Jump to content
  • Sign Up

[Animation] Deliver Us - My vision of Elona's plight


Darmikau.9413

Recommended Posts

reddit thread here, where I'm more responsive: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/71mhkm/deliver_us_my_animated_vision_of_elonas_plight/

This is the first thing I've ever animated and I finished it over the past month or so. It started as an idea in my head over a year ago but I never had to determination or skill to actually try and animate it until eventually two things happened: one, I realized I shouldn't at least try it just because it's hard and, two, with the reveal of Path of Fire I had only a limited time to create how I envision Elona; so that's what this is - a passion project.

Guild Wars and, more specifically, Nightfall, have always held a special place in my heart. While many players and creators are enamored with the spectacle of Tyria and the wonder of the world, I've always admired the spirit of the people and their struggles - I'm a worldbuilder before anything else and the key to my idea of a believable, compelling world is a sense of realism and involvement with those who inhabit it. This animation is, to the best of my current ability, my vision of the struggles of the people of Elona in the absence of the heroes of old. Palawa Joko has risen to power and brought menace, pestilence, slavery, and death to the land of the golden sun.

It is in Elona's people and their guardians, the Sunspears, that we find the human nature that made Nightfall so compelling. It's a struggle against doubt and disbelief, an exploration of betrayal and redemption, and a story of the people who fight against overwhelming odds to stymie the darkness that encroaches. Two things stood out to me when I envisioned the Elona of today. One is the Mordant Crescent, the Sunspears corrupted by Palawa Joko's influence who turned on their brothers and sisters in their most dire hour, and the conflict that arose between a once faithful alliance and the promise of power under an ever-dimming chance of victory. The other is Kormir, born of Elona and of her people, who ascended to godhood. The golden sun that shines down on Elona has dimmed, and the blindfold which Kormir wore as a symbol of resolve and justice has now turned into a symbol of indifference and a silence for the people who need her most - her people. Who will save them, if not her? It is left to the people, who desperately wait for a champion to return their homeland to them.

"Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. A land of wealth and bounty. A land of heroes. A land protected by its champions.A shadow fell upon this land, once. The shadow of an ancient and forgotten darkness.Yet after every night, comes a new dawn of a new day - And a time for new heroes.In Elona, the Land of the Golden Sun."

--Unknown Elonian Scribe, 1075AE

I'm just really happy to have completed this right before the PoF launch. I killed the entire waiting period before the expansion by working on this and I wouldn't have rather been doing anything else. With a bit more time and experience I could possibly get a version more fully capturing of my vision, but I'm satisfied with what I've made here. I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making it.

And for those wondering, the music is "Deliver Us" from The Prince of Egypt, one of my favorite animated films and a truly beautiful movie. I couldn't help but imagine the song as put to the Elonian people: and so I did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...