BadBobaRat.5367

A bit after I replayed the story, I started thinking - Why hasn't the Pale Tree alerted either Trahearne/The Commander of Mordremoth's effect on Sylvari? In Caithe's memories, Wynne told us that she spoke to Mother Tree about her dream (Sylvari being creations of the Dragon), right? She also told Caithe, and asked her not to tell anyone. I suppose Caithe is forgiven, since Mordremoth already had somewhat of a grasp over her mind. But why hasn't the Pale Tree said it? Sure, she got injured - but she had the time to give us the vision, why not include this small detail in either the vision or a part of a conversation, since it's so important? (just a little complaint, feel free to skip this part) I'm going to forget the fact that she hasn't told Trahearne a long time ago. We were shown that he holds onto the Ventaris Teachings so much that Faolain got frustrated and told him off for it. You're telling me the "wise" Pale Tree wouldn't tell her most dedicated son and the Marshall of the Pact about it? Right. So, did I miss something? Maybe I interpreted/remembered something wrong? I hate to think that ArenaNet used it as a cheap excuse to just somehow start Heart of Thorns with a boom. (Sorry if some of my writing doesn't make sense, english isn't my native language.)

Yes, exactly! I never understood where certain people got those issues from. I think all of the NPC AI is equally bugged in the early stories! Example, when you go with Trahearne in the Sylvari personal story and he yells "A stampede!" but stays right in the middle of the road and gets stunned, has me on the floor everytime, and today as I was replaying the first episode from Lws 2 Taimi was running back and forth while getting mercilessly beaten by the Inquest, for 10 minutes! Impressive! And then the awkward silence between conversations! I always find it more funny than annoying. Same! Even when I don't really like the specific character I still just feel... Bad for them. We have to remember what world they live in, of course they will be stressed out and make stupid decisions! I would faint the second I saw a Risen! And even if I don't enjoy them, my Commander does. The Commander went through hell and back, even with the plot armor and being an idiot, imagine how sad and painful it would be for the character itself, if you remove yourself from the equation. And some people relate to them, use them for emotional support, and that's definitely important. Stating your opinion on a character is one thing, but ruining someones day just because they said they like them is a whole diffrent thing. Thankfully only a small minority does that!

That's a great point and thank you for the additional information. You just reminded me of one of WoodenPotatoes videos, where he and others talked about all the disregarded Pact Members like Gorr... It's certainly a weird decision on their part. Even if you want to add new characters, there's no need to kill off the old ones or replace them, especially since it would add that feeling of friendship with the characters. Quite bizarre that they do it so often. The fact that a former writer confirmed this is quite upsetting... I really hope they will change it in the future. And I agree with you on Dragons Watch. The only time I actually remember it being mentioned is in Lws 3 where it got introduced, and now all I remember it from is the outfit!

I agree with this, you can also sort of see that in the Awakened. They didn't just fall over and die again after Joko went bye-bye. I guess it just goes down to: does it come inherently from the dragon, or is it based on a pre-existing life? Zhaitain didn't really create the Risen, Kralk didn't really create the Branded - but - Primordus definitely created the Destroyers from scratch. But it's messy when it comes to Mordremoth and Jormag... If we go by that rule, all Mordy-based creations should just fall over dead, including the Sylvari, unless each Tree counts as a sort of... "Copy" of Mordremoth? And the Icebrood would just sort of roam around? But since they are dying, that can't be true. I would love to see both of them get explained in more detail, but it will most likely just get disregarded, which is a shame.

Oh, going back to the voice topic, I suddenly got reminded of the time the Commander had to give a speech in Amnoon and you had to choose the lines! 😄 Was it after Baltazar? Well, mine turned out... Poorly, with everyone confused, including me. That bit was hilarious, but it did also bring my memories back to Trahearne and how much rather I would have him do it instead! I actually strongly believe that ArenaNet should've made the Sylvari the only playable race, just like you are only able to play a Human in the original game, but being able to recruit other races. It already feels like the only 'right' choice for story alone... (And it comes from someone who loves each and every race. I have at least one character from each and they all are charming in their own ways, although Asura is my favorite!) Now, not only because you meet Trahearne early, BUT the racial conflitcs come into matter. The Sylvari are the most neutral, they don't have biases towards others, so a plant Commander and Marshal makes most sense. (Altough I guess this could also count towards the Norn? I'm not really sure, I don't remember them pissing anyone off in particular, please inform me if I'm wrong.) And then, of course, the Orders of Tyria, being pissed at eachother. Trahearne is both neutral in regards to race and the Orders, and he doesn't serve under anyone, that's as close as you can get to not have anyone against you in this game's world. And yes, the infamous "He stole the credit" thing, I feel like nobody knows where it came from at this point. After the defeat of Zhaitan, he doesn't even want to go and party with the rest of the Pact because it was "us who did it". Even though, the reason he couldn't show up wasn't because he didn't want to, but because the cleansing ritual took such a huge amount of energy out of him. I remember walking him down from the Airship like it was yesterday, anytime theres a daily for Orr Vistas I go there by foot and stand with his mini, haha! 😄 Also I want to briefly mention the technical problems with him, that I noticed some people have had, like - he dies all the time and is useless in battle, which I think are weird things to complain about: 1. Is it Just me that never noticed Trahearne dying more than other NPCs? I always Just killed the mobs myself and left all the NPCs to ressurect eachother, I rarely had to do so. Did they fix it at any point? As I did start playing only a bit over a year ago, so maybe they changed it? 2. No NPCs do big damage or are overtly useful, precisely because you are the player, and you want to be the hero. If Trahearne or anyone else was made to be as powerful as they probably would be lore-wise, the player would be left with nothing to kill. The best thing you can get from an NPC companion is a random Braham shield and a buff with a short duration. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Anet brought him back somehow. Now this is just my speculation... *puts on my tinfoil hat* But! They killed off two of the most liked characters as of late, Almorra and Ryland, and kept Braham alive, which a lot of players dislike. I almost feel like some writers got fed up with all the constant "Kill them off, kill them off!" and decided to punch us right in the face. If Bangar also dies (which he should, even though I like him as a villain, but seeing as Trahearne is the only example of a mortal being corrupted by a dragon to such a degree: once again, he didn't give up and he still didn't survive; so it would make absolutely no sense for Bangar to be alive when it took total hold of him, no?) I will be almost certain of it, it would be kind of hilarious to see... But they might just keep him alive to not get completely crucified! I would be okay with both at this point. Trahearne and how it all could've been is such an extensive topic, theres not nearly enough time to go through all of the details. One thing I really hope for is that Anet doesn't give into the pleas for killing off annoying characters just because. I'm not at all a fan of Braham, but it's a roleplaying game... Being annoyed for 5 minutes in a story instance wont ruin your day... Or at least it shouldn't!

I always loved Trahearne, even though I started with a Human character! I love his design and his voice. I dont think it was bad at all, the voice REALLY suits his character, I couldn't think of a better VA. It's subtle, just like our marshals personality. The time where he fails are the epic speeches, that do sound kind of dull. But his moments where you can hear the shock like: "UNDEAD QUAGGAN?!" or the warmth in his voice when he says: "(...) I'll stand with you!", "(...)But for the first time, I have hope.", "We will cleanse Orr together." or even his classic "Well done!" wins me over anyway, it's adorable and makes me feel like his actual friend that impacted his life. The biggest issues were the mentors, which were well liked - although I never really understood why. Yes, Sieran and Tybalt serve as great comic relief, Vorgal is also pretty charming, and I can't say that I dislike them, but... There was just no time to actually get used to them, in my opinion. And there wasn't that much depth. People saying he doesn't have any character development either never played through the Sylvari personal story, picked Caithe in the quests or simply didn't care enough to read. I admit, the way that ArenaNet revealed his issues only in this very specific path is very weird to me... It doesn't make sense. There's also one datamined dialogue from him which says that the Grove never felt like home to him, and Caithe was the only one who was actually happy to see him. I'm not able to find it right now, but I will link it when I find it. He is an outcast. The younger Sylvari treat him like a weirdo and some laugh at his Wyld Hunt. He gets treated like a powerless little bookworm in the mission where you go to that one dream reading Sylvari lady with Malyck and Trahearne. Quote "How quaint, are you going to hit me with a book? You're not Caithe. You're not even one of the Warden. What are you Trahearne? A useless scholar studying a dead land?" He is a very specific and stoic person, who clearly isn't good with emotions, who has a lot of doubts about his goals and has been ridiculed by his own family, yet he never gives up, and has travelled the world pursuing his goal, in the mean time making connections to the orders and all the races. It's no wonder he got picked as a Marshal, out of any characters in the game he deserves it THE MOST, given just his vast knowledge and down-to-earth personality. I love the contrast between Marshal and Commander, the mind and the sword. Of course this also depends on how you made your character out to be in your mind. Or If you Just decide that your character is meant to represent yourself. And regardless of if you danced on his grave or cried, his death was grizzly. The whole HoT expansion was very grizzly, but him? Seeing him like that... Caithe gave into the whispers of Mordremoth so quickly, and Trahearne withstood it for Dwayna knows how long, right in the centre of it. He persevered and managed to open our gateway to victory, at an awful cost. Even Canach who despised the Firstborns said he's impressed by how long Trahearne lasted while being so close. For me it shows just how loving Trahearne is towards everyone, being able to stay fair and non-judgemental despite what he had to go through. I'm also sick of being the main hero with unnatural God-like powers in every game. I actually Just finished Skyrim before diving into Guild Wars, and even though its a fantastic game I felt absolutely exhausted from being the all mighty dragonborn (now for a very personal part of my feelings towards him) I relate to his character on a very personal level, and I'm 100% honest when I say this, I'm not sure I would be here to talk about this if I didn't meet him. I met him at an extremely bad time in my life, and having someone so calm and collected, who managed to go through the impossible, REALLY helped. Even if placing so much love in a character seems silly, he helped me hold onto hope long enough for me to get closer to my family again and start therapy. I'm honestly very thankfull for Trahearne, and that Anet still gave him Just a little bit of attention in PoF and Lws 4.