" d'où qu'il vienne" = "from anywhere"?

Question

Here is some rules text from a Magic: the Gathering card (MtG is a collectible card game) called "Enlèvement par les lanternes":

Si l'Enlèvement par les lanternes devait être mis dans un cimetière d'où qu'il vienne, exilez-le à la place.

The English language version (called "Lanterns' Lift") has the following rules text:

If Lanterns' Lift would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.

The DeepL translation of the French version I quoted above is:

If the Removal by Lanterns were to be put in a cemetery from wherever it came from, exile it instead.

The DeepL translation seems quite useless: "from whenever it came from" seems to give no clarifying meaning:

• That is "If [this card] would be put into a graveyard from wherever it came from" seems to mean exactly the same as: "If [this card] would be put into a graveyard".
• In contrast, he English's "from anywhere" serves to clarify or empahize that it doesn't matter where the card came from before it was put into a graveyard.

(Normally in this card game, typically rules text only cares about when cards are put into the graveyard from "the battefield", even though cards can also be put into the graveyard from "a player's hand" or "a player's library" or "the stack"; so this clarification "from anywhere" makes sense to write out explicitly).

QUESTION:

1. Why was "d'où qu'il vienne" chosen to translate "from anywhere", instead of "de n'import où"?
2. Despite "from wherever it came from" not having any clarifying meaning in English, does "d'où qu'il vienne" have a clarifying meaning for French speakers?

Answer 1

Acknowledging the comments about the questionable grammar in that context, we can still learn something something about the particular phrase « d'où qu'il vienne ».

We can state the rule thus: a question pronoun plus que means "____ever", which we could also translate "any ____" or "no matter ____" depending on the context.

Question	Formula	____ever	Any ____	No matter ____
Où	Où que ce soit	Wherever it is	Anywhere	No matter where
D'où	D'où que cela vienne	Wherever it's from	From anywhere	No matter where from
Quoi	Quoi que ce soit	Whatever it is	Anything	No matter what
Quel	Quel qu'il soit	What/whoever it is	Anything / any one	No matter what/who
Qui	Qui que ce soit	Whoever it is	Anyone	No matter who

(Also see Personne's note re: Quel qu'il soit vs. Quel que soit ____)

However, some question words don't seem to work here and have to be paraphrased. I notice that English "____ever" doesn't work well with this set either, for whatever reason (!).

Question	Formula	Any ____	No matter ____
Pourquoi	Pour quelque raison que ce soit	For any reason	No matter the reason
Quand	Quelle que soit l'heure / la date	At any time	No matter the time
Comment	Quelle que soit la manière	In any way	No matter how
Combien	Quel que soit le montant	Any amount	No matter how much

... This formula can be used with the first table, too: "quel/quelle/quels que soit l'endroit, l'origine, la chose, la personne, etc." but it feels less elegant to me.

Hopefully this observation generally holds up. I invite correction if I've mischaracterized it.

Answer 2

1 - The sentence you quote:

Si l'Enlèvement par les lanternes devait être mis dans un cimetière, d'où qu'il vienne, exilez-le à la place.

is just not proper French. There are no mistakes as such but a French person would not express it like that. We may look at alternate possibilities, and they are not exclusive of each other. First, I'm 99 %¹ sure the French text was translated, and most probably automatically translated, or by someone not very good at French. The English and German texts don't sound better.
I don't know the game and I couldn't find in what language it was created but during my search I came upon a forum that makes me think "from anywhere" is a concept in the game, and/or the name of a zone². If the game has been translated into French and d'où qu'il vienne is the standard translation of the concept, it seems logical the same name is kept for it throughout the game. And in this case you must see it as you would see the name of a country or a town; if we had "France" (or whatever place) instead of où qu'il vienne, this part of the sentence would make perfect sense.

2- DeepL's translation you give (I did not get the same when I tried it!) is correct (except from a "from" in excess) if we consider "from anywhere" is not a concept, and how would DeepL know it is a concept? Machines only know what they have been taught and DeepL has not been meant and trained to translate card games. It's the best translation it could give according to what little context the sentence gives.

3- Here are a few sentences where d'où qu'il vienne is used, it cannot always be translated by "from anywhere":

• Tout professionnel de santé d’où qu’il vienne est le bienvenu (L'est républicain) (Any health professional from anywhere is welcome, my translation).

• Le racisme, d'où qu'il vienne, est un crime du cœur et de l'esprit (Jaques Chirac) (Racism, wherever it comes from, is a crime of the heart and mind, my translation).

• La violence, d'où qu'elle vienne et qui qu'elle vise, est inacceptable (Parlement du Canada) (Violence from anyone and used on anyone is unacceptable and deplorable, translation on the same website).

4- Not taking into account the rest of the sentence in the card game, and so exclusive of any context, I would never say un cimetière d'où qu'il vienne because un cimetière cannot venir, it is firmly set in the ground and no movement can be involved. I would say something like: un cimetière, où qu'il soit situé.

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Edit after comments exchanged with OP.
Now that I've been explained a little more what the game is about the sentence would make more sense like that :

D'où qu'il vienne, si l'Enlèvement par les lanternes devait être mis dans un cimetière, exilez-le (la) plutôt.

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^{1 1 % allowed for the fact that I don't speak "games" whatever the language, and I might just be ignorant of a whole semantic field in English and in French.
2 This looks like a definition of the concept, and "from anywhere" is between brackets: "The "from anywhere" part of the ability means that it doesn't care what zone it came from... ".}