nicol Bolas was one of the primary actors in Dominaria's Elder Dragon War, the results of which left him among the last of his kind, which is now a distinction that he holds with pride. Some of his siblings, such as Arcades Sabboth, Palladia-Mors, and Chromium, also survived the war, but most of the surviving Elder Dragons have been killed in the eons following the Dragon War.

Bolas' current goals are to regain the godlike power he once held. As a Planeswalker, he was more powerful than a God, but after the Great Mending, in which the multiverse changed the nature of Planeswalkers on a fundemental level, he lost almost all of his power, and was mortal for the first time since he was very young. His current scheme seems to be turning the plane of Ravnica into a giant meat grinder, and absorbing the 'Sparks' of planeswalkers that try to prevent the destruction of Ravnica.

Bolas' most prominent enemy is also his twin sibling Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. These two beings have been warring for thousands of years, and Bolas believed Ugin dead for the last 1,000 years.