Speculations On E

Looks like the new forums don't have a thread on this yet that I can find, so I'm starting it up again to continue my record of my belief (wish? deep hope?) that E is Lord Faren. I know we'll be losing the old discussions pretty soon. Here's one of them: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/lore/And-suddenly-E

It comes to mind right now thanks to this exchange in the current AMA:

LordDankusreformed [sF] [score hidden] 23 minutes agoWho is your favorite hero and why is it Palawa Joko?...BobbyStein [score hidden] 9 minutes agoIt's Lord Faren, and thanks for playing.

Very flimsy evidence, very flimsy, I know, but it's going on my big wall of pictures with pins and colored thread ... >.>

(AMA is at https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/74qjlh/path_of_fire_devs_here_ask_us_anything/ )

Lol Imagine if it is really faren, all the time he acted like a stuck up noble, being all just an act xd, still I don't really think its faren.

E is obviously short for Eternal Joko

@Pax.3548 said:Lol Imagine if it is really faren, all the time he acted like a stuck up noble, being all just an act xd, still I don't really think its faren.

The secret agent whose cover is a stuck up noble fop is a concept that goes back to the Scarlet Pimpernel in the 1900s.

E is almost certainly Eive, the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade before Anise, who stepped down. There is no indication that she has since died, and she has the knowledge and the access to sources that would fit with E.

@Blazing Liger.1236 said:E is almost certainly Eive, the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade before Anise, who stepped down. There is no indication that she has since died, and she has the knowledge and the access to sources that would fit with E.

This would be my guess as well. E knows a little too much, that wouldn't make sense unless they have access to Order of Whispers levels of contacts, which the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade has access to.

@Blazing Liger.1236 said:E is almost certainly Eive, the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade before Anise, who stepped down. There is no indication that she has since died, and she has the knowledge and the access to sources that would fit with E.

I think E is male, considering the info we currently have about him, but who knows

Sadly we're going to lose the long discussion, as I said. There's already been a ton of debate over who E is, deep dives into lore and story to support various ideas, etc. Heck, back when the first letter from E showed up and the Marjory story came out, an ANet person told us it was someone we already knew. Maaaaybe we knew Eive back then? I sure didn't, and don't really now.

I simply love the Scarlet Pimpernel idea too much to let it go. I was hoping PoF would deliver some more clues or even an answer, but we "flattered" Faren into staying in LA so there's been no more of him. Otoh, why in the world stick him into the LA introduction to the story unless he's got a bigger role to play than comic relief? He's far too competent for the gadabout he acts, what with fighting bandits, surviving a long fall into Scarlet's dungeon, surviving alone in the jungle, and all along conveniently showing up where the action is such as the beginning of Southsun.

Probably I'm wrong, and once proven wrong shall freely admit I was wrong. I will not give up on the theory until ANet gives a solid answer otherwise, however. Because it's just too awesome if true.

Clearly and obviously Eir helping us from beyond the grave.

it's Scruffy

It's definately Lord FarEn.

@Donari.5237 said:I simply love the Scarlet Pimpernel idea too much to let it go. I was hoping PoF would deliver some more clues or even an answer, but we "flattered" Faren into staying in LA so there's been no more of him. Otoh, why in the world stick him into the LA introduction to the story unless he's got a bigger role to play than comic relief? He's far too competent for the gadabout he acts, what with fighting bandits, surviving a long fall into Scarlet's dungeon, surviving alone in the jungle, and all along conveniently showing up where the action is such as the beginning of Southsun.

It's nothing major, but I don't know if you noticed this or if you completed Path of Fire.

! Lord Faren is there in Amnoon during the epilogue, he's just not one of the characters it points you toward.

@Blazing Liger.1236 said:E is almost certainly Eive, the Master Exemplar of the Shining Blade before Anise, who stepped down. There is no indication that she has since died, and she has the knowledge and the access to sources that would fit with E.

Yeah, it fits, but feels like lost potential. After all these years, it's character we see never actually saw? Meh. What a huge let down that would be. How would I be supposed to care about this character? I never had any direct interaction with her. I never had anything to make me like her. It's just some puppet master in the shadows. This kind of veil adds mystery and excitement, but only if there's something behind that veil. A brand new character behind it would be hollow and empty.

@Jokubas.4265 said:It's nothing major, but I don't know if you noticed this or if you completed Path of Fire.

I think I did not notice that, at least not enough to stick in my head by now. I was a bit frazzled at that point, and had a friend along in my instance which divided my attention between game stuff and Discord chatter. Way cool, though, and I will definitely look on my next run through the story. Was there text dialogue available, or anything voiced, or did one simply have to notice the character?

There was a green star over head as an optional voiced dialogue alongside 2 other npcs in the prologue. Ill watch for him in the epilogue. I hope he isnt e, that would be pretty terrible writing..

I don't remember seeing Faren in the last instance, and I went around talking to everyone, from Dragon's Watch to the mount trainers. Maybe he only showed up for human players? I'm sure he wasn't there for my asura, despite talking to him in LA before leaving.

I saw him on my sylvari. I didn't see him until after I gave my speech, though....

Also, E is clearly Primordus.

@Rognik.2579 said:I don't remember seeing Faren in the last instance, and I went around talking to everyone, from Dragon's Watch to the mount trainers. Maybe he only showed up for human players? I'm sure he wasn't there for my asura, despite talking to him in LA before leaving.

He was there for my Sylvari as well...

E is Kasmeer brother.

E is Evon/Ellen.

Or it is just Mister E, the greatest pick up artist of Tyria.

At the time E appears in the story, the 70% of the playerbase will not remember who he is...

And what about Demmi, the daugther of Caedecus?She is E… well… was E…If you think about it, it is great. She is dead, so the E plot would be finish.All what she did was against her father.She was part of the Order of Wishpers, and she was part of a noble house, what explain the contact that E has in the Krytian army.But, why did she chose E as a name? That is the weak point of this argument.

That is what i wrote in the old forum.

@vier.1327 said:And what about Demmi, the daugther of Caedecus?

I would accept this as plausible, as well. Demmi also had contacts in the court and sources through the Order of Whispers. If they chose to stick to the statement that it was someone we knew, I'd say she would be the only one that makes sense.

I highly doubt that this is even an option. The fact that Caudecus sent a letter to E giving him information about the last Confessor of the White Mantle makes it nigh on impossible for it to have been his daughter who had not even defected to the Order of Whispers yet.

I've given this more thought, and I believe I have found the solution, whereby both statements ("E is Eive" and "E is someone we already know") are true. We are only given the first names of the members of the Shining Blade (ex. Anise, Kerida, Eive), and we are only given the surnames of certain members of the Krytan court. Therefore, Eive may in fact be a Lady of the court whose first name has not been revealed. I would like to suggest Lady Wi as the most likely candidate. Eive served as Master Exemplar from 1300-1320 (current year is 1330). We do not know Lady Wi's exact age, however she does have an adult daughter. She and Minister Wi are depicted as older, though not quite elderly, perhaps in their 50s or 60s. This would suggest that Lady Wi is old enough to be Eive.

In the Shining Blade Secrets instance, after completing the story step, if you return to the hideout, you can find a scroll on the desk upstairs documenting the transfer of leadership from Eive, to Anise. Here is an excerpt:

"I, Eive, have loved the Shining Blade as my own family, and that will not change. I have responsibilities that may occasionally take me away, and you deserve a leader dedicated to leading you."

If Eive is Lady Wi, those responsibilities could very easily refer to her role with the Order of Whispers. So long as she does not reveal any Shining Blade secrets, there is no reason she could not be a member of both organizations.

The problem is that E grabbed Marjory from behind and spoke in a low voice -- I don't recall the exact paragraph so I can't say for sure that E was definitely male but the impression sure was of it being a human man.

Here's the entire encounter with E as mentioned from that story from so long ago:

I stood slowly, and as I reached my full height, a body came up gently behind me. Arms wrapped so intimately around me that my fight or flight instincts never kicked in. Then, a knife appeared at my throat.I froze. When you've been had, there's not much you can do but listen.A deep voice whispered next to my ear, "Calm." I sensed no necromantic power radiating from my captor. This was someone different. "The man you're chasing is Kraig the Bleak. Magic for hire. You'll probably never see him again."I asked, "Who are you?""Listen closely," the deep voice said. "There are forces at work in this city, in this world, that will take us all down if we let them. Together, you and I can make a difference."My body was relaxing, senses expanding, and I'd finally caught my breath. "And what a positive start to our relationship." My sense of humor was even returning."One you won't forget. I'll be in touch. You can call me E."Before I knew it, I was released, throat intact. I spun around, but no one was there. My captor—E—had left me standing, alone, on a moonless night, at the edge of a cobblestone street that smelled of rotting vegetables and dog droppings, and all I could think was, I need a new job.All it says is that it's a deep voice. Most people assume it to mean a male voice, but there are no genders mentioned in regard to E, not even a race associated with it. People assume E is human, because E could disappear so well within Divinity's Reach without drawing attention. Presumably it's not an asura, since it was at least as tall as Marjory standing at her full height (unless we had a knife-wielding golem, which seems even more unbelievable). Sadly, that leaves just about everyone who isn't a goblinoid genius.

Edited to fix the formatting