Interesting concept art of Mordremoth

[Batel.9206]

Needless to say, here be potential spoilers for Heart of Thorns. Ye have been warned.

 

So, I was browsing around the wiki and stumbled across this: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/c8/Mordremoth_concept_art_3.jpg Seems the end fight with Mordremoth could have been a heck of a lot different...and scarier, what with all the emphasis on eyes glowing out of the dark. Mordremoth itself looks terrifying. Granted, what we have in-game is also terrifying, but somewhat less so than this rotting, eyeless plant behemoth.

But one thing really caught my attention. Either the concept artist goofed, or something got changed in development, because Mordremoth is referred to as female. I wonder why? Was the Pale Tree intended to be Mordremoth in disguise? ...yikes, that'd be horrifying.

Anyway, it was just a curious thing. It's fun to look at concept art and wonder what could have been.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

That concept art was partially reused for the massive Teragriff boss in LWS2.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

9 hours ago, Batel.9206 said:

Needless to say, here be potential spoilers for Heart of Thorns. Ye have been warned.

 

So, I was browsing around the wiki and stumbled across this: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/c/c8/Mordremoth_concept_art_3.jpg Seems the end fight with Mordremoth could have been a heck of a lot different...and scarier, what with all the emphasis on eyes glowing out of the dark. Mordremoth itself looks terrifying. Granted, what we have in-game is also terrifying, but somewhat less so than this rotting, eyeless plant behemoth.

But one thing really caught my attention. Either the concept artist goofed, or something got changed in development, because Mordremoth is referred to as female. I wonder why? Was the Pale Tree intended to be Mordremoth in disguise? ...yikes, that'd be horrifying.

Anyway, it was just a curious thing. It's fun to look at concept art and wonder what could have been.

I don't think Mordremoth was never even vaguely implied to be female at any point In Game, so the best I can figure that this was something this specific artist may have put in or perhaps their was the thought at some point to do a plot twist of some kind. 

Personally I actually prefer the entirely serpentine form of Mordremoth to this concept art, in my mind it better fits the idea of a Plant Elder Dragon thats connected literally to all of these giant corrupted vines and blighting trees and the like.

[Batel.9206]

11 hours ago, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

I don't think Mordremoth was never even vaguely implied to be female at any point In Game, so the best I can figure that this was something this specific artist may have put in or perhaps their was the thought at some point to do a plot twist of some kind.

Yeah, that's why I said I wonder what could have been (if this wasn't just an artist gaffe where they misunderstood what Mordremoth was supposed to be). It's just interesting to think about.

20 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

That concept art was partially reused for the massive Teragriff boss in LWS2.

Oooh, really? Looking at it again...yeah, I can see that! It's fascinating to see old concept art and see how it got repurposed or reworked in some way. 😄

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

4 hours ago, Batel.9206 said:

Yeah, that's why I said I wonder what could have been (if this wasn't just an artist gaffe where they misunderstood what Mordremoth was supposed to be). It's just interesting to think about.

Oooh, really? Looking at it again...yeah, I can see that! It's fascinating to see old concept art and see how it got repurposed or reworked in some way. 😄

Yep, its especially noticeable on the Silverwastes version, which even has the same face and wing designs, though a slightly different body. (I think the original would've taken too man polygons.)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Champion_Mordrem_Dark_Wing#/media/File:Mordrem_Teragriff_(boss).jpg

 

I think the main reason this wasn't used for Modremoth's main design (though not confirmed), is they wanted to give Modremoth a more humanoid design, similar to the Sylvari and Moderm Guard. The entire HoT expansion almost completely eliminates the original Modrem (from Dry Top, Silverwastes, etc.) in favor of humanoids, only featuring "feral" Modrem a few times.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Hannelore.8153