Are we EVER going to find out who E is???

[Moi.5013]

I was just replaying some personal story on an alt and realized we have never found out who the mysterious E is.  I am now curious, will we ever know?  Seems like something we should find out eventually.  C'mon ANet....inquiring minds want to know!

[Epsilon Indi.2031]

If they're male, it'd be a mister e.

[eXruina.4956]

isn't it ellen kiel? 🤔

[Donari.5237]

As far as I'm concerned, it's Faren until ANet proves otherwise, for reasons elucidated in a number of previous threads by myself and others.

Sadly I fear they may not ever bother to let us know.  They've tossed bigger plot points to the cutting room floor (Malyck, *kaff kaff*).  I'm not even sure the writers that inserted Mr. E into the story are still working at ANet.

[Greener.6204]

I've just presumed it was Lady Camilla Einshorn. She wrote many letters to you under the pseudonym 'Your Herald', so why not deal with others using the name 'E'? She seems to know a lot about the world in her letters to you.

[Poormany.4507]

9 hours ago, Moi.5013 said:

I was just replaying some personal story on an alt and realized we have never found out who the mysterious E is.  I am now curious, will we ever know?  Seems like something we should find out eventually.  C'mon ANet....inquiring minds want to know!

The writers pretty much said in a Reddit post (I don't recall the exact one) that E's story has been shelved for now due to irrelevance to the story, but they would like to bring it back if the story goes in that direction. I could see the case of E being brought back with the new mini-expac format in a mini-expac focusing on Kryta (where E seems to be centered around), where smaller scale stories are more likely/easier to be told.

[LSD.4673]

9 hours ago, Donari.5237 said:

They've tossed bigger plot points to the cutting room floor (Malyck, *kaff kaff*).  

Or Zojja *Snaff Snaff*.

[mandala.8507]

I love when people bring up Malyck as a big plot point when it's an optional branch on one race's early personal story. Yeah, it foreshadows HoT lore, but it's by no means a large narrative thread in and of itself.

It's a less integral part of the core game than the Quaggan personal story arc, but we're claiming it's a huge dropped plot point. It's the community that's ginned up the importance of Malyck specifically. Not that I'd be mad if they did return to his character, but we have to stop acting like this studio is committing unforgiveable writing sins by not traveling to the end of every last narrative avenue. If they put a hard stop on every plot beat, the world would be hopelessly stale and devoid of off-screen motion. There would end up being nothing to follow up on, which is boring.

And E is Marjory or one of her nuclear family members 👀

[Ashantara.8731]

6 hours ago, Poormany.4507 said:

The writers pretty much said in a Reddit post (I don't recall the exact one) that E's story has been shelved for now due to irrelevance to the story

Which is most likely dev language for, "We don't have a clue!" 😂

[LSD.4673]

28 minutes ago, mandala.8507 said:

I love when people bring up Malyck as a big plot point when it's an optional branch on one race's early personal story. Yeah, it foreshadows HoT lore, but it's by no means a large narrative thread in and of itself.

It's a less integral part of the core game than the Quaggan personal story arc, but we're claiming it's a huge dropped plot point. It's the community that's ginned up the importance of Malyck specifically. Not that I'd be mad if they did return to his character, but we have to stop acting like this studio is committing unforgiveable writing sins by not traveling to the end of every last narrative avenue. If they put a hard stop on every plot beat, the world would be hopelessly stale and devoid of off-screen motion. There would end up being nothing to follow up on, which is boring.

And E is Marjory or one of her nuclear family members 👀

Yeah it's a part of the branched level 20 or 30 or whatever PS, but it's still an important plot point for the entirety of a playable race introduced in the game. And it's an interesting plot point, as opposed to the masses of utterly uninteresting stuff we've had shoveled out over the years.

Ep 2 of LW3 was "Taimi made a hologram game" and "the fire islands explode!!". Ep 3 was "i am the norn of killing Jormag and angst!". Generic, boring stuff that could have been scrapped and not done any harm whatsoever.

[Arthelad.5418]

At the end of EoD, we find out from marjory that the FDA (friends detective agency) is funded by a misterious investor.  So after a few misteries solved, it's possible for this said investor to reveal himself as possibly E?

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

2 hours ago, Arthelad.5418 said:

At the end of EoD, we find out from marjory that the FDA (friends detective agency) is funded by a misterious investor.  So after a few misteries solved, it's possible for this said investor to reveal himself as possibly E?

Pretty sure their investor is Canache.

[Arthelad.5418]

1 hour ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

Pretty sure their investor is Canache.

Depends on what the studio decides. Personally, i don't see canach being the investor beacuse he has no real reason to keep it a secret from us. He could have easily told us at the party. And with the brand new letters of E and others being introduced with the return season 1, I would bet my money on E. Unless it was the "its lord faren cuz L+F=E" theory all along 🤯.

[DarcShriek.5829]

More importantly, who is the other successor to the human throne?

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Players have been over this repeatedly with every possible combinatiion of NPCs. The only one that fits is Lord Faren, who is suspected of having a Bruce Wayne/Batman-like persona.

 

Every other NPC has something major getting in the way, especially Anise which is the fan favorite candidate for E, but has literally no possibility of it. We also know its not Camila since E has been confirmed as being somewhat cutthroat, threatening Marjory in their first meeting with Thief-like abilities (Marjory confirms they're not Necro-like abilities as there's no sense of death in the encounter).

Faren is also the current lord of Beetlestone Manor, further thickening the plot. Think about all the situations the guy has been put into and has come out mysteriously unscathed , aside from some significant injuries in Kourna after soloing an entire mission behind enemy lines.

Edited April 10, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[The Greyhawk.9107]

In still (sadly) unlikely event we find out who E is, I kinda hope it isn't Faren. Not because I particularly dislike the goof, but because that's just not as interesting to me, and it's a little too on the nose, the whole pretending to a fopish incompetent in the vein of Bruce Wayne.  I'd like someone most of us wouldn't guess.

[mandala.8507]

1 hour ago, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

In still (sadly) unlikely event we find out who E is, I kinda hope it isn't Faren. Not because I particularly dislike the goof, but because that's just not as interesting to me, and it's a little too on the nose, the whole pretending to a fopish incompetent in the vein of Bruce Wayne.  I'd like someone most of us wouldn't guess.

I feel like Faren being E somewhat delegitimizes his character. And if he's E, why's he just sitting on the sidelines in all our early pivotal trials? I would send him to Grenth for that nonsense on the spot, ngl.

Faren: "Commander, I'm E." 

Me: Greatsword

Like, bro. There's a dragon we have to fight. Why are you running around the jungle with no clothes instead of actually helping?

But I don't think the Faren theory is that credible. His early personal story involvement was too silly for me to believe he's really a duplicitous puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

On 4/7/2023 at 11:41 PM, eXruina.4956 said:

isn't it ellen kiel? 🤔

Ellen Kiel shows zero interest in Kryta/DR, while E is a spymaster focused around Kryta. Hell, even with Lion's Arch politics, Kiel is the furthest cry of a spymaster there can be - and since E warned us about incoming issues at Dragon Bash, I think if Kiel knew of such she would have upped security a lot more.

On 4/8/2023 at 1:58 AM, Greener.6204 said:

I've just presumed it was Lady Camilla Einshorn. She wrote many letters to you under the pseudonym 'Your Herald', so why not deal with others using the name 'E'? She seems to know a lot about the world in her letters to you.

All her letters were focused on the same topic - that of Destiny's Edge. Which was her current research project at the time as explained in the first one, while following the PC's exploits as a hobby (which she discovered due to the PC's connection to Destiny's Edge), which she then takes a step too far in Season 4...

 

Personally, I like the idea of Faren being E. Here are the reasons behind it:

• Overlap L and F, and you get E.
• In most cases, E only cares about the kingdom of Kryta. The one time his letters do not involve Kryta, it is about Lion's Arch and Dragon Bash. Where was Faren at that time? Traveling back to Kryta via Lion's Arch. Coincidence?
• The second time we get contacted by E, it's Clockwork Chaos. Faren is one of the only named nobles who shows up there (despite there being many named nobles ArenaNet could have used, even as fillers). Faren characteristically tries to save Jennah and gets captured, but uncharacteristically gets involved with the Watchknights' renovations afterwards. He's not usually one to busy himself with work, not without complaint.
• It is mighty peculiar how Faren managed to survive the Mordrem and Saurian infested Maguuma for a whole week on his own. He's not totally defenseless, but he's not exactly jungle survivor material in any fashion... unless he's hiding more of himself than he lets on.
• Whomever E is, Caudecus figured it out as he sent them a letter once, resulting in the plot of the Unknown Parents human storyline. Who else shows up at the beginning of the Unknown Parents storyline? Faren! On a "date" - this is regardless of your biography option for chapter 1, and dissimilar to his appearance in the Missed Opportunity storyline which does depend on your chapter 1 route. While this would have been a retroactive addition, as E was invented for Season 1 and his involvement in Unknown Parents invented for Season 3, it makes the perfect sense.
• Lastly, when Kryta was in a panic during Season 3, Lord Faren was nowhere to be found... but E was moving a lot of people around behind the scene, almost frantically. If Faren wasn't E, where was he? And if he was, we know why he was missing.

[Urud.4925]

I thought it was Anise, I didn't think about Faren. I'm not too much into lore, but I feel there's a lot missing also about her. I've read she might be also that kid saying "uncle Trombone", when Rytlock was thinking about a new name for the guild. Maybe they are not important stories, but it would be nice to have one day some hint/scroll lying around and explaining some old questions.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Urud.4925

[Jimbru.6014]

The last conversation I remember having about E, we had settled on Lady Wi as the strongest candidate.

PROS:
- Lady Wi is a mesmer and member of the Mesmer Collective. Illusions galore. Masquerading as male? Child's play.
- Lady Wi is a senior member of the Order of Whispers, so she's doubly skilled in matters of secrecy and espionage. E shows knowledge of Whispers methods in at least one letter.
- Lady Wi is a Minister's wife and one of Jennah's confidants, placing her in the position of strong inside knowledge that E's letters consistently demonstrate.
- Wi (pronounced "Wee", long E) and "E"...Lady Wi, Lady E...not a huge jump.

CONS:
- High visibility. Lady Wi is a Minister's wife and there's only so much time in a day, so her public life limits her freedom to get away and do sneaky stuff. That seemingly would make her a poor candidate for E. But then again, such a gilded cage could be why E has only ever been seen in person once (off screen by Marjory) and communicates indirectly by letters. All these parties and paparazzi...oh, the price of being a rich celebrity with a secret identity! I'm sure Bruce Wayne would sympathize.

Now, an important question: if Lady Wi is E, why haven't we heard from her since LS3E4? Yes, ANet has given up on E's story for now. But if Lady Wi is E, there are legitimate reasons for her silence:
- Family life. After LS3E4, repairing her relationship with Valette and supporting her husband require more of her attention. An added complication is that her husband doesn't know she's Whispers, which is an extra mask to wear.
- Politics. After LS3E4 shook up the Ministry and re-asserted Jennah's authority, no doubt Kryta has more than enough "smoke filled room" shenanigans going on to keep E busy with relatively mundane internal affairs, not of concern to Our Heroes who are busy with much bigger things.

That's my take, anyway: E is Lady Wi. YMMV.
 

 

[Jimbru.6014]

On 4/8/2023 at 1:58 AM, Greener.6204 said:

I've just presumed it was Lady Camilla Einshorn. She wrote many letters to you under the pseudonym 'Your Herald', so why not deal with others using the name 'E'? She seems to know a lot about the world in her letters to you.

Camilla is our nerdy otaku, an obsessed fan and borderline stalker, nothing more.

[mandala.8507]

Okay, so I did a little more digging.

Before the re-release of season 1, I had made a pretty strong case for E just being Marjory's alias, but with the supplemental letters from E they added, I think it no longer holds water. The letters Marjory gets just don't support the notion that she's invented this character to give herself extra clout anymore. This is unfortunate, because I really wanted it to be her, but I have to concede that it's no longer likely.

So then, who could it be?

First off, it's not Faren; no way, no how.

Lady Wi is interesting, but I don't think it fits with the information we're given about E in the letters from Lake Doric. E explicitly writes for their agent to involve no Beetlestones, but Lady Wi inherently trusts and supports Demmi. It doesn't make sense for someone who put so much on the line for that girl to not trust her when the time came.

Having a traitor daughter also just takes the oomph out of that character entirely, so I don't actually like the Lady Wi theory that much.

Another possibility is Anise, but again, it's just too messy and unnecessarily awkward for it to be her. E seems to trust and value Logan, and as far as I can tell, Anise would gladly be rid of him. Also, E seems to be absent from Divinity's Reach during the events of The Head of the Snake patch, so all the delegating and hints at her having to be informed about the situation from afar don't align with Anise's whereabouts.

Points in Anise's favor come from all the Shining Blade connections and the care E has for Kasmeer, but it's still not a great fit.

The Queen makes no sense here, sadly. She too trusts and values Demmi, and so the idea she would not trust her is a far-fetched one.

Logan isn't conniving enough to be E, and it would be kind of embarrassing if he used his alter ego to place a guard on himself. He doesn't even remotely fit, although the Seraph connection had me at least stop to think about him despite his total incompatibility with the character.

The answer was really right in front of my face the whole time, but it's more than likely the former Shining Blade Master Exemplar, Eive.

This character would have connections with everyone who's been getting correspondences, they would have the perfect disposition to not trust any Beetlestones, and most importantly they were conceived after/alongside the Head of the Snake patch developments with E and their name actually does start with an E.

Having stepped down from her role in 1320, she would be the perfect age and authority level to be moving pieces like E has been behind the scenes and to have high-up connections within Kryta. Also, it would make her somewhat of an elder to the current big name humans like Kasmeer, Marjory, Logan, Anise (by their rank hierarchy), Jennah, etc, the dynamic of which you can feel through her reliance on these characters and the subtle pride and compassion she has for them that leaks out in her letters.

She's also a massive blank slate character that would have zero business being revealed in any of the stories we've been telling since season 3, which explains why she's been sidelined by development for so long.

She would be a great character to finally unveil in a human-centric Isles of Janthir expansion, especially with all the detective stuff and dark voodoo the current story is dealing with. However, with the mini-expac model and all the hinting at an Asura-centric Janthir story, I'm not sure how they'd fit her in there.

But anyway, yeah. Eive has been mentioned in this discussion by others before, but I really do like her being E now that I've really put some thought into it. She's such a small footnote at the end of the Shining Blade instance in episode 6 that I honestly just hadn't contemplated her at all before today. My bad. 😅

[Jimbru.6014]

6 hours ago, mandala.8507 said:

Okay, so I did a little more digging.

*snip*

Sorry for the edit, didn't want to blast everyone by doubling your wall of text.  🙂

I feel there are two strong points against Anise being E.
- IMHO Anise's personality doesn't fit E's letters. She is nosy, aggressive and arrogant. Not nearly subtle enough to be E.
- More importantly, Anise says at one point that she received a letter from E. It would be odd for her to be sending letters to herself.

I have wondered if "E" could be a simple cover identity not for Jennah herself, but for someone acting on her behalf. I say that because LS3E6 makes it uncomfortably clear that the Shining Blade are a cult loyal to their vision of Kryta, not to Jennah personally. Jennah is smart enough to know that and hedge her bets by having her own agents outside the Shining Blade. Jennah even drops hints about what she knows about Anise's plans, implying that Jennah has her own means. People she can trust personally to give her unfiltered information and follow her orders, not Anise's. E could be that person or persons.

I doubt E is Eive for one significant reason: Eive seems narrowly focused on Shining Blade affairs and particularly Lazarus, while E's letters clearly show broader interests.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Jimbru.6014

[mandala.8507]

1 hour ago, Jimbru.6014 said:

I doubt E is Eive for one significant reason: Eive seems narrowly focused on Shining Blade affairs and particularly Lazarus, while E's letters clearly show broader interests.

She has practically no characterization though, not even that she is concerned over Lazarus.

The only lore I'm aware of relating to her is from that one season 3 instance where there is one document saying she thinks the Shining Blade should be kind to the Sylvari and then another codifying her resignation, saying this:

Quote

"I, Eive, have loved the Shining Blade as my own family, and that will not change. I have responsibilities that occasionally take me away, and you deserve a leader dedicated to leading you."

If anything, this directly contradicts the notion that her focus is narrow and mostly concerns the Shining Blade. Her only known quote from the game says she explicitly isn't solely focused on the Shining Blade. And honestly, both documents allude to her broader interests outside of Kryta.

Unless there is some other source you are referencing that I and the wiki aren't aware of that fleshes out her character more than this?

[Ashantara.8731]

10 hours ago, Jimbru.6014 said:

Camilla is our nerdy otaku, an obsessed fan and borderline stalker, nothing more.

Indeed. She reminds me of Marcy -- creepy person. 😅