One of the most world-shaking revelations of the current era of X-Men was the truth behind Moira MacTaggert and her surprisingly varied existence across the course of multiple timelines. As Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, R.B. Silva and Marte Gracia revealed and detailed in last year's House of X and Powers of X, she had mutant reincarnation powers that essentially allowed her to relive her life over and over again.

Along with that revelation, Moira was also revealed to be alive and well after faking her death, even though subsequent stories showed her as a presence in Marvel's underworld. While the X-Men are currently busy getting ready for the life-or-death duels of the X of Swords crossover, Marvel's X of Swords Handbook just presented an official explanation for how Moira appeared in the afterlife, even if she was secretly still alive on Earth.

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Moira MacTaggert from House of X and Powers of X

Moira MacTaggert has been a long-time ally of the X-Men, helping for them for decades before her apparent death during the events of 2001's"Dream's End" storyline in Chris Claremont, Leinil Yu and Brett Booth's X-Men #108. Her demise shook the X-Men, and her memory continued to play a role in their decisions and actions for years to come.

Notably, Moira's soul was encountered twice in the afterlife: once during Doctor Strange's adventures into the underworld during Peter Milligan and Nick Dragotta's X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl in 2006 and again when the god Amatsu-Mikaboshi ripped open the gates to the afterlife during the course of 2010's Chaos War crossover event. Both times, Moira provided assistance to the heroes, helping find a way to heal the crack within reality itself.

But these past events were thrown into question following the revelations from House of X and Powers of X. It turns out Moira has been at work trying to elevate the mutant race for entire lifetimes. As a mutant herself, she's capable of resurrecting after her death, repeating her life but with all of her prior knowledge and experiences. Now on her tenth life and looking to finally change things for the better, Moira has secretly been working with Xavier and Magneto for over a decade, helping move elements of the world to place to potentially -- and hopefully -- change the future for the better. It turns out one of these schemes included faking her death during the time of "Dream's End" so she could go back behind the scenes, giving her the time to help cement the future of Krakoa.

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Banshee Moira MacTaggert X-Men Chaos War

But if that is indeed the case, it wasn't clear how Moira's soul appeared in stories like Chaos War and X-Statix: Deadgirl. But according to the X of Swords Handbook, that had to do with how they faked her death in the first place. In Powers of X #6, Moira's notes revealed that she and Xavier used a shape-assuming Shi'Ar golem that Xavier and Moira faked her original death in the Marvel Universe. Using Cerebro, they were able to impart a perfect copy of Moira's memories and personality into the Golem. As it died after taking on Moira's wounds, it was able to easily convince everyone that it was Moira. In fact, this was an early experiment into the potential of Cerebro, with this process eventually becoming a crucial element of Krakoa's resurrection protocols.

It turns out they were very effective at doing this, however. As the X of Swords Handbook confirms, it was the spirit of this Shi'Ar Golem that ended up within the afterlife, still believing itself to be Moira MacTaggert as it helped Doctor Strange and reunited with her late, lost love Banshee in Chaos War. This seems to suggest that the cloned copies of mutants who've died do gain some element of a soul, as even when they die they can find themselves in the afterlife. It also speaks to just how effective the Shi'Ar Golems are, as they can so perfectly replicate someone that their very soul can be recreated in some form. It's an interesting tidbit that closes a plot hole regarding Moira, and it opens up a number of other possibilities with the use of the Golems and the potential spiritual implications of Krakoa's resurrection protocols.

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