[Theory] "south to the island of Janthir."

[TeeracK.3601]

This is a theory I've had for a very long time that I've never bothered to properly organize since I was sure none of these things would ever matter and it was all dropped and done content, but with the new expansion it has me thinking this could actually be a real thing.

 

So first off sky islands. The new region will be heading to in the SOTO is Skywatch Archipelago a group of floating islands high above Tyria. The idea of floating islands isn't anything new to guild wars with things like the wizard's tower(duh), but there have also always been a lot of small bits of floating islands speckled all around the tarnished coast. In both gw2 and gw1 you can see a lot of small islands in the region floating, and even a good amount of tarnished coast concept art shows some very big floating chunks of land. So the idea of floating landmasses has always been a key visual set piece for the Tarnished Coast region.

Now moving on from that let's just talk about the white mantle. They were a group of fanatics in guild wars 1 that worshiped the Mursatt which they called the Unseen. It's important to remember that in GW1 every time you see the term "unseen" it pretty much always refers to the Mursatt.

They were an active faction in both maguuma and krya.

https://i.imgur.com/eVPCsr4.jpg

(Generally in this part of the world)

Now when you look at the map you'll notice that there is a weird out of place shadow right here.

https://i.imgur.com/0QJQItU.jpg

Now you may at first not think that means anything at all, but there is actual lore for this. the NPC you talk to to travel along the Ullen River in guild wars 1 will tell you.

Quote

Old Joness
"Ah, yes it is her sigil. Hmmm...yes, yes. Oh my..."
⇒ What is it, old man?
"I have been a guide on the Dark River for many, many years. I know it back and forth, like the tracks of time on my very face. You must know this letter may carry you to your death. The passage we must take is perilous at best."
⇒ The Dark River?
"Its real name is Ullen River, but those of us who know it best never call it that. It's the Dark River to us. Dark as in absence of light, yes, but that's only part of it. A shadow lies over that region, and it is cast by something...unseen, I suppose you could say."

He says the shadow is caused by something "unseen" and also even paused before saying unseen as if to further draw attention to it. Remember what I said earlier about how the term unseen in gw1 was pretty much always used to refer to the mursatt? Keep that in mind. (Also note this shadow is gone by gw2 with no explanation)

Now moving on to the next part without going into the full story. The white mantle had a very important artifact The Eye of Janthir which they was used to find the chosen in kryta, and then take them into the jungle to never be seen again(where they were sacrificed). Which ironically is also very similar to what's going on in Garenhoff with people being chosen to come into the wizard's tower to never be seen again. I'll also point out that the only lore we ever got in guild wars 1 about the wizard's tower was from a quest where a member of the white mantle wanted to get the power from inside the wizard's tower, but it didn't give us more info then that.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Eye_of_Janthir#/media/File:Eye_of_Janthir.jpg

Now just looking at the way the eye of Jantir looks in gw2 they made the eye sorta look like a burning galaxy portal. When you compare it to the new rifts in SOTO the similarity is pretty clear with it looking like an eye.

https://i.imgur.com/3GNux8K.png

And when you look at the new faction of wizards from the wizard's tower their outfit also has things similar to what look like the Eye all over it.

https://i.imgur.com/HiqokA3.png

So to me at least I feel like some kind of connection to the Eye of Janthir seems likely.

Now in guild wars 2 the Eye of Janthir made it's return in the raid Bastion of the Penitent. A raid that dealth with both demons(which seem to be a major part of SOTO) and the founder of the White Mantle Saul D'Alessio. Now I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with all this?

The original lore that has always been oddly incorrect yet never fixed or addressed by the dev's is when you first meet and learn of the white mantle and ask about the eye of janthir in guild wars 1 and it reads.

Quote

 

What's the Divine Eye of Janthir?

"Years ago, the founder of the White Mantle, Saul D'Alessio, traveled south to the island of Janthir. It is said that those who come from this island are gifted with True Sight, the ability to see a person for who he really is.
When Saul returned to Kryta, he brought with him the Divine Eye, an artifact that possesses this True Sight in a limited capacity. The Eye can identify those individuals who have within themselves the potential to become powerful magic users. Those identified by the Eye as having talent are taken to the Temple of the Unseen to study under the Grand Masters, so they may realize their full potential."

 

He says that he went south to the isle of janthir but that has never made sense, because you can see the isle of Janthir clearly to the north of Kryta. (I'll also point out they said "island" as in singular here so smaller then all the isles)

https://i.imgur.com/fgIQAym.png

But the thing about this is. We only know this because of the map we got in EotN. This lore comes from Prophecies. The map used to not go this high it ended here.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/images/a/a2/Tyria_clean_map.jpg

So in Prophecies we just didn't know where The Isle of Janthir was. All we knew was it was in the south at the edge of kryta. Do you see what I'm getting at?

https://i.imgur.com/bLsqRyj.png

I believe that the isle of Janthir is a flying or at least formally flying island that was located in this area above the Ullen River casting down a shadow being the "unseen" thing blocking out the sun. The region is full of flying islands, and during the part of the story where the player passed through this location you are still not ascended and thus lacking true sight and unable to see invisible things. I believe after the events on the ring of fire in guild wars 1 the island relocated to the north. I feel like there is a chance the Isles of Janthir might come into play as another set of flying islands we go to in the upcoming expansion.

Another thing to keep in mind as well is kind of the OG guild wars mystery was the whole "Rata Sum" can spell "Mursatt" and they never explained all the ruins in the tarnished coast and people all assumed they were mursatt ruins. Well look how close Rata Sum ended up being located to the unseen shadow.

https://i.imgur.com/U9hrZvm.png

It's right there next to it, so to me at least It kind of feels like everything fits together perfectly.

 

Anyway that's my theory. Figured I'd share it on the off chance it becomes cannon so I don't become some crazy guy trying to tell people I knew it all along.

Edited July 17, 2023 by TeeracK.3601

[Nosrorav.4703]

I think the original Prophecies plan was to have Janthir be the Ring of Fire Islands. But when they were labeling the GW2 map (the first time we got a location for Janthir), they decided that big ol' desolate island up north would make a great Janthir.

One can easily reconcile the discrepancy by suggesting Saul went to a mursaat teleporter that took him to the northern island - thus people saw him leave southward, and thus believed the island to the south at the time. ArenaNet's extremely use of unreliable narrator (and the fact the White Mantle higher ups hid a ton of details from the rank and file - including Franklin who was even unaware of the sacrifices per his turncoat reveal in WiK epilogue).

As to the ruins of the Tarnished Coast - it's actually implied to be of.... asuran origins. There's three key elements to this:

1. The pyramid found in Arbor Bay which is remarked as "not asuran" by an asura is the same exact model as the Central Transfer Chamber's pyramid (well, ziggurat).
2. The EotN manual states it's been centuries since the asura were seen above the surface, suggesting that they were on the surface sometime in the past. Tarnished Coast makes sense - if forced to surface, the path of least resistance would be a previous surfacing point in the past, even if forgotten by themselves.
3. Rata Pten, added in GW2, has NPCs confirming it is of pre-Cataclysm origin. A surface asuran architecture of pre-GW1. Similarly, we see other ruins of these "pre-asura surfacing" elsewhere, which use the same models as the Pten architecture - if they wanted to deny the TC ruins as non-asuran, they would have changed it up a bit; they had the resources to do so far more so than with EotN.

Rata Sum is also a psuedo-latin translation, same with Rata Novan, Rata Arcanus, and Rata Primus. Roughly translating into "I have thought", "new thought", "secret thought", and "first thought" respectively. Pten isn't Latin, but it can still be translated, mixing the two languages becoming "rotten thought". Very fitting.
This suggests the Rata Sum / mursaat anagram is nothing more than mere coincidence.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Nosrorav.4703

[ugrakarma.9416]

Cool theory but unlikely to happen, because in LWS3 finale theres a notiaciable rush to "close" the White Mantle/Mursaat plot... they don't even bothered to developer a more deeper insight into Eye of Janthir, its just "disappeared along with its owners".

Of course perhaps the devs/narrative team can change ideas.

Edited July 18, 2023 by ugrakarma.9416