Dragon elements

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

I would say that someone's head - and thus brain - is a pretty critical part of the body. The shadowy face of Mordremoth shown to sylvari in Bitter Harvest, and which floats above the battle against the "avatar" of Mordremoth in the Dream (and that appears behind Trahearne) has the exact same face as the Mouth of Mordremoth, which is also said by Laranthir to actually be Mordremoth.

If you cut off the snake's head, it doesn't matter how buried the snake's tail is, it's still going to die.

And there's no indication that Mordremoth was a multi-headed dragon (unlike Zhaitan and concept art hints for the DSD).

[draxynnic.3719]

You're assuming his brain is in that head, or that Mordremoth even has a single brain at all - what we're told seems to indicate that it's a networked system, either with multiple brains or spread throughout his body.

My understanding from what we're told towards the end of HoT is that Mordremoth's vitals are deep underground. The Mouth of Mordremoth does not contain his vitals. I think - I don't have time to go chasing it up right now - that it's even said that the Mouth is fought and defeated a few times, because Mordremoth keeps growing it back.

It's probably more akin to a tentacle that happens to have eyes and a mouth than a head per se. There may even be a brain in it, allowing it to operate autonomously without conscious effort from the central mind (similar to to the 'secondary brains' some dinosaurs had). Either way, it's clearly not so vital that killing it is enough to kill Mordremoth without also eradicating the underground part.

[Rognik.2579]

I actually found an interesting bit of trivia while talking to the children in the Vehtendi Academy. In that heart quest, you can go around to the children in the lecture halls, answering their questions on the dragons and you earn progress by giving them true information instead of the propaganda the professors are forced(?) to teach. When talking about Mordremoth's defeat, the one that earns progress is saying how Mordremoth stabbed his own head into a pointy rock, which is exactly what happens to the Mouth of Mordremoth. I'm guessing this means that the Mouth of Mordremoth very much was the body, and the fight inside the mind is more to ensure the spirit never rises again.

[JayMack.8295]

I found that a really odd answer when I did that heart quest. I'd have imagined our PC to go, "I killed it in the dream." or something to that effect, but maybe they were just dumbing it down for human children who'd never understand that concept so disconnected from Tyria?

[castlemanic.3198]

@draxynnic.3719 said:You're assuming his brain is in that head, or that Mordremoth even has a single brain at all - what we're told seems to indicate that it's a networked system, either with multiple brains or spread throughout his body.

My understanding from what we're told towards the end of HoT is that Mordremoth's vitals are deep underground. The Mouth of Mordremoth does not contain his vitals. I think - I don't have time to go chasing it up right now - that it's even said that the Mouth is fought and defeated a few times, because Mordremoth keeps growing it back.

It's probably more akin to a tentacle that happens to have eyes and a mouth than a head per se. There may even be a brain in it, allowing it to operate autonomously without conscious effort from the central mind (similar to to the 'secondary brains' some dinosaurs had). Either way, it's clearly not so vital that killing it is enough to kill Mordremoth without also eradicating the underground part.

Can I draw a real world comparison to what you're trying to say?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20141114-the-biggest-organism-in-the-world

That article points out that there's a single fungus that's 2.4 miles wide and goes into slight details about what that means, ending on the scientific definition of a single organism, which this fungus qualifies as.

From what I understand, mordremoth is that but sentient and magical. To further the comparison, while Mordremoth itself was being killed, a single parasitic spore was planted onto another tree, making it still mordremoth, but physically disconnected and safe from being killed with the 'original' mordremoth in the dream. As this parasitic spore wasn't developed enough to spread itself, killing the host (and by extension the spore) kills mordremoth in finality.