Is the Aurene story over?

[Buzzbugs.1236]

I hope it is..

To be honest,when Aurene appeared in the story and it became obvious that she was being used as a means create sympathy for the dragons I didn't like it at all. Dragon's always have been an eternal enemy to mortals and they are completely selfish creatures! So why would I care about Aurene, and why would she care about us? It made no sense. I was really very unsatisfied when she came back from the dead after that one cliffhanger episode..

 

Anyway, is it really End of Dragons now after the expansion? Because if Aurene continues to interject herself in future story then it really isn't the End of Dragons, is it ? Maybe ArenaNet mean't to say "End of Bad Dragons" (lol)

[Kalavier.1097]

Did you forget about Glint, by any chance? The first dragon we actually meet (that's alive) in Guild wars is a friendly one. Also wasn't selfish.

 

Also, "Why should she care about us" is... literally a plot point early on and dealt with lol!

[Buzzbugs.1236]

1 hour ago, Kalavier.1097 said:

Also, "Why should she care about us" is... literally a plot point early on and dealt with lol!

Just because the writers decided to include that in there, doesn't make it anymore believable 😒

[Kalavier.1097]

2 hours ago, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

Just because the writers decided to include that in there, doesn't make it anymore believable 😒

 

I fail to see how it's unbelievable that the child of the friendly dragon, being raised with and by mortals, would grow to care deeply about us, being linked to a mortal champion as well.

 

It's even touched on that Vlast suffered because of his isolation. While he fought against the branded and defended people, he lacked that connection and grew to somewhat resent his role.

 

My confusion is the very first living dragon we interact with in guild wars setting is, infact not selfish or an enemy of the mortal races/world.

[Teratus.2859]

Over?..
No I wouldn't say so.

Currently resolved/on a hiatus?..
Yes that's probably how I would word it.

Will she still be part of the ongoing story?..
Yes, I suspect so but probably more from a supportive role as she has done in the past and less directly involved as she has tried to be in recent story.

We are still her champion at the end of the day and Aurine has not retreated from the world as some of us suspected she would after End of Dragons.

Aurine still requires companionship, she doesn't want to spend her life alone and the bonds she has formed with mortals is important to her, especially since they won't be around forever like she will be.
I doubt she'd want to waste that time with us and I can also see her reaching out to other beings like Kuunavang and forming a friendship with her as well.
Wouldn't be surprised if Kuunavang becomes another of her champions to be honest.
I'd very much like to see that personally, specially if Kuuni gets a cool crystal makeover like Caithe did.. although I don't think such a physical change would be necessary.

[Teratus.2859]

12 hours ago, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

Dragon's always have been an eternal enemy to mortals and they are completely selfish creatures!

That is completely wrong for this franchise dude.

We've always had friendly Dragons in the Guildwars franchise, even since the first game which had multiple.
Glint, Kuunavang, Albax, Shiny, "Gleam" aka baby Vlast and there was a baby Saltspray in Gw1..
All friendly dragons.

Then in Gw2, Aurine, Glint, Vlast, Kuunavang, Soo-Won and basically every Skyscale...
All friendly dragons.

Virtually every "bad" dragon we've seen in the franchise has either been some kind of wild animal of lesser intelligence such as various Drakes, Wyverns and Bonesnap Turtles.
 Or it's been some being that has been corrupted and is controlled by something else.
Every Elder Dragon except Aurine counts here as well as every Draconic minion of them such as Wyverns etc
Bone Dragons in Gw1 were reanimated corpses.
And all but a few Saltspray Dragons in gw1 were corrupted by the Jade Wind and that's why they are hostile.

If anything intelligent Dragons in the Guildwars franchise are all depicted as naturally good creatures until they become corrupted or driven mad by some other force.
There are no naturally bad intelligent dragons in this franchise that I can think off.. not a single one.

The closest thing I can even think of to that is that there is one Wyvern in the mists that can talk but we don't know if that is some kind of unique individual or evidence that Wyverns are more intelligent than we give them credit for.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Teratus.2859

[Lord Trejgon.2809]

So, basically OP, grabbed the most stereotypical pop-culture image of a dragon, applied it to GW2 without giving any single thought to trying to see how dragons actually are within this franchise, and then decided that aurene's story is not believable because "in those other fantasy settings dragens bad, so they have to be bad here too"?

My advise would be for OP to realize, that different fantasy settings, differs from each other in how they portray certain things, and not all dragons are the same. And then to go and investigate how dragons are portrayed in this particular setting (GW Franchise, Tyria) before trying to claim that something is not believable.

EDIT: as far as folklore and fantsy settings goes, there is plethora of those that also does not portray dragons in tolkien-esque manner, for example: in Earthsea setting by Ursula Le Guin, dragons, are generaly neutral species, often in conflict with humans, but not inherently evil, Chinese folklore has Dragons as essentially benevolent gods/protectors if memory serves, quite popular some time ago Eragon series of books, features dragons as again benevolent species that bonds with humans/elves for life, newest I have read, "Battlemage" by Peter Flannery, has dragons in it's setting as again benevolent protectors, that are summoned by special individuals, also good old Dungeons and Dragons, has also a split between "good dragons" and "bad dragons" based on the colour of their scales).

Edited April 4, 2022 by Lord Trejgon.2809

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

inb4 thread lock...

I certainly hope that the rest of the story from here on out has Aurene taking a backseat and instead has the Commander of living life for once. Our character's can't catch a break can they?

I wouldn't mind if the next bit of story has Jory and junior detectives investigating Raisu Palace with us in tow sans ANY dragons. Would be nice for some Oni or other demons to appear for a change.

Edit: Confused person go read the post from the Forum Moderator below this post.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Lan Deathrider.5910

[Forum Moderator.3419]

Hello Everyone,

Just a reminder to keep it civil and avoid attacking each other.  I've removed a few posts.

Regards.

[Teratus.2859]

1 hour ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

inb4 thread lock...

I certainly hope that the rest of the story from here on out has Aurene taking a backseat and instead has the Commander of living life for once. Our character's can't catch a break can they?

I wouldn't mind if the next bit of story has Jory and junior detectives investigating Raisu Palace with us in tow sans ANY dragons. Would be nice for some Oni or other demons to appear for a change.

Yes 😄 

Glad i'm not alone with the Demon desire for future story.
Part of me hops that horror in the depths is some kind of demon, like the massive maws we saw in Gw1 in the domain of anguish.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 minute ago, Teratus.2859 said:

Yes 😄 

Glad i'm not alone with the Demon desire for future story.
Part of me hops that horror in the depths is some kind of demon, like the massive maws we saw in Gw1 in the domain of anguish.

I know right? This is a great opportunity to get away from dragons and into other things that were lurking in the depths that were kept in check by the presence of the dragons.

[Teratus.2859]

5 minutes ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

I know right? This is a great opportunity to get away from dragons and into other things that were lurking in the depths that were kept in check by the presence of the dragons.

Indeed, the ocean depths are right at the top of my list for where I want to go in Gw2.
As are the tunnels and deep places of the world that Primordus and his Destroyers kept us away from for so long.

There could be an entire Demon realm down there and there is evidence to support that.
We do know about the horrors in the ocean that Soo-Won was apparently keeping in check and god knows what Primordus was possibly keeping in the depths of the world as well.
The Canthan's dug way too deep a few hundred years ago and what did they find?.. a Demon, one the world has never seen before and has no known ties to the mists where we thought all Demons came from.

I love the idea of going into the ocean and finding some kind of massive Demon down there.
Or joining the Dwarves and Asura on an expedition to find the lost Asuran cities and Skritt homelands only to find Demons come up from some unknown place in the depths to claim new territory that Primordus was previously stopping them from claiming.

The deep places of the world just have too much potential story to not explore lol
I wanna go there so bad.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

19 hours ago, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

Dragon's always have been an eternal enemy to mortals and they are completely selfish creatures!

Glint.

Kuunavang.

Albax.

Shiny.

Vlast (aka Baby Dragon / Gleam).

 

These NPCs all existed in GW1 and were distinctly not "eternal enemies to mortals and completely selfish creatures". In fact, the very first release of Guild Wars, Prophecies, only had two dragons of importance: Rotscale and Glint. One was an evil side boss that was highlighted in the trailer and E3 betas. The other was a pivotal benevolent figure in the plot that aided the Hero and played the role for the Hero's Joruney Step 7: Meeting with the Goddess (a powerful figure, often a mother figure which Glint certainly fulfills in Prophecies as guardian of the world under the Five Gods, who appears only to direct the hero to the route they must take but not take a proactive role themselves).

4 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

So, basically OP, grabbed the most stereotypical pop-culture image of a dragon, applied it to GW2 without giving any single thought to trying to see how dragons actually are within this franchise, and then decided that aurene's story is not believable because "in those other fantasy settings dragens bad, so they have to be bad here too"?

Honestly it's not even the most stereotypical pop-culture image of dragons anymore, as more and more fantasy settings paint dragons as ancient wisemen figures just as much as they paint them as feral beasts of greed. I'd argue this is due mainly as influence from eastern cultures, who often depicted dragons in such ways more than feral beasts that's more common in European / Western settings.

Seems more that OP just took the core's depiction of Elder Dragons and applied it to all dragons in the setting, ignoring the dragons that came before in lore.

2 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

I certainly hope that the rest of the story from here on out has Aurene taking a backseat and instead has the Commander of living life for once. Our character's can't catch a break can they?

I wouldn't mind if the next bit of story has Jory and junior detectives investigating Raisu Palace with us in tow sans ANY dragons. Would be nice for some Oni or other demons to appear for a change.

I also hope that the story from hereon has Aurene taking a backseat. The issue is the why and how. Aurene is now the single most powerful figure in the entire world, and as she's lost her hesitation to not act in the haphazardly cut short IBS: Champions, it'll be hard to explain a reason why she won't act in the future unless maintaining the ley-lines takes all of her concentration.

 

I don't expect Oni to show up though. GW1 pretty solidly established them as caused by the Nightmare Demon Kanaxai, whom we killed. Unlike Urgoz who was a forest spirit, there's not much reason for a demon to be resurrected. And I'd honestly hope they avoid bringing back GW1 characters for the sake of bringing them back... I would much rather have different demons show up, like The Voice from Deepstone Fractal becoming an active threat.

[ugrakarma.9416]

EoD states clear that they go away from dragon lore, as Aurene "everything is fine" on ley line, can be just a excuse to don't meddle with "mundane affairs".

[Thornwolf.9721]

On 4/3/2022 at 3:56 PM, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

I hope it is..

To be honest,when Aurene appeared in the story and it became obvious that she was being used as a means create sympathy for the dragons I didn't like it at all. Dragon's always have been an eternal enemy to mortals and they are completely selfish creatures! So why would I care about Aurene, and why would she care about us? It made no sense. I was really very unsatisfied when she came back from the dead after that one cliffhanger episode..

 

Anyway, is it really End of Dragons now after the expansion? Because if Aurene continues to interject herself in future story then it really isn't the End of Dragons, is it ? Maybe ArenaNet mean't to say "End of Bad Dragons" (lol)

Given how many threats can come from the mists (Including the six gods) and the spirits of the wild being on a recovery hiatus I'd wager she's the ONLY thing we have in our arsenal who can fight whatever comes next depending on what it is. If its the six then we'll need her; If it's demons or some such thing we'll need as well.

The horrors of the deep are also something to consider... it was not soo-won that sunk the ships and terrorized the unending ocean; Something else is there and we have literally now clue what the heck it is. Or how powerful it might be. We do know that Soo-won likely was at odds with it... but no clue of its origin or nature.

[maxwelgm.4315]

Ultimately Guild Wars 2 is still very much about Elder Dragons no matter what you do, as they have been woven into the very fabric of what makes Tyria. Aurene is as much a character as she is a huge part of the worldbuilding now, and with this in mind she can and will probably take a backseat but not really be gone from sight. There are many reasons and ways to keep her at bay while the Commander deals with threats knowing she won't be there as a Deus Ex Machina plot device (we already have Taimi for this anyway, no need for two). She is now the sole thing holding the balance of the All together in Tyria and keeping the Void to a minimum, and we don't know (neither does she know, actually), what kind of effort that might entail.

 

However, it stands that any big threat we end up facing is gonna raise the question of where is Aurene to help us face it since she's the new protector of Tyria after all (be it the six gods, deep sea horrors or something else altogether). And remember we are still Champions to her and this kind of bond has been shown to be quite strong and not really something you easily brush off even if she's not straight up corrupting you. So in the end she might probably play the role of counselor, or facing parts of the threat off-screen while we deal with the main thing in-game. In a sense her character arc is over but for now I'd say the story of Aurene is not over, since it's woven too much into it and is currently a bit inseparable from the story of GW2 itself.

[Bast.7253]

16 hours ago, maxwelgm.4315 said:

Ultimately Guild Wars 2 is still very much about Elder Dragons no matter what you do, as they have been woven into the very fabric of what makes Tyria. Aurene is as much a character as she is a huge part of the worldbuilding now, and with this in mind she can and will probably take a backseat but not really be gone from sight. There are many reasons and ways to keep her at bay while the Commander deals with threats knowing she won't be there as a Deus Ex Machina plot device (we already have Taimi for this anyway, no need for two). She is now the sole thing holding the balance of the All together in Tyria and keeping the Void to a minimum, and we don't know (neither does she know, actually), what kind of effort that might entail.

 

However, it stands that any big threat we end up facing is gonna raise the question of where is Aurene to help us face it since she's the new protector of Tyria after all (be it the six gods, deep sea horrors or something else altogether). And remember we are still Champions to her and this kind of bond has been shown to be quite strong and not really something you easily brush off even if she's not straight up corrupting you. So in the end she might probably play the role of counselor, or facing parts of the threat off-screen while we deal with the main thing in-game. In a sense her character arc is over but for now I'd say the story of Aurene is not over, since it's woven too much into it and is currently a bit inseparable from the story of GW2 itself.

Likely. Someone advises on smaller threats but stays out of them. But they could also just give her a break until they need her to come in for larger threats - and that doesn't necessarily mean she gets directly involved but as her champion we could get empowered in some way. There's still eons of damage left by the previous dragon rises and a ton from this one that Aurene could help clear up. Kralk's Brand, Zhaitan and Orr, Mordremoth and Maguuma, and whatever damage Jormag and Primordus have done though these two might not have anything that needs cleansing as their effects were more natural like fire and ice. 

 

[Delta.1526]

On 4/4/2022 at 6:56 AM, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

Anyway, is it really End of Dragons now after the expansion? Because if Aurene continues to interject herself in future story then it really isn't the End of Dragons, is it ? Maybe ArenaNet mean't to say "End of Bad Dragons" (lol)

I mean, if we wanna get technical, End of Dragons did indeed give us the end of dragons -- we only have one of 'em now so, Dragons, plural, are no more. 😉

[Serephen.3420]

On 4/4/2022 at 5:56 AM, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

I hope it is..

To be honest,when Aurene appeared in the story and it became obvious that she was being used as a means create sympathy for the dragons I didn't like it at all. Dragon's always have been an eternal enemy to mortals and they are completely selfish creatures! So why would I care about Aurene, and why would she care about us? It made no sense. I was really very unsatisfied when she came back from the dead after that one cliffhanger episode..

 

Anyway, is it really End of Dragons now after the expansion? Because if Aurene continues to interject herself in future story then it really isn't the End of Dragons, is it ? Maybe ArenaNet mean't to say "End of Bad Dragons" (lol)

You really don't know much about the overall story do you? 😅

But I guess you probably didn't play guild wars 1 to know about allied sragons like Glint and Kuunavang. 

It's the end of the dragon cycle that went on for ages. Magic is imbalance for now, Aurene will probably be more focused maintaining that. We are still her champion though so who knows. Might be that we become a target for some people because of that. 

Anyways, it's the end of the dragon's story that we've had since the base game, or EOTN if you count that. They've mentioned how they want to tell new stories, and Aurene is the only elder dragon left so I doubt it'd be likely to get another elder dragon centric story. So relax and keep your pants on.

[Kalavier.1097]

2 hours ago, Serephen.3420 said:

You really don't know much about the overall story do you? 😅

But I guess you probably didn't play guild wars 1 to know about allied sragons like Glint and Kuunavang. 

It's the end of the dragon cycle that went on for ages. Magic is imbalance for now, Aurene will probably be more focused maintaining that. We are still her champion though so who knows. Might be that we become a target for some people because of that. 

Anyways, it's the end of the dragon's story that we've had since the base game, or EOTN if you count that. They've mentioned how they want to tell new stories, and Aurene is the only elder dragon left so I doubt it'd be likely to get another elder dragon centric story. So relax and keep your pants on.

Pretty much. There aren't any more magic hording dragons around that we'd need Aurene to directly deal with.

[Trise.2865]

Over? No. She still exists, and needs to exist until/unless another solution can be found. Not to mention, she's part of our (the Commander's) story and powers. We will never be completely separate from her.

Done for now? Yes. Barring another world-ending threat, Aurene needs to focus her energy and magic on maintaining and regulating both Magic and the Void. She can't divide her attention too broadly, else the system imbalances again. She can't just swoop in whenever she feels like it, but she can still turn up or boost us in clutch moments. (a "dragon ex machina", if you will)