Aurene And Her Current Status (Spoiler Alert)

I taken some time to think about how Aurene can become unbranded, ever since Kralk branded her in a surprise attack. Remember in the first game when the player character (you) defeated Shiro Tagachi for good? After his defeat, Shiro attempted to release a second Jade Wind, but the Imperial Canthan priests, or whatever they're called, performed a ritual that caused the second Jade Wind to reverse, and encase Shiro's body in green jade. My thought was whether this ritual could be performed again (probably by Zephyrites) on Aurene, but backwards, causing her to lose her branding. If you have another theory about Aurene's branding I would love to hear about it. Thank you.

Aurene isn't branded though. She's just dead and impaled on branded crystals. Bit difference.

Her corpse was being branded, but it was still a corpse.My theory is that she absorbed Mordremoth's magic. When we killed Mordremoth we also had to kill Traehern who he had subjugated before his death or else Mordemoth would return through him. Caithe let Aurene brand her before Aurene died. Even though Caithe said she was gone, she hadn't stopped glowing after the flower wilted. Aurene might be somewhere within Caithe lying dormant until she can regain her strength. Sure, Mordremoth and Traehern were physically connected during their transfer, but Aurene and Caithe were probably more strongly connected through their spiritual bond.

TL:DR Caithe is a phylactery.

@Roda.7468 said:Her corpse was being branded, but it was still a corpse.My theory is that she absorbed Mordremoth's magic. When we killed Mordremoth we also had to kill Traehern who he had subjugated before his death or else Mordemoth would return through him. Caithe let Aurene brand her before Aurene died. Even though Caithe said she was gone, she hadn't stopped glowing after the flower wilted. Aurene might be somewhere within Caithe lying dormant until she can regain her strength. Sure, Mordremoth and Traehern were physically connected during their transfer, but Aurene and Caithe were probably more strongly connected through their spiritual bond.

TL:DR Caithe is a phylactery.

There is a theory that maybe she transferred her mind to Kralkatorrik as well.

@Tyson.5160 said:

There is a theory that maybe she transferred her mind to Kralkatorrik as well.

That's what I said, but was roundly rebuked. Still, I don't think it's far-fetched. He foresaw a future in which he did not exist (at least, as-is) and she forsaw and feared transformation. I think she'll be a moderating influence on his psyche and the goal could be to calm him and return him to slumber, thus negating the risk of all that power transferring to the next elder dragon in line. Then future dragon kills would simply move more power to the passive Kralk.

But, I don't really follow lore an apparently I'm a dumbass for thinking this.

@Biff.5312 said:

@Tyson.5160 said:

There is a theory that maybe she transferred her mind to Kralkatorrik as well.

I just keep thinking if this line from Glint.

Glint: Good. Now you shall see how this captured magic can be put to use.Glint: Kralkatorrik and his minions share a common resonance. This strength can also be a weakness.Glint: With the right resonance, crystal can not only be broken, but molded. Shaped.

Glint was the Champion and Daughter of Kralkatorik but was herself not an Elder Dragon and only Elder Dragons absord each other powers after their death. So I doubt that Aurene has any of Mordremorth and Zaithans powers.

I am wondering why no one brought up Joko until now. Remeber that Aurene has "eaten" Joko and while she was eating there was some weird magic going on. I bet that this scene will be the key for Aurene not really being dead. With everything that is going on I think the story will shift into a twist where something we became attached to is going to oppose us (not in LS4 tough more like in the later coming story).

@"DoppelSlash.5201" said:Glint was the Champion and Daughter of Kralkatorik but was herself not an Elder Dragon and only Elder Dragons absord each other powers after their death. So I doubt that Aurene has any of Mordremorth and Zaithans powers.

I am wondering why no one brought up Joko until now. Remeber that Aurene has "eaten" Joko and while she was eating there was some weird magic going on. I bet that this scene will be the key for Aurene not really being dead. With everything that is going on I think the story will shift into a twist where something we became attached to is going to oppose us (not in LS4 tough more like in the later coming story).

Elder Dragons have only shown to absorb the powers of other Elder Dragons or similarly powerful beings, and Joko is no such being. Besides that, "Aurene will come back because she ate Joko's magic" has been the literal #1 theory since 5 seconds after the first person beat All or Nothing story. Which is likely why no one mentioned it here - because that theory has been discussed to death and undeath.

That said, Aurene uses some of Balthazar's magic in All of Nothing, creating a portal into the Mists as she goes to lure out Kralkatorrik. So it does seem that she can absorb magical domains like Elder Dragons can. On top of that, her original design heavily featured aspects of Mordremoth's look, particularly the chin, and she was described as "undead crystal dragon baby" by the artist who made the infant model. So it's pretty likely she has some Zhaitan and Mordremoth power in her to - to what extent is unclear. Though in A Crack in the Ice, she does create illusions that only the Commander can see so that may be part of Mordremoth's domain of mind...

@"DoppelSlash.5201" said:Glint was the Champion and Daughter of Kralkatorik but was herself not an Elder Dragon and only Elder Dragons absord each other powers after their death. So I doubt that Aurene has any of Mordremorth and Zaithans powers.

I am wondering why no one brought up Joko until now. Remeber that Aurene has "eaten" Joko and while she was eating there was some weird magic going on. I bet that this scene will be the key for Aurene not really being dead. With everything that is going on I think the story will shift into a twist where something we became attached to is going to oppose us (not in LS4 tough more like in the later coming story).

As Konig has said, the theory has done the rounds on every thread containing Aurene since the pisode dropped. She ate his decayed flesh, unbound his magic and showed no sign whatsoever she either absorbed his powers or is able to utilise them. Given the time lapse since she killed Joko, some use of that power would have been prevalent by now and logic would dictate that at least one of the in game NPC's or the Commander would have thought out loud "hmm I wonder if Aurene could utilise Joko's magic somehow" and tested that theory.

That isn't to say the writers wont go down that path, since consistency and logic hasn't really been a hallmark of the narrative so far, but pretty much everything seems to suggest that Joko's death was just a throwaway comedy relief with no further relevance to the story beyond a suddenly important prophecy not previously mentioned, yet seemingly known about by some..

@"Randulf.7614" said:Given the time lapse since she killed Joko, some use of that power would have been prevalent by now and logic would dictate that at least one of the in game NPC's or the Commander would have thought out loud "hmm I wonder if Aurene could utilise Joko's magic somehow" and tested that theory.

It took quite a while before either dragon could travel in the Mists after nomming on not-god power, so the time delay has precedent. Apparently, it isn't just a question of absorbing magic and getting more powerful, there is also a learning process to go along with it.

@Randulf.7614 said:

@"DoppelSlash.5201" said:Glint was the Champion and Daughter of Kralkatorik but was herself not an Elder Dragon and only Elder Dragons absord each other powers after their death. So I doubt that Aurene has any of Mordremorth and Zaithans powers.

I am wondering why no one brought up Joko until now. Remeber that Aurene has "eaten" Joko and while she was eating there was some weird magic going on. I bet that this scene will be the key for Aurene not really being dead. With everything that is going on I think the story will shift into a twist where something we became attached to is going to oppose us (not in LS4 tough more like in the later coming story).

Why would the commander or someone in the team reach that conclusion though? They're focused on Kralk and their current predicament and are still learning about dragons. They don't have the same perspective as we do, so drawing such conclusions or "testing" theories wouldn't really apply. And how would they test it anyway?

Also, while I can agree that raising the dead or "awakening" could have been contributed to Joko, it could just as easily be attributed to Zhaitan's magic. We only this episode from what I remember, saw Aurene branding things and that was after her encounter with Glint in the mists and their secret talk about Ascension, in which she came back glowing. From what I recall, everything before that was just standard fire. So, some of these abilities she may have not even been able to access or fully utilize until we underwent those trials in Glint's Lair.

And while the current rules seem to imply that elder dragons can only utilize unique properties of magic that they directly consume from gods and other elder dragons, we don't technically know what Joko is or what his magic is. We have the journals to further his backstory in the Mad King's Labyrinth, and while I don't think this is the case, they could simply be propaganda from King Thorn to further discredit Joko. Likely, probably not. But I don't see anything stopping them from going that direction if they wanted to.

Also, even if Joko started off mortal and wasn't part of the pantheon, we don't know where his magic came from. We have gods like Abaddon who essentially took the place of older gods that weren't a part of the pantheon, so whose to say Joko didn't obtain his magic from one of them or replace one of them? I guess it seems unlikely as Abaddon seemed on par with the Pantheon, and Joko merely had immortality and typical necromancer abilities. But I do wonder what would happen if an elder dragon were to consume the magic of some older god like Arachnia - who I think is presumed to be who Abaddon replaced, right? Or things like the celestials or spirits of the wild. We don't really know if or how they connect to the All, and that seems to be the bigger reason as to why Elder Dragons can absorb the aspects of the magic of beings like Gods and other Elder Dragons.

Bias for Aurene aside, I don't think there's really enough to completely dismiss the idea. And, aside from the lich being a part of this prophecy as mentioned by Ogden, we also have the awakened Sylvari which seemed rather strange. We also have previous comments from writers about Joko's death eluding to there being more reasoning behind when and how he died beyond the fact that they wanted to propel the story towards Kralk.

Not saying this is a guarantee, just saying that there's a valid reason for this theory to keep popping up and I wouldn't be surprised if they went in this direction.

In all likelihood, they'll just go in a direction that makes Aurene's prophecy practically meaningless, and either force Kralk back into sleep with some Asura tech or have Caithe pop out of the shadows and send us to Timbucktu because she received information about an object that mind-controls elder dragons. Either way, I don't see Kralk's plot lasting much longer and I don't think any of us can ever really predict the direction the story is going to go, even if we spend hours citing, researching, or referencing every minute aspect of the entirety of Guild Wars 2 lore and formulating a set list of rules to discredit anything that doesn't comply with existing data.

And in light of recent events, it may be another 3 months before we find out, on top of which we may never get the rest of the requiem stories that could have further foreshadowed the events of the "upcoming" episode.

@Tyson.5160 said:

@Biff.5312 said:

@Tyson.5160 said:

There is a theory that maybe she transferred her mind to Kralkatorrik as well.

You mean where Glint is talking about the weapon?

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@Tyson.5160 said:

@Biff.5312 said:

@Tyson.5160 said:

There is a theory that maybe she transferred her mind to Kralkatorrik as well.

Yeah it’s from the second trial from Scion and Champion.