SotO Villain revealed

[holloko.2570]

Trailer final scene: The figure silhouetted in front of Sauron the rift and riftstalker is a Charr.

Compare: Branded charr

[HotDelirium.7984]

TWIST ENDING....I think the boss is facing TOWARDS us...not away and his head is actually the eye effect. They did say Menzies might have been decapitated.

[nembool.5981]

2 hours ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

TWIST ENDING....I think the boss is facing TOWARDS us...not away and his head is actually the eye effect. They did say Menzies might have been decapitated.

I don't recall Menzies being decapitated.

However, it was established back in GW1 lore that Balthazar arrived on Tyria with the other gods carrying the head of his father. This could be a reason for Menzies' hatred of his half-brother. I personally hope Menzies' isn't the villain though - I'm hoping for someone else, someone more obscure from the GW1 archives.

[Ashantara.8731]

15 hours ago, holloko.2570 said:

Trailer final scene: The figure silhouetted in front of Sauron the rift and riftstalker is a Charr.

Compare: Branded charr

Nonsense. 😄

[MedievalThings.5417]

19 hours ago, holloko.2570 said:

Trailer final scene: The figure silhouetted in front of Sauron the rift and riftstalker is a Charr.

Compare: Branded charr

I mean, you're not wrong that the figure is a charr.  We are looking at the back of a charr, the stance is a dead giveaway.  My guess would be the figure is Rytlock, and they are standing facing whatever the Eye (Sauron) is.  Not sure that helps us know who the villain is.  Could also be the figure is the PC, and just happens to be a charr in this case.

 

Edit:  So, near we have a charr figure with their back to us, not sure why they appear to be missing a head or have their head down maybe.

The mid is 2 statues or buildings (or the like) on either side of the eye structure.  It's possible they may be holding the eye up.  The statues on either side resemble dragons.

The far is the Eye (Sauron) thing.  Either a portal (rift), or an actual villain...who knows.

Edited August 11, 2023 by MedievalThings.5417
More thoughts

[HotDelirium.7984]

7 hours ago, nembool.5981 said:

I don't recall Menzies being decapitated.

However, it was established back in GW1 lore that Balthazar arrived on Tyria with the other gods carrying the head of his father. This could be a reason for Menzies' hatred of his half-brother. I personally hope Menzies' isn't the villain though - I'm hoping for someone else, someone more obscure from the GW1 archives.

It's a reach but this weapon https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Fate_of_Menzies looks like a cut off head. The horns interestingly kind of are in the shape of the villains big arms.

[solzuul.6294]

I was bored, I messed around and overlaid the images. It's not a 1:1, but its pretty close.... haha. Could see it fitting if the idle animation was on a different frame, but as of my overlay the figure in the trailer is slightly narrower/taller. Could share a skeleton. 

[nembool.5981]

8 hours ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

It's a reach but this weapon https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Fate_of_Menzies looks like a cut off head. The horns interestingly kind of are in the shape of the villains big arms.

Yeah, I see what you're getting at. Could be.

The only issue with it being Menzies is the Kryptis. Why would Menzies abandon the Shadow Army when they're obviously still a viable threat (as seen in Dragonfall) to take up new allies/minions?

Also, in relation to it being a Charr, the only Charr who's visited the Mists and returned is Rytlock (with Balthazar's aid). The silhouette fits but lore-wise?

I'm still leaning towards a new villain we've not seen before, or a very old obscure one.

[Poormany.4507]

4 hours ago, nembool.5981 said:

Yeah, I see what you're getting at. Could be.

The only issue with it being Menzies is the Kryptis. Why would Menzies abandon the Shadow Army when they're obviously still a viable threat (as seen in Dragonfall) to take up new allies/minions?

Also, in relation to it being a Charr, the only Charr who's visited the Mists and returned is Rytlock (with Balthazar's aid). The silhouette fits but lore-wise?

I'm still leaning towards a new villain we've not seen before, or a very old obscure one.

I'm also leaning towards Menzies being the main villain, having taken over a large part of the Mists now that the Gods left and demons expanded (such as in Kormir's Sanctum). Based on the similarity in design, I would not be surprised if he also took over control of the Titans after Abaddon's death, or was even partly responsible for their creation, since they were also from the Realm of Torment..

[Nosrorav.4703]

On 8/11/2023 at 4:03 PM, MedievalThings.5417 said:

I mean, you're not wrong that the figure is a charr.  We are looking at the back of a charr, the stance is a dead giveaway.  My guess would be the figure is Rytlock, and they are standing facing whatever the Eye (Sauron) is.  Not sure that helps us know who the villain is.  Could also be the figure is the PC, and just happens to be a charr in this case.

 

Edit:  So, near we have a charr figure with their back to us, not sure why they appear to be missing a head or have their head down maybe.

The mid is 2 statues or buildings (or the like) on either side of the eye structure.  It's possible they may be holding the eye up.  The statues on either side resemble dragons.

The far is the Eye (Sauron) thing.  Either a portal (rift), or an actual villain...who knows.

I think you've been staring at the still image too long and forgot what's what from the trailer which shows it all animated. The "2 statues or buildings" you talk about are part of the dude in the trailer shot, long appendages coming from the dude's back. There's only two elements present: the eye, and the figure.

Not quite convinced it's a charr, but the figure is definitely learning hunched forward similar to a charr. The shot is too hard to tell if the legs are normal human or with that extra joint like a charr's - most people see Deimos' silhouette in that figure, but I can see the charr silhouette too.

8 hours ago, Poormany.4507 said:

I'm also leaning towards Menzies being the main villain, having taken over a large part of the Mists now that the Gods left and demons expanded (such as in Kormir's Sanctum). Based on the similarity in design, I would not be surprised if he also took over control of the Titans after Abaddon's death, or was even partly responsible for their creation, since they were also from the Realm of Torment..

It's worth noting that Dhuum was behind the Titan creation, as it was his minion, the Fury, who created them for Abaddon. Also worth noting that demons were expelled from Kormir's Sanctum and it was used as a sanctuary for refugee souls during Season 4, as explained by Nemah if you kneel at the statue of Kormir in the Chantry of Secrets, Jahai Bluffs.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Nosrorav.4703

[Kossage.9072]

Well, the recent press preview of SotO did reveal this baddie's name:

Spoiler

Cerus. We also had some hints about his role and how his past may tie into the ongoing conflict, so obscure secrets are afoot. He's a new face in the lore but with very interesting name etymology implications given the Greek mythology theme they're going for in this expac in both naming and architecture inspirations.

Spoiler

And based on the recent merchandise revealing a certain villain's look and name as Nayos, Cerus might not be the only major baddie leading the Kryptis although I look forward to finding out the hierarchy between those two as well as another spoilery baddie Nourys the Eyes of the Abyss whom they teased in the Italian video about Amnytas meta (although I assume that one might just play more of a Renyak role where it's only a major lieutenant serving the big bads). I wonder how much screentime these baddies will share or if they (or most of them) only end up being "three scene wonders" like most GW2 villains.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Kossage.9072

[vandrefalk.6823]

Spoiler

Yes, we know the strike boss is called Cerus now, if you've seen the press previews about the relic and the info about the strike, without them going into detail about the lore or role of this figure.

But the merchandise has this Nayos humanoid demon, who might seem more like the main antagonist.