The Pact's original purpose (vs "The Source of Orr" dialogue)

[Gongji.2601]

I must admit, this is truly baffling me.

 

All the time, I thought that the Pact was formed to fight the elder dragon(s?), Zhaitan specifically, and Trahearne was chosen as a leader because he's neutral, aka not belonging to any of the three orders. Then at the end of "The Source of Orr" story mission, we get the following dialogue:

 

Spoiler

Trahearne: Hear that cheering, Commander? Savor it. Today, the Pact has triumphed...and my Wyld Hunt is finally at an end. Praise the Pale Tree!
Trahearne: I fear you still have great and terrible things to do. To kill Zhaitan...not long ago, I would have thought it impossible.
Trahearne: My Wyld Hunt may be over, but the coalition that we've built will fight on.
Trahearne: I hereby pledge the entire Pact and all its resources to your task. By the Mother Tree and all who have made the ultimate sacrifice, Zhaitan will fall.

 

My questions:
1) Why does this sound like Trahearne's Wyld Hunt was primary purpose of the Pact? (The cleansing of Orr was barely even mentioned during the storyline)
2) Why does Trahearne make it sound the Pact is "his own"?
3) And most notably, when did killing Zhaitan become the Commander's task in particular? Shouldn't it be the Pact's (and thus also Trahearne's) main goal from the beginning?

 

Did I miss something there? A side mission, an optional dialogue, anything what would explain the "I finished my personal task, so now I'm borrowing the Pact to you so you can finish your own" narrative?

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

1 hour ago, Gongji.2601 said:

1) Why does this sound like Trahearne's Wyld Hunt was primary purpose of the Pact? (The cleansing of Orr was barely even mentioned during the storyline)

It doesn't, not was it. It was just his goal as a Sylvari with a Wild Hunt. Bringing the Pact together was however part of the steps needed to accomplish his Wyld Hunt.

1 hour ago, Gongji.2601 said:

2) Why does Trahearne make it sound the Pact is "his own"?

Well he is the one who brought it together, and is the supreme leader of the Pact(Pact Marshall) and the one who dictates where it goes and who it fights. So it pretty much is.

1 hour ago, Gongji.2601 said:

3) And most notably, when did killing Zhaitan become the Commander's task in particular? Shouldn't it be the Pact's (and thus also Trahearne's) main goal from the beginning?

Since Claw Island where Zhaitan's minion killed your mentor.

And the Pact's goal at the time was to stop Zhaitan. That doesn't necessarily mean killing him, it means preventing him from being able to carry out his plan to invade tyria. Which they accomplished throughout the campaign on Orr. Killing Zhaitan at this point is just a bonus since its already been starved, blinded, and its forces brought to ruin.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Sajuuk Khar.1509

[Fueki.4753]

His Wild Hunt never was the primary goal.

However, Trahearne did divert some of the Pact's resources towards his Wyld Hunt of cleansing Orr from the corruption. And after he completed his Wyld Hunt, he stopped diverting those resources and put them back to use for the goal of stopping Zhaitan.

Also, if you are Sylvari, killing Zhaitan is your Wyld Hunt (or at least people thought so at launch, now opinions differ). That's why it'd be a Sylvari commander's task in particular. But I don't know, if that has any effect on the dialogue or if you played as Sylvari.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

That was just Trahearne being gracious and performing a formality that has no real alteration to the situation at large. He's basically saying "we'll stop with side objectives and focus solely on finishing Zhaitan in this final push", but the side objectives were pretty much done (and necessary to make that final push on Zhaitan).

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Cleansing Orr is a huge part of why Zhaitan even died.

 

Given that the Artesian Waters is the place where the gods first step foot upon this world, and its magic was powerful enough to attract them from the Mists, its very likely that its a massive ley-line hub, (especially Trahearne's words that the cleansing waters would flow to every corner of the nation).

 

As we saw with Modremoth, dragons having direct access to ley energy is all kinds of bad. It makes sense the Human Gods would build an entire city on top of a ley line nexus.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508