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Q&A with the Narrative Team


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What can you say of the Crystal Bloom faction? Do they see Aurene as a Savior and Caithe as her herald? Are the awakened linked to her as she is now part Joko? Does that perhaps explain why the Awakened remain functional? Are all Sunspears Crystal Bloom now?

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Hello! First time posting on the forums, so here goes nothing! I'm mostly asking for myself, but also for my fellow (Zephyrite Role-players) guild mates, so I apologize on the long list ahead. As a role-player, I have many questions in regards to the Zephyrite lore (as well as Exalted/Forged).

  1. In episode 5 of season 4, we hear comments made by the Corsairs near the airships within Symphony's Haven (In Thunderhead Peaks) how the Zephyrites don't eat their dolyaks. Should it be taken as face value (meaning they simply don't eat their dolyaks) or does this imply that the Zephyrites don't eat meat in general?

  2. Where were the Aspect Masters during Episodes 5 and 6 of season 4? Would they have been at Thunderhead Keep/Dragonfall?

  3. How did the Zephyrites know to assemble at Thunderhead Peaks (if not already there)?

  4. Was the Zephyrite Choir a certain cell in the Zephyrite Order or is everyone a part of the Zephyrite Order a part of the Choir?

  5. Are the Exalted from Thunderhead Keep's Forge stationed there, or did they come from Tarir?

  6. After Path of Fire, what happened to the remaining Forged (if any) and their bases? Did they fall apart or continue to survive due to the similar Exalted rituals performed to construct them?

  7. The Master of Peace told Aerin he broke his Zephyrite vows. What are the Zephyrite vows? When are Zephyrites permitted to swear them (age-wise)?

  8. Do the Zephyrites have their history written in books or scrolls, or is everything oral history and through song?

  9. Are the Zephyrites able to use the Aspects without crystals?

  10. Do the Zephyrites use other profession magics (non-elementalist) as well as using the Aspect magics?

  11. How did the Zephyrites travel before they had the Zephyr Sanctum?

  12. What is the process for new people joining the Zephyrite Order?

  13. What is the ranking system like? EG we have heard there are "initiates," we've also seen Guides, Adepts, Honor Guards, and Masters for the different Aspects. Are these broad categories, or can there only be a few at a time?

  14. Do Zephyrites perform marriages, and if so, what would a ceremony look like?

  15. Do Zephyrites burn or bury their dead? Or both?

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@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:What is the current status of the Pale Tree? Has she recovered? Is she dead? If she recovered, why not one single mention of her since Lw2/HoT? As sylvari main I miss mommy.

There was a Caladbolg quest that showed the Pale Tree was still recovering, then before and during Season 3, Caithe mentioned that the newborn Sylvari awoke.

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@Alex Kain.6492 said:

@Arden.7480 said:Gosh I love this Q&A!

But I'm going to ask about Rox - is she really gonna leave Dragon's Watch? Or she will still be in our team? Or she will just want to live a peaceful life on the nature (maybe learning to become a Druid?)

Rox's arc was so well developed this season, too.

Thanks, Arden! Rox has indeed joined up with the Olmakhan by Episode 6 (which you can hear in her dialogues with Boticca in throughout War Eternal). For the moment anyway, she isn't going to be actively adventuring with Dragon's Watch. That said, it's entirely possible she may cross paths with the Commander and DW sometime again in the future.

I have to ask about Marjory and Kasmeer. I really missed my Canthan Reaper! Are they going to make an appearance in LS5?

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HoT left me (and many others) with a LOT of questions. As a newer player, I've read back about the craziness that went down during the development of the expansion, the cut content, the theory that some deaths were picked because certain characters were hated by the fandom, etc, and I know that you folks have spoken many times about not wanting to go back and revisit anything from it/change maps. However, I recall the big roadmap post mentioning being more favorable towards changing existing maps 'where it's relevant to the story,' and it gives me a sliver of hope to see it revisited somehow. This leads me to my small handful of questions.

TrahearneWe all know how the expansion story ended, but what surprised me was the lack of content relating to the fallout of his death in LW3? We had no funeral and very minimal discussion of him in the Caladbolg questline in comparison to the full funeral and Braham's relating arc that tied to Eir and her death. Caithe has never commented on his death outside "welp dragon is dead," either, and that was her brother! We see them in the personal story at least on friendly terms, and throughout the Zhaitan arc as well!We also never saw him in post-HoT/LW3 content that seemed to be surefire excuses to discuss the character. Jahai comes to mind, the poem was dropped as such a casual thing, with the shoe never dropping/any payoff after it outside relaying the info to the Priory. Dragonfall, too, with the Mist Wardens. Trahearne spent his entire life trying to fight the Elder Dragons, why would Gwen be there and not Trahearne? Did he simply...cease to be ENTIRELY when we killed him/Mordremoth? Was he absorbed by Kralk/Aurene? Or did he want to opt-out, just on the merit of having closure on his tasks already? The memory in Caladbolg seemed to imply such an attitude would be at least plausible.

Unfinished HoT Maps/ContentThe canceled lane in DS and the NMC is another thing that baffles me and tugs at the back of my mind. I have seen pictures and heard stories about how much of that lane is actually finished/interactable out of bounds on the map, and that it would have had to do with the NMC? We never got a follow-up on the NMC and Faolain's death outside of Caithe's Requiem story, and while that added a lot in terms of info about Faolain and how her death impacted Caithe...it didn't explain if the Court simply moved on? Are they still recruiting as normal? We heard nothing about that Dutchess outside of her...existing?

The other stuff I was curious about has been asked, but those two lil plot chunks, are there any plans (or desires) to elaborate on them in the future? EspeciallyTrahearnecuztheCaladbolgsidequestdidn'tgivemealotofclosurePleaseHelpMe lol

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I'm not sure if this is answerable, but I got the feeling we were shown the final line of 'Darkness pays Orr a visit' back in S4E4 so that we might speak to Trahearne's spirit and let him know what the line was. It wouldn't have been out of place in the final episode, one dragonslayer to their old mentor, with all the Mists mayhem going on and spirits coming back and forth in several episodes surrounding that battle. I know that no sylvari spirits have been referenced from the Mists but still... am I crazy for thinking that seemed almost planned out? Or was it just there to make us sad? Cause it made me sad :p

(PS. I hope you guys don't take it too seriously when people moan all the time about Kas and Jory being unlikable because they dare to reference being in a relationship. Everyone I know finds it adorable. I don't know how you handle hearing constant demands for character appearances that wouldn't fit within episode constraints and are planned for better, future things that you can't talk about)

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This might seem like a tongue-in-cheek question, but I'm being serious (as much as is possible for me, anyway, haha) : is there a lore reason why we can't reforge Caladbolg as any weapon (staff, torch, warhorn, rifle, etc.) but instead only as a select few?shameless pleading mode activated: please can we get a Caladbolg staff/full set of weapons, pretty please with a Taimi on top?

Does the sylvari player character still have a Wyld Hunt to kill all of the Elder Dragons, or did their Hunt end with the death of Mordremoth?

(I haven't played past the end of HoT, so if either of my two questions are actually answered sometime in the later stories...ignore this. XD)

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@Fomivee.3065 said:Is Ellen Kiel dating Evon Gnashblade?Evon and Ellen have some fun banter during the Festival of the Four Winds, but that's just them constantly trying to one-up the other. At this point, I believe both have a fair bit of respect for what the other has accomplished. Also, Evon knows that Ellen and Zalambur maybe have a thing going? He's got ears everywhere, I figure!

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@Alex Kain.6492 said:

@"Fomivee.3065" said:Is Ellen Kiel dating Evon Gnashblade?Evon and Ellen have some fun banter during the Festival of the Four Winds, but that's just them constantly trying to one-up the other. At this point, I believe both have a fair bit of respect for what the other has accomplished. Also, Evon knows that Ellen and Zalambur maybe have a thing going? He's got ears everywhere, I figure!

I personally think this small "awwww" talk Zalambur and Ellen had was just very cute!

[...]Zalambur: I see. Well, I suppose trust must begin somewhere.Captain Ellen Kiel: I'm sure we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement.Zalambur: Perhaps we can discuss this further here in my office over a fine Elonian wine, Captain Kiel.Captain Ellen Kiel: Or, better yet, back in my office over a bottle from the Eldvin Monastery vineyards.Zalambur: Oh, my. Are you married, Captain?Captain Ellen Kiel: Please, call me Ellen.

Also I believe her VA - the amazing Courtney Taylor - kind of nodded at that.

if that romance thing is legitimate, and we don't know yet what's going on, but if it is that she doesn't hid it completely. And that she brings some of that into the world with her. Because I think it will make her more interesting and happier. And that'll sort of go outwards into the world and just make her efforts even better.

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Are we gonna see Zojja again in the future season? Don't know if it's a matter of Felicia Day's availability, but we haven't heard from her since the beginning of Season 3, and it's really glaring that she wasn't even mentioned in War Eternal, when she deserved to be in the final fight with Kralkatorrik just as much as Caithe, Rytlock and Logan, if not even more so (not to mention missing out on Snaff's ghost)

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What happened to the gods?

Last we heard that most had left for another world where they would prepare it for their faithful but what exactly are they doing?And since most of the elder dragons are gone and we have a benevolent Elder on our side, will the gods come back? Will Grenth come back and restore his seven reapers?

And will Balthazaar's mantle be taken up by someone else in his absence, other than what is left inside Aurene that is? The closure we got with Kormir wasn't exactly satisfying. And it kills me knowing that most humans don't know about their pantheon having left them. I think it is a big enough event or news for them to at least acknowledge it properly.

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With the Festival of the Four Winds back in town, one Solitary Sylvari in particular has been gaining some due attention again because of his really intriguing dialogue. Me and my guild have been really curious about him and what he means since he first appeared! And so we were wondering: Was he part of the Mordrem Guard 'proper' and underwent the according physical changes, or was he one of the Sylvari who responded to Mordremoth's Call, yet managed to fight back before fully losing himself to Mordremoth?

That said - Thank you so much for all your hard work! I truly can't stress that enough.

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Was Mordremoth behind the Nightmare after all? From seeing the Shadow of the Dragon in the Dream during the first sylvari personal story step, to finding out that sylvari came from Mordremoth and that the Pale Tree protected them through the Dream, to the very first trailer to Heart of Thorns, and even beyond that, seeing sylvari being the first to answer Mordremoth's call, it felt like the narrative was setting up to reveal that Mordremoth was the puppeteer behind the Nightmare Court's influence.

But it didn't quite do that. It strongly suggested as much, but you can still argue that Mordremoth's control was actually altogether separate from Nightmare, particularly since the majority of any involvement that Malyck and the Nightmare Court were supposed to have in Heart of Thorns was stripped down to a solitary captive courtier, Faolain, and the Baroness we'd never seen before helping us fight the Mouth of Mordremoth.

This begs the question of - is the Nightmare Court is actually capable of recruiting and converting Dreamers at this time, and they doing so? Although we have had confirmation that dragon minions will continue to act out their masters' will after its death, we've never seen an Elder Dragon continue to influence others to join its cause from beyond the grave.

In the Labyrinthine Cliffs, there's an NPC all by his lonesome on top of a cliff with some interesting dialogue.

I was one of those who... responded to Mordremoth's call. All these years later and I can still hear its echoes in my head. I've found that by pushing myself, I can quiet them for a time.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Solitary_Sylvari

We also saw a Mordrem Guard in the HoT story who was able to show some resilience to Mordremoth's influence in a place where his whispers couldn't reach him so easily, and had a brief moment of lucidity before attacking.

Is this a suggestion that a sylvari can come back from being under Nightmare's influence, or is there something beyond draconic influence that turns sylvari towards the Nightmare?

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  1. Was the order of the Crystal Bloom just created for the Episode 6: War Eternaland was disbanded after Aurene becomes an elder dragon or we will see it later too?

  2. Aurene absorbed the power of Kralkatorrik, did some of his magic escapeand reached other remaining dragons too or it's solely hers now?(we know that when a dragon dies, his magic gets absorbed by other dragons in a distance)

  3. Now that we know that dragons can hold multiple magics. Was it the same with Glint?Did she pass the "light" magic to Aurene on birth or it got transformed as from Kralkatorrik's magic?

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I have noticed that, as the Living Story progresses, we have seen more and more emphasis on sci-fi, technological imaginaries. I wonder why and if you plan to continue this trend in the future.

Now, I am not questioning the presence of these elements in general: they are clearly part of the Guild Wars lore, especially in association with the Asura. Still, I cannot but notice that they are becoming increasingly prominent, in my modest opinion at the expenses of other more intruiguing fantasy elements that used to give a sense of mystery and authenticity to the setting.

Nowadays we know of dragons because of some installed tech device instead of relying on ancient prophecies; we are constantly told what's happening by Asura geniuses that analyze some batch of data instead of listening to some Ancient Order that has been guarding Elder Dragons for centuries; we seek audience with a Goddess, but not much comes of it, while on the other hand we are constantly updated through "cellular phones" in our ears about what's going on in the world; etc.

Mind you: I do not want to crudely dismiss entirely these elements, and I understand that sometimes they can make the life easier for the writers to the benefit of the story presentation (like: clearly since we now have "cellular phones" you can deliver many lines of dialogue from different characters even when the player is venturing alone in the new maps). But is it all there is to it? Or are you consciously trying to make GW2 more a mix of sci-fi and fantasy?

Personally, I would really love some more of the "arcane" side of the world to come back: give me ancient scrolls over phones, give me prophecies over data, give me obscure magic over devices, give me gods that act mysteriously over teenage Aura geniuses that solve world ending crises in 2 seconds with their clever plans...

My 2 cents and honest curiousity. Your efforts are appreciated and I eagerly look forward to know more on August 30th...

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Hey hi ArenaNet writers! Very interesting thread so far. I have a question about some ancient lore!

All the way back in 2007, the Movement of the World introduced us to a lot of the lore we ended up seeing in Path of Fire, including the Mordant Crescent. One paragraph that always sort of intrigued me was this one:

Palawa's price for benevolence was tribute, forced loyalty, and all those who bore the name Ossa delivered unto his care. Periodically, a few more descendants were found hiding in the hills of Elona—and all were delivered unto the undead ruler of Elona. From the descendants of his ancient enemy, Palawa created a living army to match his undead one, reveling in the irony that Ossa's children owed their lives—and their loyalty—to him.

I proudly reported on this tidbit in a lore video before PoF came out, but when PoF came out, Joko's living army was nowhere to be found. I think that in retrospect, the decision to cut this made a lot of sense (feels like there were already a lot of new groups to introduce the players to), but I'm still curious about it! Did this get retconned, and if so, what was your reasoning behind it? Or is there a lore reason for this army no longer being around at the time of GW2?

Thanks a ton!

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@Psientist.6437 said:A question concerning more nuanced races. Are there general lenses you use to analyze the races, such as economic, religious, or magical affinity/disposition? Personally I would love to see more attention paid to Tyrian economics. I think it would be fun to write and play and build confidence in the player economy.

Good question! I'll use the charr as an example, since we discussed them pretty in depth while Alex was working on his Rytlock piece for the Requiem Twine series. On the surface, you've got a militaristic race of cat-people separated into three High Legions + the Flame Legion (and the Olmakhan). Before that, they were one group led by a Khan-Ur--so the closest real world parallel we've got is the Mongol Empire with Genghis Khan at its head. Like the charr, the Mongol Empire was formed by someone who united a bunch of nomadic tribes for the purpose of conquering. Both were very good at it (and both were responsible for the large-scale massacres of civilian populations).

In Guild Wars 2, we're further down the road; the Khan-Ur is dead and most of the charr are split across the Blood Legion, the Iron Legion, and the Ash Legion--all of which are led by a descendant of the original Khan-Ur. Something similar happened after Genghis Khan's death--if you're interested you can check out the Toluid Civil War, even though it's not a 1:1 comparison. Our imperators are on relatively good terms with each other (with the exception of the Flame Legion, which is a whole other kettle of fish) because there's strength in numbers, and so far this setup has been working pretty well for them. They're also on good terms with the other races of Tyria due to the Ebonhawke Treaty, which is itself an extension of this agreement that the imperators have with each other. That is to say: they're willing to work together for a common goal. In the past, that was expanding their territory and influence. Now, it's dealing with the Elder Dragon Problem (and other localized threats). That doesn't mean the desire to conquer goes away, though--especially not in older charr whose worldview is pretty entrenched in their personal identities. The Ebonhawke Treaty is still very new in the scheme of things, and no group of people is a monolith. The Renegades and Separatists are pretty clear evidence that not everyone is on board.

The charr's culture functions the way it does because that's what it was designed to do. Cubs leave their parents when they're weaned to join the fahrar because that's most effective. They're brought up to believe their legion comes first because that's what makes an efficient soldier. They're indoctrinated to view their warband as their family because it strengthens the warband as a military unit. None of this is biological. It's a sociological. Both the Mongols -- and the Spartans, who the charr are also inspired by -- are human, even if their societies function in very different ways from each other... and from our own.

Present-day Mongols aren't conquerors. Circumstances have changed dramatically. The charr are experiencing a similar shift, and Rytlock is among the first to start questioning the way his culture does things. This doesn't mean he's going to go out and buy a baseball mitt and play catch with his cubs--but it does mean he's no longer shunning his impulse to be more involved in their lives. Historically, charr haven't been allowed to invest much in their young; that doesn't mean they wouldn't. The Olmakhan certainly do. And Rytlock has spent enough time with Destiny's Edge and Dragon's Watch that this sort of thing is no longer the taboo he was raised to believe.

Not everyone would agree with him, though. Bangar certainly wouldn't--because Rytlock's way of thinking is a threat to his authority. The way things currently work allows him to maintain his power (while putting others, like gladia, at a distinct disadvantage).

Again: Sociological, not biological. These things aren't fixed. They can and do change.

Gosh this is already much longer than I anticipated, and it's a really simplified view of everything that only scratches the surface of what's going on with the charr, but I hope it gives people an idea of where we're coming from when we make these sorts of choices--like with the Twine. At the end of the day, the charr aren't human, but the people writing them are--and so are the people playing them. We're not trying to make them exactly like us, but we have only human cultures to draw from. Which is a good thing, I think, because they're all so rich and varied.

You could make an MMO where all the cultures are based on chimpanzees or dolphins or ravens -- which are some of the most intelligent animals on our planet -- but without nuance or a human spin on them, it's probably not going to be very interesting.

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@Tom Abernathy.5893 said:

@Edelweiss.4261 said:I'm not sure if this can be answered, but here goes. Back toward the beginning of GW2's life, I remember reading that the Elder Dragons were supposed to be more along the lines of forces of nature(and thus incomprehensible to mortals). With Mordremoth and Kralk, it feels like there was a shift away from this concept as both have very human aspects(pride and fear/familial love respectively). Was this intended from the start or did the plan change somewhere along the way?

The way we’re currently thinking of it is that, pre-Aurene, mortals understandably perceived Elder Dragons in the way you mention, thinking of them as forces of nature—but that our principal characters inevitably have seen Aurene as a person (if you follow the distinction I’m making), as well as Glint, Vlast, and even, most recently, Kralkatorrik. As a result, they’re re-examining some of their long-held assumptions. For example, all Tyrians used to refer to an Elder Dragon as “it”; as they get more visibility into the inner life of Elder Dragons, some Tyrians are coming to refer to them with gendered pronouns where appropriate.

(In all candor, treating the EDs as people rather than impersonal forces also allows us to therefore use them as actual characters in our storytelling. A hurricane doesn’t have motivation or reason or emotion or a soul; a character does, and is thus a kitten of a lot more useful from a storytelling perspective.)

Are there any postgender beings or societies in GW2?

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@Julia Nardin.9824 said:You could make an MMO where all the cultures are based on chimpanzees or dolphins or ravens -- which are some of the most intelligent animals on our planet -- but without nuance or a human spin on them, it's probably not going to be very interesting.

Hmm. Nuance could be a problem in the GW2 story set up based on overall stylistic choices for the narrative. But it's certainly doable for very alien Terran animals. I'll refer you to Adrian Tchaikovsky's recent novels Children of Time and Children of ruin, featuring uplifted spiders and octopuses. Granted they do also have human characters but for the bulk of the novels the focus of interest is on the fascinating, very nonhuman psychology of the main races.

That said, thank you for this solid look at Charr lore, I'm definitely referring my guildies to this post :)

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@Donari.5237 said:

@Julia Nardin.9824 said:You could make an MMO where all the cultures are based on chimpanzees or dolphins or ravens -- which are some of the most intelligent animals on our planet -- but without nuance or a human spin on them, it's probably not going to be very interesting.

Hmm. Nuance could be a problem in the GW2 story set up based on overall stylistic choices for the narrative. But it's certainly doable for very alien Terran animals. I'll refer you to Adrian Tchaikovsky's recent novels Children of Time and Children of ruin, featuring uplifted spiders and octopuses. Granted they do also have human characters but for the bulk of the novels the focus of interest is on the fascinating, very nonhuman psychology of the main races.

That said, thank you for this solid look at Charr lore, I'm definitely referring my guildies to this post :)

Man, I would love to write some dialogue variants for some spiders and octopuses. That sounds rad.

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